February 16, 2012 | VOL. XCIII ISS. XLI
Gonna make you come tonight. Over to my house. SINCE 1918
REDUCIO!
U
UBC film students go viral with abridged Harry Potter clip
P8
THE UBYSSEY VOLLEYBALL SMASHES INTO
PLAYOFFS Phenomenal seasons lead teams into postseason
P7
T-BIRD
TENNIS Davis Cup brings big atmosphere to campus
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STALLED
Film looking for final funding as it heads to production
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2 | Page 2 | 02.16.2012
What’s on 16 THU
This week, may we suggest...
Our Campus
One on one with the people who make UBC
Matt Piva: a reluctant Canadian hero
PHYSICS>>
Catherine Lai Contributor
The Intelligence Stairway & Planetary Optimization: 7:30–8:30pm @ Buchanan A101
Jann Tallinn, the co-creator of Skype and Kazaa, discusses the physics behind the possibility of computers and techology going above human ability. Could computers alter natural selection? Check out this lecture on quantum phenomena hosted by the Pacific Institute of Theoretical Physics.
17 FRI
DANCE >>
18 SAT
THEATRE >>
Cycling Dance Party: 4:30pm @ The Bike Kitchen Are you hip, or have you ever considered the hipster lifestyle? Join the UBC Bike Kitchen in a sunset bike ride along the beach while getting your groove on with a cycling DJ.
19 SUN
FILM >>
PSA Film Festival: 3–6pm @ Global Lounge (Marine Drive) Interested in foreign affairs? The Pakistan Students’ Association is hosting a movie night at the Global Lounge. The selection for the night is the Bollywood comedy Mere Brother Ki.
20MON
The Vagina Monologues: 7pm @ Frederic Wood Theatre Have you ever seen the awardwinning production? If not, there is no better time to catch the final showing at Freddy Wood. Based on V-Day founder Eve Ensler’s 200+ conversations with women regarding strength and sexuality. Tickets may be purchased online or from the Theatre at UBC box office for $15.
DESIGN>> Earthquakes and Architecture Discussion: 8–9pm @ St John’s College Seismic experts predict a major earthquake will hit BC and Igor Gavric from the Faculty of Forestry is discussing how multi-storey timber buildings can prepare.
U
Got an event you’d like to see on this page? Send your event and your best pitch to printeditor@ubyssey.ca.
THE UBYSSEY Febuary 16, 2012, Volume XCIII, Issue XLI
EDITORIAL
Coordinating Editor Justin McElroy
coordinating@ubyssey.ca
Managing Editor, Print Jonny Wakefield printeditor@ubyssey.ca
Managing Editor, Web Arshy Mann webeditor@ubyssey.ca
News Editors Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan news@ubyssey.ca
Art Director Geoff Lister
art@ubyssey.ca
Culture Editor Ginny Monaco
culture@ubyssey.ca
Senior Culture Writer Will Johnson wjohnson@ubyssey.ca
Sports Editor Drake Fenton
sports@ubyssey.ca
Features Editor Brian Platt
features@ubyssey.ca
Copy Editor Karina Palmitesta copy@ubyssey.ca
Video Editor David Marino
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Senior Web Writer Andrew Bates abates@ubyssey.ca
Graphics Assistant Indiana Joel
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STAFF
Andrew Hood, Bryce Warnes, Catherine Guan, David Elop, Jon Chiang, Josh Curran, Will McDonald, Tara Martellaro, Virginie Menard, Scott MacDonald, Anna Zoria, Peter Wojnar, Tanner Bokor, Dominic Lai, Mark-Andre Gessaroli, Natalya Kautz, Kai Jacobson, RJ Reid, Colin Chia, Ming Wong, CJ Pentland, Laura Rodgers
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LEGAL
The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publications Society. We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate. Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubyssey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society. The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press (CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guiding principles. Letters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include your
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After returning home from his summer courses last year, Matt Piva sat down and wrote an essay, mostly for fun. The essay used Batman and Superman to explain why Canadians don’t have many national heroes, arguing that the definition of a hero doesn’t necessarily have to be that of the maverick fighting evil. That essay eventually won Piva, a second-year Science student, the Governor General’s History Award, an honour awarded for excellence in teaching Canadian history. “I don’t necessarily condone hero culture,” says Piva. His version of heroism is more of an everyday version. “It makes me very happy when you see somebody get up on the bus to let an elderly person sit down. In some ways, that makes me more happy than seeing a war hero come home after killing Osama bin Laden.” In fact, Piva holds the opinion that not having a defined national mythology, or the jingoism of the United States, is probably a good thing for Canadians. “I think it’s good as Canadians that we acknowledge the good things that our ancestors have done without idealizing them... We are very much in tune with the fact that Sir John A. MacDonald was intoxicated a lot of the time, and that becomes a
JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY
Matt Piva finds the small moments of heroism in everyday life.
part of our history as well, so I think the all-inclusive nature of our history rather than focusing on the best of people is actually healthy. If we don’t hold our heroes to be perfect, we can have more of them.” Piva is a part of the accessibility working group at UBC Access and Diversity, and a big believer in diversity and multiculturalism. “As soon as you [put people on a pedestal], it ends up being a lot of white guys…Instead of idolizing a few, we should celebrate many.” His ideas of heroism come from interaction with art, specifically comic books. “I feel as though comic books celebrate a lot of the right things, but they also celebrate a lot of the wrong things. The best pop culture should make you feel
as though the author is talking specifically to you. In order to appeal to every person, you have to make your ideas fairly concrete, and there has to be action. And I think we lump that into heroism a lot of the time.” When thinking about his future career path, Piva takes it for granted that he should want to do something that benefits others. He says that it is a tough decision between becoming a doctor or a hardcore artist. With what seems to be characteristic modesty, Piva admits, “I’m probably going to end up playing it safe and going the general medical route. It’s the most direct and concrete way, and you could say it’s selfish because you get to see how you help people firsthand, and that’s a wonderful thing.” U
News
02.16.2012 |
3
Editors: Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan
LOBBYING >>
“Where’s the Funding” campaign sends Valentine cards to province RJ Reid Staff Writer
The AMS is trying a different approach to lobbying the provincial government—they’re sending Valentine’s Day cards. The Where’s The Funding coalition (WTF) launched its first campaign on Tuesday, sending thousands of cards to the provincial government in order to lobby for changes within provincial post-secondary funding. The coalition joins students from universities across
BC in the ambition to eliminate the student loan interest rate, increase capital grants funding for post-secondary education and re-establish needs-based grants for students. Katherine Tyson, VP External for the AMS and the coordinator of the UBC end of the campaign, said they ad thousands prepared, “boxes upon boxes with stories on them.” The campaign took a humourous approach to lobbying. One of the cards reads, “Let’s not drag this out...I want to break up with interest rates on student loans.”
