KELOHA MUSIC FEST
UBCO’s Student Newspaper
Photos and Interviews - Page 12
October 1st, 2012 | Vol. 25 Issue 3
...watching the animation at the water stop since 1989
Opening Doors
After a year in limbo, local band JoyfulDoor gets in on the Kelowna music scene
Page 11
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October 1st, 2012
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In this issue
October 1st 2012
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Editor-in-chief: Cameron Welch
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Art Director: Nadine Bradshaw artdirector@thephoenixnews.com
News
Photo Editor: Hanss Lujan
photo@thephoenixnews.com
• Curtis Road dilema continues • SU changes election policies and
Copy Editor: Gavin Gamache copy@thephoenixnews.com
News Editor: Vacant position
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news@thephoenixnews.com
Features Editor: Rumnique Nannar features@thephoenixnews.com
Arts Editor: Janelle Sheppard arts@thephoenixnews.com
increases Executive wages Justin Trudeau to lead Liberals?
Arts • • • •
Jezebels concert review Where the Emmys went wrong JoyfulDoor cover story Mimi’s Lounge restaurant review
Features • Rumnique Nannar explores the controversey surrounding Leah Dunham’s HBO series Girls and its lack of casting diversity
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Sports
Opinions
UBCSUO
Events Editor: Laura Sciarpelletti events@thephoenixnews.com
Sports Editor: Jesse Shopa
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Staff Writer: Brandon Taylor writer@thephoenixnews.com Online Editor: Amber Choo online@thephoenixnews.com Ad Sales Rep: Brendan Savage ads@thephoenixnews.com
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Distributor: Blake Ouellet intern@thephoenixnews.com Contributors: Dave Nixon, Amy Stetzl, Gordon Hawkes, Breanna Ferguson, Ali Young, Lucas Glenn, Aidan Whiteley
• Heat Soccer recaps • Heat Volleyball hosts Argentina Zaac Pick at the Streaming Cafe photo by Ali Young
Cover Photo by Hanss Lujan (The Phoenix).
The Phoenix is the UBCO students’ free press. Editorial content is separate from the students’ governing body (UBCSUO) and from the institution at large. The editorial staff encourages everyone to submit mate-
The Boom Booms performing at the Habitat photo by Ali Young
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StudioOne11 zine release photos by Nadine Bradshaw
• The struggle to stay vegetarian • How non-religious criticism of evolutionary theory is ignored
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Getting around Curtis Road No clear solution in sight for Glenmore access road Dave Nixon Contributor
Unfortunately, a permanent solution for commuting access from Glenmore may be further away than previously hoped. A May 31 BC Supreme Court ruling, which restricted Curtis Road from being used for general campus access, has meant that many students, staff and faculty have had to resort to a lengthy cycle commute along Highway 97, reliance on the transit services from Glenmore, or the steep costs of driving. The question of Curtis Road access was posed to Stephen Toope, the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia, during the town-hall he hosted here on the Okanagan campus on Wednesday, September 19. The President made it clear that this was a “big question” for him and the University, and that his office has been working towards a solution for some time now. Three possible solutions are currently being explored: 1) A cycling overpass is to be constructed on Highway 97, just before the Ellison Road overpass.
This path would provide a safe alternative for bike commuters, who have expressed concern about the safety of Highway 97 due to heavy traffic and the condition of the overpass shoulder. Unfortunately, it is not a solution for Glenmore residents. Cyclists hailing from behind the University would still have to cross the highway at Adam’s Court. Previous estimates had been hopeful for a fall start on construction, but as we can see, nothing has begun at this point in time. 2) Expansion of John Hindle Drive to Glenmore. Stephen Toope stated that the City is in the late stages of discussion for this project, though he would not say more on it. Design Technician Ryan O’Sullivan is in charge of the City’s current project to connect John Hindle Drive to the Glenmore landfill. This project’s timeline estimates spring 2013 as the completion date. “There are no current plans to connect it to Glenmore.” Mr. O’Sullivan stated, when asked about access
for commuters. He indicated that he was aware the University had interest in discussing it, but they have yet to approach the City to make any formal plans. 3) Development of the Tutt lands for trails and road access. This was mentioned as a third possibility; however there are no concrete details available at this point. When the University purchased these lands in 2010, they made it clear that access to Glenmore was one of the projects being discussed. It will be dependant on funding sources and funding partners, so it is impossible to tell how long it will be before we see access through this area. As with many infrastructural issues that UBCO currently faces, the solutions are being addressed, but the students with problems today will have to adapt until then. The most promising remedy appears to be the expansion of John Hindle Drive, which could be within the year provided that the proper conversations between UBC and the City occur.
Above: Stephen Toope calls Curtis Road a “big question” Below: The ruling has turned navigating Curtis Road upside down.
Photos by tyfn(above, flickr) and Aidan Whiteley (below)
News
October 1st, 2012
| The Phoenix
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Where it all Wente wrong Globe and Mail columnist and public editor come under fire in plagarism scandal Brandon Taylor Staff Writer
Journalism is an industry that trades in truth, so one would assume the pursuit of honesty would be any respectable reporter’s primary goal. In Margaret Wente’s recent article "Enviroromanticism is hurting Africa" she lifted quotes wholesale from Professor Robert Paalberg, an expert in the field of international agriculture, and from another article in the Ottawa Citizen. None of these sources are properly cited and some of them were clearly plagiarized. An editor’s note, amended at the end of the article a few days later, states: "This column contains views and statements by Professor Robert Paarlberg which are paraphrased and not always clearly identified. Other sources including an Ottawa Citizen columnist were also paraphrased and their work not attributed." The journalistic fallout from
this situation has been ruthless. The Globe and Mail is held in particularly high esteem in Canada, and its accuracy is key to its success. One point a journalist must understand is that everything they are writing will be held under deep scrutiny. If someone is proven to be plagiarizing, as in the case of Stephen Glass or Judith Miller, the news world immediately swoops in to attack and further galvanize their own legitimacy in the process. Wente has compromised her position with the article, and so far has briskly passed off her responsibility for the act itself. She posted an article in her defense, noting that a blogger—a word used pejoratively— questioned her article's legitimacy. The blogger was Carol Wainio, a well-known plagiarism watchdog and professor of visual arts at the University of Ottawa. The
plagiarism accusations as well as a wave of social media response prompted Wente to officially respond, "I’m far from perfect. I make mistakes. But I’m not a serial plagiarist. What I often am is a target for people who don’t like what I write." She fails to address the simple fact that some of the misquotes were not clerical, but clearly plagiaristic in nature. Wainio's blog 'Media Culpa' has an entry titled "Margaret Wente: ‘a zero for plagiarism’?" posted on September 18th that clearly outlines the plagiarism in question. One damning claim explains, "In addition to other overlaps, one paragraph in Wente’s July 2009 column blaming Western ‘elites’ for African starvation is almost identical to [Dan] Gardner’s 2008 article on Robert Paarlberg." Human error is forgivable, in the instance of misplaced quotes
or improperly citing a source, but Wente's actions suggest that she was at least partially aware of her actions before publishing the article. In response to Wainio’s allegations, Globe and Mail's public editor Sylvia Stead released an 'investigation' statement that opens as follows: "I investigated the matter, spoke with the columnist, Margaret Wente, and her editor, endeavoured to find all of the original documents and read all but one. (I’ve ordered the last one.) In the end, there appears to be some truth to the concerns but not on every count." The comments provided are somewhat perfunctory and fairly defensive of Wente's position, and Stead notes that it can be "very difficult to be more definitive because we are talking about a column written three years and two months ago." A public editor is meant to
serve the reader and keep all forms of plagiarism and sloppy journalism in check. Wente’s flippant response and Stead’s half-hearted dismissal sent the journalistic world into a fervor. The two very public errors were on the cusp of creating a major disaster of integrity. In light of those events, Globe Editor-inChief John Stackhouse released a memo to the public on September 24th, 2012 in which e explains that Margaret Wente will be disciplined, but not publically, and that the paper "will continue to examine our journalistic practices and standards." Stackhouse’s words are encouraging, but convincing readers of the Globe and Mail's legitimacy will now be an uphill battle. If one writer is in question, then so are the rest of them. Wente's actions have put everyone else's work under extreme scrutiny.
UBCO’s infrastructure lags behind population growth Available space remains below provincial averages in key areas Dave Nixon Contributor
The new Deputy Vice Chancellor of UBC, Deborah Buszard, recently gave a presentation for the Board of Directors detailing UBC’s current infrastructure in relation to University averages. These numbers may not come as a surprise for students who have been frustrated by the failure of campus amenities to keep up with the rampant student admissions. UBCO has doubled in student body since 2006, now sitting at over eight thousand students. The University is at a turning point, as they have now settled into their target population, and this is the first time the Okanagan campus has surpassed the size level of Ministry funding for students. As President Stephen Toope stated at the President’s Town Hall: “When universities need more funding, the [typical] choice is growth.” Toope continued by saying they would need
to explore other options, having reached their population targets already. If the University chose to raise admissions, they would risk losing the attraction of a ‘big university, small campus feel’. Many Directors made this point during the meeting, demonstrating they are aware that this unique setting is what draws many students to apply here. While this quick growth may appear unequivocally positive at first glance, any student who spends some time on campus will realize that there is a significant gap between the volume of students and the supporting infrastructure provided by the University. The numbers Buszard presented to the Directors of UBC reflect what students already know. The ratios below compare UBC Okanagan’s current status of space compared to that of university averages provided by the Ministry:
Library Space: 51.6% General & Special Use Space: 60.4% Recreation: 51.6% Classrooms: 117% The campus has just over half of the average space provided by most universities, with the exception of classroom space. Additionally, the isolation of campus relative to the rest of the city exacerbates this problem due to the lack of alternatives. For anyone trying to study on campus, the Library space ratio reflects many students’ frustrations with the game of musical chairs everyone has to play for computers and study spots. We are told that our computer availability is greater than the National average, but that fact does not seem to translate in practice. In attempt to help alleviate this problem, computer labs will soon be opened in between classes for students to use.
As for study space, the remodelling has helped, but has not quite solved the issue. “Much still needs to be done before students can lose their feeling of frustration and neglect when looking for a quiet place to study on campus,” said Management student Praveen Sahay. Praveen is in 4th year, and has watched the University grow since arriving in the Okanagan. “When I started my undergrad degree in 2008, I was amazed at how little space was free to study in the library,” he reflects, “now being in my 4th year... I find it unbelievable that library space has remained [about] the same. From a management student’s perspective, I have additional rooms available to me in the EME building, but those rooms are restricted. What about the students from other faculties? Where do they go?” Study space is not the only issue. Similar comments are heard
about recreation space and other amenities. The weight gym scrapes by with the bare necessities, a strong on-campus social community is lacking, and students must go elsewhere for shopping facilities or other services. It becomes a significant chore for students without cars to do this. Fortunately there is ongoing development to increase space for the on-campus gym, but it was indicated during the Board of Governors meeting that there are no further plans to meet space needs at this time. As noted earlier, the University is at a turning point, and they are taking stock today to plan for the future. “This next phase will be about listening on campus and planning with the city,” Buszard stated in conclusion to UBC’s Directors. For now, students trying to study will just hope the music stops while they’re next to a chair.
