September 25, 2018

September 25, 2018 | VolUme C | ISSUe VIII VODKA WATERMELON SINCE 1918

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UBC students take on municipal politics

FeatUreS

Intergenerational African connections

Iceland is a land of contrasts

Become a cooler you with these clubs

Study reveals new effects of concussions

THE UBYSSEY

Goliath stands tall Calgary Dinos take down Thunderbirds 32-28 at homecoming // 12

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September 25, 2018 tuesday

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

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THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS

sunday, SEPTEMBER 30 word vancouver 2018 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. @ VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY A festival of reading and writing!

FREE

Daniel Li

wednesday, September 26 A CONVERSATION ON ELECTORAL REFORM 12:15 TO 1:45 P.M. @ the LIU INSTITUTE A public conversation, open to anyone.

FREE (must RSVP online)

TUESDAY, september 25 let’s Talk: Men, #Metoo, and healthier masculinities 5 to 6 p.m. @ the gallery 2.0 FREE FION FUNG

ON THE COVER

Menghan gao

COVER BY Daniel Li “Homecoming”

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

U The Ubyssey editorial Coordinating Editor Samantha McCabe coordinating@ubyssey.ca Visuals Editor Claire Lloyd visuals@ubyssey.ca

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LEGAL permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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ANGELA O’DONNELL

NEWS

september 25, 2018 TUeSday

Editors Alex Nguyen + Zak Vescera

the high road //

3

dropbike //

UBC alumnus exposes UBC’s proposed cannabis policy goes against nationwide data vulnerability in trend of smoke-free campuses new bike-share service

COURTESY DROPBIKE

“The Vancouver campus is 1,000 acres, and its size creates additional complexity when it comes to a smoking ban.”

Zak Vescera News Editor

UBC is taking the high road with a proposed cannabis policy that goes directly against a nationwide trend of smoke-free college campuses.

According to a report from the Canadian Cancer Society, 65 Canadian universities and colleges have already banned smoking of all substances within campus grounds, many of them in anticipation of the legalization of cannabis on October 17.

But UBC’s proposed first draft revisions to Policy 15 — the existing campus smoking policy — would treat cannabis largely in the same way that tobacco is currently regulated.

Rob Cunningham, an analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, said the number of smokefree campuses has expanded dramatically as legalization approaches.

“Universities and colleges are wondering how they’re going to respond to this in part because they have many underage students on campus,” he said.

The first Canadian university to go smoke-free was Dalhousie in 2003. As of 2016, only 13 campuses had adopted the policy — but after McMaster University banned smoking on campus in early 2017, the number of smokefree campuses skyrocketed.

Cunningham said the growing number of smoke-free campuses is largely a “snowball effect” as the feasibility of this policy is proven.

“It encourages others to do it because it shows feasibility and encourages other institutions in the region to follow suit,” he said.

“In the United States, there are more than 2000 campus sites that are 100 per cent smoke-free — but the trend in Canada has definitely picked up.”

While no-smoking policies have been enacted widely in the Maritimes, the prairies, Ontario and Quebec, Cunningham noted that some BC institutions have been somewhat slower to ban smoking on campus property — a surprising fact considering that British Columbians have the lowest rates of smoking in the country.

“The smoking prevalence around 19- to 24-year-olds in Canada is higher than any other age groups — young adults. So that’s all the more important as to why campuses should be smokefree,” said Cunningham.

“It would be natural for BC to be ahead of the country on this issue, but that’s not the case.”

A liberal approach UBC hasn’t followed the trend.

While the proposed policy modifications are still in draft form, they point to a liberal campus policy that does not overregulate cannabis use.

University Counsel Hubert Lai, who co-chaired the Marijuana Policy Development Committee (MPDC), said in a written statement to The Ubyssey that the size of UBC Vancouver makes a net-ban on the campus area logistically difficult.

“The Vancouver campus is 1,000 acres, and its size creates additional complexity when it comes to a smoking ban,” wrote Lai. The policy submission also notes that a blanket ban on smoking could potentially push cannabis users to the fringes of campus jurisdiction — in this case, neighbourhoods on the campus endowment lands.

On the Okanagan campus, the university will regulate cannabis use to existing designated smoking areas.

Student advocates on

ALEX NGUYEN

the MPDC also pushed for a “balanced approach” to cannabis on campus. AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Max Holmes said he hopes the policy does not regulate cannabis use beyond existing provincial guidelines under the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act. “When the community consultation does come up, we’re going to do more research … to make sure that the policy is really just keying in on following the regulations set by the provincial government and not going beyond that,” said Holmes.

Stephanie Lake, president of the UBC chapter of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy who also provided feedback on the committee, pointed out that an attempt to ban cannabis was unlikely to be successful.

“I know just from broader drug policy that a prohibition approach to any substance use issue doesn’t eradicate the substance use itself — it just pushes it underground,” said Lake.

“That can have lots of unintended consequences, so it’s nice to see that UBC is acknowledging that and kind of allowing moderate access to cannabis for their students.”

Still, Cunningham said UBC’s more liberal direction — which essentially does not go beyond existing provincial and municipal laws — is a missed opportunity to create a healthier smoke-free campus.

“If UBC was to have a campus smoking policy that is fundamentally similar to the provincial minimum, that would be a disappointment. ... There are so many institutions in Canada and the US that have done it,” said Cunningham.

“There’s no reason why UBC can’t be the same.” U

“How you’re supposed to trust companies … I’m not really sure. I’m sort of trying to figure that out myself.”

Braydon Black Contributor

Dropbike — the new bike-share service that arrived on campus last month — has been having some issues with their app and its data security, as revealed by a UBC computer science graduate this week.

Dropbike’s service seems fairly straightforward — find a bike using your smartphone, scan the code to unlock it and you’re ready to ride. But Tristan Rice, a recent UBC graduate and software engineer, noticed a number of issues with the app’s functionality.

“The app is pretty terrible,” said Rice. “It’s got a bunch of weird issues … you unlock the bike and then the entire app goes unresponsive until 15 minutes after you re-manually lock the bike.”

In his blog post, he writes about how the app “eats a huge amount of battery and constantly polls and sends your location to the server.”

Rice decided to design his own app to access Dropbike’s service.

He discovered not only how to easily hack into the app for a free ride, but that he could access the personal information of every student who used the service.

“Emails, phone number[s], the IP address you connected from most recently, your full name, … basic information like whether or not you’re in Vancouver,” said Rice.

“The messages could’ve contained anything. Someone could’ve typed in their credit card details.”

As for Dropbike, he noted flaws in the company’s app that would have compromised users’ data.

“I’m not [a security engineer], but there are a lot of good practices that pretty much [every programmer] knows,” he said.

Rice reported the issue to the company the same day that he

found something wrong. “If I was able to do this, pretty sure any malicious attacker could have as well with much more disastrous results,” he wrote on his blog.

A day after UBC President Santa Ono appeared in a photo on a Dropbike, UBC Associate VP Campus and Community Planning Michael White issued a statement affirming UBC’s commitment to data security and privacy of those affected, distancing the university from Dropbike’s data protocol.

“As Dropbike is a third-party business licensed to operate on campus, UBC has no involvement in the creation and maintenance of the Dropbike platform,” he said, noting that Dropbike’s partnership with UBC is under a one-year pilot licence subject to appropriate data security measures.

Afraj Gill, one of Dropbike’s founders, said that the issue was resolved within 36 minutes of being notified of the vulnerability.

“We prioritize absolutely nothing above the safety and digital security and privacy of our community of riders,” he wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey.

He also confirmed that no credit card or financial information was exposed at any point and that payment data is stored offsite with Stripe, a payment processing company.

Overall, Rice recommends that the company hire someone to look into security issues and that they offer a formal channel for reporting bugs.

“There are a couple of things you can do to protect yourself,” Rice said.

“Don’t ever reuse passwords between different services.

How you’re supposed to trust companies … I’m not really sure.

I’m sort of trying to figure that out myself.” U

4 | NeWS | tueSDAY September 25, 2018 Municipal election //

East of Blanca: UBC student runs for Vancouver city council to help residents “feel less lonely” emma livingstone Contributor

Abubakar Khan, a third-year sociology student, is taking some time off school to run for one of ten Vancouver city council spots and help residents “feel less lonely.”

