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JANUARY 18, 2022 | VOLUME CIII | ISSUE XI TIRED OF ONLINE EVERYTHING SINCE 1918
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AMS bumps mental health coverage up to $1,500
UBC student film excels at film festival
The Dingbat: That’s not a French tutor!
Neuroscientists win big to fund MRI research
A look back at the biggest sporting events at UBC
NEWS
CULTURE
BLOG
SCIENCE
SPORTS
THE UBYSSEY
STUDENT DEFENDERS OF FAIRY CREEK // 9-11
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NOVEMBER 23, 2021 TUESDAY
YOUR GUIDE TO UBC PEOPLE
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VANCOUVER DRESSED IN WHITE
ON THE COVER
The Ubyssey Photo Staff COVER
A city notorious for its cold rain and grey skies, Vancouver saw record-breaking snowfall in late December 2021 — and was even treated to a bit of sunshine. Here’s how The Ubyssey’s photographers captured the wintry spectacle. U
Courtesy Lia Schulz
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JANUARY 18, 2022| VOLUME CIII | ISSUE XI
EDITORIAL
BUSINESS
Coordinating Editor Lua Presidio coordinating@ubyssey.ca
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Visuals Editor Mahin E Alam visuals@ubyssey.ca
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People strolling on the snowcovered shore of Kitsilano Beach. PHOTO BY JERRY WONG
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A walk downtown as the last of the snow turned to rain.
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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, Kylla Castillo, Lauren Kasowski, Lynn Shibata, Manya Malhotra, Matt Asuncion, Maxine Magtoto, Melissa Li, Mike Liu, 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).
LEGAL The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia (UBC). It is published every Tuesday by the Ubyssey Publications Society (UPS). We are an autonomous, democratically-run student organization and all students are encouraged to participate. Editorials are chosen and written by The Ubyssey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UPS or UBC. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of the UPS. Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of the Ubyssey Publications Society. The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press (CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guiding principles. The Ubyssey accepts opinion articles on any topic related to the UBC and/or topics relevant to students attending UBC. Submissions must be written by UBC students, professors, alumni or those in a suitable position (as determined by the opinions editor) to speak on UBC-
Fragments and details of Vancouver’s rare snow. PHOTO BY MELISSA LI
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Scenes from a neighbourhood stroll. PHOTO BY MELISSA LI
NEWS
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
EDITORS NATHAN BAWAAN + CHARLOTTE ALDEN
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BREAKING NEWS //
HEALTH CARE //
Most UBC classes to remain online through February 7
AMS increases student mental health coverage to $1,500
Nathan Bawaan and Charlotte Alden News Editors
A majority of classes will remain online until February 7. In a UBC Broadcast posted on January 12, President Santa Ono told students they should plan to be on campus in early February. “This decision was made in consultation with the Deans on both campuses, academic heads and directors, student leadership, union groups and associations. Faculties and academic units will provide further details on specific programs and courses,” Ono wrote. The university will provide more information on its return to in-person classes the week of January 24. While faculty-specific information is still being released, the faculty of applied science told students that some labs, group projects, capstone projects and studios will be in person. The faculty said students would know by January 14 which classes will have in-person components. Allard School of Law will return to full in-person instruction on January 24. UBC announced that most classes would be online until January 24 on December 22 following student outcry over in-person exams. While classes remain online, student housing, libraries and
ETHAN RAJKUMAR
Sarah Wong Contributor
The university will provide more information on its return to in-person classes the week of January 24.
other services will remain open, according to Ono. In regard to university staff, Ono encouraged managers and supervisors to be flexible and allow remote work, unless in-person work remains necessary. The Omicron wave in BC has not yet shown signs of slowing. 819 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19. Case numbers
have reached new highs, but they do not include the results of rapid tests. However, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said changes to accessibility and guidance around PCR testing could mean that case counts underrepresent the actual number of COVID-19 infections in the province. Testing positivity in the UBC neighbourhood currently sits at
FILE ISABELLA FALSETTI
37 per cent. Province-wide, testing positivity is at 21.6 per cent as of January 15. Simon Fraser University wrote in an email to students that it would be opening up on January 24, as planned. Despite UBC’s move to online, Henry strongly recommended that universities continue with in-person learning in December. U
COVID-19 AT UBC //
UBC community health area records record-high COVID-19 positivity rate
UBC has announced that most classes will remain online until at least February 7.
Owen Gibbs Senior Staff Writer
The UBC community health service area began 2022 by recording its highest rate of COVID-19 test positivity since the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) began releasing this data. As of January 10, the BCCDC’s COVID-19 dashboard reported that 40 per cent of publicly-funded tests among UBC-area residents were producing positive results, a higher rate than any other point during
the pandemic. According to the dashboard, this equates to 20 total cases of COVID-19 among residents between January 6 and 10, although case numbers are likely to be an underrepresentation of COVID-19’s spread due to the province’s lack of testing capacity. Notably, this data only includes cases detected by PCR tests and not rapid tests. Only 20 new cases being reported alongside a 40 per cent positivity rate suggests that just 50 PCR tests were performed on
FILE MAHIN E ALAM
symptomatic UBC area residents, despite the region having thousands of residents. The nearest PCR testing site is located in Downtown Vancouver, roughly 50 minutes from campus by transit. Public health has recommended that individuals experiencing either mild or no symptoms avoid seeking testing, likely resulting in case numbers being undercounted. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have increased province-wide in the past week, reflective of the lag between case increases and the prevalence of
severe symptoms. However, the province has reported that the majority of hospitalized patients have been sick with the Delta variant rather than the Omicron variant. The majority of patients have also been unvaccinated. The rate of hospitalization due to Omicron remains undetermined. Ninety-seven per cent of UBC neighbourhood residents aged 12+ are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 82 per cent of residents aged 70+ have received booster doses. No booster data has been made available for younger age groups. However, the BCCDC has released misleading data on numerous occasions, including impossibly high vaccination rates. Additionally, each data release only includes those with an address in the UBC community health area, excluding commuter students, faculty and staff. UBC has announced that most classes will remain online until at least February 7, a two-week extension from the January 24 return to classrooms that had previously been announced. Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has come under fire in recent weeks for its testing capacity due to a lack of available staff. The on-campus public rapid testing distribution site — located in the Life Sciences Building — suddenly closed on January 10 before reopening the following day. VCH’s on-campus rapid testing distribution will remain in place until at least January 23. U
The AMS has increased the mental health coverage for students from $1,000 to $1,500 annually. The decision, made just a few days ago, reflects a continuing desire for the AMS to increase access to mental health support. In 2019, the AMS increased mental health coverage in its AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan from $300 to $500 and further increased it to $1,000 in 2021. Now, students can be reimbursed for up to $1,500 in mental health care per year, which includes services such as psychiatry, counselling and psychology. Every year, the society looks at the parts of the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan students use most and where more coverage is needed, according to AMS VP Finance Mary Gan. This year, mental health coverage stuck out as having a high amount of usage. Gan also mentioned that there has been an increase in claims for mental health care coverage since the start of the pandemic. “Due to the pandemic, a lot of students have been going through some rough patches. Also, so many things are constantly changing and the pandemic is … a constant stressor on a lot of people … so we’ve definitely seen a lot more claims in that section,” she said. This year, the mental health coverage increase will be cushioned by the Health and Dental Reserve Fund, so students will not have to pay any additional fees on top of what they already paid this year. In April, the AMS will evaluate the change to determine if it can continue in future years. Gan said that the society must balance between making sure the plan is affordable while making sure it can provide the best coverage for students. The effective date for the new $1,500 mental health care coverage is September 1, 2021. If students maxed out their coverage at $1,000, they can now submit claims from the past few months with the extra $500. Gan encouraged students to take advantage of the extra mental health care coverage they have received. “If you do need any mental health support or psychology coverage, you have that new increase ready to use. I really encourage everyone … to take a look at the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan if you’re enrolled in it. It is a really great plan and it covers a lot of different health benefits and dental benefits that you may need during your degree.” U
4 | NEWS | TUESDAY JANUARY 18, 2022 ONLINE HATE //
AMS exec shares ‘vulgar and profane’ email she received after UBC extended online classes Nathan Bawaan Web News Editor
An AMS exec tweeted a screenshot of a sexist email she received on January 12, following UBC’s announcement that a majority of classes would remain online until February 7. The sender — whose email address VP Academic and University Affairs Eshana Bhangu blocked out in the tweet about the incident — called Bhangu misogynistic slurs several times and blamed her for UBC’s extension of online classes from January 24 to February 7. The AMS had no authority over this decision. “I’ve always recognized & communicated that there are diverse student views about face to face instruction. If you disagree with a decision made by @UBC, there are better ways to voice your concern than sending me vile emails. I can also buy you a dictionary,” Bhangu tweeted, along with a screenshot of the email Wednesday evening. Bhangu told The Ubyssey that this wasn’t the first time she had received angry emails from individuals. “In all honesty, and unfortunately, [my reaction] was like, ‘Another one?’” she said. “The criticism was just full of outright misogyny, sexism and to be honest, insinuations that the men whose names have been blurred … would never listen to me unless I was performing sexual favours for them.” Bhangu said that past emails
FILE ZUBAIR HIRJI
“In all honesty, and unfortunately, [my reaction] was like, ‘Another one?’”
she has received from this particular individual and others have also been “uncomfortable and very sexist and unpleasant” to read, but that the language in Wednesday’s email was “on the more vulgar and profane end of it.” She added that she is “very grateful” for the support she has received from UBC students, faculty and administrators. According to a 2019 Research & Politics paper, high-profile women politicians are more likely
to receive “uncivil” messages on social media than male politicians in Canada. Bhangu said, to her knowledge, that she is the only AMS executive who identifies as a woman who has recently received these kinds of emails. “I would chalk it up to just because of my role being to fight for students to the university. Sometimes that constitutes some policies that there’s a diversity of views on,” she said.
Bhangu was notably at the forefront of the AMS’s advocacy over the summer for stricter mask and vaccine policies on campus, along with AMS President Cole Evans. She also was involved in the AMS’s push for online exams in December amid the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across BC. On why she decided to share this particular email on Twitter, Bhangu said that it came down to challenging her tendency to brush off these kinds of comments.
“That just ends up normalizing the kind of misogynist comments that you get … I’m sure that there are other people out there who are receiving stuff like this and worse,” she said. Bhangu also made it clear that she is still open to hearing student concerns. “I know that [online classes are] not ideal … [It’s] literally my duty to serve students. So they should be sending me their concerns if they have any.” U
COVID-19 AT UBC //
Amid changing testing advice, PCR testing currently not planned to be broadly available at UBC
The PCR test is considered a “gold standard” and more accurate than rapid antigen testing.
