October 11, 2012

THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OCTOBER 11, 2012 • VOLUME 65 • ISSUE 10 • MARTLET.CA

lorna crozier on retirement, writing about the everyday and remembering students

'I hope there will still be ways for me to connect' UVic prof launches new book, ruminates on end of storied teaching career > JENNY BOYCHUK For Lorna Crozier, poet and Distinguished Professor in UVic’s Department of Writing, 2012 is proving to be a big year with the launch of her new book, The Book of Marvels. She will also retire in December after 21 years of teaching in the department.

BOOK LAUNCH AND EARLY YEARS AT UVIC More than 100 people showed up at the UVic Bookstore on Oct. 3 to hear Crozier read from The Book of Marvels — a book she says “blurs the edges of what genre means.”

“It isn’t the usual lineated poetry that I’m known best for, and most of my books have been books of poetry — with the exception of my memoir. I see [the pieces in this most recent book] as micro lyric essays that are full of the kind of dense imagery and figurative language that poetry has, but they’re written as paragraphs and in sentences,” she says.

In the collection, Crozier ponders “all those kinds of things that occupy our world,” including everyday objects such as door knobs, chairs, the kitchen sink, refrigerators and bicycles.

“I really contemplated them and tried to figure out what exactly they are and what the source of their energy is,” she says.

RES FIRE SPARKS EXPENSIVE CLEAN-UP (P. 5)

Crozier says it felt appropriate to launch the book at UVic — a place where she has “spent so many of [her] years, so much of [her] youth.”

Many of Crozier’s current and former students attended the reading, such as Carla Funk, a sessional instructor in the Department of Writing, who introduced Crozier.

“I met Carla back in 1991 when I first started teaching at UVic. She was in my second-year workshop, and she was pregnant for the whole term. She had her baby at the end of it and here she is now, a member of the faculty, and her daughter is now a university student. So, that much time has passed since I began here.”

much of an opportunity to be with that generation,” she says. “That’s the honour and the delight of teaching, to see someone who has talent in the beginning just blossom and flourish and grow. I saw that with so many people.”

Many of Crozier’s former students have become friends and peers. “You’re only as good as the people who are coming after you, and it’s been a thrill for me to pass on what I know, however little or big that may be, and to see the results of it,” she says. “But, of course, as a writer, you never retire. I remember Al Purdy phoning in the last week of his life and wanting to read us a new poem. He was writing almost until the day he died, and I hope that’s going to be me.”

see some of the sights of writers who I admire, like William Faulkner — you can visit his house in Mississippi, and Eudora Welty’s house is open to the public — people like that. Flannery O’Connor, too.”

Crozier notes that retirement also means spending more time with Lane and their cats and garden.

“I’ll enjoy just slowing down and smelling the lavender,” she says. “Doing things like going to the dump. I’m excited just to go to the dump with my sweetheart.”

MEMORIES “I remember [poets] Brad Cran and Shane Book when they were students. They came to me and asked to miss one of my classes. I said, ‘Well I’m sorry, but you can’t do that.’ And they said, ‘Just listen to us, Lorna — we want to go visit Ray Carver’s grave in Port Angeles and have a drink of scotch on his grave and take some photographs.’ So I said, ‘Oh, for God’s sake, just go,’ ” says Crozier.

“My memories are like a photograph album of students’ faces. It’s Carla [Funk] being pregnant and Steve [Price] being a terrible morning person [with rumpled hair and an old trench coat] — these are the warm memories that are precious to me.”

RETIREMENT Crozier stalled before she made her decision to retire.

“It isn’t real to me yet — I think it might become obvious when I don’t have to go back to school after Christmas, when I’m not panicking about a whole new term beginning,” she says. “I’m still trying to find ways to keep students passionate and interested in poetry . . . that’s what I’m concentrating on right now.”

Crozier says she knows what she is going to miss.

“The whole new group of young people who come through the doors every fall. I hope there will still be ways for me to connect, but I won’t have as

WHAT COMES NEXT? “I’ll have more time to pursue projects I’ve had on the back burner for a while and more time to work on a new book. I’m working on a project right now with a composer from Vancouver. She set several of my poems to music in the past, and they’ve been performed professionally,” says Crozier. “It’s been our dream that I would write something new for her.”

Crozier will continue teaching writing workshops in various locations. She and her husband, poet Patrick Lane, are also considering taking a trip to the southern United States. “I want to

NEW ECO TIP COLUMN GIVES GREEN ADVICE (P. 7)

ARE THE DEMANDS OF A STUDENT LIFESTYLE MAKING YOUTH MORE SUICIDAL? (P. 10)

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7/31/12 2:02 PM

NEWS: National

Check out martlet.ca for web-exclusive news, including updates on CUPE negotiations at UVic.

HUGO WONG

Landmark ruling in cyberbullying case Judge rules victim may remain anonymous, but publication ban is lifted > TIA LOW The Supreme Court of Canada set precedent for cyberbullying court cases on Sept. 27 when it ruled a Nova Scotia teen is allowed to remain anonymous while she seeks legal action against her cyberbully. She also requested a publication ban, which was denied.

The 17-year-old, who is identified as A.B., found a fake Facebook profile page two years ago that included a photo of her, a slightly modified version of her name and other details identifying her. The profile contained defamation and sexually explicit references.

A.B. and her father requested to have the internet provider reveal the identity of the person who published the Facebook profile. In their application to the court, they asked for anonymity and a publication ban on the profile’s contents. The Nova Scotia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals denied both requests, citing lack of evidence that the girl suffered harm

at the time the fake profile was online.

The federal Supreme Court judge, Justice Rosalie Abella, decided differently, saying, “It is logical to infer that children can suffer harm through cyberbullying given the psychological toxicity of the phenomenon.”

The judge also said the harm of failing to protect young victims outweighs the minimal harm caused to press freedom, but saw no reason for a publication ban of non-identifying content from the Facebook profile.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) intervened in this case, arguing that a publication ban would conflict with freedom of information and the open courts principle, which is the idea that all of the court process should be open to the public.

“There was no justification for it,” says lawyer Marko Vesely, who represented the BCCLA in this case. “Once her name is hidden, it doesn’t matter what the words are because they won’t know who they’re being said about.”

The BCCLA’s concern with protecting the open courts principle comes down to democracy.

“You can have all the rights in the world you want, but ultimately if you are tried behind a closed door, and no one can see what happens to you, then those rights don’t mean much,” says Vesely. “What keeps our justice system the envy of the world is that it’s transparent and conducted in the open.”

The BCCLA was also concerned about a publication ban on the defamatory speech itself.

“So if you or I said those words, we would get in trouble, but the public wouldn’t know what those words are,” Vesely says.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada also intervened to speak to A.B.’s right to privacy and the possibility of her re-victimization if identified. It argued that privacy has to be balanced with the open courts principle, particularly given the context of cyberbullying.

“Victims willing to go to court face the extremely daunting prospect that, because

information can now live on forever on the Internet, it can follow them around for the rest of their lives,” says privacy commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart via a press release. “This decision shows that the courts understand the realities of today’s technology and society, and that they will not allow those who seek justice to be re-victimized.”

“The decision also confirms that there are some instances where a court can conclude that an individual has suffered harm by applying reason and logic; the victim need not provide specific evidence of the harm suffered,” says Heather Ormerod, senior communications advisor of the Privacy Commissioner’s office.

Vesely says cyberbullying, as an emerging social issue, is a growing concern, and this case sets the tone for similar ones in the future.

“When the Supreme Court of Canada decides the case, it doesn’t just decide for the case before it; it’s setting the rules for how other cases will be decided,” he says.

UPCOMING EVENTS AT

MONDAY Oct. 15

Local Music Mondays:

Woodsmen & Ocean Noise (9pm)

TUESDAY Oct. 16

Trivia & Pool (7pm–11pm)

WEDNESDAY Oct. 17

Battle of the Bands

THURSDAY Oct. 11

FRIDAY Oct. 12

SATURDAY Oct. 13

Karaoke (8 pm)

Gold & Youth

UVic Restorative: Mathletes vs.

Athletes

w/ Leisure Suit (9-11pm)

THURSDAY THURSDAY Oct. 18

FRIDAY Oct. 19

SATURDAY Oct. 20

Karaoke (8 pm)

Archers

Tight & Bright Party (9-11pm)

w/ Good For Grapes (9-11pm)

www.felicitas.ca October 11, 2012 MARTLET • NEWS 3

NEWS: Provincial

What do you think of the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling on HIV disclosure? Is this a step forward for human rights?

A step backward for public safety? Email letters@martlet.ca.

New patient rights guides published as response to increased HIV testing > TIA LOW With HIV testing on the rise, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) wants to ensure that patients know their rights before getting tested.

In two guidebooks released Sept. 27, the organization spells out these rights for the public.

Some B.C. hospitals and emergency rooms are beginning to offer HIV testing to all admitted patients as part of a pilot project — a result of new treatment options that can treat infections earlier. But this does not mean mandatory and uninformed testing, says the BCCLA. “We absolutely support the goal of increased access to testing. That said, we don’t want people to feel like they were tested against their consent — which is against the law — because they didn’t understand their rights,” says BCCLA policy director Micheal Vonn.

In 2010, the provincial Health Ministry announced a pilot project to expand HIV testing, treatment and support services, which includes routine HIV testing in hospitals for all patients.

In the project’s current phase, this is happening in Vancouver and Prince George.

According to the BCCLA, the availability of patients’ rights information hasn’t caught up with the push for testing.

“You have changes in rights and a big push to get people tested. Well, then we have more and more people who aren’t going to know the lay of the land unless somebody tells them,” says Vonn.

The new guidebooks, both of which can be accessed at bccla.org, explain your right to informed consent, how to protect your medical privacy and how to limit who can view your medical information. The guides also include information about criminal law and non-disclosure to sexual partners. On Oct. 5, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled HIV-positive people do not have to disclose their status to sexual partners if they use a condom and have low viral loads. Otherwise, they could be charged with aggravated sexual assault if they do not disclose their status to a sexual partner. The BCCLA believes this ruling does not go far enough in protecting HIV-positive people. The organization says the ruling ignores the advances in HIV treatment that make transmission less likely, and adds that the ruling could affect people’s willingness to get tested.

According to Dr. Pam Kibsey, a medical microbiologist with the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons requires all patients to provide informed consent before HIV testing

can be performed. This means the conversation has to occur between the physician ordering the test and the patient. Kibsey says that, while it i`s wise to document this consent, it is not required.

Vonn says it is not uncommon for women who are pregnant to report they were tested for HIV without their knowledge and consent.

“It’s important info you need to know when you’re pregnant because there is effective medication to prevent transmission from mother to child . . . that said, just because it’s a good idea doesn’t mean [the patient wants it done]. Many times health providers are just ordering the test and forgetting to inform the patient,” she says.

The civil liberties group also points out that electronic health records are threatening patient confidentiality because medical information is held in large databases that are accessed by many people, including health-care providers and support staff.

Vonn says a quarter of people surveyed don’t want to access sexual health services if their information is going to be shared in a database.

“That doesn’t give you good protection against your vindictive ex-boyfriend who just happens to be a paramedic,” says Vonn.

Vonn says governments are focused on

centralizing our personal information and that they claim it is for better efficiency and service in the long run.

