MAY 4, 2022
VOLUME 30 ISSUE 07
Awakening from our seasonal depression slumber since 1993
Housing Crisis in the Fraser Valley 10
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SUS AGM BUDGET REVEAL
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BRINGING BATS TO ABBOTSFORD
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DEBUT ALBUM FROM LOCAL ARTIST; GIRLY.
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
Creative Director Elyssa English elyssa@ufvcascade.ca
News Editor Rachel Tait rachel@ufvcascade.ca
Copy Editor Maecyn Klassen maecyn@ufvcascade.ca
Digital Media Manager Jeff Mijo-Burch jeff@ufvcascade.ca Varsity Writer Esher Sira Photographer Laura Ayres Production Assistant Aayush Bhatia Staff Writer Allison Holcik Distributor Gurtaj Dhami Illustrator Lindsey Roberts
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Opinion Editor Kait Thompson kait@ufvcascade.ca Sports Editor Teryn Midzain teryn@ufvcascade.ca Arts in Review Editor Danaye Reinhardt Danaye@ufvcascade.ca Production Assistant Niusha Naderi Staff Writer Brad Duncan
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Staff Writer Kellyn Kavanagh Illustrator Iryna Presley Illustrator Brielle Quon
The Shuffler Aaron Levy
CONTRIBUTORS Caleb Campbell Chandy Dancey Megan Johnstone Ryan Keeping Alyssa Smith Ashlee Unrau
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ARTS
Culture & Events Editor Anisa Quintyne anisa@ufvcascade.ca
Features Editor Andrea Sadowski andrea@ufvcascade.ca
FEATURE
Jr. News Emmaline Spencer emmaline@ufvcascade.ca
CONTENTS OPINION
Production Manager Elyssa English elyssa@ufvcascade.ca
NEWS
Managing Editor Sydney Marchand sydney@ufvcascade.ca
CULTURE
Executive Editor Andrea Sadowski andrea@ufvcascade.ca
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WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA @UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/UFVCASCADE Volume 30 · Issue 07 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529
The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every other Wednesday with a print circulation of 800 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities. The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Pitch meetings will be digital for the remainder of the semester. Please email managing@ufvcascade.ca to be put on the assignment email list. In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic, or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 200 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members. The Cascade is published on the traditional, unceded territory of the Stó:lō peoples. We are grateful to be able to work and learn on this beautiful land.
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Snapshots.......9
20.......Study Break
NEWS Therapy dogs return......3 April Senate Recap......4
4...... HIST 396O clothing displays 5......SUS AGM
OPINION Editorial.......6 Sex and Relationships.......7
6.......The chocolate dilemma 8.......Meat consumption
CULTURE Cascade Kitchen.......13 Interpret Festival.......14 Bringing bats to Abbotsford.......15
13....... Campus Fashion 15....... Diversity Reads Books Club 18......100th annual plowing match
SPORTS 16....... Sukhman Sandhu Q&A
Cascades recap......16 Formula 1.......17 ARTS Artist Q&A ......21 Don't Burn This Country.....22
21......Selling Sunset 23......Great National Parks
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
news@ufvcascade.ca News Editor — Rachel Tait
NEWS
UFV //
Destress with therapy dogs from St. John Ambulance Students benefit from interacting with St. John Ambulance therapy dogs during exam season RACHEL TAIT The St. John Ambulance’s Therapy Dog Program is returning to UFV, as dog owners and their furry friends volunteer on alternating Mondays and Tuesdays at the Abbotsford campus library. “A therapy dog brings comfort and joy to anyone they are visiting with,” said Barbara Renkers, a unit facilitator with the program, “and their temperament invites pets and pats and belly rubs and just makes people feel good, especially after an exam…and for international students, it’s really nice meeting with them and hearing their stories of their dogs that they really miss.” Renkers said the therapy dogs have been coming to UFV for a few years now and will visit once a week for an hour in the front entrance of the library. “It sounds funny, but the dogs do smile too,” said Renkers as she explained what she notices most about the engagement between the students and the dogs. “It does bring out smiles from people as we watch them approach the library doors there. The smiles come out.” Renkers and the other owners revealed that the therapy dogs are always excited and look forward to visiting the students at the
UFV library. Renkers noted that “they just love the social interaction and they like the attention; they are like kids.” All St. John Ambulance therapy dogs are certified-good-boys after completing a 12-point evaluation that is similar to the Canine Good Neighbour program. In light of the COVID-19 closures, the St. John’s Ambulance therapy dogs were unable to visit the regular places within the community they usually volunteer at, including the UFV library. Renkers said that “we spent time during COVID-19 establishing a good relationship with the Correctional Service of Canada and established visits with the staff there, so we kept our dogs busy.” She added that they also had new intakes of dogs and owners during this time. Renkers said, “It is so beneficial, not only to individuals visiting, but the dogs themselves, and we as handlers thoroughly enjoy it as well.” Renkers said that this program “will go on forever because dogs will be popular forever!” The Chilliwack unit has suspended their visits over the summer, but they will resume “Woof Woof Wednesdays” starting in September, every Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
St. John Ambulance’s Therapy Dogs. April, 2022. (Laura Aryes /The Cascade)
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
NEWS
NEWS BRIEFS
UFV //
Demystifying the children’s clothing displays on UFV campus The significance of an orange ribbon
Class-action to take place against ICBC and B.C. government Allegedly, ICBC has paid nearly a billion dollars since the 1990s to medical practitioners with funds from the pockets of accident victims, when the money should have been covered by the Medical Services Plan (MSP). The B.C. Supreme Court approved the case and hundreds of people from the “Accident Victim Class” may come forward with their own litigation. Lawyers leading the case claim that the number of victims is much higher than the mere 275 the ICBC claims to exist. B.C.’s Attorney General, David Eby, maintains that the government did no wrong in this case. - Emmaline Spencer
Gastown hotel burns down, kills two An unattended candle caused the Winters Hotel in Vancouver to catch fire on April 11. The building was being used as a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) building to house 71 of the most vulnerable people from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Two bodies were later discovered in the wreckage; one being tenant Mary Ann Garlow and the other still unidentified. This accident highlights the issues faced by many SRO buildings that are often not up to code when it comes to fire safety. The Winters Hotel did not have a working sprinkler system or fire alarm at the time of the incident. - Andrea Sadowski
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EMMALINE SPENCER In April, the HIST 396O class placed displays of children’s clothing, with small orange ribbons pinned to them, all over the Abbotsford campus. This was a project done in partnership with the Indigineous Affairs office. The displays were placed without announcement or explanation. This was an intentional choice made with the goal of having any students, staff, or visitors of the campus see the displays and make their own connections and understandings. The children’s clothing displays were not placed because of the finding of unmarked graves from Indian Residential schools. According to Shirley Hardman, Senior Advisor of the Indigneous Affairs office, the displays were simply a way for the students of the HIST 396O class to reflect and to further the journey of the UFV community in reconciliation. The installations are meant
to spark discussion and reflection for other individuals who happen upon the project. Each display had a small orange ribbon pinned to it as the only clue to the message behind the displays. Orange ribbons have held different meanings over the years, both internationally and in Canada. Most recently the major use and symbolism of orange ribbons and t-shirts in Canada was to spread awareness and acknowledgement of the thousands of unmarked graves from the Indian Residential Schools. The choice to use orange ribbons stems from the annual Orange Shirt Day that takes place on Sept. 30. Hardman said, “it seems important to me that individuals on campus readily recognize an installation of this importance. I also believe that if we are unable to recognize the purpose or representation…then maybe we are personally just not ready for the message. My suggestion then is that reconciliation is hard work.”
Reconciliation is difficult and an important part of the story of Canada. In 2007, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began work on first listening to the many stories of survivors and then spreading awareness. In 2015, the TRC put out a final report more commonly known as the “Calls to Action.” The report included a total of 94 calls to action. “I believe the openness of people on campus to learn about and talk about and take action towards reconciliation makes us rich as a community,” said Hardman. The installments of children’s clothing on campus is also a reminder that discussion can take place beyond Sept. 30.“The sentiment of not just on Orange Shirt Day is my primary impetus for wanting a winter semester install,” said Hardman. Having put the displays up in the latter end of the winter semester has allowed for all visitors on the Abbotsford campus to spark dialogue in relation to reconciliation.
UFV //
Disaster-related disruptions, learning through lived experience, and Ukrainian students to be charged the same rate as domestic students April senate recap ANDREA SADOWSKI Senate is the academic governing body of UFV, with the university president and vice-chancellor Joanne MacLean as the chair. They are responsible for making decisions on everything academic, including: approving new courses and programs, approving changes to programs, and setting entrance requirements and the academic calendar. The Board of Governors, which looks at the business side of the university, is advised by Senate on matters of mutual interest. All at the university are welcome to attend Senate’s public meetings, held once a month. Senate makes decisions that impact the daily lives of both students and faculty. This article will recap the main agenda items of the hybrid Senate meeting on Friday, April 22, 2022. A presentation was made by David Johnston, university registrar, about sessional date planning along with a discussion about how to support academic continuity in the face of significant disruptions in academic programming. It was proposed that instead of
canceling class in the face of disruptions, classes could move to an online platform, a method that has proved successful during COVID-19. During the discussion, Sylvie Murray, dean of the College of Arts, noted that this could pose a problem during disruptions that involve power shortages, such as flooding. James Mandigo, provost and VP academic, suggested that Senate think about not having the restriction of time, but more of a competency-based approach to learning, whereas David Harper, from the kinesiology department, brought up that students coming straight from high school to university during the pandemic are struggling with basic study skills and academic disciplines. Harper said the best thing to do was look for ways to improve critical reasoning skills of students. The Senate approved revisions to Policy #94: Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition. This policy creates guidelines for the university to access and recognize prior learning done by students in other backgrounds. This policy covers more than just transferring
credits from one formal institution to another, and also recognizes informal learning done by students through the forms of work experience, independent studies, community service, and even lived experience. This learning will be assessed and recognized by accreditation through methods such as oral and written exams, interviews, or portfolio assessment; there must be demonstrated learning that reflects the achievements made in an equivalent subject, course, or program. During the President's Report, Joanne MacLean announced that they had recently been advised by Anne Kang, the minister of advanced education, that the ministry had approved for all B.C. post-secondary institutions to assess domestic fees for students from Ukraine who wish to study in B.C. They will be reported as regular full-timeequivalent students by the institutions to the government. UFV is planning to offer any students from Ukraine the opportunity to study at UFV at domestic tuition levels, consistent with other post-secondary institutions across the province.
