February 1, 2022

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 | VOLUME CIII | ISSUE XII RUN BY RODENTS SINCE 1918

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THE UBYSSEY

The Ubyssey x Black Student Union

7–14 //

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FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC PEOPLE

OUR CAMPUS

ON THE COVER COVER Model: Osuare Atafo Design: Isabella Falsetti and Mahin E Alam

U THE UBYSSEY

3

‘I just knew what my piece of the pie was’: Maia Wallace has always known she wanted to be a singer

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 | VOLUME CIII | ISSUE XII

EDITORIAL

BUSINESS

Coordinating Editor Lua Presidio coordinating@ubyssey.ca

Business Manager Douglas Baird business@ubyssey.ca

Visuals Editor Mahin E Alam visuals@ubyssey.ca

Account Manager Forest Scarrwener adam@ubyssey.ca

News Editors Charlotte Alden and Nathan Bawaan news@ubyssey.ca

Web Developer Keegan Landrigan k.landrigan@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Tianne Jensen-DesJardins culture@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Diana Hong sports@ubyssey.ca Video Editor Josh McKenna video@ubyssey.ca Opinion + Blog Editor Thomas McLeod opinion@ubyssey.ca Science Editor Sophia Russo science@ubyssey.ca Photo Editor Isabella Falsetti photos@ubyssey.ca Features Coordinator Paloma Green features@ubyssey.ca

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STAFF Aafreen Siddiqui, Anabella McElroy, Andrew Ha, Bridget Meehan, Christina Park, David Collings, Elif Kayali, Farzeen Ather, Iman Janmohamed, Isabelle Dina, Jackson Dagger, Jasmine Cadeliña Manango, Jerry Wong, Kaila Johnson, Kevin Nan, Khushi Patil, Kyla Flynn, Kylla Castillo, Lauren Kasowski, Lynn Shibata, Manya Malhotra, Matt Asuncion, Maxine Magtoto, Melissa Li, Mike Liu, Miriam Celebiler, Nathalie Adriana Funes, Owen Gibbs, Polina Petlitsyna, Raina Cao, Regina Hipolito, Ryan Yip, Sam Laidlaw, Shanai Tanwar, Shane Atienza, Tait Gamble, Tenaya Tremp, Tina Yong, Tova Gaster, Winnie Ha, Z. Aazadeh Raja

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We wish to acknowledge that we work, learn and operate the paper upon the occupied, traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and səli̓ lwətaɁɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh).

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“I find a lot of inspiration [in] a lot of mundane things.”

Paloma Green Features Coordinator

Growing up, Maia Wallace was obsessed with America’s Next Top Model and wanted to be like the models on the show. That was until she discovered MTV. Wallace and her mum used to sit and watch MTV together. Wallace was quickly taken by the women in the music videos, from Destiny’s Child to The Spice Girls. She just knew that one day, she wanted to be them. They could do so much more than models.

“I just knew what my piece of the pie was very young. So, deciding [on] community [and] music was always easy,” said Wallace.

No one in Wallace’s family was musically inclined, but she was determined to pursue music, so she taught herself how to sing. Although musical talent was not inherited, her family’s writing was, and that’s where she credits her ability as a lyricist.

Wallace had a unique childhood.

With diplomat parents, she moved quite a bit, especially as a teenager.

The UK native moved to Ghana with her family at seven, where she lived until she was fourteen. At 14, she moved to Bangladesh, and then Vietnam, where she finished high school. She moved to Vancouver to attend UBC. Moving around has provided Wallace with a slew of interesting experiences to draw from in her writing.

“I’ve performed [in] weird places,” said Wallace. “I was singing for the Vietnamese government when I was in high school.”

Wallace’s experiences with other cultures and people don’t necessarily inspire her sound as much as the general characteristics of her music.

Wallace said life inspires her music.

“There’s no inspirational story behind it. I find a lot of inspiration [in] a lot of mundane things,” said Wallace.

This is where Wallace feels her music ties in with her other work.

Wallace, who graduated this November, works as an Equity and Inclusion educator for the AMS and UBC, and as a consultant for other organizations. She views both her music and her work in equity as “people-centred.”

Wallace said she views music as more internal while her other work is external.

“So equity is output in the sense that equity is a passion that I derived from my life experiences in my childhood and the way I have to connect with people regardless of whether they’re my coworker or my classmate, or someone on the bus….” said Wallace, “I think music was something that was the one thing that came of me that I brought to the table.”

Right now Wallace’s days are spent like many other peoples’: sitting in her apartment on Zoom calls. She spends what free time she does have working on her music.

“I’m an independent artist, right?

COURTESY NICHOLAS SCOTT/ AMPLIAR CREATIVE

So I do everything myself,” said Wallace.

Working on two different careers and navigating post-graduate life is keeping Wallace busy, but she likes it that way. She has always found ways to keep herself moving. When Wallace was a UBC student, not only was she spending time working on her music, but she was also an executive for multiple clubs, including serving as the Black Student Union president last year.

“Honestly, my constant state of mind is just like, ‘I’m so bored. let’s do some things,’ … My friends hate me for it,” said Wallace.

Even though what little time Wallace does have now mostly goes to her music and all the behind-thescenes work of being an independent artist, she is still always down for a good meal, even if it means travelling to Surrey or spending more than she perhaps should.

“I never regret spending my last $40 on a bomb ass meal,” said Wallace.

Right now, she said she is focusing on her sound and “who Maia is” as an artist. She said she often wants to do lots of different kinds of music so right now she is trying to stay organized and create consistency.

Wallace was meant to open for Wizkid in January but the concert was postponed due to COVID-19.

She will open for him at the PNE Forum when the new dates are announced. U

NEWS

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

EDITORS CHARLOTTE ALDEN + NATHAN BAWAAN

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ANTI-RACISM //

‘We’re missing brilliance out there’: UBC medicine creates new admission stream for Black applicants Hanna Hett Contributor

To address the underrepresentation of Black medical students at UBC and Black physicians in BC at large, UBC’s faculty of medicine will be rolling out a Black MD student admissions stream in summer 2022.

Black applicants will have the option to write an essay about their lived experiences and have their applications reviewed by a sub-committee largely composed of Black stakeholders in the BC medical community. This will include current medical students, physicians, residents, faculty and community members.

Kimberly Thomas, a second-year student in UBC’s Northern Medical Program and the western regional director of the Black Medical Students Association of Canada (BMSAC), said she believes that this admissions stream will facilitate a fairer process for Black applicants.

“We’re missing brilliance out there with our current application system,” she said.

Thomas, who is the only Black person in her cohort of 288 students, said that unconscious bias in the general MD admissions stream “sort of colours the way people rate activities, or even [view] an applicant in an interview.”

“We recognize that having a diverse group of individuals in medical school is really important.”

“It’s so much more than just numbers or quotas … It’s really about equity and ensuring everyone’s on the same playing field when applying to medical school,” Thomas said.

The first Black admissions stream in a Canadian medical school was the Black Student Application Program (BSAP) at

the University of Toronto’s (U of T) Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

Launched in 2018, there has been almost a ten-fold increase in Black medical students, according to Ike Okafor, senior officer of service learning and diversity outreach at Temerty.

Okafor said having Black community members in the admissions

MAANIT ROHIRA

process provides applicants with “cultural safety” as they feel like their experiences will be understood and valued.

“For many students … it’s the first time they’ve been in these interview scenarios, where they actually have interviewers that are Black,” he said. “People can [now] bring their full selves to the table.”

Okafor said he has shared information about U of T’s admission program so other universities could create similar streams, largely in response to national and local organizational efforts like the BMSAC’s in 2020.

However, BSAP is just one of U of T’s efforts to increase Black representation in its medicine faculty.

It also has mentorship programs for Black high school and undergraduate students and financial aid for application fees, among other programs.

In August 2021, she and other Black medical community members worked alongside Dr. Shahin Shirzad, the MD undergraduate program’s assistant dean of admissions, to create a working group and develop the new pathway.

Shirzad said that UBC’s faculty of medicine plans to implement mentorship and outreach programs to reach younger Black people.

He added that this year they have started collecting disaggregated demographic data from their applicants, which the faculty hopes will provide a better understanding as to why Black students are underrepresented.

“We recognize that having a diverse group of individuals in medical school is really important when you’re treating a very diverse group of patients in BC,” Shirzad said. U

SCHOLARSHIPS //

UBC seeks to empower more Black Canadians to attend university with new program Laurissa Cebryk Contributor

February 1 is the beginning of Black History Month, but it’s also the day UBC will officially announce the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars program — an announcement that could mean a new beginning for many Black Canadians looking to pursue higher education at UBC. As part of UBC’s anti-racism initiatives, the program — which is the first of its kind in Canada — could offer Black Canadians an opportunity to attend university at a lower cost, as well as to build a community both on and off campus.

The opportunity currently takes the form of financial assistance through one-time or renewable awards of up to $80,000 throughout the successful applicant’s time at UBC. “We’re thinking about not just an award,” said Rohene Bouajram, associate director of strategic Indigenous, Black and people of colour initiatives at UBC. “The program aims to build community amongst Beyond Tomorrow’s scholars by providing personalized touch points, access to workshops and sessions, as well as various connections with the Black student community to create that sense of belonging and joy as they embark on their time at the university.”

ETHAN RAJKUMAR

The launch saw 13 successful applicants.

The sessions will be focused on what the student needs depending on where they’re at with their degree. For first years, sessions and workshops will include building a network and community, as well as helping the scholars understand their strengths and what they bring to the table at

UBC. According to Bouajram, the program has the potential to help address the systemic inequity, lack of access and injustice that Black students face across Canada.

She also said she hopes it will create what she calls a meaning-

ful pathway to success for Black Canadian students — a population of which, according to Statistics Canada, 93.4 per cent report a desire to get a university degree, but only a 59.9 per cent believe that getting one is a possibility.

While the first official announcement of the program is set

for today, the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars program was launched in September 2021, and so far, feedback has been positive.

The launch saw 13 successful applicants, 11 of whom are at the UBC Vancouver campus, and 2 of whom are at the UBC Okanagan campus. The program aims to support upward of 100 students over the next four to five years.

Funding for the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars program currently comes from donors and partners outside of the university, such as the Black Opportunity Fund based in Toronto, but it will likely need more support as the program grows.

“Anyone who’s interested in investing in the success of Black students, we encourage them to be in touch with us because we can’t do this on our own,” said Bouajram.

“Our Black students, through the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars program, won’t be able to be leaders on their own without the support of donors and partners.”

Besides providing successful recipients with a network and community, Bouajram said the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars program also seeks to serve as a conduit for community building for all Black students at UBC, with some programming extended to those outside of the program.

At the time of print, no current scholars were available for comment. U

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY | NEWS | 5 HOME SECURITY //

BABY GOT BACK //

UBC says student housing is well-positioned Classes to return in person on February 7 as AMS calls to handle potential COVID-19 outbreak for expanded ‘multi-access instruction’ Charlotte Alden and Nathan Bawaan News Editors

SHCS is working closely with the Provincial Health Officer and Vancouver Coastal Health.

Owen Gibbs Senior Staff Writer

UBC Housing said it is prepared for a potential outbreak of COVID-19 in student residences.

In an interview with The Ubyssey in early January, Associate VP of Student Housing & Community Services (SHCS) Andrew Parr said that student housing’s current COVID-19 measures are not under significant strain in terms of student isolation space and physical distancing, although that could change once classes return in person on February 7.