Anabella McElroy Senior Staff Writer
Due to changing public health advice, UBC is no longer providing PCR tests to individuals who test positive through its rapid testing program. A statement from President Santa
Ono right before winter break indicated that PCR tests would be broadly available on campus starting this month for symptomatic students, faculty and staff. “Starting in January we will be offering PCR testing on the UBC Vancouver campus for symptomatic students, faculty and staff,” Ono
MUFID MAJNUN/UNSPLASH
wrote in the update on December 14. While this was reported by The Ubyssey to mean that PCR testing would be widely available, according to UBC, that is no longer the case. Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs at UBC Media Relations, said that Ono’s statement referred to PCR tests offered only to
those who received a positive rapid antigen result as part of the asymptomatic Rapid Testing Program. “The information that was presented in the President’s blog, [on] December 14 was accurate up to December 14 … The provincial health office changed testing protocol and guidance later in the month, therefore, the PCR testing protocol at UBC changed. That meant that anyone who tested positive through the rapid testing program was given a PCR test up to January 4,” wrote Ramsey. Currently, the only symptomatic testing available on campus is rapid antigen testing at the Life Sciences Centre. The site, run by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) opened on December 24 and will remain open until at least January 23. It is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Life Sciences Centre testing site opened as BC reached PCR testing capacity due to the Omicron variant pushing case numbers up rapidly. As a result, access to provincial PCR testing was limited to those most vulnerable and with severe symptoms. Public health advice has also changed regarding the necessity of getting a test, with the BC Centre for
Disease Control now recommending that fully vaccinated individuals with mild symptoms proactively self isolate rather than get tested. When asked if PCR tests would be administered at this site in future, VCH directed The Ubyssey to a statement on the opening of the site. The statement mentions that both PCR and rapid antigen tests have been distributed at other VCH testing sites, but does not clarify whether both would be distributed at the new testing site. The PCR test is considered a “gold standard” and more accurate than rapid antigen testing, but requires laboratory equipment to use. Rapid antigen testing can be self-administered and has become more accessible amid the PCR limitation. Stephen Hoption Cann, a clinical professor in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, said in a statement that a positive result on either test is less likely to be a false positive with high levels of Omicron circulating. Nonetheless, he said, “A negative test with either the PCR or rapid test is no guarantee that you do not have COVID — neither test is 100 per cent accurate.” U
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY | NEWS | 5 STUDENT LIFE //
ENTERING OUR THIRD PANDEMIC YEAR //
Here’s what campus will look like for the next two weeks.
FILE ISABELLA FALSETTI
Classes are online for Omicron is surging worldwide. now. Here’s what’s How are UBC students coping? open on campus “Now after having gotten it … it definitely brings in a new perspective.”
Khushi Patil Staff Writer
The majority of UBC classes will be held online until Monday, February 7. Nonetheless, UBC said in a broadcast email that student services and most facilities on campus will remain open as usual. So what exactly is changing? Here’s a brief picture of what campus will look like for the next three weeks.
WHAT’S OPEN? The AMS Nest will remain open and operate under regular hours, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Most food outlets in the AMS Nest are open for business, including: • Blue Chip Cafe, daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. • INS Market, daily 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. • Thirstyyy Convenience Store, daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. • The Gallery, weekdays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. • The Delly, weekdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. • Soup Market, weekdays 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. • Grocery Checkout, Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., weekends 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. The AMS Food Bank is open in-person starting January 13, running from Monday to Thursday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. AMS Safewalk is available from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. The AMS Sexual Assault Support Centre is currently providing both online and in-person appointments, as usual. The UBC Life Building is open to students from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. The Subway and Starbucks outlets in Life are also open, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. All library branches on campus are open and operating at regular hours.
WHAT’S CHANGED? AMS’s services e-Hub and Advocacy are taking online appointments only. All indoor events and bookings at the Nest are cancelled until further notice. A number of food outlets on campus are closed currently. Almost all of these are currently scheduled to reopen on January 24, with the exception of a few, which have been marked: • The Grand Noodle Emporium, AMS Nest • Honour Roll, AMS Nest • Teadot, AMS Nest, *January 18 • Sprouts Cafe, Life Building • Booster Juice, Life Building • Pacific Poke, both locations • Bento Sushi, David Lam • Tim Hortons, David Lam • Triple O’s, David Lam, *January 22 • Starbucks, Fred Kaiser • Starbucks, UBC Bookstore • Fooood Cafe, all locations • Perugia Cafe • Law Cafe • Stir It Up Cafe • Ike’s Cafe The Student Recreation Centre also has additional restrictions in place. All intramural sports events for January are cancelled, and sports leagues will be delayed. Drop-in sports are open for now, but advanced online registration is required. Birdcoop Fitness Centre and the ARC will be closed until at least January 18, in accordance with provincial guidelines regarding gyms and fitness centres.
WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION? The AMS has posted on its official Instagram page with updates on AMS Student Services and the AMS Nest. More information on AMS services can be found at www.ams.ubc.ca/news/covid-updates. Business hours and openings for food outlets can be found on the UBC food services website, www.food.ubc.ca/feedme. U
Fiona Sjaus Contributor
The COVID-19 Omicron variant is impacting UBC students in new ways. Everyone in the university community is currently being affected by the most recent COVID-19 wave as UBC begins yet another term online. Just as faculties were gearing up for a return to on-campus classes, the highly-transmissible but less-deadly Omicron variant forced classes back online. As the Omicron variant surges worldwide, we spoke to some of UBC’s student community to see how they are adapting and coping with this new chapter in the pandemic.
‘A VERY NERVE-WRACKING EXPERIENCE’ After second-year music student Adriana Zaharijevic’s brother suffered from COVID-19 last year while on business in the United States, the pandemic became more real than ever. “It was a very nerve-wracking experience not only for him, but for our entire family,” she said. Zaharijevic’s in-person exams became another source of anxiety as she juggled a lengthy commute and concerns over the health of fellow test-takers. “Students who had the sniffles or the cough showed up regardless of feeling under the weather which put everyone else at risk. I remember being uneasy while taking my exam and constantly thinking about if my mask was on right.” Like Zaharijevic, second-year student Dishti Mago experienced a reality-check when her parents contracted COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic. “I didn’t take it seriously. I thought, ‘It’s just like the common cold, it’s like the flu.’ But then my parents got it,” she said. Mago, originally from India, attributes many of her past worries to media consumption triggered by her parents’ experience. “[Daily case numbers] can be at the back of your head and interfere with your daily operations.” For second-year student Leila Sabeur, the turning point came
when she and her family tested positive for the virus. “I think there was a bit of a stigma going on with people contracting COVID[-19]. I would ask myself, ‘Are they not vaccinated? Have they not been respecting restrictions?’ And now after having gotten it … it definitely brings in a new perspective.”
‘YOU ARE NOT IN THIS SPACE BY YOURSELF’ However, in these stressful times, Zaharijevic and Sabeur recognize music, reading and exercise as their main stress-relieving outlets. “I rely on exercise as a big stress-reliever and without it, I don’t have a steady routine,” Zaharijevic said. “I think [music] is a great way to just detach from the source of your stress,” added Sabeur. For Mago, surrounding herself with people that remind her of home when in unfamiliar situations is grounding.
ISABELLA FALSETTI
“I regularly talk to my parents [and] I have people on campus I hang out with often that make me feel better … I do have this feeling that, no matter what happens I still have someone to fall back on and I think that’s very important.” First-year arts student Syndio Chun said making these connections can be difficult with everything online. “It’s already difficult enough coming into first year to seek interactions with other people, but obviously with COVID[-19], it just makes it ten times harder and then, with things going back online, it [becomes] borderline impossible.” Still, while Chun said he has “developed this ability to learn things by [himself ],” he finds talking to others helpful. “Remember that people are real and you’re not in this space by yourself.” U
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR THE 2022 AMS ELECTIONS AMS Executives
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JANUARY 21 FOR UBC BOG AND SENATE & FEBRUARY 18 FOR AMS EXECUTIVES!
CULTURE
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
EDITOR TIANNE JENSEN-DESJARDINS
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PERIOD POVERTY //
Wash Your Hands of My Blood excels at film festival
COURTESY SERAJI, SAHU, TANEJA, VIRJI AND CHAMARTY.
The filming of Wash Your Hands of My Blood happened over the course of one day.
Iman Janmohammed Senior Staff Writer
Third-year biology student and independent filmmaker Anahita Seraji’s short film, Wash Your Hands of My Blood, was awarded First Runner-up for the Judges’ Choice Award at the ConnectHER Film Festival. The film was also nominated for awards under the Global Health and People’s Choice award categories. The ConnectHER Film Festival is a festival for high school and university students to submit original works that focus on women’s issues. These issues include access to education, violence against women, poverty and body image. Seraji started conceptualizing Wash Your Hands of My Blood after learning about period poverty in South Asia from a Plan International Canada representative. Alone in her bedroom, without a team or a camera, Seraji dreamt of making this idea a reality. “It was really, really difficult,” said Seraji. “The whole film was done in less than two months — the pre-production, the whole thing.” Without a dedicated cast and crew, Wash Your Hands of My Blood would not have been able to happen.
A PASSIONATE AFFAIR With a cast and crew of students zealous about combatting period poverty and child marriage, Seraji’s film was able to capture the hearts of voters internationally. Wash Your Hands of My Blood follows Mitra (Nixita Taneja), a young girl who stays home from school due to her period by the advice of her mother (Shriya Chamarty). Her father (Ziyaan Virji) notices this and decides to withdraw her from school and forces her into an arranged marriage. Ziyaan Virji, a second-year Sauder student and the actor who plays Mitra’s father, was prompted to join the team for Wash Your Hands of My Blood due to his passion for ending period poverty. When Virji was 16, he founded an organization that works to provide access to menstrual care internationally called For The Menstrator. “I don’t have any formal acting experience,” said Virji in an interview with The Ubyssey. “I just wanted to see if I could help out in any capacity to make this project come to life.” Aakanksha Sahu, the assistant producer and a script translator of Wash Your Hands of My Blood, also wanted to help the film come to fruition in any way she could.
As a friend of Seraji, she could see the stresses of developing the film firsthand. “[Seraji] would have a lot of self doubt and as a friend, I was trying to support her,” said Sahu. “I offered to help translate her piece … I provided creative advice [and] since I’m from India, I provided advice about what the place looks like, what the customs and traditions are [in] Indian weddings. I gave stories of my family.” Sahu’s firsthand familial experience with child marriage drove her to be involved in the film. “My grandma was a child bride,” said Sahu. “I wanted to promote my culture and my heritage and I originally didn’t know that this would pop off like it did,” said Sahu. “I was just trying to help my friend and just help with things that I’m passionate about ... It really did blow up. I’m really grateful for that.” The creative advice that Sahu shared with Seraji allowed for an atmosphere that emphasized teamwork. “The film was built on whatever each person could contribute,” said Seraji. Portraying the story of Mitra with authenticity was incredibly important to Seraji. She also stressed that cast and crew members contributed to costuming and were consulted on the portrayal of marriage “I didn’t want it to be a Western perspective of child marriage.” Exposure is what first drew Nixita Taneja, a third-year theatre and psychology student at UBC, to Wash Your Hands of My Blood, but it was the connection to her own experiences that made her fall in love with the role of Mitra. In an interview with The Ubyssey, Taneja outlined how periods — in general, and her period specifically — have been stigmatized in India, especially throughout her boarding school experience. “This one time, we were going on a hike with my school. They asked all the girls if we were on our period and I said ‘yes’ because I was. I was not allowed to go on the hike because we were going to go to a temple,” said Taneja. “That made me so upset … At the time I didn’t understand [why I couldn’t go] and I still don’t. I don’t understand the reason why women aren’t allowed to partake in the same activities [as they can] when they’re on their period.” Besides wanting to amplify the message of Seraji’s film, Taneja also wanted to prove to herself and others that she can be an
actor. “I found this responsibility to show people that you can do whatever you want. You don’t just have to have a concrete career or just focus on one subject and not be pursuing your dreams,” Taneja said. Shriya Chamarty, a third-year biology student and the actor who played Mitra’s mother, was drawn to Wash Your Hands of My Blood due to its cultural components. “I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, so speaking languages like my mother tongue is not something that I’ve done with my friends and family a lot,” said Chamarty. “The story is also just really incredible.”
