The Cascade Vol. 27 Iss. 20

OCTOBER 2 TO OCTOBER 8, 2019

VOLUME 27 ISSUE 20

Pretending that the parts of ourselves that we dislike are real, seperate people and then denying that we have ever met them since 1993

indigenous Observations of changing ecosystems 10

Streats in the canoe 4

roaring Sizeism 20's in fashion speakeasy 6 WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

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VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

Production Assistant Renée Campbell renee@ufvcascade.ca

Opinion Editor Carissa Wiens carissa@ufvcascade.ca

News Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca

Arts in Review Editor Chandy Dancey chandy@ufvcascade.ca

Culture & Events Editor Andrea Sadowski andrea@ufvcascade.ca

Digital Media Manager Anoop Dhaliwal anoop@ufvcascade.ca

Feature Editor Darien Johnsen darien@ufvcascade.ca Illustrator Kayt Hine

Sports Editor Alex Jesus alex@ufvcascade.ca Illustrator Kelly Ning

Social Media Writer Katee Clements

Sports Writer Nic Jackson

Social Media Writer Krizzia Arcigal

Staff Writer Karen White

Photographer David Myles

CONTRIBUTORS Remington Fioraso Aleister Gwynne Sasha Tuttle Cover Design: Mikaela Collins & Renée Campbell Back Cover: Inktober/UFV

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

OPINION

Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca

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10-11 12

17 9......Events Calendar

Snapshots.......8

@UFVCASCADE

NEWS BRIEFS

ARTS

Production Manager Elyssa English elyssa@ufvcascade.ca

Study Break.......16

18......CIVL Shuffle

FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/UFVCASCADE Volume 27 · Issue 20 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 Wednesday with a print circulation of 1,000 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

NEWS School of Creative Arts launch.......3

Editorial.......5 Your digital DNA.......6

5.......Dear Robin 7.......Craftivism

CULTURE Self-defense workshop......12 Cascade kitchen......13

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.

Janelle Rozema interview.......14

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4.....Keith Carlson joins UFV

OPINION

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 are held every Monday in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus at 2:00pm.

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.

news@ufvcascade.ca Jessica Barclay — News Editor

NEWS

UFV //

NEWS

Creative Director Mikaela Collins mikaela@ufvcascade.ca

CONTENTS

FEATURE

Business Manager Aneesha Narang aneesha@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor Nadia Tudhope nadia@ufvcascade.ca

CULTURE

Executive Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

12.......Roaring 20's Speakeasy 13.......Debate club Q&A

SPORTS

Women's basketball.......15

14......Women's soccer

Downton Abbey.......18

Following an upswing in vapingrelated illnesses, B.C. is considering implementing tougher vaping laws. In an effort to discourage young teens from vaping, Washington State recently banned flavoured vape products — an action B.C. is looking at following. Those working in the vape industry argue that a ban will not resolve the issue, since teenagers do not engage with these products solely for the flavours, and a ban might push smokers trying to quit to the black market instead.

"Smoking is just so addictive that there has to be a little bit more. A little bit more to vaping in order to get people off those cigarettes,” said Piper De Marsh, of the Cloverdale Vapor Room.

- CTV News

New research endeavours to turn carbon dioxide to rock In an effort to combat carbon emissions, the University of Victoria (UVic)-based Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions is conducting research on the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by turning it into rock. The international research team — partially led by UVic’s Curran Crawford — is building on Icelandic researchers’ findings that injecting basalt (a porous form of volcanic rock that is mostly located under the ocean) with carbon dioxide and water results in the solution becoming, over a few years, a solid rock. This injection creates “geological scale formations” which can hold carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere “for as long as we need to,” according to Crawford.

15......Men's soccer - CBC News

ARTS Hustlers.......17

B.C. considers cracking down on vaping

17......Rambo: last blood 19......Retro rewind: The Addams Family

School of Creative Arts launches at UFV The merger of visual arts and theater brings opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning

Print studio. UFV, Abbotsford. Sept. 27, 2019. (UFV Flickr)

JESSICA BARCLAY The School of Creative Arts (SoCA) celebrated its creation with an interactive launch party last Friday. The new school is a merger of the art history, media arts, theatre, and visual arts (VA) departments to promote and encourage interdisciplinary work across the arts at UFV. In 2017 the College of Creative Arts council voted to officially begin plans to create the school. The school was approved by the Senate in February 2019 and officially came into being in May. Heather Davis-Fisch has been appointed director of the new school after being associate professor of English and theatre, and theatre department head at UFV. The merger came about, according to Davis-Fisch, because faculty in the arts and theatre departments saw connections between what they were doing.

Both the VA and theatre departments at UFV can be considered nontraditional. The arts are not strictly traditional disciplines like painting and sculpting, and theatre is not strictly stage performance. VA and theatre at UFV often take a unique approach, incorporating technology and crossdisciplinary work into their courses and art.

“We're much more interested in experimenting and looking at how to push the edges of what theatre is, and I think the visual arts faculty are doing the same,” Davis-Fisch said. “The merger of the two areas probably wouldn't work as well if the two areas weren't really open to looking at interdisciplinary connections and more experimentation than some programs might.”

Bringing the disciplines together should facilitate the already present cross-disciplinary work between

theatre and the arts at UFV. In November, the theater department will be putting on a performance in the S'eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery, where one person in a group of friends buys a completely white painting and sparks an argument.

“This week one of our faculty came in and was really excited because for their still-life class, they're able to use props from theatre as the still-life props rather than going and buying Lovaza flowers,” Davis-Fisch said.

The main changes students should see are more unique opportunities and flexibility in courses. Minors and majors in the programs will, at the moment, remain the same, but there are a number of courses being cross-listed.

“For students, I think that the creation of the school will let them really see the interconnections between the different areas in ways that might not be clear if you're taking a course just in one area of one of the programs,” Davis-Fisch said.

The major changes will come at an administrative level, with the goal to transition into the school with minimal disruption to students. There have been changes to staff roles within the new school and the creation of some new positions, including director of the school. Previously, there were separate department heads for theatre and VA. There will also be the physical movement of offices within the school to merge the departments together.

The timetable will also be planned as one school. Davis-Fisch said this will enable similar classes in the different departments to be scheduled at the same time so professors can coordinate on projects. Rooms will also be used more effectively, and scheduling classes in specific rooms for the time they need that room will be easier with all the departments as one unit.

During planning for the school, five

main areas of focus were chosen to facilitate the interdisciplinary nature of the school. The areas of focus have been formed into committees within the school: creative practice; critical studies; digital media technologies; equity, human rights, and inclusion; and external engagement.

“A number of committees within the school are very explicitly interdisciplinary so that we would get people from different areas working together on projects,” Davis-Fisch said.

The faculty and staff have been drafting vision, values, and mission statements for the school.

The SoCA launch party The SoCA launch party, Davis-Fisch said, is just one example of how having the VA and theatre departments as one unit will bring more opportunities for fun events.

The event was held on Friday, Sept.

27 from 5:30-8 p.m. at UFV, in Building C, Building B, and Building D. The evening featured food, drinks, music by CIVL Radio, and interactive workshops hosted by the faculty of the new school and alumni of the VA and theatre departments.

Attendees of the launch party were invited to participate in the workshops, which ranged from learning to stage punch to painting for beginners.

The S'eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery was also open, showcasing its new exhibit “I went to art school.” The exhibit had UFV faculty and staff artwork alongside student and alumni work to “demonstrate the importance of art education and mentorship,” according to the promotional statement.

The evening closed with keynote speaker Adrienne Fast, curator of The Reach Gallery Museum, speaking on her love for art and why it matters.

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NEWS

VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

UFV //

New professor returns to familiar ground Keith Carlson joins UFV as third research chair

Research Chair Keith Carlson. Sept. 24, 2019. (UFV flickr)

ALEISTER GWYNNE On Tuesday, Sept. 24, UFV held a meet and greet for UFV’s newest faculty member, Keith Thor Carlson.

Carlson is now the third Canada Research Chair (CRC) to reside at UFV. The CRC is a title awarded by the Canadian federal government to scholars that our country’s universities seek to recruit for the beneficial impact they may have on Canadian lives. Carlson’s area of focus is Indigenous and community-engaged history.

Carlson got his start as a student in B.C. after receiving a co-op job position with Indian Affairs, which involved the hearing of land claims cases. He thought he would be helping Indigenous people with their claims, but to his dismay found that the ministry was doing the opposite, by challenging such claims and putting the burden of proof on the claimants. Carlson left Indian Affairs and instead offered his services to local First Nations. For nine years he worked for the Stō:lō people as a research co-ordinator and historian.

Grand Chief Clarence “Kat” Pennier, a friend and colleague of Carlson, spoke at the meet and greet about Carlson’s past career and his contributions to the Stō:lō Nation. Carlson spoke with elders and listened to their stories and concerns. More importantly, he put those statements in writing so that outsiders could “understand what we talk about,” Pennier said.

“It’s important for the broader public to understand why we are the way we are,'' Pennier said, citing intergenerational trauma and their troubled relationship with the Canadian justice system as examples.

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Carlson later spent two decades working at the University of Saskatchewan. During this time, he worked with the local Métis.

However, Carlson said he has always had a better grounding in B.C., and he made many visits to B.C. during his time at the University of Saskatchewan. Carlson looks forward to being able to work with the Stō:lō Nation, of which he is an honorary member, once again.

Following the conclusion of some prior projects that are nearing completion, Carlson plans to embark on two new projects at UFV. One of these will be an effort to historicise sources of Indigenous trauma that predate the era of the residential schools, such as kidnappings of Indigenous people by fur traders, gold prospectors, and Spanish explorers and missionaries, often for the purposes of slave labour. The other will be writing a book on the colonial reservation system in Canada, which is intended to serve as a reference work for Indigenous land claims.

Carlson has spoken with members of the Stō:lō Nation, from elders to children, and asked them what reconciliation would look like for them assuming things like money and politics were no object. In his role as a historian, Carlson seeks to challenge the settler-dominated narrative of Canadian history which reduces Indigenous history to a prologue or side note and assigns heavy emphasis and importance to colonial and post-colonial history. He shared an anecdote about how deeply these historical assumptions run: when he was consulting a Stō:lō woman for a work on the history of the Stō:lō in Canada and she asked why it should not instead be the history of Canada among the Stō:lō.

SUS //

New eats at Streats

Student Union announces new franchise agreement JESSICA BARCLAY After remaining empty for a year, the Student Union Society (SUS) has announced that a new franchise will be moving into the space previously occupied by the Canoe restaurant.

Streats will begin operating on the second floor of the Student Union Building (SUB) following the grand opening on Oct. 21 of this year. The restaurant will be open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Students should look forward to a good variety of food that's tasty and an atmosphere that has good vibes,” Tripat Sandhu, SUS president, said.