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NEWS SUS //
SUS AGM reveals what’s in store for their million dollar budget RACHEL TAIT On Wednesday Apr. 27, 2022, the Student Union Society held their Annual General Meeting, where they discussed and shared with members of SUS their 2021 budget and proposed projects and goals for the 2022-2023 academic year. The meeting was held over Zoom, and Esther Jimenez Atochero served as board chair. SUS will upload their first digital version of their annual report, which will be available on the SUS website at the end of May. Below are some highlights for students to be aware of: In terms of the budget, Tania Smart, governance and finance manager, went over a detailed breakdown of how they will be spending their revenues, which came to a total of $1,080,000. The majority of this ($884,000) is made up of student membership fees, but SUS also collects revenue from space rentals in the Student Union Building and miscellaneous fees, such as vending machines and ATM fees. Smart said a priority for SUS was to create jobs for students that would not only provide them with funds, but also with opportunities that allow them to get experience within their field. The budget allotted for the executive payroll is $116,000. For hourly positions, the budgeted salary increased from $41,000 to $111,000, which Smart said was the most significant change made to the budget. These increases are due to more positions at SUS being created and filled in comparison to other years. Over $800,000 is spent in total on payroll, which marks a huge investment in student job creation. Olivia Lake de Meza, executive director, stated that SUS has a reported budget of $10,000 for clubs and associations. Lake de Meza also mentioned that there is now a simplified form to apply for funding. To be clear, this funding is solely for clubs
Student Union Building. Abbotsford. (Laura Aryes /The Cascade)
and associations to spend on events, not regular operations, with the maximum amount to spend per event being $500, with a cap of $1,000 per club per fiscal year, according to the Fund Request Procedure and Policy on the SUS website. Lake de Meza also said that they are partnering with BC Transit to work on getting a Langley route for the campus connector in the fall semester. There will be different UPass options for students to meet their specific transportation needs. When asked about the difference in fees for the Langley option, Jessica Levesque, programs and services manager, answered that “we are hoping to run a pilot program that would allow students who want to utilize [BC Transit’s route 66: Fra-
ser Valley Express (FVX 66)] to opt-in to an ‘enhanced UPass.’ There would be an additional fee to opt into the pilot program, but this would be significantly reduced from the current FVX 66 fee. For those who do not utilize the FVX 66, the UPass fee would remain the same.” SUS is hoping to have a lasting solution concerning the Langley route in a projected 18 months. “There is a bit more of a focus on social connections,” said Smart when presenting the budget; “We want to make sure we’re throwing events for students to meet other students.” Community engagement continues to be a focal point for SUS. Nikiel Lal, president, said that “they understood that
there was a need to have an exciting campus event that everyone not just wanted, but needed…. This event will be happening annually and this event was designed to help students relax and be comfortable on campus, make friends and get connected with their student union and the university.” The Kickback will have a bigger budget of just over $20,000, a $3,500 increase from last year. In terms of advocacy, another goal that is in the works is getting a fall reading break implemented into the school year. According to McDougall , vice president external, it will depend on the timeline created by Senate, but she hopes to have it implemented in the fall semester of 2022.
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VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
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OPINION
opinion@ufvcascade.ca Kait Thompson — Opinion Editor
Editorial //
When was the last time you took a nap? Some causes of and solutions to burnout ANDREA SADOWSKI Post-secondary students are well aware of the concept of burnout, as many suffer from it themselves. Many university students do not have the ability to focus solely on their studies, but most also work one, or two, or in my case, three jobs in order to feel financially stable. I have had an extremely strong work ethic from a very young age. I got my first job when I was eight years old, walking my neighbor's dog for $3 a walk. I believe this came from a fear of financial scarcity, which also led to the inability to say “no” to employers calling out shifts. I have been putting so much pressure on myself to achieve so much that I am unable to slow down or take any kind of break. To get an idea of how little I am willing to slow down, last year I fell off a cliff and almost died, breaking my left wrist in the process, but instead of taking time off, I typed up my articles with one hand. Near the beginning of April, I edited the last issue of The Cascade of the winter semester while fighting back the symptoms of full-blown COVID-19. I have come to realize that sooner or later, the sheer exhaustion that happens when we are unable to set boundaries or maintain a healthy work-life balance catches up to us and starts manifesting in physical symptoms, also known as burnout. Burnout was first defined by American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s to describe a condition he saw in “helping” professions whose job often required them to sacrifice themselves for others, leading to being “burned out.” The symptoms of burnout are exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced performance and motivation to complete tasks.
While burnout is common amongst “helping” professions who work in highstress environments, it is not limited to doctors, nurses, and frontline workers. A 2021 study using data from four continents estimated that 55.4 per cent of postsecondary students experienced emotional exhaustion, 31.6 per cent experienced cynicism, and 30.9 per cent experienced low academic efficacy, the three tell-tale symptoms of burnout. It comes as no surprise as well that 62.7 per cent of females compared to 37.3 per cent of males experienced these symptoms. These results are similar to another study that concluded that one third of university students in low to middle income countries experience burnout. Anne Helen Peterson, a reporter for Buzzfeed, noted that the solution to burnout is more than just taking a vacation, as this is not just a temporary affliction. Burnout is the result of our generation's internalization of the belief that we should be working all the time. As long as we are immersed in a Western society that fetishizes material and monetary wealth and “the hustle” needed to achieve that, burnout is going to be our constant reality and our baseline. Millennials have been programmed to believe that we are lazy, entitled children who spend all our money on oat milk lattes and avocado toast, and that is why we can’t afford a mortgage. We have celebrity influencers who have been born into rich families telling us to “get your fucking ass up and work.” The solution to burnout is rest. We need to reprogram ourselves to prioritize rest in our lives when we were raised in a culture where rest was unacceptable and viewed as a symptom of laziness. The reality is that rest is for the privileged; rest is afforded to those who are already at the top
and don’t have to work three different jobs to pay for rent, gas, food, tuition, insurance, union dues, and all the other bills that go along with middle-class life. Or, you may be avoiding rest not because you have problems paying the bills, but because you need to stay so busy that you don’t have time to confront your inner demons that seem to rear their ugly heads in moments of stillness. The Nap Ministry preaches that rest is resistance and liberation from our capitalist worldview and society, which is the ultimate barrier to rest. Tricia Hersey founded The Nap Ministry as “a Black woman in America suffering from generational exhaustion and racial trauma” and who views rest as “a political refusal and social uprising within [her] body.” Luo Huazhong started a similar “rest as resistance” movement in China when he quit his job as a factory worker and decided to pursue interests that brought him joy instead. “Lying flat” is the silent resistance amongst Chinese millennials who can no longer stand working 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. six days a week, as employers expect, and are still not able to afford a house or have a lifestyle akin to what their parents held. Elsie Chen writes for the New York Times that those young people are “defying the country’s long-held prosperity narrative
Illustration by Brielle Quon
by refusing to participate in it.” Rest could be taking a nap in the middle of the day, as is common in countries like Spain, Italy, Greece, Brazil, and Mexico. Rest doesn’t have to mean physical rest, but restful activities could include hiking in the forest, working on your cross-stitch piece, or going out to lunch with a friend — whatever rejuvenates you. Rest necessitates setting boundaries and valuing your time with work that pays you well. I am practicing what I preach by resigning from one of my three jobs to focus more on what makes life worth living. I hope you can find some rest of your own this summer.
Column //
The Conscious Consumer: The chocolate dilemma SYDNEY MARCHAND
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When I think about indulging in dessert, I cannot help but crave chocolate. This is, admittedly, one of the guilty pleasures that I enjoy on a weekly basis — or daily, if it’s a really stressful week. Sure, I will enjoy a bag of chips or candy every once in a while, but I would give it all up to continue my love affair with chocolate. When I decided to ditch dairy a few years ago, I knew that I would be sacrificing the many brands that I once enjoyed. Nestle, Cadbury, and Hershey were all convenient, cheap, and delicious choices for me to stock my pantry with. I didn’t consider how or where the chocolate came from because it was too damn delicious for me to even think about how sustainable one little chocolate bar was. And I’m sure, reading this now, many of you feel the same way.
Admittedly, I had convinced myself that by switching to dairy-free chocolate I was doing my part in making “smarter” and more sustainable dessert decisions. I knew that the dairy industry was responsible for some serious environmental issues, but I didn’t consider the sustainability of the cocoa industry as well. So while it’s great that more mainstream companies like Lindt are producing vegan-friendly products, from a sustainability and ethical stance this just isn’t enough. I recently stumbled across the “2022 Chocolate Scorecard,” and let me tell you, I was quite overwhelmed. It is produced annually in collaboration with Be Slavery Free, an organization that is “seeking to solve this global problem [of slavery] by preventing it from occurring in the first place.” The organization, along with its research partners, comprises a list of major choc-
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VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
OPINION Column //
Sex & Relationships: What’s your number? Stop counting bodies and start counting orgasms ANDREA SADOWSKI I can count the number of guys I’ve had sex with on one hand. If you count sex as more than the patriarchal concept of penis-in-vagina intercourse, then I would need both hands. You see, I was a late bloomer, and male genitalia did not go inside my lower orifice until I was 26 because I was convinced that if you made it to pound town before marriage, you might as well ride that train straight to hell. There was a time in my life where I was deeply immersed in the evangelical Christian church and community. When teaching about sexual purity, they said that we develop “soul ties” with every person we’ve had sex with, and those “soul ties” would bond us to that person for life, along with every person that they’ve ever slept with, and maybe even every person that those people have slept with. When I think about it, it’s kind of a cool concept that we all form this interconnected web of relationships through this bond of sexual intimacy, but it wasn’t taught to me like that. It was a shame-based guilt-trip to stop you from having sex with anyone but your husband, lest these sexual ties grip onto you and wrap around you like octopus tentacles. Apparently these ties were strong enough that these prior relationships you had before even knowing your spouse would damage your relationship with them, even in marriage. I call bullshit. Your worth is not tied to the number of people you’ve had sex with, and it is possible to have a happy and healthy relationship with your partner without even discussing or knowing about their previous sexual partners. It shouldn’t matter. And if it does matter, it’s probably insecurity on one or both your parts, and the by-product
of all the intense sexual shame that has been heaped on you for so many years. This idea of “soul ties” and its mission to keep your body count as low as possible is
signed female at birth typically get larger doses of oxytocin released in their brains than men, that can make it hard for some women to have casual sex. It has been the-
Illustration by Lindsey Roberts
understandable in a way, because the oxytocin that gets released in your brain after sex “bonds” you to your partner. Those chemicals are healthy and are proven to lower cortisol (the stress hormone) in your body, yet they also lead to feelings of attachment. Since women who were as-
orized that this is a survival mechanism to ensure security for ourselves and our children. We live in a society and culture that is embedded largely within Christian ideology and values; many of these stem from the Christian textbook, the Bible. There
are more than a handful of authors in the Bible that write about the evils of “sexual promiscuity.” I urge you to take these verses into context. The Bible was written in a time where reliable contraception was nonexistent and venereal diseases were rampant. Women were not allowed to buy property, get a formal education, or acquire any sort of wealth for themselves; they relied completely on the male figures in their lives, so they had to safeguard their sexuality in order to get married quicker and ensure their survival. So these “rules” written in the Bible make sense if you understand the audience that it was intended for, which is clearly not modern-day society. Shannon Boodram, sexologist and guest of the Ologies podcast, in the episode “Sexology,” said that “someone created monogamy based on a set of principles at that time made for the most logical life.” Why are we still fixated on and allowing our sexuality to be defined by these antiquated values and logic? I’ll be the first to admit that oxytocin hits me hard and I fall madly in love with every guy I have ever slept with. Which is why I should be careful to keep my body count low in order to manage the emotional damage that comes with casual sex for me. However, you may view casual sex as fulfilling a carnal need and desire, and you have learned to be logical and rational when it comes to negotiating the relationships you have with sexual partners. Both perspectives are valid. My point is to not let society dictate what you do with your body; do whatever makes sense to you, without harming others. Stop fixating on your body count or that of your partner, whether it’s too low or too high, it doesn’t matter. You do you, boo.
