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___________________ Pay - Back Time

By Graham Dowden Barry Levinson 's new film Sleepers made me want to throw up. Here's why. Four adolescent boys are attempting to grow up without dying first in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. They have two adult male role models. One is the father of one of the boys-a greasy, foul-mouthed swine who beats his wife regularly and sits on the front stoop in his undershirt telling the lads that the way to survive is not to get mad but to get even. The only law around here is the law of the jungle: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Lex talionis, its called, not that he has the Latin. At this point the film makes it very clear that he's a prick. The good guy adult is one of those compassionate street-smart priests (Robert DeNiro) who always make me wonder why I'm not Catholic. He loves the boys, the boys love him, and his message is that violence is not the answer. The boys, however, will be boys, and one day they pull a dumb prank and a man gets badly hurt. Off they go to reform school, already reformed and full of uplifting insight:"That guy had a family! We were so stupid! We didn't realize what we were doing!" Etc. You can imagine what happens at reform school. Humiliation. Random, repeated, endless beatings. Rape. One guard (Kevin Bacon) is particularly vicious. Ten years later. The boys are now in their mid-twenties, all deeply scarred. One is a junior prosecuting attorney (Brad Pitt), one is a journalist, and the other two have become twobit hoods and bargain-basement hit men. One evening, in the back of a restaurant, the hoods see Kevin Bacon at a meal, and after a brief consultation they whip out their handguns and blow him away. Very satisfying. Thanks, he needed that.

Up to this point, the film is reasonably subtle, quite powerful, disturbing, moving. But now there's the trial.

Forination of a Provincial Student Association

By Shawn Stetsko

In September I attended the second meeting of the B.C.S.A.; or British Columbia Student Association. There I had the opportunity to work with some enthusiastic, intelligent, and devoted members from other student unions and witnessed some of the infant stages of a growing political entity. The B.C.S.A. is an open-access, interschool student coalition devoted to generating awareness of and taking action on student related issues. For only the second meeting they were well on their way to finishing their internal structuring and were already looking at beginning campaigns against the G.S.T. on books and the capital freeze; especially as regards municipalities where severe overcrowding is occurmg. That weekend five schools commited to membership; King Edward, Camosun, Kwantlen, Cariboo, and U.C.F.V.. Very worthwhile input was made by a representative of Douglas College who expressed that they are currently discussing membership within their own student union. Those with whom the idea of the B.C.S.A. was born with had hoped that the foundation would be laid by those schools currently unrepresented by any large political organization. Given the membership, the B.C.S.A. already has, a good start has already been made.

Aiming at making an impact at a provincial level, B.C.S.A. members have begun investigations to find out what political committees and assemblies B.C. students are entitled to join. This could include many organizations from small lobby groups up to the provincial legislature itself. Many of these organizations, while having open space for student representation, have not had students represented: the B.C.S.A. intends to change that. It has made membership to it's ranks easy and affordable; it has allowed for a totally inclusive membership so that schools already having representation on other student assemblies may also join the B.C.S.A., and it has managed it's voting system in such a way that no single school may dominate the assembly. In short, as stated, the B.C.S.A. has made a focus of open access and inter-school participation.

The B.C.S.A.'s foundation has also focussed on affordable representation, realizing that some of the less represented schools are so because they are under-funded. Actions proposed have remained flexible in that they allow individual schools to act individually within their means while simultaneously being a part of a collective effort. Avoiding having staff continuously on pay-roll (while relying more on independent volunteer action) has also helped to keep the B.C.S.A. costeffective.

While the B.C.S.A. (being young) has not yet made it's big splash it has already begun to generate some ripples. Yukon College has expressed a desire to attend the next B.C.S.A. meeting (in November); several government groups have contacted them (some out of curiosity, some out of concern, and some to give support), and both news and gossip about the B.C.S.A. have been generated in the press. With a strong foundation laid we await further word from this assembly. May their strength grow because one thing is for certain, the problems faced by students will not diminish. Brad Pitt persuades the D.A. to let him take the case, and then conspires to lose it so his buddies will get off. The turning point for the jury comes when De Niro takes the witness stand in his priestly attire and perjures himself to provide the killers with an alibi. (Francis Bacon once translated the French essayist Montaigne as follows: "To say that a man lieth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God, and a Coward towards Men. For a Lie faces God and shrinks from Man." I wish this priest good luck.) Needless to say, our heroes are acquitted. The film's final scene takes place in guess which restaurant, a huge victory feast, good-looking women beaming approval, high fives all round, we won, the end. Oh great, just what we need, another film that tells our culture's young men that the justice system is a mockery and the law is an ass. This movie winds up being no better than any Schwarzenegger or Stallone vehicle (never mind Hockey Night In Canada) that adrenalizes taking the law into our own hands. In fact, it's worse, because Levinson tries to have his cake and eat it too. We are disgusted at the film's slovenly wife beater who says violence is the best policy, but when

