Over The Edge
UNBC’s Independent Student Newspaper est. 1994
GAMERGATE # A recent movement has been taking over the Internet... see page 8 & 9
Volume 21, Issue 5
Free overtheedgenewspaper.ca
October 27, 2014 ote-newspaper@unbc.ca
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Next deadline: November 5, 2014
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Over The Edge is the University of Northern British Columbia’s independent student newspaper. Our office is located on the 2nd floor of the NUSC building in room 6-350. We are an equal opportunity publication which represents students in the UNBC and Prince George community. Our publication supports student writing by welcoming news, arts, sports, culture and opinion articles, as well as photography, comics, and creative writing submissions.
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If you are getting passionate about the role of journalism and the current discourse of reporting, Over the Edge can point you in the right direction--feel free to stop by to discuss the future of journalism in Canada, and what your options are if you are interested in pursuing it.
Kelley
That is why I would like to take this
opportunity to remind everybody that fear mongering is a very easy way for the media to report news. Regardless of which source you prefer for mainstream media, it is becoming more and more important to use the critical thinking skills earned at university to analyze and question every piece of information you receive.
Andre w
here is a lot that we have to be afraid of in the world right now. The Islamic State is getting stronger, Russia is making some bad decisions, Ebola is rapidly infiltrating North America, and the Canadian House of Commons is being held at gunpoint.
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SFU Press
New from NUGSS Bill Clyne VP External Affairs
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e are now firmly into the 2014 fall semester and it is safe to say things are getting stressful for students. Make sure you are finding time for yourself, and be aware of services on campus. Some of the services include events put on by NUGSS, as well as resources like the Peer Support Network (PSN), the Academic Success Center (ASC), and monthly Stress Busters. With October coming to a close, the NUGSS by-elections are coming up;
Goodbye to Ricci Dalton Brady Stark Team Member
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hidden gem is retiring from UNBC. A prominent figure in UNBC’s education program for a number of years, Ricci Dalton has supported countless aspiring teachers through their journey to education. Every time there is a problem or concern, no matter the size, Ricci has always been there to lend a helping hand. Dalton came to UNBC from SFU, and anyone who is privy to any part of the situation knows that this is the best decision UNBC could have made for this program. Dalton’s official title is “Practicum Placement Coordinator,” but she does so much more
than just place students. Ricci takes the time to get to know all her students and their passions in order to find the most ideal situation to put me in at the time, despite the possibilty of unexpected roadblocks. Because of her actions, I went on to have a very successful practicum, and increased my zeal to succeed in my goal to educate children. Dalton’s dedication and connection to students has made her an invaluable resource to every aspiring teacher at UNBC. On behalf of myself and the second year elementary cohorts, I would like to thank Dalton for the tireless effort and kindness she has shown us the last couple years. We wish her all the best in her welldeserved retirement. You will be missed.
UNBC Life
the campaign period is from October 29 until November 4, and then voting will occur on November 5 and 6. The NUGSS AGM (Annual General Meeting) is also happening on November 5, so come on out, find out what is going on with your representatives (and pick up some pizza while you are there)! If you are interested in finding out more about us and what we are doing for you, come by the talks. The next one is Wednesday, October 29 from 1-3 in the Up-Tempo lounge behind Degrees in Building 6!
UNBC Life North Coast & Central BC Postcard Collection,UNBC
4
Exploring the UNBC archives
Kelley Ware Multimedia Coordinator
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here is a fourth floor to the library. For many students, it is uncommon to venture beyond the third floor of the UNBC library for their research or studying. However, if you press that “4” button in the elevator, or walk up that extra set of stairs, you will find a very special department that calls the fourth floor home: the Northern BC Archives. The Northern BC Archives states a very broad mandate on it’s website: acquiring, preserving, and providing access “to materials of permanent value related to the institutional history and development of UNBC,” and “archival materials of value related to the history and culture of Northern British Columbia.” These primary documents can include photographs, negatives, records, textual material, campus artwork, and ceremonial regalia. Any type of record imaginable can be found, from medical statements to policing reports to author manuscripts are available, yet few students know about it.
“People aren’t as socially aware [of an archive],” said Records Management Coordinator Erica Hernández-Read. “When you are little you go to a library, but you don’t go to an archive. So people don’t really become aware of it until they are quite a bit older.” Archival documents are a great resource to almost any student. Whether the assignment requires primary research, or it is just utilized as a tool to really make a paper pop, the archival documents are there for everyone. To help facilitate student research and accessibility, the UNBC Archives have established quite the online database on their website for students to navigate the world of archives. Simple subject searches can be done on the database, but do not get discouraged if your inquiry does not reveal results online. Because of the vast amount of documents, uploading to a database can be slow. Just because your inquiry is not online does not mean it is not available; the ladies at the archives are only a click away and they are always willing to help. “Anybody [can access the archives]… they just need to access us through email...” said Hernández-Read. “If there was something back there that a student
needed, we would do our best to make that information accessible… Even if they want to know how to do primary research, we help them with that.” Having access to archival documents is incredibly important. As the saying goes: we need to understand the past to know the future. Almost every degree can benefit from access to the archives. HernándezRead could only think of one degree program that may not get a direct benefit from the archives--computer science. Even then, it is more of a matter of when documents will be available rather than if.