Tyson, along with current AMS President Jeremy McElroy, incoming President Matt Parson and incoming VP External Kyle Warwick, delivered the cards on February 14 to the provincial legislature with representatives from other schools. There they attended meetings with members of the provincial government in addition to holding a press conference on the coalition and its objectives. “So far, reception with the province has been very good on both sides,” said Tyson. “Both the BC
Liberals and the NDP seem to be very supportive and a lot of what we’re asking for are things that we have a lot of facts and data to back it up and we’ll go in there with that.” The WTF Valentine’s Day campaign is the second major studentdriven funding campaign to occur this month, although the only one focusing purely on the provincial government. On February 2, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) held their National Day of Action, which the AMS did not take part in as a non-CFS member.
UBC FARM >>
Sustainability college in the works Andrew Bates Senior Web Writer
It’s not quite raising a barn, but they’ll take it. UBC is planning to construct two new buildings on the UBC Farm in South Campus: a replacement for the Farm Centre and a new residential college focused on sustainability. “We’ve seen rapid and exponential growth for the Farm’s programming since it started up in its current form in 2000 and have thoroughly outgrown our current facilities and really can’t accommodate all the demand for use,” said Amy Frye, the Farm’s acting director. Presently, buildings on the Farm include the Harvest Hut, where Farm-grown food is processed and sold during Sunday Farmer’s markets, and the current Farm Centre, which contains offices, a kitchen and one room described by Frye as “our small makeshift classroom that is kind of our only meeting space.” “It’s pretty much time for something new, because there’s a lot of competition for space,” said Anelyse Weiler, communications coordinator for the Farm and president of Friends of the Farm in 2009. “A positive way of looking at it is you learn to share small spaces and small resources.” “We’re doing the best we can to fit courses in, but for example, we get many course requests [from people] who want to come out to do even one session at the Farm and we don’t physically have the indoor space to house them,” Frye said. “It would really allow us to do so much more than we’re already doing.” The Farm’s 2009 planning document, Cultivating Place, calls for the development of a Farm Centre and
Zach Crispin, chairperson of the CFS in BC, was heartened by the provincial-level activism. “I think that the message of the WTF campaign is very good,” said Crispin, “that now students across all campuses across the province have adopted our central campaign goals. We’re happy to see that and I think it’s an important step forward.” Tyson hopes the campaign puts WTF on the map as a lobbying group. The group will be working towards more lobbying and awareness events in the months to come. U TRANSIT >>
Bus driver hospitalized by “huffer’s” fumes
ANDREW BATES/THE UBYSSEY
Laura Rodgers Staff Writer
Now zoned as Green Academic, the Farm will be home to a centre focused on sustainability.
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Sustainability College. The Centre would include classrooms, dry and wet labs, offices, kitchens, processing space, an area for the Farmer’s market, a small retail space, café and student study spaces. “One of the mottos of the Farm and the sayings is that ‘no one thing does just one thing.’ That’s what we use to describe a lot of the field activities that happen on site but also related to the buildings,” Frye said. “The idea is that they’ll be kind of multifunctional facilities that integrate a whole variety of uses.” The Sustainability College is proposed as a residential college similar to Green College and St John’s College, aimed at upper-level undergraduates, graduate students and
visiting scholars. “The idea is that it would be a place where...[students] could really immerse themselves in a sustainability-themed academic experience,” said Frye. The college would involve a dining society, scholarly events and “finding a way to incorporate the residents in hands-on meaningful practical participation at the Farm,” Frye said. “Kind of the idea of an intentional community around sustainability.” The buildings passed through the first of six pre-construction UBC planning phases last summer, and the second stage is planned for early summer this year. Both buildings are in the package, but the Farm Centre is planned first.
Funding for the package could come from the Start an Evolution campaign, as the plan is one of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems’s priority projects. The plan represents a change from the Farm’s fortunes in 2008, when plans were in place to replace the Farm with residential housing. That met with a letter-writing campaign and eventually the zoning was changed to Green Academic. “We want to keep the momentum up and keep people involved at the Farm, and this will be a good way to keep that happening,” Frye said. “It’s really an indication that the Farm has a bright future and is being valued by the university, by the students, by the community.” U
Faculty member wins CAIR award
Two UBC students reach finals in ad contest
Android app added to existing UBC iPhone app
Campus to return to the stage for UBC’s Got Talent
UBC faculty member Steve Beerman has received recognition for his work in medicine. On February 11, Beerman received the 2011 Derek Puddester Award for Resident Well-Being from the Canadian Association of Interns and Residents. Beerman, site director for the UBC Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Family Residence Program, has been working for 25 years to improve conditions and work-life balance for medical residents. “Doctors who are well-rested and have good work-life balance... take better care of patients,” Beerman said.
Students Christopher Larryant and Veronica Yeungchave have been named as phase one finalists in the Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec contest. The student-run but sponsorfunded contest is centred around developing marketing and communications strategy for the 2013 Chervrolet Spark subcompact hatchback. Phase one of the contest required students to create a two-minute presentation about a marketing concept. Of 191 submissions, 25 were chosen as finalists. The phase one finalists will prepare and present a larger marketing strategy in Toronto on March 26–27.
UBC has now released its mobile app to Android users. The iPhone application, launched last year, allows prospective students to create a Campus Wide Login, view photos of the campus, gather information on UBC and access the Place of Mind blog. The app also contains features for the campus community, including event listings and an interactive campus information map. The Android app will have the same features and is free on the Android Market. Since its launch last year, the iPhone application has gained over 17,000 downloads worldwide.