He said the university has set aside enough isolation-specific units to accommodate an average of 16 new in-residence cases per day. SHCS is not currently in danger of exceeding that 16-case capacity, according to Parr.

At the time of the interview, there were about 50 vacant self-isolation units.

However, this could change should any residences experience a superspreader event.

In that event, Parr said plans are in place to allow students to quarantine in their own rooms, including expanded self-isolation food delivery services — which are currently only available to self-isolation units.

There will also be enhanced measures to protect residents of shared units should one occupant test positive.

“We’re not executing on that just now,” said Parr. “We have a plan in place, we have communication in place and we will execute it if we need to.”

The Student Housing Office confirmed this in a recent email to returning residents, providing a list of precautions to limit the spread COVID-19.

However, in order to access these self-isolation units, students must provide a positive COVID-19 test. Provincial guidance currently recommends that people only get tested if they are symptomatic and aren’t fully vaccinated, are immunocompromised or work and live in high-risk settings.

Under the current policy, symptomatic students following provincial testing guidance could be left without a space in which they could safely isolate themselves from others.

Residence officials are aware of this problem, according to Parr.

He stressed that students must follow Provincial Health Officer recommendations and self-isolate in their rooms if they develop symptoms.

The same recommendation extends to measures such as mask-wearing and limiting social gatherings.

‘IT’S ONE TOOL TO HELP THE COMMUNITY BE SAFE’ Parr also said that SHCS has been providing residents with as many at-home rapid COVID-19 tests as possible.

He said that this month, new residents were given nine rapid tests as part of their welcome package, and that residents who remained on campus over winter break could pick up tests at the front desk of residences.

SHCS will continue to receive and distribute tests, although Parr admitted that supplies will be very limited and that rapid testing is not the key to preventing transmission.

“Just remember that it’s one tool to help the community be safe,” he said. “It’s not a kind of magic, it’s not the be all, end all.”

On January 26, UBC also announced that symptomatic students, faculty and staff can pick up rapid testing kits starting February 7 when classes are set to return in person.

Parr said that students who test positive via rapid test will be eligible for self-isolation unit access. However, no contact tracing is being performed.

Parr added that first-year residences are currently operating at just 40 per cent occupancy, while year-round residences are at 60 per cent. This means that physical distancing measures can be implemented in shared spaces

ISABELLA FALSETTI

such as cafeterias and study rooms.

“Because just the general population is less, our dining rooms are less occupied for example,” he said. “It allows almost just a natural opportunity for more physical distancing.”

However, Parr acknowledged that the university is unsure how to maintain this advantage once classes return to campus and students return to residences en masse.

He said that SHCS is working with the Provincial Health Officer and Vancouver Coastal Health to develop strategies for how to safely return to campus and in-person instruction.

‘I DON’T KNOW THE FINER DETAILS’ However, these various precautions have not been wellcommunicated to students living in residence, according to secondyear student and Walter Gage resident Ellie Martin.

Martin said that she and many of her neighbours were unaware of what to do should they test positive or develop symptoms.

“I don’t know where I [should] quarantine, I don’t know which people have gotten COVID[-19] in my building,” she said. “I just feel that there’s a lack of transparency between who has COVID[-19] and what to do if we do get COVID[-19].”

Martin said that she doesn’t know what to do if she tests positive and doesn’t know where to get a rapid test. She added that none of her friends in residence know either.

“It’d be really nice if there’s like a poster or something in residences about what to do,” Martin said.

“I know vaguely that there’s housing available, but I don’t know where it is. I know there are test kits available, but I don’t know where that is. I don’t know the finer details, but I know that there is, in theory, stuff being put out.” U

A majority of classes will be in person again starting February 7.

President Santa Ono and UBC Okanagan Principal Lesley Cormack said classes would be in person until the end of term two in a broadcast email sent to community members on January 26.

Classes were originally scheduled to return to in-person delivery on January 24, but the return date was extended to February 7 due to the ongoing COVID-19 wave caused by the Omicron variant.

Like previous broadcast emails related to the delivery of courses, Ono and Cormack said that the decision to return to in-person instruction was made in consultation with deans, academic heads and student leadership.

“We recognize that some members of our community may be apprehensive about returning to campus, and the university has put in place multiple layers of protection to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in response to information on the progression of the pandemic,” they wrote.

These measures include requiring community members to comply with the COVID-19 campus rules, to assess themselves daily for COVID-19 symptoms and to wear masks when indoors.

Rapid testing kits will also be available to students, staff and faculty who are symptomatic for COVID-19 starting February 7, something the AMS called for in a letter sent to UBC admin. Community members will need to show valid UBC ID to access these kits.

In an interview Wednesday night — right after the announcement of the return to in-person classes — AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Eshana Bhangu said the student society would push for increased access to rapid testing, beyond just symptomatic testing.

“We’re pushing them to ensure that they’re accessible to all students, and not just those who are showing symptoms based on the province’s definition which keeps on reducing the eligibility,” Bhangu said.

For staff members, Ono and Cormack said academic and administrative units have established remote work agreements where academic and operational requirements permit.

Students will return to campus February 7.

Although a majority of classes will be in person, Ono and Cormack said that individual faculties and instructors will communicate with students if there are any exceptions.

“Thank you once again to all those who have remained on campus, supporting the important protocols and measures which are helping safeguard our UBC community. Let’s continue to support each other as we return to increased activity once more,” Ono and Cormack said.

AMS CALLS FOR EXPANSION OF ‘MULTI-ACCESS INSTRUCTION’ In a letter sent on January 26 to the president and the provost, the AMS called for an expansion of hybrid learning, or “multi-access instruction” — something not touched on in Ono and Cormack’s broadcast email.

“Multi-access instruction” in the context of the AMS’s letter refers to “instruction that is delivered face-to-face with an option to attend remotely (whether it be via live streaming synchronously, availability of recorded lectures afterwards, or other means).”

Lecture recording has been used at UBC in several faculties, but it has not been implemented broadly.

Faculty and administration have raised concerns in the past over intellectual property considerations, privacy, student engagement and pedagogical preferences.

“We keep on hearing that there’s feasibility concerns. But the fact is faculties like medicine and pharmacy have been doing it for years,” Bhangu told The Ubyssey in a phone interview on January 26.

When asked by the university how courses should be delivered post-February 7, Bhangu said she told the university that the AMS wanted students to have options.

“I would like to see flexibility.

I would like to see options for students who are unable to make it back, for students who have severe health concerns and may really be uncomfortable being in person,” she said.

The AMS’s letter comes after the Alliance of BC Students sent a letter to the Public Health Office recommending expanded remote learning options amid the recent COVID-19 wave. The Graduate Student Society signed on to the Alliance’s letter, but the AMS was notably absent. U

FILE ISABELLA FALSETTI

CULTURE

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

EDITOR TIANNE JENSEN-DESJARDINS

NEW TERM, SAME ME //

SKIPPIN’ DOWN MAIN MALL //

Zooms and Zzzzzs

A new term begins Akanksha Pahargarh Contributor

A new term begins, starring bright-eyed students filled with hope that this one will go better than their last. A new term begins, following the New Year where students created resolutions for better study habits and goals of higher grades. A new term begins, except different from the one before. This term began with a dark cloud over it, a declaration of online classes to be reevaluated at a later date.

This isn’t students’ first time hearing this news. No, they’ve gotten used to the online model from years prior, and although they have been through it before, they would never wish to go through it again. They hear another announcement: online classes have been extended to February 7. Filled with despair, they pull themselves out of bed each morning, walk two steps to their desk and resume their Zoom lecture to which they hardly pay attention, scrolling through TikTok instead.

They’ve given up hope that their university experience will ever be normal, instead comparing which year has it worse. Those born in ‘02 never got a first year but ‘99 students never got a senior year; the ‘03s didn’t get a prom

FILE ISABELLA FALSETTI

Term one was chaotic and lonely and overwhelming.

Nina Huh Contributor FILE KRISTINE HO

This term began with a dark cloud over it.

but ‘00s are getting their last term stolen. The students debate and debate, but they all know it’s bad for everyone.

Teachers are trying their best, using iClickers to boost engagement and hoping for some sympathy from students that will persuade them to put their cameras on. But alas, the black screens

are here to stay, as students don’t want to show their bed head and pajamas. So, breakout rooms it is, in an attempt to make students more comfortable but instead result in five minutes of silence because nobody wants to talk first.

A new term begins and students are back to their old habits

of watching the Zoom recordings a week late and saving readings for the day before the midterm.

A new term begins and students have no human contact except for their friends who hopefully came back to campus. A new term begins and all students can do is hope that one day they can put this virus behind them. U

BIRDS FLYING HIGH //

Campus clubs: UBC Birding photography workshops in the near future.

All outings and events held by UBC Birding are open to all UBC students by registration, regardless of membership. However, students who do purchase the $10 annual membership get free tickets to the Bloedel Conservatory for the yearly trip.

ONE HIGHLIGHT

UBC’s very own birding club might be the place for you.

Khushi Patil and Riya Alluri Senior Staff and Staff Writer

Looking for a fun, chill way to get out in nature and have a good time? UBC’s very own birding club might be the place for you.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary last year (happy anniversary!), UBC Birding is mostly just a group of people who like going out on walks together and being excited about seeing birds.

“It’s super low commitment …

For all levels to get together and enjoy what nature offers,” said Amy George, fourth-year computer science student and president of the club. “That’s kind of the reason it was established.”

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UBC Birding brings together people with birding knowledge and those who may not know as much but share the same enthusiasm. When talking about the ways students can get involved, George mentioned that “some people are ... interested in going out in nature. And then some people are into photography and end up [photographing] birds.”

WHAT DO I DO AS A MEMBER? The club holds monthly group outings to parks or museums to observe and identify birds.

There’s also a diverse range of people involved, from those with expertise and professional camera

COURTESY AMY GEORGE

equipment to those who are just curious or want to go on a walk.

“You don’t need to feel intimidated that you don’t know anything about birds because that’s kind of the point ... Whatever’s there is still going to be outside when we go look for them. You don’t need to know how to do the thing to enjoy it,” George clarified.

Aside from monthly outings and an annual trip to Bloedel Conservatory, an indoor aviary located in Queen Elizabeth Park, the club also hosts online bird-related tutorials, such as workshops on making a bird-feeder or identifying bird species. They are also looking to potentially organize

Bloedel is definitely a standout trip. “Hundreds of tropical birds can be seen in the indoor aviary in the conservatory,” explained George. She also expressed how nice it is to just go and watch birds in a place that’s warm and dry inside when Vancouver is cold and raining.

As the president, George’s favourite thing about the club is the connections and enthusiasm that it inspires. While initially worried about the difference in perspective between members of different skill levels, she was pleasantly surprised to see experienced bird watchers help the less experienced members out, pointing out where the birds can be spotted and talking about the different species. “They’re just like, ‘Yay, small birds,’ they’re as excited as anybody else ... It’s so heartwarming.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION Membership to UBC Birding can be purchased directly on AMS CampusBase, which automatically signs you onto a mailing list for more information. U

As a first year, term one was chaotic and lonely and overwhelming. Homesickness, mixed with feelings of displacement from moving to a new continent and jarring independence, made for a difficult first month. But as each week passed, it got a little easier, until I found myself enjoying each day more and more. I settled into the routine of campus life — walks on Main Mall, doing Shoppers Drug Mart runs and munching on Blue Chip cookies.

