The Cascade Vol. 22 No. 11

Vol. 22 Issue 11

www.ufvcascade.ca

March 26, 2014 to April 1, 2014

Things that should not go on Twitter since 1993

What if a master’s isn’t enough?

P. 6

Cloverdale’s last film theatre bought out by church p. 4

The Cascade creative page continues... p. 11

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NEWS

News

Briefs Fraser Health issues measles alert

Measles are on the rise with over 200 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, March 25. UFV released a warning about the possibility of exposure on March 13 or 14 at Abbotsford campus.

Valley residents of communities from Mission to Hope are cautioned to be on the alert for symptoms, which include fever, inflamed eyes, runny nose, and a rash on the head and shoulders. The Fraser Valley typically has low measles immunization rates, which can lead to geographic pockets of infection.

More information is available online through the UFV fact sheet or through Fraser Health.

David Barsamian comes to UFV David Barsamian, awardwinning independent journalist and founder and director of Alternative Radio, will give a lecture titled “Imperialism: Old Wine, New Bottles,” presented by the UFV College of Arts. The event will be held in D115 on the Abbotsford campus from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. All are welcome to attend.

“Everything Evolves” lecture Physical anthropologist and university professor Dr. Eugenie Scott will be presenting a lecture challenging the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution. Dr. Scott has served as the executive director of the National Centre for Science Education and made many television appearances in interviews about evolution and creationism. The talk is open to the public, and will be held in B101 on the Abbotsford campus from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.

Have a news tip?

Let us know!

Email news@ufvcascade.ca or tweet at @CascadeNews

News

5

Opinion

6

Culture

14

Arts

15

Sports & Health

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

#thingsSUSdoes

After the first attempt failed, SUS held its annual general meeting on March 19. What does the new budget look like? What bylaws were changed? How are students affected?

Professorial plight might be same as students’

An affordable lifestyle is what we all desire, but do “high levels of intellect and skill” help us achieve these goals? Chris DeMarcus sheds some light on one of UFV’s professors who has been hit with this challenge.

Fire hall exercise keeps emergency responders in shape

Jeremy Hannaford fakes getting his arm blown off in a simulation that tests how well local firemen respond to disasters.

Paper Kites hit with a new album

Intrepid reviewer Thomas Nyte recounts his first experience with Aussie band Paper Kites, linking his journey with their music with the journey of their newest album States.

Basketball star looks back on team’s rapid rise

UFV’s women’s basketball team recently took bronze at nationals, but they never would have made it that far without Aieisha Luyken’s 29-point domination in the conference semi-finals. Luyken talked to The Cascade’s Nathan Hutton about her five seasons of play.

Does research belong in the stacks, or on the internet?

DESSA BAYROCK

THE CASCADE

I’ve seen a shift in academia, even comparing my first year of university to my last. It’s gotten cooler; with the constant creation and propagation of new works, there is no shortage of material to study.

Do you want to study memes?

You can do that. Do you want to study the themes and societal meaning in The Simpsons?

UFV offers a class.

But just because you can study almost anything doesn’t mean it will be accepted by the academic community.

Academia is like an old cat; persnickety, temperamental, and pretty sure of what it likes and dislikes.

Take most English courses; for a long time, if not forever, English courses have had a fixation with the classics, which generally translates into a syllabus full of dead white men.

Most works have been around so long that there’s no way there can be anything left to say about it. By now, everything about Romeo and Juliet or “Ode to a Grecian Urn” has been said, not that this fact stops the production of thousands of undergrads theses in Introduction to Shakespeare classes every semester.

Which makes English an interesting subject for comparison to media and communication studies.

Better known as MACS, me-

Volume 22 · Issue 11 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 Online editor ashley@ufvcascade.ca Ashley Mussbacher Copy editor katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart

dia and communications takes the same analytical approach from English and applies it to everything created and consumed by society. This ranges from television shows to movies to memes to social media.

Perhaps you’ve heard of UFV’s Simpsons course, or the evennewer course that parses the meaning and themes of professional wrestling.

This is something that English could take a hint from.

Contemporary studies are a rare bird in UFV’s department; despite the sheer amount of words that are written and published every day, English continues its obsession with the old and the dead.

This is a problem that extends into academia as a whole; there is no priority placed on being accessible, or even necessarily interesting.

This presents a problem for any research that falls outside the acceptable limits. Sure, it sounds cool to research television shows or the propagation and meaning of memes, but where is that really going to get you?

For author, professor, and PhD graduate Anne Helen Petersen, the answer was BuzzFeed.

Petersen’s academic research centres around celebrity culture. It’s interesting, engaging, pertinent to contemporary society, but also narrows her academic job prospects from slim to none.

So she found another form of groundwork that would support and publish her work.

“I might burn some bridges with it, but here goes: much of academic writing prides itself on being as inaccessible as possible,” she told the Hairpin.

“But as a friend of mine said amidst her time on the market, ‘academia is drunk’ — not belligerent or irresponsible so much [as] single-sightedly focused on things that may or may not ultimately matter.”

Switching to BuzzFeed from academia sounds like selling out, and Petersen says some of her peers have had that reaction. But the long and the short of it is that she can’t get taken seriously in her field; universities are reluctant to hire her or fund her research because it doesn’t sound like real research. After all, how can an article about Jennifer Lawrence’s place as the “cool girl” be real research?

The point of information is not to keep it exclusive and inaccessible, but to share it — something academia seems to have forgotten, as any university student slogging through scholarly journals can attest.

In this way, as with all other platforms that refuse to stay current, academia risks becoming outdated. We’ve already heard that degrees are worth less than ever; why pursue academia at all if it’s not only going to be worthless, but boring as hell?

News editor jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind

News writer katherine@ufvcascade.ca Katherine Gibson

Opinion editor brittney@ufvcascade.ca Brittney Hensman

Production manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour

Culture editor valerie@ufvcascade.ca Valerie Franklin

Art director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi

Arts editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt

Production assistant production@ufvcascade.ca Kaitlyn Gendemann

Varsity reporter nathan@ufvcascade.ca Nathan Hutton

Photojournalist blake@ufvcascade.ca Blake McGuire

Staff writer nadine@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt Staff writer breckles@ufvcascade.ca Taylor Breckles

Contributors Christopher DeMarcus, Jeremy Hannaford, Jeff Hughes, Melissa Ly, Thomas Nyte, and Tim Ubels Cover image Anthony Biondi

Internet platforms — like BuzzFeed, like Wired magazine — are quick to snap up the researchers and writers and authors that academia doesn’t want. As a result, popular media is more informed and accessible than ever, leaving academia’s convoluted language and structure looking worse for wear.

“As more and more people with PhD behind their names find themselves in situations similar to mine, we’ve been forced to radically reconsider what we thought ‘teaching’ and ‘dialogue’ looks like. But I think that might ultimately be for the best?” Petersen says in her Hairpin interview. “I guess I just don’t see the need for strict boundaries of what’s ‘academic’ or ‘public’ work, what’s ‘pop’ or ‘intellectual,’ what does or does not ‘belong’ on sites like BuzzFeed. My work tries to be all those adjectives, and I think it belongs wherever people will support and ask questions about it.”

Because given the choice, I pick contemporary works over old white guys. I pick zombies over sonnets. I pick professional wrestling over Shakespeare. I pick the internet over academia, because maybe — just maybe — the internet is where the new academia will actually get read.

And that’s not a bad thing.

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.

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Retail research gives workers a voice and looks to better industry KATHERINE GIBSON

THE CASCADE

Ever wish you could share all the things you really think while working behind the counter at your retail job?

Thanks to UFV’s school of business assistant professor Kirsten Robertson, you now have the chance.

Trading a $5 Tim Horton’s card for the shared experiences of UFV students working in retail, Robertson sees her project as a step toward adding the worker’s voice to the current academic conversation surrounding the industry.

“What are the stories? What are the experiences? See this from the worker’s point of view,” Robertson says. “I think the challenge with customer service workers is, compared to other groups, [they] have less power in the workplace ... So sometimes [they] can be overlooked. I felt this was a way to give a voice to [those] people — to say, ‘your experiences matter.’”

Having worked in retail herself for many years as a cashier and in a coffee shop, Robertson is no stranger to the flaws of the industry. Recognizing the potential for positive change, she hopes her project will not only empower those sharing their experiences, but also give the retail industry an opportunity to better itself as a whole.

“We know turnover is very high, and that’s super costly. It can be hard to keep good people,” says Robertson. “I think that if we can make the jobs more enjoyable; if we can design them in a way that people

are satisfied [and] … if we can make those things more positive, hopefully we can make people stay for longer and be happier.”

Robertson’s ultimate goal is to share her findings with the business world. She is looking to publish her report in a management journal and submit her results to a management conference. Participating in Robertson’s research gives UFV students working in retail the chance to voice their opinions and have their stories heard.

“We have this great opportunity to contribute to understanding the world and work,” she continues. “[This project] is an opportunity to be a part of that and have your experiences be counted.”

While some students may be hesitant to share their experiences, fearing potential fallout from speaking on record about their respective employers, Robertson emphasizes that the research will remain completely anonymous. Her hope is simply that students will be willing to share their vast array of experiences and get the opportunity to have their voice counted.

“I hope students want to get involved … it’s certainly not something where I’m looking to judge them or say that they’re a good worker or a bad worker,” Robertson concludes.

“It’s certainly not going to reflect badly on anyone. I just want to learn and hear all of [their] interesting stories and experiences.”

Image: Erin Nekervis/ flickr

Students working in retail are encouraged to share their experiences and contribute to research.

Four-week program promises history and future of Fraser Valley land claims NADINE MOEDT

THE CASCADE

Currently in British Columbia, 60 First Nations and 110 Indian Act bands are in the process of negotiating treaties.

The disenfranchisement of First Nations peoples by the Canadian government has wide-reaching negative effects and understanding the complexities of colonial history is the first step to healing.

UFV, itself located on traditional Sto:lo territory, is offering a 12-credit certificate which explores the history and future of land claims. The certificate, Indigenous Maps, Films, Rights, and Land Claims, condenses three courses into a four-week semester, running from June 23 to July 17.

The certificate boasts a prestigious group of instructors: • Filmmaker and Canada research chair in Aboriginal studies at UFV Hugh Brody • Associate dean of faculty Ken Brealey • Director and senior archaeologist at the Sto:lo Research and Resource Management Centre at Sto:lo Nation David Schaepe

•

Naxaxalhts’i (Albert “Sonny” McHalsie), who is the cultural advisor and historian at the same centre.

Courses are: • History 399E: Special topics in History I: Films, Histories and Land • Geography 300F: Special Topics in Geography Maps, Territories and Land • History 396I: Special Topics in North American History: Rights, Title and Land.

Its purpose, according to Brealey, is to “learn something about the history, the development, the challenges, the promises, [and] the perils of prosecuting land claims primarily in British Columbia but also around the world.”

Students will gain awareness of UFV’s place on traditional Sto:lo territory and also where it fits in unresolved title Sto:lo territory.

Brealey notes educating students is vital in appreciating the complexities of land claims. It’s important, he says, “to have students come to the point where they can separate fact from fiction, reality from myth, and understand where

these things come from.”

Students from varying disciplines have enrolled in the program in previous years, including business, geography, history, sociology and even non-UFV students from the community. Last year saw 22 graduates, according to Brealey.

