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MichaelFleming .DustinCarlson
The results are in and the Student Union has a new council for next year. Kris Lind takes a brief look at the election results and the referendum question of the flat fee.
ByKris Lind
The ideas section of this issue tackles the topic of globalization and this round of trade talks in Quebec City next month. The Cascade presents the issues?
J. Jamel shares his experienceof fleeing Iraq in the period of the Gulf War ByJ. Jamel
Cascade Rock and Roll reporter Natalie Vermeer interviewsthe American punk band, AFI on their success and future endeavours.
By Natalie Vermeer
The UCFV women's basketball team came within an eyelash of bringing home a national championshipbanner over the weekend of March 15th17th. Jessica Danylchukreports on the victory.
By Jessica Danylchuk
"In the unlikely event that the liberals are elected and tuition sky rockets, a $ 25 per semester flat fee would be much more affordable to students," she says.
By Kris Lind News EditorStudent Union Society (SUS) President Robin Litzenberger says that despite some SUS positions still vacant, he is pleased with the results of the SUS election and flat-fee referendum.
On March 13, 14, and 15 just over five per cent of UCFV's approximately 6 000 students elected new student representatives and voted overwhelmingly in favour of the SUS's proposed $ 25 per sernester flat fee. Litzenberger reports that of the 236 referendum ballots cast 174 read "yes,'' 59 read "no," and there was one blank ballot. The new 2001/2002 term starts at the beginning of May.
''We're satisfied with the five per cent voter turnout," says Litzenberger. "More Is obviously better, but when you compare this figure to other colleges and universities, their turnout is often around three per cent."
SUS Public Information Officer Kathleen McIntosh indicates that if the Liberals win the pending provincial election, tuition fees will likely increase. She reports that the SUS's current fee collection method is percent• age based, and any tuition fee increase would result in SUS fees far exceeding the new $ 25 fee.
Chiliwack NOP candidate Christine Muise says that she Is pleased with the results of the referendum. "I think it is a more equitable agreement between the SUS and the students because whether you are in three classes or five classes you still have the exact same access to SUS services."
First year general studies student Jon Besler says that he looks forward to the $ 25 per semester flat fee, "I think it's good. I voted yes to it because it will help students."
Litzenberger also says that certain SUS executive posi• tions such as president, vice president external, vice president Internal, and director of finance are still vacant.
"There's always been a history of trying to fill and retain those positions throughout the year due to the commitment that the Jobs require," says Litzenberger. "A person couldn't give this level of commitment for free."
Litzenberger explains that the SUS advertises all available positions, "Everyone has the ability to put their name forward for nomination.''
He also explains that nominations for executive positions require one year of SUS council service. "However," he adds, "If no current SUS council member is seeking a specific executive position, people to fill these can be sought from the SUS membership at large."
Litzenberger says that although he didn't originally intend to seek a second term as SUS president, he feels that it is necessary to" continue on as president with the approval of the incoming SUS council."
''With such a large gap in the executive level I'm strongly considering remaining on. It would be good to con• tinue with some of the directions we've been taking. I've got the experience and we've got the momentum." Says Litzenberger.
UCFV's Co-operative education program provides students with valuable workplace experience, but falls short of being corn• prehensive due to funding cutbacks.
Co-op allows students to alternate studies with work in 'their desired fields of study and offers paid work semesters.
This gives students the opportunity to accumulate experience in the workplace while obtaining an education. Co-op education helps put an end to the "no job, no experience• no experience, no job'' loop.
UCFV Co-op Coordinator Deborah Jackal says she believes that the program is fairly successful but funding cutbacks have limit· ed its success. Because of this, there are only two full time coordinators. This means that the majority of placements are in the Business Administration and Computer Information Systems programs.
Jackel explains that the coordinators are doing what they can, "We are working with the various departments in the school to get as many students into placements as possible."
Last summer 106 of the approximate 6,000 students at UCFV enlisted the services of co-op. This number is expected to rise this summer, although exact numbers have yet to be finalized.
"We encourage students to approach employers and ask about supporting them in a co-op program. We've never been turned down," says Jackel.
However, besides getting valuable experience there are other benefits to this program. Approximately 60 per cent of the students enrolled in the program retain employment after graduation with one of the employers they encountered during Co-Op continued on page 5
When asked if he is disappointed that no current SUS executive council member sought the presidency next year Litzenberger responded: "Nol necessarily. They felt the pressure [that SUS responsibilities combined with schoolwork] throughout the year, and made their own decisions not to seek the presidency."
Litzenberger says that if someone decides to seek next year's presidency he would run against the person, "I wouldn't just step aside."
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VICTORIA (CUP) - Victoria city councillors voted unani• mously Monday to send a formal letter to Ottawa urging the federal government not to sign the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Fearing the FTAA and similar multilateral trade deals would encroach on local governments' ability to protect the health of their citizens and the environment, the City of Victoria has joined a growing number of global free trade critics.
"It's a new phase in the world. More rights are granted to non-human entities called corporations than citizens: said Rob Fleming, the councillor who drafted the letter.
Although the April 20 to 22 Summit of the Americas - the Quebec City forum where trade ministers from 34 American nations will negotiate the FTAA - is fast approaching, the city hopes the letter will carry some clout.
MONTREAL (CUP) - One year after students turned out in record numbers to reject a campuswide deal between McGill and Coca-Cola, university officials have decided to call off negotiations.
The deal would have given Coke far-reaching rights to .sell and promote its beverage line on campus and, in return, would have brought McGill between $5 million and $10 million over the next several years.
"The university will not be signing a cold beverage agr~ement with Coke," said Alan Charade, McGill's lead negotiator during the talks with Coke.
He said administrators decided to call off negotiations with Coke because of last year's referendum results and the reluctance several student societies showed this year to take part in negotiations.
BOSTON (CUP) - An Americanstudentwho used a humorous e-mail conversation with Nike to spread his concerns about the company's labour practicessays fie reached thousands of people.
Jonah Peretti, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology,told CanadianUniversityPressthat hi$ inbox has been flooded since he began forwardingan e-mail argument he had with Nike over a pair of shoes hewanted customizedwith the word "sweatshop."
"I received literalltthousands of e-mails," he said. "The majorfty of,them have been letters of support but some people also wondered whether this was real. And I think a lot of people are.sick of companies like Nike that spendso much time telling its consumers about freedom but dorJ'treally care about the rights of theirworkers·... ••• ,·
At nikeid.nlke.cornthecompanyallows customersto Ordera word of their choice stitchedonto their shoes.To m~kea pain~ Perettlordered a'pair shoes with the word ·•sweatshop."
Through e-mail, 13nunidentifiedNike representativerejected Peretti'sorder on the grounds that the chosen word constituted "Inappropriateslang."
"While we honorrnost personal iDs, we cannot honor every one. Some may contain materialthat we considerinappro• priate or simply do not want to place on our products"said the representative.
''There was a paint where Nike denied its problems, but at least it has now promised to address the problems and look into them" says Peretti.
OTTAWA (CUP) - Legal experts said investor rights could become more important than human rights in a world governed by .the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas ~FTAA).
Canada should opp0S$ this trend-,a~:dwork to protect and recognize international human,.rights,laws that have already been r.atified, salq·-warren Allmand, a former Liberal ·cabinet minister and clit· rent president of R·ights and Oemocracf ·' :~.
Allmand took part today iii an expert panel that made recommendations regarding humari rights within trad& agreements to the House 9f Commons' standing committee on trade. • •
The committee.will make a recommendation ta the. Canadian government regarding its position on free trade when I~ "att~nsf s Jh~.upctjmlnQ !~_t,tmr'T)it of the Americas me,ting in Ql)e~ec; City. " •
At the April 20 to 22 meetfng of 34 countries, officials will be hammering out the terms of a 2005 free trade agreement for an area stretching from the Arctic to Argentina. '
Critics fear the FTAA will allow investor rights to override workers' rights and women's rights and are looking for governments to agree on a way to enforce human rights within the agreement.
Allmand said Canada has ratified vario\:Jsinterna• tlonal declarations on hur:nan rights th~t should apply ta trade. • • i
"Otherwise we a{e hypocrites. We say 6ne·thing
and vote one way on human rights when It Is con• venient to do so, then go out and sign trade agreements that totally ignore or contradict our human rights commitments."
Allmand recommended an overhaul of the pro• posed trade agreement to include room to comply with international agreements, rather than override them. He said Canada should take advantage of the FTAA negotiations as a way of re-examining international human rights obligations and seek to ensure that there are no conflicts with the proposed trade agreement.
According to'-'Allmand, claims by the Canadian government that it Intends to meet human rights guidelines are still suspect because the details of their plan are still unavailable.
"We await the· specific texts and find it absolutely unbellevable that fhsy aren't already before mem• bars of !parliament and th~_public."
He saiq there are various_examples of how human rights 'violations are overridden by investor rights under the World Trade Organization and the North Americ~n Free Trade Agreement. He fears the FTAA will be no different.
Bill Dyl'(lOnd, executive director for the Centre for Trade Policy and Law, a collection of trade-law experts, said criticism of trade agreements when it
comes to human rights are unfounded because the richest countries In the hernisptiere have the best human rights records. , -
Corporate Power continued on page.,_ 5-
An uninvited Student Union Society (SUS) council member entered the Cascade office and suggest• ed that the Cascade news team remove a pictur'e of Premier Ujjal Dosarijh from their window at the UCFV Abbotsfard camp·u's. , '
"I think that there is something illegal about dis-playing a picture of the premier in a window befqre an election is called," said the anonymous coun9il member. "Even though I support the BC Liberals I'm only saying you should take it down because I think It could hurt UCFV and the SUS/
•,• ,
expression at all. but adherfng to the SUS's man·date to be "non pattlsan{" the Cascade Collective ·displayed signs from all likely parties in the pending election.
These signs included: A photo of Premier Ujjal Oosanjh, a photo of Gordon Campbell, a marijuana party sign, a BC liberal Party sign, Unity Party sign, and a Green Party sign.
Further controversy arose when it was shown that certain parties' signs were larger, and more colourful than others. person check on the legality of a public display of Consequently the Cascade Collective removed all the premier. ' election signs from. its window. : ..••
A Cascade news team member sugg1;1stedthat the
Once the Ca~c;~_deCol.lective obtains signs of equ~I size ar.1d_use or c~lo'ur from every party, it will displ~y all of the parties' stgns. ,,:--~~~•.,", •.·•~:1;-: ··=·~, If S_atan rurrs in.. the upcoming elec.tion the Not wanting to inhibit their right to freedorry _pf Cascade Coilective will also p0$t his or· her sign.
SUS President Robin ~1zen~.erger says that the Ujjal Dosanjh pict~,e m9st come,down because the "$US is non __partisan." [fhe SUS owns the ,Qasc;ade]
MIT student uses e-ma_ilto draw attention to Nike labour practices
The University College of the Fraser Valley has received approval for the next phase of the UCFV Chilliwack campus. The new three-storey building will house a library, classrooms and labs, and administration and faculty offices, and will be ready for occu•
designed to complement the Multipurpose/Theatre complex, which opened in 1995. The new complex will replace the activity in the "old motel" (Building A), which was erected in 1975 and intended to be used as a college facility for five years until a permanent Chllliwack campus was built. pancy in late fall, 2002.
TORONTO (CUP) - Student newspapers were outraged after thousands of free Toronto Star newspapers were delivered to Ryerson University on Friday.
UCFV will receive $11.9 million for the new building.
UCFV Facilities director Carol Hardy expects to go to tender in late summer/early fall, and says that con· The new 6 400 square meter building will be struction will take 16 months.
Ryerson University's administration signed a three-year contract with the Toronto Star last month, granting free oncampus distribution to the daily paper. The move upset the EyeOpener, Ryerson's independent student newspaper and its supporters, which include the Ryersonlan, the school of journalism's publication, and Ryerson's student council.
ByPatti Edgar manage student loans for publicly funded post-secNatlonal Bureau ondary institutions. While CIBC owns 51 per cent of Edulinx, the rest is owned by USA Education Inc.TORONTO (CUP) -A U.S. company that owns near- an American holding company that owns Sallie Mae, ly half of Canada's new student loan provider has one of the largest private providers of federally-guarspent more than $7 million lobbying American politi• anteed student loans In the U.S. cians and is suing the U.S. department of education.
