The Cascade Vol. 26 Issue 12

APRIL 4 TO MAY 2, 2018

VOLUME 26 ISSUE 12

tAK AShi

THE OCTOPUS EATS ITS OWN LEG REVIEW

MURAKAMi

Trembling at impending deadlines since 1993

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SUS Election Q&A SUS candidates: What do they think about stuff ?

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54-40 A Q&A with the band.

Grappling with Controversy What keeps people watching wresting?

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Editorial //

STAFF Editor-in-Chief Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca Business Manager Quintin Stamler quintin@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca News Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca

Production Manager Caleb Campbell caleb@ufvcascade.ca

Opinion Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca

Production Assistant Renée Campbell renee@ufvcascade.ca

Features Editor (interim) Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Copy Editor Cat Friesen cat@ufvcascade.ca

Culture & Events Editor Cassie de Jong cassie@ufvcascade.ca

Illustrator Amara Gelaude amara@ufvcascade.ca

Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca

Illustrator Simer Haer simer@ufvcascade.ca

Staff Writer Aleister Gwynne aleister@ufvcascade.ca

Columnist Mike Friesen mike@ufvcascade.ca Online Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca

Staff Writer Jennifer Klassen jen@ufvcascade.ca Distributor Alena Zheng distributor@ufvcascade.ca

THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Dylan Plantenga Mitch Huttema Cover: Renée Campbell Back Cover: Map of art on the Abbotsford UFV campus

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

@UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/THE.CASCADE Volume 26 · Issue 12 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley.

The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a print circulation of 1,000 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Writers meetings are held every second Monday at 12:00 p.m. in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus.

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved

by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 200 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

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Pots and pans

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The octopus eats its own leg: the title of the Murakami exhibit, on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery, reviewed in this edition’s feature by Mitch Huttema.

The title of the exhibit, Huttema notes, comes from a Japanese idiom meaning to sacrifice or feed on oneself to survive hard times. Apparently an octopus, to avoid starvation, will eat itself.

“The gallery was titled with the interpretation of the phrase because of the significance of this procedure to the way Murakami runs his practice,” according to Huttema.

Huttema writes of Murakami that his “creative strategy” is to set rigid deadlines for himself. Last minute impending, filled by deadline angst, and inspired by the feeling of it, he awakens brilliant and surprising ideas.

Reading this, I recognized something.

It’s striking how so often, self-cannibalism is the road out of failure, toward success. This explanation that Murakami provides as part of the installation elucidates the reality of a demanding world.

Derek Thompson, writing for The Atlantic questions why so many of us feel swamped and overwhelmed, yet data shows a trend of increased leisure time. “[W]e're working less than we did in the 1960s and 1980s and consid-

erably less than we did in the agrarian-industrial economy.” It turns out there’s a global decline of annual worked hours. I’d suggest that there’s a cultural decline of another kind as well.

Thompson adds that “there isn't much evidence in the time-use survey data to suggest that we spend considerably more time on work and chores than we used to.”

Certainly, there are plenty of speculations as to why people feel busier.

Perhaps, as some note, we’re a more affluent society and we perceive our time to be of more worth, as it’s increasingly a targeted commodity — space to be colonized by you name it.

I hear busyness as the heralded excuse for many things, among them, not creating art, folk or otherwise.

It’s tragic that so many people feel overwhelment. With busyness comes a lessened investment in art for the sake of itself. It’s tragic that aesthetics aren’t inherent in craftsmanship but purposed to sell you crap.

I’m reminded of Herbert Read’s “Pots and Pans,” of his essay, “To Hell With Culture.”

Read asserts that if a society can’t create beautiful pots and pans with the ease it grows potatoes (and we’ve certainly improved our potato, corn, wheat, etc., yield), it won’t be capable of creating higher forms of art. Higher, I’ll note, as expansive, not in the loftier or inaccessible sense of traditional high art.

How true that seems to be.

I look at my pots and pans. The two I inherited have lasted two generations; the several I bought are apparently toxic from overuse.

“The whole of our capitalist culture is one immense veneer: a surface refinement hiding the cheapness and shoddiness at the heart of things,” Read writes. All things must be built for profit, all our actions mapped by margins, and our lives measured in debit and credit. (Almost seems a fantasy to measure a life with coffee spoons.)

As one who works in this era, I suspect Murakami as artist, knows this.

But I find his “wait to the last minute” method conflicting, being that it purposes busyness for creation.

Yet it’s incumbent on the work, not because it allows him, as he says, to create beauty under pressure, but because it’s a performance of criticism against a society of busyness.

Whether it mocks it, just condones it, or even praises it from Murakami’s perspective, that it’s a part of the exhibit means it’s a part of the artwork.

In the context of this increased leisure / increased business culture, I think it’s one of the more remarkable aspects of the piece.

I’ll praise Murakami and condemn his method, though we’re thankful because of it. The artist’s practices aren’t infallible, and in the case of Murakami’s, as with most of the world I’m familiar with, I think it’s a dangerous and flawed methodology.

At least, in this era of perceived busyness and demands.

“If we return to our pot and think of the delicate balance of the senses of sight and touch which must guide the potter as the clay turns between his finger-tips, we get some idea of the individual factors involved in all creative activity. If we then remember that the potter must direct the work of his senses towards some useful end — for the pot must function — we get some idea of the social factor involved in all creative activity.”

The case may be that busyness disturbs the finger that makes the pot beautiful. If so, a return to creating beautiful pots is as much the antidote as it is the goal.

NEWS

Jessica Barclay — News Editor news@ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

SUS Election //

NEWS BRIEFS

New support worker program offered to UFV

SUS candidates platforms questioned in Reality Check Q&A

The University of the Fraser Valley and Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) have partnered to bring Métis students in the Fraser Valley accessible training and education.

It will take the form of the new Métis community support worker program. The program, funded by the provincial and federal governments, looks to provide Métis students educational and wraparound services, including Elder support and cultural elements.

“This program will help Métis participants get the skills and knowledge they need to find secure and meaningful employment, while giving back to their community,” said MNBC president Clara Morin-Dal Col. -BC Government News

AggregateIQ worked for the Green Party It has been revealed that AggregateIQ, a Victoria-based technology company currently being accused of using personal data to influence the Brexit vote, had access to the B.C. Green Party's voter database in 2016.

The Green Party says they have received written confirmation that the data has been destroyed, and does not believe that any personal information was stolen.

The Green Party hired AggregateIQ to create a voter database and new website, but the contract was terminated after the company could not complete the databases within the party’s time frame, Laura Lavin, executive director of the B.C. Green Party, said.

-The Globe and Mail

JESSICA BARCLAY & JEN KLASSEN NEWS EDITOR

The Student Union Society’s six election candidates participated in a series of three question and answer periods on their platforms last week. The first two periods, one in Abbotsford on March 27, and one in Chilliwack on March 29, involved asking every candidate three questions each. The final “Reality Check” Q&A, hosted in Abbotsford on April 3, allowed follow-up questions for candidates.

Three of the candidates, Jaleen MacKay, Gurvir Gill, and Andrew Stahl are re-running uncontested for their respective positions. Rajdeep Daliwahl and Logan Clelland are both contending for the posi-

tion of vice president external, and Sharnpreet (Sunny) Singh and Alec Zinmen for the newly created position of vice president students.

The most heated exchange was between Clelland and Daliwahl, the two contending candidates for the vice president external position.

Both were asked about their knowledge of any campaigns undertaken by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) over the last 12 months.

Clelland responded with a list of CASA’s recent achievements, to which Daliwahl countered she was unable to emulate, due to not having a laptop in front of her. Clelland was the only candidate who had a computer, though commented outside of the Q&A session that nothing had been

said indicating laptops were not allowed at the debate.

Daliwahl later said she regretted her comment, but stated that the laptop’s presence in the debate was “not appropriate.”