While the certificate requires plenty of in-class lecturing (classes run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. four days a week) students can expect some field work.

McHalsie, in History 396I, will give a cultural place names and sites tour of the lower Fra-

ser Valley. Brealey explains it’s an opportunity for students to gain insight into the indigenous understanding of the valley.

While this is the only field trip set in stone, the instructors are hoping to expand the field experience part of the certificate.

Brealey notes the proposal of a “collaborative adventure” which would bring over students from South Africa, where Brody has been doing some work on the Kalahari sand land claims. The group may participate in a weekend river tour

together.

According to Brealey, previous graduates have landed positions at the Métis national council and in the Indian and Northern affairs Canada claims branch.

While the experience may require some “adventures of the mind,” Brealey says the subject is ultimately relevant, topical, and important. “[Land claims] seem to hang over our province, our country, and over settler societies in general,” he says.

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Clova Cinema latest theatre to close as church takes over building ownership MICHAEL SCOULAR

THE CASCADE

For a brief time in the 20th century, movie palaces were being built as quickly as exhibitors could manage and as lavishly as small cathedrals.

Films brought in everyone, outpacing theatre and radio, and it is into this pre-television, pre-internet world places like the Clova Cinema were brought into existence. Now, with fragmented audiences and an industry-sweeping digital changeover, theatres like these are being left behind.

Some are being closed down, reconfigured, or, like the old Granville 7 in Vancouver, are waiting empty for a new owner to construct or destroy before it can fit some new use.

Most recently, a number of theatres have opened their doors as public gathering spaces, but under the conditions of worship: Vancouver’s Centre for the Performing Arts is now filled by Westside Church.

Crosscurrent, a Christian service, meets at Silvercity Mission on Sunday mornings. And now Crossridge Church has purchased the Clova to use as its permanent home. It previously had the location on a rental basis for Sunday and holiday services.

The Clova already was contending with raising money for a digital projector, but Craig Burghardt, who runs the theatre, says the situation was more complicated than just a need for new equipment.

“I was pretty confident we were going to be able to reach our goal of getting a digital projector,” he says. “But there was no sense going ahead on that if we [didn’t] have a longterm lease.”

The building, which had been up for sale for four years, instead went to Crossridge, led by pastor Lee Francois.

The church is allowing screenings to continue as long as film prints are still distributed by major studios, but don’t plan to continue co-existing with movie operations. Paramount Pictures has already ceased film

production, and it’s expected the others will follow within the next year.

“We don’t see our mandate to be running a movie theatre,” Francois says. “The heart of our church is to be a blessing to the community, and we feel like there’s more than one way to do that. Showing movies isn’t the only way to bless the community.”

Some in the community oppose the change. Within hours of the news breaking, an online “Save the Clova” group started, and quickly gathered over 1,500 followers. However, what, if anything, the group can do is unclear.

“I’m very touched and I’m happy that there’s that much love out in the community ... and I hope they can do something,” Burghardt says. “[But] I’m not sure what they can do — who you’re gonna speak to make this go away — the power’s out of my hands.”

Public opinion may most strongly side with the theatre, but Francois says that keeping the Clova showing movies as long as they are is the best scenario there is.

“I know there’s a little bit of ‘the church is shutting down the movie theatre’ … The goal wasn’t, ‘hey, let’s shut down the movie theatre,’ the goal was if we’re gonna buy this space and make this investment, we want to reconfigure the space to suit what we’re gonna do and we want access to it on more than just Sunday mornings,” he says. “The reality is … we got word from the owners there was another party interested in buying it, and so the way for us to secure a meeting space for our church was to buy the theatre.”

Commenting on the theatre’s Facebook page, management at the Clova stated one of the reasons for the change in ownership. “[The church] was able to get permission from the city to purchase a commercial building because they promised to restore it and make it a heritage building, which it currently isn’t. The previous owner was

Image: Jeff Hitchcock / Flickr

The Clova Cinema won’t be showing movies for much longer — when film dies, it does too. opposed to heritage status.”

The Clova is listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, but is not protected as a National Historic Site like the Orpheum and the Vogue from Vancouver’s now-defunct Theatre Row. Downtown Cloverdale has begun a period of change over the past couple years, and Francois sees this as part of that re-

vitalization project. Changing the theatre from its original use but preserving its architecture may not be enough for some people to see the church as the same centre of community the theatre filled, but Francois says events like graduation ceremonies will continue to be held there in the future.

Burghardt sees this as an unnecessary loss, maintaining

that “they’re closing us down.”

But at this point, the only thing left to do might be to prepare for the end of film projection, low ticket prices, and bring-your-own-bowl popcorn discounts.

“We’re kicking around a few ideas,” he says. “We’re going to do several events for the public to say goodbye.”

Science on Purpose

Tequila plant could reduce obesity and diabetes TAYLOR BRECKLES

THE CASCADE

Tequila has always been known to have special properties — such as the ability to inebriate — but only recently was it discovered that its sugar can reduce blood sugars and obesity.

New research concerning the medicinal properties of tequila was presented at the 247th national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The proposal suggested that a sweetener made from the blue agave plant used in making te-

quila can help to lower blood glucose levels.

Agavins (sugar found in agave composed of long strips of fructose called fructans) act like a sweet-tasting dietary fibre and can’t be broken down by the human body because of their size. They are not to be confused with agave nectar and syrup, which are already popular artificial sweeteners and have had their fructans broken down into smaller absorptive pieces.

Researchers also discovered that agavins increase the production of the hormone GLP-1

which triggers the production of insulin by slowing the rate at which the stomach empties.

“We have found that since agavins reduce glucose levels and increase GLP-1, they also increase the amount of insulin,” says lead researcher Mercedes Lopez of the ACS. The agavins are sweet to taste, but the body suffers no side effects of regular sugars or artificial sweeteners since they can’t be broken down as easily.

Lopez also remarks how agavins help the mouth and intestines by promoting the growth of healthy microbes in those

areas.

In addition to the health benefits, using the newly discovered sweetener has an economic benefit as well.

“Agavins are not expensive and they have no known side effects, except for those few people who can’t tolerate them,” Lopez says.

However, there is a minor shortcoming of these types of sweeteners as well.

“One slight downside ... is that agavins are not quite as sweet as their artificial counterparts,” Lopez says.

This is good news for stu-

dents suffering through threehour classes during lunch time.

Because this sugar can slow the rate at which the stomach empties, students will be able to last longer before hunger kicks in. This means students won’t have to fear that the monster in their stomachs will make an appearance.

Tequila may not be good for the liver, but the stomach, intestines, and mouth are more than content with this new sugar.

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Budget approval, scholarship discussion, and other debates What went down at the SUS AGM

By Katherine Gibson On March 19, incoming president Ryan Peterson chaired SUS’s annual AGM. SUS worked to make sure the meeting was accessible to all students, linking the meeting to the Chilliwack campus through a microphone.

Opening the meeting on a positive note, outgoing VP internal Greg Stickland spoke to the general accomplishments of the SUS board over the last term. Highlights included a new board reform, the launch of the Abbotsford-Chilliwack campus connector shuttle, and the start of construction of the new student union building.

Outgoing VP academic Kristianne Hendricks spoke to the activity of the advocacy committee. Hendricks explained the group’s role in re-establishing SUS’s membership with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), establishing the SUS food bank, and removing the $5,000 vehicle cap for student loan eligibility.

Hendricks also noted that the advocacy committee helped formalize the new Alliance of British Columbia Students (ABCS), explaining that, although it initially started with five schools, the lobby group now represents nine schools and 165,000 students.

Operational budget approved for 2014 -15 Speaking to the proposed operational budget, Davies noted that the creation of this financial plan had been drafted by a group of “diverse” individuals, explaining that both SUS directors and members of the UFV community at large had been involved in its creation.

Notable changes to the budget include an increase for spending in both student services and clubs and associations.

“We’ve managed to increase spending on student services by about $2,700 ... to $438,000 … which is the highest level ever,” Davies explained.

“We’ve also got the highest level of clubs and associations funding since 2010-11.”

Davies noted that this budget has made room for new student jobs on campus, noting that there was funding for just over 30 jobs in total.

“We have a variety of officer

Proposed changes to bylaws raise question of democracy Another lengthy discussion followed concerning the process of submitting motions for discussion by the board.

As a part of the conversation, Martel proposed an amendment that would strike bylaw 13.3 and allow motions to be proposed from the floor during meetings like the AGM, questioning why stu-

SUS board meeting recap

positions,” Davies said. “We have those jobs, jobs in our offices, and jobs in Aftermath.

There are lots of different student jobs that we are offering through this budget.”

One significant change in the SUS revenue is the removal of $14,750 that used be counted from UFV’s soft drink contract with Coca Cola. As Davies explained, the contract is expiring, and therefore, SUS must wait to see what happens with the contract before it can formally account for the money in their budget.

Davies responded by explaining that there was a comprehensive budget created to come up with the $100,000 subsidies required for the society.

However, it was not included in the SUS budget because it was beyond the scope of what it entails.

After little discussion, the 2013/2014 operation budget was passed unanimously.

dents currently did not have this right.

Responding to Martel, Davies explained that by allowing students to propose motions from the floor during meetings, SUS would risk misinforming students.

“The reason is simply so that everyone is aware of what’s happening at the meeting. If someone doesn’t know what’s happening they can’t begin to enforce their opinion

Proposed change to $10,000 scholarship voted down During the meeting, BCSA president Jennifer Martel spoke to a motion that would require SUS to break the proposed $10,000 entrance scholarship into two separate awards. Although recognizing the effort and time that has been put in by rep at large Thomas Davies and the rest of the SUS board, Martel still questioned the validity of giving such a large amount of money to one student.

“I think it’s amazing that SUS has proposed a scholarship … but [I feel] that it could be better used if it was split so that more than one student could benefit from it,” Martel said. “Because our tuition at UFV is lower … the amount that it add[s] up to is more than tuition, more than books, and [I] don’t think that it should necessarily [be] covering living cost.”

Addressing Martel’s concern, Davies noted that should the scholar-

on it,” Davies said.

“We need to make sure our membership is aware of what is going to happen and that they are engaged with the information that they need,” he said. “If the membership isn’t informed, then we’re doing them a disservice.”

Martel agreed with Davies that students need to be informed, but remained firm that by not allowing motions to come from the floor the

ship now be changed, SUS would be forced to face not only extensive revisions to the scholarship itself, but also potential issues with legality.

“If we decrease [the scholarship] there are two issues. One, you can’t simply just change the scholarship. There are months of back work which we have had to do to create this,” Davies said.

“And two, we are also in a very difficult legal position, as we have to go through the university for this scholarship,” he said. “To breach that agreement would be very damaging on multiple fronts and frankly is not a good move for the society — it puts us in a very bad position.”

When put to a vote, this motion was defeated, 11 people voting against it and seven people voting in favour, leaving the $10,000 as it currently stands — as one large entrance scholarship.

board actually hinders students — taking away one of their democratic rights.

“It’s our democratic right,” asserted Martel, “that’s what an AGM is for. It’s so that we have our right to speak about the … issues.”

Although acknowledging Martel’s concerns, the proposed revision was ultimately voted down, and the amendment was defeated.

JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

Spring cleaning was on the agenda at the March 21 SUS board meeting.

VASA requested $3,500 in funding for grad show. The request was sent to the finance committee.

Incoming VP internal Thomas Davies presented the annual AfterMath report “It’s saving us money and giving students jobs, which they need,” he said.

