Capilano Courier | Vol. 50, Issue 20.

VOLUME 50, ISSUE 20

APRIL 9–15, 2017

FEATURES

On Andrew Willis' decision to leave the CSU

COLUMNS

Jessica's back!

INSIDE THE CENTRE FOR STUDENT SUCCESS pg. 10

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITOR'S DESK

VOL. 50 ISSUE 20 APRIL 9–16

4

DEVELOPMENT OF MASTER’S IN APPLIED COMMUNICATION DEGREE UNDERWAY

A letter to my younger self

News

5 CapU COSTUMING STUDENTS

Campus Life 7

TEMPORARY REFUGE

8

THE FINANCIAL COST OF INSECURITY

Opinions

CARLO JAVIER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF “We’re all we got.”

– Shea Serrano

Columns

Dear 18-year-old Carlo,

10 INSIDE THE CENTRE FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

You will love going to Capilano University, even though nearly everyone from your high school will be attending “bigger” universities like UBC, SFU or UVic. There will be people who will look down on you for going to the North Vancouverbased institution. They will call it “Capilano College” as an insult. They will devalue its recently gained university status, and thus devalue your education.

You might think that the political studies field is your calling and that transferring to UBC is the best move for you. You’ll only be partly wrong about the first one as political issues will remain a constant in your work and studies, but you’ll be embarrassingly off about your second thought.

You will luck out and get involved with the Capilano Courier. This will be your second home.

Like every student who steps foot on CapU grounds, you will seek to find your sense of community. You’ll be inspired by the show of the same name and you will strive to find your own “study group” of a motley crew of friends. You will fail.

Don’t worry, much of the school will fail, too. You will become an integral member of the campus publication and your friends from work will play integral roles in your life. In fact, in the six years you will spend at CapU – one of which will come after you graduate from the School of Communication Studies – you will find that just about all the friends you make will be through the Courier.

In the same way that the Capilano University Blues student-athletes will prosper in their own secluded community in the Sportsplex, and in the same way that the artists from the IDEA program will cultivate great work together in the Arbutus building, you will find that your “team” will exist entirely in the small and messy office in the far corner of the Maple building.

You guys will do great work over a five-year-span and again, like the other pocket communities on campus, you will feel that no one will care. You’re not entirely wrong either.

After a slow start academically, you will come to enjoy the classroom. You will find the fine line between creativity and academics, as well as between your work as a writer and as a student.

You and the Courier will get recognized by your peers from other campus publications – from the whole country, too. And again, much of the very school you service won’t care, or even know.

At the end of it all, before you leave the Courier office for the final time, you will come to accept that community at CapU does not exist holistically. It comes in small, independent pockets and you will be in one of those pockets.

You will love going to Capilano University, even though traffic and apathy can be unforgiving. Your work will be thankless, and there will be weeks where you will ask whether all the stories you write are even worth it – and every single time, you will have the same answer: yes.

The truth is, it will not be because of the audience; it will be because of the team with you. You will have your degree as Kanye promised, but you will also have a community – and not many people get to say that.

Feature

13 UNDERSTANDING ANDREW WILLIS’ DECISION TO

LEAVE THE CSU

Special Feature

17 INSTA-INK

Arts & Culture

18 JUNIOR ALL-NATIVE TOURNAMENT Sports

STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ART DIRECTOR

Carlo Javier capcourier@gmail.com

Rachel Wada artdirector.capcourier@gmail.com

MANAGING EDITOR

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Justin Scott manager.capcourier@gmail.com

Cristian Fowlie pm.capcourier@gmail.com

NEWS EDITOR

COMMUNITY RELATIONS MANAGER

Whistine Beyleveldt news.capcourier@gmail.com

John Tabbernor community.capcourier@gmail.com

OPINIONS EDITOR

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Tia Kutschera Fox opinions.capcourier@gmail.com

Andy Rice andy.capcourier@gmail.com

FEATURES EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Helen Aikenhead specialfeatures.capcourier@gmail.com

Emilianna Peters, Laura Melczer, Ashley Armitage, Annalisse Crosswell

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS

Rachel D'Sa arts.capcourier@gmail.com

Juliana Vieira, Ashley Loo, Annie Chang, Wolfgang Thomo, Cynthia Tran Vo, Karla Monterossa

CAMPUS LIFE EDITOR

Greta Kooy campuslife.capcourier@gmail.com

EDITOR + COLUMNIST PORTRAITS

Rachel Wada

ONLINE EDITOR

Jessica Lio online.capcourier@gmail.com COPY EDITOR

Leah Scheitel copy.capcourier@gmail.com

INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING?

THE CAPILANO COURIER is an autonomous,

Visit us in Maple 122 on Tuesdays and Fridays or

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email capcourier@gmail.com.

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INTERESTED IN ILLUSTRATING?

are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality.

Submit your portfolio or examples of work to

The Capilano Courier will not publish material

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​We acknowledge that the work we do and the

contributing writers are not necessarily those of the

institution we serve happens on the unceded territory

Capilano Courier Publishing Society.

of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

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VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

NEWS

New scholarship honours retired departmental assistant Alison Bailey Scholarship Fund will be awarded to Communication students starting the Fall 2018 LAURA MELCZER CONTRIBUTOR

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CapU instructor petitions to have smoking zones relocated Current location a potential health hazard to the Children’s Centre EMILIANNA PETERS CONTRIBUTOR

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wo Capilano University instructors are petitioning to have the location of the smoking zones on campus relocated. Located in the Cedar courtyard, the smoking zone is in a central feature, which is convenient for many seeing as it is at the heart of the community. Others, however, are concerned about the health risks that come from second hand smoke and the fact that the placement of the smoking area makes it almost impossible to avoid.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) instructor Dr. Annabella Cant started the petition to have the smoking area relocated because it is her expressed belief that the solution to the location of the smoking zones is for students and faculty to work together and support the needs of everyone at CapU. “I see a solution in collaboration and togetherness,” said Cant. “I believe that defines the core of Capilano’s values; finding friendly solutions which make everyone feel like they are being heard.”

Cant said that she would like

the smoking area to be relocated in the interest of the little ones at the Children’s Center who often play in the Cedar courtyard and are at risk of inhaling second-hand smoke.

Her petition, which aims to get 500 signatures, has reached just under half its goal in the last five months with support from both students and faculty. Although she believes everyone, including smokers, should feel comfortable on campus. “Banning and punishment do not work, they only create conflict,” said Cant.

Cant doesn’t support banning smoking on campus, but others feel that CapU would be better off as a smoke-free university and that more should be done to prevent smoking on campus all together. Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) instructor David Geary signed the petition to have the smoking zones relocated, and was very clear about his stance on the issue. “I personally would love the campus to be smoke-free,” he said. “We have a duty of care to all employees and students, we all deserve to be safe here.”

Geary complained that smoke comes into the offices and classrooms in the Cedar building, and said that if a smoke-free campus was not possible, then he would advocate for a smokefree courtyard at least. He sees the smoking area’s current location as both a distraction and a health risk. Geary

suggested the possibility of moving the smoking area to the edge of campus. “If [smokers] want a cigarette that badly they’ll go there,” he said, although he did acknowledge that the possibility of increasing the risk of forest fires during the summer is a serious concern.

Ultimately, Geary’s main goal is to start a conversation with Capilano’s students and faculty.

While the push to relocate the smoking area seems to be gaining traction, some students worry that the community they have built in the smoking area will be disrupted or even destroyed if Capilano goes smoke-free.

“The smoke pit is a community, this area is important to us. The people that gather here are willing to strike up a conversation with anyone because we all have something in common,” said student Jesse Missio, “It’s where we come to relax, meet new people, and make connections.” Many other students also expressed concern about the loss of community as well as the risk of forest fires if the smoking area were to be moved.

Though there are many different opinions on the issue, one thing everyone seems to agree on is the fact that the thoughts and input of everyone at CapU need to be heard in order to make policies or changes that accurately reflect the best interests of the community.

tudents in the School of Communication Studies can apply to get a little extra financial help staring in Fall 2018.

The Department of Communications is establishing a new departmental scholarship named for Alison Bailey, the program’s Departmental Assistant who retired on Mar. 29. Bailey worked with the University for 25 years and has been an integral part of the School of Communication since 2013, handling much of the behind the scenes work that allows the department to operate smoothly.

Communication Studies Co-Chair and Instructor Sue Dritmanis, described Bailey as having “a profound impact on the lives of our students, staff and faculty.” The $1,000 scholarship will identify and celebrate students who bring a similar attitude towards their studies and the CapU environment. “Her enthusiasm, empathy and determination to succeed and to help others succeed made this institution, and our school, a better place,” said Dritmanis.

Only current and returning Communication Studies degree students will be eligible for the bursary. The scholarship will be awarded to students who demonstrate their engagement within the school in university activities as well as have a minimum Grade Point Average of 2.5.

“This award [will] recognize students who bring a high level of engagement to their studies at Capilano University,” said Dritmanis. She outlined engagement to include things like participation with the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU), taking on a leadership position in a club or program or involvement in other offcampus activities that promote the University.

The School of Communication faculty will create a committee to complete the selection process for this scholarship. Currently, the scholarship will be offered every year for the next three years, and going to different students. The department also hopes to extend the scholarship past three years with funding to do so.

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NEWS

Development of Master’s in Applied Communication Degree underway Program development a highlight of the past year ASHLEY ARMITAGE CONTRIBUTOR

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rogram development has been something of a trend this year at Capilano University, which, even 10 years after transitioning from a college to a university, continues to only offer undergraduate programs. Now, however, Communications professor Dr. Michael Markwick is in the process of helping to introduce its first master’s degree, working closely with other

faculty and community members to bring this program to CapU. The Master’s in Applied Communications is still in the early stages of development. But faculty members are working closely with Indigenous communities, industry leaders and public sector representatives to ensure the best possible outcome for this degree. “There is a very strong appetite for it here,” said Markwick.

“It matters for us to be anchored in our region, it matters for us to be in a respectful collaboration with Indigenous leadership.”

Although a popular field of study

at Capilano, many remain uncertain about what Communication Studies encompasses. Markwick noted that there is definitely growing interest in the field, not only for educational purposes, but in terms of recognizing the importance of communications work at any level and in any sector of society, as exemplified in the March For Our Lives movement that saw Florida high school students walk out of classrooms in demonstration for tighter gun control in the past few weeks. “I think that one of the advantages is how interdisciplinary our field is,” said Markwick.

"Capilano University's vision is to grow our degree offerings to include master's degrees," President Paul Dangerfield issued in a statement. "With master's degrees, Capilano University could better support our communities by providing more options for students in their pursuit of lifelong learning."

When Dangerfield became President in 2016, he made it clear that he wished to see new programs. He added that offering master's degrees is included in the school's growth as a teachingfocussed institution. With the exception of a Master’s Diploma in Science and International Business offered joinlty by CapU and the University of Hertfordshire, the University has never offered graduate programming.

