The Cascade Vol. 23 No. 10

Vol. 23 Issue 10

March 18, 2015 to March 24, 2015

Brought to you by the letter orange since 1993

Takin g a

stab at your

taxes We’re all Directly Affected Local film project exposes danger of oil pipelines

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Climbing Teapot Hill Half-hidden teapots charm hikers on local trail

p.16

Milton marathon Inside the epic reading of Paradise Lost

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ufvcascade.ca

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NEWS

Briefs Vedder River subject to “low flow” CHILLIWACK — Usually on the alert for flooding, Chilliwack has now found the Vedder River is lower than usual.

The city is seeking a grant from the provincial government to help cover assessment costs to find solutions for the lack of water. The river supplies a large amount of the Sardis area water supply.

- The Chilliwack Progress

Ontario universities seek to meet employment needs ONTARIO — Universities in Ontario are negotiating funding requests with potential employers. Focusing on employment rates, the province signed an agreement with its 44 post-secondary institutions to focus funding on areas of study that are high in demand.

Universities will consult employers in addition to the province for strategic enrollment.

- The Globe and Mail

BC minimum wage increase provokes protests VANCOUVER — The provincial minimum wage is increasing in September by $0.20 due to inflation. The BC Federation of Labour is taking this opportunity to lobby for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, holding rallies across the province. They argue that the current minimum wage does not allow people to live above the poverty line. The campaigning stretched over March 15 and 16, with protests in Vancouver, New Westminster, and Victoria.

- CBC

University of Windsor drafts sexual assault policy WINDSOR — U of Windsor’s faculty and students are drafting a sexual assault policy for Fall 2015. In addition to promoting a safe campus and giving students recourse for offences, the policy will define sexual assault to inform students about what kind of behaviour is and is not acceptable.

The university will have a draft by April, and the policy will be reviewed by human rights lawyers.

- The Lance

Have a news tip?

Let us know! news@ufvcascade.ca @CascadeNews

www.ufvcascade.ca

SUS fails to meet quorum

News

4

Opinion

7

India’s Daughter silenced

Culture

11

So many ideas, so little time

Arts in Review

14

Chappie is a real... robot

Sports & Health

15

Toxoplasmosis and your kitty

News

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015

SUS began their annual general meeting on Monday but had to reschedule, as not enough students attended.

Ashley Mussbacher discusses the censorship of the new documentary, which focuses on rape and sexual harassment in India.

Seventeen of UFV’s esteemed faculty showcased their research in two-minute microlectures. Miranda Louwerse reports.

After District 9, some people expect a lot from director Neill Blomkamp — but does Chappie live up to those standards?

Lots of students live in apartments with their cat. What are the dangers of being in close quarters with the litterbox?

It’s time to change how we think of productivity KATIE STOBBART

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Think instead of walking in the sand with a good friend and clasped hands.

The drive for economic success via commercial and industrial activity places a focus on the “product” of productivity. However, while we tend to view productivity strictly in terms of material gain, there are other modes and aims that are often, sadly, neglected.

We’ve concluded as a society that work cometh before all else, and while I’m aware of the merits of industry and ambition, I think we sometimes forget we’re far from hyper-efficient robots.

Social activity, rest, pleasure, physical activity, and creative or spiritual pursuits are just as important, even if their products are less tangible.

The night before writing this, I visited friends, cracked open a bottle of chestnut ale, and, at their nudging, played a video game.

The alternative was spending a few more hours in front of my laptop trying to force soon-due words into a blank document.

As a general rule, I dislike video games; I don’t find heavy action or combat alluring, and have often felt that Netflix is already a big enough drain on my time.

Volume 23 · Issue 10 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-Chief katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart Managing Editor valerie@ufvcascade.ca Valerie Franklin Director of Business Development joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson Production and Design Editor anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy Editor kodie@ufvcascade.ca Kodie Cherrille

The game was called Journey.

The cloaked avatars’ gender, ethnicity, and age are ambiguous.

The music is peaceful. The desert is, at least in the beginning, calm and non-threatening. Much of the game is exploration-based, the goal being to lengthen your avatar’s beautiful scarf. There are no instructions; there are no words in the game at all, spoken or otherwise.

However, you can encounter other characters in the game (real people, strangers, playing simultaneously) and communicate in non-verbal ways: proximity, movement in lieu of precise gesturing, and “calling,” which emits a soft sound and a symbol above your avatar’s head. If you’re playing alone, you complete a solitary journey, but if you do encounter someone else, you can travel across the virtual landscape to the top of the mountain at the end of the game.

The avatar I encountered was clearly much more experienced, and took on a kind of mentorship role to help me along my journey, both in moments of peaceful exploration and the stressful moment where I almost died and lost most of my scarf.

What surprised me was the strong connection I developed to the other player over the course of the journey. You don’t find out even the username of the play-

ers you encounter until the game is over, but I later found out he had already earned the trophy for navigating the game with someone else. In other words, there was nothing to gain, per se, by helping me out. Near the end of the course, the other player stopped walking, and when I waited, traced a heart in the sand.

My friends suggested this kind of mentoring by more experienced players is a fairly normal feature of the game, and their interactions with other anonymous players have been friendly.

Afterward, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was such a fresh dose of optimism. Since, I’ve been thinking a lot about how rewarding the experience felt, even though I didn’t necessarily “win” anything and I didn’t get any work done. But it wasn’t restful, either. It felt mentally, socially, and even spiritually productive.

A lot of the work I do, whether it’s editing or essay-writing, is solitary. Even group work doesn’t produce the same kind of collaborative feeling I got from taking this virtual journey with an anonymous human.

I’ve gotten a similar feeling or sense from companionable silences and meandering conversations — just spending time and bonding with another person, and appreciating the result. Even though I’m not used to thinking

of it this way, it’s a mode of productive activity: the product is a feeling of camaraderie, security, and connectedness. The experience feels meaningful, even moreso than some of the essays I’ve pulled together the night before deadline.

It sits in contrast with the feeling of being scheduled, controlled, and required to produce a specific result; in that mode of productivity, other people are viewed in light of how they help or hinder success, rather than in terms of their intrinsic value.

While there’s a tendency to value and prioritize one mode of productivity over the other, I’m a lot happier overall when the two are balanced. Too much couch-sitting becomes sloth, but too much so-called productivity becomes busywork or an ulcer. So sometimes, I’m going to put down my agenda with its sardine-tinned dates and deadlines in favour of a real date with another human, or a few hours with a canvas and tubes of paint, or tending the balcony garden I’ve been neglecting.

The trick is not to let either subsume the other, and to recognize when solitary work needs to be done and when you need to apply yourself to forging human connections or nurturing yourself.

If you leave all your breathing until summer, you’ll be blue in the face by June.

News Editors megan@ufvcascade.ca Megan Lambert

News Writer vanessa@ufvcascade.ca Vanessa Broadbent

Printed By International Web exPress

michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular

Varsity Writer nathan@ufvcascade.ca Nathan Hutton

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It provides a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a circulation of 1500 and is distributed at UFV campuses and throughout Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission. The Cascade is a member of the Canadian University Press, a national cooperative of over 50 university and college newspapers from Victoria to St. John’s. The Cascade follows the CUP ethical policy concerning material of a prejudicial or oppressive nature.

Submissions are preferred in electronic format through e-mail. Please send submissions in “.txt” or “.doc” format only.

Articles and letters to the editor must be typed. 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. The writer’s name and student number must be submitted with each submission. Letters to the editor must be under 250 words if intended for print. Only one letter to the editor per writer in any given edition.

Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, Cascade staff and collective, or associated members.

Opinion Editor alex@ufvcascade.ca Alex Rake Culture Editor nadine@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt

Production Assistants shyanne@ufvcascade.ca Shyanne Schedel eugene@ufvcascade.ca Eugene Kulaga

Arts in Review Editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt

Advertising Representative jennifer@ufvcascade.ca Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts

Interim Sports Editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt

Contributors Martin Castro, Ron Dart, Charlynn Jelier, and Miranda Louwerse

Video Editor mitch@ufvcascade.ca Mitch Huttema Webmaster ashley@ufvcascade.ca Ashley Mussbacher

Cover image: Anthony Biondi

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Science Advice Centre positions cut by admin Changes to advising structure raise questions about quality of service MIRANDA LOUWERSE

CONTRIBUTOR

With the service moving into the SUB as a consolidated advice centre for Fall 2015, UFV is removing three advising positions from Science Advice.