This concerns student groups on both sides of the border, who worry the company's business practices will be replicated in Canada.
"They are heavily involved in setting public policy on loans here," said Corye Barbour, the legislative direc• tor for the U.S. Student Association. "And I don't think they would change that in Canada. They have a lot of money riding on this."
Canadian Federation of Students chairperson
Michael Conlon said Canadians saw private compa· nies influence student loan policies when the country's largest banks took over the loan program from the federal government in 1995.
Now that Edullnx Canada Inc. has replaced the banks, he said students don't want to see that happen again.
Sallie Mae spent $7.2 million on lobbying politicians between 1997 and 1999, according to the U.S.•based Center for Responsive Politics. In 1998, the company was one of the top 100 spenders on lobbying in the U.S.
And Sallie Mae has some of Washington's most influ• ential lobbyists working either for the organization or on contract, including three former members of Congress, said Ivan Frishberg, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group's student rights advocate.
What do these lobbyists do? Martha Holler, a spokesperson for Sallie Mae and USA Education Inc., wouldn't say who lobbies for the company nor would she say what they do. She said in order to provide students with the "best services and loan products available," it is common tor the student loan industry to keep up "constant dialogue" with the federal government, which administers the U.S. student loan pro-
On March 1, Edulinx started a three-year contract to Student Loan Company worries Students continued on page 18
continued from page 4 "It won't work to keep these countries poor by denying them free trade agreements," said Dymond, who was also part of the panel. "Their human rights record will stay poor as well."
But Bloc MP Francine Lalonde said it would be wrong to see free trade as a ·•saviour" for poorer countries in the coming years because so far it has not translated into bet• ter distribution of wealth in countries like Mexico that are already In free trade agreements.
"We have to be careful not to make trade into a dogma that it creates wealth," she said.
She said it is important to remember that trade and the fight against poverty do not go hand-In-hand.
Svend Robinson, the New Democratic Party's trade critic, said he worries that Intellectual property will become better protected than health and the environment under the FTAA.
As an example, he pointed to the example of drug companies that are blocking distribution of affordable AIDS medication in South Africa under WTO rules.
He said he worries that penalization of governments arid corporations under the FTAA for violating trade rules will be harsher than the consequences of violating human rights.
CHARLOTTETOWN (CUP) - The annual East Coast seal harvest began on March 26 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, despite criticisms from animal rights groups that it is unnecessary and uneconomical because the demand for seal products is down.
Environmental groups argue that hunters kill or maim the seals inhumanely and that annual kill quotas are set at unsustainable levels.
"Our argument is not about whether or not the hunt is pretty," said Rick Smith, Canadian director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "We argue that the hunt is carried out in a way that wouldn't be acceptable -for humane 1 economic and sustainability reasons - In any other animal Industry or hunt In Canada."
"All the blood on the ice isn't the point," said Smith, who holds a doctorate in seal biology. "There's a serious level of tolerance for inhumane acts in this industry."
But government officials say hunting practices have improved over the past decades and that the hunt is closely monitored.
"After 25 years in the spotlight there's very little controversy anymore," said Roger Simon, the area manager for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Simon said the allowable kill numbers are set at a sustainable quota each year based on estimates of seal populations and scientific study. He said fisheries offl• cers monitor activity on the ice by boat and helicopter.
"It's already hard marketing our paper to students, especially to in-coming first years. It's going to be even harder going up against Canada's largest daily," said Lori Fazari. the editor-in-chief of the EyeOpener.
Student editors across Ontario have been actively cam• pa1gningagainst the Star's Campus Readership Program since It was launched in September 1999. They say the program makes student papers directly compete with national dailies for readership and advertisers. which in turn threatens the quality and existence of student media.
The Toronto Star says it is trying to make newspapers more accessible and affordable for students, while also building the paper's own readership.
"We hope that students will get into the habit of reading a Toronto Star and that they will continue this habit for the rest of their life," said Loreen Lalonde, manager of the Campus Readership Program.
Contracts with the Toronto Star have also been signed at Queen's University, Wilfrid Laurier University, York University and several colleges at the University of Toronto.
''The program has really hurt the circulation of our paper here at York. I doubt that it Willbe any different at Ryerson,'' says Shawn Jeffords, editor-in-chief of York University's student newspaper, the Excalibur.
CHARLOTTETOWN (CUP) • Professors at the University of Prince Edward Island are unionizing, with the support of the campus' administrators.
The campus could have a faculty union in place by April thanks to a majority vote in favour of submitting an application to Join the PEI Federation of Labour and Staff Members.
Don Gillis, president of UPEl's faculty association, said money was not a motivation for the application.
Instead, profs were looking for a grievance policy and hoping to catch up with the rest of Canada's universities.
''Over 80 per cent of Canadian universities are unionized and I have to believe that students are getting a good edu• cation in those institutions," said Gillis. "[St. Francis Xavier] is the only other Maritime university not unionized."
Leo Chevarie, president of the PEI Federation of Labour and Staff Members, says he supports the faculty's initiative.
coordinatin
With the upcoming Summit of the Americas quickly approaching it seems appropriate to peer Into the activists' world, and investigate their motivation for engaging In what often becomes violent protest. We quickly learn that in events such as the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) citizens' voices are only heard through organized demonstration and protest.
While the trend towards deregulated interna• tional trade and the expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement certainly benefits the wealthy and politically powerful (who often are the wealthy), it arguably does little to help the average person maintain a decent quality of life. Certainly the "Battle in Seattle" is evidence that not
cratic. Globalization results in corporate tyranny. And since we're barred from participating in these negotiations we're going to let you beat us with clubs, and spray us with tear gas to make our point.
"buy time" with different countries' delegates. Ironically Ralph Nader says that, "America is not for sale I"
The free•market driven corporate tyranny that our grandparents protested against and eventually triumphed over via the emergence of unions and social programs is quickly and maliciously fighting its way back. It has almost came full-circle; free trade and globalization protestors now defend our right to social justice. When multinational corporations dictate to our governments how to govern us via deregulated trade combined with the global mar• ket economy, we then exist in a Social Darwinian state in Its crudest and most vulgar form.
everyone embraces free trade, and that an organ- ,___________________ ........, ized, educated opposition to free trade exists.
Despite massive propaganda spewed at us on behalf of governments and multinational corpora• lions declaring that unregulated trade and globalization are inevitable; that there is no alternative, and that an absolutely free-market economy is the best means for a government to care for its citizens {do governments really care for their citizens any. more?), not everybody believes that a free market is the solution to everything. "A free market economy cannot provide compassion to the people," says alternative media writer Murray Dobbin.
Undoubtedly the "Battle in Seattle" is a precursor of events to come In Quebec City at the Summit of the Americas. Indeed, we will see edu• cated university students in the foreground of the demonstration say something like this to police [as representatives of the state]: We don't agree with these politics. Increased free trade and globalization are not in the Interests of the people. These closed• door inter-government negotiations are anti-demo•
How can governments claim to care for their citizens, and in countries like the United Sates or Canada, claim to be democratic and govern for "the people" when they are willing assault citizens engaged in peaceful protest? It is sickening to know that in Seattle police sprayed protestors with tear gas that contained a nerve gas (I can't remember Its name) that is banned for use in war because it is considered grossly inhumane.
Simon Fraser University Professor Bob Everton reports: '1ThE1police [In Seattle] sprayed protestors with this tear gas (Which contains the nerve gas) and women who menstruated two weeks prior to the protest found themselves menstruating again the next day. They could now be sterile as a result being sprayed by a nerve gas that is internationally banned for use in warl"
Note that the Globe and Mail reports that while the public is barred from negotiations at the upcoming Summit of the Americas, corporations can involve themselves by being the highest bidder to
If this sounds preachy, it is because, in the words of Fidel Castro, "It Is difficult to speak about this [international relations involving trade] without a little bit of passion." Clearly we will not find the means ta peace, democracy, and social justice from increased free trade In a global market economy. When governments embrace free trade they facill• tate social tyranny on behalf of corporations. Without organized reaction on behalf of unions, university students, women's groups, and martyrs for ''the leW such as Svend Robinson and Ralph Nader etcetera, public opinion is too easily swayed to favour globalization and free trade by the corporate owned and operated media.
Godspeed to those protestors who will demonstrate in Quebec City; we must appl~ud those willing to risk injury and imprisonment fighting for the causes of social justice and democracy. In the fall of 1999 I was in Kevin Busswood's Sociology class ''Socia! Problems In Canada." On the day of the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle, appropriately, the lecture was on globalization. Kevin said to the class, "50 000 people marched today. Why the hell are you· here? Why isn't each and every one of you down there marching?" I understand that Quebec City passed a bylaw forbid· ding the wearing of scarves to protect one's self from being tear-gassed and identified by police. On April 20th I will don a scarf in solidarity.
Free trade agreements and the effects of globalization are a very hot issue these days. Whenever there is a free trade convention or political leader in town who advocates free trade, there are always headlines in the media cleverly rhyming this or that to make a story ("Battle in Seattle" and "Riot at the Hyatt" are a couple examples). The question I pose to Canadians is this: Do you really know why protesters are outside causing a ruckus and participating In civil disobedience? No, It is not because they are welfare ''bums" with nothing better to do, no, it is not because they are all "crazy" Trotsky communists looking to destroy something, and no, they are not rent-a-protesters who jump on the band wagon anytime an Issue arises. These lovely stereotypes are enabling the media to completely ignore the real issues surrounding these events and by•pass the fact that Canada is being sold out from right underneath our feet.
Speak to most liberal economists and they will tell you the glories of a free trade economy. I heard one such person describe free trade in terms of a car being made. I was told that global autono• my can be attained when one part of the car is made in China, the other in Mexico, and the finishing touches done in Canada. What this person forgot to mention was the fact that the car was an American Ford, that factory wages in China, Mexico, and soon to be Canada, are abysmal, and that the rules surroundi11gfree trade are dictated and implemented by
our neighbours to the south, the Americans. "So how does this apply to me and my life?" you ask. Well, one just has to take a quick look around to see how the average Canadian is constantly being harmed by free trade agreements. The imported food that we eat can be genetically altered without our ever knowing. Pharmaceutical companies can produce a drug and export it before government regulators can say whether or not the drug is harmful to human consumption. The fact that our natural resources are shipped down south and then sold back to us for twice the price Is deplorable.
Another example of how Canadians are affected by free trade can be shown by looking at the small business owner. Small businesses are always in need of tax breaks so that they may make a few bucks. When they look to someone to blame for their businesses selling out or not making enough money to stay afloat, not many say "Why Is the Canadian government selling out to the corporations and taking my business and money away? I think that I will question my local MP on this issue, along with my fellow small business people. I plan to make the Canadian government responsible for the actions that they are taking against the people of Canada, national sovereignty and the environmerit."
Canadians usually tend to blame immigrants and indigenous people for their problems, and their complaints are usually aided by the distracting propaganda that the major news sources pump out on a daily basis. Now, I arn not advocating that the government should be written off as incapable; as long
as we at least have the motions of a democracy, we are sort of all right. What I am advocating is that people read beyond the headlines of the newspapers and find out what is really going on. I am advocating that instead of doing the usual bitching about how much the Canadian government sucks, people get involved in some way. For some, this might mean simply taking the time to vote. Corporations love cynics. ihey love the fact that people do not get involved in their own country, because it makes it easier for them to roll right in and pollute and exploit anywhere and everywhere that they can, Some say that people get Involved In an issue only when what they love is being threatened. For all of those who love this country, the time to get involved is now. Later will be too late
With the Summit of the Americas rapidly approaching, writers and thinkers from all parts of life are becoming mobilised and readying themselves for a fight. What many do not think about, however, are the Implications of the larger underlying philosophy behind this mani· festation of gross capitalism.
UCFV Professor Ron Dart has been thinking and writ· ing about this for a while, especially regarding the recent trends in our educational system. I had the opportunity to speak with him last Tuesday.