An independent candidate, Khan aims to bring different groups across the city together to tackle issues such as the housing crisis and mental health, as well as to promote innovation.

He attributes his platform’s focus on social connections to his time at UBC, where he saw a disconnection between different groups on campus. In particular, his experience working at the AMS made him realize that events organized by different faculty society executives were generally only known within their own networks.

“Right when you come to UBC, the first day you have Imagine Day and right away you’re put into your different groups,” he said.

“we just never cross-pollinate, we just never connect.”

“All these people are doing such incredible work, but the problems they have — the other groups on campus have the solutions to them … We just never cross-pollinate, we just never connect.”

CoUrteSy abUbaKar KhaN

With this issue of social disconnection in mind, he is now advocating policies that would bring together different communities, such as intergenerational housing

bring a lot to the discussion on mental health because they have grown up at a time where it’s less stigmatized and are more open to talking about it.

Outside of UBC, Khan is volunteering within his own community and working on the ground for non-profit organizations, while hosting his own podcast The Chosen Khan.

Beyond fostering connection, Khan also aims to inspire youth to involve themselves in higher levels of politics. He described his experience with youth councils as being there to “tick a box” rather than allowing them a chance to be at the decision-making end.

“We have to empower ourselves because if we wait for someone else to empower us, it’s not gonna happen,” Khan said.

“There are 10 city councillors and there’s a mere fact that there’s no one from this [youth] demographic [is] in that room. That is shocking and that’s what needs to change. It will not happen unless we come together.” U

between older and younger people. He also wants to reduce public transit fees for seniors and children, as well as fees for community centres while hosting more city-wide events.

“Seniors — they are a powerful, powerful group,” Khan said. “It’s always millennials are bad or seniors are bad — it’s never ‘Wait maybe we got to realize we’re all in this together.’”

“We’re always in these echo chambers and we never realized ‘Wait, you know what? Maybe they figured out what I need,’” he added.

This sentiment is also reflected in what he called his “intergenerational” campaign team, with young people taking charge of big positions while being assisted by older, experienced advisors.

Another motivator for his platform is his experience of feeling lonely and the subsequent “powerful feeling” of reducing it through one-onone conversations. Here, Khan believes that young people can

Municipal election //

East of Blanca: UBC PhD candidate aims to bring social justice background to Vancouver city council

SamaN SharIatI

“It’s been a really important experience for me to get engaged in politics at such a micro, local level.”

emma livingstone Contributor

Taq Bhandal, a UBC PhD candidate at the Social Justice Institute, is making a bid for one of ten spots on Vancouver city council in the upcoming October municipal election.

Running as an independent candidate, Bhandal focuses her platform on improving housing affordability, transportation planning, access to childcare, social equity and environmental practices.

“What we need in the twentyfirst century … Is a diversity in the world views that are presented, so that this amazing wealth of a city that we have can be shared equitably across all the people who have lived here since time immemorial, or just arrived here yesterday,” she said.

Particularly relevant to UBC students, Bhandal plans to advocate for the Skytrain expansion to campus and increased “supply and access to affordable rental housing.”

She also stresses the importance of environmental actions, such as “replacing all city garbage cans with multi-stream [bins]” and “drawing on Indigenous and global approaches to resource conservation.”

“Students should show up to vote for the sake of [the earth], to support the growth of something that supports us all to grow,” she said.

“There are so many things need to be tackled by city council in the next four years.”

For Bhandal, the motivation to enter municipal politics comes from her education and work on social justice issues, as well as her “[passion] about institution building.” She is currently researching health

inequity and working with a health education program at Vancouver Women’s Health Collective called Menstruation Matters.

“Any institution that I join or am a part of, I want to make it like a healthier, more positive place to just be and exists … And then I’m at the Social Justice Institute, so I study societal structures, capitalism, patriarchy settler colonialism so I’m obviously thinking about the context that I live in all the time,” she said.

“And politics is a huge piece of that and who’s in power.”

At the same time, she acknowledged that balancing campaigning with school can be stressful, especially as an independent candidate.

But Bhandal and her campaign manager Sampath Satti — a masters student in applied sciences who is helping with campaign logistics and supplementing her knowledge of municipal politics — agreed that campaigning has also been a positive experience.

“It’s been a really important experience for me to get engaged in politics at such a micro, local level,” she said.

“For the most part, all the people I’ve seen on the campaign trail are really dedicated high energy folks who want to genuinely improve the city and that’s what making it such a positive experience for me.”

In particular, they hope to engage students with more debates, public campaigns around the bus loop in October and giving students information on how to vote. Encouraging young voters — who have generally seen a low turnout at municipal

reminder for her and everyone to act on their civic duty.

“For me, as a woman of colour, my ancestors did not get the right to vote until the 1940s,” she said. “… Anybody can look back on their own ancestral history and see that right now we are in a time where we have the most agency and ability to say what happens in our political institutions.” U

elections — is a major goal for Bhandal’s campaign.

“If people see a lot of votes of young people coming out to vote, they will change their messaging accordingly — platforms will feature more issues pertaining to students,” Satti said.

Bhandal also reflected on the history of her ancestors gaining voting rights as an important

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CULTURE

september 25, 2018 Tuesday

Editor Bridget Chase

5

PINTEREST-WORTHY //

UBC’s annual Harvest Feastival serves up great food and cozy vibes Allison Gacad Contributor

September is that weird month inbetween Vancouver’s sunshine and sweater weather. It’s technically still summer but it’s starting to feel like fall — and the best way to celebrate the cusp of the season is UBC’s annual Harvest Feastival, filled with good people, great food and cozy vibes.

Even in the rain, I was welcomed to a tented space that made me forget I was having dinner in front of the Nest on East Mall. The tables were long and family-style, with string lights, acorn squash and vanilla candles placed on burlap table runners.

Essentially, all of the decor my Rustic Country Chic Pinterest board strives to be but is not.

Two heaping bowls of salad were soon set in front of us. The first salad I reached for looked like Thanksgiving — think orange and dark green, dotted with nuts and seeds. I spotted some brussels sprouts which had me skeptical at first, but UBC Food Services and UBC Farm are definitely doing something right since they turned out to be the best Brussels sprouts I’d ever had, complemented with kale, butternut squash, goat cheese and pumpkin seeds.

It was soon followed by butternut squash, which was split open and overflowing with risotto,

I was welcomed to a tented space that made me forget I was having dinner in front of the Nest.

along with a long plate of bright, pink slices of salmon, potatoes and beets. We quickly got to know the diversity of staff, faculty and other students at our table as we swapped plates, bowls and serving utensils. Inevitably, my fumbling hands spilled some of the food, but everything was so good and abundant that no one cared enough to call me out on it.

The courses were paced out well enough to save our stomachs room for dessert: a deep-fried maple dough batter — reminiscent of Timbits but better, more like if Timbits had a cooler, older sibling — and a chocolate pumpkin cake served in decadent slices. If there’s pumpkin in it, it counts as eating my vegetables, right?

The event wound down with

a bang — literally. The UBC marching band came out of nowhere and performed outside of the tented area, marching up and down East Mall in the pouring rain with their sheet music.

Following the Feastival were a series of exhibits featured by UBC’s Arts and Culture District. We made our way over to the Hatch Art Gallery in the Nest to catch the final

COURTESY RICARDO SEAH/UTOWN

hours of the opening exhibit of Our Bodies are Our Bodies. It was special to see an entire space curated by an undergraduate student, seeing that galleries are typically reserved for MFA students or alumni.

I think this may have been the most wholesome Thursday night I’ll have all year, and the Harvest Feastival dinner was probably the healthiest thing I’ll eat all year. U

floral fashion //

Whoopsie Daisy: UBC alum Meghan Buckley talks Vancouver Fashion Week

Meghan Buckley, whose brand is called MGHN, was the opening designer at VFW on Wednesday, September 19.

Candice Lipski Contributor

Vancouver’s eighteenth Fashion Week (VFW) kicked off in the third week of September with a showcase of both established and up-andcoming designers in a diverse atmosphere. Vancouver Fashion Week claims to be the second-largest fashion week in North America.

Meghan Buckley, whose label is called MGHN, was the opening designer at VFW on September 19. Meghan received her bachelor of arts with a major in psychology at UBC in 2013, before attending design school at Vancouver Community College.

