NOVEMBER 7 TO NOVEMBER 14, 2018
VOLUME 26 ISSUE 28
Leaving class at the break since 1993
Campus gas reduction
pg.4 Abbotsford campus will reduce use
Play Preview
UFV’s upcoming pg. 13 production of rocks
Washington Black
A book review
pg. 17
WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
Opinion Editor Jeff Mijo-Burch jeff@ufvcascade.ca
Production Assistant Renée Campbell renee@ufvcascade.ca
Features Editor Jen Klassen jen@ufvcascade.ca
Multimedia Editor Mikaela Collins mikaela@ufvcascade.ca
Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca
Online Editor Jeff Mijo-Burch jeff@ufvcascade.ca
News Writer Edina Balint edina@ufvcascade.ca
Social Media Coordinator Anjuman Grewal anjuman@ufvcascade.ca
Social Media Writer Laurel Logan laurel@ufvcascade.ca
Illustrator Kayt Hine Illustrator Simer Haer Illustrator Cory Jensen
Sports Writer Alexander Jesus
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Staff Writer Emmaline Spencer Staff Writer Nadia Tudhope
THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Uyen Nguyen
Cover Artwork: Kayt Hine Back Cover: Advertisement
WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA
@UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/UFVCASCADE Volume 26 · Issue 28 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 Monday at 2:00 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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Culture & Events Editor Cassie de Jong cassie@ufvcascade.ca
ARTS
Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca
OPINION
Production Manager Caleb Campbell caleb@ufvcascade.ca
NEWS
News Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca
CONTENTS
FEATURE
Business Manager Quintin Stamler quintin@ufvcascade.ca
Managing Editor Cat Friesen cat@ufvcascade.ca
CULTURE
Editor-in-Chief Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca
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Snapshots.......8
15.......Study Break
Events Calendar.......12
17.......CIVL Shuffle
Electric vehicle.......3
NEWS
4.......Natural gas reduction
A greener campus.......4 The campus caffeine craze.......6
5.......Professor Profile OPINION
Should university be free for all.......7
6.......Responsibility with refugees 7.......Editorial
CULTURE Play Preview: Rocks......13
13.......UFV graduate Q&A
House of Horrors at UFV.......14 SPORTS UFV men's and women's Volleyball.......16
16.......UFV men's soccer
ARTS Too many question marks.......17
Adventures in New America. ......18
18.......A thrilling thriller has returned 19....... Bad times at the El Royale
news@ufvcascade.ca Jessica Barclay — News Editor
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
NEWS
UFV sustainability //
NEWS BRIEFS
UFV adds first electric vehicle to its facilities fleet Gas guzzling lemon retires, replaced with EV
Investigation to occur over suspension of TRU professor The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has announced they will be looking into the suspension of Thompson River University (TRU) professor Derek Pyne. Pyne was suspended in July over what he claims was retaliation to criticism of his colleagues for publishing in disreputable journals with a limited peer review process. The criticism was published in a peer-reviewed paper on the rewards of publishing in predatory vs. traditional journals. “Our investigation is going to look at whether or not that is the case. If it is, it would be a serious infringement of academic freedom,” said CAUT executive director David Robinson. -CBC News
Telegraph Creek residents to return home after three months evacuation Residents of a Northern B.C. community ravaged by the massive Alkali Lake wildfires are expected to begin returning home, with an initial group of the 300 individuals displaced returning on Nov. 15 and the remaining returning around Dec. 20. The Telegraph Creek community was under evacuation orders in August. The wildfires destroyed 27 structures, including 21 homes, a daycare, and a church. Most of the structures left standing have significant fire and smoke damage. “The Tahltan Nation itself incurred the worst structural damage caused by wildfires of any First Nations community in recorded Canadian history,” Canada’s minister of Indigenous Services, Jane Philpott, wrote. -Abbotsford News
UFV's new Electric car. (UFV Today)
JESSICA BARCLAY NEWS EDITOR
UFV has added a 2015 Nissan Leaf, a fully electric vehicle (EV), to the UFV facilities fleet to replace a retiring work van in their continued attempt to promote sustainable operations. Blair McFarlane, UFV’s energy manager, explained that the retiring van had been a lemon since the day it was purchased, riddled with defects. When reviewing and filing gas receipts, McFarlane found that the van cost the university $5,300 in fuel in 2017 — about 28.8 per cent of the fleet’s fuel costs. “The numbers started to just jump out and say, okay, this is the time to make that transition to electric vehicles, so we can offset carbon emissions, so we don’t need to continuously make these fuel purchases, and we can also be a leader in the community,” McFarlane said. The retiring van was driven 25,000 km over the last year. It would cost the new EV $430 in electricity fees to cover the same distance, compared to the $5,300 in fuel for the van. With the reduction in fuel costs, elimination of
oil change fees, and reduction of carbon tax, McFarlane estimated that the EV could pay for itself from savings in 4.6 years. In addition to financial savings from the EV, the visibility of the UFV brand on an electric car out in the community is another positive of the purchase, according to McFarlane. The EV can be seen driving to and from UFV’s campuses sporting a bright green paint job, complete with UFV branding. “If you look at our vision and values, it outlines our role within the community to be environmentally responsible and sustainable in our operations,” said McFarlane. “We’re doing our best to live up to that and this is one key component, transportation, to move towards being more sustainable and reducing our environmental impact.” One of the four road-licensed vehicles in the UFV fleet, the EV will be used by the facilities department for transporting people and materials between UFV campuses. While it is smaller than the van it is replacing, McFarlane said the EV has been more than adequate at its job so far. “One of the original
thoughts was to partner with trades and see if we can build a platform instead of having back seats,” McFarlane said. “That's an idea that we're still toying with and just looking for the right opportunity. But as it stands, the vehicle has been very functional for its intended purposes.” In addition to the EV, the fleet includes two grounds trucks, a shipping van, and a cube van, which can be used to transport materials of equipment that wont fit in the EV. McFarlane hopes to see the UFV fleet fully electric, but direct replacements for these vehicles is currently out of UFV’s price range. McFarlane emphasized, though, that switching over to sustainable practices is a short-term goal of UFV’s, not a long-term goal, and switching over to sustainable transport options is part of this process. “We certainly can't continue to wait for these technologies to become more readily available or prevalent. We need to be leaders within our community because the longer we wait, the larger the problems are with the air quality, climate change, cost of operations, you name
it. We need to continue to act and act rapidly,” McFarlane said. Throughout the UFV campuses, there are currently a total of 11 level one charging stations, which take between 12 and 14 hours to charge a single vehicle, and six level two stations, which can each charge two vehicles in four to six hours. Parking times at the level two stations are restricted, meaning that multiple electric cars can be charged there each day. UFV has recently added two new level two charging stations, one at the Chilliwack campus and one at the Abbotsford campus, with more being planned for the future. McFarlane roughly estimated that UFV has 30 to 35 drivers with electric vehicles on campus, and demand is increasing for charging stations. “We're having a hard time keeping up with demand because that group of drivers keeps expanding,” McFarlane said. “So, we are going to keep looking for key locations and good opportunities to further support that transition to low-carbon transportation.”
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NEWS
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
UFV //
Abbotsford campus expected to continue on natural gas restriction 'Layer up, enjoy warm beverages, and think of Hawaii.' JESSICA BARCLAY NEWS EDITOR
With colder weather on its way, UFV faculty, staff, and students are being encouraged to bundle up while at the Abbotsford campus. Although the natural gas pipeline damaged in an explosion earlier in October plans to return to 80 per cent capacity, natural gas consumption restrictions will still be in place for many consumers. With the natural gas supply not being restored to its full capacity, and with no estimated date for when it will be, those at UFV should expect a continued reduction to heating at the Abbotsford campus. Buildings are expected to be colder in the morning, and take longer to heat up. “I think it’s expected that because pipelines are operating at only 80 per cent capacity, and of course during the winter months you need 100 per cent to supply the West Coast with heat, we’ll have to reduce our consumption maybe by 20 per cent as well,” Blair McFarlane, UFV’s energy manager, said. The Enbridge-owned natural gas pipeline near Prince George was shut down on Oct. 9 after the pipeline ruptured, causing
the escaping gas to ignite into a huge fireball. A nearby, smaller pipeline was temporarily shut down as damaged were accessed, but was later returned to 80% operating capacity. The pipeline supplies FortisBC with nearly three-quarters of its natural gas supply. Repairs to the pipeline are complete, but the company plans to run the pipeline as well as the smaller nearby pipeline at a limited capacity, around 80 per cent, over the coming months. When the explosion first occurred, FortisBC mandated that certain businesses, based on their natural gas use rate class, reduce their natural gas use to as close to zero as possible. The Abbotsford UFV campus was on the list and complied with the mandate, reducing their natural gas consumption by 57 per cent. “We're heating in the mornings a little bit just to take the edge off, and we're maintaining some heating systems to keep our commercial operations open,” McFarlane said. A stretch of unseasonably warm weather helped buildings maintain their temperature during the last month, with many spaces dropping no more than two degrees below
their normal without the need for supplementary heat. Because of a technicality, the Chilliwack campus was not required to put in place the same restrictions on its natural gas consumption. The Abbotsford campus buildings use one meter, and so are on one FortisBC account. The Chilliwack buildings have several meters, and several different accounts, making the entire campus a much lower consumer in the eyes of FortisBC. McFarlane said that UFV has no plans to reduce natural gas use on the Chilliwack campus, unless directly asked to by FortisBC. The buildings, he said, are already operating with high efficiency and UFV is looking to support student success and keep everyone comfortable over the winter. “We already optimize all buildings to their maximum capacity. We use high-efficiency equipment and we ensure that equipment is not working after hours or starting up too early in the morning,” McFarlane said. “We’re doing our best to be as environmentally responsible with our heating and natural gas consumption as possible.” A layered up student enjoying a warm beverage and thinking of Hawaii. (Unsplash)
UFV sustainability //
Working towards a greener campus
UFV’s annual waste audit NADIA TUDHOPE STAFF WRITER
By converting the waste bins in the bathrooms from landfill to organics, SustainableUFV has reduced landfill waste by 10 per cent, as shown by their annual waste audit. This year’s waste audit demonstrated the effectiveness of the changes SustainableUFV has implemented in the past year. In the audit, Sustainable UFV dissects each waste stream (organic, landfill, refundables, and mixed recycling) to examine how effective people are in allocating their waste into the correct stream, and from that can determine where to focus their programming moving forward. “Through the waste audit, we’re trying to see how our projects have impacted how people are allocating their waste — are they allocating it sustainably, are they
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putting it into the appropriate waste,” said Blair McFarlane, UFV’s energy manager. Results in this year’s waste audit have shown that UFV has been slightly cleaner, with each bin containing more of its intended composition rather than waste that does not belong. Overall, there are only slight changes in the total amount of waste produced for all streams. However, this year’s waste audit did reveal a 24 per cent decrease in the amount of organics that end up in the landfill bin rather than their designated waste receptacle. Before this year, SustainableUFV found that the majority of the landfill stream consisted of organics products that could have been composted. “When we’re comparing 2017’s waste audit to 2018’s, a lot is exactly the same, except we transitioned the washrooms from diverting that waste into the landfill
to diverting that into a compost facility. That, and education,” said McFarlane. SustainableUFV has attended every student union event possible to help educate students on proper waste disposal. By bringing clarity and cohesiveness to proper waste disposal, they seek to increase participation in sustainability. According to Sharisse Birk, student sustainability coordinator, sustainability comes down to the choice of the consumer. UFV seeks to support businesses with compostable products and sustainable business operations. Dana Hospitality (UFV’s food services provider), Fair Grounds, and Spirit Bear Café all use compostable cups, though Tim Hortons does not. Tim Hortons lacks compostable oneuse products, and while their cups may be recyclable, the lids are not. The need to separate sleeves, cups, and lids to dis-
pose of them properly acts as a barrier for many when it comes to putting waste into the correct receptacle. “We consistently see Tim Hortons as a big source of waste, much of which can’t be recycled, and which certainly can’t be composted, so it’s going into the landfill, and it’s a bit disheartening to go through 165 kilograms of waste and constantly see the same brand over and over and over again,” McFarlane stated. Consumer choice does not necessarily mean boycotting Tim Hortons in support of sustainability, though — McFarlane and Birk encourage consumers to make the choice to bring reusable mugs in the absence of compostable one-use cups. “I just want to encourage everyone to participate in the sustainable revolution — it’s happening, it’s here at UFV, and you can join and participate and be active at SustainableUFV,” said McFarlane.
