October 3, 2024

Davie Village is Queer community

“[I]t’s the authenticity that I think I really appreciate having, a Queer-centred space in the city,” said Lumley. AYLA

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Shubhreet Dadrao & Julian Forst Contributor & Senior Staff Reporter

Davie Street is known as Vancouver’s Queer hub — where pride is celebrated every day, all year round. The street runs through a portion of downtown Vancouver known as the Davie Village, populated by small businesses, venues and services that have been creating a safe space for Queerness for decades.

Davie Street’s Queer history dates back to the 1940s when young working-class gay men came to the area after the West End’s mansions were replaced by affordable housing. Queer people built a safe community together under the radar until the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969.

Historian Ron Dutton lived through the advent of Vancouver’s Queer village, frequenting bars, businesses and nightclubs that offered a safe haven under Criminal Code of Canada that considered non-heteronormative sexualities criminal. Dutton also founded the BC Gay and Lesbian Archives in 1976, storing valuable documents and artifacts that might have otherwise been lost in his own home.

“The rationale, by the 1950s, for living in the West End was, you’re close to all the shopping, the downtown theatres, Stanley Park and the beaches,” said Dutton. “And, above all, you could live a life of anonymity in the West End.”

Such anonymity — facilitated by low-income, single-occupant rooms subdivided from West End townhouses left vacant as wealthy owners fled to the suburbs — was attractive to Queer Vancouverites.

“The [Queer] bar scene began to develop … along Davie, Granville and Yaletown,” said Dutton. “Yaletown at the time was not high-rise luxury condos. It was one-storey, two-storey high warehousing.”

“Bars and baths began to develop [there] because you could go down there at night and never meet your employer or your preacher.”

Dutton sees the sexually liberated ‘free love’ era of the 1960s as a definitive moment in the formation of Davie Street’s Queer identity.

Under the threat of criminalization, the neighbourhood offered Queer Vancouverites not only a place to let their hair down in relative safety, but also a haven for health and lifestyle services often denied to them in other areas.

According to Dutton, with 1969’s decriminalization of homosexuality came an expansion of these services.

“Gay travel agents, gay hairdressers, restaurants, nightclubs, gift-shops … bookstores [in the West End allowed you] to be close to your public.”

But with decriminalization came dilution. Queer people in Vancouver began to frequent clubs and businesses outside of the Davie core as the decades passed and the violence of enforced heteronormativity slowly waned. The mutual support and protection offered by Davie Village became less and less essential.

In conjunction with this, swiftly rising housing prices in the downtown core soon made the prospect of a bachelor/ette pad on Davie or Granville significantly less accessible.

“Of equal or more importance is the advent of social media,” said Dutton. “Look, when you were a young man like myself … [in the ‘70s], you want[ed] to hit the bars, right? Disco era, rock and roll everywhere. The one place to go to meet other people [was] the bar scene.”

But as social media developed, the opportunity to meet people through means other than drinking and drugs became available.

“Over time [on social media], you get gay nudists and gay Buddhists … gay antique car enthusiasts — an organization or three for absolutely every imaginable interest,” said Dutton.

This diversification of community facilitated by social media has meant Davie Street is no longer the only place where Queer love and friendship can be found in Vancouver.

But Davie Village is still here and Dutton said students, particularly those who are newly immigrated and studying English at one of many language schools downtown, make up a distinct part

of the neighbourhood’s modern identity.

“[These students] are often living downtown and … just as if you had come from a small town to the big city, if you’ve come from a fairly conservative country, there is a period in which you want to be expressive of your identity and where you’re still kind of tentative about that.”

For students like this, and other Queer people who might not be ready to fully share their identity in their family lives, Davie Street offers supportive anonymity.

Today, the neighbourhood provides comfort to students and other young people in a Vancouver area that fosters Queer community all year rather than just every June when the sudden appreciation of Queerness by corporations makes other parts of Vancouver less welcoming to Queer people.

“I think a big thing, especially now, within the Queer community is kind of this rainbow washing across a bunch of corporations,” said Keira Lumley, a UBC student who frequents Davie Street. “It’s the authenticity that I think I really appreciate having, a Queer-centred space in the city.”

N, another UBC student who frequents Davie Street and whose name has been withheld for safety concerns, emphasized the community aspect of the area that supports expressions of self by cultivating a comfortable space.

“There [are] definitely levels to the comfort I feel based on my intersectional identities,” said N. “Relative to the rest of [Vancouver], I felt a lot safer and more comfortable [on Davie Street], especially in the spaces where drinking and just general going out, precautions need to be taken into consideration.”

Davie Street has built a space where Queer people can feel seen at all times of the year while providing a space to be yourself.

“I think that there’s a comfort in the area itself,” said Natasha Elek, a UBC student who researches on the area.

“Being able to express yourself just walking down the street, being able to exist in a space that Queer people have made their own.” U

CILLIERS / THE UBYSSE Y

Federal government further reduces international student visa cap

Ishan Choudhury Contributor

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is further reducing the total study permits, changing the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program (PGWP) and limiting work permit eligibility.

The changes are part of the

STOP FUCKING //

IRCC’s goal to decrease temporary residents from 6.5 per cent of the total population down to 5 per cent. According to a September 18 press release, the changes aim to “uphold the integrity of our immigration system and protect vulnerable people.”

The cap on international student study permits is reducing

from 485,000 to 437,000 for the 2025/26 academic year.

Starting November 1, international students applying for the PGWP will now be required to attain a minimum of level 7 in the CLB language test or equivalent in order to receive their permit.

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc

Miller said, “we know that people that speak the language are better equipped to succeed in Canadian society.”

“The reality is that not everyone who wants to come to Canada will be able to — just like not everyone who wants to stay in Canada will be able to,” said Miller. Work permit eligibility will also

be limited to spouses of master’s students whose programs are at least 16 months long.

“Our immigration system must preserve its integrity, and be well managed and sustainable. And as we look forward, we will do everything it takes to achieve that goal and set newcomers up for success,” said Miller.

This is the newest of a series of reforms that have been announced over the past year. Other recent reforms include increasing the minimum financial requirement for international student visas from $10,000 to $20,635.

In a statement to The Ubyssey, then-Acting Senior Director of UBC Media Relations Matthew Ramsey wrote, “we are concerned that changes to Canadian immigration policy that impact all post-secondary institutions could erode Canada’s global reputation as a destination of choice for international students.”

Ramsey also wrote, “UBC takes a strategic, prudent, and data-informed approach to … [the] university’s recruitment strategy … This approach has ensured UBC remains in a balanced financial position.”

“UBC remains a welcoming and supportive environment for students from around the world and the university continues to encourage accomplished students to come study on our campuses.” U

New child care centre in Brock Commons South opens

Micah Sébastien Zhang Contributor

UBC opened a new child care centre in Brock Commons South, welcoming 37 children at the start of August.

Heron’s Landing Child Care Centre is part of UBC’s Child Care Expansion Plan aimed at reaching 1,200 total child care spaces by 2041. The plan began in 2009 and was updated in 2018.

“The reason for opening more child care centres on the UBC campus is that there is a demand for child care we cannot meet here at UBC, also in British Columbia, and also across Canada,” said Karen Vaughan, director of UBC Child Care Services.

In 2017, there were 814 child care spaces on campus — 629 of them were run by UBC Child Care Services, while the remaining 25 spaces were managed by the University Neighbourhoods Association. UBC is “the largest provider of on-campus child care in North America,” according to the expansion plan.

The Child Care Program “prioritizes parents and guardians who study, work, teach and research in the campus community,” stated a UBC press release about the new space.

It also said “40 percent of child care spaces are allocated to student families,” while distributing the rest “based on enrolment policies and the waitlist.”

Vaughan said as the campus communities grow, UBC will be “unable to meet the needs” of the child care demand for students, staff and faculty. She said all child care spaces will be full by November 1.

Vaughan also said new child

care spaces are in progress, with 24 openings in Orchard Commons and 37 openings in St. John’s College, ready to welcome children in May 2026 and fall 2029, respectively.

“It takes a long time to build the child cares through all of the

funding requirements and the regulations that we have to meet through the health authority,” said Vaughan. Vaughan also said UBC is updating its Child Care Expansion Plan. She said the plan hopes that “any new academic building

built on campus should at least consider child care as part of the new build.”

“Children deserve attention and care and education ... and so, for people who need to work and go to school, child care is critical,” said Vaughan. U

This is the newest of a series of reforms that have been announced over the past year.

NATALIE CHOO / THE UBYSSEY

MARIE ERIKSON / THE UBYSSEY

UBC’s Child Care Expansion Plan aimed at reaching 1,200 total child care spaced by 2041.

PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY GROUPS REITERATE DIVESTMENT DEMANDS

words by Viyan Handley, Spencer Izen, Iman Janmohamed & Aisha Chaudhry

photos by Saumya Kamra

design by Mahin E Alam

Protesters demand UBC to condemn genocide and scholasticide in Gaza

At noon on September 12, Palestinian solidarity protestors gathered on MacInnes Field before marching to Koerner Library to call on UBC to meet their demands.

Rally organizers, which included encampment organizers and Student Strike for Palestine UBC, demanded UBC divest from companies organizers say are complicit in Palestinian human rights violations and condemn the genocide and scholasticide in Gaza.

