Law & Order: SFU

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FIRST PEEK

September 9, 2013 · Volume 145, Issue 2

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FIRST PEEK

Heteronormativity is pervasive, even in the ivory towers of academia. Heteronormativity is when heterosexuality is treated as more natural than other sexual orientations, and is inherently damaging to queer people. It was the fear of being treated as deviant — which happens almost every day of my life as a direct result of being openly gay — that prevented my coming out for a very long time.

In this column throughout the semester, I will be challenging heteronormativity and making it clear that heteronormativity — like homophobia — is always unacceptable. This first installment will focus on heteronormativity in the heterosexual world. Part two will focus on my own experience as a queer person who internalized heteronormativity and my inability to acknowledge and resist it.

I will not be addressing arguments for and against homosexuality; there is a good deal of material available for those interested in the topic, and 500 to 600 words simply cannot do it justice.

Regardless of the cause of homosexuality, I believe that, as queer people are doing no

September 3, 2013

harm to others and are wellestablished as a legitimate sexual orientation, we should be treated with all the respect granted to heterosexuals.

Heteronormativity is to acceptance as homophobia is to tolerance. While the homophobic person is unable or unwilling to tolerate queer people, heteronormative people are unable or unwilling to accept queer people as true equals. Because it is subtler than homophobia, heteronormativity often operates under the heterosexual radar, and is dismissed by heterosexuals when concerns are raised.

This in itself is harmful: queer people are told via the acceptance of heteronormativity that our marginalization is legitimate, regardless of personal impact. The queer person’s self-esteem is secondary to the institution of heterosexuality.

As suggested, even the enlightened university student is often prone to heteronormative remarks.

Comments I have encountered include the suggestion that to speak of characters in an historical novel as queer is to “project” a “modern” identity upon them. Radcliffe Hall and other historical queer figures would object to this notion. However, when I objected by citing such examples, I received blank stares in response.

I dreaded this class from then on, particularly that student and others who agreed with them. This was compounded when the professor completely ignored my email about how marginalizing the student’s statements were and how it affected me personally.

I am grateful that, at this time, I was out of the closet and had mostly come to terms with my own internalized heteronormativity. However, coming out should not be a stressful event to plan and practice; it should not even be necessary.

I had to wait months before coming out to my heterosexual parents because they had heard distressing news two months after I realized I am queer.

This meant I had to lie to them by making up male names for the women I was dating. I wanted to be honest with them — I wanted them to know me — but this was not possible at the time because they, too, had been indoctrinated by heteronormativity. When I finally came out, I was confessing rather than sharing. I wanted to soften the blow, but knew there was no way to do so.

Living a lie means constantly testing the waters of social interaction. If someone makes a heteronormative comment around a closeted queer person, it is likely that person will internalize the comment — as we have been taught to do — and stay closeted for longer.

Being closeted is painful, and is something we as a society should seek to reduce.

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NEWS

September 9, 2013

Intelligence Analysis: Theory and Practice — utilizes tools such as ESRI ArcMap Crime Analyst and IBM i2 Analyst Notebook, software that is generally only made available to law enforcement agencies in North America. Griffiths estimated that the value of the donated software is around $500,000.

An online course offered by SFU’s School of Criminology this fall will give students the opportunity to practice their investigative skills in a one-of-a-kind virtual forensic criminal intelligence analysis lab.

Curt Griffiths, SFU professor of criminology, and one of the creators of the course, spoke to its uniqueness in an interview with The Peak. “This is one of the only instances in North America where a university has been given access to these analytical tools to use in the classroom,” said Griffiths. “Usually they’re reserved for the FBI, the RCMP, totally within the policing realm.”

The online course, Crim 417 — Introduction to Crime and

In addition to the generosity of multiple vendors, the acquisition of the equipment was made possible through the help of the course instructor, Ryan Prox of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). Special Constable and Analytic Services Coordinator for the VPD, Prox became involved after Griffiths suggested the students could benefit from a more handson approach to learning.

“Dr. Griffiths would have his Critical Issues in Policing class

news editor email / phone

come by the VPD every once in a while and I’d give a guest lecture presentation on analytics and touch on some of the basic training I provide our Vancouver Police analysts,” said Prox in an interview with The Peak.

“And at some point he said ‘You know, you have a course here that might appeal to criminology students, you should consider adapting this for SFU’.”

For Prox and Griffiths alike, this course is an essential stepping block for students interested in careers in law enforcement, especially in the VPD, which Prox has described as “cutting-edge globally.”

Commented Prox, “Right now from a law enforcement perspective we have a difficult time finding qualified candidates that have not only the academic background, but some of the handson, practical skills that you need for working in the field.”