Daliwahl did not comment further on CASA, instead directing her response to the benefits of the Alliance of B.C. Students (ABCS), believing they could provide a voice when it came to making protective policies for students. In a follow-up question regarding ABCS’ bankruptcy, and the money they still owe to SUS, Daliwahl acknowledged her concern, but was unable to elaborate due to “not knowing too much about ABCS.” Clelland elaborated on CASA, saying he did not think CASA would advocate for SUS unless asked.

“I really think it’s the job of the vice president external to talk to CASA about things that we think should be advocated for,” Clelland said.

Singh and Zinmen are both running for vice president students, a new position created from the division of the vice president internal portfolio.

The question of international students and their transition to UFV via the new student orientation was posed to both candidates for the vice president students role.

Singh declared he desires to see each student leaving with a clear idea of what UFV is, and what services are offered.

He said he would work with Student Life to determine the best way to reach this goal.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

U-Cube //

Pilot program brings new meaning to condensed semester U-Cube pilot offers 18 day courses this summer

JESSICA BARCLAY NEWS EDITOR

UFV College of Arts will offer a series of condensed courses this summer. The U-Cube pilot project features four three-credit courses sharing a theme of Canadian studies, and will run for around three weeks each. Classes will meet Monday to Friday, for three hours each day.

The courses offered will include: Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies (Theatre 101), taught by Dr. Heather Davis-Fisch; Canada: 1867 to the Present (History 102), taught by Dr. Robin Anderson; Introduction to Literature (English 108), Ceilidh Hart; and Geography of Canada (Geography 130), taught by Dr. Michelle Rhodes.

Dr. Heather Davis-Fisch, cross-appointed faculty in the theatre and English departments at UFV, said this block structure of courses has been popular at other universities.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Zinmen responded by affirming what Singh said, and adding that he would like to showcase certain services that may be more important to international students, as well as working with students to determine their needs.

In terms of running events with SUS’s budget running in a deficit, Singh said he wished to focus on improving the turnout to current events until he can look further into the SUS budget. Zinmen said he would look to run smaller events that would be more budget friendly.

When posed the question of how they would address sexual violence on campus, Zinmen said he would defer to those with more experience in the matter, such as Student Life.

He also said he would look into introducing a Student Rights Association, an association he said helps students get to know their rights. At a previous Q&A session, Singh suggested having security patrol more frequently, and keeping someone in the office at all times. He further discussed the benefit of running events that give students an opportunity to make friends, which can help in the prevention of sexual violence.

“A lot of sexual violence happens when an individual is alone and vulnerable,” Singh said.

MacKay is the current vice president internal, and running again without contest. When asked about balancing the budget while still consulting students, MacKay said it can be a “delicate dance” between the needs of SUS, and the wants of students. In terms of the Canoe’s deficit, MacKay said that it was fiscally irresponsible to be pay-

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Dr. Michelle Rhodes, associate professor of geography and the environment, said in the U-Cube promotional video, “[It allows] students to really focus on one course at a time, to really get in depth into the material, to work with their classmates on big picture questions, and not to focus so much on trying to juggle multiple midterms, multiple term papers, and all these assignments that are happening.”

Due to the condensed nature of the courses, they may be structured differently in terms of assignment types and class time use. Classes will still offer lots of interactions, skill building, and experiential learning opportunities, though.

“We have been working with Teaching and Learning to develop strategies for how to ensure that the workload is reasonable for students and so that we are taking advantage of the format, to make sure classes are engaging for students,” Davis-Fisch said over email.

“For example, the course I'm teaching, Introduction to

ing into a deficit, and that it was not something she believed students wanted to contribute to.

“I don’t think it can continue the way it has been, so one way or another it is going to require revision,” said MacKay. Stahl is running uncontested as the college of arts representative, a position he held the previous year as well. He said his plan will be continuing his current engagement model into this

year by contacting leadership in the college of arts in “off the book” conversations, with a few changes he did not divulge. He said that the “other end of the stick” is leadership choosing to engage with him in turn. When asked about his work advocating for CASA for student-friendly policies, Stahl responded that it was difficult to gauge what CASA’s contribution had been, and what was done by the new

Theatre and Performance Studies, includes four different field trips. Those trips end up taking the place of a textbook in the course.”

Students are welcome to take one or all of the offered courses, though it is strongly encouraged that they do not take other courses during the condensed ones.

“These will be intense classes in some ways, since students will attend class for approximately 17 days in a row, but we think this format will also give students a really high chance of success, since they will only have to concentrate on one class at a time,” Davis-Fisch said.

David-Fisch said there are hopes for project expansion in the coming semesters.

“One of the things that is so exciting for us instructors is the chance to work together to look at connections between our courses, and we've talked about how fun it would be to do U-Cube 2.0, perhaps with a different theme, or with upper-year courses instead,” said DavidFisch.

NDP government.

When Gill, who is running uncontested for the role of president, was questioned about ensuring the success of the new executives, he stated the importance of “making sure everyone is on par with the organization.”

Gill had commented in a previous Q&A that his relationships within the university made him a good candidate for refilling the position as president. When

asked about advocating for students at the risk of jeopardizing his relationship with the university, he said he would be willing to have those conversations.

When further probed about issues he’s brought up to the university, he summarized issues SUS had, but was unable to comment on exclusive student concerns raised.

OPINION

Jeff Mijo — Opinion Editor opinion@ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Socially bankrupt //

Claw-litics//

Facebook may be facing the end… but who will take its throne?

Nova Scotia ban prompts petition for same in B.C.

The crumbling Cat declawing Facebook empire off the table

JEFF MIJO OPINION EDITOR

Are we watching the fall of a digital empire?

In terms of market share, Facebook has long appeared as a juggernaut in the online sphere, with a user base topping 2.2 billion individuals logging in at least once a month during the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Statista. But, despite that massive market share, is it losing its share in the minds of its audience?

Facebook’s been in the news a lot lately, from the extensive “fake news” controversy in the wake of Trump’s election, to the new Cambridge Analytica scandal revealing how the platform may have been used to influence voters. But on a smaller, more anecdotal scale, it also just seems to be slipping from dominance among its users — especially the younger ones.

It’s an inevitable life cycle for any popular product. It’s new and cool, then everyone uses it, and eventually it’s old and tired. In the world of technology, that process moves even faster than other spheres, so the fact that Facebook has been successful for over a decade is certainly impressive. And yet, despite being the third most-visited site on the internet, it seems to be slipping away from being cool; it’s less the trendy new avocado toast, and more the old staple McDonald’s burger. People still use it, but they don’t care about it.

I mentioned anecdotes, so here are a couple for you. I heard a story recently from someone speaking to a high school class about social media, who asked them how many were on Facebook. A few, maybe two or three, raised their hands. To people just a few years older, that may seem shocking.

More shocking, was that every single one of them used Snapchat. Meanwhile, advice article after advice article tells professional social media users to make Instagram a bigger focus, as interest in Facebook content slips lower and lower.

And whether those two examples are proof of any shift against Facebook or not, they got me thinking. Will there ever be another Facebook? It wouldn’t be a major shock to see this Goliath fall, and while it

would be the largest, it’d hardly be the first high profile site to come crumbling down.

The difference is, this won’t be Yahoo’s search being crushed by Google, or Facebook itself putting Friendster and MySpace into an early retirement. No one platform seems poised to overtake Facebook. It’ll be eaten away at, piece by piece, until it’s just a ghost of its former self — but those bites will be taken by countless other platforms, not a single opponent.

The audience is fragmenting more and more, and if you want proof, just try coordinating a dozen people to all have a conversation together. Facebook group chats seem to be the most reliable option, but when one person doesn’t have Facebook, suddenly it gets complicated — iMessage?

Oh, she doesn’t have an iPhone. WhatsApp? Doesn’t run on his old phone. Skype? Does anyone use that anymore? Each network has a different purpose, and most of us are on at least three or four different platforms — but nobody is on all of them, and none of them have everyone on them, especially not in the way Facebook does… for the time being, at least.