Professor Dart does not see the problem in educa• tlonas a recent one, but rather somethingthat had been evolving for a long time. He states, "I thinkwhat's happened historically is the west has become predominantly dominated by its scientific, technological, and Industrial civilisation and what happens ls the [educa· tional) institutions follow suit making sure the students are socialised to flt In to that worldvlew."
At the root of this world-view, Dart realises, is the con-
cept of education as knowledge. Wisdom, insight, and self-knowledgeare no longer seen as important,rather people see (as Dart describes)universitiesas gas sta• tion for the soul: one fills up with facts and knowledge, and then goes full speed down the road of life. There is no time for consideration,for thinking 'Why am I doing this? Is this somethinggood? Is this really education?'
"All these things," says Dart "the G7 meetings,APEC, OAS this is all increasingly about shrinking human aspirationsto purely an economic level, and then training studentspurely to think in economic,functional,utilitarianterms. Peoplewtio think beyondthat are seen as aberrationswithin the system. In our culture of progress, with the common sentimentthat history is irrelevant,theclassical humanities are either marginalisedor obliterated."
it's a colonising of the mind and a diminishing of the soul, says Dart, and it is intentionallyperpetratedby the our culture.• Once you have reality pre-definedfor you by the larger culture then people are socialised to believe that's what you have to get training for.
The other effect, Dart argues, is the Increased pres• ence of corporationsin schools. He says, as the funding dries up a bit (in terms of federal funding for schools), who is going to pay for these programmes? The corporations.
Recently,at the Universityof Californiaat Berkeley,African Americanstudentsstormedthe office of the studentnews• paper,damagingpropertyand demandingan apology.The circulatingissue of the newspapercontainedanadvertlsement (which was clearly intendedto provokediscussion) for a pamphletthat argues against paying reparationsto currentAfricanAmericansfor the harmscausedby slavery, on the grounds that it would harm current African Americansand Is racist. Some of the argumentsmay be good, some not, but the value of the argumentsturnedout to be irrelevant.The ad and the pamphletwere takento be offensive,presumablysimply because of the conclusion drawn.(We'll leave aside the Issueof reparationsfor past injustices.)What followedthe protest surprisedand troubled someobservers;the editorsof the studentpaperpublicly apologizedfor not properlycensoringthe advertising contentof theirpaper.Hadthey had betterjudgement,their thinkingnow 'c.orrected,'they would not have allowedthe authorof the pamphletto expresshis opinions.
Meanwhile,in North Vancouveranothercensorshipbattle took place. It turns out that the North VancouverDistrict PublicLibrarycontainsa few booksthat haveas theirmain thesis the denial of the common understandingof the genocideof Jews during WWII. One in particularpurports to show that the holocaustis some kind of hoax perpetrat• ed by Jews. On seeingthis book,one libraryuser requested that the book be removed from the library shelves because,first, it containedlies (somenaive readersmight not see the lies),and second,becauseit con~ined lies,its only intendedpurpose must be to promote hate. These together,the claimwas, weregroundsfor censorship.What followed in this case likely surprised some; the North VancouverDistrictCouncilmembersunanimouslyrejected the requestto removethe book from the library.Theyconcluded that freedom of statementis more importantthan protectionfrom untrue,unpopular,offensive,or hatefulliterature.
Cleat1y,there is a crucialdisagreementover the legitimacy of censorshipbetween the relevant parties in these two cases. I take it, though,that it Is not a disagreementabout the legitimacy of the fundamentalright to freedom of speech.Both, I assume,are workingwith the assumption that censorshiprequiresjustification.The disagreement, then, must be over what is requiredIn order to justifycensorship.
The Berkeleycase is reflectiveof a relativelycommon stancenowadays,especially,It seems,at post-secondary institutions.It amountsto this: if someoneIs offended,then the materialis offensive.Further,if it is offensive,thenthere are grounds for censorship.Of course, usually there is more to it than just this. Standardargumentspoirit to the real damagecausedby publicstatementof offensiveand hate-Invokingideas.This damageis not insignificant.Even thoughit is difficultto establishclear causallinksbetween the statementof ideasand harmfulbehaviour,It seemsfairly clear that there may well be some kind of connection. However,the main point of the daim is that censorshipis justified if someone is harrned in any way by what is expressed.
The NorthVancouvercase reflectsa stancethat, unfortunately,appearsto be less common- that the benefitsof free speech almost always outweighsany negativeoutcomes of allowingpeople to freely express their ideas, evenoffensiveand hatefulideas.The viewis less common probablybecausepeopledo not see why a societyought to protectthe rightsto free speechof, tor example,some• onewho is racist.However,thereare very goodreasonsto protectsuch rights.
John StuartMill, a NineteenthCenturyEnglishmoral and politicalphilosopher,expressedthe basic point about the value of free speechin the followingway:",., the peculiar evil of silencingthe statementof an opinionis, that it is robbing the humanrace;posterityas well as the existinggen• eration;thosewho dissentfrom the opinion,still morethan thosewho hold it. If the opinionis right,they are deprived of the opportunityof exchangingerror for truth; if wrong, they lose,what is almostas greata benefit,the clearerperceptionand livelierimpressionof truth,producedby its collisionwith error.·In short,libertyof statementis necessary for the exchangeof ideasIn a goodsociety.If we stiflefree speech,we do nothingless thanjeopardizethe possibility of the advancementof humanity.
FollowingMill, we must allow peopleto hold and express theiropinionsfor al leastthreereasons.First,even though we may supposetheiropinionfalse,we may notknowit to be false. We are not infallibleand so may simplyprejudge the opinion. When we encounteran opinionwe suppose to be false, we are led to work eitherto discoverthat it is false,andso nowknowit to be false,or to overturnour own beliefs if we discover the expressedopinion to be true. Also,free statementof ideasallowsfor discussionof these ideas, so to bring them to the attentionof others for disseminationand questioning.Principally,though,it forcesus
Dart predicts a forceful attempt to subject schools of all levels to large corporate advertisemer\t.With the cor• porations having such a presence in the schools, it is assured that they will concentrate on promoting the business and economic disciplines.
Another problem, that of simply surviving in tha world today, is not neglected In his thought, "It's not as if formal educationshouldn't provide you with the opportunity for Jobs,but they don't want to provide a solid edu• cation from which peonle then could corne to industry, enterprise, and technology."
The implicationsfor UCFV cannot be treated as a sep• arate issue, but must be treated within the whole (or perhaps as a type of the whole). The summit of the Americas'' says Dart, "is just one more step in the increase of globalisation;the messagesent Is Students don't ask hard questions."
There is definite irony here, though. Dart por,ders t,ow "The ironic thing Is that universitiesare supposedto be places to start critical thinking, now they've become quiet, passive places of dancing-bearsin power."
With our conversationcoming to an end, he makes one last observationon the whole situation, he says, "It's a tragedy, a great tragedy of the human soul."
to seekjustificationfor our beliefs,and criticismsor opposing views. For example, early holocaust denials were basedon the claim that it was not possiblefor six million Jewsto bekilledin the manneroutlinedby commonholocaustaccounts.Buttheseclaimspromptedinvestigationof the concentrationcamps and relevanthistoricalrecords. Theevidencegatheredprovedbeyonda reasonabledoubt that it was indeedpossiblefor thatmanypeopleto be killed. The statementof the holocaustdenial claims lead to a muchgreaterunderstandingof the horribletruth.
Second, free statementallows for the chance to correct the errors of others.Thal is, becausewe must seek jus• tificatlons for our beliefs, we can use the knowledge gained to attempt to show others why they are wrong. In the exampleabove there were perhaps many people who, not clouded by anti•Semltism,nonetheless came to believe the holocaust denial claims, or at least became skeptical of the extent of the holocaustkillings. With newly acquiredevidence,though,we became better equippedto overturn their beliefs.
Finally,sometimeswhat is commonly held to be true ls only part of the truth. If we allow others to express opposing views, we may find In their views the whole truth. The history of science has shown us that our
An angel musta pissed behind the tree of life and got caught.causethe heavenswere ragin'that afternoon.The wind was blowin'Amy's hair aroundher headlike she was at a photo shoot or somethin'.Michaelwas sittin crossleggedundera tree, eatin'a big ol' gala apple.And he kept scratchinghis beard.I got up onceto holdAmy'skite'till the wind yankedit outta my hands.The restof the day I spent on my back, looking at quick clouds,and occasionallya sporadickite.
ThenGod came.
Firsthe'sgoing011about''I am that I am blahblah aridso on,'' the whole time he's sayin'it he's just makin'me think of Popeye.And then he startsin with "mybelovedchildren, those who repent will be forgiventheir sins," and I'm half expectin'the belt or the strap or somethin',you know,all that "this hurts me more"shit. BUI he stays all big smiles. That'swhen he got down to it. "I needa volunteer " swear to god!that'swhat he said,"I needa volunteer."Amystared right throughhim with her brandiedup eyes,and Michael was still pretty Black DiamondAlmond •lightlytoasted.I was the only soberone of us. And God'sgivin'us the eye now, 'cause no one's stepped up. No one's volun• teered and it's Godl God wants a volunteer,Amy Grant's drunkand flying a kite, MichaelW. Smithis high as a kite, and I'm way too sober to get suckered.
"What'sthe deal?"I ask.
"The deal is I need a volunteer."
Of courseGod's gotta be a smartass about it. I meanit's not like he doesn't know that Amy's up a tree and Mike's gaggeredunderone. Doeshe seriouslythink I'm gonnabe all like "I'll do it, hiyuk."I'm stupid,but I'm no fuckingtool, not God's,not any deity's.So I moveoverto sit besideMike and I'm like"Mikey,Godneedssomeoneto helphimtry out some new chips he madein heaven,they'reheavenchips Mikey, they're perfect,they're the perfect chips."Then I start lickin'rny lips real loud,right in his ear,and makin'dry throatbreathsounds.Well Mikejumps up and says:
"HeyGod, I'll tasteyour chips,man."God lookssuspicious but a volunteer'sa volunteer.
"GreatMichael,I knew I couldcount on you."They go off talkingfor a minute.The wholetime I can hearMikegigglin' like he doeswhenwe eat WreckBeachcookiesand watch Chiny Chitty Bang Bang. Somehow God manages to explainhis plan to Mike,thenthey head back over to Amy and me. Amy, by the way, had found my mickey of Two Fingerstequilawhiletheyweretalkin'and she'sstartedtiltin it like she'san altarboywho brokeintothe holygrapejuice.
l•Hey,"God says to us, "youwannacomewatch?"We both nod and he zaps the four of us onto the centre stage of some huge stadiumfull of people.
"Youthree will be able to see me this afternoon,but the restof the peopleherewill not, for I havedecld ."
"Yeah, thanks Genie, but you wanna tell MajorNelsonover thereto get the show on the road."'See at this pointMichaelW. Smith had taken the lace out of his left shoe and was danglingIt in front of him, an' laughing his goddamnedass off in frontof God and a couplebajilliononlookers.
"AllrightMichael,"Godsaysto him,givin'him a nudge,''dowhat we talkedabout."
"Helloeverybody,"Michaelsaysintoa microphone, ''I'm MichaelW, Smith. I believe in God and he has asked me to come here today to minister my faith to you. He has askedme to climbthe lightsscaffoldinghere and jump. God is here,now,with us, and he will catchme.''
The wholetimehe's beentalkin',Amy'stotally comin'on to me -she'sgot a majordrunk horngoing,she'sin tequilaheat.So Michael finishestalking and starts over to the scaffolding.Everybodyooohs and awwws, and Mike starts climbingright up. Some people are cheering,some are laugh!rig,some are cryingout ''NO NO." He gets to the top and looksaroundfor a minute.He'sgot thisgreat glazedlookin his eyes,weedgivesyou great heretic eyes. Everyone expects they're gonnabe these wild, dartingcrazies,so its great to confusethem with a passiveHindu cow expression.