Conversations about sustainability in an unsustainable world CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 olate brands and ranks their sustainability efforts based on the company's traceability and transparency, living income for workers, use of child labour, connections to deforestation and climate, agroforestry, and agrichemical management. What this survey tells us is that many of the popular brands we see on the shelves today are facing some serious sustainability challenges, along with human rights violations. Apart from the environmental issues that the industry plays a role in, human rights issues are also heavily linked to some of the world’s top cocoa-producing countries. Cocoa farms are most prominent in West African countries, such as Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, and produce millions of tons of cocoa each year to be shipped to major chocolate companies worldwide.
These particular farms are responsible for cultivating 70 per cent of the world's chocolate, yet the laborers are treated incredibly unfairly, unsustainably, and inhumanely. For decades, organizations have been working tirelessly to expose the realities of these farms and their use of child labourers. Currently, there are 1.56 million children being used as labourers in the cocoa industry, and this is after years of fighting for more ethical labor standards. The process of cultivating cocoa involves a great deal of intensive and dangerous manual labour that is not suited for anyone, but especially not a child. Children as young as five years old are expected to clear forests with chainsaws and pry open cocoa pods with knives and machetes. Many are expected to navigate their way through forests while carrying 100-pound sacks of cocoa beans on their heads.
Organizations such as Be Slavery Free bring forward calls of action to the chocolate companies that support these farming practices. While the “Chocolate Scoreboard” shows some progression in these labor issues within major companies, there are far too many companies that still fail to revise their business practices. Although I encourage each of you to read through the “Chocolate Scoreboard,” there are other tools that we can use in the store when deciding what chocolate bar we will choose to purchase. Ethically sourced chocolate will be marked with a Fair Trade certification which ensures that the chocolate companies meet a certain ethical standard. While many of these brands are usually more expensive than a typical Mars bar, I believe if you choose to support the cocoa industry at all, then we must make sure
we are supporting the companies that are adhering to these ethical standards that pay fair incomes and do not use child laborers. My personal favourites are Alter Ego and Zazubean — both Fair Trade certified chocolate brands. While the major companies are responsible for changing their business models, a shift in consumer demands has the potential to aid in swaying a company's decision. When it comes to chocolate, it’s important to consider the brands you support and spend your money accordingly.
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VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
OPINION Life //
We need to take meat off our plates; the climate crisis demands it With limited time to fight the climate crisis, now is the time for individual lifestyle changes MEGAN JOHNSTONE Taking meat off our plate is the single biggest individual change we can make to radically reduce our carbon footprint and fight against climate change. Yet even with statistics showing that livestock and their byproducts account for 51 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, it still seems relatively taboo to ask people not to eat meat, fish, and dairy. Even the UN only advocates for a “reduction in meat consumption,” as do most environmental NGOs, with many feeling reluctant to address the need for zero meat consumption. Why is meat so sacrosanct that leading NGOs, government agencies, and politicians refuse to advocate for the complete eradication of meat, fish, and dairy consumption? Capitalism appears to be the number one factor. Even with a pressing climate emergency which is time sensitive, politicians and governments globally are dragging their feet in any societal changes that lead to a lack of capitalistic interest. One need only consider the ongoing investments in fossil fuel and the continued construction of new oil pipelines throughout the global “west,” such as the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Canada, to see that those in charge follow the money to the detriment of the planet. The Canadian government not only does not encourage the end of meat consumption, but it also actively pays billions of dollars in subsidies to animal agriculture. As such, it is not a wise government investment to educate its citizens on the negative environmental impact of these industries. Nor would it be wise for the government to fully turn its back on meat and dairy as dietary choices. Another reason for the lack of advice regarding the complete end to meat consumption could be the cultural status, norms, and values which impact the desire to eat meat. These societal norms are easily observed with most holidays centering around the consumption of some form of meat-based family meal; during the summer it is impossible to go into a grocery store without immediately seeing barbeque equipment and steaks appropriately positioned near the front door, and even a short drive up the highway will pass countless meat-based fast-food chains. Meat has become synonymous with family, friends, and sharing, and holds deep emotional ties and connections. As such, when people are asked to cut those ties, it can often bring out defensiveness. However, we are living in a time when meat alternatives are readily available, and science has shown that meat and dairy
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agriculture is diminishing the planet's resources at an alarming rate. All of which means that now is not the time to be polite, now is not the time to advocate for “a reduction;” now is the time to vehemently contend that “because it tastes good” is not a good enough excuse. Land, water, and food security are a privilege, ones that are no different from any other social privilege in which some people benefit unfairly and unjustly to the detriment of others. These securities are not globally equal, and as such, the burden for lifestyle changes falls on those living in more “developed” western countries — countries where capitalism means that a wide array of products are available at the click of a button or through rows of stocked shelves at the nearest store. The “western” world produces food at a faster rate than it can consume it, leading to waste and the destruction of our planet. The consumption of meat in the “western” world is far from the days of only consuming what you could catch and making that last for as long as possible. The capitalistic way in which meat and dairy are produced on such a large scale means there is no “sustainable” way to continue. Sustainability in this modern era often feels like a myth — especially in regard to the meat, fishing, and dairy industries, when the sheer scope of agriculture and the amount of people to be fed means the actions themselves are inherently damaging. Currently we have been given less than a decade to cut our greenhouse gas emissions before the damage caused will be irreparable. Many climate activists and politicians have discussed the concept of becoming “net-zero.” But is net-zero really possible if meat and dairy agriculture continue to cause devastation in the form of land loss, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity? With governments often funding this sector, it becomes the choice of individuals to make lasting change by ensuring that the government funding is financially unsound. This can be done by eradicating the need for animal agriculture by taking meat and dairy off our plates. It is no surprise that often people may become upset when challenged about their eating habits, especially when eating meat is so normative and oftentimes enjoyable. However, this is not an issue that can be put off. The climate emergency is happening now. We need to make lasting changes now. If being asked to stop eating meat or reading this article has made you defensive, angry, or upset, then it is worth asking yourself: why? And is eating meat, fish, and dairy really worth the environmental impact that it causes?
Illustration by Brielle Quon
BRIEF BITS OF BITE-SIZED BREVITY
SN S AP HO TS
CURTAILED COMMENTARY ON CURRENT CONDITIONS
Illustrations by Iryna Presley
The real benefits of Animal Crossing
A great fucking snapshot Do you know it is written in The Cascade’s editorial policy that the use of profanity in articles is protected, except in News articles (unless it’s a quote), poor writing, and hate speech? It’s true; as long as the article is good quality writing and not of malicious intent we can say words like fuck, shit, and bitch all we want, something CIVL only wishes they could do. Previous EICs would have never allowed profanities to be published in their precious paper. But I’m not a regular mom, I’m a cool mom. I’m also very oblivious when it comes to “professional” communication. Who decided which words weren’t allowed to be said in certain workplaces? Why am
I not allowed to swear in an office, but it’s totally cool to do so in a commercial kitchen? Why are certain words inherently “bad” anyways? Words are just sounds that come out of our mouths. Did you know that one study found a “consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty?” And another study found that swearing increases your pain tolerance? I’m just an honest bitch with a high pain tolerance, and I don’t think it’s a big deal if I let out a few fucks every once in a while.
Andrea Sadowski
I’m not a die-hard gamer, but I do love Animal Crossing, and admittedly, I have completely neglected my island for the past five or six months. Sigh. Shameful, I know. Sure, the game is pretty simple and slow-paced, but that’s what I love so much about it, and this week especially, I just needed that level of relaxation back into my life. So, I decided to put away my laptop and I tried my best to focus on something that wasn’t school or work-related — I reorganized my island. Essentially, the game has you work towards building your own little island. You house villagers, farm and plot land structures, plant flowers, craft different tools and recipes, fish, etc. The ultimate goal is to just make your island the best it can be. It’s fun,
though, I swear. Anyone who plays the game knows that part of the fun is simply just these mundane day-today tasks. Like many others, I hit a wall of stress, burnout, utter lack of motivation — whatever you want to call it, and no amount of tea or long walks in the sun seemed to help me. But this did. So, try to get creative with how you unwind. It doesn’t always have to be the most “Instagrammable” image of relaxation. Let me tell you, this week, I have never felt more at peace than I did terraforming the land and crafting furniture to build a bakery.
Sydney Marchand
The quietest room At their headquarters in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft has created the world’s quietest room. The room is built so that there are no sound reflections from the walls, making one’s own heartbeat clearly audible. It’s called an anechoic room because echoes do not exist in the space. Jacopo Prisco writes for CNN, “When you move, your bones make a grinding noise. Eventually you lose your balance, because the absolute lack of reverberation sabotages your spatial awareness.” The room’s noise level is measured at 20.3dB lower than the average threshold of human hearing, which is 0dB. For reference, calm breathing is mea-
sured at 10dB while a loud concert is measured at 110dB. Microsoft uses the room for testing audio technology and to evaluate the clicking of keyboards and computer mice. There is no official record for how long someone has stayed in the room, but Steve Orfield, who built his own quiet room in Minneapolis, says he stayed in his room for forty-five minutes in one go. At Microsoft, it has been confirmed that an individual has remained in the room for fifty-five minutes.
Carissa Wiens
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Feature //
lle y a V r e s a r F e h t in is is Housing Cr
By: Alyssa Smith, Ashlee Unrau, Andrea Sadowski Brad Duncan
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As the rising housing market continues to inflate and wages stay stagnant, young people find it increasingly difficult to improve their living conditions
hat income levels can afford a million-dollar mortgage? How can someone save for a down payment on a milliondollar house while struggling to pay such high rent? Is owning a home in the Fraser Valley an attainable goal in 2022? These are questions I, Alyssa, ask myself daily, along with many other young British Columbians planning their futures. Currently, my fiancé and I are looking to move into a detached home that aligns with our goals as a couple. We purchased a condo in 2017, and since then it has soared in value from $245,000 to approximately $650,000. Despite this jump in overall equity to put towards a detached home, we are finding that even most townhouses are beyond our reach. My fiancé is an industrial electrician and I am completing my undergrad in April for social work, along with currently working fulltime as a support worker. We both have very well-paying jobs, but despite our net income, the Fraser Valley is not affordable. Because of the high cost of housing, we are considering relocating to another province. It saddens me that we are being pushed out of our home province, where all our friends and family are. We want to provide our future family with the same childhood that we had — a big backyard with a trampoline, a blow-up pool in the summer, and a garden where we can grow vegetables and fruits. Is this realistic for us if we remain in the Fraser Valley? When looking at a single person with a good career, we can see more barriers when it comes to owning a home or upgrading their existing one. Ashlee purchased a two-bedroom apartment in Abbotsford in 2010 for $125,000. She was only twenty-one years old, but the cost of the apartment was low, which also meant the down payment was an attainable sum to manage (around $7,000). She was also able to co-sign the mortgage loan with her father, a privilege that not all are afforded. She worked eight years in retail to fulfill the mortgage payments and she retained roommates to offset monthly expenses. Twelve years later, her residence is currently valued at around $420,000, an increase of just over 236 per cent. Even with this shocking jump of $295,000 worth of equity, it is still insufficient in her quest to upgrade to a detached house or even a townhouse in the Fraser Valley with a soonto-be career as a social worker. The real estate market she was once able to buy into as a single person is now beyond her reach should she choose to sell her apartment.
