Issue 12

VOLUME 62

Gardening goes guerilla, p. 6

The Olympic torch comes to campus, p. 2 Take a plunge into the world of tattoos, p. 10 Graphica: not just for kids (or adults) anymore, p. 12 Graveyard ghosts haunt Victoria area, p. 15

October c o er 29,, 2009

12

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Students vote ‘yes’ to paying more for athletics

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Students want improved athletics facilities. At least, that’s the result captured by a consultative ballot issued to students last week.

The ballot, which asked students a yes-or-no question on whether or not they want a new athletics building in exchange for an extra $55 per term fee, showed a 53 per cent majority of students voting in favor of the new building fee.

These results, along with other information regarding the project, will now be going to the UVic Board of Governors in November. A decision on how to proceed with the proposed project will occur in the new year.

Associate Vice President Student Affairs Jim Dunsdon said that, above all, he was “really happy” to see such a high voter turnout rate on the question.

Participation in the vote was approximately 20 per cent of the UVic student body, a dramatic increase when compared to the Board of Governors and Senate elections, which often see little more than a five per cent voter turnout.

Nearly 60 per cent of undergrad students who responded voted in favor of the building, while aproximately 22 per cent of grad students voted in support of the proposed project.

“The plan has always been to conduct the ballot, and then bring those results forward to the Board of Governors … [this] informs them about what the student body wants,” Dunsdon said.

The proposed fee would see students contribute $21.6 million toward the $58.7-million project. If the building is approved, the new fee wouldn’t be put in place until after the building is complete, likely fall 2012.

Dunsdon said he wasn’t that surprised by the results.

SOL KAUFFMAN

Students voted to accept a fee increase that would improve UVic’s athletic facilities, including the McKinnon building.

“Healthy living and access to recreation is a much more predominate factor now in helping students decide where they want to go to study,” he said. “It’s a way of life people are looking for when they come here ... and it’s a staying factor for students.”

Currently, full-time undergrads pay approximately $73 per term in athletics fees, but have the option of joining the Ian Stuart Complex weight room at a higher fee per term.

The new athletics fee would bring the standard fee up to $128 per term for undergrads, but would offer access to all facilities. The fee is expected to be prorated on course registration.

Currently, Simon Fraser University (SFU) undergrad students pay $103 per term in athletics fees, while University of B.C. (UBC) students pay approximately $105.

While some have claimed that

students already in athletics-minded programs were the main target audience for promotion of the ballot, Dunsdon said the question was clear in terms of what the vote would mean — a consultation of what students want.

Dunsdon said that many provinces do not consider athletics buildings a core responsibility of provincial funding, and so achieving funding for said buildings often becomes a challenge.

As some other institutions have found, that funding then has to come from the students — if they want it.

For students who thought their vote wouldn’t matter, Dunsdon corrects that philosophy.

“If it had been a ‘no’ vote, it would have been very diffucult to move this project forward,” he said. “What the students say really does make a difference.”

UVic to welcome Olympic torch in first leg of relay Campus event will include barbecue, sports demonstrations and meet-and-greets with current and former Vikes athletes

by ANNA CZOLPINSKI The flame for the Vancouver Olympics has bee lit in a traditional ceremony in Olympia, Greece. On Oct. 30 it will arrive at UVic, one of the first stops in the 106-day long Olympic Torch Relay across Canada.

The relay will cover 45,000 kilometers and will involve 12,000 torch bearers, culminating in the lighting of the cauldron at B.C. Place in Vancouver on Feb. 12 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

To celebrate the arrival of the torch, UVic is hosting “Olympic Torch Day,” a celebration of UVic’s tradition of excellence in athletics and of the Vikes’ representation at past Olympic Games.

2 NEWS

The festivities will be held in parking lot 4 of Centennial Stadium on Friday, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The torch is expected to arrive on campus via McGill Road around 5 p.m. It will continue around Ring Road to Henderson Road, where it will exit campus and head downtown to a subsequent torch ceremony on the lawn of the legislature.

The event will include a barbecue, where students and community members are invited to learn about campus sports clubs, including UVic Snow. UVic Snow will be setting up a mini mountain, including a 10-foot drop-in from scaffolding. The demonstration requires a fair amount of skill as a skier or snowboarder, so participation is by invitation only, but spectators are

more than welcome to watch, said UVic Snow president Adrian White.

The barbecue will also provide students and community members with an opportunity to meet current and former UVic student athletes.

“The Olympic torch relay represents an opportunity for communities across Canada to share in the celebration of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games” said Clint Hamilton, UVic’s Athletics and Recreation Director. “We are fortunate that UVic is one of the first destinations of the 106-day tour, and [we] find it appropriate given the rich tradition of Vikes athletes’ participation in the Olympic Games.”

The Vikes have had tremendous representation at the Olympic

Games. A total of 156 Vikes athletes, coaches and alumni have represented Canada at various Olympics throughout the years.

Those representatives have won a total of 10 gold, six silver and five bronze medals. An additional 26 medals have been won by Vikes at the Paralympics. Mike Tucker, Vikes Athletics Communications Officer, says these numbers are unrivalled in Canadian university sports.

Mark Laidlaw was a member of the UVic rowing team from 2003 to 2007, and is currently training to compete at the 2010 London Olympics. He believes that, in addition to funding and a strong coaching staff, it is the Vikes’ consistent performance that distinguishes them.

“UVic teams have won 64 national

championships and 95 Canada West championships so Canadian athletes know that UVic has successful teams they want to be a part of,” he said. “Good results are the best way to attract good athletes, so it becomes a cycle.”

Hamilton hopes that having UVic host the Torch will help perpetuate that cycle.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “The Olympics represents the highest level of sporting competition in the world. For our Vikes student athletes I hope that seeing the Torch in person, on our campus, will provide the inspiration to dream big and achieve their best.

But, most of all, this is an opportunity to connect our communities through sport.”

October 29, 2009

Métis cultural day an opportunity to entertain, educate

by REBECCA BURROWS It only takes a few people to make a big difference in the world.

This weekend, those people were a group of Métis and UVic First Peoples’ House faculty members and Elders.

A learning session and celebration of the Métis nation was held in the banquet hall of the First Peoples’ House on Oct. 24 to share the knowledge and traditions of an intricate culture with the Victoria community.

The event was open to students and members of the community. There was a small turn out, allowing for an intimate and personal experience for everyone who attended. Chairs were set up in a small sharing circle in the middle of the banquet hall.

The oral traditions of the Métis culture were honoured in the paying of the witnesses ritual where certain members are given gifts (in this case, quarters) for their role as a witness. Their job is to pay close attention to the events and to be able to retell it in detail for anyone who ever asks what went on that day.

Members of the Métis nation introduced themselves by their Métis names and spoke their traditional language amongst themselves. Participants were taught a few simple phrases in Cree and attempted to engage in conversation with one another.

Sam Samasregret, a Métis Elder in Residence on campus, spoke on how language is important for any culture to survive and how, in recent genera-

tions, many Métis have lost that tradition and are now trying regain it.

“I am always asked to say the prayer, and I always have to say it in English. I wish I could at least start it in Cree,” she said.

A lunch of traditional homemade food was provided including bannock, buffalo stew and deer stew.

The food provided the energy needed to tackle the traditional dance that was performed after a few lessons from the experts.

While it takes more than one day of learning and involvement in the Métis culture to be able to dance gracefully, one day did provide an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the unique culture that is the Métis nation.

JOSH THOMPSON

A celebration and learning session of the Métis nation was held at the First Peoples’ house on Oct. 24.

CFS aims to provide member students with one ‘united voice’

by GARRETT THERRIEN Every term you pay $7.98 to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) through your tuition fees.

But what is that money going towards?

According to their website, the CFS “provide[s] students with an effective and united voice.”

Formed in 1981, they are designed to be a political body made up of students and existing for students.

The idea is to have an organization large enough to sway governments — one student union may not be effective, but 20 (the number of CFS member societies in B.C.) have a greater chance of influencing policy.

for discussion of Aboriginal issues is a date rape awareness campaign One of the CFS’ largest projects in education. called “No Means No,” which is is lobbying for lower tuition fees.

In addition to being a lobby committed to ending date rape The CFS claim they were the cause group, the CFS serves as a buythrough awareness, and through of the tuition freeze between 1996 ers collective for their member and 2002 in B.C. Currently, the B.C. providing materials to students’ students’ societies, reducing prices societies and other groups. branch of the CFS (CFS-BC) are for things like agendas running the “Educaand providing the Stution Shouldn’t Be A dent Saver card, which Debt Sentence” camAccording to their website, the CFS “provide[s] provides discounts for paign, in an attempt students at a range of to lower tuition fees students with an effective and united voice.” businesses across the in the province. country.

The CFS also lobThey also own and opbies for other issues erate Travel Cuts, a travel company At the federal level, the CFS lobaffecting students, such as affordgeared toward students. bies the government for funding for able housing. An example is CFSThe organization is not without aboriginal students, which they say BC’s “We Ride” campaign for better faults, however. is too low. public transit.

In recent years, several schools In addition, they run the NaAnother campaign the CFS runs across the country have question tional Aboriginal Caucus to give their students’ societies’ memberAboriginal students a voice in ship in the CFS. Some have found the CFS, as well as a lobby with that leaving is not as simple as federal government and a forum

asking students whether or not they want to be members.

The University of Cape Breton, Simon Fraser University and Kwantlen Polytechnic University have all tried — and failed — to defederate from the CFS through referendums. During the process, the CFS said the schools failed to follow the CFS referendum by-laws and many were met with litigation by the CFS. One students’ union that has been able to successfully defederate is UVic’s Graduate Students’ Society (GSS) who left the CFS in 2008.

Currently, at least 13 universities across Canada, including UVic, are asking students to question their students’ unions’ CFS membership by circulating petitions asking for a referendum on the issue.

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4 NEWS

October 29, 2009

Abortion debate draws crowds UVic group attempts to clear-up debate

by SEAN PETERSON

An abortion debate featuring controversial pro-life advocate Stephanie Gray drew an audience so large, it had to be run twice.

Before the debate began on Oct. 21, about 300 people filled the seats, aisles and any other space in the room they could find to stand.

Campus security asked everyone standing or sitting in aisles to leave the room for fire-safety reasons. The original debate was held at 3:30 p.m. and a second debate was then held at 5 p.m. to accommodate.

About 15 pro-choice demonstrators wearing t-shirts saying “keep your laws off of my body,” and “my body is not up for debate” filled the front rows.

“This debate about abortion is really examining whether abortion is a moral, or an immoral act … and the position that I come from is that it’s wrong — it’s a human rights violation,” Gray said in her opening.

During Gray’s arguments, the demonstrators, which included members of Students for Choice and directors of the UVic Students’ Society (UVSS), stood up and held signs with slogans such as “abortion is a personal decision, not a legal debate,” and “we will never compromise a woman’s right to bodily autonomy,” blocking the audience’s view of the presentation.

Gray continued unfazed, arguing that an unborn child at any stage of development is human.

“Time and again we see the differences between each of us to be the same differences between the unborn and newborn child. They are differences in degree, not in kind.

What we all have in common … is that we are of the human species.”

Gray posed a question to the audience.

“Do those of us that are older have a right to kill those that are younger?” she said.

Gray ended her opening argument with a video of an abortion in real time. Some audience members found the images disturbing.

“Can you get that off of the screen?” someone shouted.

“I’m not sure yuckiness is academically relevant,” said another.

But the biggest jeers came after Gray explained her decision to show the video by quoting a prochoice advocate Naomi Wolf.

“How can we charge that it is vile and repulsive … if the images are real? To insist that the truth is in poor taste is the very height of hypocrisy,” Gray said. “If we claim that it is offensive for pro-choice women to be confronted by them, then we are making a judgement

by SCOTT DALY

JOSH THOMPSON

Demonstrators held up signs during an Oct. 21 debate on abortion, blocking the audiences’ view of controversial speaker Stephanie Gray.

that women are too inherently weak to face the truth, about which they have to make a grave decision.

This view is unworthy of feminism.”

Gray’s arguments were followed by her opponent Dr. Eike-Henner Kluge, a UVic philosophy professor and expert on biomedical ethics.

Kluge introduced himself as a “replacement speaker” because professors in the women’s studies and political science departments were unwilling to debate Gray.

“That people are not willing to debate an issue in an academic setting is deplorable … that violates freedom of speech, and that violates freedom of academic inquiry,” he said.

Kluge called the use of graphic images “irrelevant” to the debate.

“I could show pictures too of raped women, of battered women — I’ve seen hundreds of them,” he said.

“I am an academician. I’m looking simply at the concepts involved.”

Kluge’s argument centered on how legally and ethically, a fetus younger than 20 weeks is not a person.

“A fetus does not have “a capacity for sentient, cognitive awareness at 14 weeks,” said Kluge. “The neural wiring isn’t there.”

The issue is not whether the embryo is of the human species, said Kluge, but whether it has the capacity of consciousness and self-awareness. He said that since it does not, it is not reasonable to bestow it with

the same rights as a mother.

“There are some rights we get based on age or ability; there are other rights we get based on existence,” Gray said in rebuttal.

One of the biggest clashes of the debate came during the question period, when Gray was asked what her stance was in a situation where, in order for a mother to live, the child would have to die, such as in an ectopic pregnancy.

Gray said that directly killing the child is still wrong in such a case, but removing the fallopian tube – which kills the fetus indirectly – is fine.

“Abortion by its nature targets the child’s life for death … whereas what I described, we address the medical problem,” she said.

Kluge, on the other hand, made no distinction between directly and indirectly killing the fetus.

“Unless you’re a gibbering idiot, or you have no business doing medicine, you will know that removing the fallopian tube will kill the fetus,” he said. “If you don’t, you shouldn’t be doing medicine. I would be very scared of you.”

On the subject of who to save in such a case, Kluge was direct.

“I have a novel idea: you ask the mother,” he said to applause.

The event was organized by prolife student group Youth Protecting Youth. Gray visits campuses around the world, representing the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

The pro-choice group Students for Choice rallied on Thursday, Oct. 22, as the debate on abortion took hold of UVic’s campus.

The event came in the wake of a heated lecture on abortion a day earlier, hosted by the pro-life group Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), and saw pro-choice forces gather in a Celebration of Choice to protest what they saw as an offensive misrepresentation their side of the debate.

“This is a non-confrontational act of resistance about what happened yesterday,” said organizer Tara Paterson. “I was appalled by the debate. Stephanie Gray’s tactics, like using images of aborted fetuses and calling abortion policies genocide, were deplorable and I thought that [philosophy professor Eike-Henner Kluge] was by no means reflective of the pro-choice position.”