The number of options (and good options, at that!) is always increasing, and as the empire Facebook’s built is looking closer to crumbling with each breaking news story, there are countless vultures poised and ready to scoop their small piece of the audience up once it collapses.

Nobody will get all of them, though.

I won’t say that there will never be another Facebook-level success, another platform that dominates the market and cultivates an audience that includes literally a quarter of the world’s population. But I don’t think it will be any time in the next decade. If anything comes close, it may be a non-proprietary system. Don’t think Facebook and Twitter, think texting and email. One interlinked network, but accessed by different apps or websites created and maintained by different companies, all competing with one another to offer the best features to connect to that shared network.

And honestly? Shattering that Facebook monopoly sounds like the best possible outcome for us consumers.

A cat. (“Øivind”/Flickr)

ALEISTER GWYNNE STAFF WRITER

Nova Scotia recently became the first Canadian province to ban the declawing of cats. This has prompted calls in other provinces, including B.C., to ban the practice also. Declawing is already illegal in the United Kingdom, Australia, and several California cities.

Despite the name, declawing involves substantially more than merely removing the cat’s claws. It is essentially the feline equivalent of amputating the outermost segment of the fingers (and sometimes the toes as well). This procedure can have negative health impacts on cats, who may suffer from arthritis and pain in the limbs and paws, due to changes in how the cat must walk, which eliminates much of the cushioning from multiple joints.

“I see declawing as a mutilation of an animal for no direct benefit to the animal. It’s something that’s done mostly to protect furniture,” said retired veterinarian and anti-declawing advocate Hugh Chisholm, who was quoted by the CBC. Another reason some people have their cats declawed is to reduce aggressive behaviour against people and other animals.

However, this may be counter-productive.

Vets have pointed to studies that show that declawed cats may become more aggressive and bite more.

In any event, there are other, less-invasive ways to discourage cats from using their claws inappropriately. Cats can be discouraged from scratching furniture with squirt bottles, and by providing them with a scratching post. A good way to keep a cat from scratching during play (based on personal experience) is to immediately stop playing and walk away if the cat scratches. They will soon learn to

keep their claws sheathed, although there may be accidents from time to time.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) states that a cat’s claws are necessary for balance, climbing, and self defence. Due to this, and the unnecessary pain caused by the procedure, the CVMA no longer endorses declawing.

However, some have expressed discomfort with a blanket ban. There are occasions where declawing may be medically necessary. One example was a cat that clawed itself to the point of self-mutilation. Cases like these are rare, however, and vets in Nova Scotia will not declaw a cat merely because the owners request it.

Even in places where declawing is not yet banned, some veterinarians refuse to perform declawings on principle.

Hopefully, B.C. will follow suit in banning the operation before long. There is already a precedent, in that the cosmetic docking of dogs’ and horses’ tails was banned in B.C. in 2016. Docking and declawing aren’t very different. Both subject an animal to surgery, and in the case of declawing, lasting physical and behavioural problems, for reasons that essentially amount to convenience for the owners.

We should not forget that domestic cats are still animals who have their own needs and wants, and should not be radically modified on a whim. If you cannot accept a creature for what it is, the way it is, then why keep that creature? By taking away such an important part of a cat, you make them less of a cat. The true nature of animals isn’t always pretty, and cats provide ample proof of that, but it is better to find an accommodation with this nature, rather than excising the parts of it we don’t like.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

At least we have the geese

Rainbows: the new stress cure Last week, I was stressing out about deadlines. Everything snuck up on me (as it does at the end of the semester), and I was overwhelmed and unprepared. Not only that, but I planned a vacation that began 14 hours after my last class ended, so the pressure was on to finish everything on time and get ready for said vacation. Needless to say, I was freaking out.

As an avid procrastinator, I did what I do best — I closed my laptop, grabbed my keys, and went for a drive.

And I’m glad I did, because as I was driving, I saw a perfect rainbow — not some half-assed one — that stretched from one edge of the earth to the other. The pure joy I felt reminded me that life isn’t all about deadlines and being busy. You have to step back and enjoy the simple things, too.

Brief bits of bite-sized brevity

Cat Friesen

SNAPSHOTS

Shower Thoughts You know who doesn’t get enough credit?

Dihydrogen monoxide: a.k.a. water. I’m not just talking about the health aspects here, but in so many ways, water is amazing.

As you may remember from science class, water is one of the few compounds that’s more dense as a liquid than a solid, hence why ice floats to the top. It’s also very resistant to temperature change. These properties allow marine life to survive throughout the seasons. Water’s highly cohesive and adhesive, which enables capillary action (upward flow, often against gravity, in narrow spaces), is why it forms spherical droplets, and how some small organisms can walk on its surface. It’s generally pH neutral, and is an excellent solvent (many substances can dissolve in it) as well.

Around 60 per cent of the human body is water! Though potentially possible on other planets, we’ve yet to discover a form of life that can exist without it. Clean drinking water is becoming precious, and we in the Fraser Valley are very fortunate to have it so readily available to us. So next time you wash your hands, have a drink, a shower, etc., remember to appreciate just how important and wonderful water really is!

Illustrations: Amara Gelaude

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So, we didn’t get our promised shuttle bus shelter this semester. They were supposed to at least be laying the foundations by now, but I guess bureaucracy happened, as it often does.

What we have instead are a pair of Canada geese who have chosen the area near the shuttle stop at Abbotsford campus as their preferred haunt. They showed up a couple of weeks ago, and have added some much-needed colour to an otherwise dreary location.

Canada geese get a bad rap as being aggressive creatures. Personally, I’ve never seen any trouble from them in person, and the ones at the shuttle stop are as well-behaved as any I’ve encountered, apart from the faint odour of goose poo that now lingers in the area.

I know not how long they’ll stay. Perhaps they’ll have moved on by the time you read this. Or perhaps they are here to stay for the whole summer. Either way, be it salamanders, bunnies, or birds, it’s nice to see a bit of wildlife on campus.

Aleister Gwynne

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Cat-aclysm

Kat Marusiak

The other day I was hugged by a cat. I was literally pulled into a tight, loving, furry, and slightly scratchy embrace. Cats are generally known for their aloof and disinterested nature when it comes to their human companions, so this already counted as a fairly strange occurrence.

But to someone who has spent all her life enjoying a mutual agreement with these creatures that went something along the lines of, “I’ll steer clear of you, and you won’t care if I fall off the earth,” it was quite alarming. In fact, I have recently started noticing more and more cats who are showering me with love and affection.

I smell something evil afoot.

To give you a bit more context into the situation, I am very allergic to cats.

I repeat. VERY ALLERGIC TO CATS! So you must understand when I tell you that I have come to believe all cats, as a species, have made a collective decision, and are now out to get me. For what, I have no idea, as it is rather dangerous to try to predict the feline mind. But pretty soon I swear I am going to have to approach the furry demons, waving a white flag over my head in surrender.

Cassie de Jong

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Pros and cons //

Bare knuckle wrestling: professional wrestling pays Why professional wrestling is still popular amid recent controversy

Illustration by: Simer Haer

DYLAN PLANTENGA CONTRIBUTOR

If you thought Hollywood was the only industry that produced significant controversy in the media, you’re sadly mistaken. To steal an infamous line from the wrestling business, “controversy creates cash.” I simply wonder how World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is still so popular, and how, according to the New York Stock Exchange & Wall Street Journal, it has remained a nearly billion-dollar industry amid all the scandals, controversies, and otherwise inside the company itself. Death, destruction, dope — you know, fun stuff.

