September 6, 2017

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 | VOLUME XCIX | ISSUE V CATFISHED BY ONO SINCE 1918

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NEWS

CULTURE

Gupta flies the coop to Toronto

The owls are not what they seem

FEATURES

OPINION

SCIENCE

Finding Canadiana in Prince Rupert

Ask Natalie: Making the best of UBC

Medical students can draw too!

THE UBYSSEY

IMAGINE THAT UBC welcomed over 9,000 new students and we photographed the whole thing. // Page 8

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

2

OUR CAMPUS

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 7 PANCAKES & BROOZE ART SHOW 7 P.M. @ FORTUNE SOUND CLUB

Our Campus: Spoon University at UBC is the reason you’re distracted during lectures

Hit the art scene rolling this year with this awesome event.

$10, 19+ EVENT

THURSDAY AUGUST 31 STREETFOOD FESTIVAL 12 - 6 P.M. @ 88 PACIFIC BLVD 22 hand picked Vancouver-based food trucks are rolling into one location for your enjoyment.

FREE ENTRY

Natalia Ordoñez & Karina Kwok of Spoon University’s UBC chapter.

Cam Carvalho Contributor

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 3 POP-UP ROLLER DISCO 7 P.M. @ ROBSON SQUARE Get your classic rollar rink vibe on. Get that Glam Rock look on.

Enjoy rolling through the crowd.

$10 AT THE DOOR, $5 SKATE RENTAL (CASH ONLY)

ON THE COVER PHOTO BY Zubair Hirji

Want to see your events listed here?

Email your event listings to printeditor@ubyssey.ca

U THE UBYSSEY

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 | VOLUME XCIX| ISSUE V

Contact

EDITORIAL

BUSINESS

Coordinating Editor Photo Editor Samuel Du Bois Partick Gillin coordinating@ubyssey.ca photos@ubyssey.ca

Business Manager Ron Gorodetsky business@ubyssey.ca

President Sebastian Miskovic president@ubyssey.ca

Design Editor Natalie Morris printeditor@ubyssey.ca

Senior Web Developer Peter Siemens peter@ubyssey.ca

Junior Web Developer Jonathan Chapple

Features Editor Moira Wyton features@ubyssey.ca

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

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

Junior Web Developer Axel Jacobsen

STAFF

LEGAL The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Tuesday by The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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The life of any student is plagued by procrastination, and food choices are no exception.

While Bobby Flay is a fantastic inspiration for any budding chef, students don’t always have the time to plan and cook one of his recipes.

That’s where Spoon University comes in. Founded at UBC by students Karina Kwok and Natalia Ordoñez, the UBC chapter is an online platform for publishing recipes, videos, food challenges and more.

“It was kind of messy because the whole process of starting a chapter was a little bit disorganized. I wanted to be the editorial director and somehow I found my way into becoming a cofounder,” said Kwok.

Essentially a Food Network for students, Spoon University’s motto is “the food resource of our generation.” Many students have probably been sucked down the rabbit hole of its Tasty-style videos — oftentimes in the middle of a mid-lecture Facebook scroll.

While the website covers everything from casual recipes to pop culture, people are — as expected — mostly interested in the food.

Kwok and Ordoñez didn’t know each other before Spoon, but they’ve come to form two halves of the leadership team that manages 42 writers, videographers and photographers at UBC. After meeting on a UBC class Facebook group and being partnered by Spoon University’s headquarters, the two had to decide how to dif-

ferentiate their chapter from the hundreds of others that exist both in Canada and the United States.

“There’s never no interest in food, because everyone loves food.” said Kwok, while noting that the two fielded dozens of applications to write, photograph and shoot videos in their first round of recruitment last year.

“There’s always a lot of people who are interested and want to be active in some sort of food-related community.”

Gaining recognition among Canadian chapters and in the United States where Spoon University is more popular was the main goal, but the two co-founders have also found ways to make the chapter reflect the campus it serves.

“As we started to get together and we started to find people and make a group and begin to write articles, we realized that UBC is very diverse and we wanted to input that into our Spoon chapter,” said Ordoñez, who serves as director of communications and logistics. “We wanted to promote the idea of diversity, which is obviously a really big thing here at UBC.” Part of that inclusion is allowing writers to choose their own pieces and to work on what they’re passionate about, according to Kwok, who serves as the editorial director.

“I actually leave it up to all my writers to choose a topic that they want to write about because I’m a big advocate of having the choice to write what you want to write.

That’s the only way I can give them a good Spoon experience —

PATRICK GILLIN

if they’re passionate about what they’re writing about.”

According to Kwok and Ordoñez, this sometimes means sharing recipes from home or new experiments — of varying quality — around the meeting table. Other days, it means trying to figure out how to reach out to students amid the pre-existing 400 clubs on campus.

“It’s hard because campus is so big. On top of the 400 AMS clubs there are, I’m sure [there are] 100 more underground communities, so it’s hard to get the word out there,” said Kwok. “But I would say that in terms of Canadian chapters, we’re doing quite well.”

Amid the competition for the writers’ time and readers’ clicks, Kwok and Ordoñez are focusing on branching out from the traditional food-only coverage to round-out the platform. With over 1,000 likes on its Facebook page and growing, Spoon University at UBC is just getting started.

“On top of all the food related articles, Spoon recently launched Healthier, which is primarily based on mental health, physical health, spiritual health and emotional health. So it’s more about mindset and lifestyle,” said Kwok.

Ultimately as it undergoes changes, Spoon University at UBC remains a resource for university students that puts food at its heart.

“We hope that when our readers read one of our articles, they’re inspired,” said Kwok. “I think that’s our biggest goal: to inspire them to either cook or to go out, make more conscious decisions [and] to be more aware about what’s going on in the food world.” U

NEWS

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

EDITORS SAMANTHA MCCABE + ALEX NGUYEN

3

BY-ELECTION //

AMS aims to elect VP Academic by September 22 Alex Nguyen News Editor

The AMS aims to elect a new permanent VP Academic and University Affairs (VPAUA) by September 22 — two months after Daniel Lam resigned from the position.

This incoming executive will be in charge of “ensuring student experience is well represented in the strategic plan UBC is creating, advocating for student-friendly allocations of the Excellence Fund and working to provide students with a strong voice in all aspects of the university — tuition, campus development and more,” according to interim VPAUA Jakob Gattinger.

As stated in the recently released by-election timeline, the nomination period will start on September 4. Potential candidates are required to collect at least 50 signatures from “active members of the society,” which means current UBC students who are not in default of AMS fee payment.

Nomination forms will be available both online and outside the AMS office in the Nest, but they will have to be “submitted in person to the administrative assistant in Nest Room 3502” before 3:30 p.m. on September 11. The mandatory allcandidates meeting to go over the by-election’s structure will then be held on the same day at 5 p.m.

Campaign period will officially start on September 12 at 12 a.m.

According to AMS Elections Administrator Filza Raza, posters will still be allowed as a campaign method in this by-election — despite a recemt proposal by the Elections Committee to phase them out.

“Right now, we are just following rules that were enforced in the general election of 2017,” she said.