By the time December rolled around, I had adjusted to living alone, built friendships and gotten a good handle on my academics. When my last exam was over, I hugged my new friends goodbye and felt oddly a little happy that I was sad to leave. I took my mixed emotions as a sign that I had built something great to come back to.

After a long winter break spent lounging at home and cuddling my dog, UBC announced we’d be online for two weeks... and then another two weeks. Term two started at 3:00 a.m. over Zoom in my dark living room. It was a stark contrast from how term one began, that sunny September day spent with new classmates in large lecture halls.

As an international student, synchronous classes mean that I have to be awake and participate from 3:00 to 9:30 a.m. — the very fate that I took a gap year to avoid.

These past few weeks have consisted of navigating Canvas, a nocturnal sleep schedule and a previously unthinkable level of feeling unmotivated. It’s like the universe heard me when I was homesick last September and said, “Well, there you go, now you can stay home indefinitely.”

Though I’m glad that I’ve been able to spend more time with my family (and manage to escape Open Kitchen’s rat incident), when I go back to UBC, I will hug my friends and skip down Main Mall and buy a Marbelous Blue Chip cookie to celebrate. U

BLACK HISTORY MONTH SUPPLEMENT

Letter from the

Editors To our Black community,

The burden of injustice weighs on us every day. We don’t have to look or venture too far to see inequality or experience spaces that weren’t built with us in mind. We understand your fatigue. We empathize with your pain as you heal from the events of the past two years. We share in the trauma that extended what seems like a millennium. Yet, we want you to remember that despite it all, you are still here. You are still standing.

Our community is changing each day as we break through new barriers, reclaim spaces and fight for equality. We are roses that grew from concrete: resilient, resourceful and beautiful. In the face of adversity, we rise, we weather the storm, we flourish.

You inspired this supplement — with your strength and your perseverance. So we wanted to give you a stage where you could share your voices and stories. We wanted to provide you with a gallery to share your art. This, beloved Black community, is by you and for you.

We as a community are so easily overlooked, but through this supplement, we aim to showcase the resilience of the Black community through time and space.

We hope that this supplement will act as a reminder of who you are and that you find renewed joy, hope, strength and solidarity within these pages. To remind you that through it all, you still flourish.

We want to thank our executive team. Black Student Union is only able to advocate for Black students every day because of all of you.

Thank you to those who contributed to this supplement. You are the reason all of this is possible.

Chidinma Agu and Osuare Atafo (Models: Osuare Atafo, Nziza Mulisa, Olamide Olabiyi and Aisha Ismail)

BLACK STUDENT UNION Who are we?

The Black Student Union is a Black-centred organization dedicated to furthering the representation, education and empowerment of UBC’s Black community. We are committed to fostering Black culture and Black leaders at UBC through advocacy, outreach opportunities, social, political and academicfocused events and initiatives. This includes creating a safe space where the successes of Black individuals can be celebrated. Our mission to create such a community stems from a few Black students recognizing the need for a space that allows UBC’s Black students to thrive without being hindered from expressing themselves freely. For the past three years, the Black Student Union has catered to students who seek out a community that supports them unconditionally and encourages them to be around people who look like them and make them proud of who they are. Here are a few words our members have used to describe their views on the Black Student Union community: resource, happiness, laughter, vibes, pride, familiarity, family, community, home, unity, support, strength, love and belonging. These words summarize the space we strive to facilitate for our members.

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photo Isabella Falsetti design Kylla Castillo & Mahin E Alam

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n the beginning, I thought the pandemic would only last a short while, a few months at most. This illusory hope kept me from panic-buying the first ticket home to Malawi I could find. Fast forward to over two years later and I still have not been able to make it home as, like many people, a combination of travel restrictions and school uncertainty has kept me in Vancouver. Home has subsequently become a distant memory, like an old song I would sing along to in the back of my dad’s car or a childhood TV show I would rush to put on after school. Something that was once familiar has now become alien.

Being essentially locked down in Vancouver amid a pandemic without the comfort of loved ones nearby or intimate childhood settings has been a harrowing experience. As someone who has lived alone for a large part of the pandemic, I can honestly say that it has been a distinctively strange and lonely ordeal.

The worst part of all has been trying to maintain sanity with the hellscape reality that is online university.

While many communities, including Black-led clubs and organizations, have done their best to maintain unity and connection throughout the pandemic it often feels hard to get involved on a personal level. The biggest challenge is steeling myself to join another

Zoom room after a full day of gawking at my laptop screen.

Living in this reality for over two years has created a deep-seated longing for home, even if the memory of home itself has grown fuzzy. 2021 was going to be the year that I would finally make the trip back, a Christmas miracle after three years of coal. However, well after my tickets were booked and my hopes were raised, the Canadian government dropped the news that eight African countries, including my own, were banned due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

While it is understandable that a government would take whatever action it sees fit to protect its citizens during a global health crisis, something about this travel ban seemed like a targeted overreach. Malawi had not had the Omicron variant detected within its borders at the time of the travel ban but had been added to the list of banned countries. At the same time, people who lived in countries outside of southern Africa that had detected the Omicron variant were free to fly into Canada at their pleasure.

Beyond the initial confusion of the travel ban’s implications, I was left heartbroken once again at the prospect of spending another Christmas without family. I had to come to accept the bitter reality that

Christmas of 2021 would be yet another one spent a long way away from home. But in the midst of my sorrow, my joy was restored by the welcoming hands of a friend who invited me into their family home for winter break.

Throughout my whirlwind experience of the pandemic, I have found myself caught and comforted by my friends. While my relatives remain faraway, I have been able to rely on the patchwork of friends I have made in Canada for tangible love and support.

As I navigate my youth through these unprecedented times, I have learnt that the companionship of a friend can taste just as sweet as my mum’s homemade rice pudding.

Alongside my friends, I have come to appreciate the quiet discomfort of uncertainty in the future. This enforced state of precarity has bred a desire for spontaneity and seeking new adventures. From getting tattooed to starting a podcast, the unique experiences I have amassed during this pandemic will remain memories that I will fondly hold on forever. Amid the hard and soft lessons these pandemic years have taught me, the greatest has been a learned resilience to life’s unexpected plot twists. U

Flourishing | 9

photos Isabella Falsetti design Kylla Castillo & Mahin E Alam

written by Chidinma Agu

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rowing up, I had an unrealistic and unhealthy relationship with my hair. I described any version of my hair that wasn’t straight as “rough,” “unkempt” and “not good enough.” Saturday mornings, after I would take out my braids, were marked by the strong smell of relaxers and the burning sensation on my scalp. Me and relaxers, yeah, we were best friends. But we can’t forget the straighteners that worked overtime between relaxer treatments because God forbid I step out of my house with hair that wasn’t bone straight.

I spent 13 years convinced that my natural hair was not good enough for them and therefore wasn’t good enough for me. It took me years to unravel that my negative relationship with my natural hair was deeply rooted in a lack of positive representation of Black hair in the media. Afros never used to grace the covers of Vogue magazines, box braids weren’t pictured at red carpets and dread locs were not professional enough for TV. It’s a mindset that I am still struggling to unlearn.

I still catch myself feeling the need to tuck my curls behind braids to look more ‘acceptable.’ Sometimes I still find myself wishing I had hair that was more ‘manageable’ than my 4c kinks. I still find myself questioning whether having my natural hair out will negatively affect me in a job interview. It’s sad, I know. But it’s the residual effects of growing up with no representation in a world of beauty that is undoubtedly racist.

As I got older, I realized that Black hair is just one example out of many in which the Black community is underrepresented. Not only is our hair underrepresented, but we as a community, our talents and our innovation are also underrepresented. Black bodies are underrepresented in the media. Black athletes are underrepresented at the competitive level. Black lawyers, Black doctors, Black teachers... the list goes on.

It brings me joy to see our community push for social justice and equality, to see us push for better representation in every space. TV screens and magazine pages

are now graced with strong, beautiful Black women like Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o who fearlessly and unapologetically wear their natural hair. Our kinky hair, thick lips and wide noses are better represented in the media today than ever before. It’s slow, but it’s a change that is welcome. We, as a Black community, need this.

Our children need this.

Black girls deserve to celebrate what society has hidden and told them they should be ashamed of. So, to the next young Black girl who finds herself where I was not too long ago, know that you are more than enough.

Know that there’s no need to run from who you are.

Know that you are not alone through every moment of doubt and fear. You’ll lose sight of these things sometimes, and that’s okay. We’re not perfect, and it’ll never stop being a battle. But please, never stop fighting to see you and all your Black beauty positively represented in every space. U

10 | Flourishing

Black Strength and Resilience an anthology

Ethnic consequences I woke to the sound of supposed innocence and fled into the city, to do my due diligence.

I left my heart in the land of no secrets, for love is a sin in the world of ethnic consequence.

I left my brothers and sisters, to fight for a stake in worldly essence.

I lived a life of focus and commitment, my race predicted my unfortunate sentence.

Homecoming

I read somewhere in Genesis, that we are all created in His likeness.

I sipped my coffee in deep silence, and fled right into the metropolis, right into the world of ethnic consequence.

To the frog who slipped off the rock, I’ll see you again someday.

To the owl who froze through the night, I’ll see you again on another winter’s day.

To the prophetic words scribed upon New York subway cars, I’ll console myself on another busy day.

To the souls lost in habitual confusion, where time intertwines with fate, and night and day chant in unison, one day I’ll see you again.

– Nziza Mulisa

– Nziza Mulisa

Be Treasure the soul that walks among the fire, the flames that yell blatantly through the wire.

For that is the magic rarely aspired, the tune rarely acquired, an honour so rarely inspired.

And just as idyllic, I gave you the key to the secrets of life.

And just as you opened the door, in come disaster’s relics, in come the scoffers and the critics, a time old tale of tragedy you fail to mimic.

So treasure your soul that walks among the fire, The flames will not scorch the ear drums you require.

And as we stretch to a life almost as idyllic, Live and let live, Be and let be.

– Nziza Mulisa

Flourishing | 11

i am not afraid of the dark i am not afraid of the dark. he envelops and comforts me with a cool embrace. as the world sleeps, darkness’ gaunt figure is gentle reminder that i am not alone. i am not afraid of the dark. the abyss keeps secrets, which brightness is not privy to. they are hidden, locked away in the vaults of my mind. i am not afraid of the dark. for some, midnight is the manifestation of nightmarish visions. but it is where my curiosity comes to fruition.

i am not afraid of the dark, where only my thoughts whisper and the shadows disappear; it feels lonely, yet teeming with tranquility that is intermittent in daily life. i am not afraid of the dark. his presence emanates in any room. emerging from fear of the unknown and transforming to acceptance of the isolation. i am not afraid of the dark. for it is only with darkness when the light is recognized.

– Ifeoma Onwumelu

Dear Martin Dear Martin, Why are you in handcuffs?

Why does he act so tough?

Uncle Sam loves to play it rough, beat you to the soil only to laugh, feed you to the dirt, as if that ain’t enough.

A killer protected with a license to kill, a burial ground with bodies to fill.

But a song rises beneath the turmoil, spirituals scripted across the board: “Follow the drinkin’ gourd, for the old man is comin’ to carry you to freedom, follow the drinkin’ gourd.”

– Nziza Mulisa

design Raina Cao

12 | Flourishing

THE ART W

“ Art grants people strength in times of uncertainty, it also allow

When I look at the art and media I consume, es find that most of my favourites are Black artists Walker, Jazmine Sullivan and Brent Faiyaz, to n means a lot to me because it shows that the sto whether they are about being young, being in lo other Black people like me can relate to on som passionate about music, and I enjoy finding new inspire me. R&B is undoubtedly a genre domin artists; however, year af ter year they release to while the Recording Academy continues to disr them. It’s unfair that they tokenize Black artists a few names reserved for a few categories. For m question: do we really need non-Black organiza us? There are thousands of young Black people relate to their favourite Black artists — I find th essence of resilience.