Oh yeah, so while he's climbing, Amy grabs my ass, and Mike's sitting in the top of the scaffoldin'and she's tryin' to lick my earl The inside of it! That's Just fuckin' gross! Fuck man, I'd lick a lot of things, but not that-and I don't like getting' it licked either. So I give Amy Grant a little shove off me. Then she's all angry, and still horny, and now she's blabbln'. On and on about how l'rn always flirtin with her (which is true) and checkin' her out (also true) so why am I being a tease.
"Well I'm tryin' to watch a goddammed miracle here Amy, so you wanna shut the fuck up.•
God starts gain' all circus clown fireman, running around the stage with his arms out trying to align himself wit11the plummeting contemporary Christian soft pop-rock icon.
Just then Amy lifts her shirt. She wants my attention; she gets it...and God's! God looks over to scope his
Dear Editor, I was also at the conferehce on the Canadian Ethos that Andrew Bingham wrote about In the previous issue of the Cascade. I too was compelled to report on the topics covered by the speakers of the day. However, my reasons for writing were tnuch more pragmaticthan for the noble purpose of journalism, rny professor was forcing me to. In any case, as I was typing my papElr regarding Canadian nationalism at school, I noticed a feature of the computer that ironically epitomized the focus of the conference. None of the student computers in any of the labs in this universityhave a Canadiandictionary installed. When I spoke with the lab monitor he told me it was for economic reasonsthat the school had decided not to upgrade the computers. I assume this was to increase funding for the library.
This seems to be a rather misguided way to save money for the school. Following this reasoning, let's say tt1eschool wanted to erect a flagpole on our cam• pus. Would the Board see fit to purchase an American flag instead of a Canadian flag because It was cheap-
er? I do not want to rant, but it is no secret that the Canadianculture is under incessant pressure to acquiesce to the American Way. The melting pot that ow Southernneighbourshave quite mistakenlyproclaimed as the home of the free constantlythreatens to encompass us. It would seem logical that as a Canadian school, the directorswould attempt to stem this tide by, at the very least, providing students with access to a program that corrects our work in our language.
This instance is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of the Americanizationof our educational Institutions. One of the speakersat the conference,Robin Mathews was instrumentalin ensuring that Canadian professors would be hired at Canadian universities. I have been told that universities in this province now go-throughthe-motions of trying to hire domestic talen"t"before going to get whom they really want," usually American lecturerswith Ivy Leaguepedigree. I am not suggesting that this is occurring at this universityyet. As this lnsti· tution grows, it will increase Its reputation as a respectableand important learning centre. To enhance
creation and Michael goes whizzln' past his open arms, for about three feet, then he's all over the place. A Polluck paintin' with sneakers and a turquoise blazer.
Well God beats it outta there lickity split, and I, who of course arn visible, get hauled away to account for the whole thing. Amy prayed, or charmed, or paid (or sucked) her way out of jail on her own recogno-somethin', then she went home for four days before posting my bail. Bitch.
So, that's how Michael w. Smith bit it. True story. Yup, swear ta God, all true , Now, if you wanna know what Amy Grant's tits looked like, ask rne another day. And bring another bottle of gin. Not that cheap shit either this time, Beafeater or Tanqueray or somethin'. Yeah, somethin' good. What do ya mean "is the story worth it?" a man lost his life over them gonzagas, you better believe it'll be worth it.
Sure,BombaySapphire'IIbe just fine. See ya,tomorrow.
this reputation, it is not unreasonableto speculate that the Board will overlook Canadians to pursue American professors with Impressive credentials. That is not to say that Americans worthy of teaching Canadian students do not exist, but I would argue that a country's citizens maintain nationalism.An American could teach a class about the magnitude of the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum, but only a Canadian could impart how profoundly it personally affected them.
I would truly hope that in the future the Board will broaden its considerationbeyond purely financial concerns. As students at UCFV, we are a part of a very special Canadian tradition where post-secondary education is universally accessible. Let this tradition not be tar· nlshed by influences that would prefer to have education reserved for the rich. The sacrifice of a Canadian dictiohary for our students is a first step down the slip· pery slope into the American Melting Pot.
and globalisation. They are all around you; they are on you and in your head: Nike, Levis, CNN, Shell, Walmart, Ford. GM, Phillip Morris, Smith and Wesson, GE, Disney, CTV, McDonald's, The National Post, The Globe and Mail. Tim Horton's-• who Is rolling over in his grave--and Save-On· Foods-yes, Jimmy too.
Oh. Canada???
'Our home' is Native land.
New patriot love
In all The South's command With fading hearts forsee the fall, The True North weak, we flee From far and wide. Oh, Canada? I stand on guard for me.
Anon.
Hello out there. These are my usual pseudocoherent ramblings, this time unusually sensible for all you masses of proles. I know there's an ounce of conscience in you somewhere. Are you Canadian? Do you care about this country? Are you human? Do you care about this world? 1 know you do, even if you don't know it. Does that poem up there offend you? I should hope it does; it offends me too, but it's the truth, EH 111
In the words of Robin Mathews: "wake up and smell the napalm!" 'The napalm' is in Chiapas, it's in Kosovo, Iraq, Palestine, Colombia, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Russia, Ireland, Chechnya and soon it will be in Canada. The napalm Is In the US: it's the largest army in the world; it's the inner-cities; it's the gated communities and the high school shootings. Weapons and violence and exploitation of people and the environment are all around the world, they're increasingly on our doorstep, and they're beating down the door with NAFTA, FTAA
They're at the Abbotstord International Alrshow when the arms dealers come to town; right across the border when SE2 will TRY to push us around; in Alaska where the oil interests are going to drill in a wildlife reserve; at the World Court trying to deny South Africa from manufacturing its own generic medicine to stop the AIDS epidemic; In Africa fueling the civil wars over resources with guns and money; in Columbia where the CIA is trying to stop the people from liberating themselves from the drug cartels; in Chechnya, Serbia, Kosovo, and Albania, where oil interests-along with NATO-•are again at work fueling chaos and destruction: in Toronto and Beijing where the cosmopolitan oligarchs will do anything to preserve a squeaky clean image for the global business elite; in the sweatshops that are no longer slm• ply a third-world Asian phenomenon (as if that makes it any better): labourers and refugees trying to escape the injustices of their own countries have simply relocated and been enslaved in sweatshops across America. The nasty world is all around you-Machlavellian-Bismarkian Realpolitik-·if you choose to get your heads out of your asses. If you don't, don't worry, it will hit you hard some day when you least expect it. Or it Will simply dog you for your life In the form of bills, car payments, credit card debt, mortgage loans, health and education for your family, etc.
This is profits over people and the environment. The corporate elite are more and more indulging themselves In acquisitions, takeovers and merg• ers--the gambling of the enormously rich. The
By the time this child has graduated from high school, her brain will have absorbed three-hundred and fifty thousand television commercials, one-hundred thousand alcohol ads, and a daily barrage of sex and violence. If that doesn't turn you off, then nothing will.
I
Perhaps this article is a bit premature, but now may be the perfect time to start 'spreading the news'; after all, most of us will not be wandering these halls much after April 10, and will probably not have the time or inclination to pick up the latest issue of the Cascade.
Okay, aside from the obvious arguments about the direct link between violence in society and media vio· lence, there are other equally convincing arguments against TV overconsumption. TV is twinkies for the brain. It's okay in moderation, but a steady diet turns your brain to mush, making ii that much easier to make you a peon, a puppet dangling by the strings of the media moguls who feather their nests with our apathy and our insatiable appetite for more and more insubstantial fluff. I could wax on concerning the deplorable state of our crass consumeristic and material driven society, but I'll save that rant for another day. Let's concentrate on television.
The average American (it's a US study, but tor our purposes it will do)
watches four hours of TV per day, forty per cent of Americans watch TV while eating dinner, and advertisers know that children can develop brand loyal• ty as early as two years old. We are a TV culture, and it shows. It should be obvious to most of us that TV squelches the active mind and effectively shuts down the active imagination. The mind is not engaged because it doesn't need to be. Toe TV does it all tor you. Televisionis Big Brother. He may not be watching you directly, but he is telling you what to think, who to believe, what to buy, and when to watch. It's a prison for your mind. They say the hardest part for convicts trying to adjust to freedom is the reality of having to make all thechoices for yourself. The same principle applies to television. Try leaving it off for one week and you will see what I mean. I like to quote my favorite philosopher when It comes to this topic: Calvin, of the infamous 'Calvin & Hobbes.' He quotes Marx in the statement ''religion will be the opiate for the masses" scan to next box where we see a small television set with a think bubble above that states: "Marx ain't seen nothing yet!" I could not have said ii better.
It seems to me that our attention is the most valuable thing we have, (which is why advertisers pay so much for access to it). One could even say it's what we are. I'm amazed at how people give themselves away -actually pay cable fees tor the privilege- to a medium that just wants to make them
want something, and then crave more of that wanting.
-Jonathan Rowe, contributingeditor of WashingtonMonthly
Television Is about advertising, and advertising is about selling people things they don't need. Overconsumption by the wealthy nations is easily one of the most pressing environmentalproblems facing the world today.
•Barbara Dudley, former executive director of Greenpeace USA
US Surgeon General David Satcher endorsed National TV-Turnoff Week again in 2000, saying: "I am particularly supportive of this event because excessive televlsion•watchingleads to sedentary lifestyles.Given our national television habit, it is no surprise that we are raising the most sedentaryand most overweight generation of youngsters in American history. As they grow, these children will run increased risks of heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems- unless they turn off the tube and become physically active."
This is his "Prescriptionfor Less rv·:
Go bicycling, play soccer, jump rope, fly a kite, dance, start a garden, go running, swim laps, clean your room1 do gymnastics, throw a frisbee, walk around the block, learn to rollerskate,build a fort.
--~
wealth of the world is held by fewer and fewer hands every day. They don't care about you and I, and Spark Neglected continued on page 18
GeniusInterjectsGreatnessInto
(Editor's note: Errors in logic and grammar have been preserved to protect the guilty.]
By Dustin CarlsonHello and welcome to my first article with the Cascade. On this my maiden voyage into the ranks of the intellectualelite, where I skip nimbly between Illustrious articles of serious concern, I bring you nothing but a simple story. Be forewarned that this is no fictitious tale of excitement and high romance.There are no recounted acts of bravery with which to regale you and no illicit expose of sex or violence to indulge your basest of urges will be found. No my reader, this Is simply a excerpt from a travel log taken only a short time ago, in a far off place of sun, surf, sand, and of course all • encompassing depravity. The place is known as Australiato the common man, but is referredto as OZ by the natives of this self proclaimed backwards society. A land thriving on beach culture, sports, Aussie males riding kangaroo's whilst throwing boomerangs, and of course perpetual consumption of beer.
Last October,me and some fellowsdecided to visit the afore mentioned continent and taste the veritable feast of fresh frontiers by way of a grueling month long road trip. Our sojourn carried us along the entire expanse of the East Coast, and which also entailed an arduous trip into the badlands of Central Australia.Whatyou are about to read, if you have persevered thus tar, is an account of our experiences in the Northeasterlycity of Cairns, also spelt phonetically as Cannes. I hope the accompanying pictures help to complete the rich tapestry I plan to paint with my words for you the beloved reader
Tuesday June 6th 2000
We arrived at night and found a hostel, guarded by a 40-foot tall statue of Captain Cook. We are all lazy and/or tired. Went to bed early.
