The Cascade Vol. 22 No. 16

Vol. 22 Issue 16

www.ufvcascade.ca

June 3, 2014 to June 17, 2014

Deconstructing the master narrative since 1993

Robot wars and chicken steroids

p. 3, 8 No end in sight to BC teachers’ strike p. 2, 6

UFV’s Bhangra club dances at Elite competition p. 14

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NEWS News

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Opinion

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Culture

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Arts

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Sports & Health

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News

Briefs Bill C-23 changes election policies Bill C-23 of the Fair Elections Act has been actioned by the Conservative Party of Canada. The bill states that non-partisan groups will not be allowed to educate voters about different political parties. The only information available to citizens will be when and where to vote. More info to follow.

Major in Canada’s second language The recently approved French major within the Bachelor of Arts at UFV will be available as soon as September with new fourth-year courses. Options include Myths, Legends, and Tales in Francophone Literatures; French Translation; and Comparative Stylistics as well as new third-year option coming winter 2014: Advanced Oral Composition. Further details will follow.

John McCallum comes to campus Hosted by UFV, SUS, CIVL Radio, and The Cascade, sitting MP John McCallum will visit UFV on June 5 for a discussion on the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. Come out for coffee, tea, and snacks in B101 at 6:30 p.m. for the latest guest in UFV’s political series.

Time to cross the stage In three ceremonies spanning two days, UFV passes out its latest round of degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Come down to the Abbotsford Centre to watch grads from the College of Arts on June 12, the Faculty of Access and Open Studies and Professional Studies in the morning on June 13 and the Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, and Faculty of Applied and Technical Studies that afternoon. Full coverage to follow in the June 18 issue.

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Let us know!

Email news@ufvcascade.ca or tweet at @CascadeNews

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Positive changes coming for Abbotsford’s homeless

It’s been nearly a year since the infamous chicken manure incident with Abbotsford’s homeless population. Now, a proposal is on the table to designate land specifically for the homeless, modelled after Portland’s “Dignity Village.”

Sniffing for scores Are you one of those students who feels the need to stick your nose into your classmate’s exam score? If so, Ashley Mussbacher has a few words for you.

What the hell is normcore?

Katie Stobbart gives us the details on this new anti-fashion trend. Hinging on the idea of normal as fashion, this new trend welcomes sweaters, sneakers, and apparently fanny packs.

Metal Concerts 101

First Reign, Curse the Foresaken, Obsidian, and Darker Days blasted AfterMath with their music last Saturday, introducing Melissa Ly to the joys of metal music and culture. Check out the concert review and learn about head-banging and moshing!

Seek out some great local vistas

Think there’s nothing new to see in your neighbourhood? Kodie Cherille kicks off another summer of exploring the Fraser Valley with a sample of the sights he’s seen in, of all places, Mission!

Liberals’ response strikes a nerve

was the Minister of Education in BC. The government passed legislation in 2002 which, according to a 2011 BC Supreme Court ruling, violated teachers’ bargaining rights on class size and composition.

It always seems to boil down to the same impasse: the education system needs additional funds to run in a way that supports students, and the government is unable or unwilling to make those funds available.

There seems to be a persistent struggle between efficiency and quality. It’s the reason things that might seem innocuous, like standardized testing (Foundational Skills Assessment, in BC), are contentious.

There are certainly many factors involved in the decision to strike, including wages. But

the pressure to produce quantitative results and the effects of that pressure on quality is at the crux. Hot-topic issues like standardized testing and classroom sizes have been the subject of he-said-she-said debate for as long as I can remember.

Many of these issues are familiar at the post-secondary level. Class sizes strike a particular chord for UFV, which has long prided itself on keeping relatively low class sizes compared to other universities. A UFV class is usually on par or only a little larger than a high school class, whereas other institutions can (and often do) have hundreds of students packed into a lecture hall. Having been in a class with 300 other people, I can

corroborate that the number of students in a class makes an enormous difference. Opportunities for one-on-one time with the professor are scarce, assignments and exams are often marked by assistants and not the teacher delivering the material, and learning is often strictly limited to readings and lecture.

There are obvious differences between university and public school. But if we can admit, at least at UFV, that classes should be kept small to ensure quality education and that our students have opportunities in their undergraduate degrees (research assistance, for example) that most people don’t get until grad school, it’s not a far leap to acknowledge class sizes are directly linked to the quality of public education as well.

Kids need as much one-on-one time as possible with their teachers. Kids need a variety of activities to engage them in the learning process and equip them with a wide breadth of skills — that takes extra preparation from the teacher. Kids need teachers who don’t feel stressed to push for a certain result and can focus on finding ways to for their students to absorb material in ways that correspond to their unique learning styles. They also need support outside the classroom.

I don’t have all the answers to the problems seizing up the education system, whether it’s funding at the university or public school level. But I would like to see more of an effort at open-minded negotiation rather than perpetuation of the same problems.

Surely there’s some way to fix this marriage, for the parents and the kids.

News editor jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind

News writer katherine@ufvcascade.ca Katherine Gibson

Printed By International Web exPress

Opinion editor brittney@ufvcascade.ca Brittney Hensman

News writer megan@ufvcascade.ca Megan Lambert

Interim culture editor jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind

Production manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour

Arts editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt

Art director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi

Business manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson

Interim sports editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular

Online editor ashley@ufvcascade.ca Ashley Mussbacher

Staff writer nadine@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt

Contributors Martin Castro, Kodie Cherrille, Jeremy Hannaford, Kelsey Lamb, Melissa Ly, Shyanne Schedel, Catherine Stewart

KATIE STOBBART

THE CASCADE

It would be nice to be able to trust adult professionals to negotiate ideological differences responsibly, but the BC government’s “negotiation” tactics read more like retaliation tactics in a marital spat.

In the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) document providing information for parents during the BCTF’s strike action, there is a chart showing what teachers are and aren’t allowed to do now that the BC government has initiated a lockout in response to the strike action.

The first column contains the BCTF’s strike action, and the second details the BCSPEA’s reaction. So as per strike action, teachers will not “be at a worksite prior to one hour before commencement of instructional time and one hour after the end.” The government’s lockout rules in the second column changes one hour to 45 minutes. The time cut reflects the BCSPEA’s move to cut teachers’ pay by 10 per cent during the strike, reducing the workday by a full hour. The items that follow in the chart similarly take whatever the teacher’s action is to a greater level; it reads as if the government is just attempting to oneup the teachers on every count.

I’m not a labour expert, but that doesn’t sound like a way to encourage negotiation. It sounds like inflammation of an already-smouldering situation.

The strife between teachers and government has lasted for over a decade now. Current conflicts go back to the time now-Premier Christy Clark Volume 22 · Issue 15 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-chief katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart Managing editor valerie@ufvcascade.ca Valerie Franklin

Interim copy editor katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart

Image: Thomas W./Flickr

“Having been in a class with 300 other people, I can corroborate that the number of students in a class makes an enormous difference.”

Staff writer breckles@ufvcascade.ca Taylor Breckles

Cover image Anthony Biondi

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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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

They’ll cluck you up Local chicken farmers fight back against the use of steroids and hormones KATHERINE GIBSON

THE CASCADE

When most people think about chicken farming, SWAT teams and evil masterminds are usually not the first things that come to mind. However, BC’s newest dynamic duo, the “Chicken Squad,” is kicking butt and taking names in a new trailer that mixes poultry education with pure entertainment.

The trailer, which features local chicken farmers fighting against the use of steroids and hormones in chicken farming, gives audience members the opportunity to learn more about the poultry industry.

As “Chicken Squad agent” and local farmer Ravi Bathe notes, many people are misinformed about what the industry entails. For instance, although hormones and steroids have been banned in Canadian chicken production since 1963, almost two thirds of British Columbians believe the chicken they consume has been altered by these products.

“I think some of [the misunderstanding] can come from movies, talk shows, or even TV shows that [people] see,” Bathe says. “They don’t necessarily represent how [farmers] raise chicken in Canada, but when you see [steroid and hormone use], people might think that’s the way that everyone does it.”

Besides the fact that using hormones and steroids in chicken is illegal in Canada, Bathe also believes keeping these substances out of chicken farming is important to maintain consumer confidence.

“We have some of the highest [chicken farming] standards in the world. It’s a great quality, clean, healthy product,” he says. “We have farm food safety … animal care, [and] bio security programs — all of these

ensure that we are producing the best quality product possible,” he continues. “You know if you’re buying BC chicken … you’re getting a top-notch product that you can be confident in.”

The overwhelming popularity of the trailer has also strengthened the public’s desire to engage with and understand the industry. As Bathe explains, Twitter has been one of the most effective and positive tools in opening the doors of communication.

BC chicken farmers themselves have also reacted positively, noting the importance of sharing their passion for chicken farming with the public.

“We have to show people what we do, why we love to do it, and how we love to do it,” Bathe says. “The average person doesn’t know where their food comes from or they don’t accurately know … They go to the grocery store or the market and buy it but they don’t really know how that chicken was raised.

“I hope that [the trailer] has helped … people understand that farmers are fun and they love what they do,” he continues. “We love to feed our fellow humanity — our fellow people. We take real passion in doing this.”

As for future adventures with BC’s favourite hormonefighting chicken squad, the public will simply have to wait and see.

“I’m hoping someone from Hollywood will call and tell us that they want to do a full motion picture but I’m not holding my breath on that,” Bathe concludes, laughing. “We want to keep this going. We’ve got momentum now … Will we do something else in the next couple of years? I hope so.”

Image: Used with permission from BC Chicken Marketing Board

Documentary-style episodes show the making of the trailer and educate viewers about BC chickens.

UFV holds lockdown drill to inform students KATIE STOBBART

THE CASCADE

With the exception of security and police officers in orange reflective vests handing out flyers to students, it was business as usual in G building. At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 28, UFV held its first-ever lockdown drill.

As students entered the building shortly before the drill to purchase coffee and bagels from Tim Hortons or to study and make photocopies in the library, officers let them know there would be a shelterin-place drill in the building.

On the first side of the flyer entitled “Exercise Active

Shooter on Campus,” students were advised that “once the exercise has started, all building occupants will be expected to seek the nearest shelter until receiving the ‘All Clear’ notification.” The announcement would be made over megaphone.

On the reverse was a list of instructions: the dos and don’ts of lockdown procedure.

One of these was to stay away from windows and doors. A quick glance around G building reveals this is no easy feat.

Where is the best place to go?

One officer responded that the best location will depend on where you are and where the emergency is happening.

“There’s no black-and-white answer. If something were to happen [in the hallway] the exit might be the best option,” he said.

At the University of Alberta, the campus Alberta risk and assurance committee (CARA) took a different approach to informing students. Only a few days after the shooting near the University of California at Santa Barbara, CARA released a video on Youtube called “Shooter on Campus: Know you Can Survive.” The video has been described as “chilling,” but contains practical advice for what to do as well as a realistic enactment of an active shooter scenario. A police of-

ficer at the beginning of the video notes these situations are rare.

“The likelihood you will ever encounter this type of situation is extremely remote. In fact, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than be the target of an active shooter,” she says.

On the first floor of the UFV library, there didn’t appear to be many students actively participating in the drill. No one using the computers near the main entrance made an effort to hide or move away when the lights were turned off and it was announced the exercise had begun. Students at workstations against the back wall of windows didn’t move either.

Officers did approach these students to encourage their participation in the drill, explaining what they should do in an emergency lockdown.

Director of security and emergency management Brian Leonard estimated some 50 students were present during the exercise, and noted more drills would follow.

“The shelter-in-place exercise is the first in a series that will be rolled out over time as part of the emergency management exercise program,” he explained.

“Shelter-in-place drills could be held in a single building or multiple buildings; it depends on the goals that are established for the exercise.”

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Science on Purpose

No pulse, no problem Suspended animation becomes a new way to cheat death VALERIE FRANKLIN

THE CASCADE

Suspended animation has been a staple of the science fiction genre for generations, appearing in everything from The XFiles to Star Wars — but now it’s set to become a reality. According to New Scientist, the first human trials will begin at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania later this month.

The trial patients will be victims of severe traumatic injuries such as gunshots and knife wounds. Once their heartbeats and brain activity have ceased and they are unresponsive to resuscitation, their blood will be drained and replaced with a chilled saline solution pumped straight into the aorta, rapidly cooling their bodies from the normal 37°C to only 10°C. This will result in a state of suspended animation that can last for several hours — although the medical professionals testing out this new method aren’t comfortable calling it that.