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The Phoenix |
News
October 1st, 2012
UBCSUO council meeting recap Election policy changes and executive raises highlight September 24th SU meeting Cam Welch
Editor-in-chief
Election policy changes
Services There was discussion over the $25 cleanup change for use of the UNC Theatre. The Theatre is free to use for clubs and course unions but because the room is only cleaned three times per week by janitorial staff a $25 cleanup fee is occasionally applied if it requires additional cleaning between events. The cost of the Well renovations did not feature in this month’s budget report, as that project was funded out of last year’s surplus. A student sitting in on the meeting asked about this year’s increased Well food prices, and Financial Coordinator Curtis Tse and GM Claude Geurette explained that the previous menu had not been changed in three years to account for inflation, increased food costs, and new fuel surcharges. However, the upcoming menu may dial back some of the price increases. Meanwhile, the extensive Frosh Week at the start of the month came in over budget.
The meeting also saw significant changes to election policy. In the past, nomination forms have been available in the SU office, resulting in candidates effectively declaring their candidacy twice: once by picking up the form and again by submitting it. Council moved to make the forms available online no less than two weeks before the election to allow anonymity and encourage more students to run. Council also moved to make major changes to campaign rules. Under the previous rules, campaign materials had to be removed at 4 pm on election day, while under the new rules all materials must be removed and all candidates must stop campaigning 12 hours before polls open. Council also resolved that elections would be administered by a CRO that will provide neutral election information including posters displaying candidate information but no candidate colours. The CRO will also be able to impose financial fines on candidates found to be in breach of election rules; combined with a cap on election spending per candidate, this will allow the CRO to quantify infractions and not be forced to choose between minor penalties like warnings and major penalties like suspension or disqualifications. All electionrelated motions passed unanaimously except for the CRO campaign materials vote, from which Advocacy Representative Key-J Angel abstained.
Executive job changes and wage increase Council is in the process of evaluating and redefining the job descriptions of the Executive members, and the proposed position name changes were postponed until those job descriptions are set. Council approved an increase of Executive pay from $950 per fall and winter month to $1340 per summer, fall, and winter month. As the argument for the wage increase was that given the hours Executives work, their current pay is less than minimum wage, the SU will look into implementing a procedure to document executive hours. The wage change, with the amendments reducing the increase to $1340 and adding a press release, passed with all members in favour except the Executives themselves, who abstained from the vote. Along with the job description and title changes, these proposed wage changes that must be presented to the AGM.
Senator resignations Senator-At-Large Janet Lawson has resigned, and the Senator-At-Large position has been open to nominations. Grad Studies Senator Kyle Nolan has also stated that he will not continue, but because he has not submitted a formal resignation that position could not yet be opened to nominations.
Committees
CFS-BC meeting report
The Student Affairs Committee plans to take a bigger role in World Water Day and other national campaigns such as international Women’s Day. The SAC will also look over feedback from the three suggestion boxes that the SU plans to place around campus to garner student feedback and input. The Student Life committee has not received the response the SU was hoping for, while the community Outreach Committee on the other hand has gone beyond expectations, attracting a following of 154 students and pursuing several initiatives in September including a food bank night, participation in Take Back The Night, and a bottle drive for Trax animal shelter. The Policy Committee’s 9:00 am Wednesday meetings will no longer be held in-camera, but committee organizer Sarah Smith cautioned that the committee working on policy changes does not mean that those changes will make it through Board and be implemented. A new Student Event Committee was established to cater to students who want to plan events in the well; this committee will differ from the existing Student Life Committee in that SL is a partnership with Campus Life and deliberately avoids 19+ events.
Represented by Provincial Executive Rep Abdul Alnaar, the UBCSUO joined many other SUs in the province in criticizing the layout of the student day planners that CFS campuses provide at the start of the year (in particular, the graph paper that was used recieved widespread complaints). On a recommendation at the previous meeting by Alnaar and Tse, the CFS-BC executive committee evaluated the Disability Access Fund. The Disability Access Fund, intended to allow BC Students’ Union executives with disabilities to attend CFS meetings in locations that are difficult to access for them, has grown to $450,000, of which only one eighth has been used. At the next CFS-BC meeting, that growth will be halted until the fund becomes depleted enough to necessitate new more money coming in. At the council meeting Alnaar recommended that the UBCSUO adopt the CFS’s Rock the Vote if a provincial election is called before the end of the school year, citing the easy voter registration available on the Rock The Vote website and ease of running a pre-existing campaign rather than starting a local one from scratch.
News
October 1st, 2012
| The Phoenix
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The journey of Mr. Justin Trudeau Former Prime Minister’s son expected to announce candidacy for Liberal leadership Brandon Taylor Staff Writer
In the past decade, the Liberal Party has suffered through a long list of leaders that failed to live up to the typical standard they had come to expect. Jean Chrétien’s majority government represented a moment of triumph, that has since given way to the rise of Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party as majority. After Paul Martin succeeded Chrétien as PM in 2003 and later stepped down during their time as official opposition, there has been a veritable power vacuum at the head of the Liberal Party. Stéphane Dion was next to take up the mantle and proposed a series of environmentally-friendly provisions that alienated voters and inflamed parliament. That moment of dissension, intermingled with their lowest popular support ever and decisive federal election loss, led to the May 2009 appointment of Michael Ignatieff as leader of the Liberals. It would not be long before the 2011 election where Jack Layton, the late leader of the NDP, ended Ignatieff’s reign with a single sentence.
It was noted on more than one occasion that Ignatieff was not often present for house votes in Ottawa, and Layton flatly commented: “You know, most Canadians, if they don’t show up for work, they don’t get a promotion.” And so went another Liberal leader and the Grits power vacuum continued. Bob Rae filled in as interim leader and eventually stated on June 12, 2012 that he will not run for the leadership role, despite flirting with the notion in a few interviews. He was quoted by the CBC, saying “It was a difficult decision to make, it wasn’t a slam dunk. It was a matter of weighing things as carefully as you can and saying, on balance, this is what I think is in the better interest of the party than otherwise.” That left the lectern open for any man or woman willing to heed the call. Some theorized, others voiced their interest, and the rest, despite hesitation, have forcibly lifted one man up ever since the thought was even suggested.
That man was Justin Trudeau. It seems like the perfect match of man and party: Justin was brought up in the midst of his charismatic father’s Pierre Trudeau tenure as Liberal Prime Minister. The major drawback is the fact that Justin is only 40 years old. Having Trudeau face off with weathered veterans like Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper could reveal a noticeable lack of political gamesmanship in comparison. But as The Star’s Bob Hepburn writes: “Stephen Harper was 43 when he assumed the Reform party leadership and 46 when elected prime minister. Peter MacKay was barely 38 in 2003 when he became the last leader of the Progressive Conservative party, which soon merged with Reform. Brian Mulroney was 45 when he became prime minister in 1984 and Pierre Trudeau was 48 when was first elected prime minister.” So the issue of age is merely a point of contention amongst pundits, but the inexperience is something
the current leaders will wish to exploit. iPolitics contributor Lawrence Martin paraphrases Mulcair’s recent comments, “As for policy, says Mulcair, before you get the keys to running this country, you have to have credibility on economic issues, his suggestion being that Trudeau lacks it. Indeed Trudeau has virtually no experience in the area.” Trudeau might not be ready for the national spotlight in terms of his age, but he will inevitably draw out the youth vote and sway voters who might have converted to the NDP during Jack Layton’s tenure. That is a major draw for the Liberals and it appears to have clouded their vision for the long-term future of the party. Frequent National Post political commentator Michael Den Tandt writes, “Through three election cycles, now, the Liberals have clung to their Biblical myth of return, whereby a hero emerges from the mists, takes up his sword and leads them back to the Promised Land. At what
point does it get old?” The Liberal Party is now occupying the same centre-left ideology as Mulcair’s NDP. Trudeau doesn’t appear to have anything else to bring to the table beyond engaging the youth vote, which has been a large part of his work as a Member of Parliament. Bruce Anderson’s article addressing Trudeau’s limited resumé mentions, “so far, its hard not to wonder if [engaging the youth vote] is the sum total of Mr. Trudeau’s aspiration for the country. If so, there’s little chance, no matter how charming a man he is, that it will be enough to put the Liberal Party back in the game.” Despite detractors’ comments, Kathryn Blaze Carlson’s National Post report notes that recent polls indicate that if an election were held right now, Trudeau would bring the Liberals to victory. Justin Trudeau might be young and inexperienced, but the people like him. As Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff can attest, sometimes that’s all that matters.
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Worth checking into. Justin Trudeau is expected to put his name in for leadership of the Liberal party.
Photo by batmoo(flickr)
Events & Games squarecircle
Laura Sciarpelletti
events@thephoenixnews.com
by lucas glenn
talked triangle OCT. 1stso-i OCT.14Th into trying a taste tomorrow Secret Broadcast Live at The Well Oct 2, 9 PM The Well The more live music in your lives the better. And it’s only $5!
that that that that ha, try saying that that that ten times that that really fast thatNight that Well Wednesday Kareoke Oct 3 & 7, 9 PM-2 AM The Well $12 pitchers of Sub, $3.50 cups of Sub, and $3.75 tequila shots on special! Mhmmmmm tequila.
Social Justice Week Film and Discussion Oct 3, 2 PM University Centre Theatre, UNC 107 Featuring ‘Dear Mandela.’
FCCS Visiting Authors Series Oct 4, 7 PM Okanagan Regional Library Local authors Nancy Holmes and Anne Fleming will be launching their newest books.
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fuck yourself. Wing Night Oct 4 & 11, 6-10 PM The Well 35 cent per wing. There is only so much I can write about wings lucas glenn
A Very Indie Thanksgiving A Name Unheard Oct 5, Doors open at 7 PM Oct 5 Kelowna Community Theatre Doc Willoughby’s Pub by lucas glenn Fields of Green, Joyful Door, The Vancouver-based indie band Vandamsel, and Windmills peris apparently kind of awesome. form. $10 at the door. All ages. Again...live music! $10 cover. thanks for the back massage it’s no problem
Burton Movie Premiere “13” Oct 11 Doc Willoughby’s Pub Snowboarding film premiere, Not my thing, but for all you actually athletic people out there... but you have this huge knot that’s just in your back my corner
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Off International 2012 Oct 11-14, 7 PM Paramount Theatre This film festival will award and showcase talent in internation cinema. www.offestival.ca
Fred Eaglesmith: The Travelling Steam Show Oct 13, 7:30 PM Rotary Centre for the Arts For those into bluegrass, folk and rock music. gross.
