The Navigator Vol 48 Issue 5

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NOVEMBER 2

NOVEMBER 15

Vol 48

FREE

VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY STUDENT PRESS

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21

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viu hosts WOMEN IN TRADES event

Back to back wins

Silence

Industry and educators collaborate to encourage female enrollment in trades.

Soccer season wrap-up brought success for the Mariners with an all-star roster.

The war meant to end all wars gave way to others.

CONTENTS

NEWS

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05

06

07

Editorials

VIU hosts Women in Trades event --Third totem pole raised to represent a coastal First Nations’ language

News in a Nutshell --VIU hosts 11th Annual Urban Issues Film Festival

Students fundraise for trip to American border crossing and death row --VIU Theare Department looking for participants for 24-hour playwriting competition --VIU Model UN sweeps up at UVic Conference

FEATURES

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09

10

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Op-Ed: Come on gov, why you gotta be like that?

--Bunnies and Stairs

Point of VIU --Make it disappear: How marketers are winning your attention

Dirtyin’ The Nav: STI-gma

The epoch of humanity is here

Thumbs up

ARTS

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Sausage Party: A movie review --Potted Potter: 7 books, 70 minutes, 2 actors

The eerie accuracy of Black Mirror --Chasing away our demons

#31daysofhorror

#31daysofhorror cont’d

SPORTS & LIFESTYLE

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MSOC: Creating chances --MVP: Island rivalry matches

The Salvation Army: giving hope --Mariners basketball home opener

WVB: Island rivalry matches

VIU soccer stars --WSOC: Back to back wins

Silence

CONTENTS

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LETTERS

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CONTRIBUTORS Ahron Balatti

Spencer Sheehan-Kalina

Dallas Bezaire

Kelly Whiteside

Vinci Lam Krista Meckelborg

THE NAVIGATOR TEAM

THE NAVIGATOR WELCOMES READER CONTRIbuTIONS To submit, visit <www.thenav.ca> or email <editor@thenav.ca>.

Molly Barrieau Editor-in-Chief

Jessica Pirson Graphic Designer

Avery Crosson Art Director

Zyre Hoskins Graphic Designer

Natalie Gates Associate Editor

Spenser Smith Web Editor

Brendan Barlow Arts Editor

Elissa Doerksen Social Media Sp.

Aislinn Cottell News Editor

Lynne Williams Bookkeeper

Cole Schisler Sports & Lifestyle Editor

Christine Franic Business Manager

Catherine Charlebois Production Manager

Diana Pearson Copy Editor

All submissions must be original work of the author. Editors reserve the right to refuse submissions, and to edit for space or clarity.

Letters to the editor should be no more than 400 words in length.

The Navigator does not pay for letters. Opinions expressed in The Navigator are expressly those of the author and/or artist and do not reflect the views of The Navigator staff.

DESIGN WORK

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Avery Crosson Cover

Zyre Hoskins Spread

900 Fifth St. Bldg. 193, rm. 217 Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5S5

T: 250-753-2225 F: 250-753-2257

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Letters

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EDITORIALS

Comically Unfunny

Brendan Barlow --Arts Editor The Navigator

“Fentanyl. Humanities Herbicide. 100 percent effective. Warning: Side effects include reducing... Residential B&E by 50 percent.

Commercial B&E by 97 percent. Home Invasions by 52 percent. Auto Thefts by 63 percent.” These words written on what looks like a cardboard box, and advertisement for a brand-new product.

This was what more than one person at The North Island Gazette deemed funny and/or appropriate enough to run as a comic in a recent issue of their newspaper. The implication of the comic being that those struggling with drug addiction can’t perpetrate crimes if they’re dead, and that this should be a good thing. This was presented as a comic, something meant to entertain and make a point.

For background, fentanyl is an opiate painkiller with a similar, but much more potent, effect to heroin. It is used still in medical settings, and over the last year we have seen a startling and devastating increase in the number of deaths directly related to overdoses of fentanyl. The reason for this spike in overdoses seems to be an increase in recreational use of fentanyl, as well as dealers and manufacturers of street drugs combining fentanyl with their product, creating a more potent and often fatal product. In 2016, just in BC, there have been nearly 500 deaths. This

is a 61.6 percent increase, according to a report from CBC News.

The response to this repugnant example of bad judgment was something of a mixed bag. In a following issue of the Gazette, the letters page was full of responses to the comic which all shared a theme of disappointment with the paper. While some had a palpable anger, as seen with words like “abhorrent” and “vile”, others appealed to the cartoonist’s sense of empathy, and the poor judgment of the paper. Regardless of the approach, it’s clear the public was upset by this comic, and rightfully so. The response from the newspaper was disappointing in it’s own right, consisting of an acknowledgement that the cartoon existed, and a publisher sharing her personal story of having been impacted by overdose. There was no apology, no acknowledgement of the mistake that had been made, nothing at all. It felt more like the equivalent of saying or doing something outwardly racist and responding “It’s ok though, I totally have black friends”.

It’s no secret that the public perception of people struggling with addiction is not the most sensitive one. People’s assumptions and ideas about addicts are often misguided, and toxic, if these are people who choose to be addicted, who simply aren’t trying hard enough, and even

going as far as to suggest that they deserve what they get. We’ve all heard these things before, and it might seem easy to just ignore. You’re not stigmatized for not standing up for addicts the way you are for standing up against someone being racist or homophobic. In the eyes of the public, addicts are apparently fair game.

To not say anything, to allow for hateful and ignorant things like this particular comic to be printed and to perpetuate misconceptions, is to accept the treatment and even to agree with the statements being made. It was a wonderful thing to see the outrage and calls for empathy that poured in to the newspaper in response, but people had to make the decision to run it in the first place. More than one person would have looked at that and thought “yeah that’s good” or “yeah that’s funny”, before it went to print.

Agreeing to print this comic trivializes and even supports the deaths of drug users—whether first-time users or long-term addicts—and further perpetuates a culture of victim blaming on those struggling with addiction. North Island Gazette, how will you make up for your ignorance?

Speaking of which, it’s Humanity’s not Humanities.

JT, I hope you’re listening

Natalie Gates --Associate Editor The Navigator

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editorials

When Justin Trudeau walked into the October 25 Young Worker’s Summit in Ottawa, expecting the usual cheers, photo-ops, and admiration, he was met with something else entirely.

While some in attendance yelled angrily that he is “acting like Harper”, a number of people stood and turned their backs to Trudeau. Trudeau responded, “It is a little bit frustrating for me to come in, sit down and look forward to hearing from you, talking with you, and seeing a room full of people who are standing in a way that shows they’re not listening to me, that you don’t want to engage.”

But they were just giving JT, the self-appointed Minister for Youth, a taste of his own medicine. This was their way of engaging, by demonstrating that Trudeau has turned his back on us. He shows up but doesn’t face us directly.

After being swept to the side by the Harper government for a decade, young people are eager to finally see real change from the Liberals—

especially since they have just celebrated their oneyear anniversary in power. But the “changes” so far haven’t been enough.

The Liberals have still failed to deliver on their campaign promise to make post-secondary education more affordable, and the possibility that Trudeau will go back on his commitment to reduce Canada’s emissions looms in the forefront.

Trudeau himself says he is committed to “engaging with [us], listening to [us], working hard on understanding.” So it is beyond time for us to show the government what we want.

The day before the summit, the Liberal government’s contradictory consideration of the Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline was at the centre of another protest, where more than 200 people marched on Parliament Hill to demand Trudeau reject any new oilsands infrastructure.

Obviously, these protests reflect a growing discontent over a lack of Liberal action—on issues

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from affordable education and jobs for young Canadians to Indigenous rights and climate change.

It also alludes to more protests to come.

This isn’t to say the Liberals have failed youth on all accounts yet; the creation of the PM’s Youth Council and investments into things like expanding the Youth Employment Strategy provide a glimmer of hope. But we need to look past that glimmer and shoot for more. One year in is the perfect time to showcase dissatisfaction.

Justin, please give us a reason to not turn our backs to you. If you can do that, then maybe the Trudeaumania you pride yourself on will hold some merit.

On page 8 we have an in-depth piece on government accountability. Check it out and let us know what you think of the Liberal’s progress so far. How will you be holding the government accountable?

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NEWS

VIU hosts Women in Trades event Aislinn Cottell ---

Although our culture has come a long way from the strictly prohibitive gender roles of The Navigator the past, many careers which show a large imbalance in their workforce when it comes to their female demographic. The trades—an umbrella term for jobs such as carpentry, heavy mechanics, welding, electrical, and automotive work—is an industry that, whether or not intentional, is often coded as “men’s work.”

Last month, VIU took a step towards changing that mindset with Women in Trades, an open-house style event aimed at women who may never have considered learning a trade.

The event took place on lower campus, where each department had set up a demonstration with professors and students to talk about their area of expertise. In the welding workshop, students showed off their skills with plasma cutters, a tool that cuts metal using a jet of accelerated hot plasma; in the heavy mechanics area, visitors were invited to try out hightech simulators used to train students learning to drive heavy machinery such as excavators and bulldozers.

“We really want to highlight the career opportunities for women in trades,” said Glynis Steen, Dean of the Faculty of Trades and Applied Technology at VIU. “The percentage of women in our trades programs is low, and we want to attract more. One good way to attract more women to the trades programs is to introduce them to women who are already pursuing successful trades careers.”

Carla Smith, President of the general contractor company CMF Construction Ltd., is one example. Smith has worked in the construction industry for the past 20 years, and says she has “not regretted a minute” of her career.

“I like the variety of what we do, it’s never the same thing every month,” said Smith, adding that the complexity, unique

problem solving, and satisfaction of creating something new and useful for the world is very rewarding.

Smith is also Chair of the Nanaimo chapter of Women in Construction (WiC), an informal, grassroots-style network of women working in the construction industry. WiC, along with the Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools, helped to organize the Women in Trades event at VIU. “We’re trying to get the word out there that it’s a well-paying job,” said Smith. “We thought the best way to connect with the new generation would be through schools.”

Formed with the intention of making connections and growing the female demographic of the trades, WiC is sponsored by the Vancouver Island Construction Association. This is the first community event that WiC has been involved with, although they do host approximately six events a year for their members to encourage networking and share information.

Students at the event echoed Smith’s sentiments on working in the trades.

“I enjoy what it’s taught me about myself, about my patience and tenacity,” said a first-year welding student named Leslie.

“I’m also interested in making some money, my last couple jobs weren’t very lucrative.”

According to WiC statistics, workers in the trades industry make an average of $55k annually. And with most four-year trades programs, students begin real-world apprenticing in second year, graduate with a certificate, and can find work immediately in their field.

As Derek Beeston, Principal of Career Pathways with Nanaimo Ladysmith Public schools said, “It’s far overdue for women to be actively sought out for careers in the trades. The opportunities are endless.”

Carla Smith, president of CMF Construction Limited and chair of Nanaimo chapter of Women in Construction (WiC).

VIU Communications

VIU students in the Foundations welding program show off their skills with the plasma cutter.

Aislinn Cottell

Third totem pole raised to represent a coastal First Nations’ language Spencer Sheehan-Kalina ---

On October 12, First Nation communities and VIU Contributor celebrated the raising of a totem pole on the Nanaimo Campus, right outside of VIU’s Shq’apthut: A Gathering Place. Students, staff, public figures, community leaders, and members came together to honour the totem at this culturally historic event with speeches, ceremony, and delicious food.