Given the time crunch, only one debate is currently planned, however more could be planned if there is a “larger number of candidates” or if “a candidate is not available for that one debate,” according to Raza.

The online poll will open for voting on September 18 and will close on September 22 at 4 p.m.

The result will be announced on the same day at 5:30 p.m.

When asked if these early dates could lead to a decrease in candidate and voter participation, Raza acknowledged this time crunch but also noted that the union will be working hard to advertise the position.

“Currently, we are definitely going to be using social media as a huge marketing tool because I know for the past general election, they primarily used their social media tools and that was how they increased voter turnout,” she said.

“Extensively, we will have some

The nomination period starts on September 4.

posters up, people on the ground available for questions, public outreach events like ‘Coffee with the Candidates.’ We will also try other engagement events in the

FILE PATRICK GILLIN

Nest or out in the courtyard where there is a lot of traffic.”

Another goal that she has is to educate students — especially those who are not closely involved

with the AMS — about the position.

This is particularly relevant as Gattinger noted that the position’s responsibilities extend beyond what are officially listed.

“The most important duty is summarized in Section 6, Article 5 of Code: ‘lobby the university on issues of interest to students and involving the university, including but not limited to daycare, equity, safety, academics, university policies, campus planning, student housing, [as well as] mental health and well-being’ — the one small portion in code doesn’t do this part of the job justice, though,” said Gattinger in a written statement.

“There are many meetings, committees and initiatives in which the VP Academic must be active in order to be effective. Many of the things described in bylaws and code are administrative in nature and don’t actually require much time to complete, such as constituency responsibilities, because the bulk of the time lies in advocacy.”

In the mean time, Raza will have to first finish hiring the Elections Committee before the nomination period, but the chief returning officer has been hired.

Jakob Gattinger will continue to be the interim VP Academic — a role that he has held since July 31 — until the AMS meets after the byelection results on September 27. U

FREE SPEECH VS SECURITY //

Student enters locked campus residences without permission to distribute anti-social justice letters

Franz Kurtzke (left) speaks with campus RCMP.

Alex Nguyen & Jack Hauen News & Coordinating Editors

A student who said he has distributed hundreds of letters preaching the value of free speech and debate at UBC found himself Sunday in a tête-à-tête with the RCMP. After causing a stir by slipping the note under the doors of professors across campus, fourthyear philosophy major Franz

Kurtzke took his message to at least two UBC campus residences.

St. John’s College (SJC) resident Gil Henriques said in an email to The Ubyssey that he called campus security as he noticed Kurtzke leaving the building. He took a photo of Kurtzke speaking with an RCMP officer. Kurtzke confirmed via email that it was indeed him in the photo.

“I felt absolutely furious when I first noticed that he had been

COURTESY GIL HENRIQUES

distributing his memo in our home,” Henriques wrote.

He said Kurtzke told police that “the door was open,” which he found concerning since the doors at St. John’s close and lock automatically.

Social media users said Kurtzke also distributed letters in Green College and medicine students’ personal mailboxes, both of which are located behind locked doors.

Kurtzke’s ability to enter locked campus residences to distribute the letters has raised security concerns for residents.

“We try very hard to cultivate a safe and inclusive culture at SJC, and him breaking into where people live threatens the integrity of that atmosphere and, frankly, it threatens the very idea of safety that is associated to any living place,” Henriques wrote in an email to The Ubyssey. “Several residents have told me that they feel unsafe that a person whose values are so contrary to ours was able to intrude into our residence uninvited.”

He also said campus security and the RCMP have told Kurtzke not to enter locked residential areas again.

Kurtzke refused to speak to The Ubyssey due to the paper’s previous characterization of readings in his letter as “right wing” — and didn’t answer questions about whether he has entered other residences without permission or how he managed to get into St. John’s — but he did say in an email that he planned to stay within the law from now on.

“I found the officer reasonable, pleasant, and I appreciated the opportunity to practice my French with him; henceforth I will be careful to follow the rules ‘à la lettre,’” Kurtzke wrote, adding that he was curious how many “philosophy-related

incidents” the RCMP receives.

In response to these incidents, Senior Advisor to the Provosts on Academic Freedom Dr. Neil Guppy issued an emailed statement to The Ubyssey acknowledging the security concerns raised by the residents.

“We are aware of concerns expressed by faculty and students who have received the leaflets under their door in residence and the negative impact on their living environment,” read his statement.

“University residences are a personal living and learning space where occupants have the right to privacy and personal security.

Door to door leafletting is not permitted in residence. Conduct or communications that may be acceptable in another context may not be acceptable in a students’ residential environment.”

At the same time, he expressed the need to respect both free speech and safety.

“Academic freedom and the free expression of opinions are rights that are paramount at UBC,” continues the statement. “All students, faculty and staff are expected to abide by UBC’s Respectful Environment statement. Students, faculty or staff who have safety concerns should contact Campus Security or the RCMP.” The RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article will be updated online as comment becomes available. U

4 | news | WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 GOODBYE //

ORIENTATION //

UBC expands Jump Start to domestic students Zak Vescera Contributor

UBC has declined to comment on Gupta’s departure.

FILE CHERIHAN HASSUN

Former UBC President Arvind Gupta leaves UBC for the University of Toronto Moira Wyton Features Editor

Former UBC President Dr. Arvind Gupta has officially accepted a fulltime position in the University of Toronto’s Department of Computer Science, beginning in September.

Announced informally over Twitter recently by a handful of professors, the move marks the final step in Gupta’s transition out of UBC since holding a visiting position at the University of Toronto since October 2015.

“My wife and I are feeling good about [the move],” said Gupta in an interview with The Ubyssey.

“I think we decided that the opportunities that we would get in Toronto were worth pursuing.”

Gupta’s resignation as president — which was announced in August 2015 after he served only 13 months in the position — came as a shock to UBC. It was later revealed — through documents both leaked and obtained through freedom of information requests in Fall 2015 — to be a result of mounting pressure from the UBC Board of Governors and decreasing confidence in his abilities from select members of the Board.

The secretive manner in which the resignation was handled was met with criticism from Gupta himself, the AMS, the UBC Faculty Association and the eight elected student, staff and faculty members of the Board. It also resulted in the resignation of John Montalbano, the then-chairman of the Board.

In light of Gupta’s departure, fellow UBC professors and former colleagues tweeted their congratulations and support to him last week.

Many also expressed their sadness in his decision to leave.

Notably absent was acknowledgement of his departure from UBC, who also declined to comment for this article.

“These were tough decisions to make just because we know so many people at UBC,” said Gupta, who remained a UBC faculty member in the department of computer science over the last two years in order to continue his work with graduate students.

While he doesn’t consider his move away from UBC as inevitable, Gupta admitted that he hasn’t had much contact with UBC’s senior administration in the two years since his departure as president, and has rarely had reason to be on campus.

According to Dr. Nassif Ghoussoub, a professor of mathematics and former elected member of the Board of Governors, this lack of consultation and outreach to the former president from UBC’s senior administration means that UBC has missed out on a wealth of experience and expertise.

