October 9, 2019

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T H O M P S O N R I V E R S U N I V E R S I T Y ' S I N D E P E N D E N T S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R

VOLUME 29 · ISSUE 06 · OCTOBER 9, 2019

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TRU CELEBRATES RESEARCH DAY

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TRU FINE ARTS GRADS TAKE ON THE KAG

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FIELD OF SCREAMS BRINGS FRIGHT TO KAMLOOPS

TRU hosts its fourth annual Orange Shirt Day Brianna Schellenberg STAFF WRITER Ω On Sept. 30, approximately 150 students, faculty and members of the community met in the campus commons to honour the Indigenous children who were sent to residential schools across North America.

The ceremony began with a prayer, and members of the Secwépemc nation performed an honour song

for the people afterwards. Everyone that attended was asked to stand in a circle outside of the Campus Activity Centre. This symbolized the school and community standing together with the Indigenous members, coming together in a partnership.

This day was started by Phyllis Webstad in 2013, who lives in Williams Lake and is an alumnus of Thompson Rivers University. Webstad was sent to a residential school, and when she arrived, the orange shirt her grandmother had made her was taken away.

“It was the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance that shaped her life into promoting reconciliation,” Paul Michel, Executive Director of Indigenous Education at TRU talked about Webstad’s experience. “‘Every child matters’ is the message [Webstad] wants everyone to get from Orange Shirt Day.”

See COMMUNITYPage 3

Attendees listened to the friendship song performance by drumming members of the Secwépemc nation. (Brianna Schellenberg/The Omega)

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OCTOBER 9, 2019

NEWS

All seven candidates join 100 debates on discussing the environment Candidates got into the nitty-gritty of various environmental issues concerning the community Kaylee Butler CONTRIBUTOR Ω Thursday brought all seven candidates running for the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo region together in the House of Learning for a debate on the environment. This was brought to us by Transition Kamloops and Kamloops Chapter of the BC Sustainable Energy Association.

All seven parties were represented including the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democratic Party and the Green party. Joining them as well were the Animal Protection Party, the Communist Party as well as the People’s Party.

This was part of the 100 debate series

that happened across Canada which was initiated by Green PAC. There are 21 registered political parties across Canada, all seven that were present on Thursday are registered with elections Canada.

The candidates had 30-60 seconds to answer multiple sets of questions.

This included ones that were asked nationally, locally as well as audience submitted questions. While there was no open mic audience members were able to ask questions through paper slips as well as online.

The debate was moderated by Mel Rothenburger and each candidate was provided with two wild cards to reply back to another candidate's comments.

The overall theme for the debate was

focused on the environment but we saw questions around electoral reform as well as the economy.

The national questions touched on concerns around water pollution, the Canadian Environmental Project Act as well as meeting international obligations around GHG pollution. Local questions had the candidates discuss fossil fuel subsidies as well as environmental footprints of municipalities.

Some of the main themes we saw candidates address were around reforestation, creating jobs, clean energy, saving the pollinators as well as working with Indigenous communities moving forward.

“We need to ensure that instead of exporting our resources, they’re staying

here,” said Kira Cheeseborough, the candidate representing the Animal Protection Party and a student of the Social Work program at TRU. This was in response to a question about how the candidate's parties would handle a just transition to an economy that deals with sustainability and economic growth in British Columbia.

“We need to create jobs and finished products, Canadian quality products that then we can export for a higher profit,” continued Cheeseborough to applause from the crowd.

Cheeseborough and the Animal Protection Party are not the only ones who want more jobs brought into the picture.

“The Green Party of Canada’s

platform includes the proposal for a community environmental services core,” said Iain Currie, who is a father of three and a lawyer as well as the Green Party candidate. “ [This would] fund a billion dollars for Canadian municipalities to hire youth across the country into service projects for environmental reasons.”

All the parties encourage folks to look into their party platforms and that maybe if they didn’t agree on what, something needs to change and quick.

The next federal election takes place on October 21, 2019. To make sure you are registered to vote, that your address is correct or to see more information about the candidates for your riding please visit www.elections.ca.

TRU releases the results of its economic impact for the year 2018-19 One in every nine jobs in Thompson, Nicola and Cariboo region supported by activities at TRU Sadhika Burman STAFF WRITER Ω Thompson Rivers University contributed $1.5 billion provincially and $705.3 million to the regional economy for the fiscal year 2018-19 according to report by EMSI (Economic Modeling Specialist Intl.), a labour market analytics firm. TRU finally released the results of the economic impact study that had been collecting data for the last year for the first time since 2013.