With the opening of the new SUS building, multiple services, including Science Advice, Arts Advice, and Student Services, will be combined into one advising centre for students across all departments.

VP students Jody Gordon is part of the administration overseeing the changes to academic advising. In a statement, Gordon says the advice centres will conglomerate into one place. The multi-disciplinary advising centre will have documented records of visits and a new degree audit system that will calculate a student’s various major and minor options depending on the courses they have taken. Gordon says the new structure will change the way students are given advice.

“For example, if a student is interested in brain and behaviour, they may be considering biol-

Image: u20science.org

Science advisors will now be cross-trained in different areas rather than having specific focuses. ogy, kinesiology, and psychology. Under our current advising model, this student would have to seek advice from three different units,” she states.

Gordon goes on to say that in the new system, a student would speak to an advisor who is

trained to work in all three areas at the same time.

As advisors will be crosstrained across departments, first-year students will no longer be advised by program-specific advisers. Instead, they will seek general academic advice and up-

per-level students will be given priority to subject-specific advice.

“If you are [a science student] in your second to fourth year, you will see an advisor who [is] formally housed in Science Advice,” Gordon writes.

However, there is some concern

that this system will not meet all students’ advising needs. Physics professor Tim Cooper, who has worked in Science Advice, says that as a scientist speaking with employers, he knows things about the job market that a general advisor may not know — and therefore might not have the same advice.

“In the past, we’ve had students who were advised by people who didn’t have a science background that were advised poorly,” he says. He adds that he’s concerned the new advising system will change the advice given to first-years, and that the priority given to upper-level students is not necessary.

“Do science students really need advice?” he says.

“Generally speaking, they’re pretty good at numbers and sorting stuff out without help.

So certainly by the time they’re in their second, third, or fourth year, they’re fine. But in first year, that’s when they need the advice, and I’m concerned that they won’t be getting the advice from scientists.”

From campus to courtroom

The Writing Centre saga continues at the Supreme Court of British Columbia MEGAN LAMBERT THE CASCADE

Two weeks after the February 25 protest to save UFV’s Writing Centre, organizer and alumnus Jack Brown filed for an injunction against the university, alleging that it did not follow due process in its decision.

On Wednesday March 11, Brown and UFV’s lawyer Adnan Habib stood on either side of a courtroom in the BC Supreme Court, poised for a 9:45 a.m. hearing to began.

However, it didn’t happen. Paperwork was filed incorrectly and Habib only received it the day before, so he arrived minimally prepared. Therefore he asked Justice Lance W. Bernard for an adjournment.

The judge, who did not have a copy of Brown’s materials, agreed, noting the complexity of the issue to Brown.

“Everything you’ve said so far suggests to me that this is something you are intimately familiar with as a result of your interest in the matter,” he said. “But it’s certainly not something that is straightforward from a court’s perspective.”

The hearing could have been rescheduled, but after a conversation with Habib later that day, Brown agreed to drop the injunction and instead wait for UFV’s response to the petition given to administration at the protest.

They are required to respond by April 1.

Brown said in an email that his decision was influenced by a concern raised by Habib in that conversation.

“UFV was quite concerned about this, and apparently felt that an injunction would jeopardize their annual operating grant from the Ministry of Advanced Education,” he said. “My intention was not this; simply to prevent the budgetary allocations from locking in the decision to close the Writing Centre.”

UFV’s Board of Governors will review the final 2015-16 budget

by April 9. Forty-six per cent of that budget comes from a provincial operating grant. An injunction could prevent the university from submitting its budget to the ministry on time.

Habib argued that this was reason enough for Brown to reconsider. “[It would have] a significant

Image: Scott/ flickr

Brown is waiting for UFV’s response to the petition against the closure of the Writing Centre. impact because there are 15,000 students that have to be serviced, there’s employees, that all has to be laid out,” he said.

He also said there are potential holes in Brown’s case; the first is the issue of standing. Because Jack Brown is an alumnus rather than a current student, he is arguing from a public interest standpoint, which could affect his case. The second hole, Habib

said, was fundamental factual information; the court would need to clarify whether the Writing Centre is “closing” or “expanding,” as there is a disagreement between parties on this notion alone.

Habib also pointed out that because the Writing Centre is not an academic program, it doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of the Senate, and therefore would

not breach any policies related to the University Act — a core argument in Brown’s case. Habib said the court would have to decide whether or not to interfere with the inner workings of the university, given UFV’s academic autonomy.

In the meantime, Brown is seeking counsel and will continue to attend graduate school in Ontario.

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Prof Talk

History prof Molly Ungar on UFV classes then and now ALEX RAKE THE CASCADE

Prof Talk is The Cascade’s oral history series, featuring the people best qualified to talk about what UFV has been like over the course of its first few decades: its professors. Each week we’ll interview a professor from a different department, asking them what UFV was like before it was UFV, and how they expect things will continue to change here.

Molly Ungar is an associate history professor at UFV who teaches courses on Canadian history, the history of Quebec, and Canadian cultural history. She has taught at UFV for 10 years.

What first brought you to UFV? University of the Fraser Valley — at that time, University College of the Fraser Valley — offered me a position. And that’s why I came here. I had worked in the field for many years before that. I started working basically in the Stone Age, which is 1998.

How do the courses you teach now differ from the courses you taught at first?

You re-design a course practically every year. Not completely, but to a great extent as a result of interaction with students.

I ask every single one of my students at the end of every course, face to face, what worked, what didn’t work, what would you change, what would you add, what would you subtract. And based on what the students say — so long as it doesn’t eliminate tests and writing — then the next year those students benefit from what the former students said.

The course I taught 10 years ago can still be called “History 101,” but it looks and runs radically differently from 10 years ago.

Would you say that your teaching style has changed at all?

Yes, I adjust my teaching style to what I notice works best. What works best is what produces student success, so you change your teaching style. I would be delighted to walk into a classroom, lecture for three hours straight, and walk out — but I have a feeling that I might have to change that.

Are there any trends you noticed about what works now as opposed to what worked then?

The way my classroom has changed now is that students sit in groups at tables; they used to sit all in rows. They do a lot more group presentations where the students organize the whole thing all themselves without my intervention. And lecturing has been reduced. Some courses I teach without lecturing at all. That’s called a flipped course. So yeah, it changes all the time.

Have you noticed any changes about the culture at UFV? There are many things that are different.

Institutionally, what has occurred is that we are much more organized, processoriented, and structured. This used to be a very casual university or institution. It had a very casual culture, so if you wanted to do something you could wander over to someone’s office and say, “Hey, I want to do this,” and they’d say, “Okay, go for it.”

As we became a university, the culture of the university changed so that we are now much more structured. Everything is becoming articulated in processes. So there is a process for everything. You can’t wander over to someone’s office and say, “Hey, I want to teach this” — you need to fill out a form. You need to have an application. It needs to go through some offices.

The other thing is that student expectations have changed. More and more students expect that everything they will need to know will be in the classroom.

They will be presented with everything

they need to know, like in a box, in the classroom. They expect to do very little outside the classroom, and that’s because many students work.

The other way that students have changed is that students cannot resist consulting their iPhones and other media conductors during class, during lectures, during film presentations, during presentations by their colleagues. They are unable to resist and this is a choice that students make. If you choose to scroll through your pictures and emails and constantly check — [your] attention is removed from the activity for which you have paid $400. [laughs] But it’s a choice. Students make that choice.

“As we became a university, the culture of the university changed so that we are now much more structured.”

What kind of projects have you been involved in?

I supervise dozens of work-study students; they have done really well.

One project that a student worked on is called “The Poppy Project,” that he created a website for the Chilliwack Museum where you can see — it’s interactive — where you can see all the guys from Chilliwack who died in World War I. You can see it on a map and you can click on it, and then you can see the person’s picture and where they lived. So you can go and see the house where they actually lived. I think I have supervised over 20 work-study students, and they have all done really nice

projects, and they’ve all benefitted. Some students have actually gone on to have jobs that pay because of the experience of the work-study.

I prepare papers for conferences. So I go to conferences every year and I present papers. I published a chapter in a book this year or two ago.

And then I had an interesting project from two high-school kids from upstate Washington, and they were doing a project on a Canadian explorer because in the United States they have something called “National History Day.” It’d be great to have that in Canada. And so they were doing a project on a Canadian explorer, and they wanted me to do an online interview on YouTube, so I sat at my kitchen table and I recorded my answers to their questions, just like I’m doing right now. And so that was nice. I uploaded it to YouTube, as a matter of fact.

