The Cascade Vol. 21 No. 24

Vol. 21 Issue 24

www.ufvcascade.ca

October 2 to October 8, 2013

Killing gluten and taking names since 1993

Campus shuttle meets public option: FIGHT! p. 5

A guide to Abbotsford’s second-hand shops p. 10-11

2

NEWS News

No more animal print at the zoo

Animal print has been banned from a zoo in the UK for one of their safari-like exhibits. Dessa Bayrock explains why zoo patrons have to leave their leopard print at home in this week’s Science on Purpose.

Opinion

What about the Warm Zone?

The provincial government has spent several million dollars to fund the Missing Women inquiry. So why is the Warm Zone, a non-profit shelter for vulnerable women, struggling to find the funding required to keep afloat?

pg. 5

pg. 8

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Arts & Life

Sports & Health

On Saturday, bill bissett (no, not “Bill Bissett”) performed at The Reach. Contributor Christopher DeMarcus observes that his lyricism is somewhere between a “blues chief and a feminine lumberjack.”

CIVL radio’s newest partner, the Abbotsford Heat, is an exciting (if unusual) bedfellow for independent university radio. Tim Ubels explains how a professional hockey team came to approach the station, and why it’s exciting news for radiophiles on campus and beyond.

bill bissett at The Reach

pg. 13

CIVL shoots – SCORES!

pg. 18

EDITORIAL

There’s a choice to make in campus transit

Increase the shuttle fee or wait for a public connector?

DESSA BAYROCK

THE CASCADE

Over the past month, UFV has found itself in the middle of a transit tizzy – and that’s a good thing.

The first week of the semester saw the debut of the Chilliwack-Abbotsford shuttle, and the end of September was marked with an announcement from the Fraser Valley Regional District that we should see a public Langley-AbbotsfordChilliwack connector in the near future.

These are both excellent additions to the transit systems in the Fraser Valley, but now UFV students find themselves with a hard choice: SUS is asking to increase the shuttle fee at the end of the month from $6.75 to $17.75 a semester. Is it worth it? Or should we sit tight and count on the FVRD bus to appear by next fall?

Let me make myself clear: I love the shuttle bus. I live in Chilliwack and I’ve taken it three or four times a week since its inception. It’s relatively comfortable, it’s never been late, and on a couple of occasions it’s even been early. A few weeks ago The Cascade took an informal poll to see how other students felt about the shuttle; the result was overwhelmingly positive.

The shuttle is probably the most popular first-year on

campus.

That being said, I’ve also never been on a shuttle that was filled to its 20-seat capacity, let alone on a shuttle that was so full it had to turn students away. I would estimate that the ridership varies between 10 and 16 bodies per trip.

From what I’ve seen, these figures are pretty constant throughout the day. I’ve taken the shuttle at 7:15 in the morning and I’ve taken the shuttle at 10:00 at night. I’ve taken it before breakfast and during lunch and in the late afternoon.

I’m not the only one that uses it, loves it, or depends on it.

But would I agree with the recent SUS press release that says “demand has quickly overwhelmed the service with many shuttles at capacity and forced to turn away student riders”? No. I would say that the shuttle is happily operating within the parameters SUS staff had in mind when they put together the schedule.

So why ask for an $11.75 increase for a service that’s already working as it should?

The answer is simple: everyone who needs to use the shuttle is currently using it, but not necessarily everyone who wants to.

In a perfect world, any student who ever needs to travel from Chilliwack to Abbotsford campus will use the connector, whether or not they have a

vehicle of their own. Students and staff alike could park in droves in park-and-ride lots, transferring to a shuttle service that offers a bus leaving every 10 minutes or so.

It’s an absolutely ideal vision, one that the current service might even grow into one day. Raising the fee is taking a step towards that future, and I commend SUS for pushing the shuttle to evolve past its humble beginnings.

But in all honesty, I think tripling the fee is the wrong move. Think about that for a second: SUS proposes tripling the fee. $6.75 is not a lot to ask from a student per semester, but $17.75 definitely crosses that boundary. A substantial number of students voted to pass the original referendum despite knowing full well that they would never use it; $6.75, after all, is not a lot to dig out of the couch cushions. I have a feeling that $17.75 is more likely to convince those students to vote no.

The thing is, SUS is already polling a tough crowd: after FVRD announced plans to put a public connector between Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, the students who have no intentions of ever using the shuttle instantly became less likely to vote to renew the SUS service, let alone increase it. As they see it, the problem is solved: as intended,

the campus shuttle has pushed FVRD to put a bus of their own in. The trial period has served its purpose, and the shuttle may now quietly retire.

There is logic to this line of thinking, as there is in SUS’s proposed increase. In both cases, I’m cautious about assuming too much. On one hand, I think it’s idealistic (to phrase it nicely) to assume that everyone commuting between Chilliwack and Abbotsford wants to use the shuttle. On the other hand, I’m extremely skeptical of FVRD’s optimism has in thinking it can get its connector running by next September.

There is rarely a middle ground in an issue, but here I think there is one: keep the SUS shuttle running, at the current fee and at the current service level, as long as students are willing to pay for it. That might mean until the public connector gets off the ground, and it might mean forever. Run a yearly referendum, if that’s what it takes. Get the student opinion every year.

Meanwhile, I can only see this October referendum as a win-win situation. If it fails, we still have a shuttle. If it passes, the student body is far more optimistic and generous than I currently give them credit for – and that’s a good thing.

UPCOMING EVENTS October 3

October 3

October 8

October 9

Mental health education and screening

Rocky Horror Picture Day

greenSPEAK speaker series

AfterMath Open Mic

UFV is hosting its annual mental health education and screening day.

Counsellors will be on site to answer questions, provide resources, and administer private self tests for students. Come out for and learn about some of the most common mental illnesses afflicting university students. The event begins at 10 a.m. in front of the cafeteria outside B101.

After being postponed in September, Rocky Horror Picture Day is a go.

Dress up, order a beer, enjoy the film, and hang out with other Rocky Horror fans. Hosted by the Student Union Society, the event’s festivities kick off at 5 p.m. at the AfterMath student lounge.

Cover Image by Anthony Biondi, with photos by Katherine Gibson

As another installment of the Centre for Sustainability’s greenSPEAK speaker series, this week features Tom Baumann and Eric Gerbrandt. They will discuss in detail the scope of the berry industry and the plight of the bees. They propose a possible solution and present their research on the topic. The discussion begins at 2:30 p.m. in B101.

Hosted by CIVL and Birds of Canada, the opening night of this year’s Open Mic is sure to be a good time. Take the floor and the mic anytime after 7 p.m. and show off your skills, any skills. Everyone is welcome; come out and enjoy the creative talents this community has to offer.

Volume 21 · Issue 24 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-chief dessa@ufvcascade.ca Dessa Bayrock Managing editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular Business manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson Interim online editor ashley@ufvcascade.ca Ashley Mussbacher Production manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour Art director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy editor katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart News editor jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind Opinion editor nadine@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt Arts & life editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt Sports editor esau@ufvcascade.ca Paul Esau Photojournalist blake@ufvcascade.ca Blake McGuire News writer katherine@ufvcascade.ca Katherine Gibson Arts writer jennifer@ufvcascade.ca Jennifer Colbourne Contributors Colin Ballard, Vivienne Beard, Taylor Breckles, Christopher DeMarcus, Kierra Enns, Remington Fioraso, Valerie Franklin, Kaitlyn Gendemann, Jeremy Hannaford, Daryl Johnson, Nathan Hutton, and Tim Ubels Printed By International Web exPress 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 75 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.

3

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Trevor Carolan kicks off greenSPEAK KATHERINE GIBSON

THE CASCADE

Universities are beginning to feel the pressure of anti-environmentalist leanings with respect to research, and professors are speaking up against it.

English professor Trevor Carolan kicked off this year’s greenSPEAK series on September 4 in U-House with his lecture: “Talking Dirty, Talking Green: Confronting the New Academic Anti-Environmentalism.”

The greenSPEAK series is designed to bring speakers and listeners together on issues regarding sustainable living and all things green.

Carolan began by lecturing to a small group of students and faculty about a topic he calls “anti-academic environmentalism,” or the argument that academia is shifting away from the inclusion of environmental critics actively contributing to environmental sustainability.

He called upon respected environmental writers such as Gary Snyder, Wade Davis, and Frank Stewart to give listeners a better understanding of the intellectual theory grounding Carolan’s own observations.

Carolan also addressed the obstacles that now face environmental researchers, due to

Image: Ashley Mussbacher

Trevor Carolan discusses anti-academic environmentalism at first greenSPEAK lecture. the power corporate interests hold in the world of academic study. Carolan articulately expressed his view on this corporate academic relationship.

“For researchers ... when big economic and status quo political interests are able to exert impact on who gets university research support, academic

conference resources, and corporate encouragement,” he explained, “they control the prominent voices in the conversation.”

While Carolan did acknowledge that corporate funding can positively impact an institution’s growth and research abilities, he still expressed

concern that with increased financial control, corporations will monopolize environmental dialogues with their own interests.

Carolan also noted the media’s role in perpetuating anti-environmental beliefs. Explaining how corporations now use mass canvassing of media

forums to push their ideas, Carolan revealed how this form of media works.

“It’s a newer, US attack-dog style campaign,” he explained.

“Paid pro-fossil fuel lobby advocates flood the major newspaper editorial pages with a never-ending firewall of media coverage that effectively proclaims the good things ahead if people will support big energy.”

The fear is that this tactic, over time, will sway the general public’s beliefs about environmental issues, however valid the corporation’s claims may be.

As a unique addition to the event, the audience was given a chance to speak. The dialogue touched upon many different issues, but English professor Hilary Turner left a lasting impression on the crowd.

“We have been encouraged to make a complete separation between ourselves as human beings and ourselves as workers within a corporation. I feel a bit stifled in the classroom,” she said. “I feel what I’m valued for at the [academic] institution is not my values or my beliefs, but rather my productivity – my contribution to the bottom line.”

Director of teaching and learning: Wendy Burton on passing the torch JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

As UFV interviews candidates for the director of teaching and learning position, outgoing director Wendy Burton has some ideas about how it has evolved and where it needs to go to be more successful.

Teaching and learning lives in an office near the library, where it provides support services to faculty and students alike. It offers workshops, encourages feedback on the teaching and learning processes at UFV, and also aids in creating or workshopping course content. It’s a flexible area of UFV administration, and it tackles the core of what a university’s about: teaching and learning.

After taking on the role of director of teaching and learning in 2009, Burton has executed many initiatives and incorporated different programs into her responsibilities.

“When I started in 2009, we didn’t have a job description for me and the educational technology services department. At that time instructional media services didn’t have a leader,” she explains “As the years have gone along...my [job description has grown] larger

Image: Jess Wind

Burton is responsible for all things teaching and learning. and larger.”

Burton administers classroom orientations and teaching workshops. She was also instrumental in the restructuring of institutional learning outcomes, something that was mandated by the government after UFV had already begun the four-year process.

“We were well ahead of other

institutions in the province,” Burton says. “Just at the time that we finished them the government said, ‘Individual institutions [have] got to develop ILO’s, so we were there,” she says.

Going forward, Burton has a clear idea about what she thinks the position requires.

“I feel that the director needs

to be an advocate. Not necessarily for the faculty, but rather an advocate for effective learning for the students. I think that advocacy is really at the heart of everything,” she explains. “I’m hoping the director will have that attitude as well. When I’m working with a faculty member, we are both working for the student. As long as we don’t forget that.”

Burton notes that taking on a position like the director of teaching and learning at UFV is different than taking it on at a larger institution.

“UFV [is] unique, not because we think [we] are, they actually are unique. I think that the director either needs to come from a similar place or be really aware,” she says.

While Burton has made many strides forward in the position, she still sees areas for improvement as she passes the torch.

“We need to provide more pathways for students to complain, to have a voice, to be able to say something about what’s going on because you’re in the best position to see it: you’re there. I just haven’t figured that one out,” she says, adding that she hopes to see the implementation of a method for students to prompt faculty evalu-

ations.

Burton also tries to focus on preparing students for the future. She works closely with the UFV Career Centre and feels positively about the development of the co-cirricular record.

“It really disheartens me when I hear young folk...are just coming to the end of their degree and they’ve worked so hard and they don’t know what they’re going to do with it. That troubles me,” she says. “By the time you get to fourth year, I’m hoping you know what you’re going to do with it. Because [that means] we have done something, we have taught you what you’re going to do with it.”

Ultimately, Burton’s role requires her to look at coming trends and adjust accordingly.

She always tries to remain a step ahead.

