FEBRUARY 26, 2015 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XLII UNACCOMPANIED MINORS SINCE 1918
SOUPER BOWL
BOG DISAPPOINTMENT
Sprouts and the Pottery Club have their annual charity event this week.
IAmAStudent not surprised that voices and concerns of students largely unheard.
P7
P8
UBC Grad • Olympic Swimmer • Sketch Comedian
ANNAMAY PIERSE Biological Batteries P3 • Houdini P5 • eSports P10
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 |
YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS, PEOPLE + CAMPUS
EVENTS FRIDAY
OUR CAMPUS
THIS WEEK, CHECK OUT ...
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ONE ON ONE WITH THE PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS THAT MAKE UBC
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UBC’S LARGEST YOGA CLASS 12:00 - 1:00 P.M. @ SRC GYMS
Take a study break, get some exercise and relax after a stressful period of midterms with this group yoga session. Extra mats available, but bring your own if you have one. Free
FRIDAY
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UBC IMPROV
Ryo Sugiyama has curated the Nitobe Memorial Garden and maintained its intricate balance since 2011.
UBC Improv is hosting its ‘Crunch Time’ show! Enjoy some on-the-spot, creative antics from talented and enthusiastic actors. $3
Ryo Sugiyama curates the Nitobe Garden: UBC’s cultural bridge
PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY
7:00 P.M. @ NEVILLE SCARFE ROOM 100
Kari Lindberg Contributor
FRIDAY
27
HOT FUZZ BEVERAGE GARDEN
DOORS OPEN 7:00 P.M. @ NORM THEATRE IN THE SUB
Come enjoy the best thing to come out of Britain since Queen at this FilmSoc beverage garden. A night of British buddy cop film and cheap ($7 for two) beer is hard to beat. $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
ON THE COVER Thanks to Toronto Sketch Fest for the imagery.
Want to see your events listed here? Email your events listings to ourcampus@ubyssey.ca.
U THE UBYSSEY EDITORIAL
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FEBRUARY 26, 2015 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XLII BUSINESS
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Beauty is subjective in its own right, but anyone would be hardpressed to deny that the Nitobe Memorial Garden is one of the most beautiful places on the UBC campus. The garden is named after Nitobe Inazo, a famous diplomat, writer, bureaucrat and educator in a time of great change for Japan. It was within Nitobe’s lifetime that Japan moved away from its period of international isolationism to form stronger international relations. Nitobe, appointed under-secretary general to the League of Nations after World War One, was dedicated to the promotion and fostering of greater peaceful understanding between the western world and Japan. It is from this vision of Nitobe’s that the Nitobe Memorial Garden’s design emerged. Ryo Sugiyama, Nitobe Memorial Garden curator, has a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Landscape design from Chiba University’s School of Science and Technology. While completing his master’s degree, Sugiyama studied under Kannosuke Mori, the designer of the Nitobe Memorial Garden. Sugiyama’s job starts daily at 6:30 a.m. with significant amounts of of pruning, landscaping and clean up to do before the gate opens at 10 a.m. Sugiyama explained some of the vision and context behind the design of the garden. “The pond in the middle of the garden is symbolic of the Pacific ocean. The far side of lake
[the furthest end from when you enter the gardens] is symbolic of Japan and the side closest to the entrance is Canada or North America.” Further biological steps were taken to emphasize the symbolism of various parts of the garden throughout the design process. “On the side representative of Japan, Japanese maple trees are planted and on the Canadian side, Canadian maple trees are planted,” said Sugiyama. Sugiyama says that the bridge represents a key part of Nitobe’s vision, as it was his wish “that the bridge would close [the cultural gap created by the] ocean.”
It is the Nitobe Memorial Garden’s art of maintaining curiosity that makes it one of the most authentic Japanese gardens in North America.” Ryo Sugiyama Nitobe Memorial Garden curator
Sugiyama attributed his method of pruning to the Nitobe Memorial Garden’s retention of the authentically Japanese garden feel. “[The] Japanese style of pruning is not to cut in a round, square or hedge straight manner. We always try to think out, take out branches as a means of providing more depth, creating a see-through style,” Sugiyama said. “We [Japanese landscapists]
are from a small country; we are always trying to create more space.” Within a small, confined space, the beauty of a garden is used as a tool to maintain the curiosity of all those who come to look at the garden, ensuring that they are spurred on to go further. “Authentic Japanese gardens are characterized by the art of maintaining curiosity. It is the Nitobe Memorial Garden’s art of maintaining curiosity that makes it one of the most authentic Japanese gardens in North America,” said Sugiyama. A distinct feature of the garden’s Japanese style is the efforts by the designer, past curators and current to represent an idealized and symbolic understanding of nature. Each stone, tree, shrub and flower has been placed deliberately: a way of creating harmony and balance between the waterfall, land and sea. The uniqueness of the garden lays in its ability to, according to Sugiyama, “respect the local [vegetation].” Dispersed among the irises, cherry trees and azaleas brought over from Japan are the native Canadian trees and shrubbery, pruned in a Japanese manner — a unique blend of Japanese-Canadian cross-cultural botany styles. Ultimately, Sugiyama says that the garden was designed for “strolling around” and to allow people to “enjoy the view with the tea garden.” It’s in the garden that “you can communicate with yourself, calm down and think of yourself within the relaxing environment.” U
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 |
EDITORS JOVANA VRANIC + VERONIKA BONDARENKO
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RESEARCH >>
Cheaper, more efficient solar cells in the works at UBC
Researchers are developing a new generation of solar cells, inspired by photosynthesis
PHOTO COURTESY UBC PUBLIC AFFAIRS
UBC researchers are drawing inspiration from photosynthesis to develop a new generation of solar cells.