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
Q&A //
Professor Profile: Alex Wetmore tive stand-up specials on Netflix, HBO, and other platforms. Tell me about your current research.
Professor Alex Wetmore. (Wendy Bickis)
CAT FRIESEN
MANAGING EDITOR
Alex Wetmore, PhD, is an assistant professor of English at UFV. He holds a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of English, from the University of Toronto. At present, he’s the faculty-student liaison for UFV’s English Student Association, and helps organize the Scholarly Sharing Initiative (SSI), a series of monthly meetings — open to all UFV members — where faculty share their current research. What first made you want to teach university-level English? I had some great English professors in my undergrad at Concordia. I would love to give credit to Nichola Nixon and Marcie Frank, among others, for stoking my interest in literature, supporting my work, and encouraging me to apply to graduate school when I didn’t even really know there were degrees and programs to take beyond a bachelor’s. I
also would like to give credit to Don Dedrick, with whom I took upper-year philosophy courses on cognitive science and the philosophy of the mind. I think it was really when I started seeing connections between the issues we were talking about in English classes (around literary theory, language and culture), and what I was learning about in a new discipline (around minds, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics), that I started aspiring to stay in universities as long as they would let me hang around, and see if I could make a living at it somehow. I know you’re doing a lot — including the English Student’s Association and the Scholarly Sharing Initiative — but what’s getting you most excited right now? I’m working on a new course for Winter 2018 titled “Laughing Matters — The Rhetoric of Stand-up Comedy” (ENGL 271). To give some background, we’ve been developing a new
shell course to introduce students to the age-old (but still relevant and changing) field of rhetoric — which studies, what makes linguistic expression effective, powerful, and persuasive — by looking at popular culture and contemporary issues. I am excited to say that the course just got approved by UFV, and I also get to run the first version of it this winter, which will study the language and structure of stand-up comedy. I’ve always found standup a fascinating art form, and it offers a lot of chances to talk about the power of words, of oratory and public speaking (which is where the field of rhetoric originated, incidentally), and, of course, to talk about humour, comedy, and why people laugh. Stand-up comedy has also enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, both in terms of popularity and critical acclaim, with a growing “comedy nerd” fan culture, comedy podcasts and interview shows taking the medium and its performers seriously, and a recent wave of widely discussed and innova-
I’m presenting at the next Scholarly Sharing Initiative (SSI), on Nov. 19, on my recent research into the connections between technological devices, emotion, and subjectivity, with a specific focus on how these things intersected in the Age of Enlightenment (even more specifically, 18th-century Britain). My latest work looks at what was a new invention in that era — the barometer — and how it evolved into a common metaphor for human emotional sensitivity. A student researcher helped me with some of the research, Rachel Bodnariuc, who has since gone on to pursue a master’s at SFU, and she will come talk about her own experience and reflections on research and material she uncovered. More long term, I’m also working on a “digital humanities” project, with fellow UFV English professor Heather McAlpine, on the rise of spa towns and natural springs as health resorts and commercial tourist destinations in Britain and beyond. Like watching stand-up comedy, visiting spa towns and “taking the waters” can seem a frivolous activity and therefore unimportant, but in fact had a perhaps underappreciated cultural significance. Some of the first libraries and bookshops outside of London were at British spa towns, many famous authors visited or lived in spa towns like Bath and Harrogate, and these spaces helped develop a fashionable cultural turn toward feeling in the 1700s, as people in Britain began to embrace their sensitivity and delicate nerves as part of their identity and personality, moving away from more rationalist views of the self. This comes through in the early poetry and cultural representations of these spaces devoted to health, leisure, nature, and recuperation. On the more fun side, there has been some talk about “Riverdale 2.0” in the winter term, possibly in collaboration with the upcoming Valleyfest. Last year, I played a small role in a fun “pop-up” conference at UFV on the popular TV show Riverdale, which is filmed in the area. People from a number of departments, as well as photographers, former students, casting agents, and others also participated in our “semi-academic” exploration of the show and of the Archie universe. We even received some media coverage beyond The
Cascade. With a new season, and the new affiliated Sabrina series on Netflix, there is plenty to talk about. What’s your favourite part of being an English professor? I feel I need to begin this answer by acknowledging first that the academic job market is unfair and abysmal, and too many highlyqualified scholars live off of too little pay and precarious income without sufficient benefits. This is an industry-wide problem and not in any way unique to UFV, so before I talk in glowing terms about the pleasures of being a professor, I want to acknowledge this reality as well as my comparative good fortune as a full-time tenuretrack assistant professor. Part of that good fortune is that, beyond a regular paycheque, I get to read and teach interesting, strange, beautiful, provocative texts as part of my livelihood. What’s better than that? I also get to ask big questions of our engaged and curious students about the importance and transformative power of art, our relationship to culture and community, and the ways in which literary texts, narratives, and language impact our sense of self, of the past, of society, of our surrounding world. I get to have an intellectually fulfilling career, while also feeling like I am helping students go into the world as critically-engaged, active citizens with new tools for understanding the world and contributing to it. I hope, in a modest way, my work helps people and also helps the wider community become more knowledgeable and understanding of themselves, their world, and each other. What’s one book you would recommend right now? There are so many good books — it’s really hard to narrow down. We just had a whole bunch of amazing Canadian authors, many of whom are based here in the Lower Mainland, come to UFV for the Fraser Valley Literary Festival, and I picked up a few books there. I would recommend anything by those authors, and by our recent writers-in-residence. Jen Sookfong Lee is both a former UFV writerin-residence and participant at the festival, so I’ll recommend her novel The Conjoined, which I bought at the fest and am enjoying a great deal. She also hosts a fun literary podcast called “Can’t Lit,” by the way.
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OPINION OPINION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018 opinion@ufvcascade.ca
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
Jeff Mijo-Burch — Opinion Editor
Campus Coffee //
The campus caffeine craze CARISSA WIENS STAFF WRITER
Coffee consumption is a must in order to survive university. At the Abbotsford campus there are four different locations to purchase it from. Three of the locations have different prices, beans, and drink options. I was curious why students choose one location to buy coffee from instead of another so I took to the campus to ask students what influenced their coffee decisions. My investigation revealed that most students have a specific spot they go to for coffee and are unwilling to switch it up unless absolutely necessary. Many of their choices rely on convenience. Jess Enns, a fourth-year psych student, purchases her caffeine from Fair Grounds in the Student Union Building because she parks nearby. She also prefers this location because they offer Americanos, which she favours over drip
coffee. Another supporter of Fair Grounds is Rachel, a second-year English student. “It’s the highest quality of coffee, aka most like Starbucks. I’ve gone to Tim’s once or twice but it just doesn’t fulfill my coffee needs … so if I go to Tims it’s for food or tea, rarely coffee,” Rachel Macarie argues. Alongside Fair Grounds’ 12 oz. drip for the low fare of $1.85, their coffee beans are fair trade and organic. If one isn’t into coffee, Fair Grounds also offers other selections like London fogs, smoothies, and chai lattes, providing us with a more hand-crafted, cafélike presence on campus. Even though Rachel goes to Tim Hortons for the food, Kaitlyn, a fourth-year geography student, hits Tims for the French vanillas. “Sometimes I’ll go for a bagel as well,” Kaitlyn Schmidt noted. The location is also convenient for her because, “it’s a bit closer to
where my classes are this semester.” Jared, a second year business student, finds the Tim’s location convenient too because he’s usually studying in the library, and this Canadian coffee hot spot is a quick walk over for him. In addition, Tim’s prices are not to be beat. Their regular, decaf, and dark roast comes to $1.52 for a small (10 oz.), and their medium (14 oz.) goes for $1.81. A little more expensive than Tim’s or Fair Grounds, the Cascades cafeteria in B building offers coffee from Spirit Bear Coffee, which is roasted in Port Coquitlam. It is also organic and fair trade. Another great thing about Spirit Bear is that the company is run by indigenous peoples and all of the earnings go back into their communities. A 12 oz. cup goes for $2.15, and it’s advised to bring your own mug or else you will get charged an extra $0.25 for a paper cup and lid. With all of my classes this se-
Coffee eggs. (Unsplash)
mester in B building and the west side of A building, it’s pretty convenient for me. Even though I have to dump an extravagant amount of cream in the caf’s coffee to make it bearable plus pay a bit extra, it saves me the walk across campus in the rain to get coffee at Fairgrounds. Tucked on the east end of A building, the Spirit Bear Café is another option for students to get coffee from. They don’t have as wide of a drink selection as Fair
Grounds, but they offer the staples using the same coffee as the caf with the same prices. With the prices for drip coffee all quite similar and the quality decent but not amazing, the choice for where to purchase coffee on campus often comes down to location. As students we can accept this because the four coffee locations on campus are fairly spread out, making it easily accessible for most of the student and faculty population.