“We are suspending life, but we don’t like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction,” Dr. Samuel Tisherman, who is leading the trials, told New Scientist. “So we call it emergency preservation and resuscitation [EPR].”

By putting the patients’ bodies into a profound state of hypothermia while they’re on the brink of death, surgeons will buy precious extra hours to operate on their injuries.

Image: Nathan Rupert/ flickr

Suspended animation makes its way out of science fiction movies into real life-saving scenarios.

Although brain damage due to oxygen starvation is a serious danger when stopping the heart at regular body temperatures, it’s not a risk at lower temperatures due to the body’s chemical reactions being slowed down, which causes the cells to need less oxygen. After the procedure, blood will be pumped back into the patients’

bodies and their hearts will be restarted.

Dr. Peter Rhee first tested the EPR technique in 2000 on pigs, first anaesthetizing them, then inflicting arterial damage designed to mimic deadly injuries from car accidents or gunshots. Among the experimental group that underwent the EPR procedure, Rhee reported a 90 per cent success rate. The ani-

mals were revived without any apparent cognitive or physical damage once their warm blood was replaced, despite being clinically dead for several hours. Of the control group of pigs which did not undergo the procedure, none survived.

Because the potential EPR patients will be suffering from deadly wounds that require rapid intervention and will

likely be unable to give consent, the FDA has permitted Tisherman’s team to perform the EPR procedure without their patients’ approval. The team has offered the public the ability to opt out by signing up on their website, but so far no one has chosen to do so.

The results of the human trials will be measured against a control group of similarly injured patients in order to determine the procedure’s success rate, leading to future research and experimentation.

What does this mean for the medical community? If Tisherman’s trials are successful, it will revolutionize the field of trauma surgery, saving countless lives. With some development, it may offer a way to suspend incurably ill people until medicine catches up with their illnesses. If science fiction continues to inspire reality, perhaps it could even open the door to long-term space travel. At the very least, EPR challenges the current medical definition of death.

“After we did those experiments [on pigs], the definition of ‘dead’ changed,” Rhee told New Scientist. “Every day at work I declare people dead.

They have no signs of life, no heartbeat, no brain activity. I sign a piece of paper knowing in my heart that they are not actually dead. I could, right then and there, suspend them. But I have to put them in a body bag.

It’s frustrating to know there’s a solution.”

“Dignity Village” proposal steers Abbotsford homeless debate in positive direction KATHERINE GIBSON

THE CASCADE

Amid the controversy and contention surrounding Abbotsford’s homeless population, the creation of a “Dignity Village” style encampment is proving to be a fresh source of common ground in the community.

The newly founded Abbotsford Dignitarian Society has proposed that a Dignity Village, similar to the one in Portland, be built on a piece of land on Valley Road off the MissionAbbotsford Highway.

The Abbotsford Dignitarian Society is made up of several members within the community, ranging from former Abbotsford Downtown Business Association (ADBA) president Paul MacLeod and 5 and 2 Ministries pastor Ward Draper to homeless individuals themselves. Given $10,000 dollars from the ADBA as “seed money,” the society’s unique blend of perspectives is a large factor in giving this group and their proposal strength within the community.

“The eclectic, diverse nature … of this kind of group is becoming more of a reality in Abbotsford, as we start to see

groups that are being created from such a spectrum — to me that’s encouraging,” Draper says.

“We have a common goal and we’re trying to be levelheaded, put aside our own personal differences, and keep our own agendas to a minimum,” he continues. “This is creating a new way of doing things in this city.”

The inclusion of homeless individuals on the society’s board is another addition Draper believes will give this project validity.

“We need to get the people who are [homeless] to help construct [a Dignity Village],” he notes. “They need to be very active participants in the developing and creation of the things that will meet their needs and assist them in leading richer, fuller lives.”

Although the complexity of homelessness makes creating any one solution difficult, the Dignity Village proposal allows Abbotsford the opportunity to take steps in a markedly positive direction.

“We are doing our best to use what we have at our disposal and to try and bring solutions to an extremely complex is-

sue that isn’t slowing down,” Draper notes. “Our hope is that maybe we can start using Abbotsford not as the poster child of what not to do, but as a poster child of what to do when addressing poverty, homeless[ness], and addictionrelated issues.”

MacLeod shares this sentiment, telling Abbotsford Today that the proposal and the Dignitarian society are not looking to “reinvent the wheel” but rather to encourage “the City of Abbotsford to start providing solutions instead of roadblocks to this community’s desire to help its most vulnerable

citizens.”

While Draper does note that a Dignity Village is only one option to be considered among many, he believes the formation of this type of encampment is an important step toward aiding those who are homeless within Abbotsford.

“The benefit of [a Dignity Village] is that it creates alternatives. It’s better than sleeping in a soggy tent in a ditch while people are throwing beer bottles and kicking you in your sleep,” explains Draper. “This creates a space of safety. It’s not the optimal solution — we recognize that but … this is an

option.

“This is one idea among millions on how to create spaces where [homeless individuals] can find stability, safety, security, clarity, and gain some sense of direction and some understanding of who they are and what they need,” he continues. “We want to create spaces where that is possible.”

The Dignitarian Society will bring their proposal to Mayor Banman and the City’s Homelessness Task Force on June 26 where it will be discussed further.

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For the love of football

UFV course explores Latin American history through World Cup lens NADINE MOEDT

THE CASCADE

The FIFA World Cup, with Brazil as the 2014 hosts, is the single most-watched sporting event in the world.

This year it will be followed closely by a UFV class — History/LAS 262, Latin American History: the National Experience — at the end of which students will be expected to write a paper on soccer in Latin American culture.

History instructor Geoffrey Spurling notes the course was originally a second-year survey of Latin American history from the 19th century to present. Working soccer into the syllabus wasn’t a stretch.

“It’s a way of exploring the issues in the culture related to race, class, and gender politics,” Spurling explained. “All of those can be done through soccer.”

As the World Cup approaches, there is no better time to dissect a culture and understand a history so entwined with the sport. Spurling provides his class with up-to-date

news items, World Cup coverage, and an extensive bibliography on soccer in Latin America.

Despite Latin Americans’ love of the game, preparations for its premiere tournament have been met with some dissent.

“There have been huge protests against the World Cup, not against soccer but against the FIFA governing body and all the money that is being spent on these stadiums, as well as the displacement of poor people around the stadiums,” Spurling noted. “It has been quite controversial.”

The tensions in Brazil have come to head with violent riots; people from the favelas (the poor shanty towns) demand liveable wages and better schools. Al Jazeera notes that while the poor have been displaced and hushed, each World Cup game will cost Brazil around 62 million dollars.

The global spotlight has made the fight all the more tense.

While the eve of the World Cup makes for an exciting time to be studying Latin Americans’ complicated relationship

SUS talks Bill C-23 and what it means for student voters MEGAN LAMBERT

THE CASCADE

On Thursday, May 29, the Student Union Society (SUS) board met in Chilliwack for their general board meeting.

Fair Elections Act Bill C-23, put forth by the Canadian government, poses some issues that directly affect students. For example, it prohibits vouching for the identity of another voter. This could prevent irregularities, resulting in a more accurate vote.

However, the bill would also prohibit non-partisan democracy groups which educate citizens on the various political parties. The bill would only allow them to communicate when and where to vote.

There was discussion on whether it was appropriate to take a political stance, but president Ryan Petersen stressed that SUS would remain “as non-biased as we possibly can.” Various board directors noted that SUS should officially oppose the bill by the Government of Canada, and not specifically against the Conservative Party of Canada.

CASA conference The board members who attended the CASA conference (Thomas Davies, Ryan Petersen, and Dylan Thiessen) had nothing but positive feedback.

Petersen noted that he found it useful for “networking for information” on how different universities tackle common issues.

At the next conference, held in early July, action plans on issues surrounding student

loans, aboriginal access to education, and mental health awareness will be discussed.

Health and dental The stakeholder for health and dental, Studentcare, announced at its Montreal conference that it is developing a new app for smartphones, giving students better account access. The app will first launch for the iPhone, and then for Android devices.

Biologix is a new type of prescription drug that uses living proteins to treat various diseases such as Crohn’s and multiple sclerosis. Studentcare is assessing what level of coverage would be available to accommodate this kind of drug. However, it is so expensive that the premium could potentially increase. Petersen noted that because UFV does not have a cap, this would be something “we’ll have to look into.”

Campus connector Thomas Davies noted that in UFV’s summer semester, the shuttle between the Abbotsford and Chilliwack campuses has been at full capacity and has had to leave students behind. Because there is not enough funding to add another shuttle, Davies commented on perhaps “tweaking the schedule” as a solution.

The location of the shuttle’s pick-up and drop-off moving to different parts of each city was also mentioned. For example, it could move from Chilliwack’s CEP campus to the downtown core, and students could take public transit to the university. However, nothing has been finalized.

with soccer, Spurling says that soccer never really has an offseason. Between World Cups come the European cup, as well as annual Europa championships which are full of Latin American players.

“Soccer is always relevant from a Latin American perspective,” Spurling notes.

As to who Spurling hopes to see win the World Cup, any Latin American team will do.

While Brazil has won five World Cups and qualified for every tournament, the last time they hosted, in 1950, the team lost in front of 200,000 fans.

“It was a national tragedy,” Spurling says. “One Brazilian writer hyperbolically called it ‘Brazil’s Hiroshima.’

“It would be nice to see Brazil win again. I’d like to see a Latin American side win, but I kind of like [to cheer on] the underdog as well.”

Spurling plans to put on a screening of the documentary film The two Escobars open for UFV students Wednesday, June 11, the day before the World Cup begins. The documentary links soccer and the politics of drug trafficking in Columbia

Image: Wikimedia commons

World Cup makes its way into academic learning with HIS/LAS 262. during the early ‘90s by tracking the “intertwining fates” of Pablo Escobar — a ruthless drug lord, billionaire, and soccer fan — and the captain of the Columbian soccer team.

“It shows the intertwining

of politics and fates, and has been hailed as one of the best documentary films ever made about soccer,” Spurling says.

“It draws things together, as soccer tends to do in Latin America.”

SUS returns from CASA conference with continued Western representation MEGAN LAMBERT

THE CASCADE

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) foundational conference brought together representatives of student unions across Canada.

SUS sent Dylan Thiessen, Ryan Petersen, and Thomas Davies on behalf of the board of directors. Thomas Davies was appointed secretary at the conference.

This session was meant to educate the representatives on the history of CASA, its policies, and current issues that surround student bodies nationwide. Petersen said the conference allowed for “networking for information” about issues common among students, to see how different

universities tackled common problems.

Guest speakers presented about a variety of topics, including student loans, aboriginal access to education, and mental health.

Statistician and guest speaker David Caletto presented financial statistics showing that paying for tuition comes from more than just students and their own money. Education costs also directly affect parents and family members, and in turn society, so having the numbers reflecting this is a more accurate representation of the strain of tuition costs. Davies remarked that approaching the government with the argument that “students want this” is not always the most effective approach, because students make up one demographic.

Aboriginal access to education was also a key point on the agenda, with a focus on band funding. For example, a band may only receive funding to partially support two or three students out of 10 potential students, and there could be conflicts if a member of that band applied for a student loan. Another barrier could be geographical, so transportation costs also need to be taken into account in order to broaden the accessibility of education to aboriginal students in rural areas.

Mental health was also discussed at the conference.

Many symptoms for mental illness begin to develop between the ages 18 and 24, the average age of most post-secondary students. In its March 2014 policy, CASA is advocating for increased funding for resources as well as more accurate collection of data to ensure that the needs of students are being met.

Some of the CASA operational policies and bylaws have changed from last year, meaning SUS has to follow suit.

“This year, now we’ve got a skeleton, and we just need to flesh out some of the detail about how we have to operate,” Davies explains.

This will be added to the agenda at SUS board meetings, to ensure that their regulations and rules are current and consistent with CASA’s.

SUS is preparing their agenda for CASA’s “poly-strat,” or lobby-week conference in July, where they plan to take practical action on student issues.

Though, Davies didn’t elaborate on the specific details.

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BC teachers move into second week of strike action BC Liberals and BCTF continue to disagree on class sizes, teacher wages MICHAEL SCOULAR

THE CASCADE

In Abbotsford, teachers began to strike on an overcast Thursday — unlike past years, different districts demonstrate on a single day per week instead of eliminating an entire section of the school calendar.