“One of the strengths that I bring to this position is that I can see what’s going to happen down the road,” she says.

“I think we need to adjust to what’s coming as opposed to what’s happening right now.”

4

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013

Nomadic camps and an ongoing debate

www.ufvcascade.ca

The state of Abbotsford’s homeless population

KATHERINE GIBSON

THE CASCADE/PHOTOS

This summer a series of incidents in Abbotsford has brought the issue of homelessness in the city to the forefront.

The first occurred June 4 when chicken manure was dumped at a homeless camp on Gladys Avenue across from Salvation Army, locally known as the Happy Tree camp. The media attention that followed forced the City to publicly address the issue; ultimately it issued a formal apology and accepted full responsibility for the incident. Nevertheless, Abbotsford’s actions raised questions about its treatment of the homeless.

Some residents of the Happy Tree camp filed law suits against the police, citing vandalism of property. The slashing of tents and pepper spraying of personal belongings were the two most prominent complaints.

On September 10 the City issued a formal 48-hour eviction notice to homeless individuals living at another site on Gladys Avenue, where they had relocated after the chicken manure forced them from their original location.

In the end, the homeless camp returned to its spot across from Salvation Army and no one was forcibly removed – homeless individuals were still residing there at press time.

Different camps, different communities

There are other homeless camps in Abbotsford that have not had as much city attention. One such camp, known by those who live there as Norm’s Camp, is across from the Healthway Market further along Gladys Avenue. Residents have lived there on and off for two years.

One resident of the camp stated that she had been living in the camp for upwards of two years with no issue. She also went on to explain that she remained at Norm’s Camp rather than staying in a homeless shelter because she felt safer being with individuals she knew and lived with on a daily basis.

Beyond this, all of the residents present at Norm’s Camp were adamant that they were in no way associated with the homeless individuals who were camped out at the Happy Tree.

As to whether or not this camp has received any formal notices similar to the ones issued to residents of the Happy Tree, Abbotsford city clerk Bill Flitton did not offer comment at press time.

A history of homelessness

Homelessness is not a new social issue in Abbotsford. Incidents like those occurring in the past few months have happened before.

Gail Franklin, a previous community liaison for the Fraser Valley Housing Network,

remembers a similar situation.

“In 2006, a small group of people who were chronically homeless decided to camp out in a space across from the Abbotsford News [building] on Sumas Highway, up behind the Save-On Foods lot on a piece of unused city land,” she says.

“They set up some tents and called it Compassion Park,” Franklin continues.

“Then things really hit the fan. The neighbours became very upset; they thought that a tent city was about to go in there … and that was when the city became very much involved.”

Ultimately the camp was disbanded and over time, Compassion Park and the issue of homelessness faded from people’s minds.

Long-term solutions?

No matter where the homeless choose to stay or how much attention they get, the fact remains that there have been few concrete solutions proposed to aid homeless individuals in Abbotsford in the long term.

Enter Abbotsford Community Services (ACS) and its proposed Supportive Housing Project.

The initiative aims to give men who are homeless or close to homelessness an opportunity to live in an affordable, safe environment off the street.

This project is designed to house applicants in an apartment-style building for up to two years.

ACS executive director Rod Santiago notes that the housing unit targets men only because the target client group for the building was defined

by BC Housing before ACS applied for funding. As well, the Christine Lamb Residence for women is already established in Abbotsford.

With 24-hour supervision provided by a trained caretaker and access to other social services, ACS hopes building this facility will lead to stronger connections between individuals who are currently homeless and the local Abbotsford community.

Santiago explains the intention of the project.

“The solution in the past has been to push [homeless individuals] off to the next place.

But with [this project], there is a chance to actually, on a daily basis, build relationships with these men, make change, and then draw them into the community by building healthy attachments.”

However, due to rezoning issues and the opposition of the Abbotsford Downtown Business Association (ADBA), the realization of this project is uncertain.

“Regardless of where this [building] goes, there’s always going to be people that say, ‘great idea, but wrong place – not here,’” Santiago notes.

While he appreciates the concerns of the ADBA, he feels the benefits of having this facility in Abbotsford overwhelm any opposition or uncertainty.

“The province has already committed $2.6 million to the proposal, and $215,000 a year for 60 years for operations should this initiative go through,” he continues. “If the rezoning process does not go through, Abbotsford does not get to keep that money; the money goes back into the provincial pot and Abbotsford goes to the back of the line. Do we want to let go of $2.6 million because a few people are saying, ‘wrong location?’”

ACS hopes to open the facility by no later than January 2015, a plan still waiting on approval of rezoning by the city.

“It’s about what we can do that will have some sort of long-term solution,” Santiago explains. “This isn’t the answer to everything, but it’s a start.”

Abbotsford Community Services looks for long-term solutions.

The Happy Tree homeless camp has been forced to move more than once over recent months.

Residents of the homeless camps have filed lawsuits for the way they’ve been treated.

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5

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

SCIENCE ON PURPOSE DESSA BAYROCK

Animal prints: strictly for animals

THE CASCADE

You might look smashing in your new animal-print jacket, but you’ll confuse the hell out of the animals.

In what appears to be an unprecedented move by a zoo, Chessington Zoo in the UK has banned visitors from wearing animal-print clothing, saying that the patterns puzzle the animals.

There are no good prints – animals will react to visitors wearing anything resembling an animal pattern, be it predator, prey, or equal. A zebra print, for example, apparently attracts the attention of the big cats – particularly if you’re limping past their enclosure, says animal behavior analyst Dr. Candy d’Sa. D’Sa weighed in on the matter in an interview with Mirror News. Chessington Zoo spokesperson Natalie Dilloway has

Image: Anthony Biondi

The Chessington Zoo doesn’t permit patrons to wear animal prints on their ZUFARI attraction. also been widely quoted in the matter.

“If someone wears the same pattern to the animal’s coat they can become over-friendly,” Dilloway states. “If they wear the pattern of its preda-

Mechatronics diploma hopes to launch next September ASHLEY MUSSBACHER

THE CASCADE

Pending approval, students won’t have to transfer from UFV to finish their engineering studies, as a proposed mechatronics diploma recently passed the science curriculum committee, and is currently being reviewed by the science faculty council.

Mechatronics is a blend of mechanics and electronics.

The proposed diploma is a two-year program (four semesters per year) geared toward developing shop skills and academic knowledge.

Physics professor Tim Cooper explains how this combination would set UFV apart from other engineering diploma programs offered in BC. “Generally two-year programs, in order for their graduates to be useful, have a lot of hands-on skills and therefore less academic skills.

There’s only so much room in two years, we wanted a higher academic level, but we knew we couldn’t have a degree,” he says, adding that they decided on the diploma program as a solution.

UFV currently offers a oneyear transfer program in engineering. Students enrolled in that program eventually transfer to UBC, SFU, or UVic, where they can complete a full program in engineering. The mechatronics diploma builds on that model by giving UFV students the option to stay at UFV. The first-year would ensure students receive a depth of math and physics knowledge before entering the program.

“So what you get is the same

hands-on skills you would get at BCIT or other places, but you get it all at a higher academic level,” Cooper says.

Entrance requirements to the program would include first-year calculus and firstyear calculus-based physics.

When first-year students were surveyed, 20 said they would definitely apply, 48 said probably, and 36 were unsure, Cooper notes.

“When you put that lot together, you end up with a huge demand,” he says.

Employment is almost always the number one goal at the end of the education tunnel. Cooper explains it is difficult to determine whether a student will be guaranteed a job, but that many industries would be interested in UFV’s diploma graduates.

“We’ve spoken to employers, and the ones we’ve spoken to are quite encouraging that our grads will get employed.

However, we only have time to speak to a tiny fraction of employers out there. What we’ve heard is good, but who knows,” he says. “On the other hand, when we look at comparable programs at BCIT, their graduates all do very well. So, there is no reason to think [UFV’s] would not.”

Cooper says the diploma may also create a path to further development of engineering programs at UFV such as electrical, mechanical, chemical, and possibly fullyfledged and accredited degree programs in engineering.

“The diploma is engineering’s seed here at UFV, if we can get it going,” Cooper says.

“We hope to run it with intake in September 2014.”

tor, it has the opposite effect and the animals become afraid and run away.”

For Chessington’s normal zoo exhibits, animal print is just fine – the patterns have been banned solely from the

ZUFARI portion of the zoo, during which visitors are loaded into safari trucks and taken on a tour of the zoo’s open enclosures. Animals are separated by unobtrusive barriers and ditches, and the nature of the

experience allows the animals (including giraffes, zebras, flamingos, and rhinos) to come right up to the visitors in the vehicles.

“The enclosures at ZUFARI have been designed to replicate the conditions species face in the wild,” Dilloway says. “Therefore it’s no wonder animals are getting confused when they see what looks like zebras and giraffes driving across the terrain in a 7.5 tonne truck.”

Chessington Zoo has yet to add the animal print ban to its online dos-and-don’ts, but Mirror News reports that if any visitor shows up to the ZUFARI exhibit wearing animal print, they will be handed a grey “boiler suit” to cover up the distracting patterns.

“Colours and patterns are there for a reason in nature,” d’Sa adds. “It’s about predatorprey interaction.”

FVRD approves new transit link after SUS shuttle bus success KATHERINE GIBSON

THE CASCADE

The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) has approved a Chilliwack-AbbotsfordLangley public bus route with a currently-scheduled start of September 2014.

The approval of this future service, which was announced on September 24, comes on the heels of the success of the Student Union Society’s (SUS) shuttle bus initiative.

SUS president Shane Potter explains that the UFV shuttle’s success highlighted the need for transportation between cities.

“There’s no denying that the success of the ChilliwackAbbotsford shuttle bus has proven the necessity for reliable transportation between Chilliwack and Abbotsford. I believe that this type of success does not go unnoticed,” he says.

The success of the shuttle program gives Potter hope for the future of the proposed FVRD public transit system.

“A future Chilliwack-Abbotsford public connector as an option has always been the goal,” he explains.” So it’s exciting for us to know that we’re getting closer to that.”

However, the ambiguity of the city’s proposal does leave Potter with some concerns.

“There are a lot of uncertainties with this [public] bus,” he notes. “Personally, I see it as a little bit unfeasible for the city to, in 11 months, have a fully functional service.”

Potter goes on to question whether the city connector will serve students efficiently.

“You have to ask yourself

Image: Anthony Biondi

The UFV shuttle is only one inter-community transit option. whether or not this service will be useful to students,” he says. “Will it provide the options that we need? Will it provide the level of service that the students require?

There are so many uncertainties with this potential bus […] that we can’t really say for sure what it will be, or what it will eventually turn into.”

Consequently, Potter still views the upcoming shuttle bus referendum, which will ask students to accept an $11 increase in fees for increased service as an important decision for students to consider.

“The referendum is about now. The referendum is about this semester. The referendum is about next semester, and it’s about the summer semester,” he explains. “The referendum isn’t about the far future.”

Potter maintains that until there is a public option that serves students, the shuttle is

necessary.

“I honestly believe that there will be a public option one day and it will be great and it will fit the students’ needs – that’s the whole goal,” he says. “But until [then], we still need this campus shuttle to exist.”

Should the FVRD public transit come into effect on its proposed September 2014 date, Potter reassures students that the SUS shuttle bus service will be re-evaluated.

“I’ve always said that we are going to re-analyse the service once a public option becomes available,” he concludes. “We don’t want a redundant service; we don’t want empty buses going back and forth.

The service is there to provide a level of service that’s based on the demand of the students.”

6

OPINION

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

SNAPSHOTS

Tip-splitting

Armchair activism

Katie Stobbart

Christopher Demarcus

A tip has started to feel like another tax – there is usually a clear expectation that I should add 10 to 15 per cent to my bill, and at many restaurants my tip is then pooled and divided among staff.

This essentially undermines what a tip is.

A tip is when a customer thanks a server for good service; if I feel my server has done a great job, has been friendly, and has exceeded expectations to ensure the quality and reputation of his or her business, I tip to thank that individual. Likewise, poor service results in a poor tip.

A tip should not be a charge (albeit still voluntary in most industries) exacted from a customer to make sure everyone gets a little extra. You’re paid to do the job, and you’re tipped if you do the job well.

You’re not entitled to a good tip just for showing up at the table, and when I give a good tip, I’m thanking my server, not the whole restaurant. If I like the restaurant, I’ll come again.

Plato called it myth, Freud called it illusion, Marx called it ideology, and the comedian George Carlin called it bullshit.

Today we call it “the free market.”

Neo-liberal economics is a mask for unfettered capitalism. Capital gone wild. It is a light at the end of the tunnel of the great recession – but it is not the sun, it is a train headed right for us.