perspective and if you are willing to do the work. The difference between secondary and primary research is in primary research you provide the analysis. That can be challenging, and it can be daunting. You can then prop it up with your secondary research, and we are here to help.” If students plan to use the archives, it is strongly advised that they begin their planning early. It can be a time-consuming process and it is important to prepare for it. There can be set-backs and hold-ups. Students may not be able to find exactly what they need and plans may have to change. However, if they find that coveted piece of gold, it can change the entire feel of a paper.
Possible creative and effective uses of archival documents could be analysing photographs of a mountain range to indirectly measuring how a glacier has been melting over decades. A student was once researching health in the Great Depression; while no direct documents were available, the ladies at the archives helped find a funeral leger from the early to mid-1990s. By researching the leger, the student was able to see what people were dying of and analyse the causes.
“It is exciting research, but it does take time,” said Hernández-Read. “It is not the type of research you can do the night before the paper is due… We are here to help, but we are not miracle workers. Contact us as soon as possible, right when you get your assignment if you can.”
Using the UNBC Archives can enrich your studies, but it does come with its own challenges. “The wonderful thing is you get out of it what you bring to it...” said Hernández-Read. “It really depends on your
To access the UNBC Archives, either visit http://nbca.library.unbc.ca or email them at archives@unbc.ca. They are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
If there is one thing the readers can take away it is this: history is at our fingertips, and it is in the archives waiting for people to find it.
Halloween Help Stave Off Boredom
Fear in cinema: Annabelle
Screw the Monster Mash! New Line Cinema
Nahid Taheri Team Member
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or people who watched The Conjuring last year and liked it, you may enjoy the prequel, Annabelle. The Conjuring is a nailbiting, hide-behind-your-hands thriller. Based on true life events, Ed and Lorraine Warren are paranormal investigators sent to help a family terrorized by a demon--said to be one of the most terrifying cases of their lives which they hadn't shared with anyone... until now. Set in 1971, The Conjuring is a story of haunting that happened in the Rhode Island home of the Perron family. Things start getting freaky and the parents enlist the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Conjuring is presenting a classic ghost story with great steadicam shots, making the audience familiar with house itself. With virtually no sex, gore, or cursing, The Conjuring earns its R-rating on scares alone. The audience cares for the characters, and the story is compelling enough to make you feel interested the whole time. We met the creepy vintage doll Annabelle in The Conjuring. She was just the front act there, showing up only at the pre-opening credits sequence. This year, we get to know how she came to be demonically possessed. The film is set ten years before The Conjuring in a California suburb. Young couple John and Mia are expecting their first child, and Mia has a doll collection. One of these dolls is the titillating vintage doll gifted by her medical student husband John (Ward Horton).
Although the real-life Annabelle doll, which is kept in Ed and Lorraine Warren's Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut, is known for some frightening events, the characters of this movie are fictional and just some parts are based on the true Annabelle story. Annabelle certainly doesn't reinvent the horror genre, but it's still an atmospheric and diversified movie that quickly grabs your attention and will haunt you until the very end. When the satanic cult members assassinate an old couple and attack the two main actors, the movie becomes gripping. When a fire breaks out and menaces the pregnant main actress, viewers were on the edge of their seats. The haunting scene leading to a stroller smashed by a truck is also horrific. It is a good thing that the entire movie doesn't only play at one location and only involves supernatural phenomenon. Even though the movie avoided a few stereotypes such as an exorcism, some parts were still highly predictable: the scared housewife nobody believes in, the wicked demon trying to take possession of a child's innocent soul, and the heroic actions of an old pastor attempting to save a young family and community members...all elements that horror movie fans have seen numerous times before. In that sense, the movie lacked some originality and, ultimately, tension towards the end. Regardless, fans of traditional horror movies or more recent outputs by James Wan and his colleagues should watch Annabelle this Halloween. This movie isn't the best of the year, but is still a professionally executed and highly above average horror flick.