I do loads of community talks. Like this Saturday [February 21], I’m going to present a talk at Surrey Museum on Queen Elizabeth II. And I do all kinds of talks in the community on all kinds of subjects.

And that’s all, by the way, volunteer.

So yes, I do all kinds of projects. Lots and lots.

What have you gotten out of your time at UFV? The opportunity to teach in the field that I have always wanted to teach in. It took me a long time to get my doctorate, and an even longer time to get my undergraduate degree and my masters.

So for me, UFV was what I always called the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, because they were willing to hire me. I thought that was great.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SUS’s attempt at AGM fails Despite not meeting quorum, students showed up in support of Equalities Resource Centre VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

The Student Union Society (SUS) made its first attempt at an annual general meeting (AGM) on Monday afternoon, but was not able to hold the meeting due to low attendance. In order to hold an AGM, 90 members of UFV students need to be present, and only 70 students attended the meeting in Abbotsford and Chilliwack — where the AGM was being broadcasted live.

Although the meeting was postponed, students still stuck around to hear a presentation

from students in support of an Equalities Resource Centre.

Students from the UFV Pride Group and Women’s Initiative Group shared an open letter that they are presenting to UFV, in hopes that they will include the centre on campus. They also asked students if they would be in favour of increasing student fees by less than $1 per semester to fund the centre.

One of the students, Kyle Stamm, explained that an Equalities Resource Centre is necessary for UFV. “Those two movements, women and pride, have really been

key pillars in social change in society,” he said. “As a university, as an institution of higher learning, those are key pillars that I think are missing from the fabric of our campus.”

The purpose of the resource centre would be to provide a safe space for students of diverse groups on campus to come and not only have access to resources like books and pamphlets, but also to experience a welcoming sense of community.

Stamm thinks the centre will help promote acceptance towards minority groups on campus.

“Tolerance is just the idea that

you put up with people that are different than you, whereas acceptance is the idea of proactively seeking to learn about other people and what makes them different and appreciating who they are. Having a centre would help build that acceptance on campus,” he said.

A second attempt at the AGM will be made this upcoming Monday, March 23, again in room B133 at 4 p.m. The agenda will remain the same — students can expect to see a presentation of the executives, presentation of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and proposal for a bylaw amendment.

SUS president Ryan Petersen alluded that the proposed bylaw change will be about reducing quorum, saying that it “would have sorted out the problem that we are having here today.”

Although the meeting was postponed, Petersen still expressed his gratitude for those who did attend.

“It really means a lot to me to see this many people willing to take the time out of their day to get involved with their student government,” he said.

5

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Federal student advocacy group holds conference in Abbotsford SUS brings CASA to UFV to review policies and connect with other universities VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

The Student Union Society (SUS) is finishing off the academic year by hosting the Canadian Alliance of Students Associations’ (CASA) annual general meeting (AGM).

The annual event is held by a different university each year, and this year that happens to be UFV. UFV was one of two potential hosts, and was picked over Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba during a vote at a CASA conference last July.

CASA is an alliance of student

unions across the country, holding four conferences per year to discuss issues that affect students and how to properly represent their universities at a federal level.

“A lot of post-secondary education is managed at the provincial level, but there’s a lot of policy being written at a federal level that we can still directly impact,” SUS president Ryan Petersen says.

Some common topics are tuition costs, student engagement, and academic support. CASA is made up of 22 student unions from across Canada, represent-

ing roughly 300,000 students.

Thomas Davies, VP internal and secretary of the CASA board of directors, explains that the CASA AGM is to finalize any changes to policies that were proposed earlier in the year. “The AGM is when the membership reviews any governing changes.

It’ll review policy statements that have been reviewed throughout the year,” he says.

To distribute the workload, CASA is split up into different committees, which focus on different areas of interest. SUS president Ryan Petersen is the chair of

the graduate council committee, and is hoping to adopt a new policy regarding parental leave for graduate students.

“If it gets passed, it’ll become an official policy of CASA,” he explains.

“That means that it’s a document that, when we meet with the federal government, we can bring forward and say, this is an issue, how can we approach fixing it?”

Davies says hosting the conference in Abbotsford will work to promote the university.

“It’s always exciting to host

schools from around the country, here at UFV,” Davies says. “It’s a great opportunity to show off UFV, and show off the campus.”

Petersen also sees this as a great opportunity for UFV to build its reputation as a quality university.

“We’re proud of the university, we’re proud of the space that we have built up,” he says. “It’s also the people that are here and [their] hard work.”

The AGM will take place from March 24 to 27 at the Phoenix Lounge in Abbotsford.

“Increasingly, our students are in charge” The need-to-know info on UFV’s budget plan KATIE STOBBART

THE CASCADE

While students are not literally making fiscal decisions or calling the administrative shots, UFV’s increased reliance on tuition means a focus on student needs and wants. In other words, students aren’t at the steering wheel, but they’re the GPS. “Increasingly, our students are in charge,” said President Mark Evered at a budget forum to reveal and discuss UFV’s 2015-16 budget plan. The main focus of the March 12 and 13 forums at the Chilliwack and Abbotsford campuses were to offer a detailed map of the university’s revenue and expenses over the next year.

Revenue sources are shifting UFV has three categories of funding: its provincial government grant, student tuition and fees, and miscellanious revenue.

At one time, the provincial grant provided the majority of funding, but is now close to par with student tuition. The grant, which has been decreasing each year, makes up 46 per cent of the total operating budget versus 39 per cent from tuition.

Tuition will be charged for ABE courses BC universities used to receive a tuition compensation grant to offset the cost of offering adult basic education (ABE) courses so students could access them for free. That grant will no longer be offered; instead, the government will allow institutions to charge tuition for these courses.

Because of a tuition policy bar-

Image: wikimedia.org

Mark Evered spoke about next year’s budget in Chilliwack (above) and Abbotsford. ring post-secondary institutions from raising the costs beyond inflation, UFV will be locked into whatever tuition they decide to charge. So they will charge the maximum amount they are allowed — about $160 per credit.

To offer partial relief to students, the university will apply an automatic bursary to those taking ABE courses which will decrease the student’s cost by $50 per credit.

Hogan explains. “Students are savvy. They’re finding ways to purchase their textbooks online at cheaper prices or [from] other sources.”

Textbook rentals and e-books are among options UFV is exploring to adapt and “diversify.”

Hogan adds that they are also looking at other ways ancillary services can contribute to the budget, like conferencing and event management.

Textbook sales decline The budget accounts for a $300,000 dent in the sale of goods and services. Chief financial officer Jackie Hogan says this recognizes a reduction in textbook sales at the bookstore.

“This is not unique to UFV,”

Athletics get some TLC The budget presentation lists a few initiatives related to athletics, campus recreation, and health.

Hogan says the responsibility for Campus Rec will be centralized under UFV Athletics.

The university is also working

with the Student Union Society (SUS) to develop and fund expanded recreation and wellness programming.

UFV is also working with other institutions to lobby for Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) to improve scheduling to minimize travel costs for competitions.

Land sale hits speed bumps Following the main presentation, Sukhi Brar, SUS’s VP external-elect, asked whether UFV’s intended sale of its land at the Chilliwack North campus would happen in the next year.

Evered said he hopes so, but explained that there have been delays in the process.

“The land has been available for a number of years now, but

the negotiations are complex,” he said. “Although technically we own the land fee simple, we can’t do anything without government approval, and government approval includes addressing some First Nations issues.”

Evered added that selling the property is not the only option under consideration. Where a sale is a one-time source of revenue, developing the property can mean long-term revenue generation.

Currently, he said executive director of campus planning Craig Toews is seeking advice from SFU, UBC, and a few other universities trying to navigate the same territory.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

SNAPSHOTS

Image: Anthony Biondi

Journalism is not marketing

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Image: Shyanne Schedel

Student apathy

Image: Anthony Biondi

Image: Anthony Biondi

Dice and vice

SUB snub

Megan Lambert

Martin Castro

Joe Johnson

Sasha Moedt

Once I was cornered at an event by the leader of a non-profit organization and bombarded with reasons why their campaigning would make “a great article.” I kept saying non-committal things like, “Yeah, maybe,” and, “Oh, cool.” But when it finally got down to not being able to change the subject, I began to explain a simple concept about journalism: it is not marketing.

Journalism is not here so your company or organization can gain “free exposure.”