At the end of February the lounge reported a $71,000 loss, which is subsidized by the SUS budget. By switching to a largely student-run model and making other cuts, SUS has so far spent roughly $60,000 less on AfterMath than the previous year.

Speaking to the space in the eventual student union building, Davies was not willing to put a number on what next year’s figures might look like, but SUS has budgeted for $100,000.

Policies were updated or removed to reflect new position titles after board reform.

The student organization funding policy was amended by the finance committee to include a return to a by-request model for student funds. Davies explained funds would be distributed on a case-by-case basis, not automatically dispersed.

Outgoing VP internal Greg Stickland spoke on behalf of the clubs and association committee, saying they’d like clubs to have the opportunity to submit a semesterly budget, which is something not specifically addressed in the policy, but also not denied.

The policy updates were approved unanimously after some amendments were made to the original motions.

Further details to follow.

6

OPINION

OPINION

SNAPSHOTS

Stock your cupboards and take cover Valerie Franklin If you’ve read a newspaper in the last 10 years, you’ll know that an enormous subduction earthquake could hit B.C. any day.

They call it the “big one.” Every paper has covered it at some point, it’s the go-to topic on a slow news day, and frankly — a lot of people are so tired of the message they rarely think about it anymore, let alone prepare for it.

Unfortunately, the papers aren’t wrong.

The fact is, if you’re planning to spend your life in B.C., someday you might find yourself in a natural disaster situation with no power, no water, and no shelter.

Step up your earthquake preparedness while things are calm. Waiting until the brink of disaster is a recipe for chaos. Go online and check out one of the thousands of natural disaster preparedness checklists, take a first aid course, and stock your basement with things you’ll need in an emergency. For all we know, the “big one” won’t hit within our lifetimes — but if it does, you’ll be glad you’re prepared.

Pave to a perfect standard

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

This week’s theme:

Step it up!

Maxed out

Spread the smiles

Ashley Mussbacher

Jeff Hughes

Katie Stobbart

I grew up in a large family. Four brothers, one sister, livin’ on a farm with plenty of chores. My parents always used to tell us — and still do from time to time — if you’re not going to do a job right, don’t do it at all. Dad used to call this the A+ theory.

Well, that theory has followed me in almost every aspect of my adult life.

Lately the construction crews in Abbotsford have been cutting up our roads to upgrade the water lines. While this work is beneficial for our city, the choppy patchwork they leave behind is not.

If I wanted to drive on a road with a tonne of dips and sharp pot holes, I would have bought an off-road vehicle. How about the City of Abbotsford pays for my lowered suspension next time?

It makes me wonder if the construction crews even drive. I hope they noticed the Cjob they did.

Step it up a notch, and fix the mess you left behind.

Don’t leave home without your umbrella, because waiting for the bus at UFV can be a soggy experience.

There is one small covered bench. With no walls, the cover does little to protect a person from rain, and it’s barely big enough for five or six people to stand under it.

This space is insufficient for the amount of bus users at UFV. It would be beneficial to construct covered areas for people waiting for the bus or for rides. There are also people who wait for the new shuttle bus who would benefit from a larger sheltered area, and a covered stop for public transit users could be a separate shelter altogether. Let’s face it — sometimes buses are long overdue on the Abbotsford campus.

UFV needs to step it up and build some bus shelters.

Recently I have been trying a little experiment. When I go for walks or walk to school, I no longer put in my headphones, and I generally leave my phone in my pocket — unless I’m in a hurry and need it to check the time.

Then I smile at people.

Not in a weird, creepy way (I hope). But as I’m walking along, I notice a lot more than I would if I was “plugged in.” I encounter other people — people walking dogs or strolling with a friend or, like me, going alone. Many are plugged in, but I smile at them too. Not everyone smiles back, but if they do, I wish them a good morning.

It doesn’t take much, and it usually makes a big difference in my mood for the day.

I worry sometimes that smiles are going out of style. So I encourage you to reflect on your average day — have you smiled at anyone? If not, step it up! Give yourself and someone else a happy boost.

Measles vaccine doesn’t cause autism – it keeps you alive VALERIE FRANKLIN

THE CASCADE

If you were on UFV’s Abbotsford campus on March 13 or 14, you may have been exposed to the measles virus.

One possible case of measles in the UFV student residence is currently being investigated. The disease has also spread to BCIT in Burnaby. As of March 25, 228 cases have been confirmed in the Fraser Valley since the outbreak began.

Frankly, this is appalling. It’s the year 2014; measles was officially eliminated from Canada in 1998, thanks to a two-decade vaccination campaign. So why are we still struggling with a disease that can easily be prevented?

Because we’ve begun to see vaccination as an option rather than a life-saving necessity. The immunization rate has dropped to an average of 85 per cent in Canada — 10 per cent lower than the rate needed to achieve herd immunity, the state in which chains of infection are broken because so many individuals are immune.

Choosing not to vaccinate wouldn’t be so reprehensible if it only risked the health of the people making that choice. But it doesn’t. It also endangers babies who aren’t old enough to be vaccinated, the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those who can’t receive vaccinations for medical reasons like allergies. It prevents our communities from achieving herd immunity and opens the door

to outbreaks even larger and more serious than our current one.

It hasn’t been long since measles was a common childhood disease in North America — and was occasionally deadly. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles killed 2.6 million people every year around the world before the vaccine became widely available. Surviving children were often left blind, deaf, or scarred for life.

Have we forgotten that already?

WHO estimates over two million deaths are prevented around the world every year thanks to immunization. Nothing else prevents contagious disease as safely and effectively as vaccines do. This is undeniable. There’s no good alternative to vaccination — not prayer, not alternative medicine, not a healthy diet.

Yet thanks to popular misinformation on the internet, enormous numbers of North Americans believe vaccines are cocktails of mysterious “toxins” that poison children, causing bowel disorders and autism. It’s been proven time and time again that the ingredients in vaccines are not toxic or poisonous — yet these unfounded and sensationalistic beliefs continue to spread, fuelled by celebrities such as former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy.

Putting aside the question of exactly how qualified a Playboy model is to discuss medicine, multiple scientific studies have found there is no evidence whatsoever

that vaccines and autism are related. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who originally proposed the connection between the two, appears to have deliberately left out vital information to make his research fit his hypothesis for his own personal gain. His now-discredited work has been retracted from the publications it originally appeared in, and his UK medical license has been revoked as a result of his shocking misconduct.

Despite years of vigorous research, absolutely no other scientific evidence has been found to support Wakefield’s hypothesis that vaccines cause autism — yet his influence has made its mark on the pseudoscientific community, which continues to tout his discredited research as valid eviImage: Sanofi Pasteur dence.

“Why are we still struggling with a disease that can easily be prevented?”

Consider the situation with some perspective: shaky, unfound- administered.

WHO, 122,000 people worldwide ed, fraudulent research has shown The job of keeping ourselves, died from measles in 2012 — a that there may be a connection be- our children, and our communities huge improvement from the pretween vaccines and autism. safe is no one’s responsibility but vaccine days, but still averaging 14 Meanwhile, the connection be- our own. You’d think, living in the measles deaths every hour. tween measles and death has un- year 2014 with Google, Wikipedia, Living in Canada, we rarely see fortunately been proven many mil- and centuries of scholarly research the effects of contagious disease. lion times over. at our fingertips, that we would be It’s easy to forget what can happen Which would you choose? smart enough to read the research when a serious disease hits a vulIt’s true vaccines don’t usu- for ourselves and make the sen- nerable, unimmunized commually provide complete immunity sible choice. nity. Easy to forget what vaccines against diseases, but they vastly Anyone who denies the value of are protecting us from. lower the chances of contract- vaccination must never have lived It’s a privilege to be as sheltered ing them. In the case of measles, in a society where diseases like as we are. We don’t realize how there’s no question about the vac- measles, polio, and yellow fever good we have it. cine’s effectiveness; according to are a real threat, or they’d never I just hope it doesn’t take an epithe Public Health Agency of Can- consider exposing themselves and demic to teach us. ada, the efficacy rate is almost 100 their kids to that kind of horror. per cent if both necessary doses are Measles still kills. According to

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Little Miss Bossy

Trending campaigns are just that: trends

because they’re worried about being called bossy.”

When I searched the word “bossy” in Google images, there “Being labelled something mat- was indeed gender disparity in the ters,” said actress Jennifer Garner, results. The results page was an among several famous personali- inundation of “Little Miss Bossy” ties to speak up in the recent “Ban cartoon images, defensive slogans Bossy” campaign. This particular against being called bossy, phoquote struck me with its simplicity tos and drawings of women with and pointedness, but also with its their faces scrunched angrily or ambiguity — why does being la- their fingers pointed in accusation belled matter? … and a grand total of three men Complete with Twitter hashtag looking “bossy” (out of about 100 (#banbossy) and all the other trap- images). pings of the modern “trending” According to the campaign, campaign, Ban Bossy was started where women are called bossy, by chief operating officer of Face- men are called assertive and conbook, Sheryl Sandberg. Part of fident. her inspiration The people is credited to behind this cam“Violence isn’t a balloon, paign have good an experience she had in high and neither is inequality. intentions. They school of being It’s in the air. We’re breath- clearly want to called bossy by make the world ing it.” a teacher. Now a kinder place there is a webfor women and site with guides for teachers and to combat gender stereotypes parents, a collection of inspiration- which impact girls’ abilities to sucal videos, celebrity attention, and ceed as leaders. corporate backing — even the Girl However, “trending” campaigns Scouts are on board as one of the are just that: trends. driving forces.

In a few weeks, girls and women One campaign video, “I’m will still be labelled bossy, pushy, not bossy. I’m the boss,” shows a stubborn bitches and whores and few familiar faces (e.g. Beyoncé cunts who belong in the kitchen — Knowles, Jane Lynch) who take not in the office, and certainly not turns explaining that “by middle giving orders. school, girls are less interested in This campaign oversimplifies a leadership than boys, and that’s larger problem.

KATIE STOBBART

THE CASCADE

Even if every single person on Earth stopped using the word “bossy” tomorrow, even if it was deeply offensive to utter it, even if we removed it from the dictionary and forgot what it meant — it would not make a difference.

The English language has many words, and if those words fell out of use, more would be invented or appropriated to serve the same purpose.

Remember the Kony 2012 campaign by Invisible Children? Their goal was noble, too: find one obscure war criminal and, by hunting him down, resolve a long history of conflict in Uganda. Apparently, almost four million people pledged their support to the cause.

Yet Kony is still out there and the Lord’s Resistance Army hasn’t gone away.

It’s illogical to think getting rid of one person, or banning a single word, is going to act as a pin popping a balloon. Violence isn’t a balloon, and neither is inequality. It’s in the air. We’re breathing it.

The good part of the campaign is not its slogan or its celebrated proponents, but rather its emphasis on teaching everyone — not just girls — confidence and skill.

We need positive action, not negative action. Instead of relying on buzzwords and hashtags to beat a scapegoat out of our vocabulary and sell some merchandise (you can get an “I’m not bossy. I’m

“This campaign oversimplifies a larger problem.” a leader” onesie for your baby), we should be demonstrating what good, thoughtful leaders do.

Bossy is not synonymous with confidence or with being a leader.

Good leaders have compassion and initiative and drive; they listen and collaborate; they inspire others to be leaders. They create

Image: Bossy.com

change by example, not by starting impossible vendettas based on unreachable goals.