When I think of Black strength and resilience in art and media, my mind immediately jumps to Marvel’s Black Panther. I remember seeing the movie in theatres, and I was speechless. On a superficial level, the cinematography was amazing to look at.

The traditional African-style clothing was stunning, as it was a nice reminder of the outfits that I enjoy wearing in my daily life. Seeing characters such as Shuri not shy away from acting in a way that society has generally criticized as being “too Black” was inspiring. The characters embraced Black humour, culture and style by unapologetically displaying their true personality.

I finally got to see the superhero that I imagined for myself when I was still in elementary school. Tall, athletic, cool and Black. Black Panther embodied all the qualities I dreamt of having when I was a child. Thanks to Black Panther, an entire generation of children, including myself, no longer have to know the feeling of not seeing themselves reflected in the superhero film industry. Black Panther is the embodiment of Black excellence, a cultural phenomenon that left a positive impact on me and the Black community worldwide.

DANIEL ELESIN

When I think of resilience, the song that comes to my mind is “Almost There,” sung by Anika Noni Rose and written by Randy Newman, as part of the original soundtrack of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. To me, the song represents Black strength, passion and determination. Tiana broke down the racial barriers of who can be seen as a princess, but more importantly I was able to relate to her struggle and her ambition.

Growing up, my parents always emphasized the value of a good work ethic because we reside in a world that demands people who look like me to work twice as hard to achieve half as much as our peers. This constant pressure is beyond exhausting and sometimes I can be hard on myself as a result.

“Almost There” encourages resilience in the face of “trials and tribulations” by acknowledging that you have gotten yourself so close, you’re “almost there.” This song inspires listeners to give themselves credit for their achievements but to continue persevering by finding joy in their journey. Personally, I resonate mostly with the meaning behind Newman’s song: valuing grit, Black strength and self acknowledgement. This song inspires me to take pride in my work ethic but to also take breaks to appreciate where I am.

OLAMIDE OLABIYI

The art that made me think the hardest and made greatest sense of belonging over these two tumult was Black art. I found comfort in my identity and e and felt tethered to a community through Black lit music and film. Two works that spoke to me were C Azumah Nelson’s book Open Waters and Negro Imp single “Lockdown Syndrome.” Open Waters explore in a way I have never read about before. It is artistic and self-aware. It fuses a love of music with literatu exploring the protagonist’s passion for jazz and life of the most enjoyable reads for me in 2021. Negro I first release, “Lockdown Syndrome,” perfectly capt thoughts and feelings I struggled with during lockd Based out of Dundalk, Ireland, their music is a warm genres, giving listeners a bit of funk, R&B, soul and are a lovely reminder of how global Black art can b

MEHER

Flourishing | 13

WE LOVE

ws us space to reflect on our identity and place in the world. . .”

2021 was transformative. I learned about how my intersectionalities affect me.

My biggest takeaway was how unequal power structures, through classism and racism, could cause other Black people to look at me with disgust. Some understand how race affects them but don’t notice when they put others down due to class. I’m glad that I know this now. Knowing gives me the wisdom to centre myself and create plans and social structures for my success as Stephanie Okoli: the loud, ‘aggressive,’ passionate Black girl from the hood who has a lot to say.

specially music, I s: SZA, Summer name a few. This ories they share, ove, being lost… me level. I am very w voices that nated by Black op-selling albums regard and exploit s, as we see only me, this raises a ations to recognize e who admire and hat in itself to be the

Various artists helped me get to this point. An obvious example is Beyoncé.

She made a song called “Be Alive,” with lyrics like “It feels so good to be alive/ Got all my family by my side/Couldn’t wipe this Black off if I tried/That’s why I lift my head with pride.”

This song encapsulated so much of what I felt because, despite all the pain, I was just happy to be alive and Blackity Black.

DOUA ISMAIL

e me feel the tuous years experiences, terature, Caleb pacto’s es Black love c, graceful ure, e. It was one Impacto’s tured the kdown. m fusion of d jazz. They be.

S T E PH A N I E O KO L I

Solange’s 2017 album A Seat at the Table immediately comes to mind when thinking of Black beauty, strength and resilience. This work’s ability to encapsulate the struggles of Black womanhood, while building on its sense of empowerment, is a feat. Songs like “Weary” and “Mad” are deeply authentic snapshots of the exhaustion and devaluation of Black women. In contrast, the interludes between every couple of songs deliver words attesting to the strength, love, beauty and power Black people hold.

Anthems like “F.U.B.U. (For Us, By Us)” and “Don’t Touch My Hair” reclaim aspects of Blackness that are continually depreciated by society. Solange’s deeply authentic ode to the Black experience never fails to reaffirm my pride in being a Black woman. This album is a must-listen from start to finish.

NAOMI ENDALE

When envisioning Black excellence, artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Kendrick Lamar, Damini Ogulu and Lupita Nyong’o come to mind — artists from all across a wide dynamic of mediums. A perfect encapsulation of this theme is American painter Kehinde Wiley.

His piece Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps was the first and most prominent of his pieces to come to my attention. Much unlike the usual neoclassical art that features pale Caucasian men atop symbols of power, this atypical piece depicts a young Black man on a steed emitting an aura of aristocracy and authority. Indifferent to the art and culture of 19th-century neoclassicism, Wiley seems to have unveiled something of a third eye within me, giving power to contemporary Black culture in such an unanticipated and innovative manner.

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R A SALAH

design Mahin E Alam

14 | Flourishing

A love letter to

Dear Black women,

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The beauty and elegance beholden to our melanin shades is far too magical for the world to comprehend. There’s power in our walk, one filled with strength and resilience. There’s beauty in the way we talk; it is as beautiful as a lullaby being sung to a baby barely holding onto wakefulness.

In a world where we are not valued or given the same privileges as others, we chose to fight. In a world where we are mocked for our features, we hold our heads high and find beauty within ourselves in place of their standards. In a world where we are mocked for our features, we watch them become mainstream and trendy. In a world where our hair is considered unprofessional and banned from the workplace…

They don’t understand that in our hair they’ll find timeless, beautiful art, if only they remove their prejudiced lenses. Or perhaps they do see it, and somehow, this very reality terrifies their insecure, white supremacist minds.

I sincerely apologize on behalf of the world to any Black woman who never felt beautiful enough, who was fed lies by the world in constant streams, and who eventually fell for its taste. I want you to know that you’re beautiful, you’re fantastic, you’re amazing, you’re great, you’re magnificent, you’re worthy. I sincerely apologize on behalf of the world to mothers who lost their children to police brutality and who watched as their children — falsely accused of crimes — became victims of incarceration. I apologize for all the trauma and generational curses we’ve been handed and are forced to break. I sincerely apologize on behalf of the world to any Black woman who was told, ‘You’re pretty for a Black woman.’ I sincerely apologize on behalf of the world to any Black woman who was told, ‘You’re too dark for me.’ I sincerely apologize on behalf of the world to any Black woman who was abused, cheated on, discarded, undervalued.

I want to thank Black women on behalf of the world for breaking generational trauma and curses. I want to thank you for making life easier for the generations to come. I want to thank you for fighting your demons on your darkest days. I want to thank you for being amazing. I want to thank you for your intelligence and hard work. I want to thank you for setting the bar so high. I want to thank you for smiling. I want to thank you for being determined to make the world a better place as your chests fill with pain and agony. I want to thank you for not giving up. Despite what the world tells you, we need you, we want you, we value you. I need you, I want you, I value you.

I have a dream where little Black girls find themselves beautiful without the guise of blonde hair and blue eyes. I have a dream where sisters do not lose their sisters to police brutality. I have a dream where Black women are valued and appreciated. I have a dream where younger generations of Black women no longer need to break generational curses. I have a dream where the world is kinder to us. I have a dream where Black women work in their profession of choice. I have a dream where the world allows us to express our emotions without being seen as the ‘angry Black woman.’ I have a dream where we no longer have to be angry. I have a dream where the world recognizes the beauty we possess. I dream that someday this will all come true.

Though they have made being Black an obstacle, I would say that it is by far our biggest blessing. While the world is determined to confine us to cages, we break out and magnify that which is Black excellence.

With all my love, A fellow Black woman

photo Isabella Falsetti design Kylla Castillo & Mahin E Alam

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SCIENCE

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

EDITOR SOPHIA RUSSO

15

VICTORY //

UBC iGEM takes gold at iGEM Giant Jamboree

Based out of the Hallam lab, UBC iGEM’s team is comprised of undergradraduates and graduate student advisors.

Colby Payne Contrbutor

UBC iGEM took home a gold medal at the 2021 iGEM Giant Jamboree held last November.

The team’s project, titled “DetecTME: Untangling the immune-modulated tumour microenvironment using a tumour-colonizing bacterial vector and reporter system,” was also nominated as a finalist in the Best Diagnostics Project category.

Supported under the International Genetically Engineered Machine Foundation (iGEM), UBC’s team was one of many competing de-

sign teams. According to its website, the annual iGEM Giant Jamboree showcases the work of “370+ multidisciplinary local teams solving local problems, all over the world, using synthetic biology.”

Synthetic biology, as described by UBC iGEM executive director and fourth-year honours applied animal biology student Janella Schwab, is “a relatively new field” which merges systems biology, molecular biology and engineering.

This year, UBC iGEM’s DetecTME project centred around the development of a sensor that would profile the environment of a tumour in a less invasive and more

COURTESY UBC IGEM

convenient manner than a traditional tissue biopsy. According to its abstract, this project created “an in vivo Salmonella-based biosensor for minimally invasive diagnosis and real-time monitoring of tumour immune activity.”

Parneet Sekhon, a fourth-year microbiology and immunology student and UBC iGEM vice director, explained that tumours can differ between and within patients, making a diagnostic tool that gauges details of individual tumour environments “really important.” This is reflected in the team’s broader goal which, according to Sekhon, is to explore “how we can use synthetic biology

approaches within personalized medicine.”

As the iGEM Giant Jamboree was held virtually this year, UBC iGEM found out about its award and nomination at a smaller meetup in Vancouver alongside two other teams. The victory presented a triumphant moment for UBC iGEM, given that “a lot of things went wrong throughout the year [and] the year was really stressful,” according to Schwab.

She described the team’s success as “really rewarding and really surprising.” For Sekhon, the most rewarding aspect of their success was “seeing a project that you’ve been so invested in for so many months, and such an interesting project as well, and then seeing it come to fruition.”

Though their victory at the iGEM Giant Jamboree was certainly sweet, UBC iGEM strives to expand beyond the yearly competition.

This includes presenting their work at conferences — the team won an award last year at UBC’s Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference and has previously presented their work at the Harvard National Collegiate Research Conference and the Stanford Research Conference.

Emilia Chen, last year’s executive director for UBC iGEM, and Morris Huang, a UBC iGEM alum, are the coordinators of a student-directed

seminar, MICB 448S: Introduction to Biological Machines: Harnessing the Power of Design Thinking for Biotechnology Innovation. Chen described the seminar as “bringing our student design team experience to more students at UBC” and allowing upper-year STEM students to learn more about biological engineering and the process of creating projects that solve real-life problems.

Finally, the iGEM team is in the process of writing a chapter about student design teams for an upcoming book on genomics and the bioeconomy.