Colin Slark Team Member
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his Halloween, impress your friends with something really scary. Not horror movies, not costumes, but really, truly, gruesomely bad music. The following songs are so awful that they will leave a bad taste in your mind well after they have stopped playing. “The Kids” by Lou Reed: This is the most horrible thing I have ever heard. The first four minutes are a droning wail about how a woman had her kids taken away because she was a bad mother. Halfway through the song, Lou Reed starts playing the recorder really, really badly, as the sound of crying children fades in. Rumour has it that a group of children were led into a recording booth and told their mothers had died in order to get that recording. “My Pal Foot Foot” by The Shaggs: Trying to locate an imaginary friend could be a good basis for a song, but not when you’re seemingly unable to write compelling lyrics, sing, or play instruments. Each member of The Shaggs seems to be playing their own song and ignoring all the others, creating a cacophonous, nonsensical mess. “I’ve Never Been To Me” by Charlene: If you ignore the lyrics of this song, you could perhaps dismiss it out of hand as bad 80s elevator muzak, but with them you get perhaps the most vapid song ever written. The central concern of the song seems to be that a woman is shamed by her promiscuity and inability to form lasting
relationships. Charlene insists that this means that she has “never been to me,” but I have no idea what that means. “Who Killed Bambi” by Tenpole Tudor: This one features a man who sounds like a drunk British auctioneer singing about the greatest crime ever committed: the murder of Bambi. The writer of the song seems to blame a hippie for killing Bambi, which if I understand the general philosophy of hippies, is a strange assumption. Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed: Okay, this one is cheating a bit as I’m listing the entire album. What do you get when a disgruntled musician is pressured into producing an album for a record company he’s disillusioned with? You get Metal Machine Music, which is approximately 65 minutes of guitar feedback at different speeds. Want to test yourself? Look for it somewhere and try to get through ten minutes of it. I dare you. “Anything at All” by Wesley Willis: I don’t want to talk too much about Wesley Willis as I feel like it would ruin the magic. Just have a listen to “Rock n’ Roll McDonalds” or “Suck a Cheetah’s Dick” and learn why this man was unappreciated in his lifetime, but adored by Youtube. When scaring your friends with these songs, please take caution. Any one of them is enough to drive a person out of their minds, and more than one could do irreversible damage. This Halloween, please scare responsibly, lest you reduce a person's eardrums to jelly.
Halloween Gravity Falls | Disney TV Animation
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What lurks in the pipes Colin Slark Team Member
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ou’ve probably heard it. Those strange rattling, shaking, and banging noises in the walls and in the ceilings that you hear when you are in any room next to UNBC’s outside perimeter. In reality, these noises are probably things like rushing water going through pipes, but that’s no fun at all. Here, instead, is a hypothetical list of what goes on in the spaces between rooms on campus. Every semester, students file into classrooms for exams of various sorts. By the time they emerge from their knowledge cocoons, they are no longer the same. Exams (especially math related ones) are proven to reduce parts of the brain to a liquid, which then runs down the student’s ear and onto the floor. All the brain liquids from all the students coalesce into drains in lecture hall floors where they are whisked away for whoknows-what purpose in various pipes. Of course, brain-juice is so thick that it makes
horrible rattling noises as it flows away. Have you ever entered a room after an absence to see that things have been changed? Empty mugs with handles facing a different direction, papers rearranged, that paycheck you needed to cash nowhere to be seen. This is of course due to tiny gnomes living on the edges of the world, just out of your sight. These gnomes are single-purposed, living only for the pursuit of fun and whimsy. This is why they have set up an amusement park in the pipes and walls of UNBC. The strange noises you hear during class are roller coasters and log rides. These gnomes get away with it because gnomes aren’t real, right? Or are they? UNBC is of course, haunted. The campus was built on top of a former cult compound from the 1970s. This cult believed that robots from outer space would one day come to rule over us and tried to build ray guns in order to fight back against their new robot masters. These days, they haunt
the science labs, tapping out messages in Morse code on the pipes like “Build the ray guns, save the world,” although unconfirmed reports have stated that the tapping actually spells out “Drink your Ovaltine.”
civilization running. Those noises coming from the walls are actually an elaborate communication system, so they can tell each other where supplies are and warn if upworlders are nearby.
Deep beneath UNBC’s campus is a great underground city populated by people afraid of sunlight. Every day they send up scavengers wearing large sunglasses, completely covered in dark robes, to steal supplies so they can keep their
All of these could be true. None of these could be true. It is up to you to find out the truth about the secrets hidden on campus. Of course, you could just ask the maintenance department, but that’s just cheating.
Zombie apocalypse reaches UNBC Kelley Ware Multimedia Coordinator
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t started several weeks ago. Students began displaying strange symptoms, such as an inability to vocalize more than a groan, shuffling with each step, a lack of spatial awareness, and blank stares. Officials have tried to deny it, but, as more and more students succumb, it is becoming clear that the living dead have invaded our campus. Similar cases have appeared all over Canada, making UNBC just the latest instance in what is becoming a full-scale pandemic. Experts have been attempting to learn as much as they can about this outbreak of zombiism. The identity of patient zero continues to evade medical experts. The disease is being
spread all over the country. The rate of transmission over these vast distances is both unknown and alarming. To make matters worse, the more this disease spreads, the more dangerous the campus becomes. This means that necessary research is slowing to a standstill for safety purposes. Help will soon be nowhere to be found as
governments begin mass quarantines of affected regions. When this happens, UNBC will be left to fend for itself. At this point, more students are infected than healthy. It is incredibly rare to see a UNBC student who is active and lively. The vast majority are either already infected, or in denial
about the infection altogether. The latter is trying to hold on to whatever trace of sanity they can find. Soon, even that will crack. Over the Edge is risking a great deal by staying open and continuing to publish and provide vital information to those UNBC students who are still well enough to pick up the newspaper. Even we are unsure how long we can continue. As this outbreak spreads, remember to look out for the signs of the infected: dead eyes, lethargic movements, incessant groaning, and hopelessly clutching flashcards… Wait... Never mind, it’s just midterms. Our bad.