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Sharp increase in the Fraser Valley housing market To dig deeper and uncover the numbers associated with the housing market in BC we turned to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) for the following statistics from January 2010 to January 2022. The data indicated that there was a 213 per cent increase in benchmark prices for detached homes in the last 12 years. What once cost $500,931 now costs a staggering $1.569 million. Similar situations can be observed in the market for townhouses and apartments, which also saw gains of 150 per cent and 135 per cent respectively. This dramatic price hike originated in 2017, according to our research based on the statistics provided by the FVREB. In January 2017, the benchmark prices of single-family detached homes increased by 24.3 per cent, townhomes increased by 28.8 per cent and apartments increased by 27.6 percent within the span of just one year. Prices have been steadily increasing since then, and we see the highest jump yet between 2022 and 2021, when the benchmark price for detached homes, townhomes and apartments increased by 41.8 per cent, 37.2 per cent and 30.6 percent respectively. Brendon Ogmundson, British Columbia Real Estate Association’s (BCREA) chief economist, suggests that a contributing factor to this housing market frenzie is due to supply and demand; many are wanting to buy and little is available for sale.
WEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022
Disparities in the Fraser Valley rental market making it difficult to transition from renting to owning High rental costs are a major barrier for people wanting to become homeowners. Between 2015 and 2019, the average rental cost in Abbotsford increased by 34 per cent for all rental units. According to BC Housing, “housing is considered affordable when 30 per cent or less of your household’s gross income goes towards paying for your housing costs.” This 30 per cent rule originated in the 1969 amendment to public housing requirements: the Brooke Amendment. Sally French, financial writer for the New York Times, states that this rule is increasingly outdated because it doesn’t account for modern expenses that are prevalent today, nor does it take into consideration individual circumstances, such as how many dependents one is supporting. The Abbotsford B.C. Housing Needs Report from 2021 identifies the following populations to be most vulnerable to not being able to meet their housing needs. Seniors, 14 per cent of whom live with low income, can apply for rental assistance through the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) program. Seniors also trend towards being illegally evicted due to living in rent-controlled apartments. People with special needs also face barriers when finding accessible housing, especially in Abbotsford, where 56 per cent of housing stock
Between 2015 and 2019, the average rental cost in Abbotsford increased by 34 per cent for all rental units.
was built before 1990 and often lacks accessibility features. Lowincome renters, who make up 34 per cent of all rental households in Abbotsford, face a higher risk of eviction. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately represented in Abbotsford’s homeless population due to historical trauma, oppression, and discrimination, which has resulted in structural issues that create greater barriers to housing like poverty, low education levels, and unemployment. Families, especially single-parent households, also struggle to attain affordable three-plus-bedroom housing options. Finally, individuals in “extreme and core housing need,” meaning they spend more than 50 per cent of their income on housing, made up 5.6 per cent of
Abbotsford households in 2016. If these key groups of people are struggling to pay their rent each month, how could they ever save enough to afford a down-payment on a home? BC does have a First Time Home Buyers Program to reduce or eliminate the property transfer tax for people buying their first home. As well, Canada’s Home Buyers’ Plan is a program that allows first-time home-buyers to take money out of their Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) to be able to pay for the down payment. The minimum down payment is five per cent on a home that costs under $500,000. This is a great initiative to get people into homes, but now they are left with a massive mortgage payment each month, along with purchasing mortgage insurance, which is a requirement when your down payment is less than 20 per cent.
Stagnant wages don’t match with rising inflation As a society, we need to recognize that the issue is not that young people do not want to work. The problem is rising housing prices and stagnant wages. In 2011, BC saw the first minimum wage increase in a decade, as hourly wages rose from $8.75 to $9.50. Minimum wage has been slowly but surely increasing ever since then, and on June 1, B.C.’s minimum wage will reach $15.65 an hour. This 78.85 per cent increase in wages still does not match the 213 per cent increase in the housing market. Stats Canada shared the results of a 2022 survey that revealed Canadian wages increase approximately 3.1 per cent annually, with Canadian inflation rising 5.1 per cent on a year-over-year basis (2022 having the highest inflation rate Canada has seen since 1991). This inflation of housing prices has happened alongside a dramatic increase in the minimum wage. So it may be appropriate to address the disparity between the wage increases not matching the market, but there is no wage hike that could tackle that. Wages were stagnant for too long, but further increases aren’t a magic bullet either. It’s a market problem that requires market solutions. The “living wage” in the Fraser Valley still does not equal the minimum amount employers have to pay their workers. Living Wage for Families calculated that the cost of living for two working parents with two children must earn $16.75 an hour to be able to pay for their basic needs. Living wage does not take into account what would be necessary to save for a down payment at the pace of the market. If that figure was acknowledged, over how long would we expect someone to work before being able to afford a down payment? Unfortunately, the living wage allows for only that: living. No advancement, dreams or betterment of any kind. Your rent is paid and you survive another two weeks. Better be able to do it again, and again, and again.
Illustration by Niusha Naderi
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Foreign buying, using the market as income, and the colonial history of settlement expansion inflation There are many more factors to consider when talking about B.C.’s absurd housing market, such as the government’s response to foreign purchasing. Currently, there is no cap on how much real estate foreign buyers can possess, but foreign buyers pay 20 per cent tax and a vacancy tax on all their properties. While foreign investors benefit those wanting to sell their homes, this flood in the buyers market has caused many who live here to not be able to enter the market at all. This brings into question another factor of people using the market as income, as those who own their homes use their equity to buy rental properties or to help their children enter the market. For many, the housing market has become the most lucrative means of saving for retirement. Forty years ago, when interest rates were much higher, mortgages were expensive and savings accounts offered an incentive to squirrel money away for the future. Today, savings accounts offer a paltry 0.010 per cent, and locking your money away for five years doesn’t equate to a windfall either. Housing, on the other hand, has proven to be a surefire investment in recent decades. In a 2021 interview with Global News, Paul Kershaw, founder of Generation Squeeze and policy professor in the UBC School of Population Health, stated that, “We have tolerated rising home prices because it has made homeowners who got into the housing market earlier get rich while we sleep, watch television, and cook.” Those who got into the housing market early are incentivised to want prices to climb. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of those who arrived later. We should also consider the colonial history of settlement expansion as Europeans sought the Americas and Australia with the expectation of land that had grown scarce in Europe, and how that legacy still informs many of our notions of home ownership. Many Canadians were raised with the expectation that a stable career was the only real prerequisite to owning a detached home with a yard — and for a long time, that was a realistic expectation, provided you were willing to commute. Whether or not that expectation is realistic, it’s interesting to see where it comes from, as it’s certainly not universal. Historically, going “out west” was synonymous with seeking land, and that generational expectation of a plot of land all to oneself can be seen in the urban sprawl that plagues Metro Vancouver. Faced with an immensity of space, it’s easy, and totally understandable to pine for the same, but there is a price to be paid, and historically, we have made Indigenous communities pay that price in our stead. As populations increase, if we don’t adjust our expectations, we are doomed to continue on a devastating trajectory.
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Solutions BC has posed to address the housing crisis The housing crisis in B.C. is one that many experts have pondered over for the last decade. The B.C. government has made claims before that they are working on resolving the disparity in wages versus housing affordability. In 2018, they published a “30-point plan for a fairer housing market” that addressed issues like stabilizing the market by increasing the foreign buyers tax, working against tax fraud and evasion, building more affordable homes for key populations like seniors and students, and strengthening rental assistance programs for low-income individuals and families. Some progress is being made, as 32,000 homes for target populations have been completed or are currently in construction. The B.C. Student Housing Loan Program allows public post-secondary institutions to borrow money from the province to build more on-campus student housing units. Oncampus housing has already expanded by 25 per cent at the University of Victoria thanks to this program. Will UFV take advantage of this program to expand our available on-campus housing to hold more than 1.3 per cent of the student body? Economics is hard. Vancouver-born educator, Laurence J. Peter stated, “An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.” As Canadians grapple with the housing crisis, it’s important to consider that we didn’t get here overnight. As convenient as it might be, there is no single reason or policy to point to as the root cause of the situation. Whether it be provincial policies or municipal zoning; foreign buyers or local investors; Boomers, Millennials, stagnant wages, interest rates, or inflation — there’s plenty of blame to go around. Similarly, there’s no magic fix that will remedy the situation, so beware those who offer one. The scope and complexity of the problem of Metro Vancouver housing is precisely what makes it a crisis. Those who have yet to enter the market are effectively shut out for the time being. Meanwhile, new construction adds to an increasing supply, decreasing demand in an already overpriced market. If (or when) the market collapses, a possibility looming larger by the day, the heights of the housing boom will be matched only by the calamity of the fallout.
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culture@ufvcascade.ca Anisa Quintyne — Culture Editor
Column //
Cascade Kitchen: Sloppy lentils
CULTURE
Column //
Campus Fashion: Stripe out in style The nautical look for spring RACHEL TAIT This summer, a popular trend that is emerging in fashion are stripes. As the cool temperatures transition into warmer weather, wearing nautical stripes in classic black and white or navy blue and white is a good way to prepare for the coming season. Nautical stripes can be subtle or bold, and they add a naval appearance to an outfit which can be dressed up or down, depending on the occasion. While fashion trends tend to come and go, stripes are a consistent style that appear all year round and are very versatile to wear as well. Striped shirts were first worn by sailors and the navy in France, and were known as the Breton Stripe. This striped top followed the more traditional navy and white combination, and was more practical than glamourous at first. This style was later popularized by fashion designer Coco Chanel in the 1910’s with a more feminine appeal, as the naval look was crafted with fashion in mind instead of functionality. Investing in a nice nautical striped look can refresh your wardrobe and add versatility to your existing outfits. A detailed striped t-shirt can dress up a pair of white or black jeans, or can be paired with a black leather moto jacket for a rock-and-roll look.
Stripes can also make good statement pieces, such as a striped jacket paired with a crisp white button-down shirt and indigo denim jeans. For a more feminine look, a nice fitted striped dress looks great with a mid wash denim jacket and costume jewelry. You can also experiment with color variations of this style as well as the size and width of the stripes. Depending on the size of the stripe and the color variation, stripes can be bold and daring or naval and minimalist. The wider the stripe, the more dramatic the effect will be for the wearer. This spring and summer, try incorporating stripes into your style and experiment with different color combinations to see if it is the right look for you. Stripes can add depth to any outfit. A classic navy blue and white stripe combination looks great with a blazer and matching pants or a white pair of jeans for a nautical look. A more daring look with red and black stripes or purple and green can draw attention from onlookers and make a fashion statement in any crowd. As always, this article of clothing can also be found at a local second-hand store for a third of the price and still look fashionable. So, step out in style all striped out and reap the benefits of this nautical style!