Studio ONE 11 lucas glenn
squarecircle
by lucas glenn
thank you i think i am getting fat
problem solved
lucas glenn
squarecircle
by lucas glenn
sorry, we don’t serve your kind here.
hello
$
$
because that would be cannibalism
i sure hope not
$
$ lucas glenn
An independent zine and art book publishing co-op affiliated with the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Arts in the RCA Top right: Brit Bachmann. Bottom left Jeff Ellom, Lucas Glenn. Bottom Right: Corie Waugh. Photo by Nadine Bradshaw
squarecircle
i have a name you know
by lucas glenn
so i’ve been thinking
what about?
because you are a square and and we are both inside of a square
are we not inside a hugely sized you?
lucas glenn
Arts
Janelle Sheppard
arts@thephoenixnews.com
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The Emmys 2012: a predictable evening
Rumnique Nannar Features Editor
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elevision is having quite a renaissance, with many movie stars gravitating towards the challenging and indelible TV roles being offered. The Primetime Emmys are the biggest night in television, but this year predictability ruled the show. Fan favourites like Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Downton Abbey have consistently grown from season to season, but in spite of leading in nominations those shows were majorly shut out of the key awards. Instead, the 64th Emmys came down to three
major clean sweeps: Homeland, Modern Family, and Game Change. This meant a very divisive show that is likely to generate some resentment. You can blame some of the predictability on the voting process that 15,000 members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences go through. Basically, members sign up to join an exclusive club: they fill out an application form! Then they are allowed to enter the Academy based on an endorsement by two existing members, unless they have been nominated in the last four years (e.g Jon Hamm). The members are divided into their respective peer groups of actors, directors, writers, etc. to vote within these groups. Once the final list is made up, a secret jury makes the final call by ranking nominees from 1 to 6; the winners are the ones with the lowest score. This can lead to a bit of vote splitting in the accounts room, which can explain some surprising wins over the years. Case in point: Jon Cryer’s win this time for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
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n a season where Don Draper felt out of touch in the swinging 60s in Mad Men and Nucky confronted his adoptive son in Boardwalk Empire, the sweeps seemed like complete oversights.
Homeland, though a good show, simply could not sustain the same tension or cleverness that Breaking Bad and Downton Abbey did. In the biggest sweep of the night, the show garnered Outstanding Lead Actor, Actress, Drama Series, and Writing. The show follows Claire Danes as she fights off the voices in her head and the suspicions that Damian Lewis’s war hero might just be a terrorist. Both Lewis and Danes are perfectly cast, but their wins did feel like part of the major campaign awarding Showtime its first set of Emmys. Homeland is bound to get better and grow in future season but it seemed incongruous in a powerhouse lineup of Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, and Boardwalk Empire. Meanwhile, in an all-time low for the show, Mad Men lost all of its 17 nominations in a completely criminal move. It was such a sterling year for acting and the Homeland sweep just felt wrong. How could such a chilling performance by Bryan Cranston, or Steve Buscemi’s transformation into more than half a gangster go overlooked? Or Michelle Dockery’s spirited turn as Mary Crawley or Elizabeth Moss’s investment in the wonderful Peggy Olson? Despite questionable wins, the acting category nominations were brilliant and showcased the range
of excellent performances this year. There were some consolations prizes with Aaron Paul’s heartening win as Outstanding Supporting Actor, beating out his costar and my personal choice Giancarlo Esposito, and Maggie Smith’s win as the witty Lady Grantham in Downton Abbey.
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he comedy category suffered from a Modern Family hangover; the show completely dominated with Eric Stonestreet’s Supporting Actor win, Julie Bowen’s Supporting Actress, Comedy Series, and Directing. The nominations left out Parks and Rec’s brilliant season, Louis CK’s eponymous show, and perennial dark horse Community, which already prickles considering Modern Family’s rather middling season. While Modern Family started out fresh, it seemed to be stuck in a sophomore slump midway through the season. This third straight win for the series was total overkill given its worthy competitors, and may have confirmed Modern Family as one of those overrated shows that will continue its journey downwards if the writing does not shape up. Jon Cryer’s surprise win may have been to provide a good spin on the Charlie Sheen debacle that plagued the show or just a case of vote splitting between the expected and hinted
winner Jim Parsons or Alec Baldwin. But it would have been far better if Don Cheadle had pulled a gratifying surprise win out of the hat.
T
he mini-series and movies category thankfully offered up some varied wins and a much more deserving sweep by the witty Game-Change. The HBO movie about Sarah Palin took home Outstanding TV Movie, Writing, Directing and Outstanding Lead Actress for Julianne Moore. Kevin Costner’s win for Outstanding Lead Actor for the same show added more credibility to the History Channel since its Kennedys series flameout. Costner beat Idris Elba who was expected to follow up his surprise Golden Globe win for crime drama Luther. The perfect nominations and deserving winners of this portion of the show reminded you of the brilliant mini-series and TV movies we had this year. Overall, the night’s predictable wins that are sure to divide fans, but it has been a brilliant year for television and it’s impressive that the surprise sweeps managed to fight off such stiff competition. And for the performers and shows that were robbed, there will still be another chance at the Golden Globes. Graphic modeled on official Emmy logo
Breaking Bad’s end: Walt vs. Hank Viewers can expect a meth king and DEA agent showdown in summer 2013 Laura Sciarpelletti Events Editor
The Breaking Bad mid-season finale truly marked the beginning of theend for the series. The television show that brought actor Brian Cranston and the rest of the cast many award wins and nominations will have a split final season. The first half premiered this past summer to large audiences and kept viewers and critics on their toes with coldblooded murders and piles upon piles of blue methamphetamine. At the beginning of Breaking Bad, Walter White was an ‘everyman’. His sudden cancer diagnosis sent him in a panic over the future of his family. He began to add numbers and sums continuously in his mind, obsessing
over how his wife, son, and thenunborn daughter would survive after his demise. And so it began: the high school chemistry teacher’s entry into the world of meth production and drug deals. After nearly five seasons of near misses, endless murders, and putting his family in danger, Walter has become an almost completely different person. At the beginning of the series, he was considered to be somewhat of a pushover, lacking respect from most people, including his students and car wash boss. Once Walter got a taste of the power and respect that comes from being the greatest meth manufacturer around, all of his personal flaws
that had been fairly minor before grew to extreme portions. Having started a company with his friends at a young age and sold out forfive thousand dollars, Walter was used to mediocrity. The company grew to beworth billions of dollars, and Walter never quite forgave himself for the choice. Oneof his biggest personal flaws, pride, begins to take over him completely, especially by season five. The most recent season saw Walter practically holding his family hostage all for the sake of his achieving “an empire.” And achieve it he did, as well as leave it by the end of the last episode. This left the writing team no choice but to set
his brother-in-law, DEA agent Hank, hot on his trail. Now, as the time for returning to the writing room approaches, creator Vince Gilligan is struggling with how to end the popular and twisted series. “We are in a decidedly undecided state,” said Gilligan in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. “There’s an undercurrent of tension related to how we feel about the terrible prospect of ending it badly.” Walter is brilliant, yes, but Hank is a worthy adversary whose ability to read people works as an important asset. He has been blind to his brotherin-law’s life of crime before the
mid-series finale, allowing family to cloud his judgment. But now that the veil has been lifted, it seems that Hank will certainly prove to be extremely problematic and possibly even ruthless in Walter’s fate. “There is now nothing ahead of us but the long-awaited Walt and Hank showdown, and nothing—not even Walt’s day-today meth-making—to get in its way,” wrote critic Willa Paskin for the online magazine Salon. “Eight episodes should be enough to finish up Walt’s story. When it’s all done, [the most recent] episode will be, hopefully, the closest he ever came to a happy ending.”
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The Phoenix |
Arts
October 1st, 2012
The Jezabels bring their unique sound to The Habitat Australian indie band performed to a sober Kelowna crowd on September 11th Laura Sciarpelletti Events Editor
On September 11th at The Habitat, The Jezabels, an indie rock group from Australia, performed in front of an eager and particularly sober crowd. The Habitat, which had been informed only a few hours before the show that they were not allowed to serve alcohol that evening, hosted the group. Vancouver indie folk band Wake Owl opened for The Jezabels, which was an unexpected musical contrast. The Jezebels consists of lead singer Hayley Mary, keyboardist Heather Shannon, drummer Nik Kaloper, and guitarist Samuel Lockwood. Kelowna was one of their first stops on the Canadian portion of their tour, and the group seemed excited to be there and delighted with the audience. After the performance, I spoke with lead singer Hayley Mary.
although we had that problem with the police coming in during sound check and saying that we couldn’t sell alcohol tonight.
LS: How did you like the audience tonight, and what do you think was the best part of your performance?
LS: Why do you think it is important for young people to take the time to go to live shows like yours? HM: That’s a good question, no one has ever asked me that.
HM: The audience was great,
LS: Why did they do that? HM: We thought it was because we were playing illegally or something, but no. The crowd was really good once they came forward in the second song. I was very, very impressed with their ability to maintain the energy without alcohol. I did think for a moment about how much we rely on alcohol for a good time as a culture. LS: How do you like Canada? HM: I really like the people. There’s a strange conservativeness that seems to come from the authorities.
I think that if you liken it to theatre, the stage is a very important place with the kind of fringes of mainstream culture. I think it’s a good way of gauging where politics are coming into things. It’s hard to say nowadays since everything is so fractured. There are so many newartists and bands coming into play. The human element is important; to create a sound that’s really good is a skill. To create it live is something that not a lot of people have, but it’s a way of recognizing if a band means or feels what they are doing. Maybe I’m looking for some kind of authenticity where you get a real sense of reality or whether it means anything to the band. LS: Where do you draw a lot of inspiration from? Is there any band that has changed the way you write or the way you perform your music? HM: Well all the Jezabels have different styles. But as we were forming there were a couple of really important bands like
Arcade Fire and The National coming up. It wasn’t so much that we wanted to be like them but that we wanted to sound like them. In some ways we’ve been compared to them, mostly because we have a female vocalist. These bands were popular, but they have politics behind them and they have an ideology that sometimes particular indie music is lacking. Sometimes when things start, they have meaning, but eventually evolve into something meaningless. LS: Nothing particularly important or special? HM: Exactly. I think hearing these bands was important because they were writing catchy songs, but with politics behind them. Particularity the lyrics have a lot of weight to them and reflect the problems of today. I think those bands really influenced us. LS: What is a goal you and your band would like to achieve within the next couple of years.