The Master’s in Applied Communications would differ from the Diploma and Bachelor programs currently offered at CapU. “I think the sharp difference would be that people enrolled in the master’s would have the resources, the support, the coursework, to know their own minds,” Markwick said, adding that the program would foster original scholarship in students.

He also outlined that this program

would be unique from anything else currently offered in BC, and would put an emphasis on Truth and Reconciliation with First Nations communities.

Markwick anticipates a shift in the attitude that CapU still has a community college atmosphere in the coming years, and that previous struggles to find footing as a university is coming to an end. “I’m finding that with Dangerfield and the team he’s developing, those days are done,” he said, “This degree is an important part of Cap’s arrival as a destination university.”

Markwick hopes that if a Master’s in Applied Communication comes to fruition, it will foster a sense of community among communication scholars who go on to work for the government or non-profit sector in BC. “We don’t have this cohort of people who have built relationships with each other who are innovative, original thinkers, when it comes to tough issues,” he said.

There are, however, hurdles and structural issues that need to be addressed before any master’s degree can be introduced, including a potential library space and finding faculty. Also to be considered are the needs for a dean and a new lounge space for graduate students.

The team working on this degree hopes to introduce it by 2021, and Markwick is enthusiastic about it’s possibilities to expand CapU in a versatile way. He expressed that communications has something for everyone, even those with degrees in other fields.

Understanding the curious “Business and Professional Associations” Fee New student levy could undercut non-Business students in the Faculty CARLO JAVIER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A

new student levy could mean students in the Schools of Communication and Legal Studies will be paying another fee on top of their standard tuition and regular fees to fund Business associations that have no bearing on their academic paths.

On Mar. 22, the results of the referendum and Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) general election were announced. Five proposed fees or fee increases were put to referendum, two of them were ratified, one of those was the Business and Professional Associations fee. It passed by a slim margin, receiving 206 yes votes and 199 no votes.

The levy will allow the Capilano Undergraduate Business Enterprise of Students (CUBES) and the several business associations it oversees to detach themselves from the School of Business and join the CSU umbrella.

According to Elle Donnelly, interim president of CUBES, the associations

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have been able to draw some funding from the School of Business, but joining the CSU would require additional financial assistance because the student union can’t support the operation of these associations. According to Donnelly, acquiring funds from the School of Business was like “pulling teeth”, and transitioning to the CSU will greatly increase their visibility and engagement on campus.

The fee, set at $1.99 per credit to a maximum tune of 15 credits per semester, was determined by projecting the needs of the associations. It will also only be assessed to students in the Faculty of Business and Professional Studies. The fee adheres to the Canadian Consumer Price Index, which means that it will be increased annually.

“My goals are to greatly improve the visibility and accessibility of the associations to students,” said Donnelly.

“We want to be able to serve business students as best we can, and provide more social and free events.”

While the official description of the fee’s purpose has noble intentions, the results are casting a light on a not-sosecret reality about CapU – smaller programs within their faculties can get overlooked. CUBES and the associations

VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

it oversees are rooted solely in the School of Business, but the levy will be assessed to students across the entire Faculty of Business and Professional Studies. In this case, students from the Schools of Communication and Legal Studies will be taxed to prop up a service they likely will never benefit from.

Christopher Girodat, general manager of the CSU, noted that it was communicated with the associations’ student leaders that students in the entire faculty, not just the School of Business, must see benefits from the new society fee. Donnelly hopes that CUBES can better integrate the rest of the faculty. “One of my hopes is to engage students and encourage the formation of a legal association and a communications association,” she said.

“It would be an awesome addition to what we have already and I think there are some keen students out there who would benefit from it.”

Though the thought is welcome and may one day prove to be fruitful, history suggests otherwise. Donnelly admitted that dialogue with the rest of the Faculty was minimal prior to the presentation and implementation of the fee, citing that the lack of representation of communications and legal studies

students as a factor. “Unfortunately, there was not much representation from these stakeholders,” she said. “We tried to engage students by holding four tabling events, forums on social media, [advertising] all over the school and classroom visits.”

Sue Dritmanis and Ted Hamilton, co-chairs of the School of Communication Studies, as well as John Fairlie, convenor of the School of Legal Studies, were all unaware of the fee’s proposal and implementation until now. In an email correspondence, Hamilton referred to the Fee as “fishy”, while Fairlie admitted that it has “come as a surprise” and he is unsure how it will benefit nonbusiness students.

Per Donnelly, the current engagement levels between the business associations and students in the Schools of Communication and Legal Studies is low.

Despite the lack of dialogue, the Business and Professional Associations fee was still brought up in referendum and voted through.

CAMPUS LIFE

Seth Putnam Rae What do basketball and kayaking have in common – this guy GRETA KOOY CAMPUS LIFE EDITOR

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t the beginning of his time at Capilano University, Seth Putnam Rae struggled to find passion in his Liberal Studies program.

Eventually, the outdoor enthusiast transferred into the Outdoor Recreation Management Diploma (OREC) program and never looked back. OREC offers students an education coupled with exploration and can turn a passion for the outdoors into a career. This just happened to be perfect for Putnam Rae. He grew up in North Vancouver, an ideal place for any adventurer. With his father co-owning Deep Cove Kayak, he gained an early appreciation for the sport and it quickly grew on him.

“I started working there when I was about 15, and I was on the beach crew,” he said, “I’d just be giving rental groups the 15-minute boat talk and they’d be on their way. Now I’m going into my second year of guiding, so I’m actually going out on the water.”

Putnam Rae guides kayak tours that range from large school groups to smaller families, guiding them through the areas around Deep Cove and the southern parts of Indian Arm. “I do it for my job,” he said, “but it’s also something I just love to do, even in the winter.”

Kayaking is generally a serene activity but conducting kayaking tours can come with surprising problems.

“Some people can’t handle drinking and kayaking.

You’re not allowed to be drinking, but some people think they are,” Putnam Rae explained. While some may be disappointed no alcohol is allowed, the tour does include a donut from Honey’s, and kayakers can always grab a beer after their adventure.

Aside from kayaking, Putnam Rae is also focused on basketball. Although he started later than average in his student-athlete career, he is currently working towards gaining a spot on the Capilano Blues men’s basketball team.

He first mulled on the idea, but after some encouragement from some friends and an older brother, he decided to put his dream to work and grabbed a place on the University’s development team. The development team prepares athletes for the demands of Blues basketball.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do since high school, and I hope to stick with it,” he said. Putnam Rae has a strong support system of friends and family, but not everyone is encouraging of his dream. “Somebody said to me the other day ’you’re a hell of a lot more likely to go professional in kayaking than you are in basketball’.”

But Putnam Rae isn’t discouraged. With his enthusiasm for the outdoors and the unknown, he is ready to face any challenge head on. “I’m really just trying to get out and experience the world, even if that’s just locally.”

COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE BURKE

WHO YOU

How it is made

CapU costuming students read a different kind of bible GRETA KOOY CAMPUS LIFE EDITOR

N

estled in the Bosa Centre are the unsung and industrious students and instructors behind the Costuming for Stage and Screen Diploma program. “It started off between the IATSE, the film and theatre union, who worked with the instructors who created [the program] as a training ground for film and theatre work,” said Charlotte Burke, one of four instructors involved in the program.

Students’ detailed costume work is displayed around campus, most notably outside of the BlueShore Theatre. Examples of their sophisticated costuming can also be found in other areas of the city, such as Vancouver’s YVR airport. The two-year diploma originally began as a certificate program and is still in development to this day.

Burke teaches courses such as Costume History, Wardrobe Management and Cutting & Construction, which she calls “the real nuts and bolts of making costumes.” Burke teaches the theatre portion of the program, while a colleague, Karen Matthews, guides students through the film costuming section.

The intricate costumes seen around campus and the city, as well as in various productions, are done by students under the mentorship of the instructors.

“It’s all about getting those costumes from the designer sketches into the theatre, on the actors and then through the course of the show. It’s all the practical stuff that goes on behind the scenes,” Burke said.

Space within the Costuming for Stage and Screen Diploma program is limited, with only 20 first-year students and 15 second-year students being accepted.

“We have a limit, just simply because it’s so handson experiential,” said Burke. “We’ve created, as close as we can, a professional environment so that when they go out into the work force it’s recognizable.”

Students applying for the program must come prepared for an interview with a portfolio in hand, but as Burke noted, students with all kinds of skill levels have been accepted. “We do an interview and a portfolio for acceptance, which usually involves just demonstration of some sewing skills. We’ve had students come into the program who don’t know how to sew, we have students who come into the program who’ve been in fashion colleges and already have quite a high level of skills. And then everything in between,” she said.

This program isn’t for the weak, however. It’s very intensive with a heavy course load. “There’s no fooling around here,” laughed Burke.

Students within the program have a lot of responsibilities. Collaborating with the theatre department, CapU’s costuming students outfit two shows each year. Senior students are given the task

of cutting patterns and building costumes, with first year students working as construction teams and running crew back stage. “[Students] are given designs. Either it’s a faculty designer or it is an outside professional who comes in and does all the professional design work, and then a series of sketches are provided to the students to work from,” said Burke. Costuming students work off of what is referred to as “The Bible”, a large book containing all costume design elements for a production.

“We use the terms ‘construction’ and ‘building’ when we talk about making costumes,” said Burke.

“We very seldom use the term ‘sewing’, because they have to be made to put up with a lot of abuse on the stage and we make them so that they last decades and decades.” No costume is ever forgotten, and they’re typically stocked and reused from play to play when they can be.

For students working on costume for film, things are a bit different. Second-year students work as designers on the films produced by MOPA students and go through a professional working experience.

There, they work with the film creators and directors to determine the wants and needs in terms of costuming.

“The second-years are responsible for designing the shows and then the first-year students are crew, so they work as ‘truck costumers’, which is similar to a Head of Wardrobe in theatre,” said Burke.

“That term comes basically from the fact that they’re usually on a truck. The set costumer is the one that’s on set with all the actors.”

The experienced gained through CapU’s Costuming for Stage and Screen Diploma program is certainly a unique one, and many grads have gone on to enjoy many successes. “Our grads have done very, very well,” said Burke. “We’ve had grads that have earned Leo awards, which are BC Film awards for costume.”

CapU students studying outside of the Bosa Centre probably aren’t aware that the costuming program does offer courses they can take, such as Wardrobe Management and History of Costume. Also available at times is Textile Arts for Costumers where students learn, among other things, to properly dye fabrics – a must for all the DIY fanatics out there.

“We do sort of feel like we’re in a bubble up here, and we’re trying to get people to come up to see us,” said Burke. A better time than any is fast approaching with the Apr. 27-28 showcase, which features the incredible work from graduating students of the program. “It’s like a large portfolio show,” said Burke. “It’s a fantastic thing to see.”