cool Brad Pitt gets that steely look in

his eye and says, "It's pay-back time!", WEARE PUMPED!! And we wonder why, when 14-year-old boys go to school nowadays, they pack more than their lunch. They pack knives and gunstoo,becausethey'velearnedthat hitting back hard when you think you've been dissed is the only way to 'act like a man'. Bruce Claggett, the Abbotsford News "Movie Scout", calls Sleepers "a film which details some solid reasons for revenge." Maybe I've been reading too much William Blake, but I don't think there are any solid reasons for revenge, and I call this movie a piece of shit.

R an f S, Raves, and Assorted Reviews

By Nolan Webb Just a couple of beefs this week ... Sidewalks:As in why aren't there any one Mackenzie Avenue on the east side of the Abbotsford campus? Must we risk life and limb and the well-being of our stylish clothes in a batle against the elements, which often ncludes mammoth puddles, and yes don't forget traffic (we all know how crazy students can drive when they're late for a class!). If the amount of pedestrian traffic is any factor (and it should be) in determining where the sidewalks are installed then I say "Let Murdo Ultra Cont' elders in town leaving out the "University" prefix. Raise your hand if you recall Paul deMontaginue, who brought the use of alcohol to our student gatherings through his pioneer activities CO-ordination. God knows, he was here long enough. However, he couldn't possibly have stopped brain drain: our best and brightest fed into SFU, and UBC. Then, courses drifted away to the Abbey campus, necessitating students to there be cement!" Tuition: What would a student rag be without the odd complaint about tuition? My problem is that we are expected to make full payment in November of all months. That's right, kiss those Christmas presents goodbye because your dough will be coughed up before you can take part in any of the winter fun. I've heard that deferrals can be granted in certain situations, but I can just imagine how flexible the college financial heads will be on this one. I applaud SFU and other schools who allows their students a little hangover from Christmas and New Years by the pay-in-January policy. leave Chilliwack for the north. And, recently, a big screen TV. began to enslave the minds of new students by the dozens. This falling apart of the Chilliwack campus requires action now. Sir, pending a further report, I advise an immediate air strike. The danger in one of centralization. The old location is proving less viable. My team awaits your command.

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Jacob's Matter: Mission; Hot Spot of the Valley

By Jacob Curley

Iwas walking down First Avenue, on my way to "Hong Kong Boys" for some spicy shrimp, vegetables, and steamed rice. In Mission the non-franchise joints don't open for lunch until noon. Every soul in town seemed to be loving the free autumn sunlight. To kill a quarter-hour I ordered a cup of coffee at "the glass bean". After cream, sugar, and a first luscious sip I was visited by a stranger. His name was Jesse. He is a mailman. At first glance I thought he might be a "Woody".(the name was born from local hair salons). It gently suggests that the customer is like the Cheers character: harmlessly, mentally strange. Jesse sat down and told me about his coat. He bought it in Saigon, 1968. He said his friend had come home with one and he enlisted because it looked so good. It was gold with beautiful red embroidery on the front. A sunset. Jesse had spent six months protecting the Canadian embassy. He told me things I didn't really want to hear. He was speaking about pain and laughing at the sad parts. His story didn't amaze me because I couldn't imagine the tension. What I found surprising was the fact that he was willing to tell it. Later, in the restaurant, I thought about the annual Christmas parade. Everyb'ody goes. Even the cab drivers idle down the main drag, waving to their usual fares. The mayor is on foot in casual clothes, disguised as a perfect stranger. Crippled elders chase him in their electric street buggies. Fire trucks let their sirens roar. Children scream themselves into a noise frenzy. I remember standing on the street, watching the countless clubs, teams, and societies pass. I remember my amazement at the number of people who were willing to be part of a community. I thought communities died after feudalism. What was I doing? I was thinking about being on television. The waitress brought my tea. She had shiny, golden hair and beautiful, red cheeks. A sunrise. I watched her go and remembered see-