The team also works to cultivate a sense of community on both a local and global scale. It has collaborated with Geering Up and the Code Initiative to support education and outreach initiatives. As well, it has partnered with Brazilian iGEM teams to develop workshops and scientific materials for those in underserved communities.

For Sekhon, this sense of community is at the heart of her iGEM experience.

“To see all the work that everyone’s willing to put in and all the passion that everyone has, it inspires you to do better not only in the team but in your classes as well, and to learn for the sake of learning and not just for grades,” she said.

“It pushes you into innovation and into creativity.” U

PSYCHOLOGY //

Fear factors: The psychology of scary movies Colby Payne Contrbutor

With 2022 slated for the release of many highly-anticipated horror films, these upcoming releases are sure to invoke an array of emotions in moviegoers, ranging from excitement to genuine horror.

A 2019 review in Frontiers Psychology suggests that personality and psychological responses, along with thematic elements, may play a role in our reactions to horror films. To learn more, The Ubyssey sat down with horror movie buffs and a clinical psychologist to discuss why horror movies draw some of us in while scaring others away.

ROLLER COASTER OF REACTIONS According to Dr. Lynn Alden, clinical psychologist and professor in UBC’s department of psychology, the three primary factors that determine our reactions to horror films can be classified as biological, psychological/ cognitive or social.

Alden explained that certain individuals may be more biologically reactive to scary movies. For example, those who are more “aware of body sensations” may interpret a physical response as signifying legitimate danger when engaging with horror media. This is in contrast to horror buffs like David Taylor, founder and director of the Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival, who said in his interview with The Ubyssey that he “has a very high tolerance” for the disturbing elements found in horror films. According to Taylor, horror films can be an opportunity to engage with fear in a safe environment.

Psychological or cognitive factors also play a crucial role; for example,

specific fears may be triggered by motifs found in horror films. One example of this, outlined by Alden and in a 2015 article in the Review of General Psychology, is the “uncanny valley” — a phenomenon in which a creature or object is close to human but just different enough to unsettle viewers (see the Cats film adaptation for a truly horrifying example).

Finally, there are social factors.

According to Alden, given that we “learn [our] fears from other people,” the setting in which we watch a scary movie can determine our reaction. Watching a film with friends who are enjoying the movie can lead to a less frightening experience because of the social support provided.

HORRIFYING EMOTIONS

Hate them or love them, horror movies are a prime example of how film can interact with our psychology.

According to Taylor, different horror films may seek to initiate different emotions in their viewers. Fear is most apparent, often provoked by classic horror elements like jump scares. Disgust has also been featured prominently in recent decades, with Taylor pointing to 2009’s notorious The Human Centipede as an example. While not a strict dichotomy, Taylor explained that films primarily evoking fear or disgust may attract different audiences.

Students interviewed by The Ubyssey vary in their tolerance for disgust. While fourth-year history student Jayde Grimard enjoys some gore, she said she doesn’t enjoy films that completely centre on torture. In contrast, Liam Title, a fourth-year honours English literature student, said that he doesn’t usually feel disgusted, and enjoys deciphering how movie magic creates gory effects.

Horror films also frequently produce dread or apprehension,

which is the sense that something dangerous will happen in the future, as opposed to fear, which is an immediate response to perceived danger, explained Alden.

Score and sound design are important in building a sense of tension for the viewer. Taylor stated many horror films feature relatively simple shots that, without sound, “would probably fall completely flat.” Title also highlighted sound and score in recent films like Midsommar and The Witch as creating an “atmospheric audiovisual assault” to provoke dread in the audience.

Different audiences may also be drawn to films grounded in reality versus supernatural horror. Taylor suggested that skeptics may be drawn to characters like Michael Myers whose actions are not “out of the realm of possibility.” In contrast, Title said he enjoys the thematic significance that can be drawn from supernatural elements, such as

ghosts as a representation of lingering trauma.

On the other hand, Alden stated that supernatural horror may be more frightening for some due to “added element[s] of mystery” and unpredictability. Our imaginations also play a role in our response to the supernatural, with our minds often conjuring ideas more frightening than what can be depicted onscreen, she explained.

JOURNEYS IN HORROR Horror film plots also drive the genre’s appeal and often focus on the journey of a single character, be it a hero or a villain.

Grimard described “rooting for someone and then having them see it through to the end” as creating a sense of triumph in the viewer. Both Grimard and fourth-year earth and ocean studies student Johnathan Elmer discussed the prominence of

FILE LUA PRESIDIO

tropes and formulas in horror. While Grimard praised the successful execution of formulas, Elmer prefers films like Cabin in the Woods that comment on or subvert genre conventions.

Horror further serves as a mirror of “the challenges facing us and the world right now,” according to Taylor, who pointed to Squid Game and The Purge as examples of horror exploring prevalent issues like racial and social inequality. Title echoed this sentiment, saying that horror “break[s] the false reality that we labour under by introducing … repressed elements,” forcing us to confront the dark realities lurking beneath our often-privileged everyday lives.

The scariest films, according to Title, don’t rely on jump scares or gore, but rather force us to call our own experiences into question and leave us less secure in our beliefs. U

FEATURES

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

COORDINATOR PALOMA GREEN

‘Food should be free’ WHAT FOOD INSECURITY LOOKS LIKE AT UBC AFTER THE RETURN TO CAMPUS

WORDS BY IMAN JANMOHAMED DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION BY LUA PRESIDIO

T

he hustle and bustle of the Life Building is not unknown to UBC students. It’s always busy — lines to buy food wrap around the building and each cold blue and white chair is filled with students. But the basement of the Life Building is different.

It’s quieter. It’s more welcoming.

In the basement, behind a warm brown mural, chalk menus, many well-loved and brightly-coloured chairs and the aroma of shepherd’s pie, you have Sprouts. Students fill the space recounting the events of last weekend over coffee and brownies.Sprouts volunteers spend their time cooking daily specials for students. Behind all of this is fifthyear computer science student and Sprouts president, Emma Gunn.

It’s a normal day for Gunn. They ran out earlier to pick up a loaf of bread because the cafe was going to run out and spent the rest of the day making sure Sprouts ran smoothly. It’s also a normal day for the many students buzzing in and out of the cafe, who rely on Sprouts for hot and affordable meals on campus.

“Food should be free,” said Gunn. “Everyone should have access to healthy, free food all the time.”

According to the UBC Food Security Initiative (FSI), food insecurity is the “inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints.” According to the 2020 AMS Academic Experience Survey, 42 per cent of undergraduate and 44 per cent of graduate students at UBC have had “concerns about running out of food.”

This is roughly three times the 2020 national average.

Graduate students in particular are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity compared to undergraduate students. In 2018, approximately one in ten graduate students at UBC said financial pressures may cause them to leave their studies.

AMS VP Academic and University Affairs (AUA) Eshana Bhangu attributed this discrepancy to financial support.

“It can be even harder [for PhD students] than it is for an undergraduate student because they don’t have the luxury of parental support sometimes.”

The minimum funding for PhD students at UBC is $22,000, which equates to an hourly wage of $11.22.

“These are the students who are doing work for the university and make UBC [one of] the top 35 universities. I would say that [the university] needs to be supporting these students better by increasing minimum funding,”said Bhangu.

Before the pandemic, 37 per cent of undergraduate students identified as food insecure, according to the the 2019 UBC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UES). The UES was not conducted in 2020.

Food insecurity has always impacted UBC students, but how have resources changed to accommodate student needs, especially with the return to life in Vancouver after 18 months at home?

According to a 2021 report by Oxford Economics Vancouver is the least affordable city in North America.

The Housing Affordability Index measures the ratio of housing-related costs like monthly mortgage payments, rent, utilities and moving costs to household disposable income. The highest score a city can recive and be consdiered afforble is a 1.1.

Vancouver, was awarded a 1.67, meaning a home is 67 per cent more expensive than the median-income household can afford. With the pandemic impacting supply chains, the rising housing costs in Vancouver and UBC’s tuition increases, some students simply can’t afford to purchase food.

“When we have conversations about how can we create a more food-secure campus, you can’t have them without talking about how can we create a more affordable campus or how can we create a more affordable housing landscape on campus,” said Mitchell Prost, the AMS student services manager.

The recent tuition increase put an additional $5.5 million into the already existing $14.1 million bursary fund for students facing financial challenges. $45,000 was allocated to combat food insecurity on campus.

“It’s not just that a student is food insecure, but a student is struggling financially because of high tuition or rent,” said Bhangu.

Bhangu is part of the Student Affordability Task Force. According to Bhangu, the group is trying to create an affordability plan targeted toward groups that are disproportionality affected by food insecurity and other affordability issues.

The upward trend of the living costs in Vancouver, the financial impacts of the pandemic and the increased tuition fees all allow for food to be written off as a luxury, leaving some students with an empty stomach but a bad taste in their mouth.

FOOD BANKS ARE FIGHTING FOR YOU In the summer of 1986, the AMS hired its very first food bank coordinator, Sandra Jarvis, for a food bank that didn’t exist yet.

Jarvis didn’t have a team or any donations. All she had was a location — the Lutheran Campus Centre.

The AMS never planned to run a food bank; rather, it “simply initiated the project to fill a need on campus,” according to a Ubyssey article from September 1986. Students were navigating food insecurity through the Vancouver Food Bank and various food drives organized by student associations, but there was no food bank for students.

The AMS Food Bank was well established ten years later in 1996 as an emergency food relief service for students. Today, the lines for the food bank stretch from the Life Building into the Nest.

Before the pandemic, students could only access the food bank’s services six times a semester. Now, students can access the food bank up to 16 times per semester. This change was made to accommodate students who were facing new financial difficulties due to the pandemic. It has also put the AMS Food Bank continually at capacity.

“Every [visitor] that comes in does end up taking food. [But] we try not to turn anyone away because of lack of resources,” said Prost.

Operating on a ‘trust-based system,’ the AMS Food Bank won’t turn away any UBC student. This means that students do not need to verify that they are food insecure, they just need a valid UBC student number to access services.

The food bank was accessed 960 times by students in 2018/19, 1,513 times during 2019/20 and 2,373 times in 2020/21.

That's roughly a 64 per cent increase in food bank visits from 2019/20 to 2020/21.

The AMS Food Bank is supported by funds from the AMS, sponsor funding, a stipend from the UBC President’s Office and donations from community members.

Beyond having the physical food bank space, the AMS Food Bank also works with community organizations to combat food insecurity. It's also worked with the UBC Botanical Garden in distributing fresh produce to food bank clientele and with the BC Ministry of Health on Farmer’s Market Nutrition Coupon Program, where food-insecure households can access fresh produce, dairy and meat products.

Currently, the AMS Food Bank is working with Sprouts to offer free meals for students.

Outside of it's normal day-to-day functions, the AMS Food Bank’s leadership team advocates for increased awareness of food insecurity through the Office of the AMS VP AUA. “We have continued to advocate to make the issue of food insecurity more known throughout campus and that has resulted in receiving donations which have helped keep the food bank stocked,” said Friedman.

During the pandemic, the AMS Food Bank operated using a hamper system, where students would receive a package of food and necessities. Shifting back to its grocery model, students are now allowed to enter the physical food bank space again. However, due to stock, limits on how much students can take are posted around the food bank to ensure equal access to supplies, said Friedman.