Streats offers a variety of street food inspired items, including tacos, burritos, salad bowls, and poutine. Vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options are available. Streats will also hold a liquor license and there will be alcohol available for purchase, but must be kept in the lounge space. Gurvir Gill, SUS VP external, said prices will likely be similar to other locations as will deals, but it will be determined by the franchise.

Streats will operate out of the old Canoe kitchen. The SUS-operated Canoe restaurant closed in April 2018 after running a deficit of close to $300,000 after two and a half years of operating.

The restaurant opened for business in October 2015.

Negotiations with Streats have been ongoing over the last few weeks and the two organizations signed a multi-

year contract last week. Streats will be able to use the kitchen space in the SUB and SUS will receive a percentage of the profits. There is no loss of student money if the franchise doesn’t make a profit in a year, however.

“We're getting a food vendor that students can access and actually utilize rather than waiting in line ups, like on campus, and have more options and variety,” Sandhu said.

“I think that was our biggest priority,” Gill added.

The restaurant seating area has been open for general lounge space since the Canoe’s closure. Gill said that the space will be a shared one, owned by SUS but used by Streats. Students will still be able to use the space as a study and lounge location, but there will be more people using the space to eat and it likely won’t be available for booking

by Clubs and Associations as it had been in the interim while the kitchen was empty.

“Students will be able to do whatever they want in their space, in their building,” Gill said.

“I think at the end of the day, everything that's been either pre-booked or prearranged or pre-thought of, we'll probably do our best and still maintain it because ’til now we weren't really amplifying that [Streats] was going to be opening this semester and soon.”

The lounge space area will be closed temporarily while Streats updates the furnishings before the opening on Oct. 21.

Come Work With Us develop professional skills get experience writing and editing join a great team

JR. NEWS EDITOR send inquiries to managing@ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

opinion@ufvcascade.ca Carissa Wiens — Opinion Editor

Editorial //

Being a club at UFV shouldn’t be this hard JESSICA BARCLAY Clubs and Associations (C&A) at UFV are a mess. Changes earlier this year to the Student Union Society’s (SUS) policies regarding C&A has made it difficult, confusing, and impractical to become a registered club.

Clubs foster a sense of unique community on campus dictated directly by the unique interests of student groups that cannot be emulated by university or society-run groups. Every year, U-Join demonstrates this, with a collection of hopeful upcoming clubs and associations promoting their groups. This year saw the promotion of a new debate club and television show “book club” club.

In February, SUS changed their Fund Request Policy which governs how and why a C&A can request funding. C&A can only be approved for two funding requests per fiscal year (though they can make as many as they want) and receive up to $500 per request.

Based on other documentation and an email sent out to C&A when the changes were made, the intent of the policy change appears to be that C&A can only use SUS funding for fundraising initiatives. This is not mentioned in the Fund Request Policy except in the Q&A section that states: “These funds are allocated for events, not items.”

The Fund Request Procedure does reference the Fund Request Policy though, saying to look there for a definition of “fundraising initiative.” There is no mention of “fundraising” and only one, entirely unrelated mention of “initiative” in the policy, which provides little clarity.

Let’s break it down.

It is strongly implied that C&A should be running fundraisers to raise money to run their events. Students pay a fee to SUS, who puts money aside to fund C&A fundraisers,

where C&A ask for more money from students so they can run actual club events.

This is, of course, if there is funding available to give. Until students passed a referendum increasing funding to SUS, there was no money budgeted for C&A in the 2019-20 budget. There was, however, increases to full-time wage for some SUS managers and executives and the creation of two new positions.

At the AGM where the budget was presented, former SUS vice-president internal Jaleen Mackay said they “had to cut from somewhere.” Their priority was wages; this is understandable, but clearly demonstrates the lack of value the Society sees in its clubs.

The referendum passed and $15,000 was allotted to “student-run programming,” a far cry from the $20,000 budgeted in 2017/18 and $56,500 in 2016/17.

Previously SUS has claimed the purpose of the changes was to promote accountability for both the SUS and C&A. What is actually happening is students are jumping through hoops to maybe receive the funding that the student body has already given them through fees paid to SUS. A board game club could purchase all their inventory with $500, and happily start their first event as a game tournament instead of a cry for more money from already broke students.

SUS’s fourth section of its mandate, its main purpose for being, is “to promote artistic, literary, educational, intellectual, social, and charitable activities for the benefit of its members and others, and not to own, operate, or manage a social club.”

The current attitude towards C&A and the changes to the policies are not in line with SUS’s mandate. The policies need to be reassessed in order to better facilitate C&A and help them develop and prosper on campus.

Advice //

Dear Robin

ROBIN HALPER Life is tough and confusing and weird.

We all need help sometimes, and when you need an expert opinion, you turn to an expert opinion-giver like Robin Halper. Whatever problem you’re facing in life, Robin will have a solution.

The Cascade cannot guarantee the effectiveness of Robin’s unique approach to life, but if you’re in a jam, get some advice by writing to halp@ufvcascade. ca Chipping away Dear Robin, How many bags of chips would you buy for a group of 10 people?

I’m having people over on Friday and don’t want to buy a crazy amount of snacks. Any help is appreciated!

Sincerely, Chipped for chips

Hello, Good question. I went to a party once where they ran out of chips early on. I left by 10 p.m. I’ve got no time to not be eating some Ms. Vicky’s. Chips are the lifeblood of Friday nights. And booze. Assuming it’s a bring your own drinks event (as any respectable human who’s not loaded would do), you can splurge on chips. For 10 people I would do a bag for every two peo-

ple, so five bags. But make sure to get some other snacks, like gummy worms and chocolate-covered almonds (the classy snack). Peace.

Robin Fittingly fitted Dear Robin I purchased a very expensive dress a year or two ago and have only worn it once. I’m going to a wedding this upcoming weekend and was planning on wearing it, so I tried it on the other day just to make sure it still looks nice, but guess what? It’s too snug! I don’t want to buy an entirely new outfit for just one day and I don’t have anything else that would be appropriate for an elegant wedding — help!

Sincerely,

Pinched in pretty Hey, Thank you for not buying a whole new outfit for just one day. Fast fashion is a huge polluter and we do not need to support that corrupt industry. You’ve got two options here: ask your mom or grandma for their selection of shapewear (they’ve got it, don’t you worry) and give those a run in the dress, OR, raid a thrift store or your friend’s closet. Easy stuff.

Robin

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OPINION

VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

Lifestyle //

Lifestyle //

Double Your digital DNA zero, double standard Out with screen time and in with the screenome JESSICA BARCLAY

MIKAELA COLLINS Forever 21 declared bankruptcy over the weekend and announced that while some stores will stay open, all of its 44 Canadian locations will close. In my mostly leftist social media circle, the news was shared with captions like “good riddance” or “karma stings,” referencing the brand’s status as a staple of fast fashion, putting out garments at low prices by using environmentally harmful materials and exploiting workers. I agree, since I like fast fashion as much as the next anti-capitalist, but then I saw another caption: “Where am I going to shop now?”

The friend who posted that caption is intelligent, charismatic, thoughtful — and fat.

And Forever 21 is one of the only places she can reliably find affordable, fashionable clothes; she knows they’re not exactly ethical, but she doesn’t have many options. Because fat people are still an afterthought in the fashion industry, it can take a long time for trends to trickle down, especially into higher-end plus-size lines. If you’re thinking “So what?” I wouldn’t blame you — fashion can seem frivolous. But this problem has real ramifications for fat people.

Fat people face a distinct type of prejudice and discrimination, called sizeism or fatphobia. They are, according to numberous sociological studies, seen as stupid, lazy, mean, and dirty; they’re less likely to be hired, get worse medical treatment, and often deal with more mental health issues than thin people because of the stigma associated with their weight. When the stakes are this high, the ability to access clothes that help you portray yourself as professional, intelligent, and charismatic

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— somebody worth knowing — can be very important.

Also, fashion is just fun to play around and express yourself with.

What’s frustrating is that thin people can wear basically anything and call it fashion; “normcore” is a fashion movement predicated on looking like someone’s dad in a photo from 1993. Ill-fitting pants, white T-shirts and polos, grey sweatshirts, and frumpy button-downs are staples. These are things that fat people have been wearing for years, often because they’re all that are affordable and that fit, but it wasn’t fashionable until thin people started doing it. Models for androgynous and minimalist styles are almost always distinctly plank-shaped. These movements are, at least in theory, based on rejecting gender essentialism and materialism.

These have nothing to do with size, yet fat people aren’t seen as viable participants – perhaps because of their perceived unintelligence and lack of discipline.

I’ve never been thin but I’ve always loved fashion (despite what all photographic evidence may indicate). I feel this every time I wear an oversized shirt or my beloved denim Hammer pants: the fear that people are going to think I’m frumpy, or worse, clueless about the fact that I don’t look the way my clothes are supposed to look.

The fashion industry is part of the problem, but the reason the plus-sized gap in the industry matters is the perceptions that fat people have to battle against, so it’s also about thin people. Examine your biases, support size-inclusive brands, be critical of trends that are only new because of the body shape of the people promoting it — and tell your fat friends they look cute today.

Digital devices have become an extension of ourselves, augmenting our abilities, our memory, our knowledge banks. We sleep with them beside our pillows, walk hand in hand with them along the street. Our cars have computers that tell us about traffic, and we can order groceries through our phones, or even our refrigerators.

The term “screen time” was first used, according to some sources, by journalist Tom Engelhardt in a 1991 edition of Mother Jones Magazine. The article “The Primal Screen” used the term in a discussion on children's cartoons, and how the increase of screens in children's lives were drawing them into a culture of consumerism at a younger age through exposure to advertisements and the consumption of media-based items, like action figures or themed lunch boxes.

For 30 years this term has retained its negative connotations: screens are bad, and as such we must limit the time we spend in front of them.

The term is still commonly used, in research and in medicine, for r e c om me ndat ion s of how much time is too much time in front of our devices.

Yet the nature of how digital devices are incorporated into people's lives has evolved since the ‘90s. With the huge variety of ways people are using technology, the idea that the amount of time spent behind a screen is the defining characteristic of technology use is no longer a relevant concept.

Enter the “screenome,” a personalized digital blueprint of technology use. The term is a play on “genome,” the unique genetic blueprint that codes for an organism. The shared suffix -ome is fitting. In the life sciences it is often used to indicate something big and total: all genes make up a genome, all plants and animals in an area make up a biome, all

proteins in an organism make up the proteome.

The screenome, according to a paper published this March on screenomics, is the record of an individual's unique, disjointed daily experience on digital devices, as captured in a series of screenshots.

The paper, led by researchers from the Stanford University

Illustration by Kayt Hine

Screenomics lab, outlined a complete system for capturing a person's screenome, allowing researchers to digitally look over their study group’s shoulders. Technology is used to capture screenshots periodically, store the data, and decode the images and text as an individual navigates their digital landscape.

