December 6, 2016

DECEMBER 6, 2016 | VOLUME XCVIII | ISSUE XIX VANCOUVER SUCKS AT WINTER SINCE 1918

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NEWS

CULTURE

OPINION

SCIENCE

SPORTS

Can you opt-out of the AMS?

Nardwuar!

Nardwuar!

Nardwuar!

Engineers address Free Speech Club cairn incident

How to study better according to science

Men’s basketball extinguish the Heat 96-49

THE UBYSSEY

15 PER CENT WHY DON'T UBC STUDENTS CARE ABOUT THE THUNDERBIRDS? WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT? PAGE 8

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DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

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OUR CAMPUS

Carrie Xiong doles out My Home Cuisine at the International Food Court THURSDAY DECEMBER 8 - DECEMBER 11 MAKE IT! 11 A.M. @ PNE Find over 265 stores from artists, makers and crafters from all over Canada. Food and a beer garden are also available. $7 ENTRY FREE

FRIDAY DECEMBER 16 SOLSTICE MARKET 5 P.M. @ THE TOAST COLLECTIVE Buy some handcrafted goods from local witchy artists and craftspeople. 75% of profits return directly to the artists.

My Home Cuisine is the best performer in the food court.

Leo Soh Our Campus Coordinator

THURSDAY DECEMBER 1 TO JANUARY 2 FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 4:30 P.M. @ VANDUSEN GARDEN Make some memories at the magical winter wonderland with over one million lights decorating the VanDusen Garden. $17.86 ADULTS / $13.81 YOUTH

ON THE COVER ART BY Aiken Lao

Want to see your events listed here?

Email your event listings to printeditor@ubyssey.ca

U THE UBYSSEY

DECEMBER 6, 2016 | VOLUME XCVIII| ISSUE XIX

EDITORIAL

BUSINESS

Photo Editor Coordinating Editor Josh Medicoff Jack Hauen coordinating@ubyssey.ca photos@ubyssey.ca

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LEGAL

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The University Village at UBC is a haven for price-conscious students.

In particular, the underground International Food Court, located next to the McDonald’s at Allison Road, offers a variety of ethnic cuisines, known for their heaps of food and not-terrible prices.

Perhaps due to the popularity of Chinese food, or maybe because a third of UBC students identify in some way as Chinese, My Home Cuisine restaurant finds itself consistently busy.

Carrie Xiong, a post-secondary student who works part-time at her parents’ successful restaurant, believes it all comes down to the cooking.

“International students, and especially Asians, will come here and try out home food. My Home Cuisine — [we cook] the home style. For other people that are not Asian, they can try different regional foods,” she said.

The food itself is heavily influenced by her family’s geographical background. Xiong’s father is from the Huanan County, and her mom has roots in the Sichuan province and Xinjiang region — all locales with spicy flavour profiles. Her father, the chef, based his dishes off of these traditional flavours, but has added customer requests throughout the years.

“My dad is the main cook and we have kitchen helpers. [Over time,] we definitely added more [dishes], and we changed the recipes accordingly as well. Some people said [they want] the sweet stuff sweeter or the sour stuff more sour, and that they want to add more vegetables to their diet.

Then, we also added seafood,” Xiong explained.

Although My Home Cuisine does not have an official feedback system, you can offer your opinions over the counter as you are ordering food. Dishes that customers request may even be added to the menu.

“Sometimes people say, ‘This dish, I really want to eat again. It’s from my home town, here’s the name, can you make it sometime?’

It’s like, yeah, why not, we can try it,” she said.

The restaurant was opened about 10 years ago by Xiong’s parents, who decided to begin the independent venture due to the lack of other jobs after the 2000 recession. They looked around UBC for a suitable location and found the opportunity in the middle of the International Food Court. Since then, the Xiong family has ostensibly lived behind the counter of the Chinese restaurant, serving tens of thousands of UBC students.

“As a new business, obviously, we had our difficulties. [My parents] worked really hard. From the years I’ve been watching them, they’ve only had three hours of sleep. Start-ups are very hard, and they put in a lot of hours, definitely more than 12 hours a day. I think their hard work is paying off, and I’m very happy to see that,” she said.

Thanks to a constant stream of customers, the restaurant has been able to up its game in recent years. Back when they first opened, they didn’t accept debit and credit cards. Now, they have expanded the hot food section and have the luxury of displaying their menu on televisions.

Part of what drives the restaurant’s growth is competition.

Black Pearl Café, another Chinese restaurant, is located just five meters left of My Home Cuisine.

PHOTO JOSHUA MEDICOFF/THE UBYSSEY

Furthermore, the Café offers $1 bubble tea deal when purchasing a food combo.

“If you’re doing good in business, obviously someone wants to get in to get a slice of the pie. It is very stressful sometimes, especially when you see regulars go to other restaurants for a lower price, or other reasons. We try to match up the price, and kind of follow what they are doing.

Competition is bad for us, but it’s also good because it keeps things going. It gives us [incentive] to make the customer happier,” said Xiong.

Customers have voted with their wallets that My Home Cuisine is worth buying meals from. However, many have experienced inconsistent portion sizing, a point which is brought up in both positive and negative online reviews.

“We do try to regulate [portion sizes], but sometimes, especially when we hire new people, the portion tends to be smaller or bigger than we want. It’s really hard for them to grasp the portion size when they’re starting work.

As long as they work a few weeks, they get used to it, how big the portion sizes are, and then they’ll be better,” she explained.

All in all, Xiong and her family are happy for their success, and even happier to have the support of UBC students, their customers.

However, Xiong explained that not all customers are respectful.

“The service industry itself – there are people who I feel like their mentality is like, ‘I’m superior than you because I’m paying you.’ There’s a lot of that, but otherwise it’s pretty good. And the university setting is better than outside — lots of students, they can understand us.” U

NEWS

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

EDITORS SRUTHI TADEPALLI + SAMANTHA MCCABE

3

CLUBS //

Free Speech Club protests AMS rejection of men’s rights club Jack Hauen Coordinating Editor

The UBC Free Speech Club set up a booth in front of the Nest on November 30 to protest what they feel was an unfair rejection of a men’s rights club aligned with the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFÉ).

According to a letter from Student Administrative Commission Vice-Chair Rob Willoughby, the would-be club was rejected due to an overlapping mandate with the Sexual Assault Support Centre’s (SASC) Healthier Masculinities Program, whose guiding principles include working from an anti-oppressive and intersectional lens, acknowledging privilege and positionality and promoting open, safer spaces to discuss and express various forms of masculinity.

CAFÉ’s stated purposes are not concerned with feminism and intersectionality, but rather focus on advocacy for men and “chang[ing] public policy,” through “positive activism to advance a healthier society.”

AMS VP Admin Chris Scott said that the decision to reject the men’s rights club was a result of administrative strain on the

student union. Management feels that with the pressure of 400 clubs competing for space and attention, there is little room for new clubs with even a slight overlap with existing ones.

“We’re kind of at our maximum of clubs that we can support. We’re strictly enforcing that there has to be very little overlap to accept new clubs. That was a plan across the board in the fall when we went through those applications,” he said.

Since June 30, the AMS has accepted 20 new clubs, and 16 Recognized Student Organizations (basically, clubs without office space provided by the union), and have denied 33 applications.

The Free Speech Club maintains that the two are different enough to warrant separate clubs.

“I think it’s completely bullshit,” said club president Louis Jung. “If you look at the mandates we have here, they’re completely different. I think [they were rejected] because CAFÉ isn’t a feminist masculinity club, so I think they’re just trying to shut it down,” he said.

“We sent them the link for volunteering with healthier masculinities ... and I’m guessing they didn’t take that,” said Scott.

“We really want to help them get involved in advocating for what they want.”

Phillip Johnston, branch director of CAFÉ Vancouver, believes the campus is in need of a men’s advocacy club separate from the SASC. “It’s great that there are programs like the Healthier Masculinities program. I think there’s some great work being done relating to men’s health here on campus. However, I think there’s a number of issues that those programs don’t cover,” he said. “Things like the effects of fatherlessness and ... legal biases in the law courts that end up separating men from their children.”

“It seems fairly clear to me that the Healthier Masculinities program comes more from an ideological basis,” he said, whereas CAFÉ’s is “evidencebased.”

“I don’t reject [patriarchy] theory ... it’s good to have discussions about different ideas on campus. I would just like to see a club on campus that presents another theory so that people get exposed to another way of looking at gender.”

After the protest, the male symbol on which the Free Speech Club collected thank-you notes

The scene at the protest.

to influential men in the lives of passersby was seen on top of the engineering cairn. The move sparked backlash on social media due to the upcoming anniversary of the 1989 massacre

PHOTO JACK HAUEN/THE UBYSSEY

at École Polytechnique on December 6. The Engineering Undergraduate Society and Women in Engineering UBC hosted a memorial ceremony for the massacre the next day. U

BILL C-16 //

UBC prof Mary Bryson receives “violent threats” after debate on gender-neutral pronouns Samantha McCabe News Editor

Content warning: anti-LGBTQ+ language.

Dr. Mary Bryson, a professor with UBC’s faculty of education, has received considerable online hate mail after their panel debate on academic freedom and the use of gendered pronouns with University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson.

The academic forum was held at U of T and discussed Bill C-16 — which adds gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act — and the gender provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Throughout the panel, Bryson criticized Peterson’s claims as damaging and having no scholarly basis. Peterson asserted that there is a natural gendered divide in society, and that political correctness is damaging — he argues that free speech should

include his right to deny using gendered pronouns.

“The level of post C-16 debate hate mail and violent threats in my inbox is extraordinary,” said Bryson in a written statement to The Ubyssey.

Bryson also described a large number of aggressive and hateful comments, regarding subject matters of “violent transphobia, homophobia and misogyny,” posted on the live stream of the forum, social media and on an opinion article written by National Post journalist Christie Blatchford. The article criticized Bryson for their role in the forum and made claims regarding events that allegedly took place in Bryson’s classroom 25 years ago.

Some of the comments have since been removed due to inflammatory content.