Paterson said the debate was bogged down in meaningless ethical and philosophical arguments and that women were only mentioned twice.

“Women’s bodies are not for debate,” said Students for Choice member Shelia Markey. “This was a way to show what we think is important when it comes to access to abortion, in that it is about a woman’s right to control her own body.”

Approximately 60 people, almost all of whom had been to the debate on Oct. 21, packed into the Michelle Pujol room to listen to keynote speaker Dawn Fowler, the Canadian Director of the National Abortion Federation.

In her presentation entitled “Safe, Legal… Now What?” Fowler said that many of the arguments used by pro-life activists like Stephanie Gray simply do not reflect the reality of what happens with abortion.

“No matter what your position is, you must be open to the science and the science must be free from politics,” said Fowler. “[However,] with such strong emotions, it’s hard to find common ground … and I don’t think we’ll ever find common

ground.”

Fowler cited finances, distance, pro-life doctors, fear and myths surrounding abortion as barriers that still must be overcome by the pro-choice movement.

“Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures being done,” said Fowler. “No one can come up with evidence that abortion causes depression, breast cancer or longterm psychological trauma.”

Abortion remains the only medical procedure in Canada that, although covered by provincial health plans, sometimes is not automatically covered if a woman has the procedure done outside of her province. Though some provinces have agreements to automatically cover the cost, the $500 to $650 procedure must be paid for by the woman herself who then applies for compensation from her home province.

Not everyone in the crowd was there to celebrate the pro-choice position, however. Fourth-year kinesiology student and pro-life supporter Jeremy Cote said he came to the rally to have a dialogue with pro-choice supporters.

“There’s a common misconception of the pro-life movement that we don’t like pro-choice people,” said Cote. “We don’t want to condemn the people that are pro-choice, we want to condemn the action.”

Around 100,000 abortions are reportedly performed in Canada every year, though it is suspected that the true number is higher because clinics are not required to report all their procedures to Statistics Canada. However, there does appear to be a downward trend in the number of procedures in recent years.

Canada is one of the few countries in the world that currently has no legislation with regards to abortion since a Supreme Court decision in 1988 struck down existing laws. The Court has since repeatedly declined to classify fetuses as legal persons, and all attempts to legislate access to abortion have been defeated thus far.

“This was a way to show what we think is important when it comes to access to abortion, in that it is about a woman’s right to control her own body.”

– Sheila Markey Students for Choice member

Journalist analyzes China’s ‘new’ media rules

Teach English Abroad

by MIKE EDEL A Victoria-born journalist discussed the increased freedom of foreign journalists working in China following the extended Olympic reporting rules, at UVic on Oct. 21.

Scott MacDonald, president of Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) said that before, for an interview, “you had to get permission from the local foreign affairs office — the rules for the Olympics [were that] you can go as long as someone wants to talk to you.”

The regulations give journalists a greater freedom of mobility through the country, less restriction on reporting equipment and the ability to hire Chinese citizens as assistants.

The probationary Olympic report-

October 29, 2009

“[The Chinese government] doesn’t yet understand the difference between media and propoganda.”

– Scott MacDonald Journalist ing rules had initially been granted for the period between Jan. 1, 2007 and Oct. 17, 2008. The day they were set to expire, the regulations were extended and have now been adopted as common practice.

“The changes in China in the last three decades has opened the country up for more foreign journalists — more information is flowing,” MacDonald said.

As capitalism continues to permeate the Chinese urban society, politi-

cal ideals have followed reluctantly.

“China is held to a much higher standard since they are part of the UN Security Counsel and are integrated into the world economy,” MacDonald said.

But he notes that there’s still a long way to go. “[The Chinese government] doesn’t yet understand the difference between media and propaganda.”

Still, the Olympic reporting regulations may be a step towards

open information. Though Western pessimism runs high when deciphering Chinese policy, the 400 Beijing based journalists who are members of the FCCC are finding their jobs easier than in the preOlympic period. Now the question of whether or not China’s doors will be opened wider remains.

In the spotlight of the Olympics, the Western conception was that “the Olympics are coming, China’s getting richer, China will become more democratic.” MacDonald, however, says that’s not going to happen. He says that China’s goal with the Olympics was to improve the world’s perspective of the country — not to be become more democratic.

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Digging at the UVic Sustainability Plan Climate change efforts, protests sweep the globe

by BRONWYN LAWRIE Dressed in black, armed with seeds and spades, guerilla gardeners have torn up turf around the globe. Now, Victoria’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter is bringing the practice to a lawn near you.

Guerilla gardening turns agriculture political: activists take over a derelict or unused space and transform it into a garden. It’s often done under the cover of night, to avoid confrontations with the law.

SDS says it’s the perfect practice to reveal a sustainability flaw in UVic’s strategic plan.

Representative Matt Loewen says the university isn’t following up on Object 32 of that plan, published February 2007. It calls for UVic to “adopt management, planning and grounds management techniques that demonstrate [the university’s] commitment to environmental sustainability.”

“Under the green veneer, our university is highly unsustainable,” said Loewen. “Beyond the rhetoric, I haven’t seen any results. Why are we spending all of these resources manicuring lawns? We can’t eat lawns. They are basically a monoculture, a biological wasteland. Why don’t we start planting food on some of that soil?”

Their project is still in planning.

Loewen hopes SDS’ actions will inspire people to take a more active role in the university community.

“If we get on to guerilla gardening... we can start decreasing Victoria’s carbon footprint. We can start actually growing food here on campus to feed people on campus,” he said Loewen said SDS is part of a network of students and community members interested in using guerilla gardening techniques to grow their own food.

SDS is also planning for the consequences of their actions. According to Loewen, there’s already a support network in place, ready to come to gardeners’ defense if their activities,

by CODY WILLETT

SOL KAUFFMAN

Students For a Democratic Society has plans to uncover UVic dirt.

which are technically classified as illegal vandalism and mischief, get them in trouble.

“The consequences could be just getting rid of the garden, but SDS would problematize that and publicize that and make it a big deal,” he said. “The university could suspend students, but the SDS wvould problematize that again. [The same will happen] if the university decides to dare to expel students for following their own policy for them.”

The SDS is not alone in demanding agricultural space on campus.

Campus Urban Agriculture Collective (CUAC) spokesperson Miranda Cross agreed in an email interview that UVic needs to step up its game.

“We feel that the Sustainability Action Plan is lacking in the area of urban agriculture, because there is no mention of food actually being grown on campus in enough quantity to start feeding the UVic community,” Cross wrote.

Although the CUAC is not involved with guerilla gardening, they are currently focusing on building relationships with activist groups and UVic, with the goal of creating a new garden in the family housing residences.

However, Cross voiced concerns that the planned garden will not meet the demand of students.

“It is intended for family use, and it

is not in an accessible part of campus for the general community to use. It also will likely not be large enough to accommodate the demand we are seeing from students.”

UVic Director of Campus Planning and Sustainablity Neil Connelly begs to differ. He says that a garden in family housing would be ideal, as there would be year-round caretakers to look after it. He also made reference to the Campus Community Garden, located next to parking lot seven, as being an area where students, faculty and staff can grow and harvest their own food.

However, Connelly questioned the appropriateness of devoting campus lands to extensive farming.

“We’re not in the agricultural business,” he said. “We don’t have an agricultural school or agrarian interest in terms of how we look after food production.”

In addition to gardening on campus, he says that UVic has worked hard to establish relationships with suppliers on the Saanich peninsula who help supply university eateries with local food.

“We’re not an island in ourselves, we’re part of the broader community,” said Connelly. “With the things we do here, we can support greater initiatives, [such as] local farming in the community, without having that happening here on campus.”

Polls in the U.S. may say skepticism about climate change is growing, but you wouldn’t know it from expressions of peoplepower sweeping the globe.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, more than 5,200 events in 181 countries were held in an effort to ramp up political pressure on leaders attending December’s UN climate summit in Copenhagen. The events, held on what was billed as the International Day of Climate Action, were coordinated by the international environmental group 350.org.

Victoria’s contribution, dubbed FutureFest, brought nearly 1,000 people to Centennial Square over the course of the event and was hosted by several community groups, including the Sierra Club B.C., B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, the UVic Students’ Society and the Dogwood Initiative.

FutureFest attractions included an ask-the-expert corner, pocket market, food, info booths and music by the Victoria High School Rhythm and Blues Band, Max Serpentini and Adrian Dolan + Zav RT. “The quality of the musicianship was really stellar, so that really drew in a lot of people in from the street who might not have otherwise stopped by,” said FutureFest organizer Amy Cousins.

At the end of a flash-dance mob, the dancers organized themselves into the shape of the number 350 — a digit widely thought to represent the number of carbon dioxide molecules per million in the atmosphere which would enable the world to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The crowd joined in while an aerial photograph was taken, to tie their efforts into those of others around the world, as seen on the 350.org website.

Finally, at 3:50 p.m., cyclists began peddling from Centennial

enter

Square to the legislature. Cousins said the City of Victoria underestimated the event’s potential when she was applying for the event’s permit.

“We got about a hundred cyclists out. It wasn’t a Critical Mass ride … [but the ride] really exceeded our expectations,” said Cousins. “I think it was outstanding being part of an international movement like that – the largest climate movement ever.”

In Ottawa, many student groups helped “Fill the Hill,” drawing approximately 2,000 people to Parliament for a peaceful demonstration on Oct. 24.

On Monday, however, 200 youth disrupted proceedings in the House of Commons with thunderous chants of “C-311 — sign it now!” from the public galleries, referring to a bill setting aggressive emissions reductions targets that was stalled by Conservatives and Liberals a week ago. The protestors were forcibly ejected from Parliament, some sustaining minor injuries.

Six were arrested and later banned from Parliament for a year.

Speaking at the press conference that day, Green Party leader Elizabeth May empathized with the protestors, chiding the MPs who laughed in derision as the young people were removed.

“Those were our children we threw out of our House of Commons today. Those were the best, the brightest, the most dedicated, the most responsible young adults in Canada that they felt they had to cry out,” fumed May. “The youth in the galleries showed more leadership than MPs on the floor, and that is heartbreaking. That is a sad statement on democracy. The youth of this country are speaking out clearly because it’s their future that’s at stake.”

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6 CIVICS

October 29, 2009

Torch relay fires tension for protestors, cops

by KAT ESCHNER It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for — with one sentiment or another.

The Olympic Torch Relay hits Victoria on Oct. 30, at the start of its country-wide trip. And Victoria will be here to wave hello, whether by holding the crowds back or holding a protest festival. Police, legal figures and Victoria’s most publicized Olympic protestors all hope the day goes peacefully.

“For me, the thing that I would mostly like to see is people stopping and thinking a bit about the interests that are driving this Olympic agenda, here in B.C,” said No-2010 representative Tamara Herman, who has been featured widely in news reports.

Corporations like Coca-Cola and RBC are benefiting significantly as Olympic sponsors, while the poor are further marginalized, she said.

At 2 p.m. on the day of the Torch Relay, No-2010 is hosting an antiOlympics festival which will feature, among other things, mock sporting events like queer wrestling and jumping through the hoops of poverty.

Herman said No-2010’s goal for the festival is to create a fun event.

“I’d love to see families getting involved and people bringing their kids,” said fellow No-2010 rep Danielle Hagel, a community mental health worker by day. “Our goal is that we’re not just protesting — we’re building a movement; a social justice movement.”

At 4:30 p.m., the group will assemble for a Zombie March to the Legislature. Herman noted the Zombie March is intended to drive home the presence of a dissenting voice to the Torch Relay and the Games.

The group is building signs, giant puppets and other props for use at the event and during the Zombie March. Volunteer labour and about $1000 are No-2010’s resources, Herman said. The group has received small grants from the Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG), where Herman works, and the UVSS. But most of the money

No-2010 has is from bake sales and canvassing for donations, she said.

The City of Victoria is putting up $150,000 for official torch relay events.

Both Herman and Hagel emphasized No-2010’s legitimacy.

“Because we’re an above-ground group, we’re organizing what we’re trying to make a family-friendly event. We have no role in any potential illegal activity that may come out of the Torch Relay,” said Hagel.

She also says No-2010 would be unlikely to hear of any illegal activity until after the fact, because their actions are public and within the law.

“As a group [however], we will support anyone who’s been charged with civil disobedience, whatever those charges may stem from,” Hagel noted. “So our legal fund will be accessible to any anti-Olympics activist.

Though No-2010 Victoria emphasizes that they believe their actions are within the law, legal advice will be on hand in the event of a problem.

Chris Massey of Victoria’s Marshall, Allen and Massey is prepared to take calls from any member who needs legal advice on Friday.

The lawyer says he doesn’t share the protestors’ Olympic views.

“I just think it’s important that everyone gets adequate legal representation, regardless of their views or political opinions,” he said.

Massey pointed out that the 24hour legal service available to all British Columbians takes many calls from all over the province. A lawyer with time and background knowledge can provide more specific help, he said.

B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) Executive Director David Eby will also be in town, with 12 legal observers trained to watch for and record rights abuses. Observers will be present at the Torch arrival, the launch of the Torch run and the Zombie March. Eby said BCCLA will be keeping an especially close eye on the Zombie March.

The BCCLA is watching for two major things. According to Eby, the

YURI CHOUFOR

No-2010 members have been meeting every Saturday since early September to construct props for their Oct. 30 events. Left to right: Matt Loewen, Jody Franklin, Rebecca Taylor, Danielle Hagel, Mik Turje.

Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) asked all municipalities along the torch route to limit what leaflets and brochures get distributed at Torch Relay events. The BCCLA calls this an unconstitutional and illegal restriction.

“Our second concern is that the police have been very aggressive with protestors to date, in terms of visiting them at home, at work and visiting their family and friends,” he said.

“We’re very interested in observing the interactions between security forces and protestors.”

No-2010’s Hagel has not been approached by the police. Herman, however, has. She says she wasn’t home when the police came to her house asking for her. In total, Hagel said three No-2010 members and one well-known but uninvolved Victoria activist, have been approached.

Victoria Police Department spokesperson Grant Hamilton said in an email interview that the police force hopes there will be no need for police reaction to protestors or demonstrators. Their goal is to keep open dialogue with protest organizers, to

mitigate tension and ensure demonstrations are peaceful, he said.

While the Times Colonist quoted Hamilton as saying No-2010 was “almost setting the stage that they want something to happen,” he told the Martlet that protests are generally peaceful. His concern is that a few people might evoke a mob mentality and cause an already-pressurized situation to escalate.

Hamilton also noted VicPD, or other security forces, would only step in if a protest threatened the safety of the public, police, or protestors, or property damage becomes an issue.

“We sincerely hope that there is no need for the police to react to protestors or demonstrators who choose to create civil disobedience,” he said.