7
The
Feature
A fight for ethics, or blind misogyny?
Andrew Kenway Team Member
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recent movement has been taking over the Internet: #Gamergate. It is one of the most written about topics of the last month, and both its actions and motives have been divisive. According to knowyourmeme.com, #Gamergate is a movement that exists to stand up for gamers as a whole, and claims to be about ethics in videogame advertising and journalism. However, proponents of the group produce criminal threats of death and rape almost exclusively focused on female journalists, critics, and game developers. These actions do not line up with their mission statement. Is this just a misunderstood group of hobbyists whose good intentions are being poisoned by a demented few, or is this dangerous group intent on silencing feminist dissent? It would be easy to dismiss this whole mess as a pointless Internet feud, or a futile flame war that could just be ignored until it went away. Critics of the movement are being threatened with home invasion, rape, and death, according to The Guardian’s Jessica Valenti. The start of the whole fiasco began with an oddly innocuous event. According to Todd VanDerWerff, Zoe Quinn was a female indie game developer, and the creator of the game Depression Quest. Her game received multiple positive reviews, praising it as educational, and saying that it challenges what a game could be. An angry ex-boyfriend claimed that she was cheating on him, and that she had slept with reviewers in order to get positive ratings for her game. It was not long before death threats and harassment against Quinn on all forms
of media began. After a few weeks of lurking in Internet Relay Chat forums, Quinn herself found and tweeted proof of organized and named operations, sleeper cells, plots to hack her emails, and discussions about what they could and could not use publically against her. Sarkeesian is a feminist video game critic of Internet fame who has been involved in this mess near the beginning after supporting Quinn when abuse rained down on her. Because of her support, Sarkeesian received an unending stream of abuse as well. She told The Salt Lake Tribune that her lecture at USU was cancelled after multiple, specific death threats promising a mass shooting if she were allowed to speak.
9 Joss Whedon tweeted in response to Sarkeesian’s story, w” There is truth in Whedon’s words, and it seems that only the ignorant could support these hate crimes under the guise of protecting freedoms and ethics. If someone feels that terrorizing people into censoring themselves from speaking is being done for the good of true and ethical journalism, they either do not understand the group they belong to or do not care. Some involved with this movement also joined to defend it from the overwhelming and damning claims of criminal misogyny. A voice of the less extreme #Gamergate-rs, Youtube personality Boogie2988 has been vocal throughout the unfolding events. In his video “I’m Not a Bigot, Are You?” he described a very different scenario, suggesting that he is tired of being accused of misogyny and homophobia simply for playing games. However, the only reasonable explanation for the non-extremists supporting this demonstrably extreme movement is a violently misunderstanding of #Gamergate at its core. The backlash against it is a response to violent criminals within the group, not just people who like video games. Unless Boogie is making death threats, he is not even the focus of this conversation. #Gamergaters accuse their critics of blaming all gamers for humanity’s full run of misogyny, and have started #NotYourShield, where supporters can post to show the diversity of the movement. This tactic is oddly reminiscent of the Men Right’s Activist movement #NotAllMen, which intended to diffuse feminist discourse by suggesting that not committing violence against women was somehow noteworthy. Furthermore, Casey Johnston, in her article “Chat Logs Show How 4chan Users Created #Gamergate Controversy”, shows multiple screenshots of the campaign being created in its infancy specifically to rile up support. The premeditated movement went public on 4chan when an anonymous poster demanded that readers “stop using you as a shield to deflect genuine criticism.” This is a common tactic to confuse people into supporting a movement that they just don’t understand. One look at the frequently posted hashtag shows how well it’s working.