HM: We don’t really have those. We have blind ambition. We’re not lacking in aim, but we don’t have a particular direction. One important aim is that we’re all satisfied creatively. LS: What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment so far? HM: Probably the album. Everything we’ve released so far we’ve considered to be the best thing we’ve ever done. Right now it’s Prisoner. The tour surrounding it was big too. It was just a step into the real world for us. In a matter of two years we went from 400 capacity venues to 5,000 or more. That was mostly all based on this last album. The Jezabels hope to return to Kelowna soon, and will hopefully perform for an even bigger audience. Some of the band’s most enjoyable performances were of singles Horsehead and Trycolour.
Arts
October 1st, 2012
| The Phoenix
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Breaking down the Door JoyfulDoor on the band’s growth, the Kelowna music scene, and their upcoming show Cameron Welch
Photos by Hanss Lujan (The Phoenix)
Editor-in-chief
Doors are finally starting to open for Kelowna indie rock act JoyfulDoor. After a spring and summer spend building momentum, the band will join an Okanagan all-star lineup of Vernon’s Windmills, Kamloops’s Van Damsel, and West Kelowna’s Fields of Green—the winners of the 2012 Fox Seeds competition in Vancouver—for the October 5th “A Very Indie Thanksgiving” show at the Kelowna Community Theatre. After starting out as a lyric in one of frontman James Balehowsky’s solo songs, JoyfulDoor went through almost two years of gestation and lineup changes before emerging this summer as one of the foremost indie bands in Kelowna. In 2010, Balehowsky was finishing up an animation degree in Vancouver and working on lo-fi bedroom music as a solo artist when he heard that his friend Zac Gauthier was returning to the Okanagan from Ontario. When he got back to Kelowna, Balehowsky made a point of jamming with Gauthier and the two began writing music together. Throughout 2011 they wrote and jammed, adding James Nicholson on bass and bringing in Gauthier’s wife Kayla to play piano. “2011 kind of sucked,” Balehowsky explained, “because we were showing people new stuff and me and Zac were playing the songs for so long but there wasn’t, in Kelowna, too many opportunities to play.” “As a musician, when you write songs and you never record [or perform] them and they just float there, it feels like such a waste. It’s like doing an oil painting and just putting it in the rain and letting it wash away.”
Going into 2012, the band hit another setback when Nicholson quit to focus on Family (literally the band Family. Not his family. Although I’m sure he loves them.) He stuck around long enough to record the band’s first EP, More Than Sparrows, and the remaining members then brought in bassist Steve Wickenheiser to listen to them play the tracks. The next time they met up, Wickenheiser brought his gear and joined the band. “It just clicked,” Balehowsky explained, “I think he brings a different thing to JoyfulDoor. Me and Zac are very focused and almost too serious sometimes, and he ‘s a bit more lighthearted… so it’s good to have that balance.” With that lineup in place, JoyfulDoor headlined an early summer show before Balehowsky left to travel in South America. When he returned, the band jumped back into gigs, playing multiple shows in the last weeks of summer including Vernon’s Riot on the Roof and the Kelowna Terry Fox Run. “[In] 2012 there have been way more opportunities,” Balehowsky said, “but I still feel like Kelowna needs to open up more.” “When I was in high school and middle school, I was going to shows almost every second week. It was a whole different scene back then—there were like 400 kids coming out, and they were sweet shows. It was a full show, not just a guy playing acoustic. And it just crashed and burned big time.”
in Kelowna. Since then, most of the post-Born-For-Battle generation of Kelowna indie bands (Treelines, Kingdom Cloud, We Are The City, Poor Little Rich Girl, and the aforementioned Fields of Green) have broken up or moved to the coast, without many new local bands appearing to take their place. Van Damsel’s Matthew Barron echoed Balehowsky’s disappointment in the downfall of the all-ages show in the Okanagan. “To put on an all-ages show one must rent out a hall and front the rent, PA, and a soundman, which can be very expensive and not often worth the investment. And we don’t want to charge big cover prices for shows because that often deters people from coming out.” Vernon local Cory Myraas (aka Windmills) feels that the Kelowna situation isn’t so bad compared to his hometown. “The Vernon scene doesn’t exist. Unless you are a mid-30s+ solo acoustic act and the coffee shop circuit is your niche. Kelowna seems more willing to offer venues, and the kids, young adults, adults, etc will come out to see live music.” 4th year Anthropology student Stephanie Zahara, the co-organizer for the October 5th show, felt it was important to link up artists with bigger venues and more casual fans. “The Community Theatre usually has older acts and more of an older crowd, so I want to get that turned around a bit and get younger acts in there and get that kind of fanbase going.”
Since that heyday of Born For Battle (popular 2004-2007 Kelowna hardcore band that Belahowsky played in) and Alphababy (now Yukon Blonde), there has been a dramatic decline in all-ages shows
The success of August’s Riot on the Roof in Vernon and similar major local shows is an encouraging sign for the upcoming concert. “Hopefully it will bring people who haven’t heard us and then
they’ll tell their friends,” Belehowsky said. “Hopefully there will be that rolling effect.” That October 5th concert will be Kayla’s second-last show with JoyfulDoor; she’s leaving the band next month (that’s why she isn’t in these pictures with the others). Unlike with their previous setbacks, the band believes they can absorb the change and keep rolling: to Belahowsky at least,
JoyfulDoor has become more than just the four members in a room together. “We might start playing the new stuff even if we don’t have a piano player,” he said. “We definitely feel more confident as a band.” With that newfound confidence and the band’s growing local following, the Thanksgiving show looks sure to be a Joyful occasion.
Check out thephoenixnews.com for more, including details on Joyful Door’s new disc and all three bands’ thoughts on how Vancouver weighs in local musicians’ minds.
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The Phoenix |
Arts
October 1st, 2012
Fall 2012 album reviews Janelle Sheppard Arts Editor
Mumford & Sons Babel
Dave Matthews Band Away From the World
Bob Dylan Tempest
Mumford & Sons’ long awaited album, Babel, was released on September 24th, 2012. It is the band’s second studio album thus far, not including an intriguing EP they created with Laura Marling and the Rajasthani folk collective Dharohar Project in 2012 (lyrics from which I was excited to find featured in this new album). Upon first listen, the album is easily recognizable as another strongly heartbroken offspring of the English folk band. This does not undermine the brisk yet melodic performance of their second studio album, however, as the unique familiarity of deep, chunky acoustic rhythms are augmented by an increase in melodic banjo riffs. There is no shortage of male harmonies in this album either, as Marcus Mumford’s lead vocals, strongly professing the continuous knightly themes, are softly supported by the vocals of the “sons”. The music itself is busier and fuller sounding than their 2009 album, Sigh No More, but, of course, the new album is strewn with more deliciously cobbled poetry. The robust lyrics consist of themes of uncertain, persistent love and a juxtaposing certainty in weakness, all the while emanating a courageous, Braveheart-like demeanor. Babel does not disappoint, as the enlarged and chivalrous heart of the band remains the most noble of gentlemen to Mumford & Son’s listeners.
Dave Matthews Band also released a new album September 11th, 2012. It seems as though Dave and the band are an eternal beast that will never run dry of ambiguous love songs backed up by incredible jazzy musicianship. The new album, Away from the World, is no exception to the alienated being that Dave Matthews is. The title of the album itself suggests a separation from everyday reality, to look at the world from “away”. Dave’s poetic diddles and their regular, jazzy, improvised feel create a musical atmosphere that one cannot help but shake their shoulders to. The word belly is featured twice in the tracklist, which suggests general jolliness, and a deeper hunger. (Am I reading into this too much?) As always, Dave Matthews emits a back porch sort of feel, and sings of fulfilling true love. Dave Matthews has always made me think of a boy in the body of a man, in desperate search for true love, which is nicely reflected in his lyrical use and adaptation of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. Though the new album does not bring any drastically new direction for the band, they have sustained a Dave Matthews band style in the album. Overall the album feels like sipping iced tea on the porch listening to a Dave Matthews gem that you had forgotten about in the bottom of your closet. Classic and comfortable.
Bob Dylan is still alive, and released yet another album on September 10th. Reviews before release said that Tempest, his thirty-fifth studio album, is the album that is going to make Bob Dylan a household name. (I thought Dylan was already a household name, but maybe that is just my household.) This is a time capsule of an album, as the references and themes circle around steam trains, the Titanic, and John Lennon. Dylan’s voice is certainly no more healthy than it has been, as his vocals bear a close resemblance to Tom Waits. (Is this unfortunate for Dylan or Waits? I am not sure.) The album features more instrumentation than some of his earlier albums, probably due to his age and inability to carry a show by himself, as well as his wealth and ability to develop such intricacies. The incessantly chipper and simple chording works in a beautiful contrast to his harsh vocal tones and austere images. Though Bob Dylan may be “like a million years old”, he is still an word artist. His rhymes are as mild as ever as he weaves words such as “bright” and “night” and “starlight”, yet the content of Dylan’s lyrics never cease to be folksy and somewhat esoteric. I’m not sure this album will make Bob Dylan a household name (since apparently he isn’t yet), but the guy deserves some credit for his commitment to his lifelong endeavor as such a unique musician-poet-political figure-artist thing. Good on ya, Bobbie!
Arts
October 1st, 2012
| The Phoenix
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Restaurant Review: MiMi’s Italian Grill These delicious Italian eats are embellished by a chance to support a good cause Amy Stetzl Contributor
Situated around the corner from the Queensway Bus Hub is the modern day take on the Italian classic. The bright mixtures of red and wood grain are an instant hostess into the welcoming atmosphere that is MiMi’s Italian Grill. Upon your first entrance there is your standard choice of inside or outside on the Bernard Avenue patio – but of course either option does not take away from the warmth felt throughout. Inside guests are met with modern architecture and furnishings, with upscale tables and chairs mixed with the odd wall painted into chalkboards. These pieces can easily be moved around to accommodate a party of any size, whether it be a traditional family gathering or a group of friends out for a change of pace. Despite how modern and upscale MiMi’s appears to be, it is actually suitable for any age range so it is extremely family friendly. Although the convenient location and atmosphere are reason enough to make a visit, the food really takes charge.