“Our goal is that both the protestors and the police act in a responsible and accountable manner.”

No-2010’s anti-Olympics festival is being held in Centennial Square, which is not a city-approved protest area. No-2010 notes that freedom of speech and of peaceful assembly are both Charter Rights, and Centennial Square, recently renamed the “Spirit

Square,” is public space. Victoria isn’t governed by a bylaw like the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bylaw, so its citizens are under no similar injunction to refrain from carrying unapproved materials during the Games or earlier.

Hamilton accepted that the festival would be a presence in Centennial Square. Ideally, security at the event will be in the background and will stay that way for the day, he said.

Herman and Hagel also hope that things will stay peaceful.

“There’s always some worry when you’re planning a large-scale gathering where protestors will interface with police,” Hagel said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, and all we can really do is hope the police will honour their commitment to allowing us our rights to free speech and to public assembly that we have here in Canada. We can only hope that things won’t escalate from either end.”

New VIPIRG grants dedicated to activism

by SCOTT DALY The Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG) launched its new $6,000 grants program last week, with a call for submissions from community groups and members. The program will allocate up to $1,000 for an individual community activism project that promises to increase “knowledge, awareness and dialogue” on an issue related to local poverty. VIPIRG has a current threeyear focus on anti-poverty projects.

“The grants are meant to give groups or individuals a stipend to work on public interest research,” said VIPIRG Outreach Coordinator Renee McBeth. “We hope to support collective processes between students and the community, and to support student involvement in local poverty research and campaigns.”

Though VIPIRG is funded through a $3 fee, paid as part of UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) fees, there is no preference between student and community groups for the grants.

The deadline for submissions is Nov. 30, but another round of grants will be made in the spring. The spring grant are available only to collectives.

The grant program is one of a number of projects currently being undertaken by the not-for-profit VIPIRG. The organization states that

October 29, 2009

its purpose is to engage in primary public interest research and advocacy and support groups that are active in the community issues.

VIPIRG is currently supporting groups like No 2010 Victoria (a protest group), Raise the Rates (which aims to reduce poverty in B.C.) and Harm Reduction Victoria (which advocates for and helps drug users). VIPIRG is also supporting the Temporary Autonomous Shelter Collective, which was involved in the court battle over the erection of tents in public parks by homeless people.

All UVic students are already members of VIPIRG, and McBeth urges students to become involved either directly with the organization or through some of the groups it’s associated with. Students can also sign up for the group’s weekly listserve.

VIPIRG also has a resource library in Student Union Building (SUB), room 122, with resources on social justice issues open to all members of the community.

“It’s a really rewarding experience,” said McBeth. “You can learn a lot of useful skills and you can have a useful impact on your community.”

VIPIRG is overseen by an 11-member Coordinating Committee that is elected by members during their

Annual General Meeting (AGM).

This year’s AGM is scheduled for Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in room 108 of the UVic Graduate Students Center.

All students are encouraged to attend. Nomination forms for Board of Directors positions are due by Nov. 10 at 4:30 p.m.

“There is a lot of community activism in Victoria,” said McBeth.

“Whatever dimension your interest in the public interest is, VIPIRG probably has something you can become involved in.”

There are currently over 20 other Public Interest Research Groups at Canadian universities and they promote their research as free of corporate or government control.

VIPIRG was established in 1983.

CIVICS 7

Opinions EDITORIAL

•Write for Martlet Opinions (the Save-the-World section).

•Visit our website at martlet.ca and start your very own debate.

Editor Nathan Lowther

opinions@martlet.ca

HALLOWEEN: A BRADY BUNCH OF HORRORS

Arts cuts kill our morale One question for Prime Minister Stephen Harper: just how carefully have you and your aides examined the effects of your funding cuts for the arts?

For a person who ran on a campaign essentially centered around being a defender of the “real Canadian,” of the family, of the children, this element of your policy has quite negatively effected Canada’s youth.

UVic’s writing department is without a doubt one of the most prestigious of its kind in Canada. It attracts students from not only across the country, but from around the world.

The department is already infamous for how incredibly difficult it is to graduate in four years because the class you need is never offered when you need it. But this year, due to the cuts to arts funding that took place on a federal level, it just got harder.

Already small classes were made marginally smaller. Fewer upperlevel electives were offered. A separate workshop (not focused on any one genre and therefore not fulfilling any real requirements — beyond general credit) was set up to accommodate students who were shut out of classes. But this was only after said students made a major stink with Facebook groups and public petitions.

UVic’s Fine Arts Department as a whole felt the drag of Mr. Harper’s financial defence of “real” Canadians (who obviously don’t like art, anyway).

GLEN O’NEILL

LETTERS The photojournalism class was cut — so were the book-designing classes. That may not seem like all that much, or even something very important, but in a department plighted with already-anemic class lists, it is very noticeable.

And the same symptoms have stretched across the country, affecting arts programs in universities from B.C. to Newfoundland.

When did university students cease to be “real” Canadians? When did “real” Canadians stop loving art in all of its brilliant forms?

This country has a rich and glorious history of governmental arts funding.

Where did that get lost?

To say you’re all about the family, Mr. Harper (as you’ve done so repeatedly), implies you have some care for children. This, in turn, implies some care for the future adults and leaders of your society.

Worry about log in your eye

Bunnies need protecting, too

I attended the abortion debate on Wednesday, Oct. 21. It wasn’t just about abortion. It was also about religious zealots masquerading as scientists, trying to impose their fundamentalist beliefs on everyone else. It was about an organization that condemns, not only abortions, but also birth control pills, condoms, female priests, homosexuals and — horrors — sex before marriage. Any organization that invented the inquisition and allegedly protects pedophile priests by transferring them from parish to parish has no right to lecture women about morality.

Duen Filen Community member

Today a rabbit was hit by a car by the student union. Some concerned students called Campus Security to see what they could do. Security did nothing. How appalling. When there are hundreds of rabbits around this campus, I am sure a few get hit by cars. To have no avenue to turn to for concerned and compassionate people is disgusting. Campus Security should have the SPCA’s or a veterinary clinic phone number ready for any of those calls. Regardless of the “nuisance” of these animals, they are still animals. There is no excuse for unnecessary cruelty or barbaric replies by Campus Security. I thank the Elk Lake Veterinary Hospital who were able to take the poor little critter in such short notice.

Monica Racz Community member

What are university students, to you?

Don’t abort free speech No, we are not children, and no, we may not technically be adults yet (in the societal sense of the word), but we are in a unique position, about to make the big crossover into being full-grown human beings.

The appalling lack of funding for fostering our arts programs is delaying that essential crossover time — and could be harmful poison to the future of this country.

Hopefully, that’s not something Mr. Harper wants for our country.

Hopefully.

Editorial topics are decided on by staff at our weekly editorial meeting at 2:00 p.m. every Friday in the Martlet office (SUB B011). Editorials are written by one or more staff members and are not necessarily the opinion of all staff members.

8 OPINIONS

Freedom of choice and freedom of speech must be both be respected.

You don’t get to pick and choose which rights apply and when.

The debate on abortion was obviously charged with emotion, but you can’t just drown out the opposing side of an argument when it bothers you. Shouting over someone does not prove them wrong.

Neither does holding up posters to try and obscure the images they are showing.

Freedom of speech is a right we must covet, both for ourselves and for people we vehemently disagree with. We lose nothing by hearing opposing viewpoints; we lose much by partaking in censorship. If you support our rights, then support them always and for everyone — don’t just pay lip service when it suits you.

Ross Keith UVic student

sault and the abuse of power. Many incidences involving the police get a short stint in the media, before being swept away for us to forget. Was it so long ago that Robert Dziekanski was tasered to death by officers in the Vancouver airport? Was it really necessary for four officers to taser him five times? Or how about Michael Vann Hubbard, the mentally ill homeless man, who was so dangerous with a one-inch artist’s knife, that he had to be shot in the stomach and killed immediately? Right here in lovely Victoria, when a friend refused to dismount his bicycle, he was promptly assaulted by our own law enforcers. Perhaps it is time we take a good long look at who is protecting us, and decide whether or not we need that “protection.” I, for one, feel safer without it.

Mia Yule Community member

To tazer and beat down The police pledge to serve and protect us, but how well they remember that seems questionable. Our taxes pay each officer a fat $60,000 per year, as well as pay for new equipment, including the weapon favorite, the taser. I can’t help but wonder, what are we paying them for? In the summer the Victoria police force were on a rampage, handing out tickets for the slightest infraction. Yet they no longer bother to attend car accidents. How does issuing violation tickets rank higher than a traffic collision? However, what concerns me the most is that the very people who pledge to keep us safe are the ones who inspire terror.

I hadn’t realized the definition of protection included murder, as-

Throwing pearls at swine I heard a nonbusiness student comment: “I have seen them wear pearls on campus...’ and I smirked.

Us B.Com students take pride in carrying the elite look. The idea may seem superficial, however, it seems engrained into our philosophy. We carry ourselves with a conviction that we have achieved the first step of the jet set lifestyle. Faculty labels it, “The B.Com Experience.” Power dressing is at its zenith, be it for conferences or a simple class group presentations. And, I do not recall any business students complaining about having to dress with flair. The confident young, if anything, portray exuberance and vivacity which they believe are excellent qualities of

October 29, 2009

Communities planting futures Porn is gender violence

by ILANA KRONICK

by KELLY BLANK

As humans, we are inextricably linked to the notion of communities working together toward a mutual goal. Our bodies are composed of millions of individual parts working in harmony so we can live, breathe, walk and talk.

As a united whole, we are stronger and healthier — so why is so much emphasis placed on the “individual” in society?

Simply look at the capitalist motto: “life, liberty and the pursuit of individual happiness” to see how highly valued the individual is.

The embedded belief in the individual’s priority is what has lead to the failure of the capitalist system and its consequent environmental impacts.

It’s time for communities to become the focus of society’s attention. Rather than asking “How will I benefit from this?” ask, “How will this affect those around me?”

Until now, I have been overwhelmed with dreary messages from scientists and the media about the future of our planet.

I understand their intention is to raise awareness and incite a call for action. But instead, it has filled an entire generation with despair and hopelessness.

But something new and different is happening today where people have looked into themselves for answers, and have decided to respond by working together to build stronger communities and move forward on a program of hope.

When envisioning yourself as a member of a community, whether it be global or local, we all benefit from each other’s broader considerations.

I recently attended the Annual General Meeting of the Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team. The group is comprised of hard-working and dedicated individuals working towards a mutual goal.

I had never attended an event before where award recipients and group representatives dedicated their success to the work of the entire group.

As they spoke, obviously passionate about their work, it became clear that they were all more than individuals of a collective cause — there were also each other’s friends and support systems.

This group turns to each other for laughter and hope; hope that there will be a future for them to raise families together sustainably.

Another way to look at our positions in the world is as members of a system. Like our bodies, where millions of separate functions are carried out in order

Why is it still socially acceptable for females to be subordinate and weak to appease the male libido?

In the 2008 documentary, The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships, by Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun, a scene at a porn convention in Las Vegas shows a man saying women actually want and enjoy being controlled by men.

Regarding anal sex, a man shamelessly remarked, “every time a wife is mean to her husband ... he secretly thinks in the back of his mind, ‘I’d like to fuck you in the ass!’ It’s just a way of getting back at his wife for all the bitching she’s been doing. That’s the attraction to anal.”

Is it really? If I’m confident and assertive, my boyfriend wants to penetrate me anally to inflict harm and teach me to be weak and submissive?

Nowhere is female inequality and sexual violence more glamorized than in the multi-billion dollar porn industry.

Here, men profit from female subordination while women become products, something to be bought and sold.

It’s an industry which sexually stimulates customers with some of the most perverse fantasies imaginable — yet it is accepted, glorified and considered “legitimate.”

Granted, some people are into some kinky stuff. But, such sexual acts as anal, choking, hitting, spanking, gagging, rape, gangbangs, double penetration, pain and sex with amateurs appear as a specialty on camera.

In reality, what woman enjoys being called “whore” or “slut,” or having some dominating man scream at her: “You’re a dirty little bitch, you are such a fucking tramp.”

What woman wants to be choked or beaten, or even raped?

Violence in porn is frequently committed for the sexual gratification of males at the expense of female dignity. Women are continuously degraded, including subjecting themselves to “dirty” acts like “ATM” (ass-to-mouth).

In many modern pornography movies, taping a woman’s mouth or covering her face de-personalizes the sex as she is spat on, choked, or slapped around like an animal.

Is this the way we want women to be viewed?

Imagine this scene: a screaming woman’s arms are tied by the wrists and her head is thrust into a toilet while a man penetrates her. This, and many other real porn scenes, depict women clearly in agony. If they are enjoying it, there is no sign of it. The idea here is male domina-

tion — the sickening ability for men to do whatever they want and actually have women accept it.

Consider a porn movie directed

by Gregory Dark, in which a black woman gets raped by Ku Klux Klan members. Who visits a website that says in big capital letters “ENTER FOR RAPE”?

Or consider the offensive names of some porn DVDs: Nappy Headed Whores, Latina Abuse, Imperial Pussy, Teen Fuckholes, Ass Destruction and Granny Pussy.

I was shocked to hear one man in the Price of Pleasure documentary proudly boast about a porn he had watched that had a woman get “13 loads on her face ... because she’s so beautiful. It’s like a dog marking its territory.”

On an even sadder note, violence and objectification in the sex industry only exists because there is a demand for it. The reason why most female porn stars subject themselves to this is money (in a world where females still face economical inequalities), because the sex industry seems to be a “legitimate” way to get rich.

However, it is not enjoyable for many people. Former porn star Jersey Jaxin publicly confessed that she left the sex industry after being treated like a “piece of meat.” Men have punched her in the face and “literally ripped [her] insides out.”

She has also reported cases where men have inserted scissors into women’s vaginas in the middle of a porn scene.

With the constant degradation noticeable in violent hardcore pornography, women are no longer viewed as human beings. Women are only viewed as objects — sex objects — whose sole purpose is to “fuck.”

Am I, as a woman, less than human?

The Price of Pleasure documentary predicts that porn will become more violent. And in a society full of men who profit off female subordination, I fail to see how the situation can improve.

We have evolved to accept abuse, rape and violence as the norm, but sexism and inequality are still highly prevalent in society. Sexual violence is no longer frowned upon, as shown by the lack of questioning to this sexually-exploitative pornography industry. Over 94 per cent of aggression in porn videos is directed at women — yet such violent acts are legal.

I write this as a feminist (and yes, as a female) and I feel embarrassed and ashamed that it is me against a powerful, male-dominated multibillion dollar industry. Will anyone join me, so that females can gain back the dignity and respect that is rightfully theirs?

in order to lose quorum.