“Gupta is a well known strategic thinker, he was hired as president because he had the network, he had the know-how, he knows the ins and outs of Canadian post-secondary system, research initiatives — you name it,” said Ghoussoub, who is also a long-time personal friend of Gupta. “UBC needs this strategic thinking, somebody who knows what’s happening in Canada. I think that any contact [Gupta] had had with the president would have benefitted UBC big time.”

According to Ghoussoub, Gupta was consulted widely

on a number of issues ranging from vice-presidential searches to innovation and research initiatives at the University of Toronto — steps he argues should have been a “minimal courtesy” extended by President Santa Ono and interim President Martha Piper at UBC. “[The University of Toronto] picked his brain like crazy on everything from [program] heads to vice-presidents to presidents, about all kinds of initiatives, innovation, research,” said Ghoussoub. “Why didn’t we do this at UBC? “We always appreciate people when they’re not around, but no one is appreciated in his hometown.”

In his new role in Toronto, Gupta will serve as director of a multi-department graduate program based in the department of computer science that he has been developing over the last two years — but he says he’s not limiting himself to anything just yet.

“We’re just going to see where there are new ideas, especially around students we can support,” said Gupta. “In the meantime I’ll work on the graduate program, but I think that once I’m there the new ideas will start to develop.”

Ultimately, despite his tumultuous exit from UBC’s administration, Gupta remains optimistic about the university’s future.

“There’s a lot of creative energy at UBC [from faculty] … and then you get the students doing things and the goal of an administration is to harness that energy,” said Gupta. “I have a lot of faith that great things will happen at UBC [and] that the university will continue to grow and prosper.” U

For the first time ever, UBC has opened its Jump Start orientation program to domestic students entering the Sauder School of Business and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

More importantly, this year’s small pilot program is meant to be a trial run for a more extensive expansion.

“We are in the planning stage of a larger pilot expansion of Jump Start and orientation as a whole for 2018,” Robbie Morrison, associate director of first year experience and student engagement, said. “The goal is [to] include students from all direct entry undergraduate faculties ... our aspiration will be based on what we learn.”

This planned expansion is motivated by the benefits to the program’s previous participants, according to Morrison.

Previously exclusive to international students, Jump Start is an approximately twoweek-long academic and social orientation session designed to immerse incoming students in life on campus and in Vancouver.

“Students get a chance to gain an early understanding of the academy, get to know a professor, see what learning looks like at the university level, make friends and get settled into Vancouver and the UBC community,” said Morrison. “We call it a ‘risk-free rehearsal space.’”

In return, participants are reported to be more engaged from an academic perspective.

“Faculty members have described how Jump Start participants seem better prepared to participate in class discussions or engage in office hours during the first few weeks of term,” he said. “We attribute this increase

in confidence to the fact that during the Jump Start program, participating students get to meet for many hours with a faculty member, with a small group of peers and with student leaders.

“You get to practice being a student.”

Morrison further stressed that the benefits of Jump Start are also social, as it helps incoming students form valuable networks of friends and resources — support that will benefit them throughout their university experience and when they become alumni.

At the same time, he acknowledged the differences in the needs of students who live on campus and those who commute — a demographic that makes up “over two thirds of UBC’s student population,” according to UBC. He referenced the Collegia Program as the university’s response to this distinction.

“Through membership in Collegium, students get access to informed student leaders and a comfortable place to land between classes where they can meet other first year students, and ultimately, a community.” said Morrison.

The space also includes amenities such as lockers, kitchen facilities, study spaces and a lounge area for socializing.

This year, Collegia will accommodate 1,000 students, according to Morrison. By 2019, his department aims to make the program available to every firstyear not living on campus.

“Our hope is that more students can begin their classes at UBC already feeling connected to faculty members and new friends, with new ideas and approaches of how to engage in learning, and begin a positive connection to campus and UBC,” Morrison said. U

FILE KAI JACOBSON

This year’s small pilot program is meant to be a trial run for a more extensive expansion.

CULTURE

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

EDITOR SAMUEL DU BOIS

5

RANT //

From the Editor: Change is coming to UBC’s food scene Samuel Du Bois Culture Editor

The food at UBC needs to change.

It is tired, boring, overpriced and shows little consideration for what should be essential to running any business: customer satisfaction.

If you want to grab some food between classes or if you’re maybe hoping to enjoy a nice dinner with a date, your choices on campus are limited. The fare of UBC Food Services has in some ways gotten better — especially with the revitalization of the food trucks — but in most ways it is long overdue for some change. I’ve been going here for four years and I still see the same, pathetically small and largely flavourless muffins being served at every café between Buchanan and Forestry.

It also must be pointed out that the quality of Mercante’s pizzas has plummeted in the last year. I remember when they opened and I can say that the pizzas they were serving then are superior to what they throw in a box now.

The Nest is better in that there is a good variety, but the prices are still far too high for the quality of food that you are getting — and that’s a big problem when a lot of students live on tight budgets.

Great shame goes to Honour Roll, who somehow has managed to find a new low to hit when all of our expectations were already at

The food scene at UBC has been stagnating for a long time.

rock bottom. The only exceptions are the Delly’s Chef’s Corner and Soup Market, which not only aim to make their food interesting, but also maintain affordable prices.

If you want pub food and a beer, Mahoney’s is overpriced and lame; Gallery 2.0 has some of the most incompetent service I’ve ever seen and a sad, sad menu; and Koerner’s is great but a little off the beaten path and open at weirdly inconsistent times.

But beyond that, I — and most other people I know — go off campus to find a meal that doesn’t underwhelm. It hardly seems right that I can take a 30 minute bus ride almost anywhere else and get really good food that is sometimes cheaper than anything that I could hope to find at UBC. But all of that is about to change.

With the opening of the new apartment building by the trolley bus loop, a selection of some

FILE CECILE BUSSY

of Vancouver’s most beloved restaurants are being brought right to UBC’s doorstep. Bao Down, Nori, Joe Pizza, Jamjar, TacoMio, Rain or Shine and JJ Bean are moving in and they are bringing with them the promise of food the likes of which students have only dreamed of.

JJ Bean’s coffee is better than everywhere except maybe Boulevard. Nori’s udon puts the rainwater they serve next to Sauder

to shame. Rain or Shine obliterates whatever the hell is served at the frozen yogurt places. Even the restaurants that have yet to open are already known to be great.

Competition is finally arriving at UBC and all of the other cafés, restaurants and pizza places should be trembling with unbridled terror. These old establishments have all forgotten that what makes businesses thrive and endure is the satisfaction of their customers — i.e. students who give them money to make food they will actually like eating. And it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when I eat garbage food that costs too much because they know students have no choice but to pay.

To the managers of the various food establishments of UBC and the AMS: when you look at your books and notice a drastic plummet in sales over the coming months, know that it is because your clients are not happy and are feeling neglected. Get your shit together and serve us what we want — good, cheap food.