a faceless, seedy-dealing chat name. In Ian Miles Chong’s review of Cernovich’s tweets, even the rare gems without profanity speak for themselves. The more polite ones include the reprehensible: “A woman over 40 is indistinguishable from a tranny.” and “have you guys ever tried ‘raping’ a girl without force? Try it. It’s basically impossible. Date rape does not exist.” The nature of these tweets, while disturbing, puts to light an uncomfortable hatred towards women that underlies much of the group’s message. It’s clear that misogyny is rampant in (at least) this one lynchpin of the organization, but VanDerWerff reports that award winning games journalist Jenn Frank will never write on the subject again after her involvement in it. Bullying a writer out of doing her job hardly seems like the behavior of a group dedicated to ethics in journalism—or, really, ethics in anything. This is worth noting even in the shadow of threats of mass murder, because while many #Gamergaters might be able to dismiss these actions as those of a small, demented few, the force used to make critics of the movement quit or change their job is an unerring theme present in even the group’s most mild actions. To finally get to the bottom of it all, can this movement-so deeply rooted in hate and anti-feminism and proven to have cabals scheming behind closed chat room doors--really be about ethics in journalism? Any gamer can tell you that journalism is corrupt, and that reviews are bought, but does anyone really feel like the biggest threat to the culture is a crowdsourced, indie game developer like Zoe Quinn? If wild accusations by a bitter ex-boyfriend that she had obtained good reviews in exchange for sex (which hardly seems likely) are true, that should not be the one thing that threatens the identity of a gamer as a whole. This group is trying to terrorize and control women through new tools provided by social media. These kinds of attacks simply aren’t happening to men with the same frequency or intensity. The blip on the radar that a small, artistic developer like Quinn has on the massive culture of gaming as a whole should barely register. The #Gamergate outrage seems to be focused on women like Quinn and Sarkeesian, scheming against them personally, while ignoring larger companies as a whole. This movement is a loud and outspoken rally against feminists and feminism, as seen in much of its rhetoric, discourse, and the tweets of supporters like Mike Cernovich. That their main targets are women--particularly feminist women speaking their minds--implies much about the motives of the group at its core. The reprehensible nature of this movement, their deplorable actions, and their insidious motives are beyond defending without derailing the conversation entirely. The movement seems to have begun as orchestrated abuse of a woman through social media, and later adopted the theme of journalistic integrity to swell into the massive topic it is today.
Matt Binder recently began retweeting one of the movement’s biggest members and defenders, lawyer Mike Cernovich. This was an attempt to out one of the biggest pillars of the movement as a hatemonger, and give some insight into a real person, instead of
Times like these remind one of journalist Helen Lewis’ words: “The comments on any article about feminism justify feminism.” This group has done one good thing; it has taken terrible people who hide behind anonymity, and thrown them into the spotlight, forcing us into a hard conversation about gender, violence, and identity in one of the largest subcultures in North America and the world: gamers.
James Mangan Team Member
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n October 22, a gunman, later identified as Canadian-born Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, launched a short-lived rampage at the nation’s parliament buildings. Ottawa, and Canada, are now in the eyes of the world. The Ottawa shooting was a headline story internationally. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally offered Canada their sympathies and aid in the aftermath of the attack. This act is terrifying and people should be afraid, but only for a short while. The world is watching Ottawa, and Canada’s next actions will be closely observed. Canada must not let fear dictate national policy, or it will risk losing the liberal democratic rights that characterize Canada’s values. On that Wednesday morning, Zehaf-Bibeau shot a Canadian Reservist, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, on the steps of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Cpl. Cirillo was pronounced dead within hours. The gunman then proceeded to enter the center block of Parliament, where
NBC News
News
Ottawa shooting and Canadian values
security forces engaged him. The following shootout occurred only meters away from Canada’s highest ranking parliamentary representatives. Long after Zehaf-Bibeau was pronounced dead at the scene, Ottawa continued to search for any further gunmen both within the Parliament buildings as well as throughout the downtown area. This event, although shocking and tragic, was not unfamiliar to Canadians. The day prior to the Ottawa shooting, Martin Couture-Rouleau, a recent radicalized convert to Islam, intentionally struck and killed a Canadian soldier with his vehicle in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, before being killed in a gunfight with local police. In June of 2014, Justin Bourque conducted a rampage in which he gunned down three on-duty Mounties in Moncton, New Brunswick, before submitting to local police. Bourque, who was inspired by allegations of police misconduct, was known to support extreme anti-police and pro-gun views. In 2006, the local authorities arrested the Toronto Eighteen, a group associated with the terrorist group Al-Qaida. This group intended to bomb prominent
buildings in Toronto, as well as establish an Al-Qaida cell in central Canada. Each of these events share constant themes: radicalized young men who can justify killing through their personal belief systems. So what can Canada do against such a threat? The government’s answer is to be vigilant. Many questions and inconsistencies remain surrounding the Ottawa shooting. The full intentions of the gunman, or even if there was only one gunman, are still in question. Canadians, especially on the southern border of Ontario and Quebec, are asked to keep an eye out for suspicious activities. For the next little while, the nation shall grieve. However, even on the eve of the shooting, Canadians began to numb themselves from the fear of extremism, both homegrown and external, by concentrating on the seemingly senseless murder of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, and then reinvigorating their spirits using the heroic acts of Sergeantat-Arms Kevin Vickers, who’s attributed with ending the gunman’s rampage. Prior to this event, the Conservative Party of Canada had planned to review Canada’s national security policies as a result of the
nation’s intended combat role in the Middle East. In the wake of this shooting, Canadians must not only be vigilant (within reason) of extremism, but must also be wary of the dangers that could emerge from fear-based national security policies. Canadians need to hold their government accountable to any revised national security policies, and ensure that such revisions do not force Canadians to abandon their values. In the aftermath of the Ottawa Shooting, the Prime Minister claimed that Canada has become a target due to its societal values, characterized by the prioritization of an individual’s liberal-democratic rights. Canada’s fear of extremism must not result in any breach of these individual rights, but must rather promote them. If Canada is to resist intimidation from those who oppose our values, as the Prime Minister claims, then national security policies must promote and guard the constitutionallyenforced liberal-democratic rights of every single Canadian without exception. By upholding these values, Canada will become the prime example for the world as a nation that refused to compromise its values in the face of extremism.