Buckley explained how “the critical thinking aspect” of her experience at UBC helped lead to her designs. “The idea of working hard and being able to solve problems and find answers was the biggest thing that helped me shape what designing would be,” she said.

Although Buckley was planning on pursuing a career in psychology, she eventually came to the realization that she was not enjoying her studies. She had been sewing since she was young and kept coming back to it as something she enjoyed. When she realized she could begin a career in fashion, she strove to make it happen.

SARAH ROBERTSON

“I realized while I was really stressed out and working all the time trying to get to this end goal,” she said, “I would have these ideas that I’d want to make.”

Buckley’s VFW line this year is called Whoopsie Daisy, and her runway looks included vibrant pink, yellow and green, as well as flowers and bows. Buckley was inspired by scribbles of flowers she had sketched on the side of her notebook. She said the lineup is all about remembering and feeling childhood emotion.

Buckley described her design process as fluid, and said that what she finds inspiring “isn’t always straightforward.”

The crowd was diverse and included bloggers, socialites, fashionistas, different media outlets, curious members of the public, friends and family of models and designers, and people of all ages.

Other notable designers whose fashion was present on the Wednesday night runway were W/S, Devotion Designs and Jacqueline Au. A Simon Fraser University student who attended the event, Husna Hassan, liked a brand titled KSLAM in particular.

“I loved that the designer purposely put all models of colour … and [the clothing] was very colourful, to create a point that beauty is colourful and beauty is inclusive. And I think that’s very important in a place like Vancouver, because most of the time ... Black people in general, we’re not really represented that much and we’re seen as very monolithic. So it’s really great that there was very amazing representation.”

Kevin Sung, a buyer for a local menswear retailer, enjoyed the “nice central venue” as well as seeing “a mix between local and international designers.”

Buckley also enjoyed the diversity of local Vancouver talent and hoped people stick around to see what she’ll be working on next.

“I think a lot of talent gets pushed out. But what has remained is actually quite strong — there’s so many neat designers here, and I’m just so happy to be counted among one of them right now, which is awesome.” U

SARAH ROBERTSON

SARAH ROBERTSON

6 | Culture | tueSDAY September 25, 2018 ACTIVISM THROUGH ART //

CULTURAL PARTNERSHIPS //

Japanese Problem educates UBC’s Africa Awareness Initiative partners the public on forced with the African Friendship Society to incarceration through share intergenerational learning interactive theatre

Africa With the Masters will take place during the BC Culture Days from September 29 to 30. courtesy Mona Stilwell

The team handled the complex responsibility of their message with great sensitivity.

Krys Yuan Contributor

The smell of hay permeated the air, only interrupted by the distinct whiff of animal feces that hits you in waves. The interior of the space was vast and forbidding: tall brick walls, rough cement walls and rows of animal pens lined up all the way to the end. Stepping into the Hastings Livestock Barn on a chilly September night, I felt only a slight reprieve from the cold breeze, but I shudder to think about living here through the seasons.

Japanese Problem is a sitespecific play reenacting the stories of over 8,000 Japanese Canadians who were detained here in 1942, before they were eventually moved into internment camps in interior BC. The play is a collaborative work between survivors of internment, actors and dramaturgs, and it aims to educate the public on the racialization and forced incarceration of JapaneseCanadians.

Actors lead the audience through different parts of the old barn building, shifting between their own personas and their characters as they weave historical facts with personal accounts. Each time an actor enters, they introduce themselves and their families’ settler-migration histories, tracing their Japanese and European settler heritage, before stepping into the lives of their characters that are created based on personal

accounts. As I witnessed these stories, I was constantly reminded by the architecture that the building was made to house animals, and yet forcibly hosted people instead.

The team handled the complex responsibility of their message with great sensitivity. It is clear that every creative choice had been thoroughly researched and debated, and some debates even made their way into the text.

In one instance, UBC bachelor of fine arts (BFA) graduate Nicole Yukiko stepped out of her role as a nurse’s assistant, throwing the sick ‘baby’ onto the bed to reveal a bundle of cloth. Visibly upset, she refused to continue and instead told us how sick children were taken away into quarantine to prevent mass infection and how most of them never returned to their mothers. These Brechtian moments gave us space to reflect, honouring the memories of their contributors without putting us through their real emotional trauma.

Another UBC BFA graduate Daniel Deorksen played with the musical background, using a thoughtful blend of traditional Japanese tones — such as a tin whistle played like a shakahachi — and popular Western songs from the ’40s. U Japanese Problem will play next at the Nikkei Museum. For more resources on Japanese-Canadian internment at Hastings Park, visit hastingspark1942.ca.

Chimedum Ohaegbu Contributor

Africa is often used as a backdrop for relief and aid advertising campaigns, racist presidential attacks and charismatic megafauna, often to the detriment of its citizens and diaspora. But with the support of UBC’s Africa Awareness Initiative (AAI), Jacky Yenga — who is also known as Jacky Essombe — aims to change these views through her new organization, the African Friendship Society.

The Society’s first large-scale event, Africa with the Masters, will take place during BC Culture Days from September 29 to 30, with an offering of traditional childhood games from a variety of African countries as a centre point.

Representatives from the AAI will be in attendance to help teach the games, which are something both Yenga and Kwajo Frimpong, the AAI’s co-VP External, focused on.

“This event is geared towards families, so if you have young kids it’d be nice to get them involved in the community and let them know that there are a lot of African organizations [in Vancouver],” said Frimpong, with Yenga adding that she is “thinking of tomorrow” and doing her best to create the best version of it via this intergenerational learning.

The AAI’s involvement with the Society is as a community partner, providing support and expertise. While Frimpong said the relationship between the AAI and the Society is still at an “embryonic level, just an C

M

courtesy African Friendship Society

Society to be a platform where exchange of information right we can empower, educate and now,” he also hopes this sharing entertain,” she said. “We do not of ideas and enthusiasm will lead deny that there are certain areas to a long-lasting partnership where [Africa is] struggling, but we with the Society and more cannot take a small experience of collaborations of this nature.

Yenga’s aspirations are similar. “I Africa and make it the reality of the UBC-2018-Presidents-Concert-Series-Adv-The_Ubyssey-FA.pdf 1 2018-09-05 entire continent.” U really want the African Friendship

President’s Concert Series

A special performance with pianist Tony Yike Yang

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CMY

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Monday, October 15, 2018 5:00 – 6:00 pm Old Auditorium, 6344 Memorial Road, Vancouver Campus Tickets: Old Auditorium Box Office, ubcoperatickets.com Information: ceremonies.ubc.ca/presidents-concert-series-tony-yike-yang

3:0

september 25, 2018 tueSDAY | culture | 7 cold medicine-infused evenings //

indigenous voices //

Creative writing department to hire new Indigenous writing professor as part of ongoing efforts to centre Indigenous voices COURTESY AMS EVENTS

Where the hell was the actual BBQ?

An inebriated Welcome Back BBQ review: Food trucks, body odour and cold medicine Lauren Park Contributor

I sat in my living room, watching the space begin to fill with bodies and empty cans. As acting “pregame host” for the second consecutive year, I knew that it would be my responsibility to clean this all up the next morning, but at least the drinks people leave behind in my fridge will save me a future trip to BC Liquor.

We made our way to the BBQ (late, of course) and waited in what could only laughably pass as a line. We passed the time by drunkenly screaming with joy at random reunions with passersby who happened to have been in one of our classes that one time. By the time we got inside, the names Killy and Whipped Cream were old news — not that anyone seemed to know

who they were in the first place.

The night was young and the faint scent of body odour and food trucks intertwined, wafting through the air. Half of my friends were totally inebriated and the other half were on an entirely different drug: cold medicine. I, in good health and with a steady level of drunkenness, bravely led my group into the crowd.

Immediately my friend’s phone was knocked out of her hand and the poor girl spent half the night scouring the beer-slicked floor in search of her device. At one point, I stuck my elbow out to keep the guy in front of me at bay and was horrified to discover that my elbow was now damp. Was it beer or sheer sweat? I guess we’ll never know.