The basic rules of economics say that people are willing to pay more when they think that they are getting more and when what they get makes them happy. The Sauder School of Business is not that far away — you’d expect that some of the lessons taught there might actually percolate through to the some of UBC and the AMS’ businesses. U

6 | CULTURE | WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 MEMES //

Why internet culture loves “Fireflies” by Owl City Veronica Ciastko Contributor

There’s a video of a man with the Twitter handle @YVNSWAG_ dancing in his driveway. He’s got purple tinted dreads that whip around his head as he moves.

He’s dabbing and nae-nae-ing and doing all these cool moves on his tiptoes that I don’t know the name of and he’s smiling this huge smile the whole time. He’s a great dancer.

These videos of people dancing, usually young black kids, are hugely popular across the internet and an art form in themselves. But the caption, from @chuuzus, above this particular video, which earned 230k favourites and 125k retweets, proclaims “this is art.” Each of the man’s dance moves is timed to the beats in the song. What makes this video so special? What’s the song?

Well, it’s “Fireflies” by Owl City.

“Fireflies” came out in 2009. It’s eight years old. Yet, in the last year the song has seen a resurgence. There are @YVNSWAG_’s hugely popular videos and a new meme — its format mimics the first lines of the song, “you would not believe your eyes if ten million fireflies.”

My favourites are “you would not believe your pants if ten million fire ants” and “you would not believe Bill Nye if ten million Science Guys”. When you see these memes, you sing the melody in your head. You hear it in singer Adam Young’s fey, childlike voice.

But why is this song making the

meme rounds now?

I talked to UBC School of Music Professor Dr. David Metzer, who teaches musicology with an emphasis on pop music. Our conversation turned to questions larger than Owl City’s resurgence: What is pop music? And what makes some songs so easy to parody?

To understand the “Fireflies” trend, it’s worth defining its genre: pop. But pop music is hard to define. There’s popular music and then there’s pop music, like Owl City or Katy Perry.

According to Metzer, pop music is “a product that’s calculated to reach a broad audience.” That doesn’t necessarily make it bad, though.

“It’s so hard to write a good pop song,” said Metzer. That’s because a really good pop song has to contain “clear structures, melodies that are very catchy and effervescent” and “the music has to be built around personalities.”

Think of a song like “California Girls” by Katy Perry. Whether or not you like the song, you likely know all the words to it. That’s not only because the song is played constantly at every party and dominated radio airwaves for years (although that certainly helps). It’s because the song is melodic and has a catchy, simple hook. And because the video — which you’ve also likely seen — is an iconic, naughty ode to Candy Land with Perry wearing this bra get-up made of two spray cans from which she shoots whip cream in a not-so-subtle innuendo. With her sugary

After eight years, for whatever reason, this song is back.

outfit, she builds a persona that is undeniably hers. It epitomizes pop music.

“Fireflies,” on the other hand,

has only some of these elements.

The song is catchy and melodic and sing-along-able, but Adam Young is hardly an interesting or new personality. Can you even think of what he looks like? In the song’s video, he wears jeans and a t-shirt and sits huddled over a piano.

He doesn’t build a persona around himself, and it’s perhaps this gap that allows humour to slide in. “[Fireflies] is meant to be in a dance, hip style but [Young] is anything but,” Metzer says.

“People would not be mocking if it was some great dance tune by a Motown artist, but [Young] leaves plenty of space.”

Alongside popular music there has always existed another genre running parallel— parody.

Weird Al, the modern-day king of parodying, even featured “Fireflies” on his album Alcapocalypse.

Some songs seem destined to be parodied. When I first noticed the memes about Owl City, I thought back to the now-ancient meme of Rickrolling. Rick Astley’s cringe-y 1987 love ballad, “Never Gonna Give You Up” experienced a resurgence in popularity when it became a prank link in the mid 2000s. People would urge you to click a link, supposedly about, say, their very important blog post, and suddenly you’d be watching Astley’s horrible dancing. You just got Rickrolled.

“Rick Astley was begging to be parodied,” Metzer said. But what about that song makes it so easy to parody? Maybe some of it has to do with our relationship with the past.

Astley’s song has “so many signifiers of the 80s,” Metzer said.

“It’s easy to put on and laugh at it,

SAMUEL DU BOIS

like, ‘look at the way they dressed then! Look at the way his hair looks! This man is so out of his league.’” The song, then, hasn’t aged well. It’s dated and marked for the past — an epitome of all garish 80s things.

But on the other hand, plenty of the same people who Rickrolled you in 2008 — essentially mocking Astley’s song — have some serious nostalgia for other 80s songs. I think of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” which is still played at parties and not always ironically, either. People genuinely love that song.

And, Metzer believes, people genuinely love “Fireflies” too.

“People might just like the song and they’re trying to find new ways of experiencing it,” he suggested. After all, @YVNSWAG_’s own caption of his video is about 30 smiley-face emojis and the words “I don’t care, I’m happy.”

Humour can be a way to honour a song. It’s not always mean spirited. Sometimes, according to Metzer, people just use “the buffer of irony” because they’re embarrassed that they like a song.

This digs at the deeper, more complex forces behind pop music.

“Music tells us a lot about how we experience emotions and understand emotions,” Metzer said. Contained within the “Fireflies” meme is a myriad of complex feelings: feelings of guilt when you — a refined music connoisseur — enjoy a hokey pop song; feelings of nostalgia for a simpler time eight years ago, I was only thirteen when Fireflies premiered; and feelings of pleasure because it’s just a damn good song. U

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY | CULTURE | 7 ETHICS //

Is fair trade coffee that fair?

Marcella Muse Contributor

A little while ago, I stopped by Sprouts — the vegan co-op café in the basement of the Nest — to buy some organic fair trade coffee. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty good about myself afterwards.

Not only was I supporting a local student organization, as opposed to a Safeway, I was also making an ethical purchase that — so I thought — would simultaneously lift coffee bean growers out of poverty and save the earth from GMO pesticides.

It has become quite fashionable in the last decade for businesses to tout their fair trade products — most notably coffee — and justify a significant price hike for them. For many businesses, selling fair trade products is less of an ethical decision grounded in the company’s beliefs and more often just a business decision based on a demographic of well-intentioned consumers. They are then lured into swallowing the additional cost of fair trade products through marketing materials featuring smiling farmers and community projects afforded by the fair trade program.

While fair trade practices sound utopic and altruistic in theory, in practice they come with a whole host of issues and questions, as raised by Professor Kurt Huebner and Professor Werner Antweiler in interviews with The Ubyssey.

Who is certifying and supervising fair trade practices?

How much of the cost difference between fair trade and nonfair trade products actually end up in the pockets of the farmers? Is achieving pricey fair trade certification financially feasible for poor farmers? Are organizations like Fairtrade Canada unfairly profiting from a program intended to benefit poor farmers? How are farmers that are unable to afford fair trade certification affected? And as Antweiler pointed out, is there an “unequal distribution of benefits from Fair Trade when the funds are channelled indirectly through Fair Trade cooperatives and communities, rather than farmers directly?”

The issue of fair trade products — specifically coffee — is particularly relevant to UBC because in 2011, the university became an official member of the fair trade consumer community, and was named Canada’s First Fair Trade Campus by Fairtrade Canada.