“It is unfathomable that an institution like the University of British Columbia is remaining silent in the face of scholasticide.”

— ANONYMOUS PROTESTOR

These demands have previously been made by encampment organizers and other Palestinian solidarity groups on campus.

Protestors criticized UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon for refusing to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza.

According to a United Nations-appointed independent expert, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. UN experts are also “deeply concerned” regarding the scholasticide in Gaza.

Organizers said Bacon wrote in a September 3 statement “that geopolitical conflicts and humanitarian crises in Gaza, Ukraine, and other parts of the world are of grave concern for many in our community and around the world.”

“Calling the genocide in Gaza a geopolitical conflict is an insult to the people of Palestine, and it reflects a refusal to confront the truth,” one protestor said at MacInnes Field.  RCMP and Campus Security were present during the pro -

test, and some Campus Security officers were seen filming protesters. When The Ubyssey asked RCMP why it was observing the protest, an officer said the RCMP was “just doing a patrol.”

In a statement to The Ubyssey, then-Acting Senior Director of UBC Media Relations Matthew Ramsey wrote “Campus Security were present to ensure community safety as is standard process.”

“The safety and security of our campus community is our foremost priority.”

Protesters chanted “Liberation is our mission, no more war with our tuition” and “UBC is painted red, over 50,000 dead” as they marched to Bacon’s Koerner Library office.

A few protesters spoke while one member passed out chalk for the gathered crowd to write messages on the ground in front of the library.

“Why do the students have to be out here in front of your office when they should be continuing their education, [getting] ready to make the world a better place?” said Matt, a leader of Student Strike for Palestine.

Another protester spoke about how the destruction of universities in Gaza have negatively impacted the mental health of Palestinian students.

“To sit at a desk and read [is] no longer a possibility, but a symbol of a past life that feels increasingly out of reach,” they said. “It is unfathomable that an institution like the University of British Columbia is remaining silent in the face of scholasticide.”

Protesters offered no comment to The Ubyssey other than to encourage students to join their cause. U

Students demand UBC divest from companies complicit in human rights violations, call for AMS support

On September 19, Student Strike for Palestine UBC held a rally inside the Nest to demand UBC divest from companies organizers say are complicit in human rights violations against Palestinians.

A Student Strike organizer said during the rally that UBC has ignored student calls to divest and condemn the genocide in Gaza. According to a United Nations-appointed independent expert, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

“We will not be ignored anymore. We have to escalate. We have to do what hits UBC where it hurts. We have to hit their mon ey. We have to do a student strike,” said the organizer.

Students, including encampment organizers People’s University UBC, have previously advocated for UBC to divest from companies complicit in human rights violations.

In 2022, UBC rejected calls from student groups such as the AMS, Students for Palestinian Human Rights and the UBC Social Justice Centre to divest from companies complicit in Palestinian human rights violations and to endorse the boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) movement.

In a December 2023 statement and on May 28 at a House of Commons standing committee meeting, UBC Pres ident Benoit-Antoine Bacon reaffirmed UBC does not support BDS.

In May, Bacon said UBC’s endowment “does not directly own any stocks in the companies identified by the movement.” Instead, “capital is held in pooled funds and managed by external investment managers.”

Bacon also said UBC is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment, a United Nations-supported framework of principles that set a responsible investing standard, and that the university’s investment managers adjust their investment strategies based on environmental, social and governance principles.

UBC denied The Ubyssey ’s request for comment regarding this protest.

Student Strike organizers called on the AMS to support the student strike during the rally. Since 2022, the AMS has not commented on Palestinian solidarity or BDS.

Since the rally, the AMS has not released a public statement regarding the strike or campus Palestinian solidarity movements. The AMS also did not respond to The Ubyssey’s multiple requests for comment by press time.

“Palestine and all these issues feel very far away … They’re literally on the other side of the world, but our money here is going directly to companies that fund a genocide,” said UBC student Skyler Sauer.

Sauer said students can affect change that impacts Palestine while at UBC because “these arms don’t come from nowhere.”

“You don’t get a bomb for free. Nobody’s handing them out. You have to pay for them with billions and billions of dollars, and those dollars come from the US government, from the Canadian government and lots of other governments and investments,” said Sauer. U

Protesters call for UBC Board of Governors to divest, occupy Alumni Centre

Community members protested outside of Koerner Library on September 25 to demand UBC divest from companies organizers say are complicit in human rights violations against Palestinians.

At 10 a.m., protesters gathered in the pouring rain near a tent set up outside the library to listen to speakers — a few minutes prior, Campus Security closed down Koerner Library and turned away students from entering.

The first speaker at the protest was Dr. Hicham Safieddine, a UBC history professor. He said he was denied entry into Koerner Library by Campus Security despite showing his UBC ID.

“We

are calling on them to divest from military companies, from companies that invest in death and destruction.”

—

“No matter what they do, we will continue to stand strong,” said Safieddine. “We will continue to do our very basic right and duty to defend the people who are being attacked.”

DR. HICHAM SAFIEDDINE, UBC HISTORY PROFESSOR

Safieddine said the reason for the protest was because UBC’s Board of Governors (BoG) meeting was the same day in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre. The BoG is UBC’s highest governing body and makes decisions about UBC’s finances and property use.

“The university has explicitly endorsed the divestment from fossil fuels … this means that they cannot tell us that they do not endorse divestment as a common principle,” said Safieddine.

“We are calling on them to divest from military companies, from companies that invest in death and destruction.”

After the speeches, protesters marched to the Alumni Centre. As protesters marched down Main Mall, they chanted “free, free Palestine” and “Gaza, Gaza don’t you cry, we will never let you die.”

“Palestine and all these issues feel very far away ... They’re literally on the other side of the world, but our money here is going directly to companies that fund a genocide.”

— SKYLER SAUER, UBC STUDENT

“The body that governs our institution is made up of individual members who are choosing not to divest from genocide,” said one protester outside the Alumni Centre.

Protestors attempted to enter the building’s foyer, but were stopped by Campus Security.

Protesters instead entered Loafe, which was blocked off from the rest of the building by a metal barricade.

Protesters banged against the barricade and continued their chants.

“This is a message to the Board of Governors. Shame. Shame on UBC.”

Campus Security officers and two RCMP vehicles were present near the Alumni Centre.

“Campus Security protocols were in place to allow for peaceful protest while ensuring continuity of university operations. The decision to attend the scene was made by the RCMP,” wrote Senior Director Media Relations Kurt Heinrich in a statement to The Ubyssey.

“The safety and security of our campus community is our foremost priority. UBC respects the principle of peaceful protest and the tenet of freedom of expression within UBC’s student code of conduct, discrimination policy, and the law.”

Protestors then walked through the AMS Clubs Fair and ended the rally shortly after at 11 a.m. U

A dark roast rendezvous

Remembering stories about each other is a love language.

KINSHIP AND COMMUNITY //

A love letter to the store

Jesse Medrano-Ramos Contributor

As a social justice student, I’ve had to engage with many works exploring the idea of “home.”

I found myself particularly drawn to the theories of bell hooks. In Yearning: Race, Gender And Cultural Politics, she presents the connection between the homeplace and acts of resistance to oppression — “Those who oppress benefit when … we have … no ‘homeplace’ where we can recover,” she wrote.

It reminded me of a childhood spent watching my mother work in a health care system that was actively oppressing her. Striving to afford that “homeplace” for her children, she accepted the exploitation. Our family had two mattresses shared between the four of us — we managed, but it didn’t feel like what I thought a home should be.

This was not the fault of my mother, who had so much being expected of her, and was already doing all that she could. Poverty socially reproduced me to be just as exploitable. By 16, I worked fulltime across 3 jobs.

However, at some point, I began to realize that I did have a home — I just didn’t realize it.

As a child, I was always at my grandma’s business — everyone called it “The Store.” hooks redefines the home as a space “where we could restore to ourselves the dignity denied … in the public world.” This quote perfectly describes what the store was: beyond a wedding salon, it was a hub where my family, and the Filipino community around us, were always welcome. We could take the time to reconnect, even without a special occasion to celebrate. It was a space that strengthened kinship and contrasted the idea of the nuclear family; no one was excluded in this space where every generation could come to -

Olivia Vos Contributor

It’s a sunny day at Great Dane. Beams of light peek through the buildings that shade the patio, creating sunny patches where students gather, laptops out and coffees in hand.

The faint sound of a milk steamer can be heard through the blanket of chatter as the never-ending line continues to grow. Baristas sweat in the hot kitchen while espresso shots go cold on the counter. Looking around, you’ll notice an array of people: students hard at work on their computers, headphones in, eyes locked on the screen; friends catching up after a day of classes, giggles being passed around as they snack on bread and cookies; professors taking in the day, eyes closed, relaxed on the couch.

One specific pair of voices can be heard more clearly over the other chatter. The girl wears a plaid skirt with a matching jacket slung over the chair behind her, the sun now acting as a barrier to the cold. Her long hair tickles her back as she laughs, the ensuing shine almost blinding. Her counterpart blends in more with the people around them. He wears a purple shirt and jeans, his white

It was more than a family drop-in — it highlighted the teachings of our culture, resisting Western norms.

gether under a single “home.”

It was more than a family dropin — it highlighted the teachings of our culture, resisting Western norms. We’d have family potlucks, the only places I’d see my cultural foods normalized. In the store itself, we also sold traditional

shoes tapping against the concrete as they talk.