On the contrary, Reid conducted the AGM in an open and transparent way to ensure everyone would be able to fully participate in the meeting.

Reid offered a brief overview of Robert’s Rules of Orders and answered questions of procedure that arose.

Yes, this is a time-consuming process, but it is absolutely essential to ensuring everyone can fully participate in the meeting.

I understand that some students are upset with the outcome of the meeting, but there are certain procedures which happen at every

AGM and only serve to make the process as fair as possible.

Edward Pullman UVSS Director of Finance

GLEN O’NEILL

of our global community — the for us to operate properly, we plants. Not only have I learned to humans have many functions to cook with the same plants I harcarry out in order for the planet vested, but I recognize and respect to operate properly — and suswhere my food comes from. tainably.

The centre is building commuI volunteer with The Greater nities of hope. Work parties are Victoria Compost Education Cenhosted every Friday, and encourtre where the employees, volunage all to come for a visit. teers and community members Every time I go, I am welcomed bask in all the food they produce with huge smiles from a group of on just one city block. Each ladies who gardenhave built a er’s food The embedded belief in the community produccompostion can individual’s priority is what has lead of ters; all sustain a family to the failure of the capitalist system hell-bent on building a of two to and its consequent environmental sustainable four future. people, impacts.

In the dependfew short ing on months that I have lived in the gardener’s skills.

Victoria (I am an Ottawa transI have harvested fava beans, red plant), I have become a member wrigglers (for composting purposof communities which make me es) and hops. I have tried my hand feel valued as an individual but in a few other tasks and each time stronger as a member.

I get closer to the other members

LETTERS CONTINUED successful business leaders. This is strikingly different from the popular culture of students at UVic, the party school. It is not that B.Com’ers do not party — they do, and they do it hard.

Every event is followed by a saga of a social night out. Nevertheless, the tranquil Victoria culture and easygoing UVic campus affect is yet to reach the contrastive B.Com’ers. I think they like wearing pearls.

Mehak Mehra UVic B.Com student

No to new fees I cannot believe our university is trying to impose a fee for the construction of a new building.

October 29, 2009

They want to gouge a little more money from us students so they can use the new facility to attract new students. Maybe our banks should start charging fees when they want to open a new branch — or McDonald’s could add a fee to our bills so they can build a new restaurant. This is a foot in the door my fellow students, we cannot allow this to happen, we must fight it.

Otherwise, every time the university wants to expand, it will come out of our pockets. Hey, where are our student reps? Isn’t it their job to fight such increases?

D. Macmain UVic student

Nothing to see here Last week’s Martlet editorial, put forward several accusations about the recent UVSS Annual General Meeting.

I would like to set the record straight for students.

The meeting was conducted in accordance with the Society Act of BC and UVSS bylaws.

Shamus Reid, the chair of the meeting, followed these bylaws and procedures down to the letter.

To have done otherwise would have called the legitimacy and legal standing of the AGM intoquestion. Some have claimed Reid was intentionally delaying the meeting

Happy? Sad? Enraged?

Tell us: letters@martlet.ca The Martlet has an open letters policy and will endeavour to print every letter received from the university community.

Letters must be submitted by e-mail, include your real name and affiliation to UVic, and have “Letter to the editor” in the subject line. Letters must be under 200 words and may be edited.

OPINIONS 9

MELODRAMATIC MUSINGS

Taking the tattoo plunge: an adventure

by WILL JOHNSON

ROMEO & JULIET

I have a giant hippopotamus tattooed on my back.

It rises out of a pool of water and gazes at you from its perch on my right shoulder. A pair of lily pads float in front its stubby legs, while its mouth lolls open in a slight grin.

My hippo was five years in the making. It started when my friend Shaun observed that I am “as subtle as a hippopotamus.”

The more I learned about them, the more I fell in love. Did you know that hippos spend the majority of their lives almost entirely submerged, with little more than their eyes and nose peeking over the water?

As a former competitive swimmer, a lifeguard and an all-around water aficionado, I instantly recognized my kindred spirits in these majestic beasts.

If I could, I would spend my entire life wallowing around in my own personal swamp, only taking breaks to bask in the African sunshine.

Also, though they look dopey and lethargic, hippos can run faster than any human being.

They are dangerous, fiercely territorial animals and one of the leading causes of human mortality in Africa.

I became convinced that I must’ve been a hippo in a past life.

So, last year I went into a tattoo parlour and told this guy what I wanted. He freaked out.

“Dude, that’s so awesome,” the guy said, stoked on the idea. “I’ve never done a hippo tattoo before.”

He told me to come back a week later to see his sketch. When I returned, he proudly displayed a large green outline of my future tat.

A giant gaping mouth sprawled open from the paper, water running

out from between its gargantuan pointed teeth. The hippos eyes were narrowed into tiny white evil-looking slits.

“Uh, cool,” I said.

The truth was, that wasn’t my hippo and I knew it. I couldn’t go through life with something so menacing permanently inked on my body. I decided that my $50 deposit was a worthwhile lesson and I moved onto the next artist.

That’s when I met Brian, a huge red-bearded dude who specialized in black-and-white recreations of photographs. I brought him a Flickr photo of a hippo and a week later, I came to see what he’d come up with.

There it was: my hippo. It was love at first sight.

These days, I sometimes forget I’m carrying him around on my back.

He’s become a part of me, like an extra appendage. My power animal.

At the beach, at the pool, anywhere I take off my shirt, I always get comments.

“Hey! Cool hippo!”

Looking back, I’m happy I waited until I was 23 to take the plunge. As a teenager, I was constantly staring enviously at friends’ tattoos and longed to join the club.

For years I was obsessed with the idea of getting an angel on my back.

It would have enormous, sweeping wings — maybe even a flaming sword. I was a hardcore biblethumper at the time. My other idea was getting the word “FORGIVEN” scrawled in fancy lettering somewhere prominent.

Holy shit, am I glad I didn’t go through with that.

My friend Danica, who had a similarly unfortunate religious disposition as a teenager, got

Fascism through fashion

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Some people believe tattoos don’t and he told me he just thought it an ornate cross tattooed on her have to have any deeper meaning. “would look cool.” spine.

Fair enough.

Five years later, she’s when I think about spending hundreds of Then there’s the girl from my high school who myButhippo, and all he dollars to get it lasered off. She told me it hurts had the Roxy symbol tramp-stamped on her means to me, I’m glad I spent the time searching like hell. lower back. Bet she regrets that one. for him. It was like a long Then there’s the girl courtship before getting from my high school who married — and everyone had the Roxy symbol knows rushing a marriage is risky tramp-stamped on her lower back. My buddy Austin has a zombie pukbusiness.

Bet she regrets that one. ing blood splayed across his torso

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Love and

Presented by

GLEN O’NEILL

We’re not living in the middle ages — not even in the “New Dark Ages,” as Greg Graffin would have it.

But, despite the fact people are no longer expected to move about wearing “formals” and can now sport studded leather and Mohawks without getting beaten up, social control through clothing does still exist.

Despite the social advances made over the past 50 years, an apparent hold-over is the importance placed on “professional” and “proper” clothing style.

Meanwhile, the swift degradation of personal conduct (which actually makes a difference) seems to be upon us.

Now, it’s not all bad. There has been the implementation of “Casual Fridays” at many offices — and other have almost entirely eliminated their dress codes.

But the fact remains that many work places (as well as golf courses, theatres and night clubs) have a zero-tolerance dress code, where any diversion from the prescribed style-set will result in exclusion.

It may seem extreme, but requiring people to wear particular clothing is a form of social repression, and a company firing an employee for “not complying to dress code” is, in fact, firing without just cause.

I am not the only one who believes this. Part of the reason that many

GLEN O’NEILL

work places reformed, or even repealed, their dress codes was in response to court orders handed out after said business was successfully sued by current or former employees on the grounds of workers’ and, at times, human rights.

Now, to clarify, I am not talking about uniforms. I do not want every police officer to be “plain clothes,” and it would be downright confusing if players on sports teams just wore whatever they wanted. I will not even argue the logic in having soldiers dress the same.

What I am referring to, are situations in which style or look of clothes do not make any difference.

There is no reason to require male office workers to wear suits, females to wear skirts, or the patrons or employees of a particular restaurant to wear tuxedos — other than vanity, snobbery and social convention.

So, what is to be done?

My suggestion, is that in situations where clothing does not serve a direct, practical purpose (such as safety, in the case of radiation suits, or clear identification, as in the case of law enforcement) dress codes should follow roughly the same lines as at a college I once attended: you had be wearing something — and only the security guards dressed the same.

October 29, 2009

Finkelstein no friend of Israel You talking to me?

by EARL KRIEGER

Give yourself the priceless gift of silence

ISRAEL ON CAMPUS

by NATHAN LOWTHER Norman Finkelstein, a self-professed “radical,” came to UVic on Oct. 18 to discuss what is preventing peace in the Middle East.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), a Palestinian Human Rights group with a platform of superficial diplomacy and manipulative advocacy, invited him.

Many came to provide unconditional support for their “fearless” leader, who continuously blames Israel, solely and unequivocally, for the desperate conditions in the Palestinian Territories.

Normally, Finkelstein is quite inflammatory. He has previously called Israel “a Satanic state,” that was “forged in the bellows of hell.”

This time, however, his remarks were more veiled as he compared the innocence of Ghandi to the Hamas militants. He stated that a war must have, at minimum, two sides. But since the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were so much greater in personnel, intelligence and technology, Operation Cast Lead was like “shooting fish in a barrel,” or “burning an ant-hill with a magnifying glass.”

Similarly, Finkelstein said that Israel acted unilaterally in beginning the operation, and were looking for the right casus belli to invade Gaza.

Yet Finkelstein gave no mention of the 8,000 rockets fired into Sderot (an Israeli city within the 1948 boundaries) over the past eight years or of the innumerable phone-calls, leaflets and warnings that the IDF put out to Gaza in advance of the attack.

He gave no mention of the civil abuse in Gaza that Hamas engages in.

Although his lecture provided none of his personal views, he showed

Israel encountered each other. This is his usual self in the Question-andentirely due to Hamas’ tactic of develAnswer period that followed. In oping their military infrastructure in response to the questions asked civilian urban areas. This is why Israabout Hamas’ rockets, Finkelstein asel staged a military operation in one serted that these were mere symbolic of the most densely-populated areas attempts to hurt Israel and really of the world: to eliminate the daily caused no real damage. threat of rocket attacks launched But it was the final question which from the streets of Gaza into Israel. really spurred him on: I asked what The Israeli GovJustice Richhas the ard GoldI asked because, throughout ernment responsibility of stone (the protecting its own head of a UN his lecture, Finkelstein had citizens too. panel that been stressing that truth and Finkelstein found both seems to think sides guilty justice, not superficial justice that Israel is a of war crimes in the conor one-sided truths, should be pariah state; that it is the intenflict) claimed everyone’s goals. tion of the Israeli was Hamas’ Government to responsibilcontinuously and ceaselessly torture ity in Operation Cast Lead and what and “ethnically cleanse” the Palescharges he brought against them. tinian civilians. This claim is utterly I asked because throughout his lecture Finkelstein had been stressing ridiculous. Much of the damage to the Palestinians have been enacted that truth and justice, not superficial by other hands — a real defender justice or one-sided truths, should be of Palestinian human rights would everyone’s goals. know that.

In response, he told a story of his For a just peace there must be mother, how during the Warsaw negotiations and concessions, made Ghetto Uprising she believed that if on both sides. The general consensus she was going to die, she would take is that the Palestinians will have to as many of the enemy with her as she concede on the “Right of Return” could. He stressed, “Nobody has an and Israel will probably have to obligation to lay down and die!” reimburse former citizens, along with To Mr. Finkelstein, I would point withdrawing from the Territories out that Israel uses the same argu(although there is no mention on the ment to legitimize Operation Cast 800,000 refugees that left the Arab Lead: with over 8,000 rockets falling States in 1948). on the small city of Sderot in the past To place the lack of peace in the reeight years, the Israeli Government gion squarely on Israel is to twist the felt it could not continuously force facts, both historically and contextuthe citizens of Sderot to lay down ally. It is to provide one-sided truths and die. which undermines both the process Finkelstein himself said of the towards peace, and global justice operation, that “there was no field,” for all people. no battlefield where Hamas and

It’s not me, Victoria — it’s you

This past summer I went to a place of silence, a place of bliss — a Buddhist hermitage on Denman Island. After four days without speaking, I learned the true value of the term quiet.

I was one of about 10 people at the hermitage for four days of meditation in the forest and fields on the property.

There was no television or internet. No meat or coffee (although you could drink green tea and yerba matte). They even discouraged reading and writing.

And, of course, there was no talking.

What a difference that makes.

People still spoke a little bit — a word of greeting, a one-word punch line — but there were no conversations.

During meals and chores, there was no speaking at all.

You walked in silence, you ate in silence, you swept and washed your dishes in silence.

But they did lift the gag order for the final morning. We knew each other’s names for the most part (they were written on our tea cups), but knew nothing else about each other.

Still, a real communal bond had developed within the group, so the sense of really knowing someone without knowing anything about their “real” world was a bit surreal.

But we filled in the details through the morning, and by the time the lunch bell rang, conversation had again dropped to a minimum.

No one spoke at the table during our final meal together. Ex-

cept for one guy. He wasn’t part of the retreat, but worked on the hermitage’s organic farm.

He told us he always came up for dessert on the last day (it was a delicious crumble made with home-made jam).

The rest of us ate in comfortable quietude.

Now, back at university, not a day goes by when I don’t want to tell someone to just shut the fuck up already.

Seriously.

Ride the bus, and there’s always a bunch nattering on like a hedge full of finches. Or in the library.

Or the back of the class.

And everyone has that one friend that feels they’ll be forgotten if they don’t remind you they’re there at least every 45 seconds.

It’s like people can’t stand the thought of their own company.

Now, I do understand that we need to converse. We’re social animals, after all — like dogs.

But when my dog doesn’t stop barking, I can kick him.

I mean that metaphorically, of course.

But I can’t even metaphorically kick a teenager talking on her cell phone during a movie, apparently.

So people, do yourselves a good deed and search out some solitude.

Find quiet, learn to love it; to cherish it. And, above all, learn to make it.

You’ll be surprised at just how reinvigorating a tranquil moment can be.

TOP TEN FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 27, 2009

by JEFF FRY In my one year in Victoria, I have been asked “how do I like it” more frequently than in any other city I have lived in. And all Victorians want to hear back is how fantastic Victoria is.

Last time I said didn’t like it, a guy riding by on his bike shouted, “I’d like to hear your reasons!”