Journalism is about documenting what is happening in front of you, keeping those in power accountable, and asking questions for those who don’t have voices. News is when something is new or out of the ordinary; you can’t just write about something existing. A non-profit organization helping people is not news, as that’s what they normally do. It would be news if such an organization was undergoing a major change, but this isn’t what I find. Usually, these organizations, out of the goodness of their hearts, want to spread the love. I say, spread the love! I suggest using Wordpress or social media.

“Nothing ever happens at UFV, man.”

This is a sentiment that many of us have heard on many occasions. While I’m sure SUS and other student groups at UFV are itching to let you know that “actually, there are many events at UFV; here’s a list of the 45 events happening next week,” the truth of the matter is that there is very little student involvement at UFV. Apathy isn’t the way to create new events and organizations.

If you want to do something (even something as ludicrous as starting a Trampoline Enthusiasts’ Organization), talk to SUS, talk to other students, and, most importantly, participate!

“Nothing ever happens at UFV” is wrong.

What you should be saying is, “I never do anything at UFV.” Get involved, do something, talk to like-minded people, and start a club. And stop complaining.

“We built this city. We built this city on rock and wool.”

Sure, that’s not how you actually build a city. Cities are built with rock and wheat.

But it is more than fun to reinterpret those 1980s Starship lyrics for the magical game called Settlers of Catan.

My burning addiction to Settlers has been growing for the past few months. But it was only in these last three weeks that I have seen what this game truly is — an insatiable construct that invades lives and turns friendships into conquests. Always wanting more. More wheat. More ore. More wood. More brick. More sheep. More ...

This game has become a way of life for me and those around me. Having initially discovered the game and introduced my friends, there is nothing else left for us. It’s all Catan. After receiving the six-player extension for my birthday, six of us sat down for eight hours of Settlers last Saturday.

Hours passed by in seconds.

What I’m getting at is if you don’t want your life receding into the shadows of dice and vice, never touch this game. Once you do, there is no turning back.

There’s a lovely plaque in front of the new and nearly complete Student Union Building. Among the central purposes of the SUB it lists is the following: “To support its students, staff, and alumni in their pursuit of the essential values of intellectual integrity, freedom of inquiry and the exchange of ideas, and the equal dignity of all persons.” But there is no acknowledgement of the building being built on unceded Stó:lō land. Considering that the university is working so hard to indigenize, and as a student who supported and helped pay for this building, I find this upsetting. It falls in line with Canada’s continued avoidance of a brutal history and cowardly present. The relationship between First Nations people and the government isn’t healthy. Canadians don’t know enough about our history, and that makes it easy for the government to avoid making First Nations welfare and rights a priority. It’s this little thing — not acknowledging unceded land — that brings up a huge, ugly problem. It would only be a gesture, and maybe that’s not much, but why is there no acknowledgement?

Dying for art’s sake is about the art, not the death ALEX RAKE THE CASCADE

In the middle of shooting a dream sequence for an Allman Brothers biopic last year involving a bed on train tracks, camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed when an actual train came unexpectedly down the line. I have no idea what Jones’ attitude towards the particular movie and her role in its creation was, but I doubt it was something she would deem worth dying for.

I do wonder, however, if there is any work worth dying for, and what it means to die in the process of creation. While artists do die, and indeed sometimes die in the process of creating art, it is never the death that they’re aiming for if it is the art they care about. Truly dying for art’s sake means art comes first and death is just a consequence, not the other way around.

Image: Wikimedia

“Life has to continue in order for an artist to confront it continuously.”

In Franz Kafka’s The Hunger Artist, the titular artist’s starvation becomes a spectacle for which audiences go wild, for a while. As it turns out, the artist’s fasting reflects not so much his desire to perform but his inabil-

ity to find something in the world worth eating. As he dies, he says, “Because I couldn’t find the food I liked [I did not eat]. If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else.” This artist’s

eventual death in the process of creating art really had nothing to do with a love for art and everything to do with dissatisfaction with life.

A lot of art comes from this conflict between the parts of life

the artist finds beautiful and the parts they find unbearable. Many artists, such as Virginia Woolf and Kurt Cobain, for example, eventually find that the unbearable parts override the beautiful, and end their own lives. This is not death for art’s sake because it is not death in the process of artistic creation. Art is in these cases irrelevant, because art is fundamentally a confrontation of life as opposed to a rejection of it.

Life has to continue in order for an artist to confront it continuously.

So, when somebody does die accidentally in the process of creating art, or pushes themselves to the point of death in an attempt to produce something, it is never the dying that’s important — it’s the art, the confrontation of life. The death of an artist and the narrative it creates should not therefore be as central as the work they produced in their lifetime.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Dialogue around rape can’t be black and white ASHLEY MUSSBACHER THE CASCADE

Rape is not a new problem. It’s found in films, literature, and language. It appears in Greek myths like “Leda and the Swan,” where Zeus takes the form of a swan and rapes Leda. In the 1970s in North America, rape was identified by the feminist movement as having its own “culture.”

Today, a film called India’s Daughter has sparked a new wave of action, and its censorship in India has only fuelled the dialogue surrounding it.

In December 2012, a young woman was returning home from seeing a late-night movie with a male friend in Delhi when she was trapped at the back of a city bus and gang-raped by several men. After the brutal assault, in which they also impaled her with a lead pipe to “teach her a lesson” and pulled out her intestines, they threw her and her friend off the bus, naked, and left her to die. This caused uproar in the already-tense, politically charged situation of gender inequality in India.

The BBC created the documentary India’s Daughter after the horrific event, but India’s national government censored it from airing in Delhi. The censorship indicates that in India, “rape is too

Image: Ramesh Lalwani/ flickr

The BBC documentary India’s Daughter tells an important story — but is it a fair reflection of India? taboo of a subject to be discussed frankly and openly,” according to Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

But if no one will talk about it, how will anything change?

Ironically, the censorship of this documentary has caused an interesting dialogue of its own. Harvinder Singh produced his own rape documentary in response to India’s Daughter

called United Kingdom’s Daughter, in which he asserts that 250 women are raped in Britain each day, with only 10 per cent of the cases resulting in convictions. It ends with the message that rape is a global problem.

Singh is right. When BBC aired India’s Daughter and the Delhi gang rape became a heated topic on Twitter, the anger was directed at India and its back-

wardness, accusing its citizens of being barbaric. It’s easy to point and make accusations, especially when those accusations redirect the focus from yourself. One in four women in North America will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, and the United States actually ranks number one in rape cases globally, according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Another side to this topic is the

common belief that men are solely responsible, but this is not the case. As it is with any crime, both genders have potential to commit rape. India’s Daughter features lines from the male offenders claiming that women have “no place” in India’s society, and that their purpose is to be housekeepers. These scenes are framed in order to fuel the flames. It’s working as intended, and people are beginning to speak out against sexism in India. However, victims of sexual assault include men as well, and I’m afraid that framing the offenders in India’s Daughter in such a way will further categorize all men as predators.

It’s time the dialogue around sexual assault became more inclusive to the many different variables involved. Rape is not a simple topic: there is no perfect victim or offender, no black and white. It is muddled and gray. A typical response to something this controversial is to fold all its pieces and loose threads into a tiny box and file it away neatly under a category, clearly labelled, recognizable, and easy to understand. But the events and factors leading up to assault are incredibly subjective. By simplifying it through censorship or labelling it a taboo, the necessary discussion for learning from such a complex topic is lost.

NOW HIRING

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The Editor-in-Chief directs editorial and production staff through all stages of publishing The Cascade each week.

It is an intense job, requiring a minimum of 16 office hours per week, and is not recommended for full-time students.

If you want to gain valuable writing and editing experience and think you can handle staying on campus nearly 24 hours a day, this might be the job for you!

For a full job description, check out the employment page on ufvcascade.ca.

Term of office: May 2015 to April 2016.

To apply, email your resume, cover letter, and writing sample to valerie@ufvcascade.ca by April 11, 2015.

Pay per issue: $300

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FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Tax basics: how and where to file By: Vanessa Broadbent Graphics: Eugene Kulaga

Tax season is quickly approaching, and let’s be honest, unless you’re an accounting student, it’s pretty intimidating.

For most of us, filing taxes is nothing but a mess of numbers, and if they somehow magically add up, they government will send us money — hopefully. But tax season doesn’t need to be this stressful! We’ve put together a guide on how and where to get your taxes done — stress-free.

YES

T3

Employment income

NO

YES NO

T4

GET YOUR STUFF TOGETHER

NO YES

T2202A

Trust income (if applicable)

Tax credit form print from: myUFV student informatio Canadian tax fo

NO YES

T5

Investment income (if applicable)

If you have any questions about what you can claim or what you need to do, check out cra.gc.ca/students or email BASA at basa@ufv.ca.

on orms

9 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

FEATURE

DO THE MATH Get certified tax software and put in all of your information.