Emma Partridge Staff Writer
The Energizer Bunny may have competition. UBC microbiologist Thomas Beatty is collaborating with UBC bio- and electrical engineer John Madden and chemist Curtis Berlinguette to develop
a new generation of solar cells. Their inspiration comes from the behavior of microorganisms during photosynthesis. “We have solar powered calculators and things like that, that as soon you turn off the light they die,” said Beatty. “It will be really cool [if ] we’d turn off the light and it kept going.”
Beatty breaks down the science behind the cells by explaining that their ongoing aim is to “trick” a protein so that electrons are directed to an electrode onto which a protein has been bound. Under normal conditions, proteins keep the electrons inside. “What we’re really trying to do is modify the protein in such a way
that it sort of short-circuits itself and instead of moving the electrons to the right place, or what the protein thinks is the right place, is to bleed them off into an electrical circuit,” said Beatty. “From there, the electrons can move as electricity into a circuit to do something like power your charger, your computer or your phone.”
Beatty hopes that these cells will be more efficient than those that are currently available. “The biological material that we’re working with basically [has] an efficiency of one for each photon that’s absorbed, one electron is ejected and so it’s very, very efficient,” said Beatty. In contrast, materials like silicon need more than one photon to move an electron into a current. Of course, this work takes time. Beatty estimates that it will take roughly 18 to 24 months before they have something that is commercially attractive. Though these cells are still in their early stages and work continues on multiple fronts, Beatty considers studying whether these cells can function like a battery in terms of storage the most encouraging work right now. When asked what he hopes to see this eco-friendly solution be used for, Beatty spoke to the need for hooking up people in off-the-grid regions in Canada and beyond with safe, sustainable energy. “There’s lots of places that get sunlight that don’t have electrical cables connecting them to the grid and so if you can give them a simple way to charge a cell phone, or turn on a light in the evening so that they can read a book or get enough light to eat their dinner by or something like that then it will be a wonderful, wonderful thing,” said Beatty. U
CRIME >>
TRANSIT >>
First round of students receive long-awaited Compass Card Woman assaulted on south campus Kelley Lin Senior Staff Writer
UBC and TransLink have started rolling out Compass Cards to students in their first phase of implementation. After several delays, TransLink announced that it would start distributing Compass Cards to groups of student across the Lower Mainland at the beginning of 2015. In early January, the first batch of Compass Cards was distributed to 900 students in the Affiliated Theological Colleges on campus for February travel. AMS President Tanner Bokor is assured that the new program is working as planned. “We are right where we expected to be,” said Bokor. “We haven’t had any reported issues and the system’s been working just fine so we’re actually very happy with what we’ve been hearing both from UBC and from TransLink. We’ll be continuing to grasp with rolling out Compass to the rest of campus over the next couple of months.” According to Bokor, feedback from the first round of students regarding the convenience of the new Compass Card has thus far been very positive. TransLink is scheduled to have two more additional waves of distribution as part of its trial period. “I certainly have heard comments around it’s much easier just to have the one card that you can reload month after month rather than going to the bookstore,” said Bokor. Bokor also confirmed that the new program will be fully implemented within the year, but
Mundell Park is located just outside of Wesbrook Village, on south campus.
Veronika Bondarenko News Editor
PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY
TransLink has rolled out its Compass Card program for the first batch of UBC students.
the specific date for when the Compass Card will be available to all students has not yet been confirmed. “We suspect that all students will be able to be on the program
come next [academic] year,” said Bokor. “We just don’t know what date that will be. It all depends on TransLink’s analysis of the data after this first wave finishes the trial. Definitely within 2015.” U
An 18-year-old woman was the victim of an assault on campus this Sunday. The woman, who was walking near Mundell Park on south campus at around 10:10 p.m on Sunday, Feb. 22, was grabbed from behind by a male stranger. After she fought back and got away, the man fled. She did not receive any injuries or require hospitalization. The RCMP used police dogs to search for the suspect, but were not able to locate him. According to an RCMP media release, the suspect is male, has olive-coloured skin and was wearing a puffy army green vest, a dark long-sleeved shirt and dark pants on Sunday night. He is
approximately 5'4 to 5'6 in height and is 18 to 20 years of age. Police are currently continuing the search for the attacker and asking anyone with information about the assault to contact them. This latest assault incident comes after a string of sexual assaults on campus in the fall of 2013. "We recognize that incidents of this nature can be alarming to those regularly walking alone at night," said RCMP Corporal Brenda Winpenny in the media release. "Although we believe this to be an isolated incident, as always, we recommend for the general public walking alone late in the evening or early in the morning to remain extra vigilant of their surroundings and take every precaution to enhance their personal safety." U
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
STUDENTS >>
MAGIC >>
Sauder student participating in Miss World Canada pageant
Psychology prof on magic and the brain
ILLUSTRATION JULIAN YU/THE UBYSSEY PHOTO COURTESY BETTY LU
Betty Yenlei Lu is participating in this year’s Miss World Canada pageant.