The economic impact analysis was

broken down into three parts; operational spending, student spending and the impact of employed alumni.

The economic impact was calculated on three bases; regionally, provincially and the impact from the Williams Lake campus.

The report was presented by EMSI consultant Susan Hackett who described the approach of the study as very conservative or a Canadian regional input-output proprietary model that takes into account how industries interact with each other and how multiplier effects are created. “...So for economic impact analysis,

we determined any in region activity during that year, activities can be the university spending, bringing revenues from outside, paying employees, buying other goods and services also attracting students in the region and educating the students. So at every step of this process we asked how would the region be different without different, or how would the province be different without TRU…” explained Hackett during her presentation.

The study calculated that the operation’s spending by TRU added $160.7 million provincially and $169.7 million regionally. The regional

income is more than the provincial income because there is more outside money coming in to the region than in the province.

The student spending impact from last year was calculated to be $99.7 million provincially and $45.9 million regionally, out of which $22.4 million is attributable to international students alone. There were 5,615 international students studying at TRU in the last fiscal year.

The alumni impact regionally was calculated as $489.7 million and $1.2 billion provincially. “The impacts for the alumni were quite significant

during the analysis year, we’re considering the number of alumni that are actively working in the region using various measures of attrition.

We use location data from the B.C. Student Outcomes Survey and then we quantify the value of each student’s education. It is a very intricate calculation, but it gets us to very significant results,” Hackett said.

“To see (TRU’s) outputs quantify in a way and the impact that this university has on its communities is profound and in some way is humbling,” said TRU Vice President of Finance and Administration, Matt Milovick.

TRU Research and Graduate Studies Department celebrates Research Day TRU President and Research Faculty discussed the importance of community-engaged research Farrah Johnson NEWS EDITOR Ω On Tuesday, Oct. 1, the Research and Graduate Studies Department of TRU celebrated Research Day. The event, which was held in the Mountain Room of the Campus Activity Centre, featured a presentation from the university’s president as well as an interactive panel discussion with other research faculty and members of the local community.

Hosted by Dr. Will Garrett-Petts, the Associate Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies, the event provided an ideal networking platform for members of the TRU community interested in research.

“As an open-access research university, Thompson Rivers University boasts a comprehensive set of assets including trades training, open learning…and outstanding faculty in all the traditional academic areas,” he said.

“Research then, broadly defined, is central to our mission ensuring local and regional relevance, commitment to community engagement, a continued leadership role and scholarship with impact nationally and internationally.”

Mr. Garrett-Petts added that TRU is also determined to “demonstrate

national leadership” through creating “equitable access and undergraduate research experiences” for its students.

He insisted that learning in its truest form indicates that some level of research was involved and asserted that this factor is evident at TRU, which was recently commended for its “innovative integration of student research training.”

In his keynote address, TRU President Dr. Brett Fairbairn shared findings from his personal research as an academic.

Referencing his book, “Risk and Relevance: A Journey of a cooperative scholar,” which was published earlier this year, Mr. Fairbairn talked about “insights” he said played a significant role in how his career was established.

“Those of us in senior leadership roles at universities immerse ourselves in our roles and my job day in and day out, is to support your work and your research and your teachings,” he told TRU faculty.

“And there’s a little bit of cognitive dissonance involved in my standing in front of a TRU audience to talk about my own personal research.”

Still, Dr. Fairbairn asked attendees to listen attentively as he explained how he designed his research and talked about the knowledge he gained from his experience.

He did this by placing his studies in the “context of a journey” that went beyond a “single piece of research,” highlighting instead how it contributed to his overall professional development as a “researcher and scholar.”

“There are many ways in which the works that we produce as researchers in every stage are a combination of everything we have done up to that point,” he said.

During the discussion segment, panellists were asked what they thought community-engaged research meant for individuals working at universities and within the wider community.

Jennifer Tedman-Jones, the representative for Mitacs, an independent non-profit organization whose role is to “reach out to industry and community partners and create connections with academia,” said her organization is looking for “betweenness.”

“This is a space where Canada has all of the right ingredients to become a global leader except we consistently lag behind other countries like Germany and Japan,” she said.

“We believe that the key to becoming that leader is by building meaningful relationships and Mitacs approaches in two different

ways. The first is with the business development team and the second is through internship based models,” she explained.