Politics //
What is our responsibility with refugees? Should Canada welcome more refugees and asylum-seekers with open arms?
Two flags. (Wikimedia Commons)
UYEN NGUYEN CONTRIBUTOR
On Jan. 28, 2017, Justin Trudeau tweeted: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.” In the 18 months since Justin Trudeau tweeted that, Canada has seen an influx of people entering by land, crossing the border from the United States between official entry points. The number of new claims for refugee status recorded by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) in 2017 was the highest number (50,000 refugee claimants) since record-keeping began in 1989. On a monthly basis, the recent peak was in August 2017, with an average of 184 asylum seekers a day. Canada screens all asylum seekers who cross into the country at designated border check-
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points. But across the northeastern United States, there are “unofficial” border crossings: towns that straddle the border, roads that run from upstate New York into Quebec, and unprotected forest areas where immigrants can simply cross through to Canadian soil. Once they’re through an “unofficial” border crossing, immigrants can request asylum, and the Canadian government promises they may stay in Canada while their case is investigated, sometimes up to two years, according to Toronto immigration lawyers Lorne Waldman and Max Berger, in an interview with the Toronto Star. According to Reuters, Canada’s refugee system is now in “turmoil” as more than 20,000 undocumented immigrants have jumped the U.S. border into Canada, “including thousands of Haitians and Nigerians and hundreds of Turks, Syrians, and Eritreans” who are trying to avoid
having to navigate Trump’s immigration system. Recently, Canadian immigration officials have determined that the United States remains a safe country for asylum seekers, despite the Trump executive orders regarding refugees and immigration. So, if an asylum seeker comes to Canada at an official border crossing from the U.S. and tries to claim refugee protection, they will be refused entry and encouraged to make their claim in the U.S. — the supposedly safe country from which they just came. How do we make sense of Trump’s immigration system and does the U.S. still uphold safecountry criteria? First of all, Trump’s immigration policy is not a Muslim ban. If it was a Muslim ban, there would be also be a ban on Muslims from other Muslim majority countries, plus a ban on Muslims living in Europe and Canada. The execu-
tive order states that the visaissuance process requires review because of failures leading up to 9/11, and further attacks afterward. Indeed there have been a notable number of high-profile terror attacks on American soil from refugees and others approved by the American visa system: the Boston Marathon bombing; the Ohio State terror attack; the St. Cloud, Minnesota machete attack; the New York/New Jersey bombing attacks in September 2016. Every year the U.S. accepts around 100 thousand refugees and asylum seekers — people who claim to be fleeing political or personal strife abroad, according to USA Today. From 2008 to 2017 the U.S. gave green cards to well over a million people for humanitarian reasons, which allows them to live and work there permanently. If all of them enter the U.S. legally, it would not be a problem. In fact, considering their standing, the U.S. still maintains generous immigration policies. But it is of the government’s concern when people don’t comply with the law. It is also the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens and determine who comes in and what qualities and qualifications they bring. Therefore it is understandable that refugees or asylum seekers looking for entry into the U.S. or Canada need to be reviewed and scrutinized to make sure they meet all the requirements to be granted asylum. Since some failed to seek asylum in the U.S. or avoid deal-
ing with Trump administration, more and more have been turning to Canada. Since the Safe Third Country agreement only applies at the official border entry points, more migrants tend to cross the Canadian border illegally between ports of entry. This creates an obstacle to the government in keeping track of and scanning who comes into their country. Because of that reason, during the past 18 months, Canada had the luxury of being extremely selective in which refugees they take. It can take years for the system to push through the required paperwork, and refugees and asylum seekers moving from the U.S. must have something of value to offer Canada just to be considered for permanent residency. Reuters says Canada simply wasn’t prepared for this surge of border jumpers. There has been a great need for government subsidy for Canadian border patrol. So far Canada has allocated an additional $150 million, apparently coming from taxpayers, to tighten security at most of its border crossing. They’ve also had to hire more security screeners and personnel due to background checks on refugee application, to ensure that no dangerous extremists or people with false intentions might slip through the cracks due to quickly processing immigrants. With this ongoing trend, will Canada be able to accomodate all the refugees and asylum seekers without exhausting its budget and neglecting its citizens?
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
Finance //
Should university be free for all?
Examining Jagmeet Singh’s pitch for eliminating tuition UYEN NGUYEN CONTRIBUTOR
Isn’t university great? Whether it’s sports, learning about business, history, biology, and English, or pizza and Timmies at 4 o’clock in the morning, you can somehow make the best out of it. However, not all of us get the opportunity to go to university without struggling to pay university tuition and fees, considering university tuition has uncontrollably skyrocketed throughout the years. Sometimes we wish it was made free for all. In fact, why can’t everything, including parking, at UFV just be free? Worry no more, because your concern has been heard. On Oct. 18, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh earned himself a big round of applause during his visit to Northern College when he said he wanted to make post-secondary education free for all. This sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it? Free university would lift a huge burden off Canadian youth, because this means everybody would get access to higher education, and as a result, to more employment opportunities. But before we get hyped up, let’s do a reality check. According to Statistics Canada, more than half (54 per cent) of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had either college or university qualification in 2016, significantly
higher than that of the 1960s. But Canada’s unemployment rate has fluctuated since 1966 with a record low of 2.9 per cent in June of 1966 and a 5.9 per cent average in 2018. Higher education does not necessarily correlate with level of national unemployment. Let’s go back roughly 40 years. Many of our parents didn’t get the opportunity to go to or finish college, let alone get a university degree, but most still managed to successfully build a career and raise us. Why is a university degree nowadays equivalent to a high school diploma 40 years ago? First of all, there has been a need to push people through “free” public education, which occurs because the state cannot afford to keep people in school permanently. This means that public education must be watered down. Statistics from the Statistics Canada show that in all six Foundation Skill Assessment exams (FSAs), non-elite independent schools had a higher fiveyear average score than public schools by statistically notable amounts. A high school degree used to mean actual educational attainment; now it means virtually nothing. For employers, since almost everybody gets a high school diploma, university becomes a sorting mechanism. An applicant with a university degree still has more
Editorial //
CASH. (KMR Photography/Flickr)
advantages than another one with just a high school diploma. But when we expand university to everyone, a university degree becomes another high school diploma. This situation mandates a new sorting mechanism, and soon graduate school will become a prerequisite for employment. At that point graduate school will be demanded to be free. Now let’s look at how much it would cost to make university free for all. Singh said the cost would be roughly $6 billion to $9 billion a year. Where will that money come from? The answer, I think, is fairly simple — our pockets. We already pay thousands of dollars in the form of taxes to get “free” healthcare and public schools every year. Also, let me kindly remind you that as of the second quarter of 2018, Canada is looking at a national debt of more
than 2.4 trillion dollars, according to Statistics Canada. The agenda to make university tuition free for all will demand tax to go up to increase government funding for public post-secondary institutions. Take for example the Scandinavian states, where people get free post-secondary education. Scandinavian countries are also known for having high taxes on income. The OECD recorded Denmark, Norway, and Sweden’s standard income tax rate being 26.4 per cent, 19.7 per cent, and 22.1 per cent respectively, compared to those of Canada (24.7 per cent) in 2016. If university tuition was made free for all, that number will significantly increase. So, one way or another, directly or indirectly, you will have to pay for university. But the difference lies in the amount of money you
choose to or have to pay. To make university tuition free for all, you don’t have a choice in how much you have to pay in the form of tax. If you have no interest in attending university, you will have to pay for it anyway. Whereas when you pay for your own university, you get to choose how much you will pay. Another thing to consider is that higher tax would mean small businesses would have to lay off or cut down hours of their employees because they are making less profit. Whether you choose to go to university or not, or have the opportunity to attend university or not, your life matters. Those who work hard and never stop trying deserve a better life. So what’s better: free university tuition for all, or more employment opportunities and more control of your expenditures? You decide.
Uh, just pretend Khashoggi never existed Khashoggi who?
JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A journalist is murdered in his country’s consulate. That country repeatedly changes its story and has been found to have attempted to cover the murder up. The response was docile. Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist who had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States. He frequently wrote for the Washington Post and was very critical of the Saudi government. Khashoggi was once close to the Crown. In the 2000s, Khashoggi was the advisor to the director of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency. On Oct. 2, Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to file paperwork for his marriage to a Turkish woman. He never came out. Saudi officials first said Khashoggi left through the back door. They rescinded and said he died in a rogue operation gone wrong.