As many social and cultural experiences are finding platforms in the digital world, researchers can use a screenome to investigate the more detailed threads of technology use.

Technology use is no longer

as defined or as limited as it has been in the past, as the functions of devices are consolidated.

Cell phones can play a soap opera (television), contact a friend (landline phone), play music (CD player), and catch up on the U.S president's impeachment process (newspaper) from a park bench.

This consolidation allows for a more fragmented browsing experience, where people can quickly bounce between functions.

The screenome can be used to ask questions about technology use that go beyond the length of time spent on a device. Can jumping between tasks and activities affect attention span, and if so, what type of task jumping?

How are people using smartphones and laptops in conjunction to complete work, and is there a difference in tasks done on each device?

Researchers can also use a screenome to investigate questions about media use in different locations and demographics. Do women in China have the same social media habits as women in Canada? It can also capture incidental exposure to topics, such as ads, to see if it relates to actions later in media use.

Not all time spent in front of a screen is equal. A Netflix binge is not the same as researching for a 30-page essay, in much the same way that day drinking on an inflatable dinosaur pool lounger is not the same as swimming laps at the lake. Being in the same landscape does not mean the activities done there are equivalent.

It’s clear that screens are not going away. It’s difficult, and unrealistic for many, to restrict the time spent in front of a screen when the screen is essential to many functions of modern life.

Three-quarters of Canadians own a smartphone, and 96 per cent of Canadians between 15 and 34 years old use the internet daily. This is reflective of the growing engrainment of the digital in our analog existences.

It’s time to start looking at what we do on our technology instead of how long we use it and stop equating quantity to quality.

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

Lifestyle //

Put the “make” in making change How crafting can be an effective form of activism MIKAELA COLLINS ANDREA SADOWKSI “Craftivism” is a form of gentle protest where craft and activism meet. This movement was made popular by Betsy Greer and Sarah Corbett who have both written manuals on how to be a craftivist. It takes many forms: stitching signs of affirmation to be left in public, putting tiny protest banners on park benches, creating displays of origami cranes to remind parliament of the birds that rely on their protection in World Heritage Sites, and more.

As someone who gets into too many political arguments on Facebook and then usually has to knit for a while to calm down, craftivism is interest ing because it de-emphasi zes debate and direct confrontation.

This is certa i n ly necessary to affect change in some contexts, but can also become part of w h a t Corbett c a l l s “roboactivism” — that is, going through the motions of what activists are

sup posed to do, even w h e n it’s draining and, to be frank, ineffectual. Corbett started with craftivism because she was burnt out and tired of being surrounded by screaming protestors and negative energy while trying to affect positive change. However, before visions of special snowflakes start dancing in your head — “What, you can’t put up with a little discomfort for the sake of the greater good?” — consider some reasons why alternatives are important.

Crafts are accessible for introverted people who want to make a difference, but don’t know where to start and are alienated in loud, conflict-driven activist spaces — this can also happen due to cultural dif-

ferences. People with disabilities are routinely excluded, since lots of activities associated with traditional activism involve standing, walking, not eating or sleeping, or demand on-the-spot emotional and intellectual processing skills that not everyone has. But, craftivism can be valuable for all activists.

“A gentle approach to life is an active one — it’s not about being passive and letting the world go by. To engage with people gently is to be thoughtful about your actions, consider carefully the most effective approach to each situation, a n d keep an eye o n

the details so nothing is neglected or rushed,” Corbett said in her book A Little Book of Craftivism.

Crafting creates a space for everyone to reflect on issues privately rather than telling and being told things; it demands that you slow down and make many repetitive motions. This allows anger to subside and for craftivists to engage with issues on a more personal level.

The public nature of craftivism, when crafts are displayed, and the way it binds up activism into objects also lets people on the receiving end interact with it differently than they do in a confrontation with another person. Corbett created a campaign called “shop-dropping” to address concerns about fast fashion. It is the opposite of shoplifting, and involves placing

a handmade mini scroll in the pockets of clothes in stores that will soon be bought by a consumer. These mini scrolls have a message about the people who made the clothes, and are designed to provoke thought in a natural way rather than preaching or shaming. This a g a i n takes pressure off the activist, and allows space for private, judge-

ment-free reflection.

Craftivism also calls into question the line between Illustration by Kayt Hine art, which has long been considered a valid form of political comment and protest, and crafting, which has traditionally been women’s household work, and classified as either mundane and functional, or purely decorative. I think this comes from the fact that a lot of crafting is more structured than traditionally elevated forms of art like sculpting, painting, and drawing — quilting, embroidery, knitting, and cross-stitch rely on patterns and repetition. The devotion that goes into crafting isn’t always as clear from looking at the finished product — a shawl, a cross-stitch,

a log cabin quilt — as it is from a canvas painted with bold strokes of colour or lovingly-rendered realism. Among knitters, there is a superstition: never knit a sweater for your boyfriend, because he’ll leave you before it’s done. Some people have posited that this is because significant others will get scared off by how much time and commitment goes into something as simple as a sweater. Political art is usually intended to stand on its own through visual impact, which is granted by the relative freedom of expression that free-form mediums allow; the message is in the finished product. With craftivism, the message is sometimes evident in the finished product, but can almost always be inferred from the time it takes to make it by making hundreds or thousands of stitches. A great piece of political art could just be a red splash on a white canvas that takes two seconds to do, but political crafts by their very nature take more time, and that’s where the passion behind them is evident — especially when those crafts are placed in public with the knowledge that they might be destroyed, damaged, or lost.

I think this may also be what underpins craftivism’s gentle, effective persuasiveness: activism as something which creates something tangible, and those tangible artifacts as products o f

love, care, and attention. Craftivism is not a replacement for any other form of activism — we need people to march and shout and fight — but it is a valuable alternative, uniquely situated to change minds when debate fails and save people from the burnout that plagues modern activists.

If you’re interested in getting into craftivism and giving a new craft a try, my personal recommendation is cross-stitch — it’s embroidery on a grid system. The materials are cheap, and free patterns are easy to find. Or, take a look on Corbett’s website for more ideas, especially if you want to be part of a larger campaign.

7

BRIEF BITS OF BITE-SIZED BREVITY

SN S AP HO TS

CURTAILED COMMENTARY ON CURRENT CONDITIONS

Note:

Some of these events require tickets, most are on Facebook. If something catches your eye, take to the internet for more details.

Events Calendar

Illustrations by Kelly Ning

• Trans Voice Training and Info Session @ UFV (Abbotsford), S2102B, 5:30 p.m.

• C3 - Gur Sikh Temple and “We are Hockey” Exhibition Tour @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

• Skill Share: Fire Safety with Fire Marshal Mike @ Atangard Community Project (Abbotsford), 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Summer project I often retreat into my phone during breaks, not to scroll through Facebook or Instagram to look at other people’s exciting lives, but to take a mini vacation in my camera roll to bring me back to the summer.

I worked on a fishing lodge that floated on a barge about two hours away from Bella Bella. I had two summer projects: read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and grow out all my body hair. I could not make it through the classic works of J.R.R.

Tolkien, but I did manage not to pick up a razor all summer. It was amazing. It’s a strange feeling to return to society and need to once again conform to its beauty standards. I loved not shaving so much that maybe I’ll turn it into my fall project, and winter project, and even spring project.

Let’s just see how long my armpit hair will grow by the time summer rolls around.

Andrea Sadowski

On the edge of being homesick Sitting on the edge, the edge of your thoughts, the edge of your mind; feeling lost in your thoughts. Missing the homeland that is refreshing and nourishing. Letting everything out with emotions of joy, tears, and safety. I am so lost in the world I am in, wishing to grow up as I age, but then reminiscing on childhood memories, wishing they could last a bit longer. The eager moments with family and loved ones that we wish can be with us in the moment. Some may call it a distraction to get away from school work, while others feel the true meaning of being homesick.

In the end, we are all stuck in the same place doing what we think is best for our future, but does feeling sad and lost in a place for over four years bring any joy or laughter?

Probably not. The only thing that keeps you going is the perseverance of getting through your degree to accomplish better things. However, the time until it comes can become dreadful and saddening at times, leading to mental health issues — feeling lost upon the clouds.

Aneesha Narang

8

common ways attraction to women is reflected in our media landscape, exceptions are important.

Gomez and Morticia are a happy, healthy, supportive married couple.

The thought of even looking at another woman is inconceivable to Gomez; the thought of not supporting his wife in her endeavours to seek out the forces of darkness and join their hellish crusade, even more so.

And so, Gomez stands, breaking the waves of a sea of unhealthy media portrayals of attraction to women, and we lesbians answer with a single, resounding cry:

Mikaela Collins

• Oktoberfest @ Trading Post Brewing (Abbotsford), 12:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

• Oktoberfest @ Silverdale Hall (Mission), 6:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

• Fun For Cover Presents: Oktoberfest @ Vicinity Lounge (Abbotsford), 7:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.

• The Kodiak, Officer Trip, SIDS, and Pedler @ Replay Boardshop (Abbotsford), 7:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.

• Free Community Yoga Class @ Studio B Yoga (Chilliwack), 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

• A Little Bit of Abstract - Opening Reception @ The Kariton Art Gallery (Abbotsford), 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

• Pacific Pro Wrestling presents Fall for All @ Abbotsford Exhibition Park (Abbotsford), 7:00 - 9:45 p.m.

• Tractorgrease 5 Year Anniversary Celebration @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 6:00. – 9:00 p.m.

• The Sky’s No Limit — Girls Fly Too! @ Abbotsford International Airport, 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

• Sunday Family Arts @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 1:00 - 4:30 p.m.

• Daniel Champagne @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 12:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Lesbian icon: Gomez Addams Lesbians can’t agree on a flag, but we can agree on one thing: loving Gomez Addams. Why do we love this mustachioed, maybe-Spanish, Gothic casanova? Why does he speak to the depths of our souls?

Dear reader, I know why: because he loves his wife.

Gomez Addams absolutely, incontrovertibly, passionately, and earnestly loves his wife. The Addamses have always reversed the ubiquitous ball-and-chain trope, where the useless husband and his nagging (read: overworked) wife say that they love each other, but don’t seem to like each other — and when you’re a woman who is alienated by that model, which is one of the most

• UFV History Department Film Series @ UFV (Abbotsford), B121, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

• Glow Yoga @ UFV (Abbotsford), North Gym (E105), 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• Polishing Your Interview Skills Workshop @ UFV (Abbotsford), A225, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

• Career Exploration and Life Planning Workshop @ UFV (Chilliwack), A1318, 4:30 – 7:00 p.m.

• Gosh Darn It Mending Night @ Yarrow Ecovillage, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• Fall/Winter Exhibitions Opening Reception @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

• Celtic Night with Knackers Yard @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 9:30 p.m

#fridaysforchange

I attended my very first protest this weekend. In front of the Abbotsford City Hall from 2-4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, a crowd of us locals protested for our leaders to take action towards the state of our environment.