Overall, Research Day was a

success and gave faculty and students a great opportunity to learn about new projects and initiatives, as well as network with fellow researchers.

President Fairbairn joined the Research and Graduate Studies department celebrate Research Day. (Aidan Grether/The Omega)

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NEWS

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Community gathered to remember that every child matters CONTINUED (COVER) Michel shared his personal connection to Orange Shirt Day. “When I was born, my dad was teaching at a residential school. He didn’t want to work there, but it was the only place the Canadian government would let him work with his teaching certificate.”

The residential schools were a brutal example of colonization, racism and exploitation of Indigenous children. However, Michel explained, having Indigenous teachers there were seen as ‘rays of light’ for the students. “The system was evil, but not everyone there was evil.”

President Brett Fairbairn spoke at the event, “This historic trauma is one of the biggest stains on Canadian history, and it’s part of Canada’s truth that our governments,

churches, and other institutions are responsible for historic trauma that affects Indigenous people.”

The work that TRU is doing to bring Indigenization to the campus was discussed. Many programs are busy making sure their academic service plans include Indigenous ideas. The Education & Social Work Faculty has done lots of work with Knowledge Makers, a Canadian award-winning Indigenous research network, and the Coyote project.

Along with this, the Education and Indigenous Education department are doing Secwepemc research ethics protocol into this month, which is being led by Secwépemc elder Gary Gottfriedson.

Rick Alec, a board member of Round Lake Treatment Centre, and

a founding member of the Indian Residential School Survivor Society shared his experience of attending the Mission and Kamloops Indian residential schools for eleven years.

“I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t go through all of that,” Alec explained. “It’s not up to the younger generations to have to deal with the residential school trauma. It’s up to my generation and the older generations that were directly affected by the residential schools, and it’s our responsibility to deal with the issues we faced.”

He talked a little about the work he does at Round Lake, and how the purpose of the centre is for people to heal, and to get a grounding of traditions and ceremonies in order to move away from addiction.

“It’s tough when you’ve been in survival mode for 30 years,” Alec

shared. “That’s how you learn to stuff your feelings down. When you start feeling, it hurts like hell.

One of the biggest things I like to say is, get it right with the guy or girl upstairs, because that’s the only person that can help you mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”

The event concluded with a performance of a Secwépemc

Students stand in a circle outside of the CAC (left) while listening to traditional performances by members of the Secwépemc nation (right). (Brianna Schellenberg/The Omega)

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friendship song, and people were asked to shake hands and greet one another. Michel commented saying he believes Orange Shirt Day will continue to grow every year at TRU. “I want to see the circle [of people] stretched across the entire campus commons. I know we can do it.”

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OCTOBER 9, 2019

ARTS

‘Upon Further Discussion’ is collaboration on another level Graduates of the 2019 BFA class take their final exhibition to the next level at the KAG Elizabeth Nygren ARTS EDITOR Ω For those wondering what happens after you graduate from the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program at TRU, these students at the Kamloops Art Gallery can show you one of the many possibilities.

Deb Fong, Josh Allan, Kazia Poore and Elizabeth Sigalet, all recent graduates from the TRU BFA program, have worked on a new exhibition at Kamloops Art Gallery titled ‘Upon Further Discussion’. This exhibition is a collaborative project by the four of them that has extended upon their fourth-year exhibition at TRU, which was titled ‘A Polite Conversation’.

The four have been working together as collaborative artists for over a year now. Collaborative work can be a very different experience from working on your own pieces independently.

Deb Fong, one of the four collaborators on the project said, “you can destroy somebody else’s work or you can obliterate it. You can add to it, you can get your own work obliterated or changed or modified. We’ve kind of carried on with that idea of speaking to each other through our art.”

Essentially, the four alumni were granted space at the Cube inside of the

Kamloops Arts Gallery and were given four white walls to create art upon.

Josh Allan, another collaborator on the project said “it’s like a conversational sketchbook, so we’re all working on one of these four blank pages and getting ideas down and experimenting. We’re seeing how each other reacts to and forms work.

Whether we start just on our own terms and then someone may come and take away or add to it.”

“No rules. We had no rules. I think that was important to us,” Fong said.

“And we were given the walls literally, so there were four white walls when we walked into that [space], which was intimidating actually. Within two days, we had most of the base kind of sketched out and we had begun painting, some people were working with charcoal, and there’s also some 3-Dimensional work as well.”