Supportive honks and middle fingers were both on display from passing vehicles, and teachers characterized the feeling of this round of negotiations as “just as terrible” as previous strikes in 2006 and 2011, but “more confrontational,” referring to the lockout that has reduced salaries until an agreement is met, the rhetoric used by the Liberals, and how the new provincial budget plans to freeze education funding into 2017.

The school year ends this month carrying additional lockout details, not a deadline for a deal to be made.

The only news of progress in talks between the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the BC Liberals came when the government backed down from its offer of a 10-year contract, instead proposing one that would last for six.

Everything since has been a public relations battle: both the BCTF and the BC Public Schools Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) sent their own sets of reasons to the press and parents in the form of informative Q&As, some teachers have detailed their time-constrained, understaffed classroom experiences on blogs, and responses have gone out to those social media-shared posts, returning to lockout language that contextualizes teachers’ inability to give adequate time to end-of-the-year plans as a choice not to work.

CBC reports that parents have taken over organization and supervision of a Vancouver-area track meet after strike schedules would have seen it cancelled. The Globe and Mail reports some students around the province are setting up their own form of public protest.

The amount of provisional preparation time given to teachers, unfavourably compared to other provinces, is a statistic the BCTF has cited as one of its many reasons for setting up picket lines, but on this count the public is less sympathetic.

One of the most prominent clashes of the current teacheremployer contract stalemate is over the ability to set class size and composition, a detail that was removed from the realm of negotiation in 2002 by the BC Liberals, which was deemed unconstitutional in 2011, and restored by the BC Supreme Court this January, a decision that was immediately

Image: Province of British Columbia / Flickr

BC Minister of Finance Mike de Jong presenting the provincial government’s 2014 budget. appealed by the provincial government.

Parents and students have seen teachers take strike action multiple times in the intervening years, but from the teachers’ perspective, this has been one long dispute, one that may not reach a denouement until the appeal process finishes, which teachers do not expect to happen in the very near future.

Nicole Mauro, an elementary school teacher, has seen the past decade-plus of contention, and disagrees with the opposing view on class sizes.

“Class size matters hugely,” she says. “Especially when you have many special needs kids and high needs kids; particularly at our school, there’s not enough [teaching assistants].

We did have skills classes back [when current university students were in elementary grades], but those have all been phased out. So all those children are in a regular classroom with little to no support sometimes.”

Where class sizes matter differently, and where most of the emphasis of strike coverage has been focused, is in economic matters.

Teachers, who received their

last wage increase as an outcome of the 2006 round of negotiations, are debating on considerably different terms than the provincial government. Where the BCTF’s offer includes a cost of living increase in addition to a wage hike, the Liberals do not want to set a new public-sector precedent, and so have offered about half of the union’s 10.75 per cent figure. The union talks of BC teachers’ middlingto-low rank among the provinces, while the province says the numbers (from $45,909 annually for new teachers out of a one-year teacher education program, to $81,489 to a postgrad teacher with 13+ years of experience) are comparable to income levels in this province.

When Christy Clark’s prediction-defeating provincial election win happened last year, it was on a platform of financial responsibility.

In a Vancouver Sun profile, speaking of her parents (her father, it has often been brought up, was a teacher), she said “I very much passionately believe that if Jim and Mavis Clark were here today, and you could ask them what that most important thing was that they would have liked to have

seen their government do, it would be to say they wanted to make sure we didn’t have to labour under billions and billions of dollars worth of debt.”

Some critics have pointed to the wage increases Clark’s party voted in immediately after its win with hypocrisy implied, but the Liberal budget is balanced. What it requires of schools is a business model of education that has seen, by the BCTF’s count, over 200 public schools close since 2002 (this year’s headlines include four schools on Vancouver Island and a near-closure in Port Alberni, where the school district now needs to find over $800,000 in next year’s budget).

Based on communications with the BC Liberals, Mauro says part of the urgency and feeling of necessity of the current strike is the manner of how Clark’s government has dealt with the teacher’s union.

“It’s a feeling of such disrespect,” she says.

The two lightning rods of debate in this bargaining season also have wide-reaching effects outside of the K-12 routine. In a 2012 survey of poverty in British Columbia, the BCTF’s first recommendation

to the provincial government was similar to the ones being presented now: “Many teachers expressed concern about the inadequacy of resources to address learning gaps of ‘grey area’ students, many of whom are experiencing poverty.

Teachers described the types of resources needed as: provide extra staffing resources such as specialist teachers for students in need of extra learning support, psychologists and counsellors to provide emotional support to students and families, speech language pathologists, early-intervention literacy programs, and educational assistants. Some teachers specifically recommended the government focus on improving classroom conditions so teachers can address diverse learning needs (staffing ratios, class size).”

As BC’s teacher strikes rotate through a second straight week in response to the provincial government’s lockout, the situation mirrors public opinion: divided and uncertain of any end to the conflict.

Abbotsford South MLA Darryl Plecas was contacted for an interview, but did not respond by press time.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

SNAPSHOTS

Mixed (smoke) signals

Listen, listen, listen

Katie Stobbart

Brittney Hensman

It’s common now in public places to see requests that people not smoke in or near doorways — usually about five metres away is the standard. These requests are not followed by everyone, but it’s socially acceptable to ask someone to relocate if a sign is there to back you up.

At UFV, however, the signs asking smokers to find a nearby campus gazebo are not as effective. My hypothesis is that the sign is not nearly as noticeable as the ashtrays set within a couple feet of them.

I can understand UFV’s desire to keep stray butts under control, as people invariably smoke near doorways regardless of signage, but the ashtrays unfortunately send a mixed message and mean many doorways are not smoke-free.

There are a number of reasons not to want to inhale second-hand smoke on my way to class — I’m sure I’m not the only asthmatic attending UFV, or the only one concerned about my health. I would also hate to be walking through a cloud of cigarette smoke if I was trying to quit.

But I think UFV understands smoking in doorways is not okay, hence the signs in the first place.

Unfortunately, the ashtray visual is a lot clearer.

Are you simply waiting for me to finish speaking? Or are you actually hearing the words I am saying?

Too many times have I looked into the eyes of a tuned-out “listener” who is waiting to pounce into the gap of a quick breath in my words.

Sometimes this needs to happen, when there is an unnecessary volcanic rant erupting from someone’s mouth, which must be tamed quickly before further damage is caused — that can be a welcome gesture from a caring counterpart and we should be grateful.

But more often than not, the trajectory of one’s speech to another’s ears is inhibited by the other’s words charging forth before they have made a battle plan.

We are too quick to interject with our own words when we need to drink in what a person is saying, filter through their meaning, interpret what they are trying to communicate, and embrace the “awkward silence” — which may be inevitable if you are a slower processor like me — in order to create a proper and well thought-out response. Only then should you feel the liberty to answer accordingly. Otherwise, just listen.

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Nature vs. man’s stratosphere

Mansplaining goes both ways

Construction began early one morning last week. Fancy new condominiums are replacing the ramshackle retirement home across the street from my house.

But it’s not the noises at 7 a.m., the stream of trucks and bulldozers, or even the gradual gentrification of my neighbourhood that has me upset — it’s the fate of the old, shady trees that line my street. In order to make room for the condos, the builders have received permission from City Hall to tear them all down.

According to the neighbours, some of these evergreens have towered over my otherwise modest street for over 70 years.

The neighbourhood will never be the same once they’re gone. They’re healthy and have never caused problems, unless you count occasionally scattering some light branches over the sidewalk after a windstorm. To the best of my knowledge, there is absolutely no reason to remove them — other than the fact that they stand in the way of what a politician might call “progress.”

Beautiful old trees like these don’t grow back overnight, and should never be torn down unless there’s a good reason for doing so — and no, the construction of condos doesn’t count. Build around the trees, or build somewhere else.

The term “mansplaining” began as a bit of a cute, anecdotal story. Author Rebecca Solnit was at a party discussing her new book on Eadweard Muybridge, when an older man interrupted and explained (mansplained) to her, “There’s already a great book on just that topic, and you simply must read it.” Even after he was told the book he was promoting (in a somewhat audacious manner), was in fact her book, he continued to tell the author a thing or two about Eadweard Muybridge.

Funny as the term may be, it’s often experienced by girls and women. It’s a silencing, benevolent sexism, and everything from a woman’s career trajectory to her sense of self worth suffers for it.

Of course, one doesn’t have to be a man to do the mansplaining, whatever the origin of the term. It’s a sexism that goes both ways; women talk down to men to claw back vestiges of that power, to the detriment of any movement toward gender equality. Portraying a man as helpless in the kitchen, home, or with children in comparison to the superior woman certainly won’t bring back feelings of competency or power.

The message to take from mansplaining is that the assumptions and close-mindedness of people which lead them to mansplain need to be challenged.

Valerie Franklin

Nadine Moedt

Parent power trumps philosophy MELISSA LY

CONTRIBUTOR

It all dates back to my elementary school birthday sleepover experiences. After the pizza was eaten and the birthday cake smeared on my friend’s face, I was left to say my adieus and go home, while my friends continued on into the night to do ... whatever elementary schoolgirls do at sleepovers.

In these times I missed out on a little part of childhood.

I am now an adult, and at the same time still my mother’s child.

I am a legal adult, absolutely responsible, and mature for my age, yet my mom still does not “allow” me to sleep at my friends’ homes.

Living with rules that confine me from being independent is not living life — not my definition of living life anyway.

With regards to parent and adult-child relationships, I think parents should step back, be proud of the child they raised, and let their child (or children) be independent individuals. Helpful advice, household rules, and support that usually comes from a place of love and wisdom (when help is sought), is healthy in small doses.

However, at this stage in life I believe that this “no staying over at a friend’s house” rule is not healthy. It needs to change and it is an example of how some parents can cross the line on how much they control their children’s lives.

The strange thing is that I can sleep in France, Thailand, or Ottawa, yet I am not allowed to sleep over at my friend’s place.

Every relationship between a parent and their child is unique; but they share a commonality: when it is time for the child to go to university, whether they stay at home or move out impacts the dynamics of their relationship.

Of those who have just graduated from high school and are in their early years of post-secondary education at UFV, I predict a majority still live at home with their parents. After all, UFV is a commuter school — one of its positive attributes.

Not all students have the luxury of owning their own place while paying costly tuition fees. UFV makes it more financially viable for students to pursue their education, but this drawback personally prevents me from being a fully independent adult.

If I were to go to a school in another province or even transfer to UBC or UVic, I would have the freedom to make my own decisions. I understand my mom’s biggest concern is my safety, which causes her to worry. But I think I’m equipped with sound judgement and not everyone is a rapist or out to drug my beverage.

I do not agree with her restrictions, yet when I prompt her to explain her decision, the discussion turns out as a series of logical fallacies.

Faulty analogy: comparing me to the girl in a tragic news story.

Slippery slope: “If I let you stay over at a friend’s place terrible things will happen: you will overdose on drugs, you will get raped, and you will get killed.”

Appeal to practice: “I didn’t get to stay at my friend’s house when I was a teenager, so that means you should not be able to either.”

Red herring: an attempt to get me on the defensive about another issue. “Oh, why do you have to make this so hard on me?”

Poor reasoning in general: “Because I said so.”

Even when I voice a rebuttal, no amount of logic or knowledge

Image: Alessandro Prada/ flickr

Parents hold a trump card that reasoning can’t defeat. gained in Philosophy 100 will make my mom budge on her position. In the end, it really comes down to emotions and parental power: these block all the reason-

ing in the world. What’s an adult child to do?

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OPINION

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Free-thinking killer robots are no way to wage war ANTHONY BIONDI

THE CASCADE

Putting Arnold Schwarzenegger aside, killer robots have long been the go-to for science fiction junkies when it comes to fearing new technology. It is so prevalent that, according to the Vancouver Sun, when a UN meeting was held discussing the real possibility of autonomous killer robots the speaker had to appeal to the audience, cautioning them away from these preconceived notions.

But how can we? We’ve all seen The Terminator, I Robot, maybe we’ve watched Stargate SG1 or played Mass Effect. It seems impossible to think of the possibilities of a free-thinking robot that is designed to kill.

That being said, they aren’t a reality yet. The UN meeting was meant to pre-empt the discussion on these robots, since human-controlled ones with some automatic features have already risen, according to the Globe and Mail. We live in an age that is dangerously close to such a reality.

Not that I’ve ever been against science fiction becoming a reality.

