August 28, 2018

AUGUst 28, 2018 | VoLUME C | IssUE IV ABOVE GROUND SINCE 1918

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NEWs

CULtUrE

sPorts

sCIENCE

This is the last (plastic) straw

oPINIoNs

Reliving the 90’s at the PNE concert series

Student papers do real reporting

Football and soccer are back, baby

UBC grad students behind new science podcast

THE UBYSSEY

J1ers: The taleS and trials of Vancouver’s visiting Irish students Page 7

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AUGUst 28, 2018 TUESDAY

YoUr GUIdE to UBC EVENts & PEoPLE

events

2

our CaMpus

tUEsdAY, AUGUst 28 solo: a star Wars story dUsK (8:45 P.M.) @ WEsBrooK VILLAGE Arrive early to get free popcorn from 8 P.M. onward.

FrEE

Now 84, Kitagawa has been recently appointed the order of BC.

sUNdAY, sEPtEMBEr 2 Koerner’s house party: Move in WeeKend (19+) 9 P.M. to 1 A.M. @ KoErNEr’s PUB Go to the first Koerner’s house Party of the school year! $5-$15

sEPtEMBEr 4 to dECEMBEr 2 ColleCtive aCts @ BELKIN Art GALLErY Visit the newest art exhibition on campus.

FrEE

on the Cover Cover by Maja Maj

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

U THE UBYSSEY EDITORIAL Coordinating Editor samantha McCabe coordinating@ubyssey.ca Visuals Editor Claire lloyd visuals@ubyssey.ca

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BUSINESS

Web Developers rowan baker-french rowan@ubyssey.ca

News Editors alex nguyen and Zak vescera news@ubyssey.ca

Business Manager douglas baird business@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor bridget Chase culture@ubyssey.ca

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to acknowledge that this paper and the land on which we study and work is the traditional, occupied, unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (TsleilWaututh) Nations.

CoUrtEsY UBC

Mary Kitagawa, Japanese-Canadian champion, demands history be personal Cassandra betts Contributor

When Mary Kitagawa was seven, she watched an RCMP officer shove her father to his knees in the back of a truck. As she and her sisters cried out, the officer accelerated, causing her father to fall over on his face as he drove him away from his children and family.

Kitagawa’s father had not committed any crime. His only transgression was being Japanese and raising Canadian children in 1942.

Kitagawa and the rest of her family would soon join him. They, along with 22,000 other JapaneseCanadians, were incarcerated by the Government of Canada in the Second World War for no reason but the origin of their ancestors.

Now 84, Kitagawa has been recently appointed to the Order of BC for her activism concerning the internment of Japanese-Canadians.

Her public activism began after she discovered that a new building in Vancouver was to be named after Howard Green, a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1935 until 1963, who had played a central role in the Japanese incarceration.

“I will not have the name of this racist on this building,” she recalled thinking.

So she wrote to the government, and after a year of fighting, she finally achieved her aim: Howard Green’s name was removed from the building. In 2007, it was renamed after Douglas Jung, a MP of Chinese descent who was the first-ever member of a visible minority elected to Parliament.

ubC’s oWn past Kitagawa would later watch the University of Washington award honourary degrees to the JapaneseAmerican students it had expelled during the Second World War on television, which made her realize that UBC had probably expelled Japanese-Canadian students. She began a mission to track these students down and to convince

UBC to recognize them.

At first, UBC did not support her project. So she brought the story to the press, including The Ubyssey.

“I will forever be grateful to the reporters and the editor who wrote many articles in support of my cause,” she said. “The students knew it was wrong before the adults did.”

Eventually, however, the adults came to terms with their actions, and the 76 JapaneseCanadians who were expelled in 1942 were recognized by UBC with honourary degrees.

Kitagawa’s husband worked six hours a day for months, making calls and doing research in order to personally track down these students and their descendants.

In the end, around ten students were able to attend a ceremony.

Many were surprised to be contacted by the Kitagawas, not even being aware of what their parents and grandparents had gone through.

“First, they did not want their children to know the pain that they went through. Second, they did not want their children to experience the pain. And third, they were afraid that if they spoke about it they would be incarcerated again.”

Kitagawa is now a seasoned veteran when it comes to speaking out. But she said that even now, the pain is still there.

“We were dehumanized. We were kept in a barn and had to defecate in a trough, the same trough used for animals,” she said.

Her mother would take her and her siblings out for walks, trying to keep them outside in the fresh air for as long as possible before they had to re-enter the barn that held urine, feces, and bunk beds for hundreds of Japanese-Canadian prisoners.

After the war, Kitagawa’s family was the only one to return to Salt Spring Island, where she had lived her entire life until the incarceration, and where they faced further challenges. The Canadian government had sold their land, and the new owners refused to return it, or even sell it back. The family was instructed

not to return to the Anglican church on the island, a church that Japanese-Canadians had helped build. Even well into the 1980s, she and her siblings faced discrimination, from being called “japs” by the RCMP to being turned down jobs for which they were over-qualified.

Despite this, Kitagawa said that her parents taught her to forgive.

“Bitterness is not a part of my parents’ vocabulary.”

But, forgiving is not forgetting, and Kitagawa’s work is helping to ensure that this dark part of history is never forgotten. To Kitagawa, hearing a survivor’s story has a unique impact, one that cannot be replicated through a textbook or plaque. Although she said that people have started recording survivors’ testimonies, the experience of hearing their stories in person has an indelible impact.

Last semester Kitagawa brought this tenacity to teach and to heal to UBC, where she co-taught a UBC history course in the Asian Studies Department entitled “Histories and Legacies of Japanese Canadian Internment.” A teacher for most of her life, she called the course “her best teaching experience.”

“Students were very emotional.

Some even teared up. The last class was filmed by NHK [a Japanese broadcaster] and thousands of people saw it.”

Although it may seem long ago that the Canadian government incarcerated its own citizens and stole their property, the pain remains. Kitagawa believes there are lessons to be learned from the past, universal lessons that apply to any place, any time, and any group of people — she described the heartbreak she experienced while hearing about the family separation at the United States border recently, reminded that she was once the child who was torn from her father.

“You must speak out against injustice,” she said simply. “And you cannot speak out just once.” U

NEWS

August 28, 2018 TUESday

Editors Alex Nguyen + Zak Vescera

3

THIS IS THE LAST STRAW //

UBC Food Services eliminates plastic straws and cutlery, prompting accessibility concerns Emma Livingstone Contributor

On August 1, UBC Food Services launched the “Straws Suck” campaign to eliminate single-use plastic straws and cutlery from all residence dining halls and food establishments it owns and operates.

The removal aligns with Vancouver city council’s decision to ban plastic straws from food establishments with city licenses by Fall 2019. This decision is also meant to help UBC become a “zero waste, sustainable campus community,” as it cuts over two million pieces of plastic cutlery and straws from the university’s waste stream each year.

To replace them, UBC recommends that community members carry their own reusable utensils. Compostable cutlery and bendable paper straws — which UBC took four months to develop — are available, but they will only be made available on request or for necessary usage, such as for people with disabilities.

“We’re hoping that most people don’t need a straw and so we’re not offering them as widely as we did before,” said Victoria Wakefield, purchasing manager of UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services. “For people with mobility issues of any kind, there are absolutely straws available for them.”

“I don’t think [the impact] will be huge, just one little step in the right direction.”

Is the alternative accessible?

Alternative proposals to single-use plastic straws and cutlery have raised accessibility concerns, especially for people with disabilities.

According to a number of infographics cited by disability rights advocates, plastic is the most accommodating material.

Paper — even after being made bendable — could still be unsafe when used in high temperatures, or as a choking hazard since it dissolves after a period of time.

ALEX NGUYEN

“It’s something people don’t necessarily realize when they say there are other materials,” said Disabled Students Association VP External Rachelle Loo. According to Wakefield, the campaign consulted with the UBC Hospital as well as Access and Diversity, which noted the importance of the paper straw’s ability to bend. She also pointed out that for some people with severe disabilities, they already “come self-prepared.”

“We were also told, you know, that people with severe mobility issues come prepared

and have their own hardware,” Wakefield said. “So absolutely we did consulting and we have the bendy paper straw that holds up and we’re absolutely open to feedback.”

Loo reiterated the importance of having options for people with disabilities given some of paper’s drawbacks, but also expressed interest in testing out UBC’s bendable paper straws.

“I think the overall concern right now is getting alternatives for [people with disabilities] and making sure [the new straws] are something that they can use and is workable with whatever disability they may have,” she said.

“I think people with disabilities will importantly have to give it try and try it out for themselves.”