The SFU course is meant to give students just that by providing them with challenges they would face if they were working in a real police department.

Using historical cases that have already gone to court and been fully disclosed, the students will

Alison Roach associate news editor news@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

retroactively investigate real crimes and use police technology to solve them.

This complex analysis is made through technology like IBM i2 Analyst Notebook. The program, which focuses almost exclusively on geographic information systems, allows students to hone in on targets with geographic profiling and sociodemographic information that they can then apply to solving crimes.

“The software runs algorithms that evaluate the nature of the relationships that each person has and how many interactions they have with different people and how they fit within the hierarchical structure of a terrorist cell or gang,” explained Prox. “It can identify who the key people are within an organized structure, and from that it can help narrow the focus to the main targets of

Leah Bjornson

an investigation far quicker than through traditional techniques.”

The same technology was used by Prox in 2010 to help catch a serial rapist who had been targeting young girls around the Lower Mainland since the 1990s. Using a method known as “geo-profiling,” the program spat out the name Ibata Hexamer, with 99.7 per cent certainty, within six weeks. Hexamer pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault last August.

For Griffiths, this example of real-world application shows just how important this course (and others like it) could be for SFU Criminology students.

“It’s opening up for students the opportunity to gain skill sets that are directly applicable for when they graduate.” said Griffiths. “The idea also is for our students who take these courses to be able to write an international certification exam . . . which would allow them to go to work as a crime analyst in any police service in the world.”

In the future, Griffiths hopes to offer similar courses in the undergraduate curriculum that will focus on the area in more detail.

NEWS

September 9, 2013

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6 NEWS

This month, BuildSFU is offering students a chance to have a say in the functionality and location of a new Student Union Building (SUB) on the Burnaby campus. The group is offering a survey, open houses, and focus groups for students to meet with the architects to express their opinions about the three locations and the specific programming of the building.

BuildSFU is currently considering three locations for the new building: “Mainstreet,” located above the Transportation Centre between Bennett Library and West Mall Centre; “Treehouse,” located north from the West Mall Centre across University Drive (formerly the location of the on-campus gas station); and Crossroads, located east of the Maggie Benston Centre, next to the Academic Quadrangle.

BuildSFU is trying to engage students in the project in order to give them a building that is best suited to them, according to BuildSFU general manager Marc Fontaine.

Last week, a group of organizers from various universities across the country announced plans to begin petitioning to leave the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) — a nation-wide lobby group whose mission statement, according to their website, is to “provide students with an effective and united voice, provincially and nationally.”

Currently, CFS — founded in 1981 — represents over 80 student unions and half a million individual students from various

September 9, 2013

The SUB campaign is aiming to raise student awareness of the project, and to provide them a chance to give feedback on the shortlisted locations.

This will also give the architects, from selected firm Perkins+Will, a chance to hear what the SFU community would like in the spaces, to help determine not only where the building should go, but how to divide the building among different student services.

According to Fontaine, programming decisions may revolve around, for instance, “food services

universities and colleges across Canada, with the largest concentration of post-secondary institutions being located in Ontario.

This latest push to leave the CFS includes student unions from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Capilano University, the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, York University, Laurentian University, and Dawson College. This defection could leave the CFS without representation in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec.

In the release made by the student organizers, Ashleigh Ingle, a graduate student at University of Toronto, stated, “Many of us are longtime student organizers and have seen students attempt to reform the CFS from within for decades, but to no avail.”

She continued, “Students are realizing that their interests are not served by the Canadian

versus lounge space, or office space, space for clubs or departmental student unions . . . more group meeting rooms, or more open study lounges.” This input will allow the building to be “whatever students want it to be,” said Fontaine.

The online survey will be released via Connect SFU on Sept. 9, and will include questions concerning what it is like being a student at SFU Burnaby, where students spend their time, why they spend it where they do, and ideas about what a new building could do to “enhance their university experience and

make it that much better,” according to Fontaine. As extra motivation, those who complete the survey will be entered to win a Whistler Prize Pack, which includes a 2 night stay at a hotel, $200 in gift certificates, and a coffee gift pack.

The architects from Perkins+Will plan to be at the Burnaby campus often during September, to meet with the SFSS and Student Advisory Committee. They will also attend open houses, which are open to all members of the SFU community, and focus groups, which will be open solely to undergraduate

Federation of Students. We are not walking away from organizing at the national and provincial level; we are creating the space for that to happen effectively.”

attempting to sue their way out of CFS membership, becoming the 8th university at the time to do so.

Complaints about membership with the CFS revolve around the organization acting non-democratically, and not representing its student members.