CREATING COMMUNITY IN ONE DAY The filming for Wash Your Hands of My Blood happened over the course of one day. Before this day, none of the cast had met in person. “We had to be very careful about where we filmed because of [COVID-19],” said Chamarty. “It was really challenging to get together in the first place.” “I had to ensure that everyone was going to be safe during [the pandemic],” said Seraji. “Filming itself is such a huge challenge because of all the unpredictable things that can happen on set, but when you add a pandemic on top of that it’s just a whole other world of unpredictable challenges that you have to conquer. I’m really grateful for the way it turned out, but it wasn’t easy.” Chamarty said that the Wash Your Hands of My Blood cast had to “go off of immediate chemistry” while filming. “We just had to [film] right away and hope for the best.” Hoping for the best is also what Seraji and Sahu did while building the set. With a limited budget and resources, Sahu and Seraji had to get creative with their set building. Wash Your Hands of My Blood was filmed on UBC campus. “[Anahita and I] were trying to set up a bed for the bedroom scene and we had no idea how to do it,” said Sahu. “Next to Orchard [Commons Residence], we found these logs that they leave out and we made the bed by picking up those logs and stacking them side by side.” “It was just a really funny moment because neither me or Anahita had any idea what was going on or how it would turn out,” said Sahu. Sahu remembers set development fondly. “We would just try to find sets and just make the most of
what we could with the resources we had … There [were] a lot of insects around us and I remember just spending the day laughing and swatting flies, mosquitoes and spiders just trying to build this bed.” Wash Your Hands of My Blood was filmed in “little nooks and crannies” across campus, according to Seraji. Filming locations included Orchard Commons Residence, the Ponderosa Annexes and the wooden ‘C-Shore’ between the biology and chemistry buildings. “Whoever I pitched the idea to was like, ‘you’re trying to turn Vancouver into India. It’s impossible. It’s the middle of the pandemic. You can’t do it,’” said Seraji. “It’s really incredible how well the film turned out, given the circumstances like it was filmed right on campus, and yet it looks so good.” Though the day before filming was hot and swarming with bugs, the day of filming was cold and raining. “It was the coldest summer day possible,” said Taneja. “We have some behind the scenes photos [where] you see all of us huddled up in jackets in blankets.” “It was raining so hard and we were walking all over campus to film,” said Chamarty. Chamarty recounted a scene featuring Taneja walking barefoot being filmed. “There is a scene where Nixita had to have no shoes on and she was so cold. We were all wrapping her up in our sweaters and this is the first time I met her. We had to form a bond really quickly because I’m acting as her mother,” said Chamarty. “It was really cold.”
IT TAKES A VILLAGE In November 2021, Seraji was sitting through a two-hour virtual awards ceremony wondering if her film was good enough to win an award. “I tend to underestimate the film itself because I feel like maybe these other films had a more difficult production,” said Seraji. In the last ten minutes of the ceremony, Wash Your Hands of My Blood was announced as the first runner-up of the Judges’ Choice Award — an award that recognizes the best overall films of the festival. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions at the time, the Wash Your Hands of My Blood team was not able to celebrate their win together however, they were able to celebrate in their own ways. “It was just a passion project. We didn’t really expect it to blow up … It was a very awe inspiring
moment,” said Sahu. After receiving the news of their win, Sahu was inspired, Taneja was proud and Chamarty called her mother to tell her the good news. “Anahita texted me and she [said] we were the first runner up,” said Taneja. “I was just like, ‘oh my god, this is so cool’ … Initially, it was just a vision and then it came to life and all of the hard work that went into it just paid off.” While Seraji had always dreamed of winning an award with her film, it was still surreal to have that dream become a reality — and not just for her, but for her team as well. “The [number] of stories that have been shared and the filmmakers [are] so talented. The stories are so amazing and important. I feel quite honoured that our film managed to win first runner-up … It’s really important to see that other people also recognize the value of the film and how impactful it is,” said Seraji. Seraji isn’t just proud of her team, but her team is proud of her, too. “It was a huge honour working on something like this with such a powerful message,” said Virji. “It’s nice to see how passionate [Seraji] was and I’m so glad she got the credit she deserves.”
YVR AND BEYOND Since being recognized as the first runner-up for the Judges’ Choice Award, Seraji has no plans of stopping filmmaking. Seraji has been invited to accompany the ConnectHER team at the Sundance Film Festival, taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah from Thursday, January 20 to Sunday, January 30. Due to the evolving travel restrictions due to the Omicron variant, Seraji will be unable to attend. “For now, I’m really focused on making sure the rest of the team gets their exposure,” said Seraji. “I’m hoping to send it out to more film festivals … especially ones that are more focused on acting aspects so our actors get some exposure or cinematographers get some exposure.” As for what’s next for Seraji, she is looking to make another film. “This has put me on a path where film has become my voice for activism, especially when it comes to women’s rights because it’s such a pervasive issue,” said Seraji. “It’s such a big deal and I [would] really love to keep on doing it.” U
8 | CULTURE | TUESDAY JANUARY 18, 2022 AIMING FOR AVERAGE //
Hope for an average year Tianne Jensen-DesJardins Culture Editor
So that was 2021, eh? What a disaster. I started the year off with so much hope. I remember sitting in my dark room in the basement — complete with unbrushed hair and rumpled pajamas — with Zoom on in the background while I made a late New Year’s resolutions list. Just make it through one more term online and then everything will go back to normal, or so I thought. I wanted to spend more time exploring campus, something I hadn’t had the chance to do earlier in my degree because my imposter syndrome made an appearance every time I stepped out of my dorm room. I wanted to reconnect with friends from my first two years at UBC. I wanted to slurp a chai-nog latte from that cafe in Buchanan A. I wanted to feel the passing of time, not just watch my life slip by as I stared at a screen. By the time that summer break rolled around, everything felt a little bit lighter, but also steeped in suspense. Yes, vaccines were rolling out, but what if even after getting the vaccine, things still didn’t go back to normal? What if the isolation wasn’t the worst of it? What if I still wasn’t the confident student that I wanted to be? At the end of the year, I had a
And then we went back to online learning.
few more answers… and a heck of a lot more questions. With a year of hybrid learning under my belt, I felt ready to go into a new year and face any challenge. I’d written an undergrad thesis during a global pandemic as a working student. I felt like I’d finally started to figure
FILE LUA PRESIDIO
out how this whole university thing worked. And then we went back to online learning. Now, as I write this in 2022, I want to say that I’m still feeling in control, but I can’t. With friends catching COVID-19 left and right, it
feels a lot more personal this time around. I’m caught between wanting to immerse myself in the final term of my undergrad and wrapping myself up in a blanket cocoon to avoid getting sick. Luckily, we have the technology to keep classes going despite not be-
ing able to meet in person — I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my classes to distract me from the overwhelming everything. So, here’s to another year. At this point, I won’t even wish for a good one. I’m alright with average. U
REFLECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS //
Uncertainty to hope: Thoughts from an unusual year my academic motivation, bit by bit, Zoom call by Zoom call. Now, back on campus, my motivation levels were at a critical low. In a usual year, I would limit myself to one all-nighter per term, but by midterm season of fall 2021, I had already engaged in two or three nuits blanches. Through this all, a fear began to emerge and it slowly coated my brain. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Was this how I was going to be? Would that spark, that brilliant academic spark, or the sheer, awesome beauty of this experience that I once held dear, abandon me forever?
BUILDING BACK
Soon enough, though, I realized that things were different from before.
Shane Atienza Senior Staff Writer
BEGINNINGS I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped onto campus for the first time in fall 2021. Although it wasn’t my first time back on campus in 2021, the hustle and bustle of first- and secondyears, the sight of professors with Tim Hortons or Starbucks or stale Ike’s coffee in hand and the general peopledness of campus in September made me smile. This was the moment my peers and profs and I had waited for with much anticipation: the start of this,
an in-person term, after so many gruelling days of doing coursework in front of a computer screen. I must admit, it was great to do a few dramatic run-and-hug scenes (with masks, of course) and grab way more coffees with friends than I had in my entire university career. I began writing for The Ubyssey, and expressed my optimism about the new school year through some pretty neat poetry. Things were looking bright. And boy, was I happy to be back on such hallowed intellectual grounds.
REALIZATIONS Soon enough, though, I realized
FILE LUA PRESIDIO
that things were different from before. Some of my friends and I had drifted apart over the period of online learning, while a few friendships were abruptly and unexpectedly broken. On top of that, I often had trouble staying concentrated on assignments, sometimes opening Word documents for mere seconds before clicking them closed, as if the almost-blank, off-white pages scathed my eyes. The disease of procrastination was allowed to fester, too. Things began to stack up. As it slowly but surely became clear to me, the pandemic had eaten away at
But it was also clear that I was not alone in my toils. Conferring with friends, I knew that others had similar bouts of amotivation and worry. When sharing my fears of never getting back to my pre-pandemic self, a history department peer responded: “But we’ll never be able to go back to our pre-pandemic ways nor our pre-pandemic selves — not really, anyway.” And that sounded about right. Accepting that was a start. In spite of some of my gloom, I trekked on through the term. I did myself favours in asking for extensions, managing to secure precious days or weeks for rest and meaningful, intentional work from my lovely profs. I also started up at UBC Counselling again, and had many, many more coffee check-ins with friends (notwithstanding the long Tim’s or Starbucks lineups).
I also began going on long walks on campus, either with a friend or alone, around places I hadn’t explored before. The Nitobe Memorial Garden gave me peace. Wreck Beach gave me fresh sea wind and air (and the Wreck Beach stairs gave me a workout). The Asian Centre gave me ideas for future study spots (and a mini panic attack when the Centre’s sketchy elevator stopped for a moment). And, although I had already visited many times in years past, the Museum of Anthropology was also a place of calm and reflection for me in fall 2021. I would sit facing Bill Reid’s Raven and the First Men, eyeing the intricate carving, or following the patterns raked into the sand at the sculpture’s base. What beautiful things there were here, in this place, in this in-person experience that I both longed for and stressed over. Exam season came and went without a hitch. With my last exam over (a fun one on French cinema), the end of December brought me relief and relaxation. We had made it through. I had made it through. And I was proud. I celebrated with some Baileys and a Zoom call. The sense of accomplishment was immense. At least a bit of that spark was back. Times were good. Although the first few weeks back will be online, this new year, much like the first Star Wars film, brings to me, and to all of us, a new hope. And that new hope, regardless of what happens in the future, is meaningful, valuable and beautiful. U
FEATURES
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
COORDINATOR PALOMA GREEN
9
STUDENT DEFENDERS OF FAIRY CREEK written by
CARTER DUNGATE Courtesy Sarah Nolin
They arrived at night. In early September 2021, three UBC students left their car at the side of the road and started up the path deep into the forest. Overhead, the stars shimmered in the West Coast sky. They presented their bags to the RCMP officers blocking their way. The police searched them to make sure they were not transporting any contraband such as crowbars, construction equipment or anything the officers deemed as threatening. Their bright f lashlights cut through the dark night, but they only found food and personal supplies on the travellers. After the students passed the police checkpoint, they began to see what they had travelled to protect. They were at Fairy Creek. They were there for the trees.