Being labelled something does matter, but not because it defines the labelled individual. Labels are a symptom of the system, not the cause.

Cable TV culture shock What happens when you reunite with commercials after 10 years ASHLEY MUSSBACHER

THE CASCADE

Signing up for a bundled cable package to save money is possibly one of the worst decisions I’ve made so far this year.

When I was nine years old, my mother put a strict time limit on the amount of television my brothers and I were allowed to watch.

You can imagine one hour a day was difficult to divide between six siblings, all of whom were at different ages and interested in different shows. As the second-youngest, my Pokémon episode was definitely not as important as my older sister’s more sophisticated half-hour of Friends. So, I used to occupy myself with activities other than television.

My life without television was a pretty peaceful one. I never walked around with commercial jingles stuck in my head. I never sat through a restaurant ad that made me drool over sizzling lobster dishes and steak. Nor did I ever turn the television on for white noise, only to realize I had been standing in the living room, zoned out with a dripping dishcloth in one hand and a spoon in the other.

Whenever I heard people talk about these experiences, I couldn’t relate.

The first time I turned on the TV after Shaw set up the box, cats came up on the screen. It was an adoption channel featuring furry feline pets. And I remember thinking, this is just like the internet.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I can’t remember if commercials were always as bad as they are now. By bad I mean sexist, stereotypical, prejudiced, patronizing, and at some points downright insulting. A few examples will emphasize my point here.

First there’s the ad for bacon.

While bacon has always been a mealtime favourite, I would’ve expected to see this ad in the 1950s.

It’s set in a kitchen, and a woman makes two kinds of meals for her classic salt-and-pepper family; with and without bacon.

Now the message behind the scene is clear: if you cook with bacon, your good-for-nothing husband and children will help you set the table and do the household chores. I think the only thing missing in this ad is the woman’s apron, and a mushroom cloud rising through the window in the background. I thought this was a contemporary audience?

Then there are those commercials that make use of animated characters and catchy jingles.

While this is a brilliant marketing scheme, it only works if the jingles are catchy, not rip-your-ears-off annoying, and the characters are memorable. At first glance you’d think these ads are aimed at children, but that’s not necessarily true.

Two cars race down a speedway, zig-zagging, and drifting around corners in the city. They come to a stop before a red carpet and the paparazzi, and the drivers get out

Image: Foodiggity

“If you cook with bacon, your good-for-nothing husband and children will help you set the table.” of the cars. They are animated mice in suits. My first reaction was to switch off the television. I can’t even remember the model of vehicle they were trying to sell, because I was so distracted by horribly animated mice. Marketing fail.

It leaves me wondering if people are actually convinced by these

ads. I find these commercials insulting to my intelligence. What happened to informative ads that actually gave vehicle details or the health benefits (if any) of eating bacon?

Instead, television commercials have been dumbed down drastically. Are any of them actually

succeeding in sales, or are we just a society that mocks their tasteless marketing schemes?

Maybe commercials have always been this way, and I’m the one who’s changed. But one thing’s for sure: they’re not going to make money off me.

8

OPINION

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Vancouver’s plans to revamp the Downtown Eastside ANTHONY BIONDI

THE CASCADE

Vancouver has been working hard to clean itself up and make itself a healthy and forward-thinking space on the West Coast.

However, up until now, the east end (the one we all know and love) seems to have been ignored.

Last year I remember reading an article about the homelessness issue in the Vancouver Sun. As I have been told, a large portion of the homeless living in the Downtown Eastside have come from the shutdown of Riverside Hospital, a project that was closed for costing the city too much money. Yet a few decades later, there was talk that keeping the evicted Riverside residents on the street was costing more than if they were put into special care.

Go figure. But this is only one step in the process.

The Downtown Eastside has garnered a somewhat surly reputation over the years. This is partially due to the homelessness issue, low-income housing, and drug abuse. To accentuate this problem, many of the buildings and living spaces are left in derelict conditions.

But a solution has finally presented itself.

Recently the city passed a plan

Image: Riel Roussopoulos/ flickr

“The plans seem to be pushing for a state of comfort, livability, and commercial excellence.” to re-vamp the east end, starting with the areas in highest need.

They’re calling it “The Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan” — pretty straightforward. Their analysis is geared toward restoring the entire east end, but it highlights the Oppenheimer DTES core as a highneeds area.

Largely, the project proposes to assist low-income and deplorable unemployment rates by introducing more opportunities for work,

both industrial and commercial.

As well, a clean-up of residential rental zones, more assisted housing, available medical assistance services, and improved transit — a revitalization of the entire area.

As a bit of a Vancouver historical nut, and knowing about some of the recent historical site movements (the Hogan’s alley tributes for one), I was worried this would cause other problems with historical preservation. However, the city

has kept this in mind.

Historical sites and neighbourhoods, such as Strathcona and Japantown, are to be preserved and repaired. Any improvements made in Strathcona, for instance, are to match the traditional look and feel of the historic neighbourhood. Good — I’m impressed.

In any history book I’ve read, or old photograph I’ve looked at, I have found the Downtown Eastside used to be a commercial para-

dise. Even my old man used to go shopping down on the E. Hastings strip by the famous “Save on Meats” shop. It was just another shopping district for good oldfashioned family outings.

This too has been met in Vancouver’s new plans. Overall, the plans seem to be pushing for a return to this state of comfort, livability, and commercial excellence, and if such a thing is even possible, I hope it goes according to plan.

My only main area of concern is the financing. With bridge tolls in place post-Olympics, I question where the money is coming from for this large-scale, multi-milliondollar project. The budget was in the booklet, but it seems the city itself is only contributing 20 per cent of the needed funds. The rest is being put forth by unknown investors and non-profit organizations (30 per cent and 50 per cent respectively).

Not that I have a big problem with this — it just makes me wonder a little. I’m not a financing genius, but it still concerns me that the city would invest so little into a project that’s supposed to revitalize its blue-collar core. If the money comes in, that’s fantastic. I just don’t want to see such a beneficial project only go half-done.

UFV professor stirs the envy in all CHRISTOPHER DEMARCUS

CONTRIBUTOR

UFV’s Dr. Hamish Telford was featured in a Globe and Mail article this past Thursday. He is a contributor to the national paper, but this time the article was about him.

Dr. Telford is having trouble paying his mortgage bills, despite his $86,000 yearly salary and tenured job security. He and his wife have separated, leaving him to pay for the remainder of the mortgage, as well as childcare costs for their seven-year-old son. To top it off, his mini-van needs $2,000 in repair. Despite his modest consumption, he can barely afford his home.

How does that make you feel?

After the article did its rounds on social media this week, the cloud’s comments quickly shifted into two camps. Most chanted, “Sell your fucking house!” On the other side of the argument were shouts about the housing market: “Let the bubble burst!”

Those desensitized to Dr. Telford’s plight see the professor as spoiled; they demand he adjust his lifestyle to new circumstances.

Meanwhile others related to the personal side of the story: if this guy can’t make the middle class life work for him, who can?

This debate reminds us of the fight between union and nonunion workers. Many non-union workers despise union workers’ benefits — advocates for the destruction of unions demand that solidarity be dropped in favour of free market equality.

If online comments are any indication, the majority think Dr. Telford should move into a basement suite with his son, sell his minivan, and suffer like the rest of us.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

I would like to live in a society that can allow a man who possesses high levels of intellect and skill — a man with a PhD in political science and who is the head of a university department — to be able to afford a house and a minivan for his child.

I would like to live in a society that is not driven by market forces to such an extreme that we blame Dr. Telford instead of a bloated market.

Our society should be that of regulated markets, a society of socialism; not a society based on the pure morals of capital accumulation.

However, the online comments on Dr. Telford’s story highlight a key problem in socialism: envy.

The folks who wanted Dr. Telford to sell his home, in a real sense, wanted a man with a PhD to fall from the ivory tower. For the crowd, the market is their guiding principle; even when our government’s traditions and policies promote ideas of economic equality.

Yes, we must regulate capital.

Yes, we must institute laws of economic equality.

But here, in envy, we have the flaw of leftist movements and Keynesian economics. If we use tax money from the top one per cent to help Dr. Telford and his family — and keep him in the business of teaching us what we need to know about political institutions — the lower class will explode with envy.

An old Slovenian joke by philosopher Slavoj Žižek describes this eternal problem. A genie comes to the house of an old farmer and says, “I will give you whatever you want, but I will also give two

Image: Tommy and Georgie

Dr. Hamish Telford earns a salary of $86,000 and can barely afford a house and vehicle. Why? of the same to your neighbour.”

The farmer replies, “Then poke out one of my eyes.”

In the past, we used religious methods to regulate envy: it’s the sixth of seven deadly sins. The church, when it was our government, installed rules around the individual’s pursuit of property and the effect on common good.

But even divine law could not control the envy of humankind.

The constant lust for the destruction of things that others possess infects all institutions — especially

those masked in ideas of absolute, fundamental goodness.

In our secular age, the call to economic ethics is only answered by childish ideas of progress and technological determinism. Sam Harris, our current ethical flavour of the week, roots ethics in his simplistic understanding of neuroscience’s role in social interaction.

As if a series of chemical reactions can explain Dr. Telford’s problems with market forces and the crowd’s jealous apathy.

This is why the political and eco-

nomic right is winning against the left. Modern conservatives have a poor, but working solution. For them, greed is good. The market is the divine principle. And the masses accept their fate in it.

For the left, envy is wishfully thought away.

Dr. Telford’s story teaches us that we need to find a better way of handling envy in society, even in a socialist economy. We need to build mechanisms that have us concerned about his son more than the square footage of his house.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

What was your reaction to UFV’s measles outbreak warning email?

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

9

10

FEATURE CULTURE

Nick Lokken

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

A debut album born from beach dreams, broken bones, and his grandfather’s guitar DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

At just 22, Arizona native Nick Lokken has at least a few things figured out: a love of the beach and the ocean, how to deal with a broken wrist, and how to put together a record. After signing with a label this time last year, Lokken finally saw his debut album, Life is Good, drop just this month, fitting himself neatly into a mellow indie-country-summer genre. He’s already working on the next one, drawing inspiration from a love of nature and the idea that life can take you just about anywhere.

Let’s talk about the new album.

[Chuckles] It was kind of a nightmare, actually. Everyone says that your first album is your hardest, and that’s definitely true. I actually recorded this album three times, and finally said yes to the last mix. It’s been a whirlwind ever since it’s released, so it’s been fun.

Why did you have to record it three times?

Well, the first time the producers at the record label recorded everything, and they were just going to have me come in and sing vocals on it. But the way it was recorded the first time just really wasn’t how I wanted the feel to be, so I asked for it to be put in my hands and they handed it over to me. Then I tried recording everything myself, but I just didn’t have the equipment.

So a friend of mine, Brandon Chase, he just recently came off The Voice, he’s a country artist, he had a studio at his house, and he invited me to come in and track everything there, so we did.

“I think music is all about taking the limits off and stepping outside the box.”

Are you already working on the next album?

I am! I am almost through writing. I have three more songs to go for the next one, and we’ll be starting it in five weeks. It’s exciting; I’m really excited.

This first album is very beachy, summery. Did you spend a lot of time at the beach growing up?