Each menu is straight to the point with only one page to choose from, but it has what you expect and don’t expect from an Italian eatery. Making a decision may be hard at first, but it is only difficult because of how salivating each of the descriptions are – and not because there are pages upon pages of choices. There are only a handful of choices in each section: Salads, Soups, Appetizers, Pasta, Pizza, and other classic Italian entrées. The other nice aspect of a small menu is that you can also see all of the pricing for all of your options at first glance, so that you can decide whether you are in the mood to splurge while reading and deciding. Mimi’s also has its own offering of beverages – a number of which are local. This elegant restaurant offers both the best and the local for most choices of liquor, and sometimes the two options are one and the same. So that again you have a choice to either splurge or settle for something a little more reasonable. I opted for a hot tea – which of course
they have a number of organically approved options: they even preheated the mug before bringing it to the table. As for the food, for this particular visit I went a tad all out. For an appetizer we started with the Bruschetta which was absolutely what one would hope to expect from an Italian eatery: tomatoes, red peppers, goat cheese, toasted baguette, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), and a sweet balsamic reduction. The only downside was that there were only four pieces…. So it did not last as long as I would have liked. For dinner I chose the Poached Pear and Walnut salad with house made vinaigrette and goat cheese with a cup of the tomato basil soup. The walnuts, poached pears, goat cheese, and vinaigrette mixed perfectly together; the best part is that even the larger version of the salad is less than $10! My partner in dining had the Pesto Chicken Farfalle which was equally delicious; the pesto was not overbearing and balanced out the sauce so that it was not overly rich. For dessert
we decided on their current offering for the Tickled Pink Campaign, where a portion of the proceeds is donated to Breast Cancer Research as a part of the awareness month. Mimi’s pink option was a Strawberry Sorbet with Fresh Strawberries on the side, guaranteed to be gluten and lactose free. Ours also came with some Pear along the side but the real winner for this dessert was that it was the perfect way to end a meal while giving back at the same time. There are many restaurants participating in the Tickle Pink Campaign which runs until October 16th of this year. With many different places to pick from this is one campaign that will give you an excuse to spend the extra $8 on dessert. Participating restaurants and bakeries include: •La Bussola l 1451 Ellis Street, Kelowna •La Cucina Ristorante l 1213640 Gosset Road, West Kelowna •Organic Sunset Bistro l 4870 Chute Lake Road, Kelowna
•Ric’s Grill – Kelowna l 210 Lawrence Street, Kelowna •Sandrine French Pastry l 102A - 1865 Dilworth Street, Kelowna •Blind Angler l 5899 Beach Avenue, Peachland Kelowna •Mimi’s Italian Grill l 366 Bernard Avenue Kelowna •Bliss Bakery l 101-4200 Beach Avenue, Peachland •Minstrel Café and Bar l 4638 Lakeshore Road, Kelowna •The Rotten Grape l 231 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna •The Train Station Pub l 1177 Ellis Street, Kelowna •Old Vines Restaurant at Quail’s Gate l 3303 Boucherie Road, Kelowna •19 Okanagan Grill + Bar l 3509 Carrington Road, Westbank Whether you want to just jump away from the campus options, or you are sick of the takeout, Mimi’s Italian Grill is probably one of the best and most convenient options for you to choose from. It is great for any occasion, so feel free to make a reservation or just pop in with a handful of people.
Poached pear and walnut salad, and tomato basil soup.
Photo by Amy Stetzl
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Features
At the Primetime Emmys on September 23rd, Lena Dunham’s Girls was expected to follow up on all its hype by grabbing a few golden statues. The show was nominated for Best Comedy Series, Directing, Writing, and Lead Actress, but ironically its only win was for Casting. Since its launch in April, the HBO series has faced strong criticism for its ultrawhiteness and the stark lack of diversity in its cast, to the point that it’s become impossible to discuss the show without mentioning the issue. The controversy surrounding Lena Dunham’s Girls is epitomized by this quote from Jenna Wortham’s article at Hairpin: “I just wish I saw a little more of myself on screen, right alongside them.” Her article touches on many issues of identification and expectation associated with being a female spectator. Many women of colour often wish to see someone like themselves onscreen, encountering the same hurdles and triumphs as the white leads. When Girls was first screened, Salon called the show a “generational event” and The New York Times Magazine referred to it as “FUBU: For Us by Us,” along with other rave reviews heralding the show as a game-changer for female-centric shows. Soon after the praise came the backlash from numerous critics bemoaning the lack of diversity and whiteness of the show. The fact that Shona Rimes’ new show Scandal features the first black female lead on ABC in 38 years highlights how underrepresented women of colour are in mainstream television. HBO’s Girls features a white standpoint that feels rather alienating for women of colour who identify with the show. Like many other TV shows set in New York City, Girls offers an all-white NYC populated by only a few men and women of colour who interact with the main characters. While this isn’t explicitly racist, the show marginalizes minorities by presenting the ‘universal’ experience only through whiteness. With television, a white standpoint and set of characters are the ones likeliest to garner ratingsand
please network executives by being most easily relatable to the hypothetical “average” (i.e white) American household.
An Inauthentic NYC In fairness, Girls is deliberate about the privilege and obliviousness of its characters. Unlike the broad universes of Seinfeld or Friends, which intended to show “everyday New York” but integrated only a few (stereotypical) people of colour into the narrative, Girls clearly focuses on the small world of the main quartet. Recent TV in general does seem to be focussing less on the hypothetical “average Americans” and more on specific, homogenous groups
“these girls on Girls are like us, they are like me and they are like you, they are beautiful, they are ballsy, they are trying to figure it out. I just wish I saw a little more of myself on screen, right alongside them ” Jenna Wortham New York Times writer with the mainly Italian Jersey Shore cast, the Baltimore gangsters from The Wire, the Persian socialites on The Shahs of Sunset, or white women in Girls. There are of course exciting and worthy stories focused on homogeneous groups, including white homogenous groups. However, with shows like Downton Abbey (set in upper-class, WW1 Britain) or the slowly integrating
Rumnique Nannar
features@thephoenixnews.com
Mad Men, their historical contexts explain their white casts. But Girls is a modern show set in Brooklyn, where white people make upjust one third of the population. Girls was billed as a generation-defining show that would crystallize the experience of allwomen of a certain age, class, and education. In featuring only white women having these experiences, it fell short of that billing. Even though Girls focuses on a narrower slice of New York, it falsely assumes that that setting is almost all white —just as Seinfeld, Friends, and Sex & the City inaccurately portrayed NY in general as white. Girls staff writer Lesley Arfin tweeted “What really bothered me about Precious was that there was no representation of me” in response to Wortham and other critics who had taken issue with the show’s whiteness. Arfin’s obnoxious joke reveals that she and perhaps her fellow writers genuinely think the criticism is about people not being able to identify with characters who don’t look and act like them. What they seem to not understand is that the non-white audience doesn’t mind looking through a white gaze and seeing representations of people unlike themselves—what they do mind is seeing these girls who are like us (in their ages, interests, and experiences) except that they are all white. For the chunk of the audience who feel alienated by the whiteness of the show, it feels disheartening to be underrepresented once again.
The “Other” Girls Feminist theorist bell hooks explains that “Subordinates in relations of power learn experientially that there is a critical gaze, one that ‘looks’ to document, one that is oppositional. In resistance struggle the power of the dominated to assert agency by claiming and cultivating the ‘awareness’ politicizes ‘looking’ relations—one learns to look a certain way in order to resist.” Here hooks emphasizes
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that in order to resist television and cinema’s usual white normative gaze, the alienated non-white spectator cultivates an oppositional gaze that resists identification and questions the presentation of gender, race, and class. If they do not adopt that gaze, then spectators can go through “a process of identification through regression” (hooks 261). This process involves the woman of colour identifying with the white protagonist while closing down any option for critical analysis. Many women of colour often do this and give a show a pass in order to enjoy or identify with the show. When the show finishes, we come home to ourselves, and reflect on not being represented in that 30 minutes of identification and pleasure. I will admit that this is the way that I watch most of the shows I give passes to; for women of colour, it’s hard not to slip into this approach when watching mainstream tv. Characters of colour often don’t figure into homogenously white shows, because whiteness is a normalized way to present accessible “normal” protagonists. Whiteness is so stabilized that introducing a character of colour runs the risk of being construed as a token. When all the characters are white, a show can ignore race; but once a non-white character enters the equation race has to be acknowledged. In these cases, the mainstream gaze often reinforces its whiteness by presenting people of colour in stereotypical, essentialized roles. Girls features a few of these token people of colour such as the tech- savvy Asian intern, the catcalling black hobo, the sassy black co-worker, and the icy Indian gynecologist. Dunham addressed the whiteness issue in an interview with Christopher Rosen at Huffington Post, saying, “When I get a tweet from a girl who’s like “I’d love to watch the show, but I wish there were more women of colour. You know what? I do, too, and if we have the opportunity to do a second season, I’ll address that. What’s nice is if I could speak for me and it’s resonant for people, then that’s about as much as I could hope for.” As
October 1st, 2012
The four Girls: Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Alison Williams, and Lena Dunaham
| The Phoenix
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Above: photo by Rolling Stone
Opposite page: original photo (behind graphic) from Steven Lovekin/Getty Images
Dunham states, there is a specificity in her work where she is writing from her own experiences; she also told NPR ”I really wrote the show from a gut-level place, and each character was a piece of me or based on someone close to me.” Dunham has been certainly successful in translating her vision into the universal issues that these women face which has worked for a section of the audience. Yet the show’s overriding whiteness feels distancing for many women of colour who may identify with some of the characters. Despite her statements to Huffington Post, it still seems like she really can’t get race right. On twitter she recently posted a picture of herself wearing a blanket like a hijab and joked, “I had a real Goth/fundamentalist attitude when I woke up from my nap.” Dunham comes off as glib and offensive, which does little to endear to women of colour who already feel excluded from her whitewashed vision.
White to the Core? Dunham herself acknowledged in the NPR interview that she has difficulty getting outside of her whiteness, saying, “This show isn’t supposed to feel exclusionary. It’s supposed to feel honest, and it’s supposed to feel true to
many aspects of my experience. Something I wanted to avoid was tokenism in casting ... Not that the experience of an African-American girl and a white girl are drastically different, but there has to be specificity to that experience [that] I wasn’t able to speak to.” It does make sense that Dunham would be wary of diversity for diversity’s sake.