You can see how the free market puts value on people at the mall, where for-profit-non-profits sell pictures of poor children from Africa. You can buy your way—brand yourself—into a slumber of charity with Toms shoes and coloured silicone bracelets.

Our moral purchasing power is the systematic problem. It’s a kind of armchair activism that kills authentic movements.

We can make better choices. We should decide to be citizens, not consumers. To make good will, not buy trinkets.

Maybe we all need to do less buying and more nothing. Sit still. Leave our wallets in their place. And do nothing.

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Journalists, used car Stop judging and sell salesmen, and Trudeau the cigarettes BLake mcguire

Justin Trudeau recently commented that politicians are less trustworthy than “used car salesmen” and journalists, referring to a survey that ranked professions based on their trustworthiness. On this survey, politicians were, in fact, rated just below journalists and salespeople.

Being both a salesperson (I sell cameras at London Drugs) and (kind of) a journalist, it’s easy for someone like me to pick up on this comment and feel a little insulted. Trudeau referred to two parts of me as the world’s most unethical, least trustworthy kinds of people. When I’m selling or writing, I do my best to be as honest as possible. I’ve passed up more than a few sales because I won’t manipulate someone into buying something they won’t need and I won’t write something I don’t believe.

The comment sparked some criticism. In short, Trudeau apologized.

I think we should leave it at that and get back to what he was trying to say in the first place: the Liberal party needs to be trusted

by Canadians. As a friend of mine once said “don’t fuck up. But if you do, apologize.”

REMINGTON FIORASO

If an employee at an establishment selling cigarettes is uncomfortable with selling to a pregnant woman, should he or she be obligated to do so anyway?

From an early age, we are taught that smoking is bad. Programs like DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education), for example, preach abstinence when it comes to drug and tobacco use.

Yet as research on the perils of smoking continues, people continue to buy cigarettes.

Pregnant women are no exception.

In the case of pregnancy, a woman is not only affecting herself but her unborn child.

Is it possible for others to intervene in her life choices? Should pregnant women have the same restrictions on purchasing cigarettes as minors do?

It is tempting to try to intervene with such a decision, especially when the consequences affect an unborn child. However, it is not your body and therefore not your decision.

Though you may disagree with her choice, it is ultimately her decision to continue smoking despite being pregnant.

How to beat the resumé robot NADINE MOEDT

THE CASCADE

It’s safe to say that a lot of your parents’ job-seeking advice is now irrelevant.

Gone are the days of a booming economy when recent graduates would don business attire, stride into the office of their preferred employers, hand in resumés printed on embossed heavy-weight paper, land an interview, and secure a job that allows them to climb the ladder of success.

Today’s job-hunting landscape is not as easily navigated as your parents might have you believe.

Most job postings are listed and applied for online; your resumé and cover letter are your first impression. Many employers don’t want phone calls or in-person applications, preferring instead to mercilessly whittle down ideal candidates from a sea of resumés.

Try searching online for “B.C. job postings.” Google brings up over 1.1 million results. And these are entire job-posting websites, not just single posts.

It can be tempting to spend hours scouring online job boards for the latest posting. After all, most of us have 24-hour access to the web that could let us search and refresh and search again until our eyelids drift automatically closed. But this habit can ultimately sour the long process it can take

to acquire a post-post-secondary position.

Instead, settle on a reasonable budget of time to spend per day or per week searching for jobs. Focus your energy on applying for ones you really want and make a great impression. Set weekly goals and your persistence will eventually pay off.

Bigger online job-search engines such as Workopolis and Monster.ca are tiresome and at times disheartening to sift through. So spend less time refreshing on Craigslist and more time seeking smaller, more specialized websites that advertise careers you’re actually interested in.

Ca.indeed.com casts a wide net and the listings are generally of higher quality than your typical Craigslist or Kijiji posts. Workbc. ca is a government site that verifies employers and allows you to narrow your search by industry. Bigger companies, organisations, or municipalities will often post positions only to their own websites, so if you’re interested in a particular employer, you should look there.

Once you find a job-posting that suits your fancy, do your research on the employer and position. Because your cover letter and resumé are your way in the door, tailor accordingly. If you’re filling out a form or redirected to a recruiting website, chances are your application will be combed through

Image: Slightly Everything/ flickr

The internet has changed the traditional process of looking for a job, so you should change too. by an applicant tracking system (ATS) known as the resumé robot, software designed to weed out applicants based on keywords or phrases.

Whether or not you use the phrase “customer care” could determine whether or not a hiring manager actually sees your appli-

cation.

It’s important to use language found in the job posting as well as in the organization’s mission and values statement.

Job-hunting is more often than not a discouraging business; in this online era we seek immediate gratification, which cannot be expected

in a job search. Many applications will be sent and never replied to.

Graduates should set realistic expectations about how long it will take to find a job in their field.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Cheap, long-term birth control for men?

KIERRA ENNS

CONTRIBUTOR

How is it possible to render a man sterile without a vasectomy?

With a simple injection.

A new procedure currently under FDA trial in the United States, which works as a reversible male birth control method. Is it time to get excited? Absolutely.

The procedure works by injecting a polymer into the vas deferens (the tube through which sperm travels during ejaculation), which acts as a spermicide, deactivating sperm so it is unable to fertilize an egg. The procedure, known as RISUG (reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance), has been under human trial in India since 1989.

Compared to a vasectomy, in which the vas deferens is cut and

cauterized, this is a less invasive procedure which would take about 15 minutes. A RISUG injection is effective up to 10 years after the initial treatment, but is also reversible by means of another injection, which would flush out the polymer remaining in the vas deferens.

A man could choose during college, for example, to have the procedure done and would not have to worry about birth control for another 10 years. Additionally, as RISUG does not block flow through the vas deferens the way a vasectomy does, there would be no pressure issues or granulomas – the two main side effects of vasectomies.

Birth control for men could be considered the Holy Grail of contraceptive options. Until recently, a man hasn’t had many options between the patchy effectiveness of condoms and the permanence of a

Friends with benefits

An alternative to finding “the one”?

TAYLOR BRECKLES

CONTRIBUTOR

Is sex really the glue that holds a romantic relationship together?

Let’s face it – when someone claims his or her relationship is on a “friends with benefits” basis, it’s usually safe to conclude they’re not baking cookies together. But is that a bad thing?

When you want to vent to somebody, you have your close friends. When you need to laugh, a funny friend is always there.

When you want to do something mindless, you can go to a movie with a friend. But would you ever go to your friends for bedroom activities? Doubtful. Hence: friends with benefits.

Not needing to spread yourself out among your friends can be awesome. But if or when that relationship ends, you’re at a loss.

That one person is gone, and the hunt begins to find a new emotional crutch.

So maybe being friends with benefits isn’t such a bad thing; you aren’t investing everything into a person who might let you down.

You get a friend who can comfort you without any of the other baggage (unless you want it).

You don’t have to worry about that person’s opinion on your social life. You don’t have to stress about gifts or dates. You don’t have to worry about someone’s parents liking you. Basically, you don’t have any of the obligations dictated by our society’s guide to dating.

A lot of negativity has been placed on the term, however, making it hard for people to embrace this more open way of finding personal fulfillment. It is frowned upon to be with a per-

Image: Friends with Benefits/movie poster

son if the main reason is for sex, even though many romantic relationships are like that anyway.

Either that, or else this type of relationship has been glorified and turned into a perfect happily ever after – which transforms this immoral association into the accepted version.

Take the movie Friends with Benefits. It starts out emotion-free; just two friends getting it on together with no strings attached.

But how does it end? They fall madly in love and everything ends up peachy-keen. I, for one, have never taken to this kind of friendship, but I still doubt that it turns out so perfectly.

Every type of relationship has its flaws, but which is less flawed in the end? Would it be beneficial to have multiple friendship categories instead of one combined relationship? If you happen to find that Disney love, good for you, stick with it; but for the rest of us?

If you’re tired of committed relationship stress or you happen to have a friend you would like to be more connected to, this may be something to look into.

vasectomy.

Often, birth control is the responsibility of women as many options are available to them (the pill, the shot, cervical rings, and IUDs) whereas there haven’t been many for men. The benefit of vasalgel is that men would be able to share responsibility for birth control.

RISUG procedures would be more cost-effective for couples in long-term relationships than the pill or condoms – according to the creators of RISUG, the injection costs less than the syringe used to administer it. Although that cost might be marked up by pharmaceutical companies in North America, a long-term form of birth control would still cost far less than short-term options which have to be renewed on a regular basis.

Vasalgel could also be a birth control method for couples where the woman is unable to take regu-

lar birth control. For women who have certain blood-clotting disorders for example, it’s dangerous to take the pill. And the cost of a Depo-Provera shot every three months adds up over the long term to a shocking total.

Given the benefits of RISUG, why aren’t we clamouring for this procedure in North America?

For one, most people are unaware male contraceptive procedures are even being developed.

The procedure was invented in India by a doctor named Sujoy K. Guha, and vasalgel is currently under trial in the United States for FDA approval. The FDA has exceptionally high standards for product safety, partly because of its mandate to protect the public from any dangerous medication, and additionally due to the North American stance toward lawsuits.

While defective products trigger

class-action lawsuits in Canada and the United States, such legal action is less likely in India.

Whether the FDA approves this product in the United States will likely indicate whether Canadian males will be able to use this contraceptive measure.

One major downside to vasalgel is that it does not decrease risk of STI (sexually transmitted infection). Unless you’re in a monogamous relationship in which STI is not a concern you will still have to use a condom, so vasalgel’s target market will likely be married or common-law couples.

We might have to wait until vasalgel and other similar procedures appear on the North American market, but when they do, they will be an exciting, reliable player on the field of birth-control options – for the boys!

Bring me craft beer JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

It is no secret that AfterMath had a less-than-perfect relaunch this fall. With changes in operation style and a menu overhaul, the student-run pub was bound to encounter some issues.

However they have taken good steps with what matters most at a student lounge: beer.

I am a typical broke student, so I am interested in getting the most for my money. Last year when PBR was $3 including tax, it was an easy choice. But since it has gone up to $3.99 plus tax, I find myself looking for more interesting options.

During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Student Union Society (SUS) put an open call on Facebook about what beer should be purchased for the games. They opened AfterMath’s doors and sold pizza by the slice and beer by the can. I emphatically commented that they should focus on local craft options as they know how to brew and aren’t owned by the beer giants of the world. Finding true local craft breweries may be a hard task, considering 90 per cent of Canada’s beer is brewed under license by non-domestic companies.

So I was happy to see Chilliwack’s Old Yale Brewing incorporated into AfterMath’s beer lineup. A clean blonde ale with a little bit of body and a light clean finish, it is a step up from the carbonated water PBR offers.

Now if you aren’t a fan of the golden yellow options that come with blonde ales and pilsners, you could turn to a pale or amber ale.

Unfortunately, AfterMath only offers Vancouver Island’s Sea Dog amber ale by the bottle. Less beer, not kegged, for the same price.

Just like fountain pop is better than canned, draught beer is superior to bottled.

You could go for the slightly redder Sleeman Honey Brown (and support Japanese brewery Sapporo in the process) but this is

Image: HeadCrasher/flickr

Craft beers on tap? Delicious. We only wish there were more. still only one step above the lightest of light beers.

They still have a lot of work to do.

Where are the stouts? I’m talking full-flavoured, nurse-like-agood-cup-of-coffee, meal-replacement pints. Where are the IPAs with the bitter grapefruit notes that come from more hops? Where are the Belgian wits that were so popular all summer with the cloudy golden appearance and hint of citrus?

This is the kind of beer that AfterMath should be exploring now that it has retired the dreaded Budweiser tap, instead of offering similar beers by different companies — Steam Whistle brewing and PBR are both thin bodied pilsners, Okanagan Springs 1516 and Chilliwack Blonde are essentially

Have an opinion about something? Share it with us.

the same in colour, body, and flavour (with Chilliwack Blonde’s tasting slightly more authentic).

Beer is so much more interesting than the one-dimensional options on the AfterMath menu suggest. Whistler brewing released a pineapple ale a couple of summers ago. R&B brewing launched its Applejack Moonshine ale at Vancouver Craft Beer Week this spring. Every local brewery is putting its personal spin on this fall’s pumpkin ales (Nelson brewing and St. Ambroise do it best).

So AfterMath, Chilliwack Blonde on tap is a start, but don’t quit now. Finnegans may have $9 pitchers, but you have the opportunity to actually sell decent beer.

Take it.

Comment on our website or email your thoughts to Editor@ufvcascade.ca

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OPINION

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

What was your best thrift store steal?