Two local girls were the ringleaders of the protest. They whipped up several chants for the crowd to join them in. These girls showed no hesitation in their actions as grungy men in large trucks shouted angrily at them while they drove by. These girls

wore green shirts. These girls were eventually given a bullhorn to make their statements louder.

These girls are the people who are teaching us adults how to get angry at our leaders’ failures. They’re teaching us how to drop our commitments, even for two hours, and fight for our rights to a future. These girls are my inspiration going forward.

Carissa Wiens

• Every Girl Matters Day in BC @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

• Cranberry Festival @ Fort Langley National Historic Site, 10:00 a.m.

• Roots and Blues with Brandon Isaak @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• Arts Expo 2019 @ UFV (Abbotsford), Envision Athletics Centre, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• C3 - Contemporary Art Tour Part 2 @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

• UFV Blood Drive @ UFV (Abbotsford), Student Union Building, 12:00 – 7:00 p.m.

• Atangard’s Halloween @ Atangard Community Project (Abbotsford), 8:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.

• Geoff Berner @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• Clothing Fix it x City of Abbotsford @ Matsqui Centennial Auditorium (Abbotsford), 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

• Beginner Trail Running Workshop @ Garrison Running Co. (Chilliwack), 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

• Sunday Family Arts @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. and 3 - 4:30 p.m.

• Association of Geography Undergrad Students Fall Fundraiser @ Townhall Public House (Abbotsford), 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• C3 - Man in Motion Tour @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

• Arts and Cultural Activities — Mini Button Blankets and Beaded Flowers @ UFV (Chilliwack), A1452, 10:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

• Career Exploration and Life Planning Workshop @ UFV (Abbotsford), B214, 4:30 – 7:00 p.m.

• Dutch Blitz Tournament @ Boardwalk Cafe and Games (Abbotsford), 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

• C3 - Contemporary Art Tour Part 1 @ The Reach Gallery (Abbotsford), 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

• Tom Wilson @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

• 16th Annual Mane Event Equine Horse Expo @ Chilliwack Heritage Park, 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

• Gallery Night @ Ravens Brewing Company (Abbotsford), 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

• Celtic Night with Murphy’s Lagh @ Tractorgrease Cafe (Chilliwack), 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

• Dinner en Flannel @ Old Yale Brewing (Chilliwack), 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

9

took place while he and his family cleaned and filleted Chinook salmon. He described the decrease in water quality on Tzeachten reserve after a landfill was built on Bailey Road. As a child, his mother would bring him to a stream that went by the landfill to catch salmon, but by the time he was eight years old, the salmon had vanished.

said that he has seen less snow on the mountains and an increase in heat waves during the summer since he was a child.

“I remember going outside to 12 to 13 inches of snow … but the most snow we get now is three to four inches,” John said.

“They should have lined [the dump] with something to hold all the leachate in there … All that leachate … seeped into the ground and killed the whole area,” Ken said.

Climate change, on top of having detrimental effects to the environment, has also had adverse effects on First Nations’ cultural practices. The increase in forest fires and decrease in air quality during past summer seasons has made some cultural traditions more difficult to practice. According to David, during the hotter, drier parts of the summer, when fire bans are frequently called into effect, it becomes much more difficult to smoke salmon outside with the family or to hold sweat lodge ceremonies. In addition, he’s been discouraged from canoeing because of the sheer amount of traffic and people that flood Cultus Lake trying to evade the heat.

Salmon are a delicate species, incapable of surviving major fluctuations in temperature and oxygen concentration, never mind chemical pollutants contaminating their waterways. It makes sense that they wouldn’t be seen after the water that has passed through the landfill and collected contaminants made its way into the waterways.

In addition to the salmon, frogs, salamanders, muskrats, and minks also vanished from the area soon after the installation of the dump and have yet to return.

“I don’t canoe pull anymore, but I did for eight years when I was a teenager,” David said.

“They finally did line it and … hooked it up to the sewer, so whatever is bad in that dump goes into the [Fraser] river. And they think that’s better,” Ken added.

WITNESSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AND BROKEN PROMISES BY: SASHA R. TUTTLE

B

eing only a quarter First Nation, I must admit my knowledge concerning Stó:lō First Nation culture relative to that of my Indigenous family members is modest at best. So, when exploring an Indigenous people’s perspective on the ongoing climate crisis, it was important for me to consult family and elders.

My grandmother, Mona Sepass, was born in 1944 and raised in Kilgard, a reserve in Abbotsford and home to Sumas First Nation.

When she turned four, she was taken to Saint Mary’s Residential School and remained there until she turned 12. She later received a language proficiency certificate in Halkomelem from Simon Fraser University, married, and had five children on the Skowkale reserve in Chilliwack. She continues to work at A:lmelhawtxw (which translates into “caring for our children”) Early Education Centre, where she teaches children the Halkomelem language. She and most of her children still live on the Skowkale Reserve to this day. To explore the environmental degradation they’ve witnessed leading up to today, I asked about the biggest changes they’ve seen in our ecosystems.

When my grandmother responded with “the change of the water,” I was quite surprised, as I had a premonition that she would say something about the weather or climate. She went on to tell me that as a child, she had no running water, so her family relied on a creek that came by her pasture.

“There was fish in it [that] we could just go pull out and have for dinner, but I don’t think anything lives in there now,” she said.

Mona said that clean drinking water was so readily available that she and her childhood friends joked about seeing it in a bottle for sale, and that she and her friends used to swim in a slough that breaks off the Fraser River. Unfortunately, the slough is now dark, murky, and filled with numerous invasive fish species. Her son, David Sepass, and daughter’s husband, Ken Malloway, both attested to the deterioration of water quality in their lifetime as well.

Ken, born in 1953, received his fishing license at 18 years of age and has carried on the tradition ever since. In fact, our interview

I asked each family member if they had hope for the future and what kinds of changes they would like to see that could lessen our effects on the environment. It seemed like the people closer to my generation were more hopeful in terms of preventing a climate crisis, whereas those of older generations were more concerned about preparing for the oncoming effects of climate change. Either way, everyone I spoke to hopes or prays for some sort of change.

According to the Rivershed Society of B.C., the Fraser River is still being negatively impacted by nearby industry and development that continuously leaks pollutants like pesticides, toxic chemicals, coal dust, and silt. Moreover, climate change is expected to increase the Fraser River’s water temperature, thereby decreasing the oxygen concentration and stressing adult salmon passing through to spawn.

My grandmother wished people would return to using reusable products like the cloth bags her mother used to use and that people would avoid products that contain plastic or are non-recyclable.

Her daughter, Loretta agreed, adding that she would like to see better transit in the Fraser Valley to reduce traffic and discourage people from driving. David wished people would be more aware of their own impact and changes within their local ecosystems. And the youngest interviewee, John, wants to see better management of greenhouse gases. As someone of a similar age, I would like to see more environmentally friendly development. More specifically, I’d like to see apartment buildings with green roofs being built instead of individual houses with grass lawns.

Another major change noted by my family was the transition from reusable products to disposable ones.

During my grandmother’s childhood, her family carried stream water in buckets, drank from metal or glass cups, and used flannel diapers. “[The cups and buckets] were used over and over ... again. Nothing was really thrown out in [the] garbage,” Mona said.

Ken also recalls a time before plastic products became so prominent. He told me that certain parts of the reserve didn’t have electricity when he was younger, and that all that his father gathered for food ended up going into jars that held everything from canned deer to fruits and vegetables.

“We had a huge root cellar full of canned goods,” Ken said.

Also mentioned were declines in certain fish populations and habitat loss. Both David and Ken mentioned the decrease in salmon available in the Fraser Valley. When Ken first obtained his fishing license, permitted fishing time was measured in days, but now it’s mainly measured in hours. David added that while he was once able to dip net to catch eulachons, a small anadromous fish, off the shores of Island 22 in Chilliwack, he is no longer able to because their numbers have dropped so significantly. On top of this, he now only sees them travelling as far as Langley.

Julie Malloway, wife of Ken, and her sister Loretta Sepass added that urban development has made many herbs less available for gathering. While Loretta mentioned she has no trouble finding stinging nettle to harvest on her brother’s property, Julie says she doesn’t see as much devil’s club, St. John’s Wort, trailing blackberry, or other berry-bearing plants like salmonberry and thimbleberry in the area. To gather herbs, she finds herself having to travel to Chilliwack Lake.

Vivian Williams, an elder from the Coqualeetza Cul-

tural Education Centre (CCEC) in Chilliwack, said: “[The herbs are] supposed to be collected where no one walks, so really you have to go to the mountain.

Before my grandmother would just go outside to pick her medicines.”

Mona agreed that natural herbs and medicine have become harder to come by, since plants that grow along the roadside chance being affected by the exhaust fumes of passing vehicles. Of the accessible plants that grow in roadside ditches, most of them are invasive plants such as Himalayan blackberry or policeman’s helmet, which outcompete native plants that would otherwise occupy the area.

Many of the family members I spoke to mentioned environment degradation alongside climate change.

David, Ken, and his son John Malloway, agreed that climate change is one of the biggest threats to the environment today. Phil Hall, also an elder from the CCEC, and Vivian said they’ve seen a huge change in the weather. Phil said that when he was a young boy, snow drifts during the wintertime would often block Chilliwack River Road and Knight Road and he recalled ice storms that made powerlines heavy enough to bend towers. Even my cousin John, born in 1996,

By the end of these interviews, I was quite shocked at how much pollution and urban development has occurred over the past century. Even though we

constantly learn about the effects of these things in school, it’s difficult to quantify and understand the reality of them. Afterall, how is anyone from our generation to know that salmon once spawned in a specific stream if we’ve never seen them there? If our environmental baseline starts from the fragments of our childhood memories, then our perception of environmental degradation fails to consider local extinctions that happened before our lifetime. It fails to grasp the degree of changes in climate and weather patterns over the years. It is only by reaching into the past through research and speaking to our elders that we can comprehend how much has actually changed in our environment. It is for these reasons Indigenous bands and elders need to be consulted to better inform environmental protection initiatives.

Article 29 in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) promises Indigenous peoples “the right to the conservation and protection of the environment.” Despite these rights, reserves like Kilgard are plagued by invasive species including, but not limited to, knotweed, common tansy, American bullfrogs, and pumpkinseed sunfish. Indigenous people struggle to perform traditional practices like fishing and gathering herbs because of this. Since the UNDRIP is not a law bearing document, Indigenous communities rarely see “assistance programmes for … conservation and protection” also included in article 29.

In addition, article 24 vows that Indigenous people have the right to the “conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals.” In spite of this right, populations of culturally important animals like mountain caribou are declining rapidly, and Indigenous peoples are forced to travel farther and farther to collect herbal medicines. British Columbia has 1,807 species at risk of extinction, more than any other province or territory, and yet there is no legislation dedicated to protecting or recovering these species, according to the Narwhal magazine.