“When I get a tweet from a girl who’s like “I’d love to watch the show, but I wish there were more women of colour. You know what? I do, too, and if we have a second season I’ll address that ” Lena Dunham, Girls creator Many of television’s minority characters are added to shows to lend a certain faux credibility to the storylines, and there is a possibility this will happen on Girls
given the mounting pressure to include a person of colour. Since Dunham’s view as creator is, as she seems to suggest, fundamentally white, then a minority voice should be added to the creative team, not just the cast – not to appease critics but help the show reach its potential as a chronicle of the experiences of our generation of women. In light of the praise and accolades, Girls is clearly sold as a generation-defining show, which Dunham has willingly accepted. In taking up that mantle of “generation-defining”, Dunham and co. have renounced their ability to pass the show off as simply a personal narrative. If the show wants to be an example of a seminal and generational-defining show for countless young women, then it cannot shrug off its universality just because Dunham has written the show from her own experiences and her intensely personal vision. The whiteness of the show seems to betray the vision of it being a universal space where a wide range of women may identify with the quartet and recognize the same faults and problems they’ve encountered as well. If the show was meant to be a retelling of experiences and ewncounters of postcollegiate twentysomething women, then it crucially misses a section of the female audience that would be on board with it. If the show is going to deal with the large group of women facing the same
problems as her, then she should step up and feature diversity instead of shirking away from the issue (and ignoring the “generation-defining” mantle) when it becomes glaringly obvious and inconvenient. Dunham is right to stand by her vision by making her justifications for the show’s whiteness in interviews to Huffington Post and NPR. But she needs to decide if that vision is telling a personal story of her and her friends or telling the story of the wide group of women with experiences like hers. In a season where the wildly successful Bridesmaids had already gotten the ‘girls can be funny too’ ball rolling, Girls was expected to capture that zeitgeist and succeed as a realistic representation of twentysomething women. It presents a largely relatable show that distances itself from those of us who identify with the problems presented. We either need to continue adopting the oppositional gaze when watching TV or look to other avenues to resist the hegemonic narratives offered by television, such as web series like The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl or independent TV networks. There was, and still is, a lot of pressure on Girls to be so many things for so many women and so far it’s fallen short. But here’s hoping that somewhere a non-white 25-year-old just successfully pitched a show that will show the rest of us onscreen.
Sports
Jesse Shopa
sports@thephoenixnews.com
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Just like they drew it up Heat women earn draws versus VIU and Capilano Jesse Shopa Sports Editor
Michelle Smith (2nd year, Vernon BC) fights for first touch. All things considered, the Heat left the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd on a good note, earning two draws versus Capilano University and Vancouver Island University. The two draws puts the Heat in the fourth and final playoff spot; two points ahead of the Langara College Falcons. It was a defensive battle in the Heat’s first game of the weekend, as the Heat and Mariners
scored a goal apiece that resulted in a 1-1 draw. A cool day in Nanaimo translated to a cool day offensively for both squads, as both teams struggled to find their rhythm offensively. The Heat notched the first goal of the match off a beautiful header by first-year midfielder Alana Hazell (Kelowna, BC), but the team was unable to maintain the lead. Vancouver Island University forward Rachel Jones (1st year,
Photo by UBC Athletics and Recreation
Lanzville, BC) tied thegame on a header of her own shortly after the Hazell goal, but neither VIU nor the Heat could find the net for a second time. Following the game versus VIU, the Heat were determined to get off to a better start on the 23rd versus Capilano. In the end the Heat and the Capilano Blues had a goal apiece, settling for a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes of play. “Our effort from the starting
whistle was good,” observed head coach Claire Paterson. “We outplayed Capilano for most of the game, building upon [Saturday].” Freshman midfielder Mairi Horth (Ladysmith, BC) put away the lone goal for the Heat in the second half off of a rebound in the Capilano 18-yard box to go up 1-0. In the last 20 minutes the Blues tied the game up, capitalizing on a wayward Heat pass. “Although we didn’t lose a
match this weekend, ties can come back to haunt us,” added Paterson. “We need to continue to bring our best performance each match and capitalize on our opportunities.” The Heat will look to get into the win column on Saturday, October 7th, when the team travels to Newton, BC to take on the Kwantlen Eagles. October 8th will see the Heat take on Douglas College in Coquitlam, BC.
Heat men come up goalless in weekend series Offense stifled in losses to Capilano and VIU Jesse Shopa Sports Editor
An unproductive weekend offensively for Heat men’s soccer saw the team drop both their games against Capilano University and Vancouver Island University. In an already tight PACWEST playoff race, the men from UBC’s Okanagan campus were unable to secure any points in the standings, and now sit four points back of Thompson Rivers University. The WolfPack control the final PACWEST playoff spot with seven points in the standings. The Heat’s first weekend game against the Mariners of VIU saw the Heat in a defensive
battle early. Both squads were unable to mount much offense, but VIU was able to sneak in a goal late in the first half. Within striking distance, the Heat pressed hard in the second half, creating numerous goal-scoring opportunities that unfortunately did not translate into goals. An additional two goals by the Mariners ensured a Heat comeback was all but snuffed out. The following game against Capilano proved better for the Heat, in terms of performance. The Heat played stronger, and it translated on the field. A crucial
game for both teams: in terms of playoff positioning, the Heat and the Blues came out flying. Unfortunately for the Heat, they found themselves on the losing side of a 2-0 Blues win. Tied 0-0 at the half, the Heat were pressing hard in the final 45 minutes. Three great scoring opportunities saw the Heat come up with no goals, allowing Capilano to remain in the game. The Blues capitalized on a penalty kick in the 65th minute, and put the game away in the 75th on a chip through that was eventually buried in the bottom corner of the Heat net.
The game ended a disappointing weekend for the Heat, who return to the Okanagan without a win. As head coach Dante Zanatta reiterated, “it was disappointing to travel and lose both games. We played better today, and had great chances to score, but we missed on those chances and it came back to haunt us.” However, coach Zanatta is still hopeful in his team’s ability to turn things around. “If we can put together two good matches for 90 minutes each day and create some luck of our own, that’s six points to
put us back in the playoff race.” The Heat will continue play on October 6th, travelling to Newton, BC to take on Kwantlen Polytechnic University in a rematch that saw the two teams leave in a tie. The men will then travel to Douglas College to take on the Royals in Coquitlam, BC on October 7th. UBC Okanagan will return home for play at Nonis Field on Saturday, October 13th to face Langara College at 3:00 pm. The following day, Sunday the 14th, the Heat will host the Quest University Kermodes. Game time is set for 2:00 pm.
Sports
October 1st, 2012
| The Phoenix
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Heat play host to Fe Voleibol Argentino Face U23 national team in first exhibition games of the season Jesse Shopa Sports Editor
Fifth-year outside hitter Nate Speijer (Penticton, BC) and middle Leo Schober (2nd year, Kelowna, BC) close the block. September 22nd and 23rd saw the UBCO men’s volleyball team welcome the Argentinian U23 national team to Kelowna to begin the 2012 exhibition season for the Heat. This rare opportunity for the men’s team was in part due to the Pan American Cup being held in Langley, BC from September 25th to the 30th. Not only was this a great chance to face a team outside the Canada West division, it was also a great opportunity for the Heat to compete against some of the best players in the world and see how they match up competitively. The Argentinians, sending their U23 team, are the favourites to win the Pan Am Cup. The first game between the two squads
got off to a hot start for the Heat. Middle Brett Uniat (5th year, Cochrane, AB) established an early net presence, tallying two huge blocks on Argentinian outside hitter Gonzalo Lapera. First-year setter Kristoff Schlagintweit impressed as well, leading the Heat offense with poise and some great setting. The Heat went on to win the set 2521. However, the Argentinians battled back with finesse volleyball, running much of their attack off the Heat block. Frustrated, the Heat lost composure and the match 1-3 (25-21, 21-25, 16-25, 18-25). The second game on the 23rd was much of the same, as the Heat were unable to knock off the high-flying Argentinians. The result was a 0-3 loss (21-25, 24-26, 25-20).
Despite the result, head coach Greg Poitras was pleased with how his team performed. “We adjusted well to their style of play, which is different from the type of play we’re used to [in the CIS],” remarked Poitras. “I just think we need to execute a little better.” Obviously, Poitras’s intent was not to get a victory, but to expose his team to a higher level of competition that is not otherwise found in the CIS. All things considered, the Heat performed extremely well, and held their own against a great squad in Fe Voleibol Argentino. The most impressive aspect of the game was how well the Heat rookies performed. Kristoff Schlagintweit and set-
Photo by Jesse Shopa
ter Jonathan Russo (2nd year, Lake Country, BC) played extremely well in both games, making for an interesting position battle for the rest of the exhibition season. Jim Bell (1st year, Surrey, BC) also showed flashes of brilliance in the middle on a few big solo blocks. Added Poitras, “We expect our new guys to be ready, and be impact players for our team. That’s why they are here.” The Heat continue the preseason September 26th, as they are set to face Fudan University from China at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver, BC. The Heat will not play an exhibition game at home, and will open up the regular season October 26th versus TRU in Kamloops.
Heat women open up volleyball exhibition in Guelph Newcomers shine in series split versus the Gryphons Jesse Shopa Sports Editor
The women’s volleyball team from UBC Okanagan opened up the exhibition season on the road on September 21st, traveling to Ontario to face the Guelph Gryphons in a two-game weekend series. In the first game, the Heat came out strong and won the first set in a convincing manner, taking the set by 13 points. However, the Heat offense sputtered and the Gryphons eventually took the next three sets and the match 3-1 (12-25 ,26-24, 25-19, 25-20).
Outside hitters Megan Festival (1st year, Calgary, AB) and Myrte Schön (4th year, Langley, BC) led the Heat offense with seven kills apiece. Middle Katy Klomps (2nd year, Surrey, BC) contributed six kills to the Heat offensive effort, and third year libero Kailin Jones (Kelowna, BC) contributed 13 digs. The second game between both squads resulted in a much better showing from the Heat, who dismantled Guelph in a 3-0 match route (25-10, 25-21, 25-19).