Wednesday June 7th 2000
Stumbling out of bed surprisinglyearly, we all parade out of our room unshaved and unbathed to claim our highly deli· Trip
"You must leave the country at once," my father told me, "they are coming to arrest you. Flee where you will be sate," he continued. These were his last words to me and I did not know I would never hear his voice again. In haste, I took my small bag and put into It what I thought I would need on the way; I did not have time to choose what to take with me or leave behind. My father and I hugged, kissed, and said good-bye to each other. I did not know whether what was happening was real or a dream. I set off on a journey, and I did not know where to go or what to do. All I had In my mind was fleeing with my life, dreams, and future from arrest and torture, because staying in my country meant that Iraqi police would arrest me and I would be sentenced later to death or to life in prisor. with hard labour. A relative who was working in the security office told my father, that a report had been sent to the police about my political activities against the Iraqi regime. Our relative found out about that report by accident. He called my father secretly and warned him that the police would come and arrest me very soon. Because my father loved me so much, it was very hard for him to tell me to leave the country, But it meant saving my life, and it would have been even harder for him to see me get tortured and killed by Saddam's police. My father told me to leave, tears filling his big brown eyes and running slowly down on his aged, red cheeks as If they were two rivers flowing with love and compassion. It was the second time I saw him crying; the first time was when my mother died. I always thought of my father as a strong, hard feeling man, that there was nothing in the world that would shake him or make him cry. There he was, crying and telling about a decision that I had to make in less than five minutes. The decision that would determine my fate and future. I felt that time had suddenly stopped and I was telling myself to wake up, I must be dreaming. This can't be true; I have to leave immediately. Unfortunately, it was a real thing that was happening to me and I had to leave immediately. I had no chance to say good-bye to the rest of my family or to my friends. Time was running out and any delay would be a big mistake. On my way to the north of Iraq, I had to get into an old train that moved very slowly and had to stop frequently due to mechanical problems. Although it takes ages for that train to move and get people to their destination, some still want to ride our old and unreliable train for Its cheap prices. Some, like me, want to avoid the Iraqi police checkpoints on the roads and highways. The train was moving on its old tracks with the sound of its wheels, tech, tech, tech I started bringing back to my mind a lot of memories of my child· hood and how I was a very naughty boy. I thought of my dreams to graduate from university, and to marry the prettiest girl in the world. I thought of the rost of my family and friends, leaving them without a good-bye, leaving them to suffer because of own my foolishness. l remembered my favorite brother who was closest to me and who loved me very much despite my craziness, stubbornness, and laziness. I remembered how he was sweet, gentle, and prepared to take the blame on him· self to save me from fatherly punishment. I remembered how we hung out together all the time and shared each other s secrets and weaknesses. I knew I was going to miss him so much and going to lose him as a friend and brother.
I thought of the night the Gulf War broke out. My family and I were sleeping peacefully in a very cold January night; we heard American planes flying over our house very low and dropping bombs. The planes' scary sounds and loud explosions made me Jump from my bed astonished and surprised. I did not know what was happening. The ground and the windows were shaking and the sky of that dark winter night suddenly was illu• minated with Iraqi anti-aircraft fire. My room was upstairs and.I was able to see from the window those flashing red lights and hear noise coming from outside. There was chaos everywhere mixed with the sound of the ambulances and sirens. It took me a while to realize that it was war. I stood there not knowing what to do until I heard my stepmother, little brother and sisters screaming from downstairs. I tried to find the door of my room to get out and go downstairs, but I could not
because the power plant was bombed, leaving my house and Baghdad in darkness. I was terrified, my hands and legs were shaking violently. Finally I found it, opened it quickly and ran out .When I went downstairs, I heard my dad calling me saying, "We are here." When I looked closely in the dark, I found my father, stepmother, little brother, and sisters all hiding underneath the stairs. They were all $haking and my stepmother was holding my brother in her arms and crying and saying "No, I do not want die, no, no " I said to my father, "We should get out of the house immediately; it is not safe for us to stay here."
My father calmed his wife down and we all held hands and made our way out of the house in the darkness. While we were holding hands, I felt the warmth, love, and closeness of my family, which gave me back the courage, determination, and reason for living. During that time, the Americans neither stopped dropping bombs nor did our house stop shaking. As we were getting out, I saw my big brother, with a loving and corn· passionate face, coming to our house to help us, despite the danger of the bombing, to make sure we were all right. We all made it safely to the shelter, but the bombing continued all night. In the shelter, our neighbors were terrified and astonished. Some them were crying and some were asking their God to help the people of Iraq in these dark hours. But there was no answer, and the people thought even God had forsak· en us and the end of our lives was very close. The more bombs that were dropped on my city, the more the walls of the shelter and the ground shook. Every time a bomb dropped and fell close to the shelter, we jumped from our places and got ready to run out. We were terrified all night and unable to sleep. The shelter was small and dark; it had a big metal door and its walls were built
from concrete. Although we were safe in the shelter, it was very cold; we had no heaters or blankets to warm ourselves. I did not know whether I was shaking from the cold or the bombing. Then I heard a little girl saying to her mother, "Mamma, it ls very cold here ,I want 10 go home."
"Yes, sweetheart we will all go home soon. Now try to sleep and everything will be fine in the morning." her morn said. On that old train, as I was remembering all that, I felt the tears falling from my eyes. Although I tried to stop the tears and remember my pride, and In being a man, that men should not cry, my fears, pain, and sadness was stronger than my pride. I was so scared and alone, nineteen years old, heading into an unknown destiny, an unknown future, far from my home and my loved ones. I put my face into hands, and I cried very hard. When I looked out the Window as the train was leaving my town, the dark clouds had filled the skies of Baghdad that day and started pouring heavy showers of rain. As I was crying, the sky was crying too and saying good-bye to me, her beloved son. I had neither a family member nor a friend at the train station to say good•bye to me as I was leaving. The station was crowded and filled with people: everyone had someone with them to say good-bye to as they left, but not me. I was alone, and alone I was going to be for long time to come.
The train was making its way slowly to the north, through the valleys and up the hills, until it came to its last stop a little after midnight. I had to go out in that cold winter nigh!. I fell so tried, hungry, and sleepy and wanted even to fall asleep on the edge of the dusty, wet, and demolished sidewalks. I looked around, but I could not find anywhere to lay my head. I saw the city police kicking homeless people out of the shelters they had taken for the night, forcing them to leave and wan-
der all night in the cold, dark streets. I could not go to a hotel because the police would come and check the hotels every night and they would probably ask me for my I. D. card and my reason for being there. It was dangerous for me to stay in a hotel because I was wanted by the police, and it was hard to find anywhere else in that hour to receive me either. I had to wander around like the other people and avoid the police. Then I saw a light from a tearoom that was open. I was so happy because I knew that it would stay open all night. When I came closer to the tearoom, I smelled the Iraqi tea, felt the warmth of the fire, and heard the touching Iraqi songs from the radio. Al-maqah the tearoom was a place where the Iraqi people would go to drink the tasty Iraqi tea, see friends and play cards games. So imme· diately I entered and sat down. I saw sorrie people sit· ting close to the fire, keeping themselves warm and drinking tea in small cups and plates. I had had nothing since I left; I was happy with a cup of tea, although it was not what I wanted. I really wanted a good, hot meal, but It was hard to get. I drank tea until I could drink no more. It seemed to me that the night was not going to end; the morning was far away. When I looked around, I could see many people sitting in the tea room that night, but nobody said a word to me, as if they were afraid of me or of the person sitting next to them. They might have thought I was an agent of the police. There was a scary silence as fear filled the place. I sensed their suspicious glances at me. They tried hard to hide these looks from their faces, but it was obvious they were scared of this nineteen ·year old stranger sitting alone in the corner of a tea shop in the middle of the night. A group of old people sat next to me playing cards. Initially, they looked like happy people, but when I looked at their thin faces, they were covered with sadness. The despair colored them black as if those people were crying for somebody who had died or was going to die. I felt that my heart was grieving for my country and weeping for my people. We had laughter, happiness, and prosperity, and now they were gone forever, leaving sorrow and death. People were dying everywhere because of sickness and hunger. I said to myself that the Angel of Death was visiting my country and going to stay for long time. I could not see parties or weddings any more, for all people were in mourning and all women were clothed in black. There wasn't one family that had not lost a loved one in the war or in the uprising; I felt that I was not sitting in a tea room but in
funeral. and it could well be mine.
The time was passing very slowly and the strong wind was blowing outside that small place. The cold wind and freezing weather outside were driving more people out of their shelters to the room. With so many of them, there weren't enough seats for all. Some of them sat on the wet floor, leaning their backs on the wall and smoking cigarettes, while some found a temporary refuge on the wet floor where they slept. As I was watching them, I closed my eyes for a moment, going back in my memory to a small town by the Euphrates Iraq
"So eager to say, hello,but you don't know me. You just knowwhat you see. Paythe priceto see the showbut you don't own me. Beforeyou knew would you have felt the same?" -"This SecretNinja"by AFI
recordingfour songs and releasinga 7 seven inch and askedme if I wantedto sing. So I was,of course,extremely flatteredand excited. Four songs turnedInto ten and I asked Dexterif he would be interestedin releasingIt on Nitroand he was totallyinto it. Hehadn'theardany of the songsbut just basedon the playerson the album,he said he wouldput it out. So they sentme tapesovera periodof aboutfour weeks;a tape everytwo weekswith five songs on each of them. Just the music and I had to write the melodiesand the words.And then go downand sing them cold, like havingneversung thembeforeand them never hearinganythingI had donebeforeand recordthem! And that'show it workedand it workedout!"
In responseto if they would ever go on tour together, Daveyquicklyresponded,"I don'tthink so. I thinkat most, becauseall of us have reallyfull-timebands:London'sIn TigerArmy,I'm in AFI, obviously,which is just really,really full-timefor me, and Todd'sin Danzigand Stevehas his bandChyna,and he also has anotherfull-timejob. And it's like, at most,if we're in the same placeat the same time, which would probablybe Los Angelesor San Francisco, we woulddo a show."
song, "Total Immortal, which appears on the Me, Myself, and Irene Soundtrack. He responded, "Yes, I know exactly why! Well, the Offspringgot offeredto do the soundtrack tor Me, Myself. and Irene and they asked the soundtrack producersif they could do a coveror If they had to do an original. The producerstold them to go aheadand do a cover. So they reallylikedour songand askedus if theycouldcoverour song''TotalImmortal?'We told then to go ahead. Neitherof us at the time had any ideathat it wouldbe gettingany sortof airplay,whichit did.·
If I ever have been excitedaboutmeetingsomeone,it was definitely this past Thursday,March 15th , when I met Davey Havok, lead singer of AFI, before the band's performanceduring the SnoJam tour. AFI Is describedas "East Bay Hardcore"and started up in the early 90's. DexterHollandof The Offspring'slabel,NltroRecords,has eagerlysupportedall of the band's recordingssince their secondfull-lengthalbum,Very Proudof Ya AFI has been oneof my favoritebandsforquitesometimenowand I was eagerto hear what Daveyhad to say aboutAFl's progression as a band, and of course,get some answersto several thingsthat I was curiousabout.
My first questionwas how Son of Sam came about. I saw on the Nltrowebsitethat Havok,alongwith Todd(member of Danzig),London(ofTigerArmyandSamhain)andSteve (of Chynaand Samhaln)have a collaborativeeffortcalled Son of Sam,Whichwill releasean albumcalledSongsfrom the Earthon Aprll 17th. I wonderedwhat had inspiredthe projectand If the musicianswould ever tour together.
Daveyanswered,"Well.we (AFI)touredwith Samhainlast year: it was Samhain and Danzig. And I actually had knownLondonMay priorto that:London,fromSamhain.A few monthsafter we got off the tour,Londoncalledme up and said that he and SteveZing and ToddYouth,who is Danzig'scurrent guitaristand was playing guitar on that reunion tour, said that they were all working on songs. Theyjust had a littleprojectgoing. Theywereplanningon
I askedhim what the band did in Vancouverthat day and he said they got in at 2am, slept and then drove to the show,so theydidn'tgetto go anddo anything.ThenI mentionedthat I had only seen them once, in the manytimes that they had been here, and it was at 1999'sSlam City Jam. He rememberedthe show as being,"so sick". He went on to say, "Jadeand I had i03 degreefevers:dying! We were sooo sick!" I don't rememberseeingany lack of effortIn their performancethough,and it reallyimpressed me to know that they were that determined(and loyal to their tans) to play their show despitehavingevery reason to cancel.