Nay, I have always been in favour of progressing technology. I’ve long been awaiting the beginning

Image: Wikimedia commons

Take a tip from Hollywood — the killer robots always turn on their human masters. of the space age. Still, autonomous robots built for war scares me a little. Movies and science fiction aside, I think the UN was fully justified in calling a meeting to pre-emptively create rules around this rising tech. War is a man-made act, and should therefore be carried out by men, not by an out-ofcontrol arms race.

To bring in Jim Gordon’s escalation theory from Batman Begins:

Grade sharing, grade shaming ASHLEY MUSSBACHER

THE CASCADE

“What did you get on the exam?”

It’s a pretty common question among friends, and seems like just the thing to say right after the professor has handed back a midterm. But throughout my university career (and it feels like a career, because I’ve been here way too long) this question has become a source of extreme anxiety for me.

I used to be one of those nerdy, straight-A know-it-alls in school, and took pride in my high marks (rightfully so). I used to intentionally leave my paper open on my desk, marked-side up, so anyone passing could see I’d received an A. It wasn’t until I reached university that I realized how my actions might have affected the students around me, especially those who received a lower grade. It’s not that I’d suddenly matured as soon as I paid my first semester’s tuition; rather I sympathized with my past high school classmates because for once I was the one on the low-end of the grade stick.

As I stared down at the redstained midterm, I remember trying to tally the marks in my head without accidentally flashing my grade to nearby students. It was at that moment a classmate who sat next to me leaned over in her seat and asked the question.

“What did you get on the exam?”

I was horrified. Did I answer her honestly and admit my failure, or should I lie?

There was a group of students in the row ahead of us who were exchanging their grades, and another student silently placed her exam face-up on her desk next to me (something I used to do). The

teacher’s announcement of the exam average of the class felt like a sucker-punch to the stomach. I quietly slipped my midterm into my bag and tried to act unfazed.

Since then I’ve wondered: is the exchange of grades merely to stir competition among students?

If you’ve studied hard and long for an exam, it doesn’t always reflect in your score (and it feels like shit when it doesn’t). Studying math was one of those subjects for me. I could plan a study strategy and put in as many hours as I could, but I would still get back a less-than-satisfying grade. Meanwhile, I would listen to how some of my classmates crammed the night before or didn’t study at all and still managed to pull a high mark.

So, why does my classmate care about my score? This question pops into my mind almost as soon as their question is uttered.

Are they looking for competition outside themselves? Did they want to see if I scored lower than they did so they could rectify some insecurity? Or is it merely a habit from grade school, like when Canadians apologize for everything — it’s just something you do?

I suppose if your grade is part of your identity, like it was once for me, then the question becomes more complex. The response can either justify your vision of yourself as an intelligent individual, or crush you and make you feel like you ought to drop the class (believe me, it can get that dramatic).

So next time you go to ask your neighbour what they got on that last exam, take a moment to consider how they might feel about the question, and why in the world you care about their mark.

if such robots were created, when will technological advancements be too much, how big will these robots get, and whom will they be programmed to target? With the creation of autonomous robots on one side of a battlefield, and men on the other, we will likely see an arms race that could parallel the atrocities of WWII. Thousands of innocent people were killed with Nagasaki and Hiroshima; who will

be be next in using robots to justify doing the same thing?

One argument favouring the use of robots in war, according to the Globe and Mail, was that this technology could lead to battles being fought without humans all together. I ask why? If this were the case, then why not settle a war with chess pieces on a chess board? That would save money, time, and lives.

Battles are meant to be fought with

men. It’s how they are designed. If robots are introduced into the mix, it removes the basic principle of battle.

To accompany this argument, if robots are the sole fighting force: sure they may save men’s lives, but suddenly we are in a battle of money. Yes, war is already somewhat like that. The side with more money has bigger toys (illegal money is not exempt from this). However, with robots fielding the battle, we are looking at an arms race in both technology and economy. That leaves any smaller country, any one that doesn’t have the technology or the income to defend itself, helpless.

I hear talk of autonomous weaponized robots, and I cringe. There are very few advantages to a technology that is being developed for the sake of being developed. This is a road humanity should steer clear of. Why focus on weaponization when there are far more useful and helpful tasks for which we can design robots. I’d sure love a robot housecleaner. Screw strapping a gun on its shoulder — give it a duster and a mop.

Inside jokes: should you be laughing?

(No, that’s the point) MARTIN CASTRO

CONTRIBUTOR

What is an inside joke? Usually inside jokes they’re not actually jokes, but references resulting in a small outbreak of sarcastic remarks and some chuckling among the few who get the punch line.

Here’s an example of what the formation of an inside joke might look like: two friends are walking late at night in a town they haven’t been in before. The first friend pulls out a map to find a nearby hotel when suddenly a gust of air rips the map out of his hands and sends it into the street, where it is trampled by a number of cars and destroyed. The two friends wander the streets to look for a store where they might get a new map.

After searching a while and realizing every store is closed for the night, our two protagonists are forced to sleep sitting up against a storefront. The next morning, they are awoken by a grumpy storeowner who scolds them for loitering in front of his establishment and proceeds to walk into his … specialty map store. In the future, the two friends make a point of ensuring the other has a map, or occasionally point out map stores when they see them.

To our map-deprived chums, both a map and any establishments in which they are sold, have now become the trigger they associate with that specific moment.

Nobody outside the in-group is going to think falling asleep in front of a map store without a map is very funny. In and of themselves, inside jokes are not so much funny as they are vaguely amusing to people who were there. Only a specific audience will see the meaning in them, but this doesn’t mean they’re deplorable as jokes. They’re not even re-

Image: Tamara Evans/ flickr

“It’s a little inside...” — Robert Goule ally jokes — there’s no punch line, no set-up, and no narrative.

They are funny to those who are considered “in the loop,” and are totally valid as a form of entertainment. All this business about “the rest of the group” left in the dark can’t be helped. The rest of the group wasn’t there; they don’t have the prior knowledge needed to appreciate that specific inside joke.

Now, there is a small but significant caveat which can be used to mitigate this “whole group” situation: shut up! (I’m speaking to the inside-joke-teller here.) I don’t

want to have a joke explained to me, you don’t want to explain a joke, and none of the people around you want to stand there waiting while you try. The easiest way to avoid both creating an awkward situation and looking like an ass is not to tell the joke in the first place.

Ultimately it’s up to you. But if the reason you are telling this joke is because certain people won’t understand it, what you’re really doing is purposely alienating people in the most smug way imaginable. Don’t do it.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

What do you think about eating North American chicken?

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

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FEATURE CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Video games guru on professional and personal development An interview with Victor Lucas

by Jeremy Hannaford

Victor Lucas has been in the media reviewing business for over 20 years. Lucas is the creator, producer, writer, and co-host of two half-hour Canadian television shows: The Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run — he gets to be a big kid at his job and enjoys every minute of it. Following his appearance at the Vancouver Fan Expo, Lucas spoke with Jeremy Hannaford about the surreal feeling of having a fan base, shared insights on his life and his career, and talked about what video games journalism looks like in an era where his show is one of the few still broadcast on television.

Victor Lucas, Red Carpet at CVAs 2012 Image: John Biehler / Flickr What do you think of your fans?

I don’t like calling them fans.

They aren’t fans of me, per se — they’re fans of the content we talk about. They understand I’ve had this cool opportunity to go and meet the creators of this stuff and I respect them and work for them.

With your mind always on the job, how does it feel when you get the chance to meet them in person?

I’m usually in my basement playing video games, in a movie theatre, at the studio in front of a camera, or out in the field.

I forget we have a fanbase out there sometimes. I have a tangential experience with Twitter that I always find interesting but it’s not the same when you are meeting people face to face. It’s very humbling.

If you were to take a differ-

ent route in life, would it have been film development or game design?

I’ve done a little bit of both, actually. I was an actor at first.

I wasn’t in any movies but I was on stage and in a few television shows and some commercials.

I loved acting and I miss it sometimes. But I don’t like the idea of marketing myself as product; I prefer to talk about a group or an idea.

I also worked as a game designer on Nascar 2001 for Black Box Games. I had a nice little taste of game development there. I wasn’t there for very long but it gave me a lot of insight and appreciation that I constantly dip back to and build upon through my years of meeting and interviewing developers.

But I think I’m really doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

We’ve been alone in this space many times throughout my ca-

“You won’t reach out for your awards or your accomplishments. What you’ll reach out for is people.”

reer; we are really the only show out there now that does what we do. But I feel we are fighting an uphill battle with a lot of lower common denominator television out there. I like talking about imagination. I enjoy talking to creators who are driving some really cool fictional stories forward in whatever medium we cover them in. That’s what EP Daily and Reviews on the Run are all about. I feel really lucky that I get to do this but I also feel like we really have to work hard to make it as good as it can be and to never get lazy. We need to respect this opportunity.

In recent years, many game reviewing mediums have suffered. Magazines have been discontinued or gone online.

Most notably, G4 television is all but gone. What do you think you and your team have done to last this long and continue to thrive?

I believe we approach this medium, games specifically, with a broader perspective. We have been inclusionary rather than exclusionary. At EP Daily, we like to broaden the focus on games, movies, television, com-

“There were two things I aimed for with the show: I wanted the audience to dig it and I wanted community itself, the people we’ve covered, to understand this show is for them.” ics, etc., because these are biggest things in the world today.

We also get to talk to the creators of this material. We have a lot of great one-on-one discussions with these people and then you couple it with the footage we get out of this content. We are talking about the best kind of stuff that human beings make.

It’s the most beautiful and most elaborate and I think we make a bunch of good half-hour shows.

We didn’t go too niche or narrow. When I started this, I set out to make the Siskel and Ebert of games and then I realized I wanted us to be that for geek culture. Geek culture is the biggest culture, it is the number one culture. It’s the biggest moneymaker and the most creative.

Do you ever hope people take inspiration from the show and try to make something of their own?

Absolutely. I built this programming to shine a spotlight on a very deserving group of people who don’t get a lot of attention.

As we continue to build these shows year after year, I think we’ve inspired a lot of people to get into these fields. There were two things I aimed for with the show: I wanted the audience to dig it and I wanted community itself, the people we’ve covered, to understand this show is for them. This coverage is for the enrichment of the medium so that people would like it and respect it and to show that what we were doing was authentic.

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FEATURE CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Image: Kenny Louie / Flickr How was it starting up the show in the beginning?

Were there any financial issues with such a big venture?

I was working as a waiter while I was going to school. I had to sell a bunch of my vintage comic books to help get me through college as well as help start the show. You have to understand that things were much more rare and expensive back then. The first computer I ever bought for the company was over $10,000 because I wanted it to be a top-of-the-line gaming computer as well as a computer that worked well with Photoshop, which was relatively new at the time. Our cameras back then were $40,000 each! Our AVID, which we used to cut our shows, was also $40,000. But it was only an offline system so we couldn’t finish the show — we had to transfer it to another company to finish off the edits.

But in the end, we produced a high quality show with a can-do attitude. It was surreal when we first watched the show on television. Back then we were really just winging it and it was an absolute joy. It’s still a joy today, but when you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s nothing but joy.

Just an off question here, but do you and Keanu Reeves possess the same genomes? You look exactly the same as you did 20 years ago. Is it a good skin moisturizer or is it something more?

[Laughs] I do try to take care of my skin. I am absolutely sure I am never going to grow up — I still have the same joys I had when I was five years old. But I think that it’s also healthy living.

I’ve realized that you only get one spin and you need to take care of this vessel. It’s pretty simple science.

Everyone and their grandmother can make a Youtube channel now; what do you think about this expanding medium, and do you think they are going in the right direction?

I think those people are doing the best they can and you do a little better every time you take a stab at it. I wouldn’t hire anyone on our shows in the future if they didn’t have some kind of presence with a video website, whether it be a reel or an editing project they had done. The thing that has happened with the democratization of production is that you need to find that way to express yourself. That’s the only way you will get yourself into this industry. You can’t just go to school and have some credentials and expect someone to be amazed by that. You need to point people to something you have made and to be real and authentic. Also, you need to have realistic expectations out there.

The high-paying jobs of this industry that were around in 2005 are disappearing very quickly.

Media is in a constant state of upheaval. It is definitely an interesting time.

Do you think contributing to a form of volunteer media is a good means of exposure to the industry?

Any taste of it in any way is a good thing. The thing about decisions and directions and building dreams is that you need to make some decisions and create some paths. Whether it be stagecraft or being in the serving industry, it’s all about giving yourself education that’s real world. If you’re going to be a good journalist, you need to be working with people and hearing what they are concerned about. If you get your hands dirty, not only will you be a better communicator with different people but you’ll have a lot more respect for that opportunity when it comes. I’ve had some crap jobs in my time. I’ve worked as a waiter, I’ve worked in a video store, a record store.