The group had approximately two weeks until the opening of the gallery to work on their project. The group also did not have much planned in advance.

“We had some meetings to bounce around some ideas, but I had done a few tiny paintings and I think Elizabeth had one photograph and stuff but none of us had really done much,” Fong said.

For Allan, this was a new and interesting experiment to him.

“Myself and Kazia, we wanted to go in with no preconceptions, and just take whatever inspiration came from the space. So, we got there and worked with what was in the room which was very little. Sometimes a lot more than we thought, and that was an experiment too. Really contrasting to my practice which is really well thought out in advance.”

Although the artists work in different mediums, there was no way any of them could lay claim to the work.

Fong said, “I think it’s really important to me that I don’t own any of it, it’s owned by all of us. I think that’s the only way to approach the collaboration. From start to finish to some extent, otherwise, it gets too hard to either work on what other people are doing or to let go of your own work. It was fun to speak to Josh and somehow find a way for my still life art to speak to his characters and what kind of conversation is a lemon going to have with a monk. It’s a conversation between he and I that has no words. I think you have to be able to converse through your art.”

The Cube is open Monday through Saturday at the Kamloops Art Gallery and is free to visit. On Thursday, the gallery is open late and the entire space is free as well. ‘Upon Further Discussion will be open for viewing until Oct. 26.

Students brought to life sculptures and other art pieces a second time after the first exhibit "A Polite Conversation". (Aidan Grether/The Omega)

TRU gave community members the chance to gaze at the moon TRU’s Observatory hosted the annual night “International Observe the Moon” Lisa Chernyshova BUSINESS AND TECH EDITOR Ω On Oct. 5, TRU gave a great opportunity to observe the Moon, and gas planets as Saturn, and Jupiter. It was quite a cold evening, but the atmosphere of that night was magnificent.

People of different ages, nationalities, and genders gathered together to observe the Moon and planets in the endless, mysterious galaxy.

This is a worldwide annual event, that is known for the annual celebration of lunar observation and exploration, which is scheduled in lots of places around the world, as observatories, universities, and schools.

The event is coinciding with a first-quarter Moon, which allows some great observations of lunar surfaces in some great details as mountains, and craters.

All the visitors were extremely excited and in an urge to take a look in the telescope to catch the lunar surface in better detail.

There were lots of families who brought their little kids to get their first close look at the Moon and space. Also, there were lots of students from different fields of discipline.

There was a group of first-year students from the faculty of MBA, some students from Business Administration and Computer Science.

“I was pretty excited about tonight, as I kind of love that stuff to lookup close to the Moon and the planets,” described one of the students from the Computer Science program. “And I believe it’s quite rare to see Jupiter,” he added.

This even takes its place every year sometime in September or October.

Originally, it was started by NASA with a purpose to give Earthians a

glance at the Moon and be informed about the Cosmos.

This year it was a special celebration, as 10 years ago NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter entered lunar orbit.

“What is special about tonight?

Well, it’s an international event, so there is viewing taking place all over the globe. It’s sort of a good opportunity for outreach not only on the local scale but also on a global scale, because people all over the world doing the same thing right now,” shared Rob, professor of physics at TRU. “Also, tonight you were able to see 4 Moons of Jupiter, which is called the Galilean moons because Galilean was the first person to discover them.

There was – Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io.” “Venus is quite interesting. The surface temperature is the highest among other planets in the solar system, but it isn’t the closest to the

sun. So, what makes it so hot, is that it has a very thick atmosphere of CO2.

It’s scary, but that what we put in our atmosphere right now on Earth”, informed Rob. “We’re experimenting with the atmosphere. So, the worstcase scenario is that we’ll make the

Earth-like Venus”.

Colin Taylor, organizer of the event notified that there are monthly meetings of the Astronomy club, which takes place every second Wednesday of every month at TRU in the International Building.

TRU made it a reality for community members to gaze into the universe unseen by the naked eye. (David Dibert/Unsplash)

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ARTS

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The award-winning comedy program is coming to town Kamloops mental health advocates invite people out for a night of laughter Brianna Schellenberg STAFF WRITER Ω On Thursday, October 10th, the Canadian Mental Health Association is hosting the Stand Up for Mental Health Comedy Show for the community.