Mateo Ospina
Senior Staff Writer Third-year Sauder student Betty Yunlei Lu is a proud competitor at the Miss World Canada pageant. Lu is new to the experience of competing in beauty pageants, but her background in modelling and dancing has helped her to excel. After winning the China International Model Advertising Contest, Lu was given a scholarship and invitation to participate in the Miss World competition. According to Lu, she was hesitant about entering at first due to misunderstanding of the significance of the pageant, but eventually decided to take part after seeing the influence and power that contestants have to contribute to charitable causes. Lu said, “It’s not just about competing in outside beauty, but about using your platform to make a better impact [on the world].” Her experiences at Sauder have prepared her to view this as an opportunity to put into practice her experience with organizing fundraisers and social entrepreneurial projects. “Sauder did a good job training me in leadership skills so I can use
them whenever I’m organizing my own charity events,” said Lu about a freeze mob she put together to raise awareness for children with special needs. Lu is running on a platform that focuses on ideas of multiculturalism and improving awareness for disabilities in children. She plans on hosting events such as multicultural performances and cultural exchange events to promote diversity in Vancouver. Her interest in multiculturalism began at a young age when her family immigrated to Canada. “I want to do something for newcomers to Canada, like how my family was at one point,” said Lu. Lu seeks to represent and empower the multicultural communities in Canada through her role with Miss World Canada. “I’m still leading the same events and involved in the same things I was before,” said Lu, “just through my involvement [in the pageant] I can tell that my impact is stronger.” Lu is representing Vancouver and UBC as a whole at Miss World Canada and hopes to receive the support of her classmates. “UBC is my home school. I am proud to be a UBC student, representing UBC and Vancouver.” U
Professor Ronald Rensink believes studying magic can offer great insight into many topics in psychology.
Mariam Baldeh
Contributor
Magic tricks have always been an intriguing phenomenon, but what is the relationship between human psychology and magic? Ronald Rensink, a professor in the psychology and computer science departments at UBC, has been exploring that question for more than five years. Rensink was first drawn to the topic after an experiment several years ago pointed to similarities in the ways that magicians can control people’s attention as they perform various tricks. “To see change, you need attention,” said Rensink. “[Magicians] control people’s attention. They change something, then use certain methods to make sure people don’t see the change.”
So what magicians do then, Rensink said, is hijack their audience’s concentration and create a different reality. For instance, the viewer may be convinced they are seeing something appear and disappear, although that isn’t really happening. “The picture you have of the world is not directly what comes into your eyes,” said Rensink. “The picture you experience is a production your brain is putting this together.” Rensink was also part of a study, conducted by researchers from both UBC and McGill University, that looked at the technique of “forcing.” In forcing tricks, magicians get participants to pick a specific card they already had in mind while the participants remain oblivious and confident that they picked
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the card out of their own free will, despite actually having been made to do so. In a controlled experiment setting in a lab using a computer screen to control the timing, size and colour of the cards, the forcing technique worked 30 per cent of the time, whereas it worked almost 100 per cent of the time when performed by magician Jay Olson, Rensink said. “Timing [is] a major component [in forcing],” said Rensink. “The memorability of the card, or whether or not people liked a particular card [seemed in the experiment] to have no impact, but showing the [pre-selected] card slightly longer than the rest did.” Participants, however, do not notice this time discrepancy. According to Rensink, experiments like this offer some interesting insights into how magicians control these mechanisms, and provide scientists with learning opportunities. Rensink believes that the study of magic has much to offer to the field of psychology. “To learn at what age children develop object permanence, we can use magic tricks,” Rensink said. “If the child is surprised when the object disappears, [he/she] has object permanence. If not [surprised], then you know they don’t yet.” Secondly, magic tricks can be used to study wonder, and the particular sense of wonder that is unique to people looking at magic tricks. It can be useful in exploring whether or not there are different types of wonder, things that trigger it and the purpose of it. Rensink also said that studying magic provides avenues to study tricks specifically — which are a phenomenon in their own right — as well as to study magic in a general sense. This can lead to creating a taxonomy of different kinds of tricks, which can then be used to compare and build connections among them. U
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By Levin C. Handy (per http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpbh.04326) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
“ The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” › Thomas Edison: Relentless Inventiveness Failure is no biggie. Just ask Edison. If he stopped at failure, he would never have moved on to invent a little thing called the light bulb. So if you’ve failed a class somewhere else, or have a scheduling conflict, come on over. You can catch up with our world-recognized online courses, then move on to bigger successes. Talk about a light bulb moment.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 |
EDITOR JENICA MONTGOMERY
CHAN CENTRE >>
A night of illusion and suspended disbelief with Beyond Words
PHOTO COURTESY LAURA MURRAY PR
Steven Galloway is a UBC professor and a well-known Canadian author.