I even delivered newspapers for a long time. I’ve basically been working since I was 12 years old and all of that education and different directions I took helped me understand what it takes to be a producer and walk into a

“We need these big changes in our lives that shake us up and give us more dimension.” room full of people who have a lot of money and pitch them my ideas. Surprise yourself, that’s all you can do. I’m a father now — I never thought I was going to be a father, and it’s the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me. We need these big changes in our lives that shake us up and give us more dimension.

There are many celebrities out there who have written autobiographies — I would read yours in a heartbeat. You seem to be the poster child of someone always high on life. What have you done with your life and career to achieve this?

I’m in my life so it’s hard to answer that. I think one of the things is when I started this journey with the first season of Electric Playground back in 1997.

Prior to that first episode, there was a lot of meetings and discussions and flights to go out and talk with other people. But I remember one night when I was walking home through Yaletown in Vancouver after leaving our production office. You have to understand, I made almost no money in the beginning. I made $13,000 during the first season of EP and that again during the second season. That’s below the minimum wage line. But as I was walking home that night, I felt like Indiana Jones. I felt like I achieved something amazing and remarkable. I remember that coin of perspective and I think to that all the time. I think about having an overview of this and appreciating this every day and being grateful for every adventure. And I don’t think you have to be on television to have that philosophy, I just think you have to not be miserable. You have to work hard to find things in your life that give you great joy and don’t settle for less.

Have you ever had a low point in your life where you felt this wasn’t what you were meant to do?

I’ll be honest with you, Jeremy: media is hard! I’ve had executives come up to Vancouver to cancel the show which meant I had to shuffle and think about how to raise money to have another season. When I started this show, I didn’t have multiple years or commitments that stretched on for a while.

At first it was, “We’re going to give you the money for six episodes.” [Then,] “Okay, now we’ll give you 12 episodes,” and then we’ll try 26, 48, 52, etc. So in 2008 when Rogers came to us and told us that they wanted to turn EP into a daily show, things began to change for us because now we had become this fixture in people’s lives. We could sort of exhale for a bit but every year before that, there was always the question: is this it? Are we done?

And that’s hard, man. It’s hard to hear that or even think of that.

It’s a puzzle to solve and that’s what my job as a producer is: I have to solve the puzzles.

I’ve been having this really crystallizing thought about life because every life spins out of control and here’s the truth of it. You won’t reach out for your awards or your accomplishments. What you’ll reach out for is people. So what you need to do, regardless of what you do in life, is have a lot of people that love you and you love. It’s part of what my Mom taught me; she made me realize every human being has an immense amount of power and an ability to create space and that we all matter to people and to ourselves.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The full interview in audio format is available on CIVL Radio’s “Listening to the Movies” on Youtube.

1995 Lucas starts Greedy Productions.

1997 First episode of Electric Playground airs in September.

2002 Reviews on the Run, a second show, debuts (now a segment in EP Daily.

2005 Lucas and Gametrailers team up to make a video about himself and Geoff Keighley taking control of LucasArts to ensure the continuation of Star Wars games.

2007 Greedy Productions wins an Emmy for Art of Play, one of the first-ever video game preview shows in HD. 2007 Lucas starts Greedy Docs, a company which has made documentaries on the making of several movies and video games including Turok, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Fallout 3.

2011 Lucas gives a TED talk on 3D rules in Vancouver.

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What is he?

Composition, canine ambiguity, and hugging killer whales with George Bowering KATIE STOBBART THE CASCADE

A grin quirked at the corner of George Bowering’s mouth as he flipped through the pages of Teeth, pausing every so often to read a poem that stood out to him. Each selection seemed to have its own story of origin, which he shared with the ease of a natural storyteller, filling the spaces between the lines.

“So now you get to see how I have progressed over the past 30 years,” he smiled as he shifted from his older material to the relatively new collection, published in 2006. There was indeed a progression, but all the poems he chose to read on May 29 at the Reach felt distinct in style, perhaps because we had the insider ’s scoop — the stories behind them — or maybe it was just Bowering’s way of reading each poem as a unique entity.

Bowering began the reading with a few poems requested by UFV’s Carl Peters, who guestcurated the event for the Reach, paired with the exhibit currently featuring bill bisset’s work. One of the poems he read featured bisset. He also read “Raspberries,” two different poems en-

Image: Kinikkin Reims/Flickr

Bowering mixed anecdotes with poetry at the Reach. titled “The Breaks,” and a piece called “Composition.” Bowering clarified that the word “compose” indicates putting two things together side by side, not to fabricate them. Before reading “The Body,” he noted a liter-

ary magazine of the same name emerged in Vancouver shortly after his poem was published.

“I never got a cent,” he said.

“Don’t go into poetry — go into real estate.”

Other highlights included

“What is he,” a poem probing a universal mystery: what exactly is Goofy?

“He couldn’t be a dog,” Bowering mused, “because Pluto’s a dog.”

His frequent jokes and asides

coaxed more than a few chuckles from the intimate audience of about 30 people. Though Bowering came to Abbotsford to read his work, one of the most interesting parts of his appearance was listening to him speak about his experience as Canada’s firstever poet laureate back in 2002.

“Nobody knew what to expect,” he reflected. “I didn’t know what was going to happen; Parliament didn’t know what was going to happen.”

He did have one run-in with a killer whale in his time as Canada’s poet: Bowering was encouraged to “see if [he] can score one on Fin!” So he dropped the hockey stick he was holding, ran forward, and seized the unsuspecting Vancouver Canucks mascot.

It might be said, then, that Bowering used his role to challenge the ambiguity of language.

Overall, the reading had a warm, organic feel, though it ended about an hour earlier than forecasted at 7:30 p.m. Bowering also opened up the floor to a few questions from the audience.

Below the Belt

Communication is an essential part of the sexy recipe ROXY NOVA SEXPERT

Picture a sex scene from a movie. It’s dimly lit, but romantic.

There are flowing curtains and pure white sheets on a giant bed. Our protagonists — we’ll say for the sake of argument it’s a man and a woman — are naked, gleaming, and extremely attractive. They seem to be drawn inextricably together by a sort of magnetism. If either of them speak during this act, chances are it’s some variation of Yes, oh yes, or God, yes.

We can learn an important lesson from these hypothetical attractive movie stars: no matter what sexy configuration of gender, style or position you fancy, communication can make it better.

In this case, the communication is just as idealized as the flowing curtains and their gleaming skin. Everything feels good to our movie stars, and they aren’t afraid to say so. This is pro tip number one when it comes to sexy communicating: emphasize what feels good, because it increases the chances of it happening again.

Sometimes feedback can be communicated through body language alone; think about that movie scene again. His hands grasp her thighs, fingers tense; she throws back her head; they run their hands over each other; she pulls him closer; he pulls one of her arms around his neck; she wraps one of her legs around his waist. Caressing and wordless vocalizing are good starting places for positive reinforcement.

Keep in mind that body lan-

“Sometimes feedback can be communicated through body language alone.” guage is pretty good at expressing when something is good, and less precise when communicating something is bad. Pro tip number two: be clear about what doesn’t feel good, to minimize the chances of a repeat in the future. It’s better to say that kind of feedback out loud, so your partner has a clear idea of what didn’t work and why — crossed signals might link the response to some other aspect of your horizontal hokey-pokey and link the response to the wrong move / position / action.

For the most part, those two rules of thumb — be clear with what you like, be clear with what you don’t like — can pretty well cover the normal range of bedroom action, and for the most part this kind of feedback can be integrated into the act itself.

The importance of communication prior to hitting the sheets, on the other hand, increases if you want to try a new move or position for the first time. Planning in advance can reduce mood-breaking awkwardness of trying to figure out physical logistics on the fly. On the other end of the scale, if you and your partner have different expectations or assumptions, you run a higher risk of someone getting hurt — either emotionally or physically.

You don’t need to be cautious, but you do need to be considerate. It’s as simple as asking your partner if they’re comfortable with you making a run for the next base (whatever direction that is) before you reach for it.

If neither partner has particular fetishes or desires they want

Image: Stewart Seymour

to fulfil, and yet you find yourself curious about what else lies out there, try taking a couple quiz at mojoupgrade.com. Two sexual partners take the quiz separately, either on one computer or two, and fill in their interest in a variety of acts — from foreplay to BDSM. You can note what you want more of, think you might be interested in trying, would be willing to try if your partner wants to, or want to avoid like the plague. At the end of the quiz, the program cross-references the results and prints a list of acts you’re both willing to try and leaves out the rest — meaning you have a chance to bring your fetishes to light, but don’t have to have an awkward conversation if your partner has absolutely no interest in that particular act.

The nice thing about Mojo Upgrade is that it allows you to input any combination of gender, making it versatile for same-sex couples on both sides. Unfortunately, there is no option for polyamorous couples interested in cross-referencing more than two people.

No matter how you get to that point, if you’re trying something for the first time, bring the idea up before you get hot and heavy. That way, the hormonal rush won’t cloud judgement or impede anyone’s ability to talk.

Once you get into the down and dirty of a new horizon, continue to ask your partner if they’re comfortable, if they’re enjoying themselves, and if there’s anything that could improve the experience. Good sex is all about finding a common wavelength, and communicating what feels good or would feel better will help you hone in on a rhythm that works for both of you.

Life is too short for bad sex; if you aren’t having a good time, reposition yourself so you will. If that doesn’t work, tell your partner how you could get more into it. A different position? More foreplay? A little oral action?

Some dirty dancing? Lighting candles? It’s simple math: if both of you are having a good time, it will be better sex for both of you.

Communication is just one of the quickest paths to better sex.

No matter what kind of sexual intercourse is the meal of the day, keep in mind the goal is to make it an enjoyable experience on both sides. After all, good sex tends to lead to more good sex, and the chances of a repeat performance increase if you both have a good time.

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UFV Bhangra dance club competes at the 2014 Elite Bhangra Festival BRITTNEY HENSMAN THE CASCADE

The stage was dark. Audience members filtered into their seats as the pitter-patter of bare feet and jangle of bangles collected in quiet commotion behind the red velvet curtain. Anticipation stirred.

This was the setting for the second annual Elite Bhangra Festival, held at the Surrey Bell Centre. It was a great turnout of supporters ready to cheer on their teams with hoots and foghorns. About 20 diverse groups were lined up to compete, ranging from all ages, genders, and places of origin, from Sullivan Heights high school to our very own UFV. Teams with both choreographed dance and live music competed for a $2000 prize, while teams with choreographed dance sought a $1000 prize. Each team was critiqued by a row of judges for form, attire, energy, precision, and the use of cultural references, be it props or wardrobe.

The six-hour event had the participants eagerly waiting backstage for their turn to perform — among them were our UFV girls.

The team of 14 were excited to compete, but nervous. When asked if the whole team gets thrown off when one member messes up, UFV Bhangra Club leader Sandi Sekhon said, “No, but we do lose points — [that is what’s nerve-wracking].”

Most of the girls have had some previous dance experience and have participated in competitions before; however, dancing under the scrutinizing eyes of the judges had them anxious to perform flawlessly.

Throughout the semester, the club meets once or twice a week, but prior to the competition, the girls practiced between three

Image: Brittney Hensman

The UFV Bhangra dancers proudly represented the university in Surrey. and four times a week. Additionally, for special events, the club hires professional Bhangra dance coach Gurdeep Jhamat, who has worked with the UFV team many times in the past.

However, in order to compete the UFV Bhangra dance club needs local support, both financially and through audience attendance.

“It is hard for us to even apply to certain competitions without a sustainable audience. Competition organizers want to sell tickets — so if your dance team doesn’t meet the quota of supporters, then your club will not get into the competition,” Sekhon explained.

“We do all of our own fundraising and many of us have given out of our pockets to keep the team alive,” she concluded. “We haven’t asked the university for money since the club first started six years ago. We would love UFV’s support because we are here to represent and promote the university.”

The UFV Bhangra dance club won an award for most diverse team.

Image: Brittney Hensman

Fashion

Hardcore normcore hits the core of the fashion problem KATIE STOBBART THE CASCADE

When I think of fashion, my mind snaps to some of the highgloss get-ups I’ve seen on the covers of popular magazines: dresses made entirely of feathers and pant-shirt combos coloured with fluorescent highlighter dye.

But no more!

Normcore is the new fashion. Normcore says T-shirts.