Due to the level of personal and professional attacks that Bryson has been receiving, UBC’s Social Justice Institute has posted a petition on their website in support of Bryson. Since the

SCREENSHOT COURTESY MARY BRYSON

petition’s posting on December 1, 125 people have signed it, including many UBC professors and other notables from the postsecondary academic community.

“We call upon UBC to declare its support of Dr. Mary Bryson ... in light of recent attacks upon their person and scholarship,” reads the statement. “We urge the University to release a statement affirming Dr. Bryson’s academic freedom and human rights and through this affirmation, the academic freedom and human rights of all members of our community.”

Dr. Angela Redish, the provost of the university, has since released a statement expressing UBC’s support for Bryson given the National Post article and the hate that Bryson has received.

“The goals of Bill C-16 include ‘to extend protection against hate propaganda…to any section of the public that is distinguished by gender identity or expression.’

This article encourages the reverse,” wrote Redish in her statement. She notes that the university aims to vigorously defend academic freedom and the right of its faculty members to engage in discourse, especially without being attacked for doing so.

“UBC is proud to have faculty members who engage in complex societal issues and it is deeply troubling to me that one of UBC’s faculty members should be singled out because of their participation in a debate on a controversial topic.”

Dr. Neil Guppy, who is the senior advisor to the provosts on issues of academic freedom, further responded on the behalf of the university.

SCREENSHOT COURTESY MARY BRYSON

“Being attacked for professional opinions that Dr. Bryson was offering at what I take to be an academic forum would certainly be an infringement of Dr. Bryson’s freedom in the sense of individuals trying to repress Dr. Bryson’s ability to speak clearly and strongly on important issues,” said Guppy.

Although Guppy can’t speak to the potential repercussions for those that have directed hateful comments towards Bryson, he noted that UBC Campus Security has been contacted.

“My primary concern about participating in the C-16 debate was that I would be targeted by an extreme level of hate. That concern has been borne out to a degree that I had not anticipated,” wrote Bryson. “I have seen no evidence of public violent reprisals against

Jordan Peterson. That’s interesting in its own right. It’s also interesting that the same people who are such ardent supporters of ‘free speech’ do not support my right to speak freely.”

Bryson noted that despite the extreme amount of hate, they have also received a large influx of positive messages from supporters both friends and strangers.

“Academic freedom is a cornerstone for the university, it’s something that we highly value and need to defend vigorously, we all need to defend vigorously, and this clearly was an infringement of her academic freedom and the kinds of attacks that have been levelled at her,” said Guppy.

Jordan Peterson has not publicly commented on this matter at this time. U

4 | news | TUESDAY DECEMBER 6, 2016 STUDENT SOCIETIES //

Can you opt out of the AMS?

GOVERNMENT //

AMS recommendations for affordable education move on to next step Diana Oproescu Senior Staff Writer

ILLUSTRATION AIKEN LAO/THE UBYSSEY

Can you get out of your student society?

David Nixon Contributor

BC’s student societies have a big question on their minds — can their members opt out and stop paying fees?

The answer is complicated, but it’s true that students may now “resign” from UBC’s AMS, thanks to new provincial legislation.

Under that legislation, students are also entitled to a number of court remedies if their society has “oppressed” or “unfairly prejudiced” them.

These changes are part of an update to the BC Society Act, which took effect November 28 after five years of consultation. The act governs more than 27,000 societies in BC. Included under that umbrella is the AMS and all other student societies in the province – about 25 in total, representing close to 100,000 students.

The new act is now enforceable.

It is not intended to be retroactive, but how it will be enforced is still unclear moving forward. When the act was first proposed in 2010, the AMS was worried about it then.

“Allowing certain groups of students or individuals to opt out of student societies would do a disservice to the students and the organization,” the AMS wrote to the BC government in 2010. “We do not allow disaffected voters to abandon their obligations to public life, and nor should we for student societies.”

The AMS’s concerns were echoed at that time by the UBC Graduate Student Society, the University of Victoria Student Society and the Canadian Federation of Students BC (CFS BC), a provincial alliance of 14 university and college students’ unions that aims to provide a unified voice on education.

In response to these concerns, the government passed Bill 41.

This bill splits student fees into two categories: “capital fees” and “program and service fees.” The AMS is now waiting for Bill 41’s terms to be clarified, as it will affect their current fee structure. Also unclear is what resignation does to a student’s other rights such as voting on the implementation of new fees.

According to a written statement from BC’s Ministry of Advanced Education, they have

finished consultations, “and will communicate to student societies regarding any regulations that may be passed.”

The Alliance of BC Students (ABCS), similar to CFS BC, is a not-for-profit advocacy group of graduate and undergraduate student societies representing more than 60,000 students, and said they were promised the “status-quo” of fees would remain. But they’re awaiting clarification, and uncertain whether courts would enforce the fees of resigned members.

The AMS is not a member of the CFS BC or the ABCS, but on its own, UBC’s student union represents 45,000 students, making it Canada’s largest student union. The AMS declined to comment on their efforts to influence the Society Act, and declined an interview about the effect of the new act, saying it would be premature until the province issued its clarifying regulations.

The right to resign is not the only significant change under the new Society Act. Under Section 102, “Complaints by Members,” students are now entitled to new court remedies. The court has always been able to interfere in societies under Section 105, but only when “irregularities” occur such as a failure to comply with provincial legislation or a society’s own bylaws. Now, students can take their societies to court over “oppression” and “unfair prejudice” — terms which have yet to be tested in court.

Section 102 allows for 10 ways that a court can intervene short of removing a director, including “regulating conduct,” “directing of or prohibiting any act,” “directing the society to compensate an aggrieved person,” and “directing correction of the records of the society.”

Since these terms are untested in court, it’s too early to tell what their effect will be, or how much more vulnerable to litigation. That will depend on the court’s interpretation.

CFS BC opposed Section 102, however, calling it an “invitation to nuisance litigation.” But the AMS took a different view, and encouraged additional avenues of accountability. Societies can remove elected officials, but only at a special general meeting that meets quorum, which is the minimum number of students that needs to be

in attendance to make decisions on their behalf. Reaching quorum of 45,000 students the AMS represents has been historically difficult to achieve.

“Because a person’s election to a student society may be their first encounter with public life, student societies face special challenges around accountability of directors in the face of occasional misconduct,” the AMS wrote. “Less serious infractions often remain unchecked because of logistical difficulty.”

A number of other Society Act clauses were disputed by student societies. The AMS fought against a requirement that all directors be at least as old as 18. This was passed, but student societies were allowed to make exemptions. Another gave members of the public legal recourse if a society failed to act in the “public interest.” In response, the CFS BC argued that student societies are designed to serve the interests of their members, not the overall public. This public interest clause was removed in the final version.

The AMS has other concerns with the act, but they are summarized by their core argument in 2010 — that BC student societies, which collectively represent more than a hundred thousand students, are significantly different from the 27,000 other nonprofit societies governed by the BC Society Act. “We have long been concerned that the work and business of student societies are not well described by current legislation,” wrote the AMS. “Student societies are larger than other societies, operate businesses and services while continuing to be not-forprofit entities and conduct business differently, often because of their size.”

The option of resignation and new legal remedies are significant changes to students’ rights within their student unions, and both can have an effect on a society’s funds, whether through revenue collection or legal expenses. The two combined represent a shift of power from societies to individual members.

The Ministry of Advanced Education did not respond to a question about whether a separate student society act was considered.

The CFS BC and the CFS did not respond to requests for comment. U

All the recommendations submitted by the AMS to the provincial government have been addressed in a consultation report released by the provincial Standing Committee on Finance.

The recommendations made hoped to make post-secondary education more affordable for students and addressed operating grants, the U-Pass program and student loans.

In past years, the AMS has seen some of their recommendations included in the reports from the Standing Committee on Finance. Kathleen Simpson, the AMS VP External, attributes this year’s particular success to the AMS’s coordination with other student associations who are also advocating for more affordable education.

“The AMS recommendations being included in the report signify bipartisan support for our recommendations, as the committee is composed of members from both major provincial parties,” said Simpson in an email statement.

Now that the Committee has released their recommendations, the provincial minister of finance will review it and consider it when creating next year’s provincial budget.

One change recommended by the AMS is an increase in operating grants by the same amount annually as the domestic tuition cap. This is because post-secondary funding from the government has decreased by 14 per cent from 1990 to 2009, while the amount funded by students has increased 11 per cent in the

same time period.

The Committee’s report mirrors this recommendation by asking for an “increase [in] operating grants to postsecondary institutions to address unfunded cost pressures.”

The report also recommends a “move to multi-year allotments for operating grants and deferred maintenance grants to help these institutions with their financial planning.”

The Committee also responded to the AMS’s recommendations considering student loans. They recommend that the government “establish a needs-based student grant program that addresses student needs and provides incentives for completion.” The Committee also advises that a review of eligibility requirements for student loans, as well as interest charged on student loans, be conducted.

Finally, the Committee’s 96th recommendation almost mirrors the AMS’s statement and suggests that the provincial government “commit to long-term funding of the U-Pass BC program beyond April 2018.”

This was particularly pushed by the AMS, whose submission noted that a student who uses the U-Pass for a full year saves over $1,500 in comparison to a full-priced, three-zone pass that would allow them the same transit access.

“Ultimately, we are most likely to see successes where the recommendations align with government priorities,” said Simpson. “In the lead-up to the provincial elections, we are looking for government to make a strong and meaningful commitment to students.” U

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CULTURE

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

EDITOR SAMUEL DU BOIS

5

DOOT DOO! //

Nardwuar and the Evaporators’ Ogopogo Punk is a love letter to BC which indicates that they can’t be stopped or shaved Sean Harbottle Staff Writer

Curiously, I first knew the legend Nardwuar the Human Serviette — frontman of the Evaporators — not as an interviewer, but as a musician.