UBC’s Got Talent is returning for another year and will be produced by the UBC Bookstore. Audience members will be given a ballot to rank performers in exchange for a donation to the United Way. The top three performances will be given prizes from the Bookstore. Auditions for the variety show are open to students, faculty and members of the UNA, and performers are able to upload videos in any genre or medium. Applications are open until March 5 and the event itself will be held on March 29 at the newly renovated Old Auditorium. U
News briefs
A TransLink bus driver was sent to hospital from the UBC bus loop Tuesday after he was overcome by fumes from a passenger who was reportedly sniffing a harmful substance. At approximately 2pm today, “[there was] a confrontation with a belligerent passenger who...had been sniffing a substance, and eventually got off the bus,” said Drew Snider, TransLink’s public information officer. Unconfirmed reports from transit supervisors on scene claimed that this substance was, or smelled similar to, paint thinner. “The bus driver, by the time he got to UBC loop, he was feeling lightheaded, so he was taken by ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital,” said Snider. Before being taken to the hospital, the driver was given oxygen by emergency services personnel who had been called to the bus loop. The incident occurred on board one of the 99 B-Line buses which was not full but still carried a number of passengers. Emergency services personnel on scene said none of the passengers required medical assistance. “Apparently, they haven’t caught the person [who was sniffing the substance],” stated Snider. He said the passenger sniffing the substance got off the bus “somewhere before the end of the line... Allison or Sasamat or some place. “The bus driver was still feeling lightheaded at the time they pulled into the loop, so it was probably close to campus.” At 2:45pm, the bus was inspected by emergency services and transit personnel. By this time, the interior of the bus had no noticeable smell. A transit supervisor said the bus had been declared safe to drive, and would resume service on the 99 B-Line route as soon as a new driver was available. U
4 | News | 02.16.2012 RADIO>>
SECURITY>>
New policy won’t affect CiTR Website helps owners CRTC makes distinctions in order to simplify
JONNY WAKEFIELD/THE UBYSSEY
Natalya Kautz Staff Writer
Although revisions to campus radio licensing regulations caused one station to think it would have to close its doors, CiTR doesn’t expect to make many changes. The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) revised their licensing descriptions of Canadian campus radio stations in July 2010, removing the distinction between communitybased and instructional campus radio stations. CiTR station manager Brenda Grunau explained that despite the new policy, the station’s licence has yet to change from their
community-based licence. “Our licence runs out in 2014, and when it’s renewed it will be under the new policy. We’re still operating under the old policy framework,” she said. “If we wanted to switch over early, we could put in a request to do that.” As a community-based campus station, programming at CiTR is “produced primarily by volunteers who are either students or members of the community at large.” Unlike instructional campus stations, the training of professional broadcasters is not CiTR’s primary objective. “We’re required to serve students and community members...There are a few changes that impact us, but they don’t impact how we train
volunteers,” said Grunau. These changes include redistributing limits on advertising time, spoken word requirements and the percentage of third language programming. In their official policy, the CRTC described that the differences between the two licences “no longer appear to be relevant.” Patricia Valladao, manager of media relations at CRTC, said, “The only major difference now is that they have to include people from the community, as well as students.” She stressed that stations “can still train students, but as volunteers, on air.” Nevertheless, the “only major difference” caused confusion for at least one instructional campus station. In response to the policy, Red River College’s Kick FM in Winnipeg, Manitoba issued a web statement. It claimed the new regulations removed their ability for the “training of students for a career in commercial radio,” and that the station would have to “go off the air” upon the expiration of their current licence. However, this was a misunderstanding of the policy. Kick FM manager David Wiebe explained that the station would be largely unaffected, as it had already been operating as “more than” an instructional station. “[Kick FM has] been involved with and offered air time to various community organizations over the years, and we’ll just continue to do that,” he said. Grunau said the licensing changes would either be beneficial or not affect campus stations across Canada at all. U
reunite with lost items
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Campus security used to rely on the office alone to manage lost items.
Evan Brow Contributor
To efficiently manage over 1000 lost items per month, UBC Campus Security is promoting their evergrowing “Lost and Found” website. The site was launched on Blogspot and moved to the UBC site in January. It posts no names but provides descriptions of the items brought in, including brands and colours. “October was the basis of it starting and then we started to develop it a little better after that,” said Emmet Russell, who heads the Campus Security Central Lost and Found. “It’s certainly surpassed any of my expectations. It’s become a fulltime job on its own.” The site received over 6000 hits in January alone. Russell said the site is a better system because it allows people to see what has been submitted. “We post everything now. Clothes, books, doesn’t matter. We post a whole lot. And then hopefully people can hone in on it and go, ‘Oh, I think that’s mine.’”
Paul Wong, community relations manager for UBC Security, believes a major upside to the site is that it is accessible at all times. “Two in the morning, you’re studying and you realize something goes missing, you can go online and you can search it. “Sometimes it’s only an hour between lunch you’ve got time off, so to have to rush over here and be able to report something or to see if something has been found is sometimes a bit challenging.” While the site has changed the process for reporting and viewing lost and found items, UBC Campus Security maintains their “common sense” approach in identifying owners. Usually a distinguishing mark is left out of the description so the identifier can prove that it is their item. “It’s limited information that gets put down,” said Wong. “So…you may say, ‘Oh, I lost my Seiko watch,’ but you still have to come in and say the strap was brown or it’s a specific model or it’s got this on it.” Items that aren’t retrieved are sold at the end of the year, with proceeds going to the United Way. U
02.16.2012 | Features | 5
CHICKENING
?
PHOTO COURTESY OF UBC ARCHIVES
AFTER 95 YEARS, UBC POULTRY SCIENCE COMES TO AN END DUE TO LACK OF FUNDING. DID ITS FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY DRIVE AWAY INDUSTRY MONEY? Trisha Telep Contributor
E
very day, thousands of people are conducting research at UBC. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year in pursuit of new innovations in dozens of industries. That money largely comes from governments, which have priorities in the university research they fund every year through research chairs and grants. Industries have priorities too. They want their fields to become more innovative, more efficient and more cost-effective every year— and one of the best ways to do that is by funding research projects at universities. But what happens when the goals of a university come into conflict with the goals of an industry? That tension is at the forefront of the story of UBC poultry science. The retirement of the last poultry researcher at UBC has resulted in the dismantling of a program that has studied chickens for almost a century. Since 1917, the UBC poultry science program has helped BC producers to grow their flocks and build their businesses. From dedicated outreach aimed at rural producers in the far corners of the province to essential research on nutrition, chicken health and new technologies, UBC has been a valuable resource for the poultry industry. But as of December 2011, the program is no more. So why is it folding? The short answer is that its funders are no longer getting what they want from the program—and the funders are the poultry producers that have had such a close relationship with the program over its lifespan. As UBC’s agricultural researchers have turned toward sustainability and animal welfare as their focus, some of the faculty’s commercial partners, intent on harnessing
research to increase profitability, have turned away from the university. The demise of the poultry science program is a direct result of this. And with avian flu concerns as high as ever, this is bad news for all of us.
As it turned out, this was not a move the funders could get behind. “The continuation of the poultry program is dependent on industry support, and without that support UBC cannot justify maintaining the program,” says Cheng.
95 years of chicken studies
Research with a goal
The UBC poultry science program went through various name changes over the years. When it began in 1917, it was the department of poultry husbandry. In 1955 it became the department of poultry science, and 30 years later it merged into the department of animal science. All of this took place in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, which in 1997 was renamed the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS). The new name was meant to reflect a progressive and innovative perspective on food systems, including a new focus on sectors like food storage, processing and distribution. “I think with the new name [LFS], we attracted a lot more students,” says Kim Cheng, who was the last UBC poultry specialist and retired in December. “These students are interested in things like biodiversity and breed banks, and we were at the stage where we could move things further.” Until 1997, the focus of the program was largely on improving the technology and methods of the poultry industry. It worked with feed manufacturers and large-scale producers for research and testing, and most of its funding came from these corporations. But LFS’s new perspective meant that the program’s primary focus was no longer commercial poultry production. Instead, it began to focus on sustainable farming and small flock production. Murray Isman, the dean of LFS, says that unlike the agriculture research faculties at many other universities, LFS largely doesn’t do “commodity-type food production.”
Bill Cox, the poultry health veterinarian for the BC Ministry of Agriculture, acknowledges that the change of direction made by the faculty dried up the poultry science program’s industry funding. “The one problem with the way the UBC poultry science model has evolved is that it has gone away from the mainstream commercial production model,” he says. “What they are tending to focus on is small flock production. That’s fine, that’s going to feed a certain market. But you’re definitely not going to feed four million people in BC with that model.” According to Stewart Paulson, a former poultry specialist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, BC poultry producers have been well aware of UBC’s shift. The university’s recent attempt to finance a poultry science endowment chair with a focus on animal welfare and environmental sustainability didn’t go over very well with the industry. “The message that I got from [producers] years ago was, ‘We’re not interested in a thing called a chair. We don’t finance chairs, we finance research,” says Paulson. And poultry producers are accustomed to a particular research model. “The role of research institutions is to provide the infrastructure to carry out research and to take to the industry projects that they think the industry might need,” says Paulson. “Or the industry can go to the university and say, ‘These are the things that we need.’” In other words, the industry only funds projects that they particularly want. They control the funding, which means they control the research goals.