“We need to be skeptical when the government says this. We need to ask ourselves, ‘Is it important for my medical services that my info be centralized so that it’s accessible through tens and thousands of portals throughout the province?’ ” Eric Berndt, Communications and Public Relations Officer at AIDS Vancouver Island, says it is important that people know how much HIV treatment and testing have changed. As an example, he mentions the new “point-of-care” HIV test, which provides results within minutes.

It is currently offered at several Streetlink clinics and some jails on Vancouver Island as part of an HIV-testing program.

Says Berndt, “The more people know, the more they can do to protect themselves. The BCCLA guidelines are one part of that, to make sure people are informed about their rights and privacy.”

At this time, no VIHA hospitals offer routine HIV testing. On Vancouver Island, in-hospital HIV testing can only occur with a physician’s order. Free HIV testing and treatment are offered through public health clinics.

NEWS: LOCAL PROVIDED

Downtown Core Development Plan wins international award > VANESSA HAWK The City of Victoria has been acknowledged with an International Downtown Merit award for its 30-year plan for development of the downtown core and its outlying neighbourhoods.

“It’s because of the plan’s comprehensive look at growth and development in the downtown area that . . . it was chosen for International Downtown Association’s award in terms of outward looking over the next 30 years,” says Robert Batallas, senior planner of development for the City of Victoria and primary author of the winning plan.

ENVISIONING A NEW VICTORIA Victoria City Council approved the plan in September 2011. The plan focuses on making Victoria more accessible to a broader range of residents and economic interests by both stimulating growth and repurposing existing property and economic resources. High-density residential growth in Harris Green, the community to the east of the downtown core, is included to counterbalance the commercial business area, which is set to open up a more diverse economy.

4 NEWS • MARTLET October 11, 2012

Diversity in residential growth is also a priority: taller buildings will offer a variety of housing units for a wider income-range of residents. The plan also looks towards the heritage buildings of Old Town for rehabilitation into upper-floor residential units with commercial units on ground level, while retaining height restrictions to 3- or 4-storey buildings. It targets the industrial Rock Bay area for growth that will attract high-tech, green sectors. The plan takes a broad view to avoid development in one area that adversely affects another.

“We don’t want to lose our employment base [to residential developers], so we’ve made some provisions elsewhere to increase the capacity for residential development, so that it’s not just being driven to the Old Town area,” says Batallas. “So you can have taller, higher, dense buildings in the central business district and residential Harris Green in order to protect the integrity of the Old Town area as well as the industrial Rock Bay area.”

Along with providing a rapid-transit option along Douglas Street, the plan outlines the addition of public amenities, including two new urban plazas, three new park spaces and harbour pathway completion.

LOGISTICS AND IMPLEMENTATION The Downtown Core Area Plan was built on results from public consultation and engagement, which allowed it to be approved by city council last year above four other proposal.

Development in the city occurred in pieces while the plan was being designed. The Atrium at the corner of Blanshard Street and Yates Street is an example of the kind of development the plan envisions. The plan offers direction to developers and policy support for the city’s priority development agendas. Newly updated policies promote the plan’s goals, such as a tax incentive that waives property taxes for up to 10 years for historic buildings that have been rehabilitated.

Currently, Batallas and the team of planners are designing an implementation strategy for the plan that will likely go to council for approval in November. This includes plotting out short-, mid- and long-term goals and identifying the roles and responsibilities of involved departments. Funding is key in determining the feasibility of development.

“We can look at all the different elements that need to be accomplished over the next

30 years, but the reality is that you can never achieve them all because there are limitations as far as the city’s operating capital budgets, financial restraints and staff resources,” says Batallas.

Financial concerns are magnified by the city’s planned budget cuts over the next three years.

In an interview with the CBC in June, Councillor Lisa Helps spoke about capping tax increases at 3.25 per cent and about the city’s need to cut $6 million from its budget over the next three years. While $6 million is a small fraction of the roughly $200 million the city spends per year, there is still speculation on where the savings will come from. Councillor Helps pointed to sustainability programs as potential sources for the cuts, such as the city’s Climate Action Plan, which measures and analyses a building’s environmental impact.

At the same time, the city has drawn criticism for paying its employees more than its municipal counterparts. Victoria and Saanich each pay $50 million in employee salaries, yet Victoria allocates 40 per cent of its salary budget to employees earning $75 000 or more, while Saanich allocates 31 per cent to staff earning similar salaries.

NEWS: campus

A fire in Hugh Stephen Residence on Sept. 30 means noisy deodorizers in the hallways as part of the clean-up.

IN THE SUB

SHANDI SHIACH

Res fire recovery coincides with Fire Prevention Week > SHANDI SHIACH The student living in UVic’s Hugh Stephen residence, room 102, which was the site of an electronics fire on Sept. 30, will likely face no consequences for the flare-up that happened while he was out. The small fire appears to have been an accident originating from the student’s stereo speakers that were on top of his mini fridge.

“I’m the one that jumped through the window,” says Jesse Ramón, a first-year Bachelor of Commerce student whose room is around the corner from 102. Ramón’s sisters had been in UVic residence a few years before and had warned him that fire alarms would be pulled as a prank.

“I opened my door and then saw smoke, so it wasn’t a joke,” says Ramón. The smoke was filling up the intersection of his hallway with the hallway where room 102 is located.

Ramón didn’t want to risk the halls, so he opened his first-floor window and made the short leap outside. In doing so, he demonstrated the premise of this year’s Oct. 7–13 Victoria Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Have Two Ways Out.” At the time of interview, Ramón was in the first-floor Hugh Stephen lounge watching an Ellen DeGeneres Show segment on Marcos Ugarte, the Oregon high school football player who abided by the rule never to enter a burning building when he rescued an eight-year-old from a neighbour’s house using a ladder to reach an outside window.

Ramón was the only occupant of Hugh Stephen residence who exited through an alternative route. The alarm had been pulled by a campus security officer who observed a small amount of smoke after a housekeeping worker heard a beeping sound on the first floor shortly before noon on Sept. 30. A second officer arrived and observed smoke emanating from the suite’s window. Campus Security called the Saanich Fire Department, which had also been notified when the alarm was pulled.

“They got a double confirmation,” says UVic Director of Communications Bruce Kilpatrick.

He says the fire was put out within five minutes, while approximately 60 mostly first-year student residents remained outside for about five hours so that firefighters could be sure the building was safe. Kilpatrick says the Saanich Fire Department was pleased with the university’s response.

Restoration of the water- and smoke-damaged room is estimated at $15 000, which insurance is expected to cover. Kilpatrick says the unit will be ready as soon as possible, probably sometime this term, but there is slightly less pressure because the student has already been provided with another suite. The university is still finding out if it must replace the drywall.

Meanwhile, the door to the room is sealed, cleaning workers have gone into every first-floor room to remove soot, and deodorizers have been placed in the halls. These noisy hallway obstructions have been a point of contention between residents. Ramón says residents frequently move the deodorizers further from their own doors and closer to other people’s.

UVSS.CA October 11, 2012 MARTLET • NEWS 5

hey! we're

having

our AGM. q+ e= N

it is probably

the most badass

What do you think of UVic’s 50th anniversary celebrations?

JOCELYN SCHNEIDER Third year Biology

AARON YANG First year Education

ABDULLAHI MOHAMED BARE First year Social Sciences

“I think that it’s quite an incredible experience to be able to see the live bands and learn about the history of Victoria and to include the community. But at the same time, it makes me wonder if the funds could be better spent in a way.

“There’s a ton of different things that could be changed around the school, you know . . . you can promote riding bikes, you can promote healthier diet with the people in the caf, different stuff like that. I almost think that maybe some of that money could be spent towards making a little bit more of a difference in our school as opposed to putting on this big, exorbitant show. But it is really neat. It’s really cool.”

“It’s very exciting. I’m an alumnus, actually, technically. I graduated in April. So this is kind of cool to see everything happening . . . it would be nice to actually be more of an alumnus and come back and see the campus as it’s changed.”

“I’m sure it was interesting. I was there briefly and it was very entertaining, but unfortunately I wasn’t there for long.

“So the celebration is going on for a whole year? That’s interesting. I’d like to see. So this is my first year here at UVic . . . I’m from Kenya, so it is really, really special to me that I am here and UVic is at its 50th. So it’s just like coincidence. My first year is the biggest celebration of the year."

board meeting

> DOCUMENTED BY SHANDI SHIACH

UVic Emergency Services to run earthquake drill

you'll ever

attend.

R R R R

we'd love for

you to join us!

SUNDAYS

9am-2pm

195 bay st.

DATE: OCTOBER 24, 2012 PLACE: THE MARTLET NEWSROOM (SUB BO11) TIME: 1:30 P.M. AGENDA: TBA

email our

managing editor, erin, for more info maned@martlet.ca 6 NEWS • MARTLET October 11, 2012

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Hazardous materials among pertinent issues > GARRETT E.S. THERRIEN If you hear someone walking down a hallway blowing a whistle or ducking under a table in the cafeteria next Thursday morning, Oct. 18, they’re not crazy — they’re starting UVic’s iteration of Shake Out, a North America-wide earthquake drill. UVic’s Emergency Services is asking you to do two things. First: drop, cover and hold on, just like you would in a real earthquake. Second: wear red.

UVic isn’t practicing building evacuation (fire drills practice that), so “the drill itself only needs to take two minutes,” says Daphne Donaldson, UVic’s manager of emergency planning.

Why drop and cover?

“Where we live — the age of the buildings, the work that has been done — we have more worries about non-structural damage than structural,” says Donaldson. In other words, it’s unlikely the building is going to fall down on you, but quite likely you’re going to be pelted by debris like ceiling tiles at the very least. In a big quake, pieces of the light fixtures, overhead projectors and anything else attached to the ceiling could come down, despite attempts to secure them. If such debris hits your head, you could be seriously injured or killed. So, protect yourself — drop under

something, grab it so it doesn’t move away as the floor shakes and put your free hand on the back of your neck. Drop, cover and hold on.

For those faculty, staff and students in research labs, Donaldson is focusing on hazardous materials in this year’s drill. With the Dean of Science supporting her, she will be sending around information on hazardous materials that could become a serious concern in a major disaster. In fact, UVic’s Emergency Operations Centre — the control point for disaster recovery efforts and communications — has regularly updated maps that show where all on-campus hazardous materials are so that firefighters and other responders don’t walk into a toxic situation unaware.

Donaldson is also looking for student volunteers to lead drills in their classes and around campus; interested students can email ddonald@uvic.ca.

Wherever you are on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 10:18 a.m., take two minutes and practice your earthquake response. If the “big one” comes, it could save your life.

For more information, and to access the information on hazardous materials during an earthquake, visit: ohs.uvic.ca/emergency_management/shakeout.php.

BUSINESS & TECH Walmart hosts Green Student Challenge

Next week you can check out our Sports and Lifestyle section, which rotates with Business and Technology. Get active.

Or sit down and read articles about being active.

TIME TO PLAY

Is the mega-retailer turning a new leaf or just sweeping problems under a green rug? > VANESSA HAWK In February 2013, Walmart will host the second annual Green Student Challenge, where teams of post-secondary students compete to present the most sustainable business plan to a high-profile corporate panel, including CEOs from Ford Motor Company of Canada, Canadian National Railway, S.C. Johnson Canada and Google Canada.