I then asked about the heavierand darker soundsintroducedwith their third release,ShutYour Mouthand Open Your Eyes that has continued""lointensifywith their latest two releasesand EP. I wonderedif it was thenthatguitarist Jade Pugetjoinedthe bandand was influencingthe songwriting. Daveyanswered,"WellJadeJoinedon BlackSails In the Sunset (their fourth full-length).His first recording with us was the song that we did for the Fat compilation, (ShortMusicfor ShortPeople).Jadedid havea majorrole in the transitionof our band,you knowfromthe VeryProud of Ya and the AnswerThat and Stay Fashionabledays to wherewe are now. Jade is one of my favoritesongwriters and I've alwayswantedto workwith him and it's just really a pleasureto have him in the band and to work with him. Really,ShutYourMouth,in particular:thatwas thefirsttime whereall thesongwritingwas currentfor us. VeryProudof YaandAnswerThatand StayFashionablewere bothcompilationsof oldersongsthatwe had beenwritingpriorto the time of beinggiventhe opportunityto recordthemand put them out on CD. AnswerThat and Stay Fashionablewas just a bunchof songsthat we had writtenthe whole time that we had been a band and we finallygot a chanceto recorda record. Very Proudof Ya had someAnswerThat and StayFashionablestuffand thensorneof the new stuff. Andthen ShutYourMouthwas all new. And then for me, I thinkit wasn't until BlackSallsin the Sunsetthat we really startedcoming into our own: our own sound and a real comfortableplaceas a band."
I asked him if he knew why The Offspringcoveredtheir
I added,"Not really in Canada,but in the States. I kept hearingaboutit." Daveycontinued,''Yeah.whichwas really weird. We neverexpectedthat but that'sJustthe way it went. Yeah,but you know they would never play our version!" I then had to tell him that I liked their version so muchbetter. I guessthat was a given though.
So after my gushy fan moment, I asked Davey who his influencesare, as a singer. He replied, "Vocaliststhat I have tremendousrespect for are Perry Fertal, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Glenn Danzig (Misfits/ Samhain/Danzig). Umm, let's see, Greg Graffin (Bad Religion), MiloAukerman (Descendants),Darby Crash (The Germs) lots! Robert Smith (The Cure), Peter Murphy(Bauhaus),Ian Curtis(Joy Division)."
I askedhim what kind of stuff he's been listening10 lately. He answered,"Most of the stuff I listen to is older bands. The Replacements,The Smiths,The Cure,Specimen,The Germs,The Deadboys,the new Lordsof Acid. I reallylike it, it's reallygood.A PerfectCircle,I think that album'sone of the mostamazingrecordsin a longtime, The Deftones, Coldplay:you know the band Coldplay? I really like that band... He (singer,Chris Martin)has a great voice,yeah, that'sa reallygood CD. The new Radiohead,At the DriveIn, of course. Of course! Hmm fron Maiden yeah, I listen to all sortsof stuff."
I thenasked,if therewas any bandthatAFI couldtourwith, dead or alive,who he would want to play a show with. He thoughtfor a bit and asked,"Couldthis be with no regard to how we would go over with their crowd?" I curiously replied,"Yep."He continued,"So let'sjust pretendthattheir crowd might like us um, The Cure. Yep. Yeah, I'd really like to (also)tour with A PerfectCircle. I would love to do that.''
I told him that I just seen them in the past year. He eagerly replied,''Didyou see themwith the Nine Inch Nailstour? That was one of the mostamazingshows I've seen in my life. I love Nine Inch Nails,you know I like industriala lot: Skinny Puppy and Ministryand Laibach,Nitzer Ebb and stufflike that. And I love Nine Inch Nails! And to see them and A PerfectCircletogetherand the whole show and the lightsthat Trenthad going:Amazing I A delightfulshort chat with my favouriteband made my week. I hope everyone out thereenjoyedit as muchas I did.
alter a couple centuries to portray an early 2oth century setting.This was a mistake.Although I am a person who does not usually fear change, this dramatic alteration of such a classic was simply unnecessary. It did not enhance the play by creating a 'fresher version,' but rather provided me with much frustration as I pondered
By
Jessica Danylchukwhy they would want to massacre Shakespeare'sfinest. As for the performance,the acting was mediocre. It was
On SaturdayMarch 24th, I took It upon rnyselfto brave• be unfair to expect total greatness out of collegiate ly forge my way Into the smelly ranks of Chilliwack to actors. Sure they perfected some scenes, but others take in UCFV's latest theatre production. This time it were still spotted with confused lines. was Shakepeare's"Romeoand Juliet."As it is one of my Directing was appreciable as UCFV theatre departShakespeareanfavourites, my expectationswere high. ment's Bruce Klrkly took the reigns.
Also, I figured they already had two weeks of perform• As it ended and the lovers lay dead, I asked myself one ances behind them, giving them more than sufficient good question: when Is somebody gonna come up with practice. I walked in to find the place pretty jumpin'. I an ending In which both Romeo and Juliet live happily suppose It was the last Saturday of performance,so I ever after? guess that was allowed. So on with the show. After reviewingthe press package I was prepared to watch the _world'sgreatest love story
The Snojam 7 tour stopped at Vancouver's Croatian Cultural Centre Thursday, March 15. I hadn't been to a show there since summer and I was surprised to see a $1 coat/backpack check strictly enforced. I got over it eventually.
Headliners for this show were the Berkley, California band AFI, whom I will extensively describe after a quick account of the four opening bands.
Nicotine was up first at 7pm. I was a bit late, and I did an interview, so I missed almost the entire set of this band from Japan. I'm sorry to say they failed to entice me.
Next was SoCal's Death By Stereo, whom I was quite excited to see. Singer Efrem Schulz was in the crowd at least once each song. They got the punk/hard• core/metal theme started for the night, alternating songs from their latest release with songs from their first album.
The intensity of Death By Stereo's set was interrupted by the Montreal ska band Planet Smashers, who were playing their second show since the beginning of the year. Almost everyone seemed to be skanking along, but there were a few ska-haters in the crowd voicing
their opinions and throwing stuff. The band was very tight sounding and fun so as they ended up being a light start to the heavier stuff to come. They also played two songs from their new album, which hadn't been played live yet: their opener, "Fabricated" and their third last song, "Skate or Die.''
Soon it was time for New York's "fab four of hardcore," Sick of it All. This band seemed to gain all their energy from the crowd. Neadless to say, they were totally into their show. I am sadly not too familiar with the band, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying their heavy set, including "Injustice System," "Built to Last," "Good Lookln' Out." "Step Down," ··sanctuary,"and "America," Finally, the band that I had been waiting for all night took the stage amidst smoke, jack o'lanterns, and a chanting crowd: AFI. They opened with the perfect show (and album) intro, "Strength Through Wounding." I think there were two songs after this one, during which I seem to have drawn a blank as to what happened. But I am able to recall their next song, "A Single Second,'' which was played immediately after numerous chants for it. "Cruise Control" was followed with a song that seemed to sum up the look of the crowd that night: "I Wanna Get a Mohawk (But Mom Won't Let Me Get One)." I felt kind of old in the crowd even though I can't really justify the feeling. I also overheard the
bouncers remarking on the different crowd at the show; the lack of people that they usually would see there. So, back to AFl's set... unfortunately, the sound was very bad at times and Jade was having big troubles with his guitar(s). I was indignant that these headliners were the only band with sound problems I I managed to enjoy the show of course, but it would have been a lot better if there hadn't been so many problems with the equipment. The band was cool under pressure and continued to play. They played "Clover Smoke Catharsis," then "The Lost Souls;" dedicated to those who had ever felt out of place and then they played their first single off of their last album, "Days of the Phoenix." They finished off with a wicked song The Offspring made big: "Total Immortal", They seemed to be in a hurry to get off the stage after that. I don't know if they came back for an encore because I took off at that time as well, but I hope they did.
I left thinking I had been at an awesome .show, but I was also a little disappointed that AFI had to have problems during their set. It was quite the Impressive line-up this year though, and I look forward to seeing the combination of bands that the organizers will come up with next year.
By Jessica Danylchuk their thing to chariots of fire. It was really surreal." & Kyle Webb
For four hours last Friday (March 23), UCFV Fine Arts student, Erich Gerl, ran his own personal marathon along the path between the library and the cafeteria at the Abby campus. The only crutch he allowed himself was a single juice table to occasionally refresh himself throughout his ordeal. He also had a group of dedicated friends to jeer him on.
When asked the ultimate question of why, he simply answered that he did It for audience participation and he wanted to create something that was out of the ordinary. "It became about the moment and the environment that it created "
He was successful with his arnbiguous and rather limit· ed objectives. All day he had fellow student snickering in amazement and postulating theories as to why? It provoked several discussions, most notably a group of kinese students who Erich met in the can who were concerned whether or not he was physically prepared for the grueling ordeal. Their answer turned out to be no, as Gerl's physical capabilities cut him short of his goal by one hour. He originally intended to push for five hours but only survived for four.
"It was pretty tiring" stated Gerl after a weekend of recovering.
"The juice on my clothes really started to weigh me down quite a bit."
When asked if it was a work of art, Gerl simply replied ''It was interesting for me to see all these people doing ''Yeah sure, it's whatever you want to call it.·
Looking back on my time spent in the UCFV Visual Arts department, I will always remember it is a pivotal point in my life. The faculty both encouraged me and challenged me in the art pieces I created, teaching me to become a freethinker. l was taught not only to question the world around me, but that I had a responsibility to question n,y own motivations in why I created the images l did. For those of us who are going on in the field of art, I think we will forever be grateful for our few years of preparation that we received at UCFV.
Janine BakerThe Fine Arts Depart at UCFV is a place where aspiring artists can be nurtured and guided into the contemporary wolf of visual arts. Through critiques, field trips and gallery shows students learn to find meaning in art and to explore their own interests with artistic freedom. After learning basic techniques and theories, it is amazing to see the diversity of artwork emerging tron, fellow students in the arts. This Is foremost in my memory of the three years spent developing myself as an artist at UCFV. I will miss the comraderies, the instructors and the gallery shows
"I just started running and I didn't talk to anyone, and not talking to anyone real• ly got them thinking about what I was doing and why I was doing it and that was the reason I didn't talk to anyone."
Needless to say, it was an obvious break in the monotony of a university where nothing happens most of the time and students are trained to work rather than learning how to think.
The UCFV women's basketball team came within an eyelash of bringing home a national championship ban• ner over the weekend of March 15th•17th. The Cascades lost by three points in the final game of the tournament to Calgary's Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
"SAIT is a lot more experienced team. They have eight fourth year players," says UCFV head coach Sandy Chambers. "We have seven new rookies. So it's from one extreme to the other".
the
"They're a very physical team. Going In a lot of people were concerned that we wouldn't be able to handle them physically," notes Chambers.
In the first half of the game UCFV did have a hard time with SAIT's size and their bumping and grinding style of play. After twenty minutes SAIT led 39 to 31. The second half was a different story as the Cascades came out flying and Immediately cut Into the deficit.
"The first half I think we had a little bit of trouble with that (SAIT's physi• cal play). In the second half, we were definitely able to handle the physicalness of them." states Chambers.
Unfortunately, the Cascades inexperience was the difference as they were unable to cap-
italize on many of their late chances.
"The last ten possessions of the game we didn't play as
well as we had the rest of the game. We had some shots Inside that we missed and that ended up to be the difference," says Chambers. The team's free throw shooting also contributed to the loss. The Cascades shot an abysmal 47% from the charity stripe in the gold medal game.
"Free throw shooting was probably the biggest factor: says Chambers.
This was the first time since 1997 that UCFV has sent the women's team to the national championships. Our ladies advanced to the tournament by winning the BC's back on March 3rd.
UCFV opened the nationals with a decisive victory over Humber from Ontario. The Cascades were never in trouble as they cruised to a 62-43 final. Lauren Alonzo was named player of the game for her efforts.
In the semi-final game, the Cascades played Montpetit from Quebec. UCFV looked a little sluggish in the opening twenty and trailed 35 to 30 at half time. However, the Cascades exploded out of the locker room and dominated the second half. They outscored their opponents 34 to 16 in the closing twen• ty minutes making the final 64 to 51 in favor of UCFV. Rachel Peters was named game MVP.
Peters had an all-round exceptional showing in the
"Rachael Peters had a great tournament," raves Chambers.
Expectations were high entering the nationals. UCFV was the tournament's third seed.
"We had had a good year and were playing well," says
Chambers. "As soon as I saw all the teams I knew we could play with all of them".