Tammy Hsieh Contributor
Novelists are said to be magicians of words, but what happens when a novelist meets a magician? The upcoming Beyond Words series presented by the Chan Centre will answer that very question on Thursday night. Inspired by The Confabulist , the show presents celebrated Canadian author Steven Galloway and master magician David Gifford. The Beyond Words series takes on the challenge of exploring the power of words using other methods, hoping to ignite more possibility and passion amongst the audience. “It’s very rare for me to be excited about an event featuring me,” said Galloway. Like the audience, he has no idea what tricks David Gifford will perform. The event is not simply a show and tell but a display of the theories and principles of the novel in the form of illusions. The event surrounds Galloway’s The Confabulist which tells the story of the world’s most wellknown magician, Harry Houdini. The story is told through the lens of everyday man Martin Strauss, who claims to have killed Houdini (twice). “Because he’s so ridiculously famous … it’s really useful when the reader is asking himself self-consciously: is that actually something Houdini did or the author made up. There’s something I can do when that’s part of the question in a reader’s mind that I couldn’t do with a made-up magician. If I make up a fictional magician, no one’s ever wondering whether he did it or not,” said Galloway on why he chose to focus on Houdini. The Confabulist , he believes, is also the most structurally interesting and technically challenging book he has written. The magic tricks were especially difficult because they rely on visual effects. <em>
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Write Shoot Edit Code Drink COME BY THE UBYSSEY OFFICE SUB 24, FOLLOW THE SIGNS
So the task lies on the author to make the readers picture the magic tricks through description alone. Swinging between reality and illusion, Galloway wants to challenge the assumption people have about memory and brains. “I was interested in the ways in which the brain remembers things and how we like to think of brains as computers. In fact, it’s not even a little bit like a computer. If you look at the way memories are formed, catalogued and kept. The brain is a story telling device. It’s a dynamic device. Magicians use the way the brain forms memories to make magic tricks work.” But we are not always being tricked unconsciously — instead, we often consent to the deception. “When people read a novel, they’re agreeing to pretend that something that isn’t real is, right? You don’t read a novel and say the whole time, ‘well, that never happened,’” said Galloway. This suspension of disbelief also enables us to enjoy a magic show. The Telus Studio Theatre provides the audience the best possible position to watch the show. With only 150 seats, the round arena allows the audience to observe the magician from a very close distance. “It’s going to be tough on [Gifford]. That’s his problem. I can read anywhere,” said Galloway. If you haven’t read the book, it’s not a reason to miss the show. “I’m going to operate under the premise that people haven’t read the book. I’ll pick parts that stand by themselves,” said Galloway. As the audience renders themselves into suspended disbelief, they might find another way to see reality. Beyond Words with Steven Galloway and David Gifford will be on February 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Telus Studio Theatre. Tickets are available online. U
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5
MUSIC >>
Jimmy and the Jets to play Koerner’s Pub Jenica Montgomery Culture Editor
First- and second-year law students James Struthers and Yvan Larocque, alongside Capilano university jazz student Jack Colish, will be playing their first gig as Jimmy and the Jets at Koerners on Thursday. Struthers and Larocque were both professional musicians before entering UBC as law students. Struthers wrote and produced his own music, touring the country and performing alongside local band Hey Ocean! Larocque, who was in the Navy for a number of years and studied music in New York, was a musician for the military show band, performing for troops across the world. Both Struthers and Larocque weren’t getting what they wanted out of the musician’s life and each decided to try law school. “I just started thinking about what I wanted out of the next X amount of years in my life and sleeping in my car and only being able to afford to eat ramen noodles was not what I wanted to do,” said Struthers. “I just kind of got sick of being on the road all the time, living out of a suitcase and never seeing my friends and family, so I decided to come to law school so I could not see my friends and family,” said Larocque. However, music still plays a large role in their day-to-day lives. Both Struthers and Larocque commented on the hardships that professional musicians face and the importance of doing something you love for fun. “I originally wanted to [start a band] when I got out here just cause I didn’t want to stop doing what I cared about and that’s obviously a huge part of it, but I realized pretty quickly that it’s
James Struthers had a solo career before entering law school.
a huge part of my sanity at law school,” said Struthers. Jimmy and the Jets will be playing a combination of original tunes and covers of popular songs. The band can play anything from R Kelly to Bruce Springsteen. “Some of them are totally inappropriate as acoustic songs but I think that’s what we like about it,” said Struthers. Koerner’s has become a wellknown venue for UBC-based musicians, continuing to support
PHOTO COURTESY DAN PRIEST
the arts and culture community on campus. “I think it’s really great that they’re lending a helping hand to local musicians,” said Larocque. “It’s a great venue, it’s a great place, good people, for us it’s a chance for us to have fun, get our friends out and share our music with some people. And for a first gig it’s pretty low-key.” Jimmy and the Jets will be playing at 9 p.m. on Thursday February 25 at Koerner’s Pub. Tickets are not required. U
New
Master of Accounting
Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business is proud to announce our new Master of Accounting (MAcc), a rigourous program that will provide students with a gateway to a career as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). Program features: ●●
Accredited by CPA Ontario. MAcc graduates may proceed directly to the CPA Common Final Exam.
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Highly qualified and committed faculty members who have been actively involved in professional accounting bodies for over 30 years.
Completed applications may be submitted until April 30, 2015. The program starts in May 2015.
To learn more about the program and to apply, visit: sprott.carleton.ca/macc
6 | CULTURE |
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
ANNAMAY PIERSE
From UBC Grad to Olympic Swimmer to Sketch Comedian
Kaylan Mackinnon Contributor
Graduate from UBC? Check. Compete in the Olympics? Check. Start comedy troupe and participate in large sketch comedy festival? Check. Annamay Pierse can proudly admit to being a UBC graduate, an Olympian and now a sketch comedian with her comedy troupe Highbräu. Pierse moved from Edmonton out to Vancouver to attend UBC primarily for swimming. She trained during her school years and graduated with a degree in psychology. And, at the age of 24 while still studying, she competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Once she graduated, Pierse moved out to Toronto, where she is currently attending teachers’ college. Pierse didn’t know anyone in the city at the time, so she decided to take a drop-in class at The Second City Improv Centre in downtown Toronto. “I went one day to just a drop-in class and loved it, and did another one later on that night and then
“I went one day to just a drop-in class and loved it, and did another one later on that night and then signed up the next day and started classes.”