In 1999, the WWE, a professional wrestling company, moved from the mean streets of New York’s Manhattan

Centre onto the meaner streets of Wall Street when they became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). What does this mean? It means they have shareholders to protect since the acquisition of this relatively new-found status. I think it also means they have to be stealthier with their dealings than they had been before. The WWE has gone through the ringer of controversy not only in the sports world, but globally as well. There have been scandals and deaths and bumps and bruises, despite the fact that the company has a total revenue stream, as of this date, of approximately $800,960,000 USD, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In 1993, Vince McMahon, the owner of WWE, was sued by former employee Terry Bollea — better known to the world as Hulk Hogan — for his role in an alleged steroid ring

scandal. This was confirmed in the New York Times article written about it in 1994 under the headline “A Promoter Of Wrestling Is Acquitted.” The charges were later dropped, but at the time they made major headlines globally. Coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally), steroid use has been an ongoing issue in the business for decades.

You may ask yourself, what’s the point of this fluff, this information? There is one: my question. Why is professional wrestling so popular? It’s a question that has plagued me for a long while now. There are two answers that I can think of.

First of all, I think it is all in the brain. To put it simply, there are chemical reactions in the brain specifically laid out for pleasure. Evolution, or possibly society, has somehow provided the male brain with the need for pugilism — for fighting. It’s in the DNA. I believe there really is no explanation for it other than that it simply is that way.

We’ve progressed so far and become so simple-minded that we don’t care who has died, who has bled, who has been screwed over — nothing matters except two men beating the hell out of each other. That’s it! Look at the UFC; people pay extravagant amounts to watch a UFC fight on TV, and even more to see it live. Why? Because real violence leads to blood, that’s why! Only the most daring of fans care about the financial aspect; the socio-economic issues, the white noise between the lines. And I think certainly only a handful of those fans care about both.

The second answer, in my opinion, is history. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it themselves.

If one took the time to listen to the stories of those in the business — those who grew up in the business, so to speak, they would find out that the industry has always been shady behind the curtains. For example, within the last week or two, it was leaked that the WWE’s prized female wrestler, the late “Fabulous Moolah,” had been supposedly pimping out and even forcibly drugging the wrestlers she trained back in the 1960s and ‘70s. They named a wrestling match after her, but removed the moniker immediately following the outpouring of fan disdain towards the name. Then again, they named the prestigious “Warrior Award” after late wrestler “The Ultimate Warrior,” who had a history of being racist and saying some not-so-nice stuff. The award goes to exceptional people who have fallen on hard times in their lives, such as Connor Michalek, the eight-year-old who died of cancer just before he could receive the award.

Even something like this can create controversy. Chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon tweeted this: “[P]hilanthropy is the future of marketing, it’s the way brands r going 2 win.” This was sent the same day Michalek received the Warrior Award. Makes you think the sincerity was not all there, doesn’t it? Then again, there are two sides to every tale. Sure, the industry has changed from time to time, as all things do, but no matter what goes on, people will pay money they don’t have so they can watch it. Controversies are most definitely not new but it seems that they’re getting worse and worse as time goes on.

7

tAK AShi

MURAKAMi

THE OCTOPUS EATS ITS OWN LEG REVIEW BY: MITCH HUTTEMA Upon entering the second floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery, a gold leaf wall with the mega black title: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg marks the threshold of the journey through the oeuvre of artist Takashi Murakami we viewers are about embark on. The exhibition marks the first retrospective in Canada for the artist as the works presented span the past 40 years of his career.

The first few works of Murakami’s exhibition are not the animeesque design which is advertised in the murals around the exterior of the gallery. Instead, there are four muted, traditionally painted rice paper canvases which study the movement of a turtle.

Then, across the room from the turtle studies is a massive 10-by25-foot swirling blue multi-panel mural done in the style of Nihonga painting, which Murakami has a PhD in. Nihonga is a type of Japanese painting done on rice paper which uses mineral powders to create vibrant, uniformly-coloured paints. The subtle variations in the colour are mesmerizing. The journey through his works begins awash in a sea of blue — the curator is telling viewers that Murakami’s seemingly lighthearted works are not to be mistaken as kitsch; he has a PhD, and the art history chops to prove it.

Around the first bend, we‘re introduced to Mr. DOB. Murakami designed the character to act as a logo for his studio, but also to

be a self-portrait and means of self-expression by way of an alter ego. Mr. DOB appears in most of Murakami’s work from this point on, appearing in various distorted, altered, and multiplied forms. In one of the videos paired with the exhibition, Murakami notes how Mr. DOB reflects his mental and emotional state when it appears in his works. The thing that will strike viewers the most is Murakami’s openness and honesty about his personal struggles with creating art, and his crippling social anxiety.

This becomes most clear in the way the curator pairs the introduction of Mr. DOB five feet across the hall from a small painting of a photo of the artist in his studio with a letter written by him stroked over it — a personal note before we enter the first room of the Murakami spectacle as advertised.

The work is titled The Tragicomedy of a Painter Living Day in and Day Out in His Studio Haunted

By Deadlines (2018), and relays an apology/excuse from the artist as to why a few of his paintings are

exhibited unfinished. He acknowledges his creative strategy is to set himself deadlines which he cannot miss, and then wait till the very last minute to develop the design, spending day after day in fear till he feels like someone is slowly strangling him. He says this feeling tends to evoke brilliant, surprising, and bizarre ideas — this is why some of the paintings are not yet completed.

Murakami’s honesty seems to tie in strongly with the note on the front wall regarding the meaning of the phrase, “the octopus eats its own leg.” Interestingly, the title is itself a meaning — it is the English translation of a Japanese phrase which means to sacrifice or feed on oneself to survive in hard times.

This is in reference to how an octopus will eats its own leg for nourishment to avoid starvation, but does so knowing the leg will grow back. The gallery was titled with the interpretation of the phrase because of the significance of this procedure to the way Murakami runs his practice.

His openness about his struggles really brings him from the level of an untouchable master artist to a fellow creator wracked with his own set of deficiencies. This maybe has a lot to do with the art theory and style that he created and works in.

In the great room across from his self-portrait and note, we finally begin to see traces of the style which Murakami is best known for. His theory of art, one he calls Superflat, is made up of vector-like designs filled with restricted tones from a restricted colour palette. His style seems to be heavily influenced by anime and manga, but the core concept of it is actually birthed from classical Japanese paintings in which bright colour accentuations burst out from refined, simple images and designs.

The works on each wall of this great room all depict psychedelic distortions of the aforementioned Mr. DOB in some form or another, insinuating Murakami’s personal connection once again to the works.

In one of the videos in a corner nook of the gallery, Murakami muses over how comic writers are in some way the highest level in Japanese society, because of their influence over otaku (obsessive collectors and fans of anime and manga), and their ability to drive the economy. He copies the style of these artists to harken on their work and its power while also appropriating classical Japanese art traditions. He folds the two together to tear down the boundaries of high and low society, as well as the traditional ideas of low, high, and commercial art.

This breaking of boundaries becomes most clear when passing Murakami’s Kanye album covers. The commercially made and financed album cover paintings are displayed alongside all of his other non-commercial “high art” works with no distinction. This is exactly what Murakami’s Superflat theory intends to do — to flatten out the lines between commercial and noncommercial art, to bring together current and historical art practices, to remove social structures, and to put himself into his work.

His artistic practice as well is one that, like Warhol and other prolific artists of the past, brings question to the involvement of the artist in the artwork, and thus the intrinsic value of the work. He begins with a small sketch which he hands off to an assistant who digitizes it, enlarges it, and then refines it. It goes through revisions, and then is handed off to assistants to plan onto a canvas, and then paint or silkscreen under Murakami’s supervision. This process is much the same as the many commercial graphic design, architecture, film, and photo studios around today. A single owner or several partners have a firm and sponsor assistants and apprentices to carry out their ideas and works which they supervise and then deliver to clients.

The way I see it, Murakami’s moves to blur lines paired with his studio procedures emphasizes how he is an example of the

rebirth of the studios and artists’ workshops of the past. If we’re honest, Apple is the Medici family of our time, sponsoring contemporary directors like Spike Jonze to direct their commercials, and licensing up-and-coming musicians’ music for their ads.