Stand Up for Mental Health is a program created by David Granirer, a counsellor, stand-up comedian and mental health keynote speaker from Vancouver. The program has been running since 2004 and teaches people suffering from mental health to turn their problems into stand up comedy.

The students then perform their acts to the public at comedy clubs, schools, conferences and many

mental health organizations.

Granirer has trained people in over 50 cities in North America and Australia, and his program has won a variety of awards internationally.

“We use comedy to give mental health consumers a powerful voice and help reduce the stigma and discrimination around mental illness,” Granirer said.

Granirer’s work has been featured by media worldwide, in the VOICE Award-winning Passionate Eye documentary Cracking Up and the award-winning Australian documentary Cracking Up. “Though [stand-up comedy] isn’t intended as therapy, I’ve had students overcome long-standing depressions and phobias, not to

mention increasing their confidence and self-esteem,” Granirer remarks.

Krystian Shaw, the founder of the Kamloops Self-Advocate newsletter and Glenn Hilke, founder of The Big Edition paper, teamed up to raise money for the program by hosting a screening of the documentary Cracking Up back in May. Now, they’re able to bring the comedy show to the city on World Mental Health Day. “It’s awesome to see this happening,” Hilke explains, “we are so proud of the comedians that have the courage to do this.”

Many former students have shared testimonials on how the program was able to bring humour to their bumpy roads to recovery.

Envision TRU hosts pizza with President Fairbairn Students shared their vision of what they want TRU to be like in 20 years’ time Farrah Johnson NEWS EDITOR Ω On Oct. 3, students were treated to a lunch of free pizza as they chatted with TRU’s president and shared their thoughts on how they envisioned TRU in the future.

The event, which was held in the TRUSU Boardroom of the Campus Activity Centre, was hosted by the Envision TRU team, in an effort to gather student opinions on ways the university can be improved.

While snacking on pizza slices, students were invited to jot down their thoughts on small Post-It notes and stick them onto large posters that were taped along the boardroom’s walls.

“Envision TRU has been running since the spring in several phases and as we’ve gone along, we've had a number of events for students,” TRU President Brett Fairbairn told the Omega.

“So what we’d like to do is just collect students’ thoughts about what’s on their mind, where they'd

like to see TRU go and we’re coming near the end of the series of conversations here.”

President Fairbairn added that the main goal of the session was to ensure that the committee did not “miss anything along the way.”

He explained that Phase 2 involved a number of small group discussions that took place on campus and in the surrounding community.

“Inside the university...the envision TRU resource team has had booths set up and has been holding events to get an opinion from anyone who will share an opinion,” he said.

“But we’ve also been doing conversations with faculty and staff and with external communities, so we’ve had town halls in communities (and) targeted meetings with groups like the school district.”

When asked what his expectations were concerning the outcome of the project, President Fairbairn said he was looking for a “short document” that would “capture a vision” of the kind of university TRU can aim to be in the “long term.”

“So really a vision that will guide

President Fairbairn shared a slice with students while discussing the future of the university they choose for their education. (Aidan Grether/The Omega)

us for ten years and beyond,” he explained.

“I think that may include a statement of our values of the things that will always be important to us an organization and what we’ve heard so far leads me to think that being supportive of student’s success is at the top of the list,” he furthered.

Still, President Fairbairn said he also expects a “small list of priorities”, that the school can focus on for the next five to ten years, to come out of the project.

“So things we want to do more of or do differently and if we have all those things together: a short vision statement, identify our values, know what we want to work on next, to me, that’s what success looks like.”

As far as recommendations go, students said they wanted TRU to be more affordable and inclusive and wanted the university to offer more food options that included locally owned shops and stores on campus.

Dana Prymak, the Administrative Coordinator for Envision TRU, told The Omega that the team was very excited about the students’ responses.

“We started in March 2019 and we started really grand. We started off the pizza with the president, we went to student caucus, we did a bunch of tables in Old Main and all over campus,” she said.

“Since September started, we launched an entirely new student participation campaign. So we were there at their Back-to-School barbecue that was organized by TRUSU (and) we had over 150 students who came by and shared their thoughts.”

Prymak said Envision TRU has made an effort to make sure every student has a chance to voice their opinion and added that it has been both a “pleasure and a privilege” to hear everyone’s stories.

They explained that being able to make people laugh and cheer for you as you share details about your life can feel very empowering.

The event will be held at The Rex in downtown Kamloops.