Well, here are the following reasons I must call off this charade of affection with you, Victoria.

Hippies abound and yet your environmental policies are trash. You don’t even have recycling deposits on the streets — you know, beside the garbage cans, or as part of one big disposal unit, like any decent city. This would save many, many tonnes of trash from reaching landfills and would make Victoria more efficient and sustainable.

You fire your sewage into the ocean. You’re dirty, with no regard for the natural world (the world our well-being is directly dependent upon). Now I feel guilty when I take a dump. Thanks. We’re in an environmental emergency and you should be working on things way past sewage treatment. Get with the program.

Crime and drugs thrive here.

Statistics Canada recently reported that Victoria has a higher crime rate than Surrey, Vancouver or even big bad Toronto.

Wow. I suppose it doesn’t surprise me. In my six years living in Ottawa and my time spent in Montreal and

October 29, 2009

Toronto, I have never witnessed any blatant crime. Not once. On the other hand, on my first day in downtown Victoria, I was walking past a dollar store when a thief ran past me with an armful of dollar-items and an aged lady-guard uselessly chasing him. You know it’s bad when someone makes a dash from a dollar store.

Shortly after that, I walked into a bust. The cops came out of nowhere and handcuffed these dudes right in front of me and tossed them into their van. I was astounded. Just yesterday I saw a dude sprint out of a corner store with his dinner and the owner running after him, calling 911 as he did.

Here’s another pathetic tidbit: the nursing home my mother works in here gets repeatedly broken into for computer goods, coats and whatever else can be found. Someone even stole a TV from a patient’s room.

This isn’t an otherwise healthy patient recovering from a broken arm or something. We’re talking about old, frail people who have nothing left in their lives but a nursing home room with a TV and a few knick-knacks. That’s heartless.

Victoria, you don’t even know how to rob with some measure of class.

Admit it, you’re trashy. Your over-the-top drug use also helps in assuring this fact. In addition to the stats, I happen to know a drug addict from Ontario, and she’s told me that it’s far worse than Toronto.

Victoria, you also love to believe how pretty you are. The land is pretty, but you didn’t have a hand in that. You didn’t make the mountains or the ocean — you just shit in it. Although there are many nice architectural spots in Victoria, one would be strained to argue it’s anything beyond average.

Walking down Douglas Street, one’s eyes are hardly dazzled by the beauty. Instead, one sees brokendown areas and all that industrial junk on the horizon, but no special buildings jump out at you with their brilliance.

So, Victoria, this is goodbye. It’s over.

Here’s my advice: grow some environmental balls and grow some economic structural brains to ameliorate the number of homeless persons, the number of addicts and the crime rate.

Maybe you could even put people to work in some brand new sewage treatment facilities.

Or hey, since you import a whopping 80 per cent of your food, maybe you could encourage more local farming, employing many while being green and establishing local food security. Maybe that would increase local purchasing power.

And then, if you can get any of that done, get a makeover. Because you’re ugly.

There, I said it.

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7. DUPLEX!* Worser (Mint) 8. ACRES & ACRES* All Nations (Self Released) 9. SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Temporary Pleasure (AAM) 10. CAROLYN MARK AND NQ ARBUCKLE* Let’s Just Stay Here (Mint) * Canadian artist

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To find out more information about CFUV, including our programming schedule, volunteer information and complete charts, please visit our website at www.cfuv.uvic.ca.

Hear the weekly top ten on Charts and Graphs every Tuesday at 3:00PM on CFUV 101.9FM.

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OPINIONS 11

Fig.1.a “Ka-pow!”

Fig.1.b Super hair is super sexy.

Fig.1.c Super cape gives super strength.

Fig.1.d Check out these super tights.

It’s a bird...

It’s a plane...

Figure 1: Our Hero.

It’s graphica!

Story by Trevor K. McNeil Illustrations by Jennifer Zhou and Marc Junker From their beginnings in the late 1930s, comic books have faced many challenges — at times to their very existence.

Accusations of artistic bankruptcy and moral inequity abounded and, at times, they were nearly legislated out of existence. While the fervour has died down somewhat, there remains an attitude about comic books and graphic novels, collectively known as graphica, that something is keeping them from being a viable medium. They are not quite art, not quite novels and not quite film. But the real roadblock stands in the public perception that graphic novels and comic books are merely juvenile — a misconception based on a sad history of moralistic frenzy.

And so it begins Many know about the anti-comics crusade of the early 1950s, led by Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and spurred by his book Seduction of the Innocent, in which he made baseless allegations that comic books were leading to juvenile delinquency and the decay of American society. Wertham’s conclusions were based on the notion that comic books were only for kids — and that if kids were degrading morally, it was due to the influence of morally-degrading comics.

This resulted in a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing, but the only company targeted was Entertaining Comics (E.C.), who specialized in

12 FEATURE

horror and crime titles. However, many horror and crime comics published

by E.C. were intended for an adult audience. This is not to say that kids did not get their hands on those “morallydegrading” works, but the response from the government and the resulting Comics Code in 1954 had a similar effect to what would happen if there were a Federal Law requiring all films to be rated G. For over a decade, until the underground comics of the 1960s, comics really were for kids — but this was a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than a reflection of any existing reality.

Silly kids, graphica is for adults Perception of the types of “graphica” seems to be a zero-sum game. Comics are either just for kids or just for adults, with nothing in between. Unfortunately, the term “adult comic” is usually associated with raw sex and gritty violence, as found in titles such as Stray Bullets or Preacher.

While such books exist in the mature readers market, they do not define it.

There are plenty of other subjects that are, and can still be, addressed by the medium that might not be the best thing for kids. These include everything from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, described by Norman Mailer as “a comic book for intellectuals,” to Dave Gibbon’s semiautobiographical account of a youth in a “Mod” gang in The Originals, to more confessional autobiographical works

like those of comics journalist Joe Sacco and cartoonist Joe Matt.

We do not equate films like Spy Kids to those like Smokin’ Aces only by virtue of their medium, nor would we say that prose novels can only be something like The Hardy Boys or American Psycho. Yet there still seems to be a need to either equate Stray Bullets with TinTin or say that “graphica” can only be one of these two extremes. This has led to a limited ability for creators who do not want to do books about cute furry animals, virtuous men in tights, or gun toting maniacs (all big sellers) to get published in the mainstream market.

Figure 4: “Zero-Sum Game” Kids vs. adult comics.

Big breakthroughs in big business There is hope. Despite the mulelike stubbornness of the two major publishers, Detective Comics Entertainment (DC) and Marvel, sticking to safe comics — as approved by the Comics Code on their main line — a few creators managed to sneak their message through.

One of the more famous cases is Alan Moore, first with Watchmen (DC), a philosophical deconstruction of the contemporary superhero, and then with Miracleman (Marvel), which showed the state of devastation that would surely result from even the most minor scuffle between superheroes, as shown in traditional comics.

He also single-handedly reinvented the character of Swamp-Thing, which

Fig.4.a Erotic comics appear in the 1920s and 1930s.

Fig.4.b Cute animal ears are a classic innocent look.

Fig.4.c A cheeky whistle? Or perhaps something more mischievous.

October 29, 2009

Fig.2.a Badass windshields.

Figure 2: The badass car.

Fig.2.b Badass decorative tails kick serious ass.

Fig.2.c Badass grille.

Fig.2.d Badass “Ratmobile” insignia. had been based, according to Moore, on a false premise of a scientist who gets turned into a plant creature and tries to regain his humanity. The problem is, as soon as he achieves humanity the series comes to an ends.

Moore did away with this and created a whole new context for the character, in which it was essentially a plant with consciousness­ — a swamp god removed from humanity and exploring the implications of this.

Moore also used the book to introduce some fairly heavy subjects including gun control and environmental issues. This was the source from which DC launched the character of rogue blue-collar magician John Constantine. He is regarded by many as one of the best anti-heroes in English fiction, and made his first appearances as a supporting character.

Mavericks move up in the world Despite the fact that comics were still largely dismissed as four-color trash by society, and alternative comics had limited ability for distribution unless it was with a particularly successful independent publisher, some advances were made in the promotion of comics’ potential to be legitimate literature.

One of the greatest examples of this was the mainstream acceptance of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. Combining history, mythology, thick mystery and some fairly heavy existential issues, Hellboy’s very name is poking fun at campy superhero monikers. Originally published by legendary renegades DarkHorse Comics in 1993, it’s not what most would consider average comic book fare.

And it marked a new level of complexity in storytelling and the medium.

Warren Ellis is widely regarded as among the most creative and innovative graphic novelists working today.

Ellis started out in his late teens and early 20s, doing series work on superhero titles, and infusing them with his own unique brand of mad genius.

October 29, 2009

He was looking to break free of the drudgery of the superhero factory. He did this in grand fashion in 1997, with the publication of the first issue of his landmark series Transmetropolitan.

The series is based in a futuristic mega-city that has more in common with Babylon than New York. Here, people can be genetically altered to take on any biological trait; people cryogenically frozen in the 20th century are brought back as braindamaged clones known as “revivals” and a new religion is invented every hour.

The series focuses on Spider Jerusalem, a battle-hardened outlaw journalist who is an obvious homage to Hunter S. Thompson, and is beautifully illustrated by famed illustrator Darick Robertson. Spanning 11 volumes, the collected series is one of the longest alternative titles ever published and carries a rich, deep, nuanced narrative, similar to that of a traditional prose novel.

While starting out it’s life with the now defunct Double-Helix Comics Company, the series was picked up and completed

by DC’s Vertigo imprint, the alternative wing of the company.

It was reputedly created to offset any imposing threat from independents such as Fantagraphics and DarkHorse.

There have also been many crossovers and adaptations between “graphica” and what would be considered serious or classical literature. One of the best known of these is the Fables series, which has various fairy-tale characters living in the real world as a sort of semi-secret sub-culture.

A more ambitious endeavor has been taken by Ellis in his graphic novellas, Aetheric Mechanics and Frankenstein’s Womb. The former is a revisionist steampunk re-imagining of the Sherlock Holmes and John Watson characters, with bits of 1984 and anime thrown in the mix. The latter is a brilliant re-imagining of how Mary Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein.

Other examples of this are God Save the Queen, by respected author Mike Carey, and the celebrated English painter John Bolton taking another look at A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The little hybrid medium that could A more direct approach has been undertaken by Neil Gaiman allowing his short-story The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch (from the collection Smoke & Mirrors) to be adapted into a short hard-cover graphic novella.

Similar adaptations have been done of his prose novels Coraline and Neverwhere.

If awards count for anything, note that Maus’ author Art Spiegelman is infamous for having won the Pulitzer Prize, and that the “Dream Hunters” section of Gaiman’s Sandman series was the only comic book ever to win the World Fantasy Award.

There’ve been many other awards handed out that comic books aren’t traditionally supposed to win. It is also worth noting that Moore, Gaiman, Ellis, Carey and Tank Girl author Alan C. Martin write traditional prose works as well as “graphica” — though they tend to focus their efforts on “graphica.”

There are things that can be done in graphic novels that simply cannot be done or duplicated in any other artistic medium. According to Lloyd Chesley, founder and co-owner of the Victoria-based Legend’s Comics, “comics are a unique medium unto themselves.” He also dislikes it when comics are Figure 3: compared to movies, because the Psychiatrist Fredric similarity is scant at best.

Wertham alleged that comic Some comic-to-film adaptations books were leading to the have been successful in the eyes of decay of American society. the comic book community, such as Ghost World, The Crow and 300.

However, many fall sadly short, like Constantine, From Hell, V For Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Tank Girl.

Comics are a hybrid art form that is composed of more than the sum of its component parts. They combine the visual and the narrative, and they retain driven dialogue.

If one really needs a medium to compare graphic novels to, it may well be that they fit somewhere within the print tradition. Stunning visuals not withstanding, they are still books and the emphasis is still put on the narrative.

According to Chesley, the key difference between what are called “comic books” and what are called “graphic novels” is that “graphic novels follow the rules of literature.”

Graphica still faces a discomfort or outright suspicion from the culture at large.

In addition to being a viable medium, it specifically utilizes the best elements of the major forms of communication, resulting in a unique form that no other medium can match.

The result is untapped innovation potential.

FEATURE 13

Arts

•Jazz dance, punk rock shows and animated shorts wow Vic audiences.

•COD: Modern Warfare 2 garners widespread hype with hardcore gamers.

Editor Will Johnson

arts@martlet.ca

Trick ‘r Treat: a horror flick that’s got both Straight-to-DVD release makes for a surprisingly strong rental, wracking up 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes

by STUART ARMSTRONG If you like stories of suspense, gut wrenching horror and jaw dropping Halloween-themed fun, then you’ll love the new horror flick — released straight to DVD — Trick ’r Treat, directed by Michael Dougherty.

The film is an ensemble piece with some great actors, including Brian Cox and Anna Paquin, of four interconnected Halloween stories.

These stories include a cantankerous hermit, a trio of mean-spirited teenagers, a group of young women on the prowl for men and a school principal with a fascination for knives and syringes full of tranquilizers.

The characters are all connected by one common theme: the necessity to remember and respect the legends and traditions of Halloween — or face the consequences.

The one common element of the movie is Sam, the masked little burlap sack trick ‘r treater, who ties all the stories together.

Sam holds remnants of Charlie Brown: harmless looking at first.

But if one were to deny him what he wants (candy, for example, as one character does) she or he would end up on a pole, slashed from ear to ear with a razor sharp lollipop stuffed down her throat.

Any fans of horror films will love this instant classic, where the backdrop of costumed monsters and folklore blur the barrier between the supernatural and the natural to keep the audience jumping right until the end of the film, where the endings present a fresh take on Halloween.

The panning effects of the film constantly look like the camera is going to move away from a shot, but it doesn’t — and neither can a horror fan.

With a sequel being planned, it wouldn’t be surprising if Trick ‘r Treat eventually rivaled Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Saw as a Halloween classic.

GLEN O’NEILL

Short-film festival suprises and disturbs with dark offerings

by NOVA SAWATZKY What: Animation Feast Where: Camosun College Lansdowne Campus (Fisher Building, Room 100).

When: 7:00 p.m. Wed, Oct. 28 How much: Free It’s time to embrace your inner animation fan.

To celebrate International Animation Day, Oct. 28, the Canadian National Film Board (CNFB) is hosting a week-long festival of free screenings, master classes and animation workshops across Canada from Oct. 23-31.

One collection of international short films, Animation Feast, will be tempting fans for free at Camosun College this week.

Festival organizers will be selling copies of Animation Express, a two-disc compilation of 26 films that range from a couple minutes in length to the 10-minute long hit, Runaway. The short films range from the very trippy Spare Change, to the heartbreaking The Man Who Slept, to Chris Landreth’s groundbreaking psychorealist film, The Spine.