The Cycle of Man's Thought

By Louis Tulley The two .11 h w1 t en meet somew h ere M'd 1 h' courts tp · I mvo ves sex d an The cycle begins when the man outside of regular circumstances and couple activities. The couple will give is looking for a mate. Once he has spot- will enter into early courtship. up time with friends to spend time with ted one, which he likes, he will then Early courtship consists of dat- each other. They will continue to date try to impress. This can be achieved ing quite a bit, serving the purpose to and still be happy as the relationship many different ways, depending on the get to know one another. The man will moves along. Late courtship comes female selected. The man will then go find the female interesting and enjoy when one of the two lose interest in out of his way to involve himself in being with her. At this point in the re- the other. her life, and thus introduction has oc- lationship everything is still new and The loss of interest may be due curred. Once the introduction has tran- exciting. The man will primarily move to someone else, or just that one needs spired, meeting may happen on a regu- his thoughts towards advancements. a change. The whole situation beJar schedule. If both parties are will- Once these series of advancements take comes a drag and in some cases can ing to continue, then usually the next place, the pair will most undoubtedly get unpleasant. For example, step is the phone number exchange. have sex. This action leads to mid continuos phone calls, surprise visits, courtship. etc. This stage of the relationship ining her walking to work in an old pink and black ski jacket. Immediately, I understood that some things are worth a trip to Saigon, while others are not. In this town, money trickles down from the top of the hill. The shops are at the bottom, trying to succeed, but people are lured away by the bigger markets. Mission is the only place in the valley where people relax on the main drag. It's the cure for Abbotsford. Mission gives us something that shopping malls, Wal-Marts, and amusement parks don't supply. The old city sits on the north side of the river. It has its toes in the water and rests its back on a mountain. It has all the necessary ingredients for a real home town. valves a lot of feelings; resentment, disgust, claustrophobia to name some. The one member (or maybe both) will start to look for ways to end, the relationship. The courtship is ended by one or, sometimes, both people. As a result of the termination the man will then spend time getting over his lost girlfriend. This time can vary depending on the extent of feelings he had for her. Once mental recovery is completed, the man begins to enjoy being single and the sense of freedom. When this state of mind ends, the man will start the cycle over again once he spots another female to his liking.

Sexual Harassment at

UCFV fourteen women result only in a on-the- wrist for the offender? slapThis By Taryn Thomson

At first they thought it was just them. They didn't want to rock the boat. "Teamwork" in the Social Work Program is vital. They wanted to keep the team together. But after months of being followed to their cars, after resistance to many unwanted advances, after flinching from hands that had no business rubbing backs, after being called incessantly at home, and after being shown offensive drawings of naked women, fourteen female students had withstood enough. After getting virtually no support from their own department, the women went to the student union, who suggested that they file a formal sexual harassment complaint. An external investigator found that of the eight women who ended up making formal complaints, seven had definite sexual harassment charges to lay. Peter Jones had the final say, however, and he decided the following: I) the person guilty of harassment should have a formal record on their school file, but this record may be removed once the guilty person finishes his degree. 2) the guilty person may want to take a year off (which the person did). 3) the guilty person must undergo some education about sexual harassment.

Why is U.C.F.V. protecting this man? Why do seriou~ compla_in_ts by man is going to be a social worker! Let me see, according to my dictionary, the word social means: I) of or relating to society or its organization. 2) concerned with the mutual relations of human beings. The man is going to work with people! Many of these people will be women and children, who will often be fragile or lacking in personal resources. There is no guaranty that this man will not continue to harass as he has been doing and I, for one, do not want him to be a social worker. If he is allowed to continue on the path to being a social worker, I want there to be a clear and permanent record on his file that tells everyone what he has been found guilty of. If this person were doing a degree in chemistry, then I think that we would have a different issue on our hands. It is not necessarily a requirement that a chemist is a healthy human being. There are different requirements for people who are going to be responsible for the welfare of others. Social workers must be healthy individuals.

One woman I spoke to said that having to do a seminar in front of the class when the man in question was in the room reduced her to tears. He made her so uncomfortable, that she could not get on with the task at hand. And next September, this man will be back in the social work program, working toward his degree. Justice? I think not.