This is the same process as the days of high art from the past.

Wealthy families pay artists to record their images and stories, and to create entertainment for them. Corporations, essentially the modern class which holds most of the wealth now, sponsor artists to make the works that will position them well with the consumer.

Murakami takes this legacy on, and presents it as one where art can regain its value and functionality in a modern society. His toys and merchandise are only an extension of this process of taking down the boundaries between prestigious elite art and commodity for the masses.

All in all, this exhibition demonstrates extreme care in modelling itself after the way Murakami slowly revealed himself in his works over the years. The journey through the show presents the viewer with a nuanced look at all of his periods of work, but also at the struggle and emotion that he sincerely imbues each work with.

CULTURE

Cassie de Jong — Culture Editor culture@ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

CIVL Anniversary //

Streaming ten years strong CIVL radio celebrates a decade of online presence with packed show

ages spaces. O’Shea wowed attendees with his more recent ambient dance music using synthesizers, samples, and drum machines.

Next up was Vancouver’s Dadweed, followed by Loans. The two bands rallied the crowd, and produced a dynamic energy that got CIVL devotees moving.

Kristin Witko, who was nominated in 2017 for several Fraser Valley Music Awards and was awarded Best Experimental Artist, then took the stage. Her hooky, Gothic, and unsettling melodies, inspired by elements from pop music and performance art, further elevated the excitement of the evening.

Driving the night home was an Abbotsford favourite, Blessed. Blessed’s mission is, “to create a project in which no creative

CASSIE DE JONG CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR

What better way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of online broadcasting for a radio station as committed to promoting local music and inspiring excellence as CIVL Radio, than to hold one giant party at a local venue featuring the Fraser Valley’s greatest. Last Friday, March 30, UFV students and CIVL fans alike joined together at The Stage in Mission to bear witness to local favourites Blessed, Kristin Witko, Loans, Dadweed, and Stephen Carl O’Shea, in celebration of this achievement by their on-campus radio station.

In March 2008, CIVL began streaming from UFV’s Abbotsford campus, and is proud to say that 10 years later, they are still going strong. Though the station has technically only broadcasted on FM

radio since September of 2010, this event marked a celebration of their 10th year streaming podcasts and other content live and online.

Though it is recognized as a campus and community station, CIVL has an impressive resume when it comes to achievements. They even marked their name in the history books by being one of the first Canadian campus and community stations to offer a searchable log of old episodes.

The Stage in Mission hosted quite the lively night of local music. The lineup of bands didn’t fail to attract and keep a sizable crowd, and kept the evening animated and energetic.

First up was Stephen Carl O’Shea, who is the bass player and co-founding member of new wave band You Say Party. He has toured three continents and played hundreds of shows in dive bars and all-

Cascade Events Calendar April

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Semi-Annual Book Sale @ Clearbrook Library (Abbotsford), 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Indigenous Film Series: Helen Haig-Brown @ Room B101 (Abbotsford Campus), 6:00 p.m.

The Staggers & Jaggs @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

UFV Student Research Day @ Spirit Bear Cafe (Abbotsford Campus), 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Blues Night with Terminal Station @ The Wellington Local House (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.

Fraser Valley Career Connections and Conference/Hiring Fair @ Tradex (Abbotsford), 11:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.

The Kwerks @ The Railyard (Mission), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

Roots & Blues Night with Blue Moon Marquee @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Indigenous Film Series: Helen Haig-Brown @ Room B101 (Abbotsford Campus), 1:00 p.m.

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Blessed playing at The Stage, Mission B.C. March 30. (David Myles/Contributor)

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Note: Some of these events require tickets, most are on Facebook.

If something catches your eye, take to the internet for more details.

VA 160 Film Screenings @ Room C1044 (Abbotsford Campus), 3:00 p.m.

DOA, Not Inpublic, The Judges, Marry Me, The Spewers @ Gators Pub (Abbotsford), 6:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.

Chill Rose Place @ The Stage in Mission, 7:00 -11:59 p.m.

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Dear Father w/ Waves Crash Down @ The Stage in Mission, 7:00 - 11:59 p.m.

Semi-Annual Book Sale @ Clearbrook Library (Abbotsford), 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Roots and Blues Night with Brandon Isaak @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Soft Opening: Tulip Festival 2018 @ 36737 North Parallel Road (Abbotsford), 10:00 a.m.

Listen Write Now @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

limitations were placed on presentation, or sound. Where every decision was made democratically, and every voice in the group was respected as much as the next person in regards to songwriting, direction, tour routing, etc.” Due to that mission, and their growing popularity, Blessed has played over 200 shows across North America, including their presence last Friday evening.

At the end of the night, the event was a huge success in bringing people together to commemorate this occasion for CIVL. To find out more of what CIVL radio has to offer, visit their website at www.civl.ca, or tune into 101.7 FM.

VA 261 Film Screenings @ Room C1044 (Abbotsford Campus), 2:30 pm.

Me The Guts, The Spewers, The Dead Hits, Chaos Disorder and Panic @ Carport Manor (Abbotsford), 8:00 p.m.

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Bike Frame Building Open House @ UFV Aerospace Centre, (Abbotsford), 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

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Celtic Night with Jennie and Damian @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

J Blissette w/ The Sylvia Platters + Ian Fildes @ Vicinity Lounge (Abbotsford), 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.

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Open Mic Showcase with Raine Hamilton @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

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The Molten Blues Band Live @ The Stage in Mission, 7:00 - 11:59 p.m.

From Berlin to Hollywood @ Chilliwack Cultural Centre, 10:30 a.m. - Noon

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Indoor Yard Sale @ Abbotsford Curling Club, 8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

The Spillionaires @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Paul Pigat @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Corpse in the Castle - A Murder Mystery Event @ The Stage in Mission, 5:30 - 11:59 p.m.

UFV’s Graphic + Digital Design Portfolio Show @ Highstreet Mall (Abbotsford), 4:30 - 7:30 p.m.

CR Avery @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Book Release: Napalm Hearts by Seamus Heffernan @ Alumni Hall (Abbotsford Campus), 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Skills BC Provincial Competition @ Tradex (Abbotsford), 9:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

End of Winter Exams Celebration @ Townhall Public House (Abbotsford), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

Mayhemingways @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Chilliwack Spring 2018 Job Fair @ Coast Chilliwack Hotel, 11:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Column // Physics

Local writers //

and Folly

Tear the Earth Apart Individual

Illustration by: Simer Haer

MIKE FRIESEN STAFF WRITER

Physics and Folly applies real world science to familiar and fantastic situations. Discover the answers no one has heard, to the questions no one ever asked.

First of all, I’d like to apologize to all my readers for all the destruction I’ve put into this column so far. But then in that case I suppose I should also apologize for the following article. Today we’re not simply going to destroy the Earth, we’re going to do so in the most efficient way possible.

It is a commonly stated fact that the world’s nuclear stockpile is enough to blow up the world several times over. This fact is actually entirely untrue. And, even when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had a stockpile three times larger than we do today, we still couldn’t have blown the world up — in fact, even if we targeted all of the world’s population centres, we could never have taken out more than a couple billion humans.

And we are really, really delicate compared to this giant piece of rock hurtling around the sun. But that’s not really using our full potential.

There’s plenty of enriched uranium just sitting around in piles.

(Well, hopefully not in literal piles

— that would be bad.) If we really wanted to, we could quite possibly make about a hundred thousand fission bombs, and if each of those is the first stage in a multistage fusion bomb, we could quite possibly kill all the humans, but still not all life on Earth, and we’re not even close to destroying the planet. You know the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs? It had about 10 times more destructive power than our effort to blow up the Earth.

So, what would we really need to blow up the Earth? Well, the gravitational binding energy of the Earth is about 10^31 joules of energy, which means in order to blow the Earth into smithereens, we need about a billion times more nukes than the ridiculous amount we were trying before.