Cra-arc.gc.ca/getready has a list of programs that are government-approved.

Take your forms to the Great Hall in building B (by OReg) anytime between March 16 and April 10, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Students from the business administration student association (BASA) will do all the work for you for a fee of $25.

Take your forms to a tax preparation company like H&R Block or Valley Income Tax Service. This is your priciest option — services start at $39.99 — but if you’re an international student, it’s your only option.

SEND YOUR INFO TO THE CRA — If you choose to go with the BASA service or a tax preparation company, this is as easy as going in and signing a form. They’ll send it in and all you have to do is wait for your return.

— If you did the filing yourself, you can send it in at cra-arc.gc.ca.

When it comes to taxes, being a student does have its perks!

SEND INFO THE CRA Here areYOUR a couple of things youOFF can claimTO and how: — Your tuition fees. Up to $400 per month for full-time students and $120 for part-time students. (This requires no extra forms or receipts. It’s included in your T2202A form) — Textbooks. $65 per month for full-time and $20 per month for part-time.

(This requires no extra forms or receipts. It’s included in your T2202A form) — Moving expenses if you had to move to attend UFV or be closer to a job.

— Child care expenses.

— Public transit fees. If you had to pay for public transit, make sure to keep those receipts and include them when you file.

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CULTURE

Upcoming

Events

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Ripples of oil in the valley

Screening and panel explore the potential local consequences of pipeline expansion KATIE STOBBART

THE CASCADE

March 19 Networking for environmental careers A panel on how to land a postgrad job for students hoping to work in the field of environment and sustainability — from working for Environment Canada or in agriculture. The event will include recent graduates who have successfully landed jobs on the environmental career ladder, and allow for current students to make connections. Representatives from Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resources Operations; the Fraser Basin Council; the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement; and Agriculture / Agri-Food Canada will be available for questioning and conversation. The networking begins at 12:30 p.m. in A225 / 229.

March 19 Panel on the Barbaric Cultures The Race and Anti-Racism Network presents a discussion on the racist implications of the federally proposed Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act. The panel, which will be led

by Vancouver-based lawyer Kamaljit Lehal, commemorates the March 21 International Day for the Elimination of Racist Discrimination. The event starts at 1 p.m. at the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies.

What does it mean to be directly affected?

It’s a question at the centre of a short film project, Directly Affected, which was shown in B101 on March 11 at UFV’s Abbotsford campus. About 100 people from UFV and the community at large attended.

“Pipelines are nation-building, but not in the way Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan want them to be,” said Misty MacDuffee, a biologist who appears in the film and sat on the panel.

Though the screenings began in Vancouver, Directly Affected begins closer to home with interviews of Abbotsford and Chilliwack residents. The 30-minute film also briefly traces the history of the Trans Mountain pipeline in Burnaby in the 1950s.

It began as a co-op project whose main appeal was providing jobs and resources to local communities, which doesn’t sound so different from the words we hear in relation to pipeline expansion today. However, the focus has shifted from providing oil to local refineries (now closed) to international export.

The idea for the film was a response to the National Energy Board (NEB)’s review process, which requires anyone weighing in during the public hearing phase to explain how they are

Images: Directly Affected Film / Facebook

Directly Affected features the people, wildlife, and land threatened by the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. “directly affected” by a project, like the pipeline expansion.

However, many opponents to expansion argue that everyone is directly affected; that it’s not only human residents of BC who are at risk; and that the NEB’s process is undemocratic.

In the film, MacDuffee explains that orcas on the BC coast are threatened just by the presence of oil tankers, even if there’s no spill.

Nor does the threat of a spill affect only remote areas. According to Lynn Perrin — the director of Pipe-Up Network, which co-hosted the screening — the pipeline goes through 23 school playgrounds as well as over two aquifers. The aquifers are direct

sources of well-water for local farms.

UFV physics professor Tim Cooper was also a panelist. First linking the oil industry to climate change, he said climate change is about food.

“We can stay indoors and put on air-conditioning,” he said, “but our crops cannot.”

Lisa Powell, a post-doctoral fellow in the UFV geography department’s Agriburban Research Centre, explained how best practices for agriculture-related decision-making involve not just analysts and scholars, but the people on the ground, tilling the soil.

“Much of what farmers know cannot be learned simply by looking at maps or even by do-

ing a simple survey of the land,” Powell explained. “Farmers have to be part of the decision-making process and at the table when it comes to things that affect their land.”

UFV elder in residence Eddie Gardner, who welcomed everyone to the screening with a salmon song, was thinking of another essential feature of the Valley: the river.

“The salmon is at the centre of an industrial storm that’s moving over BC,” he said, adding that if we can unite to protect the salmon and the river, “we’ll be doing a great service to future generations.”

Local bands complete in CIVL Radio’s #CIVLUFVBattle VANESSA BROADBENT

March 24 Building Bridges Beyond 19 UFV’s Child and Youth Care students, in conjunction with Abbotsford Community Services, will present a forum on “Building Bridges Beyond 19,” to address the transition that happens when foster children age out of care. Former foster youth, foster parents, youth workers and social workers will take part in a panel discussion. The event will take place in B121 on the Abbotsford campus, from 6 to 8 p.m., and everyone is welcome.

THE CASCADE

CIVL Radio kicked off its third annual #CIVLUFVBattle on Friday, the first of three concerts that will be happening weekly at U-House.

The concert featured four local bands and artists: Pest Synapse, Bob and Al LIVE, Beau O’Neil, and Brennan Sinclair — a mix of everything ranging from acoustic singer-songwriter style to heavy metal. The groups are all competing for a grand prize, which includes studio time, professional photography, and chances to play at the Arty Awards and Envision Concert Series in the Park. Brennan Sinclair and Pest Synapse were the winners of this round and will be moving on to the finals on March 27. The battle continues for two more weeks on Fridays at 5:30 p.m.

Images: Vanessa Broadbent

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Faculty take the two-minute challenge at microlecture series MIRANDA LOUWERSE CONTRIBUTOR

Could you take years of highly specialized research and shrink it down into a two-minute presentation for a general audience?

Seventeen of UFV’s faculty researchers attempted this feat at the faculty microlectures hosted by the Research Office.

The Roadrunner Lounge in A building was temporarily transformed into a lecture hall with a sunlit stage this past Tuesday to showcase the research being done at UFV. Faculty from 13 different departments described their work to other faculty and students, giving the audience a fast-paced look into the research being done at UFV. One after the other, faculty took the stage with a display to their right announcing who they are and what they do. A traffic light to their left showed how much time they had left, with the yellow light indicating that they had 30 seconds remaining. More than one professor was caught with a yellow light and picked up the pace to finish their speech, only to breathe a sigh of relief when they managed to finish on time.

One of the first presenters, Michelle Riedlinger from communications, shared some of her research on research. She was curious about why some researchers are more engaged in communicating with the public about their work than others; she found that stating the need to recruit other researchers, public relations, advocacy, and research for other researchers were four main rea-

Image: blogs.ufv.ca

This year’s microlectures featured 13 different departments, from kinesiology to chemistry. sons. She ended by encouraging all researchers present to determine what their motivations for researching are.

To make his research more understandable, Cory Beshara from chemistry used props instead of chemistry “buzzwords.” Using a container and three different sized balloons, he demonstrated that only balloons of the right size will fit into the container and stay there, drawing an analogy to how

ions will only stay in a molecular container if they are the right fit for it. He also described the difficulty in constructing a container that will hold what he wants, saying that once he manages to synthesize the building blocks, the fun will begin.

Some faculty presented projects with global implications. Yvon Dandurand from criminology relayed how he was invited by the UN to draft a human rights

instrument to prevent violence against children worldwide, and also built an assessment tool for nations to assess their own criminal justice systems and to see how they compare with other nations.

David Harper from kinesiology is researching the health benefits of a ketogenic diet — that is, high fat and low carb — finding that such a diet helps patients with diabetes, chronic pain, and high blood pressure. His results were

so astounding that he was invited to team up with the BC Cancer Agency to further explore the health benefits.

The event was concluded by inviting everyone to the publication celebration immediately following, and also to the Student Microlectures and Poster Day planned for the beginning of April to showcase student research done at UFV.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Androgynous style challenges outmoded fashion norms CHARLYNN JELIER

CONTRIBUTOR

Traditional fashion rules for both men and women are being broken. Androgynous fashion, which naturally incorporates elements from both male and female styles, is increasing in popularity and calling out outmoded perceptions of “gender-suitable” clothing.