Speeches and a ceremony took place at the site of the totem with tribute paid to all those who had played a part in its creation. Special appreciation was given to both Kwakwaka’wakw member and artist carver Tom Hunt, and to the companies responsible for donation of the wood, Island Timberlands, Western Forest Products and TimberWest, with emphasis placed on the cultural importance and significance.

Festivities continued in VIU’s gym afterwards, with dancing, song, and feast being offered to all who attended.

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This particular totem, placed between the two others, has been created to represent the First Nations language Kwakwaka’wakw. The two that stand beside this latest edition are representative of the two other First Nations languages indigenous to Vancouver Island, the Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish. The other totem poles were respectively carved

by Noel Brown, from Coast Salish, and Qwaya Sam, from Nuuchah-nulth, both of which were celebrated at a community gathering in June 2015.

The Totem Raising Celebration is part of VIU’s ongoing work around the topic of reconciliation with First Nations peoples in a series of projects called Reconciliation Road: Join the Journey with VIU. Other events of the Reconciliation Road project include The Witness Blanket, a concert with Buffy Sainte-Marie at The Port Theatre, and the second annual Indigenous Speakers Series in partnership with the Laurier Institution and CBC Radio One’s Ideas.

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A member of the faculty who asked to remain unnamed remarked: “This is an important day for everyone: students, faculty and staff of VIU, for the First Nations communities of Vancouver Island, and for the companies that partnered with VIU to help facilitate this amazing day… this is a breathtaking piece of culturally significant work.”

John Johnson, a First Nations student at VIU who drove from Gold River, for the day’s events said, “I speak some Nuuchah-nulth. Today makes me feel proud of my hereditary and cultural heritage, because today I feel like we’ve all taken a step toward a healthier, happier, more inclusive future as a whole community living on this Island.”

All are encouraged to visit VIU’s Shq’apthut: A Gathering Place to view the majestic edition to the landscape and to be a fellow witness to this sincere and important step of reconciliation.

NEWS

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NEWS

News In a Nutshell

Aislinn Cottell | The Navigator

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

On November 3 there will be a Q&A session with artist Lynda Faulks concerning the “Sustainability Mural Project” coming to VIU this spring.

VIU Nanaimo Campus Bldg. 305, rm. 440.

If you have any questions concerning the date, if c t or content of the r ro ect the is a great place to ask.

Session will run from 12 – 1 pm.

Reminder: Applications for participation in the Project are due November 18.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

VIU is co-sponsoring the event The Gathering with the Institute for Innovation in Education (iiE) this month from November 4–6.

VIU Nanaimo Campus.

The Gathering will “offer teachers, educational leaders, and students the opportunity to collaborate with a multi-disciplinary network of like-minded practitioners towards excellence and innovation in educational practice and policy” and will feature workshop presentations, poster sessions, project showcases, a panel discussion, and a story slam, among other activities.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

The Compass Rose undergraduate journal is looking for submissions to their essay competition on the subject of “The Fundamental Questions of Life” such as “What is beauty?” or “What is one’s ultimate responsibility to society?”.

Essays can be submitted at <wordpress.viu.ca/ compassrose/submit>.

Deadline is November 7.

First place winners will receive a prize of $150, second place will receive $50, and many submissions will be offered the opportunity to be published in the journal.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

The City of Nanaimo Parks and Recreation department is seeking program proposals for their 2017 spring and summer sessions.

Application forms can be found on the City of Nanaimo website at <www.nanaimo.ca>.

If you have a special skill or talent–for example, in cooking, music, dance, or art–that you would like to share, this is a great opportunity to engage with the community and make some money by teaching something you love.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

The City is holding a Remembrance Day Ceremony and Parade downtown on November 11 from 8 am – 1 pm.

The parade will begin on Chapel St., travel along Front t n nish on h rch t

Join the community in honouring veterans who have given their lives and service for the country, as well as those currently serving at home and abroad.

WHAT

WHERE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Fan Expo West 2016 is being held in Vancouver from November 11-13, and will be “a three-day pop culture extravaganza”.

Vancouver Convention Centre

Fan Expo offers a wide variety of attractions, including guest celebrities such as John Barrowman (Doctor Who) and Carrie Fisher (Star Wars), ne isc ssions of o c t re to ics of ci merchandise, fan art, and much more.

Tickets can be purchased at <eventbrite.com> by searching “November 2016 Vancouver Island iiE Gathering.” Student pricing is available.

Deadline for submissions is November 10.

Several different ticket packages are available, and can be purchased at the convention or online at <fanexpovancouver.com/tickets/>.

VIU hosts 11th Annual Urban Issues Film Festival Aislinn Cottell VIU’s 11th Annual Urban Issues Film --Festival will be held this month on The Navigator

November 4 from 3 – 9 pm in bldg. 250, rm. 125. The Festival is free to attend, includes a complimentary dinner of pizza, sushi, popcorn, and beverages, and will explore the theme of “Community Economic Development and the Public Good.” Space is limited, so those interested in attending are asked to register by searching “11th Annual Urban Issues Film Festival” at <bit.ly/UIFF2016>.

The Urban Issues Film Festival was first organized in 2006, after geography professor Don Alexander got wind of a conference hosted by the city that focused on urban issues.

“I was speaking to a colleague before the conference, and I said ‘you know, a lot of these ideas are kind of dry when talking about them, but what if they were shown through films?”

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News

Alexander said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.’”

The Festival is now coordinated each year with World Town Planning Day, an international day of celebration to recognize the achievements of community planners around the world.

First established in 1949, World Town Planning Day is held on November 8, and more than 30 countries participate annually.

This year there are 10 films scheduled, covering issues from sustainable economic development, to a café/butcher shop in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that’s providing employment and affordable food to locals, to the ongoing battle between big box stores and local businesses.

In addition, there will be a talk given by keynote speaker Marcia Nozick, founder and CEO of the Eastside Movement for Business and Economic Renewal Society (EMBERS). EMBERS is a registered community economic development charity

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working in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside and Surrey which provides job placements, training, and support to people on the street facing barriers such as substance abuse, recent release from prison, and economic difficulty.

A discussion period will be held after each film to allow participants to engage in conversation about the theme, providing “a great forum for different people to get together to discuss contemporary issues of the city,” according to Alexander.

The Urban Issues Film Festival is sponsored by the Planning Institute of BC North Island Chapter, the VIU Geography Department, the Geographic Student’s Union, and the Master of Community Planning Students’ Association. For more information, contact Alexander at <Don.Alexander@viu.ca>.

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NEWS

Students fundraise for trip to American Border Crossing and Death Row Aislinn Cottell ---

Fifteen VIU students will be hitting the campus stairs this winter to fundraise for The Navigator the opportunity to further their studies abroad with a trip to several Vancouver prisons, the CanadianAmerican and American-Mexican border crossings, and Death Row in Arizona.

The trip is one of VIU’s Field Schools: short-term Education Abroad programs that give students a chance to explore the world a little further from home while still contributing to their degree. This particular field school was organized by sociology professor Sylvie Lafrenière and criminology professor Elizabeth McLin, and is described as “a comparative analysis of American and Canadian justice systems and border crossings.” The program counts as one 3-credit course from both the criminology and sociology departments, for a total of 6 upper-level credits.

“We are excited to expose VIU students to other world views about justice and managing and living on North American borders,” said McLin. “Our students will get to see first-hand, and ask questions about, another culture’s practices and points of pride. We hope to reciprocate in the future.”

After touring several prisons on the Mainland, the group will travel to Arizona and spend a week learning about the American justice system and what happens to those people who have been given the ultimate penalty per the state law.

VIU Theatre Department looking for participants for 24-Hour Playwriting Competition

Next, students will cross the U.S border into Nogales, Mexico, visit the desert traversed by those seeking to avoid the border crossing, and then be put through the immigration process on the way back. When they return to Canada, they will visit a border town in BC and compare the experience to Nogales, as well as speak with border studies specialists and people who work first-hand with refugees and immigrants to Canada, and compare those perspectives to the ones encountered in Arizona.

“It will be a very emotional, and, I expect, eye-opening experience for everyone,” said Lafrenière.

Although many field school participants are often engaged in studies related to the trip destination, many of the trips are open to students from any discipline, and often even members of the public.

One of the students registered for the upcoming trip, Sally Haynes, is a third-year global studies major with a minor in economics, but last year she did some research in a sociology course that focused on maximum-security prisons, solitary confinement, and their effects on mental health. She is excited to visit the institutions she studied in person.

“As much as you can read about it, nothing replaces direct experience,” said Haynes. “It probably won’t be the most pleasant experience, but I think it will be a very impactful one; there’s so much to learn.”

Haynes said that she decided to register for the field school

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because of its convenience with her school and work schedule.

“I’m really into doing an internship, but it’s tough.

Generally, you have to invest more time, and to take your whole summer off is really challenging, especially if you have to work,” she said. “But with the Field School, because it fits into the school year, it makes it a lot more doable.”

Each student will contribute approximately $3200 for the trip, plus tuition fees, and though Sally says they know they won’t make up that entire amount by fundraising, she said they want to “make as big of a dent as [they] can.”

The group is using the platform FundScrip, a gift card fundraising program where the group gets a portion of the value of each card they sell. They have cards on offer from a range of retailers, including grocery stores like Save-on-Foods and Walmart, as well as Starbucks, gas stations, and more.

Those interested in supporting the group can purchase cards at <fundscrip.com> using the code CNX ZG5.

In addition, the students will be selling pizza in the atrium of bldg. 356 from 11 am – 2 pm every Tuesday until December 6 ($2 per slice, $5 for two slices and a pop), and will be holding two bake sales on November 3 and 17, with locations to be announced. The Criminology Students Association will also be hosting a “beer and burger” special at Carlos O’Bryan’s pub on November 10, with half of all proceeds going to the group.

The VIU Theatre Department is hosting their inaugural 24-Hour Playwriting The Navigator Competition this month, and looking for budding playwrights to compete.

Participation is free, but teams must be confirmed by November 4, and space is limited to the first eight teams who confirm–so hurry and get your friends together if you want to take part in the shenanigans. Whether you’re already interested in acting or writing, or just want to get out and have fun, this event is a great opportunity to meet people and de-stress.

“We’re looking for absolutely anyone with a desire to try something different and fun for a weekend,” said Leon Potter, Chair of the VIU Theatre Department. “We’re hoping for a range of different groups to participate—VIU students and staff, high school students, arts groups or anyone else in the community who’s interested.”

Sign-up requires a group of five people, who will receive an “inspiration box” on November 18 that contains a sound effect, a costume, a quote, and a prop that they must then incorporate into a 15-minute-or-less performance. Teams will have one hour of stage time on Sunday to organize technical elements such as lighting and set cues, and are also permitted to bring in outside actors to perform their piece.

The shows will then be performed at the Malaspina Theatre on Monday November 7 at 8 pm, where they will be judged by a panel of people from the Nanaimo arts community, and prizes will be awarded.

“Aside from a weekend of your time and a few shreds of dignity, you will find yourselves paid back in some of the greatest memories you could create,” said Potter.

To sign up or for more information, contact Potter at <Leon.Potter@viu.ca>.

VIU Model UN sweeps up at UVic Conference Natalie Gates VIU’s Model United Nations --(MUN) club took home six The Navigator

awards at the University of Victoria MUN Conference October 21–23.

The conference was attended by colleges and private high schools in the area. Twenty nine VIU MUN students attended—the club’s largest traveling delegation yet.