Sloppy lentils. 2022. (Andrea Sadowski/The Cascade)
ANDREA SADOWSKI 1 diced bell pepper (any colour) 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp chili powder 1 tsp paprika 2.5 cups cooked lentil (boil 1 cup dried lentils in 2 cups water until they’re soft) 1 can crushed tomatoes 3 tbsp ketchup I know you love a good sloppy joe. 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar What if you could enjoy the messy, 1 tbsp mustard hearty goodness of this beloved caf- Salt and pepper to taste eteria lunch without the cruelty or the ½ cup vegetable broth high price tag of ground beef? Ladies and gentlemen, introducing: lentils. Method: Lentils are impossible to mess up, super cheap, and so high in fibre and 1. Saute your onion and bell pepper in olive oil until soft, about protein. This lentil recipe is incredibly eight minutes. Add the garlic, versatile as well; serve it over a hamchili powder and paprika and burger bun, throw it over rice, wrap saute another two minutes until it in a burrito — the options are endfragrant. less! It also makes enough servings to cover your lunches for the rest of the 2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and cook, stirring frequently, unweek! til the lentil mixture has reached Cook Time: 25 minutes. Serves: 5 your desired consistency and Ingredients: sauciness. Splash of olive oil 1 diced onion The Cascade Kitchen is a student-run food column that brings you budgetfriendly recipes and cooking tips. Check back bi-weekly for something new to try in the kitchen, or if you want to see your own recipe featured next, get started by reaching out to culture@ufvcascade.ca.
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CULTURE UFV Event //
The Interpret Festival of the School of Creative Arts returns Interpreting the experiences of the annual SoCA Festival EMMALINE SPENCER On Friday, April 29, the School of Creative Arts (SoCA) hosted its third annual Interpret Festival. The event spanned over a five hour period from 4:00 - 9:00 p.m. and was spread out across buildings B, C, and D of the Abbotsford campus. The festival featured presentations from the Theatre, Film, Visual Arts (VA), and, newly included this year, the Media Arts departments. The festival provides an opportunity for students of the various departments to showcase their endeavors and triumphs in their arts. The previous Interpret festivals were hosted in 2018 and 2019. Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, the festival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The festival came about when the Theatre department of UFV moved to be mainly hosted on the Abbotsford campus, where the VA classes were already being hosted. The origin of the festival came from the Theatre and VA departments working together to host the festival. Interpret gives soon-tobe graduating students and rising talents in the SoCA a chance to celebrate and share their hard work. The Media Arts department was included in the festival this year for the first time. One of the projects presented from this department was a virtual reality (VR) experience entitled “In My Nightmare.” It is set in a spooky cemetery with barren trees, a thick fog, and looming mountains in the distance. During the experience there are jumpscares of a skeleton racing toward you at high speed. The VR experience was a result of three students, Kynat Bhinder, Kartik Arora, and Vickramjeet Singh. None of the students have any previous experience working with coding or VR. The end product was an impressive display of what three students with a strong passion can do. Throughout the evening, the Theatre department put on a series of short plays. The first show, “Inside and Out,” was directed by Mia Davison. Due to an injury to one of her actors involved in the project, Davison was required to also act in her drama. The performance was a moving display of the relationship between a learning disabled child and their mother. Davison chose to include interpretive dance and blue lighting to create a more calm environment and contrast the turbulent conflict in the play. Another featured show was “Don’t Be So Hard On Your Shelf,” a comedic fantasy directed by Béatrice Frenette. The show was about the shelf of a bibliophile coming to life and having a bone to pick
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with its owner. Frenette explained that her and her father built the key prop on set, the shelf, over the course of three days. She also included a wide variety of novels in the set to express how the bookshelf owner is a sentimental reader and collector. This was Frenette’s first time directing a play and the experience she gained has inspired a new passion for the role. She hopes to do more directing in the future. In the S’eliyemtaxwtexw Art Gallery, there were multiple featured visual art projects. “Dis Long Time Gal Mi Neva Si Yuh” by Natoya Ellis was a beautiful visual art piece comprised of two paintings with three plexiglass photos layered on top. Ellis explained that her project was inspired by the concept of memories and her family. In creating the piece, she explored the meaning of home. The project is based on five photos, three of which were taken relatively recently by Ellis and the remainder being older photos of her mother’s that she had painted onto canvas. The painted photos are intentionally a little murky to display how memories can fade and change with time, meanwhile the newer photos that were layered on top display the crispness of new memories and how they can overlap with older memories. At 7:00 p.m., the Film department began a screening featuring multiple student films, and at the end, the audience voted for a favourite film. The students behind the winning film received $200 as prize money for their efforts. The winning film was a dark comedy titled “Driver’s Ed.” The plot follows a driver that is anxious about taking his upcoming road test and finds his mind going to the worst place. A team of eight students from the winter semester’s FILM 361 class worked together to create the film over the course of an entire semester. According to Alexander Mitchell, a representative of the team of students, the most grueling part of creating the movie was the post production stage, which took over two months. Though “Driver’s Ed” won the audience favourite award, the students also worked on a second film over the course of the semester titled “Chasing Waterfalls,” which Alexander was particularly proud of. Interpret brought out the rising talent and honed skills found in the SoCA department of UFV. From sprouting directors to well-practiced artists, there was both inspiration and innovation found at the festival. New worlds were being created both on screen and in the form of VR. The SoCA Interpret festival continues to instill a passion for creation.
Natoya Ellis. Interpret Festival. 2022. (Laura Ayres/The Cascade)
Interpret Festival. 2022. (Laura Ayres/The Cascade)
Interpret Festival. 2022. (Laura Ayres/The Cascade)
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CULTURE Community Profile //
Diversity Reads Book Club and their mission to promote diverse voices ANISA QUINTYNE Working with Archway Community Services, a non-profit social service agency that aims to bring social justice and programming to the community, Darien Johnsen and Sumaiyyah Adam collaborated to create and develop the curriculum of Diversity Reads Book Club. The reading group is an open club with a maximum of 12 participants meeting biweekly on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. They are part of the Fraser Valley Regional Library (FVRL) book club, so the selected books are provided by the library while each session is online. Johnsen works as the community developer of Archway in the diversity education program, and Adam functions as the community coordinator. “A lot of our work has to do with antiracism and discrimination, and providing workshops to create an inclusive environment,” said Adam. “I’ve been working a lot with subcommunities, but I’ve worked alongside Afghan and Ukrainian refugees coming into Abbotsford, and how we as a community can help them integrate. We’re really passionate about equality and inclusiveness.” And so, the Diversity Reads Book Club bloomed in response to this desire for so-
cial justice. “It was kind of my brainchild,” Johnsen said. “I started at Archway in January. I love organizing spaces for people to gather and do fun things, so that was something I really wanted to do right away. This really came out from the BLM movement in 2020. Abbotsford was super vocal and responsive to the activism. “What came out of the movement was a list from the FVRL of anti-racist books from Black authors. I thought, ‘how cool it would be for us to read these books that the FVRL had for us to offer?’ “Reading books from diverse authors gives us a glimpse into this person’s perspective. It’s a good way to understand other people, and it’s also a cultural thing too. People’s culture shines into their writing, even just the style of writing; you see authors from Latin America, Australia — all these different authors have certain ways of speaking, certain traditions that shine through in the narrative and the way they write.” Not only does the book club focus on the novels alone, but they contextualize the given themes while applying them to historical and contemporary efforts. When asked what book they’re currently covering, Johnsen said, “Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin. He’s significant because he worked alongside Malcolm X and Mar-
tin Luther King in the States during the civil rights movement. He was immersed in that culture. It sparked conversation in our group. We have eight people so far, so it’s quite intimate, and we meet biweekly.” James Baldwin was the brother of nine children and was born in Harlem in 1924. He was a writer who published various pieces of poetry, plays, and novels. He utilized complex narratives to navigate sexuality, racism, classism and segregation. With his clear vocal support for the civil rights movement, Baldwin won several awards, including the Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur in 1986, a year before his death. In addition to promoting diverse voices, this idea sparked from an absence of ownvoices as well, Johnsen said. “We’re new. We’re on our second book right now, and it stemmed from the FVRL. I looked at my bookshelf and wondered how many diverse authors there were.” “We’ve all created a space where we come from different backgrounds, but we’re becoming more proximate from the things we’ve learned from each other and our different lives. It’s self-reflective, and we’re internalizing the things that we’re talking about, and we’re able to make each other comfortable without harming each other, and that’s a learning opportunity that not a lot of people have, especially
with the intense material that we’re discovering.” Adam joined Archway Community Services in February, and that’s how she met Johnsen. “Our learning outcomes are really trying to reveal a different understanding of the material we’re engaging with,” Adam expressed, giving insight into the group’s educational opportunities. “With James Baldwin, he’s writing from a perspective of segregation, where communities are experiencing what it’s like to be marginalized and Black in that time in Harlem — we obviously can’t put ourselves into that predicament because we live in a different time, but we’re seeing that overlap in our time.” “Even if it’s 20 years ago from now, we can still find an intersection in material, how we can understand that and bring it into modern-day society.” For those who are interested in social justice, the Diversity Reads Book club provides open-access education in a nonjudgmental environment, where people of all walks of life are welcomed to sit down, read, and discuss several ways of inclusive thinking. Contact darien.johnsen@archway.ca to get involved.
Community Profile //
Going batty: Coaxing creatures of the night into Abbotsford A UFV environmental studies class is helping Abbotsford become bat-friendly ALLISON HOLCIK As part of the ENV 410 class, a group of UFV students have started an initiative to make Abbotsford a certified bat-friendly community. So far, only four cities in B.C. have been certified by the B.C. Bat Program, but students Jennifer Heldt and Aysha Mcconkey hope to add Abbotsford to the list within the next year. Since 2006, bat populations across the country have suffered from the white nose syndrome that has been destroying bat communities across North America. In 2016, this unsolvable deadly fungal disease was found in Washington state, and biologists across B.C. fear that it will be transported over the border. B.C. currently hosts 16 different species of bats, including the endangered little brown bat, which is at risk of the white nose syndrome. In an effort to protect these and other species of B.C. bats, Heldt and Mcconkey, along with their group of UFV students, reached out to the Abbotsford-Mission Nature Club (AMNC), as well as bat biologists John Saremba and Aimee Mitchell. They were able to help set up and maintain bat-housing boxes in Willband Creek Park, a known bat roosting place.
So far, Heldt’s group has done research to understand why the bat populations in B.C. are suffering, and have discovered that they are threatened by overpopulation and human expansion that is destroying their natural habitats, along with the white nose syndrome. According to Heldt, bats that roost in urban areas, like the little brown bat, are often seen as pests and forced out of their habitats by humans. Without any other place to go, these bats end up in residential areas and are threatened by human contact. To help solve this issue, the AMNC and the ENV 410 group set up boxes for nurseries and a larger box that can house up to 300 bats in Willband Creek Park. In the next year, Heldt’s group will help offer nature walks for counting bat populations and collecting bat poop, or guano, for the B.C. Bat Organization to study. By drying out and studying gunao, bat biologists can determine what species of bats are in the boxes, and assess their health. Heldt’s group will also work on the three aspects of certification required by the Community Bat Program of B.C. First, they focus on protecting and creating bat habitats by finding out where bats are currently roosting and building bat boxes to safely house them. Next, they must focus
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Heldt
on teaching the public about bats and their importance to the environment. By reaching out to The Abbotsford News and The Cascade, Heldt is working on this aspect of certification. Finally, bat certification relies on educational promotion. To do this, Heldt’s group is currently in contact with Mount Lehman Elementary to teach their students about the bats roosting near their school.
Students interested in helping certify Abbotsford as a bat-friendly community, or who have seen bats in the area, can contact Jennfier Heldt at Jennifer.Heldt@student.ufv.ca for more information on how to get directly involved with the project. In the future, Heldt will be hosting four bat counts at Mount Lehman Elementary, starting on May 5, and participating in Bat Week, which runs October 21 to 31, 2022.