Dressing androgynously is about being fashionable while being comfortable. “Less is more” is the motto of this minimalistic trend. Take boyfriend jeans, a wardrobe staple, as an example.

As the name suggests, you can casually throw on an old pair of your boyfriend’s jeans and adopt them for your own. Flannels are also easily swiped from your boyfriend or even brother’s closet.

The same goes for men. Skinny jeans are no longer restricted to women. Scarves — and even necklaces for the fashion-forward — are slowly working their way into the average male wardrobe.

For women taking this approach for the first time, try adding one androgynous piece to an outfit: Oxford shoes, a blazer, a hat, or even a button-up are versatile and can be worn on many different occasions. Adding a pair of skinny jeans to contrast an oversized sweater keeps your outfit’s shape. Red lipstick or a statement necklace keeps a more masculine outfit looking feminine.

For those who prefer their entire outfit to be androgynous, the key is playing with silhouettes; for a tuxedo suit, slimmer lapels draw attention away from the bust, while a silky blouse keeps the look balanced. Denim tops or jackets tend to broaden the shoulders, while a boat-cut neckline minimizes the bust. For bottoms, having a cropped hemline shows a bit of ankle and adds interest to the silhouette. Try to veer away from lighter colours; opt for pastels and darker shades of red, green, and blue. As for accessories, a pair of earrings or a basic

Image: staticflickr.com

Janelle Monae throws out typical gendered syles in favour of monochromatic suits. bracelet are simplistic and don’t draw much attention.

For men, dressing androgynously can be slightly more challenging. While wearing dresses in

the fashion world (Marc Jacobs, anyone?) is becoming more acceptable, it’s more difficult in everyday life. Dipping a toe into androgynous waters can seem,

scary but it’s surprisingly easy to break into it. Picking a shirt or a pair of pants in a colour that has been seen as more feminine in the past is an easy way to add style without sacrificing comfort. Once again, it’s important to play with silhouettes. Adding a classic scarf creates definition in an outfit. A cross-body bag is fashionable and practical. For those slightly more daring, try adding a long, flowy shirt or a pair of skinny jeans. Upgrade that classic scarf to a lighter wrap scarf. To really push the envelope, a wrap skirt will do the trick.

Androgynous fashion is all about being comfortable while making a statement. Wearing what makes you feel good is the goal of every fashion trend, and this one is no different. Play with different shapes and colours and styles. Push the boundaries and experiment until you find something that makes you feel fabulous; after all, fashion is all about having fun!

Milton’s Paradise Lost brought to life in marathon 13-hour reading MARTIN CASTRO

CONTRIBUTOR

Satan, Beelzebub, and Death made appearances at UFV on Friday, March 13, when a dramatic reading of Milton’s Paradise Lost was held in room B121 on the Abbotsford campus. Seated behind an array of tables placed end-to-end, both UFV faculty and students dropped in to lend their voices to the various roles in Milton’s masterpiece. Published in 1667, the epic poem describes the biblical story of the war between Heaven and Hell and the ensuing fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. “[The event] was originally the idea of Melissa Walter, my colleague in the English department,” explained Tim Herron, who organized the event with Walter. “She thought we should put on a reading of Paradise Lost.

We talked about it and came to the conclusion that a dramatic reading … made the most sense,

where each character’s part would be recited by a different person.”

At 8:30 a.m., Melissa Walter set the scene for the first interaction of main characters in Paradise Lost. The sound of drip coffee being brewed punctuated an exchange between Satan and Beelzebub, voiced by Dhawan and Pitcher respectively. The reading was broken into the 12 books (sections) of Paradise Lost, with a five to 10-minute break between the ending of each book and the beginning of the next, allowing participants to change their seating or join those reading at the front of the room.

Herron noted that no recording of Paradise Lost being read by multiple voices exists.

“All recordings of Paradise Lost that you can find anywhere, really, on the web, or through Amazon, [will] be one person reading the whole work. But we were of the view that the intention of the work was to be dramatic, so that’s the thinking behind our

version.”

Given its early starting time, the reading only saw a handful of people in the audience until around 9 a.m., when more people started trickling into the room, either eager to listen and participate, or curious as to why there was a crowd of people intently listening to a speech delivered by a man whose name-card labelled him as Satan.

Attendance for the reading peaked just before midday, where almost every table was occupied by spectators, many of which were following the dialogue and narration in their own copies of Paradise Lost.

Herron noted that reading the entire work in one sitting worked because it created continuity in the storyline.

“We thought it would make sense to do it all in one day,” he said.

The event finally wrapped up around 9:30 p.m. — a total of 13 hours of reading.

CAMPUS FILM SCREENING LISTINGS Thursday, March 19, 3:00 p.m.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (95 min.)

Presented by UFV History in B121 Comprised of archival footage shot by Swedish television camera crews during the period, Göran Olsson’s compilation is less a pure historical document, more the present commenting on history from a tiny remove (Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson appear through contemporary voiceover). Wesley Morris gave the documentary a positive review in the Boston Globe: “[The footage is] powerful, vivid, inspiring, demoralizing, and damning enough to speak for itself.”

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Soundbite

BadBadNotGood and Ghostface Killah team up on Sour Soul MARTIN CASTRO THE CASCADE

CHARTS 1

Viet Cong Viet Cong

High 2 Cheap Idle Heat Waves 3 Freak Bonnie’s State of Mind No! Yoko 4 Oh Pinhead’s Paradise

5

Ariel Pink pom pom

6 Various Mint Records Presents: Hot 7

Heroes Ex Hex Rips

8 Dodgers Dodgers Ring 9 Purity Another Eternity

10

B.A. Johnson Shit Sucks

11 Spectres Dying de Courcy 12 Johnny Alien Lake Bee & the Buzz13 Queen kills

14

Stalk to Me Yumi Zouma Ep I & II

Gonzalez 15 Jose Vestiges & Claws

16 Whitehorse Leave No Bridge Unburned 17

The Rebel Spell Last Run

18 Siskiyou Nervous

Shuffle

AARON LEVY

STATION MANAGER / THE EVERYBRO

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy likes how much The Cascade’s Anthony Biondi loves Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his stellar acting career. Here are some rock songs.

Simon and Garfunkel “I am a Rock” From their 1966 folk-pop-rock classic, Sounds of Silence, S & G tell us all about loneliness, sorrow, and loss in two-part harmony.

Metaphorical and rhetorical in a clinical way, setting the standard for singer-songwriters from Joni Mitchell to Sufjan Stevens to emulate and ape for years to come.

Rolling Stones “It’s Only Rock and Roll But I Like It” To be honest, I’m more a fan of the roll. These days, rock means Theory of a Nickelfault, as we used to refer to their ilk here in the early aughts (similar to the Vinstrohives), whereas roll always reminds me of those pristine Stones, if only circa 1974.

Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock” Attack of Lieber and Stoller. Also known as the Brill Building think tank. If your favourite song emanates from the mid-late ‘50s, it was likely either written by one of these young American Yids, or at least at 1619 Broadway. See also songs “Yakkity Yak” and “Leader of the Pack.”

Shawn Mullins “Rockabye” I’ll be honest, this generic, soothing, sickly seductive piece of tween-bait is, next to Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” and “New Beginning” by Stir, possibly one of my favourite ‘90s era pop-rock songs. He name-checks Bob Seger and Sonny and Cher, and has sweet soliloquies throughout. Be all right.

Frank Ocean “Crack Rock” One of the only members of infamous hip-hop crew Odd Future to not offend anyone with a progressive ideology in mind right off the bat, he is openly gay, super talented, and sings this song about smoking the cheap, highly addictive and dangerous incarnation of the coca plant drug.

Sour Soul, a collaborative album between jazz / instrumental hip-hop band BadBadNotGood and WuTang member Ghostface Killah, seamlessly blends smooth, refined, hip-hop-influenced jazz tracks with Ghost’s trademark storytelling. Over 12 tracks, three of which are instrumentals, Ghost and BBNG exemplify the better of two (seemingly) different worlds.

A deviation from the more drum-heavy and in-yourface production that Ghost usually opts for, the instrumentals on Sour Soul complement his clear and straightforward flow. Sour Soul sees Ghost deliver an impressive amount of introspective rhymes, giving the listener incredibly detailed and visual narratives through a stream-of-consciousness delivery.