I was linked to the Evaporators live performance of Andrew W.K.’s “Party Hard” while I was prepping to see Andrew W.K. live that weekend (spoiler: he parties quite hard and gives everybody he sees high-fives). Rocking out on vintage guitars in their matching white uniforms, they cut a fun but formidable presence even on my tiny phone screen. Listening to their latest record, it is clear the energy that they brought to my life has not lessened in the four years that I’ve been following Nardwuar and his musical endeavors.

The finer notes of the record indicate that Ogopogo Punk is a love-letter to Vancouver, BC. After the epic ode to the tradition of Canadian facial hair that is “Can’t Be Shaved,” the titular “Ogopogo Punk” directs its attention to the mythical land-locked monster, the Ogopogo, based in Okanagan Lake. The country-punk influence of the piece is mixed with samples of what I presume is either the Ogopogo’s mating call or at least a very accurate recreation.

“Eat to Win” brings to mind classic Evaporators hits — the similarly themed dedications to deli “Addicted to Cheese” and “Salad Bar.” This foodie theme is continued to an extent in “Chuckanut” — the blaring sax of MFC Chicken and the affirmation of beef jerky painting the commotion down the Skagit Valley driveway. “Mohawks and Dreadlocks” then drives the action to a local Vancouver Punk show, and “We’re In The Teens Now” then brings in a fun, nostalgic look back at the angst of adolescence (in which I first came across Punk as a sad, single chap in the UK). “Starboard!” rounds off this section of the record in a Posi-Punk rebel cry.

The album concludes with two tracks that graciously allow other musicians to speak their piece, much in the way that Nardwuar’s legendary interviews have often brought the personalities of musical artists to a larger audience.

Megan Barnes, also featured on “We in the Teens Now,” lends her sweet tones to the Evaporators rendition of The Rabble’s “Candy,” bringing the duet to an audience that The Rabble had aspired to before their untimely demise. Then the outro is dedicated to Brother Ali’s hip-hop tribute to Nardwuar — the beat crafted from gifts the rapper received during his Nardwuar

interview, his verse capping off the record.

The happy-go-lucky shrill tones of Nardwuar’s vocals and organ combo do battle with the three pronged attack of the Evaporators guitar trio — John Collins, Stephen Hamm and Shawn Mrazek — whose soloing characterize the record and enrichen the short songs. The battle is kept civil and structured by Nick Thomas’ drums (and mastery of the tambourine and egg shaker), with each member of the Evaporators lending their vocals to the ensemble throughout the record. It all blends perfectly, despite threatening to spill over into chaos at several points.

The short songs keep the pace up, and ensure each hook has its own individual flavor.

Listening to the Evaporators’ Ogopogo Punk kept me smiling despite a myriad of deadlines and bad news, and there’s not much of a better compliment that I can give it.

The hooks worm their way into your head until you’re humming them on the regular, not unlike Nardwuar’s own “Doot Doo!” motif in his interviews.

It’s clear the players have a tremendous fun and respect for the material they address on the record, whether it be mythical monsters, hairdressers, mohawks or beef jerky. And it’s just so FUN! Like,

There is a surprising foodie theme to Ogopogo Punk.

really really fun! It’s nice to review something with such energy to it — a fine replacement if you can’t get your caffeine kick in the morning before that 8 a.m. class you hate.

Having been able to meet and talk to Nardwuar multiple times — hosting my own radio show on CiTR after his long-running Friday 3:30 residency — I can confirm I get just

PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM R. JAMS

as much joy and inspiration from his openness and devotion to music as you can get from listening to the Evaporator’s Ogopogo Punk. In the words of Brother Ali: “They say baby you’re not a star/ You’re too underground and too avant-garde,/Can’t nobody tell you hot you are,/When you’re chillin with motherfuckin’ Nardwuar.” U

PHOTO-TINDER //

Archive is an opportunity for aspiring photographers to be published, in spite of a harsh online community

There have been three issues of Archive thus far. They are released roughly every month.

Samantha Searle Staff Writer

Do you think that a picture you took the other day could end up being published in a photography magazine?

Archive is “Vancouver’s people-powered magazine.” You download their app, which then lets you vote on other users’ pictures, while also uploading your own photos to be judged.

It’s basically Tinder, but for photography! After roughly a 30-day period, the Archive staff compiles the highest rated photos and produces the magazine,

which is distributed in cafes and other locations around Vancouver.

The photos are sorted into four categories: People, Places, Things and Monthly. The last category changes its prompt monthly and for the last two issues it was “Autumn” and “Let’s Eat” respectively. The one currently running is “Winter is Coming.”

You can theoretically upload any pictures that you want, but the magazine does stress a few simple guidelines — “Don’t be antisocial.

Don’t post nudes. Don’t embarrass people. Don’t upload copyrighted material. Don’t post photos with watermarks. Don’t use the service

PHOTO JOSHUA MEDICOFF/THE UBYSSEY

to try to sell products. For fuck’s sake, do NOT post inspirational quotes. There are lots of ways to be a jerk with a camera. Please avoid them all.”

There are three options for voting on the photos — swiping up if you like it, down if it sucks and to the side if you really just don’t care. Photos are then given a score between 0–1000 based on the votes and a list of the top 30 photos is viewable in the app.

These lucky photos are pretty much guaranteed to be published in the magazine.

Beyond that, the score doesn’t mean much unless it’s below 200,

in which case you almost certainly won’t see your picture in print.

That being said, a photo does not necessarily need to have a good score to end up in print. There are plenty of pictures with scores in the 300 to 400 range, and the lowest rated photo in the October issue had a score of 271. On the other side of things, the top rated photo had a score of only 759.

The Places section seems to have the highest rated photos, or in other words, your photos have to be fucking amazing to be published in that section. Things and Monthly seem to be more mid-range, with a good variety in ratings and an even better variety in content. Then there is the People section. The Archive editor, Sam Kerr put it best – “You people don’t seem to like people. It’s a bit of a paradox. People tell me the People section of the magazine is their favourite to look at. But photos of people almost always get terrible scores.”

You have to have a tough skin if you want to upload photos to this app. Unless you’re an amazing photographer, it’s probable that you will get more dislikes than likes. That can be difficult to face if you’re not prepared for it. But if you think being part of a Vancouver photography magazine is worth it, you must brave the dislikes and just go for it.

You don’t even need a professional DSLR camera to take great pictures. A lot of the photos posted are just snapshots of the daily life of Vancouverites. Use that

expensive smartphone camera. Take pictures of everything and anything.

After all, the magazine is made by, and for, the people of Vancouver.

The magazine itself has a very fun, local vibe. It’s not overly pretentious or inaccessibly artsy. The Archive staff often enjoy including their own witty comments such as, “Leaves are kind of a clothing for trees when you think about it. When they fall to the ground, the branches become naked. Autumn is pervert season for trees.” They also invite anyone from Vancouver to be a commenter — provided they can write comments that are insightful, interesting or funny.

There is also the option to submit true stories to be published in the magazine. The October issue included one great story about a prank between two friends called “Prank War,” and another about a jerk from Wolfe Island. Archive will pay for any story that they put in print and if writing is your thing, this might good way to get your name out there.

Archive is a fantastic opportunity for amateur photographers and writers to see themselves featured in the glossy pages of a local magazine. In spite of how cynical and judgemental people can be when asked to rate things, it is still a strange and wonderful feeling to open up a magazine and see your own photo professionally published amongst those of your fellow Vancouverites. U

6 | culture | TUESDAY DECEMBER 6, 2016 FUCK 2016 //

Letter from the Editor: Finding some good culture in 2016, a remarkably shitty year that can’t end fast enough Samuel Du Bois Culture Editor

Yes, 2016 has been terrible. I have never looked to the end of the year with more excitement, and looked back on what happened with more exhaustion and cynicism. Every month felt like a knockout punch and every time we got up, the next one swiftly followed.

In regards to culture, we endured countless shitty movie sequels and disappointing albums.

The local literary community seems to be in turmoil after many of its most esteemed members signed an open letter concerning UBC’s handling of the Steven Galloway debacle, and VIFF this year was somewhat underwhelming.

But there was plenty of good wrapped up in all of this. Bard on the Beach concluded yet another impressive season, the Chan Centre is playing host to an eclectic assortment of talent, the Fringe Festival was a huge success which brought immense

triumph to plenty of UBC students — including the members of Gaspedal Productions. On top of that, The 1975, Earl Sweatshirt, Chance the Rapper and Hannibal Buress performed, with Louis C.K. arriving this very week to put on a show at the Doug Mitchell Centre. We had Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s work displayed in a dazzling exhibition at the MoA, and an insightful look into Picasso’s love life at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

In music, we got amazing albums from the likes of Paul Simon, David Bowie (though this one is definitely bittersweet), Kanye West, Childish Gambino, Beyoncé, Bon Iver, Radiohead, Esperanza Spalding and many more who I don’t have the word count to list. My personal favourite albums are Blackstar, The Life of Pablo, Stranger to Stranger and 22, A Million. Each one of these albums demonstrated a bold experimentation that many thought had left the music industry decades ago. Though hacks like

Justin Bieber, Meghan Trainor and Justin Timberlake keep pumping out the same generic shit over and over again, there is still hope for good, strange and inspiring music.

Concerning film, we got a slew of fantastic features such as Moonlight, Manchester By the Sea, The Jungle Book, Hail, Caesar!, Arrival, Zootopia, Finding Dory, I, Daniel Blake and The Handmaiden. We even have fucking Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to look forward to! Although Suicide Squad, Civil War and Fantastic Beasts seem to be pointing to a future where studios shove half-baked, largely brainless films into our eyes while ripping money from our passive, limp fingers, this year has proved that there is still a resilient core in independent and even big-budget cinema that fosters daring, talented artists who are willing to portray all aspects of humanity, not just the violent, quippy, heterosexual escapism that tops every year’s box office. Creativity is not dead just yet.

On television, we had the debut of Westworld, a hardcore season of Game of Thrones and

the continued drudgery of The Walking Dead. But there were plenty of more independent, risk-taking shows like The Knick, Easy, Love, Black Mirror, Stranger Things, Mr. Robot and American Crime Story that hit the screens to prove that television is now the most compelling medium for storytelling. Also, if Big Bang Theory being terrible for another season has you looking for something new, Broad City, BoJack Horseman, Silicon Valley, Atlanta and Master of None have finally proved that the best comedy doesn’t come with canned laughter or forced romantic interests that linger for seasons on end because Leonard and Penny are whiny assholes who will never work for each other, or any other human being for that matter.