According to the online announcement, this certification represents a commitment by UBC Food Services to buy only Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate and tropical fruit from “producers who guarantee higher social, environmental and pay standards for farmers and workers [in an effort to] provide … an important example of institutional global citizenship … and advance sustainability and intercultural understanding.”

This measure does not apply to private franchises like Starbucks, Bean Around the World, Loafe, Tim Hortons, etc.

Some critics, including Huebner, question the true motives behind

PATRICK GILLIN

Fair trade is marketed as an ethical option, but the reality is much more complex.

the switch to completely fair trade, citing the cache and positive impacts the designation would bring to the UBC brand. He noted that there is a “feel-good factor” that many consumers cite when purchasing fair trade. This manifests itself when the “parents of middle class and international students may feel better sending their kids to a university with environmental, green, feel-good elements — fair trade is one component of that.”

Six years after receiving the fair trade title, UBC Food Services seems to have kept its commitment.

The two most common sources for beans and ground coffee at UBC outlets are Milano Boutique Coffee and Ethical Bean Coffee. Milano coffee is served at Caffè Perugia, Ike’s Café, Sauder Exchange Café, Sage Bistro and The Point Grill.

Ethical Bean Coffee is used at most other places on campus.

Between the two, Ethical Bean certainly does more to promote its image as a sustainable, transparent and principled fair trade company, even developing a scanning tool for consumers to “follow [its] coffee’s journey from farm to shelf, view farmer interviews, learn secrets of the trade and even locate the field [its] coffee was grown in,” which it publicizes on its website.

Milano, on the other hand, seems to fall into the same category as the majority of fair trade coffee brands that do not emphasize as high a level of involvement as brands like Ethical Bean, for example.

These brands all carry the fair trade label, but with such a decentralized certification process lacking international uniformity, what does that label really mean?

Boulevard Coffee, while not part of UBC Food Services and therefore not subject to UBC’s fair trade policy, was – and still is – a leader in the fair trade coffee movement on campus even before UBC received its designation. Its founder and owner, John Chen, has even taken trips to visit some of the farmers Boulevard sources its beans from, forging close relationships with those at every stage of the process.

This farm-to-table approach is also used by another non-UBC Food Services café, Great Dane.

The only difference is that Great Dane is not fair trade-certified.

They source their beans from Bows X Arrows — who have forged their own path by creating personal relationships with farmers who they visit several times a year to make business plans and ensure the well-being of the farmers and their families, instead of working with fair trade-certified cooperative.

Bows X Arrows’s approach sounds a lot like the mission fair trade sets out to achieve, yet it lacks official Fair Trade certification.

The reality is that there are a lot more criticisms and grey areas in the world of fair trade certification — most of which does not trickle down to the everyday consumer when ordering an Uppercase latte.

The aim of fair trade certification is admirable, but both Antweilier and Huebner deem the execution too inconsistent to be meaningful, calling for more strict and uniform government oversight instead. Huebner argued he “would be happy to have clearly quantifiable criteria in trade agreements that would follow well defined fair trade practices,” and Antweiler urged for higher “standards of accountability and transparency.” They also noted

the unfortunate side effect of fair trade premiums that sometimes lead to a lower quality of bean and consequently a bad cup of coffee.

Six years later, has UBC’s status as Canada’s first fair trade campus rightfully earned the hype?

Ultimately, UBC Food Services has complied with fair trade practices and its most prevalent brand of beans, Ethical Beans, has gone to great lengths to ensure a high

quality, transparent and sustainable product.

With the more than 9,000 Kg of coffee or over 1,500,000 8 ounce cups of coffee served on campus each year, UBC Food Services has some serious purchasing power.

Choosing to support brands that strive for the ethical attainment of coffee beans — even if criteria for that is inconsistent — can’t be a bad thing. U

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PHOTOS

EDITOR PATRICK GILLIN

Photos by Patrick Gillin, Joseph Kennel and Zubair Hirji

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY | PHOTOS | 9

10 | PHOTOS | WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

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FEATURES

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

EDITOR MOIRA WYTON

12

SUMMER TRAVEL //

Places to Go: Prince Rupert’s Seafest is the ultimate Canadian destination Madeleine Link Contributor

My friend Taya and I leave Vancouver early in the morning, stopping to get caramel iced coffees from McDonald’s on our way out of town. We’re going to Seafest, an annual weekend of small-town festivities held in nearby Prince Rupert. I’ve convinced my parents to lend me their car for the weekend, and as we drive out of town I feel weightless, relishing the hum of the tires on the pavement and the vibration of the stereo blasting an upbeat playlist I’d hastily downloaded the night before.

I’ve heard that the stretch of Highway 16 between Terrace and Rupert is one of the most scenic in Canada, which isn’t hard to believe. Before the highway was the railroad, and before that just the Skeena River. Today all three wind together through the rich green forest and tall, often snowcapped, mountains. I’ve been on this road more times than I can count, but it never fails to amaze me.

When we arrive in Rupert, Taya and I spend a good ten minutes just trying to find a parking spot, finally managing to parallel park in front of our hotel.

We watch the parade, which is low-tech by big city standards but still manages to delight me because of how much everyone there seems to truly care.

We see bagpipers, Bhangra dancers, firefighters, First Nations drummers, marching bands and countless trucks festooned with Canadian flags. I can’t help but feel fiercely proud of how many diverse groups are represented here, and grateful that I grew up in a place where I could experience it all. After a while, Taya and I take a Tim Horton’s break, watching the parade through the window and eating food that tastes like cardboard — but somehow in a comforting way.

Our band performance is later in the afternoon, so we take the opportunity to walk down to the port. I fill my lungs with salt air and take a billion pictures of the water and the worn boards of the docks. Taya and I decide that since we’re never going to be able to afford houses, we’ll live on boats instead, and we spend some time picking out which boats we like the best. On our way back uphill to the hotel we stop and watch grass volleyball in the park, and wind our way through the various food stands and handicraft booths that have been set up on the blocked-off main street.

We trek back to our hotel, grab our instruments and music and get ready for our afternoon performance. It goes okay — playing outside is always challenging both acoustically (tuning is unpredictable and the sound gets sucked up into the tent

Before the highway was the railroad and before that just the Skeena River.

First Nations drummers march in the parade in Prince Rupert.

MADELEINE LINK

roof ) and technically (we have to attach our music with clothespins so the wind doesn’t blow it away).

Despite this, it feels good to play and there’s always at least one cute baby in the audience that I can smile at in between songs. Taya and I spend the three-ish hours we have before dinner admiring the view from our hotel room, which is right on the ocean, and doing some more wandering through Prince Rupert’s small downtown.

Dinner is wonderful — we’re eating at Cargo, a restaurant with beautiful views, fresh-caught seafood and locally-brewed beer.

I have the salmon burger, which is about as good as anything I’ve ever eaten and prompts another wave of gratitude that I was born here and not somewhere in landlocked Ontario.