“Just one little step in the right direction” The campaign is currently limited to UBC Food Services. Other private suppliers on campus are not affected by Vancouver’s ban, as the University Endowment Lands are out of the city’s jurisdiction.

But Wakefield hopes this move will inspire others to follow suit, expressing hope that this campaign could lead to more plastic reduction across campus such as with plastic bags.

She also noted that UBC Food

Services will be rolling out more advertisements for “Straws Suck” in the coming months.

“We ask the UBC community to roll along with us and help us do better,” she said.

“We’ve got 700 front-end staff that are engaged in the campaign and we’re educating them as we go so we hope the university supports us in reducing plastic waste.”

The AMS — which is also outside of this campaign — approved a new external policy on environmental advocacy at its August 1 Council meeting, which also partly focuses on “zero waste advocacy.”

However, there is the debate about whether this initiative to cut single-use plastic straw and cutlery is enough to make a tangible improvement.

“Plastic straw makes up a tiny little portion of our total oil consumption but get magnified by the media as if it is the key to save the environment,” commented user rollingOak in a r/UBC thread about Vancouver’s plastic straw ban.

Other users pointed out that these initiatives are a part of changing the consumption pattern, despite not making a big impact overall. Wakefield likewise acknowledged that UBC’s initiative is just the first step.

“I don’t think [the impact] will be huge,” she said, “just one little step in the right direction.” U

Morrell Andrews //

UBC alumna leads country-wide independent consultation process for Canada’s first youth policy

Ananya Muralidharan/ Courtesy Morrell Andrews

“We’re not in Nunavut and we’re not in PEI, but every other province and territory we are holding conferences in, so it’s exploded.”

Thea Udwadia Contributor

UBC alumna Morrell Andrews, who graduated in 2017 with a degree in international relations, is leading independent consultation sessions across Canada that will contribute to the country’s firstever youth policy.

Announced by the federal government in February, the yet-to-be-drafted youth policy aims to be a tool that would bring youth perspectives into the government’s decision-making process and initiatives.

“Young Canadians face a number of unique challenges, but

they also have innovative solutions to turn those challenges into opportunities,” said Matt Pascuzzo, press secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, in a written statement to The Ubyssey.

“This is the first step toward building and shaping a federal youth policy for Canada that will hold this and future government to account when it comes to issues that are important to young Canadians.”

Ottawa started the consultation process the same month, calling on youth to share their ideas online or through in-person sessions. The statement said it also would collaborate with youth activists and youth-focused

organizations to reach “often under-represented” communities.

“Our government will be supporting some larger events across Canada, but the intent of this consultation is to have young people lead the conversation and host their own sessions,” said Pascuzzo.

He added that the office has provided a Conversation Guide to help youth plan these sessions, and noted that there have been a growing number of events for them.

Andrews, who was not involved in the policy’s development early on, decided to initiate multiple consultations when she noticed a “gap in awareness” about this initiative.

“It seemed like no one had any idea that there was going to be a youth policy, or that there was a consultation process going on,” she said.

“At the end of April, I kind of sat down and ... I said I was going to hold my own consultation process and show the government how to do it correctly because I think there were some less than ideal ways that they had undertaken their process.”

“Constantly expanding” According to Andrews, the discussions focus on six themes that hold a “very significant youth lens”: jobs and the economy, reconciliation and Indigenous rights, climate and environment, justice, humans rights and equality, health and wellness, and international systems and affairs.

“Ultimately this policy is a youth policy, it’s not necessary foreign policy or public policy,” she said.

“Everything that we talk about has to have that context that young people can bring into the conversation, so that’s how we came up with those six themes.”

She added that out of all themes, many youth raised concerns about “constant precarious and temporary work.” They also discussed access to appropriate mental health resources, the need for immediate action to combat climate change, as well as discrimination in the workforce and public services.

At the same time, reaching out to and including voices from under-represented communities is considered a “definite priority” for Andrews and her team.

Accordingly, they have partnered with groups such as Native Child and Family Services in Toronto, newcomer refugee youth in Ottawa and the Kwanlin Dün First Nations Youth Council in Whitehorse.

In response, Andrews noted that the initiative has received a “super excited” response from youth participants, who ranged from the ages of 14 to late 20s. One consultation event was hosted on July 28 at UBC itself.

“We’re not in Nunavut and we’re not in PEI, but every other province and territory we are holding conferences in, so it’s exploded. We went from 5 cities to a team of 75 people in less than a month,” she said.

By the end of the process, her team hopes to hold 27 consultation sessions while expressing optimism that the initiative is “constantly expanding.”

After the consultations The government has also held around 50 consultation sessions between February and June 2018, followed by 17 smaller “sensemaking” sessions to analyze the collected data.

The policy-drafting sessions will be held at the end of August.

“Sometimes with these things, you’ll send in your recommendation and your document goes to a desk somewhere in Ottawa to just die, so it’s nice that I’m going to be able to take what everyone has told us across all the cities and basically directly use that,” said Andrews, who will also be taking part in the writing process.

Moving forward, she hopes that the government will release a first draft to the public for feedback and adapt the policy for multiple departments.

“I want to see a policy that is mainstreamed throughout various departments in the government,” Andrews said.

“I think it’s important that it’s not just seen as a document that’s by itself, that it’s seen as a document that has value and is transferable to other policies that are happening and different policy discussions.” U

4 | News | tuesDAY August 28, 2018 INDIGENEITY //

‘The Gold Rush’: Canadian universities’ rush to hire Indigenous faculty is taking an aggressive turn Zak Vescera News Editor

Canadian universities are rushing to recruit Indigenous scholars in an effort to support reconciliation. But as institutions try to recruit younger and younger scholars, faculty worry this could harm the alreadytenuous position of Indigenous professors in academia.

“What we’re seeing now is a gold rush,” said Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot, an associate professor of political science and First Nations and Indigenous Studies from the Lake Superior Ojibwe Band. She was also recently appointed as UBC’s senior advisor to the president on Indigenous affairs.

“There aren’t enough bodies to fill the demand.”

For over a century, Indigenous peoples were largely barred from recognition in Canadian universities. An 1880 amendment to the Indian Act forced the automatic enfranchisement — and loss of Indian status — for any Indigenous person at a post-secondary education. That amendment remained in place until 1985.

A study by the Academic Women’s Association at the University of Alberta found that less than 1.5 per cent of professors across Canada are Indigenous, compared to roughly 5 per cent of the Canadian population.

But since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) 2015 report, interest in Indigenous scholarship has never been more active.

While the TRC only makes direct recommendations to post-secondary institutions, most of them have interpreted some of its other calls to action — particularly one close to the “educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians” — as applying to them.

One of the most effective — and easiest — ways to address them is to increase Indigenous representation in university faculties.

“There is a huge amount of interest in Indigenous scholars,” said Professor Daniel Heath Justice, a Cherokee scholar currently working as the acting director of UBC’s Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies.

“Partially out of really good intention because of a lot of attention on reconciliation … but the reality is that we’re still under-represented.”

The result is a human economy of high demand and extremely small supply.

“If we put out an application for an Indigenous area, we’re going to get very few applications and even fewer who are Indigenous themselves,” said Dr. Linc Kesler, who is an Oglala-Lakota scholar and was UBC’s first senior advisor to the president on Aboriginal affairs.

“So the competition [between universities] is very fierce.”

FILE PATRICK GILLIN

“There aren’t enough bodies to fill the demand.”

The “Gold Rush” But professors aren’t made overnight.

Like any gold rush, this one has brought speculation — in this case, speculative hiring.

As universities push to recruit Indigenous scholars, they’ve started to offer jobs to graduate students years before they’ve defended their thesis.

“It’s very common now for an Indigenous grad student to have a job offer when they’re maybe even two years out from completing a thesis,” said Kesler.

“There are so many things wrong with that.”

Kesler noted that students typically aren’t hired until they’ve successfully defended their thesis, and that hiring students so early throws them into the academy before they’ve had adequate time to work on their research and personal development.

This, in turn, creates a negative impression of Indigenous scholars in the university.

“You’re putting people at a terrible disadvantage,” said Kesler.

“You’re grabbing people, in a sense, to meet a racial target as opposed to building the faculty and the capacity that you have to address a subject and provide instruction to the next generation of scholars.

“It’s a somewhat cynical hiring practice.”

UBC, which employed 35 Indigenous faculty members in the 2017/18 academic year, has avoided this practice. Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. Sara-Jane Finlay noted that the university made early steps to increase Indigenous representation well before the TRC even existed.

“The Indigenous strategic plan and even the university’s strategic plan really make a commitment to recruiting and retaining diverse faculty and in particular Indigenous faculty,” said Finlay.