Feel like sharing your short-andsweet opinion? Keep an eye out for our whiteboard-toting pollsters roaming the halls.

Warm Zone deserves permanent funding VALERIE FRANKLIN

CONTRIBUTOR

Most people would agree that the Warm Zone, Abbotsford’s only drop-in shelter for women on the street, is a necessity in our community. So why are they still struggling for permanent funding?

The Warm Zone has managed to scrape by for the last four years, but the threat of running out of funds has always loomed overhead. At the end of September it will leave its McCallum Road location, a hole in the wall across from Jubilee Park, for a larger facility.

Yet only a fraction of the amount the program needs to function successfully is provided by government funds.

Thousands of vulnerable wom-

en in Abbotsford struggle with chronic issues in their lives: poverty, substance addiction, unemployment, hunger, physical and mental illness, disability, and homelessness. Many also work in the sex trade, putting them at high risk for disease, unintended pregnancy, and sexual or physical assault.

This is where the Warm Zone comes in. Run by the Women’s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley (or WRSFV), it gives women the chance to eat a hot meal, wash their clothes, browse the internet, and shower. It’s a safe place to catch few hours of sleep without the threat of being attacked or robbed. Sex workers can get free condoms. Women are regularly tested for HIV and hepatitis. WRSFV supplies clean needles, addic-

tions counseling, medical services, and housing assistance. It even gives haircuts.

Perhaps most importantly, the Warm Zone is a welcoming, nonjudgmental place to connect – a place to make friends and be listened to. For many women, it’s the only stable support structure in their lives.

It has been a rocky four years as funding for the Warm Zone has come and gone. The situation looked especially grim in August 2012, but it was saved from closing at the last minute by a one-time government grant. BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong, who presented that grant, told the Abbotsford Times, “At the end of the day [the Warm Zone] team understands it needs to undertake local

fundraising efforts to minimize dependence on taxpayers’ dollars.”

Why? Should a crucial social service have to rely on private donations, church money, and jewellery fundraisers to survive? The Warm Zone is the safety net for thousands of vulnerable women.

Should the regional hospital start holding bake sales to cover its expenses? Should the police department?

Warm Zone coordinator Michelle Giordano told the Times it’s ironic that the provincial government has already spent several million dollars on the Missing Women inquiry but can’t afford to fund projects that would help keep women currently on the street from suffering the same fate. Our government’s current funding

policies underestimate the value of non-profit organizations like WRSFV. Not only is it sad to see an organization that does so much good struggling to survive, but it reflects badly on our entire community.

You can tell a lot about a society from how it treats its most vulnerable members – and you don’t get much more vulnerable than homeless, drug-addicted, or mentally ill women.

The government needs to reexamine its funding practices and start offering stable, long-term support to non-profit organizations like WRSFV. Then the Warm Zone can stop worrying about its own survival and turn its full attention to the futures of the women at risk in our community.

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

VIFF Review: ‘Til Madness Do Us Part MICHAEL SCOULAR THE CASCADE

The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) remains the best way for anyone looking for foreign or independent films to see them in a non-media saturated setting. Unlike the festivals a number of the selections are curated from or shared with (Cannes, Toronto), VIFF is a pretty low-key two weeks, offering nothing but the films and a few Q&As with directors. Following the closure of the Granville 7, VIFF spread out its offerings among a number of other theatres around the downtown core, reaching from a few screens on loan at the International Village cinema to the Rio Theatre. Though this break has perhaps lent a little desperation to drawing in new attendees, evident in the poorly-conceived MST3K-style faux-blockbuster assemblage of clips that plays before every movie, VIFF’s quality in its selection remains the same – there’s a mix of titles you’ll end up hearing come award season and movies you’ll never be able to see again in a theatre in North America.

The proliferation of people wanting to learn things from documentaries is, sure, something to be critical of from a film perspective: documentaries do nothing an essay or longform piece couldn’t, neglecting the visual radicalism of the best examples of non-fiction film in favour of lazy still slideshows and talking heads. But it also indicates a dissatisfaction and lack

of trust in television or even print journalism to report on things with any degree of real research or care, whether it’s human interest or the most significant stories of a year.

Everything from wars and market crashes to musicians and painters gets a documentary now, many of them playing at festivals like VIFF, but many of them also end up on Netflix and people’s recommendation circles.

The question often following these documentaries is so what? Is awareness really that useful except to spark a circular conversation of how “terrible” or “sad” or “interesting” a topic was? While many documentaries fall back on awareness, or documentation of something significant, or giving someone a voice, or providing a pamphlet to pass around, the ideal of a documentary is that

there must be somewhere between inciting revolutionary fury and returning audiences to the same old, same old.

“Mourn nothing and you’re a monster. Mourn everything and you’ll crack. Mourn selectively and you’ve chosen sides.” – Teju Cole Wang Bing’s ‘Til Madness Do Us Part takes place, with only a few minutes’ exception, inside a mental facility in China’s Yunnan province. Lights are inadequate, space is limited, and a central square walkway opening up to a skyward view only enhances the sense that everyone staying there is trapped. Wang (also credited as a camera operator) stays inside, trapped on the men’s floor of the building, closed off by gates and shouts that suggest security, observing the inhabitants in long takes, refusing to turn away. The film documents the place’s routine in extreme detail, where each day repeats the search for food, forced medication, and the desire to go outside even if nothing seems to wait for them there. Wang structures the documentary to feature a main subject, perhaps glimpsed in the background or encountered in earlier shots, but in any case given a chance to speak. As in any documentary, there is the question of how much truth is on the screen and how much of the events are at least partly influenced by the presence of a camera, but over the film’s running time, that seems like something far secondary. The subjects give a hint at how they arrived, describe their feelings about their stay, and ultimately provesarticulate about their experiences, blurring the borderline between illness and lucidity. The prisonlike surroundings and words from authorities point to unreliability, but their own partially-formed answers ask for understanding.

Many seem like they hardly need the place, are threatened with punishment by doctors if they resist shots and commands to settle down, and prove adept at criticizing the way the place is run, which falls in line with the mainland China of first-hand reports, which for the uninitiated puts the lie to the one of Olympic ceremonies, advertisements, and Hollywood-shot action scenes.

“It’s impossible to determine whether a mental illness has altered someone’s preferences, or whether than person has simply changed.” – Rachel Aviv, “God Knows Where I Am” While this information can be read and understood, Wang is not simply setting up notecards on a wall to fit together into an understanding of an experience. The film is four hours long – previous ones by Wang have run as long as 10. It seems impossible to imagine someone sustaining their full attention for that span of time. But that is partly what Wang is doing.

Each subject is introduced with their name and the span of time they have spent in the institution, but even a strong amount of identification with or feeling for each person that appears before the camera is insufficient. Each person has been there long before the film has started, and no amount of sympathy can change the duration of their stay or its effects. Wang is able to shoot so much material due to the availability of digital cameras, which are mobile, but poorly suited to low light – many scenes are full of crushed blacks, deteriorated images, a not-quiterepresentation of what it is to see these conditions. Even if a viewer is absorbed by the unfolding situation, the film goes on – Wang doesn’t let anyone off the hook.

While someone could extrapolate it to their own known experience, standing as possibly universal, the only claims the film has are of briefly being, as the camera shows it, and then passing. Every time a portrait of documentation reaches a peak, the film moves on. Wang’s film’s running times suggest an attempt at capturing the everyday in all of its duration, but even at this extended length, it can only be a very small piece of something unknown. This digital presentness resists the romantic idea of a film existing through time, to accumulate memories and live on beyond any single life. It will do this, but only in an unsettling, ungraspable way.

Over four hours, and especially in the context of a festival, everything is in a precarious state of being forgotten, and so what is left is a partial image of something immediate and serious, but ultimately distant and unchangeable.

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Poppin’ tags

by Sasha Moedt

Abbotsford is a great place for thrift shops.

They’re alive and kicking, and there are deals to be had for students on a budget. What are you looking for?

Knick-knacks and odds and sods: miscellaneous There’s a sense of adventure when you walk into the right thrift store and see shelves upon shelves of random goods scattered and piled high, ready for you to sift through. If you’re looking for nothing in particular, the best places for you to visit are MCC Clothing Etc., Bibles for Missions, and MCC East.

These places are definitely not ranked high in the organization category, but herein lies the excitement. Head straight to the dishware area for MCC Clothing Etc., to the appliances section of Bibles for Missions, or the back of the store for MCC East. Look at each item carefully, and you’ll see what I mean. These items are remnants of people’s lives – people who passed away, moved on, or grown up. Open the books to see if there is anything written in the cover. Look at the dates on wedding anniversary plates. Root through the pockets of purses to find restaurant bills and grocery receipts. A thrift store can really spark your creative streak. You’ll pick up crazy finds. Just keep browsing.

Outdated technology: books, DVDs and VHS Most thrift shops have cheap books. All of the stores I visited had books, ranging from 50 cents to $2. Hard copies of newer books and antique books are marked up a bit more. If you want to shop for books, go to the place that has the best selection: MCC Clothing Etc takes the prize by a long shot, with a room literally full of books at a price of $1.50 to $2 apiece. If you’re looking for DVDs, avoid Hidden Treasures, MCC Clothing Etc., and the Sally Ann. MCC Furniture has the best selection; DVDs are $3.50 apiece and they also have a great selection of records for 50 cents each. MCC East is a runner up for selection, at $3 per DVD. If you want to pick up a

copy of FernGully or Bambi for nostalgia’s sake, hit up MCC furniture – they have a 10 for a buck sale going on.

Dress yourself: clothes and shoes One word for you: Salvation Army. (Well, two words.) But stop wasting your time arguing with me and get over there! The Sally Ann is a gold mine. With prices staying under $5 and row upon row of nice clothes in good condition, you could fill out your winter wardrobe easily – especially if you’re into women’s long-sleeve shirts and knit sweaters. You know how old knit sweaters get fuzzy, pill, and sag?

Not so with the current Salvation Army selection. And while you’re at it, hit up the shoe section. For nearly-new men’s and women’s shoes, the default price is $3 to $4 with nothing over $6 – not even fur-lined winter boots.

The Sally Ann isn’t the place to go if you’re looking for winter coats, however. Bibles for Mission blew my mind with brandname trench coats and men’s winter jackets under $15. Hidden Treasures had a few quality women’s jackets as well.

For clothes in general, avoid MCC Clothing Etc. and MCC East. MCC Clothing Etc. does have a decent shoe selection for women—nothing notable for men—but besides that , there’s not much to boast about. Bibles for Missions is the place to check out for men’s shoes. Gorgeous leather shoes, Converse AllStars, great vintage stuff, all for $3 (unless otherwise marked, which never goes over $10). Hidden Treasures has cool heels for women with mid-sized feet (sizes 5 to 8).

Furnish your place: couches, coffee tables, and bedding I will always maintain that for larger furnishings, you’ll have better luck browsing Craigslist, hitting up a garage sale, or post-

Image: Philippe Leroyer/Flickr

ing a status on Facebook. Only one thrift shop in town has student-budget affordable furniture, and that is MCC Furniture. While the prices—and selection—of other thrift shops are just plain no good when it comes to the big stuff, I have to give a nod to MCC furniture. Couch prices range from $25 to $150, and are usually in surprisingly good condition. Coffee and side tables are abundant, and there are some really nice vintage classic tables in the mix. They range from $20 for a sturdy, easy-onthe-eyes coffee table, to $50 for a perfectly-polished side table that you’ll want to splurge on.

Kitchen tables, on the other hand are more expensive than you’d think. I’d stick to garage sales or Craigslist. MCC Furniture has a good selection if you have the budget, but prices do go as high as $175. As for bedding, there aren’t a ton of frames, but the ones they have are nice at $40 each. Mattresses are notoriously expensive, but here they are $30 to $100, which isn’t terrible. There’s a technique to buying a clean (although maybe not super comfortable) mattress on the cheap, then buying a more expensive $150 mattress topper, and it’s something to think about for students on a budget.

Besides furniture, MCC Furniture has a good gardening selection.

Spic and span: cleanliness and organization For those of you who shudder at the word “miscellaneous,” and tend to avoid thrift shops because you’d prefer tidy rows and meticulous price labels, there are a couple places to check out.

One, ironically, is Hidden Treasures, which is extremely wellorganized, with each section clearly labeled. For example, the clothing section has a plussize section, blouse section, skirt section, workout clothing section, nursing uniform section ... if there is any way of organizing clothing, Hidden Treasures staff has done it. It’s clean, tidy, and although the selection is a wee bit slimmer than other thrift shops, it’s relaxing to go through. For clean changing rooms, Hidden Treasures and MCC Clothing Etc. are the places to go. Bibles for Mission and MCC East are places to avoid.