News 11
The Dalai Lama shares wisdom with BC youth important matters of life. Many of the questions related to the importance of familial influence and how it relates to academic discipline as well as morals and ethics. His Holiness discussed the important role his mother played in his upbringing, and his understanding of compassion.
Andrew Soltis Contributor
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n October 21, John Oliver Secondary School was blessed to have had a special guest. This particular guest is perhaps one of the most revered, respecte, and goodhumoured figures in the entire world. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, ventured to the Vancouver high school in order to participate in a panelist dialogue regarding BC education. The student body earned a visit from His Holiness because they have displayed notable ameliorations in relation to scholarly conduct in recent years. The event was titled the Heart-Mind Youth Dialogue, and was organized by Vancouver’s Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education. The majority of the panelists who took part in the discussion were accomplished
In addition to sharing his wisdom with the audience, there were several moments during the event that the Dalai Lama displayed his famous sense of humour. The entire audience were in awe of his presence, while his peaceful and good-humoured aura seemed to reverberate throughout the entire building. TVC News
senior level high school students. Hannah Bryant, a recent graduate of Charles Hays Secondary School, in Prince Rupert, represented the north and the Tsimshian
Each student panelist had an opportunity to ask His Holiness a question regarding
The event left me feeling inspired and hopeful for the future of education in BC. I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards the Dalai Lama Center’s communications team for having invited me to chronicle the event.
you cannot get the flu from the vaccine.
influenza and half a million deaths.
2. The vaccine doesn’t work. FALSE: although the vaccine cannot protect you from all strains of influenza, it does protect 70% of those vaccinated against the three most likely strains of that season.
The bottom line is this: even if you are not worried about what the flu could do to you, you should be worried about what the flu does do to our communities each year. If not for yourself, then for all those who can’t protect themselves, get vaccinated. A poke in your arm could literally save someone’s life.
Nation with honour and eloquence.
Flu vaccination at UNBC Quinn Gentles Contributor | Northern Medical Program
O
n November 3, the flu shot will become available here in Northern BC. I’m here to make the case that getting vaccinated against influenza is important. The flu isn’t just about you. Most people have had the flu more than once. The flu is a viral infection caused by influenza. This virus is highly contagious, and each year new strains and versions emerge--meaning that even if you were infected or received a vaccine in the past, you are still at risk for getting the flu again. For most healthy young people, the flu isn't the end of the world. You get sick, you get better, you forget about it. Not everyone is so lucky. According to Immunize BC, the flu can
lead to significant health complications and even death. This is particularly true for children, the elderly, those who are immunocompromised, and pregnant women. Even if you don’t have any symptoms of the flu, you can still spread the infection to vulnerable populations without even knowing it. So if you can save yourself the pain of getting the flu, the risk of missing out on your activities, and help protect those who are at risk for severe flu infections, why don’t more people get the vaccine? A large part of it has to do with some common misconceptions about the flu shot. Let’s take a moment to explore three common myths: 1. You can get the flu from the flu shot. FALSE: the traditional flu shot contains inactivated virus, meaning it has been killed or rendered non-infectious. Therefore,
3.The flu isn't a big deal, so its not worth getting vaccinated. FALSE: each year, there are over 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths in Canada due to the flu. Globally, this translates to over 1 billion cases of
The flu is not just about you, so remember to get vaccinated starting November 3!