“There’s a growing recognition that the only way to achieve academic excellence is through having a diverse range of opinions and approaches and styles and ways of thinking and categories of knowledge,” Finlay added.

“Bringing Indigenous faculty in is a part of that.”

Kesler also stressed that UBC has built a team of Indigenous scholars based on “excellent scholarship” rather than “an abstract target.”

But other Canadian institutions that lack UBC’s headway have rushed to hire graduate students well before they’ve defended their thesis.

“That’s a real disservice to what can happen to those students,” said Kesler. “When people can see that happening, they presume that all Indigenous faculty are here in that way and that they’re not serious scholars.”

“If there’s a perception at all that they’re placed without proper credentials, the product could be that they don’t have the same output after ten years that their peer would have,” explained Lightfoot.

“It becomes a self-fulfilling stereotype.”

Lightfoot and Justice also acknowledge there are strong incentives for Indigenous students to accept an early job offer.

“A lot of people invest a huge amount of their lives and a lot of their and their family’s resources in their education, and a lot of them still can’t get jobs,” Justice said. “So when a job is available and an institution is really excited about you, there’s quite a pressure to jump on a job well before you’re ready.”

“What are we modelling?”

After being hired, Indigenous professors are expected to act as mentors for fellow students and faculty, both to support Indigenous students and help institutions meet the TRC’s recommendations.

The rush to reconciliation has created a new swath of university committees, advisory groups and research projects that require Indigenous input. But the shortage of scholars means new faculty can quickly be slammed with a host of obligations that compound their already-substantial workloads.

“Indigenous faculty, even with the best of intentions, tend to do double or even triple the service

load throughout their careers,” said Lightfoot.

“For someone who is still trying to build a dissertation and an early research agenda, that’s a lot to ask.”

Dr. Angela Mashford-Pringle is an assistant professor of Aboriginal public health from the Timiskaming First Nation and the associate director for the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the University of Toronto. She said she’s frequently sought to sit on research projects and committees to demonstrate commitment to Indigenous representation.

“If I was on every committee and research projects people wanted me on, I wouldn’t have time to sleep,” said Mashford-Pringle.

Beyond committees, scholars noted the emotional labour of supporting Indigenous students, fellow faculty and their own communities — all while dealing with the historic barriers for minority faculty in academic institutions.

Justice warned that these extra tasks, coupled with an ongoing dissertation, can exhaust any faculty member — particularly new ones.

“It’s almost designed to burn [out] really astonishing faculty,” said Justice. “... we have these brilliant, talented, really committed Indigenous scholars doing amazing work and the expectations on them are so high.”

The long-term consequence for this, said Justice, is that rising Indigenous faculty could suffer from systematic burn-out, which would further discourage students from pursuing careers in academia.

“Our undergrads, when they’re thinking of going to graduate school, if they see their faculty just drowning under the myriad of expectations that’s not really a good advertisement for graduate education,” said Justice. “... what are we modelling?

Are we modelling work and exhaustion? Or are we modelling transformative education?”

“Deep commitment” As universities begin to recognize the practice of recruiting Indigenous

graduate students, Indigenous scholars are proposing a mix of two solutions: increasing supply and curbing speculation.

While focus on Indigenous graduate students is at a high, Justice noted that earlier support for Indigenous students is comparatively low — and that addressing it could constructively improve their representation.

“If you want sustainable presence from Indigenous scholars in institutions, you have to start well before university — but you really have to invest in undergraduate education,” said Justice. “A lot of institutions are still not interested in doing that.”

Finlay added that building a “critical mass” of Indigenous students and scholars can create a more welcoming environment, demonstrating that Indigenous professors are not “token hires.”

Additionally, Lightfoot said that she and fellow Indigenous professors have discussed the potential of limiting premature hiring via agreements between universities or special joint programs.

“We need to have some kind of agreement about a floor that we won’t go below,” said Lightfoot. “Is it a year out from thesis? Is it six months out from thesis? How do we manage the gold rush?”

Lightfoot also mentioned that post-doctoral agreements could allow institutions to partner to support — and share — Indigenous scholarship.

The scholars interviewed for this article all stressed that despite challenges, the push to diversify academia is a positive one.

“We are thrilled to be here,” said Justice. “We’re here because we’re committed to the transformative role that education can provide and the important contributions that academia can make to our communities — and the contributions that our community can make to academia.

Our graduate students should have a little bit more time to come into their own, and have a little bit more sense as scholars of our academic community ... before [being] brought into this.” U

CULTURE

August 28, 2018 Tuesday

Editor Bridget Chase

5

public art //

Vancouver Mural Festival turns Mount Pleasant into a canvas Brenda González Contributor

Arriving at Main Street during peak sun hours, with no sunglasses or water but good company, I started my self-guided tour around the new murals being created for this year’s Vancouver Mural Festival. Standing on the fast-paced street, the hunt for murals is an escape from the normal business of the city.

Most of the art is on backstreets or hidden walls. Part of Mount Pleasant’s charm is the juxtaposition of heritage houses with modern buildings. According to Tom Nichini, a festival staff member, it is a challenge to find available wall space and even harder to match those walls with a mural. As a result, the street and the specific characteristics of each wall must make for the perfect canvas for the piece being designed.

Showing up on the first day meant many of the murals were still works in progress. However, that allowed us to see some of the artists in action and to gain insight into their process. Walking down 7 ½ laneway and Ontario Street, we found Linsey Levendall, a conceptual designer and illustrator originally from Cape Town, South Africa. After watching him work on his dream-like mural, he told us about what inspired his work.

Most of the art is on backstreets or hidden walls.

“I wanted to do something that was expressive, something that people could get lost in, and identify with.”

A lot of his work is about capturing emotion in the eyes within a hectic image. His goal for this mural was to force people to take a minute in order to understand it.

“I didn’t want [people] to initially see it. I wanted them to be

LUA PRESIDIO

like ‘What is that?’ ... The objective for me is that people appreciate art and see the beauty in it, and hopefully to trigger something within themselves.”

Like Levendall, all artists in the festival are sharing a story with different techniques and visions. Some of them are aesthetically pleasing while others absorb you entirely. u

THEATRE //

LUA PRESIDIO

JAMIE WU

concerts //

Self-ish with UBC alumna Diana Bang Salt-N-Pepa made me puts the everywoman into the spotlight proud to be a woman at

PNE Summer Concert Series Angela O’Donnell Contributor

Self-ish also makes a statement about the complexity of being human.

Kezia Cahyadi Contributor

After a successful run at the Toronto Fringe Festival, Self-ish is coming to Vancouver. The onewoman dramedy written by Kuan Foo stars UBC alumna Diana Bang, who plays a woman in her mid30s re-examining her life after a recent tragedy.

“It’s just me on stage with a bunch of boxes running around … impersonating different people in the character’s life,” said Bang.

“Esther transforms the boxes into different things like a city, [or] into a chair. She uses it to create her world and her environment so I think that … is very fascinating and really cool to watch.”

While it promises to entertain and deliver lots of laughs, Self-ish also makes a statement about the complexity of being human by showcasing a fully fleshed out Asian-Canadian woman, flaws and all — a rare occurrence in the entertainment industry today.

“It is a universal story and I think it’s important because … we need to see women in … all their parts,” explained Dawn Milman, director of Self-ish.

“There [are] so many complexities to us and how we react to things within the context of various stages and places within our life and I think that was an important part of the story … How does this [tragedy] affect her when she’s at work, how does this affect

COURTESY PEARL LAM / THE CULTCH

her when she’s at home? ... [I]t’s not just ‘Oh! There’s one solution and it all tidily wraps up in the end.’

There’s more to us than that, more to people than that.”

Self-ish will be shown at the Vancouver Fringe Festival from September 6 to 16. U

COURTESY PEARL LAM / THE CULTCH

There are 7,000 people here and I have no idea what’s happening.

I’m at the PNE for their Summer Concert Series, getting ready for some nostalgic action with the I Love the 90’s Tour.

I don’t want to disappoint, but going into the concert, I was not yet convinced that I could get with the whole “The 90’s were the best years of our lives” vibes.

The first few performances blend together. Freedom Williams sort of looks like an uncle. There’s a lot of call and response; everyone is dancing like there’s no tomorrow.

Williams a capella scats the end to “Gonna Make You Sweat,” thanks the audience and leaves.

Young MC is dressed in a shirt that makes him look like a race car, but in a cool way. He shows a clip from a movie he directed, plays one of his “newer” songs — 2016’s “Nocturnal Radio Mix” featuring Will Wheaton (not the one from Star Trek) — then explains a scene from the film Baby Driver before going hard on his track “Know How.” I am thoroughly impressed, and feel bad for originally underestimating Mr. Young. The crowd is extremely prepared for “Bust a Move,” and all the ladies in the crowd sing along to the “You want it, baby you got it” part.