“I think [the competition] is a good idea for Walmart to collect ideas and a good way of finding ideas,” says Matt Murphy, a UVic assistant business professor and co-chair of research at the Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation. “Now, will they implement them? That’s an interesting question.”

Companies involved in the contest say it highlights the importance of environmentally friendly and socially responsible business, as well as the inclusion of young entrepreneurs.

“Walmart was very enthusiastic about our project, flying us up to Balzac, Alberta, to see their [sustainable food refrigeration] facility and to discuss how our project might work out,” says Alan Thai, who was on the University of Waterloo’s winning team in 2012. “That trip fueled new ideas that could be implemented in new distribution centres.”

Proposed innovations are judged on four equally weighted criteria: originality, ease of implementation, potential business and environmental impact (feasibility) and the amount of social media support gained on the official competition website in a voting period from Oct. 15 – Dec. 14. Prize money for the top five finalists totals $100 000, with the first-place winners scoring $25 000 for the student team members and $25 000 for their post-secondary institution.

The University of Waterloo-based winners of the inaugural competition won for their idea for an integrated energy system for retail distribution centres, where products are stocked before being shipped to different stores. The school’s $25 000 winnings were put towards a scholarship. The team members are each pursuing their master’s degrees and “couldn’t be more grateful for the experience,” says Thai. Earlier this month, Andy Ellis, Walmart Canada’s senior vice president of supply chain and logistics, confirmed that the company is investigating the viability of implementing the winning entry.

The Green Student Challenge is one prong of a sustainability campaign launched by Walmart in 2005. The world’s largest retailer’s goals are to create zero waste, to be supplied with 100 per cent renewable energy and to sell products

that sustain people and the environment. Due to its huge financial resources, Walmart is able to make a difference. For example, the company is the largest buyer of solar energy in the U.S. Walmart’s impact on the environment is still considerable: greenhouse gas emissions have increased as a result of 612 new store openings according to the company’s 2012 corporate responsibility report. Though Walmart stated its emissions were minimal considering the store openings, there was no suggestion that fewer stores will be opened in the future. Branch expansion shows no sign of slowing as the company announced its plan for the 2013 fiscal year to open new stores totalling 45– to 49–million square feet worldwide.

Walmart’s commitment to corporate responsibility has been criticized by various environmental, labour and grassroots organizations, and has even prompted the creation of Walmart-specific watchdog organizations over the last five years.

Some doubt the feasibility of ensuring sustainable practices for all of Walmart’s suppliers. Others have accused the company of green-washing the brand and treating sustainability as a public relations campaign aimed at restoring its public image.

“I don’t think I’d agree that they’re just doing marketing because their efforts actually have an impact on the area they focus on,” says Murphy, who notes Walmart’s efforts in monitoring sustainable practices of its suppliers and in reducing use of energy and packaging.

However, Murphy believes that Walmart’s commitment to green business is motivated by more than just environmental protection, as is common in corporate approaches. “I think it’s fair to say that their sustainability strategy has focused on areas where Walmart can see immediate financial benefit. There are easy benefits to be gained by using less electricity, by using less packaging and by not needing to put so many trucks on the roads. Those have an immediate environmental benefit by producing less emissions and using less energy, and they also have an immediate financial benefit for Walmart by reducing costs.”

It remains to be seen whether Walmart’s efforts in sustainability extend beyond those of costeffectiveness, but Murphy has no doubt about the merits of encouraging environmentally friendly business along its chain of suppliers and towards student-driven innovations, such as the Green Student Challenge.

For more information on the Green Student Challenge, visit greenstudentchallenge.ca. Deadline for entering the contest (creating a team page and submitting a one-page proposal summary) is Dec. 14.

ECO TIP #1: THE 6-IN-1 PICKLE JAR > NINA NEISSL

BY NINA NEISSL

Soap dish, vase, lantern, food container, penholder and drinking glass — meet the six-in-one pickle jar. And that does not even include its main purpose, storing pickles. This, the first Business & Tech Eco Tip, illustrates how you can save money and express your individualism by reusing a simple pickle jar in six different ways (or more, if you are creative). Packaging not only conserves our precious food, it can also be reused in all kinds of ways.

Check for fancy jars next time you are at the supermarket — even cheap brands often have nice designs. We just never look for them specifically.

Plain jars are useful for storing pasta, rice, seeds or cookies. They can also be used as drinking glasses. The lid of the jar can be used as an unconventional soap holder.If bought on their own, glass jars can be quite expensive. By simply reusing pickle jars, you’ll get them, technically, for free.

And hey, why recycle if you can reuse it, right?

Even if reusing food packaging does not save you tons of money initially, it will add up after a while. At the same time, you are doing something good for the environment by avoiding waste and reusing existing material. This is also an interesting way to individualize your flat, especially if you are the creative type and good with glue and scissors.

Just try it out.

In the next Eco Tip, I’ll introduce you to the new must-have of minimalist design: the tin can.

If you have some good tips yourself, just let us know at businesstech.martlet@gmail.com. Pictures of Eco Tip realizations are welcomed as well.

RECECCA COMEAU

Shift your perspective on browser games First in a biweekly series of columns on free games > NINA NEISSL Free browser games, the annoying little counterparts to video games. The web is flooded with them. Many of them are not really exciting (or they are the one millionth version of Tetris). So why dedicate precious newspaper space to them? Because they are underestimated. Even if most browser games are not the next top-notch, highly innovative game on the web, it is hard work to create them.

From high school students to university graduates, many young people want to have a career in game development and design.

This is — like many other creative jobs — hard to achieve. One path for aspiring developers is to design their own games. And since not many people have 20 other developers and game designers sitting at home waiting to help them create a new masterpiece that will blow every video game critic’s mind, simple browser games — and, as part of a more recent trend, games for smart phones — are an easy and cheap solution to prove a developer’s mettle.

Many eager game developers means even more free games out there. To spare you the time looking for the funniest and most innovative ones among a sea of options, I will present one new game in every Business & Technology section of the Martlet. The free browser games I write about will give you a good excuse to take a break from studying or whatever serious tasks you are performing.

They might even inspire you to design your own game.

In this column, you will only find games that are, at the time of writing, completely free.

This means no purchase price, no monthly fees, no item shop or extra levels that you will have to pay for. They will be, in general, browser games. Some of them will be available for other platforms as well, such as handhelds, consoles or smartphones, but often for a purchase price. This is why I will focus on the free browser version.

Let’s start with a flash game classic: the Shift series.

Developed by Antony Lavelle, the first Shift game was released in 2008 by Armor Games.

In the game, you take on the role of a stick figure that has to find its way through the 2D levels, which are simplistic in black and white. However, soon you’ll realize that not everything is as it seems. Shift allows you to change perspective, literally. The moment you press the shift button on your keyboard, the level is turned upside down, and what was ceiling now becomes floor. The impossible-to-cross valley suddenly turns into a helpful platform. The goal in each level is to get to the door that leads to the next level until you reach the surprise ending. To get to the door, you have to find a path through valleys with spikes on the bottom and high walls, and you often need to find one or more keys that will unlock new paths and help you overcome obstacles.

Funny, semi-helpful statements are written all over the levels’ walls. Most of these hints are clues, but they can also be sarcastic little traps and teasers, so don’t believe everything you read. The surprisingly appealing background music can be turned off by pressing the P button on your keyboard (in case you don’t want anyone to notice that you’re not working on an assignment). With each level, Shift gets more complex. It is easy to understand but hard enough to be challenging.

Unfortunately, the first game does not provide many levels, but if you like Shift, you will also like Shift 2. The later games, Shift 3 and Shift 4, are slightly different. Even though you still take on the role of a stick figure, you are now much more in control of the game. Each level has more than one door, so you choose your own path through the levels instead of following a fixed storyline, which makes it appealing to play Shift 3 and 4 more than once. Shift 3 allows you to act out your inner game developer; you can build your own levels. Shift 4 offers different chapters of the game that you have to unlock to continue the story.

The whole series should offer enough game material to keep you occupied for a while.

The browser game is available for PC and Mac for free, while some smartphone versions are available for purchase.

October 11, 2012 MARTLET • BUSINESS & TECH 7

Opinions

Check out martlet.ca for all our regular columnists' previous work, including Sol Kauffman's Growing Pains pieces.

The power of narrative to educate

EDITORIAL

> GRAYDON LEIGH

KLARA WOLDENGA

We're getting sick of ferry follies Ah, the majestic Pacific coast of B.C. Ogled by legions of camera-wielding tourists, envied by rained-out Portlanders and gripped in a merciless stranglehold by the money-grubbing paws of B.C. Ferries and the B.C. Liberal government.

As Islanders, we all rely on the ferry service to maintain our connection to the rest of the world. If you moved here, chances are it’s how you came, and if you’re a native, it’ll probably be your first ticket on your trip outta Dodge. Want a car from off-island? Is your mom visiting? How else is that Ikea furniture getting here?

On Oct. 1, B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall announced rate hikes of 12 per cent over the next three years. It already costs $158 for two people to take the car to Vancouver and back — how much worse can it get?

In spite of the climbing fees, service remains sloppy. Consistent sailing waits, mechanical issues and cancellations certainly get the blood boiling. Plus, those ice-cream scoop eggs aren’t getting any less nauseating. Though some money has been invested in ferry renovations, it hasn’t really improved ferry conditions. So where the hell is the rest of the money going?

The CEO of B.C. Ferries, David Hahn, announced his early retirement last year, “modestly” turning down an extra $14 000 in extra yearly pension payments. This came as little solace to B.C. residents, who funded his notorious million-dollar salary, and who will continue to pay for his B.C. Public Service Pension Plan of $77 000 annually, as well as, indirectly, the rest of his pension, estimated to total about $300 000 annually in spite of the early retirement. If he’d done a good job, it might have been a little easier to stomach — but Hahn’s mandate to turn B.C. Ferries into a semi-private company, paid for by riders, has borne nothing but rancid fruit. Despite cruise ship-esque upgrades to the fleet, vehicle traffic last year hit a 13-year low, while foot traffic hit a 21-year low, resulting in $16.5 million in net losses in 2011.

B.C. Ferries recently opened up the lines of communication with the public via a thread on the company’s Facebook page, asking for feedback about the fare increases. It isn’t their fault, B.C. Ferries pleaded; raising fares is necessary in order to maintain a “safe and sustainable service.” Since B.C. Ferries’ rates are such a hot topic for anyone who needs to actually go anywhere, the Facebook page’s fare increase thread got a much bigger response than their other posts, such as “look at our tasty salmon dinner!” and “name that terminal!” The public response was probably even bigger than it seemed, given that the more inflammatory posts were likely deleted right away. If this tells us anything, it’s that no one’s buying the company’s sob story.

But there’s an easy solution to at least some of these revenue woes: just serve booze.

Think about it. If the ferries started serving alcoholic beverages on their routes, they’d be swimming in money. They could spread their insane mark-ups to beer and wine, charging eight bucks a glass. Hell, make it 10 bucks, and only serve it in a $25 buffet hall. The people will pay.