They both sip on almost-empty drinks, the ice slowly turning into beads of water that run down the outside of their cups and onto their shoes. Forgotten scones go stale in the sun as they chat, only interested in what the other has to say.

The girl recalls a terrible first date at The Roxy on a Saturday. The guy she met up with was wearing purple pants, and besides, “Who takes someone to The Roxy for a first date?”

Laughter ensues as they reminisce about the experience and she emphasizes gratitude for her now-boyfriend who wouldn’t dream of wearing such an outlandish colour. Weekend plans with friends are shared over open laptops with blinking cursors, and assignments remain empty as more important conversations take place.

Hearing their conversation is like seeing yourself in third-person. Past romantic encounters, memories of a night out and plans for the next are dominant, even if that means having to put off your assignment for another day. Remembering stories about each other is a love language — especially when you experience it on the Great Dane patio. U

Filipino ingredients, which was another means of resisting the white supremacy ingrained in my province.

I’ve always understood the idea of caring for others without the expectation of receiving something in exchange. And through studying

social justice, I’ve also learned the term “mutual aid,” and realized that’s what this space fostered.

The space conditioned me to not expect reward from acts of kindness — those family potlucks, my cousin’s boyfriend driving me home or my aunt dropping off coffee. Mutual aid promotes unconditional acts of service and resists valuing materials, a concept integral to the Filipino community’s beliefs.

My mother always told me she had fallen in love with my father because of his family, since her conditions of migration separated her from her own mother and father.

I am so blessed to have been given the richness of a space where aunts braided my hair, cousins played alongside me and grandparents made me breakfast — just a few treasures that not everyone gets to enjoy.

Post-pandemic, we’ve had to sell the business, and I can already see how this has changed family dynamics. Our gatherings aren’t as frequent, and we’ve dispersed to different corners of the country.

But I will always be thankful for the space, as it was my introduction to the anti-capitalist functions of Filipinos living in the West. hooks’s reading has made me deeply appreciate the space I’d come to understand as home.

Reflecting on how the store functioned in my life — a life under systems that actively exploit me, and people like me — has helped me understand that “home” isn’t just a physical location, but a site to nurture care through mutual aid and kinship. U

ABBIE LEE / THE UBYSSEY

ABBIE LEE / THE UBYSSEY

Inviting people to ‘Come Toward the Fire’ once again

Julian Forst Senior Staff Reporter

Three years ago, xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam) and UBC’s Chan Centre worked in collaboration to host the first ʔəmi ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire), a free-entry festival celebrating the resilience and talent of North America/Turtle Island’s Indigenous peoples.

Alternative rock musician Black Belt Eagle Scout and Reservation Dogs composer and rapper Mato Wayuhi headlined a host of Indigenous performers at last year’s festival. This year, R&B folk musician Celeigh Cardinal and singer-songwriter Sebastian Gaskin brought home the third annual festival on September 14.

2024’s Come Toward the Fire opened with an address on the Chan Centre’s River Grass Stage from xʷməθkʷəyəm and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) poet Christie Lee Charles. Charles, who was named Vancouver’s first local Indigenous poet laureate in 2018, performed at the first Come Toward the Fire festival in 2022.

Charles began this year’s festivities by urging the audience, “ʔəmi ce:p xʷiwəl, come toward the fire.” She gave brief recounts of the land’s history — qələχən (Wreck Beach) and its importance to the xʷməθkʷəyəm people as an outpost on the Fraser River, transformer stones Slhxi7lsh (Siwash Rock) and Xá:ytem (Hatzic Rock) and their importance as sites of learning and spiritual change.

The first musical event of the

festival took to the stage soon after.

A powerful four-part harmony reverberated from behind the stage and six members of the family song and dance group Tsatsu Stalqayu (Coastal Wolf Pack), made their way to the front. It was striking how well the performers’ voices carried before they had even approached the microphones.

VANCOUVER QUEER FILM FESTIVAL //

vocals, and the sitting-room-only setup with the Chan Centre’s family atmosphere undercut the energy.

Leaving the River Grass Stage, festival goers were met with rows of tables where local Indigenous-owned businesses displayed books, baking, beads and bath salts, among other wares. The Chan Centre had a stall selling vinyl and CDs from some of the more prominent musicians performing this year.

Outside, food trucks offered Indigenous and settler cuisine (Golden Bannock in particular boasted a line around the block), and Nations Skate Youth offered skateboarding workshops in a fenced-off section of the Flag Pole Plaza. Book and poetry readings organized by Massy Books, film screenings in the Royal Bank Cinema and more performances on the River Grass Stage by Sister Ray, Digawolf and more, took place throughout the rest of the day.

emcee IronRhino. The juxtaposition of traditional Coast Salish music with an energetically modern Vancouver act like MJScottS’s helped to bring the present and future of Indigenous music into the same space as its heritage.

Elena Massing Culture Editor

“It’s like a dress feels like armour, or when makeup feels like a helmet for my soul.”

At Carousel Theatre for Young People’s drag camp, participants are asked to step into someone else’s shoes for the day — and in letting go of their worries and pretending to be someone else, they often find themselves emerging with more confidence.

UBC alumni David Ng and Jen Sungshine’s documentary Drag is for Everyone follows camp participants, parents and mentors — familiar faces in the Vancouver drag scene like Rose Butch and Gaia Lacandona — to learn more about the program.

The film was part of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival’s The Coast is Queer showcase, which highlighted short films by local artists. An in-person viewing took place on September 20, and films were screened online from September 21–24.

For the past few years, the camp has been teaching youth the basics of drag performance, including costuming, makeup, performance and choreography. By encouraging campers to build a drag persona — an identity they assume while in costume or performing — the mentors help them learn to connect with other people while staying

time on hand drums and at times descending from the stage to dance closer to the audience. Between performances they explained the significance of each piece. The “Women’s Gathering Song,” meant to honour the berries and plants that the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm people use to make medicine, was a highlight, with its dynamic call-and-response between the group’s low and high register vocalists.

After Tsatsu Stalqayu, Charles returned to welcome producer and rapper MJScottS with fellow YVR

MJScottS had the more engaging flows of the two performers, slow and relaxed but still rhythmic and driving in the verses. I couldn’t help but wish I’d seen the duo at a venue better suited for their music — the mics were harsh, cutting, clearly not set properly for these

That evening, Sebastian Gaskin and Celeigh Cardinal closed the festival with headline performances in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. Gaskin showed off his dynamic vocal range and impressive guitar solos with catchy, well-produced pop-rock in the vein of The New Pornographers. His band’s performance was slightly undercut by a very heavy backing track that at times made it hard to distinguish what was actually live.

As the day came to a close, Cardinal brought thoughtful lyrics with powerful soul vocals, backed by a talented band who went beyond merely a supporting act. U

Unpacking misconceptions in Drag is for Everyone

“There’s so much we can learn, actually, from young people and their experiences of gender.”

The group, four adults and two children dressed in handmade traditional Coast Salish regalia, sang paddle songs, a welcome song and a gathering song, keeping true to themselves.

It’s clear how much this program means to the kids and their families even in these short interviews, particularly Queer kids who are coming to terms with their identity and are still trying to build their circle of friends.

“What was really beautiful about working with the youth that are in this film, for example, is they

already know about the beauty of gender diversity and queerness,” said Ng, the co-artistic director of Love Intersections, a media arts collective for Queer artists of colour, as well as the co-director of Drag is for Everyone

“They’re far, far more advanced than I was at their age. I think they’re even more advanced than I am now. And so I think there’s so

much we can learn, actually, from young people and their experiences of gender.”

But in 2023, drag camp organizers faced pushback against the program including hate mail and death threats against staff members, read an article written by Carousel Theatre’s co-artistic director Jennica Grienke.

Ng also pointed out the in-per-

son film screening happens to fall on the same day as a march put on by Hands Off Our Kids. Its website states the organization is aimed at “safeguarding parental rights and advocating for the removal of intrusive elements of sexual orientation and gender ideology from the educational system.”

This is why educating people on drag, and the existence of programs like drag camp, is so important. Drag is often misperceived as being explicit and inappropriate for a younger audience. But like any other art form, it’s diverse. It can be explicit, but that isn’t the default — and shows not intended for a younger audience would never be marketed as such.

“Drag is putting on makeup and performing. It sometimes is about gender, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be about gender. It is also about celebration of identity,” said Ng. “Even if we may not identify as Trans or non-binary or even a drag performer, all of these topics intersect with who we are, in literally all of us.”

“I think what you do have to know if you want to do drag is to understand the history of drag and its roots in Queerness and Queer history,” said Shea Heatherington, Carousel Theatre’s education coordinator, in the film.

“But you do not need to be Queer to do drag. You don’t need to be anything other than excited.” U

The Indigenous-led festival celebrates Indigenous creativity, culture and community.

COURTESY CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Antoine Bourges’s camera slows down time

words by Raunaq Nambiar photo courtesy Antoine Bourges

Filmmaking is often understood as self-reflective. Martin Scorsese said film’s purpose is “to find out who the hell I am.”

Like with other art forms, film often represents a blend of external influences and a filmmaker’s own traits. It’s what makes a Scorsese film a Martin Scorsese film. You feel as though no one else but him could’ve directed Goodfellas

But what happens when a filmmaker’s goal is to chronicle something specifically due to its absence from their personal experience? How do you capture something you haven’t lived (or remember having lived) first-hand?