Young MC thanks God and leaves.

The next act is All-4-One, who kind of kill the evening’s high by playing “O Fortuna” before they come on stage. They sing a medley of 90’s jams and perform their hit “I Swear” in American Sign Language.

All of this is good, but I’m still not totally feeling it; maybe it’s the intensity of the “Who wants to relive the 90’s” sentiment, or the fact that I’m seated in a no-alcohol zone and everyone around me is incredibly sober.

However, all of these feelings melt away when headliners Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella appear. I don’t want to sound like I’m hyperbolizing, but I have never felt prouder to be a woman than in the 20 minutes they were performing. They enter the stage to an old award show clip followed by some handsome, shirtless men.

“We are sorry for getting you in trouble when you were little for talking about sex,” they pronounce before boldly rapping about sex.

The steamy performance featured the men doing backflips, Salt and/or Pepa grinding on the men and then dumping water on them. The concert ends with the two thanking the crowd and Pepa telling the audience, “Don’t let nobody tell you how to live, what to do with your body or who to love.”

It all goes to show you that time ticks on, but talent and fanbases last forever. u

6 | CULTURE | TUESDAY AUGUst 28, 2018 food //

Nosh Hunt: Caffeine Cravings

art //

hannah feodorov Contributor

As a girl who is relatively unadventurous with her morning caffeine, I often ignore anything that isn’t your basic latte. But, in the spirit of trying new things and stepping outside my usual coffee cup, I embark on a perilous quest around UBC. I begin my skeptical journey by dipping my toe into the world of specialty drinks. Ode to the latte, a drink of unmatched simplicity and jiggly foam — how I will miss thee.

Loafe is packed, but I manage to squeeze myself into a seat by the window and delicately cradle the London Fog in my cold hands. It’s a rainy day, making it the perfect time to try a drink named after London’s chilly, damp weather. The first sniff of the frothy top is vaguely reminiscent of fruit loops. It’s very sweet, more like a less flavourful version of a chai latte than any kind of tea I’ve ever tasted. The tea bag bobbing inside the milky beverage seems to be the only indication that the London Fog is connected to the UK. In fact, further research reveals that the Fog was originally made in Vancouver, making its title particularly suspicious. It makes me wonder what British tea snobs would think of such a concoction. I can hardly picture Queen Victoria chugging down a London Fog every morning. However, the more I sip, the more I see the comfort warm milk might bring a Fog devotee.

The cool morning air is already starting to sizzle away with the coming summer heat. Ordering an iced Vietnamese latte, I sit

ANGELA o’doNNELL

“disposable cameras are such a fun medium.”

Trash turns to treasure at Disposable Camera Project III: Trash angela o’donnell Contributor

I begin my skeptical journey by dipping my toe into the world of specialty drinks.

myself at one of the Boulevard’s many tables and prepare to feel refreshed. I am not disappointed.

Although it’s a tad sweeter than I’d prefer, this drink makes it work. It’s a bit like an iced mocha without the chocolate, while simultaneously leaning more towards a Thai iced tea. The more I drink, the more this fancy coffee grows on me. It’s delicious, with a creamy yet light flavour that I can’t quite pin down.

Right before I begin the bus ride back to Seattle, I scurry over to the Nest’s Blue Chip Café to try their concoction called a Voodoo.

With four shots of espresso and a flurry of condensed milk, this intensely caffeinated drink is either the perfect kick-start to your day, or the beginning of a massive stomachache. Instead of smelling like the fresh beignets of New Orleans, this cup of Voodoo magic smells like pure espresso and the sour aftertaste of milk.

Feeling faintly pessimistic and a little nervous, I take a small sip. My reaction can not be put into elegant words: the coffee is earth-shatteringly strong. The drink is wildly bitter and yet it still manages to be sickeningly sweet

BrIdGEt ChAsE ANd ELIZABEth WANG

all at once. While the Vietnamese coffee at the Boulevard may have had a similar set of ingredients, the Voodoo’s exaggerated and clashing flavours are not pleasant to the tastebuds.

Finally finished with my foray into the unknown world of coffee options, I can safely say that not all fancy beverages are terrible.

The iced Vietnamese latte from the Boulevard shines through as not only a near perfect balance of bitterness and sweetness, but also as a refreshing beverage that remains a much-needed remedy to the summer heat. U

art //

Contemporary Indigenous artists explore tattoo culture with Body Language at the Bill Reid Gallery Placement of traditional tattoos is usually on the hands, forearms, shins, chest and back. Photos of different tattoo designs are found throughout the exhibit.

“People want it to be visible,” Nahaan said, “taking that pride back and making it visible.” U

“our tattoos came from the land, they were gift s from the creators [or] a very spiritual identity for us.”

bridget Chase Culture Editor

“Our tattoos came from the land, they were gifts from the creators [or] a very spiritual identity for us,” explained Nahaan, a Tlingit artist. As Nahaan speaks, he is simultaneously tattooing a large design onto someone’s arm in front of an attentive audience.

This live display was set up in the middle of the Bill Reid Gallery, and was a temporary part of the new installation Body Language:

Reawakening Cultural Tattooing of the Northwest.

Body Language, curated

by UBC alumnus Dion Kaszas (Nlaka’pamux), displays a collection of photographs, art pieces, as well as tattooing and piecing tools related to the traditional practices of Indigenous body art.

Traditional Indigenous tattooing was done in two ways: stick and poke, or skin stitch.

Stick and poke involves a handheld needle poking the skin with individual dots. Skin stitching

CoUrtEsY AAroN LEoN/thE BILL rEId GALLErY

uses a needle and thread to pull the ink through the skin, literally stitching the tattoo onto the wearer’s body. The artists at the gallery explained that this practice was similar to how shells and beads were sewn into regalia, in the patterns of clan animals.

In 1885, when European colonizers misinterpreted tattoos as a form of witchcraft, the practice of tattooing was banned. The contemporary artists involved in Body Language are now working to reclaim and revive this art form.

CoUrtEsY KENJI NAGAI/thE BILL rEId GALLErY

In a show worth Instagramming, Disposable Camera Project III: Trash asks photographers and viewers to re-orient their idea of garbage. Co-curators Helen Wong and Megan Jenkins asked artists to use disposable cameras and capture images of trash in ways you wouldn’t normally see it.

“Disposable cameras are such a fun medium, it’s taking something that’s considered low art and then … gallery space elevates the medium,” said Wong.

“We usually work with photographers who have top-ofthe-line gear, so giving them a camera where you can’t adjust the focal length and you can’t adjust the ISO ... is really challenging for people, which is fun in a surprising way,” explained Jenkins.

“It’s a very accessible medium, that’s what makes it cool,” Wong added.

The white-walled gallery has a very minimalist vibe, where the photographs are held up by discreet magnets and modest potted plants hang from the ceiling. Each photographer’s pictures show a unique take on the theme.

Wong and Jenkins really wanted the photographers to make their own interpretations of trash.

“It was just interesting how all of the artists interpreted the theme.

It was so different. [E]very time [artist Dylan Maranda] saw a piece of trash on the beach, he would take a photo of where the trash was … like reimagining a landscape,” said Wong.

“Ho Tam took photographs of plastic bottles in still-life setups ... It elevates the plastic bottle to something of value,” said Jenkins.

“We definitely thought when we were planning this, ‘We hope people don’t just take photos of literal garbage,’” Wong added.

The show also had a zinemaking station in the back room.

The ability for a viewer to go from looking at art to making art of their own helped add to the accessibility of the show. Wong stressed the importance of this theme.

“It’s about breaking down the barriers associated with viewing art. Art shouldn’t just be for a certain class … It is for everyone and it should be easy to understand and easy to access.” U

features

AUGUst 28, 2018 TUESDAY

EdItor MOIRA WYTON

J1ers:

The tales and trials of Vancouver’s visiting Irish students WORDS BY ZAK VESCERA DESIGN BY MAJA MAJ AND CLAIRE LLOYD

B

y 1 a.m., over 100 Irish students have filled the cramped house on the southern end of Dunbar.

The garage has been converted into a dancefloor, complete with a DJ. The lineup for the unit’s two overwhelmed washrooms is 20 people deep, and there’s a steady rotation of cabs out front ferrying in more partygoers. By the end of the night, there will be close to 300.

This quiet corner of Dunbar is never this lively: it doesn’t even have sidewalks, and most of the local residents are retired or close to it.