According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia sent a “clean-up team” to the consulate a week after Khashoggi’s killing to eliminate evidence. According to Al Jazeera, Saudi officials tampered with CCTV cameras inside and outside the consulate to help conceal evidence. Though Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS, he’s often referred to as) has denied being involved, according to the Washington Post, MBS had ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia to then detain him. Since taking the throne in 2015, MBS has worked to cast Saudi as forward-thinking. MBS and Saudi Arabia made headlines recently for allowing women to drive cars and lifting the ban on movie theatres. I have nothing to say about the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, the international ones this caused, or the obligation to human rights. All I have is a question: How does one respond to something so complex? From my perspective, this is largely an
issue of journalistic freedoms, something we keep talking about, as a sort of endangered species. Khashoggi was assassinated, presumably because of his relationship with Riyadh, the Saudi capital. But we know it’s much bigger than that; its cornerstone’s a long and underreported conversation about human rights. Justin Trudeau has been called on to cancel a 2014 arms deal with Saudi Arabia (this was called on long before the Khashoggi news) in which Canada sells Saudi Arabia armed vehicles. According to documents that the CBC obtained, these light armoured vehicles were part of a $15-billion deal. Trudeau said Ottawa is reviewing the deal, and that ending it would result in a loss of billions of dollars. These light armour vehicles, of which, Canada sold 928, were referred to by former prime minister Stephen Harper referee to them as “trucks.” Trudeau called them “jeeps.” The order includes “heavy assault” vehicles, “anti-tank” vehicles, and
some affixed with heavy weaponry. It raises the question, can Riyadh do no wrong? The Saudi government has repeatedly been responsible for droves of human rights violations. Even aside from the religious-fuelled subjugation women, they’ve attacked civilians (with Canadian equipment, according to the Guardian), warred within Yemen (leading to famine), and arbitrarily arrests activists, citizens, and peaceful dissidents, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). As of November 2017, at least 5,295 civilians were killed, 8,873 wounded, in Yemen, according to the UN human rights office. But HRW says it’s likely much higher. And let’s not sideline Saudi’s treatment of women. If Trudeau is going to call himself a feminist, he’d be wise to not be so supportive of Riyadh. So far, only Germany has halted arms deals with Riyadh since Khashoggi’s killing.
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S S S N N N SSh A h A A P o P P o t t s Simer Haer s Illustrations by:
I don’t want to tie my shoes anymore You know what I’m tired of? Lace-up shoes. They take too much dang time to tie-up when I’m rushing out the door, and they always end up untying themselves at some point during the day anyway. Sure, they have a nice crisp look to them, but I’m over it. From now on, I’m committing my life to slip-on sneakers, velcro shoes, and sandals. Slip-on sneakers might not have the same je ne sais quoi as lace-up shoes, but they still have a nice clean look to them. Velcro shoes, on the other hand, make a serious statement when you’re taking
them on and off. The jarring, ripping sound the velcro straps make can be heard for miles and says “I don’t value my ear canals, but I do value my time.” At last, we have sandals, which are perhaps the most versatile option. Perfect for a dry, warm day, but easy to transition for colder weather with some thick wool socks. As far as I’m concerned, lace-up shoes are cancelled. At least, until I find a pair so cute that their lacey little arms pull me back in and tie me around their finger once again.
Laurel Logan
This weekend, I went to a medieval recreation event, and though the main festivities were indoors, the kitchen was outside. Inside the meekly heated, concrete-floored halls, I was warm enough in no less than four layers, but the November rain — which couldn’t decide between being a drizzle or a downpour — daunted me. Watching wool-swaddled Celts and Vikings braving the wet from a doorway, weighing my hunger against my desire to stay warm, the smell of honey-glazed ham wafted across the parking lot, taunting me. Then my friend, as though reading my mind, removed their
cloak and pinned it around my shoulders. And like Eve eating the forbidden fruit, I became privy to knowledge I could never unlearn: we, as a society, have failed. Because we no longer wear cloaks. They’re blankets! That you can wear! I felt like I was wrapped in the abstract concept of comfort itself. I was the opposite of an oasis — a pocket of perfect dryness. I also looked like I was in Game of Thrones! And also, I got my ham. We all have to face the rain. Cloaks changed my life. And this fall, it’s time to let them change yours.
Mikaela Collins
Strangled by skinny jeans
Sibling rivalry Growing up, I didn’t play many sports. My parents tried to enroll me in a variety of them — baseball, soccer, diving — but they never took. I was never motivated enough to compete. Perhaps it was because I’m not very confident in my handeye coordination. Or maybe it’s some aspect of self-esteem. Or perhaps it was simply because catching a ball flying at your face is hard, and ducking seems just as sensible as sticking your hand in front of your face to catch the soaring sphere.
A case for cloaks
Then I met my brother-in-law. He is tall, blond, amicable, and very competitive. Whether it’s a lawn game, or a friendly round of Yahtzee (which I lost at three times in a row one Christmas), he gets really into it. That’s when the elbows started flying (figuratively only, of course). That’s when I found my chutzpah. That’s when I discovered it wasn’t about being competitive or not, it was about what I was competing for: bragging rights at family dinner.
Jen Klassen
Why are skinny jeans still so popular? I have yet to discover a more uncomfortable and unforgiving article of clothing. It baffles my mind that they continue to serve as staples in women’s fashion. They limit your movement severely, and wearing them for a prolonged period of time has been proven to be detrimental to blood circulation. Also, the resulting itch from those circulation issues (which I felt every evening for years) is beyond excruciating. I recently donated all of my old pairs in an effort to force myself to go find
other forms of everyday legwear. The only problem with that is, I didn’t realize how much of women’s fashion relies upon the use of skinny jeans. Everything in my wardrobe pairs so perfectly with them, and I find myself having to completely reinvent my style choices. Affordable substitutes that are equally versatile are proving to be few and far between. So for now, I’ll just sit here in my sweatpants, waiting for the fashion industry to come up with something better.
Cassie de Jong
Oh, wow, uh thanks for the heads up... Good morning to you too, ZF-3200.
ARTIFICIAL _ INTELLIGENCE_ IN_ACTION.exe By: Nadia_Tudhope
When you hear the words “artificial intelligence,” what do you think of? Computers that can respond when we talk to them and solve problems for us? Cars that can drive themselves? Flying drones that adapt to their environment? Or, do you think about an image of the future straight out of science fiction, where robots are eerily similar to humans — a future where they look like us, talk like us, think like us? While we’re not at the stage dozens of science fiction movies have warned us about, AI is becoming more and more prevalent: smartphones, laptops, and even Netflix use machine learning to assist or offer recommendations. Many of us have Siri or Alexa help us throughout the day, and all of us are affected by targeted advertising, which learns from the websites we visit, the kind of content we tend to consume, and by listening to our conversations. Jobs are becoming more automated, and even autocorrect learns which words we tend to type more and can recommend a word from the first letter entered. Increasingly, that distant sci-fi future is intersecting with the present. Recently, the University of British Columbia (UBC) unveiled seven artificial intelligence floor-cleaning robots that are programmed to learn and adapt to their surroundings. The introduction of these machines raises several questions about the displacement of jobs due to advancements in artificial intelligence, and the future of AI in general. The implementation of these cleaning robots at UBC raised immediate concerns among the custodial staff about their jobs being replaced by machines. However, both UBC and the robotics company that designed
and built the devices, A&K Robotics, envision a future wherein humans and robots coexist in the workplace, with machines doing simple, repetitive tasks so human staff can focus on more challenging endeavours. In an interview conducted by the CBC, cofounder of A&K Robotics, Anson Kung, stated that this is the heralding in of a new chapter in history. “‘Today marks the beginning of a new future,’ said Kung. ‘A future where robots will become as commonplace as the phones in our pockets, a future where robots and people will work hand in hand to increase productivity, safety, and most important of all, our quality of life.”’ In this way, the cleaning robots are meant to complement the existing staff, and custodians’ concerns about being replaced are subsided. That doesn’t mean the threat of replacement is over for us, though. Dr. Gabriel Murray received his PhD in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He is now an associate professor at UFV in computer information systems, specifically teaching courses on AI and data mining. “In the near term, and actually currently, we are seeing a big impact from automation,” Murray said. “I think what’s going to happen there is that there is going to be some job loss from AI automation, and I think that’s something we need to be realistic about; it is already happening.” According to Murray, the first tasks that will shift into artificial intelligence are those that can be easily automated. Already, we see a shift towards automation in grocery stores with the introduction of self-checkout machines. “That’s AI in the sense that it’s an automated technology, whether it’s intelligent or not — it involves some sort of intelligence of being able to scan barcodes and look up things in a system. It’s not a super sophisticated AI, but it is an example of an AI that’s changing our lives,” Murray said. But could this displacement be a good thing? Like with UBC’s cleaning robots, introducing AI to take over simple tasks can free up human staff for more complicated, perhaps more important, tasks. Automating some aspects of a job doesn’t wipe out the job altogether — grocery stores are not completely devoid of human workers because of the introduction of self-checkout machines. Instead of worrying about how jobs will be wiped out, could we turn our attention to how jobs will
be redesigned and businesses re-engineered to adapt to AI advancements? “Increased automation, coupled with something like a guaranteed basic income, could free people up to do more creative endeavours,” Murray suggested. “We might find that as people transition away from the types of jobs that they have now, they have more time for things like creative pursuits, artistic pursuits, and travel.” It’s certainly an interesting idea, because what are the lasting parts of human culture? Arts. As our technology, our medicine, our forms of travel advance, and old modes of doing things fade into obscurity in the face of better and more efficient models, art perseveres: we still read Beowulf, we praise Michelangelo’s works, we admire the architecture of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. A future with technology that seemed attainable only by imagination could also be a future of flourishing artistic focus; a sort of second Renaissance. As idealistic as this imagined future could be, we can’t totally eliminate the possibility of a fantastical sci-fi world of evil robot overlords. Catherine Stinson is a postdoctoral scholar at Rottman Institute of Technology. In an article published in the Globe and Mail she discusses the positives and negatives of advancing in this area of technology. “Stories about AI now appear in the daily news, and these stories seem to be evenly split between hyperbolically self-congratulatory pieces by people in the AI world, about how deep learning is poised to solve every problem from the housing crisis to the flu, and doom-and-gloom predictions of cultural commentators who say robots will soon enslave us all. Alexa’s creepy midnight cackling is just the latest warning sign,” writes Stinson. She cites the now 200-year-old warning tale of Dr. Frankenstein, as an ironic utterance to both his creature then, and perhaps to our creations now. “Victor Frankenstein literally runs away after seeing the ugliness of his creation, and it is this act of abandonment that leads to the creature’s vengeful, murderous rampage,” she continues. “Frankenstein begins with the same lofty goal as AI researchers currently applying their methods to medicine: ‘What glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!’ In a line dripping with dramatic irony, Frankenstein’s mentor assures him that ‘the labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.’ Shelley knew how dangerous this egotistical attitude could be,” she concludes. Arrogance needs to be counteracted by its comrade ethics, which is the primary issue in AI right now, apart from job loss concerns.