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SPORTS
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
sports@ufvcascade.ca Teryn Midzain— Sports Editor
Recap //
April brought us a bountiful batch of new signings for fall and baseball games galore
UFV Cascades Sports Scores Aprl 22 May 1, 2022
Golf UFV Spring Invitational
Women-1st Men-2nd
Baseball UFV Vs. Okanagan Coyotes / April 22, 2022 Score: UFV 1 ; OC 13 UFV Vs. Okanagan Coyotes / April 22, 2022 Score: UFV 3 ; OC 11 UFV Vs. Okanagan Coyotes / April 24, 2022 UFV Baseball. (Gibi Sainz)
TERYN MIDZAIN The summer semester starts, and The Cascade returns with another recap for the UFV varsity teams that have been active in the surprisingly bright April that saw golf tournaments, baseball games, and new signings. UFV’s golf team hosted their annual Cascades Spring Invitational, held at the Chilliwack Golf Club from April 2 to 3. The women’s team finished first overall after the weekend and had four players finish in the top 10 individuals. Teammates Coral Hamade and Emery Bardock tied for third with a +9, followed by Lucy Park in the sixth, three strokes behind her teammates with +12, and Alex Brunner rounding out the top 10 in 10th place shooting +18. The men’s team came 11 strokes behind UVic to finish second place, with Jacob Armstrong shooting one-under-par and finishing in fourth individually over the weekend. The Cascades baseball team has been
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playing almost every week since the start of spring; with an 8-12 record after two brutal double-header weekends on the road, the Cascades only won two out of their eight games against the Okanagan Coyotes and the Edmonton Collegiate. The Cascades’ next games are back at home at Fairfield Island in Chilliwack against the Prairie Baseball Academy on May 5 and 6. It won’t be an easy match-up, as the Prairie Academy is currently sitting 14-6, second behind Okanagan, and have won 6-4 in their last 10 matches. But the Cascades have a nice 5-3 win record when playing at home. UFV recruiters haven’t been idle over the last few weeks, with great new signings for our women’s volleyball and soccer teams. The women’s soccer team received five new high school signings that will be interesting to watch develop into strong competitors while they’re with the Cascades. Maya Cuerrier at the center, Kayla Tallarico a midfielder, two wingers in Luciana Andrews and Dawn Nansumba, and Remy De Lorenzi at forward. Each of these young talents have multi-sport IQs and have been key players on their respec-
tive high school teams that have gone on to win championships. The women’s volleyball team signed three powerful players in the three Attieh sisters (Gabrielle, Lauren, and Talia) from Surrey, B.C. for the team’s fall roster. Gabrielle comes with a ton of high-level experience and is a great addition to take the UFV game up a few notches. She was on the UBC Thunderbirds 2017 and 2019 national championship-winning teams, has a Canada West league all-star reputation, and has been playing professionally in Europe since 2020. Both Lauren and Talia have been stolen (figuratively) from the Douglas College Royals, a team that the sisters led to winning the PACWEST conference title, as well as league and tournament all-star status. All three Attieh sisters bring tough competition to the Cascades volleyball team and will add that extra punch that UFV will need to step up in tough U SPORTS and Canada West Leagues.
Score: UFV 0 ; OC 11 UFV Vs. Okanagan Coyotes / April 24, 2022 Score: UFV 4 ; OC 1 UFV Vs. Edmonton Collegiate / April 30, 2022 Score: UFV 3 ; EC 4 UFV Vs. Edmonton Collegiate / April 30, 2022 Score: UFV 11 ; EC 4 UFV Vs. Edmonton Collegiate / May 1, 2022 Score: UFV 1 ; EC 11 UFV Vs. Edmonton Collegiate / May 1, 2022 Score: UFV 1 ; EC 10
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
SPORTS Athlete Q&A //
Surrey’s Sukhman Sandhu: from the Valley to the pros Former UFV player joins the Fraser Valley Bandits ESHER SIRA The Fraser Valley Bandits are back for their fourth season with a totally new look, playing at a new venue — the Langley Events Center — and holding a completely reconstructed roster featuring Surrey’s own Sukhman Sandhu. Sandhu went to high school at Tamanawis Secondary School and played three seasons with the UFV Cascades, where he averaged seven points per game. Sandhu currently attends UBC where he still plays (and had one career year) as a Thunderbird, and where Sandhu boosted his scoring to an impressive 16 points per game. The Cascade had the opportunity to have a chat with Sandhu about what it means to be a pro and the growing basketball scene in our community. How does it feel to be a professional basketball player? It’s exciting; it’s definitely something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Especially with this new league, the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) and how much it’s grown in this short amount of time, to be drafted has been a milestone. I’m really
excited for it, looking forward to it, and hopefully this is just the beginning for me and my professional career. How do you feel about the basketball scene in our area, from club basketball to professional? I think it’s become more prevalent since even when I was in high school. I think the [high school] provincials this year, with just how packed the Langley Events Center (LEC) was, is a good indicator; I’ve never seen LEC like that. On social media you’ll see a lot more pages covering local high school basketball and all different levels. I think the interest is definitely growing. It’s definitely been good to see, even with the Bandits moving over to the LEC just like the high school provincials. It’s caused a lot more excitement; I think people are really getting behind this big boom with basketball, and how popular it is becoming with younger and older people. Can you speak about your move from UFV to UBC and what went through your mind at that time?
Well, at that time, it was an odd time because it was [during] COVID-19. It just hit, so it was a lot to figure out. Two of my really good friends, Sukhjot Bains and Parm Bains, had just graduated, so with them not being at UFV, it was a bit of a culture change. With that, I checked all of the options I had to see where I wanted to go. I knew some UBC alumni so I reached out to them and things just started going on from there, and it worked out really well. There was a lot of preparation I wanted to put in during the summer, just to prepare for that upcoming season. There’s a lot of drills and a lot of practicing; I really wanted to make sure I didn’t fall behind in anything. I really did as much as I could to stay sharp and stay on top of the game. What did Abbotsford and the UFV community mean to you? It was great. It’s a bit of a smaller school with not as many people living in residence. But to see the support, to see the turnout we’d have every day, to see the community come together and really appreciate us and accept us as basketball players out there, and just having the Indo-
Canadian community was awesome to see and was really fun to be a part of. It was something that I’ll definitely cherish for as long as I can remember. What is some advice that you would give to an 18-year-old Sukhman? I’d tell him to just stay consistent. The biggest thing is perseverance. Things are definitely gonna get bumpy, there’s not going to be a straight, narrow path; it’s going to be a little convoluted and a little disheartening in some places, and exciting in other places, but just stay consistent throughout. Continue to, or start to, work hard. At that point, I don’t think I was really working hard. So build that work ethic, stay consistent, and develop those skills that are traditional for a taller player. But at the higher level, you have to be able to play any position. Interview edited for length and clarity.
Formula One //
Red Bull charging into round five in Miami, baby Red Bull’s light changes to their car in Imola heading into round five of the F1 circuit in Miami TERYN MIDZAIN The last two races in Formula One have seen the first wave of new changes to the 2022 cars in action, and it has brought a new level of excitement to this elegant and passionate sport, with a return of Max Verstappen’s dominant form and performance. The biggest story after the Imola Grand Prix was how effective Red Bull’s small changes were that focused on reducing the car’s overall weight. Red Bull had been driving almost 10 kg heavier than Ferrari in the first three races, but at Imola, they managed to shed three to four kg with updated and lighter parts; a new, more aerodynamic floor plan that added a winglet for better downforce; and improved brake cooling capacity. With these changes, combined with Red Bull’s already great power unit, Max Verstappen dominated in Italy, achieving a grand slam: qualifying on pole, winning the Sprint event, winning the Grand Prix, and setting the fastest lap over the weekend, scoring as many points as possible. Red Bull’s second driver, Sergio Perez, came in second, earning the
team a spectacular one-two finish in Italy. Ferrari opted to not make any updates and changes to their car for their home race. Originally this was not concerning, as the F1-75 is considered one of the best-designed cars and consistent power units on the grid, and almost showed that changes weren’t necessary — if it wasn’t for the disastrous weekend in Italy. Carlos Sainz crashed out of qualifying on Saturday, and on Sunday had his second straight race weekend end in a Did Not Finish (DNF) because of a crash caused by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in the first turn of the race. Charles Leclerc struggled to keep pace with the newer Red Bulls and was on track for a third-place podium finish, but Leclerc took a spin that cost him a podium and dropped him to sixth, leaving Ferrari with only an 11-point lead over Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship. Ferrari has yet to announce any changes to their car, but don’t count them out. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes that the advantage between themselves and Red Bull will shift from race to race, as each track is so different. Ferrari had the best car and won in Australia two weekends ago, on another street circuit like the
upcoming Miami Grand Prix. Mercedes has continued to tweak their rear wing and downforce options, but still has done little to address their massive porpoising and pace issues. The porpoising looked worse in Imola than in previous races. Miami has the potential to breathe some hope into the German team with the arrival of some new parts, which Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineer for Mercedes, said in a team video “will hopefully give [the team] an indication on whether we are moving in the right direction,” which at the very least will hopefully allow Mercedes to find the root of the issue. Round five of the Formula One championship brings racing fans to the city of glam and glitz, flashing lights, cocaine, and neon turquoise and fuchsia vibes: Miami. Making its debut in Formula One this weekend at the Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix from May 6 to 8, Miami is the 11th U.S. venue that has hosted a Formula One event and is the second U.S. track on the F1 calendar in 2022. The track is built around the Hard Rock Stadium, a massive entertainment hub that has hosted sporting and concert events from around the world. F1 technicians designed and simulated 36 dif-
ferent track layouts through the complex before choosing the layout for the street circuit being used this weekend. The 19-turn street circuit is 5.4 km long, with the standard three DRS zones that project top speeds of 320 km/h and demand wheel-to-wheel racing while battling through the winding chicanes. The Miami circuit, like its sister in Austin, Texas, will also have some elevation changes throughout the track. Miami’s most notable change will be in the turn 14-15 chicane; the track travels uphill, with the peak in between the corners and a fast slope down. Miami’s new track will be an interesting race and event for F1. It’s the first new track that has been designed entirely for the 2022 cars that F1 is committed to until 2026. The FIA and F1 are already working on finalizing the next power units and chassis designs for the 2026 cars. Miami’s adaptability will allow for different tracks through the city’s ten-year tenure, and keep the tracks fast and safe; so far, the only remaining question concerning Miami is whether it will be a Red Bull- or Ferrari-favoured track.
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VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHY
THE 100TH ANNUAL PLOWING MATCH HELD AT GREENDALE ACRES Photos by : Ryan Keeping
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHY
If you would like to see your photo featured in the pages of The Cascade email them to culture@ufvcascade.ca
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VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
Crossword STUDY BREAKPuzzle 30.07 Crossword //
Made by Anisa Quintyne
ACROSS
DOWN
1. The closest planet to Earth
1. Found standing in the middle of farm crops
2. A word processor machine from the 1900s
1 2
6. A human transforms into this monster. Reminiscent of bats
4.They invent new machines and innovations 5.A hairy arachnid.
7. A car model founded by Elon Musk 3
4
8. There are 206 of them in the human body 9. A small animal that hops
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Sudoku 7
Sudoku //
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ANSWERS: Across: 2. Mercury 3. Typewriter 6. Vampire 7. Tesla 8. Bones 9. Bunny
e middle of farms new machines chnid
Across: 2. the closest planet to earth 3. a machine used to type 6. a human transforms into this monster 7. founded by Elon Musk 8. there are 206 of them in the human body 9. an animal that hops
2 1
6
1
1
Down: 1. Scarecrow 4. Engineer 5. Tarantula
Horoscopes //
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Your weekly life predictions as told by Shiva the Sage.