I know because I used to live here. The small floor of this house has already been adapted to fit more tenants: it barely held 6 during my tenancy, but now 16 Irish students live in the unit. Tonight, hundreds of students are filling the backyard, the front lawn and the cramped garage.

All of them are Irish, and all of them are here for the summer on a temporary working visa that has turned Vancouver into a leading destination for an entire generation of Irish youth.

“I find this such a relaxed place,” said Siobhan, a 21-year-old from Dublin. “Then the Irish come over and we’re anything but that.”

The liquor store up the street agrees. “We usually only order two cases of Colt 45 a month in the normal year,” the clerk told me. “When the Irish arrive, we go up to five or six.”

“Trump” They call themselves J1ers.

In Ireland, a summer abroad is less a holiday and more a tradition — a cultural rite of passage for a country whose history has been largely defined by immigration and travel. A student’s usual choice was to secure a J1 cultural and education exchange visa issued by the US, often to visiting students.

But after the 2016 election, getting a J1 became tricky business.

“There are numerous reasons for the Vancouver being the latest destination of choice for Irish Students,” said Honorary Irish Consul General in Vancouver John Cheevers in a written statement to The Ubyssey.

“But the primary one can be summed up with one word - ‘Trump.’”

In 2016, the US State Department changed the criteria for obtaining a J1, meaning it now requires both a higher fee and pre-arranged employment — pushing more Irish students to set their sights to the north.

Obtaining a working holiday visa for Canada, comparatively, is fairly simple. Under the International Experience Canada visa, Irish

and Canadian youth can visit and work in each other’s countries for two years. And unlike the J1, the visa only requires a fixed amount of cash and for the applicant to be between the ages of 18 and 35.

“They are using [the visa] as that famous rite of passage.”

Cathy Murphy,

executive director of the Eamonn O’Loghlin Irish Canadian Immigration Centre

“In order to gain entry into Canada once you acquire the work permit, all you need is medical insurance for the duration of your stay and $2,500 along with a background check of course,” wrote Cheevers. “But that’s it.”

Many J1ers only use the two-year visa for three or four months, repurposing it as a chance to spend the summer abroad before returning to classes in the fall. Because the visa lasts two years, many students then opt to return to Vancouver the next summer on the same visa, effectively repurposing it as a new, cheaper and more flexible J1.

“The J1 in America was really about the summer away,” said Cathy Murphy, executive director of the Eamonn O’Loghlin Irish Canadian Immigration Centre.

“The fact that we now see the same type of kid using or reinventing our working holiday … they are using it as that famous rite of passage.”

The working holiday program is reciprocal, meaning that the same number of Canadian youth are able to travel to and work in Ireland.

But Murphy noted the uptake on the Irish side has been higher.

The success of the program has spurred its growth from 1,000 to 2,500 to 10,700 visas available per year in 2018. Of them, 3,000 are reserved for working professionals and students in education co-ops, but the rest are open to J1ers.

“Canada is now on the radar in the way that it wasn’t,” said Murphy. “There were three big waves of Irish immigrants who came to Canada in the past century. But in this century, it’s a whole new thing.”

“I think I just followed the crowd” “Why wouldn’t you want to travel here?” asked an Irish girl at the party on Dunbar. “I mean, it’s the capital of Canada, isn’t it?”

“I think I just followed the crowd, to be honest,” another admitted. “I don’t know why I came here.”

After being accepted into the visa program, Irish students are free to live and work anywhere in Canada. But a combination of hearsay, social media and sheer critical mass has made Vancouver their foremost destination.

Originally, Murphy thought J1ers are attracted by similarities to West Coast locales like San Francisco, while noting that many Irish students have also settled in Toronto.

“They were looking for that West Coast experience and they’re choosing Vancouver for something similar,” said Murphy.

Word spreads quickly in a country of fewer than five million people.

“Ireland is a very small place so word of mouth is everything and the positive conversations about this beautiful city and its friendly and welcoming residents are most certainly contributing to this influx of temporary Irish residents,” wrote Cheevers.

As the number of J1ers in Vancouver rises, they have found ways to help fellow students set up shop. The Facebook group ‘Irish and new in Vancouver’ acts as a grassroots network for finding everything from housing to jobs to work boots.

Fion, 20, said the group helped him find a job in construction within two days.

“The day after I arrived, I typed on Facebook that I was looking for work,” he said. “I messaged someone on Wednesday, and by the Thursday I was flying in, and I found work on Friday. It was that easy.”

The majority of students interviewed for this article all had jobs in construction, design and the service industry. With all of those sectors looking for more labour, J1ers have become adept at helping each other secure jobs within days of arriving. “[They] just say ‘Hey, I’m new, I’m in a hostel, I’ve got one week, does anyone have a room to spare?’ And often that’s how they’re getting tenancies,” said Murphy. “The networking is incredible.”

Now that words have spread, Cheevers and Murphy both agree that Vancouver will see more J1ers in the years to come.

“I think initially Vancouver may have been a convenient alternative place to travel instead of the U.S.,” wrote Cheevers. “But I think if the leash loosens or the doors open again in the US, students will continue to choose Vancouver.”

7

8 | FEATURES | TUESDAY AUGUst 28, 2018

Making room But as many UBC students know, Vancouver’s not all smooth sailing.

“Landlords hate students and if you’re out here trying to get a house as a student, you’re fucked,” said Fion.

Fion, Robbie and Jon are three of the residents of the house on Dunbar street. Only six of them are on the lease, but in reality, between 15 and 16 people live in the house to save on Vancouver’s notoriously high rents.

“This probably shouldn’t really be happening,” Fion admitted.

And it’s far from the only case. Virtually every J1er interviewed for this article lived in an overcapacity house.

“One of the girl’s I’m in college with back home is living in a house with 26 or 27 people,” said Jon, 21.

Irish students used to have a convenient arrangement with UBC students. When they returned home for the summer, UBC students would often sublet to incoming J1ers. The UBC students save on rent and the J1ers got a place to live in the neighbourhoods surrounding UBC, where some of them take summer courses.

But stories of J1er parties and overcrowding have led some Vancouver landlords to consider shutting their doors to Irish tenants altogether.

“It’s becoming very difficult for homeowners to even consider renting to the Irish,” said Frank, who is a property manager on Vancouver’s West side. To protect his client’s privacy, he asked that his last name not be published.

“Their fashion of partying is a lot more crazy, I’d say … But they’re all very good natured,” he said. “They’re not trying to break holes through walls.” Despite this, Huebert did note that DKE no longer rents to Irish men, who he said “get a little crazy sometimes.”

J1ers agree they can be disruptive, but argue that their activities are no different from other international students in Vancouver, with some noting that a stereotype around Irish drinking culture could be contributing to their sour reputation. Most agree that the J1ers housing reputation is likely due to a few “bad apples,” and that the same housing issues likely exist for other international students too.

“Most houses at the end of it are clean,” said Connor, 20. “They’re not filthy. I wouldn’t say we’re bad tenants.”

“In terms of accommodation, I don’t think these students face any more issues with finding accommodation than any other Vancouverite,” wrote Cheevers.

Frank, for his part, said that he liked his Irish tenants, adding that he made a point of helping them find work and maintaining properties during their stay. He still keeps in touch with some of them and even wrote a reference letter for one former Irish tenant for her law school application.

“You cannot say they are all bad apples,” he stressed. “There’s a high percentage of it, but there are some that are really good.”

But less understanding property managers aren’t buying it. J1ers have already felt a disproportionate obstacle in finding housing — and it’s only bound to get worse.

“You cannot say [the Irish] are all bad apples.”

Frank has rented houses to students for the last 20 years, but said that for the first time ever, his clients are specifically requesting that their properties not be rented to a specific national group.

“A lot of them are really hesitant, or just flat out ‘No,’” he said.

Under the Residential Tenancy Act, denying lodging to anyone on the basis of their nationality is illegal. But with Vancouver’s vacancy rate hovering near zero, Frank thinks landlords may try to justify closing doors to J1ers by citing what he said is a trend in Irish students abandoning or damaging properties.

“You rent to 8 because this is what the owners want ... When you go in there, there [are] 10 or 12 in there,” said Frank. One summer, Frank added, he rented to 89 Irish students — but only a number of them were on the lease.

He said this leads to frequent parties, property damage and complaints from neighbours that pressure landlords to stop renting to students.

“It’s like a ripple effect, because one [landlord] would know, then another one would know, and sometimes these landlords use recommendations from one of their friends,” he explained. “Some of the landlords are saying ‘Why should I even bother with this?’”