Animation Feast is full of original Canadian content and the films are unique. There is Vive La Rose, directed by Bruce Alcock — a beautiful visual poem set inside a desk drawer about fishermen and lumberjacks.

It leaves the viewer with thoughts of what it means to die and how beautiful life can be. One gorgeous scene sees a lumberjack (inside a painting) chopping down a tree, while a log lying beside the painting simultaneously splits on its own.

This film features a traditional French song from Newfoundland performed by Emile Benoit, and was animated using stop animation and paint animation shot outdoors.

One film no one should miss is Runaway, a wonderful fast-paced old-world-feeling film from Oscar-nominated animator Cordell Barker. The plot revolves around a train with a front car full of rich snobs and a back car of underprivileged working-class people that hits a cow and goes off the rails.

The film chronicles the ensuing struggle of the conductor to try and

PROVIDED PHOTO

Runaway is one of the critically-acclaimed short films showing at Camosun College for Animation Feast on Oct. 28.

keep things under control.

This film features a vicious class struggle that nobody wins and an underlying cynical critique of the way people treat each other — all the while somehow remaining funny and charming.

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What takes this film from excellent to breathtaking, though, is the attention to every detail in the animation and the jaunty jazz score

by Benoît Charest (of Les Triplettes de Belleville fame).

The Tim-Burton-esque Land of the Heads, directed by Claude Barras & Cédric Louis, is a funny and rather creepy short film involving numerous beheadings and a dark humor.

In short, a disgruntled vampire musician is charged with cutting the heads off of children in the “land of the heads” to find the perfect new cranium for his wrinkled and decapitated (yet somehow still alive) wife.

The wife, in her vanity, is never happy with the young heads the husband brings and the result is a mountain of discarded heads in their home.

Among the international releases, featured titles include The Heart of Amos Klein (a reflection on moral corruption and militarism in Israel), Muto (an Italian film which is described as an ambiguous animation painted on public walls) and Skhizein (a French film in which a man is struck by a meteor and has to adapt to living precisely 91 centimeters from himself).

You can find these as well as other synopses for each film on the CNFB website.There’s no reason not to check out the Animation Feast festival. Located only a short bus ride away from UVic at Camosun campus, it’s a great opportunity to see some first-class animated films and the price is right.

Visit films.nfb.ca/get-animated/ for trailers, schedules and more.

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14 ARTS

October 29, 2009

Prepare to ride the cyclone with Intrepid

by TYLER LONGMIRE What: Ride The Cyclone Who: Atomic Vaudeville, Intrepid When: Oct. 28 to 31 at 8 p.m.

Where: Metro Studio Theatre How much: Student $15, Adult $20

JOSH THOMPSON

On Nov. 5, Les Monstres Terribles will join the Virgin Space Cadets and Mike Edel at the Victoria Event Centre for a concert raising funds for the Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Centre.

Musical monster maul

by ROBYN CADAMIA It was all good moods and beer bottles backstage at Lucky Bar on Oct.16, as Les Monstres Terribles wound down after their Electric Splash set.

It was just another show for the increasingly busy “soot and dust” five-piece, but they were still warm with enthusiasm after almost a year of performing their vigorouslyhaunting music.

What began as vocalist Quentin Mitchell’s visual experimentation with monster themes has finally evolved into what the band agrees is their most solid state yet.

It was when former Beasts and Superbeasts drummer, Ben Godfrey, joined Les Monstres in September that they gained the element they didn’t know was missing and started booking multiple shows a month.

Despite their rising popularity, a thin veil of obscurity hangs over Les Monstres because of their difficultto-pronounce French name — and it suits them.

After referring to their style as dark and creative (and to Victoria as a haunted island where it always rains) the poetic Mitchell says he’s

October 29, 2009

after “moments of beauty and pure ugliness.”

Bass player Laura Shrum compares their music to the surrealism of Salvador Dali or Frida Kahlo.

If you haven’t yet heard Les Monstres play, imagine somber, baritone vocals that sweep from dark corners. Imagine funeral piano that quickens into dancing. Imagine being poisoned, staring your killer in the face and feeling euphoric.

Les Monstres Terribles are ironically wonderful to be around. Unity and mutual respect are palpable among the band members, who always give one another a chance to speak and who all refuse to drink the last beer of the night.

“We are all very committed to the band,” said Shrum, explaining that they “all feel like we can contribute creatively.”

She consulted her bandmates (who bring influences to the table as different as Radiohead and Tom Waits) and everyone said they feel like they’ve added to the music.

Cheerful keyboard/guitar/trumpet player Daniel Bailey, has humbly come to realize that “it wouldn’t be the same song if I wasn’t doing

the same thing.”

In terms of aspirations, the band is modest.

“I don’t want to be famous,” said Shrum, who added she just wants to do something “interesting.”

Guitarist Scott Wood sums it up in the following way.

“Really, we’re just like any other band. I just hope some people get it,” he said.

Experience the entrancing Monstres Terribles next on Nov. 5 with the Virgin Space Cadets and Mike Edel at the Victoria Event Center.

And don’t worry about mispronouncing their name — it turns out Les Monstres don’t speak much French themselves.

What happens when Jacob Richmond, author of the manic hit Legoland and co-founder of the irreverent and sneering Atomic Vaudeville, decides to write a full-length original musical? You get eight dead singing children, a sentient fortune-telling robot and a rat named Virgil playing the slap-bass. In other words, you get Ride The Cyclone — now in it’s second frenetic rotation at the Metro Studio.

Cyclone features a who’s-who of local actors, with parts and numbers carefully crafted for each person.

You’ll see Ocean Rosenberg’s big Broadway number showily sung by Rielle Braid in the style of a Marxloving Ethel Merman.

Opera singer Sarah Pelzer does a delicate and spooky Jane Doe number, complete with muted trills and trembled notes.

Kholby Wardell performs a bold cabaret number about living an extremely romantic life in Paris, both pithy and yearning.

Kelly Hudson also has a show-stopping number that takes full advantage of her soulful voice–a voice which has never failed to knock me out of my seat.

All five of these performers seem to be inextricably linked to their characters.

The most significant change since Ride the Cyclone had its original run in March is the substitution of a new song and new characters for Tim Johnston (Dan Farmer) and Celine Stubel (Aslog Ingeborg) — two

characters who can not speak to one another. They have a completely wordless love song.

Before the play was one act, now there are two. The characters have longer monologues and are chattier between them.

So, is this musical a dramatic piece or a loosely-connected series of vaudeville routines? While the format may be that of a show-and-tell in purgatory, the conflict really comes from the teenagers’ attachment to Uranium City, Saskatchewan, their decaying prairie town, and the acceptance of death.

“Death is a metaphor for a small town,” Small said, adding that all the musical numbers are ways in which the young minds dream of escape from Uranium, a city that supplies Iran with most of its radioactive yellowcake.

The main thing that strikes me about this reincarnation is how slick the direction seems. Instead of an abandoned warehouse, the kids now are trapped in a vaudevillian limbo, complete with a redcurtained proscenium arch and the detritus of a traveling carnival.

Ditching the warehouse for the curtain lets the show sprint instead of crawl. Numbers had punch and clarity and were visually dynamic.

Costume designer Ingrid Hansen’s characteristic flourish was in full force, particularly with the chorus.

To see such an inventive piece so entertainingly staged by this city’s most talented artists is nothing short of a rare treat. If you missed Ride The Cyclone on its first rotation, and even if you didn’t, the show is well worth the price of admission.

ARTS 15

Rock, Paper, SATAN! thrills thrashing Lucky Bar crowd

by DYLAN TOIGO

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When you hear a band name like Rock, Paper, SATAN!, you can’t help but chuckle a little. The six-man Victorian band was on display this past Friday, Oct. 23, at Lucky Bar as part of rocking bill that featured five raucous acts.

For a band with no available recorded music (since the show they have put up one song on Myspace at myspace.com/rockpapersatan) there was a very respectable crowd geared up and ready to rock out when they hit the stage.

Perhaps it was nerves or booze, or maybe the sound technician was just sorting out how to balance six instruments plus three or four vocal inputs at once. Whatever the case, the first couple of songs lacked polish and came off sounding amateur.

Having said that, there was definite potential and what was lacking in tightness was made up for with energy, especially from saxophone/tambourine specialist Stephan “Buttons” Butler.

As the show progressed and members of the band lost their shirts, things seemed to settle into a groove.

They displayed a propensity to draw from varied influences, incorporating reggae-induced rhythms on one song, and then throwing down a punk infused, chant-like chorus on the next. Either way, the crowd was moving.

They were even jumping in unison at times.

As is almost always the case with a relatively newly formed band, RPS filled out the set list with a couple fan favourite covers. (You know you’ve been drunk and sung these songs embarrassingly loud).

First they put a sack on Neil Diamond’s classic “Sweet Caroline,” stirring together appropriate amounts of edge and sunshine.

COREY MANN

What they lacked in musical prowess, Rock, Paper, SATAN! made up for in energy, during their Oct. 23 show at Lucky Bar.

each other’s energy. The comNext up, was Richard Berry’s bustion of movement and music “Louie Louie.” It’s tough to do an overflowed into the crowd. Sure, original version of a song that has over 1,000 recorded renditions, so the songs could have been tighter, but that sort of thing will improve RPS kept it raw and full of punch, as the band gains experience on singing it out with raspy-worn stage together. vocals reminiscent of California What’s skaimportant punkIn a live show it’s the energy that is an open rock matters. Luckily, Rock, Paper, SATAN! cycle of legends good vibes Rancid. showed up with a full tank. flowing In a between the live band and the crowd. That is the show it’s the energy that matters.

Luckily, RPS showed up with a full kind of thing that will keep drawing people out to their shows — that tank. The band took full advanand their name. tage of their numbers, feeding off

Modern Warfare 2 will kick ass

by IAN VENABLES A cardboard figure of a U.S. solider clad in urban combat gear greeted me as I entered Electronic Boutique.

Below him, a digital display read 22:10:47:36. This answered my question concerning when I could expect the release of the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (MW2).

I naively inquired whether or not special editions of the game were being released. The clerk affably told me that there was a “Prestige Edition” which came endowed with a set of night-vision goggles.

They were sold out in March.

A steel book edition, appropriately titled the “Hardened Edition,” was also released. It sold out at the beginning of the summer.

Oh, and you have 48 hours upon official release to pick up your pre-ordered copy or it will be sold to someone else.

But there is some good news for die-hard fans, because Christmas is coming early this year.

There will be a midnight premiere of the game on Monday Nov. 9, if you feel you can’t get a

good night’s rest without hearing the term “frag-out.”

I haven’t anticipated the release of a video game since MarioKart and Goldeneye for Nintendo 64 and, on the surface, MW2 may seem like some “support our troops” propaganda. The game does make it seem cool to be a marine, but the original Modern Warfare didn’t take home numerous game-of-the-year awards just for looking good.

So why is the game so popular?

Well, people camp out for days to get their hands on Harry Potter books or to see Transformers, so why not for video games?

The franchise has attracted bigname actors in the past like Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman to provide voices. Hans Zimmer, composer for feature films, has even signed on to do the score.

One major attraction is how realistic these first-person shooter games have become.

With actual modern combat evolving so quickly along with the increasing emphasis on the role of technology, it’s no wonder that the army has been rumoured to

have been sniffing around elite gamers while using their own video games to encourage recruitment.

After all, dedicated fans already know everything about the army — they have proven hand-eye coordination, and the amount of time they have logged on their consoles has reinforced the idea that being a marine is desirable.

Why not throw them in front of a computer and do it for real?

Fans of the franchise will be pleased that Infinity Ward has signed back on to relieve Treyarch of its cash-grabbing command.

The former developer rushed out COD 5: World at War more to capitalize on the success of Modern Warfare while doing little, if anything, to actually expand on the successes.

Building on what they did originally and taking criticism of COD 5 into account, Infinity Ward has made a conscious effort to incorporate more elements into characters, the environment, weapons and gameplay in general.

This could very well be another game-of-the-year contender.

October 29, 2009

•Muffins emulate pumpkin pie in this issue’s Adventurous Vegan •Look inside Life for legends from beyond the grave!

Editor Elizabeth Hames

life@martlet.ca

Diction king visits a throng of Victoria fans

by KAROLINA KARAS

PROVIDED

Recently, the Muslim Canadian Congress called for a national ban of the burka. The group says the garment has no place in a society that supports gender equality.

Burka should be choice The UVic Muslim Student Association combats congress’ call for ban

by JULIE HUNTER “Extreme” views are behind calls to ban the burka in Canada, according to members of the UVic Muslim Student Association (MSA).

Earlier this month, the Muslim Canadian Congress called for the prohibition of burkas, the garments Muslim women wear to cover their face and body.

The congress said the practice of wearing the burka has no place in a society that supports gender equality.

Farzana Hassan, congress spokesperson, said that there is nothing in any of the primary Islamic religious texts, including the Koran, which requires women to cover their faces.

“Covering is a matter of opinion,” said Mohamed Ghilan, president of the UVic MSA. “It is a woman’s free choice, especially in Canada. There is no coercion.”

Ghilan said the Koran states that there is no compulsion in religion; Islam is based on free will but with guidelines, not rules, he added.

“There are many interpretations of religious texts and the Muslim lobby group … have an extreme [interpretation], where they are beginning to contradict the right

October 29, 2009

to practice religion,” Ghilan said.

Ghilan said Hassan is imposing this interpretation and is attacking Muslim women who choose to wear traditional garments as a method of worship. He questions Hassan’s reasons to call for the ban of the burka.

“The group itself is controversial,” he said. “They call themselves ‘secular Muslims,’ which in itself is a contradiction.”

Ghilan said the lobby group is a hypocrisy and that Hassan’s motive may rely on the environment she grew up in — an environment where perhaps she may have been forced by friends or family to wear the coverings.

“These cases are few and far between,” Ghilan said. “It is wrong for a Muslim woman to be forced to wear the burka by anyone.”

But there are cases where this does happen and Ghilan said they are a direct result of a lack of Islamic literacy on part of the family and friends.

Islam is not set up in a hierarchy the same way that Catholicism is, said Ghilan.

It comprises a body of scholars based on a democracy; there are no infallible figures.

Due to recent cultural changes

in Islam, instead of following God, people are now telling God how to operate, added Ghilan. There is an idea being perpetuated in the media that is false, and people are trying to simplify a vast culture, he said.

An example of this is that the banning of the burka has become so aggressive that some Muslim women are even afraid to leave their homes after dark.

“Disallowing Muslim women to chose to wear traditional garments of worship is like disallowing a Catholic nun to wear her habit, or a Sikh to wear his or her turban,” he said.