For-profits: the other second -hand stores around town Thrift stores aren’t the only second-hand places in town, but they are the cheapest. The average Salvation Army clothing item will be $2.75 to $4.50;

Image: Philippe Leroyer/Flickr

the average Value Village item will be $7.99 to $12.99. The cons of second-hand and for-profit stores is, well, they’re for profit.

While each thrift store has a goal of helping the community and providing inexpensive products, a for-profit doesn’t have this goal in mind. Really great deals won’t come your way, because more than likely for-profits have their eyes open for big labels and name brands. The pros are that for-profits do consistently have a great selection, and you’re going to find quality stuff. This is less the case for Value Village, who take donations – but the other three for-profit shops in Abbotsford (Champion Jack’s, Heaven Only Knows Consignment, and Second Touch Apparel) pay people for their clothes and are selective. Value Village and Champion Jack’s give back to the community, which is a nice touch. I’d recommend Champion Jack’s; they are a family-run business in downtown Abbotsford that keeps the music scene in Abbotsford alive by hosting shows and fostering the hipster scene.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

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ARTS & LIFE

Abbotsford thrift shops at a glance Hidden Treasures Address: 2657 West Railway Street Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday Clothing prices: A General merchandise selection: B– Cleanliness / organization: A+ Where does your money go? To the M2/W2 program, which is a Christian restorative justice program that seeks to aid and reach out to offenders.

The place to go if ... You want to steer clear of clutter, peruse through well-organized aisles, or chat with approachable and friendly staff!

Coolest finds: $5 Suzy Shier purse, $1 lace belt, and a beautiful rocking baby crib.

Salvation Army Address: 34081 Gladys Avenue Hours: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday Clothing Prices: A+ General Selection: A– Cleanliness / Organization: A Where does your money go? Funds generated go to support various other ministries of the Salvation Army – meal centers, outreach and family services, weather shelters, etc.

The place to go if ... You’re looking for high-quality clothes, or a large selection of practical and stylish women’s shoes (from winter boots to clubbing heels – those are practical, right?)

Coolest finds: $20 Danier leather jacket, barely used and in fantastic condition, decorative pillows, and $5 armchairs that would go well in an office space or in a student’s first apartment.

MCC Clothing Etc. (Abbotsford West location) Address: 31872 South Fraser Way Hours: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday Clothing prices: B General Selection: A+ Cleanliness / organisation: A– Where does your money go? See MCC East The place to go if ... You want to find random thriftstore stuff, especially cool cheap dishware and funky Christmas stuff.

Coolest finds: Adorable teapots! $2 to $5 bucks a piece for teapots that will thrill the quaint of heart. $5.50 H&M formal lace shirt. Nice cheap glassware – tumblers and champage glasses of all sorts for 50 cents apiece.

MCC (East Abbotsford Location) Address: Suite 105-34150 South Fraser Way Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday Clothing prices: A General selection: B+ Cleanliness / organization: C+ Where does your money go? The Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) thrift shops “support the disaster relief, sustainable community development and justice and peace-building work of MCC locally and globally,” according the its website.

The place to go if ... You’re looking for skates under $10, empty egg cartons for gardening, and kitchen utensils galore.

Coolest finds: A $5 tennis racket, $1 stainless steel whisk, and a nice leather binder for 75 cents.

MCC Furniture and More (Directly across from Abbotsford West location) Address: 31877 South Fraser Way Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday; 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Saturday Clothing prices: As you can tell by the name, they don’t carry clothes!

General selection: A Cleanliness / organization: C+ Where does your money go? See Abbotsford East The place to go if ... You’re looking for affordable furniture, be it kitchen tables, coffee and side tables, or quality couches.

Coolest finds: $75 leather couch, $185 gorgeous blue sectional couch, $40 to $50 vintage side tables (and cheap but sturdy ones ranging from $15 to $20).

Bibles for Missions Address: 2337 West Railway Street Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday Clothing prices: A General selection: B Cleanliness / organisation: C+ Where does your money go? All profits go to the Bible League of Canada, a program that provides Bibles, support and training to missionaries around the world.

The place to go if ... You want to rummage through interesting knick-knacks, you’re looking for vintage and formal men’s shoes at low prices, or you want to browse through a huge selection of small appliances for under $15.

Coolest finds: A $10 London Fog men’s trenchcoat in good condition, a giant stuffed rabbit for $3, and a yellow toaster for $10.

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Godspeed You! deserves Polaris prize, not backlash DARYL JOHNSON CIVL DJ

Editor’s Note: the Polaris Prize is an annual award given to a Canadian album based on “artistic merit,” decided on by a jury of Canadian music journalists. This year’s winner, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, for their album ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, is known for its anti-capitalist, politically-minded liner notes, occasional audio samples, and interview statements, which are sometimes taken as context for their mostly wordless postrock brand of music. After winning the prize, the band released a statement criticizing the present culture of music media and promotion. This prompted a mostly positive response from many popular music blogs, with a smaller number of outlets criticizing the move, as in Canada.com’s “The glorious hypocrisy of GY!BE’s Polaris Prize statement,” which argued on the case of the band’s benefitting from the event’s exposure and subsequent touring announcement with Nine Inch Nails.

I don’t understand the ridiculous backlash aimed at Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) for what it decided to do with its Polaris prize winnings. Most of those commenting on the controversy appear not to care much about independent music in Canada, its creation and distribution, or the proliferation of the “scenes” needed for it to thrive.

If this is the case, why would anyone be silly enough to put stock in what some corporate shill, critical of Canada’s most popular source of angst-ridden anarchistic diatribes, has to say about a band known for its contemptuous chicanery? GY!BE giving away its rightfully won prize money should not come as a shock to anyone; it’s not as if they went out and spent the money on oxys.

Around the world, people give away their winnings all the time, just like these gracious folks.

Sometimes I think people forget who GY!BE are, have been, and will continue to be: a collective with many interests, ideas, and directions in which it casts a message of artistic anarchy. GY!BE has existed on the fringes for nearly 20 years for a reason; people don’t like the band’s music, attitudes, or the ideas they spread. That being

image: NRK P3/Flickr

Godspeed You! Black Emperor won this year’s Polaris Prize and made waves by donating it to charity and providing a sweet and snarky explanation. said, I think GY!BE not only welcomes controversy but revels in it.

By trying to call the group hypocritical, national media has done exactly what GY!BE hoped it would, giving even more exposure to the band, the Polaris prize, and the Canadian indie scene.

How many more Canadian music fans now know who A Tribe Called Red, Anciients, Suuns, or Whitehorse are? These bands are practically unheard of nationwide, yet all play a huge part in further developing the sound identity of our country.

Perhaps we should just give the award to Feist every year? She should win – her music is uberchallenging and not made for everyone. Or maybe we should let 54/40 win, because clearly that band has yet to get its fill of government handouts. Perhaps we

could just leave a pile of government arts funding in the middle of a Toronto street – that way it could really go to artists who need it: the ones on streetcorners, playing for their own enjoyment.

Now, GY!BE won some money it didn’t want, and its members decided to use that money to better the lives of members of our society who are either currently without the means to create music or serving a sentence in prison wishing they had access to music. It’s proven that musical therapy works. It heals the not-so-sick, eases the terminal, and reduces mental strife among inmates (particularly violent inmates). So why does anyone feel the need to jump all over GY!BE? Or is this a result of the media thinking that once an artist is successful, that artist somehow owes us some civility or sense of

propriety? Bands have been flipping the finger to corporate sponsors and awards shows for years and still accepting their awards; this is nothing new. The silliest of the gripes against GY!BE is that in the past decade, the vernacular of the band has been degraded to a barely readable and offensive level. Grow up.

The simple fact: GY!BE won a prize it didn’t ask for, then decided to do what it wanted with the prize money, while decrying the corporate nature of the indie scene in Canada.

Yeesh, imagine if they signed to Arts and Crafts Productions or Paper Bag Records, then took the money it made from that corporate sponsorship (both A&C and PB use Universal for distribution) and used that to provide inmates with musical instruments? Or

what if GY!BE does start a new program which facilitates musical experiences for inmates in Quebec, which then spreads to the rest of Canada’s prisons and suddenly we have inmates who are less violent and who hope to integrate back into our society. Or, more to the point, what if the exposure of this story makes more Canadians care about independent musicmaking in Canada?

Would these be such awful outcomes to the latest GY!BE shenanigans? I for one hope the band continues to piss people off and make a mockery of the Canada’s so-called “indie scene,” thus keeping the rest of us on our toes – with zero expectation comes zero disappointment.

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

CROSSWORD

LAST WEEK

Hard to find

sudoko puzzle

Across

Answer Key

by KATIE STOBBART

2 SATELLITES 5 CONTROLLER 6 WORDPROCESSOR 7 TABLET 9 EBOOK 10 RECEPTION Down 1 PHOTOSHOP 2 SEARCH ENGINE 3 REMOTE 4 MOUSE 6 WIFI 8 LAPTOP

SUDOKU PUZZLE ACROSS 4.

5.

8.

9.

10.

11.

This is needed in the face of fear or difficult decisions. (7) An important ball in a fantasy sport played with brooms. (6, 6) Evidence that something is real or true. (5) Just something to pay the bills. (3) Small, metal, and kept on a ring – these can get you somewhere. (4) Does not provide clear answers; cagey. (7)

DOWN 1.

This character in a children’s book of illustrations was originally known as Wally. (5) 2.

Difficult to find or capture. (7) 3.

Not just acquaintances, but pals worth keeping. (4, 7) 6.

Most mysteries involve a search for this person. (7) 7.

Most would put up posters with physical descriptions and names to find the like of Sassy, Chance, and Shadow. (4, 3)

The Weekly Horoscope Star Signs from Sumas Sibyl Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18:

Gemini: May 21 - June 21:

Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22:

911 is useless to you. In an emergency, dial 0 118 999 881 99 9119 725 3.

You will become rich this week. Unfortunately, it will all be in loose change…

The cats are watching you.

They know. They know.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20:

Cancer: June 22 - July 22:

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21:

Try a different tack this semester. Drop studying and try praying for high grades instead.

Venus is having her period.

She says you’re fucked.

Your destiny is to become a plumber, do mushrooms, and rescue princesses.

Aries: March 21 - April 19:

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22:

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21:

Hamster.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, you will get mozzarella on your face.

Yolo cat says, “YOLO MOFO!”

Taurus: April 20 - May 20:

Virgo: Aug 23 -Sept22:

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19:

If you’re Scottish you need to wear a kilt this week. Or you will be stabbed by a sgiandubh. And you will deserve it.

Your grandmother will give you herpes. You don’t want to know how.

Drugs are bad. But prescription drugs are gooooooood!

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Q&A

The Reach hosts bill bissett reading Canadian poetry icon thrives in his own uniqueness

CHARTS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

B.A. Johnston Mission Accomplished Anciients Heart of Oak Jordan Klassen Repentance Cellos The Accident

The Darcys Warring

Dinosaur Bones Shaky Dream

Esther Grey Collected Works The Pack A.D. Some Sssongs The Weeknd Kiss Land Ell V Gore Sex Static

MGMT MGMT

Bertha Cool/ Hemogoblin Bertha Cool/Hemogoblin Split

13 14 15 16

Yacht Club Nonnavera + Flash No Age An Object Papermaps Darker Lights

Basia Bulat Tall Tall Shadow (single)

17

The Deep Dark Woods Jubilee

18

Lindi Ortega Tin Star

Shuffle AARON LEVY

CIVL STATION MANAGER

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy was ecstatic that B.A. Johnston graced the cover of this fine publication in October of 2010 when Larry Portelance brought him to Abbotsford for the first time. Four stops later, and the Hamiltonian bro-he-im returns to the corner of Essendene and West Railway in downtown Abbotsford along with the other three acts below this coming Monday at Gators Pub. B.A. Johnston Storm”

–

“Douche

“Why are there so many fauxhawks? It’s my least favorite hawk.” As compared with Mohawk or real hawk, of course.

A bit of an out-dated reference for 2013 (no Skrillex jokes yet?) but such is the plight for topof-mind topical humour providers on tour. His songs are visionary.

Monkeys in Drag – “Foster Fun Haus” The only band in town that dresses for the part of singing you to sleep like a siren and stealing your livelihood in your sleep like a succubus. Featuring the Bell brothers Zach and Seth, this makes three pairs of siblings, brothers at that, squaring off on this particular bill!

Tri-5 – “Lah Dee Dah” Tri-5 had a good thing going.