Not everyone has negative reviews of the Irish. Eric Huebert, risk management and housing manager for the UBC chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity, said the house is one of several on campus that rents to Irish students over the summer for additional income.

The frats’ housing of Irish students has also created friction with local residents in the past — but Huebert said the complaints DKE and other houses receive are “no different from September or a busy time of the year.”

The University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA) did not respond to a request for comment.

While they “like to party,” Huebert said the backlash against the Irish may be due more to a difference in party culture than malice.

Frank, a Vancouver property manager “We were told to not look like an Irish student coming over for the summer because they hate that,” said Fion. “If you’re an Irish student, you’re fucked.”

Frank thinks that some J1ers may already have been forced to end their trips early for sheer lack of housing.

“They say that usually about 7,000 will come for the summer,” he said. “But by the third week of June, 2,000 of them will go home because there’s no accommodation for them.”

After the crash Irish immigration to Vancouver began long before the J1ers. A whopping 15 per cent of Canadians claim partial Irish ancestry, including Thomas D’Arcy McGee — one of Canada’s Fathers of Confederation — who was born in Ireland.

Even in the last decade, the J1ers are just the newest addition in a new wave of Irish immigration. But their reputation for partying here has also created generational frictions.

After the 2008 recession, high unemployment pushed many Irish professionals to travel to Canada as part of International Experience Canada.

“After the big crash of 2008, it felt far less like a rite of passage and tragically more like the young people were forced out because they had to find work and had to go abroad,” said Murphy. The Eamonn O’Loghlin Irish Canadian Immigration Centre, where she works, was founded with the mission of helping new Irish emigres settle in Canada, most in their late-20s or mid-30s.

“There always were young Irish coming here over the last eight years, but they tended to be a bit older ... they were coming after that and seeking opportunities here.”

That wave of immigration has helped stimulate a new wave of ties between Canada and the Emerald Isle. Last year, the Ireland-Canada Chamber of Commerce was

established in Vancouver. The year before, Cheevers — a UBC alumnus — was appointed honorary consul general, partially to facilitate the budding exchange of young people between the two countries.

“Whether or not it’s deserved, the Irish obviously have a pretty bad reputation in this city.”

Robbie, visiting Irish student But this older generation of Vancouver Irish isn’t all fond of the J1ers. On the ‘Irish and New in Vancouver’ Facebook page, stories abound of established Irish worrying that the J1ers will spoil their reputation in the city. Negative media coverage — from tales of alleged J1er partying printed in the Irish Times, reports of a disastrous party at Trump Tower and a J1er who streaked naked across a baseball field in Seattle — only contributes to it.

“I think it’s a small group shaping public opinion on this, but it’s regrettable,” said Murphy.

“Anyone coming here on a working holiday is representing their country.”

For their part, J1ers think the stories of their debauchery are overblown. “‘I’ve seen two lads walking down the street drinking cans. Call the police!’” Fion laughed.

“It’s ridiculous.”

Other J1ers added that European drinking cultures, in general, often involve much later hours than Canadians are used to, which could be contributing to the frequency of complaints.

Still, they acknowledged the perspective of more established Irish residents.

“I think that’s absolutely fair if you’re moved here a few years ago to start a family and now this is your home,” said Robbie.

“Whether or not it’s deserved, the Irish obviously have a pretty bad reputation in this city.”

Cheevers did not indicate he was aware of reports of J1er partying, but proposed delineating the J1-style visas from the working holiday ones, which were marketed towards working professionals.

“People who genuinely want to live here for full 1 or 2 years are the ones being penalized,” he wrote. “... [A] ‘3 month Temporary Student Working Holiday Visa’ should definitely be considered in my opinion so as to give everyone the opportunity to live in this picturesque city.”

Murphy stressed that the relationship between Ireland and Canada shouldn’t be boiled down to a few incidences of partying.

“I think it is really important to point out that there has been the Irish coming here not just in the last 10 years but over a decade have made really historically positive impacts here,” she said. “They’re not on the radar at all because they’re not causing any problems.”

Whatever the case, all signs point to more and more J1ers looking to make Vancouver a temporary home — even as the real estate market tightens.

“I think initially Vancouver may have been a convenient alternative place to travel instead of the US,” wrote Cheevers. “But I think if the leash loosens or the doors open again in the US, students will continue to choose Vancouver for the unique lifestyle that this city offers.” U With files from Jack Lamming

opinions

AUGUst 28, 2018 TUESDAY

EdItor TRISTAN WHEELER

CaMpus reporting //

aCQuaintanCes //

Ask Pawan: My high school friends don’t feel like friends anymore pawan Minhas Advice Columnist

“It’s the end of the summer and I’m going into second year.

The high school ‘friends’ I had in my old town are boring and probably should be called acquaintances. I just don’t know how I feel about leaving all them behind for UBC friends that I have not known for even a year yet. Help?”

FILE JACK hAUEN

student papers often cover important topics that simply aren’t on the radar for mainstream media.

Editorial: Student media is media ubyssey editorial board

The work that student journalists do across the country is integral to accountability in post-secondary institutions. To name but a few of our remarkable colleagues: The Varsity’s detailed coverage of a controversial leave of absence policy, The Fulcrum’s recent exposé on student union corruption and The McGill Tribune’s early reporting on the school’s struggles with sexual assault.

Student papers often cover important topics that simply aren’t on the radar for mainstream media and when news breaks, we’re often the first to cover it. Our work can matter to communities across the country.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets it.

This week, Ubyssey Coordinating Editor Samantha McCabe was refused a request for comment by the University of Toronto.

McCabe had contacted the school’s public relations office to discuss Canadian universities’ approach to educating new students on sexual misconduct going into the school year — an important nuance of institutional policy that hasn’t been especially covered in mainstream media.

The request was refused on the basis that the university is “unable to assist with requests from student media other than our own.”

We don’t think a university should ever treat student media as illegitimate or irreverent, no matter where they’re based — and our friends at The Varsity, the

9

University of Toronto’s student paper, agree.

The University of Toronto is a publicly-funded institution with a special obligation to the general public to be accountable in its operations and transparent in its functions.

The University of Toronto’s grounds for ignoring The Ubyssey’s request was a “high volume of requests.” If this is true, the university should consider investing in their communications department. It shouldn’t be rejecting any requests for comment from journalists, especially on subjects as important as sexual assault.

The Canadian Association of Journalists agreed.

“It’s unacceptable for our post-secondary institutions to ignore media requests from student journalists,” said Vice-President Evan Balgord in an August 24 written statement. “It’s the role of student newspapers to cover their schools and often it’s student media that break stories holding those institutions accountable.”

As of publishing, the University of Toronto has yet to reverse its decision.

There’s the old saying that universities are microcosms for society, which is why they’re the ideal training ground for student journalists. We’d like to take it a step further. Universities are a part of our society, and their decisions have real consequences for everyone in it.

University news is real news, and student journalists are journalists. U

UBC does a few things really well. One of the administration’s crowning achievements seems to be making first year as bombastic and high-octane as possible, especially during the beginning and end of each semester. From President Santa Ono’s approachability on Imagine Day to the plethora of res events held by Vanier and Totem, UBC makes a concerted effort to ensure your semesters are bracketed with plenty of school spirit. One of the pitfalls of this “ending on a high note” strategy, however, is that the slope is steep on the way down. You’ve spent a year in one of Canada’s biggest cities, surrounded by your peers of age, intellect and interest, and now you have to go back to that other place? It feels almost criminal to have four months where the best you can do is count

the days and watch the distant Facebook events roll by in your feed.

I encourage you to take a step back and reexamine the relationships you formed in your hometown. You probably missed your family but that’s usually a given, so try to look a bit farther out. You made friends in high school who you haven’t talked to in a bit and might seem a bit bland compared to the diversity and novelty of who you met at school, but these hometown friends have something your university friends may not: history.

These friends knew you before puberty kicked in; they might remember some of those crushes you had; they might recall seeing you in ill-fitting sweatshirts that your current fashion sense doesn’t want to remember. They also might have been the ones to help you study the subject you’re majoring in or deal with the high school stresses you can’t remember, or simply give you a laugh that helped the time go by. I am not saying that all of our past relationships are founded in deep emotions, and I’ll be the first to advocate the cutting of tenuous ties. What I am saying, though, is that there are people who helped make the person you currently are.

Beyond your parents and siblings, there are the people

around you that you (sub) consciously copied or inadvertently affected your opinions or emotions or reactions. Again, not all of these relationships should be artificially “cherished” due to historical reverence, but the person you are now didn’t just spring up out of the ground, as put together as you are.