‘ALL MY LIFE I’VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR TREES SUCH AS THESE’ The presence of the forest at Fairy Creek is hard to put into words. Some of these trees have been alive longer than the English language. Underneath the soil, the trees are communicating through a complex system involving their roots and fungi. They are sharing resources — nurturing each other. They are communicating about potential threats in the forest. They might even be talking about us. This is the world the protesters at Fairy Creek are trying to protect: a world of ecological value. These towering forests have been stewarded by the Pacheedaht, Huu-ayaht and Ditidaht First Nations for as long as history can recall. It is also a world of great economic value to Teal Jones, the forestry company that owns the rights to log Fairy Creek and other neighbouring old-growth forests. The license to log these trees, Tree Farm License 46, was purchased by Teal Jones in 2004 and covers 70,000 hectares of land including first- and second-growth forests. 27 per cent of the 200,000 hectares of forest logged in BC each year is from old-growth forests. But defining what old-growth is has proven to be a difficult task. The BC government, forestry industry and conservationists all have different conf licting perspectives on what ‘old-growth’ really means. The provincial government defines coastal old-growth as any tree over 250 years old. The trees referred to as oldgrowth at Fairy Creek are often first-growth trees, meaning that they belong to a forest that has never been logged. Not all the trees in Fairy Creek are over 250 years old.
The provincial government has provided a two-year halt to logging in Fairy Creek in June 2021 at the request of the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations. However, protesters have remained in the watershed due to disagreement around what exact areas of Fairy Creek this halt includes and concern about Teal Jones’ logging in nearby areas. Indigenous governance and messaging have been divided when it comes to old-growth logging in Fairy Creek. Not all Indigenous leaders agree on allowing protestors onto their land. The elected leadership of the Pacheedaht First Nation has repeatedly asked protesters to leave the Fairy Creek watershed. Despite the pushback from elected Indigenous governments, the Fairy Creek blockade has a profound Indigenous presence and leadership. Some leaders in the local Indigenous communities — like 82-year-old Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones — have been vocal in their support for the protests and extending invitations for protesters to stay on Pacheedaht territory. Beyond the trees’ economic or ecological value, they are rare. An independent report found that only three to eight per cent of BC’s original old-growth forest remains. Once these forests are gone, they will not be back for hundreds, if not thousands, of years — or they may never return. The scarcity of these forests and the immediate threat of logging has drawn protesters from all over to take a stand at Fairy Creek. These include people from all different ages, backgrounds and identities, but all have the same motive: defend one of the last unprotected old-growth forests on Vancouver Island.
a UBC student,” Berman-Hatch said. “I think it all comes back to growing up on a rural island community.” Berman-Hatch grew up on Cortes Island – a small island in the northern part of the Salish Sea. His parents met at the “War in the Woods” (also known as the Clayoquot protests) which were largely successful in preventing old-growth logging in the Clayoquot biosphere near Tofino. He was named after the old-growth forests his parents worked to protect. “I came to the understanding at a pretty young age that all this was under threat, and I felt it should be defended,” he said when talking about old-growth forests. In November 2020, a poster caught the attention of Berman-Hatch. The poster was raising awareness about a patch of old-growth forest on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, near Port Renfrew that was slated to be logged by the forestry company Teal Jones. That same month, Berman-Hatch travelled from Cortes Island to Fairy Creek to investigate. Most of BC had yet to hear about the conf lict at Fairy Creek. When he reached the blockade, Berman-Hatch remembers thinking cynically. “I hope that’s gonna make a difference, somehow.” There was only a meagre party of 10 people. The lack in numbers was only further emphasized by the vast expanse of trees. But that small party was merely the beginning. By the following summer, when Berman-Hatch would return, Fairy Creek would be a major news story not only in BC but internationally. The number of protesters grew with the media coverage, and more and more UBC students would make their way to Fairy Creek.
FORREST BERMAN-HATCH
SARAH NOLIN
“The forest breathes.” Forrest Berman-Hatch described sitting in an oldgrowth forest in the rain. The canopy of leaves and branches high above effectively dissipated the downpour. Only a faint mist whispered down. Everything you can see and walk on is alive. It is all held together by “a profound stillness in the air.” Berman-Hatch, a fourth-year anthropology and political science student, was one of the students who arrived at Fairy Creek that late night in September. But Fairy Creek wasn’t his first exposure to old-growth logging protests — he has been involved in environmental activism for most of his life. “I’ve been interested in trees a lot longer than I’ve been
“The scale of how people were spread out was unfathomable,” Sarah Nolin said, thinking about the scene she encountered at Fairy Creek when she arrived in July 2021. Nolin, a fourth-year history major, described a very different scene from the one Berman-Hatch encountered the fall before. There were almost a hundred protesters spread out in different areas of the forest. Their goal was the same: stop the active logging at Fairy Creek without the use of violence. Instead of having a defined leadership structure, the Fairy Creek blockade is brought together by a strong sense of community and collaboration — which gave Nolin the opportunity to assist the protest in different roles. For three days in early July, Nolin mostly acted as an
10 | FEATURES | TUESDAY JANUARY 18, 2022 unofficial liaison between police and protestors at Fairy Creek. She also volunteered to be an ‘arrestable,’ meaning she would put herself in anti-logging devices or other situations that might lead to her arrest. But Nolin hasn’t always been directly protesting the logging industry. She spent the summers of 2018 to 2020 replanting trees from logging operations. It was hard, physical work day after day in clear-cuts and other areas where there had once been forests thriving with interconnected life. Overall, she planted roughly a quarter of a million trees. Despite the hundreds of thousands of trees she planted, Nolin feels conf licted about her work. “It’s such a problematic industry … I saw so much fault in it while I was doing the job,” she said. “It’s not disputable that we need lumber as a resource right now. So, tree planting to me is the necessary evil to have that resource.” Nolin pointed to the excessive waste of tree planting operations, the use of pesticides and other chemicals, as well as the resulting monoculture as having devastating consequences for the environment. Monoculture is the cultivation of a singular crop in an area. “Tree planting can never get back the [old-growth] ecosystems,” said Nolin. “Protecting old-growth is so much more important than planting new trees.”
DR. SUZANNE SIMARD At the forefront of forestry research is UBC professor Dr. Suzanne Simard. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree and a micro-celebrity after being portrayed in a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and upcoming movie, and was even mentioned in the hit show Ted Lasso. Despite the public attention, her office in the UBC Forest Science Centre is like that of any other professor — overf lowing with binders, books and papers. A picture in her office window shows Simard in a forest, laden with shovels and other forestry equipment. Judging by her radiant smile, this is Simard in her element. Simard has been to Fairy Creek, as well as countless other forests in BC, and is familliar with its particular importance as an ecosystem.
Courtesy Forrest Berman-Hatch Mia Gregg in her tripod
“They’re extremely courageous,” Simard said. “They’ve done us all a huge favour by bringing the public spotlight on the importance of these forests.”
MIA GREGG
Courtesy Forrest Berman-Hatch Mia Gregg surrounded by the RCMP
“It’s one of the last untouched, intact watersheds in southern Vancouver Island,” Simard said. She elaborated that there are other old-growth watersheds in BC, but Fairy Creek is particularly important because it is not protected. Simard doesn’t talk in terms of trees or plants — she talks about societies. The research Simard and other leading forestry experts have conducted over the last few decades has shown that trees communicate with each other and share resources through a complex system of roots and symbiotic fungi. Simard’s research has fundamentally changed how the world views forestry. Trees are no longer just sticks in the ground. “They live in communities. They have relationships with one another,” she said. “It’s like your human relationships. If you’re not around other people, you don’t know them, so then you don’t even think about them.” The way to get connected to the environment around you is a simple process, according to Simard — just spend more time in the forest. It is easy to forget that Pacific Spirit Park, only minutes away from campus, is a thriving ecosystem with salmon-bearing streams, beaver dams, f lying squirrels, frogs and other forest life. There is even a small selection of old-growth trees along Wreck Beach. Some students may have gone most of their lives without being around forests. Others feel so compelled by this connection to nature that they travel to Fairy Creek and other forests to defend these few remaining old-growth trees. Simard is proud of the students that feel compelled to stand up for the trees.
Twenty feet up in the air, Mia Gregg settled into the wooden perch. The platform was narrow — just barely enough room for her body. Rain sprinkled down on her sporadically throughout the day. All she had to do now was wait. She knew the police would come eventually. On the hillside behind her, the forest was stripped by clearcutting, a reminder of why she was putting herself in the way of RCMP and loggers. Gregg, a second-year forestry student, went to Fairy Creek with Berman-Hatch and another UBC student in early September 2021. Gregg ended up spending most of her time at Fairy Creek suspended in the air on a device called a tripod — a makeshift tree fort constructed with logs to delay loggers and police. “The idea was to make structures that are unsafe and that the police would think are too unsafe to try and take them apart. And that’s kind of crazy, but people are desperate, and this is just what they’re having to do to stop the loggers,” Gregg said. Gregg wasn’t alone in her tripod; her friend was attached below her in another device called a sleeping dragon, a contraption that traps protesters’ arms in a metal or cement structure. Gregg watched the RCMP make their way slowly down the logging road towards her. Their progress was delayed by other devices blocking their way — some manned — while others were as simple as rocks or logs pushed onto the road. When the RCMP finally reached Gregg, she watched in distress as they used electrical saws to remove her friend from the sleeping dragon below her. After that, she was alone and surrounded by police. About a dozen RCMP officers gathered around her tripod. They watched her teeter precariously on her device while they drank Tim Hortons. One of the RCMP officers on the ground looked up at her and made a motion of the tripod tipping over with his arm. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on her. “It’s ridiculous, you feel ridiculous, the whole time you’re there. It’s like, why do we have to be here? Why do they have to be here?” Gregg said. Gregg was shaken. Seeing the police forcefully remove her friend from the base of her tripod made her concerned for the safety of her already unstable structer. She had already spent the better part of the day on the tripod with barely any sleep or food. A police drone buzzing constanly overhead only increased her discomfort. Ultimately, an RCMP officer scaled up the tripod using ropes and harnesses. When he got to the top, he chided her for being in this situation. “‘This is unsafe,’” Gregg remembers the RCMP officer saying. “‘I have kids. Don’t you have parents who care about you? You can come down and it will all be okay.’” “They really play with your mind — and not in a good way,” she added. In RCMP update 78 from August 19, they stressed their concern for protester safety in these devices and warned that media portrayal of their actions is not always the full picture. “Despite claims of inhumane treatment, our officers have taken many precautions to ensure that all protesters are removed from these devices as slowly and safely as possible,” the RCMP wrote. After spending 12 hours on the structure, Gregg was worried about how unsafe the tripod had become and surrendered herself to the RCMP. She was arrested as soon as she reached the ground. “I felt so much regret. When I climbed down, I felt so terrible about myself because I really wanted to stay up there.” Gregg had a hard time finishing the conversation. The emotional toll of the event was visible. Gregg’s parents were upset that she had been arrested but understood she put herself in that position for a cause she believed in. Both Gregg’s mother and grandmother were arrested earlier this summer protesting with the group Extinction Rebellion. The charge for an arrest at Fairy Creek is criminal contempt of court since it disobeys the BC court-ordered injunction. The sentencing for contempt of court in the case of Fairy Creek is most likely a couple of days in jail, community service or a fine. “It’s definitely something that’s on my mind, but we really don’t know what kind of sentencing it will be for me,” Gregg said. Returning to school after getting arrested at Fairy Creek comes with its own set of challenges. Gregg even had to write a midterm during one of her preliminary hearings. Gregg stays up to date with the news of Fairy Creek on social media. Now that she’s settled back at UBC and awaiting sentencing for her arrest, the coverage of Fairy Creek feels
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY | FEATURES | 11 “This is what the future must look like — scientists working with Indigenous and traditional knowledge keepers together to find the best way to manage these rare ecosystems,” Schulz said. As committed as she was to the Fairy Creek blockade, Schulz was still a UBC student and summer could not last forever. Schulz drove straight from Fairy Creek to move into her UBC dorm where she is now a residence advisor. The transition from dealing with police conf lict and camping in the woods back to the routine of classes has been hard — but the change of pace has been calming after an intense summer. Back at UBC, Schulz has continued to combine her education and activism. She has given presentations on old-growth logging to the UBC Climate Hub and individual classes, showcasing what she describes as her “activist research.” “I get that you might be scared. I get that maybe it’s not the most important thing to you right now. But you can always come to me and so many other people to get answers, or to find resources,” Schulz said. “Ignoring it is the worst thing.” The Fairy Creek Schulz sees in the media is different from the experiences she had this summer. “It’s so complex, but often gets represented as a binary conf lict in mainstream media with narratives like ‘the loggers vs the protesters,’” she said. The real blame — Schulz believes — lies with the BC NDP government for failing to uphold its campaign promise of protecting old-growth forests.