Soon after, I was perched on top of someone’s shoulders, seeking refuge in the sky, away from all the

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PHASE THREE: OCTOBER 1 TO 21

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To register or learn more: stadiumneighbourhood.ubc.ca Questions? Contact Aviva Savelson, Senior Manager, Public Engagement at aviva.savelson@ubc.ca or 604 822 0273.

tangling bodies. Mind spinning from the vodka, I tried my best to stay upright. I was jamming out and enjoying the view until a mosher almost sent me tumbling down.

What genius decided to start three different mosh pits in one crowd?

Once we got past the obnoxious crowd, the night turned out to be quite fun. Jauz actually played a lively set and we danced the night away. That is, if you consider 7 p.m. to 9:30 pm nighttime.

Everyone slowly began to stumble out of the gates. Promises of hitting up after parties and clubs were not met. A steady crowd ventured to McDonald’s and I plopped myself back on my couch shortly after, wondering how I was so tired at 10 p.m.

However, there was one real question of the night: Where the hell was the actual BBQ? U

Online Survey Available October 1 to 21

Public Open Houses Wednesday, October 3 10am to 12pm Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Blvd Wednesday, October 10 4pm to 7pm Wesbrook Community Centre, 3335 Webber Lane

Public Talk Thursday, October 4 5:30pm – 8:00pm Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Blvd

Workshop Saturday, October 13 12pm – 4pm BC Hydro Theatre, 2260 West Mall

This will mark an expansion of the current Indigenous-focused curriculum.

Zachary Robinson Contributor

Starting in July 2019, UBC’s creative writing department will bring on a new assistant professor of Indigenous creative writing, who is expected to begin teaching in September of that year.

While there is currently an introductory course on Indigenous writing, this will mark an expansion of the current Indigenous-focused curriculum to include more upperlevel undergraduate courses and even potentially some graduatelevel courses.

“The position came out of a number of conversations among faculty and students and in the literary community at large,” said department Chair Alix Ohlin.

“Indigenous writers are some of the most exciting and talented voices around these days, so it made a lot of sense to try to find ways to represent that in our program.”

Beyond just the courses to be offered, the faculty and students of UBC creative writing have been active recently with extracurricular events centred around Indigenous writing.

ANGELA O’DONNELL

In March, the event Writing the Future featured notable Indigenous authors and UBC alumni Eden Robinson, Katherena Vermette and Jordan Abel. According to Ohlin, the event was “extremely successful and well-attended” — Eden Robinson even returned in May to receive an honorary doctorate degree from UBC. The graduate series Locution last year hosted a reading featuring Indigenous writers which, according to UBC’s creative writing website, was “by far the best attended and most successful Locution event of the academic year and will take a long time to beat.”

As these events have been successful in the past, it only makes sense that students and faculty continue to move forward in this direction.

“I think there’s a real thirst and real excitement around those voices,” said Ohlin.

“Our hope is that we can build on the momentum on some of those things to try to do even more work to centre Indigenous voices in our community and in our program.” U

FEATURES

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018 Tuesday

Editor moira wyton

8

Places to Go Nowhere makes you feel small quite like Iceland Tara Osler Contributor

I don’t know what I was expecting of Iceland, but I certainly wasn’t prepared to step off the plane onto another planet. Iceland’s landscape is completely foreign, like it could be a film set: vast fields of black volcanic silt as far as the eye can see and not a tree in sight. Everything seemed odd — rather than grass, the rolling hills were covered in thick green moss, and rather than mountains, we drove past great crevasses, cracked open hundreds of feet deep in some volcanic catastrophe centuries ago.

Iceland is a land of contrasts: behemoth glaciers sliding slowly past actively smoking volcanoes.

The tranquility of the aurora borealis was interrupted by the roar of the deadly waves crashing against the black cliffs of the southern coast. Even the island’s geological record reflects this: Iceland is slowly being pulled apart by the two tectonic plates it sits on. In Thingvellir National Park (Iceland’s single mainland UNESCO World Heritage Site and the first stop on our tour), one can see the edges of the tectonic plates and stand in the strange “no-man’s land” between them. Thingvellir was also a site of cultural significance long before we understood its geological singularity. The lowlands between the two plates were the location of Iceland’s

first Althing — the meeting of the early Icelandic Parliament — in the year 930 CE. Nowadays, it’s a grassy marsh where tourists can take pictures of the tectonic rift, or even go scuba-diving in the frigid underwater caves.

In Thingvellir National Park, one can see the edges of the tectonic plates and stand in the strange “noman’s land” between them.

Thingvellir is also the first of many sites along Iceland’s famous “Golden Circle” road from Reykjavik to the geysers of Haukadalur.

Though the first geyser, Geysir (whose name, as you can guess, inspired the term in English), has lain dormant for several years, the smaller geyser, Strokkur, erupts every few minutes, spewing boiling water 20 feet into the air.

After seeing the geysers, most tourists continue on to the final Golden Circle site: Gullfoss, the Golden Falls. This massive waterfall is one of approximately 10,000 on the island and by far one of the biggest and most powerful.

Every time I lifted my phone to take a picture, I had to pray that it might turn out well, as my phone screen, lens and sunglasses were completely soaked. Since this foss (as the locals say) goes around two corners before its final drop, there is nowhere to stand where one won’t be drenched within seconds.

There is a myriad of waterfalls, craters, geysers and other odd natural phenomena to see from the road — and that’s just within this

Tara Osler

In Thingvellir National Park, one can see the edges of the tectonic plates and stand in the strange “no-man’s land” between them.

little circle west of Reykjavik. As we ventured eastward, the sights only got stranger. Every corner you take reveals another foss or three, or the glowing blue toe of a glacier, or the ominous cone of an active volcano. The landscape seemed to switch between lush farmlands, a blackened volcanic wasteland and finally an arctic tundra dotted with seemingly random boulders — the vestiges of an advancing glacier several millennia ago. Much of our time in Iceland was spent like this, listening to Led Zeppelin and staring awestruck out of the windows at the natural wonders so casually lined up along the highway.

After days of waterfalls and volcanoes, we came to the last major natural site of our trip: Jökulsárlón lagoon. The lake itself is entirely opaque, a milky shade of blue caused by glacial silt. Small boat tours of the lake are available — but the boats aren’t the only things in the water. Dozens of massive icebergs split off the glacier every week and drift across the pale water like ghostly ships on their way out to sea. Many of the larger icebergs tower 20 or 30 feet above the small zodiacs that sail the lake.

They are known to flip over without warning, creating waves that could easily capsize the small crafts into the freezing water.

On the black, volcanic, sandy beaches nearby, chunks of ice taller than me were waiting to be swept out to sea by the rising tide. Standing on the beach, I could see everything: the lagoon, with its massive glacial source rising out of the hills behind it. I knew that just beyond the northern horizon was a volcano, and just east would be yet another waterfall. It shouldn’t have been beautiful — everything was

The Golden Falls are some of about 10,000 on the island. black, beige or greyish-blue, the wind was howling and the waves were crashing — but its harshness only made it more extraordinary.

The contrast between the bleak, unforgiving landscape and the quaint simplicity of the fishing villages that cling to Iceland’s southern coast with an admirable stubbornness was startling. Before I went, I’d heard of the kindness of Icelandic people, but even I underestimated how warm and welcoming this frozen island would be. As we drove along the mostly rural southern coast, I noticed that most of the road signs weren’t pointing the way to cities or towns — they bore the names of people’s houses and farms. Everyone’s house had an official sign on the highway! I was astounded at how close-knit the communities were.

Tara Osler

I often wondered how Iceland became the hub for hip, trendy tourism that it is today. Why did this tiny island on the edge of the world become the newest thing? It doesn’t have the classical architecture of mainland Europe, any sunny beaches or any nightlife to speak of. It’s all volcanoes and glaciers and waterfalls — so many waterfalls. After visiting it for myself, I think I finally understand: Iceland gives us the rare opportunity to bask in the full, unedited glory of nature. It is one of the few places on earth where we are forced to accept that we do not have control of our environment — it controls us. Iceland’s stark natural splendour made me feel incredibly small, and it was the best feeling in the world. U

Tara Osler

On the black, volcanic, sandy beaches nearby, chunks of ice taller than me were waiting to be swept out to sea by the rising tide.