“Their goal is business, and their goal is money. [Producers need] research being done that will lead to profit,” says Paulson. Once UBC stopped providing that research, the funding pipeline was cut off. The only industry money left is a $10,000 scholarship for graduate students to work on poultry science, but that money has yet to materialize this year.
Does poultry research matter? The new focus of poultry science may have been inevitable. LFS graduate student Jennifer Arthur says that at a certain point, animal science reaches diminishing returns when it comes to increasing profitability; there is only so much money that can be squeezed out of a chicken. Arthur remembers a talk by a leading poultry nutritionist with the same concerns. “He said, ‘We’ve exhausted what we can do to improve the bird’s [commercial] performance through nutritional means, so all we’re doing now is tinkering,’ and the tinkering is almost not worth it. You can say, ‘We’ll try this ratio or that ratio,’ and change this or that, but there’s no significant difference in terms of the bird.” With the chicken as the No. 1 consumed meat in the province and the industry working at maximum capacity to keep up with the demand, this might be a dangerous time to ignore the need for poultry science in our own backyard. BC has been the only Canadian province to get hit with avian influenza twice. When Paulson was working for the province, he helped to coordinate the containment. “The bill for the outbreak in 2004 was $380 million worth of economic damage for the province,” Paulson says. “It required that 15.8 million birds be [killed].” Leanne McConnachie, director of farm animal programs at the Vancouver Humane Society, points to the influenza epidemic as one
reason why BC still needs poultry science research. “[The province] spent millions of dollars compensating producers for the birds they killed. They also killed the organic stock that had no problems at all.” She also suspects poultry producer subsidies are to blame for the lack of industry support for BC research. “What’s the vested interest for [the producers]?” asks McConnachie. “They’ve had no downside, they haven’t had to cover the costs of their businesses failing. Maybe if they had to pick up those costs themselves, they would have gone, ‘Gee, you know, we really need to know how to do this better so we don’t suffer these multi-million dollar losses again.’” McConnachie believes that university research in-province is necessary to promote the more sustainable practices that will help to avoid catastrophic disease outbreaks in BC in the future. Economic efficiency doesn’t mean safety, and the same methods that bring in producer profit are the same methods that mean diseases can spread like wildfire through tightly-packed barns. Chicken mortality can multiply exponentially in an instant. “The competitive advantages of concentration to try to overcome transportation costs in the grain are overcome by the loss of productivity when disease hits...and 20 per cent of their birds die. So there goes all the profit related to the flock,” Paulson says. “There is a huge amount of valuable research work that can be done here.” For his part, Cheng is also convinced that now is not the time for university poultry research to fade off into the distance in BC. Looking back over the history of the department, he sees a new role for poultry science research to play. Historically, UBC has had a part in developing unsustainable methods now commonplace in the poultry industry, and he believes that there is something they can do about it. “We should reverse the trend now.” U
Sports
02.16.2012 |
6
Editor: Drake Fenton
DAVIS CUP >>
CHRIS BORCHERT /THE UBYSSEY
Canada lost to France 4-1 over the three-day tournament. Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic dominated on the first day of the competition, but an injured knee doomed Canada’s chances of overall sucess.
Davis Cup a showcase for tennis and UBC When Thunderbird Arena is full like it was last weekend, it’s a world-class venue Courtside Comment
I
Justin McElroy
n the first set of Saturday’s doubles match between Canada and France in the Davis Cup, just before the French were ready to serve, a voice pierced the silence of the sold-out crowd at Thunderbird Arena. “Llodra, you suck!” The crowd of diehard Canadian fans, after an awkward moment, began to boo the man. The announcer reminded fans to respect players from both teams, and to refrain from making personal insults. The good polite Canadians, after hearing this cry for decency, applauded heartily. The crisis was resolved. The Green Men continued to sit in the corner and not wildly gyrate around. Okay, so this wasn’t exactly a Canucks-Bruins tilt in June. But absent that, there was as much passion and patriotism in the crowd as any Vancouver sporting event since the Olympics. There were throngs of flags, cheers after every play, and unlike any recent Canucks game, tickets
the rest of us could actually afford. And it happened at UBC, in the (deep breath now) Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The tennis, and to lesser extent sporting world, saw our arena and campus last weekend, and what they saw was a wonderful example of how, when filled, our arena can be a wonderful place to watch a game. But back to the game in question. For the first time in 20 years, Canada was the home team in the World Group (meaning “the top 16 teams”) for the Davis Cup (meaning “the annual year-long international team tennis tournament”), playing France in a tie. In tennis a “tie,” unlike simpleton sports like football, actually means “best-of-five round.” Each match in the best-of-five series is called a “rubber.” Did I mention tennis was a niche sport? France was the overwhelming favourite, with 6 players ranked in the top 50 in the world, but Canada, playing in the World Group for the first time in 8 years, couldn’t be counted out. First, there’s the advantage of being at home: the Davis Cup is pretty much the only time all year where the fans are more interested in seeing one particular side win than simply seeing a good match. And for the first time in, well, ever, Canada has a star: Milos
Raonic. Twenty-one years old and six-and-a-half feet tall, Raonic has a first serve that is already considered one of the best in the world. He could be to tennis in this country what Mike Weir was to golf, and after his teammate Vasek Pospisil lost in the opening rubber Friday afternoon, the No. 29 ranked Raonic showed his potential with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the No. 35 ranked Julien Benneteau.
Much like the Canadian men’s tennis team, Thunderbird Arena is young, world-class and has a chance to be something special. Milosmania was such that on Saturday, Canadian coach Martin Laurendeau opted to play with Raonic rather than Pospisil, with ageless wonder Daniel Nestor in the lone doubles rubber. The advantage of this was straightforward in some senses. Raonic is one of the best servers in the world, Nestor is one of the best doubles players at
the net, and if everything clicked they would be able to overwhelm the French team—which would leave Canada needing to win just one of two matches on Sunday. But everything did not click. Raonic’s serve, normally superhuman, was merely above average. And if you’ve ever played Mario Tennis, you’ll know doubles tennis involves a lot of quick play at the net. This, to put it mildly, is not Raonic’s strength. So the French team of Llodra and Benneteau avoided hitting it to Nestor, forcing Raonic to hit a variety of tough backhanded volleys and body shots. Slowly breaking down Canada’s defence and resolve—the end result of which was not unlike a hot air balloon being deflated over the course of three hours—France won 7-6, 7-6, 6-3, thoroughly outclassing Canada in both tiebreaks, and creating a situation where the plucky hometown boys would have to win both matches on Sunday. A difficult task, but not impossible—until it was revealed that part of the reason Raonic struggled was because of a knee injury. Frank Dancevic, ranked No. 178 in the world, would play in his stead. He would face No. 6 ranked JoWilfried Tsonga, and that, as they say, was that. France won both matches on
the final day to win the tie 4-1, and Friday dreams of tennis having its national day in the sun were quickly shattered. If Canada did not fare completely well on the weekend, the same could not be said for Thunderbird Arena. At 5000 seats, it is both large enough to bring a big-time feel to an event, while still being affordable. The vertical seating creates a certain intimacy that is ideal for just about any event—provided it’s filled up. And that’s the problem. Too often it isn’t, and one gets the sinking feeling that Thunderbird Arena would be a perfect venue if it was still 2004, when the building was originally green-lit. It was intended for midsize concerts, and such a thing doesn’t exist anymore. Meanwhile, the chances of the Thunderbirds becoming popular enough to fill up the arena for basketball or hockey is a pipe dream. So the Arena sits, empty, available for free Friday night skating (a wonderful deal), but little else. But that’s a story for another day. For now, we can safely say that much like the Canadian men’s tennis team, Thunderbird Arena is young, world-class and has a chance to be something special. It’s likely that the tennis team will fulfill their potential. Time will tell if the same will be true for UBC’s arena. U
A block is a combination of one, two or three players jumping up with their hands and arms reaching up above the net in front of the opposing spiker.