SPREADING THE ROOTS
Courtesy Lia Schulz A quiet moment at the Fairy Creek blockade.
different than before. “It’s pretty disheartening to see that even with all the people who’ve been arrested, all the people who stood against [old-growth logging], it’s still happening there now,” she said.
IAN DANIELS The finance student with Texas license plates was — maybe predictably — met with skepticism when he arrived at Fairy Creek alone. But Ian Daniels felt compelled to go to Fairy Creek after seeing social media posts of police clashing with protesters. The Fairy Creek community’s skepticism quickly subsided and Daniels found a place for himself working as a cook in one of the camps. Daniels was not just protesting for the trees. The Fairy Creek blockade gave him an opportunity to protest against colonialism, systemic racism, capitalism and police brutality. As a finance student, Daniels couldn’t help but consider the economic motivations at play in the lumber industry. “It must be worth a ton of money for [Teal Jones] to want to put up this much of a fight,” Daniels said — but the social issues are more pressing to him. “How much can these trees really be worth? Are they really worth a thousand arrests and so many injuries?” The RCMP has now spent $8.9 million enforcing the Fairy Creek injunction. The cost of Fairy Creek is much higher than just the RCMP price tag — it is also includes the political cost of images of protesters being pepper-sprayed and dragged away by police. BC Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thomson refused to extend a court injunction against protesters, citing that the “depreciation” of the court’s reputation was more significant than the economic threat to Teal Jones. In response, the RCMP said they were proud of their actions at Fairy Creek as they were upholding the court order. Daniels did not volunteer to be arrested; he is not a Canadian citizen and is worried an arrest may affect his future in Canada. Instead, he made his home in the kitchen where he cooked whatever groceries volunteers donated. He was more interested in supporting the people he met at Fairy Creek and highlighting their work. “What I gave is a small part compared to what other people are doing,” he said.
Throughout provincial old-growth deferrals and injunctions expiring and being re-applied, one thing has remained constant in Fairy Creek — the trees keep falling. Logging has continued throughout the protests and police action. The protestors at Fairy Creek measure victory in days you can keep trees from being felled. Although many of these protesters are willing to put their bodies in harm’s way to stop old-growth logging, no one interviewed by The Ubyssey anti-logging as a whole. “Pretty much everyone up there [at Fairy Creek] and I certainly understand that we live in a civilization where there’s a certain amount of logging that’s necessary,” Berman-Hatch said. Back on his home of Cortes Island, Berman-Hatch has friends who make a living as loggers. He believes the logging industry needs to be reformed to exclude old-growth lumber and practice more sustainable methods. Simard continues to research best practices for sustainable logging with other UBC faculty. She is starting to see an uptake of her more environmentally conscious understanding of logging, but there is still a long way to go. “After completely going to de facto clear-cutting across the entire province, we lost our creativity. We lost the ability to see that there are other ways,” Simard said. “It’s just heartbreaking that people can’t see through the bottom line — through the short-term economic gain for these huge losses ecologically, huge losses to us as people down the road.” The UBC students who participated in the Fairy Creek blockade are now back in class, running for buses, cramming for exams and logging onto Zoom calls. Even though Vancouver may seem a long way from Fairy Creek, the students who spent time up at the blockade are still impacted by what they experienced this summer, for better or worse. The Fairy Creek blockade is now the largest act of civil disobedience in BC history. Over 1,100 people have been arrested, with many BIPOC participants saying they were disproportionately targeted. Despite the continued police action, winter setting in and the provincial announcement of plans to partially defer old-growth logging — the Fairy Creek blockade still shows no sign of easing. If anything, for these UBC activists at least, absence only makes the heart grow fonder. Many have expressed their plans or interest in going back to the blockade. “Fairy Creek to me is the fight of our generation,” Schulz said. “Fifty years from now I want to be able to say I did everything I could.” Forrest Berman-Hatch has contributed to The Ubyssey’s features section.
LIA SCHULZ “I think back about it so fondly,” said Lia Schulz, reminiscing about her time at the oldgrowth forest blockades this past summer. Her beaming smile faltered as she continued speaking. “And yet, I wish there wouldn’t have been a need for us to be there and camp out and blockade, because Fairy Creek should have been protected and Caycuse should have been protected.” Schulz is a fourth-year human geography and master of management student. She was still taking classes this past summer, but remote learning allowed her to spend almost every weekend at the Fairy Creek blockade where she worked as a liaison between protesters and police. Schulz met Simard when she was up at Fairy Creek this summer. For many people up there who knew of Simard, her presence was validating of their efforts. “It was just really inspiring. She was lovely. She had so much to share,” Schulz said. Seeing Simard meeting with Fairy Creek defender and Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones was a hopeful moment for Schulz.
Courtesy Lia Schulz RCMP trucks at a blockade in the Caycuse watershed.
OPINION
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
EDITOR THOMAS MCLEOD
12
RACISM //
NDNs at UBC: Cultural appropriation Julianna Yue Columnist
Every year when Halloween rolls around, the BIPOC population, including myself, fear seeing our respective cultures worn as costumes. Outside of this annual occurrence, costume parties and trends cause arguments: is it appropriation or appreciation? Recently I visited the dollar store in University Village with a friend, and I came across a costume in the toy aisle. I was looking at the various knickknacks when I came across “Native American” costume accessories. I was beyond offended, seeing items such as the “Native American Choker” and “Native American Peace Pipe.” The items in question came from Forum Novelties Inc, a store featuring a variety of costumes and party supplies. Many such costumes appropriate different cultures, from “Asian Style and Ninja,” to “Desert Prince & Princess,” to “Egyptian,” to “Native American” and many more. Why is cultural appropriation so hard for folks to understand? There’s a thin line between appreciation and appropriation, yet celebrity and influencer figures tend to overstep these bounds in an attempt to gain more popularity or follow the latest trend. Recently this has included non-Black celebrities donning traditional hairstyles, or
Why is cultural appropriation so hard for folks to understand?
people wearing the ‘sexy fox eye’ look which fetishizes Asian eyes. Appropriation is the inappropriate adoption of cultural elements and identity by folks not belonging to that culture or identity. This allows people to take the ‘good’ aspects of a culture and use them for personal interest. Many times, this disproportionately affects minority cultures.
Cultural appreciation, on the other hand, seeks to understand cultures outside of one’s own. It reaches beyond personal uses and seeks to broaden individual perspectives. This also acts to connect different cultures. Seeing appropriation in action on campus, in a store that I’ve shopped at multiple times, was jarring. Seeing my culture exploited and produced
FILE KYLLA CASTILLO
for economic gain made me angry, once again making me question why people think it’s okay to dress up as a race or culture. This practice is indicative of a wider pattern of casual racist ignorance, and it must be made clear that this is unacceptable. Is it really that difficult to choose a costume without offending anyone? Perhaps wear a banana costume or
a cow onesie to your next costume party — but please, please, please — keep that ‘Native’, ‘Asian’, or any other race-based costume at home. NDNs at UBC is an open-form column written by Indigenous UBC students. If you’re interested in getting involved, submit pitches or completed articles to opinion@ubyssey.ca. U
ADVICE //
Ask Iman: Staying safe with different substances drink you’ve just finished in your pocket, so you can keep track of how much you’re having. If you’re drinking a mixed drink, make sure that the amount of alcohol in it is measured to a standard drink — whether that be a single or a double — so you can make sure that you’re not going over your limit. Staying within your limits and saying “no” when your friends try to get you to take another shot is completely okay. Setting boundaries with yourself and others when it comes to substance use is important and necessary. FILE MAHIN E ALAM
Take care of yourself and those around you!
Iman Janmohamed Columnist
Hi Iman, Everyone always talks about using substances safely. How do I do this? I know it’s a cliché, but university is a time of exploration and growth. For some that can mean learning who you are, for others that can mean falling in love and for many, that can mean engaging in substances for the first time, whether that be alcohol, weed or illicit substances. Yes, it can be super fun to get sloshed and walk up and down Main Mall with the new best friends you’ve just made in your first-year dorm, but before you don your super puff and Blundstones, knowing your limits and experimenting in a safe space before a big bender is incredibly important, especially if you are engaging with new substances.
ALCOHOL Start out small: not only in quantity but also regarding the size of the groups you’ll drink with. Trying things for the first time around people you trust is important — not just for your own comfort, but also because if you end up vomiting all over your friend’s bathroom floor, they hopefully won’t make too big of a deal out of it because 1) they know it’s your first time and 2) they are a really, really, really nice person. Knowing the quantity of a standard drink is also super important in making sure you don’t suffer the worst hangover of your life after your first time drinking. A shot is one and a half ounces, a beer is twelve ounces and a glass of wine is five ounces. No one will keep track of how many drinks you’ve had (unless they’re really nice and you asked them to), so keeping track of yourself is incredibly important. If you’re drinking something canned, like a cooler or beer, keep the tab of the
WEED With cannabis being a cornerstone(r) of stereotypical Vancouver culture, it’s not uncommon to blaze it with your bros (apologies for that sentence). There are two main strains of cannabis: sativa and indica. Sativa usually brings you up, while indica brings you down, even though there is no real scientific explanation for it. You can buy cannabis at dispensaries across Vancouver. The closest dispensary to campus is Trinity Tree Cannabis Co., off 10th and Sasamat. You can also buy cannabis online. There are also many different ways to get high — you can try an edible or smoke a joint, just to name a couple. It’s difficult to predict how your body will respond to weed. The method you’re going with (ingestion or inhalation) and the concentration of THC can all impact your reaction. So, start small and slow, and build up to experience a high. One hit might not get you high, but starting slow in an environment with people you trust is the safest way to experiment with weed.