This idea is what drives Antoine Bourges’s filmmaking.

“There was mainly a curiosity in life, rather than a curiosity in films, that made me want to be a filmmaker,” said Bourges.

For him, there’s a joy of everyday living that he strives to catch on film — the kind that feels increasingly inaccessible in today’s world.

“You feel like there’s something about everyday life that you’re not experiencing in your life because it’s all happening so fast and everything is so slippery, and you just can’t quite experience it,” Bourges said.

“It comes from a desire to stop everything and to be able to have a pure experience of it, or a better experience of it.”

Bourges works to bring a sense of unconventional filmmaking to his role as a film professor at UBC’s theatre and film department too. It’s a challenge to navigate a university’s traditional grading mechanisms in a discipline as creative as filmmaking.

“In every assignment that I give or anything that I grade, there are a lot of objective things that I try to introduce in there to make sure that students have learned certain rules, but also try to make room for them to break those rules.”

MAKING THE ORDINARY BIGGER

There’s something warmly relatable about trying to capture ordinary magic — and we’ve consistently rewarded such art with fame and acclaim. The unremarkable is what lent works like Celine Song’s Past Lives or Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film their emotional notoriety — to take the ordinary and make it feel bigger.

However, Bourges’s ambitions are a bit different. His 2012 docufiction film East Hastings Pharmacy

is nothing like those two works. It follows the day-to-day existence of a clinic in Vancouver’s East Hastings neighbourhood that, among other things, works in harm reduction by providing prescribed doses of methadone to people who engage with substance use.

Methadone is an opioid used to help soften opioid withdrawal symptoms and reduce the risk of infection from needle use since it is taken orally.

The film doesn’t really follow any traditional storytelling principles, and in all honesty could be summed up as high quality security camera footage.

However, as you watch the film, you begin to get a sense of what life as a pharmacist or pharmacy customer is like. You begin to recognize the regulars, banter between the pharmacist and the pharmacy technician at lunch warms you. The old cartoons on the box TV hanging above the liminal waiting room — a sense of ordinary humanity begins to permeate this initially clinical docufiction film.

In 2016, four years after East Hastings Pharmacy was released, BC declared the toxic drug crisis a public health emergency. In 2023,

BC recorded over 2,500 drug-related deaths.

Despite that declaration, Vancouver has been included in the Global Liveability Rankings’ top 10 every year (except 2021) since 2002. Its consistent performance in this index in the face of a deepening toxic drug crisis highlights the widening gap between people who do and do not engage in substance use. For Bourges, the goal is to remind viewers that this gap is much, much smaller than we think.

“When you start spending time with characters or with people and they’re in frame, I think it’s harder to see them as other,” said Bourges.

Watch the movie and you begin to realize just how much you have in common with the film’s characters. They make silly jokes with each other in the waiting area; they wear Canucks merch; they have kids to take care of; they have hopes and ambitions.

“You start building a kind of subconscious connection with them,” said Bourges. There are moments in the film that seem awkward, like the feeling of uncomfortably hanging by the hallway waiting for someone in the room to respond or look toward you. Scenes last longer than it feels it should and characters linger on screen well after their dialogue is complete. This is intentional and is meant to directly contrast typical quick cuts between actors that, for Bourges, encourage a separation between audience and film subject.

“If you cut for two seconds and cut back to the action, what [the audience receives] is, ‘Oh, an unhoused person, a poor something’ — it would just be a kind of label,” said Bourges.

LETTING THE CAMERA LINGER

Bourges’ works have often heavily centred on themes of social change. His most recent work, a drama called Concrete Valley (2022), revolves around Syrian immigrants Rashid and Farah as they struggle with their new life in Toronto. Prior to that, 2017’s Fail to Appear tracks the relationship between a social services caseworker and her client as they navigate a criminal trial.

“If you leave your camera there and spend more time with this person, then this first impression might stay there a little bit. But then other things will come up, like, ‘Oh, that person actually talks like my uncle’ … they will become more human to you, and you’ll connect with them more.”

And this connection is mediated by the fact that Bourges opts to work with a primarily non-professional cast with limited or no acting background. While partially a result of resource or budget constraints, it also helps him draw from a more diverse set of realities.

“If you look on any casting website, a lot of the actors tend to come

from a similar social background, tend to look a little bit the same in terms of ethnic background and stuff like that.”

For a filmmaker whose characters vary across race, gender and cultural background, this is a pressing criterion. There are some things non-actors do that actors have been trained out of, said Bourges, and sometimes imitating reality isn’t close enough — you have to collaborate with people who live in it.

“[With non-actors], you don’t necessarily know what they think sometimes,” said Bourges. “That’s very moving to me, and that’s very strange, that’s very unsettling sometimes.” U

As with any creative, I asked Bourges to give me his four favourite films (Letterboxd style).

Film 1: Blissfully Yours by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

“I felt like I was completely connected with the time of the film, because the film was also quite dreamy and slow, and I felt extremely moved at the end.”

Film 2: Comment je me suis disputé (ma vie sexuelle) by Arnaud Desplechin

“It’s just the film that I’ve watched 1,000 times, because I would play it in the background when I would be cooking or when I would just do anything. It was just my radio in the background. It’s an incredibly rich film.”

Film 3: Tale of Cinema by Hong Sang-soo

“It’s kind of hard to discuss, but it’s just a very beautiful film, and it talks about how we experience life and how we experience films.”

Film 4: L. Cohen by James Benning

“When I saw it in a festival a few years ago, people were just bawling by the end … even though there’s not a single human or animal … if I tell you about this film, I will totally spoil it, because only one thing happens in it, and you need to see it to see it happen.” U

ROCK PARTY IS CLIMBING ACCESSIBILTY AND COMMUNITY UNDER THE STARS

words and photos by Viyan Handley layout by Lauren Kasowski

Would you trust a group of college kids with your life?

For the 300 climbers who attended Rock Party 2024, the answer is a resounding yes.

Rock Party is an annual event hosted by UBC’s Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC). Ticketed members drive up to Squamish, a world-renowned destination for mountain bikers, hikers and rock climbers, on a Saturday morning in September. They then either receive or provide a full day of rock climbing instruction in groups of 6–11 before returning to the Mamquam River Campground for a night of heavy woodland partying.

The event is hugely popular and tickets, even at $50 a pop, can be difficult to acquire.

This year, like last, I participated in a routine familiar to anyone who has ever frequented a sign-up page for a limited-space VOC event: I rolled out of bed and onto my computer, holding my breath as I repeatedly refreshed the ticket page. Despite the event having 300 spaces, both student and discounted instructor tickets sell out every year.

Late to the 8 a.m. signup? Chances are, you can kiss Rock Party goodbye.

So why exactly is Rock Party so popular?

Every attendee must set aside an hour and a half for the event’s mandatory pre-trip meeting and deal with sorting themselves into car- and skillset-based climbing groups (which range from complete beginners in ‘Rock 1’ to veteran climbers in ‘Rock 5’) with people who are often strangers. Then, they must lug an extensive amount of expensive camping and climbing gear up to the mountains.

It’s also well-known and specified on the VOC’s website that “the instructors on this trip are NOT professional … your safety is your own responsibility.”

And yet, 94 students signed up for this year’s Rock Party level one introductory class, which put them on crags as high as 56 metres.

location, accessibility and its attend ees’ powerful desire for climbing community.

WEDITOR LAUREN KASOWSKI

As apprehensive as I had been about attending Rock Party as press this year, I felt my chest loosen the moment my car group rolled up to the sprawling woodland campground.

VOC executives strive to foster appreciation for the access to the natural environment their members have, and opened their pre-trip presentation with an acknowledgment that the event would be held on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples — the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam) nations.

“What we are doing is extraction, even though we are not taking anything literally, we are taking experiences, feelings, and memories,” the presentation read.

“Appreciate what you have access to, Respect the Land, it’s our friend.”

I couldn’t count on both hands the number of comments I heard complimenting the scenery, from classics like, “Look at that view,” to an overheard quip of “Why do I ever party inside?”

In an interview, third-year natural resource conservation student and Rock 1 climber Maya Davis agreed on the beauty of Rock Party’s location.

“I personally had a really fun time. This was my first Rock Party, and … the whole day climbing was extraordinary. It was good to be outside,” she said, smiling.

But Rock Party is more than just climbing in a gorgeous location — it’s also trying to break down barriers, such as a lack of equipment or training. The VOC’s ‘safety deposit and return’ policy for equipment makes any necessary climbing gear accessible.

“All my friends that I came here with are in Rock 1, and they have all the gear they need. I don’t even have all the gear I need, and

[though], I think it’s relatively accessible.”

When speaking with instructors and students across the levels, I uncovered that climbers’ motivations to teach and learn were also tied to accessibility perceptions.

“There’s a pretty big barrier of entry into climbing, like it can be intimidating to get into, so it’s awesome to get to pass on [climbing knowledge] and … help people enjoy it,” Rock 3 instructor Michael Walmsley said.

Fourth-year chemical and biological engineering student and Rock 5 climber Kate Barrett also expressed excitement over the learning opportunities Rock Party offers, emphasizing that climbing is a partnered sport.