signed up the next day and started classes,” said Pierse. Since training with Second City, she has now formed her own comedy sketch troupe called Highbräu, which consists of five comedians. Highbräu, as Pierse explained, is a way of describing upper-crest comedy. However, to make it a little more humorous, they used the spelling of bräu, which means beer in German. “I’ve always loved being in front of people and on stage. If I hadn’t been a swimmer, I probably would have tried to be an actor,” said Pierse. Their first comedy festival as a troupe was at Toronto’s Fringe Festival. Since then, Pierse and the rest of her troupe applied for the 10th Annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and were accepted. “We had to apply and it was a pretty rigorous. I guess they look at your videos and see what you’ve done around the city and kind of see if you have a name for yourself, so it’s a pretty big honour that we got into it. It’s going to be so much fun,” said Pierse.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
| CULTURE | 7
Their first comedy festival as a troupe was at Toronto’s Fringe Festival. Since then, Pierse and the rest of her troupe applied for the 10th Annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and were accepted.
They get to perform for 30 minutes, which will consist of six to eight different sketches, all written and produced by their troupe. The troupe will also share the stage with one of the festival’s headlines and SNL’s very own Kate McKinnon. Pierse’s next move in the comedy world with Highbräu is to apply for the Montreal Sketch Fest, as well as to continue hosting their monthly hour-length shows. U
Olympic Finishes 2008 Beijing Breaststroke 200m
6th
Breaststroke 100m
10th
Medley Relay 4x100m
7 th
Interests Competitive swimming Shoes, chocolate and wine Sketch comedy
8 | CULTURE |
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
PROJECTS >>
New project highlights the inacessibility of medicine
FOOD >>
Common Energy encourages food sustainability across campus
Chew on This aims to increase awareness around sustainable eating.
Mischa Milne Contributor
With the wrap-up of Common Energy’s third annual Chew on This event, students at UBC were exposed to a greater focus on food sustainability than ever. Chew on This, which ran from January 26-30, was held by Common Energy’s Food and Connections team. Events included a documentary about food waste, a lecture on the benefits of eating insects, a nettle foraging workshop and an international food night, finishing up with the UBC Farm Symposium and Community Eats at Sprouts. The week kicked off with the documentary screening of Just Eat It , which was filmed in Vancouver. The film highlighted the amount of food that is wasted at all levels of production, following the path of food from farms to grocery stores. It explored the imbalance <em>
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Anuja Kapoor Contributor
A new UBC campaign, Pictures for Progress, highlights issues of inaccessibility to medication through the use of visual images and creative artwork. The project is driven by the UBC chapter of UAEM (Universities Allied for Essential Medicines), an international group dedicated to enhancing the impact of universities’ biomedical research on global health. The campaign encourages student engagement and submission of interpretive art and photography as an effective means to promote access to medication for all. “The issue is not something that is out there and far from us, but rather something we see on a local scale — especially on campus,” said Angela Ji, president of the campaign and second year pharmacy student. While inaccessibility is used as a broad term to encompass the various barriers the public can face, the issue is in fact more complex. Complications often arise from a combination of disadvantageous factors including patent laws, health policies, lack of effective knowledge dissemination and pharmaceutical industry values. To filter these facts, Pictures for Progress members serve as
PHOTO COURTESY PICTURES FOR PROGRESS
a link between pharmacists and the public. “[Lack of ] access to information and information dissemination is a barrier we are trying to break,” said Ji. Information provided on their website assists individuals to better afford the prescriptions they need. Topics such as overmedication, overuse of antibiotics, comparisons of generic vs. brand-name drugs and B.C. PharmaCare are addressed in detail to give students a more solid foundation. The biggest concern is still cost of medication. At advocacy events held at the SUB and the pharmacy atrium between January 10–20, members found upon discussions with students that their medication can often be expensive and unaffordable. This is particularly true in and around a campus environment. Furthermore, students are often unaware of the resources available to them, and the organisation gathered that one in 10 people struggle to access affordable medicines or lack knowledge of campus and B.C. health care coverage. The project is ongoing, and as for its future, Ji has high hopes. The team hopes to exhibit a series of over 100 photographs at the AMS Art Gallery next semester, for promotion, advocacy and outreach. U
aspects of education but also hands-on activities into one week-long event where anyone was welcome,” he said. The growth of Common Energy over the past four years is indicative of a campus-wide engagement in environment and sustainability issues. Chew on This is one of several events that Common Energy hosts throughout the year, and it involved collaboration with other campus sustainability groups, including the UBC Farm, Sprouts and the International Forestry Students Association. “I think one of the greatest aspects of Chew on This was that we were able to reach out to a lot of different campus partners … to build that sense of community around food sustainability culture. People are really concerned about the way food is being used,” said Herrera. U
February 27 Sprouts Pay for the bowl you purchase
February 25-March 1 7 p.m., 1:30 p.m. Dorothy Sommerset Studios $6 for members, $12 for non-members
Sprouts, Community Eats, and the Pottery Club are presenting their second annual Souper Bowl this Friday. Purchase a handmade bowl from the Pottery Club and fill it with delicious soup from Community Eats.