Normcore says maroon buttonups. Normcore says plain running shoes, warm hoodies with block-letter logos, baseball caps, and — yes — fanny packs. I can’t wait to see this on the cover of Fashion or Vogue while I’m unloading cans of soup onto the belt at the grocery store.

Unfortunately, this creates a slough of problems for the fashion-forward. What exactly is normal? Are Nikes normal?

What about socks with sandals?

Is normal the thing we’ve been

suppressing while we attempt to convey our amazing uniqueness via our individual fashion choices, or is it nothing more or less than what everyone else is wearing?

Furthermore, it is an impossible undertaking to tell if normcore has actually taken root. I’m sure there’s a kind of sexy, mysterious appeal to not knowing whether someone is following a fashion trend or dressing like they would on any normal day.

But how will other people know I am normcore?

Stop. Before the fashion world starts setting up montages of people posing sexily with sweaters tied around their waists (a trend I’ve always been on the fence about — so convenient, but often aesthetically awkward), we should remind ourselves what fashion is — or should be.

There is some controversy as to whether normcore is a legitimate fashion trend — it was not

Image: Fabio Neves/Flickr

This bold fashionista daringly pairs a sweatshirt with jeans. originally supposed to be one.

While some fashion-watchers have noticed “normal” wear is becoming more and more common (how they measure this I have no idea), the original usage of the term normcore is a broader social one, and comes from a group of New York brand consultants called K-Hole. Since

then, however, it has been reported on by a number of fashion magazines and apparently picked up by a few celebrities, and from there… you know how these things go.

The way normcore has been twisted into a trend reminds me of Covergirl’s Capitol collection.

There’s a look for each district from The Hunger Games, so you can look just like tributes that have been made over for their appearance in the Capitol (you know, right before two dozen teenagers kill each other for the amusement of well-dressed onlookers in the urban metropolis of Panem).

The irony here is the fashion industry twisting a negative association of shallow fashion and horrific violence into a competition to see how feminine and superficial it can make coal-mining and agriculture. But let’s not go too far into that can of worms.

Normcore is not a fashion

trend — or at least, it didn’t start out that way — but an abdication of haute couture, of high fashion, of designer blouses, and of those strategically-placed sequins loosely fitting the definition of “dress.” It’s ditching Covergirl’s blue lipstick (District Four) and stylized burlap or birchbark hair-pieces (Districts Nine and Seven respectively) in favour of simplicity and comfort.

Yet it looks like normcore may have become the newest fashion trend: anti-fashion becomes fashion. The fickle fashion tidal wave may bring sweatpants to the runway, but it’s only a matter of time before they wash up with metal studs, lace, or floral print.

Perhaps the only way to emerge victorious is to wear what you like, and avoid adopting fashion-friendly buzzwords (from either extreme) entirely.

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Reach lecture investigates radical nature of bill bissett’s art

Upcoming

Events

NADINE MOEDT THE CASCADE

Carl Peters gave a lecture on “subverting the bureaucracy” at the Reach last Thursday, one of two lectures analyzing the art of Canadian poet bill bissett.

The event took place amid a display of bissett’s many confrontational paintings, curated

by Peters.

Despite bissett’s huge presence in modern Canadian literature, there has been very little published academic dialogue on his work, with the exception of Carl Peters’ book Textual Vishyuns: image and text in the work of bill bissett. It was a book that, according to Peters, took five years to plan and a decade to write.

The lecture ranged in topics of discussion, seeming to imitate the dream logic followed in the films featured while exploring bissett’s inspirations.

After a brief introduction and lecture, Peters played Un Chien Andalou, a 1929 Luis Buñuel film. The film uses dream logic, moving from scene to scene with Freudian overtones; in its first scene, an eye is dramatically sliced open to draw attention to the act of watching a film; a man drags pianos, upon which are piled two dead donkeys, priests, and the tablets of the Ten Commandments to represent the weight of traditions in art, commerce, and religion; a man tries to grasp at the back of a Diana figure in a classical pose and falls while she ignores him in a display of the weakened male grasp of artistic narrative.

Other surrealist images are less easily translated. A woman’s underarm hair melts into a

June 4 August 29 Twilight concert series Kicking off for another summer of Wednesday and Friday evenings in Mission’s heritage park, the Twilight concert series, sponsored by Envision Financial is sure to have something for everyone. Featuring performances by local high schools, bands from the area and even Kitchen Sync (a fan favourite on the Twilight stage performing June 20).

Image: bill bissett/Facebook

“Bill bissett single-handedly goes about displacing every convention.” — Carl Peters sea urchin and then is placed on a man’s mouth; a dismembered hand is prodded with a cane; and ants nest in the skin of a man’s palm.

Like bissett, Buñuel’s purpose was to upset convention, or in his words, to “explode the social order.” He also said of his 1929 film that he “would be sorry if it pleased you.” Buñuel would be happy, then, to hear that it didn’t. But while it may have been difficult to watch, the film made for interesting discussion material.

Later Peters played a short film by bissett entitled Embrace;

Peters commented it was by “an artist who also likes to slice eyeballs.”

This was not such a pleasure to watch, consisting of bissett’s paintings paired with barely audible, slurred speech, Cetacean singing, didgeridoo calling and gleeful laughing. Poems passed too quickly to read.

Like Buñuel’s film, it appealed to the unconscious and brought out the motion in the background of bissett’s paintings. The confrontational style works to “subvert the bureaucracy,” Peters said.

Buñuel and bissett’s similarly

aligned purpose is to “make dissent unreadable,” according to Peters. The dominant class can anticipate and diffuse the radical effect of protest conventions, marches, pickets, petitions, and civil disobedience, but cannot dismantle the explosive acts of subversion embedded in such art.

“Bill bissett single-handedly goes about displacing every convention,” Peters said.

Part two of the series will take place on Thursday, June 5 at the Reach.

June 11 The Two Escobars Bringing together the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil and Latin American politics, professor Geoffrey Spurling is screening The Two Escobars. The film is described as a compelling documentary that looks at soccer, politics and the drug war in Colombia. Show starts at 12:30 in B121 on the Abbotsford campus and is open to all students.

June 11 Recipe

Sausage and potato casserole KELSEY LAMB

CONTRIBUTOR

Although this recipe feels like a winter dish, it can be enjoyed all year round. It’s easy to prepare and is great to pop in the oven and forget about. This recipe calls for a can of mushroom soup, but for those who do not enjoy mushrooms, don’t worry; you can’t even taste the mushroom flavour because the farmer sausage and cheese are so heavenly. For those who do love mushrooms, you can add chopped up mushrooms and extra milk to keep the sauce creamy and add more flavour to the dish. What I like about this recipe is that these ingredients are not extravagant and are usually in your pantry anyway — for the student, this is an added bonus. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 6 - 8 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced into coins 1 - 1 ½ farmer sausage, thinly sliced into coins Sauce: 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp flour ¼ tsp salt ½ cup of milk ½ - 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese or parmesan 1 can of cream of mushroom soup Mix potatoes and farmer sausage in a 9”x12” casserole dish. Melt the butter, then blend in flour, salt, and milk gradually, stirring constantly. Add cheese and soup, stirring until sauce bubbles. Pour sauce over potatoes and sausage. Bake at 350°F for 75 to 90 minutes, and stir the dish at the halfway point to keep from burning.

From Baroque to Modern The Reach art gallery and museum presents a noonhour concert featuring various pieces and performed by some regional talent. Musicians include Susan Choi on piano, Kyungmee Park on flute, Eunsun Park on oboe, and Juhyen Choo singing soprano. Admission is free, but donations for the performers are appreciated.

Until June 28 Fawlty Towers performances extended The latest from Vagabond Players in New Westminster, this performance has piqued so much interest that they have added another week of show times. Directed by UFV’s own Casey Por, don’t wait to reserve tickets. As of June 3, only four performances still available: June 26, 27, 28. Tickets are $15 (cash only) and can be reserved online.

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Film Reviews

Days of Future Past emerges full of holes, but hopeful JEREMY HANNAFORD CONTRIBUTOR

When Chris Claremont sat down to write the tale of Days of Future Past, he likely didn’t know his story would go on to be one of the best X-Men comics in history — and save the film series from certain destruction.

Days of Future Past is about Wolverine being sent back in time to prevent a future of mutant genocide. Frankly, it gets a little messy along the way, but it needs to exist to clean up the mess left behind by the previous films.

Bryan Singer got an opportunity few directors ever get: restart the franchise and erase all existence of a film that desecrated the series.

Brett Ratner ’s abysmal Last Stand left a mark on the X-Men franchise that lasted for almost a decade. The irrational use of mutants and the complete inaccuracies with the previous films threw the future of the series into a hole from which many fans thought it would never return. Some didn’t want it to.

But if there ever was one man to bring it back from the depths, it would be the man who started it in the first place.

This task must have proven daunting, as it required both elements from Singer ’s universe and that of Matthew Vaughn’s First Class to bring the series back. It is still murky in some areas, but that is a given considering the state the film series was in.

Singer had to go one step fur-

ther and essentially rewrite the history of the original X-Men movies to revitalize the franchise.

Days of Future Past is very story-heavy with surprisingly few action scenes. That’s because the majority of the conflict happens among the characters. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) combat each other ’s ideals, which breaks the trust and care they had for each other, while Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) follows a wayward path of ven-

geance that has unthinkable consequences for the future. While Wolverine has been sent back to rewrite history, he isn’t the one who can make it happen. He must let the fate of the world be decided by two former friends turned enemies and a lost girl who feels completely alone.

The cast is fantastic for the most part: McAvoy and Fassbender embody the characters they developed in First Class and Lawrence delivers a surprisingly in-depth look at Mystique. There are new characters in this film,

but much like in X2, they are recognized for their powers, not for who they are. This is where the film could be longer; it is difficult to introduce a slough of new characters while still focusing on the ones everyone knows.

X-Men films have their fair share of continuity errors, but the amount in this one is staggering. How does Kitty suddenly have the ability to send people’s consciousness back in time? How does Wolverine have metal claws back in the future?

How is Professor Xavier even

alive? These questions and series of MacGuffins have become routine for the X-Men series. These should not be excused by any means, but these questions don’t linger once the story gets underway. While Singer ’s story may have a lot of holes, he can still weave a great narrative.

The true conflict goes beyond ideologies or future genocide.

This film is about hope, both for the characters’ future and for the future of the films. Days of Future Past is a reflection on what the series was and what it became.

Not only did Singer want to rewrite the past movies’ mistakes, but he wanted to give back to the fans what they had deserved for so long, but were robbed of by Brett Ratner. This is both Singer ’s return and serves as an apology to the fans of the series.

I personally prefer X2 over this film because this film leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction, but I cannot deny the amazing star power and expansive story it gives. This film could have been longer by at least 30 minutes to help explain the additional characters and perhaps fill in plot holes.

But I can respect Singer for choosing this way for his “baby” to return. Days of Future Past is entertaining, and proof that superhero films don’t always have to be about the battles and effects. It will certainly pump you up for the next film — that’s a guarantee.

Television Review

Rick and Morty mocks the classic adventure story SASHA MOEDT THE CASCADE

The circumstances that brought Rick and Morty to my door were promising. I was ordering dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory with my boyfriend (we ordered the toonie student deal), and the server noticed my boyfriend’s Adventure Time shirt. Of course this led into a conversation about how great Adventure Time is.

Our server then highly recommended not just the seafood fettuccini, but also to watch Rick and Morty. I was sold when he mentioned that Justin Roiland, the voice actor of Lemongrab from Adventure Time, was a cocreator.

Rick and Morty’s other creator is the famous Dan Harmon (Community creator). It aired in December on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim with 11 half-hour episodes for the first season, and has been renewed for a second season.

Rick and Morty centres around two main characters. Rick, Morty’s grandfather, is a scientist very much like Doc from Back to the Future, if Doc had been alcoholic, sociopathic, and very anti-establishment. Morty is an average, perhaps mediocre, and definitely high-strung 14-year-old boy who wants

nothing more than to talk to his math-class crush.

They are an unlikely pair, but Rick needs an assistant, and Morty is impressionable and far from assertive. Together they adventure through alternate universes, dreams and space, Rick perpetually drunk, and Morty perpetually panicking.

Rick and Morty has the badassery of Futurama and South Park, and the whimsy of Adventure Time and Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Rick is a force in himself. He is the leader of frantically chaotic yet brilliantly logical adventures. He doesn’t seem concerned about putting Morty in mortal peril for his scientific gains, and Morty is often put in

mortal peril.