I did not, no. I’ve only been to the beach a handful of times, but I guess it’s a dream of mine to reside there someday. I go to sleep dreaming about it at night and I write a lot of songs about it. I don’t know — it’s just something inside of me that’s pulling me there. Pulling me to paradise, I guess.

And I saw on Twitter something about a handmade guitar?

Are you making a guitar?

I am, yeah — in my spare time I do woodwork. I used to own a custom wood furniture shop — me and my best friend owned it.

And over one summer I started

getting into making the bodies of guitars.

I broke my wrist snowboarding two weeks ago, so it’s on hold right now. But I’m in the works of building my personal custom guitar.

Can you play with a broken wrist?

[Sounds sheepish] I’m not supposed to, but I do. This is like my 15th broken bone, my 10th broken wrist, so I kind of know how the whole thing goes down. I went and got a splint, and my mom is an herbal freak so we bought all these oils and we’re putting in oil, and icing it, and drinking milk and protein, and just trying to speed up the process. It actually doesn’t hurt when I play — I just can’t play as hard and fast as I usually can. I actually wrote a song last night, and I don’t know how. It just kind of brought it out of me.

Going back to guitar for a minute — the “about” section of your website says that you were inspired to play music by your grandfather’s guitar.

He actually passed in 2009, and he left the guitar to — well, I say me and my mother says her, but we both know who’s going to play it more. And I do play it; it’s actually hanging on my wall right now. It’s like a 100-year-old Gibson guitar — it’s really cool.

What drew you to that guitar as a kid?

Man, I don’t know. He just pulled it out, and — I was leaving east Texas and they drove up from Arizona, and he was like, “C’mere, Nick, I got something for you,” and he opened up his trunk. And he just pulled it out, no case or anything, and it was like the heavens opened up and the angels were singing down on this thing.

I have no idea why, but it was just like a magnet to me. I held it, and played it, and wouldn’t set it down.

And I have one last question.

According to the bio on your website, again, you are 22.

Mhm! I imagine that you’re familiar with the Taylor Swift single, “22”?

Yes? So my last question is: are you feeling 22, and if so, what does that feel like?

[Laughs] I actually listened to that song this morning, even before I rolled out of bed. I am feeling 22. I’m just trying to live life to the fullest right now — I love snowboarding, I go longboarding regularly, I work out consistently. I just want to travel while I’m young, I’m single right now — I don’t want to let life pass me by, you know? I really want to make the most out of it. John 10:10, it says, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come so you may have life and live it to the fullest.” And that’s kind of what I’ve tried to live by, ever since I came to know Christ.

It’s been fun. Twenty-two is a good age.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Image: Courtesy of Nick Lokken

Hailing from Arizona, Lokken’s work gravitates towards a summery, beachy paradise theme.

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FEATURE CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Title: One Day as Copperfield Artist: Cybil Lee Medium: Acrylic painting on 4x6 rough board Date: 2013

“‘One Day As ...’ is a series of abstract paintings, and each painting is a fantasy role play. I tried to create the views from the perspective of special characters. For this painting, I dreamed about the view from David Copperfield (magician).”

Creative Page

In Lumsden, canola fields;

golden limbs bow in the wind

you can smell it

thick in the air

you can see it

yellow in the afternoon,

pale green in the evening Near Moose Jaw the salt floats;

white like snow, but dry

you can feel it

in the back of your throat

you can taste it

a film on your tongue, sharp

in the middle of the summer heat

Title: Prairie Storm Artist: Ashley Mussbacher Date: 2014

The Okanagan desert;

sage grows wild and full

you can touch it

soft and woody between fingertips

you can breathe it in brings dreamless

“Are we the byproduct of our surroundings, or just severed wings of Mother Nature looking to salvage some impression of unity? In this piece I have woven together many layers of vein or vine-like ink stains to highlight the intricacies of the human condition — free or ensnared, it’s all a matter of perspective.”

This collection of artwork, photography, and writing showcases the unique talents and culture of UFV’s artistic community. Want to see your work on this page? Contact valerie@ ufvcascade.ca for more information.

Good feelings come when you can carve out the core of an apple, but leave the apple whole.

Stick the knife in, and twist,

crease the glossy skin, only slightly.

Leave as little damage to the surface as possible.

It’s how we deal

with apple cores.

Title: Nature vs. Nurture Artist: Jeff Rasmussen Medium: Digital scans of spattered ink on Stonehenge paper Date: 2012

Title: Good Feelings Artist: Ashley Mussbacher Date: 2014

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CULTURE

SUDOKU PUZZLE

CROSSWORD Patterns

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014

by KATIE STOBBART

1 5 6

www.ufvcascade.ca

3 6 4 4 9 2 6 7 2

8 6 9 3 7 8 4 6 5 6 5 3 3 8 1 5 1 7 8 2 1

4 9 6

ACROSS

2.

Rectangles joined together to make a kind of interlocking zig-zag pattern.

(11) 3.

This fabric, called “muslin” in England, originated from India and was dyed

and printed in bright colours. There’s also a feline whose pattern takes this

name. (6) 6.

Popular on sweaters and cardigans, this pattern is characterized by dia

mond shapes set in a diagonal checkerboard arrangement. (6) 7.

This check pattern is is spaced wider than most checks, and recalls a part of

the house we often look right through. (10) 8.

A pattern of decorated tear-drop shapes. (7) 11.

Also called a key pattern, this recalls the borders of Ancient Greece. If you

can’t find the answer, don’t ____ too much about it. (4)

Last week’s crossword

Sudoku solution

ACROSS 1 STUARTLITTLE 4 RIZZO 6 JERRY 7 MICKEY 8 BIANCA 10 SPEEDYGONZALES 11 PINKY 12 FIEVEL DOWN 2 THREEBLINDMICE 3 CHUCKECHEESE 5 THEMOUSEKING 9 SCABBERS

The Weekly Horoscope

7 9 2 5 8 3 6 4 1 1 8 4 9 2 6 5 7 3 5 6 3 4 7 1 8 9 2

DOWN

Answer keys

8 5 6 3 9 4 2 1 7 3 7 9 8 1 2 4 6 5 4 2 1 7 6 5 9 3 8

This two-tone pattern (often black and white) is formed by broken checks or abstract shapes, though it doesn’t appear to resemble teeth. (11) Very thin parallel lines of any colour. (9) Features flowers, seeds, leaves, or aquatic plants. (6) This cotton is dyed in a plain weave pattern; for a visual, think picnic table cloth. (7) This pattern, associated with the Scottish Highlands, is made up of bands and stripes crossing each other at right angles. (5) In simple terms, a series of connected “V” shapes forms this pattern. (7)

6 3 8 1 5 9 7 2 4 2 1 7 6 4 8 3 5 9 9 4 5 2 3 7 1 8 6

1.

4.

5.

9.

10.

12.

Star Signs from January Jones*

*No, not that January Jones

Gemini: May 21 - June 21: If you collect enough quarters you will become invincible.

Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22: Your horoscope doesn’t really mean anything this week.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20: You will befriend a seagull.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22: Your spirit animal is a green armchair.

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21: When used correctly, one of the socks in your possession will allow you to travel back to January 4, 1986. Don’t do anything rash.

Aries: March 21 - April 19: Valentine’s Day was a month ago. You done fucked up.

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22: In another life, you were a forger of fine art. Try not to get killed by a gang this time.

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21: This week you will mix up the words “mob” and “mom” with disastrous results.

Virgo: Aug 23 -Sept22: If you don’t eat for two days and drink a cup of coffee every hour, you will either find nirvana or finish that last term paper. You choose.

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19: Someone was painting a threatening message on your front door this week, but they have an incorrect idea of where you live. Be warned!

But in my opinion, you don’t have to be all that afraid.

Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18: You will be whisked away to Oregon by a tall, dark stranger. Don’t forget your passport, or your love affair stops at the border.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20: You must construct additional pylons.

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Sweet pulled pork JEFF HUGHES CONTRIBUTOR

As one of my favourite summer foods, I find myself thinking of pulled pork as the days become longer and warmer. I often pair it with coleslaw and French fries and serve it on a nicely toasted artisan bun, or as a side dish of a larger meal.

Pulled pork can be a wonderful comfort food. It is also an extremely versatile menu item; it can be sweet or savoury, served on bread or a bun as a sandwich, over rice, in a taco shell... the options are endless.

This recipe is for a sweeter pulled pork with a bit of a kick from the Dr Pepper. Cook this up and have yourself a nice outdoor meal with some friends as the weather improves.

Leftovers can be frozen for future enjoyment.

Upcoming

Ingredients: 2 lbs pork roast 1 can of Dr Pepper or your favourite pop (optional) 1 c. vinegar ½ c. sugar 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 c. of your favourite barbeque sauce or ketchup 1 tbsp chipotle powder 1 medium onion, chopped Water

Directions: Cut the pork into quarters.

Place pork in large pot and add all the ingredients. Fill the pot with water until covered.

Bring pot to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to medium and let cook until the meat can be shredded with a fork. This may take up to four hours.

Shred all the meat using two forks. Leave in pot and increase heat. Boil until liquid is reduced by half.

If you still find the mixture to be too runny, strain it or add cornstarch to thicken it.

Looking for unique ways to dress for spring? Wes Anderson’s new film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, will inspire you to add texture to your wardrobe.

In The Grand Budapest Hotel we see the classic uniform; the hotel is populated with bellboys, concierges, maids, lobby boys, and lax elevator guides dressed in fitted purple with stiff bow ties. It was a time of sophistication, a time of elegance, simplicity, and drawnon moustaches. Most importantly, for legendary concierge M. Gustave — played by Ralph Fiennes — it was a time of civility. “Darlings” are everywhere: among the kitchen staff at the hotel, on death row in prison, among soldiers dressed in black during World War I. It’s too quaint to fully plagiarize in our own wardrobes. The colours shift from weddingcake pink and purple to harvest yellow and orange tweed as we jump from 1932 to 1968. But as always, Anderson gives the fashion-conscious a taste for the nostalgic and inspires a further hunt for vintage treasures.

A particular fashion icon arrives in the form of Jeff Goldblum’s character, a lawyer and estate manager who manages to pull of Harry Potter-esque glasses with professionalism and class. The light grey three-

March 26

Kayak journey presentation

March 27

Louden Singletree launch party Want to meet the authors and artists behind the latest issue of the Louden Singletree, UFV’s artistic and literary journal? Come to AfterMath at 7 p.m. to check out some beautiful artwork and listen to readings from student contributors. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

April 2

How to dress like a Wes Anderson character THE CASCADE

Events

Join the Henry brothers in Room B101 for a special presentation about their epic kayak journey from the mouth of the Amazon River to Juno Beach, Florida. Admission by donation; all proceeds go to YMCA’s “Strong Kids” Program.

Fashion Forward

NADINE MOEDT

13

piece suit, complete with enviable cuff links and understated bowtie, speaks to Anderson’s never-outdated Old World style.

While Anderson’s uniformed good guys are plentiful — we meet a fantastically-moustached Bill Murray along the way — his bad guys are simultaneously loathsome and bad-boy chic. William Dafoe’s hitman wears a leather jacket complete with a place to hold his alcohol; Adrian Brody’s curled moustache and dark, slightly over-large suits make for the perfect arch-nemesis.

If your style is a little less flamboyant than a typical Anderson character, watch for the more muted fashions of the heroic Agatha. Agatha dresses in pastels, her hair tightly braided over the crown of her head in a rebellious nod to practicality.