“[Rock Party] is such an easy and accessible way [to get into outdoor climbing], because … it’s really hard to find a belayer to take you and actually teach you these skills. It’s nice that there’s an organized event where you can progressively learn more and more each year,” she said.

Third-year bioeconomy sciences and technology student and Rock 3 climber Angelina Brule echoed Barrett’s sentiments and also expressed support for what she called a “better learning environment.”

“I feel bad when I’m learning with friends, because I don’t want them to have to teach me. So I feel like learning [at Rock Party] is the goal, so I can ask questions and not feel like I’m taking up too much time.”

While part of Rock Party’s accessibility comes from its lack of officially trained instructors, I asked upwards of 30 students if they trusted their teachers — every single one said ‘yes.’

“That’s why I’m not nervous,” said Barrett.

Isaac Tonkin-Palmer, an instructor for Rock 3, said this trust comes from how vetted the

“I can go to a party and I can go rock climbing very easily … but

whom were enthused to speak with me about their Rock Party experiences. Several people asked if I could include things in this article, excitedly demanding mention of a friend’s cool ‘Gandalf me to a rope and helped me climb)

Party since he was in Rock 1. After love with climbing and Rock Party

climbing groups, the community BBQ dinner or the party that rages into the wee hours of the morning.

We’re here to radically learn

This article reflects the author’s personal experiences and views individually and does not reflect the views of The Ubyssey as a whole. Contribute to the conversation by visiting ubyssey.ca/pages/submit-an-opinion.

Sunny Das Contributor

Sunny Das (she/her) is a second-year student in the global resource systems major, specializing in international trade and development. She just transferred to UBC from Bowdoin College in the US and is looking forward to spending the next three years learning more about how we can all flourish in a globalized world.

Growing up, many of us operate under the implicit understanding that attending university is a prerequisite for a ‘better future.’

These days, this illusory ‘better future’ seems to be unveiling itself for what it is: a lie.

The rules that our parents lived by simply no longer apply. A college degree does not get you that far ahead in today’s job market. Even traditionally lucrative career paths, like law, are now proving to be less secure options than they once were. Professors talk about friends with PhDs who struggle to get decent positions. There is worry that AI will quickly replace computer science majors. Surely some of the rhetoric is hyperbole, not reality, but a certain amount of it is true. Even with overall higher incomes, our generation is doing worse than our parents did at our age.

As a result, existential angst hangs in the air as we confront ourselves with not only our future, but the world’s future (yes, I’m talking about the climate crisis).

It seems the world is slipping out from under our feet just as we’re finally getting a good look around. We find ourselves here, in university, doing what we were supposed to do, but unsure of where it will lead us. The idea of acquiring a four-year degree that will launch us into our careers and adulthood doesn’t seem to be much more than that: an idea. The questions loom — is the idea of university antiquated? What’s the point of piling on degrees anyway?

Why are we here?

Growing up in a small New England town in the US (think Gilmore Girls) like I did, university seemed to be the ultimate end goal of my life. In high school, my friends and I grinded out SATs, wrote essay after essay and perfected our lists of extracurriculars — all in hopes of getting into the most prestigious school possible. These were schools like Harvard or Dartmouth, the schools many of our parents went to, schools that had managed to capture the imagination — and the envy — of students from around the world.

The more selective the school one ended up attending, the better. And so people fought like hell for those few exceptional spots, sacrificing their sleep, sanity and selfhood. All so that they’d be selected for a place prestigious enough that its googled acceptance rate would show a single-digit number. Nine per cent. Seven per cent.

Four per cent.

This acceptance number signified you had been chosen. Meanwhile, the other 95 per cent stands locked out of the pretty ivory gates that closed shut on their applications with a clang.

What happens within those doors, though, is not what one may think. This story is, obviously, only my subjective experience from a single year at one of these ‘elite New England’ colleges. It is by no means the only interpretation of their worth and purpose. Yet the comparison between life there and life in Vancouver is too stark not to submit it to some sort of deeper analysis.

At the crux of the analysis lies questions that my high school self never truly asked: what was the undergraduate even made for? What exactly does a ‘liberal arts’ education mean in comparison to any other degree? How does the undergraduate experience operate as a vehicle for change? Stagnation? Does it break barriers or does it build walls? I haven’t fully arrived at answers for any of these, but I do think I have a clearer conception now of differences between the ideology of the liberal arts (the college I previously attended) and the more general undergraduate one (UBC). The comparison serves to highlight the ideology, practicality and legitimacy of both.

Back in the US, I attended Bowdoin College, a small liberal arts school in Maine of around 2,000 people. On our admitted students day, a beautiful May afternoon with the sun shining through the towering trees and leaves scattered across the towers themselves, the faculty corralled us into an imposing auditorium and told us something radical: here, within these ivory gates, we would be asked to undo everything that we had learned in high school.

The liberal arts degree, at their conception, was meant to provide a sanctuary of knowledge: It’s a place where one could study the sages and their contemporaries without the pressure of the outside world banging on their door. It was meant to be a source of meditation, soul-searching, contemplation and learning. It was meant as a four-year period where young people could come to “find themselves” and their place in the world before going on to law school, or government positions, or literature or medicine. Become educated and change the world. That was the idea.

And so, in our orientation groups, the faculty spoon-fed us this narrative. No more should we study for grades. No more should we study for validation. We were here for learning’s sake alone — to gain access to the keys of the world’s library and use it on a sacred quest for ‘the common good.’ We would be supported in our journey with luxuries most college students could never imagine: gourmet food, spring galas, poetry readings. All they asked from us was that we, in our earnest and naive youth, try to solve the world’s problems by unraveling the words and theorems of those who had walked those very halls before us. It sounded grand. It sounded important. It fed our egos. And most of it was empty.

See, despite the fact that professors and staff would pump students full of ideas of ‘the common good’ and free, radical learning, the overwhelming feeling I got walking through the hallways and fields was apathy.

Sure, there were exceptions and genuine pockets of passion and zeal. But what schools like Bowdoin or Dartmouth don’t like to advertize is how much money they devote to getting people on the Wall Street bandwagon. They will never tell you how their major donors are mostly conservative finance bros or how subservient the school is to their influence. They never tell you about where, exactly, your tuition goes or where, exactly, their huge endowment is spent. They spit out ideas of ‘the common good,’ largely meaning things like equality and justice, but they themselves purposefully propagate the relics of elitism and rampant unchecked capitalism that so heavily contribute to the social injustices we see today.

Make no mistake — American private universities are businesses. They commodify education, they hook you on their exclusivity, they sell you their brand. In effect, the very things they stand for — the free pursuit of knowledge implemented to contribute to the ‘common good’ — get twisted and muddled, lost in the enormous paychecks that leave the American youth enslaved to their student debt.

The critiques go on and on. I stand by the idea of the liberal arts, the idea of pursuing knowledge for its own sake, as an avenue for eventually realizing the ‘good.’

But I don’t see the liberal arts institutions of America delivering. How can they deliver when they are not truly vehicles of education but rather transactional businesses? When they stem from the very elite society that their professors and dogmatic approaches now love to condemn? As institutions, I can’t see how they are doing anything but failing.

UBC is basically the opposite for Bowdoin. First off, it is publicly funded. This means that it doesn’t dole out the same frills as American elite institutions. This also means tuition is relatively cheap, in com-

parison to both public and private American universities. Second off, UBC is much more pragmatic. Its motto, ‘tuum est,’ meaning it’s yours, puts the onus on the student to create their degree, not the school. Over 70,000 students work towards a degree every year, compared to just 2,000 at Bowdoin. In that way, it is also much more efficient, giving more students the resources to get an education.

UBC is also ideologically different in its aim. It is not a liberal arts school. It does not care as much for cultivating students who are armed to the teeth with knowledge of philosophy and appropriate aesthetic appreciation. Instead, your education is really up to you: business, forestry, engineering, science, arts, research.

There is no clearly defined purpose of the university other than for you to be educated as you wish, to help you on whatever life path you choose. No one is corralling you into an auditorium on your first day of class to tell you how gifted you are. No one is writing poetry and singing songs about the legacy you’ve inherited as a UBC student. No one is acting like this is a fairytale. It is this attitude that UBC wields like a double-edged sword.

At UBC, no one really cares. That’s the truth. You’re a number, one of thousands. It’s easy to feel lost in the crowd. The ultimate freedom and space UBC gives can be dizzying and leave one paralyzed in the chaos of emptiness. Rent is high, food prices are high, time is low. Despite this, some do revel in the freedom of the place. If you grab opportunities as they fly, the limit really is the sky. No one cares, but no one is stopping you either. Except, maybe, the pressures of everyday expenses and long commutes for some.

Yet despite the vast differences between both schools, the existential questions of what the undergraduate experience is for still linger. At Bowdoin, one must ask why they are paying an arm and a leg for a somewhat mediocre experience at an ego-driven elitist institution. At UBC, one must ask why they are spending four years barely affording rent, swimming in

a sea of thousands, only to end up without secure job prospects. In both cases, the illusion of reproducing our parents’ lives is quickly dispelled.

The bitter truth is this: our society has failed us. And our institutions are failing us. The university dilemma has arisen because, as a society, we’ve molded university into a place where study is a means to an end. In the case of Bowdoin, it is even worse — a business model. That was never, and should never have been, the project of any university. The liberal arts got one thing right though: university is a time to stop, drop and learn.