“This conference differed from others because I could see the growth in students,” said VIU MUN President Shantel Beute. “This growth is just how I imagined it when I took leadership in 2013. The fact that we left with six awards just showed that our preparations were well worth it and that the students were very committed to being there.”

Kai Huculak and Shantel Beute were awarded “Most Diplomatic” in the General Assembly (GA) and Human Rights Council (HRC), respectively; Chelsea Bellingham and Timur Shaban took home “Best

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Position Papers” in the GA and HRC; and Andrew Gair and Lauren Rogers received “Best Delegate” in the International Press Corps and HRC. Dr. Mark Williams teaches the political studies course, “Diplomacy and Power at the United Nations”, which helped many VIU students prepare for the conference.

“I could not have asked for a more dedicated and sincere group of delegates,” Williams said. “Their participation greatly enhanced the experience of diplomacy that MUN is designed to emulate.”

The VIU MUN club is looking forward to attending the UBC MUN conference in January. They are also planning to host an MUN conference at VIU next spring, the first one hosted at VIU since 2011.

If you are interested in joining the club or learning more, email <mun.viu@gmail.com> or drop by their meetings Thursdays from 1 – 2:30 pm in bldg. 355, rm. 203.

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New member to the masthead, Rachel Johnson, read a poem of her own, published in last year’s Portal, “Surveillance” about her mother’s work and Whitehorse. Held at White Sails Brewery, the event featured music from Oh! Venice and student and faculty readings. Emily Reekie and Courtney Poole both read their works published last year, “Estuary Elegy” and “The Apiarist’s Daughter” respectively and Spenser Smith reading his poem from Portal 2016 titled “Field Songs”. Smith is the current Managing Editor of the magazine.

Vinci Lam

NEWS

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FEATURES

Op-Ed: COmE On GOv, why yOu GOtta bE likE that?

Dallas Bezaire Government accountability. If you watch House of Cards or keep up with --ontri

tor

the news, it sounds like an unending task somewhat akin to banging your head against the wall.

But fear not my fellow students and citizens, there is hope.

At its heart, government accountability is making sure your government is doing what it should do. This means your government is fulfilling its basic duties set out by our constitution and the laws they pass. It also means that they stick to and make a concerted effort at fulfilling their election promises.

To some extent there is also the idea that your government does not commit felonies, breaches of human rights, or other things we generally consider “not cool.” Finally, you want a government that actually cares about fulfilling the needs and wants of the masses. These are all important because we want a government that listens and works to improve our quality of life, that fulfills the will of the people rather than going against it, and most importantly is a government that we can (sort of) trust.

Now obviously this doesn’t happen much, at least not how everyone would like it to. There are a number of reasons why, from incompetence to malicious intent, but most of the time it is simply because they can.

Those in power only need to satisfy the needs of enough people to stay in power. This lends itself quite well to the idea of voter blocks or constituencies; parties can focus on taking just enough voting blocs or constituencies to win the election and ignore all the rest. In fact, one can become the President of the United States with only 22 percent of the popular vote thanks to the Electoral College.

How do we address some of these issues? The first step is to make sure you use the voice you have. Vote in the election, even if you hate all the parties, because voting shows the parties that your vote is something they can win or lose rather than it being one less thing to worry about if you choose not to vote (I’m looking at you, youth vote).

You can also make it harder for the parties to nail down your vote with a single bloc. Be a pluralistic voter who cares about multiple things; this will force the parties to address multiple things in order to win your vote. It also helps to vote against parties you may like or have voted for before because of their current actions. Yes, it may result in a party you don’t particularly like coming into power, but it keeps the party you do like from getting complacent and taking your vote and your needs for granted (as you may have seen in the last Albertan provincial election). Nothing leads to party complacency faster than people voting based on “party loyalty.”

Yet, voting isn’t the end of it. There is always the press

and the public opinion that can sway day-to-day. This is where you can put more pressure on the parties. Check out <Trudeaumetre.ca>. This site keeps a record how many campaign promises Trudeau keeps. The code for the site is freely available if you would like to use it to keep track of the other leaders in your own country, province, or city.

Keeping public records isn’t the only way to hold these parties accountable for their promises. There is also the news media, internet blogs, and social media which you can use to put pressure on your political parties. When all else fails, flood them with mail, mail, and more mail. A bit of spam does help to get the message across.

But how about the organizational side of things? The structure of elections is a major factor. Moving away from election systems that favor large parties and result in highly skewed results—such as first past the post—and towards more representational electoral systems—such as proportional representation or single transferable vote—can help to make voting less of a statistical game. Instead, you would just choose the policies and parties which represent you best.

Imagine that.

Proportional representation, where the percentage of votes one gets becomes the percentage of seats their party gets, also has the added benefit of removing constituencies.

Constituencies can be great for ensuring you have a local representative but are prone to the danger of gerrymandering— the insidious redrawing of constituencies to help a party win more of them. Trudeau himself got elected partly because of his promise to enact electoral reform, most likely towards proportional representation, however he has balked as of late saying that with his party coming into power the public’s (or perhaps his own) appetite for electoral reform has waned.

And here lies one of the trickiest problems with government accountability. People in power loathe changing systems that work in their favour. To this end they will often enact laws or create rules and regulations that make it increasingly difficult to compete against them for this power. Voting restrictions, minimum requirements for the formation of parties, large and constantly growing costs of running in an election, and much more all help to solidify this control.

Parties can also make themselves distinct from their opponents not simply on a policy or legislative basis, but on an ideological, religious, racial, or moral basis. They often turn to demonizing their opponents. This keeps voters where they want them, without having to address the wide array of needs of these voters.

Once again, how can we counter this? Most importantly: don’t fall for the bullshit.

There will be fear tactics and scare campaigns to trick people into limiting their freedoms and building up these barriers to change. They will try and tell you that this vote is a decision between the ultimate evil and themselves. Recognize that each party has its own strengths, its own weaknesses, and each is worthy of respect and consideration, even if you ultimately do not agree with them. Take them as they are, rather than as they are painted.

How about when your government starts to do something illegal or shady? When they start to suppress the rights of certain citizens or they break international laws? This is where whistleblowers play an important role along with the general public.

The whistleblowers force the government to either clean up their act or to invest time and efficiency in secrecy, which will eventually make it cumbersome, allowing other governments to take over. The job of the public is to take these whistleblowers seriously and make a hubbub. If there is no penalty in the votes or public support, governments will continue their illegal activities.

However, votes aren’t the only form of power a government needs. They must also maximize the amount of money they can make, either for their political career and re-election or for their life after politics. The more corrupt a state, the more money governments can make from satisfying just a few people, industries, or companies, and the less they have to worry about maintaining the needs and productivity of the majority. In extreme cases, dictators fund themselves through a single lucrative resource, or indebt themselves to their political donors in order to run for re-election.

To this end, you can push for the prevention of big money in politics through preventing super PACs and lobbying, pushing for spending limits in elections, and barring politicians from working for any business that they helped benefit through legislation.

You can also help incentivize politicians to stay away from bribes by providing funds for elections and pensions, which eliminates the need for these politicians to get their much needed cash from people who want something in return.

And that’s it. We are done. I admit, a lot of this isn’t easy, nor is it going to happen any time soon. But if you are aware of their ultimate goals, and you push your parties back every time they try to push you, then you can keep them accountable and maybe even help them clean up their mess.

The beautiful thing about a democracy is that we get our strength and power from being united. The more united we are, the harder it is to take advantage of our differences and manipulate us. Push back and push back together, and together we will all reap the benefits.

Bunnies and Stairs The Navigator

The more the merrier! Submit your bunnies and stairs to The Nav by emailing <editor@thenav.ca> or Tweet us @theNav_VIU. Bunny: o ethin nice f nn Stair: o ethin e n nno in

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here s nothin worse th n the onti c tor the ostensi o ni otent ro nostic tor he re r hei for the rst ti e n now socio o o onti c tor t nothin e ts nothin e ts the retentio s onti c tor the vo nteer to write in The Navigator to e so cr shin insec rities onti c tor

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Do you ThiNk The way sTuDeNTs pay for uNiversiTy impacTs Their work eThic?

cole Schisler | The Navigator

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STephaN

JeSSIca

Rhyly

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Creative Writing

Elementary Education

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Make it disappear: how marketers are winning your attention Krista Meckelborg ---

I don’t know about you, but Snapchat has revolutionized the ontri tor way I share my life on social media.

Before Snapchat existed, how often did you post a stream of drunken selfies after a night out that likely wouldn’t have otherwise been seen by another set of eyes?

One of the biggest and best new ways marketers are attracting younger generations is through ephemeral marketing. Ephemeral means “lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory.” Thus, ephemeral marketing is a means of introducing marketing content in a format where it can be temporary and short-lived.

Ephemeral content has been widely accepted by the modern society, particularly among Millennials. For example, Snapchat has captured the attention of consumers and marketers alike. It’s the biggest success story in ephemeral content to date.

Snapchat users can create up to 10-second “in-the-moment” videos and photos, and send them to friends or display them on their “Story” for up to 24 hours. People have praised Snapchat for being a casual, raw, personal, and “real” place for users to express themselves without having to deal with the content following them around for the rest of their lives.

Recently, Instagram (owned by Facebook) released their own “Stories” feature to get on board with the fad.

Live video has also become a huge trend. With Periscope and Facebook Live, people can post videos entirely in real time. On both Periscope and Facebook Live, a recording of these videos can be accessed for up to 24 hours after the original live version for those who may have missed it.

Photos and videos aren’t the only ephemeral services

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available—ephemeral messaging apps like WeChat, Path Talk, and Wickr are on the rise as well. Prior to online and SMS messaging, people relied heavily on telephoning one another: the most ephemeral messaging of all. People don’t necessarily want their conversations to follow them forever.

According to Pew Research Center in 2015, 41 percent of smartphone owners aged 18 to 29, and 17 percent of all adult smartphone owners use mobile apps that automatically delete their messages. This number is constantly increasing.

Why is this ephemeral content so appealing to today’s generation? Perhaps it’s due to the issue of clutter. Because there is so much information available out there about everything, it’s easy to feel as though you’re drowning in all of it. But if something is only instant and temporary, there is no fear of getting too caught up in it. That’s why so many people are drawn to short-lived content and media.

The real-time component of ephemeral content is also appealing because younger generations want immediate, on-demand information about what’s going on in the moment.

Yes, people still hold on to old photos and digital memories and store them for ages. But when is the last time you took a look at one of the 250 photos you took in March of 2013 that you saved somewhere in a full external hard drive sitting in the basement? For many of us, there is just no sense in holding onto every selfie or bookmarking every valuable piece of online information, because it just adds up way too fast and new content is created on a daily basis. The more content created, the less people want to look at the old stuff. However, new content makes us crave more content. It’s a vicious cycle.

So what does this mean for marketers?

The desire for ephemeral communications demonstrates

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that consumers are highly willing to devote their attention to a message or video, but only once and only for a brief moment, and then they want it to disappear. However, because there is so much content out there, content created by marketers needs to be worth consumers’ time and be relevant to the moment. Snapchat’s “Discover” feature is a great example of the type of ephemeral content desired. Discover is a place where articles from major publications are featured, but only for 24 hours before disappearing. It’s this type of temporary content that people desire.