Block
A kill is a successful hit by an attacker that results in a point for the attacking team. Kills are executed by hitting the ball off a block or down onto the opponent’s floor.
Kill
Volleyball terminology for a dig is defined as passing a spiked or hard-hit ball. Defensive players are often call diggers.
Dig
Volleyball jargon
UBC’s opponent hitting percentage ranking
graduating seniors
years since UBC qualified for nationals
weeks the men’s team was ranked in the CIS top five
total statistical categories
statistical categories in which UBC places first
consecutive national titles
consecutive Can West titles for the women’s team
3 4 5 7 10 4 7 3
Numbers to know
Setter Assists: 645 (2nd in Can West) Blocks: 56
STORY AND DESIGN BY JONNY WAKEFIELD, DRAKE FENTON AND JEFF ASCHKINASI. PHOTOS BY GEOFF LISTER AND CHRIS BORCHERT
Outside Hitter Aces: 27 (3rd in Can West) Digs: 164
Shanice Marcelle #8
Outside hitter Kills: 223 (Can West leader) Digs: 153
Kyla Richey #12
Outside hitter Kills: 181 Digs: 129
Left side hitter / setter Digs: 247 (Can West leader) Assists: 42
Ian Perry #6
Robert Bennett #13
Brina Derksen-Bergen #2
Outside hitter Kills: 192 Points: 233
Lisa Barclay #2
Outside hitter Kills: 166 Blocks: 50
Jarrid Ireland #2
Middle Blocks: 71 Kills: 61
Cary Brett #14
They haven’t been to nationals since the 2007/08 season, they are entering the postseason on a three-game losing streak, and six teams in the CIS top ten play in their conference. For the UBC men’s volleyball team, none of that matters. “It’s a tough league, but that’s what you want it to be,” said UBC head coach Richard Schick. “You want it to be a grind week in and week out, and that’s what we have and that’s what makes our league so good. That’s what makes our players and our team so good.” UBC finished the season with a 10-10 record, and sixth in the Canada West. They are the No. 7 ranked team in the country and on Thursday they will begin a best-of-three quarterfinal series against No. 4 ranked Alberta. The winner advances to the Canada West final four and automatically qualifies for nationals. While Alberta has home court advantage and is the unquestioned favourite, UBC has proved they can’t be taken lightly. Earlier in the season, the Thunderbirds split a two-game series with Alberta, losing 3-1 in the first game, but handily sweeping Alberta 3-0 in the second match. “We feel like we know [Alberta] pretty well and we’ve had some success against them, but at the same time, when we played them in December it was the midpoint of our season and this is it for a lot of players,” said Schick. Seven T-Birds are in their fifth and final year. None of them have been to nationals since their freshman season, adding an extra layer of importance to this weekend’s series. When the ‘Birds and Alberta square off on Thursday night, Schick said the key to success will be not losing sight of their identity: a system-oriented team that has excelled all year through grit and tough defence. “[Our blocking and defence] will have to be bang on. We are going to have be extremely hungry on defence to get our share of balls and transition. And we will have to stay aggressive when we do get the opportunity to kill the ball, and ultimately, that is what it will come down to. “It doesn’t get any better than an opportunity to play for a chance to get to nationals.” U
Men’s volleyball: Fighting the odds
It’s quarterfinal weekend in Canada West women’s volleyball. Unsurprisingly, the UBC Thunderbirds are not playing. The No. 1 ranked team in the country finished first in the Canada West with an 18-2 record and are automatically in the Canada West final four, which they will be hosting at War Memorial Gym next weekend. For the past four years, UBC has been an unstoppable force in women’s volleyball. They’ve won three consecutive Canada West titles (2009-2011) and have won an unbelievable four consecutive national titles (2008-2011). They’ve only lost five games in the last three years. “What we have to do is stay excited about the opportunity to win, and not try to avoid losing,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. “Sometimes, whether it is because you have a good streak going or you are in first place, you have to have the mentality that you have to compete hard and not wait for [a team] to go away because at this point of the year every team is hungry.” The only two teams the ‘Birds lost to this season were Trinity Western and Alberta. Both of those losses came in the first game of a two-game series. While UBC would beat each of those teams the following night, they won’t be afforded that opportunity in the playoffs. To make matters more intriguing, last season UBC ousted Trinity to win the Canada West, and the T-Birds knocked out Alberta in the CIS semifinals. “It would be natural for us to think about teams like Trinity and Alberta [as rivals] because they have traditionally stood in the way of success and have always come to play us really well,” said Reimer. “But we have to be really respectful of the fact that there are a lot of teams this year that do well on a week by week basis.” Despite their perennial success, Reimer isn’t worried about his team becoming complacent. “The team knows there is no margin for error, and they have a lot of respect for the opponents we are going to face.” The final four begins next weekend, and while it isn’t clear which teams UBC will face on their road to a five-peat, one thing is certain: every step of the way, they’ll have a giant target on their back. U
Women’s volleyball: Five-peat?
Volleyball playoff preview
02.16.2012 | Sports | 7
Culture
02.16.2012 |
8
Editor: Ginny Monaco
MUSIC >>
Plastic Acid Orchestra blends Beethoven and Bonham Rheanna Buursma Contributor
JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY
Meghan Gardiner spent a lot of time in bathroom stalls in preparation for her new film.
FILM >>
UBC alum turns to bathroom graffiti for inspiration
Will Johnson Senior Culure Writer
Meghan Gardiner was hit with inspiration for her upcoming short film in an unlikely place—a bathroom stall at the University of Toronto. The UBC alumna, who has been working as a writer and actress for the last decade, was touring her one-woman show Dissolve when she came across a particularly interesting bit of graffiti. “The bathroom was a little skuzzy, a little dingy, and in one of the stalls was this whole crazy debate about abortion,” she said. “It was amazing that people were so forthcoming with their thoughts on a bathroom wall.