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OPINIONS

An armed lobby Allowing organizations to influence politics with behind-closed-doors lobbying needs to stop JUSTIN SCOTT MANAGING EDITOR

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ith the debate around the issue of arming teachers still roaring in America, it’s time that those fighting the gun-touting right aim their efforts at a far more sinister and frightening occurrence than the idea of armed teachers. At its roots, the gun issue in America is about money. The American guns and ammunition industry brings in a yearly revenue of $17 billion. In 2015 the Washington Post estimated that there were around 357 million firearms in the nation, which at the time had a population of 317 million – yes, you read the right, they have more guns than people. Even more alarming is the fact that the percentage of gun-owning households in America has been dropping for decades, coming in at just 31 per cent in 2014.

So, with the number of households with a gun owner in them dropping and there already being a greater number of guns than people in the US, why do firearms even need to be on sale anymore? Really,

they don’t. But with so much money to be made from the items, the gun and ammunition industry is doing all they can to promote a second amendment lifestyle.

Their efforts include lobbying, which is essentially a competition between two opposing sides of an issue’s representatives as to who can prove a better case for their side to politicians, or make their lives easier. Often, campaign or party donations or other arrangements are made through lobbyists – third party representatives who represent different groups as organizations themselves are restricted in terms of donations. This means that the more resources a company or industry have, the more influence they are likely to control. Which is why groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) are so powerful.

Recent information released showed NRA contributions to American politicians over their carers. Eight politicians received over $1 million in donations and 39 received over $100,000. There were 24 Democrats who had received donations from the NRA and six Republicans who hadn’t.

It’s as if politics has become a sports league with no salary cap and the teams with the most money just buy the players they want. And although millions of dollars in donations is a sizable amount,

the NRA’s industry is raking in around $17 billion a year so they’re doing just fine.

The difference however, is that while sports certainly have an influence in society, they don’t make the laws directly.

And sports leagues still have salary caps to ensure fairness. Because of the cap put on players direct income from playing, stars like Lebron James seek out fortunes in sponsorship money to represent brands. Politicians are doing the same thing. They’re utilizing their postilions of power and influence to attract suitors for donation then representing the highest bidder.

Which is what makes an organization like the NRA so frightening. In the 2016 election they put $11,438,118 towards the support of Donald Trump’s campaign and $19,756,346 opposing Hillary Clinton’s campaign, that’s over $31 million spent on one election alone.

America averages 89 guns per person.

Some of these guns are semi-automatics assault rifles, which can be converted to fully automatic weapons with bump stocks like we saw in Las Vegas. Not exactly what the Founding Fathers were talking about when they wrote the oh so precious Second Amendment over two centuries ago with their muskets.

And now, as the nation has gone through an epidemic of gun violence

for decades, due to a Feb. 14 shooting Parkland High School that left 17 dead, another school in the nation's mass shooting history, there is a heightened debate around the general issue stemming from the proposal of arming teachers.

While other countries like Australia and England have banned most firearms, and seen their mass shooting occurrences essentially halt, many American politicians are proposing the arming of teachers in schools to combat the issue of school shootings. While all logic seems to point to the opposite reaction as being a sturdy one, the same politicians who are receiving millions if not tens of millions of dollars from a gun advocacy group are debating over the laws of the nation, if not leading it. That needs to change.

There’s been a joke made many times in the past that politicians should have to wear jackets similar to NASCAR drivers, dawning patches from all their sponsors as to show who they’re getting money from.

As absurd as it sounds, something needs to be done. While Lebron James may have a large group of sponsors, we know who they are – we can’t say the same for many political leaders.

Pan you handle it?

The difference in dignity and success of panhandlers is a digital line RACHEL D’SA ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR

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was introduced to the YouTube subscription box when I was just about to enter high school. Brighteyed and pimple-faced, I stepped away from the world of Webkinz and into the realm of paid-content. No longer did I find myself summertime bored, instead occupying my time with surfing the web, cheerfully sitting through a 15-second ad to get to my favorite YouTuber’s newest upload. I grew used to hearing influencer’s video introductions and conclusions asking for viewers to stick around by subscribing to their channels and give them likes.

Social media isn’t a stranger to paid promotional content, just as social media influencers are in no way strangers to the good ol’ money grab. As it is stated right in their job titles, these entrepreneurs live off of persuading their followings to spend their hardearned money on affiliated products.

In order to grow their earnings, these internet personalities must grow their personal brand, which is based on attracting followers with consumer power. This is basically panhandling, in a roundabout way. Having likes and followers increases the influencer’s

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–ANNIE CHANG

earning potential. More recently influencers have started using sites like Patreon to directly ask their followers for money. It can and has been argued that this is a modern type of panhandling, a nicely packaged way of begging for money. Yet the perception of a YouTuber panhandling online is vastly different

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from the perception of a panhandler on the streets.

Take a walk around Vancouver’s Entertainment District and you’ll find everything from a Led Zeppelin cover artist busker to panhandlers, who by definition don’t hold a busking license, providing their own unique forms of

entertainment. While there is a line between busking and panhandling, there needs to be recognition that some street artists don’t have the same access as others to certain resources that allow them to utilize their creativity. For both situations, pedestrians remain skeptical and hesitant to shell out donations, whether or not the entertainers offered something up in return.

Yet asking for follower loyalty online, surrounded by backgrounds of flowers and lit candles comes off as more dignified to our society than asking for money on the streets. Likes, shares, subscriptions, follows and comments all aid in the cultivation of channel traffic, which enables Google AdSense ad revenue, in addition to brand partnerships, to increase due to its increase in value. In return, followers are provided with entertainment in the form of comedy sketches, tutorials, advice, films, etc. and chances to win prizes or attend meet-ups with the YouTuber. Both YouTubers and traditional panhandlers provide entertainment in return for money, so apparently the main difference in success is the perception of the performers.

Online influencers should not be considered any more proper or respectable than those looking to get by through physical panhandling. After all, everybody is just looking to get by in life and the world could use a little more compassion.

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Temporary refuge Vancouver provides shortterm solutions to long-term problems ANNALISSE CROSSWELL CONTRIBUTOR

V

ancouver is now the first city to offer a temporary refuge to families during the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The move has been well met by the community, but is making some wonder if this could be done more regularly or even permanently in support of Indigenous people dealing with inquiries such as this.

Like every country with a history of colonization, Canada remains in a constant state of reparation, ever hopeful that the history of neglect and abuse of Indigenous peoples will be fixed in a way that it cannot be. In this vein Vancouver is now the first Canadian city to provide a semi-permanent space for survivors and families. The Temporary Refuge Centre, which was undertaken in part due to a request made by Vancouver’s Urban Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee, will be located in the Downtown Eastside.

Unfortunately for the Indigenous communities of Canada, the issues raised are ongoing and they are left continuously engaged in a fight for the government to recognize their needs.

Spaces like this could be beneficial in a long-term capacity for a number of reasons, not least of which being that they may allow some reprieve to focus on the issues at hand. The process of reconciliation is no small task and those affected should be able to have, at the very least, a consistent space to deal

–WOLFGANG THOMO

with it.

Though the hearing will be held in Richmond, the refuge is certainly a step in the right direction. Given that those affected by the inquiry are not necessarily residing in the major cities in which it is being held, it’s necessary to provide a space where they can connect with others affected and have the necessities provided for.

The space is decorated with the art of a Nisga’a artist and provides the occupants with counselors as well as elders. It is a small token for these individuals and families, but one that makes sense. In a Vancouver Courier article, Vancouver mayor Greggor Robertson said, “It will be a sanctuary

China’s Black Mirror When the stuff of dystopian nightmares become real ANNALISSE CRESSWELL CONTRIBUTOR

C

hina is planning to implement a policy rivalling those of dystopian novels – one that will track people’s behaviour and punish those who have low scores.

Despite China’s long history of censorship and less than democratic values, a new policy has taken people by surprise. A new “social credit” policy, currently in its early stages, has the country resembling an episode of Black Mirror or a classic dystopian novel, and the threat of violation to rights is the centre of attention. The system, which China intends to fully implement by 2020, uses citizens’ purchase history, infringements – minor and major – and

a myriad of other factors to determine their social credit rating. The system is a terrifying look into a bleak future.

Unlike the plots of most dystopian media illustrates, the impact is not limited to social status or monopolization of public services. Those with social credit deemed to be too low risk losing their right to travel, including flying or taking trains. The early stages of this policy have already left nine million Chinese banned from domestic flights. Another three million have been banned from purchasing business class tickets for flights. In the case of Businessman Xie Wen, his failure to pay a debt owed to a client who had sued him even cost him the ability to send his child to private school. Though it has not reached a national level as of yet, the policy is being tested by a handful of private companies, with the most high profile being Sesame Credit.

The company promotes sharing this information both in general social media

to those using it,” which rings true, but also brings into question why this has not been done earlier.

Inquiries such as this are not uncommon in Canada and can run for remarkably long periods of time. The content and process of these is extremely stressful, and the need for them comes from neglect on the part of the Canadian government. Hence there should be no question of how much support is required over the duration.

Previously the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, it is being discussed that the space may be leased to an Indigenous-related organization at the conclusion of the inquiry. While both are beneficial investments for

the community, one should not come at the cost of another. There should be space in the community for both refuge centers and other Indigenous-related organizations.

While the question of whether this is enough lingers here in Vancouver, the rest of the country should certainly be taking note of the city’s small steps toward easing the load for affected Indigenous peoples. There is certainly more that could be done, but any support that can be provided should be. The courage it takes to face perpetrators head on is something that should always be acknowledged and supported.

and with potential partners.

The fact that these companies are refusing to admit what information they are gathering is an issue that has been raised by bloggers already. Given the repercussions of this information this is a huge issue.

With a population of over one billion people it is hard to imagine how many people would lose their right to transit when – or, more optimistically, if – the system is nationally implemented.

Beyond this the lack of clarity on what is being tracked and what the full consequences could be makes it difficult to get a scope of how much autonomy would be taken from individuals.

However, the implications are chilling.

After all, it’s not like dystopian novels have happy endings.

As distant as the issue may seem to some, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the infringements on our privacy made by social media providers and web browsers alike. The

targeted advertising aimed at users is more specific than ever and people are inviting this into their homes readily with new at home AI technology. In the United states the case of Victor Collins death is being solved by the information garnered from Amazon’s Alexa and other smart devices in his home. While an extreme case, this lack of privacy is something that makes some shy away from these technologies. Microsoft has also announced that there will be an increase in censorship on their platforms. Users will risk their accounts and account balances for nudity or fowl language.

Though it may not perturb all, this progression in China should serve to make us question further just what personal information is being collected and to what end. A world of monopolisation and overt control of populations is not what we should be striving for.