Like I said, we weren’t even close.

Well, wait a sec. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was pretty powerful — better than anything we could muster. And there are certainly bigger asteroids out there. Why don’t we just take a really big asteroid and smash it into the Earth? Well, it turns out this happened a lot in the early days of our planet, and well, here we are. As a matter of fact, it is likely that something a lot bigger than any old asteroid collided with us.

You’re familiar with the moon, right? A while ago, scientists from the Apollo missions were surprised when the moon had the same ratio of oxygen isotopes in its rock as Earth. This and several other pieces of evidence led people to believe that the moon was created by a colossal collision of a Mars-sized object with the Earth, in what is sometimes referred to as the “Big Splash.”

Because planets don’t bounce off

of each other. They splash. The molten collision fragments that remained orbiting the Earth coalesced into the moon. And yes, the Earth certainly was affected by this collision, but it still wasn’t torn apart.

No, it seems that we’re going to have to get something bigger to tear the Earth apart. If we somehow can get the Earth to pass by really closely to Jupiter (because it’s much easier to get to than the sun), the tidal forces would shred the Earth with ease. And I think the most efficient way to change the Earth’s orbit so drastically would be to deorbit Pluto just right, so that it would rear-end us at top speed, and slingshot us out toward the gas giant.

Well, a little bit towards it. It turns out we’d need 50 Plutos, and there simply isn’t that much stuff just floating around on the edge of our solar system. Really, we’d run out of planetary fuel about a quarter of the way there, and so we’d have to get the rest of the way by flinging parts of the Earth out of our gravitational well in the opposite direction — like some sort of giant planetary rocket. But that was basically our plan B anyway, to tear the planet up bit by bit, and throw it far enough away that it doesn’t come back. Using this method, it turns out our total energy savings would come to about 30–50 per cent of blowing it to smithereens.

That’s good, but there’s one last solution that requires no energy at all. Our sun will eventually turn into a red giant, expand, and swallow up the Earth. So yeah, we could have just waited it out.

experiences of identity and place in the Valley Identity and place explored during Valley (W)rites CAT FRIESEN COPY EDITOR

On Wednesday, March 28, UFV’s writer in residence, Billeh Nickerson, put on one last event at Abbotsford campus’ UHouse. Valley (W)rites: Exploring the Valley as Muse was devised to prompt those present to examine the Valley, and their relationship to it. Each speaker — Billeh Nickerson, Renee Saklikar, and Tawahum Justin Bige — considered what living in the Valley means to them, and how living here has shaped their identity.

Melissa Walter opened the event by thanking the audience, and acknowledging that the event was taking place on traditional Stó:lō territory. She then introduced the first speaker, Billeh Nickerson, who, as always, wove intense emotion with threads of humour in his lyric essay, “Skies.” In “Skies,” Billeh touched on the topics of family, AIDS, 9/11, and mortality, connecting them through the

common theme of his father’s profession as a pilot.

The next speaker, Renee Sakilgar, read the audience short fragments of poetry, punctuated by brief periods of reflection on the Valley, on growing up in New Westminster — one specific being the dozens of missing and murdered adolescents that disappeared while Sakilgar was in high school.

Through her poetry, she gives voice to and honours those who were abducted, and explores the experience of language in relation to mass murder.

The final speaker, Tawahum Justin Bige, awed the audience with rhythmic spoken-word poetry concerning colonial patriarchy, protests against the Kinder Morgan pipeline project, losing a brother to suicide, and the destruction that goes along with all of these. Tawahum’s presence and powerful words left a noticeable impact on the audience members.

The audience was left in thoughtful silence to consider the meaning of identify, how it relates to the place we reside in, our place as members of the Fraser Valley, and what we are doing to preserve this place we call home.

Literary magazine //

Louden Ten Year Launch a Success CASSIE DE JONG CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR

Thursday night in Baker House, Louden Singletree launched their newest publication. The magazine was created in 2008, and this year is celebrating 10 years. The publication assembles literary works such as poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and creative non-fiction, in addition to visual art pieces. Each piece is student created, and the journal itself is produced by a team of students.

Arriving on the evening of the launch, my eyes were met by a roomful of people, the place buzzing with excitement, and vibrating with the electricity that happens when a room full of creative individuals come to-

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gether. To the left of the entrance was a featured art piece by Cassie de Jong. A stand up lamp, naked without its shade, and a curiously adorned light bulb atop it. Throughout the night, the bulb changed, totaling six different bulbs with varying black patterns.

I spoke with de Jong about the project, and learned that it represented creativity and ideas that become shrouded by anxiety, and the fear of being judged by others. A more in-depth discussion on this beautiful piece can be found in the Louden Singletree publication.

As the night progressed, I heard a reading from a first-time contributor to the project, Chloe Redlin. I asked how she became involved in the project.

“I saw a poster on the bulletin board, and thought, why not? It’s a great option for lit-

erary students who want to try something new, get something published.” Her poem Dancing with Life can be found in this edition of the Louden Singletree.

Laurel Logan, who is on the editorial board, wore many hats in the making of this publication. “I did copy editing, I was the webmaster for checking emails, treasurer stuff, secretary stuff…” She is incredibly pleased with the way the whole project turned out. “I was so excited when we got all the boxes, and we looked at the first copy and we were just like ‘Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful.’ We think the colour came out beautiful, and the whole design is really good.

Joel [Robertson-Taylor] designed the whole thing. He put this whole thing together last minute. Definitely a team effort — a lot of people helped with this.”

This team worked hard to produce a compilation of phenomenal talent and work.

Going forward, Logan hopes that more people will become involved in this project.

“I think more people should be submitting — the more the merrier. It’s a blind reading, so we’re not even going to know who you are. UFV is such a small community anyway, and the people who submit, it’s not the entire school submitting, so everyone has a great and equal chance to get in, and it’s a great opportunity, and it’s really, really, really cool to see your work in print, in a physical copy.”

Copies of the book can be found distributed across Abbotsford campus. For more information on contributing to next year’s edition, check the UFV website. The editorial board will announce the deadline.

STUDY BREAK Crossword //

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Made by Cassie de Jong ACROSS

DOWN

4: A web browser by Google that surpasses all others.

1: The longest epic poem written in Old English.

7: An underground layer of permeable rock that can transmit or contain groundwater.

8: The power to act, speak, or think as one wants without restrictions or oppression.

10: Panels of woolen cloth patterned in various plaids, associated with a particular Scottish clan.

11: The second book in the Inheritance Cycle by author Christopher Paolini.

2: A sense of mutual trust and friendship among people who have spent a lot of time together.

3: Artists and activists André Breton, Max Ernst, and Salvador Dalí were part of a group in the mid20th century called the _ _ _.

5: A sudden and sometimes fatal occurrence of a blood clot blocking access of oxygen to the heart.

6: An iconic, giant, wrought iron lattice tower in Paris.

9: A series of bends, loops, turns, or windings in a river, stream, or other watercourse.

LAST ISSUE’S ANSWERS: Across 1: Red Flags 4: UFO 5: Hippocrates 6: Colloquialism 7: Vernal Equinox 8: Amusement Park 11: Capillaries 12: Eel 13: Emigrate

Horoscope //

Down 1: Repel 2: Fortune Teller 3: Sushi 9: Uncle 10: Puree

The pessimistic realist’s horoscope by Joel Robertson-Taylor

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 You are independent and courageous — but only if you chose to be. That’s the trick.

Courage doesn’t just happen; we tend to call that stupidity. Try this on for size: think hard about any reservations you have for the upcoming week and month, then take an informed approach.

Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 The bull, or something. Hey, what if this was the last week you have to live? Are you where you should be? Why not? Sure, there’s a balancing act to investing into the future vs. living in the now. But what if you get hit by a Scorpio driving a semi-truck next Saturday?

Think about it.