Now defunct, Goyer brothers Justin and Derek are half of Cheap High, who will debut at this show, alongside the Mendonca brothers Carlos from Cat and Mouse, and Nicolas from TLC and Random Dander. Super group is a word I throw around often. Catch.

Yes Men Jr. – “Buddhastep” These fellas never cease to frustrate and amaze me at the same time. Their last initiative, a live theatrical performance entitled Feck, which performed at AfterMath during a Weeks of Welcome event, was more Hitler than Springtime, if you know what I mean. Brilliant, limit-testing youth. Side project Dino-Skrilla opens Monday.

Image: Philippe Leroyer/Flickr

UFV professors Ron Dart and Carl Peters, authors of academic work connected to bill bissett, with the poet.

CHRISTOPHER DEMARCUS CONTRIBUTOR

This past weekend, bill bissett performed to an intimate group at the The Reach in Abbotsford.

The first thing you need to know about bill: he is strongly unique.

It’s evident even in the way he writes his name – using proper grammar and capitalization is not how bill goes about things. He makes his own rules and communicates in his own way. He’s not ‘Bill Bissett,’ he is bill bissett. For bisset, there is no proper noun. He doesn’t rank things that way.

Both UFV political science professor Ron Dart and English professor Carl Peters were in the audience. Peters has written a book on bissett’s work. In turn, Dart is working on a collection of essays about another Canadian poet, Milton Acorn. Acorn is the betterknown writer, winning the Governor General’s Award in 1976 for his book The Island Means Minago.

“While in Vancouver during the ‘60s, bissett and Milton worked on a book together. Somehow the manuscript has been lost.

The hunt has begun to find it – bill doesn’t have a copy and Milton died in 1986,” Dart said.

Both poets have been highly in-

fluential on the political literature of Canada.

“One of the themes in my work deals with letting hierarchies in society dissolve. I want to discuss how we are equal. Another main theme in my work is the search for true love,” bissett explained.

His performance reminds us that Vancouver, where bissett thrived as a poet, was once known as the center of Canadian counter-culture, as opposed to the images of condos and corporatenamed stadiums we associate the city with today.

What made bissett’s performance relevant was his purely Canadian style, aesthetic, and vibe. If you’re new to his work like I was, don’t bother looking him up on YouTube. He comes off as bad comedy-poetics via a computer screen – bissett needs to be experienced live or read from the pages of a book to be understood.

Lines like “The grave inside you,” “Trembling cellulose, bang bang, you’re alive,” and “Under the difficult subway” only work when bisset is in the same room as you are. His delivery is dynamic, gentle, and wacky. It’s impossible to tell when bissett’s ‘aside lines’ are in fact asides or the poem he’s delivering. For bissett, life and language are a constant form of art.

There are no boundaries.

The lyricism of bissett’s speech lands somewhere between blues chief and feminine lumberjack.

He moves like an excited toddler stuck in the driver’s seat of an old man’s body. The kid inside him has blocks on his feet to reach the gas pedal; he has no idea how to put the car in reverse.

As all good artists do, bissett took us on a journey. What started out as an awkward line between audience and wacko soon shaped into a smooth, cool jazz ride of human experience.

At first I was laughing at bissett – then I got it. He’s not crazy and he’s not innovative; instead bissett is old in the good sense of the word: he’s wise, familiar, comfortable, and friendly. The message of his poetics are an ancient kind of prescription. In his own way, bissett was sharing his methods to cope with the cycles of life.

If you get the chance to experience bill bissett live, he’ll take you someplace. But where or what that place is, I can’t tell you.

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Album Review

Arctic Monkeys write soundtrack to their own personal after-party with AM bum is that it should be listened to late at night. AM is the drive home past midnight. It’s an album obsessed with women, drugs, and good songwriting. AM is the soundtrack to an Arctic Monkeys after-party.

It wears its influences on its sleeve: the plodding bass of “One For The Road” weaves with spectral plucks of Jamie Cook’s guitar, sounding like some sort of diabolical hip-hop lick. Turner’s vocal style echoes this at times: his long drawl of “Drunken monologues, confused because / it’s not like I’m in love / I just want you to do me no good / and you look like you could” in “No. 1 Party Anthem” sounds both breathless and soulful, like a rapper writing a piano ballad. Clearly, the band’s migration to Los Angeles had its effects.

Sonically, AM feels just as filthy as the themes it presents: there’s a satisfying graininess to the tracks, giving it real attitude. Drummer Helders’ snare is tuned way down low, creating a deep, punchy sustain that matches up well against Nick O’Malley’s fuzzy bass notes.

The guitar tones work on two levels, shifting from Sabbathlike punch on the big choruses to

ghostly, manic distortion everywhere else. Check out “Arabella,” “R U Mine?” and “Knee Socks” to get the full spectrum of guitar sounds.

AM is filled with more harmonies than any previous release.

Turner’s distinctive, accent-laden voice is complemented by Helders’ and O’Malley’s tag-team falsettos, which have really developed since the band’s inception. Throughout the disc, there’s a constant backand-forth between them, almost like a conversation. Josh Homme crawls out of the desert to offer backing vocals on a couple of tracks, and his sultry crooning at the end of “Knee Socks” fits the scene perfectly, serving as a reminder of just how important his involvement in Humbug was to the current Arctic Monkeys sound.

Lyrically, Turner has always been a bit of a mad scientist, but with AM, he finally has the space to go for broke. AM is all about desire and seduction, and Turner sounds like a man possessed by both: “Arabella” opens with “Arabella’s got some interstellar-gator skin boots / And a helter skelter ‘round her little finger and I ride it endlessly.” It barely makes sense,

but it just sounds disgusting; it’s insane, and way too sexy for its own good. Moments like these are sharply contrasted by measures of supreme simplicity, notably the “Ooh la la las” of “Mad Sounds,” and it’s this contrast that really gives the disc its character.

Some tracks feel weaker than others, notably “I Want It All,” and “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High,” but these are overshadowed by an overwhelming sense of purpose. AM’s tracks are loaded with style and confidence that might feel overbearing, but when everything slows down, Turner and the rest can serenade with the best of them. This culminates in the closing track, “I Wanna Be Yours,” which is a rewritten version of John Cooper Clarke’s poem of the same name. This track is the entire album in three minutes: a slow burner; a 2 a.m. (I think I get it now – AM) love song that yearns and builds into one long question: at the end of the night, who are you going home with?

Moby Innocents

Chvrches The Bones of What You Believe

Bill Callahan Dream River

Fur Trade Don’t Get Heavy

Although Moby rose to fame for his electronic dance music in the 90’s, in recent years his style has evolved into mellow, melodic, downtempo electronica that will melt every muscle in your body. Innocents stands out among his work for the collaboration that went into its creation. Inyang Bassey, Cold Specks, Skylar Grey, Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees, Damien Jurado, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, and Moby himself have all lent their voices to this album, and each track takes on the character of its singer’s unique sound. Mark Lanegan’s tender, throaty voice particularly stands out in “The Lonely Night,” and Inyang Bassey gives “Don’t Love Me” a bitter, bluesy growl. The sweet synthesizers and strings, shuffling percussion, and airy, soulful vocals infuse Innocents with a soothing vibe – but if you listen closely, its dark lyrics lend it an unexpected grit and substance. “The Last Day,” sung by Skylar Grey, is a haunting lament for lost opportunity, and the misleadingly cheerful track “The Perfect Life” speaks of drug abuse and dreams of a better time. Slow, peaceful, and lonely, Innocents is a masterpiece of the downtempo genre. Moby has outdone himself.

Out of the mostly pointless remixes and covers preceding the release of Chvrches’ first album, the most overlooked but fitting was a merging of “Recover” with Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

While Lauren Mayberry’s voice carries out more cynical and synth-poppy commands than Swift’s ever does, it’s closer to that dialogue than it is to the morass of electro-themed blandness hypeblogs can never carry the torch for once their half-lit longplays show up (Charli XCX, AlunaGeorge, London Grammar). On The Bones of What You Believe, the vocal tricks of Iain Cook and Martin Doherty sometimes create hooks where unsuprisingly metaphorical songwriting would otherwise falter (“We Sink,” “Lungs”), but even if the words aren’t always a cut above, Mayberry is always in control – even when the floor is yielded briefly to Doherty or both in backing, there’s no heeding warnings (“By the Throat”) or letting a word in edgewise (“The Mother We Share”), the tracklist a mixture of post-mortems and predispositions but strung together by one guiding confidence. Chvrches’ main descriptor might be pop songs already in their chopped and screwed form, but there’s enough play with that concept – as in the guitar intro and stunned pauses of “Tether,” the album’s most Swiftian moment, and also its best – on Bones that fatigue doesn’t set in.

With over two decades of making music under his belt, Bill Callahan finally seems to be at the peak of his powers. Apocalypse, his 2011 record, demonstrated maturity in his music and control over his baritone voice, both of which have only deepened and enriched with age. The opening track of Dream River, “The Song,” situates Callahan in this moment of relaxed, solitary drunkenness, blankly staring in a bar, where people buy him drinks and Callahan repeats, “The only words I’ve said today are ‘beer’/ and ‘thank you,’ / ‘Beer’ / and ‘thank you.’” At its heart, Dream River is about accepting the simple realities of life and relationships, even as it explores how demanding it can be to embrace these certainties in life. This is articulated on the record’s most minimalist track, “Small Plane,” where Callahan simply dwells in the moment, flying this small plane with his co-pilot. It stands as a testament to Callahan’s true contentment and his acceptance of the here and now. There is something very human about Dream River. You can almost feel the blood pumping through these songs, with Bill Callahan’s battered heart right at the center of it. I only wish there were more than nine.

Vancouver duo Fur Trade blends a diverse selection of electronic music influences on its debut album Don’t Get Heavy. The end result is something between British electro-funk-dance and experimental west coast Canadian rock and roll. To be clear, that’s a good thing, and the mixture of dance and synth rock works well throughout.

If you want a quick taste, the entire album has been blasted out on the web.

Listen to it for free. I grabbed a copy from iTunes after getting hooked on the songs “Voyager,” “Glory Days,” and “Our Life Starts Now.” The tunes on Don’t Get Heavy kick out some thick production values. Things sound big, wide, and slamming. It’s got the smooth sort of distortion that makes your left leg shake it with your right.

The album keeps a nice swing between bombastic energy and the relaxing calm vibes of the west coast. Spliced, diced, and chilled like Canadian vodka, Don’t Get Heavy is a good time for hipsters and old school electro heads.

Imagine a young Peter Gabriel drinking hemp-flavoured beer on Wreck Beach with Does It Offend You, Yeah? and you’ve got an idea of what Fur Trade sounds like.

VALERIE FRANKLIN

MICHAEL SCOULAR

COLIN BALLARD CONTRIBUTOR

Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

Too slow, over-stylized, and cold: my first impressions listening to the fifth and latest record from Sheffield’s perennial rock band. Plastering its initials on the cover and calling it an album title, I thought the Arctic Monkeys had finally become victims to their own overconfidence after straddling that fine line for so long. AM is an attempt at supreme coolness, as Alex Turner leads his band into a dark and sexy night. Forget the lights; it’s about to get dirty.

This isn’t the first time the band has undergone a massive change in sound. Since their ridiculously good debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, in 2006, the band has been in a constant state of evolution and growth.

Like chameleons, the Monkeys (forgive the mixed metaphor) have changed their skins and sound from album to album; from the tinges of psychedelia in Favourite Worst Nightmare to the dusty desert rock of Humbug and vintage hard rock of Suck It and See, Arctic Monkeys has shown both versa-

tility and consistency. There has always been a clear path through each record that shows this is a band that knows which direction it wants to go.

So I was able to trust them after my initial doubts on AM. Sure, I was heartbroken by the choice to downplay Matt Helders’ frenetic from-left-field drumming, which is one of the reasons I’ve always been impressed by the band, but the choice makes sense now. This is an album that thrives on the quarter note, and even though I wish there were more creative beats to ogle, the prevalence of handclaps, tambourines, and drum machines sets just the right mood.

The defining feature of this al-

Tim Ubels Christopher DeMarcus

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ARTS & LIFE

Cascade Arcade

Video Game Movies 2: The Redemption!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Psych Talk

Brain circuitry behind binge eating located JENNIFER COLBOURNE The Cascade

JEREMY HANNAFORD CONTRIBUTOR

No matter how many times they fail, Hollywood will continue to make decisions that just seem really stupid. Remakes to classic films that turn out bad, unnecessary sequels (or prequels), and the current favorite – reboots. But one fad that did almost die was the video-game-based films. Sure, there have been a few here and there in the last decade, but not many.

Aside from Paul W.S. Anderson’s unkillable Resident Evil films, many studios have been walking away from such projects.