Technologies that use AI are only as intelligent as the data they’re trained on; when we feed machines data, we feed them our own limitations, so that our biases and blind spots are programmed right in. AI algorithms absorb the information given, search it for commonalities, and then make predictions based on the patterns they pick up. Machine learning — a branch of AI — comprises of a computer being taught to perform tasks by analyzing patterns, rather than applying rules it’s been given. This model typically involves supervised learning wherein a programmer assembles data, assigns labels to it so the system knows what to look for, and learns from the provided set of examples. In supervised learning, the supervisor penalizes incorrect answers, and the system absorbs that information and adjusts so it can improve its predictions. “Deep learning” is a leading paradigm in AI modeled after the neural network in human brains, where the strength of connections are adjusted through learning processes over time. Currently, it is hoped to be the savior of the AI world. Deep learning can be used for facial recognition and in this use, programmers supply labeled data — but rather than informing the system what features are important for indication, the computer extracts its own information. “Deep learning has led to significant advances, but they tend to be very complex models, which means that they’re very hard to understand, and that lack of transparency is sometimes called a ‘black box’ because it’s making a prediction, but we don’t know exactly why it’s making that prediction,” Murray explained. “Something goes in, and something gets spit out, but we don’t know exactly what’s happening inside.” This is where AI becomes alarming and inspires science fiction nightmares. Humans have a tendency to be afraid of things we don’t understand, or can’t see. (After all,
we’ve all, at some point, been afraid of what might be lurking in the dark.) A machine that can think for itself in ways we’re not privy to terrifies us. What’s stopping it from questioning its service to us and rising up against us? We can’t ask a machine to explain why it made a certain decision the way we can with other people, and that makes identifying biases in these decisions difficult. “It might just spit out an answer, and actually figuring out what were the steps that led to that answer aren’t obvious. Or it could be that when you actually start to look for the answer, it’s something that’s troubling,” said Murray. This is where the data we input becomes essential. AI systems are making predictions based on past patterns, but those patterns are dependent on the data given. If we use AI in the hiring process to suggest whom to employ, and the data we’ve fed it consists of only white employees, it’s not a stretch to suggest that the system is going to reject any applicants that don’t fit that all-white pattern. Or, if the system has been fed an employee list that is predominately male, it may teach itself that male applicants are preferred. In fact, it’s already happened: according to Isobel Asher Hamilton of “Business Insider,” Amazon had to pull their experimental AI hiring tool because of gender bias. The machine observed the pattern of predominantly male résumés being submitted in the last 10 years, took this as an indication that male applicants were preferable, and started penalizing résumés that contained the word “women’s” or were submitted by those who had attended all-women’s colleges. AI is also increasingly being implemented in policing and federal security. In 2014, the CBC reported that the Calgary police were the first to implement facial recognition software to compare mugshots with video surveillance. While facial recognition has improved, it still has a long way to go until it’s a fail-proof method. “You can never establish certainties; you can only establish probabilities of matches,” states Kelly Gates, author of Our Biometric Future in the article. According to the CBC, Canada Border Services Agency announced intentions to implement facial recognition kiosks to compare people’s faces to their passports. Additionally, they reported that last summer Vancouver was the first Canadian city to follow in the footsteps of the United States and implement predictive policing — although Vancouver is using it to predict break-ins rather than recidivism. “The problem is in some areas of the States, and possibly in other areas as well, they use a software system to help make those predictions about whether somebody’s going to reoffend and it’s a proprietary system, meaning it’s a company’s product and we’re not able to look under the hood and figure out what it’s actually doing,” Murray said on AI in the criminal justice system being used to predict recidivism. Proprietary systems and the data their software is trained on are kept from public view, making it even more difficult to figure
out if an algorithm is biased against someone because it was trained on human biases. The nature of the data given can have an implicit effect, according to Murray. If the system was given data from a particular state or city, the demographics of that area will become “baked into” the prediction model, and this can have unexpected effects. “It could make predictions that African Americans are much more likely to reoffend, for example, because it happened to have been trained on a data set that contained mostly African Americans. So that’s the kind of danger that you can get in, where it’s maybe not intentional human biases but if you’re not careful about the data that’s being fed into your system and how your system is using that data, you can end up with predictions that really are just enforcing implicit biases,” said Murray. With the implementation of AI at UBC, it is evident the future is on our doorstep. AI on a university campus is no longer simply relegated to labs and select students, it’s roving the hallways alongside people from every faculty. Even if the progression of AI doesn’t mean widespread job loss, they’re becoming inherently involved in the process; they’re sorting our résumés, they’re inputting our data and answering our phones, they’re cleaning our floors. They might be the difference between receiving the job offer, and being passed over by a résumé that fits better with the programmed algorithm. Going forward, there needs to be a conscious awareness of the biases we’re programming into these machines, and implement ethical directives to counteract the suspected biases. If we’re looking at a future where we work side by side with machines that can think for themselves, how we’re teaching them to think is essential. The world around us is becoming increasingly automated; AI is not the distant future we envisioned — it’s happening now, and we need to be aware of it, or endure the repercussions of apathetic arrogance.
LEGEND
The Cascade -ARY
Community Events are in UFV Events are in Music Events are in Art Events are in Cultural Events are in
Nov 7 Métis Day Awareness Event @ Evered Hall (Abbotsford Campus), 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. C3: Canada’s Last Hundred Days in World War One @ The Reach Gallery Museum (Abbotsford), 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. 2018 Chilliwack International Fall Film Series @ Cottonwood 4 Cinemas (Chilliwack) 3:30 - 9:00 p.m. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band @ Abbotsford Centre, 7:30 p.m.
Nov 8 Stó:lō Business Tradeshow @ Tzeachten Hall (Chilliwack), 2:00 - 7:00 p.m. Academic Olympics @ North Gym Room E105 (Abbotsford Campus), 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Trauma Informed Yoga (Second Edition) @ The Reach Gallery Museum (Abbotsford), 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Celtic Night with Knackers Yard @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Nov 9
Nov 10
New + Used Marketplace @ Tzeachten Hall (Chilliwack), 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Fused Glass Christmas Ornament Class @ Kariton Art Gallery (Abbotsford), 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Brian O’Brien @ Acoustic Emporium (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Farmteam @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Dark Stone @ The Railyard (Mission), 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Nov 11 Birch Pereira The Gin Joints @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Nov 13 Learn to Draw @ The Reach Gallery Museum (Abbotsford), 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Nov 14 C3: Fight for the Farm @ The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford), 10:30 - 11:30 p.m.
On a Roll! Mpowerment Board Game Night @ Boardwalk Cafe and Games (Abbotsford), 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
SRRMC 9th Annual Soup Fundraiser @ Stó:lō Resource Centre (Chilliwack), 11:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Reel Change: Rhymes for Young Ghouls @ The Reach Gallery Museum (Abbotsford), 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
UFV’s Town & Gown Fundraising Dinner @ Evered Hall (Abbotsford Campus), 6:00 - 9:30 pm.
Opening Night: Pride and Prejudice @ Abbotsford Arts Centre, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Acrylic Pouring @ Chilliwack Cultural Centre, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Pete Seeger’s - The Incompleat Folksinger with Mark Hellman @ Chilliwack Cultural Centre, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
John Mellencamp @ Abbotsford Centre, 8:00 p.m.
A Night with Roadside Attraction A Tragically Hip cover band @ Captains Cabin Pub (Mission), 8:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. CR Avery @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 9:00 - Midnight
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Nov 15 Yoga Rave @ North Gym Room E105 (Abbotsford Campus), 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Roots ‘N’ Blues with Gordie Tentrees @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Blue Green Red Purple Yellow
Note:
Some of these events require tickets, most are on Facebook. If something catches your eye, take to the internet for more details.
Nov 17
Modified: A Food Lover’s Journey Into GMOs @ Cottonwood 4 Cinemas (Chilliwack), 2:30 - 5:00 p.m. Annual Fundraising Banquet @ Tzeachten Hall (Chilliwack), 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Like Bears CD Release with Car 87, Nic Fit, Amadis - 11th Annual Vestival @ The Vineyard (Chilliwack), 6:30 - 10:30 p.m. Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue Society 40th Anniversary @ The Reach Gallery Museum (Abbotsford), 6:30 - 10:30 p.m. Warren Miller Entertainment’s Face of Winter @ Chilliwack Cultural Centre, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Nov 18 Roots and Blues with Angel Forrest @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Nov 19 Downtown Chilliwack Health & Wellness Fair @ Vineyard Community Centre (Chilliwack), 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. Scholarly Sharing: Technology & Subjectivity @ U-House Room F125 (Abbotsford Campus), 1:15 - 2:45 p.m.
Nov 20 Research Encounters: Dr. Jon Thomas & Dr. Arjun Kalyanpur @ U-House Room F124 (Abbotsford Campus), 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Nov 21 C3: Untold Stories of a Paramedic @ The Reach Gallery Museum (Abbotsford), 2:33 - 5:33 p.m.