“I read it and of course I have my views, and I was shocked by some of the other views,” she said. “And that’s when I realized, wow, this is more anonymous than Facebook,” she said. “No one can ever find out who you are. You just write something on the wall and then it’s there forever.” Gardiner took some pictures, and then continued on her way. But then she started going into any bathroom at every opportunity she could, to see what else was out there. “You’d be amazed what I found,” she said. “I started seeing recurring themes. And those themes were quite devastating. Heartbreaking.
I have too many quotes on eating disorders, I have countless quotes on unwanted pregnancy, on drug addiction, on sexual assault. These were little anonymous cries for help,” she said. At the time, Gardiner was having a hard time coming up with ideas for a new follow-up show to Dissolve . “I got this Canada Council grant, and of course the minute I got the money I couldn’t think of anything to write about,” she said. Finally, she decided to piece together a show based on her newfound fascination. “Eventually I decided I wanted to make it exclusively from what I’ve found. Every word. I haven’t added an ‘if,’ an ‘and,’ [or] a ‘but.’
I wanted it to be as authentic as possible.” And rather than turning her findings into theatre, as originally planned, she opted to make a movie. The short film, called Stalled, will star Gardiner in a variety of roles. The characters she created include a cast ranging from age 15 to 75, all with diverse backgrounds. One character is a student, another is a heroin addict. The film will be directed by another UBC almuna, Shannon Kohli. They hope to tour the film through the indie festival circuit. “These women are reaching out,” Gardiner said. “It’s time that we listen.” U
INTERNET >>
From Sorting Hat to horcruxes in one minute Catherine Guan Staff Writer
Begin with a beloved saga spanning seven volumes and eight theatrical releases. Now, throw some nifty filmmaking wizardry into the mix. The result? A cultural watershed that can be enjoyed in a mere flick of the wand. Created by a group of UBC BFA film production students, the mini-feature “Harry Potter in 60 Seconds” chronicles the perils and triumphs of of our bespectacled hero in the space of, well, 60 seconds. The short has gone certifiably viral on YouTube with over 350,000 views at last count, earning mentions by everyone from CBS News to Smosh. Thanks to Kori DePauw, Ian Holliday, Alex Magnall and Mackenzie Sheppard, anyone who has never read the books nor seen the movies can finally understand the fuss around those pesky horcruxes. According to co-creator Sheppard, who also played Ron Weasley in the short, the project began as a submission to the 2012 Virgin Radio Fake Film Festival. “Originally, the main brains behind it were Ian and Alex,” he said.
“They saw the poster for the Virgin Film Festival, so they brought me and Kori on board. And from there we just started crafting the story together, choosing the moments we liked the most from all eight films. “We were all really big Harry Potter fans, liked getting into character a bit too much, so it was really fun to shoot. Re-imagining the Harry Potter world in a really creative way as a team.” Shot in a week with a budget of under $100, most of the filming took place on campus. “The first Dumbledore scene was filmed in the Chapman Learning Commons—the Harry Potter room,” said Sheppard. “Even though we weren’t suppose to film there.” Some of the other locations featured were the Irving K. Barber staircases, the underground parkades and the Rec building. Since its release, “Harry Potter in 60 Seconds” has been met by admiration and adulation. One YouTube viewer wrote: “That was the best 60 seconds of my life. I will treasure it forever.” Another commented: “You guys are by far my favourite of the contest, I hope you win. After a devastating power outage screwed our team out of uploading our entry this morning, this has been the
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Left to right: Kori DePauw, Ian Holliday, Mackenzie Sheppard and Alex Mangnall.
only thing that’s brought a smile to my face all day. Outstandingly awesome.” While Potter purists may quibble over the depiction of Sirius’s death, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. When asked to speculate on the video’s popularity, Sheppard said, “Everyone loves Harry Potter,” adding, “Or they hate it, [but] they watch it anyways.”
Virgin Radio has named “Harry Potter in 60 Seconds” as one of the 24 finalists in competition for the $10,000 grand prize and People’s Choice Award. The creators are promising to undertake The Lord of the Rings next if they win. “It would be really cool to put money towards making something more sophisticated but with the same charm. No pun intended.” U
Bryan Deans is a teacher by day and rock cellist by night. Deans is the conductor and a founding member of the Plastic Acid Orchestra. Initially a fourpiece band, the Plastic Acid Orchestra is a genre-blurring ensemble, performing repertoire that ranges from classical to heavy metal. Deans is a full-time music teacher in Kitsilano and described the ensemble as “rock fusion, a mixture of symphonic sounds.” At previous concerts, the orchestra has performed arrangements of both Beethoven and Soundgarden. Though he’s a classically trained musician, Deans confesses that his musical inspiration for the group was Led Zeppelin. “There’s so much on tap creativity and creative potential in the mixing and the fusing of genres,” he said. Tony Kastelic, a UBC student majoring in viola, is a member of the Plastic Acid Orchestra. Kastelic believes that classical music, as with all art, must adapt and “crosspollinate” with different genres to stay popular and current. “We might want to hear a movement of Beethoven and then a chain gang song with a piece of iron and a chain to make the percussion sound effects,” said Kastelic. “I think that’s a perfectly reasonable request for any audience, that they have that variety in a single show.” Flutist Alyssa Stevenson, a music major at UBC and a member of Plastic Acid, voiced a similar opinion. “There’s a stigma that’s grown up around classical music, giving it a reputation for being boring or inapplicable to modern life, and that’s simply not true,” she said. “Many people perhaps don’t realize that good rock music and classical music similarly share intricate layers of complexity, and juxtaposing them in this context will help bring that out.” “I wanted to get away from the symphony concept where you sit down and have to be all proper,” said Deans. “Probably what bothered me the most is that you couldn’t talk or socialize.” Deans specifically targets the bar scene, with previous performances being held at Caprice and Venue. “People can be vocal, people can show their emotions right off the bat instead of having to hold them back.” In addition to blending musical styles, the Plastic Acid Orchestra will be bringing theatrical elements to their February 25 performance at the Vogue Theatre with folk cabaret band Maria in the Shower. Audiences can expect original music, a light show and even a song accompanied by a fire breather. Kastelic says the audience can anticipate a dynamic performance. “For someone who’s just walking in to see a show, it’ll be nice and lively with lots of noise and with a hell of a percussion section. It’ll be a good show.” U
National
02.16.2012 |
9
MONTRÉAL >>
Protesters forced to vacate provost office
McGill students end occupation of administrative building peacefully after six days Erin Hudson The McGill Daily
MONTRÉAL (CUP)—Nine students who had occupied McGill deputy provost Morton Mendelson’s office since February 7 were peacefully evicted Sunday morning, February 12. The group had been occupying the office space to protest the administration’s decision to invalidate the results of an existence referendum that sought to continue support for the campus radio station and the Quebec Public Interest Research Group. At 8:57am, one of the occupiers yelled from the sixth floor window to three students sleeping outside the James Administration building that police were going to evict the students. Initially, 23 students entered Mendelson’s office, but left at various points during the week. The last student to leave before the eviction exited the building at 4am on Sunday morning. In an email sent to all McGill students and staff shortly after the eviction, vice-principal of administration and finance Michael Di Grappa stated that the occupiers were read a formal eviction
notice. Occupiers were informed that police could charge them with resisting arrest if they had to be physically removed. According to Di Grappa’s email, the students were given five minutes to gather all belongings and leave the building. As to why Sunday morning was chosen for the eviction, Di Grappa wrote, “It became unfeasible to enter another week without use of the building to conduct the work of the university. Members of the senior administration decided that activities at the James Building should resume Monday morning, and that a full day would be needed to clean the building in preparation for McGill employees to return to work.” Seven police vans entered campus during the eviction. According to one police officer on the scene, two police divisions were present— one to conduct the eviction, and the other to secure the exterior. The officer said about six officers from the Post de quartier 20, Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal’s (SPVM) neighbourhood police division, carried out the eviction. The students who were sleeping outside packed up a tent and
McGill students occupied the provost office for six days before being forced to leave.