Sometimes it can be hard to see the forest for its trees, and I ask that you try to remember why you kept on with your hometown friends for as long as you did. If you see that the effects you have had on each other were good enough to merit calling someone your pal for a long time, it might merit a second try at reviving that.

Conversely, if it was someone who was more of a “friend by default” or affected you in a negative way to no good end, send ’em off with the flair of someone who has seen what the world has to offer. The only way to see if a book on your shelf is relevant to you, especially an old one, is to crack it open and see what it’s all about. U You’ve got questions, we’ve got an advice column. Send your personal problems in anonymously to ubyssey.ca/advice, or email us at advice@ubyssey.ca and it may be featured in an upcoming issue!

FILE GEoFF LIstEr

the only way to see if a book on your shelf is relevant to you, especially an old one, is to crack it open and see what it’s all about.

SPORTS+REC

August 28, 2018 Tuesday

Editor Lucy fox

10

Ones to watch: Football and men’s soccer are back, baby he combines forceful power with elite athleticism — a winning combo for any linebacker.

Charles Nwoye (Defensive end: #92)

FILE SAMAN SHARIATI

The ’Birds have solidified their roster with some big recruits this year.

Ryan Neale Contributor

Football It’s been three years since UBC’s last Vanier Cup win — maybe this is finally the season to reclaim the title. With what head coach Blake Nill has called “one of the best groups in the country,” the ’Birds have gone and solidified their roster with some big recruits this year. But, it’s also the veterans that make UBC a top competitor this year:

Offense: Michael O’Connor (Quarterback: #15) A total of 2,308 yards passing, 67.5 per cent accuracy and 14 touchdowns in 8 games — those were Michael O’Connor’s impressive stats last regular season.

Now in his fourth year at UBC, the signal caller has a lot riding on this season. Aside from his statistical success, he’s an experienced leader guiding a team that’s expected to bring hardware home in 2019. At 6’5” and 225 pounds, his physical attributes allow him to show great poise and awareness in the pocket — a key piece to his strong passing game. Speaking to his ability in an interview with Sportsnet, head coach Blake Nill said, “He’s going to attract interest from both sides of the border for sure, you’re talking about a player who has all the physical tools, the genetics and intellectual ability.”

game mark. More impressive is his reception total; he hauled in 55 catches last season, ranking him first in Canada West. Adding to his versatility as a player, Pinto also returns kicks, punts and able to run a variety of plays for the ’Birds. He’s a fantastic route-runner with steady hands and electric feet, making him UBC’s number one option on offense — blink and you’ll miss him.

Ben Cummings (Running back: #4) Here’s the fourth-year running back to complete UBC’s “Big Three” on offense. A receiver out of high school, Ben Cummings transitioned to running back at UBC. His head-down, between-the-tackle running style gashed multiple teams last season, including 179 yards on 19 carries (9.4 yds per carry) performance versus Saskatchewan.

Because of the ’Birds talented

receivers, Cummings doesn’t boast outstanding numbers but is solid nonetheless. His excellent pass protection and blitz pickups play a big role in O’Conner’s ability to flourish as a quarterback. Mark my words: #4 is going to have a big season.

Defense: Elliot Graham (Linebacker: #90) Graham was second on the team in total tackles with 36.5 last year, trailing all-Canadian defensive back Will Maxwell, who picked up 39. He had three tackles for loss, one forced fumble and five pass breakups too. And he holds an impressive Thunderbird record: a 107-yard interception for a touchdown.

Impressed? Let me add that he did all that as a rookie. The second-year should be fun to watch this year as

Charles Nwoye is UBC football’s version of the Hulk. He recently smashed 400 pounds on the bench press — a true testament to his size and strength. But there’s more to Charles than what meets the eye.

Prior to 2015, he never padded up.

In fact, head coach Blake Nill had to fly to Alberta to convince him to play football. In just a few years he’s become an animal along the D-line, and although his stats aren’t eye-popping, it’s mostly because he grinds out the dirty work like closing running lanes and taking double teams. Now a senior player, his role on the team has grown; he’d be able to help UBC bring back the Vanier Cup they won in his rookie year. Any personal achievements on top of that are just “icing on the cake” for him.

Stavros Katsantonis (Safety: #18) The 2017 Canada West defensive player of the year (and unanimous all-star) is returning for his fourth season at UBC. A notorious hardhitting tackler, Stavros Katsantonis has a knack for big games: he had two forced fumbles versus Calgary last season and picked Manitoba quarterback Des Catalier three times too. He’s a mainstay that glues UBC’s defense together and his leadership qualities are evident every game you watch.

His experience and talent in the secondary were a big part of why UBC were Canada West’s best defense last season. His other accolades include best defensive player of the 2015 Vanier Cup, Canada West All-Star (2016/17), and U SPORTS First Team AllCanadian (2016). Yeah, he’s good.

It’s a fresh season for the coveted UBC men’s soccer team, and there’s no doubt they are in it to win it after a tough fourth-place finish at nationals last fall. With high expectations set for this year’s roster and the national tournament to be held here at UBC in November, it’s high time UBC’s campus stood behind their T-Birds. Here a few names to watch out for as the men hunt down the national title:

Victory Shumbusho (forward: #7) A product of the Whitecaps Residency system, Victory Shumbusho makes the T-Birds an exciting team to watch. A combination of blistering pace, dazzling skill and intuitive vision had him tie for third in Canada West last season, scoring seven goals in as many matches. Even better, he’s only in his second year of eligibility, allowing him to further mature and perfect his technique under well respected head coach Mike Mosher’s guidance.

Zach Verhoven (Forward: #8) I remember watching a match last season when I heard a scout in the press box remark how underrated Zach Verhoven was in league play — it’s true. Although not as flashy as some of his teammates, Verhoven possesses the ability to change the momentum of a game. He runs up and down the wings with conviction, wins challenges and makes key passes for the Thundbierds.

Verhoven was also a game-changer coming off the bench, changing the pace of the match in favour of the Thunderbirds no matter how much time he got to play. He’s also not afraid to take a crack at net; last season he notched 42 shots overall — good for fourth in Canada West play. Now in his third year of eligibility, he’ll be looking to further develop chemistry with UBC’s other forwards including Kyle Sohi and Kristian Yli-Hietanen.

Daniel Kaiser (Defense: #2) Rookie alert! Another product of the Whitecaps Residency, Kaiser will look to tighten up UBC’s back line.

Originally from Calgary, he joined the Whitecaps Residency program where he became a highly sought after player. He’s a self-described ‘ball-carrying’ defender, meaning it’s likely some playmaking duties will be bestowed on him this year.

It’s not yet confirmed whether he’ll start, but head coach Mike Mosher “really likes his character and soccer intelligence.” Either way, he’s sure to earn some playing time and is definitely a player to keep an eye on as the season progresses. U

Trivel Pinto (Wide receiver: #1) A solid wide receiver/quarterback relationship is integral to any functioning offense in football.

Fourth-year veteran Trivel Pinto knows a thing or two about that: he posted 717 yards in seven games last season, surpassing the 100 yards/

Men’s Soccer

It’s a fresh soccer season with high expectations.

FILE PATRICK GILLIN

More to come on other varsity teams on our website.

sCienCe

AUGUst 28, 2018 TUESDAY

EdItor JAMES VOGL

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reading //

Review: What Can be Computed? traces the limits of computer science for beginners and experts alike angela tian Contributor

What Can Be Computed?: A Practical Guide to the Theory of Computation

by John MacCormick is for both undergraduate students venturing into the heart of computer science for the first time and veterans of the subject looking to review the theory of computation.

The book, which is included in the spring 2018 catalogue of the Princeton University Press, is a rewarding read. The beginner will undoubtedly glean a wealth of knowledge embedded within the pages and find MacCormick’s coverage of the topics helpfully succinct, while the expert will find it to be a deserving opportunity for further study or reference.

What Can Be Computed? is a one-term undergraduate course condensed into a textbook. It has been carefully designed to encompass a great number of traditional theory topics appropriate for all interested students, provided they possess some programming experience for the Python examples that come later in the book. It largely covers computability theory, which is concerned with whether the answer to a problem can be computed in

ALAN LEVINE/FLICKr

What can be Computed? is a one-term undergrad course condensed into a textbook.

the first place, and computational complexity theory, which asks whether solutions to problems can be computed efficiently.

It opens by delving into three categories of computation

problems and goes on to explore them in great depth. Focusing on computability theory, “Part I” investigates whether computational programs can be solved by writing computer

programs. Beginning with some Python basics intended to help readers acquainted with Python programs, the book rigorously explores the concept of a computational problem as well as its expression and categorization.

The book then investigates topics such as the simplest computer — the concept of computer programs executing other programs — and the multitasking ability of computers.