Last week, a new trailer was released for the upcoming Need for Speed movie. Within one day of its upload, it garnered over 1.5 million views. This poses one of two possibilities: Either the Need for Speed franchise is still as popular as ever despite Electronic Arts over-publishing titles for the series, or everyone just wanted to make an Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad joke reference. The biblical-esque voice-over may come across as glossy cheese rather than intended interest but the budget certainly doesn’t cut any corners. Bugatti, Lamborghini, McLaren, and the works appear to be featured in the car lineup. Though directed by

only a seasoned stunt man, Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks company is backing the production. This is one serious investment in a video game movie!

But Need for Speed isn’t the only game getting a film adaptation.

The highly acclaimed Assassin’s Creed series from Montreal’s Ubisoft Entertainment is also getting a high-budget film. The story will focus on assassins playing pivotal roles in key moments of history, with Michael Fassbender as main character. While it is intriguing to imagine Fassbender donning the white cloth and armour of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, it does raise an eyebrow: what is Hollywood really thinking? Tom Hardy has been cast as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell, Paul Walker for the Hitman reboot. Even Colin Farrell is looking at being in the Warcraft film.

These things seem to be coming out of the woodwork.

While the subject of Hollywood’s decisions could be talked about for ages, this new investment really begs the question, what changed? Mark Walhberg’s Max Payne was in development hell for a decade and it was awful. Mortal Kombat took years to make and was mediocre at best.

Battleship (albeit based on a board game) was a more than $250 million disaster! So once again, what

has changed? Maybe Hollywood is listening for once, just not in the right way.

Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, games were still regarded as lesser entertainment compared with today. Sales were good but marginal and the demand for additional media content wasn’t as high. Today there are comic books, trading cards, endorsement items, even lunch boxes coming out for every major game on the market. This extra media is available because the games are more recognized and the budgets are much larger.

So a movie sounds like a great idea. But just because they take a property doesn’t mean they will stay loyal. And even if they do, it doesn’t mean that it will fail. Brad Pitt’s World War Z is a perfect example: completely different from the novel, but it garnered a decent box office return. This is what Hollywood probably intends for these game-based films.

While these prospects do sound entertaining, it all falls into the producers’ laps whether or not to stay true to original content. But if items like the Need for Speed trailer gather so much attention in such little time, this will probably be only the beginning of what is to come.

The Science The connection between overeating and the brain has long been established. An area of the brain known as the lateral hypothalamus has often been labelled the “eating center” because stimulation of the region caused rats to overeat, even when apparently satiated with food.

However, while it is obvious to scientists that there is a connection between the lateral hypothalamus and over-consumption, the title of “eating centre” has been hotly debated. It has been pointed out that this area has more to do with stimulating behaviour in general, such as wheel-running in rats, not just overeating.

As for its sister “satiety center” (in the ventromedial hypothalamus), lesions to this area, while causing rats to overeat, only caused them to do so if the food was tasty. So while the general cortical area was known, the precise mechanisms behind overeating in particular remained unknown.

Now a new study from the University of North Carolina has pinpointed the actual neural circuitry behind this phenomenon.

Research conducted by J.H. Jennings, G. Rizzi, A.M. Stamatakis, R.L. Ung, and G.D. Stuber focused on the gaba neurons found in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), a structure that connects the amygdala and the lateral hypothalamus.

The gaba neurons were stimulated in the brains of mice, and upon stimulation the mice began to overeat, particularly preferring high-fat food. It is believed this stimulation also caused reward behaviour, indicating that the mice were feeling pleasure by eating.

“They would essentially eat up to half their daily caloric intake in about 20 minutes,” said Stuber in Science Daily. “This suggests that this BNST pathway could play a role in food consumption and pathological conditions such as binge eating.”

“The study underscores that

obesity and other eating disorders have a neurological basis. With further study, we could figure out how to regulate the activity of cells in a specific region of the brain and develop treatments.”

You, Me, and UFV Eating disorders are widely misunderstood despite their prevalence. The American Psychiatric Association work group on eating disorders estimates that some eight per cent of women suffer from either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, and in 2001 the Canadian Paediatric Society reaffirmed that eating disorders were the third most chronic illness in teenaged girls.

While eating disorders are not limited to women, it is a well-documented fact that female sufferers far outnumber the male. Now biological studies are confirming this finding. Earlier this year, it was discovered by Michigan State University (MSU) that female rats were far more susceptible to binge eating than male rats – in fact, four to 10 times more likely.

One possibility, which MSU is currently exploring, is whether or not women are more affected by rewarding stimuli, such as highfat and sugary foods.

“Most theories of why eating disorders are so much more prevalent in females than males focus on the increased cultural and psychological pressure that girls and women face,” said MSU lead study author Kelly Klump in Science Daily. “But this study suggests that biological factors likely contribute as well, since female rats do not experience the psychosocial pressures that humans do, such as pressures to be thin.”

Psychologists have long known that eating disorders are not a simple matter of willpower or self-control, but now the biology is firmly in place to prove it once and for all, hopefully displacing the current shame and stigma surrounding the issue. Finally, more effective treatments can be developed for a mental disorder notorious for having the highest rate of mortality.

Book Review

Who Owns the Future by Jaron Lanier CHRISTOPHER DEMARCUS CONTRIBUTOR

Who owns your future?

Jaron Lanier knows tech. He is a computer scientist, electronic musician, and the founding father of virtual reality. Unlike most technology critics, when Lanier speaks, geeks listen. His new book (much like his previous book, You Are Not a Gadget) explains the downside of technological innovation. Who Owns the Future? shows technology can not only be economically disruptive, it can also be catastrophically destructive.

“The problem is not the technology, but the way we think about technology” writes Lanier in the opening chapter. The main argument is: we often see technology as

what we want it to be, rather than what it actually is. Our hopes for technological advancement often obfuscate the way technology affects us. We have become tools of our tools.

What happens when the 140,000 people who worked at Kodak are replaced by the 40 people who work at Instagram? How will the creative class (musicians, photographers, writers) survive when their work is given to large corporate aggregates for free? How will the economy function when a few companies own most of the good data?

As the answers to these questions unfold, the reader can’t help but think, “Hasn’t this been covered before? Where is Marx in all of this?” But Lanier is afraid to go under the label of Marxist thought,

despite his strong neo-Marxist observations. It seems that he, like most North Americans, are afraid to speak to the spectre of Marx – a fear left over from McCarthyism, no doubt.

Lanier argues that the internet exploits the lower class with an ideological hold: the illusion of free services. For example, Facebook is not free. It requires users to share and contribute in order to make it a viable business. Facebook uses your information and content to make money for itself.

While promising to provide connectivity and real world organization, Facebook in fact does the opposite. The social network is the illusion of a social institution.

Lanier takes on corporate banking structures, government viability, and my favourite debate: e-

books. It’s not the paper vs. screen issue that bothers him, but the background economics and politics of how literature is produced, sold, and archived. He fears that a technocratic Silicon Valley could be the driver of a new book culture, rather than English professionals and booksellers. Lanier fears literature will be reduced to bulletpoint summaries for the business crowd. Books can be easily controlled, edited, and deleted when everything moves to a digital medium, controlled by the cloud.

Lanier keeps his critique of digital capitalism sharp and logical.

His thoughts and arguments are compartmentalized in the book, set into small chapters and interludes. There isn’t a strong running narrative throughout, like something we’d see from the great cul-

tural critic Neil Postman (Technopoly, Amusing Ourselves to Death).

Instead we have a more disjointed narrative that jumps from point to point. Thankfully, the work adds up to a satisfactory exploration of the future of information society.

Who Owns the Future? shows us the way our digital economy works, not how we hope it works.

It’s an honest observation of the wrong places tech is taking us.

While technologists want a better future, the pragmatic reality is that altruism often takes a backseat to shallow optimism and greed.

However, Lanier is an optimist himself; believing that if we can create a digital middle class and awareness of what digital services actually are, we can then walk into a brave new world.

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ARTS & LIFE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Pub nights return to AfterMath JENNIFER COLBOURNE THE CASCADE

September 26 marked the third weekly SUS pub night, and according to SUS President Shane Potter, they are back for good.

Despite the controversy surrounding pub nights a few years past, Potter is optimistic about bringing them back.

“To be perfectly honest, we have a completely different culture here,” he stated. “I’ve got people studying in the back, I’ve got students working on midterms today, [and] I’ve got a lot of people here who are trying to enjoy the music … We’ve had some very successful pub nights where people did go out and have a good time, but people are getting home safe, we’re cutting people off when they get too much beer in them, and we’re really diligent about working with facilities, working with security, working with the university, to make sure we have a safe and efficient pub night.”

DJ Arise, a CIS student and Baker House resident, seemed to enjoy the opportunity to share his music, which he described as “a roller-coaster ride of electronic dance music,” with a wide range of beats progressing through the night from deep house to electrohouse to trance. “I always have a good time playing the music I love,” he said. “It’s become my passion to produce electronic music and play it for people that may or may not have been around it. So yes, tonight was pretty awesome at

Image: Jennifer Colbourne/The Cascade

The new selection of drinks currently offered by AfterMath.

AfterMath.

“I think pub nights are very important to relieve some stress, hang around your friends, and almost have a ‘day off’ from all the homework and tests during the week. It’s a very comfortable place to just have a good time and have some drinks with your closest friends and even meet new people,” he said.

Morgan Dionne, a third-year psychology student who has at-

tended all three pub nights this year, shared his enthusiasm: “I love it! I like the music,” she said, adding that she thinks such regular social nights are important for “the community, [getting] students involved, and socializing.”

Potter was also eager to showcase AfterMath’s new variety of beers. AfterMath has also added ciders to the menu, as per student request. “There weren’t a lot of options for cider, for gluten-free

Discussions below the belt

Positively sexual:

striving for a sex-positive culture XTINA SEXPERT

Sexual expression has gotten a bad rap for far too long. We try to scare young people with tales of deformed genitalia and teen pregnancy, but wouldn’t it be easier to be honest and teach them sexual responsibility instead? And I don’t mean handing your teen a copy of My Body, My Self and avoiding him or her for the rest of the week, hoping there won’t be questions.

It’s difficult to discuss a sex-positive society without identifying where it began – 1960’s free love and chemically-altered hippies dancing in and out of each other’s beds. This was also, however, the era of second-wave feminism, without which womankind might still be barefoot and pregnant and getting knocked into the headboard by men with zero interest in her sexual satisfaction … but I digress – let’s focus instead on what a sex-positive movement looks like in our modern society.

In Vancouver, a number of organizations are popping up to help us climb out from under our antiquated cultural norms and into the light of sexual liberation. Libido Events, for example, is a production company that hosts sex-positive events specifically catering to

alternative sexuality. The city also offers playhouses and fetish clubs – a must for the kinky and a safe space for those who are new to the lifestyle or exploring.

Our neighbours to the south have fully embraced sexual liberation and have a thriving sex-positive community. Seattle’s geographic location and orientation causes it to be affectionately named ‘the wet spot.’ It is also home to the Centre for a Sex Positive Culture (CSPC), which offers classes and resources to encourage “appropriate uses of sex [which] extend beyond reproduction,” as per its website. It places high importance on “creating personal pleasure, bonding intimate relationships, promoting spiritual growth, and enhancing emotional and physical health. In a sex-positive world, everyone has the freedom and resources to pursue a fulfilling and empowering sex life.”

This week I met Jennifer (who would prefer to keep her surname private), a student at UFV and member of some of these safe spaces and the kink community. She was happy to share her thoughts on the importance of sex-positive culture and the dangers of repressing our sexuality.

“I think the more we make it taboo, the easier it is to use it to hurt

people,” she weighed in, adding that a friend of hers, a victim of rape, was able to easily access resources without any victim-blaming or stigma in belonging to a sexpositive organization.

Jennifer warned that supressing one’s sexuality can lead to self-harm. Suicide is still a leading cause of death among teens and young adults, particularly in the LGBTQ community. A sex-positive outlook could change this by making sexual expression the norm and nothing to be ashamed of.

Abbotsford is catching on and beginning to accept sexual diversity – we hosted our first pride parade this spring which colourfully marched from the Matsqui Recreation Centre to the Civic Plaza. The event connected men, women, and children and was a giant leap forward for our city.

Secondary schools and universities such as UFV can provide a great medium to encourage the sex-positive movement. We should be looking at sex as affirming and enriching rather than rejecting our sexuality. Let’s try to climb out of the box and support alternative sexuality – I think it’s time.

[drinks]… so we’re trying to bring in some options,” Potter said, as well as “international beers for international students … [such as the Japanese beer] Kirin Ichiban.”