For great literature, just look to The Globe and Mail’s list of “16 Canadian reads for the first half of 2016.” Yann Martel’s new book, The High Mountains of Portugal is a must read. In spite of

the controversy surrounding the author, Madeleine Thien’s work Do Not Say We Have Nothing is an impressive debut which should not be omitted from your reading list, regardless of what you think of her views.

In addition to their list, check out Margaret Atwood’s HagSeed, Steven Price’s By Gaslight, Colton Whitehead’s Underground Railroad, Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder and Don DeLillo’s Zero K. Whatever you do, don’t read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

It is a piece of utter garbage which is not worth the paper it is printed on.

So yes, 2016 was a shitty year that had me cringing every time I read The New York Times and scowl when I see the lineup of sequels that are in store for 2017. But in spite of all of that, it is important to not omit the good that has happened in the worlds of art, literature, theatre, television and film. Both locally and internationally, there is still plenty to be happy and excited about. U

WET SOCKS //

Wading through the Enchant Christmas Maze was what you’d expect from an outdoor Vancouver experience

The arching halls of light were beautiful, but also very, very damp.

Samuel Du Bois Culture Editor

The Enchant Christmas Light Maze is a great idea. It’s bright, beautiful, massive and full of cool stuff to buy. There are food trucks, local art and a few bars serving warming, wintry, alcoholic beverages. It is the perfect venue to spend a winter evening wandering about with your friends. And if the alcohol being served isn’t your speed, a well-placed brownie might really liven up the experience. This winter wonderland has everything

going for it, except for one rather large problem — it is outside.

If you are in a place like Quebec or Holland, where the winter season brings copious amounts of beautiful, cottony snow, this wouldn’t be much of an issue — but Vancouver is no such utopia.

Here, thanks to various factors which someone who isn’t an arts student could probably explain better than I, we have something called rain, which transforms a maze whose walkways are paved largely in mulch from a quaint experience into a sludgy, swampy,

PHOTO COURTESY DALE KLIPPENSTEIN

slippery and above all, supremely sad experience. Effectively, minus the rain — a core attribute of Vancouver living since forever — this is a wonderful, wholesome experience for people of all ages.

Factoring in the rain though, your time would be better spent heating up some wine and drinking it while knee-deep in a puddle.

The Ubyssey was invited to the media premiere — an event on November 24 which ran from 5 to 10 p.m. Foolishly thinking that we had time to kill, a bunch of us decided that a trip to Tap and

Barrel beforehand might be a good way to pass an hour before heading over. After drinking a beer called “The Back Hand of God,” which looked like dirty engine oil and tasted like a hardcore, heavy-metal version of Guinness, we decided to hit the road and see what this magical light maze had to offer.

It was a five minute walk from the restaurant in Olympic Village to the normally empty lot where the maze is set up. It should have been a good indication of what we were in for when we became entirely drenched after walking only a block or two. Nothing says, “Hey, lets go and run around a maze,” like icy November rain and wind that makes your bone marrow ache with cold.

Soon, through the hazy night, a mighty, light-spangled tree emerged from the darkness like a lighthouse guiding a ship home from a perilous journey, and we knew that we must soon be there.

What we found when we arrived was an almost empty parking lot and a few drenched volunteers milling around the entrance looking very sorry for themselves.

They let us in after only glancing at our passes, then gave us a handful of drink tickets along with a warning that they were probably going to close early.

There are two main tents.

The first is for food and drinks, the second for vendors as well as more food and drinks. There are a lot of cool items for sale and some awesome looking food trucks, but most were in varying states of shutting down when we got there. At their tables, vendors were sulkily swiping through their phones or talking glumly to one another. The guy at the Cartem’s

Donuts table told us that it had been pretty busy earlier, but had died down quickly due to the rain.

In order to travel anywhere, we had to inevitably leave the comfort of the tents and venture out into the exposed parts between shelters.

These were dark wastelands of gravel which had been so poorly laid out that to get anywhere, we were required to navigate a labyrinth of deep puddles and winding rivers — not unlike the soupy mess we were about to enter.

I had to hop the equivalent of a moat to reach the porta-potties, which had already taken on a somewhat pungent odour, possibly due to the pools of water churning around their bases.

Once we finally got into the maze itself, we were told we had about five minutes to wander around since they wanted to close early. Promptly after stepping in, we hit a marshy area which soaked all of our socks and made it abundantly clear that to go much further would not be remotely fun.

The maze was undoubtedly beautiful. There is this lovely arched corridor that we ended up in where the lights gave everything a warm yellow glow that would make your Instagram account come to orgasm.

We were soon asked to leave and retreated to the bar to get some mulled wine and donuts for the road. It concluded a cautionary tale in Vancouver event organization — assume that it will rain. The Enchant Christmas Light Maze is worth your time and offers a pretty cool experience, as it is the largest of its kind in the world. That being said, if you want to go, make sure that it hasn’t rained in the last 24 hours. U

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY | culture | 7

THE LAST NIGHT TIMES These nocturnal dreams are selected from Night Times at the Press Bar, located in the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery on campus. This is the last instalment of the series. Winter is here and dreams are dead.

For more information about the exhibition, visit belkin.ubc.ca

November 18, 2016 I was a needle with rubber. h a pile of metal logs coated oug thr ng nci bou bon rib red a with

November 22, 20 16 I dreamed that Jon Ha mm ki dnapped me and my room mate...

December 1, 2016 I’m with My parents at Guildford Mall, deciding where to eat. The lower level has been decorated to look like a palace and we are told to leave as they are having a private event. Before we leave I point out where the fountain used to be. We go outside and it is South Granville Street. We decide on a burger joint. While ordering the restaurant starts moving as we realize it is a motorhome.

November 27, 2016 I dreamt that I was married to Jeremy Renner. It wasn’t a sex dream, he just held my hand and made me breakfast in bed and was very kind to me. I had not previously found him attractive, but now when I see him in movies I’m like, there’s my husband!

November 20, 2016 I dreamed of something vaguely familiar people but I felt that I was in a familiar place with familiar rail. towel all I can remember is a chrome

November 27, 2016 Elusive Chasing a rabbit that had a long tail like a cat, speaking Spanish to a slew of cockroaches.

November 20, 2016 Waking up in a room with walls that are dripping with moisture. Peeling plaster much like the image in the Coen Brothers film called Barton Fink where the protagonist writer is holed up in a motel with high humidity and peeling wallpaper.

November 30, 2016 I dreamt that I was being chased by Mario and Link who had jumped out of an arcade cabinet.

November 22, 2016 I dreamt I was driving a dirt bike down the PCH with my eyes closed, feeling my way around the curves of the road.

November 20, 2016 In my hometown I was glar tried to get in, left alone at home and a bur p him … there was no way for me to sto

FEATURES

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

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15 per cent According to the 2016 Academic experience survey, only 15 per cent of UBC students feel connected to the Thunderbirds.

Why? What can be done to fix this?

WORDS OLAMIDE OLANIYAN / ART AIKEN LAO

n the early weeks of August 2016, the AMS released the latest results of the Academic Experience Survey, a yearly survey carried out by market research company Insights West to identify the issues and topics that UBC students were concerned about.

The results tend to produce a fair amount of discussion at UBC. For example, the survey in 2014 revealed that only 45 per cent of UBC students felt safe on campus at night, and the iconic blue phones were revamped and the Safewalk program was bolstered with these safety concerns in mind. This year, many of the same issues are still on the forefront.

In this year’s “belonging” section of the survey, two statistics stand out. Only 56 per cent felt a sense of belonging on campus and only 15 per cent felt connected to the UBC Thunderbirds. It’s a new addition to the survey. For Aaron Bailey, an integrated sciences graduate, Board of Governors member and former AMS president, those numbers are all too real.

“It’s a true statistic and it was true at that point, and it hasn’t improved since we won the Vanier Cup, since we had 8,000 people at Homecoming,” said Bailey.

“I asked Jenna [Omassi] to put those questions in the survey because I knew the lackluster answers we’d get, and it would give me fodder to go to the institution and say, ‘We’re failing in this area — let’s do something about it.’”

I

Despite the recent increases in attendance at occasional big games — the CIS Final 8 tournament, Homecoming, the Winter Classic, the Hardy Cup semifinal — the average number of people at most games still isn’t more than a couple hundred.

Even for the ever-popular football team, the average turnout in the last 10 years for games was only 1,418 fans per game.

“It’s so hard to even get people out to a football game, which is normally a viewership sport,” said Nicole Drummond, a fourth-year student who plays back-row for the UBC women’s rugby team. “Like for Homecoming, they pull out all the red carpets of free beer or $3 beer to get people to come, and then everybody leaves at half-time and you kind of wish that people would care more — feel more involved in the T-Bird spirit.”

This lack of interest in the Thunderbirds by the student population is a quiet crisis that some groups on UBC have tried to solve. There are the usual suspects. It could be the lack of awareness of Thunderbird teams past the first few weeks of school. It could be the overshadowing of Canadian leagues by the NCAA in popularity, competitiveness and expenditure. In addition, it could also be that the sports culture at UBC just isn’t strong enough.

“There’s a lot [of reasons] and I won’t ever claim to have the answers right now because if I did, I wouldn’t have a job,” said Bailey, who currently works with the UBC Athletics department as an en-

gagement strategist. “[UBC is] super academically intensive [and] research focused. People are here to learn, to study and to study hard.”

Bailey further stated that historically, the target demographic for sports at UBC has been American students, and marketing and promotions and ads have largely been tailored to them. But that’s a mistake since these American students have bigger priorities and they aren’t the only students on campus.

“How do we market to a student who has never seen a game of American football and [has] no idea what the rules are? Do you want to go and sit and be confused for three and a half hours?” said Bailey.