OPINIONS

september 25, 2018 Tuesday

Editor tristan wheeler

9

AMs business //

Letter: If you want Pi R Squared to be competitive, make the pizza better Jack Lamming Contributor

If you ask the average student, all Pi R Squared reminds them of is coming home late at night and not having the energy to cook or walk to Pizza Garden. But if you’ve been on campus at all this summer or have recently returned, you might have noticed a new face. Smiling from under his airbrushed beanie, Uncle Fatih has quietly and quickly usurped Joe Pizza, nestled between Nori and JamJar. If you’ve ever been broke or drunk (or both) in Vancouver, you’re familiar with that welcoming smile, beckoning from the aggressively orange sign.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked out of Uncle Fatih’s five dollars lighter, two slices of pizza and a pop in hand.

In a recent AMS Council meeting, several council members suggested that to compete with the new threat of Uncle Fatih’s, they should make a video campaign promoting businesses like Pi R Squared. AMS profits have also been slipping in the past year, Pi R Squared included. I’d like to suggest an alternative: make the pizza better.

This isn’t to say that Uncle Fatih’s is the best pizza on campus — not by a long shot. But the better pizza has its drawbacks. Mercante feels like a fancy meal, with its fresh arugula and prosciutto, but

I can’t count the amount of times I’ve walked out of Uncle Fatih’s five dollars lighter, two slices of pizza and a pop in hand.

suffers in consistency and price.

Pizza Garden is better by the slice, but that seven-minute walk to University Village is too far when it’s rainy and you’re piss-drunk.

Where Uncle Fatih’s wins is not in gourmet pizza, but in price. Two slices of Uncle Fatih’s and a pop are a dollar cheaper than two slices and a pop at Pi R Squared, the

much loathed AMS-run pizza place in the Nest. Most students will shudder at the thought of pierogi pizza and its wilted green onions.

Nobody has fond memories, and no one can describe exactly why Pi R Squared is so bad. Is it the cheese?

On slices of pepperoni it’s spread so thin you can barely taste it, while on the plain cheese it’s like eating

a rug. Is it the crust? It’s never less than damp and tastes sour in the worst possible way. Past the standard flavours like pepperoni, Hawaiian and cheese, Pi R Squared has also birthed horror shows like the apple pie pizza and the pierogi pizza.

Buy some pepperoni that isn’t so thin it’s transluscent. Buy some cheese that doesn’t feel like it’s

FILE SAMANTHA MCCABE

morally opposed to melting. Buy some ranch, because everyone knows that drunk pizza needs ranch.

Buy a recipe book so someone can learn how to make a decent calzone.

And please, for the love of god, never make a baked potato again. U Jack Lamming is a fourth-year student studying history.

No walk in the parc //

Op-Ed: The displacement of books from Koerner Library removes the serendipity of research

The library’s investment in the PARC suggests an admission of the book as historical artifact.

Claire Lloyd Visuals Editor

The Koerner Library has moved its collection of humanities books to make space for other purposes, devoting the fourth floor and half of the fifth to graduate study space, and the remainder of the fifth floor to administration. Recent criticism of this renovation has centered on the (suspiciously) growing square footage of administration space at UBC. The library is not only displacing students, however.

Despite broadcasting that it aims to “provid[e] technology-rich, inviting spaces,” the library has relocated thousands of books — some to

the basement of Koerner and many to the distant suburbs of the university campus.

The library is now storing much of its research material in the Library Preservation and Archives (Library PARC), “a new modular storage facility built to accommodate the future growth of collections at UBC Library.” The facility is located near TRIUMF, on the south side of campus, a 40-minute walk from Koerner Library. The PARC resides at the geographical margins of campus — and is peripheral knowledge for most students.

Here, the library has retired low-use materials and print texts

FILE KAI JACOBSON

available online. This is bad news for those less pixel-inclined: the book is no longer a tangible document, but a hyperlink on a webpage. The PARC accommodates books of the past, with ample room to spare for the “future growth of collections.” The library expects many more documents to become obsolete for the average student, and favours instead its cheaper, more multiply-accessible digital counterparts. What grows, then, is not necessarily the collection, but the number of books the Library deems irrelevant for the techliterate student. The library PARC is a box for books’ coming expiry — a veritable coffin.

The library promises that many of these books are still available for borrowing. Put in a request, and anonymous hands will extract the desired document within 48 hours. But what student, pressured by the limits of their schedule and of their own procrastination, has the foresight to order a book for a research project, probably begun too late already? The books in the PARC are no longer on the shelves of the library for students’ unintentional discovery. Students are less likely to make a quick visit to the stacks (now, in Koerner’s basement) to pull books for a paper when only depleted shelves remain and they can access an ample online bookshelf.

The library is enabling sedentary research: from the seated position, (and only with a screen and internet access) we locate books. We are accustomed, now, to search for research material by clicking and scrolling, via subject heading and keywords.

We are learning to be proficient in tracking from a distance, in guessing the contents of a book before we open it. This is the curse of the keyword search: we have to know what we’re looking for to find it.

The library’s very organization of books — the shelves — encourage a browsing, a strolling of aisles (the magic of the Library of Congress System is its useful agglomeration of comparablyfocused literature). In the stacks, books exist in three dimensions— adjacent one book, or beyond this shelf, is another text that may interest you. Then there is the obvious multiplicity of

audience that can inform our research. A library book bears its history on its pages: a pocketed library card displays ancient stamps, names of the dead; dogears designate pages of note; annotations, some in dialogue with each other, index the hands that wrote them. Research was a tactile and fundamentally visual endeavour, one of serendipitous discovery — not so when so many of our research subjects are now confined to a climate-controlled storage container.

Indeed, part of the library PARC’s effort is that of “preservation”: “Library PARC’s carefully controlled environment will extend the life of collections up to seven-times longer, ensuring their availability to future generations of students and scholars.” The reason for these books’ extended survival is their removal from places of breathing, touching, reading. Is it worth saving books seven times longer than usual in exchange for present struggle for access? The library’s investment in the PARC suggests an admission of the book as historical artifact.

The library does not see a demand for the books it has stored in PARC — hence, their fossilization. But libraries are not so much storage facilities as sites that enable and encourage the displacement of books. By using the PARC as a library, rather than as a cryogenic tank for the passé, we can demonstrate our demand. U Claire Lloyd is a fourth-year English literature student and the visuals editor at The Ubyssey.

FROM THE BLOG

september 25, 2018 Tuesday

Editor Tristan Wheeler

10

coffee //

renting //

Sharing is caring with Blue Chip’s MugShare program

How to find housing in Vancouver in person or communication over the phone is always better than just signing up on a waitlist.

Personal contact can really make the difference.

Emma Livingstone Contributor

Blue Chip Cafe, the campus staple for soul-nourishing cookies and coffee, has just partnered with Common Energy to launch its own MugShare program.

Blue Chip’s MugShare is part of a larger initiative with Common Energy. There are similar programs at JJ Bean, Seedlings Eatery and Agora Eats. The other cafés require you to sign up and pay a membership fee, but Blue Chip is operated on a deposit-based program that is a little more flexible.

To join you just ask for one of the blue mugs with your order and make a $2 deposit. Take it with you to your classes or for your all day study sesh. Then bring it back before they close to get your $2 back.

If you’re looking for a traveller to add to your collection, you can also keep it and skip the seemingly neverending line, which is convenient for when you need to get your caffeine fix before rushing off to class.

MugShare is ideal for when you want to be environmentally friendly but keep forgetting to bring your reusable mug along with the thousands of other things you have to remember. It’s also great if you hate washing dishes because if you bring the mug back to Blue Chip, they’ll do it for you!

Do your part to help reduce the almost 250,000 coffee cups thrown away at Blue Chip every year and grab one of your own blue mugs next time you’re in line for a cup of joe. U

What to ask your dreadful landlord

It’s surprising how many units in older apartment buildings are never actually listed online.

Olivia Johnson Contributor

Vancouver is known for its beautiful mountains, ocean views and having one of the most expensive housing markets in North America. Finding housing for any individual seems to cost both an arm and a leg, but, in particular, the UBC student body suffers each year with the question: where to live? Our campus is super isolated from the rest of the city, making it even more difficult to live close without an hour bus-ride or outrageous rent prices. Here are a few ideas and helpful websites that can help anyone enduring the housing struggle.