If ever the need existed for a record to play in the background of an upscale dinner party hosted by someone whose musical tastes were developed in early ‘90s New York, then Sour Soul is a direct response to that necessity. “Six Degrees,” which features Danny Brown, is reminiscent of the style of production used heavily by RZA throughout Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), so it comes as no surprise to see how well Ghost fits in with the instrumentals. As an ominous guitar is picked, building tension throughout, Ghost delivers some of his most passionate verses in recent memory. Somehow (and seemingly defying reason), Danny Brown feels right at home next to Ghost. “Tone’s Rap,” a mellower track, sees Ghost take on a more sombre tone and

Sour Soul is introspective and emotional. cadence; the track sounds virtually unlike most hiphop tracks, and more like spoken-word poetry delivered over a jazz backing band.

Ghost shines on “Gunshowers,” letting loose and rapping (in a surprisingly emotional tone) over an instrumental that’s a cross between jazz and the soundtrack to a kung-fu film. Overall, the 12-track LP shows the breadth of not only Ghostface but the members of BBNG as well, and makes for a more than enjoyable listen.

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Film

Chappie skims the surface of A.I., spirituality, and morality MITCH HUTTEMA THE CASCADE

Chappie is a raw and rough — but also delicate and emotional — film about too many things in general.

Set in the near future, the film follows the story of the creation and life of an artificially intelligent robot in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the police employ an unstoppable robot force to fight and control crime.

Deon (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire, creator of the programmable robot police, achieves his goal of creating artifical intelligence early in the film, and then proceeds to make Chappie (Sharlto Copley). His counterpart Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), the villain of the film, is in the process of creating the “Moose,” a humancontrolled heavy-duty robot warrior. Deon’s success leads to funding cuts for Moore’s research, which prompts him to seek revenge on Deon.

Chappie is the third feature film directed by Vancouver

Film School alumnus Neill Blomkamp (Elysium, District 9), and boasts South African zef rave punk duo Die Antwoord as main cast members.

Unlike previous films from Blomkamp that had very specific agendas, Chappie dabbles in spirituality, moral repercussions of technological advancement, lifestyle choices, and the importance of being a unique member of society. But this divided intent makes the film ineffective at saying anything potent, and turns into a lot of weak stock characters partaking in a cobbled-together plot.

At one point, Ninja of Die Antwoord has a conversation with Chappie about the intentions of his maker when Chappie was created, which becomes very spiritual in nature. However, rather than opening any doors to conversation about religion, it falls flat because Deon’s intentions in creating Chappie were restricted and forced by situation, unlike in any religion.

Sigourney Weaver starts out

that the plot of the film goes to die. From this point on, nearly every twist and turn leads to spectacle and hard-to-believe turns of events.

Hugh Jackman cannot play a villain; after Chappie, that’s

a fact. It doesn’t help that his character in Chappie is equivalent to a revenge-seeking child in a sandbox. And Jackman can hardly be hated with a dorky mullet and his twinkling, smiley eyes perched atop a halfhearted scowl.

Most disappointing was the plot. The story has so much potential, but key plot elements are used frivolously to escape tough situations, and the standards of believability the film had set up are sacrificed later on at the altar of plot resolution.

Chappie sets itself up to be super enjoyable and loveable, but ends up disappointing the critical viewer with weak plot resolution and characters that lack depth and relatability. The film departs from Blomkamp’s highly politicized District 9 and moves closer to a Michael Bay-style frivolous action film.

Though Blomkamp maintains an aspect of philosophical concern in Chappie, he doesn’t make it easy for the viewer to access it.

growing fan community that the sequel, Mother 3 for the Nintendo 64, fell through and was cancelled. It was later revived for the Game Boy Advance, but was not localized. It was pretty much a punch to the face by Nintendo. Why deny the Western fan base a game based upon contemporary American culture? It didn’t help that the star character Lucas appeared in the Wii version of Super Smash Brothers.

This is where the fan community took over. Petitions were signed, to no avail, and soon a fan translation was started. The fans were taking the game into their own hands. It took some time to complete, but after two years there was a playable English version of the game available to the community, along with the encouragement to continue to support Nintendo and HAL Laboratories. However, this cannot shake the biggest blow to the community: the director of the Mother series, Shigesato Itoi, has declared that Mother 3 is the last game in the series. He has decided never to make another. Nevermore,

Mother.

Yet shortly after Itoi’s declaration, the fan community stepped up once more. For the past five years, they’ve been cooking up a Mother of their own. The fan creation Mother 4 has declared itself a free-to-play sequel to the series, involving a similarly constructed list of goofy American-themed characters to carry on the legacy. It has seen several revisions, and the team states that they are building the game from scratch using C#. This isn’t some RPG Maker knock-off. This is pretty close to the real thing.

If the loyalty of fans could say anything, it would be their dedication to the legacy of a series of games. It’s so strong that they manage to encapsulate not only the look and feel of the original series, but the themes and strength of the story as well.

Despite the fact that this sequel has not yet been released (though it might be in June), it seems clear to me that there is nothing but love behind it — love for a great series of games, and love for the community that follows them.

Image: geek-retreat.com

While heartwarming, Chappie lacks depth. as a badass stubborn icon, like every film she’s in — but in a crucial moment, she caves in with no resistance to Moore and okays his self-serving and oddly convenient solution to a huge crisis. It’s at this moment

Arcade

Oh Mother, where art thou?

ANTHONY BIONDI THE CASCADE

Since the dawn of adrenalinefuelled, graphically masterful realistic games, there has been a movement by the gaming community to go backwards in time. Gaming nostalgia seems to be one of the greatest and most vocal forms of nostalgia around — right up there with Back to the Future and Star Wars fans.

The Mother series was first released in Japan in 1989, and made an attempt to come to Western shores, but never made it. Its sequel, Mother 2, would fill those shoes as the classic game Earthbound. Despite its originally poor sales, the series has grown into an icon of nostalgia for fans of the great old RPG. Earthbound is a commentary on American life, with the psychic boy Ness adventuring with three other friends across Eagleland to destroy the evil alien Giygas. The adventure involves teaming up with a comedic shout-out to the Blues Brothers, a fight against a somewhat abu-

Image: gatheryourparty.com

sive police force, battles against strangely deformed animals and strange household objects, and conflicts with shoppers,

businessmen, and hippies. To this day, Earthbound holds its own as a videogame landmark.

It was unfortunate to the

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Drop-in sports prove to be fun stress- and ice-breakers KODIE CHERRILLE THE CASCADE

You stumble out of AfterMath, your head buzzing with din and drink, and you hear something. Is that human activity in building E — and outside of the pub? You walk towards the sounds, and you soon find yourself in the North Gym. There are people playing pickleball, and they invite you to join. You don’t know what pickleball is, but you shrug and pick up a paddle.

And within 15 minutes you’re playing an intense doubles match with some new friends.

For the duration of the semester, UFV campus recreation is hosting free drop-in sports events, open to all UFV students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Usually, gym facilities require you to have a Student Activity Centre membership, but all you need for the dropins is your student card.

“It’s fun, and it’s a good way

to learn new sports,” said Joel Duclos, a kinesiology student taking his practicum with campus rec. And he’s right; not to brag or anything, but I kicked butt in the second round of doubles. The first round, not so much. You can’t be awesome at everything — at least, not right away.

You might have seen Duclos handing out flyers, answering questions, and promoting the campus recreation Facebook page in front of the Abbotsford campus’ Tim Hortons. “We’re trying to get as many people in there as we can, so we can get events going,” he explained.

There have been a few dropin events this semester, and some of them have been pretty successful, according to Duclos. Valentine’s Day saw campus rec hosting a public ball hockey tournament in Chilliwack, and people of all skills and ages came from as far out as Mission to play. “That was a big success,” Duclos said. “We had about 20 teams.”

He also said campus rec would like to have more events that involve not just the university, but the communities that surround it. The ball-hockey tournament was a step in the right direction, and its turnout shows promise.

Brett MacNab, who helps out with the drop-ins, was at the pickleball game the evening I stopped by.

“Pickleball is a favourite of mine,” he said later in an email correspondence, “although not many people know about it, or how fun it can actually be.”

MacNab has been involved with campus rec since 2012, his first year at UFV. Since then, he’s seen the popularity of certain drop-in sports ebb and flow.

“Successful drop-ins require a group of students who are dedicated to showing up weekly,” he noted. On the topic of getting different drop-in events started, he said that “if the will of the students is behind an idea, it can happen. In fact, it

Image: www.ufvcascades.ca

only really takes one passionate person to make an event happen.” When asked what he’d like to see, he had two ideas: revive the dodgeball drop-ins, and bring in dance.