Coach Manuel opted to play the majority of the Heat newcomers, who played a high energy game against the Gryphons. The first set between both clubs was close in the early stages, but clutch serving by outside hitter Kaitlynn Given (1st year, Kelowna, BC), middle Katie Wuttunee (2nd year, North Vancouver, BC) and setter Emily Oxland (1st year, North Vancouver, BC) sent the Heat on a 16-3 run to clinch the first set. In the second set, the Gryphons played tough, taking a 15-
10 lead. However, the young Heat squad showed a lot of composure and clawed their way back to go on a 15-6 run and up two sets to none. The third set was a carbon copy of the second set; close early on with the Gryphons taking a 15-11 lead. At 14-18, it looked as if the Heat were headed to a fourth set, but Kendra Wayling (4th year, Castlegar, BC) stepped to the service line and ran off nine straight serves to put the match out of reach for Guelph. “This was an outstanding train-
ing and competition weekend for us,” head coach Steve Manuel said. “Both teams used the weekend to experiment a bit with lineups while working on preparing for league play. We saw some things that we need to work on but we also saw some very bright spots in our lineup.” The Heat will return to their training regime for the next few weeks until they compete in the West Coast Classic on October 19-21 at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
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Sports
October 1st, 2012
Heat get weekend sweep over Seattle Mountaineers Win pair of games 87-84, 97-82 Jesse Shopa Sports Editor
In the first weekend of play for the UBCO men’s basketball team, the Heat welcomed the visiting Seattle Mountaineers of the American Basketball Association for the first exhibition games of the season. Saturday saw the two teams play a tightly contested game at Immaculata Secondary, with the Heat turning it on in the fourth quarter to edge out the Mountaineers 87-84. Fourth-year wing Azi Fahandeg-Sadi (Kelowna, BC) led all Heat scorers with 27 points on 8-17 shooting (4-9 3PT FG), many of which came in a 22-13 fourth quarter that lifted the Heat to victory. Landry Ndayitwayeko (4th year, Ottawa, ON) added 11 points and 7 rebounds to the cause. For the Mountaineers, Rashaad Powell (Renton, WA) led his squad with 32 points. After such a close game on Saturday, the Heat were determined to get off to a betterstart Sunday. UBCO got out to a hot start and did not look back in a 97-82 throttling of the Mountaineers. After an off day Saturday, guard Yassine Ghomari (4th year, Vancouver, BC) led the Heat behind 23 points on 9-12 shooting; 4-5 from beyond the arc. Freshman Greet Gill (Guard, Osoyoos, BC) matched Ghomari with 23 points of his own on 8-12 shooting. Gill was also 3-4 on 3-point shooting. The Heat’s field goal percentage for the day was a red-hot 52.2%. More importantly, the Heat played inspired defense, and remained committed to defending the painted area. Head coach Pete Guarasci was extremely pleased with his team’s weekend performance. “I was really happy with the way our guys competed, supported each other, and how we played together,” said Guarasci. “What I was most impressed
Yassine Ghomari, a 4th year originally from Vancouver, looks to lead the HEAT offense again this year.
with was that we were better [Sunday] than we were [Saturday]. We made improvements on the things we wanted to improve
on, and that gives me lots of confidence moving forward.” The men’s basketball squad will continue exhibition Thurs-
day, October 11th, as the Heat will travel to Calgary, Alberta to face either Mount Royal University or the University of Calgary.
Photo by Jesse Shopa
The Heat will return home on October 18th to face York University at the UBC-O Gymnasium at 7:00 pm.
Heat melt WolfPack in duel under the sun Win first head-to-head race of the season Cary Mellon
Sports Information Director
On a sunny morning on the Eagle Trail, just off UBC’s Okanagan campus, the UBC Okanagan Heat Cross Country team duelled with the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in their first race of the season. The Heat swept both the women’s and men’s team events, on Sept. 22
over the valley foe. The Heat women ran an especially quick race, taking the first four spots to achieve the lowest possible team score of 10 points. Michelle Blackburne (West Kelowna, BC) led all women, winning the four kilometre race with a time of 16:17 on the chal-
lenging course, with fellow Heat teammates Ashley Yip (2nd, 16:38), Alea Stockton (3rd, 16:44) and Trisha Metro (4th, 16:45) close behind. Heat men also won the team title with 18 points. The top Heat runner was David Harbocian (Orillia, ON), as he led his
team with a 3rd place finish in 21:44 on the six kilometre course. Rounding out the scorers for the Heat were Roger Sherwood (4th, 21:47), Garrett Anstett (5th, 21:56), and Carlos Capela (6th, 22:02). Coach Nikki Reiter was very pleased with the teams’ performances.
“Our men’s and women’s teams ran tightly packed today, exhibiting only an 18-second spread from first to fourth on the men’s side and a 28-second spread on the women’s side, indicating that they recognize the importance of all four runners finishing as quickly as possible”
Opinions
Matt Lauzon
opinions@thephoenixnews.com
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Our unfree man Canada fails to live up to its claim of freedom Matthew Lauzon Opinions Editor
For Canadians, essential human rights are rarely stripped or denied. When they are, little is done by our Prime Minister, or even our citizens, in recognition of the crime. For Bashir Makhtal, many of the privileges outlined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been ignored. A Canadian citizen since 1994, Bashir Makhtal has been imprisoned in an Ethiopian prison since 2006. During the same year ’s conflict in the “war on terror” in Somalia, Makhtal tried to flee the country through the Kenyan border. Rather than being greeted with solace and a chance of freedom, Makhtal was among many others caught in a series of illegal detainments and deportations to Ethiopia. Makhtal, a Canadian immigrant from Somalia since 1991, studied at the DeVry Institute of Technology in Toronto and completed his bachelor degree in computer science in
Texas. The year 1994 marked his status as an official Canadian citizen, and was the start of his employment at the Bank of Montreal, and at CIBC as a computer programmer. In 2002, Makhtal travelled back home to Somalia for business. He was then swept up in the chaos of 2006 as Ethiopia intervened in that year ’s flareup of the Somali civil war on the side of the Somali Transitional Federal Government. He was then arrested during his flight from the country. While there has been no concrete evidence that Makhtal has undergone torture due to his imprisonment, it is widely believed that—given his standard of living, and his life sentence in prison—he has undergone some methods of interrogation. Makhtal’s main cause of imprisonment is based on his grandfather ’s previous membership in the Ogadan National Liberation Front. The ONLF is a secessionist organization,
defined by some as an illegal terrorist group; the group demands the autonomy of the Ogaden region, making it an independent state. When put on trial, little evidence was given against Makhtal, yet he received a life sentence in jail. Makhtal was also claimed to have been in contact with Somali terrorist group al Shabab, which is claimed to work with al Qaida. While international groups and several others took notice of Makhtal, very few Canadians have taken notice of Makhtal. Given the plethora of information readily shared through the Internet, it only stands to reason the typical Canadian citizen would know of the situation. This is not the case, however; why should the average person even care? One of our own is being held captive beyond reasonable belief, but without any cultural impact attached to the name “Makhtal”, there will be no
forward momentum to freeing the man. Within reason we can demand the capture and punishment of a man (Joseph Kony) we know little of through an organization we know less of (Invisible Children) by way of mainstream Internet vitality, yet when it comes to the public interest of one of our own, the result is downright depressing. The armchair activism of the modern citizen that involves liking and sharing pages is great for declaring our thoughts; however, the lasting impact is laughable. Consider the case of Kony: who really cared a month after the video’s inception? The “cover the night” initiative was a disaster that resulted in its posters being blown down almost immediately. Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to take action of his own accord and intervene on the situation, or halt development aid in the country until our citizens are granted fair tri-
al. This is only feasible through consistent and clear affirmation of our beliefs that no single Canadian should be subject to unjustifiable imprisonment. Both the NDP and Liberal Party have rightly criticized the Conservative party against their policy of not intervening to aid non-white Canadian citizens; the government is aware of Makhtal, but has done little to aid him. Our country should have no place in foreign wars when it can better utilize its resources in liberating its own people through diplomacy and rule of law. Canada is known for its freedoms; it is time it implemented them.
the terminally ill. Consider a man hearing news about the loss of his wife: he will most certainly feel pain, and may wish to end his own life; however, the act is irrational. With the proper amount of counseling, he may have a different outlook on life, and may even find love again. By no means should the man be even considered to be aided in taking his own life. Take the same man and tell him he has a terrible disease that will result in a slow and painful death, slowly immobilizing him as he struggles everyday to do once mundane tasks. A doctor’s protocol is to provide the most care possible to a patient, and make them as comfortable as possible; will prolonging the suffering make him better off? The answer is an obvious ‘no,’ but where is the appropri-
ate place to draw the line that allows this man to seek aid in his death? Outside of his own discretion, very few can answer the question. Simply put, the man should be very well aware of the implications of taking a ‘suicide-pill,’ be put under extensive psychological examination, and sent through proper process in lieu of being given death treatment immediately. Hawkes’ claim that the message we are sending to the disabled is regarding their value of life is incorrect, as well. Suffering as they become heavier burdens on hospitals and their family is degrading and revokes dignity. Seeing a man or woman whom you once loved slowly descend into death raises tension between a family, and leaves lasting memories of a loved one in their final bed. The chance to avoid being seen as
weak and a burden is a gift to the entire family. Overturning the ban is a gift to anyone who will ever suffer a deadly disease. By only allowing it to the sick ensures the medication will not be abused, and lends dignity to those who need it. As we offer chairs to paraplegics, we offer a way out for those trapped in a death sentence, refusing to offer aid to those who don’t need it isn’t discriminatory, it is only fair.
For information on Bashir Mahtal, visit www.amnesty.ca/ atrisk/index.php/bashir-makhtal/ or go to www.makhtal.org
Rebuttalish A few thoughts on a previous article Matthew Lauzon Opinions Editor
Last issue (September 17th, 2012) Gordon Hawkes wrote regarding the BC Supreme Court’s ruling on assisted suicide. The ruling, on July 15th of this year, declared the ban of assisted suicide on the terminally ill and the physically incapable unconstitutional, pushing for the reform of the ban. The result would allow the physically incapable and terminally ill the right to seek suicide aid from a doctor. Hawkes regards the ruling as discriminatory: the ban on assisted suicide would apply only to the incapable, not to the healthy. He makes the connection, “jogging is not illegal, but Gloria Taylor [(the plaintiff)] is incapable of running. Therefore, she is denied her equal rights,” and compares it to an able-bodied citizen’s ability to kill themselves. Suicide is legal, and the non able-bodied are denied that
right. Hawkes’ logic and reasoning is correct: why should the nonabled be denied the same rights we have? We offer these services in Canada, by offering alternatives where equality is simply impossible. In terms of jogging, we offer wheelchairs. We witness paraplegics competing in marathon races at the highest echelon of competition. His assumption that the reversal of the ban, and its affect only on the terminally ill, however, is flawed. The comparison of a university student’s plea for help to a suicide hotline leading only to their encouragement in the act is a slippery-slope: by assuming the turnover will seek to eliminate the sick detracts from what assisted suicide makes out to do. Aid should only be offered to those in dire need; assisted suicide is only relevant to
This article was written in reply to an article published in the September 17th, 2012 issue of The Phoenix. They article was entitled “Some are more equal than others.”Read Gordon Hawkes’ original article, as well as other Opinions pieces and other articles at www.thephoenixnews.com.