The meal is also an opportunity to catch up with people we haven’t seen for a year and discuss everything from local gossip to world politics. Coming back to Terrace after eight months in Vancouver is a vaguely disconcerting experience, but it’s made easier by this group of people that help me trace the connection between who I am in my hometown and who I am in the

MADELEINE LINK

city. We traipse back to the hotel and we stay up late into the night talking, and I think about how happy I am to spend time with such kind, thoughtful and funny individuals.

The next morning we wake up early to eat breakfast and check out of the hotel. We have another set down by an old railway station near the water, and before we play we’re treated to displays by soaring airplanes and boats that churn out white figure-eights in the dark water. A toddler nearby waves happily at the planes and his excitement is so infectious that I wave too. I spot an old couple sitting side-by-side on a nearby bench and almost start crying at how sweet and simple everything is in this moment.

Our performance today is much better than yesterday’s, and feeling the sound of the whole band vibrate in my body is a type of therapy that I’ve sorely missed. A baby claps its hands in the audience and it feels good to know that even my clumsy and out-of-practice clarinet playing can help entertain people. After we play, Taya and I walk back to the car, drinking in the ocean breeze and the green, green world around us. U

OPINIONS

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

EDITOR EMMA HICKS

13

SUPPORT //

Letter: Achieving positive mental health — are we there yet?

Rowena Kong Contributor

Nowadays, the topic of mental health is popular and very much talked about in the media and community. We may have read many articles and watched news which feature related challenges facing those who are socially and emotionally vulnerable. It is easy to come across such tweets at a tap of our fingertips.

At UBC, we have Thrive Week to pride ourselves on for making progress towards addressing the need for building positive mental health on campus. The publicity and creation of awareness is there, no doubt. However, it remains a wonder whether those are the ultimate goals envisioned — merely invoking a positive impression and raising awareness within a localized community. Do we stop at this explicit target without going further beyond a week long of activities and conversations or is Thrive meant to have an implicit long-term goal in mind that is ensuring every single student achieve a positive balance of their mental state of health?

If Thrive is meant to have a lasting impact that reaches deep into the routine of university life, why do we still get long waitlists of students for counselling appointments and psychiatric care

when they really need it? At times, it seems that universities do their best in decreasing the sensitive nature of students’ mental health issues by creating events like Thrive Week but that is just about all what they could achieve. Instead of offering students their needed individualized attention in regards to aspects of stressful coursework demands that are taking a toll on their health and wellbeing, the institution tends to generalize the diversity of each person’s problems without addressing their core.

Pondering over a letter which talks about how a university student counsellor was not effective in offering options of solution a student hoped for, I think it just shows the lack of familiarity and empathy of counsellors with situations faced by students that the former are not well-trained to provide. Added to that, it may just imply that counsellors are not keen on actively working out with students to brainstorm strategies of solution. Perhaps, counsellors and students have their own degree of passivity and effective communication can be compromised as a result.

Nevertheless, counsellors should be understanding about the difficult position students are in and efforts must be made in reaching out to those who may harbour doubts in the validity of their attempt to

reach out for formal help in the first place.

Will the conversations started during Thrive Week ever make their way into the conversations going on within lecture halls? Based on my experience, I have hardly heard professors casually bringing up the topic of mental health halfway during their lectures. I wonder if we could ask the question of whether the university faculty’s perspectives onof students’ mental and emotional wellbeing align with the personal perspectives of the students themselves. Could there be a gap in communication and empathic understanding between university instructors and the students whom they teach? No doubt, university life must have been more harsh decades ago and what was fitting and manageable for previous generations of university students (now present professors) may no longer apply to us. Thus, in addition to questioning students who make up only one end of the balance scale, perhaps we should look at the practicality of course load demands instructors place on students.

Shall we work on addressing the negative effects of a stressful university life before promoting the positives? Success becomes more attainable when we acknowledge our weaknesses and limitations instead of just glorifying our

”Are we there yet?”

strengths. A globally-recognized institution like UBC loves more than anything to pride itself on the tradition of excellence in research, teaching and learning.

Yet, behind the curtains of the stage performance of a world-class reputation, there are many students in need of a caring counsellor’s listening ear to help deal with their personal mental health issues in order to meet the high academic standards that are set. Such expectations are already a great force of a burden themselves and

ROWENA KONG

real. Campaigns of raising mental health awareness can be tempted to focus on achieving the bright and positive side but can they sustain students in the long run?

Sometimes, excellence and effort need to take a break and give up the limelight. We may be thriving and succeeding on the outside but we also need engaging support to cope with and manage the tipping points of our lives. U Rowena Kong is a fourth year student, studying psychology.

ADVICE //

Ask Natalie: Make your time at UBC worthwhile your classes, you can pick new ones next term. Even if you think that hockey games and student pubs are dumb, there are about a million other things on campus that are waiting for you. There’s an almost unlimited supply of people who can be your friends on campus and a massive amount of courses to pique your interest.

Find the part of UBC that makes you feel at home and enjoy it. Every new first year is nervous about the upcoming year. Every. Single. One. You’re not alone. And you should never have to feel like you are.

“Dear Natalie,

“What happens if I get to UBC and I hate it? I think I’ll love it but I’m nervous.”

Natalie Morris Design Editor

“Natalie, What happens if I get to UBC (I’m a first year) and I hate it? I think I’ll love it but I’m nervous.”

Campus is beautiful, the people

FILE SARAH NABILA

are beautiful and you can find your people here. It might take two days or two years, but the people who are meant to be your friends are waiting for you. Be positive. Be happy. UBC is great. You’ll get what you put into it and that includes your positive attitude.

Even if your dorm sucks, you’ll move out in a year. Even if you hate

My girlfriend and I have been doing long distance all summer.

We’re coming back next week and I’m pretty sure she’s going to break up with me. I would really prefer if she didn’t. I think we can work through our issues, but she seems really to give us up and was just waiting out the last few weeks until we were in the same city again. I want to say something but I don’t know if I should. I keep thinking that if I say something and she’s not planning on breaking up with me, then it looks

like I’m not as invested as her.

Should I say something?”

I’m an entering first year and I think I’m interested in joining a sorority. Is that a bad idea?”

the Greek system, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Some people are very pro-Greek life, some aren’t. It’s not the letters on your shirt that makes you who you are — it’s you.

Rush. It’s not a life sentence.

Tons of people don’t join a sorority after going through recruitment and a ton of people find a home on campus they didn’t know they wanted. If you have even a passing interest in the Greek system, go through recruitment. Don’t make judgements before you rush and don’t base your decision to go through your recruitment based on what you think others will say.

Even with the fraternities, going to their rush events is never going to work against you. If you show up and find that it’s not for you, you literally can just walk away. But if you find it’s just right for you, that’s awesome. Campus is huge and it’s always good to find a community within it — even if it’s not at The Ubyssey! U

I get this question every year. Last year I wrote about it quite a bit and my feelings haven’t really changed.

I have made the choice not to be in

Need advice? Contact Natalie anonymously at asknatalie@ ubyssey.ca or at ubyssey.ca/advice and have your questions answered!