Campus rec will be holding tournaments for all the remaining Saturdays of March.

In the meantime, the drop-ins will serve as training sessions for those hell-bent on winning those tournaments. Or perhaps they’ll just be a cool place to meet people and work out the stresses of academia.

Cleaning out the box: cat litter contains harmful chemicals and parasites ALEX RAKE THE CASCADE

Cats are going to poop. You’re going to need a way to get rid of it. But kitty litter has the potential to do harm to you and your cats, both from the chemicals in the litter and the parasites in the feces.

Make sure to research the contents of your litter for what kinds of chemicals and how much of them are in it. Many brands of kitty litter are made from sodium bentonite clay and silica gel. Sodium bentonite clay is non-biodegradable, and so if it is ingested little by little over time by pets or humans, it can, according to Natural News, cause “bowel blockages, kidney problems, dehydration, an inability to absorb nutrients, and if left untreated can quickly lead to death.”

Silica gel is considered a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, so you definitely want to avoid inhaling it. Keep in mind that some litters are made from natural ingredients like walnut shells, which minimizes the amount of potentially harmful chemicals needed for the litter to work.

Beyond the litter, contact with cat feces can lead to infection by Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that while toxoplasmosis “is considered to be a leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States ... very few people have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.” Those

Image: Static/ flickr

with weakened immune systems and pregnant women are therefore most at risk and should avoid litter duty.

According to the CDC, toxoplasmosis is dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause birth defects such as eye or brain damage, or even miscar-

riage. Outside the womb, it can cause visual impairment via tearing of the eyes and chronic headaches. According to Health Day News, there has also been a link found between toxoplasmosis and the production of GABA chemicals.

The disturbance of the GABA system

also occurs in people with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar diseases, and anxiety syndrome — although no causeand-effect relationship has been found.

Perhaps this is where the notion of the “crazy cat lady” comes from?

In healthy people, toxoplasmosis might only manifest as flu-like symptoms, so just be aware of its potential without getting too terrified about it.

The CDC suggests keeping cats indoors so they don’t contract Toxoplasma gondii from whatever dead animal they come across.

The Nest, a website dedicated to tips and tricks for new homeowners and newlyweds, gives these suggestions to minimize the negative effects of litter boxes in the home: • Don’t keep the litter box near where you eat or where you prepare food.

• Clean the box every day.

• Wash your hands after dealing with the litter.

• Use plastic liners that can seal the litter instead of just dumping it freely.

• D isinfect the box at least once a month by filling it with boiling water.

• Don’t inhale the litter! (Perhaps wear a face mask)!

Of course, the benefits of having a cat outweigh the potential dangers of dealing with its poop, but there’s no sense poisoning yourself and your pets if you can prevent it. Be aware of what your brand of litter is made of, and keep on top of the cat poop situation; if not for your cat’s sake, then for your own!

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Reinhold Messner and the Messner Mountain Museum RON DART UFV FACULTY

“Messner is not only the greatest high-altitude mountaineer the world has ever known; he is probably the best it will ever know.”

— Time Reinhold Messner is considered by many to be one of the most significant mountaineers of the 20th century (if not the crowned prince of modern mountaineers). He is also one of the most published mountaineers of the 20th century (almost 50 books in print and three movies made on his controversial life: The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1984), Nanga Parhat (2010), and Messner (2012) His recent book, Reinhold Messner: My Life at the Limits (2014), is an engaging, interview-style autobiography that spans the decades when Messner was at top form and summiting the most demanding peaks in the world. Few can claim the top-of-the-world climbs that Messner has done in his life — 3000 climbs, 100 first ascents, and the first to climb all of the world’s 8000

Image: Ron Dart

metre peaks.

Messner is 70 this year, and since leaving politics with the Green Party (he was with the European Parliament from 1999-2004), he has committed himself to building the Messner Mountain Museum (MMM) in the South Tyrolean region of Northern Italy — yet another peak to climb, and topped it he has. The MMM (which is, in reality, six museums) brings together the best and finest of

global mountain culture. Messner has a flair for doing things on an epic scale, and the MMM is of such grandiose proportions.

The MMM, as mentioned above, are located in six areas.

Each of the six museums tends to focus on different aspects of mountain life and culture, and all of them are exquisitely poised on expansive mountain terrain.

The Sigmundskron Castle near Bozen is a fine entry point — the encounter between mountains and humans is brought to the fore. The journey to museum two at Ortles takes the mountain keener from the spacious mountain ethos of Sigmundskron Castle to the rock-thick world of ice, snow, and underworld mountain existence — quite a stark and graphic contrast between museums one and two, yet both are part of mountain culture. Needless to say, mountain culture and life is replete with communities, clothes, paintings, relics, artifacts, and much else — such is museum three in the clouds in the Dolomites —

Walks, Hikes, and Bikes

Teapots and trilliums abound at Cultus Lake

SASHA MOEDT

THE CASCADE

TRAVEL TIME FROM UFV ABBOTSFORD: 40 minutes HIKING DISTANCE: One hour, up and down DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Image: Joel Smart

The first time I hiked Teapot hill, I didn’t notice the teapots.

They aren’t in obvious locations; nestled in mossy hollows, perched on distant stumps, resting between tree branches.

On my hike down, I started to notice them — I counted 15.

It’s been a tradition that’s been going on for years, as if Teapot Hill weren’t already a great hike for a sunny day, and it adds charm.

Teapot hill is located kmin Cultus Lake Provincial Park, and it overlooks Cultus Lake. It was named in the ‘40s by a logger who found a teapot on the hill, according to CBC. The area is well-groomed, being a provincial park, and you’ll always bump into fellow hikers. There is an outhouse near the base of the hill, and a couple information boards with

a trail map, and descriptions of local native species populating the area.

Teapot Hill is actually an area that hosts a rare orchid — the trillium — as well as the western columbine and tiger lily.

It’s because of these species that the Provincial Park has stopped allowing hikers to bring their teapots. When people go off-trail, they unknowingly trample the orchid’s delicate habitat. But you’ll still see teapots left over from before the ban. If you want to be a rebel, make sure you don’t go off-trail to place your own ode to teapot hill.

Teapot Hill is a great beginner’s trail for hikers that want to exert their strength a bit.

The incline is manageable, but you’ll feel the burn.

The Cultus area has gorgeous forests. The mossy trees are a mix of deciduous and coniferous. There are small sword fern meadows. There is a stream near the base of the hill.

The hike up has a bit of incline, especially as you near the top of the hill. As the trail levels out, you’ll start to see Cultus Lake. Don’t stop until you’ve reached the end, because the nicest view is there.

It’s pretty cool to see the lake way below, framed by the trees; it looks huge.

Teapot Hill isn’t too strenuous, and it’s complete with a rewarding view. It’s a hike marked by whimsical gestures of community. Take a sunny afternoon to check out the area.

plenty of paintings that highlight the romantic ethos with its turn to the mountains contra the madding crowd of the city and urban life.

Juval Castle (where Messner lives) is museum four and is packed full with art collections with a certain nod to Tibet. The fifth museum is at Bruneck Castle and mountain peoples from Asia, Africa, South America and Europe are represented.

The sixth Museum (due to open in 2014) is focussed on traditional alpinism (which Messner has a fondness for). There can be no doubt that the MMM is on a scale that few can match.

It takes about a week at a moderate pace to visit and thoroughly enjoy all the ambience and beauty of the six museums.

When the week is done, be sure to add another week to ramble, scramble and do climbs in the alpine cathedrals of the South Tyrol.

I have been rather fortunate, in the last few months, to be in touch with Reinhold Messner by email. I asked Messner which books he has had published that have been the most

meaningful and which have sold the best: Everest and My Life at the Limit topped the list.

I also was interested what he thought of the movies made of his life. His answer was most pithy and almost Zen-like: “Films are films and life is life.”

For those keen to learn more about Messner in a most readable and accessible manner, Reinhold Messner: My Life at the Limit is a superb entry-level book. I asked Messner if there was anything left out in the book he wished was included — his answer, “nothing missing.”

Those who are keen, in our global village, to get a real sense and feel for mountaineering culture, past and present, from an international and cosmopolitan perspective, the MMM is the finest, fittest, and most compelling — the sights seen from such heights both charm and educate the soul, mind, and imagination — trips to the six MMM should be on the bucket list of all mountaineering aficionados. A visit with Messner is a delight of a way to wind up the vistas and visit.