According to a 2018 SEEDS Sustainability Program report, 70 per cent of AMS Food Bank users faced moderate or severe food insecurity. Twenty-eight per cent of these students were accessing the AMS Food Bank in emergency situations only, highlighting a need for non-emergency relief at UBC. “The AMS Food Bank is a service created by students, here for students and run by students,” said Prost. “No matter what the university does or does not do, the AMS Food Bank is a service that will stay.”

Through the FSI, UBC Wellbeing allocated $65,000 to the AMS Food Bank in October 2021. These funds were secured by UBC through the tuition increases this past year.

“While in the future we hope that food security will be good enough that an emergency resource won’t be necessary, we’re committed to fill that gap if it exists,” said Prost.

TAKING MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS A common thread in the fight against food insecurity is that it is usually led by students, whether that’s the AMS Food Bank or student volunteer-run organizations like Sprouts.

Sprouts’ main initiatives include running its cafe and hosting Community Eats, a by-donation lunch, most Fridays. Sprouts has been closed much of the pandemic.

Currently, the cafe and Community Eats are not running. Instead, Sprouts is hosting a by-donation produce market on Mondays.

“Getting started again and getting the space back open was definitely a challenge

16

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY | FEATURES | 17

after being closed for a whole year,” said Gunn. They elaborated that this was because of the turnover in its board and volunteer base.

“Food is just more and more expensive,” said Gunn.

By relying on a volunteer-bases, selling food at cose and using funds from the FSI, Sprouts is able to run and keep prices low.

“For a long time, a big focus of Sprouts was [to provide] sustainable vegan foods that students can enjoy.

But we have put a greater emphasis on affordability and making our food available for people, which is a direction that the current Sprouts board is really interested in moving towards,” said Gunn.

Besides Sprouts, other sustainable and affordable food outlets on campus include Fooood and Agora Cafe.

Currently, Agora — another student-run organization — is closed due to the pandemic but was on track to open at the start of this semester. Fooood is run by UBC Food Services and is now open.

The recent tuition increases have allocated $45,000 of tuition revenue to projects administered by the FSI to support groups that promote food security like Sprouts, Agora Cafe, Fooood and the Acadia Food Hub. UBC said it will allocate the extra money from tuition increases to student-facing priorities by March 2022.

“I think that the university has a big responsibility [to bridge the gap in food insecurity],

especially with providing more support for students. I think they’re starting to do that with the FSI, but there’s always more that could be done,” said Gunn.

UBC KNOWS During the November 20, 2020 Board of Governors meeting, the FSI, formerly known as the Food Insecurity Action Team (FIAT), called on UBC to establish conditions for tuition increases, raise funding for masters and PhD students on both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses and for funding for a Community Food Hub on the Okanagan campus.

“I love changing systems. I hate injustice and I want to change the world,” said Sara Kozicky, the current food security project manager for UBC Wellbeing. “I want to change this community to be more equitable, and for all students to have access and the ability to have the university experience that's shown on a university brochure.”

To Kozicky, students going hungry is an injustice because it can impact their health and wellbeing, as well as their academics.

Students who are low-income, international, transgender or non-binary, disabled or BIPOC are at a higher risk to experience food insecurity, according to a survey conducted by the Board of Governors. According to the FSI, food insecurity is tied to income.

“I don't think that is fair at all,” said Kozicky.

Building a campus culture that is aware of food insecurity while taking a nuanced approach to combating it is important to Kozicky. She said she wants the campus culture to highlight food injustice, access to culturally appropriate food and sustainability in its commitment to combatting food insecurity.

“A lot of our work is advocacy,” said Kozicky.

The FSI team is made up of students, staff and faculty collaboratively working together. In the words of Kozicky, it’s “quite an open table.”

The FSI focuses on finding long-term solutions to food insecurity in the student population. Currently, the FSI is focusing on short-term relief through providing aid to the UBC Food Hub, AMS Food Bank, Fooood and emergency food programs like the Acadia Food Hub. Moving to empowering community programs like Sprouts, Agora Cafe, UBC Farm and Botanical Garden, as well as starting the Community Food Secuirty Hub is what the FSI would like to do next.

Kozicky’s vision for the Community Food Security Hub is that the space would have community kitchen facilities, space to grow food and a market to access low-cost or at-cost food.

FSI started the UBC Meal Share program which began its pilot phase October 2021 and will end April 2022. The program allows students who self-identify as food insecure on both the UBC Vancouver and Okanagan campuses to receive $100 of funds to their UBCcard or a $100 Loblaws e-gift card.

Students are able to apply to access funds twice a term, meaning that students can access a total of $200 per term. The funds are made available to students at the start of each month after their application. With the program being confidential, only UBC Meal Share administrators will know who accessed the services.

Kozicky and Bhangu both said that the program gives students who are food insecure “dignity” in seeking out help. “[Applying] isn't asking students to write a really long story about why they deserve these funds and why they're experiencing food insecurity,” said Kozicky. “It is meant to be more dignified. We're really trying to transition some of these more emergency supports to be more dignified.”

In May 2021, Bhangu's advocacy secured $480,000 for the UBC Meal Share program. “[The UBC Meal Share Program] is one of my favourite programs at UBC when it comes to tackling food insecurity just because of how dignified it is,” said Bhangu.

In anticipation for next year, Bhangu has advocated for $200,000 for the UBC Meal Share program, as well as an additional $550,000 to $750,000 to be put toward other programs that address food insecurity.

“There are students on our campus who will wake up, have a cup of coffee to feel full, then wait a few hours and drink another cup of coffee because it’s too expensive for them to buy food,” said Bhangu. “The fact that [these students] could be the classmates sitting right beside me is something that I always have in mind.”

Bhangu believes that focussing on transitioning from an emergency food support model to a community-led sustainable model is integral to ensure student food security. Bhangu has advocated for an in-person community food hub.

Currently, the only on-campus food hub is run by Dr. Jennifer Katz in the Acadia Park commonsblock. Acadia Park is a residence for students with dependents and fam-

ilies, many of which are postgraduate students.

“We can’t ignore the thing right before us — that there’s obviously someone here that’s failing in their responsibility to ensure all students are provided for and I would say that the university needs to do more,” said Bhangu.

In a 2019 report to the Board of Governors, FIAT recognized that students face an increased risk of becoming food insecure because of tuition fees, textbook costs, housing costs and inadequate financial assistance.

The key actions underway, that were identified or supported by FIAT, include Fooood, the Student Wellbeing Fund, open education resources and the Emergency Food Card Program by Enrolment Services, which provides students in “immediate need with Save-on-[Foods] gift cards when the AMS Food Bank is closed.”

“Tackling that long term issue of affordability is very important. Emergency-based models are great and they’re very necessary right now, but that can’t be the end goal.

The end goal has to be to reduce food insecurity to a level where it’s essentially zero on campus,” said Bhangu.

While Bhangu believes that focussing on creating longterm support for food insecurity is integral to ensuring that students do not go hungry, Prost believes the opposite.

“Whether or not [UBC] is doing enough [to address food insecurity] is a tough question to answer. I think with food insecurity, there’s always more that can be done and what I’m seeing now is more being done to plan for the long-term,” said Prost. “For the short-term there is a distinct lack of support and we see that in how many people come to the AMS Food Bank and Acadia Food Hub.” Ensuring that UBC takes strides to create long-term goals to eradicate food insecurity on campus was a sentiment raised by Bhangu and endorsed by Kozicky in their respective interviews with The Ubyssey.

Currently, Kozicky’s long-term hopes lie in creating and sustaining the Community Food Security Hub. This would be a student-run and research-focused space that “prioritizes the campus community needs while integrating holistic support services, programming, and facilities required to address the high prevalence of food insecurity.”

Kozicky highlighted that the FSI strives to pay students for their work.

The Community Food Security Hub would be UBC’s first student-run food hub. The project, which is aiming to hire students who have been impacted by food insecurity, has been developing a pilot program since February 2021 and will continue to do so until January 2022.

Prost believes that there needs to be a more interconnected food security landscape on campus. “I think what the community needs is for that work to be done now and to be done faster. It’s great to do lots of planning but what we need is action. Which I am hopeful will arrive, it just takes time.”

In regards to what UBC can do to improve food security on campus, Kozicy emphasized the importance of the affordability task force and the Wellbeing Strategic Framework and other detailed plans to combat the issue.

“There’s plenty of advocacy that every individual can take part in,” said Kozicky. She wants to see an understanding of the financial barriers, like tuition and rent, that lead to food insecurity by the broader UBC community.

“We are fighting to reduce food insecurity on campus,” said Bhangu, “and hopefully we’ll get there one day.”

‘FOOD SHOULD BE FREE’ Just like red solo cups and all-nighters, food insecurity has become a staple of the university experience, but it shouldn’t be.

The basement of the Life Building is where Gunn spends most of their time, not just because it’s quieter or more welcoming than the other floors, but because of Sprouts.

Behind coloured chairs and chalk menu boards, there’s a community of students, who like Gunn, believe that food should be free and everyone should be able to access it.

And they're willing to work towards that.

It was a normal day for Gunn and the Sprouts team in their basement location, feeding UBC students. It was also a normal day for the students on the main floor of the Life Building, standing in a line surrounded by the hustle and bustle of student life, hoping that their credit card doesn’t get decline. U

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The Ubyssey

OPINION

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

EDITOR THOMAS MCLEOD

19

WRITING //

Black Voices at UBC: Poetry and Prose by Mikky Atsér Mikky Atsér Contributor

Mikky Atsér is a second-year PhD student in the Johnson lab who spends his time doing research and writing.

Atsér is passionate about the role of stories in the authentic visualization of Africans and works through his writing to explore the nuances of the African condition.

ON THE HORIZON Our eyes were useless, open or closed, it didn’t make a difference.

Enveloped in a darkness so thick, our tongues were bitter.

We trudged along, stumbling over stumps and bumping into each other.

The night was endless, so it seemed.

We cried out to the heavens, “Deliver us from this cruelty.”

Heaven responded.

Clouds began to form, thunder clapped, lightning struck.

The darkness was gone, but only for a time.

It returned with a great vengeance, the cold rain.

Despised by the elements, we realized that our only means of survival was each other.

With arms locked together, we trekked the mean-spirited road.

Stumbling less, bumping less, we trudged along with renewed hope.

The hope that the night wasn’t going to last forever The hope that the sun was just on the horizon.

Together, we trudged along.

SETTLE It was an unusually cold September morning. The harmattan season wasn’t due for three months, yet the winds blew with great voracity. From the window of the bus, Délé could see plastic bags and sheets of paper dancing non-rhythmically without cause for embarrassment.

As he sat on the bus with his arms wrapped tightly around his bag, he remembered the dramatic scene that had played out before he left home.

Mummy had given permission to her tear glands to flood her cheeks. His three sisters did the same. Daddy was not so permissive. It seemed like he had declared an executive order to his senses that they show no emotion whatsoever.

But as all laws are broken, his tear gland rebelled, sending a single tear sliding down his left cheek. He should have known better.

Délé dug through his bag and pulled out his letter of offer from this big company in the big city. The words “Manager” and “Congratulations” jumped at him.

He was in disbelief for two reasons: First, he was yet to come to terms with the fact that a small town kid like him with just a secondary school certificate was going to be managing a big company.

Second, that a couple of words on some low-quality paper was the catalyst to his life-changing decision.

To him, those words had provided him with comfort, an armour with which he was going to conquer the world.

Indeed, his heart bled that his decision had caused so much hurt to his family, and he was aware that he was sailing into the unknown.

However, those words on that neatly folded (albeit low-quality) paper was the soothing balm to his distressed heart. To him, they meant he’d be alright.