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COLUMNS

MONEY TALKS

The financial cost of insecurity JESSICA LIO ONLINE EDITOR

T

he other day, I went to the post office to return some clothes I’d purchased online. Usually, it’s as simple as throwing the items back in the box and slapping on a prepaid return label, but this time I had three separate packages and only two of them had return labels ready. When I explained to the clerk that I still needed to pay for shipping on one of them, she was visibly unimpressed, rolling her eyes as she measured and taped the package.

By the time all three packages were ready to go, a lineup of people had formed behind me. Expecting the shipping to cost around $10, I was eager to pay and get out of there. To my dismay, she measured the box and told me that it would cost $28. When I asked if I could get a smaller box to put them in, she let out an audible sigh and shrugged. Feeling anxious, I grabbed a small shipping bag from the beside counter and shoved the clothes into it. On the second measure, she told me it would be $23 plus the cost of the shipping bag.

I knew I could have easily said, “Sorry for the trouble, but I thought the cost would be lower. I’ll take them to the store myself instead.” But my insecurity told me it would make me look cheap, and that it would be easier to just follow through with the transaction. So, I forced a polite smile and handed over my credit card.

In the end, I paid $25 to return $40 worth of items, just because I was afraid to embarrass myself. When the refund came through on my credit card statement later on, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of frustration with myself over the post office interaction. Sure, part of it was that I didn’t want to cause more work for the person behind the counter. But what really bugged me was knowing that I cared more about getting out of other people’s way and not being a burden than I did about giving up my hard-earned cash.

It got me thinking about all the times I’ve spent money because I was too shy to speak up and didn’t want to find myself in an awkward situation.

Whether it was going out for food with colleagues even though I’d brought my own lunch so I didn’t feel like I was missing out, buying a new outfit so that I could “fit in” at a party, or picking up the tab for a group meal and then feeling bad about asking for my money back.

All these moments are about taking the comfortable route and avoiding the awkwardness of saying no or feeling left out.

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–JULIANA VIEIRA

Maybe it sounds trivial, but if small incidents like this happen once a month, then we’re talking a few hundred dollars wasted every year that could be much better put to work. Suddenly, that small habit doesn’t look so small.

In the past couple years, I had built the habit of declining offers to sign up for loyalty programs that promise discounts and deals that I don’t need.

But only recently did I learn to say, “Hey, I brought food, but I’ll come for the walk anyway,” when invited to get takeout on a lunch break.

Every year we hear about income inequality growing at alarmingly unsustainable rates, and it feels as if there’s no way for us to individually change the course of that story. While it’s natural to feel a little helpless in the face of huge economic problems like this,

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I think the insecurity we feel over our own role in the economy is rooted in the notion that money is a measurement of who we are as people, and the equation of not having money with failure.

During this journey of getting my own personal finances in order, I’ve really taken to heart the concept that we vote with our money. Along with unlearning our insecurity comes with realizing the self-efficacy we actually have when it comes to spending our money, no matter how small or mindless a purchase may be. When I look at the breakdown of where all of my hard-earned dollars went every year, I want to see that they went towards building an economy that will make life better for the people and communities around me.

It would be foolish to pretend that money doesn’t represent power and

status in our society. In so many ways, money (and the lack thereof) determines how individuals and societies organize themselves to achieve common goals.

Money itself is not the measure of our life’s work or the choices we make. None of us will be on our deathbeds smiling because of the time we hit the high score on our bank account balance.

The true financial cost of our insecurity is that we go through our lives thinking that our participation in the economy is passive, that we can’t individually affect change. As global income inequality grows and the conversation around affordability in Vancouver intensifies, it’s absolutely crucial that we take it into our own hands to unlearn this reality.

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HIP TO THE GAME

Appropriation is about recognizing inequity, not stifling inspiration

KEVIN KAPENDA HALL OF FAMER

I

f you’re in the public eye, there are few things you fear more than being accused of cultural appropriation. In recent years, numerous corporations, celebrity chefs, fashion designers, musicians and runway models have all bitten the dust of appropriation. Upon sweeping the 2018 Grammy Awards and winning the coveted Album of the Year honour, Bruno Mars’s funk and his soul-inspired album became the latest artist to be scrutinized for cultural theft. The ballooning cost of streetwear and urban clothing brands that were once considered cheap is also frequently included in conversations about cultural appropriation.

Critics of appropriation argue that it stifles inspiration and knowledge exchange by making people, often white, fearful of producing work that is not culturally European. However, cultural appropriation is not about the work that is produced. The issue with cultural appropriation is when

the art, cuisine, fashion or traditions of racialized peoples is used in ways that don’t build capacity or increase acceptance of the group whose culture is being “vultured”.

A great example of cultural appropriation is the growing adoption of Black hairstyles, such as high-top fades, braids with extensions, dreadlocks, as well as the use of colourfully patterned headwraps. This was epitomized at Marc Jacobs’ September 2016 fashion show, where white models donning his Spring 2017 line had dreadlocks. Since then, the debate over hair appropriation has persisted due to increasing popularity of dreadlocks and other “Black” hairstyles among non-Blacks, despite cases in which Black people have been shunned for their hair.

Indeed, just days after Marc Jacobs’ fashion show, a US federal court ruled Blacks could be fired for having dreadlocks, due to the hairstyle not being an immutable

POSTCARDS FROM THE UK

End of the road

AMANDA MITCHELL COLUMNIST

W

ith just two months left in my study abroad adventure, my classes at the University of Hertfordshire are coming to a turbulent close. While assignments at Capilano University are evenly spaced out over the course of the semester, at UHerts, everything is due within a four-day span late in the term. With just two projects and a final exam remaining, my mind is consistently fixated on the travelling I’m going to be doing within my last couple of months abroad.

March has been the most exciting month for me. The highlight of this month, and of my experience so far, has been spending St. Patrick’s Day in Belfast, Ireland. Drinking Guinness,

singing Celtic songs and wearing green from head to toe was absolutely necessary for the entire weekend. A little luck from the Irish has also been needed to get me through my final weeks of classes.

I have also been able to take full advantage of having no classes during my Easter vacation. I travelled to Krakow, Poland for the first week and explored the beautiful St. Mary’s Basilica, as well as the harrowing history of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The second week of my break will be spent on the beaches of St. Julian’s, Malta, where I will soak up as much sun as I possibly can to bring back with me to rainy Hatfield.

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racial characteristic, but a choice.

While I don’t have the energy or time to care what people do with their hair, I find it concerning that Black children and adults who have those hairstyles are being sent home from schools and disciplined in workplaces.

It’s no coincidence that most cultural appropriation tends to impact groups like Blacks and Indigenous peoples, who are severely racialized in European and North American contexts.

Perhaps the best example of appropriation today is the evolution of streetwear from something associated with criminality into an emblem of luxury. More than two decades ago, N.W.A. made an appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show. Addressing their still-controversial song “Fuck tha Police”, more than two years after its initial release, group member MC Ren talked about how being Black in the US means being arbitrarily stopped because of how you dress. “In the ghetto or a Black community, you get harassed by the police just because of what you wear and nine times out of 10, you can’t help what you got on because that’s all your family can afford for you to wear.

But they just stereotype you as a gang member.”

Only half of what Ren expressed a generation ago remains true today.

Unfortunately, it’s the fact that urban clothing, such as baseball caps, jerseys, sweatshirts and pants that aren’t trousers, are still associated with criminality and a lack of class when worn by young Black males.

In the wake of police executions of Black males that have rocked Canada and the US over the past five years, there have been numerous stories about Black men wearing suits as a means of avoiding police scrutiny and keeping themselves alive. Again, the

problem with cultural appropriation and streetwear is not that economically and racially-privileged groups are attracted to colourful bucket hats, classic sneakers, joggers and vintage sweatshirts. It’s when things as innocuous as clothing, cuisine, hairstyles and music instantly become positive and trendy because groups associated with beauty, cultural capital and wealth embrace what racialized peoples are stigmatized for.

As for Bruno Mars, music’s latest artist to be charged with cultural theft, I don’t believe his album and career has been one of appropriation. Firstly, he is doing the exact opposite of what most streetwear companies have done, or what a Brooklyn museum did last month by hiring two white curators of African art. Mars, who is heavily inspired by Black R&B and soul from the second-half of the 20th Century, has an all-Black band. Many of the producers and songwriters that joined him on stage when he accepted the Grammy for Album of the Year were Black. There is nothing wrong with knowledge exchange. Just be willing to pay and work with the people who inspire you.

As an artist, Mars has devoted himself to building-capacity and empowering people from the community that created the culture his work carries forward. That’s more than most restaurants serving artisanal fried chicken or boutiques selling pricey streetwear can say.

Following my Easter Vacation, once my semester is finished, I will be travelling back to Belfast, which has become my new favourite city. Then I will make my way to Berlin, Liverpool and Lisbon. I will also be visiting the famous Harry Potter Warner Brother Studios, which is a must see for anyone travelling to London.

Reflecting on this experience, I’m most thankful for all the new people I have met from around the world. I’m also happy to have met fellow CapU students, who I didn’t know prior to coming to the UK. I didn’t realize how quickly you can become friends with other students, even if you come from completely different parts of the world.

Incidentally, one of the study abroad students I met last semester at CapU will be travelling to London in May. We said tearful goodbyes to each other in December as she headed home to Germany, little did I know that we would meet again so soon.

It’s going to be strange to go home.

Even in the short time I’ve been in the UK, I feel as though I know my way around as well as I do back in Vancouver. I’m also picking up many of the phrases that locals use such as “you alright?” (what’s up?), “I’ll ring you” (I’ll call you), “I’m knackered” (I’m tired),

“that’s a load of tosh” (that’s nonsense), and “don’t get all miffed” (don’t get upset/offended). It will also be strange to go home to a house full of people. It’s been pleasant to get a taste of living alone for the first time. I’ve become an excellent budgeter and have become much more appreciative of household cleanliness. It’s been very interesting to balance school and lifestyle as well, and not having a parent to make dinner when I’m stressed with assignments.

As classes are ending, it feels surreal that my semester is almost finished. As I’ve become busier with assignments, time appears to be going by more rapidly than ever. Although I’ve tremendously enjoyed what I’ve been learning in the UK, I’m excited to finish school and start to see the rest of Europe.

Cheerio!

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FEATURES

Library renovations will see University services brought together and perhaps bring campus a sense of community

BY CHRISTINE BEYLEVELDT ILLUSTRATION BY CYNTHIA TRAN VO

that Capilano University doesn’t have a sense of community.

Despite small classes and the notable absence of lecture halls, most students come to campus for the sole purpose of attending class and then leaving. But it’s not just classes at the end of the day that students are leaving – CapU students are leaving the University after a year or two for other post-secondary institutions. In fact, a key point of the brand change in 2016 was not just to bring more students to CapU, but to keep current students on until they finish the programs they started.