CULTURE
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
culture@ufvcascade.ca Cassie de Jong — Culture Editor
Theatre Preview //
Preview: Rocks: A Play of Northern Ontario
CASSIE DE JONG CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR
A new treat for theatre lovers and Canadian fiction fanatics is right around the corner this November. The UFV Theatre department plans to present the first production of its 2018/19 season on the night of Nov. 13. The play in question, Herman Voaden’s 1932 work Rocks: A Play of Northern Ontario, is to be directed by Claire Carolan and has been designed by Parjad Sharifi, both of whom are part of the UFV Theatre faculty. The play is being described by the theatre department as an “early multimedia expressionist drama that was inspired by the work of the Group of Seven and incorporates movement, music, and scenographic design.” Rocks tells a story of stormy weather and love lost. It describes the life of school teacher Mary Brown, as she waits for her lover to return home to her after a winter storm. Over the course of the story, she battles emotions both powerful and painful, and eventually comes to accept her lover’s death. Rocks describes the harsh realities of living in the Canadian North, but also tells of its wondrous beauty, and will surely immerse the viewer in that enigmatic en-
vironment. This production will feature a few familiar faces from the theatre department, including Maeggan Palliyaguru, Cameron McKerchar, Makailla Palliyaguru, Paul Hill, Deanne Ratzlaff, and Jessica Lo. The production is also set to present and showcase the creative talents of many current students, faculty, and staff. Rocks will run from Nov. 13 to 24. The Saturday matinees will be accompanied by lectures meant to enhance audience members’ understanding of the performance. These lectures will be provided by members of UFV faculty. Performances will take place in D building, room D105 on UFV’s Abbotsford campus. To provide a bit of insight for the remainder of the 2018/19 season of theatre at UFV, after the opening of Rocks: A Play of Northern Ontario, the department plans to present Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp, which will run from March 13 to 23, 2019. The play revolves around the mystery surrounding the enigmatic identity of the character Anne. The season is set to conclude in April with the Devised Theatre Showcase. This project will run from April 24 to 26, 2019, and will be comprised of individually
Actors, acting. devised original, collaboratively created theatre projects by UFV students. The students will be applying everything they have learned in their coursework to the series of productions. The final performances of the Devised Theatre Showcase will be featured in UFV’s second annual Interpret festival on April 26, which is a year-end celebration of the work of students in theatre, English, and visual arts programs. All performances of Rocks are “pay what you can,” though the suggested prices are $15 for community members or $10 for stu-
dents and seniors. Seats can be reserved ahead of time by emailing theatre@ufv. ca or by calling 604-795-2814. Those interested in attending are highly encouraged to purchase their tickets early. Audience seating for UFV productions is still limited, and is typically booked up well in advance. If you are unable to pre-purchase a ticket, be aware that only cash is accepted at the door. Further details about the performance can be found online at https:// www.ufv.ca/plays/.
Q&A //
UFV graduate shares experiences as a published novelist QUINTIN STAMLER BUSINESS MANAGER
Seamus Heffernan has a Master in Criminal Justice from UFV, works as constituency manager for MP Jati Sidhu, is the former Culture and Events Editor for The Cascade, and is a novelist on the side. Heffernan visited Mission’s Lifetime Learning Centre last Thursday, Nov. 1 to discuss his book Napalm Hearts and answer questions. Some time afterwards, I sat in Townhall Public House in Abbotsford with him, and discussed his books, publishing, and tricks of the trade. Do you have any tricks you use to improve the experience of book readings and other promotional events? In my experience writers are often not natural extroverts because writing is a very solitary pursuit, and it can be a very lonely one. When their books come out and they have to actually go out and talk to people and promote it, that can be quite daunting. I am very lucky that, both because of my background personally and professionally, I quite enjoy that. I like meeting people, talking to them, and I love hearing their stories. One of the things that I try to hold myself accountable for, is that if people want to talk to me about this book, I will be completely honest. I was a little cagey at first, then I thought, “What are you hiding for?” and people responded positively to me being more open. You have to contribute to sell-
ing the book whether you have a publisher or not. How much more difficult is it, do you think, to be a successful novelist if you don’t have the skills of someone naturally more introverted? In your past interview with The Cascade Arts Editor Martin Castro, you touched on the importance of being organized as a writer. You claim that is the toughest part for you; what “apparatus” do you put in motion to help you with that? I think that by far the biggest challenge that people face organizationally is time management. Since I wrote this book I’ve met a lot of people that say “I’d love to write something, I just don’t have time.” You make time for everything else in your life that’s important — your friends, your job, going to the gym — and those sort of things are important, but if you decide writing is going to be important then you have to find time for it. The hardest thing for me was holding myself accountable and saying, “Okay, I have an hour or two here, and I’m going to try and get a few hundred words down.” A few hundred words doesn’t sound like a lot, but you know you do that a couple times a week, maybe 1,000 words a week; in a year that’s a first draft of a book. Another thing I had to teach myself to do, and I can’t stress this enough: you’ve got to write everything down, absolutely everything. Even though I’m not an extra organized person, I’ve
trained myself to always have a notebook, or something handy like my phone where if an idea pops in my head, I can get it down. Will being a novelist pay the bills? Or will it be a sort of a supplemental income or fun money? First and foremost, if you are sitting down to write a book as a retirement plan, or to make a ton of money, that’s not going to happen. It could happen, like in the same way you might get hit by lighting. It is very difficult to make a living as a writer of fiction. And opposite of many people’s expectations, lots of so-called important writers — guys who don’t write genre fiction, people who write literary fiction — they almost never make a living. They have to supplement their income with teaching and other things. Genre fiction, the stuff that I write, like crime, horror, or romance, you do have a chance to make some good money, but again it comes back to what we were talking about earlier, the entrepreneurialism. Another thing is you have to keep writing. You’ve got to write, write, write. The only way that you get the money through that is you keep pumping out books, constantly; keep growing your mailing list, your fan base. If you want to be Joseph Heller and write a literary novel once every seven years, that would be fantastic. Yet, you might not.
Seamus Heffernan. What differences have you experienced with writing your second book? The first one was a hobby, something I picked away at over a snap of years. It was only in the last few years that I got really serious about it, and started banging it out. But, it was still my decision and my choice when I wrote, my choice to commit to that. It did get much easier the deeper I got into it, because everything started coming together. I felt I always had to continue to see how things are going to turn out in the story, even though I knew how they would turn out. The second book is definitely more work, and that’s okay. My publisher just signed me for the second book. They have a deadline; I have to meet that deadline.
There’s more expectations now. The people who read the first book are going to be expecting to enjoy this one just as much as the first one. My publisher has expectations, both contractual and professional, and they are looking of course to recoup their investment. I would say that the first book was like building a model car when you got home after school when you were a kid, and this one now is like having to build a car because someone is coming to pick it up and pay me for it in a couple months. When can readers expect to see the next book? Probably spring/summer 2019. I am hoping to have the first draft in really good shape by the end of this year.
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CULTURE
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
Event //
House of Horrors comes to UFV
EDINA BALINT NEWS WRITER
A House of Horrors event took place at UFV on Tuesday, Oct. 30 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Evered Hall in the Student Union Building. This annual event was set up in order to encourage the UFV community to get into the Halloween spirit. There was free admission; however, a box was left outside the entrance of the event for collecting SUS food bank donations. Although the event was scheduled until 5, the House of Horrors closed at 3 p.m. since traffic started slowing down by that time. According to Harman Waring, executive member of UFV Circle K club, the event was successful, amassing an even higher turnout than last year. There were about 40–50 students that attended the event. However, Harman also mentioned that the Halloween dances tend to attract a larger crowd than the House of Horrors. The setup for the haunted house took around eight hours on Tuesday. Upon entering, the house had a pathway made from cardboard boxes on tables which
were covered with black table cloths, glow-in-the-dark paint, skeletons, spider webs, bloody cloths, and caution tapes. “Some key features of our haunted house were a spider animatronic that jumps via a motion sensor, a flying reaper doll, a big scarecrow that moves and screams, and a creepy doll,” Waring said. When students enter the haunted house from the first door of the Evered Hall, they followed a path and then choose one of two possible routes. One pathway led to a dead end with a coffin, where someone was hiding to scare visitors. The other pathway lead to the exit of the haunted house located at the far doors of the Evered Hall. Inside the House of Horrors there were three actors with masks and one volunteer who was popping balloons and playing scary sound effects. By the end of the event UFV Circle K collected numerous donations for the UFV food bank as well. “This included cereal boxes, food cans, granola, oatmeal mix, mac & cheese, and lots of noodle packages,” noted Waring.
fill a gap in your program
The Cascade
Journalism Society
(our governing body)
will hold it’s
Extraordinary General Meeting on November 21 @
3:00pm in S2111, The Cascade office. Athabasca University has over 850 courses to choose from to meet your needs and courses start every month. AU has over 6,600 transfer agreements around the world (including with this institution).
14
STUDY BREAK Crossword //
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 Made by Cassie de Jong ACROSS
DOWN
1: Writing or drawings illegally scrawled or spray painted onto walls or other public spaces. 4: A candy made from butter and either sugar or molasses, which is pulled until glossy. 7: A sugary coating spread over cookies or cake. 9: Month in which Star Wars Day takes place. 11: To pull one vehicle with another vehicle via a chain or rope. 13: A long, distinct period of history with a defining characteristic. 15: A self-supporting wooden frame that holds paintings or other artwork. 16: A position or activity that particularly suits an individual’s talents or personality. 17: A barrier formed from upright wooden or metal posts or stakes, especially in defence against an attack.
2: A species of American pit viper that vibrates its tail to produce a characteristic sound as a warning against predators. 3: A characteristic mode of expression in language, music, or art. 5: A person to whom someone is soon to be married to. 6: Small, single-celled fungi used in brewing alcoholic beverages or baking bread. 8: Small houses and people-shaped cookies are made from this substance during the holiday season. 10: The source of nutrients to embryos of reptiles, birds, and some fish while still within the egg. 12: A four-wheeled vehicle used for transporting goods. Often small, red, and owned by children. 14: A book filled with maps or charts.
LAST ISSUE’S
ANSWERS: Across: 1: Cardiogram 3: Crosshatching 4: Ground Control 5: Reverberation 8: Compressed Air 9: Boarding House 10: Earthquake
Bread Crumbs
Horoscopes //
Down: 1: Costume 2: Mogul 3: Cigar 6: Tadpole 7: Norse 8: Cable
Roko’s Basilisk
Astrological mysteries interpreted weekly by Morgana the Mystic.
Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 You’ve been frazzled lately, Aries. For someone with so much drive, it can be hard if you feel as if you’re going in reverse. Remember that this is just a rough patch, and you’ll be right back on track before you know it! Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 Good things come to those who wait, and you’ve been waiting an awful long time. If you find that you’re unable to stand the delay any longer, inquire about what’s owed to you; sometimes all that’s needed is a prompt. Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 Be honest with someone this week, Gemini, even if that person is yourself. Keeping secrets is bound to cause problems in the near future and you’ll feel a weight lift from your shoulders once you confront what’s been bothering you. Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 Already overwhelmed? Take a step back before you’re in too deep, Cancer. You’ve worked yourself up over something that could easily be pushed aside until you’re ready to tackle it.
Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 Lovestruck once again? It can be easy to shift all your focus onto your newest infatuation, but it can also end up with you neglecting the other people in your life. Make sure to split your time equally this week so as not to hurt anyone.
Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 You have a bad habit of starting things before you’ve finished others. Looking to the future can be a great motivator, but remember that you won’t get where you want to be if you cut corners. Tie up any loose ends before launching any new projects.
Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 You’ve been doing quite well for yourself lately, Virgo. Your hard work is paying off and will continue to do so as long as you stay on track. Try not to distract yourself with unnecessary worries.
Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 Success almost always comes from collaboration, Capricorn. While you’re not always the best team player you do certainly like to succeed. Try letting someone else take the reins for a while; you’ll be able to reduce your stress while still accomplishing what needs to be done.
Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 While you’re usually quite adept at calculating the give-and-take needed in any situation, you’ve been struggling lately with finding a good balance. Ensure that you’re giving just as much as you take and make sure your actions are genuine when you do; overcompensation isn’t compensation at all. Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 Let yourself have a little bit more fun this week, Scorpio. With the end-of-semester struggle right around the corner, you’ll benefit from a preemptive break. Indulge in things you would have otherwise refused; you’ll be thankful for it later.
Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 Brace yourself! There’s about to be an important shift in your life, and while it may take some getting used to, you have nothing to fear. Change has never unsteadied you before, and don’t let it this time around. Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 Letting yourself get sidetracked is never good, Pisces. Prone to distraction, you might be struggling with returning to your responsibilities. If you’re uninspired, try to introduce some compromise into your schedule; you may be able to multitask.
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SPORTS
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
UFV Volleyball //
UFV men’s and women’s volleyball home recap: UFV teams go 1-1 versus Douglas ALEXANDER JESUS SPORTS WRITER
Last Friday night, Nov. 2, the UFV Cascades volleyball men’s and women’s teams clashed with the Douglas Royals in what would prove to be a fun night of volleyball. Both teams battled hard but wound up with different results. The UFV women’s volleyball team completed the upset of the number two ranked Royals and did so somewhat convincingly, while the men’s volleyball team fell to the undefeated visiting team in three sets. It was up and down at times but did not disappoint, and though it may seem like the women’s team triumphed and the men’s team failed, there’s more to it than that. The women’s team opened the night in a big way. After winning the first set by a score of 25-21, #9 Amanda Matsui seemed to get in a stride, having a big influence on the game as the Cascades took the second set 25-19. The third set started strong as well for UFV, with Matsui continuing to impact the game with her serve and hustle, and Douglas called a timeout with the score being
14-9. From there Douglas rallied back, bringing the score to 18-18 until UFV called a timeout of their own. Douglas eventually took the set 25-19 and at this point it was hard to tell whether or not Douglas was about to ride the momentum of the previous set to force a fifth set. The Cascades, however, had other plans as they came out full speed in the fourth set and had Douglas down 10-3 when they called a timeout. After getting close, the Royals called timeout again with the score at 16-9 for the Cascades. UFV went on to win the match and complete the upset of the former PACWEST champions, and a day later lose a close five set match with Douglas as the visiting team. The men’s team would meet Douglas in the second game of the night, and the Royals started relatively strong. After a timeout at the score of 7-12 for Douglas, UFV struggled to deal with excellent serving from Douglas and lost the set 25-18. The second set was more promising, as UFV came back after trailing 8-11 at the first timeout to
hold a lead of four points (18-14) upon the Royals’ first timeout of the second set. It was a battle, with Douglas trailing by a score of 21-18 for UFV, and then UFV only leading by one after the Royals got the score to 21-20. However, it was the Royals who topped the Cascades 25-23 in the second set, leaving UFV down two sets heading into the third. The Cascades played well at times in the third, but after Douglas lead 16-11 upon a UFV timeout, they held onto that lead for the match victory by a score of 25-20 in the third and won three sets to none. It was a tough loss for UFV, who now sport a record of 0-7. A day later they took on Douglas again in an away game, getting swept again. Douglas’s record now stands undefeated at 6-0, with UFV winless at 0-8. After a storyline-filled weekend the Cascades now are on a bye week and will look to rebound from Saturday’s losses when they take on the Capilano Blues Nov. 16-17.
Game/Date: UFV Versus UBC Nov. 2, 2018 Result: Loss (0-7) Game/Date: UFV Versus TRU Nov. 3, 2018 Result: Loss (0-1)
Men’s Volleyball Game/Date: UFV Versus DOUGLAS Nov. 2, 2018 Result: Loss (0-3) Game/Date: UFV Versus DOUGLAS Nov. 3, 2018 Result: Loss (0-3)
Result: Win (3-1)
Cascades reach final four, lose to TRU in the bronze medal match The UFV Men’s Soccer team completed what was a fun and promising season this past Saturday when they lost the Bronze Medal Match in Canada West to the TRU Wolfpack by the closest of scores. Losing 1-0, the Cascades fought hard to tie it up in the second half, but TRU held onto their lead and ultimately secured a podium spot. After the close loss to TRU and the previous 0-7 loss to UBC, one might get the impression that the season didn’t go so well for the cascades. Wrong, it actually was pretty awesome. The cascades had many bright spots this season, not least of which was their play. Going to a UFV home game was always fun as the fans came out in support, and the home matches went pretty well for the team. Sporting a home record of 5 wins, 1 loss and 2 ties, spectators were given solid performances and it’s important before getting into the stats to note this due to how UFV ended their season in the playoffs. Statistically, a couple UFV players
Men’s Soccer
Game/Date: UFV Versus DOUGLAS Nov. 2, 2018
UFV men’s soccer team: SPORTS WRITER
Oct. 15 – Oct. 21
Women’s Volleyball
UFV Soccer //
ALEXANDER JESUS
UFV Cascades Sports Scores
also made it onto the Canada West leaderboards. Gurmaan Jhaj finished second in goals with 13 and third in total points with 15. The clutch midfielder was always fun to watch at home games this season, and his contributions propelled him among the Canada West leaders. Also, UFV Keeper David Hicks finished 3rd in Canada West in Goals-Against Average (1.18) which shows again why UFV was able to go as far as they did. A question still remains: What about the rest of the team? What do the stats not completely show? As a fan who attended home games, there’s a lot you won’t find on the stat sheet. One thing you can’t put on a stat sheet is pure hustle, and Midfielder Parman Minhas is a great example of that. Every game he could be seen sprinting down the field, fighting for position and recovering plays, things you won’t find on a statistics page but that didn’t change how valuable his play was for the Cascades. What about the well-rounded game of Forward Andrew Peat, who notched 8 points in Canada West this season, of the solid play from Defender Brady
Weir? Besides the players, of whom all contributed to the success of UFV this season, what can be said for the passionate coaching of Tom Lowndes? No matter where you were standing on the sidelines, you often heard coach Lowndes voicing his displeasure regarding a call, coaching his players, and celebrating during the highlight moments. All of those qualities made home games a lot of fun, being able to watch the players and the coach get into the game. It’s fun moments like those from the entire roster and coaching staff that made UFV Soccer well worth watching this season. With the season concluded and the Cascades falling just short of the Canada West Podium, it may seem like it didn’t go our way, and to some degree that’s true. However, this year’s season and playoffs did more than just fulfil an obligation. The effort and play of this year’s team was something to behold, and I think many agree with Coach Lowndes when he said after the UBC loss, “I’m excited for their future.”.
Game/Date: UFV Versus DOUGLAS Nov. 3, 2018 Result: Loss (2-3) Men’s Basketball Game/Date: UFV Versus SASKATCHEWAN Nov. 2, 2018 Result: Loss (65-92) Game/Date: UFV Versus SASKATCHEWAN Nov. 3, 2018 Result: Loss (71-77) Women’s Basketball Game/Date: UFV Versus SASKATCHEWAN Nov. 2, 2018 Result: Loss (47-87) Game/Date: UFV Versus SASKATCHEWAN Nov. 3, 2018 Result: Loss (41-73)
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ARTS
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018
arts@ufvcascade.ca Martin Castro — Arts Editor
Book //
CHARTS 1
Mitski Be The Cowboy
2
Stephen Carl O’Shea & Sylvia Platters Shadow Steps (split)
3
Exploded View Obey
4
Lindsay Beaver Tough As Love
5
David Gogo 17 Vultures
6
Kristin Witko Never Thought It Could Be That Sweet (Single)
7
Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin Murder Creek
8
Kat Danser Goin’ Gone
9
Michael Feuerstack Natural Weather
10
Colin James Miles to Go
11
Julia Holter Aviary
12
8nil Lunar Residence
13
Blessed II
Rhymer Band 14 Deb Don’t Wait Up
15
Actors It Will Come To You
16
Those Who From Heaven To Earth Came Prisma Coloured (Single)
17
Pill Soft Hell Jon Hopkins
18 Singularity 19
Plazas Distant Desires
20
David Ivan Neil Fake Tinder
SHUFFLE
CARISSA WIENS STAFF WRITER
SONGTRON-8000
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Too many question marks: a review of Washington Black
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Esi Edugyan’s 19th-century tale Washington Black left me with many unanswered questions. The story is told by George Washington Black, also known as Wash, an 11-year-old boy born and raised as a slave on the Faith Plantation in Barbados. Chosen by the plantation owner’s brother, Christopher Wilde (Titch), Wash is taken as his personal assistant to aid him in eccentric science experiments instead of working the fields during the day. We follow the pair as they travel up the East Coast, landing in the Arctic, then eventually separating, leaving Wash on his own to find his way in Nova Scotia. During the second half of the novel, Wash recounts his time and companions in Canada, and his escapes from the Faith Plantation’s workers trying to capture him, followed by his transatlantic travels with a family he met in Canada as they research aquatic life together. While in England, Wash chases answers from his past while working with Mr. Goff and his daughter, Tanna, to create the world’s first living aquatic museum. The first and second halves of the book are very disconnected from each other. Several ideas are introduced and embellished in the first 200 pages but unfortunately aren’t followed up on during the last 200 pages. While at the plantation, Wash makes several mentions of a girl his age named Emilie whom he appears to have romantic feelings for. Before being whisked away on his adventures, he sees Emilie one last time at the Faith Plantation, but she is pregnant. Wash is shocked and confused, which makes sense because she is 11 years old at the time and was presumably impregnated by a white slave owner. With all of this emotion thrown at us, Wash narrates us out of the scene, never to see or hear from her again. This plot line had potential to rise up again as Wash takes a lover in his adulthood, possibly remembering his first love. Unfortunately this does not happen, leaving us wondering what happened to Emilie during the years to come. Another discontinued story introduced in the first half occurs when Wash and Titch
leave the plantation from Titch’s almost perfected hot air balloon; a project he had been working on for quite some time. (This form of travel had not been introduced to the world yet.) The two crash on a ship as the balloon sinks into the sea. Even when we learn of Titch after several years have passed in the second half of the book, no further attempts at perfecting the hot air balloon have been made. I’m still wondering why Titch never cared to continue his progress on the project. This is similar to Wash and the Goff’s work to create the first aquarium in England. They work ferociously to build a glass tank to hold large amounts of water, transport life across the Atlantic, and create a liveable environment in the tanks for the creatures. Tragically, we are never told if their dream to open this museum is achieved. During his time at the Faith Plantation, Wash befriends an older woman who cares for him like a mother. He calls her Big Kit. Their bond grows strong through the years while they are
both ordered to live in a lousy shed. Initially we do not know much about Big Kit. Even when Wash has to leave her behind in the plantation horrors, we do not get any last words from Big Kit. As the years pass and Wash arrives in England, he learns the truth of Big Kit and her origins. I was delighted to see this plotline resolved. Despite a number of wild turns, Edugyan kept me interested throughout its 400 pages. Regardless of some dull chunks while Wash and Titch are at sea, the book had an overall captivating story.The language and imagery is beautiful from beginning to end. This caught my attention quickly because the book is spoken from a young, uneducated boy’s perspective, therefore the poise and sophistication of the novel’s language does not make sense to be coming from his. Regrettably, the enticing story line and graceful narration doesn’t make up for the disconnected two halves of the book, resulting in too many questions unanswered.