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 Being talkative is a gift and a curse. Mostly it’s a curse because whether Gemini or not, people with the gift of gab don’t often realize that it can be exercised and trained. What should you do? Learn to navigate social situations. There’s a lull in conversation?

Get it going again, and make people feel comfortable. For the rest of the time, ask others about their opinions. I’m sure you’re not the only one with them.

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 Apparently you enjoy security and adventure.

You’re a paradox. You know what else is a paradox? Oscar Wilde’s “I can resist anything but temptation.” Someone in control of their life identifies temptation and resists it. Do that, work hard, make a five-year plan, and you might actually accomplish your goals.

Illustration by: Amara Gelaude

Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 I think you should remember to thank those who’ve helped you along your journey. Maybe that’s a parent, a sibling, a mentor. Call them up, or pay them a visit; a text is no good.

Sincerely thank them for believing in you.

Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 If you’ve got even the slightest idea of what you’d like to achieve this week, get to it. You don’t have to know everything, just enough to make the first step. Miraculously, you learn something new every step forward.

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 Sometimes you get stuck in your head. Better you than me, I say. You know why? Your head is full of Netflix shows, internet memes, and useless trivia. Read some poetry.

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 Who are you? If you can’t answer that with the utmost accuracy, you’ll live out someone else’s expectations for you. You’ll be lost in the crowd of someone else’s dream and their vision for success. Who you are is simple: it’s who you’re going to be.

Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 This week will likely get away from you. Take a moment to plot out your to-dos and priorities.

Rank them A, B, C, D… etc., and don’t move onto B until you’re done A. Don’t move on to C until you’re done B, and so forth. Everytime you’re presented with a new task, add it to the queue.

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 Addictions take far more forms than society likes to pretend. Here’s a list of socially acceptable ones: TV, coffee, mindlessly swiping around on your phone, praise, workaholism, shopping, gymming, pornography, video games, adrenaline. Any of these sound familiar?

Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 Take a tally of all the criticisms you get this week. Take a tally of the criticisms you get next week. Do the same for the week following. If you start to see a trend, consider the implications.

Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 The best way to get what you want is to go get it. Research may be involved. Want to know what isn’t? Sending your hopes “out to the universe.” That’ll be as effective as getting them tattooed on your face, unless your hope is to never work a legitimate job again.

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ARTS

Martin Castro — Arts Editor

arts@ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Band Interview //

Q&A with 54-40 CHARTS 1 2

CHRIS-A-RIFFIC Post-Season

OUGHT Room Inside the World

3

LOOK VIBRANT The Up Here Place

4

THE GARRYS Surf Manitou

5

CRYSTAL SHAWANDA Voodoo Woman

6

PALE RED Heavy Petting

7

CASINOS S/T

8

PAINTED FRUITS PF II

9

SLOAN Spin Our Wheels

10

HOT SNAKES Jericho Sirens

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WEIRD THINKING  Years Later

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SUE FOLEY    The Ice Queen   TOUGH CUSTOMER Rockgasm

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THE SUBMISSIVES  Pining for a Boy  YO LA TENGO   There’s a Riot Going On 

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THE SUMNER BROTHERS  To Elliot - In Remembrance of Wolf

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REVEREND FREAKCHILD Dial It In

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KELLARISSA  Ocean Electro  

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MOUNT EERIE  Now Only 

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JAGUAR KNIGHT Unknown Futures

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SHUFFLE AARON LEVY DAISY/PAPER PUSHER

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy saw the station celebrate their 10th anniversary the same week as a band 35+ years strong stopped into the studio, including a guitar player who rocked this paper pusher’s teenaged years nearly 20 of ‘em ago, so here’s a shuffle to recognize all that.

54-40 — “Since When” A comeback of sorts for this Canrock mainstay. Appearing on one of several albums they released in the 90s, this one takes a decidedly optimistic outlook, encouraging you to “be a believer,” and that “love can be beautiful,” and then asking “Since when did it matter if the outside world fit in?”

You Say Party! — “Midnight Snack” My thoughts waking up during the night: “What you doin’ tonight?

What you doin’ tonight? / I don’t know I ain’t got no midnight snack / I don’t know I ain’t got no midnight snack / I don’t know I ain’t got no midnight snack / I don’t know I ain’t got no midnight snack.”

Matthew Good Band — “Change of Season” “I feel like I’m losing for money / I feel like I’m losing for free / I feel older than the dead angel on my shoulder claims to be / I feel like drinking and driving / I feel like running into walls / swimming in your apathy / as a kinda parody for miles and...”

Kristin Witko — “Hausfrau” This song seems to be criticizing the standard hetero-normative relationship homelife work delineation, before and after the repeated proto-masculine cycle of “put me down, then you pick another,” where she laments, “I cook the meals for another man.” It’s the coming out party that’s been decades in the making now!

October. Is this pattern coincidental? Or is there someDo either of you have a CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR thing special about that par- guilty pleasure artist you 54-40 is arguably one of the best ticular venue during that shamefully listen to? classic rock outfits to have come particular month?

Neil: Not really no. out of BC. The band is responNeil: Well it’s ThanksgivDave: I don’t really feel guilt. sible for iconic titles Ocean Pearl and I Go Blind. They originally ing, so that’s kind of why we do One thing I have found is that hail from Tsawwassen, which is it. We’ve done that Thanksgiv- music that I hated in my teens, I pretty close to home for classic ing weekend for years and years now see some value in it.

Neil: Yeah, [the band] actually rock fans of the BC lower main- now. It was our dream to play the land. Last Thursday the 29th, Commodore, so we achieved our has a few games. One of them is frontman and vocalist Neil Os- dream fairly early, and we re-live discussing which music has sort borne and guitarist Dave Genn it. We’ve played there more than of stood the test of time and what made an appearance at CIVL anybody on record. It’s fun, it’s a hasn’t. Queen has to a large degree, and then Ted Nugent hasn’t.

Radio office in the student union fun time, it’s a good show.

Dave: Incidentally the first Another game we play a lot is building. Genn is the most recent addition to band, joining in 2005 time I saw the band play was at called Sophie’s choice, where if I after playing in the Matthew the Commodore. That was in was to say to you “Beatles or The Good Band between 1995 and 1989 when I was 20 years old and Rolling Stones?”, you have to pick now I get to play the Commodore one, and the other get relegated 2001.

We were able to participate all the time with the band. So as if it never existed. Its harsh, The Cure or The Smiths who are in the podcast hosted by CIVL’s that’s more dreams come true. you gonna lose?

Harry Doupe, and gather a few In fact, you were the first Dave: We can play this game insights into the band’s road life show when it re-opened af- for hours and hours and hours. and other quirky tidbits. ter three years of being shut Neil: We do it all the time.

Do you have any fun road in November 1999.

If you had to pick one thing stories?

Neil: Yeah, after they renovated about the band for fans to reDave: It’s interesting because it and all that. I miss the old smell member you by, what would that is a common question, and of beer and barf that used to per- it be? we never seem to have an answer meate throughout the place.

Dave: Let’s bring that back.

Neil: Well, the songs. even though it gets asked quite Neil: It is back. It is coming Dave: the band has been able often. to survive as long as it has on Neil: I mean every story is kind back. it’s catalogue. It’s funny, we had of weird.

What are you guys all lis- a meeting in Toronto years back Dave: Being on the road is kind where we were looking for differof like ‘Groundhog Gig’. I know tening to right now? ent ways to market and brand the it’s a bit of a cliché to talk about Neil: I’m listening to a guy band. So we met with a branding how you lose track of time [on tour]. You don’t know what day named Marlon Williams from expert who worked outside of the it is, you don’t know what city New Zealand. He’s kind of an al- music industry. He was talking you’re in. But it is literally true. ternative crooner type guy. I like about how important it is to have After about a week on the road what he’s doing. What are you lis- a short concise statement about your brand. So he said we have to you don’t know what day of the tening to Dave?