Additionally, the leader in ephemeral content, Snapchat, has shown us that people want to see things “live”, in all of its raw, real glory. People are sick of fake everything–especially fake marketing. Live content makes everything seem more real. It’s also unpredictable, which makes it far more exciting to viewers. Anything can happen when things are live. Live video especially is a great way of marketing to a younger target market.

Ephemeral marketing is definitely the way of the immediate and near future, but it’s hard to say if this trend will last forever. Maybe people will grow more sentimental as time goes on, and the next generations will revert back to permanent content, just like when people went from the disappearing communication method of telephones to a desire to publish permanent information online when Facebook originally came about. Maybe it’s a never-ending cycle that marketers like myself will just have to follow around as time goes on.

Until then, as a consumer, I’m going to keep using the faceswap and dog filters like there’s no tomorrow.

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dirtyin' thE nav: Sti-Gma

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Send your questions, concerns, and curiosities about sex to Diana via <column@thenav.ca>. Your questions stay anonymous and confidential!

Diana pearson STIs are one of the big risks of engaging in sexual activity, so learning --about STIs is essential for safer sex practices. So before you get down he

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n’ dirty, let this Q&A be a conversation-starter between you and your current, and future, partners.

Please note: this is a short overview of STIs. For up-to-date, thorough medical information about STIs, seek information from Island Sexual Health, HealthLinkBC, a sexual health practitioner, or links provided in this article.

Sex-ed high school curriculum varies by province, and BC’s curriculum is hit or miss. As a result, not all of us who grew up in BC learned about how STIs are passed on, prevented, or treated. If you grew up in Nanaimo, there’s a chance you had the wonderful Kerri Isham as your sex-ed guru. I grew up in Port Alberni, where our sex-ed curriculum began as early as grade four.

On the other hand, some students have very little access to sex education. Some high school teachers, embarrassed and untrained, resort to scare tactics or (hopefully) pass the job off to a nurse. Another friend came of age just after the AIDS epidemics of the ’80s, so her sex education from teachers was as follows: “if you have sex, you will get AIDS and die.”

All this to say, public knowledge of STIs is wobbly, and syphilis and gonorrhea are on the rise across Canada. Education is the first step to preventing the spread of STIs. Luckily, having Google at our fingertips means we have access to great sexual health resources, including:

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3ZXk`\%ZX5 :XeX[`Xe 8@;J Ki\Xkd\ek @e]fidXk`fe <oZ_Xe^\ Here are a few questions about STIs posed by The Nav readers: Q: Why did the name change from STD to STI? A: The acronym STD stands for sexually-transmitted diseases. The word disease was changed to infection for two reasons. First, an infection does not always show symptoms, but can still cause physical damage. For example, chlamydia can cause infertility when left untreated, yet in many cases, it shows no symptoms to those infected. For another example, one can become infected with HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) without ever developing cervical cancer (which can be caused by some strains of HPV). This change in terminology was also made to reduce social stigma.

Q: Is it possible for a woman to pass on an STI to another woman during sex, if neither woman has had a male sexual partner?

A: STIs do not discriminate by biological sex. In other words, yes, it is absolutely possible for a woman to pass an STI on to her female sexual partner. Most STIs are passed through bodily fluids. HIV in particular can be passed through blood, vaginal fluids, semen (including preejaculate), anal fluids, and breast milk. Some are passed on through skin-to-skin contact, including herpes (there are two strains: HSV-1 and -2), genital warts (which is caused by a strain of HPV), pubic lice, and scabies.

Having sex involves getting sweaty, wet, and sticky, and sharing bodily fluids. So all sexual play involves some level of risk, not just P-in-V intercourse. Oral sex, anal sex, sex toy play, and BDSM all pose a risk of contracting an STI between partners.

Q: Can you talk about social stigma surrounding STIs? A: A social stigma is an unfair belief of someone or of a group of people in society. In regards to STIs, some people hold the belief that those who have or have had an STI are “dirty”, “slutty”, “sleazy”, or “unclean”.

Two of the most socially stigmatized STIs are HIV and herpes. I’ve heard jokes about “gettin’ the HIV” from having sex with someone who might look or seem sleazy.

For another example, I get cold sores, and when I point out my insecurity about having a big blistery outbreak on my face (caused by internalized stigma, no doubt), I hear this response: “Well, at least you don’t have herpes.”

(Pssst: coldsores are caused by herpes: HSV-1. Genital herpes are typically caused by HSV-2 strain, but the strains can be passed from mouth to genitals and vice versa.)

These jokes and phrases can come either from an honest lack of education, ignorance, or deliberate negative view (stigma). But be mindful: social stigma about STIs can shut down conversations and encourage a culture of silence. A 2008 study among university students showed that social stigma can be powerful enough to prevent a sexual partner from feeling comfortable sharing the truth that they have an STI, and even discourage sexually-active students from being tested. Yikes.

The answer to all these concerns are—yep, you guessed it—education and communication.

Learn about how STIs are passed on, prevented, and treated. Take a big breath, embrace those sweaty palms, and tell your partner about your sexual history. Ask about theirs. Don’t judge them by their “number.”

Fill your cupboards with all the joyful supplies available to prevent STIs, including condoms (male and female), dental dams, and gloves. Use them whenever necessary. Get tested regularly (after having unprotected sex with a new partner, and once a year). And please, please, when you hear those unpleasant jokes about “the HIV” or “the herp,” politely let those jokesters know that those terms might indirectly encourage the spread of STIs, and the associated stigma.

Did you know?

The VIU Health & Wellness Centre (bldg. 200) offers STI testing to students, and Options for Sexual Health (285 Prideaux St.) offers comprehensive sexual health services, including STI testing, birth control, pro-choice counselling and referrals for pregnancy and abortion.

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thE EpOCh OF humanity iS hErE

econo ist co

Dallas Bezaire Our Earth is said to be 4.5 billion years --old. Its age has been calculated in a ontri

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number of ways, one being through the use of stratigraphic layers—layers of sediment left by millions of years’ worth of silt and soil.

The largest divisions are called eras, the current one being the Cenozoic Era which started with the extinction of the dinosaurs by a large meteor. Eras are further divided into periods; the current is the Quaternary which is marked by the frequent glaciation periods triggered in part by the fusing of North and South America at the end of the last period.

Finally, periods are further divided into epochs. The epoch we are living in is known as the Holocene. It began about 11,000 years ago at the end of the last glaciation period and was only recognized in 2008. Before the ink was even dry on that decision, groups from various areas of science were already pushing for the recognition of a new epoch that they claim we are already living in, the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene is the age of the Earth dominated and dictated by the activities of humans. The idea isn’t exactly new either; a similar proposal for the “Anthropozoic” was proposed back in the 1870s, but it never really took off until it was proposed by Paul Crutzen, the Dutch chemist and Nobel Prize winner for discovering ozone depletion.

Since then the term has grown more and more popular among several fields of science, much to the ire of actual geologists. Many geologists see the term as assumptive, as the last 100 years of human activity would barely form a millimeter of ocean floor sediment and the geological epochs are meant to label past periods, not current and future ones.

However, the popularity and the evidence has pushed the term into prominence and it appears that it is here to stay.

From clearing forests and swamps to make farm land, to the cultivation and domestication of crops and animals, humans have been altering the planet in dramatic ways for thousands of years now. Between 1570 and 1620 the death of approximately 50 million Native Americans from epidemics led to a massive regrowth of forests that left a measurable impact on global CO2 levels. The start of the industrial revolution also left a visible black soot line in soil and silt deposits around the world. Some have put forward the possibility that the Anthropocene started 5000 years ago, while others claim its beginning was during the Industrial Revolution in the 1600s. However, the majority of the scientific community is pushing towards the 1950s, also known as the Great Acceleration.

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It was at this point that human impact on Earth suddenly accelerated. The expulsion of CO2 into the atmosphere, the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere into soils and ecosystems in the form of fertilizer, the alteration of erosion and soil deposits through large dams and roads, the extraction of ground water from aquifers, methane production, environmental lead, atmospheric sulfates levels, tropical deforestation, fish stock depletion, ocean acidification, and human population have all gone up almost exponentially since the 1950s.

The mid-20th century also saw the peak of ozone depletion, the first introduction of man-made satellites into our planet’s orbit, and the first use of atomic weaponry. The atomic bombs have left an especially permanent mark on our planet by introducing radioactive elements into nearly everything that has been and will be created after July 16, 1945. This radioactive signature has been proposed as the golden signal that would officially mark the start of the Anthropocene and be measurable down to the day by geologists thousands of years into the future.

We have also introduced a large number of archeological signatures since the start of the 20th century including concrete, plastics, glass, and elemental aluminum. Largescale terrestrial alterations like the Hoover Dam or the Panama Canal will be as visible to future archeologists and civilizations as the Grand Canyon.

Our impact on the biosphere will also be just as visible as the extinction of the dinosaurs. Homo sapiens have been causing extinctions of mega fauna, such as the giant sloth and the cave bear, since we first left Africa as a species. Since the 1500s, extinction rates have been far above background rates and have only risen to the point at which it can now be classified as a mass extinction event, the severity of which is still to be determined.

Combined with the translocation of animal species across the globe (often invasively but also of our own domesticated plants and animals) and the alteration of earth ecosystems through fertilizers, deforestation, land alterations, and climate changes, our impact on the biosphere will be marked and severe. The entire future of biological evolution on this planet will feel the mark left by humans.

Now, all of this seems rather scary, doesn’t it? We are causing climate, biosphere, and archeological impacts comparable to the shifting of continents and orbital cycles, the evolution of cellulose and photosynthesis, or massive extinction events like giant meteors and super-volcanoes.

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We as a human species have taken up the mantle of makers and movers. We now directly control the future of every single organism on this planet in some way or another, most importantly being ourselves.

Yet, there is hope. Despite our clumsiness and resistance to change, we are able to pivot as a species and move ourselves and the planet we live on down a different path. Ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere from CFCs, environmental lead from leaded gasoline, and acid rain from atmospheric sulfates and nitrous oxides have all been countered and are returning to healthy and preferable levels.

It seems that when we put effort into something as a species, we can have considerable power to change and direct the outcome. We, and the other life on this planet, are resilient and adaptive. Already bacteria and fungi are adapting to the new plastic and oil food sources we have put into their environment and animals are adapting to the new concrete ecosystems we have created. Our own species has made it through an uncountable number of extinction events and climate shifts, although the same can’t be said of our civilization and societies. Eventually we will need to make a change.

While many people like to call us passengers on a cosmic space ship, I see it a little differently. The world is not a dead mechanical thing to be piloted. It is an organism with complex and dynamic systems that are constantly operating to find their equilibrium against external and internal changes.

In the words of Agent Smith of The Matrix, we are like a virus, a retrovirus of sorts. We have overgrown our natural roles and become a global infection disrupting natural systems and creating scars across the land. It is a very good thing that we are quickly adapting and the Earth is resilient; with time, we may achieve what most viruses do best—become symbiotic with our host.

If we do that, we can make our host stronger than it was before, augmenting it much like we hope to do to ourselves with retroviral gene therapy, by creating buffers against environmental or climate catastrophe and preventing or mitigating major extinction events such as meteors hitting Earth.

One day Earth may very well be a utopia made all the stronger and richer by the life that inhabits it and maybe this Anthropocene will extend beyond an epoch and become a true era of Earth’s history. First we must survive this fever we have created, let the Earth’s systems return to some form of equilibrium, and learn to protect our home.

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Ahron Balatti ---

“You’re an asshole, Ahron.”

I just smirked.

Contributor “You think you know everything.