Remember that combining weed with other substances like alcohol can increase your state of intoxication, so it’s important to stay safe and within your limits so you don’t end up an anxious, vomiting mess on your friend Greg’s dorm room floor.
If you are in possession of illicit substances, still call 911 if someone overdoses. The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act will provide you with legal protection from charges for possession of a controlled substance because you called for help.
OTHER SUBSTANCES
THE BOTTOM LINE
If you are planning on engaging with substances that could potentially be laced with fentanyl — like cocaine, heroin and ecstasy — it’s incredibly important to test your substances and know how to prevent an overdose. You can test your substances with fentanyl test strips which can be accessed at many supervised consumption sites across the Lower Mainland. The closest one to campus that offers drug testing is at the Insite supervised consumption site run by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). Clean injection equipment, injection booths, spectrometer drug checking and professional medical staff are on site. You can also get your drugs tested anonymously online. Test strips can’t detect all types of fentanyl, so even if your test comes back negative, you need to make sure that you know how to recognize an overdose and administer naloxone. Naloxone is a substance that can reverse the effects of an overdose. Medical attention is still needed if you or someone you know overdoses. Naloxone kits can be accessed on campus through Student Health Services or at Shoppers Drug Mart. Kits can also be found in the commonsblock of every residence. To learn more on how to spot and prevent an overdose, visit VCH’s website.
If you don’t feel comfortable drinking or getting high — you don’t have to. If you feel pressured, you can put your foot down or leave the situation. Trying new things is fun and engaging in substance use, regardless of what substance it is, is seen as a rite of passage for university students. But it’s only fun if you want to participate. There are risks to using any substance, whether that be alcohol, cannabis or illicit substances, but making sure that you’re in a safe and controlled environment with people you trust is integral to ensuring that you’re comfortable during your first time trying new substances. By knowing your limits and staying within them in a safe environment, the world is your oyster. Try new things but remember that your safety comes first, even when your friends encourage you to take a shot or just one more hit of the joint. Whatever you are comfortable with is great and if you aren’t comfortable with doing more or doing certain things, you never, ever have to. You’re doing great. Keep it up! Do you want to be told what to do by a 19-year-old English major? You’re in the right space! Send your questions to Iman at advice@ubyssey.ca, or submit anonymously at ubyssey.ca/ advice! U
FROM THE BLOG
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
EDITOR THOMAS MCLEOD
AROMANTIC LANGUAGES //
VACCINATION //
The Dingbat: Buchanan B can’t fool me — that’s a pole, not a French tutor Tova Gaster Staff Writer
What do you see when you look at this photo? A humble French tutor, posted up day after day in the courtyard outside Buchanan B plying their trade? Look again. This is a metal pole, not a French tutor — despite two signs to the contrary (overcompensating much?). Much like sparkling wine cannot technically be called champagne unless it’s from the Champagne region of France, a metal pole in the Buchanan courtyard technically cannot be labeled a “French tutor from France” unless it is a French tutor from the France region of Europe. If you have been fooled, you are not alone. I, an innocent sixth-year film studies student, was walking to a lecture for FIST420: Noir Aestheticism and Nude Athleticism in the French New Wave (unofficial course title: It’s Not Porn If It’s Art!) when I came upon what I took to be a small itinerant French tutor. I was not wearing my glasses that day, because after witnessing the beautiful TA from FIST420 in the Rose Garden frenching a guy with a man-bun more luscious than mine, I decided that I had seen enough. I had also just received a disappointing mark on
my latest French film term paper. “Hello,” I said, to the short, stout Frenchman (metal pole). “Are you accepting new students?” My new French tutor (a pole; I cannot emphasize enough that I am talking about the metal post outside Buchanan B) stared back at me blankly. At first, I thought they just chose not to respond to English. Dang, this guy is really serious about French immersion, I thought. I’ll be fluent in no time! I can’t wait to impress the TA in French film studies with my authentic pronunciation of “ennui!” “Bonjour?” I tried again. It (the pole) still didn’t respond. I started to get offended. Francophones are so snobby! This tutor probably isn’t really from France, I started to suspect, noting a sheen of Canadian frost glinting off of it’s smug bald head. They’re probably just from Montreal or something. They probably vote for the Bloc Québécois! With that thought, I started to get really mad. I’m not proud to say this, but I got physical. I punched the pole. I broke my hand. After four months of recovery, I’m back and determined to stop this little Napoleon’s reign of terror. Wake up people! Even
He’s got an undeniable magnetism about him.
a Pole (from Poland) would be better at teaching French than this pole (from the metal pole factory), and I’m going to make sure everybody knows it. UBC’s legal team is trying their hardest to censor my attempts to pursue legal action, but I’m not giving up. In response to my many emails, UBC liability lawyer Virgil Surname wrote, “Anyone could tell that was a pole,” and that “Administration isn’t responsible for student stupidity.” To which I say: bullshit. My correspondence with UBC’s legal counsel raised more questions than it answered. Is UBC’s romance languages department so broke from buying
a campus in Surrey that they’re replacing the French department with a literal metal pole? Why do we speak French in Canada anyway? Why don’t hot girls want to come back to my dorm to watch Amélie with me? I’ve had enough of the lies: from UBC infrastructure, from the garbage nation of France and from the effervescent European art hoes who apparently are “busy Fridays :(, and also every day forever for the rest of my life, désolé.” The Dingbat is The Ubyssey’s humour section. You can send pitches or completed pieces to blog@ubyssey.ca. U
The Dingbat: UBC maintains that fires don’t spread in an educational environment
Editor’s note: Directly after this article’s composition, the fire response committee was pressured into making students wait offcampus for a few weeks until the fire got slightly smaller, after which we’ll be back to business as usual. UBC has declined to call the fire department in spite of the ongoing and rapidly-spreading fire on campus and student calls to take action. In a press release, UBC maintained its position that fires at UBC won’t spread, unlike fires at UVic, Western, Dalhousie
FILE ANDREW HA
Upload your jurisdiction’s proof of vaccination documents online!
Thomas McLeod Blog and Opinion Editor
As reported by The Ubyssey in December, the UBC Senate has approved a “more lenient” set of consequences for students who do not declare their vaccination status. Students who have not declared their vaccination status by January 10 (or have not shown up for regular testing appointments if they are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or chose to not declare their status) may be subject to an academic hold in which they cannot receive marks or apply for programs such as Go Global. Students will be notified by way of their personal UBC email or the SSC. After the academic hold period, noncompliant students will be deregistered from in-person classes — this will take place when there are no online options available and the noncompliant student has not procured academic concession. There is no set date for deregistration as of yet. Deregistration means that a student will be removed from a course, and will be as though they never signed up for it at all. A student’s deregistration will also continue into subsequent terms until they comply. To declare your vaccination status — whether or not you’re vaccinated — visit covidtest.ubc. ca and log in with your CWL. If you are vaccinated, remember to upload your proof of vaccination documents! U
FILE CHERIHAN HASSUN
“Nothing to see here,” said the firefighters, as they drove through a crowd of firespreaders.
and Queen’s. “There is no need to call the fire department. The Provincial Fire Officer has assured us that UBC is just built different. We expect this fire to stop spreading any day now.” “Recent data has shown that there is very little fire on campus,” said a UBC spokesperson. “We’re extremely confident in that data too. We don’t believe that the nearest smoke-detector being a 45 minute bus ride away has any effect on the numbers.” It was announced that students who are uncomfortable taking an exam in a burning building have the option to get a Standing Deferred (SD) and
PSA: Declare your vaccination status to avoid deregistration
TOVA GASTER
THINLY-VEILED METAPHORS //
Jackson Dagger Senior Staff Writer
13
take their exams at a later date. The UBC spokesperson further assured students that “UBC’s response to any fire during the SD exam period will be exactly as competent as it is now.” In a press conference held by the AMS — which is surprisingly not the butt of this particular joke — VP Academic E. Shawna Bhangu declared opposition to things being on fire while President Joel Blevins strongly urged the university to “Get some water on this inferno, stuff do be en fuego.” UBC responded to the concerns of the AMS and the student population with a statement reading, “We’re listening to
students and faculty about [INSERT ISSUE HERE] and we have heard your voices loud and clear.” Furthermore, a meeting of UBC’s fire response committee, which took place over Zoom due to the fire risk, has concluded that the danger to students from the fire is low. One committee member told The Ubyssey, “I’m so confident in our assessment, I’d stake my life on it. I mean that metaphorically of course. There’s no way I’m going anywhere near the SRC right now.” The Dingbat is The Ubyssey’s humour section. You can send pitches or completed pieces to blog@ubyssey.ca. U
U JOIN US! Whether you want to write an article a semester or an article a day, there’s a place for you at The Ubyssey. Visit ubyssey.ca/volunteer for more information.
SCIENCE
JANAURY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
EDITOR SOPHIA RUSSO
14
CONGRATULATIONS //
UBC neuroscientists receive $100,000 each to fund research Arveen Gogoani Contributor
Research in neuroscience will benefit from the six-figure grants awarded to two of UBC’s leading scientists. In fall 2021, the Brain Canada Foundation announced that Dr. Shannon Kolind, an associate professor in the department of medicine’s neurology division, and Dr. Tamara Vanderwal, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry, were among the recipients of the 2020 Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research award and were each granted $100,000 to support their research endeavours. The Ubyssey sat down with the winners to learn more about the innovation at the heart of their research.
DAMN, THIS DATA IS HYPERFINE Kolind’s research focuses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and how MRI scanners can be programmed to provide better, “more informative” images. MRI scanners use magnetic fields to generate images and generally come in high-field and low-field strength varieties, depending on the strength of the magnetic field applied. According to Kolind, higher-magnetic-field MRI scanners are popular as they provide “more signal from the images.” In other words, they provide a better signal-to-noise ratio, meaning that the desired signal is stronger than the level of background noise. This makes for faster scanning and higher resolution images. However, Kolind explained that high-fields require large, expensive and complicated machines that need trained personnel for operation. These limitations have resulted in movement towards low-field scanners as a promising alternative, with innovative low-field technology currently being developed. “This is really exciting,” said Kolind. “People have wanted to do this for a while, but only over the last few years, some of the advancements have made it possible.” One recent innovation was spearheaded by the American company Hyperfine as it developed a portable MRI scanner that uses very low magnetic fields to create images of the brain that can be used in a clinical setting. Kolind hopes to use her award to fund the development of this scanner as an imaging tool for multiple sclerosis (MS) — a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system where the body’s immune system attacks the protective, insulating layer of neurons. Her upcoming research will centre on testing the scanner’s capability to perform basic MS imaging tasks and, later on, more advanced imaging. Long-term, the scanner has the potential to be applicable in illnesses beyond MS, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, according to Kolind. “The physics are fun, because we’re used to working at higher magnetic fields, and the physics are different at lower fields,” she said. “So we get to kind of start from basics again in thinking about how to approach the imaging.” The goal is that this new tool
The work of Kolind (left) and Vanderwal (right) harnesses the power of magnetic resonance imaging as a tool to support patients.
will benefit individuals diagnosed with MS who have limited access to clinics with MRIs, often due to expense or inconvenience, Kolind explained. Additionally, individuals unable to utilize high-field scanners may be able to use low-field ones. According to Kolind, since patients in the later stages of MS can struggle with limited mobility and may be less likely to visit clinics for scans, knowledge regarding the progression of the disease is lacking. Thus, these new, innovative tools may help to support routine imaging for patients while also helping researchers address new questions. For Kolind, witnessing the scanner’s utility for the first time with her team was a pivotal moment. “I think it was very eye-opening to us that the day that the scanner arrived [we] were able to start scanning volunteers that same day and that was just kind of extraordinary … just the immediate utility of it.” “I think it was kind of almost an existential moment … this is just so accessible. We can take this [scanner] to whoever needs it.”