File Sam Barringer

On Campus

Off Campus

Yes, there is actually a reason to log into Facebook. Facebook offers multiple UBC housing groups where other students, who are either gone for a term or doing co-op, may sublet their room. Though this doesn’t offer any permanent accommodations, it does provide a room on-campus and regulated through UBC Housing. All units are supposedly up to code and roommates will be fellow students. In a pinch, the lesser-known Commuter Student Hostel located at the bottom of Gage Towers offers a 24-hour stay for $30.

Off-campus housing is a delicate balance between location and affordability. The classic websites consist of Craigslist, Rentsline and UVrentals. Websites still offer the best selection for housing rather than current apps. Each presents a map with some specific prices to surf through. If you are looking to live in an apartment building, one of the best things to do would be to call the building number listed outside. It’s surprising how many units in older apartment buildings are never actually listed online, so go walk around. Also, a meeting

If you have ever experienced a perfect landlord, please write in to us. Otherwise, welcome officially to adulting. Be sure to ask the essential questions: the price of rent and lease duration, direct deposit or financial transaction procedures and an up-to-date inspection status. Also, doublecheck if utilities will be included in the rent — hot water, electricity, hydro and heating are important.

(Repeat: Get all important documents in writing!)

If you’re able to, check out the space in person or have a possible Skype call with the landlord to see the unit before moving in.

If you choose a situation with roommates, ask how everyone gets along in the space to avoid creating tension and unnecessary drama. You may also try to live with people in a similar faculty or social circle if you are really concerned. Double-check if the unit is furnished or if an IKEA run will be mandatory as well.

Bottom line, this place will be your personal escape for at least the duration of the school year, so make sure you’re comfortable calling it home. When all else seems to have failed, practice how to sleep standing up on the bus and couch-surf through the rest of the year. U

ice cold //

Club Profiles: The coolest clubs to look and feel like a badass “Thunderjacks” of UBC Loggers’ Sports make the destruction of wood their passion. Loggers’ Sports allows its member to participate in popular lumberjack pastimes ranging from hand sawing and wood chopping to axe throwing, chainsaw speed cuts and pole climbing.

UBC Brewing Club Anyone who’s bought a hundredyear-old bottle of wine knows that alcohol is expensive. Before settling for Pilsner or PBR for your next purchase, consider making your own brews! UBC’s Brewing Club meets once a month to teach people of all skill levels the fine art of brewing.

Whether you’re interested in fermentation or any of the other exciting steps in beer-making, this club provides the brains and the beer for all alcohol hobbyists.

This club provides the brains and the beer for all alcohol hobbyists.

Johann Cooper Contributor

My dad once told me, “If you want to be cool, you have to wear cool clothes, do cool things and drink 100 mL of water for every beer you drink.” I’ve held

onto this advice for years and always kept a keen eye out for any extracurriculars that exude coolness. Here are a number of clubs and organizations on campus that are sure to be welcome additions to anyone’s repertoire of badassery.

Zubair Hirji

UBC Loggers’ Sports There is something incredibly primal about thrusting a sharpened axe into an unsuspecting piece of lumber.

Rather than sitting idle with these fantasies, the self-proclaimed

UBC Krav Maga While it’s nice to believe that everyone has good intentions at heart, bad people exist and it is never a bad idea to be prepared to defend yourself. Krav Maga is a modern self-defense club that focuses on personal protection techniques you can use to survive

human threats. Whether you want to disarm someone or escape a stranglehold, Krav Maga teaches everything you need to know to be a real-life Batman.

UBC Skydiving Club Humans are idiots. No other species on the planet is known to seek near-death experiences as novel activities. The school’s Skydiving Club takes this unique desire to heart and makes your potential bucket list item a reality.

Everyone is welcome — whether you’ve fallen from the sky before or not.

UBC Psychedelic Community When people hear about psychedelics they immediately think of particularly strong party drugs. UBC’s Psychedelic Community, however, focuses on “recogniz[ing] the ability of psychedelic substances to facilitate altered states of consciousness that are invaluable for therapy and personal growth.”

The group discusses the facts behind these substances and their effect on both the medical and neuroscience fields. See, drugs can be cool! U

science

September 25, 2018 tueSDAY

eDItor JAMES VOGL

11

punch drunk //

Study: Concussion damage may linger after symptoms disappear cecilia lee Contributor

If you have ever played a contact sport, it’s likely you’ve known someone who has experienced a concussion. Responsible for over 4,000 hospitalizations between 2001 and 2010 in British Columbia alone, concussions are common but serious head injuries that occur among people of all ages and backgrounds. As concussion symptoms vary widely in severity, so too does the length of an individual’s recovery period.

By combining advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, researchers at UBC were able to find evidence of myelin loosening in UBC hockey players two weeks after their concussions.

Myelin fibres play an important role within our nervous systems, functioning as insulation for our nerve cells and facilitating the conductivity of electrical signals within our brain. A decompaction or “loosening” of these fibres “reduces the conductivity of the axons by about half,” said Dr. Alexander Weber, a postdoctoral research fellow in the neurology division of the department of pediatrics at UBC.

When conducted separately, different types of MRI scans are limited in their scope of measurement, leaving previous researchers unaware as to what exactly was occurring with the myelin. In tandem with each other, however, they can be used to corroborate individual findings and work to fill in a bigger picture. This method of research is known as a multi-modal study.

The initial scans, published in 2016 by Dr. Alex Rauscher — a physicist and assistant professor in the UBC department of pediatrics — were conducted on 45 UBC ice hockey players before the season began. If a player was concussed during the season, they received additional scans at three time stamps: three days, two weeks and two months post-concussion. At two weeks, the 11 players who sustained concussions during the study all reported feeling fine. By the standards outlined in conventional concussion tests, they were ready to return to the ice.

But despite these reports, Weber said there is “objective evidence that [their brains are] still vulnerable.”

Current animal studies suggest that loosened myelin can completely

by the standards outlined in conventional concussion tests, the players were ready to return to the ice.

deteriorate with further concussive hits, resulting in far more debilitating cognitive deficits. Conditions that break down myelin sheaths are known as demyelinating diseases, the most well known being multiple sclerosis. However, the extent to which myelin loosening

contributes to a concussed patient’s cognitive behavioural abnormalities remains unclear.

Conventional MRIs that are available in hospitals are unable to detect the nuanced differences in myelin density observed in the study, and further research

ella ChaN

needs to be done. Although these advanced MRI techniques are a recent development, Weber believes in their promise as new tools in neural imaging.

“I feel like the future for MRIs is really [a] quantitative MRI,” Weber declared. U

BiocheMistrY //

UBC enzyme discovery paves the way for improved access to universal donor blood

the nature of these blood types make it important to receive the correct one during a transfusion.

Jane procyshyn Contributor

Imagine you were in a serious car accident, are in an ambulance on the way to the nearest hospital, and losing blood quickly. When you arrive in the emergency room you are given a safe blood transfusion within minutes without any medical professionals having to stop to check your blood type. This scenario is possible if the hospital you arrive in has type

O negative blood on hand, since it can be given to people of any blood type.

This scenario might not always be realistic, however — according to Dr. Riyad Abu-Laban, an emergency physician at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and an associate professor and research director in the UBC department of emergency medicine. While VGH is fortunate to have “… the luxury of [the] very rapid ability to get types of specific blood,” Abu-Laban pointed out that even

FIoN FUNg

though VGH could face challenges during a shortage, the effects of shortages have a bigger negative impact on “smaller centres in resource-poorer areas and [during] things like disasters and global … blood issues.”

According to the Canadian Blood Services website, only seven per cent of Canadians have the highly desirable type O negative blood. Hospitals’ reliance on O type blood in these situations, paired with

the scarcity of available donors, contributes to a supply shortage of O type blood and puts pressure on the hospitals with fewer resources available. UBC researchers have been working on a solution to this problem.

Dr. Stephen Withers, a UBC chemistry and biochemistry professor, and his team have identified a group of enzymes capable of converting all varieties of type A blood to type O. Withers explained that the the major principal blood types A, B and O “differ really only in the presence of certain monoclonal antigens on … the surface of the blood cell. These antigens are very specific sugar structures and O type has what’s called the O antigen on it [and] the A type blood has that structure plus an additional sugar attached to it.” In order to produce type O blood, Withers and his team identified an enzyme originating from the human gut capable of removing the antigens specific to type A blood.

The nature of these blood types make it important to receive the correct type during a transfusion.