Délé’s first day on the job was uneventful. At the reception office, there weren’t enough seats. So, he stood. He remained standing for what seemed be an eternity. He didn’t mind it though. He was simply elated to be there.

Eventually, he was brought in to see HR. In the congested office, there were boxes stacked up against the wall. Boxes, he imagined, that must have been there since the beginning of time, because of the stench that came from them. HR informed him that there was a mistake with his

“With arms locked together, / we trekked the mean-spirited road.”

employment offer. He hadn’t been hired as a Manager but rather as a Clerk.

For a moment, Délé’s world stood still. He could feel his heart racing faster than an Olympic runner. Beads of sweat began assembling on his forehead. He wished to stay calm but his body was betraying him.

“We offer a path to career advancement. In a short amount of time, you can move up the ladder and become a manager,” said HR. Again, the words seemed to provide him some comfort. And indeed for a time, they did. Two years later, he was still down the hall in the clerk’s office. He did everything he thought he could to climb up this proverbial ladder — but like a pendulum, every time he swung in the direction of progress, he would swing back in the opposite direction.

Now, it was going on five years and he was still down the hall in the clerk’s office. He was team leader, though. Not where he wanted to be, but a mirage of progress. So he remained.

Délé met Amaka six months after he moved to the big city. She was dark-skinned, curvy and tall.

She seemed to constantly wear a smile that shone brighter than the

sun. She exuded confidence when she walked. Real confidence, not weakness masked by aggression.

What captivated Délé when he first met her was her intense focus.

Amaka didn’t move around with the aimlessness that clung to people’s feet. Délé was sweet, thoughtful and had a good heart. That was all he had going for him, but that was enough for her.

They fell in love as soon as they met. He was introverted, she was extroverted. He was short, she was tall. She was dark-skinned, he was light-skinned. He was Yoruba, she was Ibo. They were a beautiful mash of differences ordained to be together by the divine. Or so they thought.

Two years after they’d been together, Amaka ran into Éméka, an old classmate who also happened to be her ex-boyfriend. Éméka had a manner about him, like he was born to rule the world — and rule the world he did. He was dark-skinned, tall, built like a Greek god, if said god was blessed with melanin. He was confident, focused and suave. He mirrored Amaka. He was everything that Délé wasn’t.

Initially, Amaka started hanging out with Éméka just to catch up on

FILE MAHIN E ALAM

old times. But like a lit match brought near gasoline, a fire was ignited that she couldn’t put out and most importantly, wasn’t sure she wanted put out. She was cheating on Délé and he knew it. She knew that he knew but they never spoke of it. It was the proverbial 800-pound elephant in the room that wasn’t worth acknowledging. He wasn’t happy with the situation, but it was better than being alone. So, he remained.

He was unhappy, yet he remained.

He had become comfortable with his discomfort and it became his new normal. He had made some progress, however fleeting, but it was something. Indeed, this false sense of progress had blinded him. He feared that moving on was an admittance of failure that he couldn’t accept.

Moving on meant that he was going from ‘something’ to ‘nothing’; going back to square one, as Nigerians would say. That thought was frightening enough that he remained.

He settled!

Black Voices at UBC is an open-form column publishing work by Black writers in UBC’s student community.

If you’re interested in getting involved, reach out to opinion@ ubyssey.ca. U

ADVICE //

Ask Iman: How can I stay on top of things with online school?

Keeping a routine is important.

Iman Janmohamed Columnist

Dear Iman, How can I stay on top of things with online school? I hate it here.

Even if online school will be

FILE MAHIN E ALAM

over soon, there’s one word that summarizes the university experience right now: isolating. I hate online school as much as the next person, and though I know that it’s an important measure to keep everyone safe, it still sucks.

Big time.

Falling into the habit of waking up five minutes before

your class, scrolling through TikTok with your Zoom camera off and only unmuting to say, “We can hear you, professor” is easy.

Hell, I’ve caught myself doing it.

The only way I can stay on top of life when the world seems to be crashing and burning is to make a routine.

Keeping a routine that’s similar to your typical school routine is important, not only to feel productive but also to feel as comfortable and close to (your version of ) normal as possible. I feel like hot garbage when I fall out of routine and all the tasks I need done don’t get done. Remember the laundry you didn’t do on Tuesday? You now have a few loads piled up.

What about that assignment due last week? Oops.

Oops indeed! Keeping a routine is important — whether that’s with laundry, assignments, grocery shopping or waking up and going to bed — so you don’t feel like it’s all going to shit.

I like to block out my routine in

my calendar. Having specific times to complete tasks helps me finish what I need to without stressing about where I’ll find the time to do it. Putting up reminders either on your phone or on sticky-notes around your space can also help you stick to a routine. Sticking to a routine is hard, but doing your best to stay committed to one can keep you focused, even if it’s not super rigid.

Interacting with others is a big part of my routine that’s been taken away by classes being moved online. And honestly, it’s not something that I can go a day without. To resolve this, I’ve taken to regularly reaching out to the friends and family that I can’t see and going on safe walks with my bubble between classes. Creating a community with my classmates is also super nice, though hard, while online. Online peer interactions through social media or Discord (gamers rejoice) can do this. Make friends! It’s worth it, I promise.

Your routine may change throughout the few weeks we’re online, but having a routine, no matter how it looks, can make you feel more in control and help you stay in school (and self-care) mode. Making small adjustments to our normal routines to suit online classes can keep us feeling grounded when everything around us makes us feel scared.

Uncertainty is everywhere and it’s completely normal to feel anxious. Taking steps to keep yourself and the people around you safe — like getting your booster shot if you’re eligible, masking up and limiting contact with large groups of people — it all helps, even if it may not feel like it does.

You’re doing great. Keep it up!

Just found out that you’re lactose intolerant and don’t know what to do about it? Ask me! Send your questions, queries or problems to advice@ubyssey.ca, or submit anonymously at ubyssey.ca/ advice! U

SPORTS+REC

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

EDITOR DIANA HONG

Lacombe to the Lower Mainland:

How Laura MacTaggart navigates UBC as a graduate student-athlete words by Iman Janmohamed

photos by Isabella Falsetti

design by Lua Presidio

L

acombe is a city of roughly 13,000 people in central Alberta. For some, it’s a town that you drive past on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway; for Laura MacTaggart, Lacombe is home.

Playing volleyball has always come naturally to MacTaggart, a master’s of Indigenous community planning student in the School of Community and Regional Planning and member of the women’s volleyball team.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

“I was six feet tall when I was 12,” said MacTaggart. She started playing club volleyball in grade five and hasn’t stopped since.

In addition to her love for volleyball, growing up on a farm outside of Lacombe shaped MacTaggart’s passion for sustainability. In high school, one of her teachers started an environmental club that she joined. “I just remember feeling like the world opened up.

These conversations were so big and so important,” said MacTaggart as she recalled when the club attended a water literacy conference in Kananaskis, Alberta.

“I felt a kind of fire light inside of me, the same way I felt a fire about volleyball.”

When it came time to think about playing volleyball at the collegiate level, “it seemed a no-brainer to be looking at UBC,” said MacTaggart. It wasn’t just because the women’s volleyball team was coming off six straight national championships, or that Doug Reimer, the head coach, was one of the best in the country, but also because MacTaggart wanted to get a new perspective on environmental sustainability.

“I was looking for a program that was interesting for me because I was not just interested in the sciences or the social sciences, but something in between,” said MacTaggart.

“Doug actually flagged this small program down for me in land and food systems (LFS), called global resource systems.”

The program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to natural and agricultural resources — precisely the type of balance MacTaggart was looking for.

MacTaggart sits in the women’s volleyball locker room — a space charged with memories of camaraderie before and after games.

JOURNEY AS A T-BIRD

MacTaggart signed with UBC ten years ago in 2012. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind filled with studying, injuries and victory.

In MacTaggart’s fourth year, the women’s volleyball team was in Toronto for the U Sports National Championships. They defeated the Western Mustangs and the Trinity Western Spartans and were now fighting for gold.

This game was special for MacTaggart. Not only was it her last game, as she was planning on leaving the team the next year, but the team had the opportunity to bring home UBC’s eleventh national championship. Not to mention, MacTaggart would be playing against the University of Alberta Pandas — a team filled with her old teammates from her home province.

Her family was at the game and the stands were full. Excitement filled the air as the T-Birds prepared for the decisive match.

After winning the first two sets and coming off of a third set loss, the T-Birds and the Pandas were neck-and-neck during the fourth set. A serve from UBC’s Danielle Brisebois led to an overpass from the Pandas and a kill by MacTaggart.

She scored the last point of that game.

The UBC women’s volleyball team were yet again the national champions since 2008.

“We had all worked so hard and for me personally, it was a big triumph because I had overcome a really bad concussion and an ankle reconstruction,” she said.

MacTaggart points to a photo of the UBC women’s volleyball team after winning the national championships in 2017.

NOT JUST A VOLLEYBALL PLAYER, BUT A SCHOLAR

For MacTaggart, her time at UBC was not just defined by athletics, but also by academics.

She went on exchange to Université Laval in Quebec City and did a self-directed SEEDS study in her fifth year.

There, MacTaggart was able to combine her passion for sustainability and her experience in athletics while getting to collaborate with her teammates. MacTaggart and her team explored the environmental impact of sports programs and trialled a

MacTaggart reflects on photos of her and her teammates over the years.

20

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY | SPORTS+REC | 21

A sprig of cedar gifted to MacTaggart for her volunteer work at the BC Comprehensive Community Planning Conference, along with a few photo keepsakes, adorn MacTaggart’s volleyball locker.

Four years after completing her bachelors at UBC, MacTaggart returned for her masters in Indigenous community planning to supplement her previous education.

clothing recycling program with the volleyball and basketball teams at UBC’s War Memorial Gym. After leaving the women’s volleyball team in 2017, MacTaggart went “cold-turkey.” She stopped playing volleyball for over a year and started to do yoga instead.

“I had a bad concussion and just needed a break,” said MacTaggart. “[Yoga] was really healing for my body and it was just something different.”

MacTaggart’s time as a graduate student with the women’s volleyball team has highlighted the many ways the game has changed since her last stint with the team.

The pandemic has changed the way the team practices and competes.

“Coming back [to the team] and being a more mature student, I think you realize the value and importance of being on a team,” she said. “You appreciate it so much more.”

“It helps you put the challenges you’re facing into perspective and it helps you to be a better teammate,” she said.

According to MacTaggart, her academic journey would not have looked the same if it weren’t for the T-Birds.

“Playing for the volleyball team during a pandemic is about so much more than the games you play, or even the points that you score, it’s about the community that you’re a part of,” said MacTaggart.

On the academic side of things, MacTaggart, as a second-year master’s student and an Academic All-Canadian, is writing a capstone report and a practicum in community planning with Homalco First Nations. She was also working part-time in the fall and volunteers with the UBC Planning Students Association. In her words, her graduate degree has been “very busy.”

The sense of community that volleyball has brought to MacTaggart is something that she cherishes. Though she is not planning on playing volleyball on a national or professional level, she is excited to coach, play recreationally and support her teammates for years to come.

The T-Birds are hosting the U Sports women’s volleyball championships next year. It is the first time UBC is hosting since the 1982/83 season.

“I would really love to be here for that and to be able to be in the crowd with other alumni to support the girls,” said MacTaggart.

Taking a step back from playing volleyball and becoming a UBC alumnus is something that MacTaggart is looking forward to.