supplies that had been amassed there since February 7. McGill security agents and police remained on the scene until all of the students had left at about 10am. One officer on the scene said that the SPVM were aware of the occupation for several days. “It was this morning that McGill decided to end it, at 8:30am,” he said. Di Grappa’s email stated that
occupiers were offered first aid, food and contact for counseling services. He also noted that upon the students’ exit from the James building, students presented security agents with a letter of apology. The occupiers, collectively known as #6party, issued a brief statement in response to Di Grappa. “We will prepare a longer
VICTOR TANGERMANN/THE MCGILL DAILY
statement after we have a warm meal, but we do want to respond quickly to DiGrappa’s MRO [email]; we were not offered food or counselling services. Our friends partying downstairs, however, have arranged for both,” it read. As of press time, none of the sixth floor students were available for comment.
Opinion
02.16.2012 |
10
Editor: Brian Platt
The AMS puts a little imagination to work Editor’s Notebook Brian Platt
INDIANA JOEL/ THE UBYSSEY
The Last Word Parting shots and snap judgments on today’s issues Start preparing for a possible TA strike On Wednesday, hundreds of TAs met to discuss the state of contract negotiations with UBC. They haven’t had a contract for nearly two years and haven’t gotten UBC to budge from their stance of no pay increases. So now, they’re considering striking. According to our sources, if they choose to strike, they would force UBC’s hand by having it take effect during the final weeks of classes and exams. We’re still finding the details of when a strike vote might be called and what it could mean for students. But what is clear is that the TAs are serious about keeping all their options open. This means that everyone should be prepared to not have their TAs for a couple weeks at the end of the school—and plan and study accordingly.
A simple guide for how clubs can stay out of trouble The UBC Ski & Board Club had to do some explaining to the AMS Student Administrative Commission recently. Ski & Board had distributed posters for a February 3 beer garden called “Cavesluts and Dinowhores,” featuring an impossibly buxom cavewoman spilling out of her skimpy cave-bikini. So yeah, it broke a few rules about respectful discourse toward women. One response to this could be that it shows the AMS needs to bring back a revamped equity program that teaches clubs how to promote positive discourse (the AMS equity program was scrapped two years ago). But it’s not necessarily true that this single event should require a systemic change. Every two years or so, it seems a student organization gets itself into trouble. In 2008, it was the Chinese Varsity Club’s video about the “Honger” club. In 2010, it was
the Arts Undergraduate Society’s newspaper making jokes about “tramp stamps.” What’s really needed here is just a reminder to club executives to keep an eye on those in your club who are prone to doing blatantly stupid things. In fact, here’s an easy-to-follow guide to what should never appear in your official club material. 1. Caricatures of sexually promiscuous women. 2. Jokes about racial stereotypes. 3. Derogatory comments about sexual orientation. There are other grey areas that should probably be avoided, but come on, people, it’s really not that complicated. Just keep these these three simple rules in mind and you can avoid a whole lot of trouble.
A sustainability college would be good news for the UBC Farm Everyone loves the idea of a farm, even if they don’t regularly interact with it. This was proven in the widespread support for saving the UBC Farm from condominium development a few years ago. Yet the lack of interaction is still a problem. Outside of that campaign and a few events throughout the year, few students are involved with the Farm. It can seem like a hassle at times to get down to south campus when you’re balancing classes and struggling with exams. Plus it rains for most of the academic year. But with the prospect of a sustainability college being built on UBC Farm, more people will actually have a chance to experience one of the largest urban farms in North America—even if they don’t have an affinity for physical labour. This is a great step towards making UBC Farm more accessible to all residents in the Lower Mainland. UBC film students should come out of their shell more often The “Harry Potter in 60 Seconds” video, made by UBC film students,
was pretty amusing as viral videos go. But it was probably also the first time you watched something created by a UBC film student. The work of film students doesn’t have the same visibility as their fine art brethren in the theatre and music departments. And while part of this is due to the lack of a high-quality viewing space like the Chan Centre, it’s also because the department just doesn’t seem as motivated to share their talents with the general university community—their poorly-advertised film festival notwithstanding. Yes film students, we know you’re very busy. But we encourage you to get more involved in the larger campus community. Videos like this both further your career and entertain your peers— and can be made even without a time-turner.
Campus Security suprisingly sets the standard for web presence UBC Campus Security’s decision to make improvements to their online Lost and Found service is great for UBC students. As we get more and more of our information online, it’s important to create effective communication on the interwebs. Other examples include Campus Security’s surprisingly quirky and informative Facebook page, and— hey, wait a second. How did it come to be that Campus Security has one of the best online presences at UBC? We don’t mean to besmirch Campus Security. They do a genuinely great job of realizing there’s more to communication than press releases and vague UBC talking points. But surely other groups on campus could follow their example and give their department a little more personality. Such efforts may not make it any easier for us to find our iPod, as Campus Security’s does, but it’d sure help raise their profile among students. U
The AMS has made national headlines over the past couple of weeks, including stories in The Toronto Star, The Huffington Post and The Province. Considering the AMS’s recent history, this would normally mean I’d be writing a column that starts with a recap of a hilarious and embarrassing scandal that has swamped our student union. But this time the buzz is good: the AMS is planning a microbrewery for the new SUB. According to President Jeremy McElroy and VP Finance Elin Tayyar, it would be the first brewery operated by a student union anywhere in the world. If we are to believe the feasibility report that the AMS commissioned, the brewery will potentially make an annual profit of somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million. It would also provide students with a cheaper source of alcohol at the AMS’s bars, and possibly give beer gardens a local source for their kegs. This all seems too good to be true, and to a certain extent, it probably is. I’ll be surprised if the brewery ever makes that much profit. But examined within the larger context of the AMS’s ambitions, it doesn’t really matter whether the brewery makes wads of cash, breaks even or is a modest money-loser. At the February 8 AMS Council meeting, Tayyar laid out a plan to have the AMS form a company to manage all of the society’s business operations. That company would have a more stable and knowledgeable (but still student-controlled) board of directors, and would focus on making the AMS’s businesses as