You’re honestly just a huge jackass.”

I laughed as I walked out of my friend Molly’s house.

So what my trash GPA was keeping me out of university?

So what I could only get a job delivering pizzas? I was 17— I knew everything.

I had this terrible ’96 Honda Civic which barely drove and I was pushing everything it had down Baylis Rd. in Qualicum.

I drove past a guy with his thumb outstretched, his shoulders slumped. Clearly, he must’ve also been having a bad night. I turned my Civic around, and pulled up to him.

I rolled down my squeaky window, “Hey buddy, where you going?”

His eye widened and a grin broke across his stubbled face.

“Deep Bay! Can you help me out?”

Deep Bay was about half an hour north of Qualicum—the opposite direction I had intended to go, but I had already pulled over, and the chances of another car pulling over were next to none. Only a true asshole would’ve said no.

As we drove, the hitchhiker told me he was a rigger who had recently been laid off. “I had a beautiful wife, but she left me the second the money was gone.” He wiped his nose with his black sleeve. “I haven’t seen my kids in months. I was living with my dad but he kicked me out just before you picked me up.”

I figured he had a place to stay in Deep Bay. The more we drove, the more uncomfortable I felt. He was friendly—wouldn’t shut the hell up, actually. My stomach was starting to turn, like it would before a job interview or something. I didn’t know where in Deep Bay we were going.

The hitchhiker shrugged off the question when I asked him specifics.

As we pulled further into Deep Bay, I cleared my throat.

“Dude, where am I taking you?”

“If you keep driving to Courtenay, I’ll give you gas money,” he said, his eyes wide.

I looked at the clock on the dash. “It’s like three-thirty in the morning.”

“So what? You’re randomly just going to leave me on the side of the road? You should’ve just left me at my dad’s

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if you were just going to abandon me on the side of the road somewhere.”

I scoffed, “Dude, you said Deep Bay—” “Take me to Courtenay, and then you get home safe.”

A half hour later, as we entered Courtenay, the hitchhiker opened up some more. He told me that he had done drugs for most his life, and had only recently gotten clean. He told me his wife had actually left him because he had spent all the money he brought home on meth. She didn’t want the kids around an addict. He told me he was in prison for a few years, for beating up a guy and stealing his car.

We pulled into a Petro-Can’s fluorescent parking lot, and he toppled inside. I figured it was the perfect chance for me to escape. I turned the car on and put it in reverse. But then I stopped.

I thought about the guys I know who’ve done time. I’ve known really good people who have gotten themselves lost in addiction and ruined everything around them. It would be another year from that point when my own little sister would finally get into rehab.

He hadn’t killed me yet. Worst comes to worst, I could always fight my way out.

Then he told me to drive towards the woods in Courtenay.

We drove for another good half an hour. The only time the hitchhiker spoke was to tell me things like “left here” or “slow down, you’re gonna miss the turn.”

Finally, he told me to stop. It was the absolute middle of nowhere. My heart was pounding, my palms sweaty, my pupils enlarged.

He looked over at me with his cold, sleepless eyes. “I’m going to use your phone.”

I didn’t stop him as he reached into the center console of my Civic and pulled out my cracked iPhone 4. He quickly dialed some number and waited, tapping his fingers on the dash.

The conversation was three sentences. “Hey, it’s Justin.

Usual place. Whatever 50 bucks will get me.” He hung up my phone. We sat in total silence.

I eventually got the courage to speak up. “So, what’re we doing here?”

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He gave me a knowing look. “Well kid, if you haven’t figured it out, we’re buying drugs.”

“Like...like weed? Are we buying weed?” My voice shook and broke worse than it had before I hit puberty. “‘Cause like, you know... like, what do you mean drugs?”

“You think we drove for an hour in the woods at 5 am to buy weed? You’re a dumbass.”

I must have looked like a deer in headlights, certain of my impending death.

“You’re a nice enough kid,” he said, as he pulled out a smoke and lit it. “Stay cool and you’ll get home safe. My dealer killed my brother like 10 years back but my brother was a real goof. You’ll be fine.”

The hitchhiker’s dealer pulled up about five minutes later.

He was driving this crazy looking Nissan thing, some sort of fast car that made no sense for the small town of Courtenay.

He parked behind me. The hitchhiker jumped out of my car and ran to his dealer. Again, I thought about making a run for it, maybe calling the police as I drove and living long enough to make it to safety, but we were in the middle of nowhere.

Chances were that Nissan would catch me before I found safety, and that would be the end of my dumb ass.

I figured I would just go with the flow. I grabbed my phone, texted my girlfriend to let her know what was happening, that I loved her.

The hitchhiker began running towards my car. This was it. I was done. He was going to cut my head off and use it as a meth pipe. I knew it. I imagined him sitting around a fire in the woods with my dead body in the background. I prayed to God to let me live. I had learned my lesson. I would never do a nice thing so long as I lived. As he opened the passenger side door, I almost cried.

“Hey kid, I need five bucks.”

“Wh... what?”

“I only have 45 dollars, I need five more. Help me out.”

I complied. He ran back to the dealer’s car. Hallelujah.

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We took a different route out of those woods and we got out in nearly a third of the time it took us to get in. The ordeal was close to over.

“Hey kid, got a can in here?” He was going to smoke meth in my car.

“No. I don’t drink pop. I’m a weightlifter, pop is bad for weightlifting.”

This made him angry.

“Oh, you’re a weightlifter? You some kinda tough guy?”

Well, I had always figured I was.

“God no. I just don’t drink pop.”

“Good. You and I are going to party.”

“Party?”

We drove for another 20 minutes out of Courtenay, and pulled over at some truck stop. The hitchhiker planned to search the garbage for a can. The plan was fairly obvious—drive away as soon as he steps out of the car—but it was obvious to both of us.

There were a few flaws. First, his drug dealer had my number, so there was a possibility he could find me. Second, the Civic was slow as hell, so to escape from the hitchhiker, I would need a running start—a solid couple seconds to work enough RPMs to get the car actually moving. All this considered, I was feeling courageous enough to make an escape the first chance I got. The hitchhiker opened up the car door, put his foot on the pavement, took a hard look at me, put his foot back inside the car, and closed the door.

“I don’t like this truck stop. Let’s keep going.”

It was 6 am and we were on the outskirts of Campbell River by the time we had found a truck stop the hitchhiker liked. I was exhausted. I had spent the entire morning being pushed around by someone I was trying to do something nice for. The sun’s light was abrasive on my tired eyes, and my throat felt

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razored from the half pack of Belmonts I had smoked. The hitchhiker opened the door and smiled at me.

“Ready to party?” I’m not even sure if he knew the sun was up.

He told me not to do anything stupid then stepped out of the car and looked at me. “You and me,” he said as he pointed a meaty finger at his chest, then to mine. He took another step away and stopped. “I trust you kid.”

He took two more steps and I floored it. The car jolted forward with the power of an electric scooter from Walmart.

Whatever cylinders that car had left were pushing the engine to its very limits, like a crippled racing horse finally let into a pasture. But it was enough. The hitchhiker sprinted behind me, yelling all sorts of things about the ways all my loved ones would die. I can’t say I cared much, in my sleep deprived state.

I got home around 9 am and told my mother everything that had happened. She scowled and asked how I could be so stupid. I just told her I was trying to be nice for once.

I crawled into bed and texted my girlfriend to let her know I had escaped and would live another day, and looked up at my ceiling. It was a beautiful sight.

I’m not sure if there’s any moral to this story, but I think about that night whenever I feel like being an ass. Ever so quickly I can go from “I know everything and I’m going to do whatever I feel like” to “I have no control and I’m scared.”

Perspective, I guess they’d call it.

Quite frankly, crazy as that bastard was, that hitchhiker had a hand in shutting me up.

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SauSage Party: Digging in to fooD orgies anD existential tacos

<christianitytoday.com>

Brendan Barlow Here’s something completely different --for those of you who have grown tired The Navigator

of my endless ramblings about horror and science fiction. Instead, let’s look at a juvenile, gross, problematic, and absurd little movie called Sausage Party.

For those who haven’t heard, Sausage Party is an animated film that takes place in a grocery store and follows the story of Frank, a sausage, on a journey to find the truth of his, and his fellow groceries items’, very existence. In essence, their very lives are based on the idea that if they stay fresh and pure, they will be chosen by the “gods” and taken to “the great beyond.” I hope that by now, you’ve figured out exactly the point being made in this film.

Sausage Party was brought to you by the same minds responsible for Knocked Up, This Is The End, 50/50, and The Night Before, and contains most of the kind of things you’d expect. It’s packed with food puns, ethnic stereotypes, grossout shock humour, and, of course, different kinds of food having sex with each other. Throw in some cracks about bath salts, a talking discarded condom, and a huge food orgy, and you’d be more than forgiven for thinking that the movie was trash on its face. Hell, from seeing the trailers, I was prepared to write this movie off as a terrible excuse for a notorious crew of guys to be gross and offensive.

In thinking this way, I managed to completely forget that these guys are also known for producing genuinely funny, honest, and entertaining movies, and there was no reason not to think they would bring this same sensibility to this

one. I mean, these are the same people who made me cry watching 50/50, so it makes sense that this wouldn’t be a completely incompetent movie, at the very least. Now, please don’t misunderstand me here, this movie is exactly what you think it is. But if you dig deeper, you’ll find that–strangely enough–this movie has something to say.

The big theme present in this movie is religion, or more specifically it’s about the problems and absurdities present in religion. It’s really a love letter to atheism or agnosticism— maybe both. It spends time presenting the groceries’ religious beliefs sarcastically through a song that they all sing in the beginning of the movie. It’s not subtle about what it’s trying to say, and it doesn’t make you work hard to see the message, if you look for it. You can predict how things go, with Frank realizing that everything is a lie, and the food rising up against the Gods. I’d apologize for spoiling it, but I don’t really feel bad.

It’s important to recognize that Sausage Party is a parody—a send-up of the Pixar brand of family film. One review in particular by a YouTube personality called MovieBob talks about how Sausage Party takes on all the elements that Pixar completely avoids in its films, particularly when it comes to “sex, and body functions, and concepts of race and gender, as it relates to the humanity of the characters”, essentially taking the anthropomorphism of animals and objects all the way to the edge of that idea. If you’re willing to look even deeper (according to the same reviewer), Sausage Party also points out the absurdity of the way in which we attach racial or gendered identities on to food products.

Sausage Party harkens back to the early days of South Park, back when they were getting nominated for Academy Awards, and using shock humour to make their points. This movie does this in much the same way, and ultimately it works—and no one was more surprised by this than me. A scene in particular that sold me on the whole film is a recreation of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, when a jar of honey mustard throws itself from a shopping cart after learning the truth about the destiny of food, resulting in chaos and death.

I’m not going to pretend this is the funniest movie I’ve ever seen, or even close, but it works really well as a parody of Pixar films and as a commentary on religion and the results of keeping a group of people (or... groceries) oppressed for a long time. The tension release that comes at the end of the film is a violent revolution, and one that it’s hard not to imagine is possible even just looking at our own current social climate.

At this point I can’t believe I’ve written more than 800 words about a movie whose villain is a literal douche, and features Selma Hayek as a taco dealing with accepting her sexual identity, but apparently that’s where we are now.

Sausage Party is gross, and loaded with problems, but it’s not nearly as repugnant and stupid as I expected it to be. With performances from people who are genuinely funny too, like Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, and Bill Hader, it’s not a huge surprise that the movie is funny, but it is a huge surprise that it worked the way it did.