According to Cyndi Banks, associate vice president for student success, when students don’t have a sense of connection to their school or program, they’re less likely to stay at the institution. CapU’s first residence opened last fall on Dollarton Highway, but there’s still a long way to go before CapU has any sort of social scene on campus.

Banks is seeing to fruition a proposal she started planning nearly two years ago in August 2017 – a Centre for Student Success that will see the main floor of the Library building transformed into a hub of student activity. “The Centre is a collaborative effort and will showcase what Capilano can do to support students and, to help create, as the President says, an outstanding student experience at CapU utilizing all of the resources we have on campus,” she said. “And the biggest resource is faculty.” The Centre will bring many of the University’s existing services to a more central location on campus and provide support for faculty as well.

The Registrar’s Office, Counselling t’s regularly touted

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and Career Services are in the Birch building, Information Technology is in the Library and the Writing Centre is in the Fir building. With the exception of a few of these services like the Counselling department, which

will remain in its current location for the sake of preserving students’ confidentiality, these services will be relocated to the main floor of the Library. Although moving from one building to another can be an inconvenience, Banks explained that most of these services are taking a student-centred approach and realize that being central to campus will make them more accessible to students.

There’s an abundance of services designed to help students succeed at post-secondary that are untapped.

Banks guesses that students leave the

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University for a multitude of reasons, one of which is a lack of preparedness to cope with the stresses of postsecondary. One of the new spaces, where the computer space where the IT desk in the Library is now, will be the Learning Commons, designed by David Nairne and Associates. This multifunctional space will feature silent and group study spaces, soundproof testing pods, a presentation wall and a Student Life Hub run by student staff. The whole area will also be wireless. Students will have to either bring their own devices to work on or borrow them from the library, but Banks asserted that the computers they have in the library currently take up valuable real estate.

In addition, several classrooms on the ground floor of the Library will be upgraded with new mobile furniture into Active Learning Classrooms, different from the traditional room setup because furniture on wheels will allow instructors and students to reshape their classes to enhance learning in different sized groups.

However, bringing CapU’s services together isn’t all they have in store. A Resource Centre and Library that will be located in the Learning Commons will have access to a volunteer registry and events calendar containing information about events taking place on campus for students to access.

This will be available online through CapU’s Student Portal by September.

A co-curricular record is also being introduced.

Student Success Facilitator, Remy Marlatt, helped oversee the implementation of a co-curricular record at her alma mater, the University of Guelph, during the last year of her undergraduate. Now, she’s

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facilitating its implementation at CapU. “Students will be able to log on and see the different activities. It works in sort of a proactive ‘get involved’ way but also in a reactive ‘you’ve already done something’ way,” she said. A co-curricular record is a non-academic record that lists students’ participation in extracurricular activities on campus organized by the skills and experiences they’ll have gained. Currently, students can get a note of their participation recorded on their transcripts if they attend three Chatlive discussions – informal group discussions on topics of prominence – on campus in a semester.

At the University of Guelph, Marlatt explained that activities, clubs and services on campus had to pay into the system to be recognized by the co-curricular record, but CapU has purchased a different system.

Considering apathy is prevalent on campus where students often come and go but rarely stay, current students

might not make use of the Centre for Student Success. Some of Banks’ and Marlatt’s ideas to draw students to the new space include hosting activities.

What they do know is that tabling is ineffective. “We know this is what students want,” said Marlatt. “Students asked for a space to study, a space to hang out and a space for events to happen when there and the Centre for Student Success facilitates all of those.”

First year students will be introduced to the Centre and its services at the start of the new academic year in September through orientation, which will last an entire week. Ordinarily, CapU hosts a street party on the first day of the fall semester to welcome new and returning students to campus, but has opted this year to extend the introductory period and include an array of activities, such as a residence tour and a President’s Welcome Barbeque.

In addition to renovating space in the Library to make room for the Learning Commons, Banks noted that they plan to have landscapers make the east side of the Library more accessible from Greg Lee Way so students can use it as an entrance. As early as this fall, developers could begin construction on the new complex that will occupy the northwestern-most area of Purcell Woods, including a student residence building that will be accessible from campus. “[The Centre for Student Success], really brings together the strengths of the campus to better serve students and increase the number of students who come here and help more students to stay here to satisfy their educational goals, which is what we’re all about,” said Banks.

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The writing was on the wall for the now former Vice President Academic, but for Willis, his departure from the student union does not signal the end of his student advocacy

BY CARLO JAVIER ILLUSTRATION BY KARLA MONTEROSSA

ndrew willis is a whirlwind

of charisma. In his own words, he is “quite a force” and “quite a personality” – sometimes, to a fault.

Willis’ involvement with Capilano University’s student politics started in January 2017, when Sacha Fabry, then president and vice-president external relations of the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) encouraged Willis, a School of Communication Studies student, to join the CSU. In a matter of months, Willis was elected to be the CSU’s vicepresident academic for the 2017-2018 academic calendar. By the summer, he was already representing the student union in convocation ceremonies.

“It was 100 miles an hour of just working,” said Willis, regarding his initial months with the CSU. He would grow to be increasingly active in university and student politics as the start of the new school year loomed. He was particularly engaged with issues and initiatives surrounding CapU’s newly launched residence.

Like the CSU’s other charismatic vice-president, Yatharth Palat, Willis’ work in the fall yielded tangible results.

He was essential to the planning of the Residence Relations Committee, brought a vending machine for students living in the dormitories and, memorably, he orchestrated a one-man, guerrilla survey to really get to know the students on Dollarton. This personal mission that saw him spend an undocumented week in CapU Residence, helped start conversations about issues that students are facing. It also spotlighted his gungho, off-the-book methods.

His procedure and attitude sometimes came into question. Early in the fall semester, Willis sent a series of angry text messages to the Capilano Courier news editor, Christine Beyleveldt, airing his grievances about not being featured in the photo that accompanied a story titled, “Capilano University opens first off-campus housing”. The photo was taken during a tour of the residence that Willis invited the Courier to in August – much to the chagrin of university administration, as the Courier later found out. The image used featured

Feras Bingursain, then-international students liaison, leaning by a desk in one of the few dorm rooms that had already been furnished. In one of the messages sent to Beyleveldt at 2 a.m., Willis listed his contributions to the residence, which included putting a vending machine on site, packing 250 welcome bags and running the residence committee. Willis would demand a meeting with the Courier to ensure that such ‘oversight’ would never happen again, especially “if the Courier comes out to any of [his] events or interviews [him] again.”

By January 2018, internal relations at the CSU had soured. Willis and Palat fell into a heated argument at a board of directors meeting on Friday, Jan. 12 about Willis’ failure to attend several committee meetings and Palats’ spending. This forced Chair Titus Gregory to ask them to refrain from using “insulting terminology” and to address their conflicts outside of the meeting. Willis, who felt that the evening had turned into a “personal attack” against him, walked out of the meeting unceremoniously. By this time, questions about Willis’ status with the CSU naturally started to manifest.

A little over a month later, Willis surprisingly announced his re-candidacy for the vice-president academic position, joining Palat and Noah Berson as three of the five returning candidates for executive positions. On Tuesday, Mar. 13, exactly a week before voting began, Willis pulled himself out of the running for re-election and announced his resignation from the CSU. Willis recently spoke to the Courier to discuss his tumultuous run in student politics, why he backed out of re-election and what he learned after a year in student advocacy.

On his decision to resign: I resigned because someone is going to be elected. My role was basically inert at some point because of the way the staff had done things. I wasn’t quitting out of strategy. I can still do my work; I just can’t be doing it with [the CSU] because there’s something very wrong here.

On why he pulled out of his initial plan of seeking reelection: I posted a photo of my greatgrandmother, where I’m hugging her, she’s like 90-years-old. I live with her, I love her, I take care of her and so I was sharing this really beautiful moment where I had just found out that I got a scholarship and I’m on the Dean’s List, and someone from the CSU took that and got me disqualified. So, they’ve made a complaint to the CSU that I was campaigning early, when it was a photo of my great-grandmother, with the caption: “the family is coming out this election”, there was nothing implicit saying “vote for Andrew Willis”, it was us hugging.

Are we really servicing students, are we really helping each other? Or is this just something to put on your resume, or is this just another club that exists to support the members within, more than the members outside?

On improving student politics: I think what they need to work on more is dealing with issues when they start. Again, I understand that it’s the executive and the board that directs the staff, but there comes a moment where we all need to recognize that we are not professionals, we are students. Some of us are 18, some of us are in our late20s. Not everyone has the same level of experience, so when a very intense situation arises, there needs to be some intervention right away.

On tension in the workplace: There was tension from the beginning.

I was always singled out by the organization for being too animated, too engaged or I would meet with the University without going through staff at the CSU. My whole thing was, if I can do it, why do I need to take away staff resources from their jobs, why do I have to take away people from the work that they’re doing if I can do it on my own?

On the types of criticism he faced: The biggest critique the executives had was “Andrew Willis is not in the office.”

Again, I don’t want to sit in the office with four other people and be alienated from the student body. I would rather be out there living as a student and using the spaces as a student, while also talking to other students.

Issues with the CSU: A big problem is the amount of money we spend on events. When you’re $14,000 over budget and you want to ask for more… again we all took an oath to perform a fiduciary duty and to protect and serve as good stewards of organization, so, if I’m looking at something and I’m saying its wrong, even in a calm and professional delivery… you couldn’t critique other people, you just couldn’t.

We have to look into our organization.

On whether he regrets anything from the past year: I mean, no. I don’t think I left the organization unable to go back in and work. I’m quite a force. I’m quite a personality. I’m still going to be beating down the doors because I’m going to be needing to do stuff. That’s the thing, you are a student union and I am a student, so I’m going to need to access you and be working with you.

I don’t think I burned any bridges and if I did, I’m not too concerned about them. I think I have it pretty good.

There are 7,000 students, maybe 1,000 on our campus any given time. I think that beats a few people who don’t like me.

On Student Advocacy: You know who started it for me was Rita Isola from Sociology. She has given me the language and the tools that really help me to illustrate the personality that was always there inside of me.

And again, Lori Kosciuw at the CSU, even Chris Girodat. These are people who have really understood who I was and realized that my focus is really to advocate for students, to do things for students, to do things because it's right.

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SHORTS

: t c a t n o co f n i e r om c . l i a For mo gm @ r e i r u capco

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VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

CALENDAR

APRIL 9

JONATHAN DAVIS OF KORN

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WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE

FRI

COMMODORE BALLROOM 7 P.M. / $46.50

MON

Korn was one of the best metal bands of the 90s and 2000s. Part of what made them so good was the voice of their lead singer, Johnathan Davis. Davis is on tour for his first solo album Black Labyrinth, which is not a metal album, but more rock and roll.