On a more positive note, the United Nations has estimated that we have 12 years to limit the climate crisis, thus reducing the risk of extreme heat, droughts, and floods. There is time and there is hope. Our generation just has to be the one that’s loud enough and persistent enough to make the changes we want to see become realities. To fight for a better, brighter future and to support Indigenous peoples rights, write your MP or MLA with your concerns and vote in the upcoming federal election.

CULTURE

CULTURE

VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

culture@ufvcascade.ca Andrea Sadowski — Culture Editor

SUS Event //

Learning SelfDefence Tactics at UFV KAREN WHITE SUS held a self-defence training class, called “Escape to Safety,” in the Student Union Building on Thursday, Oct. 26. Mike Kendall, the instructor, has a wide range of self-defence tactics under his belt. He is a student of, as well as an instructor for, Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection. Kendall has been involved in martial arts for 23 years. He is also a student of Gary Herman Clinch Tactical Fighting and an instructor of Jeet Kune Do Concepts and Filipino Kali.

You know you’re in good hands for learning self-defence when your instructor has credentials like this.

Kendall made it clear that “Escape to Safety” is a class focused on self-defence; if someone was to assault you on the street, it has nothing to do with sports fighting tactics.

“You don’t bow to each other,” Kendall said. “It’s for when someone says, ‘Hey, I like your cell phone; where did you get [that] from?’ … and then takes it. It deals with pre-conflict, conflict, and the post-conflict.”

The pre-conflict addresses everything that happens before an assault takes place. It could be anything from how you are walking — with your head down or your head up — to dealing with the approach of an unknown person. Post-conflict deals with how things are dealt with after the assault. For example, if you were able to get away and call for help.

Kendall first instructed us to work on our stances — to always

be prepared for anything that might come at you. We learned that if you’re right-handed your strong side is your right side and vice versa if you are left-handed.

The side that needs protection is your strong side, so in our stance that we learned, we kept our strong side back with our weaker side stepped forward. Then we learned proper footing and movement. How to move side to side, backwards and forwards, to help protect yourself from an attack and how to get away quickly.

For a lot of students, taking a self-defence class is important.

You never know what kind of situation you may find yourself in and having knowledge to keep yourself safe might come in handy.

During the class, we also learned how to hit someone properly in self-defence. For example, if an attacker was to come over to you and grab your wrist, we learned how to use our other hand to hit theirs away. We also learned to hit with the palms of our hands, our elbows, and how to kick.

Kendall also teaches a class called “Escape To Gain Safety” specifically for women. In our self-defence class, we learned that each letter in that title for the class stood for main target areas to hit: eyes, throat, groin, and shins.

Overall, the class was engaging. The fact that we actually got to practice the techniques was fun and useful. Kendall is knowledgeable and what he taught us will be beneficial if we are ever caught in a situation that will require self-defence.

Community Event //

Shh… Roaring ‘20’s Speakeasy hosted

by Abbotsford Heritage Society

Club Spotlight //

Q & A with UFV’s Debate Association DARIEN JOHNSEN I sat down with the University of the Fraser Valley’s Debate Association’s president Duncan Herd to talk about the club, upcoming events, and what students can expect at a Debate Association meeting.

Fraser Valley Stage skit. Rail District Collective building. Sept. 28, 2019. (Darien Johnsen/The Cascade)

DARIEN JOHNSEN Abbotsford Heritage Society hosted a dinner and dance fundraiser event on Saturday, Sept.

28, in the Rail District Collective building. This was to celebrate 100 years of Trethewey House and to acknowledge 50 years of the society. All proceeds went towards digitizing their heritage interpretive program and collections catalogue. Trethewey House is a heritage site near Mill Lake that was built in 1919 using local materials. It’s available to the public for single or group tours through online booking.

Abbotsford Heritage Society is a non-profit organization focused on preserving and interpreting local history through buildings, other heritage sites, artifacts, and stories. They organize educational, entertaining events and programs for the city, provide interpretive educational and outreach programs, and run summer camps for young people. Their mandate is to be the memory of the community.

This event had a 1920s roaring speakeasy theme, and everyone came dressed in their best flapper outfits. The evening included

entertainment, art, music, drinks, and food. Everything was kept under wraps; I even had to email the host to get the secret address and password beforehand. This was to follow the theme of what a speakeasy was traditionally: an underground bar during the era of prohibition (when alcohol was banned).

When we arrived I whispered the password for entry and was handed a small ticket for a glass of “tea.” At the tea bar, I was handed a small cup and told to drink slowly, because it was very hot. What it actually contained was a small amount of sweet whisky, which my friend mistakenly took as actual tea and had quite a surprise when she went to take a sip and just about choked.

We were also served a full-course salmon dinner and salad with a delicious local dressing, pizza, appetizers from locals farms, and goodies from Old Hand Coffee. I have to admit, I got pretty stuck at the food table and found it hard to venture around and mingle. (I’m a sucker for goat cheese.)

There was a silent auction that included artwork, Abbotsford Heritage books and items, and local wines. A silent film played gorgeous black-and-white foot-

age from historic Abbotsford and Chilliwack, featuring images of the railway from the 1920s. We often don’t reflect on the history of the city we live in, and it was interesting to see what Abbotsford once looked like and how far it’s come.

Halfway through the evening a musical skit began, featuring actors from Fraser Valley Stage and a live band with a saxophonist, piano player, and drummer. The hosts of the evening were not only invested in their roles, but were genuinely having a good time.

One man walked past us with a small flask and a mischievous grin, took a sip, mouthed “shhh” and stuck it back into his jacket pocket. It was like being fully immersed in an actual speakeasy.

After the skit, Suburban Swing, a local dance company, hosted a swing dancing lesson. There was much laughing, foot tripping, and fun as people followed the jazzy live band and took their turn at trying out a classic 1920s dance.

The evening was small, elegant, and deliciously satisfying. We even got to take home the little flowery teacups that we drank out of, and, in the spirit of the 1920s speakeasy, I smuggled out some snickerdoodles for later.

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

When did your club form?

So we formed our club, conceptually, in February of 2019 but we became an officially registered association just this semester. We had our first AGM in March. We had a pretty decent turnout and we had our first debate on conscription in April.

So it’s kind of like a safer space to debate, rather than having an argument with your friend, in the middle of the hallway?

Yeah. A good way to describe it. We use arguments, we don’t have arguments.

What can a student expect at a debate club meeting?

Our first annual general meeting that’s coming up, we’re going to be basically introducing everybody to the rules, the process for becoming a member, our executive team, and then our upcoming dates for the debates themselves. We will post

What are your intentions with the club?

So the club isn’t just a space for people to safely debate topics. It’s also to foster creative thinking and confidence in the student body. We’ve noticed that there isn’t really a club or association that captures what we want to promote, truly. Most kinds of debates that happen on campus are just between friend groups or in association niche groups, right? That doesn’t truly reflect the academic and critical environment that the university wants to promote. We sought to fill that space.

Do you have specific rules that you follow during debates?

Yes, yes. So we follow what is called British Parliamentary style. It has a very structured debate style. There are particular roles that our panelists play, such as introductions, main arguments. The structure is very helpful, we found, for beginners who are worried about what they can say.

What type of students should join?

All students, frankly. Naturally, the process of debate kind of caters towards the humanities: philosophy, political science, global development, criminology. But we’re not just looking for humanities students, we’re looking for all different kinds of students. One of the most interesting aspects of debate is having a variety of perspectives that can then be utilized in tangent with creative arguments.

Science students, psych, and CYC (Child and Youth Care) students all have valuable inputs.

Column //

Cascade Kitchen: Healthy Breakfast Muffins

How can students benefit from joining?

Well, naturally, one thing that employers look for on resumes nowadays is extracurricular involvement as well as communication skills. The debate association fulfills both those requirements.

Do you have a set meeting time for your first debate?

the outline online and make it accessible to people who are interested. We follow a standard debate structure where we have introductions and main arguments. We’re adding in a little bit of an intermission so people can talk about what they’ve just heard and to have some refreshments. Then we go on with closing arguments, rebuttal stage, and then a question period from the audience. It’s important to note that one doesn’t have to debate to be involved with the debates or with the association.

You can just be a spectator. You can call out questions from the audience towards the ending period. So there’s no pressure.

Yes, it’ll be Oct. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in Everend Hall..

Do you know what you’re going to be debating?

Brexit!

Check out the Debate Association online through their Facebook page (@ufvda) or you can email Duncan directly at duncan.herd@student. ufv.ca. Students are welcome to inquire with potential topics and dates of upcoming meetings.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Healthy breakfast muffins. Sept. 28, 2019. (Aneesha Narang)

ANEESHA NARANG The Cascade Kitchen is a student-run food column that brings you budget-friendly 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.

I just figured out how to use an oven a few months ago and I made up this recipe within moments from ingredients I just had lying around the house. So if I can make these healthy, delicious muffins that are a perfect on-the-go breakfast, anyone can!

Ready in: 25 minutes. Makes: 12 muffins.

Ingredients: 3 bananas 250 ml (1 cup) granola mix (Vector brand preferred) 250 ml (1 cup) almond milk 1 egg Handful of dark chocolate chips 5 ml (1 tsp) of baking powder Optional: protein powder Instructions: Preheat oven to 215 C (420 F).

Mash bananas.

Mix granola into mashed bananas.

Add milk into banana mixture. If you are adding protein powder, mix it into the milk first.

Crack the egg into the bananas and mix all the wet ingredients together.

Mix in the baking powder and chocolate chips.

Put the batter into a muffin tin to bake and pop in the oven for 1520 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

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SPORTS

sports@ufvcascade.ca Alex Jesus — Sports Editor

VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

Women’s Soccer //

The Cascades settle for two ties at home After two games played, the Cascades leave with two goals from Katie Lampen NIC JACKSON After heading to Alberta for a pair of games and leaving with one loss and one tie, the Cascades looked to regain momentum at home. This weekend saw the Cascades host the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds on Friday, Sept. 27 and the University of Victoria (UVic) Vikes on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Before this weekend, the Cascades sat with a record of 2-2-2. The Cascades spent a weekend facing off against these two teams already at the beginning of the month. That roadtrip saw the Cascades heading home with a 1-1 tie against UBC and a 0-1 loss against UVic. In the first game of the weekend, the Cascades came out full of energy. Within regulation, the Cascades accumulated a total of 22 shots. With both teams eager to add a point to the win column, Friday night’s game saw the teams trading possession evenly until the end.

The first goal of the game did not come

until after the 21-minute mark. This goal however, was scored by the Thunderbirds’ Danielle Steer. After the Thunderbirds were awarded a corner kick, Danielle Steer was able to hit the ball past Cascades goaltender, Joven Sandhu.