The Cascades' success this season cannot be attrib· uted to just one team member.
"Our team's been made up all year long of different people stepping up each game," said Chambers.
This team unity is something that Chambers hopes to build on for next season. With most of the team return• ing for another year and some strong new recruits joining the ranks in the fall, the women will be looking to Improve on their silver medal performance in 2002. Chambers is very optimistic about their chances of doing so.
nationals and was named to the All•Tournament first "On paper we look very strong to be able to be there team. (the nationals) trying to win it all".
you can't meet those needs because the budgets have remained static."
By Kyle WebbNews flash: Sports is underfunded at UCFV, and Athletic Director Jane Anti! agrees. •·1would agree that the sports program is underfunded, but I want to quality that. There's a lot of things underfunded around here."
The Increasing lack of funds in the athletic department in particular is d!Je to inflation and our growing student body at UCFV, says Antil. "The problem of course is, as the student body grows you have more needs, and
Fundraising therefore, makes up a major portion of the budget for the Athletic Department at UCFV and at many other schools across the country. This is not something that is out of the norm tor universities, but It is part of a larger trend that has seen the university ath· letic departments recieve proportionally less and less money over the years. "When I was hired" 14 years ago ''that was part of the job description, so it wasn't like it was something I was suprised about having to do."
"I don't think it has always been the standard for Canadian universities; I think it's become the standard now." The standard now is that provincial funding of universities has remained virtually the same. Schools
such as ours are growing In population while whole new departments have been spawned in the decade or two, such as computer science and media and communications studies. This leaves athletics low on the priority lists of senoir administrators and thus there is little room for athletics--along with the humanities, see 'political science' last issue--in the proverbial funding pie of UCFV. The ongiong gym debacle Is Just one example of the inadequacies of our senior amdministration in dealing with the students athletic, recreational, and school spirit needs.
Unfortunately this problem doesn't seem to be fixable until provincial funding Increases and administrative bias towards certain departments falls accordingly. But the new gym is at least one step in the right direction.
Registration tor Spring semester has begun. The spring Semester timetable is now up on the net.Reminder that this year, spring semester students will be ordered according to registration priority policy. Continuing students will find out when they can register by consulting the schedule at A&A or on the web site. New applicants will be mailed a registration time and timetable. Check the ucfv website for the timetable and registration info.
The ICSA (lndo-Canadian Students' Association} of UCFV presents "Chardi Jlwani Act 2~, Indian Earthquake Relief Culture Show. This show involves music, fashion, dance, and comedy. It can be seen at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium on Saturday, March 31st at 7:00pm. Proceeds go to the Canadian Red Cross. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. For tickets or more information contact
Gurpreet Mahil: 504-4303 (pager) Lucky's Video: 855-0111
UCFV Bursary Challenge• 5 km run.
The Fraser Valley 2001 Race Serles Is set to gol The first race is March 31 st, and will be a 5 km route start• ing at the Abbotsford library at 9:00 a.m. The UCFV Athletic Department is offering a $500 bursary (to be
used for either Spring or Fall 2001} as a draw prize for all current UCFV students who participate. Alumni and current UCFV students who present their student ID cards on race day get a 50% discountfor entry ($10 Instead of $20),
The MS Walk/Aun is held Sunday April 8, 2001 all over the lower mainland, Including one inAbbotsford and Chilliwack. Come for the entertainment. food prizes and tun! Come atone, bring a friend, compete as a team and challenge another team. You can take a leisurely walk, a competitive run or a fun filled in-line skate. A great cause and great fun for the whole farnily.
The last day of classes is April 10th and the exam peri• od runs from April 17th • 27th. Get studying I
more info or to enter online, visit www.sunrun.com. Spring Garage Sale Fundralser
The Community Women's Centre at UCFV is having a Spring Garage Sale Fundraiser onSaturday, April 28.
For more information or to make a donation, call local 4669 and leave a message for Ann. •
The dates.for the 2001 Convocation ceremonies are official I There are to take place at the Chilliwack Alliance Church during the following times:
June 11, 7:30 pm: Faculty of Community Access, Business, Info Tech, & Drafting
June 12. 9:30 am: Faculty of Arts & Applied Arts
June 12, 2:30 pm: Faculty of Science, Pride Network FIim Serles Health, & Human Services
The film series sponsored by UCFV's Pride Network continues, with a once-a-month screening. Showtime Is at 7:00 in B101 (Abby). On April 18th, "All About My Mother· will be presented. As usual, the showings are FREE, and open to all!
Participate in the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday, April 22nd. Walk. run, or even volunteer your time. For
Students in the Adult Education degree pro• gram Invite you to share their excitement about adult learning. They are organizing a conference entitled "Exploring and Celebrating Adult Learning," to be held on the Abbotsford campus on Saturday, April 28, 2001. The purpose of the conference is to explore what is happening in the world of adult learning and provide an opportunity for the sharing of ideas, skills, resources, and trends between program partic• lpants and community practitioners.
The organization of the conference is taking place through ADED 330j, an Adult Education course on Conference Planning that has been meeting Saturday mornings under the leader• ship of Andrea Kastner. The class meets as a Committee of the Whole. otherwise known as the COW. and very active sub•commlttees look after program planning, finances, registration and evaluation, logistics, and communications.
It is expected that the conference will attract
participants and presenters ftom a broad range of local adult learning environments, including but not limited to community service organiza. tions, government agencies and institUtions 1 private and workplace training organizations, In-house training departments, and community development organizations.
The cor,ference Itself will feature presentations, panel discussions, displays, and skills development workshops that honour the history of adult education in Canada, examine the present state of affairs, and look to the future.
The registration fee Is only $25 and includes lunch. Faculty, staff, students, and the commu• nity are all invited to participate. Pre-registration Is required on or before April 18. For more information and a registration form visit the conference website at www.ucfv.bc.ca/adedconference.
Remernber, if you plan to graduate at the end of the semester make sure you fill out a "Graduation Request Form". avallable from A&A and Student Services.
Check for rnore events taking place at UCFV by checking out this webpage: www.ucfv.bc.ca/crd/dateline.htm
Everyone at UCFV who knew him was saddened to hear of the death on March 5, of UCFV alumnus Michael Toop.
Michael graduated in June 2000, with a Bachelor of Science degree offered at UCFV in cooperation with Simon Fraser University. He was the v,,inrer of the Governor General's silver medal, UCFV's top academic honour. He finished his four-year degree with a 4.31 (nearly an A+J grade point average.
Toop also received the dean's undergraduate convocation medal in science from SFU in June, 2000.
In 1998, after earning his Associate of Science degree, he received the Governor General's bronze medal for being top student in a program of two years· duration.
In September 2000, Toop staned graduate studies in molecular evolution at UBC. He was given a two-year fellowship. He spent the summer of 2000 working for the research branch of Agriculture Canada in Agassiz on an integrated pest management project.
To read more about Michael, check out the UCFV wesite: http://www.uctv.bc.ca/dev/alumination
Albert Einstein. Walt Disney.Robin Williams. Whoopi Goldberg. These famous people share a common characteristic: They have a disability.You may be amazed to discover how many exceptional people whom we consider to be "successful''have struggled with disabilities. Surprised? In reality, there are thou• sands of individuals who achieve success despite disabilities. When thinking about people with disabilities, the average person imagines someone who either sits In a wheelchair.carries a white cane or has a limp, n10Ugh many people do have visible of physical disabilities, that many more people have "hidden" disabilities. We Interact with these are the people that everyday, not guessing that he or she may have learning or cognitive disabilities.
At UCFV, we offer services and support to students with disabilities through Disability Services. In addition to elevators, ramps, special parking and automatic doors. students with disabilities are able to access special equipment to assist them In the classroom and around campus. Students with various learning or cognitive disabilities are able to receive services such as tutoring as well as moral support. Informationand volunteering opportunitiesare available for people who would like to become more informed and involved. Studentsmay also join the Disability Awareness Student Association (DASA) for events and support. Mickey Ruetz, the Chilliwack representa-
tive for DASA says. ''Between Disability Services and DASA, the support studentscan receiveis Incredible!If there is a need, the staff at DisabilityServices do everythingthey can to help • sornetimes they even know what you need before you do!" Ruetz also says that she would like to see DASA'smembership and events expand to include such things as guest speakers.
With resources like Disability Services available, you can easily be more informed about disabilities. Better yet, make friends with someone with a disability (although there is a good chance you already have a friend with a "hidden" disability and don't even know it!). You will be amazed at how quickly the barriers of stereotypes and prejudice fall away when you're interacting with someone with a disability. After all, we're really people with more similarities than differ• ences. It just depends on how you want to look at it.
For more information about services provided through Disability Services (Including volunteering opportunities), please call:
Chllliwack / Hope campus: (604) 795-2843 Abbotsford I Mission campus: (604) 864-4609
To contact DASA, send an email to dasaucfv@netscape.net or call the Student Union Society for more contact Information.
continuedfrompage 3 their co•op experience.
Todd Winship Is one of these students. Winship graduated from the Computer Information Systems co-op program and now has found permanent employment with Peter Reimer and Associates, one of his past co-op employers. Winship works as a Manager of Information Services, and now hires co-op students himself to work within this organization.
"As a past co-op student, I am aware of the benefits that the co-op program has to offer. The co-op program gave me the opportunity to work with established, successful companies and for professional and skilled tech• nical professionals, Being able to apply the knowledge that I learned in school to real world problems was invaluable and I still draw upon that experience today," says Winship.
For more Information about the Co-opera· tive education program contact their office at 854-4507.
'
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Wanted Household Items for Spring Garage Sale Fundraiser April 28 Donations may be dropped off @ Women's Centre Abby Campus A224 Will pick up large items. 864-4669 Bass amp for sale. Hartke, 350 watts, real loud, great sound. Paid $1200 five years ago. Will sell for $600 080.
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Peavey 1820 Bass cab for sale, contains 18" black widow and 2 10" speakers, crossover, needs some work. a steal@ $200 080. Chris 557-0314
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continued from page 10 River. I remembered when I was standing there by the river one day, watching the fishermen in their boats casting their nets, singing love songs and hoping for a good dinner. Ori the other side of the river sat a man playing with his flute. Then the cold wind blew gently and mixing the calm of the water, singing of the fishermen and the man s playing together In a beautiful way, so I took deep breath and closed my eyes enjoying these peaceful moments. My beautiful small town would clothe Itself in green, accentuated by the sound of the birds on beautiful, sunny spring days, and in gray
an early age about the Importanceof being kind, gentle, and faithful. Although all Iraqis believed strongly that hospitality was our proud traditions and heritage, the need and lack of food because of the sanction forced people to change their traditions and customs. I did not know if I should blame them or not becausethe economic situation was unbearable in Iraq those days. It was very hard to find food or medicine,and so many people had to buy it from the black market or die from hunger and disease. But I know so many Iraqis are still faithful to our heritage and proud of being Iraqis. Then I heard a voice saying "Wake up, wake up.· I opened my eyes and saw an old man s face smiling and saying, "Good morning, you must have been dreaming," ''Good morning,yes, it was a dream," I replied. I looked around and realized It wasn't a dream; I was on my way to the north away from home. "Oh, I wish it were a dream; I want to go home." I cried, but my cry for help was not heard.
the others who had been waiting for the sunrise all night. As the sun was coming up, the light snow ~nd cold were going away, declaring that the stormy night was over. We were going to have a beautiful, sunny day. Then I wiped my tears, went down the hill and stood by the bus, thinking of going home to face the fate I was running from, and to die close to my family.
I put one foot up inside the bus, with the other still on the ground. Lifting it up means that my Journeyfor the unknown would start; it means living away from home for years to come; it means losing friends and dreams; it means living with strangers and learning their Ian· guage.
"Do you not understand that lifting up my foot means taking a step I was not willing to take?" I asked myself. Then I heard the bus driver's voice urging me to step Into the bus Immediately.
"Hurry up, young man, are we going to wait for you all dayr
and yellow on rainy days during the long, cold Iraqi winter.