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ARTS
VOL. 26 // ISSUE 28
Podcast //
Adventures in afro surrealist sci-fi noir satire MARTIN CASTRO ARTS EDITOR
I’ve never actually listened to Welcome to Night Vale. At least, not intently. An episode or two may have made their way into my ears the way most podcasts do, by chance or recommendation, and while I always found its main premise enticing, it’s eluded me thus far. By any rate, I became better acquainted with the work of Welcome to Night Vale creator Joseph Fink after listening to Alice Isn’t Dead, a serialized horror/confessional/ Americana podcast written by Fink and distributed on the Night Vale Presents podcast network. Also distributed on this same network, Adventures in New America. The first episode of Adventures in New America was made available on all major streaming platforms on September 28. At the time of writing, two more episodes have been added and are available to stream. Written by Tristan Cowen and Stephen Winter, the recently-debuted series presents itself as “A podcast for new Americans in a new and desperate time.” Please, for the love of God, do not let this tagline convince you
that the podcast is focused on the kind of political dualism that’s pervaded our daily lives lately. Adventures In New America instead opts to shine light on the larger circumstances of our everyday realities by pitting them against the absurdist background of a society (possibly?) overrun by vampires, and inhabited by a cast of misfits with goals and schemes as off-the-wall as the disjointed narrative structure that the podcast employs. Taking a page from its surrealist Welcome to Night Vale’s roots, Adventures in New America ties its story together through a central narrative focusing on I.A. (voiced by Winter) a middle-aged man who’s recently received some pretty bad news, and Simon Carr (Paige Gilbert), a thief with an unfortunate streak of good luck. Both Simon and I.A. explore their own relationships throughout the series. (Notably Simon, whose same-sex relationship with an old girlfriend, Serena, is a turning point in the second episode.) More than taking listeners through the entertaining absurdity of life in a sometimesapocalyptic, sometimes-mundane future landscape, the story slowly introduces the
Movie //
existence of vampires into its narrative. Out on the fringes, these creatures — none of whom we’ve really gotten to meet other than marginally — appear as, perhaps, vampires are at their core: as others. Despite a cast filled with both actors and characters pinned to the corner of society by their struggle through otherness (be it I.A.’s lawlessness and disease, Simon and her love interest Serena’s race and sexuality, or the all-too shadowy monsters lurking in the corners), Adventures in New America never lands with pretension, instead running through some of the most mundane parts of life with abandon, and taking notes on its aesthetic from absurdist films like Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, and blaxploitation films like Superfly and Willie Dynamite. The social commentary apparent in Adventures in New America, however, never drowns its surrealist, take-itas-it-comes narrative structure, which, dramatic at times and comedic as others, is sure to keep any listener entertained.
A thrilling thriller has returned to theatres
A review of the 2018 Halloween film EMMALINE SPENCER STAFF WRITER
Michael Myers has returned once again to hunt down Laurie Strode in Halloween, the newest installment in the Halloween series. The original 1978 Halloween became a standard for all thriller movies since. The iconic film set forth the thriller movie clichés of the killer making phone calls without talking, the killer wearing a mask, and the killer appearing in the distance out a window and suddenly disappearing. One cannot argue the fact that the 1978 film is a cult classic, but has the newest edition to the troupe lived up to the standard of its predecessors? The premise of Halloween (2018) is that Michael has escaped again, 40 years after the original 1978 film, and is more bloodthirsty than ever. Meanwhile, in the 40 years Michael was held captive, Laurie Strode has lived her life preparing for the day he would break free, so that she could kill him. Since the 40 years have passed, there are now three generations of Strodes alive, including Laurie, Karen (her daughter), and Allyson (Karen’s daughter). The movie begins with two journalists researching Michael and the crimes he committed on Halloween night, 1978, making a visit to the rehabilitation centre that MiCONTINUED ON PG. 19
18
ARTS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
CONTINUED FROM PG. 18 chael is in. In continuity with the original 1978 film, Michael has still not spoken, not even in his 40 years of confinement. One of the journalists attempts to goad Michael into speaking by presenting the mask Michael once wore in 1978. When Michael fails to make any response, the two journalists leave and have a short interview with Laurie. After Michael’s escape during his transfer to a new centre, he catches up to the journalists to take his mask back. Michael wears his mask once again and becomes the “boogeyman” many children and Laurie fear. The movie featured the return of the original actors from the 1978 film, Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode) and Nick Castle (Michael Myers). Curtis has grown from being a scream queen and it shows in her acting. She plays the role of the grandmother of the Strode family who has PTSD from the Halloween night of 1978. The growth of her acting and the character she plays has given light to a braver and smarter
Laurie that is able to hold her own against Michael, unlike in the past. The movie was consistent with its prequel, being none conflictive and following the concept of a silent masked killer. It also inspires a new generation of thriller fans, as well as bringing back old fans to the theatres to watch the 11th installment in this growing series. The movie does leave many confused as to the title choice though. Having this be a direct sequel to the original film, while also holding the same name as both the original and the 2007 Rob Zombie-directed Halloween reboot, makes it difficult to follow the series of films. Despite the confusion, the 2018 film is an excellent sequel to the 1978 Halloween and is a good lead to future Halloween films. No future installments have been announced at this point in time, but the end of the 2018 film and credits give the idea that somehow Michael has survived and will be back again.
Movie //
Bad Times at the El Royale promises tense times Mystery, mayhem, and rich tense atmosphere will keep you guessing ALEISTER GWYNNE CONTRIBUTOR
Bad Times at the El Royale follows a group of strangers who arrive at the El Royale Hotel, a casino-motel near Lake Tahoe straddling the California-Nevada border, to take advantage of favourable regulations in each state. Unfortunately, the El Royale has fallen on hard times, having lost most of their customers, all but one staff member, and their gambling licence. Despite this, there will be gambling going on, with very high stakes. Each person at the El Royale has hidden depths and secrets, and nobody is who they appear to be. The colourful cast of characters interact and make choices that have consequences that decide who will leave the El Royale alive, and who will not. Set in the late-1960s, the film has a rich and deep atmosphere rooted in a particular time and place. The El Royale is a character itself, and it too has dark secrets and a deceiving façade. The actors give good performances in this film. Special mention goes to Jeff Bridges, who plays a Catholic priest named Daniel Flynn. Chris Hemsworth portrays a character who is equal parts alluring and creepy, and despite not getting as much screen time as the other major characters, plays a central role in the film’s climax. Perhaps most noteworthy, how-
ever, is actress Cynthia Erivo, who plays singer Darlene Sweet. Erivo’s singing is one of the highlights of the film, both adding to the movie’s aesthetic appeal (some instances more than others), as well as serving an important role in the plot. Music is an important component in Bad Times. The film features a distinctive soundtrack incorporating songs from the era in which the movie is set: some familiar, some less so, most of which we are introduced to via the character of Darlene. Camera angles are also used effectively to add to the tension and atmosphere. The opening sequence features an interesting use of the fourth wall, having the character face the camera and act as if using a mirror on the unseen fourth wall. No mere gimmick, this has significance that will become clear later. Use of close-ups, and alternately revealing and concealing characters add to the suspense, making it hard to tell how and when the characters will react in volatile situations. The pacing in Bad Times is unusual. Instead of the revelations mostly coming at the climax, with only subtle hints and clues beforehand, it doesn’t take long before major secrets start being revealed, one after the other in a breathless procession. Each reveal raises further questions, not all of which are answered with certainty
by the end. There are twists and turns, some predictable, some not, but I find that one of the former is often quickly followed and subverted by the latter. I have heard Bad Times being touted as an example of a modern take on the Western genre. However, it doesn’t really evoke the same feeling the way the TV show Breaking Bad does, which I would consider a prime example of a contemporary Western. Personally, I think Bad Times has more in common with the film noir genre. Although there is a climactic shoot-out, overall it feels more like a whodunnit with its emphasis on mystery and secrets. The style of Bad Times is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s work, with a distinctive visual and auditory style, and long stretches of mounting tension punctuated by relatively brief bursts of intense violence. However, director Drew Goddard (director of Cabin in the Woods, and writer of Cloverfield and The Martian) approaches his subject in a manner uniquely his own. Bad Times at the El Royale is an exciting thriller that never lets up and is well worth seeing. Having experienced this film, I look forward to other entries in Johnson’s and Goddard’s careers.
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