For most of the game the score remained 1-0 for the Thunderbirds. With less than five minute of play left in the game, Cascades player Bryana Buttar gained possession of the ball. As Cascades teammate Katie Lampen began breaking down the right side of the field, Buttar passed the ball to Lampen. With only the Thunderbird goalie between Lampen and the back of the net, Lampen shot the ball. Making a desperation save, the UBC goalkeeper fell to the ground, and the ball hopped back to Lampen. Taking another shot, this time arching the ball, Lampen was able to tie the game for the Cascades. With less than five minutes of play left after Lampen’s goal, neither team was able to score again, which resulted in a 1-1 tie.

After coming up with the late-game tie against UBC, the Cascades hosted the

UVic Vikes. In this game, the Cascades were able to take the lead early on. After less than 12 minutes of play, Lampen was able to grab her first goal of the night, and second of the weekend. This time Lampen’s goal would be assisted by Brittney Zacharuk. Tight to the left sideline, Zacharuk sprinted down the field with the ball.

After Zacharuk kicked the ball towards the net, Lampen was able to track the ball and meet it in the air with her knee, directing the ball past the Vikes goalkeeper.

Although the Cascades continued to apply pressure, UVic was able to answer with a goal of their own before the half was over. Despite the Cascades taking 12 shots in the second half to the Vikes’ two, they were unable to score another goal. With a scoreless second half the Cascades ended their second 1-1 tie of the weekend.

Next for the Cascades are two away games next weekend. The Cascades start next weekend at the University of Calgary on Oct. 4, followed by a game at the University of Northern British Columbia on Oct. 6.

Interview //

UFV Cascades transition into USPORTS with a new coach It’s not every day that programs have to reinvent themselves, but that’s exactly what UFV had to do following the news that it would be leaving the PACWEST conference to join the Canada West conference, and more broadly, the U SPORTS banner after the 2019-2020 season. Converting to the highest level of Canadian university sports isn’t easy, but new head coach Janelle Rozema is up for the task as the Cascades look to build team chemistry, recruit new players, and compete with the best that the conference has to offer.

Rozema began playing volleyball at a high school level before playing in college and eventually turning pro. Her career as the Cascades’ head coach now begins at UFV, and so far, things are looking pretty good according to the new leader.

“I was really impressed with the girls’ work ethic,” Rozema said.

“I think the coach before really set a strong foundation of the athletes understanding what they have to do on and off the court in order to be successful, so I was really impressed with how much they bought into the workouts, the off-the-court stuff.”

She went on to say that the players

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have also responded well to her coaching.

“I also was pretty impressed with how open-minded they were. Obviously, with a new coach there’s going to be new concepts. They did a really good job of just being open-minded and embracing the new things that I was trying to teach.”

This has led to them improving faster than the first-year coach anticipated, which is paramount to the players who wish to keep a roster spot. One of the challenges of moving conferences is the increase in skill required to compete, which undoubtedly affects who will be able to stay on the team.

“Well, especially because we’re going to Canada West, we have to take a really realistic look at who is good enough to play at the Canada West level,” Rozema said.

With that comes the recruiting process, which will also be challenging for Rozema as it is already late in the year to be recruiting for UFV’s Canada West debut in 2020. That said, the allure of a new program could have a positive effect on recruitment for UFV, but as always, the bigger schools will be hard to compete with.

The real struggle at first will be to gauge the team accurately this season, as the coaching staff will have to carefully make decisions on the remaining

roster it has for Canada West. A solid training camp and preseason is the start of something good for UFV, but there is no doubt that the 2019-20 season will come with challenges specific to a new program. One of these will be the outlook of the team: should the team try to treat this season like any other, or does it have to be different in order to actively prepare for the incoming switch?

“It has to be different,” Rozema said.

“Our mantra this year is ‘What are you doing today to create the future?’”

The Cascades undoubtedly have no plans to lose, obviously for competitive reasons but also for the fifthyears who won’t be joining the team in Canada West. With this season being their last, the motivation to win big is still there for the team, even in times of transition.

“We’re treating this year like we want to be competitive and leave our stamp on PACWEST, but we want to make sure that we’re working really hard at developing the parts of our game that have to be at the level they have to be at by next year when we’re playing tougher teams.”

Though preparing for Canada West is the primary goal of the program, it doesn’t mean that success is separate from that. UFV will field a competitive team that is looking to improve con-

Men’s Soccer//

Women’s Basketball //

UFV Cascades Sports Scores Sept. 21 – Sept. 28, 2019

Men’s Soccer Game/Date: UFV Versus Thompson River University, Saturday Sept. 21 Result: Loss (2-3) Game/Date: UFV Versus UBC Okanagan, Saturday Sept. 28 Result: Tie (0-0)

Women’s Soccer Game/Date: UFV Versus University of Victoria Sunday, Sept. 22 Result: Tie (1-1) Game/Date: UFV Versus University of British Columbia Friday, Sept. 27 Result: Tie (1-1)

Janelle Rozema takes over as women’s volleyball coach as they join the Canada West Conference ALEX JESUS

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

UFV’s women’s basketball team travels India

Unsuccessful weekend sees the Cascades without a win

The Cascades were unable to continue their momentum into games against the Heat and the Wolfpack

Star player, Taylor Claggett, talks about the team’s international trip CARISSA WIENS

For the first time since Taylor Claggett began her journey on the team in the fall of 2015, the UFV women’s basketball team went on an off-continent trip. On Aug. 26 the team packed their bags and headed to India for two weeks.

The team’s head coach, Al Tuchscherer, took the group on the trip so they could have an experience that was different than class and practice, which is the usual life of a team member at UFV. A usual day in India began with a 6 a.m. wake-up, followed by a workout in the nearby Rose Garden, usually yoga, weights, or a run, followed by breakfast back at the hotel. The team would then head to a local gym for more practice. “[There was] no air conditioning— we were practicing in 35 degree heat,” Claggett said about the local gym.

Each day also included a tourist excursion, like a visit to local temples, museums, malls, and even the UFV Chandigarh campus.

“We visited other schools and played there too. [The students] would watch us practice and we would have more people watch us practice there than at a regular home game in Abbotsford, so it was pretty crazy. There was one time where there were 300-400 students watching us play.”

The team also had time to play against the local students. They played against a few teams of girls aged 16-19 and enjoyed connecting with the girls.

“After the games we talked to them about how much we practice and what we do to get stronger,” Claggett said.

Since basketball isn’t as huge as it is in North America, especially for women’s teams, Claggett appreciated the opportunity to inspire girls around the world to play basketball through the connections at local schools.

“A bunch of them even said to us, ‘I want to play basketball now.’

It was cool to bring basketball to the other side of the world in this way,” Clagget said.

Reflecting back on the trip, Claggett feels that being in a foreign country for two whole weeks was too long. The team had every part of their day scheduled and planned out for them from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Ten days was good but by the last few days you could tell that people were feeling ready to get home. There was a lot of heat exhaustion, plus homesickness. It was all just so different.”

“Travelling is exhausting but travelling on such a tight schedule is even more exhausting,” Claggett said.

But every day the team had scheduled time to be alone and to reflect and enjoy some solitude, which was appreciated by the group.

For Claggett, the highlight of the trip was visiting the Taj Mahal, which she called a “masterpiece.”

She and the team enjoyed learning from their tour guide about the history behind it and why it was built.

By the end of the trip the group bonded more there by being in such close quarters than they could ever do over a year of just a few hours a day together. Claggett said that since they’re so close, they will play well, because a team that’s good off the court is good on the court too.

Slapshots // Janelle Rozema. UFV. 2019. (UFV Athletics) stantly, which will be something for the fans in attendance to look forward to this season. Rozema is still learning how to be the best head coach she can be, but in doing so, it’s elevating the team as well as herself. These are good times for a Cascades program that is absolutely on the rise in Canada.

The Cascades begin their regular season at home on Oct. 11 as they take on their crosstown rival the Columbia Bible College Bearcats.

NIC JACKSON One weekend after the Cascades men’s soccer one-game road trip to Alberta, which saw them take home their third win of the season, the team headed back on the road to the Okanagan. This weekend saw the Cascades face off against the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) Heat on Saturday, Sept. 28, followed by a game against the Thompson River University (TRU) Wolfpack on Sunday, Sept. 29.

The last time the Cascades played against UBCO, the game concluded with a 1-1 tie. In that game the Cascades were down going into the second half. After trailing for 40 minutes, the Cascades’ Sahib Sidhu was able to put the ball past the UBCO goalie to tie the game.

Much like the last time the Cascades faced off against the Heat, the game resulted in a tie except neither team were able to a goal. Although there were no goals, each team had their share of opportunities. Throughout the game the Cascades shot a total of six times, with their opponents taking eight shots.

The greatest news coming out of Saturday’s game is that Cascades’ goaltender Alex Skrzeta had another shutout.

This pushes his shutout total to three games this season.

Onces the game against UBCO was over, the Cascades had less than 24 hours to head from Kelowna to Kamloops for their game against the TRU Wolfpack. During their last game against TRU, the Cascades looked to be taking home the loss; however, with extra time added to the end of play, Mikael Mainella was able to get a goal and help the Cascades

Ryan Donald. Abbotsford, BC. Sept. 7, 2019. (UFV Athletics)

leave with a 1-1 tie.

Sunday’s game saw both teams battling for the win. During play the Cascades and the Wolfpack were able to take 18 and 16 shots, respectively. After less than five minutes however, the Wolfpack was able to put a point up on the board. Although the Wolfpack opened the scoring early, the Cascade’s first-year, Jehmrode Kahlon, was able to answer after the 10-minute mark, which was his first goal wearing a Cascades uniform.

Before the half was over, TRU’s Daniel Sagno was able to score another two goals for the Wolfpack. Determined to catch up in the second half of the

game, the Cascades attempted to battle back. As they applied pressure to the Wolfpack, the Cascades were able to keep the Wolfpack to only two shots in the second half, while taking 11 themselves. Despite their effort, the Cascades were only able to score one more goal. After the final whistle blew, the game ended with a 3-2 win for the Wolfpack.

The Cascades’ next two games are both against the Trinity Western University Spartans. The first will be on Friday, Oct. 11, at Chase Office Field in Langley, while the second will be held at Matsqui Recreation Centre in Abbotsford, on Sunday, Oct. 13

MMA in Asia is way different than it is here; why?

Backseat sports just ain’t for me

Recently the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced a fight that may already be the most anticipated matchup ever for the hardcore fans of mixed martial arts (MMA). Yes, I’m talking about Nate Diaz, the brother of Nick Diaz and one half of the legendary “Diaz Brothers” from Stockton, California versus Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal.

Interestingly, the UFC has decided to put a title belt at stake… but it’s not the world championship.