UBC’s oldest club, the Players’ club, is hosting their Festival Dionysia. The theatre festival presents a host of one-act plays, some written by students. This event promises a night of drama and excitement.
CULTURE VULTURE
Pictures for Progress combines activism and art.
between the amount of food that is produced in North America, and the amount that actually gets eaten. Yann Herrera, third year environmental science student and co-coordinator of Food and Connections, noted that although UBC has a number of initiatives to promote food sustainability, there is still a tremendous amount of food that gets wasted. However, that doesn’t mean things aren’t improving. He added that one of the most successful results of Chew on This was being able to reach beyond the Common Energy community, as students from multiple faculties, both undergraduate and graduate, and even those from outside UBC attended the events. “We wanted to make Chew on This a really fun event that also had an impact, in the sense that we tried to incorporate different
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DIVESTMENT >>
Vote no on Israel divestment
GRAPHIC CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY
KOBY MICHAELS Op-ed
UBC’s branch of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) is currently campaigning to have the AMS include a BDS resolution against the State of Israel on the upcoming student government’s election ballot. If the campaign is successful, we cannot allow this referendum to pass. The BDS movement, which stands for Boycott, Divest and Sanction, looks to punish Israel for its alleged “war crimes,” through economic means. They call for a boycott of Israeli products along with divestment from, and sanctions of, Israeli companies. In practice however, BDS spreads hatred and intolerance, especially on North American university campuses. Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian-American political commentator and BDS supporter, said that, “ending the occupation doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t mean upending the Jewish state itself … BDS does mean the end of the Jewish state,” in an article published on mondowiess.net. BDS does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. As’ad AbuKhalil, an American university professor and prominent BDS supporter, wrote “the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel…. That should be stated as an unambiguous goal,” in an opinion piece on al-akhbar.com. BDS does not want peace, it does not want to help Palestinians; it wants to destroy Israel. Bassem Eid, the found of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and “a proud Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp,” wrote, in an opinion piece in the Times of Israel , that Israel “has a right to exist. It is the nation of the Jews but also a nation for Israeli Arabs who have better lives than Arabs anywhere in Arab countries…. The antisemitism promoted by Hamas, Fatah and the BDS movement is not the answer for us Palestinians…. The answer is to live in peace and democracy.” Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority President, said “no, we do not support the boycott of Israel. Palestinians don’t like the BDS movement, neither do Israelis; BDS is about spreading antisemitism, not about helping Palestinians. I am pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian, the two are not mutually exclusive. Israel is not a perfect country and I, personally, don’t agree with Israeli actions in the <em>
</em>
disputed territories, but I do believe in a resolution mutually agreed upon by both Israelis and Palestinians, and BDS is not a way to achieve such a resolution. BDS does little to convince Israel to make a policy change, and will likely have the opposite effect. If you want to help Palestinians why not help them, instead of looking to hurt Israel. The potential referendum question advocates boycotting Israeli products and divesting from Israeli companies, meaning if this were to pass, then the AMS should not use any current Microsoft operating systems, any phone with a 4G chip (I’m looking at your iPhone) or any SMS messaging (it was developed in Israel) and forget about any Coca-Cola products too. SPHR does not decide what is boycotted and what is not; the AMS would have to follow the guidelines laid out by the question. In their mission statement, the AMS states, “the Society will foster communication, both internally and externally, in order to be democratic, fair, accountable to and accessible to its members…. It will cultivate unity and goodwill among its members, but will also encourage free and open debate, as well as respect for differing views.” BDS does not “foster communication,” instead it shuts down any pro-Israel dialogue, labelling the entire country as criminal. The opportunity for dialogue, and thus peace, dies when BDS takes hold on a campus. But worst of all, BDS will make the AMS inaccessible to its members if it passes. This year, at the University of California, Davis, just hours after the student government passed a BDS resolution, swastikas were spray painted on a Jewish fraternity. In a development at the Durban University of Technology in South Africa, their student society, “demanded that Jewish students, especially those who ‘do not support the Palestinian struggle,’ leave the school.” This is happening right now, in 2015. Jewish students being asked to leave universities is strikingly reminiscent of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. BDS marginalizes Jewish and Israeli students, building hate and shutting down dialogue. The AMS should absolutely take a stand on complicated international issues in a fashion that is based on Canadian and UBC’s values. Instead of marginalizing and isolating Jewish and Israeli students by trying to harm Israel, the AMS should look to help Palestinians by supporting organizations and movements that seek to create peace in the Middle East. We should support an organization like Seeds of Peace which brings Israeli and Palestinian youth together to foster understanding and provide the tools necessary to create lasting peace. Should the campaign succeed, you have the opportunity to do the right thing: vote NO to BDS. Vote NO to antisemitism. Vote NO on this referendum. Koby Michaels is a first-year student and a staff writer for The Ubyssey. U
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 |
EDITOR JACK HAUEN
10
VIDEO GAMES >>
eSports Club on gaming, competition and “real sports” JK: It’s really hard to get a fanbase. It’s like feast or famine. The more viewers you have, the higher you go on the list. And then [as a viewer] you start looking at the top of the list. So everyone just goes in and watches whatever the highest one is. BQ: In other games it’s not that hard. I was streaming different games, and by the time I was on my third stream I was getting hundreds of viewers. That’s because, in League, there’s so many big name people, but in other games if you’re just good, or have something to show specifically, you don’t have to have a big starting base. What about streaming as a club, is that something you’re going to do in the future? JD: I’m not sure how well it’d work. BQ: It’d be hard, because people either watch you for entertainment purposes, or because you’re a pro player … I don’t think a lot of people are attracted to just watching a club play League of Legends. Do any of you make money doing this? JD: I think Bob has made a bit of money.