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News
Prince George Mayoral Race
SuIn Lee | OTE
James Mangan Team Member
I
t is election season in Prince George, and students need to get into the electoral mindset. The overall tone PG residents are voicing in this race seems to be one of dissatisfaction, especially towards our current mayor Shari Green, who announced that she will not seek re-election. Campaigning to take over the position as mayor are two former city councillors, Lyn Hall and Don Zurowski. The first mayoral debate took place on October 15 at the public library, where the candidates were asked about their stances on some of Prince George’s most pressing issues. Students, who often feel underrepresented and underappreciated in municipal affairs, have as much a stake in the outcome of this election as any other residents of Prince George. Unfortunately, if students remain apathetic towards municipal politics, they’ll remain underrepresented and underappreciated. Both Hall and Zurowski have much to offer the citizens of Prince George. Zurowski has served on city council from 1999 to
2008. This is Zurowski’s second run for mayor, as he lost to Dan Rogers in the 2008 municipal election. During the 2005 election, Zurowksi received more votes than any other city councillor. On his campaign website, Zurowski states that he holds the position of Chair on both the BC Passenger Transportation board and the International Bioenergy Conference & Exhibition Society. He is also currently serving as Director for both the Prince George Airport Authority, as well as the BC Pavilion Corporation. In the 2011 municipal election, Hall received more votes than any other city councillor. Hall offers three years of service on city council prior to this election, as well as 10 years working on the Board of Education for School District #57, including five years as Chairman. Hall and Zurowski have made their priorities clear. Building off of Prince George’s dissatisfaction with City Hall’s management, Hall promised to strengthen communication between staffers, senior staff, and council members. Hall detailed his view of a city council made up of individual councillors voicing their opinions upon policy deliberation, yet practicing consensus upon adopting said policy. Hall also prioritized
continued investment in local infrastructure, specifically referencing council’s increased funding for road renovation and snow removal over the past three years. Residents of Prince George remember last winter, when disputes between city employees and their managers halted snow removal, rendering many streets unusable. Zurowski began the debate by stating his “three pillars:” growing Prince George, needs before wants, and civic pride. Zurowski promised that as Mayor, he’d see Prince George’s population grow by another 20,000 residents, bringing the total population to around 100,000. He claimed this could be done by proving to British Columbia that Prince George is “open for business.” In regards to public infrastructure, Zurowski has stated that the city needs to concentrate on its needs, such as road infrastructure, while putting the cities wants, such as the renovation of the Library’s front entrance, “on the backburner.” Zurowski is confident that civic pride will increase as Prince George grows, but this requires effort from the local residents, who have a role to play in selling Prince George to the rest of the province. Students have not been ignored during this election. As a part of
downtown revitalization, both Hall and Zurowski support the development of student residences in the downtown region to accommodate students of both UNBC and CNC. Both candidates also discussed bolstering downtown entertainment in order to make downtown a destination at which students, as well as other residents, can spend their evenings. Hall specifically discussed the possibility of improved transportation routes for students from their schools to the downtown region. Such promises to students are easy to make as they can be incorporated into a larger downtown revitalization policy, which is overwhelmingly supported by the voters of Prince George. However, the candidates will determine how important these issues are to students after examining the young-voter turnout rate. Both candidates are not interested in paying for costly infrastructure projects unless they are held as important to the residents of Prince George. If students aren’t even willing to give a candidate their support by ballot, why should the candidates bother fulfilling a student-oriented campaign promise?
News 13
Resurrection: Pluto a planet once more! Jesmeen Deo Contributor
E
ight years after Pluto was demoted from its planetary status, there may be hope again as the scientific debate about what exactly constitutes a planet has once again entered public discussion. In 2006, Pluto was demoted from its planetary status and reclassified a dwarf planet. Childhoods all over the planet were ruined, there was outrage from some astronomers in the scientific community, and the mnemonic “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” was dismembered. It was a terrible tragedy. Even now, people of all ages are still passionate about Pluto. In September at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, a debate (not unlike the one that demoted Pluto in 2006) took place. As reported by TIME magazine, the Harvard vote supported Pluto’s reinstatement, and that debate has sparked another open dialogue. Harvard scientists who argued for Pluto’s reinstatement said that the rules for classifying planets were flawed. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) set these arguably convoluted rules, which claim a planet must: (1) be in orbit around the sun, (2) be big enough to be pulled into a sphere by its own gravitational force, and (3) have a cleared orbital ‘lane’ around the sun all to itself. According to the 2006 debate that led to Pluto the Planet’s sad demise, Pluto fails to measure up to the third condition. There are, of course, legitimate arguments on the IAU’s side. If, say, Pluto were reinstated, then other dwarf planets similar to Pluto would also have to be included, like Eris, which is of similar size. Gareth Williams of the IAU argues that this would increase the number of planets to 25 or so, and as the years go on it could go to 100. “Do we want schoolchildren to have to remember so many? No, we want to keep the numbers low.” This argument does have merit; it cannot be denied that the planets are a huge part of basic scientific learning for children. From a scientific standpoint, the argument “it’s just easier this way” does not stand. In the recent debate, the Harvard astronomers waved the definitions aside and kept a few basic contentions against the IAU decision. One scientist reasoned that yes, we do need a clear-cut definition for planets, but we are still too ignorant in the field of astronomy to make one; and so, for the time being, Pluto should arbitrarily be kept on the list. Another argument brought up by the Centre’s communications director, David Aguilar, was “Isn’t a dwarf fruit tree still a fruit tree? Isn’t a dwarf rabbit still a rabbit?” And lastly, Owen Gingerich, a Harvard historian, said that the definition of a planet has become more cultural than scientific. After all, the overwhelming support in polls over the years has been for Pluto’s reinstatement. The general opinion seems to support the idea that what the IAU thinks is irrelevant. To the general populace, the classification of a planet has indeed become a cultural definition. As a side note, during the infamous 2006 vote, most of the 10 000 IAU members had gone home, leaving only 424 of them to actually cast a ballot. After the vote was taken, the members were asked if they wanted to take a revote, but according to what Gingerich told TIME, “they voted not to vote again, because they wanted to go to lunch, and that was the end of it.” That lack of thoroughness seems pretty contrary to the scientific method, but that’s a discussion for another day. For now, the international debate has been re-ignited, and we have hope for when the big IAU conference reconvenes next summer. Pluto is (possibly) back, baby!