What is it? According to the UFC, it will be officially called the “BMF” belt. That literally stands for “Baddest Motherf*cker” belt. I’m not kidding. Regardless of its origins or the nature of that, I just want to point out how wild that is when one examines what MMA is about in other continents. Organizations

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a scrawny asthmatic who’s always preferred reading a book to any kind of physical activity. One thing I don’t get though is why so many people fall victim to the craze of watching competitive sports. Even if I’m far from being a ball- or racket-wielding goddess, I’d rather play a sport myself than get heavily invested in a match I have no control over. Isn’t that just a recipe for high blood pressure? I even felt this way about esports when I

like ONE Championship in Asia preach respect and the quest for personal growth. These are more accustomed and recognized positive aspects of martial arts. The UFC has become the premier organization for the sport, bringing MMA into a much more American, brash light, similar to the likes of boxing, where showmanship, trash-talking, and, in fact, disrespect are often thought of as essential to winning big purses from promoters. Is there a right answer as to what the true culture of MMA is? The sport is less than 30 years old, so maybe not, but it’s a question us hardcore fans should ask as the sport is growing — rapidly.

Alex Jesus

was heavily into League of Legends (which I now drink wine to forget that I played). Maybe when I get older and have more physical restrictions I’ll understand the appeal of screaming my lungs out in a stadium and wearing my favourite team’s colours for luck. In the meantime though, I’ll stick with my books, the occasional game of badminton, and an inner sense of peace.

Chandy Dancey

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STUDY BREAK Crossword //

VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

Made by Andrea Sadowski

DOWN

ACROSS

1: The liquid that protects a growing fetus.

1: Using arbitrary letters or symbols to solve a math equation.

2: A doctor’s approach or attitude toward a patient.

3: The area from which a city, service, or institution attracts a population that uses its services.

4: The process of making an area of a city more expensive and fashionable, now happening in downtown Abbotsford.

5: The view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.

6: What one waves when they have declared defeat.

7: When a service is known to be trustworthy.

LAST ISSUE’S

ANSWERS: Down: 1: Dabs 2: Paradise 3: Onyx 4: Bingo 6: Eyepatch 8: Easel 9: Eden 10: Sour

5: A fizzy drink of little flavour.

8: The nationality of someone whose capital city is Dublin.

9: An earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances.

10: That tiny metal thing on the tip of your shoelace.

11: A place where animals are kept and trained especially for exhibition.

12: The permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses.

Across: 1: Diploma 5: Berry 7: Polyester 11: Ditto 12: Panther

Cascade Calamities

Horoscopes //

Your weekly life predictions as told by Ang the Great

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 You have a fighting spirit, always ready to stand up for the causes you believe in and express your outrage towards unjust systems.

Be careful that you are not stealing the spotlight this week from the issues that you are raising awareness for. Use your voice to inspire the activist spirit in others!

Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 Have you been feeling stagnant, passive, and unmotivated lately? You have made your life too comfortable, too convenient. Take risks this week and do something that scares you — something that really gets your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping, and your palms sweating!

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 Stop stressing about the stack of textbooks you need to read through this week and go for an adventure instead! Do something that releases that sweet serotonin into your brain and allows your creativity to flow. Perhaps this means climbing a mountain, or visiting the city. Do whatever you need to do to feel like more than a slave to assignments.

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 A romantic relationship is upon you. It won’t be easy, sweet Cancer; you’ll have to step out of your comfort zone and take a leap of faith.

But once you take that scary but exciting leap, happiness is right around the corner

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Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 As the zodiac’s most generous sign, do something positively radiant for someone this week! Tutor your friend on that assignment they don’t understand, buy groceries for someone whose cupboards are empty, or maybe just treat your horoscope writer to a coffee or a baked good.

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 No one is more detail-oriented and on top of their game as you. Let your rigid perfectionism relax a little this week and show more grace to those of us who have our eyes on the bigger picture rather than the beautiful details. Be less critical and more compassionate!

Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 Love is in the air for you this week lovely Libra and it’s not someone you would ever expect either. Be open to every possibility and consider someone you many have never thought of before. Let people surprise you!

Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 Stop trying to pinch your pennies until they cry this week and treat yourself to something that will bring you joy! Maybe it’s the book you’ve been hearing everyone rave about, or that sweater you saw at the consignment store that you know you’d look great in, or maybe it’s as simple as upgrading from a drip coffee to a mocha latte with extra whipped cream. You deserve it!

Illustration by Elyssa English Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 A conflict has arisen in your life and it’s important for you to take a step to right your wrongs. Be brave and courageous while taking this important step but always act with the utmost respect and love. You will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 A mystical adventure awaits you. Buckle up, buttercup, and prepare to be transformed through this magical experience. Say “yes” to exciting journeys and the new friendships that go along with them.

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 You are in a season of new growth. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, you will rise again. This long period of rain is coming to an end, and the sunshine awaits you. Don’t let your insecurities hold you back from this bright future.

Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 Take a minute and be still; you’ve been working too hard. Take some time for yourself to meditate and find what brings you joy this week. Pet a lot of dogs, eat some delicious ice cream, or sweat out your anxiety in a hot yoga class.

arts@ufvcascade.ca Chandy Dancey — Arts Editor

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

Movie //

Taking back what’s theirs My reflections on Hustlers

Movie //

Rambo: Last Blood: still violent, more stereotypes REMINGTON FIORASO The character John Rambo is back in theatres with the release of the fifth film of the series, Rambo: Last Blood. Now, the veteran is seen helping rescue teams and taking care of his father’s ranch alongside his friend Maria and her granddaughter Gabrielle. While the plot shows promise, it lacked action and didn’t receive the same positive reaction from audiences of the previous films..

In the movie, Gabrielle finds out the location of her birth father from a friend. Against the wishes of her grandmother and Rambo, she sets off to Mexico to find him. After a negative en-

CARISSA WIENS In the beginning of Hustlers we follow the lives of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) and Destiny (Constance Wu) while they work as strippers in the nightlife industry before 2008, when money problems in America weren’t at the top of every headline. The plot begins to grip us when the market crashes in 2008 and all of the Wall Street men who previously blew a great portion of their money at the strip club now rarely visit, leaving the club’s workers scrambling for money to pay their rent, provide for their children, and, for Destiny, take care of her elderly grandmother.

After spending too long without the high wages that they had before because of the market crash, Ramona, Destiny, and some other girlfriends from the club make their way back into the industry by creating a system to cunningly drug men, bring them back to the club, and charge enormous amounts to their credit card. When they execute their plans and are done with the barely conscious men, Ramona and her girls toss them into a cab, collect their cut of the profits, and live a little more luxuriously than before.

Ramona justifies these actions to Destiny by blaming it on the men: they are the ones who caused the market to crash, they’re the ones who are responsible for the club’s lack of revenue, they’re the ones who did this all and didn’t even go

to prison. Therefore, the ladies take back what was once theirs by scamming these men.

In Hustlers we want the underdogs (Ramona, Destiny, and their friends) to win. We want the women to be able to support themselves and their children and to get revenge on all the men (or men in general) who have made them feel like just an object for money. But when I took a step back and realized whom the underdogs actually were, I noticed that I was rooting for people who were drugging and scamming others, all just for money and luxury.

If a film showcased male strippers who were drugging women and taking advantage of their credit cards, there would be no audience. The movie probably wouldn’t have even got signed on by any production companies. Then why is it okay to create a movie that celebrates this attitude towards men?

At the end of the film, we see poetic justice for the ladies. The ending revealed to us that while we will cheer for the underdogs during the film, they might not always be in the right.

People who work as strippers may not have dreamed of having this occupation when they were children, but in life you’ve got to pay the bills, and at times working in a club might be the best option.

Sometimes in life we just do what we have to do to get by, and this film appeared to be an accurate depiction of that.

ARTS

counter with her birth father, she goes to a club and subsequently does not return. Gabrielle’s friend calls the Rambo household to inform them that she went missing, which inspires Rambo to go south to find Gabrielle. Unfortunately, he discovers that she has been taken by a cartel associated with trafficking drugs and women.

After arriving in Mexico, Rambo questions her birth father and her friend, finding out Gabrielle’s last known location was in a club. At the club, he encounters an independent journalist named Carmen Delgado, who gives him a tip on where Gabrielle is and one of the men involved. Later, Rambo heads to the location and ends up getting attacked by 30+ cartel members. The cartel finds out whom he is looking for and warns him that she will be mistreated even more.

Rambo gets knocked unconscious for several days, but the journalist takes care of him. Upon waking up, he pressures Carmen for more details and finds out the location of one of the

brothels owned by the cartel, where Gabrielle was located. He goes to the brothels, kills many of the men inside, and finds Gabrielle, who has been forced to consume drugs. On the way home, she ends up passing away from an overdose. As a response, Rambo begins to seek vengeance for her death.

Prior to the movies climax, Rambo is seen setting up traps in his bunker. The movie spent a lot of time on the scene, building up tension for the coming fight The traps were elaborative and creative, so I had high expectations on what was to follow. The climax of the film was a letdown, focusing more on the enemies falling for the traps than the fighting Rambo is known for.

It wrapped up very quickly, leaving me to wonder “Is that it?” The entire scene left me wanting more.

The most significant criticism that I have of the film is that it seems fueled by stereotypes depicted in political propaganda and media. I felt that some scenes were uncomfortable to watch, as a lot of violence towards women was shown, including physical violence, drugging, and sexual assault. If I was watching the movie at home, I would have switched it for another. Furthermore, depictions of an unsecured border spawned questions of being able to cross without identification, having visible weapons on hand, having multiple trucks full of people, each with weapons, and having dead bodies in the car.

It holds a lot of questions about how they were able to go through the border freely. In turn, the movie feels as though it’s fueling the “fake news” perspectives regarding the south of the border.

After spending time in Mexico myself, this actually bothered me because not everyone is a criminal nor a “bad hombre” as infamously stated by Donald Trump. It is difficult to picture family members hating on each other like the two head members of the cartel or the birth father wanting nothing to do with his daughter considering the importance of family in Mexico. Furthermore, Mexico does not feel as unsafe as the movie pictured.

Obviously, there are negative aspects to every country, but it felt as though Mexico was not positively portrayed in the film. For example, the government created a “magic towns” initiative that promoted tourism to small towns that have natural beauty, enriching cultures, and are historic in reality. Each town in the initiative, and others that are not, have a similar appearance (especially the architecture of buildings) that entice you to want to explore them.

In contrast, the movie made the environment feel more unsettling and somewhere that you would not want to be near.

If you are a fan of the previous Rambo films and feel the need to watch Rambo: Last Blood, do not hold high expectations. If you have not watched any of the films previously, I would not recommend starting with this one. Hopefully, Rambo: Last Blood will be the last in the series, or at least forgotten over time.