There will be pre-show activities and music starting at 6:30. The

comedy show goes from 7:15-8:30 and 8:30-9. It will include an award ceremony and Q&A with David Granirer, who will also be discussing the program for those interested.

For more information, visit standupformentalhealth.com.

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OCTOBER 9, 2019

ARTS

“Local to Global Village” surprises with new opportunities TRU Study Abroad program offers opportunities for global growth Lisa Chernyshova BUSINESS AND TECH EDITOR Ω The event took place on October 3, in Old Main on Student Street, where students had a chance to get to know about some new opportunities for international experience.

The event was presented by the TRU Study Abroad program.

Those opportunities are truly unique as it includes: “A field course”, “Teaching English as a

second language”, and “Developing world connections”.

“We have two different options for a field course”, Lisa Lake, Coordinator, International Partnership and Program School of Business and Economics told the Omega.

“So, you take a 3-credit course in the Winter term, and during the reading break you leave campus and do group travel to a partner institution,” stated Lake. “So, one of the courses we’re offering is in the Netherlands and it’s a course

on Design Thinking.”

In this course, students will travel to the Netherlands to the partner of the TRU - the Avans University of Applied Science, where they will have hands-on experience during the Innovation Project, in the Innovation Studio.

“It’s a cross-cultural design thinking program. It’s a 3-credit course and it’s open to TRU students of any discipline on campus.” – Lake added.

“Our second option, an

Economics’ Field Study, is new this year, and it will be in Spain. It will be in the south coast of Spain –Malaga.” As she described there is no prerequisite for this third year Economics course, which means that it is open for students from any discipline of study.

As for tuition, it will be regular tuitions as for any other three-credit courses, plus some extra fees for fares and trains. It will be a small group journey with a maximum of 12 people.

Another field course is MLAN 2700- Japan Field School, the main purpose of which is to provide students with an option to improve their oral communication skills of Japanese.

One of the options that are suitable for staff and faculty is to try the TESL program which will provide them with intercultural educational experience. For this program faculty and staff will have to complete the five-course program in 13 weeks. Additionally, this program includes a practicum that can be completed in Kamloops or Vietnam.

Once all the 5 courses are completed, graduates can go anywhere in the world to teach English in schools, or to work as a private English Language Tutor, or to work in any other connected position.

Also, there was presented some information on

opportunities for volunteering and humanitarian jobs. “Developing World Connection has been around since 2005, it started here in Kamloops. The initial project was in Sri Lanka, from there as we grew, we got through a variety of different destinations, and a variety of different projects,” described Gerry Shea, team representative. “We develop a volunteer team and send them to these locations around the world.

It generally goes about three or four times a year to each of those locations,” he continued. Volunteers can be from any background, Canadians, and international.

The 11 countries, that offer some volunteering experience are - Nicaragua, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Peru, Guatemala, Kenya, Rwanda, Nepal, India, Philippines, and Sri Lanka. The average group’s size of volunteers is from 10-12 people. Some responsibilities of volunteers may include building an irrigation system, community center, school, home, or a community kitchen.

The attendees of the event have received a good amount of information on all of the unique upcoming opportunities for a cross-cultural, international educational experience. The Global Village info session went very successfully and left students with some new plans for their future.

Students stopped by TRU Study Abroad's table on Student Street to find out what options are available on and off campus. (Lisa Chernyshova/The Omega)

Field of Screams is sure to give Kamloops a fright The Haunted Corn Maze has opened at Sunset Valley Farm and is not for the faint of heart Elizabeth Nygren ARTS EDITOR Ω October is well-known to be the spookiest month of the year. Field of Screams is a new attraction in Kamloops, but the company, Ominiss Productions, has been creating horror-filled mazes for many years in Vernon.

Matt Brown, Co-Business Owner and Creative Director of Field of Screams, has been creating haunted corn mazes for 7 years with his business partner, Glen Taylor, the Operations Manager. Essentially, Brown is the creator of the theme, designs the park, characters, and trains the actors, whereas Taylor is in charge of the logistics, such as payroll and parking.

Taylor had the original idea of creating a haunted corn maze, and Brown joined him and brought along his ideas.

“We pretty much make all of our decisions together. I come to him with my wild, ambitious ideas, he usually giggles, looks at me sideways and says ‘okay?’

Then we get through it,” Brown said.

When asked about what people might expect if they attend, Brown said, “For this year, we’re offering two mazes, so when they drive up, they’ll see some of the sets poking up above the corn, that always gets everyone excited, carnival tents, mixed with the nervous, anxious, excited energy.