Cascade Report Card

To the Cascade's own Nolan Webb for securing a feature article in the Drop D magazine. Keep it up monkey-lover! A

To the student or students who felt like advertising slanted information concerning the SUS flat-fee increase. Leave the dissemination of slanted information to the pros! F

To CTS; Still no word processor on the Macs. We and a lot of students are still waiting. NC

§PaML9rapes

Ihave finally decided on what to write about for this issue of 'The Cascade". It took alot of thought, two drafts of could - be articles and lots of whining to get to this point. Most of you do not know how tough it is for me to come up with a decent topic to write about. "The Cascade" is for the student body to know what is new, what is going on around UCFV, what pisses some of us off and what is of interest to some of us. Writing for the paper requires alot of thought and research. It is not easy to come up with an article that the author can be proud of and display in the student newspaper. It takes time to write a good article. By a "good" article, I mean one which will appeal to the author and will have something to say to any person who is a part of UCFV. It takes time to think of an article you can crap on about, with hopes of making the student newspaper interesting. Some of you do not even bother to pick - up an issue and see what it has to offer. You may actually learn something about UCFV or you may even find someone's story interesting. To attract your attention, "The Cascade" staff has taken some drastic measures which caused many of you to grab an issue. Unfortunately, some pea brains slammed the entire newspaper for this, forgetting how hard people work to produce the paper. If you have to complain about someone or something you did not like in the newspaper, go ahead. Don't slam the newspaper as a whole. The staff work hard to try and make some of your lazy asses just pick - up an issue.

A THOUSAND BURNT-OUT UGHT BULBS

By Mike Thomson The US presidential elections are over. Good, I was getting tired of hearing US politicians thanking "God" at the end of every speech. I'm agnostic most days of the week and downright atheist on bad days, so hearing American political types constantly thanking "God" unnerves me (I wish major league ball players would stop doing it as well). I also get tired of the self-congratulatory tones that these politicians take when discussing their nation and its democracy. With only 40% of the registered voters bothering to show up, If I were them, I'd leave the "greatest democracy in the world", speeches alone. Voters in Canada may be more frustrated with politicians right now, but they are generally less apathetic.

I was glad Clinton won. He's generally struck me as being fairly worthless in his pursuit of some vital legislation, but he is a lot more progressive than Dole. Clinton's showdown with the Republican Congress last year helped his re-election immensely. So too did the open 'civil war' in the Republican party. Dole was the candidate who was no Republicans first choice. He was moderate enough to please the mainstream Republicans, but his support of Helms and Gingrich et-al pleased the "anti-government/ family values/pro-assault weapon wing of the Republican party. The far-right wing of the Republican party has moved so far into the right lane of the road, they've ended up in the ditch. It seems, however, that their 'vehicle' is equipped with 'four-wheel drive'. Instead of cracking up, they have managed to retain the balance of power in the House and Senate. Most observers feel that this is because the American voter, using his/ her incredible wisdom, likes the balance between Clinton in the White House and Gingrich et-al in Congress. The concept works like this. The majority Republicans keep Clinton from doing anything too 'Liberal' and Clinton keeps the Republican's more reactionary policies in check. They are forced to compromise, and the American people are blessed with pragmatic, center-of-the -road government (the Republicans may be riding in the ditch on the right side of the road, but there

is usually nothing in the center but road kill). The theory falls apart when your realize that the 'revolutionary' Republicans are unrepentant over their policies. They still plan to go after Clinton on ethics charges, they still want to fight against 'Liberalism' and the excesses of the New Deal, and they still want to overturn Roe vs Wade, repeal the Brady Bill, and cut federal spending on education and the environment. What compromises they ere forced to make coming into an election year, they will be less willing to make now. The American public may have been too clever in re-electing this lot to Congress. "Whitewater', the smoking gun of the Clinton administration, is all smoke and no gun. Jesse Helms cannot talk about the "ethics' issue, because of the way he shamelessly played the race card against his African-American Democrat opponent. I'm afraid that very little will get done at the federal level of government without frequent showdowns between Executive and the Legislature. Some Americans will love this, but most could get very frustrated when nothing ever happens without some major