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VOL. 27 // ISSUE 20

Movie //

CHARTS 1 Becky Ninkovic Woe

2 Ada Lea

what we say in private

3

Jordan Klassen Virtuous Circle (Single)

4

Kristin Witko Zone Of Exclusion

Gronberg 5 Lia The Shady Pines EP

6 Woolworm

Hold the Bow (Single)

7 8

Necking Cut Your Teeth

Devours Iconoclast

SHUFFLE AARON LEVY

MONTH KNOWER

In honour of October, Station Manager Aaron Levy has a shuffle focused on the eighth song from four different albums. So, enjoy this, the eighth month, October!

Weezer - “In The Garage” While Stranger Things welcomed an entirely new generation of youngsters to cast the 12-sided die, when I was in high school, it was none other than big baby Rivers Cuomo before he was such a baby that ushered the ‘90s into being down with the Demogorgon in their town.

Matthew Good Band - “Prime Time Deliverance”

Speaking of the excellent summer blockbuster Netflix program mentioned above, this song is a little known take 10 Bridal Party from the sophomore Matthew Too Much Good long play, and features a tale of, ahem, greedy spies 11 Brutal Poodle and their sultry subjects, as Crowd Control / Low Tide well as their hard luck parents. Great keyboard break before the second verse.

12 Fountain

9

Rae Spoon Mental Health

Laughing Trough Traffic

13

Black Mountain Destroyer

14 Jom Comyn Crawl

15 Bodywash Comforter

16 Frankie Cosmos Close It Quietly

17 Jenny Hval

The Practice of Love

18 Aero Chord The Sound

19 Brave Radar Under the Net

20 Mauno Really Well

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Smashing Pumpkins “Fuck You (An Ode to No One)” This is such a scorching track from the first half of the second major label Pumpkins record, and it's, ironically enough, not “Tales of a Scorched Earth” and is named, hilariously, even more aggressively. Also one of the most exciting songs of the ‘90s that includes half its name in brackets.

Oasis - “Cast No Shadow” Brothers Noel and Liam were perhaps even as effective at songwriting as the unrelated Paul and John, or at least, and I mean songwriting-wise only, not as far as musicianship goes, Keef and Mick. But unfortunately, they really ended up "casting" "no shadow" with their careers due to infighting.

Downton Abbey: fans, this one’s for you KAREN WHITE Anyone who followed the TV series will enjoy watching the new Downton Abbey film. The TV series ran for six years and is PBS’s highest-rated dramatic series of all time.

Julian Fellowes is the writer for the TV series and the film.

He has done an amazing job at developing the characters of Downton Abbey that we have grown to love so much. When watching the film, it is like nothing has changed. The characters and the cinematography remains consistent, making the movie feel like a continuation of the TV series.

D o w nt o n Abbey made a successful t ra n sit ion to movie theatres with most of its core cast.

The only noticeable absence from the film is Lady Rose MacClare who was por t rayed by Lily James in the TV series. With so many c h a rac t er s returning for the film, one would think Fell o w e s would have his hands full, but he successfully incorporates all of the old cast while also bringing new and interesting characters into the mix.

The most compelling addition is Maud Bagshaw, portrayed by Imelda Staunton. Her character is a lady-in-waiting for the Queen and, as we soon learn from scheming Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith), she has a family connection to Downton.

Anyone watching the film with no knowledge of the TV series might have quite a few

blank looks during it. Fans have watched the characters develop over the years and know why they make certain decisions. Someone new to Downton Abbey might not catch on to all the nuances that happen in the film.

Not a lot happens in the film plot-wise, but fans of the TV show will be okay with that because it’s exciting enough that we are back in Downton. The film starts off with a letter from the Buckingham Palace announcing that King George V and Queen Mary (the grandparents of today’s Queen Elizabeth II) will be spending the night at Downton. This is a

huge deal to the entire household. The aristocrats are more on the worried side of things whereas the downstairs servants are excited to serve royalty.

Right away we are brought back into the scheme of things.

Violet Crawley is already playing whatever cards she can to bring money back to the Crawley name. We notice the sister rivalry between Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) and Lady Edith Crawley (Laura

Carmichael) through their chilling interactions.

Downton Abbey fans will be glad to see that Mr. Molesley (Kevin Doyle) comes back for the film. He begs to return to his old job to be able to serve for the one night the King and Queen are there. His character is the comic relief of the series.

Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) also returns to help for the night because Lady Mary is worried that Mr. Barrow (Robert JamesCollier) won’t be up for the task.

Later on in the film, a crisis occurs when snobby royal servants come to replace Downton’s staff. Humiliated and upset, Downton’s staff quickly come up with a plan to make the royal staff d isappea r so that they can serve the King and Queen.

Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt) is again leading the way for fun mischief.

In every scene that she was in, Smith stole the spotlight. She is always up to something and not caring what that might impose on the family. In her mind, she is doing whatever she can to bring the Crawley name what it deserves.

She says the line, “I never argue, I explain,” which we all laugh at and immediately know nothing has changed.

Downton Abbey is great fun to watch, and in every scene we are captivated by how the characters haven't changed at all — and how we love that so much.

Who knows, maybe Downton Abbey might have another film or continuation of some sort.

All we can do is hope.

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019

Book //

The Try Guys share The Hidden Power of F*cking Up CHANDY DANCEY The Hidden Power of F*cking Up is the debut self-help book from The Try Guys, a comedic quartet featuring Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang. They rose to fame on YouTube for their hilarious attempts at trying new things. One week they may be experiencing simulated childbirth pains and another they’ll be ordering everything at Panda Express. One thing’s consistent though: they mess up.

A lot.

They’ve decided to focus their first book on their “failosophy,” and it has a great core message: too many people are afraid of failure, and as a result they don’t reach their full potential.

To The Try Guys, failure is a part of life and should be embraced. To many of their fans, The Try Guys might seem like the epitome of success, but they credit all of it to their many failures which they don’t shy away from highlighting in their book. The Hidden Power of F*cking Up helps readers get to know The Try Guys on a candid level just as much as it tries to motivate them. They avoid sounding dry by having an introductory chapter outlining their philosophy followed by them putting it into action in countless detailed anecdotes of their partial and complete failures.

Where I don’t agree with their “failosophy” is that it isn’t always grounded in reality. Rejection can be

crushing even if we’re expecting it. To always greet the latest failure with a smile and a can-do attitude isn’t realistic. I was hoping the book would address this somewhere, since this was my first concern, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem so self-aware about this aspect.

It also encourages readers to essentially set themselves up for failure instead of setting goals that are reasonable and achievable. Where some self-help books might encourage someone to build their confidence by starting their goals laughably easy to accomplish, The Try Guys instead advise to set the bar too high, then strive to reach it anyways. In my experience, this is a quick way to feel unmotivated or just plain overwhelmed.

From a design standpoint, The Hidden Power of F*cking Up is extraordinarily crisp and vivid. It incorporates photography, bright colours, and clever design to reduce walls of text and ensure that the visuals alone will hook readers. Even with some pages being text heavy, the narration adopts a casual tone that incorporates slang and isn’t afraid to acknowledge when it’s cheesy. The book reads like a pep-talk from your older brothers rather than preaching from your parents. This is a great move on the part of The Try Guys, since their YouTube audience is already used to this casual atmosphere and will mostly likely make up a large portion of their book sales.

Once again though, their

design choices mixed with their informal tone can miss the mark. Entire pages will consist of drawn caricatures of The Try Guys engaging in mock conversation filled with quips and banter. If readers wanted that type of content, it would be more effective to direct them toward their YouTube channel where the chemistry between The Try Guys feels organic and real rather than heavily edited. It does help break up the monotony of reading anecdotes for the entirety of the book, but it doesn’t do it well. At one point The Try Guys follow a CEO’s schedule for a day, and almost 30 pages of the e-book version were filled with them commenting on how ridiculous each hour’s task was. They tried to emulate the tone of their videos within the format of a book, but it doesn’t always translate well.

In today's cultural landscape, “YouTuber” and “influencer” are both valid job titles. In fact, plenty of prominent YouTubers are millionaires, and the idea of how a celebrity is made has never been so blurred. The Try Guys have their own podcast and their own live show, so The Hidden Power of F*cking Up feels like a natural next step in their careers.

While The Hidden Power of F*cking Up may not be the next literary masterpiece, it does show yet again that The Try Guys practice what they preach: even if their first book isn’t a total success, they weren’t afraid to try.

Rewind //

It’s time to pay a call on The Addams Family

MIKAELA COLLINS The Addams Family has existed for over 80 years since appearing as a comic in The New Yorker in 1938. If you’re not familiar, the Addamses are a genuinely happy, loving family of capitalG Gothic not-quite monsters whose neighbours find them strange and disturbing. The driving concept of the show is that the Addamses, oblivious to their own weirdness, find them equally shocking. There have been several film and TV incarnations of the franchise, but I want to talk about the first — the 1964 sitcom — and how frighteningly timely it still is today.

The Addams Family is an exercise in defamiliarization and coding. In literature, “defamiliarization” refers to framing ordinary things in new ways for the purposes of analysis and criticism. “Coding” refers to how we use an audience's cultural knowledge as shorthand. Special episodes on topics like racism or homophobia wouldn’t become common on sitcoms until several years later with shows like All in the Family, and The Addams Family doesn’t have any episodes that deal with these things directly. However, through the power of coding, xenophobia emerges as the overarching theme of the show.

The Addamses are coded as a stereotypical North American nuclear family complete with a black picket fence and a dog — er, octopus — but are seen by the “normal” characters as unintelligible strangers invading the peaceful Leave it to Beaver-esque uniformity of the suburbs. This was at the same time that black and Jewish Americans were moving into white, affluent neighbourhoods and facing the same kind of antagonism that the Addams family does throughout the series.

If the producers had wanted to simplify the show and reduce it to a series of gags, they could have invented an outsider for viewers to relate to - a character from the “real world” through which we could see the fictional world of the Addamses, and the Addamses themselves. We could have been positioned as one of their ordinary neighbours, expected to be just as shocked and appalled as they are. Instead, the audience is always in the house with the family; this means that, by watching, viewers become a member of the Addams clan. The Addamses, then, are the lens through which privileged audiences are made to look at the normal people — in other words, ourselves.

The Addams Family forces viewers to look at the Addams family as a reflection of themselves, and the others in their community. The Addamses are invariably kind and welcoming towards outsiders, so they not only beg the question “Am I as normal as I think I am?” but also, “If I am normal, am I as kind as they are? Am I as welcoming and generous, even towards people who are different from me?”

Right now, white supremacism and nationalism are gaining a stronger foothold, not just in the States as we’d like to believe but here, in Canada, in the Fraser Valley, in Abbotsford, and things that were contentious in the ‘60s – accepting immigrants and religious minorities, multiculturalism rather than assimilation — are being made contentious today. The Addams Family is as accessible, and relevant today as it was then. Outspoken racism may be becoming okay again, but even when it was okay in the ‘60s, there were pieces of media that critiqued it, and returning to these cultural artifacts can help us to step back and look at what’s happening today.

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