In that town, everybody knew each other and loved the strangers and travelers, and we would welcome them into our homes and would give then, food and a place to stay. Al- karem or our hospitalitywas well known and we were very proud of it. Being kind or feeding the strangers was not a duty, but it was our heritage and honor. My grandmother used to tell me a story about a man who lived in the Arabian Desert many years before she was born. He would set a fire in front of his tent every night as a sign for travelers who happened to by that night and had nowhere else to go, to come to his tent, eat his food, drink water, and spend the night as his well honored guests. The iraqi children are taught at
Continued from page 9 cious breakfastof cereal,bread,and of courseinstantcoffee. Back to our room to take care of the three S's (shower, shaveand shit er, hmmm)and thenoff to the mallto use the phoneand watcha movle.MissionImpossible2, a star Is born, I am not sureof her name,but I am sure I can make one up. She is by far the mostbeautifulwomanI haveever seen and Is sure to offer many a entertainingafternoon daydream.
Nighttime rolls around and we are transportedto '1hee" travelersclub in Cairnscalledthe Woolshed.Neverhave I seen so manypeoi;,leso completelydrunkby 11:00p.m.at night.If they werepracticlngtheir imitationof classicAussie Bloke revelrythen they are stunninglyaccurateobservers of primitivebehavlor.Just Imaginethe one drunkenjackass that often timesmakesa fool of themselvesat socialgatherings,a weddingperhaps.Now imaginethree hundredof these people swaying drunkenly to their favorite song, somewithoutshoes,somewithoutshirts,mostwithoutany semblanceof present day hygiene,and then my friends you have just reachedthe first step to their staircaseof sloven depravity.As the stereo's speakers pumped out retro hits, these foreign imbeciles (Canadiansincluded) spewedforth particlesof spit and beer as they tried rather unsuccessfullyto match the volumewith a jumbledmass of incoherent/incorrectwords sung rntime with the music. Oftenyou wouldwatchin represseddelightas foolishtable dancerswould slip in a pool of their own makingand tumble awkwardlyto the floor, knock their head on a bench seat and crawl virtuallyunnoticedamongsta sea of revelers towardsa steadywall or pole. Fromothersmisfortunes we derived our joy and jovial mirth, standingwith condescendingsmirks as all unfoldedbefore us. Next we went home to bed.
A generalmalaisehas spreadupon us all as we rise from bed and are greeted by another cloudy rain filled day. Missedbreakfast,decideto hit the crocodilefarm.Thefarm is entertainingbut we are somewhatdisappointedat the crocodile'sgenerallack of movement.In fact the lazy bastards just sit there, refusingto show any sign of ltfe.What makes this more unbelievableIs that this is in the face of 1our own moronicantics includingjumping up and down, waving our arms, and of course the very rarely issued shout. Now after tiring ourselvesout in this fashion for some time: foot stamping,fence shaking,etc we decided
Nobody listened to me, or to my cry for help, as they all were getting ready for another day's Journeywith fear, hunger,and sadness. I asked an old man for the way to the bus station; with his shaking hands, trembling lips, and a voice hard to hear,he directed me toward the bus station. I thanked the old man for his help and left. As I was walking towards the bus station along the dirty, dusty streets, I saw young boys and girls standing on the edges of the sidewalks and selling cigarettes for a piece of a bread. I saw old people begging for food and money to feed their hungry families. I felt a burning desire to change their world, to make a difference in their lives and help them with their needs. I was hopeless, powerlessand unable to help them; instead, I kept my eyes on the ground, avoided looking at people's faces and ran away.
I had to be careful on the way to the bus station to avoid the police. As soon as I saw a sign of their car coming towards me, I would run and hide until it passed me. When I came to the top of the hill, I was relieved. I stopped there, looking down at the bus station from a distance. I looked at the mountains as the sun was corning up, giving warmth, hope, and light to me and
looked back, for the last time, saying good-bye to the mountains, which were standing firmly without fears, and to the birds that were flying freely without borders.
I said good-bye to everything.
"I had loved in my country." I said It with pain filling my heart and fear of losing It forever,yet I had hope of seeing it again. I got into the bus and it started moving towards the north, leaving behind my family, childhood, and friends.And I kept looking back as the bus was taking me away from home.
I had decidedtoday as I woke this morning,while the sun beganto set. to makea conscientiouseffortno,tto e~pe~d energyif at all possible.So I stood perfectlystill, while sit• ting down,lest I loseany vital forceby gainingmomentum, and enjoyeddislikingthe morning'sstarlitsky, as I peered curiously,with an air of indifference,at the ground.
to resort to plan B that's right, rocks. Howeverwe were onceagaindisappointedwhen the pebblesglancedharmlesslyoff their predatorialskin with the force and fury of a gentle breeze;no reactionmanifestedItself whatsoever! Turned around and went home, read books, watched 0awson'sCreek,went to bed and dreamtof KatieHolmes.
FridayJune 9th 2000 Wokeup with thedistinctdesireto hurtmy brotherfor mak• ing us rise so early.Checkout and get in the car to begin the daysjourney.Stoppedfor lunchat a terriblelittlesnack bar,wherethreeof us orderthe "works"hot dog. I shudder as I watch the three hundred pound inbred behind the countermanhandlemy bunwith thosemeatypawsof hers, andyet I inhalemy mealeagerly.Thi&nowbrin~smeto the very presentwhere I sit shotgun in the station wagon, watchingthe road,watchingthe driver,watchingthe world passus by. We are on our way to Ayresrockand of course the remainsof the trip. I will divulgeto you now that I am mildly disappointedthat the northerlyleg of our trip has come to a close. And yet at the same time I feel overwhelmingexcitementat the prospectof standingatop "the rock".Surelymuchfun ls yet to be had and we will record all of it as always.Untilthen.
And thusendedour stay in Cairns.I can'tsay as it was one of the moreenJoyablestopson our trip,yet it was nonetheless memorable.Perhapsone day you to will experience the joy of visitingthis place,or perhapsyou alreadyhave. Need less to say I was happywhen we commencedour trip towards the outback, towards the worldly wonder knownas Ayresrock.However that is storyall on it's own and mightJusthaveto wait until nexttime.
·Grandpa'sLosingtt·To my unsurprisedshock I noticed,whilenot payingattention that the freshlycut grass had not been mowed for weeks! And what made this unacceptablesituationcorn· plately alright.was the unprovenfact that if I impatiently wait threemoreweeks,for the beginningof fall's end, winter will allowme to take care of my yard withouttendingto itl
Now I clearlyrecall,thoughI can't quiteren:iemberfor s~re, being unhappilyelated as this mentalweight, of physical proportions,was liftedoff squarelyonto my shoulders.One more problem vanquished that I h'.1veyet t<;>sol~ol Therefore,being completelycontentwith my partial.s~lls• faction I decidedas well not to makeany more dec1s1ons for the'rest of the afternoon.Inconsequentially,this in turn gave me the rest of the morningoff to enjoythe evening. This also gives me time to tell you face to face over the phone that I'm not talking to you anymorebecause you nevercomeover and see me. Oh, and by the way,thanks tor stoppingby yesterday,I appreciatethe visit...
continued from page 7 understanding of the natural world proceeds this way. Most scientific theories go through a series of revisions. If criticisms of orthodox hypotheses were suppressed, the revisions would not be possible.
Freedom of statement has other important advantages. Regulating statement of opinions does not stop people from holding hateful or dangerous ideas; they are simply driven underground. However, permitting people to express their opinions allows us to identify these people. Once the people and their ideas are identified, they can be engaged in debate about their views, even if only Indirectly. We may not change their minds, but at least we know who they are and what they are saying. Further, when harmful, false ideas are made public, counterclaims also can be made public. An idea is less harmful when it is publicly shown t~ be false.
It canhot be denied that some people have, and express, hateful and harmful ideas. And perhaps more importantly, that some people likely are actually harmed as a consequence of the public statement of these ideas. However, ii greater good comes by not regulating the suppression of these ideas, they should not be suppressed. Harms on both sides must be weighed before the legitimacy of censorship can be determined. Sometimes censorship will be Justified. There is nothing to be gained by allowing someone the freedom to yell "Fire" In a crowded theatre when there is no fire, but there is a lot to lose. However, in most cases, there Is too much to be gained by allowing free statement of opinions.
At Berkeley, the African American students who stormed the office of the student newspaper actually have done themselves, and other US citizens, a great disservice. The US is currently debating the issue of reparations tor slavery. But how Is the debate to take place if certain Ideas are excluded? If the pamphlet author's Ideas are false or unjustified, public dissemination and discussion will show them to be false or unjustified. If some of them are true, then they are relevant considerations in the debate. The students may take offense at some of the claims, but the students inflict far greater harm to society by forcing the future suppression of these ideas.
continued from page 9
their system reflects that attitude. The elite is not called "the elite'' because they're better than the rest of us. What pompous arrogance to think that they are somehow better and more worthy human beings because they were born into positions of economic, social, and politi· cal power. If wealthier, or more ruthless and less caring means "better• to any of you, so be it. But you will never be the majority. This does not mean I oppose wealth; wealth, if you follow me, is a relative concept. If every. one is of the same socio-economic standard, then there is theoretically no such thing as wealth or poverty. But hindsight is 20/20, and history will likely look despairing• ly and mockingly upon us as the generations where the gap between rich and poor really took off: never before in the history of the world has the gap been so great as it Is today.
Quebec City will come to symbolize and epitomize the reality of the 21st century. From April 20th to 22nd the ''leaders" of the Atnericas will meet in Quebec City in a blatant attempt to plan the future of the Americas and the world. They are rich, they are powerful, they are ''tl1e
elite." "They" are not "you," or "us." Don't fool yourselves, You are not the elite. Always rememaer where you come from regardless of where you go. Remember that you went to UCFV, not Harvard, Cambridge, or Upper Canada College. This does not mean that you are any less of an important contributing member of society; rather, keep in mind the essential inabilities and flaws-•ln concert with our wonderful potentialities--of being human.
Know that in April, when you glance at the news out of sheer boredom and apathy, and you see the Quebec protests and clashes on the news, know that history is being made and a great fight is just beginning, And remember what I have said to you, and know that whatever you do to avoid it and ignore it, the issues will not go away. The conflict will affect you In all parts of your life, and someday you will realise that what you failed to acknowledge today has changed your lives forever, and you just stood there and watched it all happen in a haze of Ignorance and laziness.
continued from page 18
gram.
However, Barbour and Frishberg said that while Sallie Mae sometimes fights the same causes as students, protecting their profit is the company's main concern. They point to examples of federal government decisions that benefited the company, such as a bill that gave student loan companies an extra $1.7 billion in profits, despite concerns of universities like Harvard and former president Bill Clinton.
And Sallie Mae isn't afraid to take the U.S. government to court when lobbying doesn't work.
Last fall, Sallie Mae joined other private student loan lenders in a lawsuit against the U.S. department of education, which has leant directly to students since 1994 as part of a public loan system.
By offering students a cheaper originator fee and reducing interest rates for people who paid their loans on time, the department said it could save student borrowers $590 billion over five years.
However, companies like Sallie Mae say the department's public loan system shouldn't be allowed to undercut the pri• vate system by ·offering deals beyond the limits set by Congress.
Edulinx's spokesperson Wally Hill is quick to separate Sallie Mae from his company. '
"They are very different markets and very different systems, quite frankly,'' he said. "The system In the U.S. is more pri· vately oriented, so you have stronger participation by all the players in the policy debate than you have here."
f" • - ·, ~---~1 Hill said Canadian banks participated ' fAfVP , l~~'° ' i:in policy discussion more than his DlAOR~A'f ~tt , .icompany ever will because they ·, ii • • ~· 1owned the loans, unlike Edulinx, JI which just administers them. ,._i
"We are able to make a contribution to policy formation as an organization that services the program, but our approach is to provide the best service possible,'' he said.
Despite assurances, Conlon said the Canadian Federation of Students is worried Edullnx could take a more aggressive stance one day, like lobbying governments to expand private universities beyond the borders of Alberta and Ontario because the tuition, and therefore the loan, is higher.
"Edullnx Is trending very carefully,· he said. "They know our organization and others will be watching closely."
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