CAMILA CABELLO ORPHEUM THEATRE 7 P.M. / $35

Another group singer turned solo artist, Camila Cabello gained some fame as a member of all girl group Fifth Harmony, which formed during the second season of X Factor. It’s interesting to see where contest winners end up. She is only 21, and X Factor Season 2 was in 2012, which means she has been doing this since she was 15.

10 TUES

WORLD SKI & SNOWBOARD FESTIVAL

VOGUE THEATRE 7 P.M. / $30

WHISTLER ALL WEEK / VARIOUS PRICES + ONE HANGOVER

The weirdest podcast in the world is coming to Vancouver for a live episode. Those who do not know about Night Vale are missing out on one of the best podcasts. The show is a radio news report about the weird things going on in Night Vale. Episodes are only 20 minutes long and can be found on YouTube. Thank me later.

If the Olympics didn’t give you enough footage of people falling down mountains, this event is meant for you. All week there will be events going on, including concerts, conferences and photography.

JADEN SMITH: VISION TOUR

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS VS. LOS ANGELES FOOTBALL CLUB

IMPERIAL 9 P.M. / $20

BC PLACE 7 P.M. / $15

I can’t believe it either. After growing tired of living in his father’s shadow as an actor, Smith has decided to go and do the other thing his father was famous for. Maybe once this tour is wrapped up he will announce his new family friendly sitcom.

11 WED

TED2018

VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE ALL WEEK / TOO MUCH

Once upon a time, TED might have been worth spending thousands to attend. I don’t know why you would pay to go to this event. There is not a single recognizable speaker other than Steven Pinker, which is kind of what you need to convince people to mortgage their condo to buy tickets. Save yourself some time and watch lectures on YouTube.

LAFC will be very happy we do not have a Zlatan Ibrahimovc on our team. I still don’t know who is on our team, the only game I’ll go to this year is when we play LA Galaxy so I can watch Ibrahimovic dominate. I’d love for the Whitecaps to sign some old superstars.

14 SAT

QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE 8 P.M. / $30

A Broadway show on tour. It doesn’t sound as exciting as when Book of Mormon goes on tour, but sometimes you’ve got to make due with what you’ve got. I’m disappointed to report that it is, in fact a dance show, but apparently its good enough for Broadway.

MILK CRATE BANDITS

CRAY

I’m starting to feel a bit old, the idea of going to a jazz club is far more appealing than going to a nightclub. The ideal nighttime spot would be one of those lounges that has someone playing piano in the middle of room. Does Vancouver have one of those places? Please write in and tell me where it is.

She is described as a Canadian Trap Queen. I can’t imagine there’s too much competition for that title. It is one of my biggest regrets that I have never been to Celebrities. Maybe a chance to see the best female trap artist in Canada is the excuse I need to go.

FRANKIE’S JAZZ CLUB 8 P.M. / $10

12

RIVERDANCE

FINAL EXAM PERIOD CAPILANO UNIVERSITY ALL WEEK / PRICELESS

Time to panic. If you’re feeling stressed about doing well, remember that C’s earn degrees.

THURS

CELEBRITIES NIGHTCLUB 10 P.M. / FREE

15 SUN

SAKURA DAYS JAPAN FAIR VANDUSEN GARDENS 11 A.M. - 7 P.M. / $14

A chance to experience Japanese culture at VanDusen. There will be tea ceremonies, a sake salon, Japanese craftsmen and much more. It sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday in the Spring.

DIGITALISM

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CRYSTAL

A German electronic music duo will be at Fortune. European electronic music has always been more appealing to me than North American. It has some quality that makes me want to dance.

World-class ice skating and unexpected acrobatics come together to create Cirque du Soleil's first on-ice experience. I hope someone does a quadruple axel salchow 25 feet in the air. The promo picture has a figure skater swinging on a gymnast bar, so my prediction doesn’t seem far off.

FORTUNE SOUND CLUB 9 P.M. / $15

ABBOTSFORD CENTRE 7:30 P.M. / $91

THE CAPILANO COURIER

VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

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ARTS & CULTURE

Artist Spotlight: Mellt RACHEL D’SA ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR

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The Visions EP edged into a dreamy, psychedelic realm, both instrumentally and lyrically. Has your lyrical content shifted at all?

Jamie Turner: This is a lot larger of a catalogue in general. There’s 13 songs so I think the idea of the Visions EP, the lyrics have expanded beyond that, there’s a lot of emotional stuff like in this album as opposed to general kind of concepts about existence in general or more of a broad lyrical base. This is much more specific and I’d say much more personal, I think for a lot of the stuff, but then, we do have the same kind of vibe for some of the songs as well.

Chris Smith: With the personal notes, they’re not written so they’re very specific.

They’re kind of still generalized to be interpreted by anybody.

JT: It’s the same kind of vibe as Visions where none of them are very outright. It’s just about stuff that we’ve experienced and that probably most of everyone experiences, and it’s more specific but it’s definitely relatable still in the same scale, and I think that the writing style is very similar, the lyrical style is very similar as well. We all worked on it again in a very similar way as Visions.

What was the writing process like, for this upcoming release?

CS: Well, I mean, it is kind of a mixture of like collaborating and say, sometimes like James would have a loop musically and he’d bring that in say for some songs and we’d kind of work together on building it farther, like making a change, thinking of melodies to go over it.

JT: I think with arranging the music, it was very similar to how we usually approach things, it was just on a grander scale, a lot more time I think was the only more difficult thing, I think. For us, we each brought little things into the room and then we developed them together, especially musically, I’d say. And then a few things we just decided to play and we just jammed to and we created completely together so it was a very similar, familiar musical writing process and I think with the lyrics, because that’s daunting to us, more so than the music, speaking for the rest of the guys, but I think we probably agree on that. Thirteen songs writing lyrics for definitely seemed like a challenge

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–COURTESY OF CHRIS SMITH

ust a year ago, Mellt was celebrating the release of their EP, Visions, this time, they’re preparing the release of their first full-length album since their formation in 2014. Consisting of Capilano University Motion Picture Arts alumnus Chris Smith, as well as Jamie Turner and James Porter, the Capilano Courier recently caught up with Mellt to talk about the process behind their upcoming album.

at the beginning but I think that given a lot of the stuff that’s happened to each of us over the last couple of years we had a lot of content to pour out so I think it was a lot easier in the end then when we first kind of sat down.

Will this be Mellt’s first full-length album?

JT: That’s right, yep.

CS: We had probably like 15 or 16 songs that we were kind of working on and then we just kind of narrowed it down to a length we thought was a good length. We produced more but then we decided to cut a couple out for this, cause just this body feels good.

JT: When we were writing everything, we had the idea, “Okay let’s go for like an album length release this time.” We ended up with 16, I think, full songs and the 13 that we ended up choosing, just felt right together. We couldn’t bring ourselves to cut anything else.

Is there an overall theme to the album?

JT: I think there definitely is but I think we haven’t quite put our hands around it yet. I don’t think we’ve grasped it yet to be able to articulate exactly. I think there definitely is a theme and I can definitely feel that when we play and listen to it and when we’re working on it, but I don’t think we’ve found the right, for example, artwork or title for it. But there will be a definitely will be a cohesive theme I think to the album as a whole.

What was the recording process like?

CS: Well we demoed everything through the summer in my basement so we arranged everything. We had a lot of full, multi-track projects for each one, like at home. And then we worked with the same guy we mixed the Visions EP with, named Kieran Wagstaff, and basically we works at this studio, Fader Mountain Sound and also Hippo Sonics Studio, so we recorded at Hippo Sonic for all the drum tracks like we had everything on the floor, yeah that was like three different Sundays in October. Some of the bass was used off the floor from some of those sessions and then guitars were all done back at my house.

We performed the guitar to the drums, so it was all cohesive and then we took those

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guitar signals and then got it back to the studio and then ran those through amps so we could refine our guitar tones and sounds and effects, in a really controlled environment. We’ve never had guitars recorded this well before.

JT: I don’t think we’ve ever had anything recorded this well.

CS: Lastly, vocals were recorded in my basement. I just bought a nice condenser mic and did it at home, which took a few weeks.

JT: Yeah, it’s really nice being able to split studio with home, because you save on money and it’s also just nice being able to head downstairs and just work on something with no time pressure. Kieran really helped us a lot, he killed it again this time around, so big shout-out to him.

Do you plan on releasing any music videos that go along with the three singles you plan on releasing in advance to the full album?

CS: I hope so, I mean we should. We’re probably not going to be releasing it until near the end of summer, maybe we shouldn’t write that on paper, but we’re aiming for a summer release.

The Visions EP contained the single track “Glow” which ended up having its own music video that Chris worked on as his final project in the MOPA program.

Would Chris be directing the upcoming videos, given his film background?

CS: Maybe, like obviously through film school I know a bunch of other people that could be interested to be the director, maybe this time I’d maybe just be like involved still, or I’ll direct, I don’t know.

We have to figure out which song will be the best and maybe get that rolling soon.

The band noted that with the album’s release, comes the possibility of the release of merch as well. They expressed their interest in the potential for posters, parallel to the aesthetics that have yet to be developed for the album, and t-shirts. The group plans on releasing the project on all major streaming services, in addition to celebrating the work with a release show.

CS: I’d also be down to try to see if we

could do a small vinyl press but I don’t know how possible that is yet, but it’d be pretty awesome because then if we ever toured we can actually make some money back.

With Visions being such a success, do you have any new hopes for this coming album?

CS: I think if we could leverage it to try to get on some kind of tour circuit with another band of a similar genre that’s touring somewhere, whatever it might be, just trying to get like a tour route going or something, that’s what we want this album to use as leverage I guess. If we could be invited to any kind of festival that’d be sick, that’s what we want.

Do you plan on continuing as an independent artist or do you plan on approaching a few record labels in the future?

CS: Well we’re going to approach them and we’ll see what happens. If someone was down to collaborate and help us advertise and you know get the reach farther, that’d be great. We can’t depend on that.

JT: Yeah, there’s a few different options, but that’s definitely a door that we’d like to explore for sure, if the opportunity comes up.

Have you been continuing to play live shows or has the focus been shifted to practicing and recording?

CS: No, James has been away the last few months, travelling in South East Asia.

JT: In the Fall we were recording all that, just focusing on that and we didn’t have a bass player at that point and then in the Summer, it was just all writing. So, we actually haven’t played a gig in over a year, so it’s been a long time. But we’re very excited to get playing this Summer, play a lot of shows this year. Late in the Summer and next year is going to be full of shows because we’re itching to get back and be on stage.

To keep up to date with Mellt’s upcoming releases go to Mellt.ca. Behind-the-scenes takes of the album progress can be found at Facebook.com/MelltOfficial

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Insta-Ink Stick and poke artists get by with a little help from their (Instagram) friends FREYA WASTENEYS CONTRIBUTOR

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attoos have become a common form of self-expression for the young masses, ranging from cultural to cosmetic. With quick turnarounds, clean lines and surgical sanitation, getting a tattoo in a traditional shop can sometimes feel a little like going to the doctor’s office, and for those dipping their toes into the scene, this can be a little off-putting.