The competitive team is looking forward to the NACC tournament, where $400,000 in scholarship money is up for grabs.
Jack Hauen Sports and Rec Editor
You guys just finished a leg of a tournament, right?
Competitive eSports — playing video games like League of Legends and DOTA against other teams, often in tournaments with prize money — is a growing sport all over the world. A little-known fact to many students here is that the UBC hosts arguably the best college eSports team in North America. The eSports Club went to three major tournaments last year, and this year, they’re confident about their chances at the top prize of $180,000 at the North American Collegiate Championships. We caught up with a few members of their competitive team.
JD: We played IvyLoL and CSL (Collegiate StarLeague) at the same time, which are two of the tournaments that qualify us into the seeding for the really big tournament that’s coming up (North American Collegiate Championships). We won first place in both of them — basically, we stomped the competition.
Manager – Carman Lam “Chiyeuk” (CL) Jungle – Jason Dong “ProofOfPayment” (JD) Mid – Bob Qin “BobqinXD” (BQ) ADC – Sean Wang “Heat Waves” (SW) Support – Jeremy Koberstein “Remie” (JK) Sub (ADC) – Brian Choi “TehBChoi” (BC) What’s a brief summary of your club, for someone who doesn’t know anything about it? CL: The club is more of the social aspect. They organize events such as viewing parties for important tournaments that people would want to watch together. They also organize competitive tournaments that are open to anyone of any level. It’s not, like, hardcore-hardcore. They also hold fan meets sometimes if we can get pro players who are in Vancouver.
BQ: Way to be humble, Jason. [Laughs] When are you moving on to the NACC? CL: We move on to the playoffs in April. They have 16 seeds, and eight of them have been determined so far…. They’ll be playing in the middle of March, and after they’ve determined that, we’ll start with playoffs for those 16 teams. There’s a bunch of prize money up for grabs, right? CL: Yeah, in scholarships. JD: The total prize pool for the tournament is around $400,000, so for first place that’s $180,000 split six ways. What do you think your chances of winning are? BC: Easy. [Laughs] JD: Yeah, our team’s pretty confident. What would it mean to you if you won? JD: For us, getting our name out would be pretty big, I know some
of us are big showoffs on the team, so we like getting our name out there. CL: Bob. BC: Bob. JD: So that’d be a big ego boost. And, you know, the $30,000 is good too. CL: We’d also like to get the faculty and staff more involved. I don’t have any concrete plans yet, but I have reached out to them before, during their sports review … maybe instead of UBC eSports being a social club, we could be a competitive club. How should people go about getting involved with either the club or the competitive team? JD: We have tryouts for the teams. Sometimes we’ll have members of the premier team, like some of us, try out the newer members who have reached a certain rank and we’ll see if they’re good enough. At first we’ll put them on one of our B teams to see if they can work together competitively. How do tryouts work? JD: It’s just a standard 5v5, they just play the game and we see how they play and if they’re good or not. Just like any sport. JD: Yeah. Do you guys consider eSports to be a “real” sport? JD: I think I would. It’s just such a big thing, you know? Like the Staples Center last
PHOTO WILL MCDONALD/THE UBYSSEY
year, there were so many people there. It was a sold-out stadium — it’s really like going to any other sport. JK: I’d call it closer to chess than any other sport. JD: Well it’s more dynamic [than chess]. Things are constantly happening and it’s really exciting, whereas with chess … CL: I think the culture is more sports-like, with all the hype and stuff, but for the players themselves, it might be more like playing chess.
BQ: I used to play for a lot of teams. Is the only way to make money through winning tournaments? BQ: Yeah, basically. JD: Mostly, [as well as] sponsorships … that’s about it, right Bob? [Laughs] Do any of you guys plan to make this into a career? JD: I think right now it’s more of a hobby, because to do it seriously you have to give up a lot of things.
What do you think is the best way to get people into eSports?
Are there any games you don’t compete in that you’d like to?
JD: I think a lot of it has to do with the company. So, Riot Games, they can hold a big part in promoting eSports itself, like what DOTA 2 did with The International … real players threw money into a fund, and it made this huge 12 million dollar prize pool tournament. So if Riot could do something like that it’d really promote the growth of eSports really quickly.
JD: Do we have to be good at them?
CL: Yeah, the Compendium [prize pool] got a lot of media attention. JK: I think eSports is just growing on its own, you don’t have to do too much about it, it’s just going to run its course naturally. Do you guys livestream as a club or as individuals? JD: Some of us have tried streaming, it’s kind of hard to get viewers … I’ve streamed before but I don’t anymore, it’s just too much of a pain.
Nope. CL: Hearthstone. JK: Hearthstone. JD: I’d love to play CS:GO, that game’s so much fun! Mario Party? CL: No. Are you organizing any tournaments here? CL: Every year we have the UBC Cup, where we host tournaments for all the games, like Smash, Hearthstone I’m not sure about, League of Legends, DOTAJD: CS:GO! Search “UBC eSports” on Facebook and Twitter, or go to ubcesports.com if you’re interested in joining, or for more information. U
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
| SPORTS | 11
THUNDERBIRDS >>
T-BIRDS 5-ON-5
ABBEY KEEPING
COLEMAN ALLEN
SARAH HILLSDON
Volleyball
Swimming
Softball
BEN SCHMIDT Hockey
SARAH CASORSO Hockey
CHARISMATIC CAPTAINS When I want to inspire my team I just crush a 51 and say “LETS GOOO … to Bims!”