Her look speaks to Prada sensibility; her pale blue scarf, mint gloves and sweet brown dresses makes for an understated yet no less bold statement. Try a khaki summer dress paired with pastel pink accessories for Agatha’s capable style.

Wes Anderson has an eye for timeless fashion. His characters’ outward fashion invariably reflects their personalities, from vicious rake to heroic everyman. Yours should too; make sure to sample Anderson’s style while staying true to your own.

Canadian Writers Series The third and final installment of the Canadian Writers Series will be held at 12:30 p.m. in U-House, featuring special guest reader Evelyn Lau, Poet Laureate of Vancouver. Enjoy the work of local poets Robert Martens and Elsie K. Neufeld, UFV professors Helene Littmann and Rajnish Dhawan, and Daniela Elza, who will be finishing her term as UFV’s writer in residence at the end of this semester.

April 4

Vaisakhi Mela Drop by U-House and the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies at 5 p.m. for a community celebration of Vaisakhi, the Indian harvest festival.

Events will include Giddha and Bhangra dancing, singing, group games, and kiteflying. Celebrate the Indian harvest season, get to know some of your fellow students, and enjoy delicious free food!

April 4

Big Bang 2014 Want to celebrate the end of the semester with a bang?

Drop by AfterMath between 5 and 11 p.m. for a party featuring live music from Patrick Joicoeur and Derrival, huge prizes including Canucks tickets, and deals on food and drinks. Admission is free, but remember your ID!

The Grand Budapest Hotel is full of quirky but elegant style inspiration.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Fire hall simulation tests how well firefighters respond in an emergency JEREMY HANNAFORD Contributor

It’s a casual scene, as people fill a firehall, waiting for something to happen. A smoke machine begins to fill up the hall. Some people have broken sticks taped to their legs; one woman has been “impaled” by them. One has his arm in a garbage bag and is covered with red corn syrup while another person feigns deafness and shellshock. Silence falls upon the hall as a fire truck pulls up and firefighters run in with gas monitors and medical equipment. This is merely an exercise, but it’s something these men must be prepared for when a real emergency happens.

All this took place on March 18 at the Aldergrove Fire Hall.

Firefighters Ian Darvill and Ryan Olseka welcomed all the volunteers. Many were community members or relatives of the firefighters. There were a few who were even looking into firefighting as a career.

Ian and Ryan then explained the scenario we were taking part in. The exercise was called a mass casualty scenario, in which everyone acts out different conditions of distress. Those who had broken sticks taped on had broken bones. I was acting out someone with a missing arm, with a garbage bag acting as a makeshift cover. Ian said the situation was to resemble what emergency personnel faced at the Boston Marathon bombings.

When the fire truck rolled up, the firefighters lined up outside the hall. Instead of rushing in all

Image: Lynn Darvill

Firefighters pose with the volunteers who participated in a disaster simulation at the Aldergrove Fire Hall. at once, two walked in slowly, holding up a small monitoring device. This tool is called a four gas monitor, which evaluates the quality of air in the area. This determines for the firemen whether the air is safe to breathe without assisted oxygen.

The captain on duty then announced to anyone who could move under their own power to move towards them so they could be properly assessed. After that, the firemen searched through the casualties. They moved from person to person,

performing a quick assessment of the condition everyone was in using the MIDD system: moderate, immediate, delay, and death. In a situation as chaotic as ours, these firemen would need to quickly decide which people were in more need of immediate medical attention. Since I was missing my arm, I was cared for immediately rather than my girlfriend, who had a broken leg.

Jhim was the name of the firefighter who attended to my wounds. He first checked my pulse and my level of conscious-

Hannaford’s fake arm wound is assessed and tended as part of the exercise.

Image: Lynn Darvill

ness through conversation. He asked my girlfriend about the seriousness of my condition as she held a makeshift bandage.

Jhim then applied gauze fabric to my arm and pinned it together before sending me to the ambulance with the other victims.

Throughout this entire event, Ian and Ryan recorded the actions of the firemen so the footage could be viewed later for analyzing procedures and assessments.

After the exercise was finished, all the firemen lined up for breakdown. They reported

their actions and procedures, and the fire chief then commented on their actions and any improvements they could have made. Overall, the exercise went very well. Each firefighter had properly attended to their wounded person and carried out the right medical procedures. We volunteers were also given tips on administering medical aid. I learned that using a belt would be a last measure in the situation of a missing limb. Applied pressure or bandages are preferable as a belt leads to stopping blood flow. That would lead to gangrene and possible infection.

While at the time it felt silly to have an arm wrapped up in a garbage bag, the situation was deadly serious. These training exercises help prepare firefighters for the severity of the situation. They have the procedures memorized and can execute them efficiently without distress.

These firefighters were a great bunch of guys who all carry humble hearts but were serious and professional during the exercise.

Similar events are performed at other fire halls throughout the Fraser Valley. These can be great insights into what firefighters go through, as well as a possible door-opener for those who wish to join their ranks. There are also the emergency response team role play scenarios hosted by the Abbotsford Police Department.

You can find out more about those events and how to sign up from UFV criminology professor Al Gray.

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ARTS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Album Review

The Paper Kites – States THOMAS NYTE CONTRIBUTOR

States is no album.

It’s a case study in complexity, curiosity, the power of urgency, and the pervasiveness of atmosphere.

And if States tells us one thing about folk-rock quintet The Paper Kites, it’s that their newest music can’t really be called folk, but it can’t really be called rock, either. The folksy opus — or “folkus,” if you will — manages to comfortably straddle all sorts of lines. The line between ambient and rhythmic. The line between structured and capricious. The line between relaxing and intense.

States is a marvel of self-contained diversity. The first full-length album from the Australian band, it’s a noticeable (but not unexpected) departure from their previous EPs Woodland and Young North, which might best be described as playlists for exploring timberland hillsides and an overcast Midwestern landscape, respectively.

States, though, is not a playlist for a journey so much as it is a journey in itself.

I picked up my copy after being fortunate enough to see The Paper Kites at their inaugural Canadian performance at The Biltmore Cabaret last fall. I found myself in the unusual (and entirely fantastic) pre-

dicament of hearing the album in concert before the actual recordings. The show was flawless, featuring an impeccable mix of new and old material as well as a remarkable rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” So, pumped up by the show, I jammed States into my car ’s CD player before I even turned on the ignition.

The 13-track album kicks off with “Malleable Beings” — a song title befitting a band that so willingly reinvents itself. It acts as a summary of what is to come: lead vocalists Sam Bentley and Christina Lacy share the choral spotlight, while lead guitarist Dave Powys hammers out resonant licks with such command they’ll get stuck in your head for hours — a trademark of the album. Up next is the eerie and lovely

“St. Clarity,” overflowing with volume swells and spooky-sweet modulation, making it the most ethereal, phantasmal song you’ll ever hear that also features a banjo. The next three tracks showcase a pitch-perfect repertoire of musical multiplicity that any listener should, by this point, be expecting from the rest of the album (check out the music video for “Young” — it’s remarkable).

Unfortunately, though, the album’s first act sets almost impossibly high standards for the rest of the album, which is, perhaps, why the journey falters in its middle section. The sixth song, “A Lesson from Mr. Gray,” overreaches the band’s ambition and delves a little too deeply into the risky waters of major-key rock and roll.

Though much of the guitar and bass work is intricate and charming, the song is illsuited to Bentley’s Art Garfunkel-esque vocal style and ultimately interrupts an otherwise seamless album arrangement.

Following “A Lesson from Mr. Gray,” States takes it down a few notches. “Tin Lover,” “Never Heard a Sound,” and “Tenenbaum” are all mellowed-out aural callbacks to Woodland, the band’s first, folksiest release. Tranquility suits The Paper Kites like flannel on a lumberjack, and the songs are spaced out well enough to keep listeners from becoming bored.

“Cold Kind Hand” and “In Reverie” both put Lacy at the vocal helm once

more, and her dovelike melodies flatter the instrumentals (and vice versa).

“Cold Kind Hand” is, tonally speaking, the darkest song on the album, and easily one of the most memorable, thanks in no small part to its preposterously hummable guitar phrasing, reverbed and shady. “In Reverie” sounds a bit like “A Lesson From Mr. Grey” done correctly, and makes creative use of some stunning melodic intervals while somehow managing to be equal parts uplifting, saddening, and painful — the climax of the auditory adventure that is States.

The album concludes in a satisfactory way. The final two tracks, while individually wonderful, are musically similar enough that the attention of the listener begins to wane ever so slightly by track 13 (“I Done You So Wrong”). They both have similar dynamics, tempos, and plodding bass lines, making the album conclusion seem uncertain and marginally overdrawn.

Despite its occasional shortcomings, though, States is a marvel in structural elegance and musical diversity, and serves as a testament not only to The Paper Kites’ talent, but also their willingness to evolve, grow, and constantly challenge themselves. Expect big, unexpected things from this Australian outfit, and pray they never lose their curiosity — range like theirs is an ever-dwindling rarity.

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Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Johnny Foreigner You Can Do Better

The War on Drugs Lost in the Dream

Where many other bands that link their lineage to the pop-punk genre today feel inspired to emulate decades past, sometimes adding in the sounds of psychedelia, riot grrrl, or other garage-sourced creations, Johnny Foreigner acts like a band that has kept playing and playing themselves into the present. Alexei Berrow sounds the punk-front part, sometimes yelling, sometimes talking in a shouty mock suprise, whil rapid-fire drums and guitarwork attempt to outpace speaker capabilities, causing a climactic breakdown every song or so. But You Can Do Better is also Johnny Foreigner fitting a genre to a point of view, not the other way around. The most notable EP lead-up to their new album (the band usually releases several per year), NAMES, had rhymes as a fine-tuned focus, but Berrow and Kelly Southern’s vocals find ways to simply express sometimes contradictory points of view without that crutch, whether the duelling stories on “To the Death,” the adolescent twist of “Please let us get what we want! / Please let us want what we need!,” or the somewhat clever, surprisingly understated standins for subjects this genre is usually thought to be too immature to tackle well on “WiFi Beach,” “Devastator,” and the album’s bookends.

Lost in the Dream is a good folk-rock record, but it’s a record that’s hard to scrutinize. Relying more on lucid, emotional heights, Lost in the Dream is a record that’s meant to be soaked in rather than analyzed. Yet, it somehow manages to be both intimate and huge all at the same time. “Red Eyes,” the album’s explosive lead single, acknowledges 1980s heartland rock troubadours with its dedicated style and lyrical outpouring of modern disillusionment. The songs are busy, with complex, reverb-slabbed instrumental breaks appearing in almost every song, but it’s the subtle modifications in the midst of each song that sustains Lost in the Dream for its hourlong runtime. Whether it’s the steady drum beat halfway through “Under the Pressure,” the triumphant piano chords at the midway point of “Suffering,” or the shimmering acoustic guitar that surfaces near the end of “In Reverse,” the little things make all the difference on a record that could have easily drowned in overproduction. Lost in the Dream is packed with big hooks and the band’s signature sonic fog; it is poised to carry War on Drugs out of obscurity and into mainstream consciousness.

Michael Scoular

The Editor-in-Chief directs editorial and production staff through all stages of publishing the paper each week.

The position requires a minimum of 16 office hours a week, and is not recommended for full-time students.

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

For a full job description, check out the employment page on ufvcascade.ca, or email michael@ufvcascade.ca Pay per issue: $300

Tim Ubels

Put on your headphones; we want your thoughts on new music.