I’d say check it out, but know that your assumptions about it are also correct. If that helps you make your decision at all.

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Potted Potter: 7 Books, 70 minutes, 2 actors Brendan Barlow You may have heard my CHLY Masthead --interview with Daniel Clarkson, writer The Navigator

and creator of the wildly popular and soon to be arriving in Nanaimo, Potted Potter. This so-called “unauthorized Harry Potter experience” began in the UK, and has since made its way all over the world. The piece condenses the seven books of the Harry Potter franchise into a single 70-minute stage performance. For those not interested in doing the math, that means about 10 minutes per book, and let’s keep in mind that some of these books are over 600 pages. According to Clarkson, the piece has since expanded from its original form, now incorporating elements from the

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recently-released book, The Cursed Child.

As if the challenge of condensing an enormous body of work into such a brief window wasn’t challenging enough, the entire performance is put on by only two actors. With Clarkson’s co-star, Jefferson Turner, filling the role of Harry Potter, and Clarkson taking on every other character needed, the two pull off something truly remarkable. The play also includes, according to Clarkson, an on-stage game of Quidditch, and occasionally includes members of the audience.

When I asked Clarkson if he had heard anything from J.K. Rowling about the show, he let me know that most of the conversations had been with her “people.” He did, however,

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tell me that on one occasion, Rowling attempted to get tickets to a sold-out performance of the show, and was turned away before anyone realized who she was. He says they now keep an open seat for her at all of their performances.

You can have a listen to Daniel’s interview on Episode 3 of The Masthead. Potted Potter will be arriving in Nanaimo on November 8, and depending on when you’re reading this, you may have time to grab yourself a ticket or two. Tickets range from $40 to $100 and are available at <porttheatre.com>. You can expect an interview from yours truly in the next issue of The Nav, in case you miss the show.

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the eerie accuracy of Black Mirror

<japanesetimes.com>

Brendan Barlow You may have noticed the release of a new --season of Black Mirror in your Netflix feed.

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If you’re not sure whether or not to get on board, I’m telling you now to stop wondering, and jump right into one of the most frighteningly prescient series I have ever seen. Black Mirror looks at the ways our lives are presently run by technology, and shows us the different paths this reliance could take us. Even at its most bizarre and dystopian, there isn’t an episode of Black Mirror that seems as though it could never happen. Combining elements of horror, science fiction, and biting social satire, Black Mirror manages to be both frightening and accurate.

One such example of this accuracy is the Episode 1 of Season 3, called “Nose Dive”. It takes place in what is best described as the near-future, when society has become obsessed with a system of star-ratings that apply not to what you post, but to the actions you take in daily life. Each person rates the other based on their interactions in an attempt to increase their own rating. Each level of rating “unlocks” societal benefits, like preferred housing, seats on flights, and express lines. On

top of these privileges, you also see the direct effects of being down-rated on the way people look at you, and how you are treated by everyone.

Each person uses their cellphone, and some kind of special contact lens to see each other’s current ratings, and feeds.

You’re always aware of someone else’s rating, and your own.

This forces members of society to always be performing, lest they be down-voted or cast out. The story’s main plot revolves around a woman who is asked to be a maid of honour at a friend’s wedding, and relishes the opportunity to increase her rating. As her journey continues, a series of circumstances cause her rating to decrease, and we see her unravel.

While the technology present in the episode is futuristic, it does pretty closely resemble services like Instagram and Facebook, and Black Mirror makes it easy to imagine the steps our society might take to reach the social situation you see in the show. It also highlights our present obsession with social media, and how much value we place on someone giving a thumbs-up or a follow, and the consequences of this value.

I’m sure many of you immediately thought “not me, I don’t

do that”, and maybe you don’t put stock in Instagram likes or re-Tweets, but we all look for validation somewhere, and when a piece of technology becomes ubiquitous it is hard to stay away from it forever.

“Nose Dive” presents a very scary reality, using social satire that does seem like the logical extension of the present trend in social media. While you can watch the episode and laugh at the outrageous lengths people go in order to increase their ratings, there will be a fearful twinge in the back of your mind as you recognize how real it is.

Each episode of Black Mirror is its own self-contained story, so there isn’t any wrong place to start. While some episodes are frightening, and others are funny, there is an overlying feeling of dread present, when you start to look at the way the world around you depends on technology. While I would recommend taking a look at the entire series, beginning back with Season 1, you can easily jump in at Season 3 and not feel out of touch or like you’re missing anything.

The question is, how much will you trust your streaming device once you’ve finished Black Mirror?

Chasing Away Our Demons kelly Whiteside The Vancouver Island Symphony (VIS) --kicked off their 22nd season on October 22 The Navigator

with the first show in their series entitled Lifting the Human Spirit. This series aims to explore the musical spirit of four centuries while also reflecting our own time and home on Vancouver Island.

This season’s first show encapsulated the symphony spirit, showcasing songs by Calixa Lavallée, Keon Birney, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Antonin Dvorak. In the spirit of the symphony, the musicians took the audience on an emotional ride with this varied repertoire, with the final goal of lifting our spirits.

The VIS began the show by bringing the audience to their feet for Lavallée’s “O Canada,” and filling our souls with pride—not only in our country, but in our successful symphony as well.

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Pierre Simard, the VIS artistic director, introduced the next piece, “Moriarty”, with a dramatic vision of an angel destroying cities. He asked that we let the music, composed by the symphony’s own Birney, fill our soul and chase away our demons.

The epic chase continued with the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto no. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18”.

After the 11-minute movement, the audience let out an audible sigh of relief before moving onto the peaceful second movement and joyful third movement. This marked the end of the first half. With our spirits lifted, we took a break for intermission, preparing ourselves for the final piece: Antonin Dvorak’s “Symphony no. 8 in G Major, Op. 88”.

This final song felt separate from the rest of the chosen repertoire. It did not continue with the story we were presented

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with at the beginning, but wrote its own story instead, taking the audience through a wide range of emotions. Despite the upbeat ending, I did not feel my spirit as lifted as I did after the first half. However, it still fit the spirit of the symphony with the range of emotions it showered upon the audience.

Overall, the chosen repertoire worked well to tell a story and lift our spirits as intended. It fit well with the time of year, with Halloween approaching and ghost stories all around. Listening to a song composed by a member of our own symphony was refreshing, as was seeing the passion in the musicians as they moved their bodies with the music.

The VIS offers a wide variety of music this season, from baroque to rock. There’s something for everyone.

Check back next issue for a review of their new mini-series, Symphony Soundbites.

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october 16: the gate (1987)

#31Daysofhorror Part 2

barleydoeshorror

Brendan Barlow --The Navigator

Well, Halloween has now come and gone, and we’re into November now; which I suppose means that it’s basically Christmas. However, I promised to complete my set of 31 reviews, and so here they are. For those who want a refresher, in October I review one horror film per day, that I have never seen before. You can find complete reviews of all of the films at <barleydoeshorror.wordpress.com>.

october 17: Night of demons (1988)

october 18: Shutter (2004)

This fun and goofy little movie is chalk-full of everything we’ve come to love about the 1980s: stop motion creatures effects, goofy child characters, and a clear sense of fun as well. There are a couple of jarring and disturbing homophobic epithets that seem to be a product of the time, but all in all The Gate is just a bunch of fun. Plus, it stars a very young Stephen Dorf who is surprisingly charming. recommend.

october 19: Pulse (2001)

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Another delightful product of the 1980s, Night of the Demons is a pretty ridiculous movie that is loaded with gore and great make-up effects. The movie immediately reminded me of a scene from a Halloween episode of the TV show Community, with over-the-top caricatures of “bad teens” and “pure teens”, and the whole thing just works. It’s definitely silly, but I had fun watching it. recommend.

I avoided this one after having seen the remake when I was young, which seems counter intuitive I suppose, but I finally went ahead and checked out the source material. Shutter further proves that the original is (almost) always better than the remake, because this movie is fantastic. There is a real sense of dread and suspense throughout the movie, and it genuinely freaked me out. If you’re looking for a good ghost story, and can handle a movie with some subtitles, then you need to see this one. strong recommend.

Another one with a lousy American remake, sadly Pulse really didn’t do anything for me. It’s a bit long and the story doesn’t seem deep enough to really warrant it. It does make for an interesting time-capsule of a time when we were all a little bit afraid of the rising ubiquity of the Internet, and cellphones, and does something relatively interesting with that fear.

Unfortunately though, it falls flat. Pass.

october 20: the House at the end of time (2014)

october 21: Baskin (2015)

october 22: rorschach (2015)

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A movie I’ve seen compared to Donnie Darko, that does actually sort of earn that praise. It does deal with time-travel, and that alone makes the movie pretty complex and full of twists and turns. The House at the End of Time is pretty interesting and creepy, though you will likely find yourself figuring out what is going on pretty quickly. That, however, doesn’t ruin the film, and makes you wonder how they’re going to pull off what they’re setting up. Interesting, creepy, and worth checking out. recommend.

If I’m being honest, I can hardly believe the run of good movies that the second half of the month presented me with.

Baskin is a Turkish film about a group of police officers who stumble into Hell when they come across a black mass. It’s a surreal and interesting movie, that absolutely delivers some grim and hard to watch scenes. Great performances from a few key actors are what really make this movie work. You’ve been warned though, it’s pretty grim. recommend.

The first movie on the entire list that can be viewed for free on YouTube (legally), Rorschach took me back to the days of the first Paranormal Activity film. It’s a slow burn with no real soundtrack to speak of, and an almost unbearable tension. I found myself nervous about getting up and going to bed once the movie was over. If you’re someone who hates found-footage films out-of-hand then you’re not going to like this one, but if you’re looking for an atmospheric haunted house movie with some real-feeling performances, then look this one up on YouTube. strong recommend.

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october 23: the Nameless (1999)

october 24: S&Man (2006)

october 25: one Missed call (2003)

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I suppose any hot-streak has to end sometime, and with The Nameless my run of great films has come to a grinding halt.

This one showed up on more than one “Great horror movies you might not have seen” lists, and so I took it on faith and checked it out. What starts as a fairly straight forward mystery about a murdered girl, and the effect her loss had on her mother, steadily flies off the rails and starts to incorporate more than it needs to, including a cult trying to “synthesize evil”, Nazi experiments, a man who really needs to deliver some photos, and plenty more. While the performances aren’t bad, the movie just doesn’t work. It was made all the worse by the distracting English dub on the version that I watched. Pass.

While I wouldn’t call this an out-and-out “mockumentary”, the term pseudo-documentary does seem to fit here. The bulk of the movie does appear to be an earnest documentary about underground horror, and the extremes that some filmmakers go to present brutal and violent horror films. Through the documentary, however, is the introduction of a fictional character and his fictional series of snuff-films. The movie was initially presented as a pure documentary, and I think that knowing it isn’t is what hurts the film most. It removes the punch and intrigue that could have been, and replaces it with a mediocre story instead. Fans of August Underground and their ilk will likely enjoy the interviews with them, but overall the movie feels empty. Pass.

A movie with a simple premise that actually takes on some pretty heavy subject matter. You don’t expect a movie about a ghost who kills you with cellphones to take some pretty serious detours into dealing with child abuse and Munchhausen syndrome, but One Missed Call does... for some reason. In truth the movie is just a bit too long, and feels a little unfocused.