What’s that you say? Liability issues? Please. The Clipper ferry to Seattle serves booze, and there’s even a border and customs involved. Why can’t B.C. Ferries? Oh, because they carry vehicles? So what? Make people keep their ticket receipt as proof they’re a walk-on. Even if the odd sneaky driver buys both a walkon and drive-on ticket, police can always set up checkpoints near the terminal if they’re worried. Then, all the non-driving passengers that just want to wet their whistle a bit could actually enjoy themselves.

Do everyone a favour, B.C. Ferries. Don’t hike fares — just deliver the booze.

VOLUME 65 • ISSUE 10

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8 OPINIONS • MARTLET October 11, 2012

When Marty McFly first broke 88 mph with the Doc’s 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, my perception of the world was forever changed. Yes, I recognize the cheesiness of that comment, but I truly believe the otherworldly subject matter of Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future imbued me with an understanding of the world completely foreign to me up until Marty made out with his disturbingly attractive mother.

The narrative arc of this film includes themes that are recycled in many beloved movies of recent memory. Back to the Future also features core values and principles that should be commonly practiced in society. This suggests that the merging of entertainment and education should be a more common practice in modern educational institutions.

Consider that the film’s protagonist is a guy who stands up for what’s right, puts others before himself, never backs down from a challenge and judges others based on their actions, not by their appearance or how others perceive them (which spawns his unlikely friendship with Doc). Yep, Marty is the friggin’ man. While some educators may embody many of these characteristics, their on-screen iterations provide more of an incentive to students for emulation.

Now consider the influence this fictional character holds over Western society. Much like Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen and Bruce Wayne, Marty McFly helped set a standard that impressionable moviegoers have subconsciously tried to match. I can only speak from personal experience, but the lessons of morality and virtue found in these stories speak volumes to me. When faced with adversity, I consider how those aforementioned heroic archetypes would approach it. I’m not saying that I am a hero. I simply recognize the lessons learned in classrooms or from pages of static and lifeless textbooks are not as appealing as those found watching the Master Chief attempt to liberate a desperate and withering human race.

The novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley has

been another source of inspiration. It caused me to question the political and economic makeup of not only Huxley’s imagined utopia, but the world I lived in as well. Huxley’s book forced me to question the nature of the human experience, a question I’ll most likely ponder until the end of my days Huxley proved to me that a wonderfully written story has the ability to blur the line between entertainment and revelation. Stories have the potential to be invaluable didactic tools. They enable readers and viewers to approach themes and lessons in a more accessible way.

I’m able to pay more attention to the exploits and misadventures of, say, the savage John in Huxley’s tale than I do to a lecture concerning the operational mandates of the United Nations. This isn’t to say the former is more important or that the latter represents an unworthy intellectual pursuit. It just points to the power of narrative.

For skeptics flabbergasted by the notion that movies or novels can equal the mentally stimulating content that comprises PhD dissertations, consider the influence of magic.

To some, J.K. Rowling’s boy-wizard saga is a masterpiece that is the measuring stick for all new fantasy narratives. Rowling persuaded an entire generation of children and their parents to embark on a journey that largely takes place in the confines of a school. Harry Potter taught countless people to appreciate the joys of reading.

Stories have the power to alter social frameworks, as evidenced by literary masters like Shakespeare, Joyce and Huxley. Similarly, a worthy message can be found in many lesser stories, no matter how infantile or hollow the premise may be (see Dumb and Dumber and Clerks — the theme of friendship is explored in both). In many ways, messages are more seamlessly communicated to the viewer through story arcs.

So, the next time you’re about to dive into a novel or set aside a couple of hours to catch a glimpse of some Hollywood glitter, recognize that the lessons found in them can be applied to your life long after you finish the last chapter or the end credits roll.

LETTERS MANNERLESS ZOMBIES INVADING VICTORIA BUSES Everyone has heard of the story about bus monitor Karen Huff Klein, 68, who was seen in a 10-minute video, which was viewed more than a million times, as she was trying to ignore the endless taunts and cringe-inducing epithets from students, and wipes away tears after several particularly scathing comments.

I suggest that women suffer abuse on our buses daily: disrespected by hordes of merciless middle school, college and UVic students, who refuse to lift their heads up from their texting to provide those working mothers and grandmothers a seat for their journey home.

The vacant stares, the non-response to what is happening around them, with the low groaning and moaning, are clear signs that the zombie apocalypse has begun!

SWIPED IPHONE SHOWS LACK OF CIVILITY ON CAMPUS Last Monday afternoon, my daughter was in a ladies’ washroom in the engineering building, main floor. She inadvertently placed her iPhone on the counter. She left the washroom and then realized several minutes later that she didn’t have her phone. She returned to the ladies’ room immediately only to find it was gone. The phone was tracked to a location on Strathmore Road. A message was sent to the phone asking the person who took it to call a number or to return it to campus security with no questions. They called but didn’t speak, then just hung up. It is an iPhone 4, black, 16 gigabyte with a small chip on the front screen. It is very disappointing that we live in a world where honesty and integrity of some people does not exist. If you read this and know it is you, do the right thing and turn the phone into campus security, no questions asked.

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GROWING PAINS

Man overboard: are guys really going, going, gone? > SOL KAUFFMAN Gender is a hot potato at UVic, particularly at the Martlet. We do our best to make sure we’re as inclusive as possible and as balanced as we can be on gender issues. I personally feel that gender is a social construct and that it’s becoming more and more irrelevant — but there’s been so much out there in the last month about the fall of males that I feel I have to do my part as an opinion columnist in speaking up.

The release of celebrated writer Hanna Rosin’s recent book, The End of Men and the Rise of Women, has been the inciting incident for a literary firestorm this September. Many have been gripped by her TED talk and the dozens of interviews pertaining to her extremely popular thesis. The inexorable job market is rolling over men, says Rosin. More women are graduating university than men. Women are also placing in important jobs more than men, and have innate skills more relevant to the information-age workplace than men — and not only that, but for the first time, women are beginning to make more money than their male counterparts.

Men, don’t defenestrate yourselves yet. Clive Martin’s “Obituary for a Gender” in Vice magazine last week was simply a hilarious satire, I promise. The Los Angeles Review of Books,

among others, has criticized Rosin’s research as sloppily done, and at least one of her interview subjects says he was gravely misrepresented.

But this isn’t the first time that the value of men has been called into question. Here’s my favourite example. Islanders and Vancouverites alike might remember a story in Vancouver Magazine last January, provocatively titled “Do Vancouver Men Suck?” It came out right as Rosin’s first essay was published in The Atlantic, amidst the release of several other related non-fiction books. Writer Katherine Ashenburg’s piece lambasted the city’s men for being slovenly, immature and far from chivalrous.

Our lack of ambition, decisiveness and spine made us thoroughly unattractive and far out of league with Vancouver’s “stunningly fit, beautiful, and successful women.”

Obviously, this is a somewhat ignorant generalization. There are plenty of fairly confident, semi-athletic, somewhat motivated dudes around (right here, ladies). But stereotypes often have a grain of truth — and I’ve seen the decline of guys with my own eyes. Too many of my friends are busy living in a static haze, wearing the first thing they grabbed out of the closet, working mindless jobs with no career ladders to climb, and embarrassingly stumbling around their romantic interests. We need to man up.

Here’s a generalization: guys are often very goal-driven. When our day job gives us no satisfaction and we don’t take any pride in exercise or style or romantic gamesmanship, it’s incredibly tempting to fall into the world of video games. World of Warcraft and a slew of other virtual worlds are all designed to offer the aimless gamer a series of addicting quests, with higher and higher payouts for accomplishing them. We might spend a whole night grinding away, feeding that goal-seeking itch, and look up at 8 a.m. to realize we’ve gained nothing more than pair of rare elven boots. I’m not anti-video game by any measure (and I have the Starcraft II scars to prove it), but it’s hard for me to enjoy them unless I feel like I’ve earned it.

And there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure when it doesn’t matter if you’re supposed to be doing something else. Balance is the goal.

And real life is a great game.

On the flip side, I think the change in men’s romantic behaviour is rooted in a combination of growing gender equality and introversion. Men might not be as aggressive or assertive as we used to be, because we no longer believe our opinion is more important, and women are often perceived as having more power in the dating world. In the heterosexual realm at least, it is still often the

norm for men to make the first overture and then wait for a woman to decide whether she likes him; the man puts himself out there and is at the mercy of the woman’s approval.

Plus, the growing (or at least more visible) population of introverts has made outgoing manhood less of a norm. From Susan Cain’s TED talk, “The Power of Introverts,” to Bryan Walsh’s Time magazine article “The Power of Shyness,” it’s clear that people are really taking ownership of being introverted. While a guy might once have made a drunken pass at a cluster house soirée, now we are more likely to fretfully overthink it. We’re more afraid of being labelled a douchebag or making a fool of ourselves in public than going home alone — which I’d argue is a victory for gender relations, whatever the cause.

Just as we come nearer and nearer to the dream of gender equality, men are slipping.

There’s a reason we call it equality, not domination. We need some masculinism, not to fight for our rights, but to set the bar high and hold us to the standards we should expect from ourselves. Clooney, the RZA, Kevin Smith, the Dalai Lama, whatever, there are plenty of role models for us to think about when we’re wondering, “Should I be proud of what I’m doing right now?”

Well? Are you?

Better procrastination through television Five reasons why TV is actually good for your academic career > JONATHAN RICKARD First of all, by “better” I mean “less effective” or “more likely to ensure that your paper actually gets finished at some point” or, realistically, “more likely to enrich the miserable time you are having as you furtively swap tabs in the Clearihue computer lab.”

1. WATCHING TV ALLOWS YOU TO TAKE A REAL BREAK. There is nothing wrong with taking a break!

It’s okay. I forgive you. I’ve been on both sides of the comp-lab paper-procrastinate Facebook chat enough times to know that such chats don’t really give you a break. They just allow you to whine, mostly. About how you, your paper and possibly everything ever is the worst and how you’re almost literally shackled to this desk and actually the chair is pretty uncomfortable in here, too. While this can occasionally lead to paper-improving discussion with sympathetic chatters who may ask you what you paper is about and what you are stuck on, this is far outweighed by the downsides. Maybe just turn off the paper-stress monologue in your head for approximately 22 minutes, and then hopefully you’ll be able to take a slightly fresher crack at it. Which brings us to . . .

2. TV SHOWS LAST FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME. Which is kind of great. Even if you decide (foolishly) to watch multiple episodes of a TV show back-to-back, they will stop you every 22 minutes or so and tell you explicitly that this amount of time has now elapsed and that perhaps you ought to get to work. Facebook, and the Internet in general, sprawls outward infinitely in every direction, and even more dangerously, can trick you into thinking that you are not even taking a break. A nearly unlimited amount of time can be funneled into any number of seemingly constructive internet Kholes; endlessly chaining Wikipedia hyperlinks or clicking related TED talks may well give you

something totally neato to think about, but that is not what you are looking for right now! When you emerge from these labyrinths, you may even feel like this was enough education for one day and maybe the paper can wait until morning . . . which presumably it cannot.

3. YOU CAN’T KEEP TV A SECRET. Brazenly doing zero things that even resemble work takes confidence. Click onwards, guy playing Starcraft II in the library basement! Fullscreening a piece of entertainment in a place ostensibly reserved for study boldly proclaims to others and to yourself: “I am doing nothing now and there is nothing wrong with that because I will get it done once this Project Runway rerun is over.” Tab-swapping and keeping a token JSTOR page open isn’t fooling anyone. It just reinforces the idea that doing nothing is something to be ashamed of. It isn’t. Just use headphones, okay?