efficient and profitable as possible. Those profits would then flow back to the AMS to be put into student services. The main reasons for this plan are practical. The AMS’s business profits have been falling for years, and they’ve also received unwelcome attention from the Canada Revenue Agency for being a non-profit society with high levels of business income. But think for a moment about the path the AMS is embarking on. In a few years, it will have a brand new $103 million building—which brings along brand new facilities for all of its businesses. Its bars, which currently sit empty on most nights, will likely be much fuller and will now be selling pitcher after pitcher of AMSproduced beer. This is growing into quite the commercial empire. A decade from now, when these business profits are combined with the interest produced from the AMS’s endowment fund, a substantial portion of the AMS budget will be independent from student fees. The AMS will be able to keep its student fees among the lowest in Canada while increasing student service levels. It’s brilliant. The real question is: why are no other student unions doing this? For one thing, they tend to be suspicious of relinquishing control over their business operations; the result is that student politicians with little business sense maintain their food outlets as poorly-run money pits. The AMS has always been smartly focused on giving elected students the final word on business operations, but mostly letting professional staff take care of the details. The other reason, though, is that other student unions simply haven’t dreamt as ambitiously about what they’re capable of with a bit of longterm planning. For this, the AMS deserves a lot of credit. U
On fluffy romanticism Letters Re: “Composer Matthew Emery an early riser,” February 2 I am responding to this passage: “The life of a composer is an ascetic one...Music is admittedly all he [Matthew] does. He runs in the same circles as other music students... There are disagreements over everything, between self-described purists like Emery and more experimental composers who try to break the form. And most of them don’t really know much about popular music (the only modern artist Emery could name was Adele).” I am another student in the composition program here at UBC. However, regardless of my personal style of composition, I am a firm cynic of the fluffy romanticism that surrounds the idea of what it means to be an artist. The way that the artist is portrayed in this article is someone who locks himself away and completely devotes himself entirely to the art. For whatever reason, our culture loves to find ways to hold high the true artist on a romantic pedestal. This mode of exclusivity is seen as a sign of pure devotion, love, dedication, and so on, and we love to see the resultant art as some sort of
transcendental manifestation that expresses the personality and being of the artist. The way that you portray musicians here is something I encourage people to think critically about. To say that music is all he does, regardless of whether he said so himself or not, is actually a very tall order and is a profile to which I absolutely refuse to conform. Does this mean that I am any less devoted to my art? I hardly think so; if anything, in my experience extra-musical influences are very enriching to music. My master’s thesis is a collection of pieces based on works by Salvador Dali. My Catholic background gives a lot of personal meaning to the oldest written music which was used in Catholic masses. In fact, one of the greatest movements in Canadian classical music originated here in Vancouver and was inspired by the environment. The path described in the article suits Matthew clearly quite well, as it leads him to write beautiful music, but it would not have the same effect for every composer. We are not all the same, our art is not all the same (think of how dull music would be!), but society likes to make generalizations about the ideals of classical music. It is this that I encourage people to think critically about. —Daniel Marshall
Scene
02.16.2012 |
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Pictures and words on your university experience
STUDENT BODY >>
Cradling your deepest, darkest fear Happy Healthy Horny
Raeven GeistDeschamps Ginette’s gait is wider than it is long. Her hair is a crinkled auburn, tamed by too many high-heat drying and straightening sessions. She wears a black, baggy, synthetic silk vest with something like “Chinook” or “Chilliwack” written on the front. She has a name I didn’t think anyone had anymore. I meet Ginette at the integrative cancer care clinic, InspireHealth, during their two-day program, which gives people with cancer (and their supporters) extra tools to cope with the diagnosis. I’m an intern there. A low echelon observer of the babies of war and processed foods, and the cancers arising thereof. The program has various components, from holistic nutrition to emotional support. It has recently been picked up as a pioneer model by BC Health, which funds its practitioners and its upcoming expansion into all of BC. The emphasis is on the community and day-to-day support for the cancer patient, rather than
a disease-focused approach to healing where chemotherapy is extended as the cure. On the first day, I sat with a support group and learned about storytelling. We’ve come to the end of the second day and start addressing the notion of honestly respecting our boundaries in various situations. Though the talk is interesting, the healthy organic vegetarian meal has me pleasantly subsumed. I’m paying attention like a flea on a monkey’s back. Until Ginette. Ginette starts by saying she has two kids. One is 7, the other 11. She is due for surgery next week. When she asks, “What do I tell my kids?” the leathery cracked skin around her eyes dissolves into dimensionless honesty. The counselor says to validate their emotions and tell them she will always love them. Another person with cancer steps in and says: “No, really, what I think she means is that she is due for surgery next week and she doesn’t know if she will survive. Do you tell them that?” A blanket of silence falls on the room. She continues, “When I told my thirteen-year-old, we cried together. But, you know, I said it was okay, because it would be weird if we didn’t cry.” The counselor extends her initial response, but for
Being confronted with one’s own mortality is terrifying—though it can be a cathartic experience.
some reason I find it impossible to listen. My chest is constricted, my eyes are watering, I want to wail. I look around the room and I see others holding back. The hurt I empathize with finds itself in my lower belly. I’m not a mother, but I have womb empathy. Or maybe, like it’s been
said countless times, I’m just afraid of dying. I’m so acutely aware of my own mortality that I can’t hold in all the pain and all the joy that these moments bring. These are privileged spaces where people have the courage to share without the forbearance of social regret. I cry more and more, dripping
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damp, salty tears through the end of the talk, during the break and even lock myself in a bathroom stall to try and release. When I come back to the room, Ginette has the embarrassed gaze of someone who’s given the gift of their deepest, darkest fear. But it is a fear that the entire group cradled. U
12 | Games | 02.16.2012 47- Bird that gets you down 49- Oozes 51- Large New Zealand reptile 55- Wingless 58- Faultfinder 59- Pole, for one 60- Sedative 62- Trick 63- Farewell 64- “ _ sprach Zarathustra” 65- Electric fish 66- Makes a loan 67- Not e’en once
Down
Across 1- Barbershop request 5- Aromatic wood 10- Tooth 14- Hokkaido native 15- Small egg 16- Collar type 17- Temperance 19- Gaucho’s weapon 20- Standards of perfection 21- Regent 23- Rare-earth metallic element 25- Eagle’s home
26- Truman’s Missouri birthplace 28- Falls-jumping fish 31- Animate existence 34- Children’s author Blyton 36- Handle 37- Much _ About Nothing, play by Shakespeare; 38- Building 40- _ de guerre 41- Intrinsically 43- Pond organism 44- Fit to _ 45- Spanish rice dish
1- Implied 2- _ Janeiro 3- Type of sanctum 4- Chameleonlik 5- Ate 6- Holiday start 7- Manure 8- Foil maker 9- “Speed” star 10- Feverish 11- Reconciliation 12- _ contendere 13- Growl 18- Bones found in the hip 22- Clear the board 24- Craze 27- Long arm 29- Plains native 30- Iditarod terminus 31- Scandinavian 32- Brain wave 33- Anticipate 35- Toe or finger 38- Conger catcher 39- Winged staff carried by Mercury
42- Arm coverings 44- Craftsperson 46- Having no distinct feet 48- “…countrymen, lend me your _ “ 50- Jacket material 52- Start of a Dickens title 53- Wash lightly 54- Bogie, e.g. 55- Even _ speak... 56- Ballet bend 57- Whirl 61- Roulette bet