Physically, it’s safer than ever to get a machine tattoo, but somewhat counterintuitively, more and more people are opting for the cruder DIY option – handpoked tattoos.

Despite longer sitting times, higher possibility of infection and less line control, hand-poking (otherwise known as stick and poke) artists have ascended from jailbird to hipster at a speed that only social media can facilitate. Thanks especially to the recognition of Instagram followers, hand-pokers have hit the mainstream, and many artists are able to make a respectable living off of in-home sessions.

Ian Gruyere, a hand-poking artist based out of Squamish, believes there are many reasons that people seek out hand-poke tattoos, but has noticed the trend is most popular with women, queer people and “people at the lesser-end of the power dynamic,” who seek the emotional safety, and intimate environment that has become associated with the practice.

In their final year at Quest University, Gruyere’s interest in tattoo culture has led them to explore the topic as an undergrad thesis – looking especially at tattoo artists developing alternatives to what is typically a “hetero-normative, aggressive and male-dominated shop culture.”

Much of the inspiration for Gruyere’s thesis came from an interesting conversation with the New York tattoo artist, Marcel Redford. “Effectively what Mars [Marcel] said was that for queer people, tattooing is not just a beautiful art form, but a really powerful means of claiming agency over their own body,” said Gruyere. “If you’re a queer person, or a trans person, or a person of colour, you walk into a space and people will make assumptions about you based on how you look, or what they perceive you to be. A lot of the time people don’t really have a lot of control over how to redirect or contest or subvert those gazes, but tattooing can be that thing.”

This idea resonated with Gruyere and has influenced both their personal and professional life. “I think it really validated a lot of the comfort I felt around being a queer person and getting into tattooing,” Gruyere said, whose preferred pronoun is ‘they’. “Not because it was just a weird thing that queer people do because they do weird things, but because it is a really meaningful thing that gave me a lot of comfort in my own identity.”

At 23, Gruyere is still relatively new to the world of hand-poking, but has received recognition through both word of mouth and Instagram. Known by their handle, @shortchorts, Gruyere’s main clients are fellow students who, from the beginning, were stoked about their tattoos despite

Gruyere’s lack of experience. “Pretty much every evening people would come over and I would doodle on them with a sharpie,” said Gruyere. “They were really messy and sloppy and stuff, but no body seemed to care that the tattoos I was giving them were kind of bad, hurt a lot and weren’t that beautiful.”

From an aesthetic perspective, the most popular stick and poke artists go against the grain of what is traditionally deemed attractive on social media. Their photos are nonchalant, often lack good lighting, and emphasize weird and wacky captions.

Gruyere notes that the most popular artists strike “an interesting balance between being a little aloof, but also connecting enough that people develop a personal relationship.” Rather than highly curated Instagram accounts with perfectly set up photos, people seem to be drawn to accounts that emphasize a certain casualness.

The tattoos themselves are often squiggly and childish. There is a sense of experimentation tied to slapdash line work, and often the experience is sought

oriented responsibilities.

For Dunnett, the experience as an illustrator has been one of growth and learning. In accordance with their luxury status, most of Tealeaves products feature watercolour-based illustrations, a style Dunnett had to revisit for the position. “I needed to sort of brush up on my watercolor skills, because I had done it before, but I guess I needed to work on that,” she said. But, while much of Dunnett’s work is very much in one style, she has been allowed opportunities to show her personal creative flair at times when the company releases a special edition blend that’s illustration is allowed to stray from Tealeaves standard style.

An example of this was the company’s Chinese New Year collection. “With that one particularly, I was trying to think and research,” Dunnett explained. “I ended up with the papercut style because of that connection to Chinese art, but I was also looking at ink drawings and sort of classical styles as well.” Much of Dunnett’s work is done independently. She is given project briefs and deadlines and is then allowed to create on her own.

Vallée on the other hand has been a part of the brands design team. She not

only works on packaging design, but Dunnett also works on the company’s online newsletter – an experience she has really enjoyed. “That’s not something that I’ve never done before and it’s nice to be able to work on,” she said. She particularly enjoys seeing the analytics of her newsletter designs and understanding what design elements are more effective.

In terms of packaging design, Vallée sees her ability to express herself artistically more in the idea formation stage of the process as opposed to the actual designing. Another aspect that Vallée has enjoyed is the business side of things. IDEA certainly offers its students a platform to push design boundaries, but the school’s programs don’t always include financial restrictions. She’s found the challenge of designing with budgets in mind to be an exciting challenge.

The main challenge the two faced when they first began at the company was their lack of luxury experience. “It’s definitely interesting to try to get into the heads of the clientele that I’m quite removed from,” Dunnett said. “That’s been a learning curve for me because I’ve never worked with a luxury brand before,” Vallée added.

With their time at Tealeaves soon

–ASHLEY LOO

out over the end product. While Gruyere’s style is fairly precise and detailed at times, there is still a certain quirkiness found in their unapologetic line-work. “In terms of audience reception, I don’t think it really matters what your medium is, I think people should have the capacity to have the influences they want,” said Gruyere. “But I do think that there are certain things that have developed in hand-poke culture, like the home studio, that I think should remain an integral part of the hand-poke community.”

Body modification, more than just an appreciation of art, is an assertion of individuality and autonomy, and in many cases is treated as a social activity rather than a business exchange. Despite the discomfort of being poked with a needle for hours, there is a sense of intimacy and trust that develops between the artist and the client in a home environment.

Starting from modest beginnings, Gruyere has been surprised by how their practice has taken off. While the majority of their clients are local, Gruyere has had a few celebrity-like moments of recognition. “I’ve noticed the start of what seems like the convergence of online personas and real life tattoo opportunities,” they said, describing several improbable meetings.

Through both the practice of handpoking, and the creation of their thesis, Gruyere has gained an appreciation for an art form they once took for granted. “It’s shown me a lot about digging under the surface of certain personas, and getting into more of the deeper qualities of a person,” said Gruyere. “Obviously there is no universal experience, but it’s the variations that make it interesting.”

Designer tea Two IDEA students have been working at a luxury tea producer, gaining invaluable experience JUSTIN SCOTT MANAGING EDITOR

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wo of Capilano University’s IDEA School of Design students will soon be completing their internships at local company Tealeaves, a high-end tea manufacturer. Danielle Vallée and Fiona Dunnett found the placement for their internships with the help of IDEA instructor Judy Snaydon and have been at their positions for the past months.

Vallée and Dunnett may be working at the same company, but they have very different roles. Tealeaves started as a supplier of luxury teas to high-end hotels and has since branched out into selling their products to the public. The company offers an extremely wide variety of products, with numerous different lines of tea. Dunnett has found herself focusing on illustration tasks while Vallée has been more involved with the products packaging design and other design

coming to an end, the IDEA students are already speaking the praises of their experience. For Vallée, it’s supported her goal of working in-house as opposed to at a design firm. “I think working at Tealeaves has kind of reaffirmed that as well, that I do enjoy being in-house working with a brand in-depth,” she said. Dunnett on the other hand, has been comforted a bit in terms of future job security. “I’ve always been a bit worried, as an illustrator, about being able to get work, or not having enough opportunities,” she said. “But being with this company and learning about opportunities for illustration and developing that kind of information with a company that has a big emphasis on illustration in their work is really important as well.”

For the two creatives, their internship has not felt like just work. “It doesn’t really seem like a practicum or an internship, we’re doing work that any designer or illustrator would do,” Vallée said.

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VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

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–VANCOUVER SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

SPORTS

(Left to right): former head coach Ramin Sadaghiani, Ashley dela Cruz Yip, Francis Penafiel and Carmelle M'Bikata pose at the Blues Senior Night 2018

A bittersweet farewell Blues women’s basketball’s fifth years are going out on top JUSTIN SCOTT MANAGING EDITOR

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ver the past several years, the Capilano University Blues women’s basketball team developed into a bit of a dynasty.

Since 2010, they’ve taken home six Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) medals, including their second gold this season. It’s no coincidence that the core team members from this span were all in their final year of eligibility this year. “It was like, ‘okay guys, this is our last chance, we have to do it, there’s no excuses,’ and I think we just dominated it,” said Francis Penafiel, one of three players who were in their last year of play.

The Blues will also be saying farewell to Carmelle M’Bikata and Ashley dela Cruz Yip, two of the most storied and accoladed players in Blues Athletics history.

Although the three have become more than teammates over their time as Blues student athletes, they’ve all had vastly different careers.

M’Bikata came to CapU in 2012 from Abbotsford’s WJ Mouat Secondary School and instantly had an impact on the team. “She’s probably one of the best

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players I’ve ever seen from six feet in,” said assistant voach Chris Weimer. He recalled how she came in as a rookie and immediately established herself as a presence in the paint. M’Bikata quickly asserted herself as one of the most dominant players in the league, and has the numbers and awards to prove it. She has the most rebounds and points in Blues history and has received awards such as the Blues Female Athlete of the Year, PACWEST Player of the Year, Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All Canadian, PACWEST Provincial Tournament MVP and many more. “I worked hard,” she said. “Some people, I feel like they understated my abilities and what not, but just looking at the list right there, it speaks for itself.”

Though Britannia Secondary’s dela Cruz Yip arrived at CapU the same year as M’Bikata, the talented guard took a bit more time adjusting to PACWEST play. Additionally, in her first year, dela Cruz Yip struggled to balance the commitment of being a student athlete.

“Coming into it, I was excited about ball, but I wasn’t really focused on being a student athlete completely,” she recalled. Eventually, she used the same focus and dedication that allowed her to grow into one of the team’s top players and leaders over her time as a Blue and saw similar success in school. Dela Cruz Yip’s off-court accolades are matched by her on-court recognitions. Over her five-

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year career, she has been named a Blues Scholar Athlete of Distinction, received the PACWEST Academic Excellence Award and the CCAA National Scholar Award. In regards to athletic acknowledgments, she’s been named a PACWEST First Team All Star, PACWEST Championship Tournament All Star, CCAA National Tournament Second Team All Star and has the most assists in PACWEST history.

Additionally, dela Cruz Yip developed into one of the team’s strongest leaders.

“We were kind of grooming her to be a leader from the get go and the last two years she’s been awesome, she’s been the quarterback of the team,” Weimer explained.

Penafiel, while not having the same number of personal accolades as M’Bikata and dela Cruz Yip, has been just as integral to the Blues success.

Coming to CapU the year before M’Bikata and dela Cruz Yip, she’s also been able to see her two fellow fifthyears develop. “Carmelle wasn’t a very shy rookie. She just owns it all the time. Ace also has a lot of confidence in herself,” she said. “They’ve always had the leadership qualities, now it’s just more noticeable.” As a player, Penafiel admitted that she was reserved her first few years on the team. And after taking last year off to travel the world, she returned this year for what she knew would be her last campaign.