Please? If you’re not using headphones, none of this applies and you need to stop immediately.

4. TV CAN HELP YOU WRITE YOUR PAPER. Not in a Breaking-Bad-will-allow-me-to-passthis-chemistry-exam kind of way. Please do not try to cite a TV show in your paper — I don’t even know how you would do that. But can watching TV help you crush that “Narrative Structures in Film” paper out of the park? Probably, yes! After all, TV is just another medium: believe it or not, it can be treated critically, just like films, music and texts of all kinds. Practice those critical-thinking skills that you’re (probably?) developing at university on a TV episode or two! At the very least, you’ll have an interesting thing to argue about with your friends later.

5. TV IS SOMETIMES GOOD ART AND IS ALSO ACTUALLY KIND OF GREAT THESE DAYS. There’s no reason to treat TV as though it’s not a plausible art form. Removing the commercials helps a lot. We all know how to do that, right?

REBECCA COMEAU Right. I can help set that up for you if not. Right . . . Netflix. Netflix is a thing too. Meanwhile, Facebook continues to be Facebook, except with more ads than before! It continues to contain many baby pictures featuring people you went to high school with as proud parents. Or maybe that’s just me.

Full disclosure: while I was not writing this I watched two episodes of Homeland, and they were both pretty great. Can you believe it beat out Mad Men for the Emmy for Best Drama this year, though? Let’s argue about it once you’re finished that paper!

October 11, 2012 MARTLET • OPINIONS 9

WHAT YOU DON'T HEAR From social media to time management, many factors affect youth suicide Story: Nadia Grutter ∙ Illustration: Rebecca Comeau & Glen O'Neill

10 FEATURE • MARTLET October 11, 2012

Second to accidents, what is the leading cause of death in Canadians aged 15 to 24?

A) Nickelback

C) HST

B) Bears

D) Suicide

Y ep, it’s the morbid one at the end.

You probably go to UVic. So do I. You may have complimented my mason jar in Poli 317 last semester. Tomorrow you might bump into me at Bibliocafé and ask where I've been, and before you can protest we’ll be up to our ankles in it.

This isn’t easy to say. I didn’t feel depression hit as hard as it did. Everything seemed normal — Monday music bingo at Maude Hunter’s Pub; procrasti-baking; pulling all-nighters; passiveaggressively mounding my roommate’s forgotten laundry on top of the dryer. And then one night I drank too much and took some pills and woke up on life support in Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital.

According to Statistics Canada, as many as 72 000 Canadians attempt suicide every year. That’s almost 200 people a day. Of those who try, 3 600 people succeed annually. The Canadian Mental Health Association states that 10–20 per cent of young Canadians suffer from mental health problems; depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can cause a high risk of suicide. Suicide in Canadian youth is rated the third highest in the industrialized world . While I made my attempt in June, July and August have the highest suicide rates out of the year.

Youth under the age of 20 have the highest rates of depression symptoms. In addition to depression, I was just diagnosed with — they’re not sure what to call it yet — a cerebral allergy to alcohol (which intensified the depression). That’s a thing?

Maclean’s magazine recently noted a number of startling findings in Canadian universities. Cornell University sets up steel nets underneath seven bridges around the university every year. The demand for crisis counselling at Ryerson University rose 200 per cent last year. In a 2011 survey of 1 600 University of Alberta students, 51 per cent disclosed feelings of hopelessness while seven per cent had seriously considered suicide. At Queen’s University, four students committed suicide within 14 months beginning in 2010.

As widely known and actively ignored as it is, a “normal” university lifestyle can become extremely unhealthy.

Sara Wegwitz, UVic’s nurse educator, says an unhealthy body means an unhealthy mind.

“Our physiology — the way we eat, move and think — infects and affects our psychology and vice versa. The two are never separated.”

So beating myself up over that late paper and occasionally skipping the gym and sometimes napping left me with a sleep schedule that was almost nocturnal. My 8:30 a.m. class rolled around just as I had fallen asleep. This started a cycle that I have only now — six months later — broken.

Looking back, I matched many of the symptoms of depression/suicidal ideation according to UVic Health Services: persistent tiredness, significant changes in appetite and sleep patterns, changes in libido (sex? What’s sex?), social withdrawl (friends? Huh?), inexplicable feelings of guilt and worthlessness, random bodily aches, overwhelming sadness and unexplained crying spells, recklessness, increased alcohol use and a sudden sense of calm. It was tough to recognize, though, because I never admitted to myself or anyone else that I wasn’t okay.

“The ‘F’ word is a huge sign,” says Wegwitz. “When someone says they’re ‘fine,’ I know something is off.”

It is difficult to pin down why suicidal ideation in educated young adults seems to be increasing. While personal troubles exacerbate suicidal ideation in many cases, I also found it challenging at night to shut down images of spiking gas prices and drowning polar bears. Pressure is on our generation to make a change — the change.

But it is impossible to fulfill the ideal, educated young adult identity. There are 24 hours in a day. We judge ourselves by the social norms manifested by grad schools, doctors, parents, peers and others, which dictate, at least to me, that we should: •Study for twice as long as we are in class. (Approximate total = 8 hours per day) •Exercise: 1 hour per day •Practice personal hygiene: 1 hour per day •Prepare and eat healthy food: 3 hours per day •Sleep: 8 hours per day •Volunteer: 1 hour per day •Work part-time: 4 hours per day •Socialize: 2 hours per day •Have down time/watch Breaking Bad: 1 hour per day Total: 29 hours On top of that, there is the expectation that university students be mature individuals of substance and worth — well-read, sociable, political, funny, good-looking, maybe an activist, involved . . .

“People are should-ing all over themselves,” says Wegwitz, “and are trying to control things they can’t.”

Dr. Duncan Shields, the president of the B.C. Association of Clinical Counsellors, says that the midlife crisis has become the mid-20s crisis.

“Now, people start realizing that they might live a quiet, middle-of-the-pack life and not make a lasting change in their 20s. They wonder who they are and what they are going to do when most of their successes lie ahead of them.”

Aside from untreated mental illness and other factors, I found the fear of becoming stuck in mediocrity consuming. What if I never paid off my student loan? How long would I have to serve before I got a real job? Could I achieve comfort and happiness in this economy?

“It’s unbelievable,” Dr. Paul Termansen, clinical director of Vancouver Coastal Health’s Community Psychiatric Services, says of students pressuring themselves. Termansen has noticed increased suicide attempts in young adults. He believes the breakdown of family structure, difficulty establishing independence, alcohol and drug use and “outrageous” university entrance requirements are worsening the trend of suicide in young adults.

Termansen adds, “Facebook becomes students’ lives and adversely cuts down human contact.”

Shields says social media has fostered a false sense of connectivity in place of true attachment and has affected our sense of identity and accomplishment.

“Technology is one massive experiment,” says Shields, who draws pictures and encourages clients to handwrite notes. “There has been nothing else like this in human history.”

Shields explains that through the pressure to externalize everything, privacy has been eroded and online identities lack coherence and stability. We cannot re-invent ourselves; we are stuck

with a public brand that becomes imprinted in our friends’ social memories. We cannot gather feedback from someone’s impressions of us in real time. With such a high speed of interaction, we hardly contemplate our actions and reactions.

It may seem satisfying in the moment to have 25 people like the video of your cat dancing Gangnam style, but that sense of acknowledgement, progress and accomplishment is false. Online profiles can become surrogates in which we lose our true selves.

“You have more friends than ever, but are more alone than ever. But you are still using the same language, so you begin to ask yourself, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ which can lead to despair, depression and sometimes suicide,” says Shields.

At the deepest point in my depression, I spent a lot of time on sites like Tumblr if I wasn’t asleep.

And sure, I had a high degree of unwarranted self-loathing. But how do I know how real that pain was?

Shields says we experience social pain in the same part of our brain that we experience physical pain, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. For example, a woman in labour is less likely to use pain medication if she has strong social support.

When I ask how much social interaction a person needs to sustain themselves, Shields says it’s a matter of quality over quantity.

“A real moment of connection — being seen and understood — can sustain you for a very long time.”

This connection is extremely important when dealing with someone who is depressed or suicidal. Several moments of real connection have accelerated my recovery. The most outrageous of such moments was when a friend secretly flew up from Australia, disguised herself as a FedEx carrier and surprised me in Vancouver when I was discharged.

“You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be present,” says Wegwitz of supporting a troubled friend. “If someone doesn’t seem ‘fine,’ ask the hard questions. It would be selfish of me to let my friend go around all day with a big booger hanging out her nose.”

It takes courage to help someone struggling with a mental illness. Take care of yourself first.

UVic’s Peer Helping Program provides a safe, non-judgmental environment for people to talk.

Their offices are in the University Centre and the Learning Commons at McPherson Library, 135e.

I spoke with other depressed/suicidal patients, and we agreed that we were most helped by:

PROACTIVE FRIENDS Often I wouldn’t believe that people cared or could help. “I’m here if you need anything” is too vague. It’s as simple as inviting the person to the gym with you or even calling. Set up a routine time to meet up. Do not wait for the person to call you.

THOSE WHO ENCOURAGED PROFESSIONAL HELP Accompany the person to a doctor’s appointment.

ATTENTIVE, HONEST FRIENDS Be aware of possible side effects of prescription drugs and take note of any changes in the person’s behaviour.

CAUTIOUS FRIENDS Help the person become aware of their triggers (like alcohol) and write out a set of numbers (family, friends, therapists) they can call if they need help. The 24-hour Vancouver Island Crisis Line is 1-888-494-3888.

DEDICATED FRIENDS If a person has already experienced a suicidal crisis, keep in contact with them throughout their recovery. The trend of suicidality in young adults is terrifying, but universities are taking note.

Carleton University runs a program called Bounce Back, which connects students who are struggling academically with upper-year mentors. The University of British Columbia recently implemented a week-long reading break in February to reduce study anxiety in students.

At UVic, a more comprehensive and co-ordinated team approach is underway. Dr. Judy Burgess, UVic Health Services director, has drawn on UVic resources of physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and nurses to enhance mental health services.The approach started with the Eating Disorders Program last year and is now adding a Mood and Anxiety Program (MAP). MAP will provide a range of resources and services, including group therapy, psychotherapy, care coordination and more. Though still developing, MAP can be accessed with a referral from a Health Services physician, Counselling Services or the Resource Centre for Students with a Disability.

Health Services will announce the program’s official launch soon.

UVic Health Services is also looking to intervene at early stages of potential instability in students.

“Professors look out for students who aren’t coping well,” explains Burgess. UVic is also offering a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course which trains people in basic skills for comforting others with mental stress. Although Student Affairs is mainly committed to training staff in MHFA, anyone can take the course through MHFA Canada. The course has already trained 200 people. “The whole point is not to be a bystander,” says Burgess.

A mental health task force composed of faculty, staff and students at UVic will also continue campaigning to raise awareness, just as Stephanie Duchon has at the University of King’s College in Halifax. Twenty-three-year-old Duchon is an organizer at the King’s Mental Health Awareness Collective. She recently opened up about her battle with depression by posting pictures of herself that state: “I am not my mental illness.” She told Maclean’s that by revealing her diagnosis, she hopes others will follow suit. Girl, I’m right behind you. Let’s just hope future employers aren’t constipated with stigma.

According to Burgess, 30 universities, UVic included, will take part in a National College Health Assessment in February 2013. The 64-point questionnaire will gather data about topics like student health, campus safety, substance use, mental health and suicidal ideation.

While I can’t speak for every student struggling mentally, I can speak for myself when I say thanks for hearing me out. Though we might not know the origin of this burst of suicidal ideation, we cannot ignore it. Take the survey. In that way, you can make a change.

October 11, 2012 MARTLET • FEATURE 11

CULTURE

Look out for the return of The Mighty Spoon in next week's Culture section!

Macbeth: don’t make it your intro to opera > VANESSA ANNAND I’ve spent several thousand words over the course of a year or so trying to convince students that opera is worth it. Worth the two to three hours sitting under the unseeing eyes of the statues in the Royal Theatre’s mouldings. Worth the wait for the washrooms at intermission. Certainly worth the price — students can get rush tickets for $15 about 45 minutes before Pacific Opera Victoria’s (POV) performances. Add to that the fact that POV constructs all of its own sets (almost unheard of in Canada) and punches well above its weight in overall production value, and there’s no reason not to attend at least once.

But if you are going to take the plunge and you think the opera may be a one-time excursion, don’t go for Macbeth.

Running until Oct. 14, Verdi’s Macbeth — not to be confused with the meatier play by William Shakespeare that inspired the opera — should work. It just should. It has all the ingredients: a big-name composer (admittedly he penned better-known works like La Traviata and Rigoletto later in his career, and Macbeth may have been a warm-up); compelling tragedy from unbeatable source material (Macbeth was Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy and presumably lent itself most readily to a libretto’s limited word count); two promising POV debuts (Lyne Fortin as Lady Macbeth and Robert Clark as Macduff); and a famous director from the other side of the performing-arts tracks (Morris Panych, best known for his work in theatre).

Panych recently told one lucky Times Colonist reporter that he finds opera “boring,” “dirgy” and “repetitive.” I suppose it’s what some would call “refreshing frankness,” but his mockery of opera would be easier to stomach if his direction had proven that he could eschew, or at least distract from, these stereotypes.

As a writer, Panych impresses. If you were lucky enough to see the Belfry’s staging of Panych’s Girl in the Goldfish Bowl a few years back, you’ll know what I mean. But as an opera director, he lurches. At times, too much is left to the audience’s imagination (almost all those famous

Scottish stabbings take place off-stage). In other instances, the macabre factor goes from zero to woman-holding-baby-corpse-by-the-ankle far too quickly.

Fortin and Clark, on the other hand, both proved their mettle in their debuts. Despite being restricted to a lot of bed-languishing, Fortin brought equal parts blood-thirst and fragility to her portrayal of Lady Macbeth. Alain Coulombe as Banquo was another stand-out, the rich timbre of his bass vocals a welcome return after his gripping turn in Mary’s Wedding with POV last year.

Ken MacDonald’s set — best described as minimalist neo-tartan in style — shrewdly drew the eye up and across the stage. Dana Osborne’s costumes, however, seemed too concerted in their avoidance of anything remotely tartan. The men’s all-black ensembles, complete with neckties, leather vests and mid-calf quasi-kilts, felt more like uniforms for a sadomasochistic ritual (or part of a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show) than plausible dress for ancient Scottish royals. The tangled branch headdresses the witches wore, however, showed a glimmer of costume genius.

The use of movie-like opening credits and scene-setting titles on a translucent floor-toceiling scrim was ingenious, though Jamie Nesbitt’s simple projections could have pushed the envelope further.

Yes, you should still plan to see an opera this year. Puccini’s Tosca, scheduled for the spring, looks promising, and Britten’s Albert Herring might make the perfect February date night. But I can’t, in good faith, send you to see an opera where the final, stilted sword fight between Macbeth and Macduff is clunkier than the childhood battles I used to stage with my siblings using wooden surveyors’ stakes as swords.

PACIFIC OPERA VICTORIA PRESENTS: VERDI’S MACBETH Royal Theatre Oct. 12 @ 8 p.m.; Oct. 14 @ 2:30 p.m. $15 (student rush tickets); $37.50–$130 general admission

NOTICE Annual General Meeting Thursday, October 25 4pm in the SUB Upper Lounge We will be discussing proposed constitution and policy changes, as well as holding elections for several positions on the UVic Pride Coordinating Committee. Refreshments will be provided. pride@uvic.ca | uvicpride.ca | 250-472-4393 | SUB B010

12 CULTURE • MARTLET October 11, 2012

From top to bottom: Alain Coulombe haunts audiences as the bloody ghost of Banquo, but earlier in the opera, when he's alive and singing, is when he really leaves his mark.

TYSON JONES

Dana Osborne's costumes lack cohesion, though she dresses the witches splendidly.

Macbeth (baritone Gregory Dahl) brandishes his sword near two of set designer Ken MacDonald's signature white columns.

martlet.ca A nice break from all those pesky baby photos on your Facebook timeline.

Plus: tons of awesome web-exclusive content that will blow your mind!

A day in the life of a quarantine volunteer > TRAVIS MUIR In 2012, UVic Biology/Geography student Travis Muir went to Bolivia for five weeks to volunteer at Ambue Ari Park, an ecological reserve and rehabilitation centre that houses jaguars, pumas, ocelots and a variety of birds and monkeys. Muir is documenting his experience for the Martlet.

This is the last of three installments.

I spent my last week at Ambue Ari working with the animals in quarantine. New animals are placed in quarantine upon arrival to ensure outside diseases don’t spread; alternatively, animals may live in quarantine until a suitable enclosure is constructed for them.

My days started with making a big batch of banana porridge and mixing in different supplement powders. I then distributed the breakfast to the animals. The three tejóns were often the most troublesome when it came to feeding. Tejóns are the South American equivalent of raccoons; however, their tails are much longer and their coats are tinted orange. Rocky and his two sidekicks would constantly knock over bowls of fresh food or water and go into a feeding frenzy. Whenever the little bandits attempted a jailbreak, I would simply pick them up by their tails and they would become instantly limp — the lack of resistance made it easy to return them to their cages.

I would feed the monkeys next. One of the squirrel monkeys, Lucas, had a reputation as an escape artist. I was told the first time he got out, he went down to the lagoon, caught three fish and brought them back to share with his quarantined mates.

On my third shift in quarantine, I was bending down to quickly swap Lucas’s food bowl.

The moment I lowered my head, the monkey jumped over my back and was through the outer fencing. I was foolishly left offering him food from his plate, fully knowing he

wouldn’t oblige me by coming back. To my great relief, another volunteer caught Lucas a few days later.

The names of newer animals seemed to change depending on which volunteer was working with them. Zandro, Baby Jesus, (pronounced “Hey-Zeus” in Spanish) or King Louie, as I liked to call him, was a baby howler monkey for whom I was also responsible. He would climb all over me, gently chew on my hair or drink from the little bottle of milk I prepared for him. Sometimes the two of us would just nap together in the midday heat.

Enrichment for the animals was another important duty for the quarantine volunteers.

I would fill used egg cartons with nuts and seeds, then fold and tie them. The monkeys and birds loved tearing them apart to get at their tasty reward. The gatitos, two Geoffroy’s cat kittens, preferred taking turns stalking and pouncing on each other to playing with any toy I made for them. Occasionally, they would bite at my shoelaces or climb my body to jump and ambush one another.

The experiences I enjoyed while volunteering for Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi’s (CIWY) Ambue Ari Park will be hard to forget. I feel truly privileged to have been able to work so intimately with such magnificent animals. CIWY is always in need of volunteers — without them, the parks cannot properly function.

CIWY runs three parks in Bolivia: Machia, Ambue Ari and Jacj Cuisi. Machia focuses on monkeys and birds and is also home to the Andean bear Balu. Ambue Ari is more rustic and serves as the primary cat sanctuary. Jacj Cuisi is currently under construction and still in need of more help. The parks do not require you to book ahead of time as they cannot reserve specific animals or rely on backpackers who say they will come and then don’t show up. You have to commit a minimum of 15 days as volunteer (30 if working

TRAVIS MUIR with cats). If crossing the equator doesn’t fit in with your schedule right now, but you still want to support the cause, there are donation options available. For more details, visit intiwarayassi.org/articles/volunteer_animal_refuge/home.html

I will be hosting a Wild For Wildlife fundraiser for Ambue Ari on Jan. 12, 2013, at Felicita’s.

I invite all students and community members to come out to learn even more about this important sanctuary.

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www.victorialaw.ca October 11, 2012 MARTLET • CULTURE 13

OCTOBER 18–29 EVENTS CALENDAR

STUDENT UNION BUILDING, UVIC

9 CINECENTA.COM 0

OCT 14 (3:00 matinee, 7:00 & 9:00) OCT 15 (7:00 & 9:00)

OCT 12 & 13 (3:00 matinee, 7:20 & 9:25)

FIRST POSITION

RUBY SPARKS

The Martlet remembers when The Archers got their big break playing in classrooms on campus.

JENNY BOYCHUCK

OCT 16 (7:00 & 9:00)

MUSIC

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 VOCES INTIMAE CHOIR Russian classical music is just a hint more ominous than other European classical music.

Even their Sesame Street theme (YouTube it) sounds somewhat bittersweet. The Voces Intimae Choir specializes in Russian and Ukrainian church music, and features the low, deep rumble of men’s voices. So if atmospheric, a cappella music floats your boat, come check this out. A portion of the proceeds are going to charity. For more info, email vocesintimae@ shaw.ca or call 250-727-2529. St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church (1112 Caledonia Avenue). 3 p.m. $15–$20 at the door.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 (PLUS MORE DATES) CANADIAN BLOOD DONOR CLINIC Giving blood is an important public service.

I know people can be squeamish about it, but maybe less so these days, what with all the vampire movies and TV shows. So why don’t you throw on your gothiest clothes, hop on the bus out to Sidney and give some blood? Just close your eyes and imagine your favourite vampire fantasy. Just try not to think about Max Schreck from Shadow of the Vampire. That’ll ruin it for you. I’ve probably ruined it for you now. Well, just take one for the team; go give blood anyway! For more info, call 1-888-2-DONATE or visit blood.ca.

Mary Winspear Centre (2243 Beacon Avenue), Sidney. 1–7 p.m. Free (except for your blood).

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29 FOREST SPOOKTACULAR This event features two nature walks (11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.), along with the promise that you’ll be spooked by the natural world. Spooked by a forest? Well, I guess so. I mean, all the Blair Witch Project really had was a friggin’ forest, and I thought it was creepy. Or maybe they’ll do the classic SCTV Count Floyd 3-D spooky effect of moving a tree branch closer to, then away from your face. In any case, the organizers of this event have me curious as to what exactly they’re going to show me that’s so spooky. Are you wondering about that too? Go and find out! For more info, email crdparks@crd.bc.ca or call (250) 478-3344.

Francis/King Regional Park. 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Free.

NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS

visit martlet.ca IT'S ON THE INTERNET.