A recently re-connected grandfather (for unknown reasons, though he is living with his daughter ’s family rent-free), Rick has to navigate the family unit to use Morty as an assistant.

Morty’s mother is a horse cardiac surgeon, his father a mediocre and slightly desperate low-level advertising guy, and his sister is a conventional teenager (the only unoriginal and tired character of the family).

Of course Morty’s parents don’t like him traversing alternate realms with Rick instead of sitting in class. And seeing the brilliant and egocentric scientist pandering to an average allAmerican family is hilarious.

Rick and Morty is coarse — nowhere near Family Guy, but you couldn’t call it clean — but smart. In episode two, they enter Morty’s math teacher ’s dreams to convince him to give Morty As in math (Morty asks why Rick couldn’t have just spent the time helping Morty with his homework). Inception — “It’s like that stupid movie you’re always going on about, except it’ll make sense,” Rick says — mixes with Nightmare on Elm Street. And it’s a scream.

The thing that took me a long time to put my finger on was that Morty doesn’t want to go on adventures. This is a classic theme — a boy and his crazy scientist grandfather adventuring across worlds. But instead of Morty being filled with curiosity and boyish spirit, and Rick mentoring him in a coming-of-age story, we have hysterical Morty being dragged into this and that by a manipulative and charismatically sociopathic grandfather.

It takes one scene to capture it all: in episode one, Morty drags his feet nervously across a “whole different evolutionary timeline,” (as his grandfather crows), asking when he’ll be able to go back to school. Because he’s “working up some anxieties.”

Rick goes down on one knee, with a fatherly hand on Morty’s

shoulder: “I know that new situations can be intimidating. You’re looking around and it’s all scary and different. But you know, meeting them head on, charging into them like a bull, that’s how we grow as people. I’m no stranger to scary situations, I deal with them all the time. Now if you just stick with me Morty, we’re gonna be — holy crap, Morty!”

— (at this moment, a huge monster appears over Morty’s shoulder, and Rick turns and runs, shouting over his shoulder) — “RUN I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE IN MY LIFE WE GOTTA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE MORTY IT’S GONNA KILL US! WE’RE GONNA DIE MORTY, WE’RE GONNA DIE!” It’s a parody of a touching grandfather-grandson moment.

Morty and his grandfather do have touching moments, though.

Just not your usual ones. Like when Rick blows up a pedophile jellybean who tried to molest Morty. Or after Rick and Morty have to bury their own dead bodies in the backyard.

You can watch all 11 episodes of Rick and Morty on Youtube.

Give it one episode and you’ll be hooked.

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Dine & Dash

Sneakers Sports Lounge serves up succulent steak JOE JOHNSON THE CASCADE

Sneakers Sports Lounge is a place of comfort and commonality. It stakes out its claim in the bar scene by having no pretentiousness about it. It seems to be the kind of place that has found a steady group of devoted patrons who just want a place to eat, drink, and talk.

As it is atop a gym along Old Yale Road, you’re greeted with a flight of stairs at the entrance.

When you complete that harrowing climb, you’re presented with a sandwich board listing the daily specials, which can range between $5 and $12. However, they do occasionally have $2 tacos.

At first glance, there’s nothing fancy about Sneakers; it’s actually quite generic. If you’re not there on an event night, the table selection is generally open for your choosing. Entering the lounge, immediately to the right is a lookout glass over a squash court in the gym below.

The actual bar is situated along the middle of the left wall, and along the opposing wall there is a pool table.

The night that I was there actually was an event night. One of the recent UFC fights was on all the televisions. Not an avid viewer myself, that wasn’t what enticed me to Sneakers. No, it was my friends who are some of those devoted patrons. With the fights happening that night, it meant it wasn’t just the four of us in the lounge. It was quite well attended, actually. That night I had joined my friends a little after they arrived. By the time that I got there they had

Image: Joe Johnson

Sneakers has a chill atmosphere, and their prices don’t break the bank. already eaten their meals and were on their third pitcher of well-priced beer.

They had all chosen their meals from the daily specials.

Being the indecisive eater I am, I figured that I would also narrow down my selection to those three items. I went with a meal of prawns, steak, baked potato, and salad for $12.

After giving my order to the waitress — who, for that busy of a night, was fairly attentive — I had received my food within 10 minutes. It came so fast that I actually thought it was my friends’ food that had been ordered before I got there.

One thing to note is that apparently Sneakers went through a change in management and kitchen within the last year or

two, resulting in a definite upgrade of food quality.

Now back to my dinner. Looking down at the square plate, it appeared to be delicious. The steak, which I assume to be roughly 8 ounces, was glistening with a succulence that made it impossible not to devour first. The potato, moderately sized and cooked in a very classic style, came with sour cream and chives. The salad, which I thought would be my least interesting item within the course, actually turned out to be very fresh, bouncy, and full of life.

And then there were the prawns.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for prawns. There were four of them: moderately sized, served on a skewer, and nicely simmered in a frying pan.

Appearances weren’t deceiving. The steak was the first to go — perfectly cooked to medium-rare. I used the salad’s ranch sauce, which was served in a small bowl, as a steak dip.

What a perfect combination. Obviously, the other standout was the prawns. Unfortunately, they were devoured in seconds. The potato and salad acted as a nice palate cleanser and did the job of filling my stomach.

In the end, for the price and being a student, I don’t think this is a meal that I would order every time. However, it was a nice distraction from the fights, which, from what I could tell, were probably boring anyways.

Sneakers is good choice if you’re looking for an easy place to talk that isn’t too hard on the wallet.

Image: Joe Johnson

Sublime stunts at Cirque du Soleil stun show-goers TAYLOR BRECKLES THE CASCADE

The trademark yellow and blue tent has gone up, taking the dazzle away from Science World, and distracting ticket-holders and passers-by alike. However, the gigantic circus marquee is merely a glimpse at the marvel which lies within its towering peaks: Cirque du Soleil.

The show description describes Totem as “the fascinating journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly.”

While there have been conflicting reviews concerning the spectacle, I have no doubt about which side I favour after seeing the show for myself. I am pro — or whichever terminology means I liked the show.

If you’re not a fan of evolution, I would still recommend Totem: overall, the incorporation of the theory wasn’t blatant — any audience would enjoy the show.

It’s true this performance didn’t have as many death-defying feats as previous shows, and had a few more filler sketches, but that didn’t take away from the grandness of the show. The feats that were dangerous were spectacular and the comedy was

entertaining, though it did get to be a bit much at times.

There were other acts beyond those that were less dangerous, but were nice additions to the show, such as the four girls riding unicycles and throwing cups onto each other ’s heads, which was sublime.

The set was outstanding. The very first display consisted of about 10 performers dressed as frogs, who swung and did stunts on bars — only the bars were built onto a giant turtle shell skeleton.

Yes, a giant turtle shell with man-frogs leaping and bounding — with the aid of a trampoline — about it, doing flips and tricks while weaving their way through the shell. Every set was astonishing like that, mainly because of the lights and sound effects, which created a perfect riverbed complete with accurately flowing — albeit projected — water.

The only part of Cirque du Soleil I would complain about is the price of souvenirs. I know it might seem like a very nit-picky aspect to dislike, but it was awfully upsetting for a souvenirlover like myself. A long-sleeved black shirt with a cool design was priced at about $100. Per-

sonally, I find paying almost as much for a shirt as I did for my ticket ridiculous.

The company also hid their cheaper items, such as magnets, key chains, and reusable bags, at the checkout so nobody would see them unless they were buying something else. In fact, nobody could even see the bags until they bought something and the clerk offered them one.

I remember reusable bags were a fan-favourite the last time I went, probably because they’re reasonably priced, so hiding them wasn’t a good move in my books. It blatantly makes the company seem more interested in money than in their patrons enjoying every aspect of the experience — after all, souvenirs are what many people look for to remember the outing.

All in all, the show was very entertaining and I will definitely go again. I will recommend the show to anyone who asks, and not just because I’m a sucker for evolution-themed gymnastics.

It’s not too late to see the show, and trust me, you should!

Image: Derek Key/Flickr

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Album Review

Sunny Pompeii’s Vinegar is perfect for summer DESSA BAYROCK

CASCADE ALUM

Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

I was drawn to Sunny Pompeii when I found out it was the side project of Said the Whale drummer Spence Schoening. There’s a certain appeal in listening local, and I have a soft spot for Vancouver bands — especially those in the style of Said the Whale and Sunny Pompeii.

Make no bones about it: Sunny Pompeii is a different beast — rougher and a little more emotionally and technically raw — but the apple doesn’t necessarily fall all that far from the tree. With Vinegar, their first fulllength album, they offer a mix of metaphor-dosed lyrics and dreamy vocals, seasoning with a touch of harder rock and roll to keep it interesting.

Following a couple of shortand-sweet EPs, Vinegar comes armed with an earnest style and a healthy helping of determination that sneaks into the tone of the music. It’s a little rough-andtumble, but 100 per cent honest.

The album opens with “Better Half” (free for download on

Bandcamp at the moment if you want to take a listen), which starts off fresh with some waves, seagulls, and power chords.

What’s not to love? It screams Vancouver. It’s catchy and intense and just raw enough to give the tune a certain sense of desperation. “I wish I was an ocean so I could drown you,” we hear at the halfway mark.

“You would be so mad!” The lyrics somehow manage to rumble and float at the same time. It’s the sort of song that pairs nicely with unrequited love and fast driving, just in time for summer.

With a couple of songs, including second track “Sleeplike,” we get the perfect touch of echo chamber effects on the vocals for a dreamy atmosphere.

Dashes of violin, flute, and organ peek in over the album, but not so much that it gets nauseatingly indie — instead we get the idea that Sunny Pompeii is willing to follow their whims into whatever instruments catch their fancy, without detracting from the simple recipe of guitar finger-picking, brushes on snare, and dreamy vocals that created

sleep.” In a more familial love song, “Brothers” introduces a few sweet, metaphorical verses: “Now I see / that outside my window there are three trees / and neither one is taller than the other / I guess that’s what you call a brother.”

Whatever your preference, Sunny Pompeii offers an album that both sticks to their roots and branches out in new ways — perfect for summer, and for listeners both old and new. The fact that the band hails from so close to home (and has a $10 show at the Vancouver Fox Cabaret Thursday, June 5) is the perfect cherry on top of a solid first full-length album. a certain signature sweet-andsaltiness in their first few short albums.

The band also dekes into a healthy dose of metal without actually becoming metal, going whole hog into harsh guitar riffs and drum tattoos for parts of “Jessica Sun” and “Garbage Island.” Any previous fans of the band, however, (or new fans

more interested in less-esoteric vanilla indie) will be happy to note a few tracks falling in the same simple, comforting vein as the band’s previous offerings: cute tales for happy summer living with honest, earnest roots.

“Leap Year” stands out as a cheeky love note, singing “Our neighbours have been complaining / we don’t get enough

The Black Keys Turn Blue

Mø No Mythologies to Follow

Julie Crochetiere Counting Dreams

The Black Keys’ most recent album is a bit of a departure from the grittier blues prominent in their previous record, El Camino. Turn Blue has more funk and soul influences than straight blues, which results in a more upbeat, less heavy body of work. There are still blues influences here, but in my opinion there could be more. Aside from that, Turn Blue proves to be a record full of groove, both within fast-paced tracks (think The Sonics’ “Have Love, Will Travel”) and the slower, more straightforward blues tracks. The slower parts of “Weight of Love,” the record’s opening track reminded me of a David Gilmour-era Pink Floyd jam, which is good. Slow, screeching guitar solos abound. It’s like having molasses poured in your ear, but this molasses tastes melancholy instead of sweet. Overall, Turn Blue is a departure into more moody territory, and while The Black Keys certainly know what they’re doing here, I’m not completely sold on it. The record’s missing feeling.

Turn Blue has sacrificed that dirty gritty energy which was so prominent in El Camino in favour of more controlled, precise tracks. I don’t know if it’s worse, but it’s certainly not any better.

Mø’s debut album immediately grabs the listener’s attention with its production: every track is filled to the brim with sound. Production-wise, there’s always something happening in the background, yet Mø’s voice is such that she demands the listener’s attention. Mythologies is unlike most pop records in that it treats the production as more than just a backing track for Mø’s truly talented vocals; both the vocals and the production on this record are presented as the focal point, vying for the listener’s attention. This works favourably: there is no “background” in the record — the listener experiences every sound at the same time, pulled into an almost-but-not-quite-overwhelming maelstrom of sound that, in the end, proves extremely entertaining. “Red in the Grey” gives the listener an unusually full plate of auditory morsels as it changes pace and mood throughout, and as always, Mø herself remains the centrepiece. “Pilgrim,” like its predecessor, underlines Mø’s ability to infect the listener with her own brand of energy. “Fire Rides,” the very first track, epitomizes the record: a storm of sound, and at its center, a sultry voice, soulful and powerful enough to bring passers-by and motorists together in awe-struck admiration.