IMAX MEETS MRI Vanderwal’s research also focuses on neuroimaging, with an emphasis on detecting functional differences in the brains of children with psychiatric disorders. While most doctors can order tests to help determine the cause of a child’s illness, child psychiatrists are limited in that there are no biologically-based tests to reveal the
goings-on of their young patient’s brain, explained Vanderwal. “It’d be great if we had some [tests and diagnostic tools] that we could use as psychiatrists when we see kids,” she said. She went on to explain that the “main overarching goal” is to obtain biomarkers — indicators of a biological process that can help physicians figure out how to best provide care. Often, they are obtained through the application of neuroimaging tools, like functional MRI (fMRI). fMRI scans are useful to researchers as they detect changes in blood flow in the brain, which can reveal the relative activity of distinct brain regions over time. Though the use of fMRI scans is a sophisticated approach, Vanderwal explained that neuroimaging research involving children is difficult because they naturally move and wiggle during scans. Scientifically, this provides poor quality data and little of it. To help children keep still, Vanderwal’s lab uses movies in the scanner — resulting in more, better quality data. But using movies provides research avenues beyond keeping children still. Vanderwal said that movies “drive the brain,” providing an opportunity “to look at brain function while the kids are thinking and processing and looking and listening and doing all of these real-life things.” Her lab is currently collecting pilot data to test new ways of using these scans in a healthy population of children. Vanderwal explained two ap-
proaches: the first involves showing any arbitrary movie to drive brain function, and the second involves showing a movie to target a specific cognitive process, such as a particular mood. This project will mix both approaches, with the intent of maximizing engagement and entrancing children for extended time periods. The project will also allow testing of a procedure called “hyperalignment.” Typical fMRI involves aligning individual brain scans from different participants in a process called “alignment,” according to Vanderwal. This is an issue, Vanderwal explained, because there are “little individual differences” in where adults functionally map information in the brain. Therefore, the alignment of data based on structural information may not always be indicative of the brain’s actual functional activity. With functional activity being the crux of the analysis, this issue can result in suboptimal data in adults, while in children this limitation is even more relevant due to the nature of their developing brains. “With kids, it’s particularly interesting, because they’re all at different developmental stages, and so their functional mapping might be a little bit different just because they’re at a slightly different developmental stage,” she said. To overcome this limitation, Vanderwal’s lab plans to align brain scans of children via functional signals — a process
COURTESY KOLIND AND VANDERWAL
called “hyperalignment” — and determine if this improves fMRI data for kids. Previous studies in adults show that hyperalignment seemingly captures brain function better, such as a 2020 review published in eLife but, according to Vanderwal, research in kids is limited. Finally, Vanderwal has set her sights on exploring the movie segments that allow for the best alignment. Less useful segments could then be deleted to optimize the movie-watching. Vanderwal’s research is a testament to building upon previously established ideas and applying “incrementalism” in her approach. She highlighted that her team started by applying movies as a tool to help keep kids still in the fMRI and obtain better data, which then evolved into exploring how movies “drive” the brain and its processes. Now, Vanderwal’s lab is exploring the use of these movies as a tool to improve alignment, making it a sort of “triple-dip in one run,” she said. “We have to make progress in these small incremental steps,” she said. “We’re trying to just incrementally improve the quality of each study. And so the hope is that if we optimize all of these little increments, that we’ll be able to discover and see stuff that we haven’t before.” “Don’t underestimate the importance of incrementalism, but also think big.” U
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY | SCIENCE | 15 NEUROSCIENCE //
A psychedelic trip to recovery: How psychedelics can help treat PTSD Christine Seo Contributor
The medicinal benefits of psychedelics, including MDMA, are currently being explored by researchers from both UBC campuses. In 2015, The Ubyssey first published an article introducing the potential use of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the seven years since, there has been increasing evidence showing the application of psychedelics in treating PTSD. The work of Dr. Zach Walsh and his colleagues from UBC Okanagan’s department of psychology, as well as research groups working in the Vancouver community, are at the forefront of this research.
‘A DEBILITATING DISORDER’ PTSD is a condition characterized by an onset of symptoms after a traumatic event. Some of these symptoms include intrusive memories and flashbacks, negative emotions, irritability and hyperreactivity, according to the government of Canada’s “Federal framework on posttraumatic stress disorder.” The document details that the diagnosis of PTSD requires symptoms that make it harder for the individual to function and be present for longer than one month. According to the The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition), the gold standard for psychiatric diagnosis, PTSD can arise from first hand experiences as well as indirect exposure to trauma. According to a 2008 study, approximately 9.2 per cent of Canadians are predicted to suffer from PTSD in their lifetime, making a better understanding of this disorder a focal point for researchers. Walsh emphasized the strain that PTSD can place on patients as well as those around them. “Beyond PTSD, we know there’s heightened risk of suicide, of relationship conflict, all the other things that go with PTSD. So it is something very important for society to treat not only for those who suffer but for their loved ones as well,” Walsh said. But despite the difficulty of living with PTSD, treatment options are limited. Current treatments include cognitive reprocessing therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, eye movement desensitization and repressing therapy and some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that are generally used to treat depression, according to Walsh. “The thing with PTSD is that, while there are some really effective behavioural treatments, there are still a lot of people who either can’t access those or they try them and they don’t work,” said Walsh. He added that SSRIs “are not terribly effective.” “So we need more treatment options for PTSD. And if we can add something that’s going to help some folks, that’s huge, because it’s a difficult-to-treat, very debilitating disorder.” A PSYCHEDELIC PROMISE Walsh was involved in a 2019 study showing that psychotherapy, also
Although research so far has been promising, psychedelics might not be suitable for all PTSD patients.
known as talk therapy, administered alongside MDMA was more effective in reducing symptoms in patients suffering from treatment-resistant PTSD compared to psychotherapy administered with a placebo. Further support for this treatment strategy has been provided by a 2021 article published in Nature Medicine which also tested MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in comparison to psychotherapy accompanied by placebo in patients with severe PTSD. The success of this treatment is thought to be rooted in the patient reprocessing their trauma, which Walsh explained, is needed for symptoms to “resolve.” Psychotherapy often involves a form of exposure therapy in which patients revisit cues attached to the traumatic memory with the aim of removing the “conditioned fear” that has become associated with it, according to a 2020 review from the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. MDMA is believed to assist in this process by reducing fear responses in patients as they revisit their trauma. In psychotherapy, it is also important for therapists and patients to establish a relationship, which MDMA may contribute to by facilitating trust and increasing introspection. Yet another theory, suggested in a 2021 article in Frontiers Neuroscience, is that psychedelics in general may induce a neurological state that makes the brain more malleable to external influences like psychotherapy. Although the mechanism by which MDMA might be working is not yet known, the research so far “has been remarkably promising,” according to Walsh.
A CENTRE FOR CLINICAL EXCELLENCE One particular group that would benefit from the development of an additional treatment option for PTSD includes veterans and first responders who, by nature of their profession, can be exposed to highly traumatic events. According to the government of Canada, an estimated 10 per cent of war zone veterans are predicted to suffer from PTSD. Similarly, research has shown that first responders are at a higher risk of developing PTSD, with one 2005 study from the British Journal of Clinical Psychology revealing that up to 22 per cent of paramedics will suffer from the disorder. A project that aims to facilitate further research into PTSD treatment, as well as other areas of research to support veterans and first responders, is the Legion Veterans Village (LVV) and its Centre for Clinical Excellence. According to Rowena Rizzotti, the project lead of LVV, the purpose of the project is “to bring together the consortium of researchers, scientists and clinicians that were particularly interested in how we best support veterans and first responders and their families relative to mental health, relative to PTSD, but also into innovative interventions relative to their physical rehabilitation.” To explore additional treatment options for PTSD, LVV is working with the Knowde Group, a multinational contract research organization specializing in investigating the potential uses of plant-based and progressive therapeutics, which include psychedelics. Jaspreet Grewal, co-founder and CEO of Knowde Group, explained
that Knowde Group aims to investigate psychedelics through a series of clinical trials to “validate the safety and efficacy, as well as a dosing for specific diseases.” Amongst the LVV Centre for Clinical Excellence’s leadership team is Dr. Ashok Krishnamoorthy, a clinical associate professor in psychiatry at UBC. When asked about the barriers that veterans face in accessing treatment for PTSD, Krishnamoorthy said the main barrier is access. He mentioned long wait times, limited outreach to screen for PTSD, a lack of education around recognizing PTSD symptoms and stigma surrounding mental illnesses. For health care workers, secondary trauma, which occurs following exposure to someone else’s firsthand traumatic experience, is another barrier. Krishnamoorthy also noted the difficulties in treating PTSD, especially chronic PTSD, as it can be accompanied by “some other comorbid issues like mental depression, risk of suicide, substance use disorders [and] cognitive problems.” Regarding the use of psychedelics, Krishnamoorthy commented on the need for further research. “Some of the studies are showing some exciting results. But [it needs] to be replicated, it needs to be replicated enough. And that’s where the Centre for Research and Clinical Excellence [comes] into play.” “It needs to be replicated with good, quality research with adequate power and number [of ] patients and also sustainability of that effect and benefit, but definitely it looks promising in terms of filling in a particular gap in the PTSD treatment.” Though the LVV offers support focused on first responders and vet-
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erans, additional research centring on other populations who suffer from PTSD is necessary to provide better support for the diversity of Canadians with this disorder. According to one review from the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, resources are lacking for other demograhics living with PTSD, including survivors of child abuse, sexual assault and natural disasters. The authors stressed the importance of communicating and translating data from one research focus to others in order to broaden the benefits.
A CONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE Although research so far has been showing promising results, psychedelics might not be suitable for all PTSD patients. The 2019 study on MDMA-assisted therapy reported side effects of MDMA use including dizziness, jaw clenching, nausea and loss of appetite. Psychedelics are also highly psychoactive substances, which may lead to accidents if not utilized properly. However, according to Walsh, if used under proper supervision in the clinical setting, psychedelics should be safe to use therapeutically. “From a toxicity perspective, they’re incredibly safe, so it’s very difficult to overdose,” he said. “In terms of clinical application, the risks are quite small; the worst is that it’s unpleasant. And then people come out the other side, you know, pretty much unscathed is my experience,” said Walsh. “Again, [PTSD is] not something where we’ve got adequate treatment. So that’s why it’s so exciting when there’s a new opportunity.” U
SPORTS+REC
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY
EDITOR DIANA HONG
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Isabella Falsetti
A look back at the biggest sporting events in the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre article by Anabella McElroy With the 2022 Winter Olympics coming up, The Ubyssey decided to look back at the role UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre has played in Olympics past. The winter sports facility has hosted some of the biggest names in hockey, figure skating and more.