ARTS/CULTURE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 13TH ANNUAL JAPANESE CULTURAL FAIR There are a lot of things about traditional Japanese culture that resonate with me. I almost feel like I lived there in a past life, if that’s possible. So naturally I want to go and check out this event, which features traditional music, arts and food, as well as dance and martial arts performances. Do you feel like I do? Or, as Peter Frampton would say into his guitar talk-box, “Bwaat tauu bwaat tauu bwaat?” For more info, go to vncs.ca. Esquimalt Recreation Centre (527 Fraser Street). 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Free.

SCIENCE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 HYDROLOGIC RESPONSES TO FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE: INCORPORATING THE EFFECTS OF CHANGING LAND COVER Are you a hydrologist? Or are you a budding hydrologist waiting for the day when, after enough hard work and studying, you can also call yourself an honest-to-goodness hydrologist? Well then, you’ll want to scoot on down to this hydrology lecture by R. D. Moore from the University of British Columbia’s departments of Geography and Forest Resource Management. With issues like deforestation and receding glaciers caused by climate change, the field is experiencing some challenges, which Moore will address in his talk. Well, what are you waiting for?

Team Hydro, activate your power rings — Hydrologize! For more info, go to pics.uvic. ca. Room 002, University House 1, UVic (2489 Sinclair Rd.). 3:30 p.m. Free. > ALAN PIFFER

a horse walks into a bar... and tells you to write for our Humour section.

Clearly we're not the funny ones.

E-mail martlet.humour.feature@gmail.com for more info 14 CULTURE • MARTLET October 11, 2012

OCT 17 & 18 (7:00 & 9:00)

FoR THe WeeK oF oCTobeR 8TH, 2012

THE ARCHERS The Archers were recently nominated for a Young Performer of the Year Award in the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Folk music is their game. Personally, I like to imagine that they were once a tribute band called The Archies until the guy playing Jughead had some “creative differences” and left the group after a heated onstage argument, taking Betty with him. And everyone knows you can’t have an Archies tribute band without Betty’s tambourine beats. Then their bass player had a jolt of inspiration . . . For more info, go to atomiqueproductions.com. Felicita’s (UVic’s Student Union Building). 9 p.m. $8 students, $10 general admission.

or later ings undergrfaor uvic ds)

OUTDOORS/RECREATION

CFUV Top Ten

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 FRIDAY MUSIC UVic’s School of Music will feature its woodwind students, who will, I hope, be doing a tribute to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. They probably won’t. Wouldn’t it be cool if they did, though? And their woodwind playing actually did make magical stuff happen? Now, woodwinds make some beautiful music, but if they did magic, they would easily be more badass than eight-string heavy metal guitars. Phillip T. Young Recital Hall (UVic’s MacLaurin Building). 12:30 p.m.

Admission by donation.

$3.75

(9 pm show

1. FLYING LOTUS Until The Quiet Comes (Warp) 2. PSYCHIC POLLUTION + Deconstructed Architecture (Eat Glass) 3. GRIZZLY BEAR Shields (Warp) 4. KID KOALA * 12 Bit Blues (Ninja Tune) 5. THE RAVEONETTES Observator (Vice) 6. VARIOUS ARTISTS Country Funk 1969-75 (Light In The Attic) 7. DIVINE FITS * A Thing Called Divine Fits (Merge) 8. BETTYE LAVETTE Thankful & Thoughtful (Anti-) 9. JONNY GREENWOOD The Master Soundtrack (Nonesuch) 10. LOSCIL * Sketches From New Brighton (Kranky)

CFUV

101.9 FM c f u v. u v i c . c a CFUV is an award winning campus/ community radio station based at the University of Victoria. For more information about CFUV (including volunteering info, our program schedule, complete charts and much more) please visit us at: www.cfuv.uvic.ca twitter.com/cfuv

Hear the weekly top ten on Charts and Graphs Tues-

* Canadian artist

+ local artist

days at 3:00PM on CFUV 101.9FM or online!

HUGO WONG

The rebirth of a long-lost literary event > TYLER LAING Oct. 12–13 marks the revival of a literary event not seen in Victoria for several years. The Victoria Writers Festival takes place at Camosun College and will host the Pacific Comics Art Festival on Saturday. For Sara Cassidy, one of the Writers Festival directors, Victoria was long overdue for such an occasion.

“It was always a really great event in the city,” she says, referring to the Manulife Literary Arts Festival that took place in Victoria between 1994 and 2003. “It had gotten to the point of having just some marvelous international writers here on our shore, and it had a great reputation.”

Cassidy says she knew this festival “just had to happen,” and when she sat down for a beer with fellow writers Julie Paul and John Gould roughly a year ago, they agreed. Gould had been

interested in having a comics art festival for some time, and a writers festival seemed like an appropriate opportunity to host one.

After that, says Cassidy, “Sponsorships kind of leapt into our laps.” First the Times Colonist came forward as a media sponsor — “an injection of encouragement” — and then Camosun College offered its Lansdowne campus as a venue — “another great injection of support.”

These quick, early sponsors indicated to Cassidy and her colleagues that Victoria was, as they had suspected, ready for this festival to happen.

The next step for the organizers was approaching writers to attend the festival. Cassidy refers to discussing writers and reading reviews as “the fun part.”

“I have to say the easy part was drawing up the names,” she says. “We invited our writers, and I think almost everybody said yes from our list.”

Bill Gaston, Chair of UVic’s Writing Depart-

ment, will be reading from his new novel, The World. Like those organizing the festival, Gaston understands Victoria’s need for a literary showcase. “For its size, Victoria has a huge writing community and, more than that, a reading community, and of course all the writers are insatiable readers too,” he writes by email. “The collapse of the previous festival in Victoria left a similarly sizeable hole. The city still hosts plenty of readings, always has, always will, but a festival is galvanizing, and a highlight.”

Cassidy also sees the value the readers bring to such an event. “You get a whole bunch of really great, articulate minds together and a lot of great, articulate ears — in terms of the readers — and it’s magic what happens. It’s a really great conversation. A very busy, complex conversation and storytelling feast for those days.”

The festival consists of readings, panel discussions, performance poetry, lectures, workshops

and write-offs, all hosted by more than 30 recognized writers — many of who are local.

“I think that this year’s focus on local writers is an excellent way to launch the new festival — it’s nice to celebrate what we have in such abundance, what we’re rather famous for, in fact — but in years to come, it’ll also be great to see what kind of national and international writers the festival attracts,” writes Gaston.

But before Cassidy can begin looking too far into the festival’s future, she has some goals for this inaugural edition. “I hope to have sent out about 100 thank-you letters [by next week], and I hope to have the energy to have it again next year. I hope that people all over the city will be reading books by writers that they discovered at Victoria’s Writers Festival and just be enjoying their stories and ideas.”

Check out victoriawritersfestival.com for more information.

feeling creative?

Share it with the world. Send us your comics.

E-mail proco@martlet.ca for more info

October 11, 2012 MARTLET • CULTURE 15

MUSIC RAGS

Erik Schrody (a.k.a. Everlast) has aged well as a hip-hop artist.

RAMA (WIKICOMMONS)

Aging assassins Weathered voices keep their raps fresh > BLAKE MORNEAU In the musical timeline, hip-hop is a young genre. Without a direct progenitor to take cues from, the genre’s pioneers have often been forced into obscurity, relegated to popping up for random guest spots (see: Chubb Rock) or releasing wildly out-of-touch albums (see: Rakim’s The Seventh Seal). Some become reality TV curiosities (see: Rev. Run, Flavor Flav), and some just fall off the map altogether, never receiving full credit for things they’ve done (see: Coke La Rock). As the casualties begin piling up, the next wave of aging hip-hop stars have begun to learn from the past and found ways not only to age gracefully, but also to stay relevant to the genre.

In the last few weeks, Victoria has been given two glowing examples of this second wave of hip-hop icons learning how to mature. Everlast (founding member of hip-hop pioneers House of Pain) and B-Real (founding member of weed-rappers Cypress Hill) both brought their versions of aging hip-hop grace with two winning performances.

Armed with his guitar and flanked by a three-piece band, Everlast (real name Erik Schrody) brought his weathered hip-hop growl to the Rifflandia festival on Sept. 16 for a mellow, assertive set that demonstrated the confidence that has come to define the man called Whitey Ford.

House of Pain’s signature song, “Jump Around,” is an inescapable cloud of aggression that hangs above everything Everlast does. Indeed, shouts from the crowd at Rifflandia for the song could be heard from the moment he took the stage. But this is not the MC who wrote that raucous party track.

This is the man who wrote “What It’s Like,” the man who’s built his post-House of Pain career on a connection to the dark side of the working class.

New songs like “Little Miss America” and the stellar “I Get By” from his latest album, Songs of the Ungrateful Living, stood with Everlast’s strongest works like the aforementioned “What It’s Like” and “White Trash Beautiful,” proving to the sleepy Sunday Rifflandia audience that Everlast can still write thoughtful,

16 CULTURE • MARTLET October 11, 2012

provocative music with a purpose. He may be less high-profile on his own, but he’s clearly in his element as he ages, becoming wiser with each album he releases. It’s an example of an impressive metamorphosis from ruffian to respected elder statesman: a change that has eluded some of hip-hop’s finest.

Everlast’s sometime-cohort, Cypress Hill’s B-Real, brought his cannabis-hazed hip-hop to Club 9One9 on Oct.3 and displayed a different but no less effective veteran prowess.

As a male ages, he reaches a point where he begins to gain a certain type of strength, often alluded to as “old-man strength.” B-Real has cultivated the hip-hop equivalent of this strength, bludgeoning his audience with his unique nasal delivery, coming at them with sheer ferocity.

Consumed by the “ultra-violent dreams” mentioned in his lyrics, B-Real built Cypress Hill not just on weed but on incredible violence. His focus on cannabis has helped him shed some of that violence and turned him into a hip-hop professor — a guy who comes across as more apt to hang out smoking rather than looking for the man he “could just kill.” His work with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the medical marijuana movement has given his hazy image a new gravitas, even as he continues to make party-centric weed-smoking music.

As he’s grown older he hasn’t slowed down like Everlast, but has blasted open a comfortable place for himself where he has a dedicated audience. B-Real still gives the people the classics they came to see and makes them jump to new shit as well. What would a BReal-headlined show be without Cypress Hill’s own indelible classic, “Insane in the Brain”?

He delivered. People jumped.

Both of these cats who started crafting their hip-hop at the outset of the 1990s have had their periods of downtime, and while neither commands the attention they once did, they are bright examples of new ways to keep active and vital in the hip-hop community. They may not win a whole lot of new fans these days, but those who have stuck around can look on with admiration and respect at what these artists continue to accomplish.

250.595.6044

EATS, CHEWS AND LEAVES

A 5-question approach to Maude Hunter’s > KAITLYN ROSENBURG On the first day of journalism school, every student learns the five Ws of a story. Who, what, when, where and why. Given that I recently visited Maude Hunter’s Pub with a few of my closet Writing Department friends, I find it timely to deliver this week’s column in the five-Ws format.

WHERE:

The dish is billed as an appetizer on the menu.

The quesadilla was good, not great. I was swayed to order it because, among the chicken, tomatoes, green onion, roasted peppers and jalapeno jack, the menu promised chipotle cream cheese between the tortilla layers. I didn’t taste any smoky heat or cream cheese, and for someone who despises any level of spicy food, I still found the dish bland.

Maude Hunter’s Pub, situated near the corner of Cedar Hill Cross Road and Shelbourne Street.