Bringing in a range of local beers is another priority for Potter.

“When I think of a student pub, I think of having those microbreweries, those smaller breweries – you can go anywhere and get a Canadian or a Budweiser or anything like that. But when you have

people that come in, and literally come in every day, for a Seadog, for a Steam Whistle, for a Chilliwack Blonde… all these nice local Canadian smaller breweries, it’s really cool … It creates a different culture here. It [makes] us different than a lot of the other restaurants or pubs around because you have unique beers and unique flavours and unique inventory that cater to what students want.”

“I think the variety of beers [is] pretty awesome,” agreed DJ Arise.

“It’s always [a] good idea to have a choice of things that different students may enjoy.”

Though the events are slowly growing in size, Potter is confident they are going to get a lot busier once students are aware that a regular pub night is back. “If students [know] every Thursday from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m., they know that [they’re] going to go to Aftermath because something is going on – they may have not seen an advertisement for a specific DJ or CIVL … but they know that there’s something happening here, and it’s going to be lots of fun.”

In the future, Potter stated they will continue to bring in many student musicians such as DJ Arise.

“It speaks to the whole mandate of the Student Union Society...we want to provide as many options and as many opportunities for students as we can. Right now I’m providing students with a good time, a break from their exams, a break from their day to day.”

Pub nights will continue every Thursday night at AfterMath from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

Heat Report

Heat plays on CIVL airwaves this season

Photo: Stewart Seymour/The Cascade

CIVL’s station manager Aarpm Levy and play-by-play anouncer Brandon Astle will be bringing Abbotsford Heat coverage to local airwaves, broadcasting live on 101.7 FM.

TIM UBELS

CONTRIBUTOR

Last month, the Abbotsford Heat announced a new partnership with CIVL radio that will bring the Heat back to the airwaves.

The deal hands over broadcasting rights to CIVL for the 2013-14 season, after the team was unable to find a partner for radio broadcasts during the 2012-13 season.

The Heat also announced the renewal of last year’s deal with the Team 1040; the broadcasts will be available online on its website, Teamradio.ca.

CIVL station manager Aaron Levy talked about his excitement in bringing American Hockey League sports to the campus radio station.

“I’m a sports fan, but sports is often something you don’t think of when you think of campus radio. You think of politics, music, things like that.” Levy added, “This is a unique opportunity for CIVL because there aren’t any other campus stations broadcasting professional sports on a regular basis.”

Some have been critical of the deal, claiming it contradicts CIVL’s mandate to serve as a non-profit campus and community station that primarily em-

ploys volunteers to produce and host content.

“Some people have questions whether it will be an appropriate kind of relationship, with the Heat being a for-profit business,” Levy responded. “[The Heat] operates within our community, works with the community, and it provides a lot of value for us to be able to do this.”

Levy also explained that all regular scheduled CIVL programs that conflict with Abbotsford Heat games will be pre-empted by the new Heat programming. But he assured regular CIVL listeners that he will ensure “programmers who are losing their time in those

instances have opportunities to broadcast their content elsewhere in our schedule, and that will be on a case by case basis.”

The deal will provide CIVL with signage, branding, and opportunities to promote itself during Heat games this season.

Brandon Astle, who joins the Heat this year as the radio playby-play announcer, stated, “As an organization we are thrilled to have CIVL on board as a radio partner. Having every single Heat game [broadcast] over the airwaves will create a stronger connection with fans in the Fraser Valley toward the team.”

Heat president Ryan Walter explained the Heat’s relation-

Top-ranked UFV golf goes co-ed (finally) NATHAN HUTTON CONTRIBUTOR

Since its creation UFV’s men’s golf team has been one of the top programs in PACWEST (formerly BCCAA) and has even clinched bronze and silver medals at the national championships. However, the golf program has always lacked diversity, being exclusively a men’s program until this year, which has seen the addition of the first women’s team in varsity history.

Chris Bertram, the Cascades golf coach since the 2005-2006 season, is leading the new women’s program as well as the men’s, which finished eighth last year in the CCAA national championship and is currently ranked first in the division (and third nationally). The women are doing even better than their male counterparts early in this

season: they hold the number one slot in their division, and are also the top-ranked team nationally.

Bertram had many positive things to say about the up-and -coming women’s program when questioned about their progress.

“It’s been great. I have been talking with our ladies for quite a long time trying to get the program off the ground. I knew that if I could find a way to get them here we would be instant contenders and that’s exactly what’s happened. They are going into the national championships in two weeks as the team to beat.”

The men’s team has also been competitive, despite some offseason roster shuffling.

“This was an interesting recruiting year on the men’s side.

We lost some players from last year’s PACWEST championship team and so there is always some uncertainty when those

Photo: Tree Frog Imaging

Women join UFV’s golf team for the first time this year. things happen. But our new additions have really stepped up and suddenly it looks like we might have the strongest team top to bottom in our school’s history.”

The woman’s team currently holds a 32 stroke lead in division play over second place Vancou-

ver Island University after placing first in their first two tournaments of the year, the VIU and UBC-O invitationals.

Not only has the women’s team as a whole received national recognition for their strong play so far this season, but fourth year student athlete Jen

ship with the campus station to the Abbotsford News.

“We have a very strong partnership with UFV. We’re close to each other location-wise, and we’re two organizations that want to continue to grow … I think CIVL will have some benefit from our reach and the people that listen to us, and we’ll get the benefit of having our games on the air.”

You can tune into CIVL 101.7 FM or listen online at Teamradio.ca this Friday, October 4 to hear the Heat’s season opener against the Lake Erie Monsters.

The puck drops at 4:30 p.m.

Woods has also received UFV’s “Player of the Week” award for her performance at the UBC-O invitational. Over the two-day tournament, the Kelowna native shot an impressive 152, putting her five strokes ahead of teammate Dani Shap for the conference’s individual title.

Not to be outdone, on the men’s side third-year veteran Darren Whitehouse also earned Player of the Week honors for his strong efforts in the UBC-O invitational where he shot a 132 over the two day span, leading all players at the tournament.

With only two more tournaments left during the regular season, both squads are preparing for the road to nationals.

Both the men’s and woman’s teams will be playing at the Chilliwack Golf and Country Club, hosting their own tournament, the final one of the regular season, on October 5 and 6.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

SPORTS & HEALTH

Image: manray3/Flickr

The thought of fermented food is hardly pleasant – or is it? Greek yogurt? Saurkraut? Hmmm...

Fermented food frenzy VIVIENNE BEARD CONTRIBUTOR

The first image that comes to mind when I hear the words “fermented food” is of a barely recognizable mouldy sandwich.

Shoved deep into the corner of my high school locker, a forgotten liver paste sandwich once became the breeding ground of the worst kind of fermentation.

The pungent smell escaped my locker and drifted down the hallway, disturbing a few of my fellow students.

After that experience I believed all fermented foods fell in the same category as mouldy

19

sandwiches and should never be eaten. However, my experience with the sandwich was a poor example of what fermented foods have to offer our bodies.

When a food has fermented, its carbohydrate and sugar molecules have been turned into alcohols and beneficial acids. This small yet meaningful change is surprisingly helpful when it comes to digestion. Fermented milk products like yogurt and sour cream provide enzymes necessary to our bodies’ digestion and nutrient absorption.

You may have just eaten a nutrient-rich salad, but those nutrients are useless unless your body is able to absorb them. The

addition of these helpful enzymes decreases the load on the body, placing less strain on the pancreas to produce enzymes.

Fermented food not only aids in the digestive process, it can also benefit other areas of our bodies. When food ferments, its vitamin content actually increases. When dairy products undergo fermentation, levels of folic acid, vitamin B, and other key vitamins increase.

Not fully convinced? A study in the Clinical Microbiology Journal found that probiotics in fermented foods could help lower the risk of colon cancer and reduce intestinal problems.

Overflowing with digestion-

aiding enzymes, creamy and delicious full-fat yogurt is also said to reduce the activity of brain cells linked to anxiety.

And if that doesn’t get your attention, a healthy digestive system is also linked to a thriving immune system, enabling our bodies to fight harmful viruses.

If the idea of eating fermented food seems unpleasant, an easy way to incorporate fermented food into your diet is with a bowl of Greek yogurt. Top it with strawberries or blueberries and you have a breakfast that will provide probiotics to help your body digest the day’s meals. Not a dairy fan? The next time a sandwich craving hits, try using sourdough bread and a little sauerkraut. Both sourdough and sauerkraut offer the healthy benefits of fermented food. Once you’ve mastered the baby steps or are feeling particularly adventurous, grab a friend and head out to a Korean restaurant for a flavour-packed lunch of kimchi (fermented cabbage) and miso soup.

Fermented foods were once at the bottom of the list of things I wanted to put in my belly. However, the digestive and overall health benefits that accompany them have quickly changed my view, and have caused me to rearrange that list. After all, delicious Greek yogurt and sourdough sandwiches are much more tempting than a mouldy liver-paste-filled mistake.

SCORES SOCCER MEN’S

Sept 27 UFV vs UNBC W 2-1 Sept 28 UFV vs UNBC T 1-1 WOMEN’S

Sept 28 UFV vs Victoria L 0-2

Upcoming Home Games SOCCER

Men’s Oct 4 vs Victoria 7:15 Women’s Oct 4 vs Calgary 5 pm Oct 5 vs Lethbridge 5 pm *Soccer games played in Chilliwack

Intramurals return to Abbotsford campus MICHAEL SCOULAR THE CASCADE

Intramural sports are back, largely through the efforts of one UFV student.

Brett MacNab, who supervised intramural sessions during the winter 2012 semester in a work-study capacity through Student Life, is now aiding Athletics, which took over responsibilities for intramurals with the academic year changeover. “[He’s] certainly lending his expertise to help us kind of get things going,” Athletics director Rocky Olfert says. He also notes that intramurals are “new for [Athletics] so we just want to make sure things are in place before we start.”

While intramurals traditionally haven’t started at the beginning of the semester, MacNab says he became a larger part of organizing gym times with Athletics after hearing feedback from students.

“It’s kind of a community we have there and people really enjoy the sports, the programs, and we have a lot of fun, so when it’s not running they ask me about it, and I got a lot of people asking.”

Events like intramurals try to establish networks on campus while working within the larger identity of UFV as a commuter school. The Envision Athletics Centre where the sports are held is across the parking lot from student residence at Bak-

er House, where MacNab says many regulars are from.

With intramurals, Olfert says the hope is to “attract a wide variety of students, keep them on campus, give them opportunities to meet other students and interact.

“What’s key for us is that people feel like they can be part of it; like we don’t want to just attract elite athletes but people that want to participate, maybe try a new sport for the first time.”

Indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton, and pickleball will be offered throughout the week, with the schedule able to change from semester to semester and sports added or switched out depending on how many students turn out.

“Depends on the program and time of year ... but soccer was the most popular always.

We averaged 30-35 people in the winter semester,” says MacNab. Olfert also says ball hockey is a planned addition this semester.

Student involvement is key to the drop-ins continuing to run: not only does it require players, but each block of gym time needs a volunteer to supervise the games. MacNab says with the new co-curricular record, which puts volunteer work on a student’s transcript, there is also a tangible benefit to helping out.

“We’re going to tap into that if we can. I’ve talked to a few people about it, and I’m optimistic.”

Athletics takes the reins of intramurals from Student Life this year.

Photo: Anthony Biondi / The Cascade

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SPORTS & HEALTH

30 years and counting!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 www.ufvcascade.ca

PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

UFV Athletics showed off some venerable history last Saturday, hosting its first alumni event at the Envision Athletic Centre (EAC). Like the programs, the venue itself is a far cry from where the first Cascades squads played back in 1983 (before any current varsity athlete was born), and its presence shows the blistering trajectory Athletics has taken since UFV became a full university in 2008.

The event opened with a speech from UFV President Mark Evered, followed by free food and a volleyball clash between the UFV women’s squads and their alumni opponents.

Only the first part of a semesterlong 30th anniversary program, the next event on October 4 will celebrate UFV soccer as the women’s and men’s team take on Calgary and Victoria respectively.

Photo: Tree Frog Imaging

Above: Attendees post to commemorate the event Right: Sasq’ets poses with the Alumni Engagement Office.

Left (top): Cascades guard Kayli Sartori shows off her free burger (Tim Horton’s not included).

Left (middle): UFV alumni set up an attack.

Left (bottom): Alumna Kayla Bruce (left) reminds her former squad why she’s the most decorated player in program history.

Photo: Tree Frog Imaging Photo: Tree Frog Imaging

Photo: Tree Frog Imaging

Photo: Tree Frog