“Part II” continues on to cover computational complexity theory in an extensive and elaborate manner. The book finishes off with the origins and applications of the theory of computation in “Part III.” What Can Be Computed? goes into great depth on a wide number of topics in regard to the computability and complexity of computer programs, and it makes things very easy to understand with its concise language and often sequential progression of ideas.

Aiming to provide readers with a firm grasp on the fundamentals, the book also offers plenty of supplementary content to further enrich the reader’s understanding.

They range from a fascinating historical perspective of computer science to example problems manipulating mainly Python-

language programs in order to actively establish a connection between the theory and application of computation.

The book includes clear figures pertaining directly to the material and does not include any explicit citations, instead opting for a bibliography with full descriptions of relevant sources for each author or source mentioned. At the end of each chapter, there is also a section of exercises relevant to the new material to help the reader review the important concepts. Each concept introduced is explored rigorously, and the book does an excellent job of encouraging further interest in the theory of computation as well as computational models.

There is also an online component, with Python and alternative Java computer programs to guide readers through the material as well as lecture slides.

In taking inspiration from Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid — Douglas Hofstadter’s 1979 book — MacCormick has written the book with a great appreciation for the beautiful and profound ideas he believes collectively encompass the field of computer science. U

listening //

BrainBuzz podcast seeks to decode the latest scientific research for all Kristine ho Contributor

Want to keep up with cutting edge research, but have no time to sift through masses of journal articles? Grab a seat, plug in some headphones and have researchers explain it to you through a podcast.

Kyle Gooderham and Drake Levere, two graduate students in UBC’s department of psychology, have created a podcast that does exactly this. Aptly called BrainBuzz, the podcast is a combination of casual conversation and scientific intrigue that aims to make science accessible to everyone.

“We want to be able to engage in conversation with researchers and deliver their work in a really appealing way to the general public,” Gooderham said. “To enable somebody with no scientific background to really think about the ways in which people’s research is solving important questions.”

The idea for BrainBuzz stemmed from a discussion Gooderham and Levere shared with friends and colleagues.

While discussing their general research and their research interests, one friend mentioned that their conversation would make great podcast content.

The co-creators had already talked about starting a science communication project and the conversation sparked the idea to turn that project into a podcast.

“As grad students, we’ve been talking to all these other grad students and saying, ‘The work that you’re doing is so cool, if only people could hear about it … and the impact that it has on people,’” Levere said. “That kind of spurred us to think, why not just make a podcast, because that’s such an easy way to get research out there.”

The co-creators noted that outside of academia, research is often unavailable and hidden behind paywalls. Even when research can be accessed, it is still difficult for a member of the general public to sift through jargon and difficult concepts to understand it.

“We as students have the luxury of having the big universities paying for all the journals, but everyone outside of that doesn’t have that ability to go and read journals and keep updated in all the research that’s going on,” Levere said. As a podcast, BrainBuzz would provide an interesting, accessible and easily explainable way to tackle this problem and communicate science to all audiences.

BrainBuzz released its first episode in January this year and continues to release episodes twice a month. So far, the podcast has maintained a focus on psychology and has covered a variety of topics such as the social factors impacting parenting, cultures that contain third genders and the psychology of gambling.

Gooderham described current BrainBuzz episodes as consisting of two halves: a “brain” part and a “buzz” part. In the “brain” part, which spans the first half of an episode, the co-creators work with the researcher to contextualize and define any key terms or concepts for the listener. In one episode about smartphone use and technology, for example, they defined the meaning of happiness specifically as it relates to a social psychology researcher.

The researcher also provides a background on their area of study, such as past scientific literature on their topic, their research question and the importance of their research to the world.

The co-creators stressed the importance of founding their podcast on established research rather than simply opinion. “We’re asking [researchers]: What is your knowledge in this area and what are the empirical findings? We’re getting this really cool conversation but it’s also informed in literature, and being able to reference that is really important,” said Drake.

After a “brain break” consisting of a brief musical interlude, the podcast returns with its “buzz” half, where the hosts and researcher explore popular myths, clarify any misconceptions and share interesting facts and stories related to the researcher’s area of study.

Now that the podcast is gaining momentum, Gooderham

the podcast combines casual conversation and scientific intrigue.

and Levere have many ideas to develop BrainBuzz down the road. In addition to holding more roundtable-style discussions, the co-creators are planning to create more episodes with researchers from across Canada, North America and abroad. They have also considered expanding their podcast

CoUrtEsY BrAINBUZZ

topics beyond psychology to other research fields such as engineering, archaeology and geography.

“Our main goal is to make sure that everyone that’s interested in research has the ability to engage in it,” Levere said. “If we’re doing that at the end of the day then I’m really happy about it.” U

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AUGUst 28, 2018 TUESDAY

EdItor TRISTAN WHEELER

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The Ubyssey’s etiquette Natural spaces near UBC to guide to posting your forget you’re on a shiny campus Tofino trip pictures braydon robert black Contributor

FILE MACKENZIE WALKEr

Limit your photos to one for each day you are there and one for 6 months later.

angela o’donnell Contributor

Summer is coming to an end and no place better encapsulates the purest essence of summer than Tofino on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Sun, surf, constant reminders of tsunami evacuation zones Tofino has it all. Because it takes over six hours to get there from Vancouver, one will want to brag about the accomplishment of spending time in the coastal garden of Eden. However, there are rules and practices that should not be forgotten when posting those beautiful Instagram pictures.

Control yourself Limit your photos to one for each day you are there and one for 6 months later. The caption for the 6 months later post must be something similar to “Take me back .”

ensure relatability At least one of your photos must be at a place that is Tofino-related but you can find elsewhere. Examples include Tacofino, Tofino Brewing

Company or Tofino Towels. This way people will better relate to your Instagram pictures.

dealing With Credibility Try and mention that you totally knew about Tofino before the iPhone commercial. It is important to establish your credibility. To achieve this, post a #TBT of a different picture of you in Tofino.

piCK the perfeCt subJeCts You must take a selfie with Parka, the Parks Canada mascot, and a cute Parks Canada guide. It’s actually a national obligation. Look it up in the British North America Act. And, if you plan on taking a cute picture in a bathing suit, do not mention that you put on a full body wet suit to get in the water.

The drive back from the summer paradise of Tofino is just long enough that you might finally find a filter you like.

Think back to all the fun you had on your trip, or at least, all the fun you made other people think you had. And remember, the Instagram stories feature is a free-for-all where there are no

Living in Vancouver makes nature very accessible. So, whether you’re returning to campus after a nice long summer break or are new to the scene, it’s important that you set aside some time in the upcoming year to get to know the nature around you. To help you ease into a new academic year, we’ve compiled a list of spots where you can put aside your worries and breathe in that crisp, cool air. It could be just the remedy for those exam-time anxieties or busy schedule woes.

paCifiC spirit regional parK

campus. Located at the north tip of campus, this garden is carefully poised atop a large parkade. The garden is home to a number of different rose and plant species.

Looking out from the garden is a lovely view of English Bay and the mountains to the north. Take a quick jaunt here between classes to get a dose of that much-needed ocean breeze.

ubC botaniCal garden The UBC Botanical Garden is Canada’s oldest university botanic garden - which means it has had plenty of time to amass a wide range of plants both for research and public display. The garden is enormous and divided into many

diverse sections there’s also a canopy walkway to satisfy your adventurous side. If you want to see all that the garden has to offer, you’ll be there for a while, but admission is free for UBC students so you can come and go as you please.

nitobe MeMorial garden Nitobe Memorial is another oncampus garden at the northern end. Nitobe is a traditional Japanese garden that is both stunning and serene. Though fairly small in size, the Garden offers a powerful ambiance and a perfect place to cool down. Spend a few moments strolling amid Japanese maple and cherry trees.

This massive urban park is located in the University Endowment Lands and offers natural sights abound just a few steps from the campus gates.

The park is a host to an extensive network of trails for hiking, cycling and walking around with a gaping mouth in awe of the massive trees.

This is a perfect spot to unwind if you’re short on time, and there are enough trails and sights to keep you occupied for hours.

spanish banKs Spanish Banks is a stretch of shoreline just north of campus.

This beach area is a great spot to glimpse the North Shore, watch the massive ships floating in English Bay or sit with a book and enjoy the sunset. On a warmer day, you can also take a picnic, play some beach volleyball on one of the courts, or take a dip in that new speedo you’ve been desperate to try out.

ubC rose garden The Rose Garden at UBC offers one of the most spectacular views on

the garden is enormous and divided into many diverse sections.

BrAYdoN roBErt BLACK

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