Dave: Well I have three young come up with a statement about week it is, you don’t know where you are, you can barely remember children so a lot of Paw Patrol. 54-40 that sums up the essence of the name of the guy sitting beside They’ve grown out of Barney. our brand.

Neil: I must have missed this you. But, for some reason once Barneys’ not very cool anymore. you get up on stage and some- But when we get in the van, I turn meeting.

Dave: Well we discussed it body puts a guitar in your hand on the radio and hey will not let everything seems to come back me put it on any station except quite a bit in the van, and we for the most part. I think that the for Hits1, so it’s just a non-stop thought about what people say rock and roll stories of lore from barrage of top twenty computer when they come to our shows, Hammer of the Gods or Motley made robot voices. For some rea- and the thing we hear the most is, Crue or whatever, those are dif- son, I’m starting to warm up to it. “I had no idea you guys played so Neil: You’re starting to hum many songs that I know.” Which ferent bands than 54-40. Our is kind of a blessing and a curse. idea of a good time is a nice hotel along aren’t ya?

Dave: Yeah exactly. Familiarity Its testament to the fact that we lounge, a cold lager, a good dinapparently does not breed con- have this catalogue and so many ner, and a nap. tempt. songs that people are familiar Neil: Naps are critical. with, and that people love. But on Dave: I’m gonna be having a Exactly, and if you’re cap- the other hand, they haven’t necnap in half in hour. tive to it for long enough you essarily put a band name or a face Neil: Lucky start falling in love with it. to those songs.

If you could tour with any Dave: Captive is a very good artist, dead or alive, who word for child rearing.

54-40 has remained pretty lowould you tour with?

Neil: Oh! Do you know what the cal to BC for the past few months, Neil: Dead or alive? Oh I’d pick greatest song in the world is right but are heading out to Ontario now? ‘Parked out by the Lake’, it’s this June. The band will be playJimi Hendrix. a country song by Dean Summer- ing the Commodore Ballroom in Dave: The Beatles wind. Especially the lyrics. Check Vancouver again this October 5th and 6th. You can listen to the I’ve noticed you guys seem it out. full CIVL Radio podcast with 54to have a tradition of playing 40 on their website www.civl.ca the Commodore Ballroom in

CASSIE DE JONG

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Podcast Review //

A Podcast of Mythological Proportions

stole fire from the gods, and was doomed to have his liver eaten everyday by an eagle STAFF WRITER for the rest of his life.

The podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, I am a bit of a language nerd. When you fall in love with the language of a place, Baby delivers a newfangled way of relating it is almost inevitable that you fall in love to old tales. Its website claims that Myths, with its stories. Kind of like when you fall Baby is “...a Greek and Roman mythology in love with a person, you end up with all podcast, wherein a mythology geek tells of their history, too. So, when I learned an- stories of different myths in an honest, libcient greek, I hopped right on board with eral, feminist, millennial kind of way.” Let me tell you, she delivers on that promise.

Greek mythology.

Liv Albert researches and hosts each But it isn’t always easy to discover a fresh telling of ancient stories. Much of myth podcast. She is blunt, on point, and Greek mythology is similar to Roman my- funny when she discusses each story. And thology, since Rome “borrowed” all their I don’t say that lightly. It’s easy to say good ideas from the Greeks. So Rome’s something is funny, it’s another thing to version is about as fresh as it gets. How- literally guffaw out loud at a joke. Which I ever, all of Rome managed to keep their did, numerous times. She hasn’t been dolivers, despite their thieving of something ing this too long, only since summer 2017, precious. Unlike poor Prometheus who but she is killing it.

Each episode varies in length, so wheth-

JEN KLASSEN

er you are rushing between classes, or driving the long way home, there’s a myth for that. Which is great since all the names of individuals during this time period sound similar. Combine that fact with all of the other knowledge I’m expected to know for class, it means I don’t have to stop halfway through one, try and pick it up later, only to be confused which horndog god slept with whose wife.The episodes aren’t uploaded on any sort of regular basis, so be sure to check in periodically to see if a new podcast has been added to the list.

Be mindful that there is some swearing peppered throughout each episode. So if you still live at home and have conservative parents with hawk-like ears, just beware. But, really, if you are studying mythology at all, you are aware that there are more obscene occurrences in the tales that far outweigh a little bit of swearing. Seri-

ously, how many kids does Zeus have?

Since she’s new to the podcast world, Liv’s cadence is still a little sing-songy. She sounds slightly like an actor performing lines they haven’t memorized. At times it detracts from the authenticity and passion she has about the topic. Despite that, she delivers a fantastic narrative that never ceases to entertain.

Overall, I enjoyed Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby. Anyone who enjoys learning about mythology needs to give this girl a listen. I am thankful that Greek and Roman mythology has found a prominent and refreshing voice in Liv. She is an individual that I would happily geek out with her over ouzo, discussing the intricacies of Greek myths, both its heroes and villains.

Album Review //

Frankie Cosmos opens up even more on Vessel MARTIN CASTRO ARTS EDITOR

Frankie Cosmos, (which started out as a solo project for New Yorker Greta Kline) has built up a reputation for putting out soft-rocking hits that continually walk along the tightrope edge between seemingly off-the-cuff introspection and twee melodies which hook us in within seconds.

2016’s Next Thing for example championed a kind of unintentionally lucid diary, whose entries, (like “Fool” – a song about being stood up) gave us insight into the young adulthood of a writer who remarkably managed to find a temporary home in the practice of standing on the boundaries between things.

By comparison, Vessel is decidedly more energetic at first glance. “Apathy”, one of the record’s leading singles, bursts out with an energy that, while not overwhelming by any standards, surpasses that of most tracks on Next Thing.

Also symptomatic of Vessel is “Apathy”’s lyrical content, which to an extent carries on throughout the record. Somewhat dejected, Kline sings through the end of a relationship which seems to have simply sputtered out.

The operative state of being for Kline throughout Vessel, it seems, is being kind of lost in the soup of it all. But, on tracks like “As Often as I Can”, it’s clear that instead of lashing out against the lack of context for the emotional, physical, and social changes she faces, Kline turns towards a

less violent form of caring that spills out from herself and out towards the people around her.

True to form, she addresses this some songs later in the punchy “Accommodate”, wherein Kline sings on top of a catchy, energetic rock backing: “My body is a burden / I’m always yearning / To be less accommodating / To say out loud how I’m feeling.”

And although the instrumental backing for many of the tracks on Vessel is incredibly danceable, the lyrical content turns out to (logically) be an evolutionary descendant of the content on Next Thing: somewhat unsure of itself, trying to find a way to air its own insecurities while trying to avoid supplication. (“I just want to know that I would walk away from wrong”, Kline sings one track later.)

Although there’s more content on the record than there was on its predecessor, the tracks (which rarely last for a full two minutes) end up coming together to assert a kind of distanced reluctance on Kline’s part to participate in the song-and-dance of living. On “Cafeteria”, for example, she confides in us (more out of desperation, I imagine, than trust): “I will never be touched. Never get fucked. And I wonder what makes me so wrong?”

In the end, Kline’s willingness to open up about her own destitution as she attempts to figure it all out brings her closer, we can only hope, to some form of solace. If only by proxy, it brings us closer to reconciling our own insecurities and shortcomings

after seeing evidence of so similar a set of preoccupations passively wreaking havoc on someone else.

I’ll be damned if that’s not worth something in and of itself. While she might hold in contempt a nameless public that thinks

of her as simply a vessel for her art, Vessel succeeds in communicating more than just an abstraction of a person, it communicates their wholeness by highlighting their emotional reaction to life as opposed to their life itself.

“An emotional earthquake... a magnificent drama. A play with the power to wrench the heart.” ~New York Mirror

Production Presenting Sponsor:

Abbotsford Arts Centre April 6 –14

The Incredible Story of Helen Keller

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The Miracle Worker is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

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