Pop into the Cascade offices in C1027 for a free album to review, or email arts@ufvcascade.ca for more information!

16

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Dine & Dash

Benkey Sushi TAYLOR BRECKLES THE CASCADE

Shuffle

CHARTS

1 2

Various PIXXX4

BRANDON GREAVES CIVL DJ

Perfect Pussy I Have Lost All Desire For Feeling

For the next two Monday afternoons at AfterMath, local solo artists will be competing in CIVL’s singer-songwriter battle. Experimental music jockey Brandon Greaves is judging the competition, and has provided five exemplary solo acts in honour of this contest.

3

Babysitter/Monster Treasure Split ‘13

4 5 6

Paul McCartney — “Too Many People”

Varsity Girls Darnit

McCartney’s second solo record, Ram, is possibly the best thing any of the Beatles did after the split. It was gutsy, yet relentlessly made fun of at the time for not being Beatles-y enough. He gets some things off his chest; the opening track takes a resentful swipe at John and Yoko for being so preachy.

Tycho Awake

You’ll Never Get To Heaven You’ll Never Get To Heaven

Elliott

7

Yes Men Jr. There Is No Limit To How Poorly I Can Feel

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Weaves Weaves

Shonen Knife Overdrive

Newman’s solo work tends to sound a little too much like The New Pornographers, being largely comprised of group vocals and pop hooks repeated ad nauseam into fade-outs. He can do indie pop well enough on his own, but removing the influence of bandmate Dan Bejar simply produces a less special New Pornographers album.

Tyrants Blood Coven Tough Age Tough Age

New Vaders Dynamic Traxx Vol. 1

Trust Joyland

Yes”

AC Newman — “The Heartbreak Rides”

The Koffin Kats Born Of The Motor

Mac DeMarco Salad Days

“Say

In her post-’Til Tuesday career, Mann has shifted from new wave pop to melancholy folk songs about alcoholism, washed-up pugilists, and more generally, broken dreams. Her lyrics here paint a picture of a grim neighbourhood where lives are lived poorly.

Childish Gambino Because The Internet

n.213 Rejectamenta

—

Aimee Mann — “Columbus Avenue”

Old Man Strength Old Man Strength

17 18 19 20

Smith

Smith’s career was launched by Heatmiser, a great but short-lived alt-rock band from Portland. He claimed to have left the group because loud rock music wasn’t providing the opportunity to be sincere, and indeed it was his articulate transparency in songs like “Say Yes” that later made him the patron saint of depressed young people.

Car 87 Live at IRS

Heaven for Real Hero’s Code

27520 Fraser Hwy, Aldergrove Hours: 11:30-9:20 Monday to Thursday, Saturday; 11:30-10:00 Friday; and 12:00-9:30 Sunday Prices: Between $8.50 and $16 for rolls, and up to $20 for combos (excluding party trays and boats)

Yoko Ono — “Goodbye Sadness”

Yoko’s first album after the death of John Lennon, Season of Glass, is the most intense thing I have ever heard, covering the most profoundly soul-crushing subject matter imaginable. Her ability to turn tragedy into art within six months is a testament to a uniquely creative spirit.

Benkey Sushi may seem like yet another sushi restaurant, but at least it’s a good one. Located in Aldergrove, the little restaurant is almost hidden inside a strip mall, but it’s worth searching for.

Over the weekend, a friend and I went to eat at Benkey. As we entered the establishment, we were immediately seated at one of their tables, which are separated by paper screens. In addition to adding a feeling of privacy, the screens added a pleasant atmosphere to the restaurant. There were chopsticks already at the table, and upon inspection of them, I noticed that they were good quality.

Black and thick, the chopsticks were heavy, but not overly so.

While using them, I got the feeling of being in a high-end restaurant instead of a casual one.

I even brought mine home, as it seemed like a waste of good materials to simply throw them away.

The only downside to this es-

Image: Lee A. / Flickr

tablishment would be the attentiveness of our waitress. Trust me when I say that a lot of food was ordered, and our waters were quickly depleted; however, our waitress didn’t come around our table to refill them.

Because of this, there were some awkward moments as we tried to capture her gaze in order to ask for more water. Eventually we got a refill, but it was just awkward.

A different waitress — not the one that was originally tending us — came around the table to ensure we had received all of our food, which was much appreciated. Because of her, I think perhaps our waitress was new.

As for the food, we ordered deep-fried California rolls, a Rocky Mountain roll, beef teriyaki (accompanied by miso soup and rice), appetizer tempura, and gyoza. All the food arrived around the same time, except for the gyoza which was delayed, but not by much.

The rolls were large, but not so large that they couldn’t fit inside a mouth. The gyoza was soft and filled completely with a little extra dough. The beef teriyaki had a good smattering of sauce and was on a full bed of vegetables — I believe there were bean sprouts, cabbage, and one piece of broccoli; though quite honestly, I ate with reckless abandon because it tasted so good. The tempura was flakey and light, though the sweet potato could have been cooked longer in my opinion. The miso was nicely flavoured, and the rice was cooked nicely as well. Overall, the meal tasted very good.

The prices were good as well.

All of that food cost us about $40, which isn’t bad considering the amount of food we received.

There weren’t any after-dinner candies or anything of the sort, which is atypical compared to other restaurants, but that’s only a minor observation. All in all, I would recommend Benkey Sushi if you ever find yourself hungry in Aldergrove.

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ARTS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Film Reviews

Fan feedback takes different forms in Veronica Mars and Muppets Most Wanted MICHAEL SCOULAR THE CASCADE

Veronica Mars (dir. Rob Thomas) The main excuse for the Veronica Mars movie not really being a movie seems to be that creatorwriter-director Rob Thomas was limited by the need to satisfy every one of the 90,000 fans that donated money to help finance the movie’s production. But television writers responding to viewer feedback has been a major part of the medium since at least Aaron Sorkin’s dabbling in internet comments while writing The West Wing, and hasn’t been revolutionized by Kickstarter.

All this might be is further (to add to the already endless) proof that it doesn’t matter how much money is available if the creative in charge doesn’t have anything worth putting across.

Thomas, not seeming to consider that fans have grown up 10 years since the show premiered, drags Veronica (Kristen Bell) and friends back to a high school reunion, back to a sloppy murder mystery, and, in the worst of his decisions, into a movie.

Removed from its week-to-week ability to change, react, and develop plot threads and running jokes that may or may not be working, Veronica Mars is behind on arrival, looks less tech-savvy than an average thriller like Non-Stop, falls flat with every pop culture reference (don’t even ask about the whippedup-in-60-seconds imitation pop singer), and

struggles to pace itself over a feature running time.

Scenes do not play out so much as information is relayed, and the cast, sometimes even including Bell, is listless and invisible. “Look at us, falling back into our old rhythms,” one character cheerfully opines, but what becomes clearer and clearer as stop-gap plot measures like fist fights and car accidents pile up (the movie is an awkward mashup of a series premiere and a season finale) is that Thomas doesn’t have a new way forward or a good memory of how things used to work, at least when they worked well.

With supposed free rein, Thomas merely plants a camera around a similar neighbourhood instead of trying to imagine what people always say the best shows and movies can support: lives beyond what the episodes capture.

What’s worse, the new developments on display are of a character giving up their life’s promise to set up shop

in a sub-par television show. It’s settling, and it shows Thomas to be an opportunist with nothing to say.

Muppets Most Wanted (dir. James Bobin) Somewhere along the way, Muppet movies became tasked with the burden of Sesame Street — to teach (usually something about family) and delight — when Jim Henson, Frank Oz et al. had originally intended them for more destructive ends. Tearing down the boring format of late night talk shows, Kermit the Frog managed a frenetic non-stop talkback session, with musical numbers and a celebrity guest.

Second-generation Muppet writers James Bobin, Nicholas Stoller, and Bret McKenzie adjust matters a little closer in that direction from the cynically advertising-marketed first Muppets reboot with Muppets Most Wanted, which addresses fan appreciation better than Jason Segal’s openhearted nonsense ever did (the highlight being the return of America’s most morally unobjectionable singing couple). Most closely resembling The Muppets Take Manhattan (in which the Muppets try to make it big, but Kermit gets amnesia, and featured the iconic image of everyone’s favourite frog crushed under the bumper of a New York taxi), Most Wanted relegates its human stars, mostly hailing from television, to supporting roles. Ricky Gervais is well-cast as a slimy villain, while Ty Burrell and Tina Fey hit and miss with accents and the odd song that seems better sequenced for the movie’s

soundtrack album.

The plot, concerning crown jewels and train compartments, unintentionally addresses the most distracting feature of the new Muppets (different voices), while neatly sectioning the movie into thirds. McKenzie’s songs target that kind of obviousness, and at times their humour relies on calling attention to convention, as if that alone takes care of any perceived faults, but there’s some savage parody of disco sleaze and epic quests that stands up to the old sketches.

Most Wanted, though it exists in a world where just putting on The Muppet Show appears to be impossibly quaint, at least appreciates the Muppets for the unique spirit they bring, instead of feeling the need to constantly sell them.

The story centres on the story of Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their friend Armin Arlert. Mikasa is a strong female lead, rather than someone who is portrayed as the heroine who needs saving. In fact she is the one who is often sweeping in to save the male lead. On one hand, Mikasa is flawless in her strength and skills, to the point of unbelievable perfection, but then again the story revolves around the existence of titans, which in itself defies reality.

I found myself getting choked up multiple times throughout the season, which is not to say I am easily brought to tears, but rather that the creators have done a great job and through the characters and plot they are able to create reactions of sympathy in the audience. It can be a negative for some that the show is so dark and has little humour relief or light-heartedness, but this absence is what makes the show so good at evoking strong dark

reactions to the events that play out.

Finally, the romances are onesided, so there’s not much of that kissing stuff in there, which may or may not be a big problem for you.

The animation of Attack on Titan is quite artistic, beautifully done, and shows great attention to detail from the individual characters to the scenery. I noticed in the beginning that there were some scenes where I was watching a still picture with the voices and background noises playing, but I found that this becomes less noticeable (or the graphics improved) as the season continued.

So far Attack on Titan is one season consisting of 25 episodes, but it has definitely left viewers asking for more, or left readers reaching for the manga to find some answers to the many mysteries revolving around the existence of titans.

Television Review

Attack on Titan MELISSA LY CONTRIBUTOR

Several hundred years ago, humanity was nearly exterminated by its first-ever predator: titans.

Titans resemble humans anatomically, but they typically range from five to 15 metres high, and devour humans for the sake of vicious pleasure rather than sustenance.

A small percentage of the world’s population survived by protecting themselves in a city surrounded by extremely high walls. Now, after a century of peace, one of the three walls is destroyed by a colossal titan, and once again humanity is faced with extinction.

Attack on Titan is an anime directed by Tetsuro Araki and adapted from the manga written

by Gan Sunaaku and illustrated

by Hikaru Suruga. It’s currently available only in Japanese with English subtitles.

Some would argue that you need to be an anime fan to be

able to enjoy this show. But where do anime fans come from?

From anyone who watches their first anime and gets hooked. I would argue that you don’t need to be an anime fan to appreciate this series. If you value an intricate plot, something completely original, likeable characters, and quality animations you will enjoy watching this show.

Considering I expected a sim-

ple plotline and the typical superhero vs. monsters type of story, the depth of the story really did surprise me. There are many mysteries that are well woven into the plot and the show almost becomes a complex puzzle.