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Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 Heading into the summer, you’re juggling a number of responsibilities and roles — and you’re doing a great job of managing them. While you’ll be able to rely on your natural Aries exuberance, it’s important to also prioritise downtime to avoid burnout and to maintain perspective.
Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 The change of seasons represents you coming into your own intellectually. You’re beginning to learn how to harness your knowledge and authority, and it’s time to put that to use. Don’t be afraid to take the lead, guide others, or offer your input during this period of clarity.
Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 The perseverance of a Taurus is not something that can be dissuaded, but I’ll try anyway. Be aware this semester of putting too much energy into endeavours that aren’t worth your time. The best course of action is to plan ahead and pick your battles.
Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 Be aware of new opportunities that will manifest in the new season. Although they may be shiny and new, do your due diligence and research thoroughly to see if they’re all they appear. In this circumstance, it’s better to think with reason than the heart.
Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 You’re entering the summer with extra weight on your shoulders — a heavy burden, unavoidable responsibility, or overwhelming task perhaps. This is your sign that the weight will soon be lifted, but it may need to be through setting boundaries and reprioritizing your time.
Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 While normally©you’re even2007 exceptionally - 2022 Education.com tempered, you’ve been harbouring a lot of sorrow recently. You’re holding back the floodgates, but it’s time to let it wash over you and know that this too shall pass. You’ll make it to the other side and be stronger for it.
Build your own custom worksheet at education.com/worksheet-generator
Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 As the summer unfolds, there will be a major shift in your life. Calm yourself, water sign, because it doesn’t have to be negative. Accept the inevitable, let go of what doesn’t serve you, and be ready to embrace new possibilities so you can come out better than before.
Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 This semester you’re arriving at an impasse and aren’t sure which direction to pursue. The best thing you can do is gather more information: ask for advice, consult with loved ones, and research both sides. The worst thing you can do is hide your head in the sand and avoid making a decision altogether.
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Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 Going into the summer semester, you’ll face emotional challenges where you’ll need to reign in your natural impulsivity. These obstacles will require you to master your feelings despite negativity or frustration so you canBuild remain and make your ownlevel-headed custom worksheet at education.com/worksheet-generator confident decisions that align with ©your 2007 - 2022 Education.com morals. Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 This new semester marks a change in pace for you. You’ve recently overcome an obstacle in your life, and you’ll be able to move forward again like never before. It will be a period of business but also of productivity, so remain focused on your goals. Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 During this semester it’s time to examine an aspect of your life that’s quietly eating away at you: money. Ask yourself if you’re losing sight of what’s important, developing a scarcity mindset, or if what you need is to nip that online shopping addiction in the bud. Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 I have great news for you, my fishy friend: it’s time to allow your vast array of emotions to guide you this semester. This season is ripe with opportunities and potential, and it’s time to pursue your passions and listen to your intuition. It won’t lead you astray.
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
WEDNESDAY, MAY 04, 2022
ARTS
arts@ufvcascade.ca Danaye Reinhardt — Arts Editor
Artist Q&A //
Local alternative hip-hop artist girly. drops debut album Boyish
Abbotsford local producer Girly. discusses journey into production, inspirations, and some new projects with The Cascade KELLYN KAVANAGH
the song, “Sicksh!t”. Can you tell me a little more about that one?
girly. is a young artist based locally in Abbotsford, BC. Since beginning his music production journey, he’s built an impressive catalog of music including numerous singles, an EP, and most recently his debut album, Boyish. Exploring themes of anxiety, heartbreak, faith, and hope for the future, girly. packs each song with catchy hooks and upbeat instrumentals that strike feelings of nostalgia laced with ennui. Listening to the record, it’s not hard to see a bright future ahead for the 20-year-old producer.
Yeah, it was actually crazy. That was when I was at my old job. I was chilling with my girlfriend one Sunday night and I asked her, “Do you ever just want to bash your head into a wall?” And she's like, “No, that's not okay…” And I meant that so genuinely. I wasn’t doing good. She told me I should call in sick the next day. I thought, “Yeah, I might.” I called them and said I couldn’t make it. The next day I was sitting in bed thinking I needed to do something. Take myself out of this and just make something. I sat down at my desk and I sort of ran with it. That’s You've actually done quite a bit and in how that one happened. The whole song just a couple of years. How did you get is just raw and very emotional. It's just yourself into music production? crazy how people are connecting with that song, it's really cool. I think it was grade 11, one of my homies, Jake, was live streaming on InstagWho would you say are some of your ram. I saw he was making music. I was biggest influences on your music? just really curious about what was going on. How did one do that sort of thing? All I think that the whole SoundCloud era I remember thinking when I was sitting definitely played a huge role in my muthere was like, “I could do this. Why am sic. I kinda fell in love with lofi and indie I not doing this?” I'm the type of person music as well. I’d also say XXXTentacion, that if I put my mind to something, I'm Jean Dawson and Montell Fish have a doing it to my fullest. So I just went home strong influence on my music. Especially and started writing and then, yeah, the Montell Fish. I’m a Christian myself, and rest is pretty much history. I know Christians get a bad rep because a I thought, “I need someone to push lot of bad stuff has gone on in the church me and give me a project to do.” So I fi- which is really unfortunate. Montell Fish gured, why don't I think of this more as is spreading the word but he’s not super like a project that I have. Not necessarily in your face about it either, which is soa deadline, but I just am obligated to do mething I really respect. it because it's like a school project sort of thing. Going forward, what kind of concepts, themes, and sounds do you hope I hear a lot of these emotions come to explore? through a lot of the tracks, particularly
Netflix //
I just went to school for four months at Nimbus School of Recording & Media in Vancouver. I'm doing a lot of rap right now. I've been working on more stuff like that recently. Spending a lot of time with my lyrics piecing it together intentionally to tell stories through each song. I've also got a bit more in store for Boyish that will be coming soon. When you say you’ve got a bit more in store for Boyish, what does that entail?
a single with another local singer, Jobé, which will also be coming as well. What can people expect to see and experience at their first girly. show? I like to keep things pretty casual, some talking in between songs but not too much. Lots of energy, overall expect to have a really fun time. For anyone reading this, if you’re at a girly. show — just come to the front and jump. That’s one of the things I strive for, to have everyone come up to the front by the end of my set. girly.’s debut album Boyish is out now on all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. Make sure to check it out, and keep an eye out for some new releases and show updates coming soon!
I’ve got a few more shows coming up around the area, which is really exciting. Merchandise is on its way including CDs which are coming soon. It’s definitely a process, being a one man team sort of thing. I’ve also got a remix album in the works called Boyish w/ da Homies, which brings in my friends to do some remixes This interview has been edited for length on all the tracks, which is something I’m and clarity. really excited about. There will also be
Selling Sunset did something right Season five highlighted struggle in an honest way CARISSA WIENS
In case you’ve avoided Selling Sunset for the past several years, it’s a reality show that follows the professional and personal lives of several realtors at a luxury L.A. brokerage. Most of the show covers the drama between agents at the brokerage, but in between are quieter storylines of romances, friendships, and, of course, L.A. real estate. The big seller for this season was Chrishell (a realtor) and Jason’s (the founder of the brokerage) romantic relationship, which was introduced to the viewers through their couples trip to Greece in episode one. During the
Before we dive into this article about the fifth season of Selling Sunset, I would like to clarify that I am not a fan of the show. Yes, I watch each season as soon as they’re released, keep tabs on the stars’ Instagrams, and dive into the tabloids, but I am not a fan. Fans are people who want the show to continue, who defend the show, who actually like the show — and I am not one of those people. But the way fertility and its difficulties were discussed in this season made me consider changing my attitude toward the show. CONTINUED ON PAGE 23
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VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
ARTS Non-Fiction //
CHARTS
SHUFFLE AARON LEVY
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Basia Bulat The Garden
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CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy Pierre Kwenders José Louis & The Paradox welcomes in the post-April months with glee — bring on the sun! Of Love
PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR
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Julie Doiron I Thought of You
The Band - “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
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Maylee Todd Maloo
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Scott Hardware Ballad of a Tryhard
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Apollo Ghosts Pink Tiger
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Wet Leg Wet Leg
This tale of Southern pride versus Yankee muscle, and the legacy of confederate attitudes from that bygone, if recently 're-enacted' era of American federal/state politics, comes to mind every year around this time, as its booming chorus and Levon Helm's gruff growling usher in the new season of heat.
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Jordan Klassen Glossolalia
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On May Day in 2006, I actually had the pleasure of interviewTanya Tagaq ing the bassist for this band, a Tongues very eloquent and considered man named Klaus Flouride. Now, Mauve I didn't really know anything Dream State EP about the Dead Kennedys at that time, and so the interview was Beverly Glenn-Copeland decidedly embarrassing for me Keyboard Fantasies Rei- and mine. magined
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Destroyer Labyrinthitis
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V-CiPz Sandi's Son - Deluxe
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Jim Page The Time is Now
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Tymo The Art of a Maniac
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orion sun Getaway
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Sally Shapiro Sad Cities
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Stalag 13 Fill in the Silence
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Crashdiet Automation
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Annihilator Metal II
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Dead Kennedys - “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”
Thingy - “Mayday” In honour of CIVL doc producer Dan's word-association-Monday pick-of-the-day, this act including members of Heavy Vegetable and Pinback, not to be confused with Casey Veggies or Maybach, which are an entirely different genre of music and style of vehicle than Pinback fans are used to. Etienne Siew - “Heaven And The Ground” This song starts on February and ends asking if May-be you are feeling the same, and so we close this edition of the CIVL shuffle with a local Fraser Valley Music Award fan-vote champion discussing trying to "finish my degree." "Most people are somewhere between heaven and the ground."