Hell yeah you should say something. Saying nothing is the worst thing you can do. Here’s a hint, if something feels off in your relationship for you, it probably feels off for them too. Sometimes it’s as simple as just finding your footing again, but other times it’s about something deeper.

If you’re willing to fight for this relationship fight for it now while you’re still in it. Talk to her. Now. But if worse comes to worst and she does end the relationship and refuses to work on it at all, let her go. I know it’s shitty, every break up sucks, but you can’t fix a broken relationship if one person’s not in it anymore. It’s a new school year – make it one of your best.

“Dear Natalie,

SCIENCE

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

EDITOR NIVRETTA THATRA

14

ANATOMY //

Heartfelt Images is a repository of art about the heart

Titled Arrested, this piece is a play on the cardiac terminology for a heart attack, as well as the common refrain used by doctors — “Make a fist” — when asked about the size of a normal heart.

Nivretta Thatra Science Editor

Trabecula Carnae, Re-entry Circuit and Bradycardia are complex events or anatomical features associated with the heart.

As words, they mean little to those of us who aren’t cardiologists. But as titles for three art pieces by UBC students featured in a recent publication in the Journal of Medical Humanities, the medical vocabulary comes to life.

Describing the piece

Bradycardia, article author Dr. Carol-Ann Courneya wrote, “I. Jokic represented the very slow beating of the heart (termed bradycardia) as a snail moving ponderously across the landscape, while the mountain peaks on the horizon represented the infrequent QRS complexes seen in the ECG of a patient with bradycardia.”

Courneya — an associate professor at UBC — teaches students in the faculties of medicine and dentistry who are

PHOTO COURTESY CAROL-ANN COURNEYA

Courneya holds Andrea Miners’s Soft-hearted, a knitted anatomically accurate heart and wool sculpture.

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY DARRYL WAN

tasked with memorizing the science of the organ systems and anatomy in their first two years of study. The heart is one of their most challenging forays.

Students often take to illustrating their notes with intricate drawings of the heart’s valves, pumps and arteries in order to better understand their functions. Twenty years ago, watching her medical and dental students find innovative ways to learn, Courneya noted their creative talent.

“I’ve become more and more aware that many medical students have a strong link to visual learning,” said Courneya. “It seems to me that while not 100 per cent of the students learn that way, there’s enough students that learn [visually] that I need to give them the option to draw and make art.”

She wondered if, like her, the students were interested in the confluence of science and art beyond the classroom. What would happen if she put out a call for art that represents the cardiac sciences?

Heartfelt Images — an annual contest for UBC medical and dental students to submit their cardiac-themed art — was born.

Now in its 17th year, the contest has definitely taken off — just between 2011 and 2016, 262 students submitted 345 pieces of art including sketches, paintings, sculptures and original pieces of music.

“You would think — having done this since 2001 — that I’ve seen it all … but in reality, every year somebody sees the world or sees something or makes something that I’d never even considered before,” said Courneya.

Each year a jury of medical doctors and artists are tasked with

picking three pieces as winners, judging them based on their cardiovascular content and their artistic merit. Yet the breadth of the submissions, not just the winning pieces, was something Courneya hoped to investigate closer.

“What I really wanted to [do] beyond just looking at the images that would win the contest each year — which are always stunning and are always beautiful — was to look at the whole breadth of the submissions and explore the connections to learning.”

For her Medical Humanities article, Courneya did just that.

After immersing herself in the repository of art built by Heartfelt Images, Courneya found common themes in the pieces.

Many students had developed a “cardiovascular lens” through which they saw the world. The photographer of Trabecula Carnae, for example, saw a pattern that looked like the walls of the heart in the sands of a beach.

Interestingly, dental students tended to submit pieces that were made kinaesthetically. More so than the medical students, the dental students carved and sculpted, and they created works that required sophisticated handeye-coordination.

The art overwhelmingly showed how adeptly the students grasped the science of the heart.

Their anatomical drawings were accurate, and often made use of double meanings in cardiac terminology. Courneya explained that, “you have to understand the heart if you’re going to see something so rich in metaphor and wordplay.”

“For the vast majority of medical and dental students, in order to have created their piece of art, they had to really understand the content,” she said.

A huge take-away from her immersion into the art of Heartfelt Images was the link between learning and creativity.

For some students, drawing, sculpting and painting are tools to help new material settle in as a strong memory. For other students, the art they create becomes a tool for the community at large.

Many medical and dental students are creating pieces that are so powerful visually that their fellow students want access to these works, Courneya said. She is currently working on another paper examining online medical school graduates who depict anatomy through art, including Instagrammers @ mike.natter, @sarahjclifford and @hansonsanatomy.

Michiko Maruyama, featured in the Medical Humanities article and a graduate of UBC’s medical school, created daily doodles throughout her years as a student. She made the pieces available online to exemplify her learning process and to serve as potential resources for others.

With competitions like the local Heartfelt Images and the national White Coat Warm heART, UBC medical and dental students will continue to display their ability to engage visually. The students’ creativity, Courneya hopes will help them make valuable contributions to medicine and dentistry when they graduate. U

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY MICHIKO MARUYAMA

Spirit of the Heart is both anatomically correct and artistically engaging with its inclusion of four entwined spirits; a whale, fox, seal and bird.

SPORTS+REC

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 WEDNESDAY

EDITOR LUCY FOX

15

SEASON OPENER //

Women’s soccer struggles to find its footing, loses 1-0 to Vikes Olamide Olaniyan Contributor

After a silver medal finish at the U Sports national championships last year, the UBC women’s soccer team looked poised for an explosive entrance to their 2017/18 season. Instead they got a frustrating defeat, falling 1-0 to the University of Victoria Vikes (UVic) in their season opener on September 2.

The match-up at Centennial Stadium in Victoria, BC started off fairly uneventful, with few scares in the T-Bird half in the early minutes.

The pace of the game heightened when UVic forward Kiara Kilbey started getting on the ball, which UBC’s defence initially held up well against. In the 33rd minute though, Kilbey scored and the balance of the game changed.

As the first half began winding down, the ’Birds switched up their play to become more attackoriented. UBC forward Margaret Hadley and rookie Danielle Steer gave the Victoria defenders hell by making many good runs, sadly to no avail for the ’Birds.

For the rest of the half, UVic’s defence remained solid and Victoria keeper Puck Louwes refused UBC the opportunity for a comeback by making many key saves — she made 13 total saves in the match.

The second half proved more of the same, with UBC searching for an equalizer. At this point however, the ’Birds started to find the Vikes dancing around in the UBC half much too often. Vikes forward Georgia Bignold kept the pressure on UBC keeper Marlee Maracle, remaining a thorn in the side for the ’Birds for the rest of the match.

With time running out, there was a scramble for the ball in the UVic box for what looked like an easy goal, but the ’Birds passed out of the box and lost the momentum.

The whistle eventually blew and the hard fought match ended with a T-Bird loss.

A season opener usually means a new beginning and an opportunity to test out a new team — a mix of seasoned veterans and energetic rookies.

But the team failed to hit the right pace early and lost the match.