Lukewarm school spirit is not a new problem and neither are the attempts to make it better. In 2006, the Blue Crew was formed in an attempt to bring more students to ice hockey games. According to an article by The Ubyssey in 2006, the Athletics department was taking notes from their peers from down south.

The Blue Crew program was modeled after the University of Miami’s “Red Alert” program. The main function of this type of program was to get people excited about the Thunderbirds and the reception of the program was largely positive.

The membership for the program grew consistently.

But five years down the line in 2011, school spirit and excitement still was not there. UBC still

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY | features | 9

did not care about the Thunderbirds.

“It’s not translating to [students] coming to games consistently,” said the then-associate director of intercollegiate and high-performance sport, Theresa Hanson, in an interview with The Ubyssey. “As the year goes on, even though all our teams are still playing, students start getting busy and have other priorities.”

“It was just a vessel for selling season passes. Although they had some paid staff members who led the charge on it, it really was, ‘Buy a season’s pass, here’s a free t-shirt. Hopefully you show up to games,’” said Bailey.

Five more years have passed since then and the Blue Crew has mostly been shied away from the limelight, and in its place stands the Bird Cage. Bird Cage is the “Blue Crew 2.0 — a spiritual successor,” according to Bailey.

In some ways, the programs are similar. They both offer a season’s pass and merchandise, and were created to get more students to games. But they also differ in other ways. While Blue Crew was largely pushed out by the UBC Athletics department, had paid staff and had people boothing everyday, Bird Cage does none of those things.

Bird Cage was formed earlier in 2016 when third-year student Jake Rusnak and some friends made a Facebook group where they would regularly post when they were headed to interesting games.

“They didn’t have somebody in charge of social media or anything like that. It was literally like a Facebook group of friends, ‘Lets go to see basketball on Friday.’ They would post and some of them would go,” said Bailey.

The Athletics department thought it would be a cool idea to create a student supporters club. Rusnak had been in contact with Bailey after the success from the 2015 Homecoming, so Bailey reconnected with him.

It was important that the program be “more than just a season’s pass” in order to avoid the mistakes of the Blue Crew. They looked at loyalty programs like the Southsiders for the Whitecaps FC, and made partnerships with restaurants and bars.

As a UBC Athletics staff member, Bailey acted as a liaison of sorts between the fledgling student group and UBC Athletics, helping the group with managing their inventory of Bird Cage hoodies and getting loans.

It was also important that the organization was run by students. “Like Blue Crew, it’s not going to be a community if I just instigate it as a staff member — it’s not going to be authentic,” said Bailey.

“It’s getting back to the roots and having those conversations with the community, saying, ‘What would you want to see that would make it worthwhile for you to come out.’”

The orchestra of student efforts is also being bolstered by the Thunderbird Athletes Council (TAC) and other athletes on campus. The TAC is a council made up of student-athletes from each varsity team. With about 50 representatives and six executives, the group represents the athletic community to the Athletics department.

“It’s a way for athletes to kind of connect, either update on things through athletics or create our own connected group that isn’t just connected by athletics,” said Susan Thompson, the vice-president of the council.

The TAC put together its “hype events,” which were largely a couple of games that they aggressively promoted.

The events were largely successful, as could be seen in the large turnout to previously neglected games including the last game of the season for the women’s rugby team.

“We had a hype game from TAC, and so people came out and had a pancake breakfast with Bird Cage. We’d never had that many people at our game before, and it just makes the game so much exciting to even have the crowd reacting to things and to have everyone cheering,” said Drummond “I find that the student athletes between each other are very supportive and respectful of everyone’s sport,” said Drummond.

“I would say there’s T-Bird spirit within the athletes and they started this whole Birds for Birds campaign where we support each other because it’s [if] we don’t even go to each other’s games, how can we expect other students who aren’t even T-Birds to go to the games?”

In the end, it’s hard to get students to care about anything, especially if they don’t even vote in their own student government elections. The fix seems hard but also seems easy. You market football games not as games, but as events.

There are no set answers in this field. The groups have largely found things that work and have stuck to them — more confetti, halftime shows, cozy hoodies, free pancakes, drunk engineers, cheerleaders, marching bands, shirt tosses and wild antics from mascots. All of these factors come together to add to the atosphere, and improve the experience of sports games at UBC. Bailey quoted Giles Lepine, the senior Athletics director that was hired back in May. “Not everybody — and for that matter, very few people — love sporting competitions,” he said. “You’re either an athlete yourself , you’re in the industry or you’re like a die hard fan who’s been watching sports since you grew up. You love football, you love basketball, you love soccer. Almost everybody loves a good sporting experience, right?” U With files from Vassilena Sharlandjieva.

UBC Athletics The primary and most important sports body at UBC which deals with varsity administration, the promotion of the Thunderbird teams and maintenance of sporting facilities. But despite this, it is still a university athletics body. This means that despite all the work done, there is still a lack of students coming out to games.

“Don’t expect people. Because our women’s field hockey team has won six championships in a row, don’t just expect people to care about that,” said Len Catling, senior manager of communications and media relations. “We have to make them care. We have to give them a reason to care.”

Thunderbird Athletes Council (TAC) The TAC is a body made up by student-athletes from each varsity team which represents the athletic community to the department.

The TAC put together its ‘hype events’, which were largely a couple of games that they aggressively promoted. They also organize ’Birds for ’Birds, where athletes from each team support the athletes of other teams at their games.

“I would say there’s T-Bird spirit within the athletes and they started this whole birds for birds campaign where we support each other because it’s kind of like, if we don’t even go to each other’s games, how can we expect other students who aren’t even T-Birds to go to the games?” said Nicole Drummond, a fourthyear student who plays back-row for the UBC women’s rugby. team.

Bird Cage Formed earlier in 2016, it is the “spiritual successor” of the Blue Crew. It has fewer resources, fewer staff and is less structured than the Blue Crew, but the group has for the most part been student run. It has had considerable support from the Athletics department, but most of the work done was in consultation or led by the student leaders and captains running the group.

“The vision for the Bird Cage is it’s going to get to a selfsufficient place as a student organization,” said Aaron Bailey, UBC integrated sciences graduate and former AMS president.

“And it will be up to them whether they want that to be completely independent, maybe they want to take it to be an AMS club, or they want to do something totally different with it.”

“We're trying to build a profile of every team sport, not just the big ones like men's hockey, men's basketball, football.”

- Susan Thompson, fifth-year Kinesiology student & vice-president of the TAC

OPINIONS

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

EDITOR BAILEY RAMSAY

ADVICE //

CAIRN //

Letter: Thank you, Free Speech Club Veronica Knott, Carly Jones and Jeanie Malone Engineering Students

This week, a male symbol appeared on top of the UBC Engineering cairn one day before our annual 14 Not Forgotten Memorial Ceremony. We don’t know the goal, the club or their message, but we do know how it made us feel.

To many of our friends, it was a visceral, gut wrenching reminder — “Oh right. Engineering is for men.”

Some had worse reactions, some had better, but for the three of us, it was time to speak up.

We commented back — our opinions, our feelings, our actions.

Why? Because the three of us are student leaders who have been involved for years in combating any association that suggests women can’t be engineers. We dedicate our lives to inspiring future female engineers, and work to make every engineer feel welcome and respected.

In summary, we were impassioned, we were enraged

— we wanted to shout from the rooftops. We wanted to explain the importance of diversity, the systemic issues that convince women not to pursue this profession, the goals our dean has set and the engineering community we dream of.

We spoke.

The responses weren’t all positive. People challenged our association with the memorial, our opinion and our “overreaction.”

Countless comments, shares and likes later, we’d sparked a debate.

And let’s be honest, we suspect the Free Speech Club put their sign on the cairn because it’s an easy to reach, prominent place on campus.

They probably didn’t consider the symbolism or feelings it could evoke.

But those feelings were evoked all the same. Sometimes ignorance and intention can hurt equally.

So we ask that before acting, take a moment to consider how your actions could affect others.

We thank them.

Yesterday gave us an

opportunity to talk about why the symbolism of what we saw hurt.

Because when we look around at our peers every day, we are reminded that we don’t fit in.

Because when we paint the cairn purple or put a red rose on it, we don’t do it because it’s pretty. We do it because we are remembering the 14 women who, like us, wanted to be engineers.

This has given us a chance to remind the entire UBC community that equality is still something that needs to be fought for. And November 30 at 11 a.m. in the EDC courtyard, we spent time remembering 14 women who lost their lives because of the shooter’s statement: “Vous êtes des femmes, vous allez devenir des ingénieures. Vous n’êtes toutes qu’un tas de féministes, je hais les féministes.” | “You’re women, you’re going to be engineers. You’re all a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists.”

Writers’ Note: In further reporting, it became evident that the symbol was to speak

in support of creation of a new AMS club. None of the reporting however, addressed why the symbol was left on the cairn. U Veronica Knott is a current mining engineering student. She is a student member on the UBC Board of Governors, former EUS president and former chair of the National Conference on Women in Engineering.

Jeanie Malone is a current biomedical engineering student. She is president of the UBC EUS, former VP Communications and former director of Geering Up, the youth STEM outreach program for the faculty of applied science.

Carly Jones is a current engineering physics student. She was president of Alpha Omega Epsilon Eta Chapter, the engineering sorority at UBC. She conducts ground-breaking research in biomedical engineering for hip mobility and she has been instrumental in organizing UBC’s December 6 events for the past two years.

ADMISSIONS //

Letter: Broad-based admission process furthers the divide of economic inequality

UBC has yet to disclose how the broad-based admission are evaluated.

Emily Truong-Cheung PhD Student

A degree from a good university is important. But who is most likely to get into a good university? In 2012, UBC included an admission process that doesn’t just look at grades, but also a personal statement where potential students can share that time when they travelled the world or maybe share what they’ve learned in a Shakespearean play in grade 9. Is this a new way to give more opportunity to students who otherwise wouldn’t stand a chance in getting into the “Harvard” university of western Canada?

I dedicated my research to investigating this new admission process that is meant to diversify the UBC student population or at the very least, “level out the playing field.” I draw on interviews with students of different social classes to examine if this new admission process

10

is helping students from less privileged backgrounds.

Here’s what I’ve learned: Middle-and-upper-class participants wrote extensively on extracurricular achievements, while working-class students focused on how they were able to triumph over social adversities and disadvantages. Workingclass students are also less likely to participate in extracurricular and non-academic activities due to a lack of financial and social resources. Ultimately, wellbranded and selective universities such as UBC can try to create an image of diversity with a fair admission process. But when given a closer look, students who effortlessly go through the admission process are still kids from rich families with highly educated parents.

I still hold bitterness when I hear that my peers have parents who helped with their admission process. My parents struggle with ordering food in English at a

FILE PHOTO VASSILENA SHARLANDJIEVA/THE UBYSSEY

local fast-food joint and spending money on any extracurricular activities was tough. While my parents worked double shifts every single day, the television was my main extracurricular activity after high school.

But UBC doesn’t really care about that time Ross cheated on Rachel. I still got good grades because that’s all my parents told me I needed to do. They weren’t aware that skating, travelling the world, volunteering or learning another language was another requirement now to get into the good university of Canada.

The admission process has become so accepted that when students receive rejection letters, they simply accept that they’re not smart enough. But family background and having lots of money are still important factors to consider if we want to know what kind of students universities want on their campus.

If UBC is raising tuition every year and students are left with

tens of thousands of dollars in debt, the admission process is weeding out poor kids who can’t study 18 hours a day while working a part-time job just to buy that $400 textbook. Even when poor kids are getting into university, a majority of the time they don’t gain the valuable networking experience because they’re stressing about money all the time.

I argue that the broad-based admission process reproduces class-based inequality that affects future working-class students’ chances of gaining university admission.

But rather than viewing a working-class background exclusively as a disadvantage, I also show how workingclass students draw on their adversity, work ethics and family responsibility to construct unique personal statements that focus on strong work ethic, maturity and responsibility to overcome educational inequality.

I still got into one of the best MA and PhD programs in Canada, but I don’t wish upon my worst enemy the time and effort I had to sacrifice in order to get into a good university.

Social life? Non-existent. Mental health? It’s getting better — the sixth nervous breakdown really forced me to not work those 18hour shifts. Confidence? Well, English is confusing and I’m still learning how to recognize bad grammar. Although professors have shrugged their shoulders and pulled the “hard work equals success” myth in front of me, I’m in the position now to understand that this is completely nonsensical. This is not what inclusivity and equity look like. U

Ask Natalie: To gift or not to gift, that is the question

PHOTO JOSHUA MEDICOFF/THE UBYSSEY

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to force it upon others.

Natalie Morris Advice Columnist

“It’s December! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! How do I fully enjoy this amazing season without pissing off my roommates and friends?”

Oh the fantastic season of snow, happiness and holiday cheer. It’s the one season where generally everyone gets caught up in the lights, the songs and the non-stop holiday movies. It’s a season that’s gone beyond so much of its origins and is now a beautiful mess of top-notch marketing, snow and the feeling you get when you receive a compliment from a stranger. Ahh, it’s my favourite holiday.

In order to not piss off your friends and family, bake your holiday love into cookies and food. The way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach.

Sure my house might look like Santa’s elves got drunk and went crazy with fairy lights, paper and glitter, but my roommates are happy because I feed them gingerbread. It might seem like I’m the witch from Hansel and Gretel, but I swear that I’m not. I just like gingerbread.

“Dear Natalie, Do I have to get this girl I’m seeing a gift for Christmas? We’ve only been going out for like a few months, but we’re not serious or at least we’re not ‘official.’ I don’t want to make it seem like I’m super attached, but I don’t want to not get her anything if I’m supposed to.”

Come on. This is Christmas, not the anniversary of your first adult sleepover. She’s not going to run for the hills if you get her something small. If you get her something like a ring or anything over $10, you’re probably reaching the limits of what anyone would find comfortable getting after a few months. Keep it to something small, like a cute mug or some cookies, and you’ll show you’re into her but not “too” interested. If you’re not interested at all, don’t get her anything. It’s not a big deal.

“Dear Natalie, I love me some rain, but this is getting crazy! How to survive?”

Raincoat, umbrella, scarves, mittens, hot cocoa and that sweet, sweet knowledge that without this rain Vancouver would not be as gorgeous as it is. Come spring, we’ll all be rolling around in the green of Vancouver and we’ll remember the rain fondly. U Need advice? Contact Natalie anonymously at asknatalie@ubyssey. ca or at ubyssey.ca/advice and have your questions answered!

SCIENCE

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

EDITOR KOBY MICHAELS

HIV AWARENESS MONTH //

Improving HIV treatment across the world

11

PROFILE //

PHOTO ROCIO HOLMAN/THE UBYSSEY

Illes spends her days thinking about ethical issues in the field of neuroscience.

On the Origin of Scientists: Neuroethicist Judy Illes ILLUSTRATION YUKO FEDRAU/THE UBYSSEY

Red ribbons are more than just early Christmas decorations.

David Deng Contributor

If you see red ribbons around campus next week, don’t mistake them for early Christmas decorations. Chances are they were put up to raise awareness for World AIDS Day, which has been held on December 1 since 1988.

AIDS is a devastating condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus — HIV. What makes HIV particularly deadly is that it attacks the cells that make up our immune systems, leaving patients susceptible to other infections. It is often these complications that ultimately lead to the death of patients.

Needless to say, the global burden of HIV infection is huge.

There are more than 35 million people around the world who are currently living with HIV infection, and close to 70 per cent of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. There remains no cure for the disease.

Despite the challenges, Dr. David Moore, a UBC associate professor and a researcher at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, is part of a group of local scientists who are determined to help change the status quo.

One of the reasons why HIV is so difficult to eradicate is that the virus hijacks the body’s own cells as part of its replication cycle.

Consequently, patients with HIV are often placed on antiretroviral therapy (ART), which consists of a cocktail of drugs designed to target various steps of the cycle. However, these drugs are merely meant to delay the progression of disease and patients are routinely monitored to check the viral load, the amount of virus that can be found in the body, and ensure that their immune systems remain adequate.

While developed nations like Canada and the US have the resources to continuously track HIV patients over time through laboratory testing, the same cannot be said for other countries. To solve this issue, Moore worked with researchers in Uganda to help streamline the monitoring process.

Moore and his team focus mainly on whether it is necessary to monitor both the viral load and the immune cells targeted by HIV, called CD4+ T cells. They found that while CD4 monitoring was important for predicting death and serious illness, viral load monitoring

provided little additional benefit.

The results of this study suggest doctors only need to monitor CD4 cells and not the amount of virus in a patient on anti-HIV drugs in cashstrapped countries.

More recently, Moore was part of a study that examined the potential of using mobile phones to reach out to HIV patients and other community members. Unlike other studies, which focused on large urban centres, Moore and his team wanted to assess the potential responsiveness of rural Ugandans to text messages as a form of healthcare intervention.

This is especially important for HIV patients receiving ART since the success of therapy depends mainly on patients’ willingness to adhere to the medications.

In surveys, they found that up to 70 per cent of individuals from a rural Ugandan population were literate and had access to cellphones. These individuals responded positively to the idea of receiving text messages from healthcare providers as a way of checking the patients’ conditions and encouraging them to take their drugs.

“In other words, roughly twothirds of our study population could benefit from a mobile phone intervention. More broadly speaking, mobile phones may very well be under-utilized in terms of reaching rural parts of Africa, where most patients with HIV actually reside,” said Moore.

The results of this research may have important implications in terms of future HIV outreach efforts, and improve treatment compliance for patients receiving ART in countries where healthcare providers are limited and physical check ups on patients remain difficult due to accessibility issues.

Ultimately, Moore hopes that his research will help improve the standard of care for HIV patients in living in Canada as well. This is particularly true for Vancouver, where HIV prevalence is nearly six times higher than the Canadian average. U Students can find out more about projects carried out by UBC researchers through the BC Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS. In addition, the Canadian AIDS Society offers free consultation service for questions related to HIV exposure, testing and treatment.

Nivretta Thatra Senior Staff Writer

Sci-fi readers will know the eerie feeling of reading a book written decades ago that reads more like a premonition of our current lives than an imagined story. The “seashells” mentioned in Fahrenheit 451 seemed to predict earbuds, Brave New World’s soma intuits the invention of mood-altering medication and 1984 brought up mass surveillance before it was a true technological possibility.

Thinking about the societal effects of technological innovations can be an entertaining exercise for fiction writers and in the social media obsessed, but neuroethicist Judy Illes finds it critical to empower scientists — neuroscientists specifically — to take on this endeavour in a pragmatic manner.

She explained that discoveries in neuroscience have effects that are real and powerful, and need to be considered more analytically than as science fiction stories. “[Neuroethics] isn’t fearmongering and it’s not attaching resources to things that will never really happen, because they do really happen. We know that incidental findings in the brain — significant ones — affect one to two per cent of the [general] population. For every one to two people in 100, there’s actually a thing in the brain that’s undetected that needs attention.”

Indeed, there has been a lot of fearmongering in the public domain about neuroscientific advances such as the possibility of mind-reading technologies. Illes and fellow scientists have the expertise to know which of the public’s concerns are valid. While mind-reading is farfetched, functional neuroimaging — a technique that reveals signals of consciousness in some patients who seem to be otherwise unresponsive after brain injury — is a reality.

Illes initially trained in basic neuroscience by earning a doctorate in hearing and speech sciences.

At the time, neuroimaging was an emerging tool. Through her education, she saw unaddressed ethical concerns with the technology and she was one of the first to address them as a professor at Stanford University.

Currently, a research group led

by Illes at UBC’s National Core of Neuroethics continues to examine the important ethical implications of neuroimaging. With input from patients, doctors and palliative care

experts, the ethics team hopes to provide a framework of thought for the uses of this technology.

Illes has a simple belief that trying to fix neuroethical dilemmas after they have occurred is much more difficult than trying to be proactive.

“Anticipated issues and solutions to them from inside the community [are] more powerful, meaningful and relevant than the regulations we would get from the external community in response to a bad event after the fact,” she said.

Illes knows that her background is uniquely valuable. “I’m a scientist-ethicist,” she said. “A neuroscientist-ethicist. I see myself with common goals, but coming at them or to them through a different path, different methodologies and different outputs than philosophy or legal-based ethicists.”

As a researcher, leader and mentor, Illes investigates a variety of neuroethical issues from pediatric data sharing, to cultural understandings of aging, to the effects of the changing environment on brain and mental health. On a personal level, she does not let her credentials excuse her from a commitment to

conscious efforts to be an ethical scientist.

“What enables me to be as ethical as possible is always keeping in mind — not just on the back burner — to be thoughtful and authentic,” she said.

To this end, she is a strong advocate for an integrative and inclusive future for the field of neuroethics by building infrastructure to recognize scientists that currently go unnoticed. For one, Illes thinks that effective science communicators should be compensated — perhaps with credentials added to their job titles or monetarily — for their ambassadorial roles with the public.

Secondly, Illes hopes to provide more support to scientists, often women, whose steep learning curve of re-entry into a field after periods of absence is not accounted for.

To advocate for fixes to unseen problems is no small task. To devote a career to that task, however, is one of the key characteristics of a prolific scientist. With confidence and optimism, Illes will continue to bring her viewpoint to the table, lifting with her future scientists who have an eye for practical solutions to seemingly unreal, science fictionlike dilemmas. U

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12 | science | TUESDAY DECEMBER 6, 2016

STUDYOLOGY

HOW SCIENCE CAN MAKE YOU STUDY BETTER

What’s the ideal exam diet?

Tetiana Konstantynivska Contributor

Final exams are coming, and eating healthy and maintaining a wellbalanced diet may be the last thing on your mind. Eating certain foods may improve not only your physical well-being, but also help you succeed on your finals.

According to a 2008 study, students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake are significantly less likely to fail exams than those who consume food with a huge amount of fat daily.

No single food is nutritionally complete, so variety of food is needed during the exam period to maintain good mental and physical health.

Here is what a perfect day of eating during the final exam period could look like:

ILLUSTRATION AIKEN LAO/THE UBYSSEY

What is the best way to retain all that information?

Julia Pinnock Staff Writer

If you are one of those students that rereads your notes and textbooks to prepare for an exam, you’re doing it wrong. Rereading information is actually not an effective way to study, despite what many students think.

“Rereading is terribly inefficient,” said Janel Fergusson, a PhD candidate and sessional lecturer for the UBC department of psychology.

“When you reread your notes, what happens is that you get more and more familiar with how [the information] is written there ... and then, when you’re presented with [the information] in a different way, you don’t know it.”

This notion of becoming familiar with a certain wording is called fluency, which can be misinterpreted as gaining understanding of the topic, when instead you are simply recognizing information you’ve previously read.

A better way to study than simply exposing yourself to the information is by testing yourself. Use any practice materials provided by your textbook or professor. Make cue cards with definitions you’ve written yourself. Create questions to answer during a later study session. This can be a two-pronged strategy, as both creating and responding to questions will help reinforce that information.

Using different strategies to test yourself on the material “will ensure that you know it deeply and that however you’re asked it, you can bring it to mind,” said Fergusson.

“If you’ve practiced answering it in different ways, practiced writing it in different ways, you’re going to find it.” U

Will studying under exam conditions improve your grade?

Is that allnighter really worth it?

Sandeep Middar Staff Writer

Nope.

Science says no — an all-nighter is definitely not worth it.

According to a sleep deprivation experiment with college students, “sleep loss depletes effort.” In short, the less sleep a student gets, the less effort they put into tasks the next day (i.e. the exam you’ve been cramming for and losing sleep over). The study concluded that students’ “goals were shifted downward and effort was reduced” after being deprived of sleep.

The study also determined that students who were sleep-deprived preferred to do simpler tasks if they were available, as opposed to tasks that were more complex. The brain would choose to regret these more complicated tasks, and were more likely to give up easily.

The study also found that “participants seemed to be unaware of their reduction in effortful behavior,” so not only will you do worse on that exam, you’ll also think you’re doing a lot better than you really are.

It’s hardly the only study to look at the effects of sleep on academic performance. While most data suggests that not getting enough sleep is bad for your grades, much of it relies on self-reporting and, as always, more research is required.

You think you aced it? Hate to break it to you, but you probably didn’t. U

The Starbucks lines are somehow longer than usual, students are rushing to their professors’ office hours and Koerner Library is more packed than Koerner’s Pub. That’s right, it’s officially exam season. Your professors have been urging you to try the practice exams they posted on Connect on week eight and it might be time to listen to them.

Studying under exam conditions can actually help you perform better on your finals.

Multiple studies confirm that a person is able to better recall information on a test if they studied the material in the same environment. This concept is referred to as context-dependent memory. Learning in the same environment you’re required to retrieve that information in (i.e. an exam) improves your ability to recall it due to environmental cues. The context under which

you’ve learnt the material helps your ability to remember it at a later time.

In an experiment performed to test this theory, four groups of people were given a list of unrelated words to learn under noisy or silent conditions.

Two groups studied under silent conditions and two groups studied under noisy conditions.

One silent group was tested under silent conditions and the other was tested under noisy conditions, and the same was done for the noisy learners.

People who learned the words in a silent environment performed better when tested under silent conditions than noisy conditions, and those who studied in a noisy environment performed better in a noisy environment.

So what does this mean for UBC students? Don’t break into the SRC to complete your practice exam. However, it might be helpful to find a quiet classroom to do your studying. U

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EXAMS EVERYONE! - The Ubyssey U

Rachel Ong Staff Writer

BREAKFAST The old adage goes, “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper.” A 2008 study shows that university students who regularly have breakfast perform better on final exams than their peers who skip meals.

For breakfast, it is essential to include slow-release carbohydrates and protein to keep the blood sugar levels more stable between meals, and to help you feel more satiated so that you can reach and maintain a healthy weight.

The ideal breakfast during the final exam period would be a toast with scrambled eggs and salmon, boiled eggs with rye bread toast or muesli with nuts and fruits.

LUNCH Omega-3 fatty acids, fibre and iron are very important for the optimum performance of the brain, as they boost concentration, memory and focus. A lack of Omega-3 fats have been associated with depression, poor memory, learning disabilities, dyslexia and ADD. Important foods to consume for lunch are fish (salmon, fresh tuna, sardines), red meat and dark leafy greens like avocado, kale, spinach, broccoli and lettuce.

DINNER A heavy meal right before the bedtime is not the best idea because it can interfere with sleep. Dinner should be the lightest meal of the day, as our bodies do not require a lot of energy at night.

An example of a typical dinner during the final exam period would be a bowl of high-fibre cereal like porridge, a bowl of cottage cheese with honey and a banana or a glass of warm milk.

SNACKS Sugary snacks like cereal bars and milk chocolates are good for boosting energy. However, be aware that sugar leads to fast energy peaks and troughs. It is better to replace cereal bars and chocolates with fruits, as they not only boost energy, but also provide our bodies with Vitamin C needed for the immune system. U

SPORTS+REC

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY

EDITOR OLAMIDE OLANIYAN

13

MEN’S BASKETBALL //

Thunderbirds extinguish Heat 96-49, extend record to 8-0 Qingsheng Qiu Contributor

Carrying the momentum from a perfect 7-0 start, the Thunderbirds crushed their sister school and rival, the UBC Okanagan Heat, 96-49 in a Saturday game that showcased their strength in number and defensive prowess. The ’Birds shot an overall 56 per cent while nailing 50 per cent of shots from downtown, with three of their players scoring in double-digits.

The T-Birds opened the first quarter with determinant defence and hot shooting. Initially, UBC guard Phil Jalalpoor knocked down a three. His hot hand became contagious as second-year guard Taylor Browne buried four threepointers in just the first half.

The Heat could not figure out a way to score and Browne’s fourpoint play extended the lead to 25-11 as the first-quarter clock winding down.

The ’Birds’ athleticism and size wreaked havoc on both ends of the floor as they scored at ease in the paint and getting stop after stop on the defensive end. UBC’s depth was evident in the second quarter as well. The bench players kept the lead and performed extraordinarily on defence, as they forced multiple 24-second violations and turnovers.

A scary moment occurred when the Heat’s Noma Obaseki went down after being inadvertently hit in the eye by A.J. Holloway. Obaseki got up shortly and wobbled to the bench with the crowd cheering for his effort.

Aldrich Berrios of the Heat launched several comeback attempts by hitting threes and mid-range jumpers. However, each attempt was stymied by aggressive T-Bird counterattacks, one of which resulted in a basketshaking, thunderous dunk by the ’Birds’ leading scorer Conor Morgan.

The home team utilized full-court pressure at the end of the second quarter to freeze the Heat’s hope of narrowing the gap before halftime. UBC forced the Heat to turn the ball over as the clock wound down and led to an unbelievable half-court buzzer beater by Jalalpoor, making it 5338 at halftime break.

“The defence was great. Other than a few setbacks in the second quarter, we played really good defence. You wanna get better and better every time you do it. I see it as progress,” said fifth-year guard Jordan Jensen-Whyte.

The Heat picked it up a notch in the second quarter and seemed to be better at penetrating the

The T-Birds remain undefeated as they head into the winter break.

air-tight Thunderbird defence. But the advantages held by the ’Birds were evident as they continued to dominate the game and controlled the pace for most of the first half.

It seemed like this was going to be another blowout.

In the third quarter, both teams seemed a bit tired and the pace slowed down. There were sloppy plays from both teams, as possessions kept changing hands.

The score table didn’t change until Jensen-Whyte hit a layup underneath the basket with a pump-fake. The ’Birds’ defence started to cool down the Heat.

The physical dominance was even more evident in the second half, as the Heat were held to only 11 points in the entire second half of the game. The T-Birds kept getting buckets in whatever way they liked, whereas Heat players

FILE PHOTO PATRICK GILLIN/THE UBYSSEY

threw one brick after another in the face of the stifling UBC defence. Full-court pressure from the ’Birds forced consecutive turnovers from the Heat and turned the majority of them into points on the other end. U With the final score at 96-49, the Thunderbirds extinguished the Heat to remain undefeated as they go into the winter break.

WINTER BREAK //

Men’s hockey splits weekend against Calgary

The ’Birds now sit second to last in the Canada West, right above the University of Regina Cougars.

Lucy Fox Senior Staff Writer

UBC men’s hockey had the tables turned on them this weekend in their double-header against the University of Calgary Dinos.

Although they won 2-1 on Friday night, UBC found themselves going into the winter break on a loss, as Calgary came back Saturday to defeat the T-Birds 4-1.

In the first of two matches, UBC broke their four-game losing streak, defeating the Dinos 2-1 at Father Bauer Arena.

The ’Birds got the first chance

of the game as forward Anthony Bardaro stormed his way across the blue line in the 12th minute.

Slipping past Calgary’s defence, the Delta native blasted a shot towards the net, just missing the right post.

In the second, the ’Birds found themselves a two-man advantage as Dinos forward Adam Kambeitz made his way to the penalty box for hooking in the 11th minute of the period, followed shortly by teammate Cain Franson for slashing.

The home team couldn’t capitalize, though, and the teams

headed back to the dressing rooms still tied at 0-0.

The third period finally brought an onslaught of action for the 300 fans in attendance. The arena was brought to life with both goals and some pushing and shoving between the two teams.

UBC forward Austin Vetterl got the period started with some tricky stick-handling in the Dinos end. Banking the puck off the boards and skating past Calgary’s defence, Vetterl made a quick cross-ice pass to line-mate Chase Clayton, who was making his way to the net. Clayton’s ensuing shot

PHOTO PATRICK GILLIN/THE UBYSSEY

slid past Dinos goalkeeper Steven Stanford, putting the ’Birds up 1-0 with 15 minutes to go in the game.

The T-Birds faced their own two-man disadvantage, as captain Wes Vannieuwenhuizen was sent to the box for interference, shortly followed by Luke Lockhart for closing his hand on the puck just 15 seconds later.

What’s more, the penalties were taken in the 17th and 18th minute of the period, putting the ’Birds down two men into the dying seconds of the game. To make matters worse, the Dinos pulled Stanford, making it a three-

man advantage for the visitors.

It was UBC who capitalized though, as Devan Fafard sent the puck all the way down the ice and into Calgary’s empty net.

Overall, UBC’s defence was up to the task, as Fafard, Michael Stenerson and Nick Buonassisi survived the Calgary attack until the final 30 seconds of the game.

Pulling their goalie once again, the Dinos finally found their way through the sparse UBC line and Adam Kambeitz put the puck past Derek Dun. With the final whistle, the ’Birds solidified a tough-fought 2-1 win.

Less than 24 hours later, UBC was back at Father Bauer Arena facing the Dinos once again. This time, the ’Birds weren’t so lucky.

In the first period, Calgary forward Dylan Walchuck got the visiting team started, scoring in the fourth minute. UBC managed to tie the game up early in the second, with Jerret Smith scoring on the power play.

Unfortunately, it was all Calgary after that, with Kambeitz scoring just three minutes after Smith to put Calgary up 2-1.

Drydn Dow and Walchuck would double Calgary’s tally in the third, with Dow scoring on the powerplay and Walchuck sealing the deal with an empty-netter in the final minute of the game. The game ended with a final score of 4-1 for Calgary. U With these results, the ’Birds go into winter break with a 5-10-1 record. They now sit in second to last place in the Canada West division, just above the University of Regina Cougars.

14 | SPORTS+REC | TUESDAY DECEMBER 6, 2016

PLACES TO BE

Bugaboo Provincial Park PHOTOS+WORDS PHILIPPE ROBERGE

“G

uys, we’re not gonna make it by sundown.”

That’s a problem, because the nine-hour drive is just the start of it. We were meant to leave at 5 a.m., but without pointing any fingers, let’s just say two of us were a bit behind schedule. Regardless, there was nothing we could do except zip down the windy gravel road that would bring us to Bugaboo Provincial Park.

Tucked away in eastern BC, right before you get to Alberta, is Bugaboo Provincial Park. It’s one of those gems our trip-planner Ori insisted we had to do before the season closed. Any hope of finding signal was long gone and we were staring blankly at a badly-pixelated Google map that wasn’t updating.

It could have been worse. The clouds had started to put on a show just as we got our first glimpse of the parking lot and we praised the power of Google. High-up on the horizon, the sun had started to sink below the cusp of the mountains, and along with it, any hope we had of making the two-hour hike up to the campground.

As we rounded the corner, Leo’s hopes of seeing a bear materialized as we saw both a mother and cub staring at us curiously before scurrying off into the bushes at the edge of the road. I’m just glad we brought the bear-spray.

We arrived at camp and made the best of the last light of day. Leo and Caroline would spend the first night in the car, while Ori and I would stick to the tent I brought. As I unpacked it, I discovered — much to my dismay — that I forgot to dry it out upon my return from a rain soaked weekend in Tofino.

There was not much we could do. We started to plan out the next day, hoping the tent would dry and magically start to smell better as we cooked dinner.

We surrounded the car with chicken wire to prevent the porcupines from chewing through the car tires (this is not a joke), and weighted the wire down with an assortment of large stones.

Heading to bed, we zipped up the tent just as the first drops of the storm started coming down.

Time to put my 18-euro tent to the test! Once Zeus had finished his fun, we eventually drifted off into sleep, ready for the long day ahead of us.

The hike up to Conrad Kain hut wasn’t exceptionally long at around five kilometres, but throughout that distance, we experienced almost a kilometre of elevation gain. That also wasn’t too bad, but when you account for the fact that I was out of shape and was carrying a 60-pound pack, things start to add up.

The views certainly made things much better ,though and we kept stopping only to take pic-

tures. Only for that — no other reason.

The sun was beating down on us, just enough to balance out the crisp mountain air rolling off the glacier as the pleasant fragrance of the last flowers of summer waft into our nostrils. It was very much a multi-sensory experience.

As the hike proceeded, it transformed into somewhat of a scramble, and we found ourselves climbing up ladders and straddling overhangs as we grasped on to metal chains. After an hour and a half, we spotted the teal roof of the Conrad Kain hut peeking through a curtain of fir.

Two women on their way down told us we were almost there, but a couple had told us the same thing 45 minutes earlier. We eventually arrived at the hut to find some picnic tables, trails and a nice patch of grass that I immediately made my home. We rested as we ate lunch and then began the hike up to the Applebee Dome campground.

After another hour of scrambling up a windy, rocky path, we finally arrived. This campground was like nothing I had ever seen. The excitement that started to fill us quickly becomes overwhelming. All I could think about was the scene where Rey is climbing to find Luke at the end of The Force Awakens, and my mind was going haywire.

We had been scrambling over jagged stones for the past hour and now, all of a sudden, we found ourselves surrounded by smooth, flat stones and grassy meadows. Oh, and we were 2,500 metres up, so there’s that too.

We started to set up our tents, still in awe of the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. It had been an exhausting journey but in that moment, we got to enjoy it. We boiled some water and made food, resting on gigantic boulders under the sun. As the day crawled on by, we tried to justify our will to stay still and do absolutely nothing, breathing in the mountain air as we gazed upon the sprawling landscape.

The sun started to set and my level of excitement started to rise. We were meant to have a storm tonight but by the looks of it, the forecast must have been off, as the sky was still pristinely clear. To me, this was excellent news as it could mean only one thing — astrophotography!

There are many factors that go into having a good night for astrophotography — light pollution, time of the year (to see the galactic core), time of the month (for the size and therefore, brightness of the moon/darkness of the sky) and the amount of cloud cover in the sky (by far the most unpredictable factor there is).

As the clock turned, the sky progressively got darker until we were gazing up at a canvas of black ink sprinkled with millions of white dots.

We set up our cameras and started shooting.

The results were nothing short of electrifying.

We could see, with great definition, the entire galactic core slowly making its way across the sky.

The wind started to pick up and the temperature dropped, but nothing short of a thunderstorm could change our minds at this point. Leo decided to call it a night and headed off to bed, but Ori and I were dead-set on getting at least one photo near a lake we spied earlier.

Scrambling our way back along the trail, we found the small glacial lake once more and set up our cameras. The wind had really picked up and we found ourselves steadying our tripods with stones. The scene was incredible, but almost pitch-black to the naked eye. We could barely make out the shapes of the mountain amongst the star-studded sky.

Deciding that we had enough, we started going back towards the tent. We reached the campground but got lost. It didn’t seem to make sense. Based on the positioning of the other tents, we should have been standing right where our tent was. To add to the confusion, our stove and supplies were still there, unmoved from where we left them.

Could somebody have stolen our tent?

We had only been gone for one hour, had nothing of value in the tent and it was 1 a.m.

Where was it? We started probing around the darkness with our flashlights, our beams painting a temporary scene with brushes far too weak. As he walked along the edge of a cliff, Ori let out a cry.

Fearing that he might have hurt himself, I rushed over. Ori signaled his beam downwards and we both burst out laughing. One hundred metres below us, the bright orange tarp of our tent was reflecting light back at us. The gusts of wind we had felt while shooting at the lake managed to rip the tent from its bindings and carry it 200 metres away to its final resting place upon an isolated ledge on the precipice of a cliff.

“Great,” sighed Ori. “Well, there’s only one thing we can do now…”

We started to climb down the rock face towards our tent, inching with caution knowing full well that one slip could result in serious injury. Finally reaching the tent, we dismantled it while trying to figure out a way to bring it back up as safely as possible. We decided to go for the “hammock” method, each of us grabbing two ends with one hand, sticking the flashlights in our mouths and climbing with our free hand.

As you might have guessed, we made it back to the top, and eventually back to Vancouver — it was all worth it. We also made a note to set-up our tent more securely in the future. U

DECEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY | SPORTS+REC | 15