I tell them team to reach down, grab their privates and count to two. If they can’t count to two then we got a big problem, or a small one.
I don’t need to do or say much at all. We resort to Pitch Perfect inspired riff-offs to get us fired up.
It’s playoff time and we’ve had many injuries so “Doc Rob only treats winners” seems fitting.
The loser gets a 45-second drill.
2. What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The worst piece of advice was when someone told me to be a middle blocker instead of an outside hitter…
“Life is like a box of chocolates.” Screw you Forest Gump, I hate chocolates.
“Don’t guzzle Jack Daniels like water” — Mom.
After games Joe Antilla often yells “everybody drinks, everybody drives!”
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
3. What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever given?
The worst piece of advice I’ve ever given was to not listen to my advice.
“Dude, don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” Then they do it and get in trouble, and I run away laughing.
“We can just take it easy tonight” … which is always the exact opposite of what ends up happening.
“If it is a grizzly play dead, if it is a black bear fight back.”
“Winning isn’t everything.”
I’d have to choose to be Blake Lively. She wakes up as a 10, and secondly because she wakes up next to a 10, aka Ryan Reynolds.
My girlfriend, so I could wake up and look at myself and be like “Damn, that’s a nice piece of butter sitting on some hot flap jacks.”
I would be a character in Mean Girls so I could be the fifth member of the plastics and make fetch happen.
Since we’re fantasizing I might as well time travel. I would wake up February 1 as Pete Carroll and I would put the ball in the hands of Marshawn.
I would wake up as Air Bud. Shoot the movie Puck Buddy and make my millions.
Laura MacTaggart for her performance of the line “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?” while walking into the gymnasium at U of A.
Yuri Kisil, hands down. He would have won both. His Shakira “Hips Don’t Lie” dance is hilarious, and he looks good doing it.
Zoe Gillis aka “Zigapocalypse”. She rocked her T-Bird Idol performance, complete with a unique interpretive dance style.
Jessi Hilton. This lovestruck, 6’3″ heartthrob could put together a tear-jerking romantic performance.
Jenna Carpenter-Boesch. She would easily win best actress for her role in Mouth-Breathers.
1. When you need to inspire your team, what do you do and/or say?
4. If you could wake up tomorrow in the body of someone else, who would you pick and what would you do?
5. Who on your team would have won the Oscar for Best Actor/Actress?
Thunderbird playoff action this weekend Women’s hockey Canada West semifinals vs. U Manitoba Bisons Game 1: Friday at 7:00 Game 2: Saturday at 3:00 Game 3 (if necessary): Sunday at 3:00 All at Father David Bauer Arena.
Women’s basketball Canada West quarterfinals vs. U Regina Cougars Game 1: Friday at 6:00 Game 2: Saturday at 5:00 Game 3 (if necessary): Sunday at 2:00 All at War Memorial Gym.
Men’s basketball Canada West quarterfinals vs. UNBC Cougars Game 1: Thursday at 7:00 Game 2: Friday time TBA Game 3 (if necessary): Saturday, time TBA All at War Memorial Gym.
12 | GAMES |
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
Photo of the Day
Going to check your mail at midnight can by a somewhat eerie experience.
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@psiemens
FEB 23 ANSWERS
COURTESY BESTCROSSWORDS.COM
ACROSS 1- Let ___ 5- Prefix with meter 9- Seeps 14- Still 15- Satirist Mort 16- Give guns again 17- “The Time Machine” people 18- Explorer Tasman 19- Army leader? 20- Powerfully binding 23- Evergreen tree 24- “... ___ the cows come home” 25- Former Virginia senator Charles 27- Hotelier Helmsley
31- Psychic 33- Kitchen addition 37- Buries 39- Writer Hentoff 40- Desertlike 41- In spite of 44- Merriment 45- Debtor’s letters 46- Comfort in misfortune 47- Crew needs 48- Ship’s company 50- Wallops 51- Sounds of disapproval 53- Lubricate 55- Snapshot 58- Produced in the bone marrow 64- Boise’s state 66- Uris’s “___ 18”
FEB 23 ANSWERS
67- Mogul capital until 1658 68- Aromatic wood 69- Hgt. 70- Panhandles 71- Sample 72- Baseball team 73- Meets with
DOWN 1- Frozen treats 2- Currency unit in Western Samoa 3- Voting group 4- Chieftain, usually in Africa 5- Me too 6- Tabs
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7- Not now 8- Abuse 9- Toothbrush brand 10- Not ‘neath 11- Madcap 12- Ashtabula’s lake 13- Diving duck 21- Pong maker 22- Main arteries 26- Parish officer 27- Vernacular 28- Name on a bomber 29- Aquatic mammal 30- Freshest 32- Come afterward 34- Experiment 35- Tinged 36- Boundaries
38- Adhesive 42- Cavalry 43- Aristocratic 49- Like many mittens 52- Campfire treat 54- ___ at the office 55- Ancient Briton 56- Thought 57- Heels 59- Taylor of “Mystic Pizza” 60- Apprehends 61- Arch type 62- Impulse 63- Back talk 65- Boater or bowler