It’s well-shot, well-acted, and even has some really intense and frightening moments, it just didn’t quite work for me. light recommend.

october 26: the Beyond (1981)

october 27: train to Busan (2016)

october 28: opera (1987)

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If you like your movies to have a plot that doesn’t make much sense, and when it does you just can’t get invested, but has a huge focus on gross-out gore effects? Well then this is probably the one for you. It’s certainly not too long, or even boring, but I just had a hard time caring too much about anything that was going on. Plus, when you’re like me, gore-effects aren’t enough to make a movie entertaining or even worth the time, and that was really all this one had going for it. A nasty little 1980s grindhouse film, but not one that felt worth the time. Pass.

It may be hard to believe, but Train to Busan is a zombie movie that is actually a blast to watch. It seems we’ve seen every conceivable iteration of a story that has zombies in it, and while Busan isn’t exactly treading new ground, it is a colourful, fun film with a whole lot of energy. It’s proved that there might still be some life in the empty husk that is the zombie sub-genre. It’s a whole lot of fun, and one that you should check out. recommend.

I’ve really never been a huge fan of Dario Argento, he struck me as more of a style-over-substance type director, and having now seen Opera I pretty much stand by that statement. With that said,it’s satisfyingly entertaining, and offers up some pretty grim gore for those of you who need themselves some of that to enjoy anything. The story is simple enough, a young opera starlet is stalked by a lunatic who murders her friends in front of her. All in all, an entertaining but not spectacular movie. light recommend.

october 29: the exorcist iii (2009)

october 30: the Presence (2014)

october 31: i am a ghost (2012)

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The only Exorcist sequel I had ever heard a single good thing about, it was hard to imagine that this would even come close to offering the same level of quality and scares as the original.

With that said, it was a relief that The Exorcist III actually didn’t try to be as good, or even the same kind of movie. This one feels more like a mystery story that has supernatural elements on its fringes. Not a bad movie, not a great one, and certainly not even close to the original. light recommend.

I had such a solid run of great foreign films this month that I decided to take another shot with the German found-footage film The Presence. This is one of those movies that reminds me that there are terrible filmmakers all over the world, who are trying to capitalize on what is popular rather than do something interesting or original. The Presence is every other found-footage ghost film, but somehow done even worse.

Basically it’s everything you hated about Paranormal Activity, with worse editing. Pass.

Ending the month on a high is always nice, and I Am a Ghost delivered something special and interesting. It’s easily the “artsiest” movie that I’ve seen all month, but there’s something really engaging and unique about it. It justifies its surreal nature by giving the movie a very unique perspective.

Essentially, Ghost is the story of a ghost who has an almost psychiatric relationship with a medium who is trying to help her move on. Admittedly, those are some broad strokes to paint this with, but it’s worth not knowing more. It’s a slow build, and really effectively draws you in. strong recommend.

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MSOC: Creating Chances Cole Schisler On Saturday October 22, the Mariners hosted the Capilano Blues for their --The Navigator

second-to-last home game at Merle Logan Field.

The Mariners struggled in the first half against the Blues. Mariner Joel Harry received a red card early in the first half which put the Mariners down a man for the match. Despite the disadvantage, they held the Blues back until the 31-minute-mark when Blues player Keith Jackson got the Blues on the board. Shortly after that, the Blues extended their lead 2–0 over the Mariners. In the dying minutes of the first half, Mariners’ midfielder Niko Cristante scored, making the match 2–1 for the Blues.

The second half was hard fought; however, the Mariners were unable to capitalize on their scoring opportunities.

The Blues scored a third goal at the 60-minute-mark,

and ended the match with another goal, defeating the Mariners 4–1.

On Sunday, the Mariners face the Quest Kermodes in their final home game of the season.

Following a ceremony to honour graduating Mariners, the Mariners took the field against the Kermodes with high energy. The Mariners were strong in the first half, playing aggressively and pressing the Kermodes’ defense. Neither team could find the net by the end of the first half. At the 65-minute-mark in the second half, Mariners’ midfielder Taylor Arbour scored the sole goal of the game, allowing the Mariners to win 1–0.

“We kept our composure, which is a big thing for us going into provincials,” said Head Coach Bill Merriman.

“We still need to finish our chances. We create so many chances and we’re not getting enough goals.”

Jordan Lindsay steals the ball.

Cole Schisler

MVB: Island rivalry matches Cole Schisler On Friday October 21, the VIU Mariners faced off against their PACWEST rivals, --The Navigator

the Camosun Chargers for an exciting volleyball weekend.

The Mariners were given a tough start by the Chargers to begin the first set. Halfway through the first set, the Mariners led 13–10. After the halfway point, there was a shift in the Mariners’ play, and they broke out to a 20–14 lead over the Chargers. The Mariners took the set 25—19.

The second set was a much closer battle in which both teams struggled for the lead. Early in the second, the teams were tied 8 a piece, and would go on to be tied 16–16 later in the set. Mariners’ middle Wayne Woyciehouski broke the tie with a devastating block, and the Mariners were able to increase their lead 22—19 by the next timeout. The Mariners took the second set 25–20 over the Chargers.

The Mariners held their lead throughout the third set.

After a series of successful serves, the Mariners had a large lead of 21–13 toward the end of the set. They won the set 25–17, taking the match in three straight sets.

On Saturday October 22, the Mariners traveled to Camosun

College to take on the Chargers in a rivalry rematch.

The Mariners continued to cause problems for the Chargers, taking the first set with a decisive score of 25–17.

The Chargers attempted to even up the score in the second set, however they were unable to take the set from the Mariners who won it 25–22. The story was much the same in the third set as the Mariners continued to control the court and ended the set 25–21 over the Chargers, winning the match in three straight sets.

Fifth year Mariners veteran Zach Grigg had a huge performance in Friday’s game with 20 kills, 7 digs, a service ace, and a block for the Mariners. On Saturday he tallied 10 kills, 10 digs, a service ace, and a block for a combined weekend total of 33 offensive points and 17 digs. His performance on the weekend earned him the title of PACWEST athlete of the week.

The Mariners are undefeated with a 4–0 record and are tied for first place in the PACWEST rankings with Douglas College. They will travel to the Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford on November 4 to take on the Bearcats.

Wayne Woyciehouski celebrates a point with his team.

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The Salvation Army: giving hope Cole Schisler Across BC, rates of homelessness are rising.

--For some, the issue can be attributed to the

The Navigator lack of affordable housing. For others, it could be loss of a job, addiction, mental illness, or just one bad decision that spirals out of control.

In Nanaimo, The Homeless Hub estimates that there are 174 people experiencing absolute homelessness, 115 people living on the streets, anywhere from 137 to 567 people living in hidden homelessness, and per data from 2007, an estimated 4,662 people using social services. There are three homeless shelters in Nanaimo, two of which are women’s shelters run by the Island Crisis Care Society, the other shelter is the Salvation Army New Hope Centre. For the sake of length, this article will focus on the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army New Hope Centre is a high barrier men’s shelter. High barrier shelters do not regularly admit intoxicated clients, however the New Hope Center does. Clients found using substances while at the shelter will be asked to leave.

There are 24 shelter beds, four self contained living units for individuals in the Fresh Start transitional housing program, and 12 beds to serve as a Corrections Canada community residential facility for clients on partial release or parole.

The Salvation Army is a Christian organization, however they keep shelter services separate from their faith related services. Clients are welcome to pray, and are provided with faith based services and literature if they choose to seek it.

Lynwood Walker is the Shelter Manager of the New Hope Centre. The shelter frequently operates at 106 percent occupancy, and will turn away between four to six people on a nightly basis. Around 40 percent of the clients stay for less than a week, however they are permitted to stay up to 30 days. Walker believes that there is no contributing factor to homelessness that is particularly striking—he sees it as a mix of various societal issues.

“If you look at the demographics of our client base, we have several different demographics,” he said.

There are transient clients moving through the shelter on their way to another destination, who may be between employment, or simply on the move from one community to another. There are clients who have had affordability issues in the housing market. There are clients who had lived in subsidized housing, but lost their spot due to income, or behavioural issues, such as addictions or mental illness.

There is also another level of clientele who are recommended by hospitals and other agencies.

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The Salvation Army has many programs to help not only homeless people, but struggling families and financially troubled community members, even students. They offer two daily meal services to the community, they also offer donated bread, buns, and pastries for free to the community.

The Salvation army is equipped with laundry and shower facilities; on the weekend, they open it up to members of the community so they can clean their clothes, and themselves, at less cost than commercial laundromats.

“This operation could not exist without the support of the community,” Walker said. “We get a huge amount of support from the people of Nanaimo and we really appreciate that.

We count on that support, we value that support, and we do our very best to honour that support by providing the most effective service that we can.”

The demand for the Salvation Army’s services is correlated with the times that welfare cheques arrive. When the cheques come out, there is less demand, and in the time leading up to when the cheques come out, there is increased demand for meal services and shelter requests.

“This is a smaller group,” Walker said. “Sometimes we have people who do have their own rental places, but since there’s too much month left at the end of the money, they book themselves into the shelter so they can get the bed and the meals supplied. That way they don’t have to supply food for the last week of their month.”

The Salvation Army is required to submit statistics and client information to a BC Housing database to keep track of how many times a client has been to the shelter, and how many days they have stayed in total. This information helps them determine what kind of homelessness the client is experiencing, and helps the shelter manage support programs for them.

Some clients qualify for the Fresh Start transitional housing program. There are four self contained units that are like studio apartments, equipped with a kitchen, a bathroom, a bed, and a living area. The program helps clients build a personal development program. The program helps them learn basic living skills, find subsidized housing, and employment. The program lasts between three to six months.

J.P., a client currently in the Fresh Start program, offered to share his experience.

“I’ve been somewhat struggling with homelessness for the last five years or so, due to an anxiety disorder, and five years ago I was diagnosed with osteoporosis,” he said. “Being

Cole Schisler The Mariners began the basketball season --in style, winning both games over island The Navigator

rivals, the Camosun Chargers.

The women’s team faced off first against the Chargers. Both teams played strong right out of the gate. While the Chargers put up stiff opposition, the Mariners ended the first quarter with a lead of 18—13. Things heated up in the second as the Chargers began to close the scoring gap. Big performances by Mariners Celina Guadagni, Emily Clark, and Victoria Brown, led the Mariners into a 27—27 tie at the half.

Throughout the third quarter, the Mariners moved the ball well. They passed smoothly, and capitalize on nearly every rebound. The Chargers had trouble finding their footing early in the quarter, but kept themselves in the game with the Mariners, who led 43—37 at the end of the quarter. The Mariners continued to lead in the fourth, extending their lead early on to 47—39. While the Mariners had little trouble keeping the ball on Camosun’s side of the court, they missed a few scoring opportunities, which allowed Camosun to catch up late in the fourth. The game ended with a 53—51 Mariners victory.

The men’s team faced a sharp Chargers team in the first quarter. The Chargers were scoring early and often, but the Mariners used their speed and drive to turn rebounds into points quickly, closing the gap with Camosun 8—10 with six

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diagnosed with that stopped me from doing the work I’ve been doing all my life, I worked on farms, and now I can’t do that anymore.”

After J.P. lost his job, he was forced to move to the city where it was harder to find work. Due to his anxiety, he had trouble finding a place that was comfortable. When he left Courtenay BC, he went to Victoria and stayed at a Salvation army there. From Victoria, he was sent to the Salvation Army inVancouver where he completed a personal development program.