Curlywack Looking But Not Touching

By Simon Langeler "I just could not communicate with some Sothechiefsendsmealongwith political hotshots, to cover the that the "Where's pictures Waldo" were more than a portrait. like The Mao." Preston Manning breakfast and cam- fur coat lady kept looking back at me -an Indonesian paign kick-off. Boring! So boring! I and the doorway behind me, and sniffwho dealt with Mao. got there before them, so I cleaned ing. She could smell the gas. myself up in the men's room, as I had The audience of people who been running for two miles to get there paid to eat with Preston were composed intime.Igetoutofthebathroom,and of old people (65%), Alex P. I'm about to sit down at the back of Keatons(l5%), and business men who the dining room across the hall when I reminded me of my uncle hear one of the "garcons" come out of Wayne(20% ). Plus some reporters, and another room, and say: "Uh, gas leak. three U.C.F.V.-ers. Nobody smoke, there's a gas leak." I Then Sandra and Jamie arrived, am shown to my seat, thinking it'd be and we took new seats. This time we pretty funny if Preston kicked off his were right behind the loud clapper. He campaign by blowing up. would nod his head when he was I am seated behind this big 40- pleased with Preston, frown when he something lady with heavy make-up was just plain listening. When he was and a fur coat. She was so big, and so really happy he would clap. He clapped furry, that she almost completely ob- so hard, and so loud that it hurt my ears. scured the distant form of Preston I think that he clapped far too often. Manning. I stood up a couple of times Preston slammed murderers, ng to take a shot, but he Apathy was so far away rapists, and taxes. But he death, or evil-probably didn't get into because these didn't have much to do with his pro-

By Lisa Chew items. Clarissa managed to push past

Iam often astounded by the the wall of apathy that exists in most apathy that seems to face me at every of us, and talked to a couple of classes tum. Every once and a while though, I here at UCFV about what she had read. see members of our community qui- She even offered to personally collect etly, but decisively, acting in support any donations from staff or students. of their beliefs and values and I am It's not too late, if you are interequally astounded. ested in donating some goods also. Clarissa Tufts, a fellow UCFV There will be a public farewell for the

i i'. student showed up at my Anthropol- trucks on Friday, November 15, at the j? •' ,._/ 1; .!'-' ogy class last week to tell us about a Don Quast Hyundai dealership, from -..::::z1 i •.. ::..\::>J Canadian organization called Food For 10:00am to 2:00pm. They will be ac- :c;;,\:,,:::, E:i ::~~:;;:.!~~i;:Ei:; ;~~~.;;;~:i~:h:~~:~:~::~: 1tit a'ifr ·c ... -·. The Hungry is sending two pick-up Thanks to Clarissa, these two trucks to Central America. They had trucks will be leaving with a few extra put out a call to the public for dona- supplies to take to Guatemala and tions of gardening tools and other small Nicaragua from us here at UCFV. crisis. I'm a Canadian, I reserve the right to complain bitterly about the government, but I also want it out there doing something. The Democrats retained the white house, but did not do as well in the House or the Senate. This is partly to do with the low-voter turnout and the public's dissatisfaction with the Democrats from a few years back (they were pretty morose in the later Reagan years, and this continued into the Bush/ Clinton years). But this also has a lot to do with the way that 'Liberal' has become a dirty word in the US. In the presidential debate, Dole continually accused Clinton of being a (gasp) "card-carrying Liberal!" No, not that!!! Anything but a "Liberal"! Sheesshh ... The truth is, Clinton has actually moved to the right on some issues, capturing traditional moderate Republican ground on issues of law and order, and welfare reform. Some of his legislation, as I stated earlier, has been progressive and effective, but I wonder if he truly has the will to tackle the really tough issues facing the United States, to truly leave a legacy. Hope springs eternal... posed legislation. Trouble came for him during question period, when this old man with a scary voice brought up lots of scandalous stuff that I didn't understand. It took a long time to say, and involved lots of countries. He reminded me of my grandpa, who watches a great deal of TV, and remembers everything politic~!. Someone in the crowd brought up abortion. Preston looked like his heart skipped a beat -controversy!! He said there was to be a referendum on the issue. I think that was the most interesting thing he said. Tax and welfare cut programs were vaguely referred to. He told Sandra that social programs like student mom daycare were facing the chipper. He told Jamie that student loans weren't in all that much danger. I'm no political pundit, just a hack. So when I say it was boring, well, take it with a grain of salt. Speaking of salt, the food on the tables was pretty good. Jamie and I scarfed 5 muffins, and 4 croissants, and 6