It’s something of its own, which makes it completely unpredictable. It also has a really interesting perspective about humans and humanity.

18

SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Heat Report

Reinforcements rescue a decimated Heat roster TIM UBELS

CONTRIBUTOR

Most NHL players begin their careers in the minor leagues.

After the excitement of draft day fades, the first professional step will often be reporting to their franchise’s AHL or ECHL affiliate, earning a fraction of the salaries promised by one-way contracts (AHL players typically earn $60-100,000 a year), developing skills and learning the game in the hope that they will one day get the call to the parent club.

But things are more complex than simply waiting for the chance to make an early impression. Minor league hockey is about more than just developing individual player skill sets. In order to build a winning team, it takes more than just mechanical teaching. It takes the development of a winning mentality even when the scoreboard doesn’t reflect an on-ice effort.

Players must not only hone their skating or puck-handling skills, but also learn what it takes to be successful at the game’s highest levels. This is what Heat coach Troy G. Ward has tried to accomplish in Abbotsford over the past few seasons.

Before I started reporting on the Heat, I assumed most minor league player development executives and scouts were simply concerned with players putting up good numbers until

in nine games with the Flames.

Knight, who spent most of his time on the team’s fourth line, picked up his first NHL goal and nine hits in seven games with Calgary.

Abbotsford has been struggling recently, dropping 10 of 11 games, falling from first in the Western Conference to fifth in less than a month. However, returning players and slump-busting goals changed the team’s fortune on Saturday night against Hamilton.

Veteran forward Corey Locke picked up his first goal as a member of the Heat, and first in 19 games, and goaltender Aaron Dell made 37 saves to earn his first career AHL win (a 5-1 final score). The Heat managed three goals in 53 seconds during the first period, with Locke, Chad Billins, and Ben Street providing Image: Abbotsford Heat / Facebook The Heat are counting on players like Ben Street, Chad Billins, and Corban Knight to push the team into contention. a solid 3-0 lead after 20 minutes for the team to work with. The returning Corban Knight picked it was time for them to make formance. their first few big-league games. up an assist on Billins’ 10th goal the jump. However, post-game An emphasis on winning at While 21-year-old Wother- of the season. media press conferences have every level of their development spoon remains with the Flames The next Abbotsford Heat shown me this kind of simple- creates a level of confidence and due to their injury-plagued back home game is against the Rockstatistic-based mentality is out competitive drive, which car- end, Knight and Ortio were ford Icehogs on Friday, April 4, of date, and does not exist in ried over this year when players both returned to the Heat this with puck-drop at 7 p.m. BrenAbbotsford. Heat management like Joni Ortio, Corban Knight, past week, much to the delight dan Morrison, who played most values teaching their players and Tyler Wotherspoon got their of Heat fans, who should expect of his career with the Vancouver how to win just as much as they first NHL call-ups. It became to see both players in the lineup Canucks before finishing it in do fine-tuning the mechanics obvious once they cracked the for the team’s late season playoff Calgary, will also be there for of their play. Ward often talks Flames’ roster that this was push. Ortio, who was recalled as the contest’s pre-game ceremoabout the team “taking pride” in something they were trained an injury replacement for Karri ny. the good things on the ice and for from the get-go in Abbots- Ramo, posted a 4-4-0 record gaining confidence while put- ford, rather than a lesson to be with a 2.51 goals against averting together a solid team per- learned under the scrutiny of age and a .891 save percentage

Image: University of the Fraser Valley / Flickr

While their CIS regular season doesn’t start until August, UFV’s soccer teams have been playing in preseason action around the province. The men’s team, after placing first in a tournament at Kwantlen University, took bronze at the University of Victoria’s Keg Classic. Daniel Davidson broke a nil-nil draw with 10 minutes to go, giving the Cascades the win over Trinity Western. The women’s team’s spring action has seen two wins over SFU and UBCO and one loss to Trinity. Both teams made the playoffs last season, and their 2014 lineups are mostly made up of returning players looking to improve on last October’s first and second-round exits.

www.ufvcascade.ca

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014

UFV Legends: Aieisha Luyken It must be bittersweet to think that you can’t have one more year to try.

Yeah, it definitely sucks.

Sometimes you think, “what would happen if I had another year?” At the same time it’s nice to kind of move on and see what else the world holds. It gives the opportunity for the other girls to be the seniors, fill the shoes, and see what they can do with the program.

NATHAN HUTTON THE CASCADE

Major: Kinesiology Height: 5’8 Hometown: Mission, BC High School: Mission Secondary Aieisha Luyken has become one of the staples of the women’s basketball program here at UFV during her five-year career. She is arguably the most dynamic female basketball player to ever play at UFV and is the first woman in Cascades history to receive consecutive Canada West all-star awards, playing a major role in leading her school from a 2-15 season her first year all the way to the bronze medal at nationals this year. Her contributions have set the precedent for all future Cascades on and off the court. One of the best passers in the CIS, Luyken finished on statistical leaderboards for her final two seasons, while her immediate post-basketball plans involve helping other people as she plans to leave for Antigua in May. This past weekend was a great end to the year. Can you talk about the game against Windsor and then the rematch against Saskatchewan?

The game against Windsor was actually probably my favourite game of the weekend even though I sat most of the game on the bench. It was just so much fun — that atmosphere of playing the defending national champ [and] being on TV. The girls played amazing for the first three quarters, being able to keep up and playing hard the way they did, and I thought we kind of showed Canada in that game that we were definitely a top team and we deserve to be at nationals. Then going into that bronze medal game our coach [Al Tuchscherer] talked about how he had won previous bronze medals with college leagues and those games were kind of his favourite games as a coach. We went in there knowing that most of us had prepared for being in a medal game since our first year. We wanted to be there. We went in knowing that we could win. We played with conviction and confidence and the understanding that we weren’t walking away without a medal.

Did the game mean anything more to you because you were playing Saskatchewan, who had previously beaten you in the Canada West final?

That’s funny, everyone keeps asking that question. Not really; it was nice, of course, to beat them after they had stolen the banner away from us. But more so it was just the chance to play hard together as a team. If you look at our stats, everybody on our team contributed. It wasn’t just a one- or two-person show — it was the whole team’s effort to win the bronze and I think that’s what made it so special.

In terms of your personal career, what does it mean to you to be named a Canada West allstar in back-to-back seasons?

Most of all it just kind of reflects all the girls I am surrounded by all the time. I defi-

If you could say something to the girls in the locker room, what would say?

Definitely don’t hold anything back, the five years is a privilege — not many girls get the opportunity to play at the highest level possible and to be surrounded by the most amazing girls and the most amazing coaches. It is such an incredible journey and you don’t really realize it until you’re done — just make sure you’re appreciating every second on the court and off the court.

Image: Tree Frog Imaging

Aieisha Luyken was one of UFV’s highest-skilled players, but is quick to point out the help of her teammates. nitely wouldn’t have won any of those awards if I didn’t have such an amazing team that [put me] in the spotlight and [gave me] the opportunity to win those awards. It is definitely humbling to know people think I deserve a second team [all-star spot]. So it’s awesome.

You have been at UFV for five years — how has your relationship with Coach Al Tuchscherer evolved over that time?

Al is an awesome coach. One of the reasons I came to UFV was definitely because of Coach Al. I was lucky enough to be coached by him a summer before, while I was still in high school with the Junior Cascades program. He just gives so much freedom for you to grow as an athlete and a person on and off the court. It’s not so much “his way or the highway,” he listens to what you have to say and takes your two cents and moulds the team around each of our needs. That is what I think makes our team so successful and why we have such a cool relationship.

As a first year, you came in with Courtney Bartel and Nicole Wierks who had played high school together. Did you know them prior to coming to UFV? The first time [I met Nicole] was at our first practice, [but] I had played with her younger sister [Sarah Wierks], Courtney, and Samantha [Kurath] on the same Junior Cascades team, which also included Kayli Sartori, Kaitlyn Brink, Tessa Hart, and Jaslyen Singh.

Was that a big reason why you chose to play at UFV? I actually had no idea who

was coming here before I decided. I kind of narrowed it down and it was between UBC, Calgary, and here. I talked to one of my coaches and one of my mentors [that] I was working with at the performance center. I told him what I was looking for in a school and he looked at me and said, “Well, I think you’ve already decided on a school — you just haven’t said it yet.” Sure enough, it was UFV. I wanted a family atmosphere; I wanted my mom and dad to be able to come to my games. My dad ended up getting the opportunity to coach me, which was awesome. I also just got to be a part of this community — [it’s] like you’re at

“[Like] at nationals in the bronze medal game having Sarah Wierks hit her first three-pointer with a hook-shot and it banking in. Our team is full of memories.” home every time you’re here, which is awesome.

You talked about your dad coaching. What was that like?

It was pretty awesome — obviously here his role is a little bit different. He wasn’t the head coach; he was the assistant. It made our relationship even stronger. There was me and him hanging out outside of practice working on skills and looking at film together and talking about that. Whereas before we kind

of tried to separate basketball and home just so we could get a break from it.

The first season you were here was obviously a very tumultuous season when the team went 2-15. How amazing was it to have this growth over the years and now be the third best team in the country?

After that season we had a team meeting like we always do, usually a couple weeks after the season. Coach made us go down to watch a couple playoff rounds at UVic [to watch] UVic and Saskatchewan play. We took the trip over just to watch games.

He told us we needed to watch to see what it [takes] to get to that level and to see what the atmosphere [is] like. After that meeting, we all decided that we never wanted to see the playoffs like that again — never, ever.

That summer is probably the hardest we have ever worked: we were in the gym, we were hitting the weights, and we were together 24/7. From our first year to our last year ... taking a step forward every year was definitely our goal.

Do you feel for next year you are leaving the program in good hands?

Definitely — I am actually really excited for the program once I leave. Since it has been such a core group of us that have been here for five years it will be nice to have some fresh faces step up and see where they take the program next. We have some high standards now, so hopefully they exceed them and hopefully bring home a national championship.

Obviously your favorite memory is winning a bronze medal at nationals this year, but from your other seasons are there any memories that stick out in your mind?

I know for our first year, one of my favourite memories is when we went to Regina and Brandon. We played Regina the first night and we were doing really well (only down by one at halftime), [though] we ended up losing by a lot — that was like the story of the year. That night we were waiting for the boys to get on the bus and our coach comes on the bus — I had never seen him as fired up as he was and he said, “We are winning tomorrow. We are not getting on the bus unless we win.”

As we were heading to Brandon he said, “We are getting the W, and if you don’t do it you aren’t getting on the bus.” And sure enough that ended up being our first win of the season the next day against Brandon, which was an awesome feeling. Then we also took one from Trinity here at home. Other memories, I don’t know what years they’re from — they all end up kind of blurring — we’ve had double overtimes against UBC that were pretty insane, Tess Hart air-balling a three and Nicole alley-ooping it in to beat TRU by one. Stuff like that is what our team is known for — like crazy moments — even at nationals in the bronze medal game having Sarah Wierks hit her first threepointer with a hook-shot and it banking in. Our team is full of memories.

What is next for you?

In the short term I’m going to Antigua in May to teach with the Champions of Health program here at UFV. This summer I am going to train and I want to try and go play in Europe professionally, so hopefully that works out — if not you will probably see me here coaching and finishing up a little bit of my degree.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca