October 3, 2017

OCTOBER 3, 2017 | VOLUME XCIX | ISSUE IIX LYNN COME BACK SINCE 1918

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P / 06

P / 09

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NEWS

CULTURE

OPINIONS

SCIENCE

SPORTS

New Totem Park house named

Fried rice and Trumpist dread at Mott 32

Ask Natalie: My almond milk blues

Floating, translucent brains are real

Soccer, season primers and success stories

c̓əsnaʔəm

THE UBYSSEY

Is UBC Still a House of cards?

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OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

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OUR CAMPUS

Our Campus: GrantMe founder Madison Guy is helping students pay for university

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4 ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL FAIR 4 P.M. @ FRED KAISER ATRIUM Learn about how a graduate degree can transform a career.

FREE, BUT RVSP IN ADVANCE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7 FIRST CATURDAY VANCOUVER 1 P.M. @ JOHN HENDRY PARK Cats in a park. I’m crying already.

FREE

Since May, GrantMe has helped students claim over $120,000 in funding.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

Graham Drope Contributor

VANCOUVER CANUCKS VS. EDMONTON OILERS 7 P.M. @ ROGERS ARENA (OR A LOCAL SPORTS BAR) It’s going to be a riot, win or lose. $76 AND UP

ON THE COVER PHOTOS & ART BY Patrick Gillin and Natalie Morris

Want to see more events or see your events listed here? ubyssey.ca/events

U THE UBYSSEY

OCTOBER 3, 2017 | VOLUME XCIX| ISSUE IIX

Contact

EDITORIAL

BUSINESS

Coordinating Editor Photo Editor Jack Hauen Partick Gillin coordinating@ubyssey.ca photos@ubyssey.ca

Business Manager Editorial Office: Ron Gorodetsky SUB 2208 business@ubyssey.ca 604.283.2023 Business Office: Senior Web Developer SUB 2209 Peter Siemens 604.283.2024 peter@ubyssey.ca

Design Editor Natalie Morris printeditor@ubyssey.ca News Editors Samantha McCabe & Alex Nguyen news@ubyssey.ca Culture Editor Samuel Du Bois culture@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Lucy Fox sports@ubyssey.ca Video Producer Kate Colenbrander video@ubyssey.ca Opinion + Blog Editor Emma Hicks opinion@ubyssey.ca Science Editor Nivretta Thatra science@ubyssey.ca

Features Editor Moira Wyton features@ubyssey.ca

The New Student Union Building 6133 University Boulevard Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Online: ubyssey.ca Twitter: @ubyssey

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LEGAL

Sophie Sutcliffe, Josh Azizi, Jack Lamming, Tristan Wheeler, Zubair Hirji, Zak Vescara, Charlotte Beaulieu, Iyanu Owolabi, Clare Skillman, Olamide Olaniyan, Negin Nia

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The Ubyssey accepts opinion articles on any topic related to the University of British Columbia (UBC) and/or topics relevant to students attending UBC. Submissions must be written by UBC students, professors, alumni, or those in a suitable position (as determined by the opinions editor) to speak on UBC-related matters. Submissions must not contain racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, harassment or discrimination. Authors and/or submissions will not be precluded from publication based solely on association with particular ideologies or subject matter that some may find objectionable. Approval for publication is, however, dependent on the quality of the argument and The

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For former UBC student Madison Guy, this summer was anything but relaxing. Instead of being out and enjoying the warm weather, Guy was in her office working 10 to 14 hours per day just to keep up with the steady stream of students signing up for GrantMe, a startup she founded this past May. GrantMe is a service-based company that helps students access the millions of dollars in scholarship funding that goes unclaimed every year. Since May, the service has helped students claim over $120,000 in funding.

“All you see are these big entrance awards or these other big scholarships where you need a 90 per cent average in order to qualify,” said Guy, a recent graduate of Sauder. “Those are the ones that are marketed and that everyone sees.” “[But] unless you’re doing a ton of research, you’re not going to come across the smaller ones — not smaller in terms of money, but smaller as in not as well known.”

With GrantMe, students fill out an eligibility form that Guy uses to determine likely sources of funding by navigating through thousands of potential scholarships and then narrowing it down to only a few.

“When [students] have limited time already, they can’t afford to spend hours sifting through a thousand different scholarships to find the ones that they are eligible for. That’s why I make it really simple, by only offering one or two,” said Guy.

The concept of GrantMe began when, after her 2016 soccer season at UBC had ended, Guy found herself with a lot of spare time on her hands. The previous summer, Guy had been researching scholarships and had managed to secure herself over $50,000 in funding which led her to wonder whether others knew how much funding was available.

After taking her findings to the UBC athletic department, she began presenting to varsity teams. Before she had spoken to more than a few, one thing became obvious: nobody knew there were millions of dollars in funding that they could be accessing, according to Guy. “They were just dumbfounded that they was money just sitting out there, waiting for them, that they just weren’t touching,” Guy recalled.

Guy said she started out with the athletic community because there was already a personal connection.

“I knew I could get myself in front of them as I was an athlete myself, and I think there was that automatic sense of trust because we were in the same community.”

According to Guy, she owes a lot of her initial success to the support she received from UBC’s athletic student community.

“I think without me having gone to the varsity athletics in the first place, none of this would have happened for me. They were the people that got behind me right from the get-go and believed in me and what I was doing.”

Despite having a clear source of interest from student athletes, Guy still had to gain the trust of her clients.

COURTESY MADISON GUY

“I think the hardest part for me was getting people to believe that it was real. It wasn’t until I actually started helping them physically apply for these scholarships, then seeing the results, that they kind of were like, ‘Okay she knows what she’s doing,’” she said.

After helping a number of students find scholarships, she decided to formalize her services, which lead to the founding of GrantMe. “Honestly, I can say there is nothing that can prepare you for entrepreneurship,” said Guy, noting that her time at Sauder certainly helped make the project possible. “I can’t even count, on both my hands, how many times at Sauder [that] I had to get up in front of 50 or 70 people and present. Now, I present to a hundred-person football team.

“That’s something that if I didn’t have those experiences in my undergrad, I definitely wouldn’t have been prepared for.”

In the coming months, Guy hopes to hit the big varsity programs across BC. But her greatest challenge won’t be finding new clients, it will be expanding her staff so she can focus on the “big picture” aspects of the business.

“The hardest thing for me is building a team. For the past six months I’ve been doing it completely all on my own,” she said.

Though as her company expands, Guy maintains that giving students personalized advice is still her number one priority.

“Giving students accurate information and making sure that I’m taking care of them, that’s what is most important to me.” U

NEWS

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITORS SAMANTHA MCCABE + ALEX NGUYEN

3

INDIGENEITY //

Musqueam nation gifts the name for new Totem Park house

Charlotte Beaulieu Staff Writer

In front of the new and final infill house at Totem Park Residence on Wednesday, the Musqueam people, on their unceded territory, gifted a place name for UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) and students of Totem Park Residence to use. Representatives of both communities came together to gift and unveil the name c̓əsnaʔəm.

This moment is significant given the history of the Musqueam nation and UBC’s shared history.

The naming of the house builds upon the work and conversations that began in 2011, when the Musqueam nation gifted the names həm̓ləsəm̓ and q̓ələχən for two houses in Totem Infill phase one, marking the first time the Musqueam language, hən̓q̓ əmin̓əm̓, was used for buildings on campus.

“The original six houses were named in the 1960s, with the intention of honouring local First Nations, but no consultation took place with the Indigenous communities that are represented.

Some of the names that were chosen, like Nootka and Kwakiutl, are inaccurate, and none of them reflected the fact that UBC is on Musqueam territory,” said Sarah Ling, a project manager with an Indigenous focus at both SHHS and St. John’s College.

“When you contrast the two naming processes, one which didn’t involve any community consultation and this one which actually involves our Musqueam

ALIROD AMERI

“History has pushed aside the fact that there were people here before colonization.”

hosts of this territory, the learning opportunities are exponential in terms of the storytelling and related benefits that can come out of it,” said Ling, who also cochaired the naming process in 2011 with fellow undergraduate student Spencer Lindsay.

Ling has been developing educational resources like The

Power of a Name film series to better inform residents of the house names they were using. With the gifting of the name c̓əsnaʔəm, new resources will be provided to encourage students and anyone who wishes to learn more about its meaning to inform themselves.

“We hope that the residents who use it take the time and put the

effort to learn who it is from and what is its significance,” said Ling.

“This process has been really valuable, because ... we have very few names on campus, or even in the city of Vancouver, that recognize the true history of where we are located — on Musqueam territory — or their living culture and language,” she said.

Musqueam Elder Larry Grant shared similar thoughts.

“History has pushed aside the fact that there were people here before colonization,” he reaffirmed.

The fact that the Musqueam people, throughout the naming processes, got to use their language, their orthography — the phonetic alphabet is there to take proper account of the uniqueness of each of the language’s sound — and to share their story their way shows the value of the gifting of the name.

Elder Larry Grant was the one to speak out the name of the new Totem Park house on behalf of the Musqueam people. c̓əsnaʔəm is a name that is both a representation of grandeur and a legacy, as it is the name of an ancient Musqueam village that held a central role in trade. UBC has quite recently celebrated its 100 years of existence, while c̓əsnaʔəm dates back at least 4,000 years.

The community members from both the Musqueam nation and UBC that were invited to the podium before the unveiling of the name all shared a common acknowledgement of the value of this gift to UBC.

“We are bringing back the name that was named by our ancestors,” said Elder Larry Grant, illustrating once again how connected language, culture and traditional knowledge are.

The ceremony at Totem Park also brought together many important figures, such as Councillor Morgan Guerin from the Musqueam nation and UBC President Santa Ono. Ono said that this process was an important landmark in implementing the Memorandum of Affiliation signed between UBC and Musqueam in 2006. It strives, among other things, to increase the presence of Musqueam on campus.

“This story provides a good model of how to collaboratively educate people about where we are and of how this needs to be done in conversation with Musqueam … but it’s also essential to know that it’s just one step,” said Sarah Ling.

On the side of the c̓əsnaʔəm sign, right beside the entrance to the house, students are invited to embark on a delicate journey, meant to emphasize that with the gift of the name comes a responsibility.

“We ask you to leave behind any preconceptions or bad thoughts you may have,” reads a teaching of Musqueam and their relations under the sign. “Your work here will be difficult, but do not lose heart.”

The Musqueam people’s teachings remind their visitors that if this collaborative work is rightfully done, they won’t be alone on this ongoing journey. U

RESEARCH //

UBC prof wins fellowship for research on Indigenous water security Danisa Rambing Contributor

On September 19, the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation announced the 2017 recipients of their annual fellowship. Among the five recipients, UBC professor of geography Dr. Karen Bakker and her team were recognized for their collaborative efforts in

acknowledging the decolonization of water governance and improvement of Indigenous people’s water security.

The team includes various Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, advisors and fellow activists such as John Borrows, a professor at the University of Victoria, Aimee Craft, an assistant professor at the University of

“Here in British Columbia we have a water rights regime,” said Karen Bakker.

Ottawa, and Michelle Dangle, an assistant professor at UBC. The research behind the award sets out to foster the resurgence of Indigenous water law and grant Indigenous communities more equitable access to water security.

Originating from colonialism, there is a process of expropriation of not only land, but of water as well. As a result, about a third

COURTESY KAREN BAKKER

of Indigenous communities in Canada do not have secure water supplies. This issue is prevalent in all of Canada, but primarily British Columbia because of BC’s high proportion of water insecurity for Indigenous communities when compared to the national average.

The consequences of colonial expropriation also relate to longstanding legal issues.

“Here in British Columbia we have a water rights regime, ‘First in Time First in Rights,’ established around 100 years ago by the colonial government. But Indigenous communities were prohibited from applying to water rights,” said Bakker.

In America, under the Clean Water Act, US bands have the right to manage their water and set their own water quality standards like any sovereign state would, using legal apparatuses such as the Winters Doctrine behind them to set out water rights. But in Canada there is no such equivalent.

“There is, embedded in our regulatory system for water rights, a historical injustice that should be addressed, a primary step to decolonization. One of the main focuses is to look at what would it mean to reform the Canadian Water Act to have something like [the Clean Water Act] in place,” said Bakker.

The Canadian government’s signing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in May 2017 may

have implications for Indigenous water rights. Bakker and her team have written a disposition paper setting out what they think the obligations are under UNDRIP — the Canadian government has now signed up to the international legislation and the awarded project hopes to shed insight on the implementation of it.

“The proposal focuses on Indigenous water governance,” said Bakker. “The idea is that you can decolonize water governance in Canada, much in the spirit of reconciliation, and the proposal speaks to some of the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”

As a recipient of the Trudeau fellowship, members are granted an honorarium of $225,000 to expand research opportunities and continue their productivity in their respective disciplines.

Bakker and her team, as well as an assembly of web designers and video developers, are constructing an online portal with an outreach strategy to extend media awareness on her project’s academic research.

“It was a grateful and humbling experience for our entire team to receive this award,” said Bakker.

“It was a very exciting experience, because we’re now able to give a lot more opportunities for Indigenous students at all our partner universities, this just expands our chance to do that.” U

4 | news | TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 SEISMIC UPGRADE //

INDIGENEITY //

UBC pushes Ono’s residential school apology to an undisclosed date

FILE PATRICK GILLIN

Samantha McCabe News Editor

UBC has informed The Ubyssey that President Santa Ono’s apology for “the university’s involvement in the history of the Indian Residential School system” has been rescheduled to an undecided date and time.

The apology, which was supposed to take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 28 in front of an invited audience — including members of UBC Senate, Board of Governors, Faculty Association and Indigenous faculty members — was also to be broadcast live.

Ono was further supposed to host a Facebook Live discussion about the address on September 29 at 11 a.m., but has since announced an event around the same time for a live discussion of mental health.

According to Linc Kesler, associate professor and director at the First Nations House of Learning and senior advisor to the president on Aboriginal affairs, in an email to The Ubyssey, “we discovered we were in a scheduling conflict with a major Indigenous organization in the city, and are not going forward with the event on Thursday.”

The goal of the apology was to “acknowledge UBC’s responsibilities and strengthened commitment to collaborative relations with Indigenous people in BC and Canada.” U Information about the apology will be updated online as it becomes available.

Is UBC still a House of Cards?

Sarah Neubauer Contributor

At the September 12 Board of Governors (BoG) meeting, seismic events and the potential for subsequent fires were identified as two of the highest risks to UBC. This was coupled with the reminder that it is a matter of “[not] if, but when” the Big One — a 9.0 magnitude or greater earthquake — will arrive.

In 2015, The Ubyssey discovered an undisclosed 2012 seismic safety report which identified “28 ‘Very High Risk’ and 12 ‘High Risk’ buildings on campus out of a total inventory of 400 structures.”

These risk classifiers indicate buildings that are “‘likely to have full or partial collapse’ in a moderate or greater earthquake with ‘loss of life probable’” for structures at “Very High Risk,” while “High Risk” buildings “‘may experience partial localized collapse’ during a moderate earthquake with ‘loss of life probable’.”

Five years later, is UBC any safer?

In an August 2017 BoG report, entitled the Seismic Resilience Plan, UBC is “actually better than the 2012 assessment indicated,” but there is still room for improvement.

Out of the 328 buildings assessed, 29 meet a Tier IV, which indicates a 50 to 100 per cent probability of collapse in the event of a “Very Rare” earthquake. The most intense on a seismic scale, it is defined as having 2,475 years in return period.

These Tier IV buildings include those that were at high risk back in 2012, such as the Leonard S. Klinck, H.R MacMillan and Wesbrook buildings.

Fifty-five of the assessed buildings meet a Tier III, which indicates a 20 to 49 per cent probability of collapse in the event of a “Very Rare” earthquake.

These include buildings like the Woodward Biomedical Science Library and the UBC Hospital.

A combined 244 buildings are evaluated to be either Tier I or Tier II, which all have a probability of collapse lower than 20 per cent.

UBC Hospital is at Tier III, which indicates a 20 to 49 per cent probability of collapse in the event of a “Very Rare” earthquake.

STEPS TAKEN SO FAR While UBC is not yet completely seismic resilient, some progress has been made in the last five years. For instance, the Henry Angus Tower and the Hebb lecture theatre have received a $4.1 million upgrade and a $5 million upgrade, respectively.

The Biological Science complex is also undergoing a $80 million upgrade.

“The primary purpose of [the Biological Sciences] upgrade was for maintenance, but at the same time undertaking a seismic upgrade,” John Metras, managing director of UBC Infrastructure Development, said. “It’s built into the overall budget of the project — this is part of the strategy that we use to undertake seismic mitigation: to synergize that work

The H. R. MacMillan building is at Tier IV, which indicates a 50 to 100 per cent probability of collapse.

with bigger renewal projects.”

In total, the university has invested over $200 million on seismic upgrade projects since 2012.

These investments are supported by the federal and provincial governments, internal funding from UBC Operations and an internal targeted fund specifically for seismic upgrades that gets about $2 million a year.

According to UBC’s Chief Risk Officer Ron Holton, this internal seismic upgrade fund comes from an insurer switch made back in January 2013. The change to a new insurer arrangement saves the university approximately $2.5 to $3 million a year in insurance premiums.

“The idea was that the money would be entirely dedicated to seismic upgrading,” said Holton.

“Each year there’s a $2.5 million that is allocated to it.”

He also confirmed that the money added to this fund is ongoing, and there are no plans to stop anytime soon.

Beside these investments, the university is further updating their seismic resilience plan.

“We engaged a consultant last year to take a more holistic perspective of risks on campus,” said Metras. “So during a comprehensive risk assessment, [we look] at buildings, utilities and university operations to determine where there are vulnerabilities and [to make]

recommendations on how we can address those vulnerabilities.”

NOT JUST A STRUCTURAL THING Access to main utilities like water is a particular point of vulnerability for UBC. “It’s been recommended that we relocate the main water pumping station for the campus,” said Metras. “That was identified as a point of vulnerability and we are going to be looking at and planning for that relocation in the next couple of years.”

The water pumping station is a particular concern because it would require a lengthy recovery time if collapsed, but would be needed immediately after an earthquake for both human consumption and fire-fighting.

Given these different risks, the recommendation of highest priority for UBC is to “consider hiring a Chief Resilience Officer so that oversight of the implementation of the seismic risk mitigation strategy is centralized under one person.”

According to Metras, the university is “still considering” this recommendation.

WHERE WOULD WE GO? At the BoG meeting on September 12, the risk regarding temporary displacement of students was also discussed, where up to 50,000 students — on and off campus

PATRICK GILLIN

— would be displaced for up to a day after an earthquake of any intensity.

For a “probable” intensity earthquake, an estimated 10,000 students would be displaced for up to three months. For a “rare” intensity, approximately 30,000 students could be displaced for up to six months.

No recommendations or discussion regarding this concern was discussed in the Seismic Resilience plan.

“That’s something that the university needs to assess,” Metras said. “We will be looking at what steps can be taken as part of our business continuity planning.”

For individual preparation, ShakeOut BC is happening across the province on October 19 to demonstrate what to do when an earthquake strikes.

UBC is also planning a “ShakeZone” demonstration at Main Mall Plaza on October 10 and 11.

This demonstration will simulate an earthquake, replicating the different intensities one would feel in such a situation. “[Seismic activity] is a top priority issue for the university to address,” said Metras. “We’ve done a lot of work over the past 15 years in upgrading buildings and we — based on the assessments that we are undertaking now — hope to develop a plan that, in a cost-effective way, can address the mitigation issues as soon as possible.” U

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY | news | 5 HUMAN RIGHTS //

Azerbaijani investigative reporter wins Allard Prize for International Integrity had her assets frozen.

The Car Wash Task Force is a Brazilian legal group that brought to light the largest corruption case “in the history of Brazil,” which resulted in the recovery of $3 billion and the arrest of “a sitting senator, six former congressmen, a party treasurer and some of Brazil’s most powerful executives.”

However, the nomination of the task force also brought about concerns, as the group had allegedly committed unethical practices including “nonobservance of due process, illegal phone taps, coercion of witnesses and use of illegally obtained evidence.”

The concern was briefly alluded to in the ceremony by UBC, but was not addressed beyond this acknowledgement.

Khadija Ismayilova exposed corruption within the highest ranks of the Azerbaijani government.

Alex Nguyen & Samuel Du Bois News & Culture Editors

Khadija Ismayilova, an Azerbaijani investigative reporter, has won the 2017 Allard Prize for International Integrity.

Since its founding in 2012, it has been “one of the world’s largest prizes dedicated to the fight against corruption and [for human rights]” at $100,000 CAD. For her work exposing corruption within the highest ranks of the Azerbaijani government — including President Ilham Aliyev and his family — she has been secretly recorded, blackmailed and jailed.

An intimate video of her and her boyfriend was also posted online after she refused to “behave.”

“It was the most awful thing that could be done to a woman in Azerbaijan,” Ismayilova said in the ceremony’s introductory video.

While she has now been released from prison, she is still under a travel ban and was instead represented by fellow Azerbaijani journalist, Kenan Aliyev, at the ceremony.

“This is not about the money or this beautiful trophy,” said Aliyev in an interview with The Ubyssey following the ceremony.

“It’s about moral support that we need when we feel desperate.

“If you live in Azerbaijan and you cannot even buy the newspaper that is independent because it’s controlled by the government, you get desperate.

This prevents us from desperation.”

A prerecorded message from Ismayilova was also played in which she expressed her gratitude for the prize and

stressed the importance of international cooperation in the fight against corruption.

“All we can do is be together, stand together against those who are stealing opportunities from their own people and who are trying to silence journalists for uncovering this incriminating truth,” she said.

The event also featured Glenn Greenwald — the journalist who broke the story about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden — as the keynote speaker.

In his speech, he reflected on his own experiences investigating corruption and spoke at length about the lessions he learned from Snowden’s integrity and strength in the face of government persecution.

He then reiterated the need to recontextualize corruption as an issue that requires international cooperation.

“It tends to be viewed very domestically,” said Greenwald. “I think one of the revelations of this event ... is trying to make certain that we think about corruption and the people heroically fighting against it as also being international in scope in the way that we ought to understand them.” U

COURTESY EURASIANET

a progressive interpretation of religion. For her testimony against a police killing of a human rights protester, she was also arrested and

The Car Wash Task Force

COURTESY ALLARD PRIZE

Notice of Development Permit Applications - DP 17020 + DP 17021

Public Open House

1 DP 17020 “The Shadow” Public Art Installation 2 DP 17021 Hebb Tower Building Upgrade

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2017 Time: 11:30AM - 1:30PM Place: Lobby, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Boulevard Join us on Thursday, October 19 to view and comment on two development proposals in the University Square area. Plans will displayed for: 1. “The Shadow” by Esther Shalev-Gerz, outdoor art installation using cement pavers.

2. Hebb Tower Building project includes seismic and other general building and landscape upgrades.

COURTESY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Representatives from the project teams and Campus and Community Planning will be on hand to discuss and answer questions about these projects.

Azza Soliman

“I accept this as an acknowledgement of our efforts – not only my efforts but also the efforts of many other journalists who sometimes even cannot put their names on their stories because their families and themselves are subject for government threats and harassments.”

The other two finalists – Azza Soliman and Força Tarefa da Lava Jato (Car Wash Task Force) – were also recoginized with honourable mentions and $10,000 cash prizes.

Soliman is an Egyptian lawyer whose work focuses on expanding women’s rights in both the “private sphere and the judicial system,” and in particular through

This event is wheelchair accessible.

For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager, Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586

Can’t attend in person?

Online feedback will be accepted until October 26, 2017. To learn more or to comment on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations

CULTURE

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR SAMUEL DU BOIS

6

GASTRONOMIC MASOCHISM //

Review: I betrayed my liberal values for Donald Trump’s shitty fried rice

SAMUEL DU BOIS

My $60 meal plunged me into a deep political crisis.

Tristan Wheeler Staff Writer

As soon as I made the reservation, I felt I had implicated myself in a political cause: I was going to

give my hard-earned dollars to the billionaire reality TV star, President Donald J. Trump, in exchange for food.

Located in Trump Tower, the restaurant in question is Mott

32 — The Trump Organization’s culinary contribution to Vancouver. The food is not dissimilar to its long-time owner: overblown and overpriced.

Mott 32 began in Hong

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Kong before making the jump to Vancouver earlier this year, opening in January. There was much for me to consider as I patronized this restaurant – firstly were the ethical implications of supporting a business that is directly tied to a man like Donald Trump. Giving more money to a billionaire and his organization — one which I am so vehemently opposed to — is a major psychological hoop to jump through. Also, I, like most students, can’t afford to dine at such a place, regardless of whether or not it has questionable affiliations.

Why did I go to Mott 32? To see if Trump ran a restaurant as badly as he runs a country.

To get to Mott 32, I had to make my way through the Trump Hotel’s shining silver lobby. Outside giant silver letters spell out the namesake of the hotel – TRUMP. Those shining letters spell out a word that is synonymous with things like “racism,” “misogyny” and “homophobia,” but tonight, for me, those letters spelled “dinner.”

The most immediately striking thing for me was the décor of the restaurant. The whole room looked like it had been cut out of black marble. The most noticeable tones were black and gold, and everything had a muted gleam.

The customer service was easily the best part of the whole experience. It is not often that I am referred to solely as “Mr. Wheeler” and that felt good, but was I falling into a trap? At the end of this meal, would I be scorning the alt-left and ranting about defiant athletes?

One glance at the menu showed that it was for the bougiest of bourgeoisie. There

were dishes ranging from $25 to $500, most of which were on the pricier side. I flipped through it until I saw a section that was more generous to my wallet, the rice and noodle selections.

My server suggested the “Mixed Seafood Fried Rice, Golden Conpoy with Black Garlic” and I took his recommendation, destroying the budget I came in with. I waited for my food, contemplating how much of a fool I was. This gave me time to observe the dining room – it was completely empty at 6 p.m. save for one wealthy family lavishing over the pricey food and drink.

I was given a complimentary amuse bouche by the waiter while my food was prepared. On a small plate sat a cauliflower and Brussels sprout skewer coated in a light chili sauce. It was alright and only enjoyable because I didn’t pay for it.

Waiting for my food was wrought with reflection.

The irony of a luxury Chinese restaurant was not lost on me, given Trump’s disdain for the Chinese economic policy during the campaign and his fondness for Chinese food. At this point I had never considered restaurant-going as a political act, but I felt by my being there I was making myself a subject to the GOP. I wanted to be done as soon as possible.

The food finally arrived as a heap on a fine black plate. There wasn’t much to the presentation of the dish, it was merely piled high for your capitalist consumption — you pig. The first bite was met with a lot of anticipation, and I was very much disappointed. At the very least, one would expect the food to at least taste expensive, which it didn’t. I’ve had better Chinese food at Peaceful Restaurant for a quarter of the price.

Even though I could tell the ingredients were of quality and prepared well, the experience would not be worth more than $12 at any casual food joint. A second server came to check up on me and vouched for the dish as well, calling it his favourite.

This made me suspicious. Was this a Trumpian tactic to charm me into a far right sympathetic state?

Nevertheless, I took most of my meal home and left the restaurant, hiding my face as I once again passed beneath those silver letters.

The entire meal cost me roughly $60, and that’s with the fried rice, a beer and a tip. My hard-earned cash went into the pockets of the most powerful family in the world. I took out a student loan for fuck’s sake and I’m doing this?

My meal at Mott 32 was the most politically and morally questionable meal I’ve probably ever had – if any wall had been built, it was built to shield opulence from flavour. Spend your money at more casual and cheaper places, unless of course you were given a small loan of a million dollars. U

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY | Culture | 7 MEMOIR //

Long-distance dating and missing out on first year Shelby Rogers Contributor

This is what a good part of my first year looked like: staring at a computer screen most nights, sitting alone in my room talking to someone who wasn’t even there, lots of crying, lots of fighting. It was not a pretty picture — unfortunately, I was the only one to blame for that.

Before coming to university, I had been in a relationship for about a year with someone back home in California. I was head over heels for this boy and — even though I was moving to an entirely different country — I wanted to do everything in my power to keep him in my life. I knew that being in a long-distance relationship would be hard, but I figured since we had been together for a while and since I was staying in the same time-zone, I could manage it.

Plus, this was only supposed to be temporary because he said he wanted to move to Vancouver to be with me. I was so confident in this relationship that I had absolutely no doubts going into it that we would be successful.

When you tell people that you’re starting university in a long-distance relationship, they usually tell you all the same things: “Oh that’s probably not going to last.”

“So you’ll be single by January then?”

“Do you seriously think that will work?” and so on.

I would always just laugh it off, because what do they know, right? They didn’t understand this connection we have so of course they couldn’t possibly see how we would make it work, but I knew we could. We’d be the exception and push through it.

The first two months of my long-distance relationship weren’t too bad. We both had our own lives going on in separate cities but still made time to FaceTime each other nearly every single night before bed. I was able to have my life at university and this relationship from back home. At least, that’s what it seemed like at the time.

Looking back, I can now see all the faults that this relationship had from the start of becoming longdistance. I would leave dinners early just to see my boyfriend; I would skip fun club and first-year events to see him; I would always prioritize talking to him over everything else.

At the time, it seemed like it was working and it felt like the right thing to do. It seemed healthy and supportive. But now, I realize I was missing out on so much because of this relationship. I couldn’t wait to run back up to my dorm to talk to him, but when I did that, I was blowing off the new friends I had made. When I would decide to stay in and FaceTime my boyfriend instead of going out to a stand up comedy event or a club icebreaker, I was essentially choosing to not have a great firstyear experience where I met new people and tried new things.

Over the first few months I became dependent on this relationship. As school went on, my schedule got busier and what little free time I had was spent talking to my boyfriend instead of going out with friends. When I couldn’t talk

DIVIJA MADHANI

“I wanted so badly for us to be the exception, for our relationship to be special.”

to him for whatever reason, I felt lost. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I wasn’t on FaceTime.

My friendships eventually faded and I had no other connections or involvements to fall back on. My first year eventually became just me and my long-distance boyfriend.

But I was too stubborn to recognize this dependency.

I wanted so badly for us to be the exception, for our relationship to be special. I remember telling myself that I had to make this work. I couldn’t just give up. I had put so much time and effort into this person, into this relationship — if I quit now, I would just prove everyone right.

At this point I was not only prioritizing him over everything, but I was also putting my pride over my own well-being and happiness. I couldn’t admit to anyone — not even myself — that this wasn’t working anymore, and that I was slowly becoming more and more miserable by trying to sustain this relationship.

I thought this was the only thing that could make me happy, when in reality, it was the one thing preventing me from actually being happy. I idolized him to a ridiculous

level. I saw him as my everything: my only support system, my one and only best friend, my source of confidence and happiness.

This wasn’t healthy and ultimately it’s what brought the relationship to its explosive end.

I know that this was not a one-sided experience, however.

As December approached, I found out that my boyfriend had been ditching parties or even putting off studying for exams just to talk to me.

When he told me this I was shocked and disappointed. I told him he shouldn’t do that, that he needs to have balance in his life and should go to these parties and study for his exams when he needs to.

While I was right, I was also being hypocritical because I was doing the exact same thing and refused to acknowledge how unhealthy it was. We were both prioritizing screen time with each other over real experiences around us, things we wouldn’t get a chance to experience again, at least not in the same way or same context.

When December came around and I was able to go home for the winter break, I had this sense of relief the more I saw him in person.

Seeing him reminded me why I had even attempted long distance in the first place and my confidence skyrocketed.

Yes, that was it for me. He was the person I wanted to be with. Why the hell would I want to give that up?

Before leaving, we promised each other we would stay together and love each other no matter what.

However, the moment I came back to UBC, it all came crashing down in a blaze of fury.

We started fighting every time we talked to each other. It was over little things at first — usually about some miscommunication — but eventually these fights became about how we treated each other or even who we were as people. They were very personal and intense fights.

We hit a breaking point towards the end of January when we had such a bad fight that we couldn’t even come to a resolution. It was drawn out for days. He was the one to call it off in the end. I remember ending the FaceTime call and immediately throwing away everything from that relationship: letters, pictures, gifts. I got rid of all of it, gutturally sobbing the whole way through. I could barely

see through the tears and it was so hard to breathe; but looking at these reminders made the pain so much worse, I had to get them away from me as quickly as possible. Any hint of him was enough to bring me to tears.

That break up was crushing to me. I felt defeated and ruined.

I had put so much love, time and attention into this relationship and at the time it felt like that had all been burned down in a matter of weeks. But now, I realize this break up was more of a long, slow-burning fuse with an intense explosion at the very end.

The end didn’t begin those last three weeks, but it was when the dependency started.

Admitting this to myself has been extremely difficult. I had always seen that relationship as healthy and supportive; to realize now that this was not the case, at least while we were longdistance, is heartbreaking. But I’m glad that I’ve grown enough to see and accept the bad parts of this relationship. It has provided me with a new perspective on relationships that I didn’t have before. For that, I’m grateful. U

OPINIONS

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR EMMA HICKS

8

PARTIES ON CAMPUS //

Letter: The Calendar needs to fix their organizational issues running until 1 a.m. and being 50 people away from the door, my group decided to leave.

I would like to say that I shouldn’t complain about long lines at Saturday night events — it does happen everywhere at some point in time. But what I am surprised about, is that this particular event was run by a student organization.

The Calendar is a great organization that hosts a lot of fun parties. However, on the organizational end, they need to be sure when they are charging students money, that that student is accommodated. While it’s only a $10 ticket, it’s still money out of students’ pockets and into The Calendar’s.

The Calendar did not oversell tickets, but they also did not refund those who didn’t get inside because of the halting entrance.

The Calendar markets towards students — busy students, who are oftentimes broke and who want to have fun on one of the only two nights they can out of the week.

For an organization that is meant to be for students run by students it was disappointing to see them not accommodate so many and not get a real explanation as to why they halted entrance to Koerner’s. U

Kat Anderson Contributor

After attempting to attend The Calendar’s organized event “Koerner’s House Party” on Saturday evening, I was baffled by how unorganized this event was and the way The Calendar had to hold entry for a good portion of the night with no explanation.

I arrived just after 10 p.m. and the line reached from the door to the sidewalk, curving along the road. As soon as my friends and I got in line, we heard the people standing in front of us complaining about how long they’ve been standing there for.

After 40 minutes, a bouncer wandered down the line, making sure everyone who was in line had already pre-ordered their ticket.

Everyone had, as the Facebook event proudly boasted that it had been selling out quickly since the page was created, not to mention all of the posts within the group, looking to buy tickets.

Everyone had bought their right to be inside.

After an hour and a half of arriving, when it was too late to bother cabbing downtown or organize other plans, all of the line-goers were informed that the bar was full and entry would only be working on a one-in and one-out basis. The event was only

Waitlists for courses are okay, not for parties.

FILE JACK HAUEN

Kat Anderson is a second year student studying Philosophy.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 TUESDAY | Opinions | 9 RELATIONSHIP ISSUES //

Ask Natalie: Help! My boyfriend is drinking all of my almond milk!

Natalie Morris Design Editor

“Dear Natalie, My boyfriend, whom I love dearly and is generally a wonderful boyfriend, won’t stop drinking my stupid almond milk. We don’t live together but he comes over a lot. I know that almond milk is literally the best thing on this Earth, but it’s not cheap. It’s not cheap at all.

At this point, he’s going through eight litres a week and I’m feeling it both in my wallet, and my poor almond milk-less stomach. I want to feed my almond milk addiction, but I don’t want to support his.”

You’re an enabler. Plain and simple.

He lives the almond milk life now.

You introduced him to it and now you have to deal with the facts of your new life. You drink from the almond tree. It gives you life and you must return life to it in order to sustain it. I suggest sacrificing your boyfriend. Maybe if you have a friend you don’t really like, they would be an okay substitute.

In all seriousness, there are a couple things you can do. You can go the easy (read: boring) route, where you talk to him and ask him to either, a) bring his own almond milk to drink, b) stop drinking yours, or, c) to chip into your almond milk budget, which I think we both know you have.

You can go the super petty (read: fun) route where you hide the almond milk every time he comes over and you can replace it with a 250 mL bottle of regular milk with your boyfriend’s name written on it.

PATRICK GILLIN

Eight litres of almond milk a week is a lot of money.

THE UBYSSEY

U

JOIN US.

Whether you want to write one article a semester or an article a day, there’s a place for you at The Ubyssey — this paper has survived and thrived since 1918 because it has truly been a student paper, open to any student who wants to take part.

Visit ubyssey.ca/volunteer for more information.

Or you can go the aggressive (read: super fun) route where you challenge him to a physical fight for dominance over your fridge and therefore your almond milk. The only downside I see to this option is that you might lose access to your own fridge and that your roommates might not love the fact you’re fighting your boyfriend in your shared space.

Overall, you might have to choose between the two great loves of your lifetime: this random boy and your own almond milk. Tough choice.

“Dear Natalie, I’ve decided against pursuing the major I originally wanted when I started at UBC. The intro classes for it are not engaging and I feel like I would hate majoring in it. I’m a first year but I like to have a life plan. What should I do?”

It’s okay not to have a life plan for a while — like you said, you’re only in first year — but I also know how good it feels to have a direction. Unfortunately for you, basically all first year classes are minimally engaging. There’s a reason there’s more than 50 people in those classes — because honestly they’re just trying to give you the basics as fast as possible so you can move on to the fun stuff.

Trust me, I may sound like a bitter fifth-year when I say this, but I have the misfortune of taking a first year intro class to my own major because first-year Natalie forgot to take all the requirements.

It’s dreadful. First year intro classes aren’t meant to be engaging — you don’t know enough to be engaged yet. It takes time.

If you think you’d be at all interested in pursuing your old major choice, find out what you need to major and minor in it. If you decide later to drop the major, you could still get a minor in it. Upper year classes are much better, I promise.

If you’re sure you’re not interested at all in majoring in it, cool. Take as many courses that sound interesting to you and try to find you passion. Think of what you’d like to do post graduation and work backwards — which major will help you get there? What careers sound interesting and what are the most commonly accepted majors into that field?

Changing your mind in university is not a big deal — it’s basically a cliché at this point. Just make sure you decide on something new before you have to declare. U Need advice? Contact Natalie anonymously at asknatalie@ubyssey. ca or at ubyssey.ca/advice and have your questions answered!

FEATURES

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR MOIRA WYTON

10

TRAVEL //

Places to Go: The future of drinking is a wine vending machine in London Jack Lamming Staff Writer

I’m on a flight to London, two weeks into the school year, to visit family — the Lamming family has got people in Canada, New Zealand and the UK Right now it’s just me and my parents here in the Lower Mainland. We used to have my sister Megan in the area, but she skipped town for London last year. Also in London lives Edna Chestney, my indomitable 98 year-old greatgrandmother.

A week into classes, the stress was simply too much for me (20 pages about Gandhi’s early years?!), so I hopped on a red-eye to meet my parents, who had flown over the night before.

I hadn’t been to London since I was a foot and a half shorter and 60 pounds lighter than I am now, when I was just an angsty 14 year-old. I bought my first album that trip, then got home and remembered iTunes.

I didn’t get to Heathrow until 2 p.m. on Saturday, and our return flight left Tuesday at 6 p.m., a total of 76 hours in London. When I was a kid and we would visit Nana Chestney, it always meant the Natural History Museum — the best and the worst — and a lot of British candy. Being above the legal drinking age, this trip meant pints and a whole hell of a lot of British candy (I would kill and die for Colin the Caterpillar).

We stayed at an AirBnB in Surbiton — or Suburbiton, as my sister’s girlfriend Daisy calls

it — meaning our commute into central London hovered around 40 minutes, not accounting for train delays. Megan works at a restaurant called Clipstone in the ultra-luxe Fitzrovia, and we sat down for a similarly luxe meal. It was all barrel-aged negronis and wild grouse, so wild in fact that my dad bit down on a buckshot.

Three bottles of cheap wine later we hit the streets on the way to Soho, and I start to notice something about London: it sounds different. Every other group of people you pass is speaking a different language, almost none of them English.

Where my sister works, there are girls from Germany, New Zealand and Canada (and one from Liverpool). Of the more than 300 languages spoken in London, I must have heard 250 at least.

We went to a wine bar called Vagabond, which is the future of drinking. At the counter you buy a card, which you then load up with money. Cabinets and coolers line the room, all loaded with wine bottles.

You punch your card into the cooler, press a button over the bottle of wine you want and a glass of wine is dispensed out to you. Genius.

After the wine bar, we bounced around Soho for a few more drinks, and hopped the last train home. We were staying in a giant council building, built sometime post-war. This meant that the apartment was a concrete box, a Wi-fi no-go zone with almost no water pressure. These two did nothing for the one-two punch of hangover and jet lag the next day.

Pub lunches are London’s fifth essential food group.

This trip meant pints and a whole hell of a lot of British candy.

COURTESY JACK LAMMING

In the morning, we headed over to Nana Chestney’s place, to pick her up along with my grandma, Nana, and Nana Chestney’s boyfriend, John, for a pub lunch.

Sunday afternoons in the suburbs are when everyone goes for pub lunches, and as a group of eight we were shit out of luck for anywhere but a Wetherspoons. If you’ve never been, Wetherspoons are a chain of pubs all across England, serving cold-ish beer and cold-ish food — think a Tim Hortons that serves beer.

At the Wetherspoons we had fish and chips, mushy peas and pints. My sister’s girlfriend Daisy explained that this was the kind of bar where the two of them were just friends, motioning over to a guy in a tracksuit playing snooker with a knife clearly hidden in his underwear (at least I hope it was a knife).

With my family being so spread out across the world, our history has always been a little hazy (my parents refuse even to tell me how they met) so the pub lunch was the perfect opportunity to learn a little bit more. I found out that my namesake, Jack Chestney, was one of the last to leave the beach at Dunkirk, and spent the rest of the war as a Desert Rat, a rear gunner in a British tank.

The next day was Nana Chestney’s big day — she was turning 98 — which obviously called for another pub lunch. We

COURTESY JACK LAMMING

went to Alfriston, a town older than democracy itself, and ate in a pub even older than that. Driving through the countryside outside London, you start to feel like a pinball, except that the bumpers are roundabouts.

We only had one night left in London, and goddammit if we weren’t going to make the most of it, so we went to Brixton. After an hour on the train platform (due to “a vehicle striking a bridge”) and three Tube changes we finally made it to Brixton station. Then we remembered it was Monday.

Everything was closed, save for a container market full of white people selling jerk chicken, dumplings and ramen.

We hopped another bus to Clapham Common, the neighbourhood my parents met in (I presume). After some shitty pizza (who in their right mind puts the toppings on after the pizza comes out of the oven) we found the pub they used to frequent.

Still jetlagged 12 hours before our flight home, and brutally sleep deprived, we could only manage one pint. The pub wasn’t the same anyway since it had been bought and renovated the month prior.

On the flight home I had two Benadryls, three beers and a coffee — and nearly a heart attack. London felt a lot like home — probably because of the garbage everywhere. U

SCIENCE

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR NIVRETTA THATRA

11

WILDFIRE //

Opportunity found in ashes of local and global wildfires Suzanne King Contributor

The blanket of smoke that enveloped the Lower Mainland this summer was a poignant reminder of the exacerbating effects that climate change and human influence have on forest ecology in our province.

Countless records were broken — both at home and worldwide — as wildfires were also making headlines in Italy, Croatia, Spain, France and Portugal.

According to the 2017 BC Wildfire Index, compiled by Dr. Lori Daniels, forest ecology professor in UBC’s faculty of forestry, B.C. broke 85 maximum temperature records this summer alone. This is comparable to data from central and southern Italy, reporting a 30 per cent increase in wildfires corresponding to a 30 per cent decrease in rainfall.

Extreme heat and extreme drought were driving conditions.

Adding to this were strong winds.

“Those winds have fanned the flames, literally,” said Daniels.

This year brought a total of 1,217 wildfires in B.C. some of which are still blazing in Thompson Okanagan, Cariboo and the Chilcotin. Ignition sources range from natural causes to human influences. Lightning striking trees and vegetation ignited 138 fires on July 7, alone.

States of emergency were declared in both B.C. and several regions in Southern Europe in response to wildfire this summer.

The state of emergency in B.C. lasted for 69 days.

Efforts to extinguish the fires were orchestrated with internal and external aid — both in B.C. and

A total of 1,217 wildfires raged in B.C. this summer.

Europe. European countries rely heavily on neighbouring countries and organizations such as NATO, while B.C. recruited firefighters from other provinces, as far as Quebec, as well as crews from Mexico and New Zealand.

“We brought in experts from all around the world to cover our bases,” said Daniels.

Extinguishing fires is, of course, critical, but Daniels highlights a concept called fire suppression paradox.

“We will not get rid of fire in our ecosystems. It’s a natural process that is enhanced by

climate change,” she explained.

Fighting fires that are better left to extinguish naturally generates excess fuel, essentially kindling future fires.

On the other side of the coin is what can be regarded as something of a replanting paradox; herein lies a major concern with effectively responding to wildfire.

“People are going to want to see as many trees planted as possible because it seems like such a positive response … and right now in BC we have a large policy to plant trees … because they sequester carbon and it puts us in a positive carbon balance.

SHAVONNE YU

“That will work very well in some environments, but again — if we plant the trees back in these very hot, dry environments to their maximum density thinking we are going to … save the environment we are actually creating the next big fire.”

Another concern is the effect wildfire has on economies. In BC, the timber industry suffered great losses that will take decades to recover.

“With all the trees that have burned — over 1.2 million hectares of forest — we have lost in some areas … ten years’ worth of sustainable

forest management and timber.

Imagine those small communities in BC whose economies depend on the forest industry,” Daniels said.

The story is different in Europe where timber is not a significant industry. However, archeological sites and popular tourist destinations were forced to close in some areas. During peak season this certainly was a loss to economies already strapped from fighting wildfire.

All this said, Daniels sees an “opportunity in the ashes” from the unprecedented fires that burned around the globe this year.

B.C. and other areas afflicted globally have the opportunity to hit the reset button and develop big picture plans to create more resilient forests and communities.

Intrinsic to this, Daniels said, is that “we won’t be able to maximize short term economics. We need to look long term. There’s going to be some trade-offs.”

A key component of bouncing back from wildfires will be having the right people at the table.

Daniels stressed the importance of First Nations having a say in “how we are going to recover and be resilient in the future.”

Though many already economically marginalized and non-native communities were impacted, these are First Nations’ traditional territories.

“Given our province’s commitment to reconciliation and repeated … commitments to the United nations convention on indigenous people,” said Daniels.

“I think those two things can go hand in hand and we can be world leaders.” U

RECOVERY //

Wildfire recovery: Replanting versus natural vegetation re-growth

CREATIVE COMMONS COBALT123 / FLICKR

Nature’s response after a wildfire is immediate; nine months after a wildfire in Arizona, this poppy bloomed amidst the ashes.

Clare Skillman Staff Writer

According to Global News, this year’s B.C. wildfire season is now the worst since 1958.

As of August 4, the season cost the province $204 million and burned 894,491 hectares. Now, as the flames start to dwindle, the focus of the provincial government shifts mainly to recovery, including the ecological recovery of the forests.

It is important to remember that forests are evolutionarily adapted to natural disturbances, so there are

a range of responses which occur after a wildfire.

After some fires, the soil changes so that more nutrients are available for lower vegetation. Soil also contains a large store of seeds, some of which are in cones and can lay dormant for many years.

After a fire, these seeds get their opportunity to grow, causing a burst activity from pioneer species.

Dr. David Andison, adjunct professor in UBC’s department of forestry said, “I’ve been on some cases where the shoots are coming up as the fire is still smoldering.”

Nature’s response after a wildfire is

immediate and aggressive, which can yield nutrient rich vegetation covering the forest floor within months.

These typically leafy plants provide sustenance for herbivores and protection from harsh conditions for young tree seedlings.

“It is a chance for this ecosystem to hit a reset button,” said Andison.

However, the time frame for when the vegetation would grow overlaps with the prime time for salvage logging, because lumber after a wildfire will only remain viable for eight to twelve months.

The trade-off of short term economic benefit and long term ecological risk creates a dilemma for the provincial government in deciding how to regulate salvage logging and is at the heart of a nationwide debate.

Andison opines that the ecological impacts should be taken more seriously when deciding how to proceed.

The idea of salvage logging and replanting trees in order to give the forest community a head start may or may not lead to beneficial results.

Researchers like Andison argue that replanted trees could fail to grow, precisely because salvage logging does not allow a low lying vegetation community to grow before replanting trees.

Microorganisms, called ectomycorrhizas, attach themselves to the roots of trees and create a symbiotic relationship which nourishes both species. The likelihood of these beneficial relationships forming is reduced when the vegetation community is not allowed to grow.

“I would never say, ‘don’t go in and never do salvage logging,’” said Andison. “What I’m trying to say is that if you do it, you have to recognise that there is a long term ecological risk to it; it’s not a freebie.”

As the nation wide debate heats up, it is crucial to take into consideration that wildfires in the future are likely going to be as, if not more, intense and widespread as we saw this year. Due to climate change and fire fighting practices of the past fifty years, the forests have grown older and denser, which means that there is more fuel for wildfires.

“Ironically we created those conditions for hot fires in some of those ecosystems,” said Andison.

“Letting fires burn through every 30 or 40 years would have kept the biomass down, kept an age cross distribution across the landscape that would have been more variable, and there would have been natural fire breaks. ” Before there were people, fires burned often and with lower intensity.

Most fires moved along the ground and there were less trees making it harder for the fire to reach the crown. This lead to a “mosaic of trees” and caused the natural fire cycles to be less severe.

The mortality of trees after these wildfires was “between 30-40 per cent,” according to Andison.

Currently, Andison is collaborating with Dr. Lori Daniels, UBC professor of forestry and the principal investigator conducting research on fire regimes and forest dynamics in the foothills of Alberta, Rocky Mountain National Parks, Kootenay, Okanagan and Cariboo regions of BC. One of the aims of these studies is to compare the present and historical conditions of these forests to better understand how to proceed and be proactive about wildfire response and recovery.

“If we don’t understand the natural fire regime of the system, then the debate about what to do deteriorates because then it’s just based on opinion,” said Andison in support of the research.

“This [research] involves people’s livelihoods. This is real for people; it’s not just an academic exercise,” said Andison, “so we want to make sure that we get our facts right and then we can have a better discussion about how we want to move forward.” U

12 | Science | TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 HOLOGRAMS //

UBC and Microsoft collaboration yields floating, interactive holographic brain Kristine Ho Contributor

It might look like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but the Holographic Brain Project is the real deal.

UBC researchers Dr. Tamara Bodnar, Dr. Claudia Krebs and Parker Holman worked together with interns at Microsoft Garage to develop the Holographic Brain Project, which was designed as a neuroanatomy learning tool to help teach a wide range of students about the brain.

This project includes students from the life sciences, psychology and medicine. Bodnar and Holman are both supported by the Mitacs Accelerate Internship.

The Holographic Brain Project is an application that is run on Microsoft Hololens, an augmented reality headset that looks like a large pair of sunglasses and contains a holographic computer.

After the user puts on the headset, technology inside the Hololens projects an interactive 3D brain into the user’s physical environment with brain structures that can be enlarged, isolated or rotated, among many other commands.

Currently, the app contains a set of brain structures called the basal ganglia.

Hololens allows for a unique look into the brain that is hard to obtain with other techniques like dissections. Holman described how more superficial or exterior structures are often damaged in order to expose inner structures, which is not the case with the holographic technology.

“The brain is particularly difficult to teach,” said Holman. “It’s a really compact structure. It’s also very complex. Unlike when we do dissections in the gross anatomy lab — [where] we can maintain the overall context of the body and the different structures — when we dissect the human brain, it’s a really destructive process and we lose a lot of the context.”

HOW THE HOLOGRAHIC BRAIN WORKS Unlike virtual reality, where a wholly virtual world is created, augmented reality incorporates computer-

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION COURTESY KERRY BLACKADAR

Three UBC scientists — Phd student Parker Holman, Professor Claudia Krebs and post-doc Tamara Bodnar, from left to right — demonstrate how the holographic brain is seen in real-time.

generated input into the actual environment around the user.

Sensors on the headset relay information from the environment into the Hololens, which then creates a spatial map of the surrounding environment and projects a holographic image onto it. Although the application runs on Microsoft Hololens, Microsoft Garage interns coded the programming logic such as voice and gesture controls on Unity, an engine used primarily for game development.

A unique characteristic of the app’s 3D brain is that it is based off of a real person, rather than a conceptual or abstract approximation like many other brain models.

The 3D model in the app was initially traced from a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, which is an image that looks like a flat brain slice. Building on that MRI data, the team built the 3D brain structures to overlap with corresponding 2D MRI brain structures.

One of the key strengths of the hologram app is exactly that: its ability to interface a 3D brain onto a 2D MRI scan simultaneously in the real world.

Other technologies can interface

COURTESY KERRY BLACKADAR

Hololens users all wear a headset, which contains sensors of the users’ environment and projects projects a holographic image into it.

2D brain photos and 3D models together on-screen, but the app’s ability to marry both in an actual hologram allows students to more easily form a representation of 3D brain structures, and understand the relative positions of different brain structures.

The researchers compared using the Hololens to commanding your dog: it responds promptly to both predefined voice commands and hand gestures, which are its inputs.

“Rotate” will cause the 3D brain to rotate on the spot, allowing you to view structures from almost every angle. “Isolate” is useful for singling out desired structures. “Expand” blows up brain structures for easy viewing, while touching your thumb to your index finger can select specific brain areas.

INTO THE CLASSROOM “Students are trying to build in their mind this 3D representation of the brain,” Holman said, referring to the process of turning a 2D brain image into a 3D understanding. “And that constant back and forth is a really high cognitive load. It uses a lot of brainpower to build that image.”

Bodnar explained the practical benefits of interfacing 2D MRIs with 3D structures, specifically for medical students.

“Realistically, how medical students and doctors [are] really going to be looking at the brain is an MRI,” Bodnar said. “By sticking the two [together], they can really understand the 3D structure, but then link back to how they’re going to be examining the brain in real life.”

The intended lesson plan for the Hololens is to mimic a real lab experience, with an instructor leading the session and students following along.

Since the Hololens is a shared experience, both instructors and students, who will all wear the Hololens, can see the holographic brain in real time.

After opening the session and

providing a class ID, the instructor will then manipulate aspects of the hologram through voice and gesture commands, such as enlarging specific brain structures. The adjustments from the instructor’s Hololens will then be sent to all students in the room.

The researchers clarified that the app is meant to complement rather than replace physical inlab experiences like dissections.

The value of playing with brain tissue and having that tactile feedback, they said, cannot be substituted by holograms.

THE HANDS BEHIND THE BRAIN APP Mehrdad Ghomi, a software engineer at UBC currently working on the project, described the app’s userfriendliness, which caters well to students and instructors. “If you’re comfortable with voice commands ... your hands are free, you can interact, you can show the next person, say ‘Look at this please,’ and then say a command and the system will respond to it.”

He added that voice command recognition generated from Microsoft Cortana data allows the application to recognize various

accents, a practical attribute for teaching at a school as diverse as UBC. Kevin Jacyna, a Microsoft Garage intern and UBC student, worked on the project for four months from beginning to completion as a developer on a team of five people, with four developers and one designer. The interns were pitched different ideas from Microsoft, one of them being the Hololens project proposed by Krebs.

“We started from basically ground zero, where none of us had done any kind of AR [alternative reality] development or had worked with Unity,” Jacyna said.

He added that Krebs provided the interns with a neuroanatomy lecture prior to starting the project to help them identify difficulties students might have in learning the material.

Using the Agile Method, the team of interns worked on weekly tasks and made weekly improvements based on feedback from UBC and students.

“Basically we worked right until the last week of continuously building our application,” Jacyna said. “All the way up from week one, where it was just some cubes that we were figuring out how to move around, to the end brain model and all the core features that we wanted to have finished.”

As for future plans, the research team and developers have many.

A more immediate research project involves recruiting students to assess the educational value of the app, and to gauge its teaching effectiveness in the classroom. The team has also proposed the Holographic Brain Project as a capstone design project, an upper-level intensive project similar to an honours thesis, to UBC’s undergraduate electrical and computer engineering department.

Further tasks include possibly implementing a gaze-tracking system, reducing potential rendering time lags as the app is developed, and incorporating a feature where the user will be able to see the of effect various manipulations on regional brain cell movements. U

COURTESY KERRY BLACKADAR

Microsoft Garage interns, top row left to right: Roxanne Plante, Shirley Mao, Sean Tohidi, Salma Aly; bottom row: Reem Razak and Kevin Kacyna.

SPORTS+REC NAMES TO NOTE //

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR LUCY FOX

13

Leading the team to Victory:

Soccer prodigy Shumbusho starts the season strong Vikram Parahoo and Olamide Olaniyan Contributor and Staff Writer

Being the Thunderbirds’ leading scorer is no small feat, but Victory Shumbusho — a soccer prodigy with seven goals in ten games so far this year — makes it look easy.

The rookie only started getting interested in the sport when he moved to Uganda as a young boy. According to Shumbusho, “football” is not just a common activity in Uganda. “It’s the main sport. That’s the only sport they play,” said Shumbusho.

“I was nine, and every evening people would get together and play,” Shumbusho continued. “I was just interested in that and since then I started taking it seriously.”

Shumbusho’s success in the sport can be largely attributed to his rigid work ethic and determination. As explained

by Whitecaps FC on their website, Shumbusho joined their residency program in August 2016 after turning heads with Chilliwack Attack.

Shumbusho was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but later, because of the civil war taking place there, his family moved to Uganda as refugees. While in Uganda, his parents applied for relocation through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) — an organization that handles relocation and migration worldwide.

Four years ago, when the Shumbusho family were granted their application — they were selected by a church in Chilliwack, BC, relocating them over 14,000 kilometres away.

“We didn’t really have a say where we wanted to go. We just knew we wanted to get out of

In UBC’s match against MacEwan on September 16, Shumbusho scored three of the ‘Birds five goals.

there to go find a better life,” Shumbusho said. “My father did it mostly for me and my two

brothers, so we could come out here to a place where there’s more opportunities.”

PHOTO IYANU OWOLABI

IYANU OWOLABI

For Shumbusho, faith has always been an important aspect of his life.

“I’m a Christian. I’m of Christian background,” he said. “I just keep the faith and know that God has better plans for me. I just have to stay focused on the process for now.”

Shumbusho has plenty of advice for up-and-coming athletes. His first is for them to always remember where they came from. For him, a player’s origins form part of who they are as an individual. They also need to put in the hard work.

“In Africa, most things aren’t given to you. You have to work hard. For me, work ethic has been the main thing,” Shumbusho said.

“Everyday I have to put in the work no matter what.”

Lastly, athletes need to enjoy what they are doing.

“For me, all my troubles I had in Africa, whenever I went on the field, I kind of focused and just played and had fun. And all the problems would come back later — but every time I went on the field, the love I had for the sport and all the passion, I just put it there,” Shumbusho said.

This passion shines through on the field when he plays for UBC. In the first six games of their season, Shumbusho scored in all but two of them.

Shumbusho has his sights set on professional soccer as a future career. Beyond UBC, the Whitecaps residency program prospect intends to continue training and playing soccer for the Whitecaps.

For now, Shumbusho continues to train and perform for the T-Birds, a program he considers to be one of the best in Canada.

He hopes that the training here sets him on the right track to be a professional soccer player.

Thousands of miles away from where he first found his passion for the sport, Shumbusho has a world of opportunity at his feet — what he does with it now is up to him. U

PHOTO PATRICK GILLIN

14 | SPORTS+REC | TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 HEAD-SCRATCHER //

Battle for Pacific Division heats up after unpredictable home stand for women’s soccer Scott Young Contributor

Back in Vancouver for a threegame home stand, UBC women’s soccer opened their two-game weekend set with a strong 3-0 win against the Prairie Division’s number three seeded MacEwan University Griffins on Friday night.

Early on, the ’Birds took advantage of the transition game.

In the 18th minute, Thunderbird forward Danielle Steer sent the ball diagonally through the Griffins defence to striker Jasmin Dhanda who slotted it home confidently. Dhanda continues to lead Canada West with 11 goals scored — three goals separate her from runner up Kiara Kilbey from the University of Victoria.

The offensive prowess continued to show through in the 37th minute when Dhanda slipped a pass of her own behind the defence to forward Amelia Crawford who opened the lead up to two goals. Soon after, a similar play transpired again from Dhanda to Crawford, who put home her second goal of the day to solidify the Thunderbirds 3-0 lead going into the half.

“I think as a team we have a lot of quality up front. When we go at teams, we go at 100 per cent,” said head coach Jesse Symons of the T-Birds attack. “When we have speed going at teams, I think it’s difficult to defend.”

MacEwan’s struggles continued

in the second, as they opened the half with a free kick by midfielder Suekiana Choucair ringing off the bar. The uphill battle only got steeper in the 49th minute when Amelia Crawford was taken down in the box and UBC earned a penalty shot.

Although the ’Birds didn’t capitalize on the chance, they gained another advantage as MacEwan’s Sarah

Riddle was sent off for the foul.

From there, the T-Birds held strong against the desperate Griffins team. With the final whistle, UBC added another win to their hot streak, finishing the game 3-0 up.

When asked about the upcoming match against the University of Northern BC on

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 17030

Public Open House

Sunday, Symons said the team “[looks] to regroup and try and play at the same tempo to overwhelm them a bit going forward and hopefully we have another good game where the ball goes in the net.”

After posting the clean sheet, UBC keeper Marlee Maracle said, “Moving forward, I think it’s just a matter of staying strong, staying level headed and full speed ahead.”

The ’Birds then faced the University of Northern

Baseball Field Phase 2 Improvements

Sport

Date: Thursday, October 12, 2017 Times: 4:00 - 6:00PM Place: UBC Baseball Indoor Training Centre, 3085 Wesbrook Mall

Ice Hockey (W)

Plans will be displayed for the above ground modifications to the existing Baseball Field. These include additions of permanent bleachers, scoreboards and new lighting. Phase 1 underground infrastructure work is currently under way.

Representatives from the project team and Campus + Community Planning will be available to provide information and respond to inquiries about this project.

For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager, Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586 Can’t attend in person? Online feedback will be accepted until October 19, 2017. To learn more or to comment on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations

BC Timberwolves on Sunday afternoon, finding themselves in a 1-1 tie at the final whistle.

Though the result continues UBC’s unbeaten streak, the scoreline comes as a surprise as the Timberwolves came to Vancouver on a five-game loss streak. Shots were heavily in favour of the home side as well, at 33-3.

The ’Birds now share first place in the Pacific Division of Canada West with the University of Victoria Vikes with a record of 7-1-1. U

Last Week’s Fixtures

Join us on Thursday, October 12 to view and comment on the proposed above ground modifications to the existing Baseball Field in Thunderbird Park.

This event is wheelchair accessible.

PATRICK GILLIN

UBC striker Aman Shergill forces her way to the ball past Griffin’s midfielder Sophie Robertson.

Home

Score

Away

0-6

Kunlun Red Star WIH

2-3

Chinese National Team

Tuesday, September 26 UBC

Wednesday, September 27 Ice Hockey (W)

UBC

Friday, September 29 Soccer (W)

UBC

3-0

MacEwan

Football

UBC

17-31

Calgary

Soccer (M)

UNBC

1-0

UBC

Saturday, September 30 Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

3-1

Trinity Western

Rugby (M)

UBC

34-26

Capilano RFC

Field Hockey (M)

West Vancouver FHC

6-2

UBC

Baseball

Thompson Rivers

4-14

UBC

Baseball

Thompson Rivers

1-0

UBC

Soccer (M)

UNBC

1-4

UBC

Rugby (M)

UBC

22-34

Lethbridge

Soccer (W)

UBC

1-1

UNBC

Sunday, October 1

OCTOBER 3, 2017 TUESDAY | Sports | 15 BASKETBALLIN’ //

Season primer: Depth of men’s basketball sets team up for promising season THE OFFENCE

Adam McQueen Contributor

To say that the men’s basketball team has lofty expectations for the upcoming season would be a massive understatement. After steamrolling through the Canada West regular season with a 17-1 record, the ’Birds 2016/17 campaign came to an abrupt end after a home series sweep at the hands of the Manitoba Bisons in the first round of the playoffs.

Fast forward six months and the ’Birds have revamped and reloaded, boasting one of the more impressive recruitment classes in recent memory while only losing two key cogs from last season: Jordan JensenWhyte and Will Ondrick.

MISSING LINKS

Ondrick was an efficient player on both ends of the floor for UBC and served as the supplementary scorer behind an offence revolving around Conor Morgan — arguably one of the most versatile players in the nation.

However, the embarrassment of riches at head coach Kevin Hanson’s disposal in the wing and guard department should be able to absorb the minutes that Ondrick provided.

Harder to replace will be the leadership provided both on and off the court by Jorden Jensen-Whyte, the deserved recipient of Canada West Defensive Player of the Year honours in 2016. A lockdown on-ball defender with a seemingly endless gas tank, Jensen-Whyte was the spark plug that ignited the ’Birds.

With coach Hanson possessing a finite amount of minutes for a backcourt that runs six to seven guards deep, the player that emerges with Jensen-Whyte’s doggedness may earn crunch time minutes come playoffs.

File Geoff Lister

RETURNING STARS

The brightest news for the ’Birds this off-season was the return of star player Conor Morgan, now in his final year of eligibility. The Canada West Outstanding Player of the Year poured in 23.1 points and hauled in 7.3 rebounds per game last season. A hallmark of scoring efficiency, Morgan dazzled fans with an array of dominant offensive performances while also assuming the role of defensive anchor and predominant rim protector.

Third-year wing Taylor Browne also looks set to take significant strides forward. His shooting touch was exceptional last season, shooting a team-high 41.6 per cent from three-point range. Opposing defences can no longer throw double teams in Morgan’s direction in the paint or else they risk giving Browne wide-open shots from deep.

Joining Morgan in the front court are Luka Zaharijevic and highly touted rookie Grant Shephard.

Zaharijevic has proven to be a consistent presence on the ’Birds squad; his rebounding ability relieves pressure for Conor Morgan and offers coach Hanson versatility against more physical opposition.

The buzz around Shephard, who turned down numerous NCAA Division 1 schools to don the blue and gold, has only heightened since his Junior World Championship victory with the U-19 national team.

If the 18 year-old can develop oncourt chemistry with Morgan, then national championship aspirations could very well become a reality.

THE GUARDS

Two other players are awaiting their first taste of UBC basketball at the point guard position: Kelowna Owls graduate Mason Bourcier and University of Saskatchewan transfer Jauquin Bennett-Boire. BennettBoire impressed in his first year of university basketball, but was forced to redshirt last season due to transfer rules. Bourcier, who committed to UBC in April, has demonstrated an incredible scoring ability at the high school level.

At point guard, Phil Jalalpoor and A.J. Holloway each bring polar opposite styles to the ’Birds backcourt. Jalalpoor is a steadying presence, effectively initiating the UBC offence and protecting the ball with an impressively low turnover rate; his distribution skills were vital in getting the ball to shooters across the floor last season.

In contrast, Holloway veers from the typical point guard mould, injecting a rapid tempo off of the bench and providing greater scoring ability. The Tacoma native brings feistiness to the defensive side of the floor, but his overzealousness has put him in some foul trouble on occasion.

One thing is clear: depth will not be a concern for the ’Birds this season.

Led by an established star in Conor Morgan, the versatility and athleticism of this UBC squad will provide the coaching staff greater flexibility. Littered with players who can both shoot and guard multiple positions, the ’Birds roster has national title aspirations written all over it.

We will soon find out if their performances can match their potential. U

16 | GAMES | TUESDAY OCTOBER 3, 2017 CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Bach’s “___, Joy of Man’s Desiring”; 5 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby; 10 ___ about; 14 First place?; 15 Disney dog; 16 Religious practice; 17 Laws; 19Pest control brand; 20 Sao ___; 21 Most strange; 23 Small batteries; 25 City on the Ruhr; 26 Asleep; 29 Fail to include; 31 Stickum; 35 Piece of cloth, tabloid newspaper; 36 Farrow and Hamm; 37 Three lines of verse; 38 Sharon, e.g.; 40 Slightly gray; 41 Builds; 42 Adjoin; 43 Bullring cheer; 44 Gate fastener; 45 Pigsty;

46 Growl; 47 Bits; 49 X; 51 Cheese; 54 Where Hercules slew the lion; 58 Patriot Nathan; 59 Lawless; 63 Press; 64 Diary bit; 65 Gilbert of “Roseanne”; 66 Mine entrance; 67 Twilled fabric; 68 Red sign; DOWN 1 Rugged utility vehicle; 2 Poet ___ St. Vincent Millay; 3 Linebacker Junior; 4 Naked; 5 LP speed; 6 Beer; 7 Attila, e.g.; 8 Bear witness; 9 Misplaces; 10 Commonplace; 11 Pleasing; 12 Western Indians; 13 1996 Tony winning musical; 18 Get thee ___ nunnery; 22 Say again;

24 Dirties; 25 Frozen Wasser; 26 Disney mermaid; 27 Iraqi port; 28 Heron; 30 ___ tai; 32 Descendant; 33 Inventor Nikola; 34 Old anesthetic; 36 Technique; 37 Confidence; 39 Unfortunate happening; 40 “Pygmalion” monogram; 42 DDE’s rival; 45 Leatherneck; 46 Metamorphic rock; 48 Stories; 50 Tolkien tree creature; 51 Pet plant; 52 Solid; 53 “The Time Machine” people; 55 Castle defense; 56 Currency unit of France and Germany, among others; 57 Pronto!; 60 Geom. point; 61 Unit of energy; 62 TV’s “Science Guy”

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ubyssey.ca/ volunteer ANTHONY LABONTE