“It gave me an idea of what was out there and they gave me some certifications like WHMIS, (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information Systems), and a few other things,” he said.

J.P. spent some time in Kamloops BC after completing his personal development program, but was unable to find adequate housing.

“Affordable housing, when you’re on assistance, is really hard, because you can’t afford to eat.”

J.P. came back to the Island and tried to find a comfortable living situation in Nanaimo. Because he was on assistance, most of the places he could afford were around $375 a month, which put him in an uncomfortable environment.

“When the rent is cheap, and the landlords don’t ask for references or anything like that, you get stuck in a situation where it’s a party environment. With my anxiety, I can’t deal that,” he said.

J.P. is now in the Fresh Start program. The Salvation Army provides a safe environment for him as he transitions toward a permanent housing situation. They also help him build a personal development plan so he can make ends meet on his own.

“The Salvation Army has given me time to research finding a housing subsidy through the Canadian Mental Health Association,” he said. “My subsidy just came in this week, and now I can afford to pay $600 or $650 for a place.

The fresh start program has given me a chance to research finding a decent place, without placing a time limit on me.”

While there are many people like J.P. who are on the path to recovery through shelter programs like those provided by the Salvation Army, there are still many people living in varying degrees of homelessness and poverty. The issue of homelessness will likely continue, but with it, there will continue to be those that give hope for a better future.

minutes left in the first quarter. Just as quickly as they caught up, they fell behind. Camosun found its stride with a hot streak and finished the quarter 23—19 The Mariners continued to build on what they did well, and corrected what needed work in the second. The offense scored a series of baskets while the defense prevented the Chargers from extending their lead. By the first time out, the Mariners were within a point of the Chargers, who led 29—28. At the second timeout, the teams were tied at 31, and closed out the half tied 40 a piece.

In the third, the Mariners got off to a good start, taking an early 5-point lead over the Chargers, and led 49—40 at the first timeout thanks in part to an impressive 3-pointer from the corner

by Mariners forward Zaid Usama. The Mariners kept their lead throughout the third and finished with a score of 62—52.

The Mariners ran away with the lead early in the fourth, bursting to a 74—55 lead following a half court breakaway

by Mariners point guard Nick Xylinas. The Mariners got a comfortable 84—68 lead before allowing the Chargers to tack on a couple more points. The Mariners put the game away with a 89—77 victory over the Chargers.

Be sure to catch the Mariners next weekend as they take on the Douglas Royals, Friday November 4 starting at 6 pm, and the Capilano Blues, Saturday Nov 5 starting at 1 pm.

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SPORTS & LIFESTYLE

WVB: Island Rivalry Matches

orthfield hoto raphy

Chantal Cumming and Emily Munro jump to block Camosun.

Cole Schisler On Friday October 21, the VIU Mariners --hosted the Camosun Chargers for the first The Navigator

of two Island rivalry volleyball matches.

The Mariners burst off to an early lead, up 6—0 when the Chargers took their first timeout. The Chargers rallied back after their timeout, coming within two points of the Mariners’ 12–10 lead. With an ace from Mariners power forward Andrea Cankovic, the Mariners took the first set 25—16.

In the second set, the Mariners continued to lead. At the first timeout, the Mariners led 9—5 over the Chargers. The Mariners maintained their lead throughout the second set, ultimately taking the set 25—19 over the Chargers.

The Chargers put up a strong performance in the third set, trading long rallies with the Mariners, and making them fight for every point. Despite the Chargers’ efforts, the Mariners lead

Mikayla Wagner sends a volley over the net.

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was never in doubt. The Mariners took the third set 25—13 in three straight sets.

Mariners right side power forward Mikayla Wagner had a great offensive performance with four digs, 10 kills, four blocks and two aces for a combined total of 12 points. Alongside Wagner, power forward Megan Rosenlund had seven digs, 11 kills and one ace for a combined total of 12 points.

On Saturday October 22, the Mariners traveled to Camosun College for their second game against the Chargers.

The Chargers came out looking like a different team. The first set was a close fought battle. Near the end of the set, the teams were tied 22—22, however the Chargers took the first set 25—22.

The battle continued in the second set. At the first timeout, the Chargers led the Mariners 10—9. As the teams traded rallies,

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and the lead, neither of them could find a substantial lead over the other. The two were tied 23—23 before the Mariners took the set 27—25.

In the third set, the Chargers took the set decisively. Though the Mariners fought hard to stay in the set, the Chargers took it 25–19. In the fourth, the Mariners rebounded, taking the set 25–15. The match came down a fifth set, which the Chargers won 15–12, taking the match 3–2 against the Mariners.

Mikayla Wagner had an impressive performance for the Mariners again on Sunday with 14 digs, 18 kills and 3 blocks for 21 total points. Mariners power forward Andrea Cankovic also had an impressive match with 10 digs, 15 kills and two blocks for a total of 17 points.

The Mariners next match is at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford on November 4 agaisnt the CBC Bearcats.

The Mariners in their pregame chant.

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VIU soccer stars

<pacwest.ca>

Cole Schisler As the Mariners soccer teams wrap up --their season and head into provincials,

The Navigator PACWEST has released a list of divisional all stars, as well as player of the year, coach of the year, and their final soccer player of the week.

Six Mariners were named PACWEST All-Stars. From the Men’s team was Victor Blasco with four goals, Mateo Kostering, and Shun Takano with four goals. From the Women’s team was Chloe Gummer with six goals, Rachel Jones with four goals, and Carli Rey with two goals.

Mariners Midfielder Shun Takano was named the PACWEST player of the year for his performances this season.

“It feels unbelievable,” Takano said. “I was very happy when I heard the news, I could not stop smiling after.”

Despite the award, Takano remains focused on his game.

“I have to help my team win on Friday so we can gain the

<pacwest.ca>

National Championship berth. I want us to become PACWEST champions and become the number one team in Canada.”

Mariners goalkeeper Emily Rowbotham was named PACWEST player of the week for her back to back shutouts over the weekend against the Capilano Blues and the Quest Kermodes.

“It feels awesome to be recognized at a national level,” Rowbotham said. “I’ve always just visualized and focused on the game, making sure I play my best game against each different opponent. It’s all a team effort though, it feels like our hard work on the field is starting to pay off.”

Like Shun, Emily is also focused on the upcoming provincial championships. “Right now the focus is on our Provincial Semi Final against Langara, it is now the most important game of the season,” she said.

Along with the athletes, Anup Kang, head coach of the

<pacwest.ca>

Women’s soccer team, was named Coach of the Year for leading the Mariners to a second-place finish in the division.

“It’s an honour to be named Coach of the Year,” Kang said. “PACWEST is such a competitive division with a lot of great coaches.”

Kang takes a relaxed approach toward coaching. He focuses on creating an environment that is conductive to learning and development, both on and off the field. Kang is focused on the future, and hopes to create a Mariners team to play in the Island Women’s League, so that players can further develop their skills.

With an all-star roster and a great season behind them, the Mariners are well positioned for success in the post season.

At the PACWEST provincial championships, the Mariners Women’s team won gold and will head to Nationals in Montreal on November 9.

WSOC: Back to Back Wins Cole Schisler ---

On Saturday October 22, the Mariners hosted the Capilano Blues for their second last home The Navigator game of the season.

After a hard fought first half, Mariner’s forward Karen Battie opened the scoring against the Blues early in the second half. The Blues came close to tying the match, but Mariners’ keeper Emily Rowbotham dashed their hopes with a diving save to keep the Mariners in the lead. At the 85-minute-mark, Mariners’ forward Moira Brown tacked on another goal off the cross bar to close out the match 2–0 for the Mariners.

On Sunday, the Quest Kermodes came to town for the final home game of the Mariners season.

The Mariners came out strong, setting the pace of the match early with a goal from forward Katie Rodgers at the 16-minutemark. Five minutes later, Mariners’ midfielder Kaylee Dodds scored off a penalty kick, making the score 2—0. The Mariners controlled the ball throughout the first half and created turnovers, which resulted in a third goal off a corner kick by Carli Rey at the 36-minute-mark to close out the first half. Early in the second half, Mariners’ midfielder Maddy Dawson put the nail in the coffin, giving the Mariners a comfortable 4–0 win over the Quest Kermodes.

“We played a solid 90 minutes,” head coach Anup Kang said.

“We took our chances really well and that’s something we’ve worked on all year.”

Looking back on the season, Kang is proud of the effort the Mariners have put in over the season.

“Even when things weren’t going our way, they really stayed focus on the task at hand. It’s a veteran group, I think we’ll be fine going into provincials.”

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hts for the

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Cole Schisler

Darby Cronan prepares to pass.

Cole Schisler

Zoe Grace throws the ball into play.

Cole Schisler

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PAGE 22

Silence

Cole Schisler --The Navigator

We sit, somber, silent, watching with lament.

A slide show of the past, lapses to the present.

Photos grainy, black and white, shift to clear and coloured.

The war meant to end all wars gave way into others.

Heroes, still in the ground, rest in the peace they fought for.

Shells still fall from the sky, forgotten what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re dropped for.

We sit, somber, silent, watching with intent.

Remembering the past, forgotten in the present.

Zyre Hoskins is a Graphic Design student. She hopes to specialize in illustration on the side, and incorporates it in her work.

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NOVEMBER

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

2

3

4

5

WorldVIU Days: Human Library

The Rocky Horror Show Live

VIU Discovery Room: Date Night

Nanaimo Professional Craft Fair

3rd Floor Commons Nanaimo Campus Library

Harbour City Theatre 25 Victoria Rd.

Upper Cafeteria

Beban Park 2300 Bowen Rd.

10 am – 1 pm FREE

Curtain 8 pm $25

5 – 7 pm FREE, call to reserve

10 am – 5 pm $4

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Nanaimo Pottery Coop Winter Show and Sale

Voices from the Engraver Exhibition

Potted Potter

Live Music Wednesday

Remembrance Day

The Port Theatre 125 Front St.

New York Style Pizza and Pasta 499 Wallace St.

Nanaimo Historical Society presents: Seventy-one Years

Departures & Arrivals

by Carol Shields

Country Club Centre 3200 Island Hwy. 10 am – 5 pm FREE

Nanaimo Museum 100 Museum Way 10 am – 5 pm Students $1.75

Curtains 8 pm

6 – 8 pm

$39.95 plus tax

FREE

13

14

15

Open Stage at Sea with Brian Whitty

Fringe Flicks presents: Sing Street

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

Dinghy Dock Pub Protection Island 4 – 8 pm

Avalon Cinemas, Woodgrove Centre 6631 North Island Hwy.

FREE

7 pm

Bowen Park Complex 500 Bowen Rd. 7:30 – 9 pm

Malaspina Theatre 7:30 pm Students $10

FREE

The Port Theatre 125 Front St. 7:30 pm Students $15

$13

JOIN THE NAVIGATOR ONLINE

THENAV.CA /THENAVIGATORNEWSPAPER @THENAV_VIU

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theNAVIGATOR

CALENDAR

23

Textbooks are expensive, this contest is free!

The Navigator wants to help pay for next semesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s books. Share, commment or retweet and enter to win $100 gift card to the VIU Bookstore. Contest will run from November 2 to 23, winner will be announced in Issue 7.

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how: Facebook: Share our contest to your friends Twitter: Retweet our story post Instagram: Comment on our picture and tag a VIU student This contest is open to all Nanaimo residents, make sure youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re following us:

@THENAV_VIU /THENAVIGATORNEWSPAPER @THENAV_VIU

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