The good news is this: One does not need to stand within the private pretty ivory gates to gain access to pearls of knowledge. They are here, for all of us, in the libraries and books and people around us. Fear of the future job market does not need to deter you from exercising your duty as a student to freely inquire and learn. Even if your degree needs to be a purely practical one, there are so many people to learn from through simple conversation, so many different ways to “become educated.” The trick is to stop relying on the idea that institutions are the guides through which we, as students, will “become educated.” Our institutions are failing us. We must take our education into our own hands.

And make no mistake, the need for education is as important as it ever was. If one thing is for certain nowadays, it is that we live in uncertain times. In many ways, we have no choice but to grapple our way forwards in a world bathed in darkness. In university, at least we have some time to grope around and see if there is a light switch anywhere to be found.

So let’s agree not to let these institutions rob us of our money, time and worth. Most of their promises are bullshit, most of their goals vapid. I say, each to their own ability and capacity — commit to radical learning for the sake of learning itself, even if only for one hour, one minute, one second a day. Because that, despite everything else going on, is what all of us are really here for. U

The university dilemma has arisen because, as a society, we’ve molded university into a place where study is a means to an end.

JOSHUA MEDICOFF / THE UBYSSEY

Living the Institutions: The Arts language requirement fails its own goal and students

This is the first article of column called Living the Institutions about the institutions and norms that impact undergraduate students at UBC.

This article reflects the author’s personal experiences and views individually and does not reflect the views of The Ubyssey as a whole. Contribute to the conversation by visiting ubyssey.ca/pages/ submit-an-opinion.

Marie Erikson Columnist

Marie Erikson is a fourth-year student in the philosophy honours program and author of the column Living the Institutions. In her work, she aims to mix theory, experience, policy and norms through clear and nuanced writing. She enjoys an engaging conversation about cats, coffee or whatever event or philosophical conception is deeply bothering her at the moment.

Students who began their BA at UBC this fall are subject to different degree requirements than their predecessors. Like the new system, the pre-2024 requirements encouraged breadth of study by mandating completion of courses in literature, science and a foreign language. By contrast, the new degree requirements allow students to study those same areas while also allowing students to determine how much of each area they want to study.

Of course, giving students more room to follow their interests can be valuable. This change fails, however, by allowing incoming and future BA students to choose to take as little as one 3-credit language course, with a few courses fully in English counting toward the requirement. According to the Faculty of Arts’ website, language learning serves “to strengthen intercultural awareness in personal and professional contexts.” Even one language course can work toward this goal, hinting that the understanding of how a language operates and some facets of culture(s) in which it is spoken. Language education opens the doors to interacting with many more people and cultural material than otherwise possible, showing a student ways to develop such knowledge. Asking students to master another language over the course of their degree is certainly excessive, yet a single term, three-credit course may not provide the complete benefit that the requirement aims to provide.

If the goal, however, is to develop “intercultural awareness,” how effective can the teachings of a single course be in achieving those ends? After one course, can you understand a text for a general audience of native speakers? Can you follow a presentation, lecture or speech? Can you have a conversation with someone and discuss your opinions and ideas? After only one 3-credit introduc-

tory course, probably not.

A lot of culture is also held in values, opinions and hopes that are difficult to express or understand at the beginning of one’s language learning journey. Culture can be found in tiny details, like the way a slight shift in intonation changes the intent of the English phrase “how are you?” from a polite formality based in social etiquette to an intimate, personal inquiry.

And even when computer translation is easier than ever to access, the context and norms don’t always carry the crucial weight they do in the original material. In English, for example, we can say a conversation feels “awkward” with the expectation that our listener will immediately understand the sort of strange and uncomfortable feeling and situation. But a French translation of that sentence could not succinctly and completely capture the mixture of embarrassment, pain, stiltedness, annoyance and cringe in the way that “awkward” can.

This is also commonly the case with jokes. Translating what is perhaps the most classic anglophone dad joke of “I’m hungry” and its response “Hi, Hungry. I’m Dad,” is impossible. The structures of many languages, including some languages relatively close to English, limit this joke from making any sense not only as humour but as a coherent exchange.

You may question what relevance these details have for a student who came to UBC not to learn languages but for studying political science, English, math or any other subject. A student’s major may have been their motivation for studying at UBC, or any university for that matter, but a major’s 42-credit minimum will be a minority of the 120-credit BA (even a standard honours takes only half of the degree’s total credits, with 60 out of 120 credits counting toward an honours degree). General requirements and electives round out a degree by providing the necessary skills and background to best benefit from deeper study in a student’s specialization.

As part of their general requirements, every BA student has to complete an approved writing course to be able to express their ideas through academic writing, a necessary skill for succeeding in an arts degree that will include papers. Like a second language, writing an academic paper should have been fully taught by the end of secondary school, yet the failure of many school systems is unfairly passed onto UBC. The language requirement fills this need to provide a multicultural context, a requirement for better understanding the world through the lenses of the humanities, social sciences or arts.

The new language requirement’s saving grace is that all students, regardless of previous language experience, must take a language course. And a single

language course may make more sense for a student already fluent in multiple languages, as they will already possess the sort of intercultural knowledge the requirement aims to cultivate. Such students could nonetheless strengthen their skills in a non-native language they are already learning or learn the basics needed to use a language related to one they speak. Keeping the language requirement universal encourages these students to continue their learning and expand the breadth of knowledge, as the name “breadth requirement” implies.

UBC students, however, are largely from Canada and likely to be anglophones, meaning they do not have to use a foreign means of communication at home, online and abroad. English may now be a sort of lingua franca, yet knowing only English limits students’ perspectives found in anglophone communities and places an unfair obligation on others to learn the English speaker’s language when they never return the courtesy.

No one is expected to learn all the languages, but why is it fair that native anglophones like me can learn nothing while everyone else studies so hard to grasp a language we know is full of quirks and exceptions? And yes, non-native English speakers who are UBC students chose to accept the English Language Admission Standard, but the domination of English extends globally, beyond Vancouver, to become a necessity for participation in our globalized world.

A world dominated by English can hurt us too. After studying another language, you may indeed continue to think in ways that mirror how you were raised. But

language study allows you to explore first-hand accounts that both reaffirm your perspective and make you less ignorant. A second language also gives you access to innumerable more information sources for your academic and personal benefit. The larger part of UBC students, fluent in only English, thus have the greatest potential to benefit intellectually from studying another language.

I was one of those students, and my study helped me immensely. Both of my parents speak English and only English, and I grew up in the US in an area where other languages were only spoken in the homes of native speakers. As a BA student who began before 2024, I was exempt from the earlier language requirement for having taken AP French (which UBC considers to have met the BC grade 12 level). Though I was able to maintain most of what I learned through self-motivated, independent practice, I wish that I would have been forced to include a language course into my schedule, to either further develop my French skills or begin learning a new language. Francophone media has exposed me to so many new ideas that have changed, reinforced, and expanded my knowledge and perspectives.

When someone asks me what anxiety feels like, I tell them to listen to and watch the video for the song “anxiété” by Pomme, as I have never encountered a more faithful portrayal. The fantastic prose of Leïla Slimani’s Chanson Douce showed me how cleanly and engagingly a well-crafted variety of sentence structures

reads — I now try to apply these insights in English. In conversation with native speakers, I have been lucky enough to hear everything from how their language was used to discriminate against their ancestors to a stranger saying “you did a little waterfall” to me after she saw me trip down a few stairs.

Engagement with francophone media has also amended my understanding of societal norms. I have learned how French classical literature portrays romantic love as a great suffering, as opposed to the rom-com meet cute and happy endings of marriage I came to expect as someone raised in the US. In a series of learning that left me without a solid opinion, I have been forced to reconsider what benefit small political parties and directly-elected heads of state bring, or whether the American tendency to never change the Constitution has its benefits when viewed against recent developments and debates in French politics.

Yes, the new language requirement succeeds by expecting all students to improve their language skills. Learning a bit of a new language out of interest should certainly be encouraged, yet this may not provide the skills that the Faculty of Arts correctly aims to teach its BA students. So first-year students, particularly those who only speak English, take more than 3 credits of courses on a language and culture that interests you. UBC may not force you (it took years to switch to the current requirements anyway), but you will appreciate it when you get to experience that which can’t be lived in English. U

Learning a bit of a new language out of interest should certainly be encouraged, yet this may not provide the skills that the Faculty of Arts aims to teach.

EMILIJA V. HARRISON / THE UBYSSEY

UBC leaks recruitment tactics for new generation of prospective students

Aisha Chaudhry News Editor

UBC leaked its recruitment tactics for prospective students, including what vocabulary to use when speaking to them, pop culture to memorize for small talk and ways to keep their short attention spans geared toward post-secondary education.

This is not the most embarrassing leak from UBC this month, as no personal information was spread, something UBC IT is calling “a major win.”

A mass email was sent out to all first-year students welcoming them with important information. Unbeknownst to UBC, one of the attachments was a presentation from UBC’s VP Students office with tactics to recruit ‘gen alpha’ (can you believe we didn’t have to freedom-of-information-request that shit this time?).

Some points in the presentation included a new item at the campus Chipotle called the “Kendrick-Drake Beef Bowl,” introducing an English honours seminar dedicated to brain rot lyricism and rebranding first-year orientation to “Jump Start rizz party.”