Getting out and being in the fresh air, maybe in an area of Kamloops that they haven’t visited in a while or maybe ever goes out your head when you start walking through. You feel like people are trying to terrorize you.”

This event is meant to be scary and they don’t go easy on anyone.

“We don’t hold anything back.

We’ve always said that,” Brown said. “Our posters simply say not suitable for young children.

People still bring out their young kids, we don’t turn them away. So we don’t do anything that would physically harm a younger person or anything like that. There’s no touching from the actors.”

Brown recognizes that some children might love horror as he

did as a child, so if they are up to it, they are welcome to attend.

Each year, Field of Screams has a different theme, this year’s being Carnival Freakshow in Kamloops and Once Upon a Nightmare in Vernon. Field of Screams is also doing online sales, which is different from last year, as well as VIP tickets where buyers can ‘skip the line’. There is a limited quantity of these, so get them while they last! Tickets

are available at eventbrite.ca or ominiss.com.

The maze, which is held at Sunset Valley Farm, is open from October 9 until October 30 and people can arrive at 6 p.m. and the maze opens at 7 p.m. There is no official closing time, but it is recommended that people arrive early, as lines have been two hours long in the past. If you are interested in getting involved, you can contact them at

ominiss.com. Field of Screams is very open and wants to be inclusive.

Brown hopes that this event will become annual in Kamloops and that Kamloopsians will feel they have something unique that they can be proud of. Brown also says, “it’s fun to get festive.

And this is just a different way of being able to celebrate fall and Halloween on more than just one night.”

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Joaquin Phoenix masterfully takes on the Joker What sparked the backlash and why you should make the time for it themes being addressed in the film. The letter didn’t demand WB cancel the film nor did it call for a boycott, but urged the film studio to donate to advocacy groups for victims of gun violence and “end political contributions to candidates who take money from the NRA and vote against gun reform” according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR). This brought criticism towards the film, claiming it idolized a character that shot others with no remorse.

Vice wrote an article speaking on the aftermath of an interview with Joaquin Phoenix, who walked out for a moment after being asked whether the film glamourized a shooter to mass audiences. The article goes on to imply “It's a central part of countless reviews of the movie, which has folks worried that "lonely white boys" with a capacity for violence might relate to Phillips's almost loving portrayal of a character who resembles an incel with a murderous streak. The most concerning prospect isn't just that viewers might identify with Phoenix's Joker; it's that they might want to imitate him.” However,

Morgan Hunter CONTRIBUTOR Ω Joker hit theatres this week with a mountain of backlash as many see it as, what people are now calling, “white terrorism”. None of that is true, due to the film being just a well-crafted film that depicts a world that doesn’t make an effort to help those in need will lead to chaos. The issue that people have with it is that it advertises it as needed, which isn’t the case.

Joker revolves around the D.C. Comics villain and how he was brought to the infamous character he became. The film shows Arthur, a pay-by-the-gig clown who, after being beaten down physically and mentally, snaps at those around him, causing a social movement in the process.

The controversy around Joker was started as the press got the news that a group of family members of the 2012 Aurora mass shooting victims had signed a letter to Warner Bros concerning

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what the article doesn’t mention is how Taxi Driver, an almost identical movie plot-wise, had the same controversy around it with no follow-through on its conclusion.

Joker blends itself into a world that is almost our own but never tries to be a reality due to this comic book setting. If the film had taken place in downtown Detroit in 1984 with real politicians of the era, then played out exactly as it had, then there would be a case that the picture was trying to sell a mass murder as a role model. But the film takes part in Gotham, a city known by 6-year-olds as the city Batman protects, which gives it the liberty to portray a realistic origin of one of the best-known villains of all time.

The setting is engrossing as a place that needs repair yet is retro, leaving it alluring to viewers.

Joaquin Phoenix didn’t need to speak on the matter right away not due to his “lack of awareness towards the sensitivity of the matter” because his character doesn’t emulate what the media is portraying his character to be. He isn’t some “lonely white boy” more so than he is a trauma survivor who tries to do everything he can not crack. He attends his meetings, he goes out and tries to pursue an artistic dream but fails to do to the nature of the business/his own nerves. Nowhere does he blame one specific group of people, rather, he just enjoys revelling in his madness.