“I think volleyball will always be a part of my life,” said MacTaggart.

As MacTaggart matured, she witnessed the maturation of the university athletics, specifically the women’s volleyball team, alongside her. They’ve grown together.

“The wonderful thing about being on a varsity team, or on any team, is [that] even when your formal time with a group is done, you’re still a part of the team when you leave,” said MacTaggart. “I’m really excited to be an [alumnus]. I’m ready to come and be at games and cheer and support those younger girls. It’s just the next stage of being a T-Bird athlete.” U

BEING ON THE SIDELINES: A COACH

Though MacTaggart didn’t play volleyball while back in Alberta, she started coaching for Aspire Volleyball, a training centre in Edmonton. For MacTaggart, it was a full-circle moment. She started training at Aspire the year of its founding. Being able to see the growth of the organization and to give back was “really cool.”

Coaching students from grades five to eight was a new experience. “I really gained a lot of empathy for coaches because it’s really not easy to break down skills and communicate them and get someone to execute that,” said MacTaggart.

MacTaggart said that returning to the women’s volleyball team as a player with her coaching experience allowed her to see the game in a new light and to become a better teammate.

During MacTaggart’s time away from UBC, she spent two seasons as a park ranger in Northern Alberta with Alberta Parks and worked in Edmonton for a non-profit organization called the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association as a Provincial Green Initiative Coordinator. Here, MacTaggart was able to collaborate with urban Indigenous communities by running climate change and energy efficiency programs and conferences. She also worked with Indigenous youth on community gardens and climate leadership.

“It was a pivotal point in realizing that if you want to work in sustainability, you [need to centre] Indigenous knowledge and worldviews in your work,” she said.

After a year into her job with the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association, MacTaggart decided to pursue her master’s degree because she did not have formal education on Indigenous law, governance and worldview.

BACK TO REPRESENTING THE ‘BIRDS

The programs at UBC brought MacTaggart back to Point Grey, but being able to finish out her U Sports eligibility with the T-Birds was the cherry on top.

FROM THE BLOG

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY

EDITOR THOMAS MCLEOD

22

FRENCH CUISINE //

The Dingbat: I’m just a poor rat, I need no sympathy Iman Janmohamed Senior Staff Writer

In memoriam: Open Kitchen Remy, 2021–2022.

The date was January 18, 2022.

It was the dinner rush. It was time for me to finally break out of Linguini’s hat and venture to the sandwich station at Open Kitchen for my first hands-on culinary excursion.

You can’t blame me for being excited. Ever since I was a child, I’ve dreamt of cooking for humans.

Grabbing two slices of bread, spreading mayo on either side, a dash of sriracha, lettuce, tomato, hold the onion, then topping it off with a protein and charging $14.70 for it. That’s all I wanted. It’s still all I want. Finally getting to work outside of the hat was supposed to be the best day of my life.

But it was not.

After mere seconds of work, I was picked up by a metal contraption with bird-like claws. It had the limp strength of a FIJI pledge and the undeniable virility of a Transylvania-obsessed fifth-year CNERS student. It was terrifying. Laugh all you want! But imagine yourself, in the middle of your shift, getting picked up and thrown into a bucket — discarded

like trash!

I was screaming, crying, “I’m staff! Look at my badge, I’m staff!

I’m even wearing the fucking hairnet!” They didn’t listen.

I’m just a rat, I’ve done no harm.

I’m not a bad guy! All I wanted was to fill the tummies of some first years with delicious, nutritious and exploitatively-priced sandwiches. I’ve done nothing wrong.

I was manhandled, like a criminal! The only thing that’s criminal about this is how UBC is ranked the second-best school in the country, and yet they treat their staff like this. I could be in a musical or a TV spin-off about my time in Paris, but no. I decided to give back to the community — but I was shunned in return.

I just wanted to feed you. Instead, you fed me to the wolves.

Before my time at Open Kitchen, I spent a year in the greatest culinary school in France — clearly, you North Americans don’t understand good cuisine.

Complaining about a fly in your soup? That fly worked hard to be there. He has a wife and kids, and you’re going to get him squashed.

You bourgeois, silver-spoon idiots hate the working class. Shame on you.

In culinary school, we were always taught, ‘cook, do not kill.’

I went on the run. Lonely, afraid and scared of those tongs, I decided to flee back to Paris, to go back to my roots, but they caught me. Those hairnetted, tong-wielding SOBs from Open Kitchen caught me. They took me back to Vancouver and here I remain to this day.

In culinary school, we were always taught, ‘cook, do not kill.’

Cuisiner, ne tue pas.

But now, I’m in jail. A cold, deli-meat-smelling place where

dreams come to die. No fresh herbs, no truffles, just rotten meat and tomatoes. I don’t know how long it’s been. Days?

Weeks? Months? All I wanted was to make a sandwich for some students, but now, now I want revenge.

I want blood.

Whoever took that video, you ratted me out. You’re the real criminal in all this. You’d better sleep with one eye open. Once I get out of here, oh boy, just you

FILE CHIRAG SHARATKUMAR

wait. You’ll never know when I’ll decide to burrow underneath your hat and control your every move. Your hands, your legs — maybe one day, your brain.

Hell, I’ve done it before, I sure as hell can do it again.

My new motto: Cuisiner pour tuer.

The Dingbat is The Ubyssey’s humour section. You can send pitches or completed pieces to blog@ ubyssey.ca. U

ENGINEERING //

The worst UBC buildings to have collapse on you

Death by irony is a horrible way to go.

Owen Gibbs Senior Staff Writer

Generally speaking, people don’t enjoy it when the ceiling falls on them at school. It would really suck, especially when you’re supposed to be learning.

We at The Ubyssey looked at the biology building collapse and got really paranoid. After a few months, we asked ourselves, “What would be an even worse campus building to have collapse on you?”

So, based entirely on vibes and no science or engineering whatsoever, we listed some of them for your studying needs — whether you need to focus by avoiding death or by getting collapse-related exam concessions.

GEOGRAPHY Imagine this: you’re walking through a two-storey building with rubber-treaded staircases

FILE JASMINE FOONG

and students studying in the hall.

There are lockers on either side and you can hear every footstep, argument and hookup — you can smell them all, too.

You walk past a lounge with vending machines and a grotty old sink, and just as you’re thinking about how gross the water must be, the ceiling collapses on you, spewing asbestos and putrid grey liquid. As you draw your last breath, a loud, dust-clogged fire alarm goes off.

You think the Geography Building just fell on you, but it looks just like your high school.

You can’t quite tell the difference, which makes it feel that much worse.

BUCHANAN (ANY OF THEM) Ernst von Glaserfeld said, “What radical constructivism may suggest to educators is this: the art of teaching has little to do with the traffic of knowledge, its funda-

mental purpose must be to foster the art of learning.” Essentially, this is the central point behind the concept of social construction, a foundational concept for so many faculty of arts programs.

Anyone in arts has spent many a class debating socio-economic constructivist thought. However, you just hope that social constructivism wasn’t taken too literally when Buchanan was being built. Physically-constructed buildings are typically much safer.

And yet, the third-most common wish on the yearly arts survey is for Buchanan to be reclaimed by hell, so the implications of its collapse might be a blessing in disguise. Naturally, exams would have to be cancelled, and maybe they would space the washrooms evenly in the new building.

CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (CEME) Of all the buildings on campus, this is the one that wouldn’t collapse, right? This is literally where people go to learn how to build a building. If there’s anywhere that you can go to and feel safe from the ceiling collapsing, it would be CEME. Right?

For what it’s worth, the risk of CEME collapsing is pretty low.

It’s got a solid cubic structure and the atriums are in the right places for structural integrity — and don’t worry, that’s as much real engineering as will be included in this article. However, the higher the high, the greater the fall.

Because of how ostensibly safe it

is, having this building fall on you would be so much worse. Almost feels personal at that point.

HENRY ANGUS This would be unfortunate because Henry Angus is an objectively nice building — it’s just that it has a few kinks that would make it pretty terrible for this building to collapse on you. The stairwells and hallways already make no sense; imagine if someone had to find you — they’d be spending months just trying to find the washroom! Plus, the floors are already buckling under the collective weight of hundreds of Sauder egos, and if it collapses the rubble might be full of snakes.

FOREST SCIENCES CENTRE Honestly, this is probably the most beautiful building on campus. From its light-filled giant atriums and fantastic air circulation, to the incredible wood panelling across every surface, to the fact that you can study among the trees, the forest sciences centre is perfect in every way.

Which would make it such a damn shame if it collapsed. Not only would you get crushed by a building at school, but you’d have to watch the fantastic architecture crumble in the process, and mourn the loss of such a flawless study space. We would most certainly pour one out.

However, such a collapse would create the opportunity for the faculty of forestry to build an actual treehouse as a replacement, which would be incredible.

Just imagine that, climbing up into the trees to class. Might even make MATH 100 tolerable. But should we hope this collapse happens just for the sheer awesomeness of a treehouse? I’m not not saying yes.

IONA BUILDING There’s always a risk of the building burning down on you with all the hot takes flying around. Want to be careful of that if ever studying there. Besides, so many devil’s advocates hang out here that this creepy castle must be the entrance to hell. So that’s not ideal.

THAT WEIRD WOODEN THING ON MAIN MALL Having this fall on you implies that you were hanging out in there, and if that is the case, why?

In all fairness, years of smoke seshes have melted away its structure through persistent toking, so there is a very real risk of this happening.

ANYTHING AT UBC OKANAGAN It would be embarrassing enough to have a real school like UBC fall on you. Just imagine if UBCO fell on you. Oh well: the death certificate will say UBC no matter what (Cheap shots by the Blog in 2022: 3).

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING RESEARCH FACILITY Death by irony is a horrible way to go. U

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 TUESDAY | GAMES | 23

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

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U

ACROSS

DOWN

1. Look 5. Ascends 10. What you do to a shadow 14. Rival rival 15. ___ nous 16. Away from the wind 17. History Muse 18. Ohio, e.g.

19. Reformer Jacob 20. Expression of appreciation 23. Swashbuckler Flynn 24. Dressed to the ___ 25. Turkey’s highest peak 28. Long time 30. Reproduction 31. Flinders 36. General on Chinese menus 37. Land 39. That’s gotta hurt!

40. Joy 42. Part of A.D. 43. Top-rated 44. Out, in bed 46. Little 49. Strum 51. Sympathy 56. Capital city of Western Samoa 57. Quick and nimble 58. Short letter 60. For fear that 61. Alma ___ 62. Zeno’s home 63. Dissolve, as cells 64. Diary bit 65. Harangue

1. Lobbying org.

2. Actress Raines 3. Long poem, such as those attributed to Homer 4. Breeding place of crows 5. A place for vacationers 6. Halved 7. Stable area 8. Art Deco designer 9. Bird feed 10. Crimson red 11. Outsider 12. Paris divider 13. Trials 21. New Deal org.

22. Folklore dwarf 25. Pituitary hormone 26. Civil rights leader Parks 27. Per 28. Small batteries 29. Silly Putty container 31. Gratis 32. Hi.___ 33. ___ of the above 34. Tuning fork’s output 35. Retail store 37. Garlic sauce 38. MSNBC rival 41. Web.footed 42. Social worker in a hospital 44. Blood vessel 45. ___ generis (unique) 46. Dandruff 47. Glum 48. Out of whack 49. Country singer Travis 50. More healthy 52. Ditto 53. Richard of A Summer Place 54. Vincent Lopez’s theme song 55. Type of gun 59. Dine

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