“She was an impact player for us this

year,” said Weimer. “She has so much talent. I think what held her back the most was that she was a little bit timid and probably unsure of her talents and not confident enough, but I saw a real growth in her game and her confidence in her fifth year.”

With their playing careers now over, the trio have set their eyes forward.

Dela Cruz Yip and Penafiel will both be graduating from CapU with their Associates Degrees in Psychology and plan on attending SFU to continue their studies. The two also hope to build their careers around community outreach. M’Bikata will be graduating with her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a focus on HR either next Spring or Fall. Upon graduating she plans on travelling and then pursuing a Masters degree.

Perhaps even greater than their personal and team achievements are the relationships that the three have built over their five years, including close friendships with each other. “Those are just the things I’ll hold onto forever and I’m really grateful for that,” M’Bikata said, “Ace and Francis, I’m going to miss seeing them everyday.”

With their futures looking bright, it’s time for the Blues to say goodbye to three of their shining stars. “They’re all going to be successful, there’s no doubt about it,” Weimer said. “They’re not just great teammates and basketball players, but they’re great individuals.”

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When the student becomes the teacher How Ahren Stein balances school while training some of Canada's next Olympians HELEN AIKENHEAD FEATURES EDITOR

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or most students, the last couple of weeks of the semester mean finally tackling that mountain of papers they know they really should have started earlier. For third year accounting student Ahren Stein, that mountain looks a bit different – a bit more real.

Stein works as a coach for young slopestyle skiers looking to make a competitive career out of the sport, and has even seen one of his former athletes place fifth for Team Canada at the Winter Olympic Games. Although he also coaches some half pipe, slopestyle is quickly becoming the most popular of the freestyle disciplines for Vancouver-based skiers, with moguls holding on behind it. As Stein explains the shifting interests, a discipline like half pipe is becoming harder to specialize in with such limited accessibility to good training facilities in the country, making slopestyle the more common choice. It's not just in Vancouver though, slopestyle is fast becoming a leading

division nation wide. “It's really popular right now,” said Stein. “The Olympic crowd was crazy – even making it on the Canadian team was really difficult, and the Canadian team is pretty far behind some of the other countries. There's just so many good kids from everywhere, it's really impressive.”

Growing up in Ontario, Stein began skiing recreationally with his parents before moving on to mogul competitions when he was just nine years old, which he continued into his mid teens. After competing with the provincial team and joining several national team camps, Stein's interests changed. “Then I just decided it wasn't very much fun anymore, just because it became really regimented.

And then just moved over to slopestyle which was more fun.”

There, he continued to compete on a team until he was 19 before spending a couple of years competing without a coach.

He spent that solo time up in Whistler supported by his bartending job and sponsorship money which allowed him to travel and compete.

With all the experience he'd gained both from competing on a team and on his own, the next step for the seasoned skier was to share what he'd learned with the next generation of competitors. “After I stopped competing it was just a natural

jump,” Stein explained. “You know what it takes to create an athlete – what it takes to create a competitive athlete, and what they need.”

Now, working with his group of 14 to 17-year-olds, Stein has found that much of what they need is just somebody to look out for them. “Safety management is like 90 per cent of coaching.... [they're] starting to get stronger and more confident in themselves. They really want to push for the next thing, learn the new trick, do bigger jumps, and it's like, 'pump your brakes; roll it back. Let's keep you in one piece'.”

Two weeks ago, Stein took his athletes over to the Island to compete in the BC championships on Mount Washington.

Despite not having the best luck with the weather, the group still dominated on the hill for their last event of the year. “All of my kids standing up on of the podium is always good to see,” he said. “Makes me know I'm doing my job alright. And there was no injuries which was also a bonus,” he added laughing.

Their success is a testament to the work and dedication that goes into training for a discipline like slopestyle. Just in this past winter, Stein estimated having spent at least 70 days out on the snow in Whistler, sometimes for up to six hours at a time. To be competitive is a full-time commitment

that continues year-round. Next week marks the start of the trampoline program where the skiers will work on skills like agility, strength and coordination to translate back onto the hill. There's also dry land training, where the group will work with physiotherapists on a tailored workout plan to keep them in shape over the summer, glacier camps to focus on jumps and rails, and water ramp training out at Blackcomb to practice their flips.

Although this is a tough workload for a student, especially taking so much travel time into account, Stein finds a way to make it all balance out. “I've made it work so far,” he said. “Most of the professors are pretty understanding. Everything's online, I just have to make sure that I'm motivated after skiing to put in a couple hours of work. It's fun though. It keeps me busy.”

Although he enjoys it now, Stein doesn't necessarily see himself staying on in a coaching capacity come graduation, but he's sure he will stay involved in other ways. “It’s obviously a really good job and I get to do it with a lot of friends and meet a lot of cool people,” he explained. “But, like I said, I was in ski boots probably 70 days this year, and I've gone skiing for myself like twice maybe. I never want it to get to that point where I don't want to go skiing for fun.”

Junior All-Native Tournament a glowing success The recent provincial tournament took place in Vancouver and was cohosted by CapU JUSTIN SCOTT MANAGING EDITOR

A

lthough Capilano University’s Sportsplex has seen some memorable crowds in its time, nothing compares to what took place in the school’s gymnasium on Mar. 19.

The Junior All-Native Tournament (JANT) is an annual basketball competition that hosts teams from First Nation’s communities across British Columbia. This year’s contests were set in Vancouver, with opening ceremony occurring at CapU. “It’s the most that I’ve ever seen in this facility and I’ve been here a while now,” admitted the Blues Manager of Athletics and Recreation Milt Williams.

With the gym’s two sets of bleachers packed full, as well as seating at both ends of the court, the crowd’s attention was fixed on centre court, where dancers from different bands performed in traditional wear. The event was also graced by speakers including Indigenous Elders, BC’s Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training Melanie Mark and CapU’s Vice President Strategic Planning, Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, Toran Savjord.

The ceremony was more than just an introduction to the tournament however – it was a meeting and embracing of communities and an acknowledgment of the First Nations land on which CapU is built on. “They always say ‘we’d like to thank,’ and its just kind of a statement,” Williams said of the standard land acknowledgment often heard around campus before any speaker or event, “but this time I really felt it,” he said.

Of course, there was also some basketball to be played. Over the five-day tournament, 82 total teams competed in the U17 boys and girls’ brackets, as well as the U13 boys and girls divisions. However, while only four teams could go home calling themselves champions, everyone who was a part of the tournament came away a winner.

“It gives them a better feeling about themselves,” said the coach of the Lax Kw’alaams Hoyas, Rob Hughes.

As Hughes had explained to his team before they even made the trip down from Lax Kw’alaams, which is located not far from Prince Rupert, the tournament is about far more than the game of basketball. “What I stressed to them when we came down here was that we’re here to have fun, to learn and meet people, learn different cultures from the other First Nations, and play ball,” he said.

With basketball being one of the most popular sports among Canada’s First Nations communities, it offers an outlet for youth who often don’t have many other options for athletics.

“The village really grew up around basketball and there’s really no other sport available to them because we’re such a small community,” Hughes said of Lax Kw’alaams. And as important as exercise is for youth, basketball has been able to transcend its purpose of being a sport and has ended up bringing communities together on a far larger scale. JANT is just another example of this.

In addition to the tournament’s games, JANT also brought First Nations communities from across BC together with several off-court activities. There were multiple community feasts, a fashion show and a youth dance held at the Squamish Nation’s Chief Joe Mathias Centre. Furthermore, mental health seminars were held at Carson Graham Secondary School and drum sessions and other cultural workshops were hosted at Britannia Secondary School. In short, the tournament facilitated a week-long celebration of Indigenous culture.

The tournament also allowed many of the players to realize what they can achieve through basketball if they work hard enough. “Some of those kids have never been out of their communities, and they came into a venue like this and their eyes were just wide open and they were amazed as to what the possibilities are,” Williams said, a sentiment the Lax Kw’alaams coach shares.

Hughes first started coaching in his community around five years ago when his grandsons wanted to play basketball.

“I wanted to help them improve their game a bit and help others improve too,” he said. Since then, he’s seen how the game can act as a vehicle for kids who had never thought university was an option before. “They see other kids going out and playing university ball and they see the all-native tournament every year and they see a lot of kids coming back from university where they played ball and how good they are, and it gives them an insight into what they could do,” he said. “A lot of them have that dream.”

Mindful of this, Williams worked to create a program fund to offer to athletes in the tournament. With donations from six contributors including the Squamish Nation, JANT, CapU and the Blues Athletic Department, a fund of $1,000 was created and offered to athletes. “What’s great about it is that they have to apply online and they have to explain why they want to go to Cap, what do they want to study, what are their interests, all those kinds of things,” Williams explained. “So, even if they didn’t get accepted, they were thinking about it.”

With this year’s tournament now over and the teams having returned home, it’s looked back on as perhaps the strongest tournament yet. “The organizer said that this is the best that it’s ever been,” Williams said. The hope is that it will continue to grow each year and the strength of the communities involved along with it.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

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HOROSCOPES

CAPILANO CONFESSIONS

“I'm a burlesque dancer and I take pictures of all my costumes, therefore my phone is essentially filled with 'nudes'.”

Buy yourself a jar of Nutella and put a candle in it.

Do you have to argue with everyone? .

TAURUS (APR. 20 – MAY 20)

Why are you reading this?

Don’t you have exams to study for?

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Sitting in your pyjamas watching Netflix on a weekday doesn’t count as working from home.

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The stars are taking an early retirement.

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Don’t be so self conscious, nobody cares about you.

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123456

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SUDOKU

“Great work this year Courier Folks! Makes me wonder...is it all downhill from here?”

Puzzle 1 (Hard, difficulty rating 0.67)

5 5

2

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9

“Justin is the worst staff member”

3

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9

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“Great work with the sports section guys, keep it up next year!

6

SCORPIO (OCT. 24 – NOV. 21)

8 5

7 2

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Sat Nov 19 03:00:09 2016 GMT. Enjoy!

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VOLUME 50 ISSUE NO. 20

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 – DEC. 21)

Taking selfies at a funeral is pretty poor etiquette.

Take a bunch of mushrooms and relax, it’s like hitting the reset button on life.

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Drink less, sleep more.

Thank me later.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 – JAN. 19)

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LIBRA (SEPT. 22 – OCT. 23)

Facebook knows the answers to your exam.

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“Haters gon' hate."

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VIRGO (AUG. 23 – SEPT. 21)

The last time you exercised was when you had to run to the bus stop.

Difficulty: Medium

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IF YOUR BIRTHDAY IS THIS WEEK:

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Watching documentary’s is not the same as studying for history class.