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Opinions
October 1st,, 2012
Mind and cosmos How a reknowned philosopher and atheist casts doubt on darwinism Gordon Hawkes Contributor
Last Wednesday, Oxford University Press published a book which attacks contemporary theories of evolution. It claims that Darwinism is almost certainly false. The author writes, “It is prima facie highly implausible that life as we know it is the result of a sequence of physical accidents together with the mechanism of natural selection.” These words sound familiar. After all, the claim that evolution is highly improbable is not a new one. Creationists and the Intelligent Design crowd have been beating that drum for a long time. What’s surprising, then, isn’t the argument itself so much as who’s making it. The author is Thomas Nagel, a very prominent American philosopher, who teaches at New York University. Most significantly, Nagel is an atheist. His book, Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False, is an attack on contemporary Darwin-
ism, the theory that both the origin and evolution of life can be explained by purely mechanistic causes, dependent only on the laws of chemistry and physics. Nagel believes that the consensus view is “highly implausible.” For instance, regarding the origin of life, he asks: “[G]iven what is known about the chemical basis of biology and genetics, what is the likelihood that self-reproducing forms should have come into existence spontaneously on the early earth, solely through the operation of the laws of physics and chemistry?” In answer to his own question, Nagel writes that he believes “the available scientific evidence, in spite of the consensus of scientific opinion, does not in this matter rationally require us to subordinate the incredulity of common sense.” In other words, he doesn’t like the odds. What is lacking, Nagel believes, is “a credible argument that the [neo-Darwinian] story has a nonnegligible probability of being true.”
While Nagel’s book will no doubt encourage religious opponents of evolution, Nagel himself rejects God as a relevant explanation. He writes, “My skepticism is not based on religious belief, or on a belief in any alternative.” He is also aware of the ire and disdain that his very public skepticism will inevitably bring down on his head. “I realize that such doubts will strike many people as outrageous,” he writes, “but that is because almost everyone in our secular culture has been browbeaten into regarding the reductive research program as sacrosanct, on the ground that anything else would not be science.” Nagel isn’t alone among prominent American philosophers to openly criticize Darwinism in recent years. In 2010, Jerry Fodor, a professor at Rutgers University and, in his words, a “hardcore atheist,” co-authored a book titled, What Darwin Got Wrong. Among other things, Fodor argued that natural selection (“sur-
vival of the fittest”) is an empty theory because it rests on circular definitions. Despite his rejection of natural selection as a theory, Fodor does not reject evolution wholesale, and he explicitly expresses that he has no desire to aid “the Forces of Darkness, whose goal it is to bring Science into disrepute.” The significance of both Nagel’s and Fodor’s books is not that they are likely to unsettle the dominance of materialist neo-Darwinism in the academy (Fodor’s book was widely panned, and Nagel’s critiques are not new)—rather, these books are significant because they amount to respected academics within the academy claiming that the emperor is not wearing any clothes: they are pointing to what they believe are problems with the Darwinist picture which they think need to be addressed. Their critiques reveal how the way we teach evolution needs to change. It is not enough to assert, as my first year biology
professor did (different school), that an RNA molecule is simple enough to happen by chance. This opens the door wide open for skepticism like Nagel’s. Instead, biology departments need to be more open with lower level students about the difficulties the theory faces and allow for more open criticism. The fear is, I imagine, that openness about theoretical difficulties will only encourage creationists and ID people to press for their position even harder. But science operates on free market principles: may the best idea win. Besides, there is a way to deal with opponents to Darwinism: careful, measured, repeated presentation of the evidence. Bald assertions won’t do. Paradoxically, Darwinism will be helped by having its weaknesses taught at a general level (for example, Nagel’s critique, that there currently is no accepted model of the origin of life) because it will remove any surprise when those weaknesses are presented as arguments.
It’s not about the charity Five reasons why grade school made me hate Terry Fox. Logan Saunders Contributor
Seeing that same damn video year after year.
The narrow space allotted for the walk/run
Everyone is gathered into the gymnasium; the VCR and TV are dragged in on their squeaky wheels to the centre of the gym. In the earlier years, they would make 400 students gather for a viewing on a small 20-something inch TV. In later years the school would receive funding to use the projection screen and show it on the wall of the gym. The glare unbearable; the sound screechy from a worn out tape—no doubt ordered by the school four score and seven years prior. Everyone scurries to whisper during this time, the rows upon rows of people forced to watch this documentary. Some throw popcorn seeds, others throw projectiles out of boredom. I sit silently as I wait for the audio and the screen to go dead. The screeching is more torturous than a sound grenade. This is inspiration?
Walk mindlessly for thirty minutes? Why can’t I stay in the classroom and enjoy the peace and quiet for once? Why must I be thrown outside amongst the mayhem of the roughhousers shoving each other? Get off me! Are we trying to break Fox’s record? I think I sprained my ankle. I’ll be stuck to walking on one leg for a couple days. The Athletic Show-Offs So what if you pass me twice on the run because you chose to run the extended distance? Screw you. The only reason I’m not running is because pavement is bad on my knees. I never get to show off my superior cardio. Instead you get to finish first as the newspaper photographer will take a picture of you in all your glory. If you’re not first, you’re last.
It’s a self-esteem crusher “He ran a marathon each day. Oh, and he ran a marathon each day. Oh, and he ran a marathon each day on one leg. With lung cancer. And he started a movement. What have -you- done? Wasted your time playing video games, watching reality TV, memorizing trivial information, and heckling your classmates behind their backs?” It was the only event to tarnish my perfect attendance in high school. Upon discovering that nothing changes regarding the Terry Fox Day events in the eighth grade, I could bear it no longer and skipped home. It takes the slowest on the race route take around 30-40 minutes. I’d rather get in an entire Grand Prix on Mario Kart 64.
Fast forward to three years after high school. I did my first Terry Fox Walk. Free donuts, nectarines, and timbits. I donated eleven bucks. It made me feel great! Sure there was a lame warmup by the crew at Ladies World, and the cougar that pushed a buggy into me when I stopped to drink a cup of water. Seeing the Coldstream countryside on the walk, people walking their cute furry dogs, the barns and live chickens, I really connected with the simple things. Nothing will compare to walking the walk with the real cancer survivors and the people with whom I want to experience it. Thank you, grade school, for making me take three years to erase my hatred for Terry Fox.
Terry Fox, the bane of students. Photo by ojbyrne(flickr)
Opinions
October 1st, 2012
| The Phoenix
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Are you a vegetarian this week? My back-and-forth struggle with not eating meat Brianna Ferguson Contributor
A question I’m asked at almost every formal dining event I attend, or can remember attending in the last eight years or so, is the always complicated, “Are you a vegetarian this week?” The askers almost always inquire as to my current diet as they’re poised with a dripping meat dish of some sort dangling over my plate. I freeze each and every time as I try to decide just how much discord I would like to cause before usually responding with, “oh no, it’s fine,” or some other equally vague statement which immediately wipes clean my slate and discards my passions in the mental bin labelled “inconvenient and embarrassing.” And each and every time after acquiescing, I try to focus on the dinnertime conversation and the sheer privilege of having such delicious, nutritious foods available to me when so many people in the world have nothing but empty, discarded tuna cans to lick and half-composted egg shells to grind into tea. Yet each and every time, I find my mind torn back to my stock image of the cow or pig that was collected, lined up,
slaughtered, packaged, and distributed for me to digest over a lovely glass of wine. I remember that the animal whose flesh I’m masticating was--until recently-very much alive and, being a reasonably cognitive being, experienced pain and fear for my culinary benefit. More than likely it suffered a terrible factory-farm existence prior to its disassembly. There are many people who find the courage to simply tell their hosts (usually ahead of time) that they are a vegetarian, but it’s something I find extremely difficult and avoid even at the cost of sacrificing my morals for one evening. But then again, in all honesty I don’t necessarily even require the wide-eyed, disapproving gaze of my best friend’s hostess of a mother to force me off the wagon. As my sister —a fellow vegetarian— put it, “sometimes I just want to be free of rules.” Sometimes it seems as if the freedom and independence I’ve found by not eating meat can become something of a prison as the box into which I’ve placed myself becomes smaller and smaller once
another repetitive salad has been consumed or awkward dinner has been attended. As the weeks stretch on without even a hint of temptation and life becomes all too calm and sterile, I find myself almost yearning to feel the old cravings for meat so I can make the choice all over again and be reassured that I am indeed a conscientious individual with morals and opinions aplenty. Sometimes, after weeks of smooth sailing, I will watch a postapocalyptic movie or play Skyrim and find myself thrown into the mind of a born killer, living off the land with nary a thought for the well-being of the animals whose lives I’m taking to survive, and I will feel a twinge of annoyance at the peaceful, rather removed life I’m leading in the real world. I’ll feel as if I’ve completely conquered every animal instinct I once possessed, as I munch on my Tofurkey Jurkey, safely concealed within my suburban home, and I’ll become overwhelmed with the urge to reincorporate drama and wilderness into my life. I’ll race to the nearest Wendy’s and order myself the most aggressive,
meaty concoction I can find—a Baconator! I’ll tear into the layers of pig and cow and feel for a moment that I am indeed an animal, driven by instinct, in tune with nature, and I’ll delude myself for a moment into believing that I personally hunted and killed for my meal. But then, as I sit in the parking lot, savouring the taste of flesh and condiments, I’ll stare at the garbage piled beside the bins and listen to the cars on the highway, and I’ll realize that I’m just as removed from the natural world as I was before, but now I’ve abandoned my morals for a brief moment of savagery. I’ll sigh, go home, and wonder for the trillionth time just who I am and what it is that I’m looking for. Thankfully, since deciding to come to university I can see already that it is a wonderful place in which to “find one’s self,” and to put some clarity to the nebulous loop of questions and concerns in my mind. For instance, if one were to walk into the Sunshine Cafeteria here on campus in search of a nutritious, ready-made pita, one would find that 25% of
the available pitas are vegetarian. At a school BBQ, one could just as easily find themselves enjoying a savoury veggie burger as a meat one, and would walk away with a stomach one tenth as bloated and sore. A minute spent Googling statistics will reveal there are far more of us today than ever before. Around the world, people are becoming increasingly health-conscious, environmentally-conscious, and ethically-conscious. More people are choosing vegetarianism for its ability to satisfy all these consciousnesses, and more still because it feels wonderful and it’s one more thing we can pursue to mix things up and make life more interesting. As time rolls on and I notice the veggie pitas sell out every day, fewer eyebrows are raised at dinners, and my need to feel Primal is assuaged by the daily grind, I feel less and less on trial for my beliefs and more accepted as just one more member of society. I can’t say for sure whether I’ll feel the same when I graduate, but I can say that this week, I am definitely a vegetarian.
ubcsuo pages
Above: Community Outreach Committee takes volunteers to help out the bunnies at TRACS! Below: Student Affairs Committee handed out over 2000 sustainable water bottles to the student at UBC Okanagan as its first project!.
Photo provided by UBCSUO
Above: Community Outreach Committee helps paint a bright new colour to the interior walls of a house ran by the Karis Support Society! Below: Laura Wyllie fundraised over 124 dollars for TRACS through a bottle drive!
Photo provided by UBCSUO
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The Phoenix |
October 1st, 2012
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