UBC’s Rachel Kordysz goes in for a tackle against UVic’s Stephanie Badilla Gutierrez.

Like most other teams, UBC has seen a large turnover of players and a team overhaul with the new year. A bad start is not usually indicative of the rest of a team’s season. However, the ’Birds

seem to be struggling to connect in their vital moments.

It looks to be a season of rebuilding and growth — particularly in positions previously held by key veteran players. How

PHOTO COURTESY OF UVIC VIKES

the team rises to the challenge will determine their season finish. U The Thunderbirds will face the Trinity Western Spartans at 5 p.m. on Friday, September 8 in Langley, BC.

NAMES TO NOTE //

Season primer: New recruits add strength to 2017/18 football roster Vernon Secondary Panthers. Last year, he was the provincial MVP for AA schools at the BC high school football awards.

Notably, Hladik was the first player to sign with the T-Birds’ 2017 recruiting class, which happened only a week into the 2016 season.

He will be helping to tighten UBC’s defensive line this upcoming season as a defensive back.

Shane Noel

FILE DAVID ELOP/THE UBYSSEY

This season, UBC football has added 39 first-year athletes to its roster.

Bill Situ Contributor

2016 didn’t end well for the Thunderbirds football team. UBC clinched the playoffs by the skin of their teeth before going out in the second round. Still, with a new season on the horizon, it’s time for the team to forget the past and begin fresh.

While the season has only just started, UBC faced Regina in their first regular season game last weekend, where they lost 36-20 — the ’Birds have one win under their belt. On August 23, UBC played an exhibition game against the University of Alberta Golden Bears in Kamloops, BC and came out on top 33-30.

This year, the ’Birds will be seeing the return of prominent players like Michael O’Connor and Marcus Davis. Joining them will be a squad of new recruits to bolster the existing talent on all areas of the field.

Here are a few names to look out for during the 2017/18 campaign: Michael O’Connor O’Connor is easily the most recognizable face on the Thunderbirds football team.

Since joining UBC in 2015, he has been the ’Birds’ main source of offensive firepower. Already, O’Connor has proven himself a force to be reckoned with. Last season, he averaged 324.8 yards per game — the third most in U Sports.

On top of his passing ability, O’Connor also brings an element of leadership to the table, which teammate Davis sees as being crucial to success.

“He’s a really good leader and he knows what it takes to win, so I’ve just been following along his lead,” said Davis. “I know if he’s leading us, then we’ll be alright.”

Marcus Davis Like O’Connor, Davis also had moments in the spotlight during his years at UBC. In 2014, he was named Canada West Rookie of the Year and a CIS first-team All-Canadian as a kick returner; he finished that season with 1,293 all-purpose yards.

Going into his senior year, Davis is also one of many eligible receivers for O’Connor to pass the ball to. Others include Trivel Pinto, Alex Morrison and other returning teammates.

“We’ve built a really good chemistry with how we’ve been working for three, four years together,” said Davis. “We have Michael O’Connor throwing us the ball, so the sky’s the limit for us this year.”

Ben Hladik One of many players to join UBC football this year is Ben Hladik, who previously played for the

Noel grew up in Vancouver and attended high school at St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby. Last year, the San Diego State Aztecs of NCAA sought to recruit Noel, but he decided to play for Loomis Chaffee Preparatory School in Windsor, Connecticut.

This year will be a homecoming for Noel, as he will be among those adding some punch to the Thunderbirds’ running back team.

Last year, it was Ben Cummins who made the bulk of UBC’s rushing plays, racking up 970 yards and six touch downs in 11 games.

Kene Ezekeke Ezekeke might be new to UBC football this year, but he is already eager for a successful season.

“The football here is much

different — a lot more challenging.

I have a lot to improve on, but I’m working towards it and hoping to help out my team in any ways possible,” said Ezekeke.

On top of football, Ezekeke will also be competing for UBC’s track and field team in the upcoming school year. He is one of few athletes to take part in two varsity sports.

“Track can help with speed,” said Ezekeke. “They complement each other, so it works out perfectly.”

Brendan Barnes Standing at 6’6” and weighing in at 290 pounds, Barnes will be using his skill and size in the upcoming season to boost UBC’s offensive line. The Calgary native was a star at Centennial High School and also participated in a Calgary Stampeders training camp in the summer of 2016.

Aside from being a standout for his high school team, Barnes stands out as one of few players to have played at the international level during high school. In 2015, he represented Canada’s U-18 team at the International Bowl. U UBC is set to play their next game this Saturday, September 9 at Thunderbird Stadium. They face the University of Manitoba Bisons in their first home game of the season - Homecoming.

Last Weekend’s Fixtures Sport

Home

Score

Away

Regina

36-20

UBC

Friday, September 1 Football

Saturday, September 2 Soccer (W)

Victoria

1-0

UBC

Soccer (M)

UBCO

1-2

UBC

2-2

UBC

Sunday, September 3 Soccer (M)

Thompson Rivers

16 | GAMES | WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 Across 1- Swedish import; 5- Belle or Bart; 10- Exchange; 14- Decorative pitcher; 15- Mexican moola; 16- Alas!; 17- Actress Petty; 18- Role for Clark; 19- Beef cut; 20- Handbill; 22- Brag; 23- Suit to ___; 24- Eliel Saarinen’s son; 26- ___ we all?; 29- Person who plays the cathedral pipes?; 33- Civil rights org.; 34- Steer clear of; 35- Acapulco aunt; 36- As to; 37- Apparel; 38- Fast fliers; 39- Posed; 40- Petrol unit; 41- Celestial body; 42- Republic in E Africa; 44- Corpulent; 45- Medicinal amount; 46- The Beatles’ “Back in the ___”; 48- Eight Days ___; 51- Crucial; 55- Graph prefix; 56- Thoughts; 58- Thus; 59- Billy ___ had a hit song with “White Wedding”; 60- Thaws; 61- Greenish blue; 62- Revivalists; 63- Kind of cat; 64- Scream;

Down 1- Ego; 2- Mil. truant; 3- Ethereal; 4- Shattering effect of an explosion; 5- Binge; 6- Little laugh; 7- I’d hate to break up ___; 8- Decay; 9- They appear before U; 10- Old West watering hole; 11- Rider’s command; 12- French friends; 13- Confined, with “up”; 21- URL starter; 22- Actor Pitt; 24- Uneven, as if gnawed away; 25- Sponsorship; 26- Licorice flavoring; 27- Charged toward; 28- Between Venus and Mars; 29- ___ barrel; 30- “Who’s there?” response; 31- Locations; 32- Sample; 34- Bandleader Shaw; 37- Immerses; 38- Temperance; 40- Watch; 41- Price tag; 43- Standards of perfection; 46- Liquid waste component; 47- Actress Spacek; 48- Neat as ___; 49- Walk in water; 50- Switch ending; 51- Red or white, in the blood; 52- Algonquian language; 53- I’ve Got ___ in Kalamazoo; 54- Hang loose; 56- The Monkees’ “___ Believer”; 57- “Runaway” singer Shannon;

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