According to recent articles found in the International Feminist Journal of Politics, many Muslim women even attest to wearing traditional garments as a way of liberating themselves from being subjects of sexual scrutiny or consumerism.

“Mankind. We created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know and honour each other,” Ghilan quoted from the Kuran.

“We are all created differently, and this is what makes us individual.”

A Canadian icon known for his political point of view has condensed his opinions into a book and celebrated its release in Victoria this past weekend.

As his name implies, Rex Murphy, 62, is Canada’s “king” of diction, rhetoric, sarcasm and wit.

A national icon, the political guru came to Victoria on Sunday night, Oct. 25, to promote his new book, Canada and Other Matters of Opinion. Approximately 80 Murphy fans attended the event at Munro’s Books. Murphy welcomed his guests with a casual demeanor by calling to attention their masochism.

“It’s a rainy and a miserable night, and you came to watch a miserable human being,” he said.

But his evident love for books and language, and his decision to write his book, suggest otherwise.

Murphy’s career spans more than 35 years. He started in politics, campaigning both provincially and federally.

More recently, he is known for his work hosting Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio, and his segment, “Point of View,” on CBC Television’s the National.

As a weekly contributor for the Globe and Mail, it was a natural progression for Murphy to author a book. Dave Hill, manager of Munro’s, understands this transition.

“He is somebody who’s constantly looking at what’s going on, and taking the measure of people’s opinions, as well as the political and social environment,” he said.

“With [Canada and Other Matters of Opinion], it’s time to make a collection of his observations of the last few years.”

Murphy’s book discusses how language is behind many current issues.

“It reminds people that words define what we are,” Murphy said.

“They are the closest things to our own thoughts.

“There’s some tissue of connection between the attempt to elevate how we think, write and speak with the conduct of our public life.”

His second foray in books is Murphy’s quotable thoughts on politics, pop culture and those who ban “the pleasure of smoking,” as he titled one chapter.

While the latter may be slightly biased, since Murphy usually resembles a chimney, his opinions are praised as purely Canadian.

Constance Munro, of no affiliation to the store, has been a fan of Murphy from the start of his career.

“He doesn’t know me from a bale of hay, but I’m interested in him,” said Munro. “I like his opinions.

I’m in great admiration of the way he writes and his ability to present himself.”

Among the small crowd was Keith Martin, frequent Cross Country Checkup caller and Liberal MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca.

“Rex is one of Canada’s most present political observers and he has a turn of the phrase that is matched by very few people,” he said.

“Canadians are drawn to him because they understand he’s a straight-shooter and that he has a very unusual and unique way of getting to the heart of the matter quickly.”

Hill adds to Martin’s description.

“People love his use of language, even if it means they’re running for

LIFE 17

Ghost avoids graveyards, visits Dallas Road Tales from the crypt were hightlights of last weekend’s Ross Bay Cemetery ghost walk, hosted by Victoria’s Old Cemeteries Society

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Many people have reported strange sightings of a woman in a wedding dress near the Victoria Golf Course and on Dallas Road. Members of the Old Cemetaries Society believe the apparition is the ghost of Doris Gravlin, who was murdered in Oak Bay more than 70 years ago.

Gravlin’s shoes were in his pocket.

With the discovery of Victor’s body, the case was officially closed as a murder-suicide.

Since then, strange sightings around the Victoria Golf Club have been reported.

Many people have said they saw a woman, most often wearing a wedding gown, walk from the golf course towards the beach.

Once she reached the beach, they said, she disappeared.

Drivers on Dallas road reported that the Ghost of Gravlin walked right into their moving vehicle.

People who claim to have seen the ghost of Doris Gravlin say she haunts the Victoria Golf Club and Dallas road area the most in April, between 4:30 and 5:30 in the afternoon.

Keep your eyes peeled.

The society hosts cemetery history tours every Sunday.

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There was something eerie in the air at Ross Bay Cemetery, Oct. 25.

With Halloween just around the corner, the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria hosted their annual Ghost Walk tour through the cemetery grounds last weekend.

Volunteers led tours and told stories of local ghosts that have been known to haunt the streets of Victoria.

Wilf Bruch, society president, walked around the cemetery in a black top hat.

“The historical value of the cemetery is huge. There’s 27 premiers buried here,” said Bruch. “All the movers and shakers, too — the people who built B.C.” Some of the historical figures buried in the cemetary include Billy Barker, Emily Carr, Sir James Douglas and Nellie Cashman.

The non-profit society encourages the research, preservation and appreciation of Victoria’s 20 heritage cemeteries.

While the City of Victoria owns the cemetery and mows the 27.5 acres of lawn, volunteers with the society watch for vandalism, give weekly tours, keep records, answer the public’s ancestral questions and wash the tombstones.

“We want to raise awareness about the Ross Bay Cemetery as a great storytelling place in Victoria,” said Bruch. “We think it’s really important to protect the cemetery for the next generation.”

As for ghost sightings, Bruch admits to none.

“Cemeteries aren’t really places for ghosts,” said Bruch. “They haunt places where they come from, whether the’ve had a good or bad experience” One volunteer did let the tour in on a few good stories, like the tale of Doris Gavlin. Gravlin, a 30-year-old nurse, is buried in the Royal Oak Burial Park.

Gravlin and her hard-drinking journalist husband, Victor, had troubles with their relationship and were seperated in September of 1936.

Soon after, Gravlin went for a walk and never returned.

A caddy at the Victoria Golf Club found her body five days later.

She was severely beaten and strangled.

Her sweater lay on the beach and her shoes were missing.

Victor vanished the same night as his wife.

Exactly four weeks later, his body was found floating in a bed of kelp just off the shore of the golf course.

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THE ADVENTUROUS VEGAN

Morning munchie mimics pumpkin classic

by ELIZABETH HAMES These muffins eat like handheld pumpkin pies — with cranberries.

The canned pumpkin keeps the texture moist and soft, and maintains that fresh-baked sensation for days.

The cranberries provide a sour hit in contrast to the spicy-sweet taste.

Feel free to go nuts with the nutmeg, the secret to unleashing the pumpkin pie flavour.

If you’re looking for a hit of potassium or Vitamin A, pumpkins are a great way to round out your diet and break out of your dietary shackles.

This little number is the perfect snack for when you’re homesick and jonesing for your mom’s pumpkin pie without suffering from all of the guilt of animal cruelty.

Muffins!

510 ml (2 1/4 cups) rice flour 250 ml (1 cup) sweetener 15 ml (1 Tbsp) baking powder 5 ml (1 tsp) cinnamon 1 ml salt (1/4 tsp) salt 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) baking soda 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) nutmeg 1 ml (1/4 tsp) ground ginger 10 ounces (1 1/4 cup) pumpkin puree 125 ml (1/2 cup) soymilk egg replacer for 2 eggs 75 ml (1/3 cup) vegan margarine 125 ml (1/2 cup) fresh cranberries Pre-heat oven to 176 C (350 F) and lightly oil a muffin pan.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix the margarine, sweetener, pumpkin, soymilk and egg replacer. Add cranberries and wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter into the muffin pan, filling the cups two-thirds full.

Bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

JOSH THOMPSON

These delicious muffins are made with rice flour, which makes them gluten free as well as vegan.

Group uses comedy to rid mental health stigmas Stand Up for Mental Health gives comedians suffering from mental illness a chance to tell it like it is

by JENNA ROSS Stigma, fear and prejudice were the targets of jokes told by comedians with mental illnesses at UVic last week.

Stand Up For Mental Health is an organization that allows those with mental illnesses to discuss their problems in a comedy act, which they perform at various events.

Founder David Granirer views the program as therapy for the comics, as well as a means to eliminate “all the stigma, all the fear, all the prejudice” that those with mental illness are subjected to.

On Oct. 21, the comedians came to the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium to make that message known.

So far, it seems to be effective and the public has responded positively to the organization, said Granirer.

“People really appreciate seeing this side of mental illness,” he said.

Jordan Vetten, a UVic student, said the show wasn’t what he expected.

“It was surprisingly professional,” he said.

While those with mental illness commit only five per cent of crimes, Granirer said the public estimates this to be much higher.

“The general public doesn’t give a crap about any of [the problems we face], they just want to know you’re not going to hurt them,” he said.

Joan Stone has been part of the program for five years. She made light of the stigmas surrounding mental illness.

“I’ve been giving blood lately ...

It comes from my neighbour. She’s a deep sleeper,” said Stone during her act.

October 29, 2009

The organization is going to The crowd responded with a be a big part of that journey, by bout of laughter. Stone suffers continuing to enlighten the public from bipolar disorder. and empower mentally ill indiShe said that, although the road viduals through humour. to acceptance has been difficult Granirer said efforts are befor her, the organization has ginning to reach more people helped her come out of her shell.

“That was a big thing for me,” she through training groups in Vancouver, Courtenay, Campbell said. “I even stigmatized myself.”

River, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Granirer, who used to “run Edmonton, Fort Frances, Guelph, around the block to avoid people” Ottawa, Toronto and Halifax. because of his shame, said that The organization also works circumstances have improved for with the Depression Bipolar Supthose with mental illness since he port Alliance in the U.S. and is was diagnosed with depression. starting a Stand Up for Mental When the students of the proHealth group in Victoria in late gram come off the stage, “they’re 2009. on a high.”

Cindy Player, “It comUVic’s chair pletely “The general public doesn’t give a crap of the Mental changes about any of [the problems we face], Health Task their self they just want to know you’re not going Force, a volimages,” unteer-based he said. to hurt them.” program, said Society UVic hopes to still has a make it an annual event. long way to go in changing pre“Laughter is a really good way of conceptions about mental illness, spreading a message,” Player said. said Granirer.

JOSH THOMPSON

Stand Up for Mental Health, an organization that uses comedy as therapy for people with mental illness, saw performers strut their stuff at UVic last week.

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LIFE 19

•Get your story out there. If you’ve got somthing to say, we want to hear it. Email.

•Go somewhere impressive, have a crazy experience, then write about it for Travel!

Editor Danielle Pope

travel@martlet.ca

The skinny on being fat-astic in another culture

by AMY MATTHEWSON “Why Teacher — how could you do that to yourself?” cried one of my female students.

And cried, she did. She was so horrified with me that she could hardly contain her emotions. The rest of the class either gawked at me in disgust or scrunched up their noses and stuck out their tongues. It was a classroom full of 8-year-olds. I guess I couldn’t expect too much maturity.

What was it they were reacting to?

The beautiful tan that I worked on during my holiday in Thailand. Not a flamboyant tattoo, or a piercing in some super-sensitive area, but just a simple darkening of the skin. And even though I had been in Taiwan for five months, their reaction still came as a surprise to me.

“I think I look good,” I said.

“Well, you don’t. You look ugly. I don’t even want to look at you,” said Karen, the little girl crying.

The dirty looks and astonished stares continued in the halls, down the street and on the bus. Until at last, weeks later, the tan faded and my natural glow-in-the-dark skin reemerged. My students then decided to love me again.

Once again, I was treated with respect in stores and served with a smile instead of grumpy hostility by street vendors. Indeed, the moment I arrived in Taipei, I was treated somewhat like a celebrity and getting a tan had stopped that abruptly. But with my natural chalkiness, complete strangers would come up to me

and tell me how pretty I was. It was amazing for my ego and might have turned into downright conceit had it not been for one thing: they always ended their compliment with, “too bad you’re so fat.”

And so it went. “Oh my! Your face is so beautiful … too bad you’re so fat.”

Or, “you look like a most beautiful American actress! But you’re so fat.”

I never knew what to say. Do I thank them for the compliment? Or do I tell them to go to hell?

As always, when I wanted to know more about something, I planned a lesson for my advanced-level adult conversation class. Many of the students became good friends of mine, and they were always very open and honest. And so, I structured a lesson around cultural constructions and perceptions of beauty.

In Taiwan, there is no such thing as too skinny. It wasn’t uncommon for girls to starve themselves trying to achieve the ideal waif frame. For example, my Chinese tutor ate every other day, filling the hunger void with hot tea instead of food. When we went shopping, she cried out in horror when a size zero fit her nicely.

“I’m gaining a lot of weight!” she moaned.

I tried to comfort her by telling her that I’m a size four and that she’s still smaller than me.

“That’s no comfort,” she said.

“You’re huge! It’s like telling an elephant that it’s not as fat as a hippo.”

She was upset. I was confused.

Was I the elephant, or the hippo?

While being super-thin is somewhat of an obsession in Taiwan as much as in Canada, there were differences in what constituted the ideal body. My students scrunched up their noses in disgust when I showed them pictures of Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider or Scarlett Johansson. The women in my class thought they were extremely overweight, while the men thought they looked too masculine. They were too strong in appearance, too aggressive-looking.

“Ewwww. Look at their chests!

That’s just gross!” one male student cried out.

Did I mention that boobs are soooo not attractive? My Canadian girlfriend and I went to a local Taiwan bar one night and she was constantly glared at because of the low-cut top she wore. Men didn’t approach her, and women laughed. One girl took pity on us and came up to explain why we were being shunned. Her

LANGARA COLLEGE Presents

FILM ARTS

AMY MATTHEWSON

While full lips, big breasts and small waists may be the emphasis in Western culture, Asians value a much lighter look.

English was perfect.

“If you are unfortunate and have big boobs, you should try and hide it… not show it off,” she explained, then walked away in the shortest skirt I have ever seen in my life. “Um… I can see your bum,” I wanted to say.

I learned from my class that legs are preferred over boobs. That explained why some of the Chinese TAs wore teeny, tiny skirts to work. A bum hanging out every now and then is no big deal, as long as you keep it professional and wear a turtleneck. As for cosmetic surgery, it’s not as big as it is in North America, but the operation is almost always for the eyes. The ideal is to have “Western” eyes — the bigger, the better.

What constituted the ideal man didn’t escape my interest, either. I soon learned that males, as well as females, felt pressure to be perfect.

They were scorned if there were too

muscular, too tanned, too short, and yes… too fat. So in many ways, our cultural notions of beauty are similar and whether in Asia or in North.

America: we tend to value an ideal that is near impossible to achieve.

With that in mind, I stopped taking offense to being called fat.

In fact, it was just the other day that I was speaking long-distance to my Chinese friend Janice, who lives in Taipei. She saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and was commenting on Megan Fox, our newest sex symbol and someone I have been drooling over during for months.

“She’s so pretty, it is too bad that she’s so fat. Like you, Amy!” she said.

I’m fat like sexy Megan Fox? “Well, thank you!” I said gleefully.

No complaints or arguments here.

Now there’s a fat I can easily live with and, I must say, I went to bed that night feeling pretty damn good.