Speaking on the matter, the actor carries this entire movie on his back and wholeheartedly deserves an Oscar for

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best performance by a male lead. His entire representation of this character, from the way he conveys his chronic mental disability of laughing whenever he feels high amounts of anxiety, to his dialogue that only he could read as effectively as he did. Other actors around him don’t gain as much screen time, however, they are still effective in representing the aspects of the story beautifully.

Something that has actually made me upset is the critical reaction that this film holds “no substance” and I believe I know why that critic is being used. The story doesn’t hold any character to empathize with, therefore there isn’t anyone ideology to cling to. Though I persist this as intentional due to the constant questioning of the reality of societal

aspects in general. If people wouldn’t attempt to thrive on the mistreatment of others, those abused by the system will seek retribution. In the film, it takes a far more negative, violent turn than should be ascertained. However, like Robert DeNero’s catchphrase “that’s life”.

Joker isn’t just a great comic book movie, its a genius movie in many respects. From its symbolism, acting, directing, to even the soundtrack. And what started as media outlets claiming the film holds too much dangerous material to them stating it to be hollow or empty is what truly is funny. But for those interested in something that will keep viewers talking long after the credits finish, this is my call to action: Go watch it.

CFBX TOP 30 CFBX 92.5 FM, 350 Watts Kamloops, BC Music Director: Steve Marlow Charts to October 3, 2019 * indicates Canadian Content ** indicates a local artist Artist - Album (Label)

Puzzles of the Week

By Gene Wirchenko

Puzzle #5: Happy Birthday, Day! October 9, 2019 is my dad's 81st birthday. He was born in 1938. This could be a puzzle using those four digits once each as numbers and addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and factorial to make expressions evaluating to the integers from 0 to 9.

Well, I could not figure out expressions for 8 and 9. So the puzzle is with the digits in 10-09 (so 1, 0, 0, and 9). [n factorial is the product of the integers from 1 to n. 3 factorial (or 3!) = 6. Also, 0! = 1.]

Last week's solutions Puzzle #4: Squares Suppose that the middle square is the one to discount. There would be 24 1×1 squares and 12 2×2 squares. There could not be any larger (3×3, 4×4, or 5×5) squares.

Shifting to another 1×1 square does not change the number of 1×1 squares. The choice of the square can cause up to 4 2×2 squares to not be counted. This is true of the center square and some others, but those other squares allow for bigger squares to be counted; the center square does not.

Excluding the center, 1×1 square means that only 36 squares can be counted, and this is the lowest number.

1) Rae Spoon* - Mental Health (Coax) 2) Steve Adamyk Band* - Paradise (Dirtnap) 3) Quinn Bachand's Brishen* - Tunes in a Hotel (Independent) 4) Empath - Active Listening: Night on Earth (Fat Possum) 5) The Small Glories* - Assiniboine and the Red (Independent) 6) Heiki* - Tower of Acid (Paper and Sound) 7) Shotgun Jimmie* - Transistor Sister 2 (You've Changed) 8) Paper Beat Scissors* - Parallel Line (Forward) 9) The Dead South* - Sugar and Joy (Six Shooter) 10) Science is Fiction* - Don't Everybody Thank Me at Once (Independent) 11) Hollerado* - Retaliation Vacation (Royal Mountain) 12) Ben Cottrill* - Spice-Box (Independent) 13) Phil Glennie* - Wake (Independent) 14) LAL* - Dark Being (Coax) 15) Virtues and Failings* - 2 EP (Independent) 16) Glass Apple Bonzai* - The All Nite Starlite Electronic Cafe (Artoffact) 17) Santana - Africa Speaks (Concord) 18) Shari Ulrich* - Back to Shore (Borealis) 19) Zac Harmon - Mississippi BarBQ (Catfood) 20) Aaron Kowal* - Good Sins, Bad Decisions (Independent) 21) Jessica Heine* - Goodbye Party (Hidden Tree) 22) Louver* - Carbon Arc (Independent) 23) Delbert McClinton - Tall, Dark and Handsome (Hotshot) 24) Brother Leeds* - Brother Leeds EP (Independent) 25) Tommy and June - Tommy and June (Fat Wreck Chords) 26) Andrew Franey* - Transhuman (We Are Droid) 27) Jane Bunnett and Maqueque* - On Firm Ground (Linus) 28) Purlicue* - Dip 'n Dot (Independent) 29) Illyrian* - The Entity, Unknown (Independent) 30) Graftician* - Mandarins (Independent)

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