Withers explained that receiving the wrong type could result in a “bad [reaction] in the blood [since then] we have antibodies in our blood against the wrong antigen,” which causes an immune response.

Withers and his team identified a group of enzymes capable of producing type O blood from certain varieties of type A blood three years prior. However Withers explained that he and his team “[have managed] to… improve the enzymes nearly 200fold,” resulting in a process that is now much more efficient.

In their previous study, Withers and his team used a process he referred to as “directed evolution, which is essentially

performing the natural selection process of evolution.” However, the original group of enzymes that Withers and his team identified was capable of efficiently converting several of the subtypes of A but not all. This led to their more recent study in which the newly identified group of enzymes was found to work efficiently to convert all subtypes of type A blood into type O. Withers said that this time “[they] took a completely different tactic, [they] decided that maybe mother nature had already solved this problem… and had already developed enzymes that could do this, so [they] went hunting for novel enzymes again, within the human gut microbiome.”

Dr. Withers and his team focused on the conversion of type A blood to type O because while efficient enzymes have already been identified for the conversion of type B to O, Withers pointed out that “this sort of technology’s not much use unless you can do both [conversions.]”

The challenges of developing a process to convert type A blood relate to how type A “comes in many different flavours … what are called different subtypes,” Withers explained. “Those differences mean that [the] enzyme has to be able to handle all these different subtypes.”

When can we expect converted blood in hospitals? Withers says it might be a while longer since a lot of safety testing lies ahead in order to make sure their process is completely safe before clinical testing can begin and the blood goes anywhere near humans. U Consider donating blood to Canadian Blood Services if you are eligible. For more information on blood donation, you can visit their website at blood.ca.

sports+rec

“

September 25, 2018 tueSDAY

eDItor LUCY FOX

You can’t win

Football games

when you can’t play with

discipline ” - BLAKE NILL

12

september 25, 2018 TUESDAY | Sports | 13

With a close defeat to the Dinos, it was a heartbreaking Homecoming for UBC Ryan Neale Contributor

Recap UBC fans braved the rain and cold, but an emphatic home crowd wasn’t enough for the Thunderbirds as they dropped their Homecoming game 32-28 to the Calgary Dinos on Saturday evening, extending their losing streak to three games.

“Fans were great, awesome to see the support from them. Even with the bad weather they still came out,” UBC quarterback Michael O’Connor said post-game about the 9,535 faithful UBC fans in attendance.

The ’Birds started the game sluggishly with a quick two-andout on their first drive, but quickly

regained their composure after a Calgary field goal when O’Connor connected with Marcus Browne on a 43-yard touchdown pass. Greg Hutchins tacked on three more points with a 41-yard field goal attempt, putting the T-Birds up 10-3 early in the game.

The Dinos, however, never let UBC out of their sights. The visitors collected points off a second field goal and a safety midway through the first half.

Determined as ever to overcome offensive struggles, O’Connor led a two-minute drill for UBC that culminated in a 43-yard touchdown pass to his favourite target: Trivel Pinto.

Hutchins converted the extra point and UBC were rolling once again, up 17-8 at half-time.

The third quarter was largely quiet until the six-minute mark when Dinos kicker Niko DiFonte was successful on his third attempt of the day from 41 yards out. A couple of plays later, O’Connor threw an ill-advised pass into double coverage resulting in an interception. Calgary running back Robinson Rodrigues juked a visibly gassed Thunderbird defense for a 21-yard score.

Despite giving up the lead, UBC got the response they wanted from last years’ Canada West defensive player of the year, Stavros Katsantonis, who came up big with a 67-yard pick-six. An ensuing two-point conversion to Pinto had the home team back up 25-18 after three quarters.

After a drive that stalled in Calgary’s red-zone, Hutchins’ 12-yard chip shot put UBC up by double digits, making it a twopossession game. Unfazed by the challenge presented, Calgary quarterback Adam Sinagra put on a passing clinic and hit teammate Tyson Philpot for a 35-yard touchdown to pull within three of the ’Birds. Minutes later, Sinagra found Alex Basilis in a beautiful effort to evade pressure for a 10yard touchdown.

Down four points with 1:22 left, UBC defensive end Connor Griffiths recovered a Rodrigues fumble to bring some life back into Thunderbird Stadium. Despite their best efforts, the T-Birds couldn’t convert a critical third-and-long, handing Calgary their fourth straight win at 32-28.

With the loss, UBC drops to 1-3 this season.

Analysis

Tim Vanstone attempts a tackle.

Calgary’s Luke Harrison dodges a tackle from UBC’s Greg Hutchins.

DANIEL LI

As the score suggests, this was a very winnable game for UBC — but that provides little solace in the aftermath. The ’Birds could easily be 3-1 if they had closed out their previous two games — losses by two and four points respectively. While

DANIEL LI

Bashiru Sise-Odaa applauds a UBC play.

the offense and defense certainly need to play better in crunch time, that’s not going to fix all of UBC’s underlying issues.

The biggest hurdle for the Thunderbirds this matchup, as it seems to have been all season, has been playing a clean game. As stated in The Ubyssey’s Homecoming preview article, one of the three keys to winning was playing with excellent discipline. The T-Birds were penalized 14 times for 152 yards on Saturday, well above their season average of 89 yards. You can’t expect to beat an elite opponent — or any opponent — after coughing up 150 yards in field position.

“These guys have to realize that you can’t win football games when you can’t play with discipline,” said UBC head coach Blake Nill post-game.

Similar to last weekend, UBC gave up a huge penalty inside the final two minutes. This time around, the secondary got flagged for pass interference on an incomplete Sinagra pass on second-and-long. Pat Tracey, UBC’s defensive coordinator, was livid on the sidelines and rightly so — had it not been for the subsequent fumble recovery, that penalty would have cost them the game.

The blame for a stagnant fourth quarter offense — that scored zero touchdowns — was shared.

“We just got to execute. I got to make better throws, you know, it starts with me,” said O’Connor, who finished the game 26-40 with 330 yards, two touchdowns and a pick.

“Just mental mistakes … we’re dropping the ball, not making enough plays on our side and it’s costing us games like this,” added Pinto when asked about what problems he saw throughout the evening. The wideout posted 13 reception for 162 yards and a

DANIEL LI

touchdown on the night.

While it’s valiant of the offensive stars to defend one another, both O’Connor and Pinto (along with the running game) played well enough to win the game. Simply ‘playing better’ is an easy answer, but it’s difficult to trump the aforementioned numbers against top teams like Calgary. Simply put, it’s time to stop self-sabotaging with unnecessary penalties.

On a positive note, the reemergence of Ben Cummings opened up the field for downhill play, which was something UBC was missing previously.

The defense also played a respectable game, but you can’t get too optimistic when you allow the opposition to score 32 points.

Yes, the Dinos have the league’s best offense and they controlled the ball for 32 minutes, but you have to rise to the occasion and overcome difficulties to win. The defensive line failed to control the line of scrimmage — another one of The Ubyssey’s “keys” — in the latter phases and that led to scoring opportunities for Calgary.

There were silver linings, however: safety Stavros Katsantonis came up with a pick six off an intuitive read, Ben Hladik was once again a tackling machine, Connor Griffiths recovered a late-game fumble and Malcolm Lee shut down Calgary’s deep passing game.

“Malcolm Lee had one of his best games as a member of UBC. He was locked up on a tough kid and they threw a lot of deep routes at him,” Nill praised.

Looking forward, UBC will face the University of Alberta Golden Bears, who are 0-4 halfway through the season. If the ’Birds want playoff football this year, this will be a must-win game. U

14 | sports+REC | tuESDAY september 25, 2018 bucket list items //

Athleting with Angela: Experiencing UBC Homecoming for the first time Angela O’Donnell Contributor

I don’t remember much, but I remember having a good time.

Like the Millennial/Gen Z-er I am, the night of Homecoming starts with avocado toast and watching Adventure Time.

Technically it starts with three shots of gin, but I’m sure that’s obvious.

I had forgotten how hard it is to ride the bus drunk. On the bus, I see a guy who looks like Dan Mangan who is definitely not Dan Mangan. On the walk to the stadium, my friend Carla and I stop to eat blackberries by the side of the road.

As soon as we get into the stadium, cheerleaders shout at us.