Inside, the space appears to be having an identity crisis. There are elements of an English-style establishment, like dark wood paneling and fireplaces, but then Maude’s also has a hunter lodge vibe because of a deer head mounted over the main staircase at the entrance.

WHO:

WHEN:

WHY:

Our group planned to meet at 7 p.m. on a Saturday. I had envisioned a wait for a table, but I had envisioned incorrectly. Diners are expected to seat themselves, so don’t awkwardly loiter near the entrance like me. There’s a definite shift in clientele age from 7–8 p.m. as students arriving later guarantees a more youthful venue.

There are lots of reasons why people choose to eat out. For writers, it’s a chance to discuss our craft (which really means we talked about our favourite television plotlines).

WHAT: Since I don’t indulge in pub food very often, I had held off on eating all day so I could devour my meal. I sprang for the smoked chicken quesadilla ($12.95), while one friend boldly ordered the poutine ($10.95) with added pulled pork ($2.50). Portions run on the gigantic side.

“This is my Everest,” declared my friend upon digging into her mountain of fries and shredded meat. She barely made it beyond base camp.

The service was lacking. I only ever saw two servers on the floor the entire night, which was not enough. I’ve come to expect servers, especially in pubs or bars, to constantly berate diners to order another drink. At Maude’s, our table had to wave down the server on numerous occasions when the glasses went dry.

RR MAUDE HUNTER’S PUB 3810 SHELBOURNE STREET MONDAY TO THURSDAY: 11:30 A.M. – MIDNIGHT FRIDAY TO SUNDAY: 11 A.M. – MIDNIGHT

KAITLYN ROSENBURG If you order the poutine at Maude Hunter's, you can ask for extra pulled pork. The quesadilla, however, is light on the chipotle cream cheese.

Grammar HEY, WANNA MAKE

SOME COMICS?

nerds needed!

ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR ERRORS (AND FREE PIZZA)?

COME TO OUR OFFICE (SUB B011) ON TUESDAY AFTERNOONS (3–6 P.M.) FOR SOME COPY EDITING AND THRILLING DISCUSSION ABOUT THE OXFORD COMA. Email martlet.volunteercoordinator@gmail.com for more info!

October 11, 2012 MARTLET • CULTURE 17

HUMOuR

You know what they say. Laughter is the best medicine.

Unless you have a nasty infection.

Then a robust round of antibiotics is probably the best medicine.

Why you should live alone > NICHOLAS BURTON-VULOVIC I don’t like living with other people. Like any good Canadian, my first and only rule in life is to pay attention to what Jesus said on page 334 of my special translation of the Bible: “Stop eating my food, you heathen Roman.” And it’s true; when you live with other people, inevitably there’s going to be a heathen Roman who steals your chocolate cake leftovers when you can least afford to have them go missing.

Cast your mind back to the night of the Oct. 17, 1984. It was an unusually cold fall. The leaves were starting to fall quite early, and I had developed a bit of a cold as a result of an unfortunate run-in with a mongrel puppy a buddy of mine had stolen from the pound the day before. I needed a quick pick-me-up. I did the only logical thing and headed to the local bar for a beer. And, as nature intended, things evolved from there.

Several hours later, seven new drunk friends (three of whom may have been drug dealers and/or police pretending to be drug dealers) and I were sitting in the Denny’s on Finlayson, stuffing our faces with waffles and debating whether to order pie or cake.

I am not a big pie fan. I’ll eat pie if I have to, and sometimes I do, of course. But if I have my druthers, I’d rather have cake. It’s just so moist and soft and delicious. So there I was, working my way through a knee-high stack of mediocre pancakes with butter and corn syrup, eagerly anticipating a slice of sweet chocolate cake. Suddenly, the man seated on my right, Johnny, starts upchucking all over his chuck and cheese skillet.

It isn’t a pretty sight. I think Johnny might have eaten a mouse the day before. I definitely see a tail of some kind in there.

So I do what any rational Canadian would do. I order a piece of cake and I hightail it out of there.

I don’t even have time to pay. I mean, I suppose we all paid in a roundabout way, of course, through the tax dollars that go into the welfare system. Anyway. There I am, drunk and stuffed, with a box of cake and a head full of dreams. Life is good. I head home, happy with the world.

REBECCA COMEAU

When I get there, I’m too tired to do anything except put the cake in the fridge and collapse onto the air mattress I share with my girlfriend’s grandmother on weekends. It’s a long story, but she gets lonely at the end of the week. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, and wouldn’t you know, every single dream that night was about cake. Magic, dancing, chocolate cake, covered in icing. Taunting me. Enthralling me.

My mind is in overdrive. I’m way too hyped up by cake dreams to sleep deeply. I doze for a few hours, but in the end I give up. The sun

is rising. I can smell the Chinese restaurant next door cooking breakfast, and off in the distance a truck backfires and belches black fumes. It’s a glorious day to be alive. I head for the fridge.

I peel across the living room and open the fridge door. My taste buds are alight in anticipation. My stomach is grumbling. I think it’s scaring the cat. I peer inside. Where’s the cake?

I push past the mustard and the three-year-old olive oil. It’s nowhere to be found. How could this be? My world is collapsing. Was the cake a lie? No, it was real. I know it was real! And

then I see it.

My smug, self-satisfied son-of-a-bitch of a roommate, sitting on the couch. Chocolate rings his mouth. His ugly belly protrudes from between his shirt and pants, and on the table is the sad Styrofoam remnant of my once-glorious late-night snack container. Red descends. I murder him in a fit of rage.

Of course, I was never convicted, because the court agreed everything I did was completely justified. The lesson stands: always live alone. And never sit next to Johnny when you're at Denny’s.

HOROSCOPES FOR VERY SPECIFIC GROUPS OF PEOPLE

Astrology for fictional video game characters They’re real to me, dammit; they should be real to you, too > BY ALAIN WILLIAMS

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan.19)

Mars is moving into a new phase, and this week shall be one of conquering and possibly vengeance. As you climb the walking mountain before you and face the hordes of the underworld, feel free to let the rage of the gods drive your blades.

This week will test your will, wits and resourcefulness. Simply trust in your past experiences as you move forward. Keep in mind the following: weapons and tools have always been procure-on-site; there’s nothing wrong with slithering on the ground; and unconventional hiding places made out of cardboard are often the best.

As you go forward this week into ancient, undiscovered lands, preparedness will be key.

Keep your side-arms handy and practice your back flips and swan dives. Impractical attire that accentuates your figure is optional.

Refrain from taking risks this week. You may feel confident having jumped from the tallest of towers and into a simple wooden cart of hay with nary a scratch, but this week may be the one time that doesn’t work. Try simply blending into a group of monks instead.

Much safer.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22)

Keep your loved ones in your mind and heart this week. A full heart container will be a great help when travelling to places that are dangerous to go alone, and may serve as a powerful link to your inner power, wisdom and courage.

You will do splendidly with your financial dealings this week! So good, in fact, that it’ll feel like gold is literally floating in the sky, waiting for you to pluck it! You and your brother can finally close down the family septic business and take the vacation you deserve. Wah-hoo!

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Gemini (May 21 – June 20) Complicated challenges will present themselves this week; the order in which you tackle them will be crucial to your success over them. Wear lots of blue and start by tackling fire . . .

18 HUMOUR • MARTLET October 11, 2012

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22) This week will be the first step on a grand new career path for you. This is your chance to literally catch your dreams! Embrace your desire to be the very best, like no one ever was . . .

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) The stars do not burn brightly in your favour this week, but that’s okay. Nothing could ever burn brighter than your hatred for the Lin Kuei. Though it burdens your already tormented soul, you can use this hatred to drive your kunai forth, deep into the hearts of your enemies. The farther away they are from you, the better it will feel when you roar, “Get over here!”

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18) This week shall play out as most others have for you: just another step on the long journey of life. You may wander into a small town and fight a former wrestler, or you may climb a tall mountain and learn from a yoga master.

Wherever your road may take you, rest assured that your gi will somehow stay pristine.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20)

Take time to reflect on those who have mocked you in the past and let those thoughts motivate you as you move ahead. They didn’t think you were as cool as Cancer. They thought you were wimpy. They couldn’t see how you could ever possibly change. But you and I both know that soon, revengeance shall be yours.

It’s time to accept it. Ecco the Dolphin was a crappy character in a sub-par game that people only played because it was bundled with its system. Nobody liked it. Or you.

Romney is not a robot

A satirical look at the Governor’s appearance > GEOFFREY LINE

Ladies and gentlemen, Mitt Romney is not a robot. As Representative of the Presidential Candidate’s Cosmetic Appearance (RPCCA), the bulk of my time has been spent diffusing such accusations. I anticipated questions about the governor’s attire (in truth, some supporters inquired where they might purchase Mr. Romney’s shiny, Republican-red tie. Don’t tell anyone — it’s a clip-on). I imagined I would have a week’s worth of work responding to the governor’s abrupt change in skin tone (some CNN observers have suggested his tan was a strategic alteration to garner sympathy from Latino voters — whatever). But such issues have proven infinitesimal to my position as RPCCA. The bulk of my time, I state again, has been spent assuring the American people that their Republican presidential candidate is not a robot.

To be explicit, Mitt Romney is not an android, though he does appreciate the moral dilemmas the Alien films pose. The governor is not a bot, he is not a droid, he is not a golem, and though they may share a gentlemanly demeanour, Governor Romney’s style is not inspired by The Bicentennial Man. Governor Romney is not a cyborg. He is not a T-800, a T-1000, or a T-X. I assure you he has no affiliation with the fictional artificial intelligence corporation Skynet. That

critics have made such accusations of Governor Romney and not Governor Schwarzenegger baffles me. In short, ladies and gentlemen: Governor Romney is an organic, sentient, suitand-tie-wearing, hamburger-eating Homo sapien fit to lead the country.

As RPCCA, I believe the governor’s presentation to be ship-shape, the ideal image that all hard-working Americans should emulate or at least aspire to. I take great pride when I see the governor slickly dressed and photographed from afar with his perfect — some say rigid — posture. What a wondrous sight, this six-foottwo man standing erect as a meerkat — at the podium; in a crowd; at the helm of his yacht.

Of course, those who have contacted my office feel differently. Most citizens cite the gelled sculpture of Governor Romney’s hair or his “Jack Nicholson smirk” as reason to believe he is inhuman. I have read many such outlandish emails and even personally responded to a female college undergrad who feels, particularly when Governor Romney is berating President Obama or his policies while simultaneously grinning, that she is “looking at the face of a respected neighbourhood dad who lives to catch his children’s friends getting into trouble so he can lecture them with absolute conviction on the better things they could be doing with their lives instead of having snowball fights.”

REBECCA COMEAU

Saddening, surely, but at least to this young woman, Governor Romney is human. How he could be anything else given his unquestionably benevolent character and handsome image is beyond me. Just how absurd the electorate has become is obvious from accusations that Romney is a robot and from this, a sad Facebook

post by a wayward young American: “Last night during the debate, Governor Romney turned from President Obama and — like a killer, elitist automaton from my childhood nightmares — looked straight at the camera, and so straight at me. I was in the safety of my home, enjoying the comfort of my couch. And I was scared.”

October 11, 2012 MARTLET • HUMOUR 19

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