Sports McKenzie brings light to the Winter Games A
ndrea McKenzie is one of the 150 Northern BC residents who has been selected to be a torchbearer for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Remarkably, McKenzie is 94 years of age (although she doesn’t look a day over 75). McKenzie has lived in Prince George for over 68 years, and has witnessed a number of different transformations to the community in that time period. Andrea moved to Prince George from Manitoba in 1946. She chose to live in Prince George because her late husband, Dr. John McKenzie, was born in the city, and he had convinced her that the city, then populated by only 3500, would be a good place to start a family. After living
in PG for close to seven decades, enjoying 66 years of being happily married, and raising six children in the city, McKenzie is convinced that she made the right decision.
within a number of local organizations: she is a communications officer for the Elder Citizens Recreation Association, and she is actively involved with Sacred Heart Church.
Aside from being a torchbearer for the games, McKenzie will also be busy as a volunteer translator. McKenzie was raised in a French-speaking household and is fluent in the language, which makes her a valued team member for the Canada Winter Games (which will host a number of different athletes and spectators from Quebec).
McKenzie was asked to describe the importance of the games as they relate to Prince George. She stated that Prince George is often perceived as having a rough reputation to outside observers; people in different parts of Canada have a tendency to give Prince George a number of negative labels. However, McKenzie is firm in her belief that many of these negative perceptions of Prince George are unjustified.
As McKenzie will be very busy with the games in the coming months, I was interested in understanding where her energy comes from. McKenzie told me that she is fueled by a love for her family and the community of which she is a part. McKenzie plays important roles Andrew Soltis
Brady Stark Team Member
She is confident that once Canada has had a chance to spotlight Prince George during the 2015 Winter Games, the country will come to realize that this community is comprised
of good people and has positive things to offer. McKenzie emphasized the positive and charitable nature of Prince George’s populace by making note of how Prince George raised more money than any other city in all of Canada during the last Relay for Life event. After having met Andrea McKenzie, I was left feeling inspired. Her dedication to her community and her faith in the city are admirable qualities. I believe that McKenzie embodies all the ideal qualities expected from a torchbearer for the Canada Winter Games. I would like to congratulate Andrea McKenzie, as well as the other 149 torchbearing representatives in the North, and I wish all them the best of luck in bringing light to the upcoming games.
Sports 15
McKenzie brings light to the Winter Games Brady Stark Team Member
T
he Spruce Kings are off to a vigorous pace, with 17 points after 13 games played, trailing behind only the Chilliwack Bruins in the Mainland Division standings. Leading the way is 20-year-old Justin Rai of Surrey, with a solid back-end defense led by former Cougars defenseman Raymond Grewal. Let’s not forget the guardians of the cage, with Alex BrooksPotts and Jesse Jenks both standing tall, recording a .915 and .911 save percentage respectively. Both goaltenders have given this team the opportunity to win night in and night out, becoming a highly reliable pair for the Spruce Kings.
The weekend of October 18, the Spruce Kings split their away games. They lost 5-1 to the Nanaimo Clippers, but then demonstrated resilience and a team mentality by beating the Alberni Bulldogs with a score of 5-4. It was a spirited contest, with each team trading shots one goal after the other, until the Spruce Kings broke open the scoring in the third period. The Bulldogs rallied for another goal, but ultimately the Spruce Kings’ defensive core and netminder Brooks-Potts stood tall for the win. When watching the Spruce Kings, the dedication to education by both the league and the teams themselves cannot be forgotten. The BC Hockey League has gained a reputation of being one of the forerunners
for helping players get real chances at an education with their hockey prowess. Many BCHL players go on to play on Ivy League NCAA division teams, such as Spruce King Karan Toor, who has committed himself to Dartmouth College in the United States. The Spruce Kings have been a staple in the community, as well as prominent entertainment on the ice for decades. One of the most valuable community commitments the Spruce Kings have undertaken is the Home Lottery that is done annually to support charities all across Prince George. If you are interested in supporting this cause you can go to sprucekingsshowhome. ca for more information.
sudoku.com
Martin West