2009: Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre opens
2010: Olympic and Paralympic Games
After a facility refurbishment and construction of a new stadium arena, the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre officially opened on August 21, 2009. The arena hosts the UBC Thunderbirds’ hockey matches and it is also used as a practice rink for the Vancouver Canucks. Kavie Toor, managing director of UBC Athletics and Recreation, said the decision to upgrade the facility was based on two factors. First, the aging rink facility, which originally opened in 1953, was at the end of its lifecycle. Second, the Vancouver Olympic Committee allowed the new arena to open as an Olympic host venue. “Legacy was the key driving force for us,” Toor said regarding the upgrade.
During the 2010 Olympic games, the arena hosted several men’s and women’s ice hockey matches. Canada won two landslide victories in the venue — the women’s 13–1 match against Sweden and 10–1 match against Switzerland. The arena also held all sledge hockey matches for the Paralympic Games. “It was cool seeing a very local arena being used on a much bigger stage and it also helped introducing [me to] a sport,” recalled Abby Holmes, a third-year applied animal biology student, attending the games.
JANUARY 18, 2022 TUESDAY | SPORTS+REC | 17
2012–2015: Ice rinkturned-tennis arena Four times between 2012 and 2015, the centre was unusually used as a summer sport venue for Davis Cup matches — an international men’s tennis team event. Team Canada’s top result at the Thunderbird Centre was a quarterfinal win against Italy in 2013, allowing them to advance to the semifinals in Serbia.
File Chris Borchert
File Elizabeth Wang
Isabella Falsetti
2018: Figure skating ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics
2021: Figure skating preBeijing Olympics 2022
2018 was a big year for figure skating at UBC. Just before the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, the centre hosted the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. Several skaters who medalled at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics were named to Team Canada after this competition. Team Canada also went on to win gold in the figure skating team event. Notably, this was Tessa Virtue’s and Scott Moir’s — the most decorated Olympic ice dancers of all time — last National Championships. Later that year, the centre hosted the Grand Prix Final, a major international figure skating competition.
In October 2021, the centre hosted Skate Canada International, a Grand Prix Figure Skating event. Many Canadians who competed at this event have since been named to the Beijing 2022 Olympic team. Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are among two of them, and may have the best chance of Team Canada’s figure skaters to medal at this Olympics. Maddie Nikola, a third-year history student who attended Skate Canada, said seeing the skaters on campus was surreal. “It was kind of strange. The fact that it was so close … There’s people who came from all over to see it,” said Nikola.
18 | SPORTS+REC | TUESDAY JANUARY 18, 2022 PHD RUNNER //
Making the unfathomable, fathomable: Harold Eyster’s journey to athletic and academic achievement Colby Payne Contributor
For Harold Eyster, completing his PhD in resources, environment and sustainability at UBC wasn’t enough; he also ran every street in Vancouver during his studies. For most UBC students, graduating with a doctoral degree is an incredible achievement in and of itself. But for Eyster, completing his PhD at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability in July 2021 was just the first of two major accomplishments. Eyster’s hobby did not always involve such ambitious goals. Though he enjoyed running as a child, it was not until his undergraduate studies in Boston that he began running longer distances, exploring the city alongside running clubs. Upon moving to Vancouver in 2016, Eyster grew bored of “running in squares or rectangles” on Vancouver’s predictable, gridlike streets. Inspired by one of his running club friends, Philip Kreycik, who ran every street in the Boston suburb of Cambridge, Eyster decided in the summer of 2019 to work towards running every street in Vancouver. Employing the spatial mapping skills he developed through his doctoral research, Eyster mapped Vancouver’s streets and city boundaries and began working towards his goal.
For Harold Eyster, completing his PhD at UBC wasn’t enough.
His spatial mapping skills weren’t the only overlap between Eyster’s PhD studies and his athletic pursuits. His PhD combined interdisciplinary methods to examine the relationship between people and nature and gain a better understanding of “how to create a sustainable world.” Running the city’s streets and observing landscape diversity
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revealed the “ways in which people and nature … interact within Vancouver.” This also contributed to Eyster’s current postdoctoral research at the University of Vermont, which focuses on the location of birds in Vancouver and how these locations have changed over time. He also examines the types of trees and landscapes that support different bird species, to
understand “what that means for microclimate, for heatwaves, for bird conservation and for people’s wellbeing within the city.” In addition to shaping his hypotheses, running helped him maintain balance and mental focus during his doctoral studies. First, running offered a much-needed break from his research, so he found different ways of approaching his work and to “come back with a fresh slate,” said Eyster. Running also contributed to Eyster’s selfefficacy, or his belief in his ability to “put in the work and to get an outcome that was satisfactory through that process.” Finally, on top of boosting motivation, Eyster’s running odyssey gave him an intuitive understanding of the city and opened his eyes to places that he may not have explored otherwise, proving that “Vancouver is more than just the cherry trees.” Eyster elaborated that “seeing things [he] didn’t even know existed was really wonderful and really rewarding.” Though his original goal didn’t have a prescribed end date, achieving both goals gradually became more feasible. According to Eyster, it “seemed like it was a good combination, and a nice way of celebrating both.” And so, mere hours after defending his dissertation, Eyster and his roommate Krishanu Sankar set out to run Minto
Crescent, completing Eyster’s tandem goals. “It really elevated their importance to me and made me feel like I had done something more holistic than just an academic exercise or a recreation activity,” said Eyster as he finished both accomplishments at once. Unexpected tragedy struck toward the end of Eyster’s running mission, however, shortly before Eyster finished his journey, Kreycik passed away while on a run during the summer heatwave. Sadly, due to Kreycik’s passing, Eyster “wasn’t able to tell him how inspiring he was,” particularly given that Eyster wouldn’t “have had the idea of doing it and had all the motivation if [Eyster] hadn’t seen [Kreycik’s] example.” Accomplishments like Eyster’s may seem daunting, even impossible, and Eyster agrees, admitting that his goal “was unfathomable to me as well, and it still is a bit.” Eyster’s advice for students working towards their own goals? Telling others about your goals and “bringing other people along with you” can help you create a community and motivate you to continue working towards your dreams. If you have a goal in mind, no matter how out of reach it may seem, go for it — as Eyster said, “what seems unfathomable might actually be fathomable if you try it.” U
ENJOYING THE SNOW //
Hitting the slopes on a budget: Canadian Ski Council encourages snow sport participation to stay fit and active during the winter months Regina Hipolito Staff Writer
Vancouver’s winter season has been an unprecedented flurry of snow and ice. With ski and snowboarding areas reopening this winter season, what better way to spend it than to hit the slopes! The Canadian Ski Council, a national non-profit organization that represents Canada’s 237 ski areas and is focused on increasing interest in snow sports across the country, released a media callout encouraging people to participate in winter sports to stay fit and active during the colder months. “I think the interesting thing about skiing and snowboarding is it’s a sport for life,” said Paul Pinchbeck, the Council’s president. “There are many activities that we all do that are fantastic sports, but very few are as social and as applicable throughout your lifespan as skiing and snowboarding. When you combine that with the need for Canadians to stay active in all 12 months of the year, we think that skiing and snowboarding are a very compelling option for Canadians.” These financial constraints are particularly true for students who are often in tight budgets. However, skiing and snowboarding are both daunting sports to undertake, especially due to financial constraints and lack of foundational knowledge. It requires
“I think the interesting thing about skiing and snowboarding is it’s a sport for life.”
a lot of equipment, safety precautions and time to learn. Many people feel apprehension when it comes to where to start, what equipment to use and buy and who to reach out to. The Canadian Ski Council runs a trial program for beginners called Never Ever Days, which is a beginner’s program that covers lift prices, lessons and equipment rentals for only $25. The
lessons provide basic foundational knowledge on equipment and vital skiing skills such as turning, going and stopping. Due to high demand, the Never Ever Days program has limited spots each season which go out fairly quickly. However, each ski area also has its own programs aimed towards introducing the sport in a beginner-friendly manner, and it’s
DIANA HONG
simply a matter of doing research and checking out local ski areas to find out which program is the best fit. Pinchbeck also suggested reaching out to university ski clubs for more information and opportunities for skiing in a group setting and for discounts, such as Ski and Board club at UBC. In terms of obtaining ski equipment, renting is a financially-
safe option for beginners, as most ski areas have up-to-date and highquality equipment available for rent. Pinchbeck also recommended reaching out to independent ski retailers who sell high-quality, lightlyused equipment at an affordable price, as well as looking out for online sellers who sell used items. Most ski areas at this time offer promotions on ski lifts through season passes or online bookings, according to Pinchbeck. The Canadian Ski Council also has a set of protocols called “Ski Well, Be Well,” which promotes prioritizing the health and safety of patrons and staff during the pandemic. The use of masks or face coverings indoors, vaccination passes and social distancing — even on the hills — is mandatory. “We believe that the best way to keep our sport open and viable is to keep everyone healthy and safe,” said Pinchbeck. “Indoor masks and vaccination passes … all of those things that you’re experiencing in the university, or in downtown Vancouver restaurants are the same things that we’re experiencing in ski areas across British Columbia.” For more information, the Canadian Ski Council has a website that has more information to refer to in detail for the optimal skiing experience. The website provides interactive guides on how to navigate ski areas, skiing resources and where to find local ski resorts. U
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1. Discompose 6. Take ___ at (try) 11. Stockholm flier 14. Social gathering 15. Communication medium 16. Last: Abbr. 17. Summarize 19. Road warning 20. Paris possessive 21. Court plea, for short 22. Jazz fan? 24. Sorry! 25. Chalk or marble 26. Timorous 30. Vive ___! 31. Bus. bigwig 32. Guitarist Atkins 36. Conquistador’s quest 37. Place where cats are kept 41. Music producer Brian 42. Corn bread 44. Tax-deferred nest egg 45. Biblical brother 47. Unfit for breathing 51. Raise the level 54. Mother of the Valkyries 55. The other inheritor 56. Thrust with a knife 57. Small batteries 60. Boo follower 61. Royalty 64. Ames and Asner 65. South Pacific hero 66. Blathered 67. “Spring ahead” abbr. 68. Sticker 69. Cheers waitress
1. Mimics 2. Ruin 3. Pinball paths 4. RR stop 5. Inducing sleep 6. Tear away forcibly 7. Without help 8. Carrere of Wayne’s World 9. Servomechanism 10. Firefly, e.g. 11. Japanese dish 12. ___ once 13. Rock 18. Ex-frosh 23. Electrically versatile 24. Lennon’s widow 25. Manitoba Indigenous people 26. Failure 27. Dynamic opening? 28. Tiger’s choice 29. Take the role of 33. Aromatic plant 34. Chemical suffix 35. Muscle quality 38. Landing field 39. Hammock holder 40. Convict 43. Green land 46. Battery type 48. Elevated 49. Diving seabird 50. Dies ___ 51. Yearned 52. Merchandise 53. Wraith 56. Ward of The Fugitive 57. Ballerina Pavlova 58. Oodles 59. New Year’s word 62. Singer Damone 63. Moo goo ___ pan
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