A key note from the presentation read “do not attempt to have conversations with the incoming students for more than five seconds unless you can simultaneously do

slime ASMR.”

Other strategies included officially changing the term “tuition payment” to “fanum tax,” formatting readings as r/AITA posts and making split-screen presentation slides with pre-recorded Subway Surfer gameplay on the other side.

Expert gen alpha source Noah said “that’s Ohio bro.”

(I also don’t know what that means but he’s nine so I guess he is an expert on the subject of youth. Like, who am I to disagree since apparently I am geriatric at the age of 21. He was born in 2015. How am I meant to understand children when every other word they use is either sigma or skibidi? I’m going to lose my fucking mind.)

In a statement to The Ubyssey, Managing Information Director (MID) Priva C. Breetsh wrote, “Yeah that’s on us, we don’t know how to use email. But keep up the great work newsroom, we all appreciate you keeping UBC on its toes.” Love that guy.

Students felt frustrated and misjudged by UBC’s generalization of younger generations.

“I don’t think anyone actually talks like that,” said incoming firstyear Igo Tistacle. When asked about his major, he said he was in pre-med (translation: gonna get rejected from

CAPS).

Third-year philosophy student Ens Supherabel said, “Actually, if we consider Plato’s realms then in the spiritual world the existence ...” and then I kinda started walking away because I wanted an iced chai from

Ha-roscope: October edition

As I pondered the night sky while listening to classical music and thinking about big words, I came to my fourth groundbreaking realization of the day: people can’t trust astrology to dictate their lives or give any kind of carefully considered advice.

Why? Because stars are old. Everything they tell us is out of date — the dinosaurs read their horoscopes with the same sky,

meaning we get their years-old lizard fortunes. But without astrology, how are we going to make any choices at all? Personal agency? No thank you!

Instead, I found solace in a 20-sided die. I rolled a number for each sign and interpreted the numbers to keep myself from falling asleep on the R4.

ARIES

The number is 11. It’s giving Stranger Things. It’s giving almost 12.

From this, I think you’re in a period of metamorphosis, nearing your end goal. Or you can move things with your mind. One of those.

TAURUS

There’s a One Direction song called “18.” The first lyric is, “I got a heart and I got a soul,” which leads me to believe that you got a heart and you got a soul. Both will be put to the test in the coming days, and everyone else in the room can see it. Everyone else but you-ou.

have chosen to express their frustration in various ways, such as “competitive crocheting,” “brat spelunking” and “get that fucking microphone out of my face, freak.”

But perhaps UBC’s worst attempt to stay relevant and hip was that one real TikTok they posted that makes this article toe the line between fact and fiction. The future is upon us and UBC wants to ensure that it’s lowkey bussin’. U

GEMINI

You’re doing gr-eight. Keep up the good work. Just remember not to lay on your side, lest you wish to stay there forever.

CANCER

Ten. Ten has two letters in common with the word tin. The melting point of tin is 449.47°F, which is the temperature your roommate will try to set your oven to later while making pizza, not realizing that your oven operates in Celsius. What I’m trying to say is that your future is crispy.

LEO

Number 17. There’s going to be a big dance-heavy event coming up for you, so start choreographing now. If you get stuck, the macarena never gets old, much like the dancing queen, who is notoriously young and sweet.

VIRGO

A baker’s dozen for you, Virgo. Thirteen is sometimes considered unlucky, but I foresee that it will bring you the most joyous joys, the most staggering triumphs. And by that, I mean one more baked good than usual.

LIBRA

You rolled a 20, which I interpret as a newfound sense of clarity. Like 20/20 vision vibes. Maybe

that means perceptiveness, maybe that means X-Ray vision. Who am I to say?

SCORPIO

Seven, like the deadly sins, all of which you will experience in the next seven hours. Prepare yourself.

SAGITTARIUS

Six is the number of wives King Henry VIII had, as well as the name of their West-End-to-Broadway musical. With that, I see some incredibly dysfunctional marital relations.

CAPRICORN

Fifteen is a nice number, in my opinion. Therefore, if you are nice in the coming days, my opinion of you will be good. If you are not nice, something bad may happen (I might think you’re not nice).

AQUARIUS

Two. Too. To. Tutu. Tout, if you love a good baguette. For such a plenitudinous number, I see a month that reflects this big word. Expect a pair of shoes, a pair of scissors, a pear.

PISCES

Great timing, Pisces. As the 12th sign, you rolled a 12. I think this means that everything is falling into place for you. Wait — 12 inches is a foot. Nevermind, freak. U

Students felt frustrated and misjudged by UBC’s generalization of younger generations. JACK HAUEN / THE UBYSSEY

But without astrology, how are we going to make any choices at all? Personal agency? No thank you! EMILIJA V. HARRISON / THE UBYSSEY

Blue Chip. Students

Elita Menezes Humour Editor

‘Birds poised for CW four-peat with new recruits

Olivia DeFehr Contributor

Fall marks not just the beginning of the new school year, but also of a new hockey season. The Ubyssey spoke to UBC women’s hockey head coach Graham Thomas on what to expect from the reigning Canada West (CW) Champions.

NEW LEADERSHIP AND NEW RECRUITS

With the departure of former captain and MVP Rylind MacKinnon, the T-Birds are looking for opportunities for players to step up and grow into new leadership roles. While the 2024/25 captain has yet to be announced, Thomas was clear with his expectations for this year’s group.

“The big thing that we’re going to be asking ... from our players, is everybody’s got to be a leader, everybody’s got to step up,” he said.

In addition to MacKinnon, veteran players Joelle Fiala and Reese Hiddleston also moved on from UBC. However, over the summer, the Thunderbirds signed four new exciting players. The new signings will bring international experience and defensive prowess to the team.

Two new recruits are NCAA transfers: forward Kas Betinol and defender Meadow Carman. Betinol last played for Colgate University in New York. Dubbed an “international superstar,”

SEASON PREVIEW //

the defensive forward was also named to the 2022 Chinese Olympic team and brings four games of Olympic experience along with her.

Carman captained at Brown University last season and is an expert penalty killer. She will help UBC fill the gap left by MacKin-

non’s departure on special teams.

Former Whitby Wolves goaltender and first-year Mya Lucifora was described by Thomas as an “explosive, great athlete” with “a lot of potential.” In her most recent season, Lucifora posted an impressive 0.930 save percentage over 28 games.

Finally, forward Vanessa Schaefer hails from Vancouver, but spent the last year playing professionally in Switzerland. While there, the smooth skating forward was named to the Swiss national team and competed in the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship last spring.

Thunderbirds aiming for national stage

Siyah Basi Contributor

As the Vancouver air cools, UBC’s men’s hockey team is heating up in preparation for the upcoming season. After a record-breaking season last year, the Thunderbirds are looking to continue their success throughout this season.

“Expectations are really high again just because of the way it ended at nationals for us,” said head coach Sven Butenschon.

“We took a big step forward [in] winning Canada West and accomplished something that hasn’t been done in a really long time, but we still have another level in my opinion.”

The men’s hockey team won 22 regular season games and lost 6 last year, finishing first in the conference. Along with this, the ‘Birds won the Canada West championship for the first time in 53 years, setting the stage for even greater seasons to come.

However, despite their incredible success, the Thunderbirds’ season was cut short after being eliminated in the opening game of the U Sports National Championship.

“We had such a memorable year and such a historical year that it will be hard to replicate that,” Butenschon said. “So it’s going to be a challenging year, but we are expecting the group to rise to the occasion again.”

While some experienced play-

“Expectations are really high again,” said head coach Sven Butenschon.

ers have left the team, including Jake Kryski, Ryan Pouliot and Jonathan Smart, most of the team will be returning for the new season. This includes captain Chris Douglas and Jake Lee, who led the team in points during the

regular season and was named WHL Grad of the Month twice last season.

The team’s top goalscorers will also be returning for another season. Sam Huo — who scored 21 goals last season — as well as

Thomas also praised both the on- and off-ice characters of his new additions.

“All of them are going to make some impact in our program.”

HOW DO YOU FOLLOW THE THREE-PEAT?

After a 24–1 regular season and winning their third CW Championship in a row last season, the Thunderbirds are expected to make their mark again this year as they chase what would be a historic fourth consecutive title.

The ‘Birds will be playing with a target on their backs this year as the rest of the West aim to dethrone them. Despite the pressure, Thomas is keeping the focus on his team and ensuring their motivations are correct.

“We’ve got to just kind of focus on us. Get back to the process, redefine what motivates us for this year. Why do we want to win four in a row?”

He also emphasized the need to “keep getting better every day and every week.”

The T-Birds’ season opener is against the University of Calgary Dinos on October 4 at 6 p.m., while their home opener at Thunderbird Arena is on October 11 at 7 p.m. where they will be taking on Mount Royal University.

“I’m sure that we’re prepared and we’re sharp and ready to compete,” said Thomas. “We’re ready for a new, exciting season.” U think that’s what makes the group special,” said Butenschon. “Once the regular season is playing and the intensity is amped up ... that’s when you’re going to see the Scott Atkinsons, the Jake Lees and the Chris Douglases take another step in the leadership role.”

New faces will be joining the team this season, including forward Carson Latimer who was drafted 123rd overall by the Ottawa Senators in 2021. From the WHL, defenseman Alex Serraglio, who played for the TriCity Americans, and WHL goalie of the year Brett Mirwald from the Vancouver Giants have also joined the roster.