Their gold pom-poms kind of make me nauseous. For entertainment, there’s a girl playing acoustic guitar. She’s good, but it was really setting a weird vibe. How can I get hype to Ed Sheeran?

I immediately buy the wrong kind of drink tickets and then use all of my remaining brain cells to try and order a Nütrl. I stand in line for 20 minutes to win a vuvuzela and I am so happy until I realize I can’t play the vuvuzela.

When we go to sit down, the stadium is full of people. Full of like actual people, not the sad empty stadium I was expecting.

We’re near the Dinos fans, who are cheering loudly even though nothing is happening. I feel really old surrounded by all the first-years.

I sort of blank out on what happens next, but all of a sudden there’s a helicopter landing on the field. I see on The Ubyssey sports section’s Twitter that it was delivering the ball for the game, but I think in the moment I thought

that someone had done a sports crime. It takes off and I feel sad.

AMS President Marium Hamid and President Santa Ono do some sports thing on the field, I want to say a coin flip? At this point, football must have started happening because fireworks go off.

Fireworks means sports happen.

The announcer says that Crazy P is going to lead a chant. I turn to Carla and say, “Who is Crazy P?” The man beside us points to a different man right in front of us and says, “That’s Crazy P.” I get bored of sitting and having my eyes be unable to focus on the football directly in front of me, so I walk around the field. I am in awe of how many people are here. A stadium full of people chanting and cheering. Is this what it’s like going to a school with school spirit? Is this what it’s like going to Queen’s?

I also remember thinking that no one would stop me from running onto the field and how funny that would be, but I wasn’t that drunk so I didn’t do it.

By far the most exciting part was the half-time dog show. If you asked sober me about watching dogs catch frisbees, I would probably say that sounds lame, but drunk me would tell you differently. I nearly lost my voice cheering. I cheered louder than any part of the football game.

Just something about those dogs really got me excited and made me forget I was freezing cold.

We left early. Not for any great reason, mostly just because there’s only so long you can sit in the rain before you are reminded that you don’t have to be sitting in the rain. I think the Thunderbirds won, but if you really cared about football stats you should’ve read a different article. U

The dog show at half-time was a highlight of Homecoming.

What’s better than one vuvuzela? Two.

ANGELA O’DONNELL

Sometimes you have to take in the other perspective of a game.

CARLA FRIER

ANGELA O’DONNELL

september 25, 2018 TUESDAY | sports | 15 RECAP //

Weekend rundown: Tournament titles, series sweeps and preseason preparation Mitchell Ballachay Contributor

The Thunderbirds varsity seasons continue to ramp up, with 11 teams in action throughout the past week. Despite Homecoming football heartbreak, UBC had a dominant week in sports, capped off by two golf tournament titles, two weekend sweeps by T-Birds soccer teams and UBC’s Caleb Clarke looking to defend his U Sports male athlete of the week title. Here are five things you need to know for this past week in UBC varsity sports:

Quiet dominance for UBC golf The Thunderbirds golf team continues to make their case as UBC’s most exciting team. Early last week, both the women’s and men’s golf teams stormed into Caldwell, Idaho for the College of Idaho Invitational Tournament and walked away with two first place titles.

UBC senior Andrew Harrison won his second consecutive tournament, helping the men’s team continue their perfect start to the 2018/19 Cascade Conference season.

On the women’s side, Thunderbird rookie Esther Lee tied the Cascade Conference single-round scoring record en route to securing her first career tournament victory. Her efforts, alongside top 10 finishes by her 4 teammates, secured UBC’s women’s team their second tournament victory.

UBC is the team to beat in the Cascade Conference, but divisional play won’t continue again until the spring. In the meantime, the teams will look to continue rolling as they travel to Bellingham for the Western Washington University Invitational in the coming weeks.

Men’s soccer stays red-hot The UBC men’s soccer team continued their recent streak of stellar play with a pair of wins at home over the weekend. Thomas Gardner, the lone goal-scorer in a 1-0 victory over Mount Royal on Friday, would pick up a pair of goals on the weekend. He would find the net once more on Saturday with a beautiful free kick goal, the eventual game winner in a 3-1 come-frombehind victory over the MacEwan Griffins.

Crowned the U Sports male athlete of the week for his heroics two weekends ago, Caleb Clarke would tap home his seventh goal of the season to cap off Saturday’s victory — he currently remains atop the Canada West goal-scoring leaderboard. Clarke and the T-Birds show no signs of slowing down, entering next weekend’s action as the league’s top team and the only undefeated squad in the Pacific Division. It’s a promising start for the national tournament hosts, to say the least.

BOB FRID/COURTESY UBC ATHLETICS

Thomas Gardner turns upfield for UBC.

Football drops dramatic Homecoming affair After a strong — and somewhat surprising — start to Saturday night’s UBC football game, second-half mistakes left the door open for the undefeated Calgary Dinos to storm back and stun the Homecoming crowd.

Through the first half, UBC looked strong, scoring 17 and keeping Calgary’s powerhouse offense from reaching the end-zone. The T-Bird’s secondary was particularly formidable — the team broke up 10 passes and second-year back Stavros Katsantonis returned an interception for a touchdown.

Things would fall apart for the team in the second half, however, as the team gave up 24 points including back-to-back touchdowns with less than ten minutes left. UBC would end up losing a one-possession game — their third straight loss — by a final score of 32-28.

Although their performance exceeded expectations after a 57-7 thrashing at the hands of the Dinos just two weeks ago, the team will not be happy about dropping a very winnable game in front of the Homecoming crowd.

See our Homecoming recap on page 13 for more details on the match up.

Women’s soccer building momentum at home After back-to-back weekends in which they split their games, the women’s soccer team looked to get back on track as they continued their four-game stint at home.

Behind a pair of clean-sheets posted by goalkeepers Emily Moore and Sarah Johns, the team rolled through their games on Friday

and Saturday and moved to 5-2 on the season. The T-Birds would rout a couple of provincial rivals, taking down UBC Okanagan 2-0 and stomping Thompson Rivers University (TRU) by a score of 3-0.

The spark that the UBC offense showed last Friday in their victory over Lethbridge carried into this weekend’s match-ups, as the forwards continued to demonstrate their goal-scoring prowess. Michelle Jang would score a pair on the weekend, including one as a substitute in Saturday’s game.

Danielle Steer put together another monstrous performance on the weekend, scoring in Friday’s game and having a hand in each of the goals scored in the victory against TRU — one goal and two assists, to be exact.

Winter teams prepping for imminent season start UBC’s two ice hockey teams and the men’s basketball team were in action over the weekend in exhibition games. The teams are looking to round into Canada West form with meaningful games upcoming on their schedules.

The women’s hockey team dropped a pair of exhibition games in Minnesota, with one left to play on Monday. They have a week off before starting their Canada West season at home over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The men’s hockey team picked up a pair of wins over local teams, beating Simon Fraser’s Club team 4-1 and Trinity Western University 6-2 to claim the Captain’s Cup for the second year in a row. The team has a short turnaround this week as they travel to Lethbridge to open their

Canada West season against the Pronghorns on Friday.

UBC’s men’s basketball team crushed the Seattle Mountaineers 105-58 on Sunday as they prepare to host the UBC Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend.

They have just one weekend off before tournament play has them

travelling across the country for the rest of October, with games at home in Vancouver, in Ontario for the Waterloo Naismith Tournament and in Edmonton for the Alberta Golden Bear Invitational. u For additional information, see the UBC Athletics website.

Fixtures Sport

Home

Score

Away

Friday, September 21 Soccer (M)

UBC

1-0

Mount Royal

Soccer (W)

UBC

2-0

UBCO

Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

4-1

Simon Fraser

Saturday, September 21 Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

6-2

Trinity Western

Ice Hockey (W)

Minnesota State

2-0

UBC

Rugby (M)

Meraloma RC

8-26

UBC

Football

UBC

28-32

Calgary

Soccer (W)

UBC

3-0

Thompson Rivers

Soccer (M)

UBC

3-1

MacEwan

Sunday, September 23 Field Hockey (M)

India FHC

5-2

UBC

Rugby (W)

UBC

21-36

Calgary

Basketball (M)

UBC

105-58 Seattle Mountaineers

Ice Hockey (W)

Minnesota

8-1

UBC

16 | GAMeS | tueSDAY September 25, 2018

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