After listening to Counting Dreams repetitively for the past week, I am trying to wrap my head around the fact it took me four studio albums to gain knowledge on Toronto-based Julie Crochetiere. From the moment I pressed play, I was captivated. Rather than manufactured, autotuned, and frankly, music that sounds identical to previous releases, Counting Dreams provides a raw, simplistic sound reminiscent of the ‘60s. Crochetiere’s vocals are strong and convey emotion in each song. The instrumentals throughout the album consist of a small rhythm section, strings, and a harp courtesy of the Quartuor Orphee. It is simplistic. The songs are similar and there isn’t as much variety; however, the mix of vocals, instrumentals, and lyrics make the album easy and enjoyable to listen to. From the first track, “Who’s Gonna Love Me (Like You Did)” to the last, “For All We Know,” Crochetiere is able to captivate the listener. If you enjoy jazz music or just want something to listen to while relaxing from assignments or work, definitely check out Counting Dreams.

MARTIN CASTRO

MARTIN CASTRO

REMINGTON FIORASO

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ARTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Concert Review

Metal concerts for dummies

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Shuffle

CHARTS

Greys If Anything

DESSA BAYROCK

CASCADE ALUM

Stamina Mantis Hondo

Cowards World Champions of Male Chastity

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

weird candle weird candle

Les Chaussettes Bunky

Cult Babies Cult Babies

Zebra Pulse Live On Big A, Little a Fountain Fountain Warpaint Warpaint Betrayers Let the Good Times Die

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Various PIXXX4 Cool Paint Role Mach Holy Shades of Night Diamond Mind Fake Tape

Acid Mothers Temple & Melting Paraiso UFO Astrorgasm From The Inner Space

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Shearing Pinx/ Lunch Lady Take That, The Devil!

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Shonen Knife Overdrive Destroyer

Five Spanish Songs

Dessa Bayrock used to work for the Cascade but now she just volunteers at CIVL, co-hosting Everything Indie on Friday from 2 to 3 p.m. These are songs from bands she saw at the Squamish music festival last year, before someone invited Bruno Mars and everything went to shit.

(She’s only bitter because she forgot to buy tickets this year. Let’s be serious, Bruno is somehow, inexplicably, catchy as fuck.)

Dragonette “Live in the City” Are you ready to dance? Dragonette thinks so, because they keep writing damn catchy songs that are impossible to get out of your head. This one comes from an album that almost won them a Juno in 2013, but didn’t. Put on your dancing shoes and this album and you are pretty much guaranteed to have a good time. Would a Canadian band lie to you?

Said the Whale “Big Sky, MT” “My grandfather picks wildflowers at the top of the hill up on the mountainside, and he knows their names by their colour, shape, and size.” This soft tune is the sort of sweet nostalgia for childhood that summer dreams are made of.

Throw in some harmonica and a few simple truths about love and we have a recipe for a summer song as sweet as honey wine.

Fitz and the Tantrums “Out of My League” This tune seems like it slipped out of a disco era just to remind you how to boogie. “For forty days and forty nights, I waited for a girl like you to come and save my life.”

You will never get it out of your brain. Fitz and the Tantrums put on the best show at Squamish last year, hands down. If you ever get a chance to see their light-infused disco show, thrust your money at the box office.

Band of Horses “No One’s Ever Gonna Love You” Don’t worry; while this song might sound like it has a vicious theme to it, the title sentence is completed with the phrase “more than I do.” It’s a cute and quiet love song, the sort of soft sound that Band of Horses has a bit of a patent on. While they headlined one of the nights to a packed field of audience members, it was one of the least-rowdy shows of the weekend. You don’t really rock out to their brand of indie – but that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy the fuck out of it.

Image: Ted Van Pelt/Flickr

“Moshing is not simply a crowd of head-banging people, but a dance in which participants push and slam themselves into each other.”

MELISSA LY CONTRIBUTOR

Curse the Forsaken was immersed in the song they were playing. The lead singer ’s facial expression was full of raw emotion, the music was blasting, there were crowds of people— sitting, standing, bobbing their heads, even full-on head banging — all with a beer in hand.

When the band was done their segment, everyone rushed out into the fresh air as First Reign began setting up to rock the house.

It was Saturday evening, May 24, and the AfterMath stage was graced by four metal bands from the lower mainland: First Reign, Curse the Forsaken, Obsidian, and the Darker Days.

Speaking from the unbiased viewpoint of never having listened to metal music before, the show has opened me up to this genre of music and was an intriguing experience.

For those of you who are in the same boat and thought “metal” was a solid material found on the periodic table, Jason Campbell, singer and guitar player of

Obsidian, explained the concept.

According to Jason, metal is not solely about violence, Vikings, Satanism, the way one dresses, or even just about the music. “It’s a mindset, a sense of community. No matter how big or small that community is, you know you can walk down the street with your favorite band shirt on and someone passing by will nod at you like, ‘hey, I’m down with that.’”

Moshing, mosh pit, sound familiar?

From my very own eyes I saw moshing in all its glory. Moshing is not simply a crowd of headbanging people, but a dance in which participants push and slam themselves into each other.

The crowd parted slightly whenever moshing broke out.

I could feel the air of euphoria emanating from the small group of participants, which in turn put a childish smile on my face.

Being 5’1 and petite, roughhousing in the middle of a mosh pit would probably not go well for me. However, something about watching the dance is immensely entertaining.

If joining the mosh pit is not your thing, there is always head-

banging or simply bobbing your head to the rhythm. From the expert Daniel Clark, lead singer of Darker Days, the proper way to avoid neck injury is to move your head in an almost circular motion rather than shaking your head forward and backwards.

Throughout parts of the show, a group of guys was shoulderto-shoulder head-banging in extreme mode. Then there is headbobbing — the thundering of the music made my eardrums feel like they were in an earthquake, which automatically made my head twitch back and forth. So no worries if you are awkward at moving your head to the rhythm — the music will do it for you.

A full night later my ears were still ringing.

Amy Smith, the organizer, was pleased with the event: “It was awesome, the crowd loved it, the bands killed it, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”

Sean Lang from First Reign says the show “was a good sign that metal is still alive and well in Abbotsford.”

Now that you have the basic skills needed for metal concerts, are you ready to join Abbotsford’s metal music scene?

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca

Get to know your neck of the woods KODIE CHERILLE CONTRIBUTOR

You know what is awesome?

Living near so many hiking spots. I live in the Stave Falls area, which is technically, politically Mission, but is the precise halfway point between the downtown areas of Mission and Maple Ridge.

One might be inclined to call it “the boonies,” though I refrain from calling anything around my neighbourhood by that name unless it has a gravel road (or no road). Where I live, trails are absolutely everywhere: there’s a forest trail to Rolley Lake, which then skirts the lake’s perimeter and forks with one quick path leading to a modest waterfall.

There’s a 20 to 30 minute circuit that climbs up and down the gentler sides of a sheer cliff with an unbelievable payoff of a view (there’s the Stave Falls Dam dividing the muddy Stave and the gorgeous Hayward Lake; there’s the Fraser, a fat watery snake with tiny boats cutting through the muddy waters; beyond that, Abbotsford or Aldergrove, and on a nice day, a distant smudge of the States). Over fear of word count, I refrain from gushing about the trails around the whole of Hayward.

You know what else is awesome? If you live in the valley, it is quite likely that you are as blessed as me, whether you’re in the boonies or not. Maple Ridge has the Golden Ears and the UBC Research Forest trails, Abbotsford has Sumas Mountain and a fun trail of Discovery that snakes across the whole town, and Chilliwack has Elk

Image: Nemo’s Great Uncle/Flickr

No amount of TV can compare to what the outdoors has to offer.

Mountain and Mount Cheam.

I’m barely scratching the surface here — Google your home town alongside ‘trails’ and see what pops up.

Hiking is fantastic because it doesn’t feel arbitrary. Despite how important it is to overall health, my biggest hurdle with physical activity is that it feels like I am not giving fuel to some glorious trajectory where I am to ultimately overcome great hurdles of life — “I’m just doing a bunch of dumb push-ups, I

could be doing something more important.” Meaning can be found at the top of a mountain or at the foot of a once-hidden lake. A bewildering, gorgeous view after a hard trek could move a hiker to tears. It’s definitely enough motivation for me to get out there, and the physical activity is a bonus.

A lot of those locations I mentioned earlier require some access to transportation. However, that shouldn’t stop anyone who can’t leave their abode so readily

to go for an adventure. Consider your neighbourhood as prime hiking ground and get moving — seek out (legally and safely) the idiosyncrasies and beautiful sights of the area like you would on a favourite hiking spot.

Think of it also as preparation for bigger, later adventures: you are getting out there, and you are getting your heart rate up.

It’s easy to miss interesting things about your neighbourhood when you haven’t explored it. When I was a newcomer to

Mission, I went for a few drives around town, and was caught completely off-guard when a neighbourhood had a narrow, gravel road that seemed to descend between and under two houses, only to somehow end up in front of Hatzic Lake. If you are open to exploring the valley, or even just your own area, expect it to surprise you in awesome ways.

As other fad diets rise and fall, veganism remains an option CATHERINE STEWART CONTRIBUTOR

Whenever someone mentions they’re a vegan, I feel like there’s always an awkward silence that quickly follows right after. A vegan? Does that mean I wasn’t imagining you glaring at me when I was wolfing down that cheeseburger earlier?

Contrary to popular belief, not all vegans jump at the opportunity to shove hummus down your throat and preach about animal cruelty. Many people originally switch to veganism for a lifestyle change — the need to be healthy.

On its website, PETA has a list of the ‘Top 10 Reasons’ to go vegan; one had my face curling in on itself in disgust.

According to PETA, it’s not uncommon for meat in the US to be contaminated with feces, blood, and other bodily fluids.

This makes animal products the top source of food poisoning in the US. Not only is meat questionable, but so are dairy products — especially milk. Cows are pumped with so many hormones in order to reach the daily goal of milk collected. Luckily for Canadians, use of hormones are illegal here. America isn’t so lucky, and more often than not, it’s no longer milk that’s coming

“Vegans are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.” out, but pus instead. That’s just what I wanted with my cereal.

I spoke with my good friend and UFV student Sara Kurath about her own decision to switch to a vegan lifestyle. At first she chose simply to cut out meat.

After a year or so and a bit of research, she switched to being vegan. Many people think vegans don’t get the right amount of protein in their diet, so they’re a lot smaller and weaker than

meat-eaters. Practically seven feet tall, Sara is walking proof of how wrong those rumours are.

In fact, meat-eaters are getting too much protein in their diets these days. What many people don’t realize is that protein can be found even in plants.

I asked Sara what stood out to her the most after switching diets. She said that at first, she thought it was the hardest thing to find what she could actually

Image: Ano Lobb/Flickr

eat. But now grocery stores are supplying soy cheese, tofu, almond milk, and so many other healthy alternatives. Just a couple weeks after making the big switch, Sara said she already felt more energetic throughout the day. Her sister had even dropped 30 pounds within three months of switching.

“If my dad can do it, the guy whose favourite food was steak and lobster, then anyone can,”

Sara says.

PETA also points out that vegans tend to be thinner and more energetic than meat-eaters.

Also, the cholesterol and animal fat in meat, eggs, and dairy products not only clog arteries to your heart, they can impede blood flow to other vital organs as well — guys, this means you!

“Vegans are, on average, up to 20 pounds lighter than meateaters are,” PETA supplies.

“And unlike unhealthy fad diets, which leave you feeling tired (and usually don’t keep the pounds off for long), going vegan is the healthy way to keep the excess fat off for good while leaving you with plenty of energy.”

Vegans are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Now, this all sounds fine and great, but it’s not for everyone.

I tried going vegan for a day last year. Key word: day. On my lunch break I passed the delicious cheese bun display and I caved.

But for anyone who wants a lifestyle change, to lose weight, or to just feel a lot more energetic and healthy in general, going vegan might just be for you. If you find you don’t like it after a few days... well, Bambi appreciates the attempt, anyway.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

Small but mighty: the power of seeds

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 www.ufvcascade.ca