“We have added really high character players again that have fit in really well so far and have looked awesome in training camp and they’re going to be expected to contribute in the regular season,” said Butenschon.

Looking ahead, the team has its eyes firmly set on nationals after their early exit last year.

“[We’ve] got to get to nationals again no matter what and redeem ourselves,” said Butenschon.

Liam Kindree and Scott Atkinson, who both scored 15 goals each, are expected to be big players once again.

“We have such a great group of guys that everybody kind of chips in, in the leadership area and I

This Friday, the T-Birds will start their season against the Trinity Western University Spartans at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at 7 p.m. U

Scott Atkinson is The Ubyssey’s account manager. He was not involved in this article’s publication.

“We’re ready for a new, exciting season,” said head coach Graham Thomas.

ISA S. YOU / THE UBYSSEY

ISA S. YOU / THE UBYSSEY

‘It’s my choice’: How a UBC student’s website helps you navigate abortion options

Viyan Handley News Editor

Navigating choices around abortion can be daunting — that’s why Kate Wahl created the interactive website, It’s My Choice.

A PhD student in UBC’s department of obstetrics & gynecology, Wahl wanted to help inform individuals choosing abortion in early pregnancy about the differences between undergoing a medical abortion — commonly known as the abortion pill — or a surgical abortion.

“What we wanted to do was create something evidence-based that allowed people to learn about their options and … find the option that’s best aligned with their values and preferences,” said Wahl.

Hosted by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, Wahl’s website is rooted in evidence. While both abortion options are safe and effective, they differ in a number of ways such as in how long they take, how many appointments they require and where they can take place. Individuals can use Wahl’s site to learn what to expect from the two options and fill out a questionnaire to receive a personalized recommendation.

Since Canada only granted public access to medical abortion in 2017, Wahl said many Canadians still aren’t aware that a non-surgical abortion option exists for

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them.

Raising awareness of medical abortion availability is really important, Wahl said, especially for people who live in rural areas where access to procedural abortions can be more difficult.

“The tool is only as good as our efforts [to] disseminate it.”

Wahl’s team works to inform as wide a network as possible of health care providers about the site, allowing physicians and providers to refer it to others.

Wahl’s website also functions to help people who might feel nervous or uncomfortable speaking to their health care providers about abortion.

“It’s a very overwhelming thing to find out that you’re pregnant,” said Wahl. “So to add that extra step of having a conversation about a stigmatized health concern is really tough.”

According to Wahl, most people prefer to digest information from the site before speaking to primary care providers.

“It gives a little bit more space to the decision than you might have in a clinical encounter just by itself.”

Wahl and her team partnered with potential patients while creating the website to ensure the end product was informed by the needs of the individuals who would be using it. One recurring piece of feedback was wanting the website to contain as much information as possible so people could feel mentally and physically

prepared for their choice.

“The choice to have an abortion is obviously a very personal one,” Wahl said. “We really just want to make sure that when people are having that conversation, they’re supported to do it in a way that maximizes their safety.”

Moving forward, Wahl said her team is looking to develop more

videos that provide visual aids to further help people and incorporate those into the site.

Wahl also said It’s My Choice is a tool based on current clinical practice guidelines for abortion care. As those guidelines change and evolve, Wahl said her team will update the tool to ensure it continues to be aligned with the

best evidence available.

“I feel very proud to live in Canada, where we’ve got a long legacy of protecting sexual reproductive health and rights,” Wahl said. “I think here the next step is just to enhance access to those rights further.” U

— With files from Eve Durant

Most prefer to digest information from the site before speaking to their health care providers. COURTESY

HOW TO VOLUNTEER FOR THE UBYSSEY

You’ve picked up this newspaper — now become a part of the team that created it! No experience required.

1. Come to our office. We work in room 2208 of the Nest. Our office is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays — stop by to talk to an editor, attend a meeting, use our toaster oven or just hang out! We have weekly general meetings open to everybody each Friday at 4 p.m., so come on by.

2. Sign up for our pitchlists. Editors send out assignments, from articles to photos, through our pitchlists. Learn more at ubyssey.ca/pages/volunteer

3. Contact an editor. Interested in taking photos? Need to make a comic for our games page? Want to break the hottest UBC news? Our editors can help with all of that! Scan the QR code below for all of our contact information. We check our emails frequently, and we don’t bite — we promise!

4. Be curious. We take pitches from community members all the time. If you have an idea for a story, we want to hear it! The Ubyssey strives to cover a wide range of news, events and opinions, and we love hearing from new people. Stop by our office or contact an editor to pitch a piece.

Contributing isn’t your thing? Find new articles, videos and more daily at ubyssey.ca U

CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1. If you’re not first

5. Petite petticoat

9. Fraiche ou brûlée

14. Assert

15. Shakespeare’s later?

16. Hallmark name

17. Mediterranean flatbread

18. Missing; without

19. Hello (it’s me)

20. Dr. Drake Ramoray’s show

23. Blow up in Adobe (abbr.)

24. Ex-centre ex-Canuck Kellan

25. Furnace fossil fuel

1. Cat, to milk 2. Voracious 3. Plant or animal bristle

He has a basketball game

Midge’s beau

With haste

Simply not done

Yo mama

Grail alt

He sculpted a NIGHT IN THE MUSEUM 2 character

Map’s summit

Une lettre’s mademoiselle

Second word of an ABBA

28. Flowers are here, according to Andrews

30. Politician, died at play

33. A fiendish cur

35. Blackjack opponent

37. Medieval instrument

38. Doorbell or start-up tone

40. Huge marine shippers

41. Stand down, soldier

43. Circular serif

45. Miles ___ hour

46. Ted does this, and everybody

song title

21. Buy low, ____ high

22. They all want the lost ark

25. Some might call it a snake

26. Exterior, superior

27. Multiply by h for volume

29. Some might spell it with 2 Cs

30. She’s in chains, wonderland, and Lady Gaga’s discography

31. Ensued, initiated

32. Irish Gaelic of yore

33. Wendy Williams asks everybody to do this

34. Scrat the Squirrel’s origin

36. Desolate drought

48. OG throuple’s crib

49. Gerard Way’s monkey butler

50. Ubyssey board president

52. Leprechaun lucky

59. The cruelest month

60. Shock jock’s tool

61. Crack pilots

63. Yup’ik professor Marie

64. She’s a gemini vegetarian

65. Body butter ingredient

66. Cancelled talk show host

67. Pinkish hue

68. Ratted

39. ALW and R&H wrote these 42. German Christmas bread 44. Produce bag weave 47. I hardly know ‘er! 49. Simba’s family 51. O’Malley is this kind of cat

52. 1975 Bowie song

53. Adam and Carl’s product

54. Russian and Kazakh region 55. Baklava dough

56. 1998 science fiction novel 57. Amazon’s speaker 58. Instagram’s TikTok

Morose

1. Clothing

7. Phrase of understanding

11. Pirates have seven

14. More self-absorbed

15. A queen’s straight man

16. Bit of a mean thing to call a woman, frankly

17. Energy transfer

19. Minecraft material

20. Capone’s Frank

21. Opposite Rogers, then Farrell

22. Katy’s gurls

23. Araneidae genus

24. To be human

1. Vindicate, get even

2. Incorrect spelling of yellow vehicles

3. Missing a toe

4. Sm. sig.

5. Re-do your shoes

6. Many recently entered their Evermore one

7. Seedy slipcover

8. Northern BC volcano or Alberta badlands

9. Electric echolocation

10. Obliges, assents

11. Tuna, herring, anchovy, etc.

26. Passerine birds or American baseball team

28. Many a key

30. Gas giant

32. Emblem’s apex

33. G.I.’s I

35. Belonging to Odin’s son

36. Literary illuminations

38. Along for the ride

39. Pearls Before Swine equine

40. Rouse, awaken

41. Lolcat, dancing baby, doge

42. Tapioca base

46. Smooth stylization

48. Positive prefix

12. Some seals and lizards

13. Nan’s discrimination

18. All those tiny feet bones

22. Two beers, two diseases

25. Plant again

27. God’s wounds goo

29. Tracy Turnblad’s decade

31. Guards do this

34.Unified utility utensil

35.Roman river

36. Plurality alliances

37. Technique used in both metallurgy and chocolatemaking

50. Peruvian country code

51.Multiplayer systems

52. Best of the best 54. Post pre-X 56. Tolkien tree

57. Exit tariff

59. Nigerian-Canadian poet Amatoritsero

60.Sanguine highway

61. Peaceful, calm 62. Go piss girl sound

63. 1962 intellectually disputed lamp

64. Default settings

38. In the ocean or your kitchen

40. In the land of nod

41. Lacking foresight

43. Mountain peaks

44. Prominent Canadian philatelist

45. Much like the onset

47. Chiller

49. Bear’s compatriot

53. No-hitter nickname

55. It works soft or hard

57. Duchess’ Hungarian voice actor, sister of Zsa Zsa

58. Smaller than a table’s spoon

Carpet samples

Sayers

Tong

Snore

Auspice

Canto

Top hat

Astute

Orare

Basis

Boa

NNW

Melting

Bray

Cutaway

BLT

Spans

Afore

ELAN

Sado

Omer

Care 56. King

Snog

Ant 59. Neo 60. Ton