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Sports

•Know more about what’s going down than we do? Your name could be here.

•What makes sports reporting the best in the business? Contact Max for the answer.

Editor Max Sussman

sports@martlet.ca

T-Birds sweep doubleheader, clinch CanWest title The Vikes’ attempt at keeping up with UBC proved fruitless last weekend, as the team tried some new tricks

by NATHAN LOWTHER The two top-ranked women field hockey teams in the country finished the Canada West season with a pair of games on Oct. 24 and 25 at UVic’s Turf Field. The defending CIS champs from UVic, who hosted this year’s championship tournament, were looking to prove they could hang with the top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds.

But Saturday’s effort did nothing toward that end. UBC clinched the conference crown with a 4-2 win. Vikes coach Lynne Beecroft blamed part of the loss on herself.

“We were trying a new system.

We hadn’t even practiced, but I decided to spring it on them. They were not quite as comfortable doing what they had to do,” she said.

Sunday saw a better Vikes squad show up, but the result was similar. UVic pushed the play and created some quality chances, but the T-Birds’ wingspan kept passing lanes clogged for the most part while ex-Vike Robyn Pendleton set up the game’s only goal for a 1-0 UBC win.

“We looked much better today,” said Beecroft. “I think they got what they need to do, and understood [the new sytem].”

The game almost took a different path when Vikes’ rookie Kyla Kirby boomed one square off the post just five minutes in. UVic had an edge in possession and territory in a first half that called upon neither goalie to make a big save.

“We played really well yesterday and it’s hard, after clinching the Canada West, trying to get them back up,” said UBC coach Hash Kanjee.

His team, rife with fifth-year players and national team mem-

October 29, 2009

bers, has been the heavy favourite all season.

“We just work one day at a time.

I like where we are at,” Kanjee said. “We have people playing at their capabilities and we are starting to score some goals.”

His girls did just that in the 43rd minute. Pendleton raced down the left side, beat a defender and cut along the baseline. Vikes all-star goalie Kaitlyn Williams challenged Pendleton, who flicked a pass across the goalmouth, where Elise Milosevich redirected a backhand for her league-leading 10th goal of the season.

UVic came on strong after that, generating a couple of short corners and a couple of scrambles, but were unable to spoil T-Birds keeper Dina Bulfone’s clean sheet.

“They are a good team, but I think my team now knows they can compete against them, so I’m happy,” said Beecroft.

After the game, Vikes players Katie Collison, Perri Espeseth and Kaitlyn Williams were named to the Canada West all-star team.

Up next, UVic hosts the CIS Championships. The four-day tournament starts Nov. 5. The Vikes are looking to repeat, but will have to go through the Thunderbirds to do so. The two programs are deadlocked with a CIS-record 11 titles each.

In a match up featuring two of the top sides in CIS women’s field hockey, the UVic Vikes met their match in a doubleheader on Oct. 24 and 25, against their mainland rivals the UBC Thunderbirds.

Coach Lyne Beecroft and her Vikes tried out a new offensive strategy against the CIS leading

T-Birds, and the experienced UBC squad made them pay, winning 4-2 in the first game and 1-0 in the second.

The Vikes look to regroup before playing host to the CIS championships this weekend.

LARS YUNKER

The Vikes (light blue) played with tenacity against the T-Birds, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win this weekend.

SPORTS 21

Ravens hold off Vikes, sweep Vetrie tournament

by MAX SUSSMAN The Carleton Ravens held off a hard-charging UVic Vikes men’s basketball squad down the stretch to cap off the weekend’s 2009 Guy Vetrie Memorial Tournament, Oct. 23 to 25.

The Vikes came in looking to build some momentum, having split their first two games with a loss to Alberta and a win against Fraser Valley on the first and second day of the tournament, respectively. They came up against a brick wall in Carleton, winners of six of the last seven CIS national titles.

Ravens guard Eliot Thompson led all scorers with 26 points, going seven of 12 from beyond the threepoint arc, while center Kevin McCleery had 19 to go along with eight rebounds. Third-year guard Ryan MacKinnon had 17 to pace the Vikes, while Washington native Zac Andrus pitched in 14 with six assists.

The Vikes stumbled out of the gates, while the Ravens didn’t miss a beat after averaging just under

100 points per game last year, scoring 25 in the opening frame, lead by McCleery’s eight. The Vikes didn’t have anyone that could physically match up with the 6’8” Ottawa native, and McCleery wreaked havoc on the inside all night.

“We probably should have trapped him more, try to get the ball out of his hands, but I’ll be honest, we haven’t really spent enough time on that at this stage,” said head coach Craig Beaucamp, in his seventh season at the helm for the Vikes.

As the Vikes focused on McCleery, the Ravens guards began to drain threes, led by Thomspon, who scored 23 of his 26 points in the final three quarters “[McCleery] didn’t get a lot of deep catches. It’s tough, because he’s catching it two or three feet off the block, but they space it with four guys that can shoot the three,” said Beaucamp. “We over helped and gave up way too many open threes.”

LARS YUNKER

Ryan MacKinnon (12) drives to the hoop against Carleton’s Cole Hobin.

The Vikes seemed to come alive in the third quarter, but still went into the game’s final frame down

11. MacKinnon scored 10 points down the stretch, leading a rousing comeback that saw Andrus

drain a three that brought the score to 64-60 with just over two minutes left.

That was as close as it would get, as Willy Manigat was perfect on seven free throw shots in the final quarter to close out the win.

Never a high powered offence, Beaucamp’s Vikes lost their top three scorers from last year, so the team needs is historically impenetrable defence to hold down the fort.

For much of the game, the defence looked porous, but Beaucamp saw it otherwise.

“The guys we lost [to], you know we’re not going to replace them. I think we’re a different team. [Carleton] averaged 97 points per game last week in their tournament, and I think we did a pretty good job,” said Beaucamp.

The Vikes open the 2009 regular season on Halloween night with an 8 p.m. tip-off against the SFU Clan.

Forstbauer, Dykstra lead a dominating UVic squad

by MAX SUSSMAN The UVic Vikes women’s basketball team capped off a stellar preseason with a dominant showing in the Guy Vetrie Memorial Tournament, Oct. 23 to 25, going 3-0 over the weekend to run their preseason record to 5-1.

In the final game of the tournament, a 77-75 win over the Memorial Seahawks on Oct. 25, the Vikes had six players score in double digits.

Reigning CIS MVP and fourth-year forward Kayla Dyktra lead the way with 16.

Dykstra was everywhere in the first quarter, dropping 10 points and going perfect on five field goal attempts.

Dykstra’s play and stingy defence allowed the Vikes to jump out to a lead early in the game, but the Seahawks took over during the second quarter, going on a 16-3 run to take a 34-30 lead, on a lay-up by Memorial’s Grace Fishbein, who contributed 10 points and five rebounds on the night. The Seahawks would stretch to 40-33 before the Vikes tied it at 40 on a

buzzer-beater by Kristen Hughes.

“We’ve got a mix of young and older players, so sometimes our youth will show, and sometimes our experience will show,” said head coach Brian Cheng.

The Seahawks double and tripleteamed Dykstra in an effort to keep the ball out of her hands, and it worked. But Dykstra was able to pass well out of the post, finishing with four assists on the night.

“She can score from the low block, she can face up, she can score so many different ways, we really want to work on passing out of the doubleteam. Just another element for her as she goes forward and maybe plays professionally,” he said.

Fourth-year forward Vanessa Forstbauer picked up much of the slack for Dykstra, finishing the night with 13 points and 14 rebounds. All but two of those points came after the Seahawks began to shut Dykstra down.

Forstbauer, who averages 5.5 rebounds per game, came up big on the boards, grabbing eight on the offensive end to give the Vikes second and third chances to score.

“I just do my thing. I play hard, I get after the boards. Points will come,” said Forstbauer.

Memorial ran up a four-point lead going into the final frame on the strength of their outside shooting.

Guards Brittany Dalton, Kim Devison and Lauren Hawkins combined to shoot 50 per cent from long-range, YURI accounting for all but four ofCHOUFOUR the Seahawk’s 22 third quarter points.

Cheng was not pleased with his team’s defense.

“We’ve got to stick to the game plan from minute one. We put a lot of emphasis on our defence and unfortunately tonight it didn’t show.

We played like individuals tonight,” said Cheng.

The Vikes clawed their way back into the game, finally pulling even at

YURI CHOUFUR

Vikes’ guard Jane Anholt leads the rush against Ryerson.

73 on a deep two-pointer from guard Carmen Lapthorne with just 90 seconds remaining, before Forstbauer

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dropped the game winning shot on a beautiful pass by Dykstra out of a double team.

The Vikes, who came up two points short against UBC in last year’s CanWest semifinals, got off to the quick start that Cheng was hoping for.

“We looked in the mirror at the end of the season, and we saw that we need to be more mentally tough … or attention to detail in our execution just has to be precise,” said Cheng.

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October 29, 2009

Club hockey team kicks into gear

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by PATRICK CWIKLINSKI After starting their season out in lacklust fashion, the UVic men’s ice hockey team swepth their way through a weekend double header against the visiting Selkirk Saints.

The Vikes, who took the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) championship last year, went into last weekend’s twogame series against the Saints with a sub par 1-2-1 record, but fought hard to make amends in front of a packed house at the Ian Stewart Complex, Oct. 23 and 24.

Francis Gonella got the ball rolling early for the Vikes on Friday night and got the crowd into the game immediately when he dropped the gloves with Saints defenseman Devin Kerckhof just over two minutes into the game.

Both teams, however, found trouble scoring in the first period as they ran into hot goaltenders.

The Vikes couldn’t seem to solve Saints net minder Cody Deadmarsh, who stopped all 22 shots he faced. Tim Manuel also looked sharp in his second start of the season for UVic, allowing nothing to get by him in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Vikes came out after the first intermission eager to get on the scoreboard, and did so with a goal 43 seconds into the period from Brett Campbell to put his team up 1-0. The Saints would respond with a goal of their own to tie the game 1-1 going into the third period.

Campbell looked dangerous again in the final frame, scoring his second goal of the night to put the Vikes up 2-1 three minutes in.

The Saints kept pressure on the Vikes with an equalizer just past the halfway mark of the period.

The Saints then got the jump on the Vikes with nine minutes remaining in regulation, with a goal that would ultimately be disallowed stirring frenzy behind the visitor’s bench, ending with the Saints head coach being thrown out of the game for harassing the referees as momentum soon shifted back in the home team’s favour.

After another fight, this time between Vikes defenseman Tyson Viehweger and Saints forward Braeden Mace, Tyler Wowchuk scored back-to-back goals seconds apart to ice the game with just over five minutes remaining, UVic would hold on to win by a final score of 4-2.

The Vikes got off to a slow start in Saturday’s game, letting in a goal four minutes in to put the Saints ahead 1-0. That momentum would change in a hurry as the Vikes answered with two goals 13 minutes in by David Blake and Sean Smith that put them back in the lead 2-1 – but they were far from being finished.

Rookie Matthew Bell got in on the scoring extravaganza for the Vikes, with two goals at the end of the period. Blake also registered his second of the night to give his team a huge four-goal lead heading into the middle frame.

UVic kept piling on goals in the second period, with Blake completing a hat-rick just under a minute in. Rookie Cole Westersund would score his first of the

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The UVic Libraries and the Adviser to the Provost on Equity and Diversity are proud to present the 2009 Diversity Writing Contest.

Prizes will be awarded to three categories: fiction, essay/rant, and poetry. Judging will be based on style, originality, clarity, and adherence to the theme of diversity. library.uvic.ca/site/wrtingcontest for more details. All entries must be submitted by 4:30 pm on November 16th 2009

MAX SUSSMAN

The UVic men’s ice hockey team swept away the Selkirk Saints last week.

season to add insult to injury with his team, up six goals over the Saints.

The game would end with the Vikes trashing the Saints 7-2 with the shots at an overwhelming 4922 for UVic. The Vikes took all four possible points out of the weekend series and improved to a 3-2-1 record

as they will now head into a break before facing the Saints in Castlegar in the first weekend of November.

They will make their return to the Ian Stewart Complex with a two-game series against Simon Fraser University (SFU) Friday, Nov. 27 at 10:20 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 28 at 9:30 p.m.

Salmon Kings looking to rebound

by NATHAN CADDELL It’s about that time of year again in Victoria: the leaves turn brown, the rain starts pouring and the Vancouver Canucks stumble at the start of the season, despite high hopes. However, Victoria hockey fans need not fear. The Victoria Salmon Kings are well on their quest for a shot at the Kelly Cup — awarded every year to the champion of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).

The Salmon Kings are now in their sixth year at the Save-onFoods Memorial Centre, and are in the third year of being the official ECHL affiliate to the Canucks.

The Salmon Kings began this season on a bittersweet note. Last season, they went undefeated for 15 games straight, good for the second-longest streak in ECHL history. They went onto the first round of the playoffs and dismantled the Idaho Steelheads in a four-game sweep. However, the season ended on a sour note, as the Salmon Kings lost to their bitter rival, the Alaska Aces, in five games.

Hoping to build on that disappointing finish, the Salmon Kings have many elements of that team that won 15 straight games in December and January. Team captain Wes Goldie is returning after setting the Salmon Kings record for goals in a season with 48 goals.

The Salmon Kings also have some hope for the future with young, promising players, including second-round Canuck draft-pick Taylor Ellington on defence. However,

October 29, 2009

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Join our Facebook group for further details or email Glen O’Neill at grafx@martlet.ca.

The Jungian Society of UVic Presents:Psychological and Archetypal Dimensions of Secrets.

A lecture by Mary Harsany, Ph.D. Nov. 6, 2009 from 7:30 – 9:45 PM. University of Victoria—David Strong Building, C116. Cost: Members $10 students $5 Non-members $15 Cycling and Philosophy.

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Wes Goldie celebrates one of his Salmon Kings record 48 goals last season.

last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, Dylan Yeo, will not be returning to the team as he is playing in the AHL this season.

Head coach Mark Morrison is returning for his fourth year, having been a co-coach at the ECHL allstar game twice in a row. Morrison is one of the best coaches in the league and should be able to help a young Salmon Kings team grow.

“We have a talented group and I will be patient with it” said

Morrison, as he anticipates some building blocks on the way for this young team.

The atmosphere at the Save-onFoods Memorial is electric, as the crowd of 4,000 that usually visit the Centre are mostly die-hard fans, giving it all for their team.

Just remember, if you’re lamenting another 3-1 Canuck loss to the Flames, there’s a place not far by with some professional hockey of its own.

SPORTS 23

Comics

• Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my underground lair. I have gathered here before me the world’s deadliest assassins. Each and everyone of them sends me comics.

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