Don’t Burn This Country has a lot to say about wokeism Is the woke destroying America? A gay man gives his opinion DANAYE REINHARDT Here’s a book that’s going to make you mad. Published in April of this year, Dave Rubin’s latest nonfiction book, Don’t Burn This Country, has a lot to say. If you’re left-leaning, you’ll disagree with almost everything Rubin writes. If you’re right-leaning, you might find his examples of left-wing extremism frustrating and outrageous. I have to be honest — as a fairly conservative person myself, I was nervous to dive into this book, knowing that I would be writing a review for an arguably left-leaning university. All you need to do is look at the book’s tagline to understand why: Surviving and thriving in our woke dystopia. With the likes of Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson, Rubin has taken some of the most controversial topics of the last few years and presented them in this blunt, extremely American book. COVID-19. Black Lives Matter. Fake news. Elections. You name it — he’s written about it, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. I’ll start with some of the problems with Don’t Burn This Country. To put it simply, Rubin bashes the left and, as he calls it, the “woke.” He even argues that "it's no longer right versus left. It's not red versus blue. It's woke versus everyone else." He advocates for a sort of unity between “Godfearing” conservatives and “secular, libertarian” conservatives, also known as “refugees of the left.” It’s about tolerating different beliefs for the sake of fighting for freedom. While I understand where he’s coming from, the main problem with this argument — and with the book as a whole — is that Rubin seems to be comparing the extremism of the left with the ideals of the right. Certainly, in his ideal world, the right would be as tolerant and accepting as he says. But conservatives, just like progressives, are human. We’re always going to be intolerant if something doesn’t align with our values or beliefs. Another problem — perhaps because I’ve had to list citations for every essay I’ve ever written in university — is that Rubin sometimes makes outrageous statements without any sources to back them up. For example, he claims that COVID-19 “may actually be a leaked bioweapon from a lab in Wuhan, China.” I don’t care if it’s true. I just want a trusted source to see where he’s getting his information. These problems alone may convince you to never pick up this book, but I want to balance the scales. I actually agree with a lot of what he says. One of the things he talks about is the media and how it can twist our biases and censor anyone it likes. His solution? Don’t be spoon-fed by the media. Get off social media, get off Netflix, get off news sites — think for yourself and stop getting swept up in politics. This is, of course, an ironic statement coming from a political commentator, but his solution still rings true. I’ve read some of the subreddit for the topic of
Dave Rubin and let me tell you — a lot of people don’t like him. One reason given to dislike Rubin is because he seemed to “jump ship” from a progressive to a conservative — or a libertarian, or a self-described “classical liberal” — which is perhaps complicated by the fact that Rubin is a gay married man. Wait, a gay conservative? Rubin actually argues that the left tends to group people according to their characteristics — sexual orientation, race, gender, etc. — and that if you vote for a certain person while belonging to a certain group, you’re not a true representation of that group. Ultimately, I believe that if you are truly thinking for yourself, you cannot be a pure conservative or progressive. As individuals, our ideas and beliefs are much more complex than that. You are always going to have beliefs that differ from your political leanings — and that’s okay. After all, we are not made for a political leaning, but rather the other way around. If there’s one thing Rubin advocates for, it’s to think for yourself. It’s about the individual rather than the “collective.” I can just imagine him crying out, “Freedom!” as he wrote this book. If any of these ideas in this review make you shift uncomfortably in your seat or send you ranting on your car ride home, grab a copy of Don’t Burn This Country and sit with the controversy. You don’t have to agree with it. Just read it for yourself.
VOL. 30 // ISSUE 07
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022
ARTS Netflix //
Our Great National Parks offers a refreshing perspective for the genre
Barack Obama is your globetrotting guide to the world’s most breathtaking and important national parks BRAD DUNCAN When Netflix announced its new series Our Great National Parks, I was unenthused. Don’t get me wrong — I was raised on wildlife documentaries, but with almost forty years of watching and new content released every year, it’s hard to get excited about the next iteration. Our Great National Parks does feel a little special, though. It’s the first series of this kind in a long while to leave me a bit more hopeful than I’d been going in, and that’s something. In 2019, Netflix successfully brought aboard Sir David Attenborough for a BBCinspired exclusive, Our Planet, which garnered critical acclaim for its spectacular visuals, top-notch narration, and dire warnings. But Netflix has a looming problem to address, because Attenborough, who turns 96 this May, can’t remain the de facto lead forever. This brings us to Our Great National Parks’ host, Barack Obama. The 44th POTUS is arguably one of our generation’s greatest orators, and his tenor and cadence are instantly recognizable on this journey through some of the world’s most important protected wildernesses — so how does he fare? Admittedly, it’s an impossible task to unseat Attenborough, who’s become synonymous with nature and conservation documentaries, but the former Prez does an admirable job, shifting his tone from thoughtful, to grim, to downright jolly at times. Like Attenborough, Obama speaks from a deep connection to the material, conveying a sense of reverence that’s typically absent from celebrity-hosted fare
pulled from a Hollywood grab-bag. When Obama discusses the importance of designating national parks, it feels prescient from a man who held the Oval Office and was tasked with their protection. Narration, however, isn’t the only ingredient that goes into a nature documentary casserole, and again, the bar is already set incredibly high. The reception of these series also depends on narrative, visuals, and score, and while Parks succeeds on all fronts, it doesn’t quite reach the high water marks of some of its predecessors. To be clear, Parks is stunning, but after viewing it on a smartphone, a laptop, and a 4K big-screen, I can tell you — size matters. The show is by no means unwatchable on lesser devices, but Parks was meant to be absorbed, not just seen. The towering Patagonian spires and vast African grasslands just aren’t as imposing and majestic when you’re staring at a screen in the palm of your hand. A lack of immersion also makes it tough to connect to the animals, and that connection is important. Their subtle expressions, so evocative on a big screen, can get lost on a four-inch display. I found that I was so much more emotionally invested when viewing on a proper television, that I went back and re-watched the first and second episodes that I’d initially viewed on other devices. Parks also sounds great. Composed by David Schweitzer, the soundtrack focuses on one orchestral centerpiece that acts as a throughline for the series. Many of the landscapes and wild creatures have their own pieces, but each feels connected through the main track that thematically ties everything together. The playful flutes and violins give way to sweeping and
soulful cellos and horns that I’m not adept enough to properly analyze. What I can say is that good music makes you feel what it wants you to feel, and in that, Schweitzer was successful. Where Parks truly succeeds, in my opinion, is its call-to-action. One thing it does better than some of its predecessors is humanize its cast. While it’s common to anthropomorphize these characters, Parks puts a premium on building an emotional connection with the audience. Whether it’s a sea otter with her newborn, a sloth basking in the sun, a puma reuniting with her daughter, or a macaque taking a deer for a joyride, the directors are intent on illustrating just how very alike we are. The universality of our needs — to find companionship, to seek safety and shelter, and to feed and protect our young — represents a deeply rooted kinship with our distant
(and not so distant) relatives. By tapping into our compassion rather than our guilt, protecting these spaces feels more like a current duty than a missed opportunity. Ultimately, Our Great National Parks makes conservation compelling and attainable, something sorely needed right now. Often, I’m convinced that humanity is simply not equipped to address climate change, habitat destruction, and extinction with the urgency and effort required. I still am — but this series gave me a little more hope than I had before. Passionate, driven individuals working in small collectives can, and do, affect real change when it’s focused and directed on attainable goals, and protecting our wild spaces is one of those goals. While it’s not the best of the breed, it’s still a fantastic specimen and, hopefully, not the last of its kind.
Netflix //
Season five highlighted struggle in an honest way CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 trip, Amanza (another realtor) outwardly states to the couple while being in front of a dinner party, how excited she is for them to get married and have babies. At first I was completely taken aback by Amanza’s comments because it seems completely inappropriate. But as I continued through the season it became clear that this budding romance by itself is not the major storyline, but the possibility of marriage and babies from said budding romance is the bigger storyline. With virtually every conversation Chrishell and/or Jason were in, the other cast members asked about their plans for marriage and babies. It felt super odd that none of the other cast members who were in serious relationships were being asked about their marriage and child-bearing plans. Even Mary (another realtor), who married Romain in the second season, has not been interrogated about having
children like Chrishell was. Soon enough Chrishell and Jason tell others that they have been taking steps to ensure that having children could be in the cards for them if they choose to do so. I really liked how both members in the relationship were very open about Chrishell being forty years old and that in order to have children, medical intervention is fairly necessary. Relying on the work of doctors to conceive a baby, rather than naturally, is a topic only just starting to become less taboo, and I think this season helps our culture move forward in that. Jason also mentioned during the season that at the beginning of their romantic relationship, Chrishell was very upfront about wanting to have children even though Jason continued to show some apprehension. Chrishell tells him that if he decides he does not want to be a father then there is no future for them. If Jason was completely confident in wanting to be a father, there wouldn’t
have been so many discussions about having children throughout the season, there would have been a joyous season finale, and there would have been no need for the Instagram post on Dec. 21st, 2021, where they announced to their followers that they were no longer together because of their “different wants regarding a family.” But, of course, that’s not the case. So much of Selling Sunset focuses on the realtors following their career goals and living luxurious lifestyles, but I appreciate how this season still allowed those aspects to shine while also highlighting Chrishell’s personal goal of having a child. In order to achieve any goal, one must make a plan to get there. And Chrishell made that plan. She was realistic about her age and stage in her life and knew that if she wanted to have a child of her own, time wasn’t of the essence. This season portrays women’s fertility in an honest light. The audience was shown the stress many women carry in finding a
suitable partner, working on that relationship to last, and establishing a financially stable career, all in such a short amount of time to still be able to birth a child after. For plenty of people, trying to attain these goals can be next to impossible and heartbreaking and the producers showed exactly that. The way fertility difficulties were depicted is not enough to make me a fan of the show (as it still has major issues with the diversity of the cast members, glorifying luxurious and unattainable lifestyles, and constantly praising thinness) but it was enough to grab my attention and feel genuine emotion for one of the realtor’s, something I have not experienced yet. I think Selling Sunset deserves a round of applause for this season’s portrayal of fertility struggles that are relatable to many.
23
Note:
Some of these events require tickets, and most are online. If something catches your eye, take to the internet for more details, including those about social distancing measures for in-person events.
UFV Events Sports Community Event
may Drop-in Badminton @ Abbotsford North Gym, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Drop-in Pickleball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Indigenous Graduation Celebration @ CEP, A1457, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Continuing Education Information Session Webinar: Management Skills @ Online, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Drop-in Badminton @ Abbotsford North Gym, 8:30 - 10:00 p.m.
Resilient Women in Business Networking Event @ Afterthoughts Dessert Restaurant 9:00 - 10: 30 a.m. Open Court @ Abbotsford North Gym, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Cascades Baseball vs Prairie Baseball Academy @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 12:00 p.m. Drop-in Basketball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Continuing Education Information Session Webinar: Public Relations @ Online, 6:30 - 7: 30 p.m. Drop-in Soccer @ Abbotsford South Gym, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Psychology Student & Faculty Social - @ Lou’s Grill, Abbotsford, 7:00 p.m. Cascades Baseball vs Prairie Baseball Academy @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 12:00 p.m. Cascades Baseball vs Prairie Baseball Academy @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 3:00 p.m. Metzger Collection Museum @ Metzger Collection, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Drop-in Badminton @ Abbotsford North Gym, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Drop-in Goal Ball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Drop-in Basketball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. Open Court @ Abbotsford North Gym, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Immigration Workshop @ Online, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Drop-in Spike Ball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Canvas Paint Night @ Duke’s Country Pub, Chilliwack, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Drop-in Volleyball @ Abbotsford South Gym, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Campus Rec Culture
Chat R (Chat Reconciliation) @ Online, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Drop-in Badminton @ Abbotsford North Gym, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Drop-in Pickleball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Cascades Baseball vs. Victoria @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 3:00 pm. Cascades Baseball vs. Victoria @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 6:00 pm. Continuing Education Information Session Webinar @ Online, 6:30 7:30 p.m. Drop-in Badminton @ Abbotsford North Gym, 8:30 - 10:00 p.m. UFV Caste Matters Reading Group @ Online, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Open Court @ Abbotsford North Gym, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Drop-in Basketball @ Abbotsford North Gym, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Continuing Education Information Session Webinar: Bookkeeping @ Online, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Drop-in Soccer @ Abbotsford South Gym, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Sip @ Savasana at Ripples @ Ripples Estate Winery, Abbotsford, 7:00 10:00 p.m.
Senate Public Meeting @ Abbotsford, A225, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Cascades Baseball vs Thompson Rivers @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 3:00 p.m. Cascades Baseball vs Thompson Rivers @ Fairfield Park, Chilliwack, 6:00 p.m.