“Mainly, it’s their inactivity, the fact that they haven’t been doing anything with our money,” said Alex McGowan, a Kwantlen Polytechnic University student and West Coast representative of the movement. “They haven’t been effective, all the services and discounts that they provide us are already provided by our student association, and the lobbying has been ineffective.”

McGowan went on to describe the CFS’ “anti-democratic nature.” He said, “They’ve been very resistant to change, and students trying to work within the organization have to be able to get elected.”

SFU’s undergraduate student union, the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), formally left the CFS in 2012 after a 2008 referendum showed that 67 per cent of voters wished to leave the federation. A lengthy legal battle ensued between the two parties, which was eventually settled out of court. The case cost the SFSS over $450,000 in legal fees.

In 2011, the Concordia Student Union also began the process of

students towards whom the building will be geared.

According to BuildSFU.ca, different focus groups are better suited to different types of undergraduate students, including resident students, new students, and those involved in athletics and recreation.

BuildSFU is asking those in the SFU community to consider six aspects of each site location in order to make an informed decision about the sites. Namely: location, proximity, servicing, site preparation, identity, and views, aspects which could make the site more or less accessible, iconic, or recognizable.

After the meetings in September, the project architects will be returning to the Burnaby campus in October to present their ideas about the sites and ensure that their views match those of the community, and to consider revision if necessary.

“The project is happening now,” said Fontaine. “The Student Union Building is going ahead . . . but without student feedback, the building cannot possibly be as good as it could be.” This month, he said, students need to take advantage of the opportunity to speak up about what they want in this project, to make their own university experience better.

Fontaine concluded: “Now is the time.”

Currently at Kwantlen, a full-time student pays $8.52 per semester to the CFS, while a part-time student pays 95 cents per credit. In order to leave the CFS, a student union needs to have 20 per cent of the student body sign a petition in favour. After that, a date is set for a referendum, which passes by majority.

Petitions like this have sprung up at the other 15 institutions involved in the statement, which also encourages other university student unions to take the same steps.

CFS internal coordinator Brent Farrington said that the reasons and unions behind the movement is unclear. “The real question for us is who they are and where they are, because it’s quite vague . . . We’re mostly just trying to find out what the actual grievances are. We’re kind of in the dark.”

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8 NEWS

The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of Canada and the United States (UA Local 170) has recently gifted $100,000 to SFU’s Faculty of Education, to be used to create a gathering space for indigenous students within the faculty space on the Burnaby campus.

The funding is to be used to create a safe space, as well as purpose-built offices, “to advance indigenous education within our faculty and also within the communities that we serve,” according to Ron Johnston, director of the Office of Indigenous Education for the Faculty of Education.

Johnston described how the funding came to be given after a dialogue was started between the faculty and UA 170 about what the Faculty of Education is trying to do in terms of Aboriginal advancement of indigenous education in the faculty. During the discussions, Johnston said that the gathering space came up as “one of the foundational building blocks that was deemed to be one of the most important pieces.”

As the funding has just been gifted, there are many conversations that need to take place before it’s determined exactly what the Aboriginal gathering space

September 9, 2013

will look like. Said Johnston, “I think some of the details will be flushed out when we actually talk to the students themselves. There will be a dialogue to figure out what that [space] means to them and what would be most beneficial to them. I think that will be a bit of a process, and I don’t know what that looks like right at this particular time.”

It is, fortunately, an opportune time to start discussing the creation of the space, as the Faculty of Education is currently undergoing renovations and determining where different offices and services are going to be positioned.

When asked about whether there is a large need for a space

like this, Johnston responded, “I certainly think so. I think that research indicates that Aboriginal students and people being able to have designated spaces creates a sense of place and belonging.

That itself will help more students to be successful in their program of study.”

“It will also create opportunities for open dialogue and discussion amongst the students, and there will be levels of peer mentorship and support,” Johnston

continued; “whatever will help Aboriginal students to move ahead on their educational journey will be a positive thing.”

Currently, 54 per cent of Aboriginal children are graduating from high school in BC, and Johnston stressed the importance of providing as much support as possible for Aboriginal people going into education to reverse this trend.

“Some of these complex social issues can be discussed amongst Aboriginal students that are training to become teachers or educational leaders in their specific areas of research interest. I think it’s just good all around,” said Johnston.

Johnston said it is difficult to know exactly how many Aboriginal students are currently enrolled in the Faculty of Education, and speculated that many students choose not to self-identify.

He hopes that the gifted funding and the space, which he estimates will be created and functioning within the next year, will help to create awareness of the issues that many Aboriginal students face within the SFU community.

“I think a lot of people aren’t really well-informed about some of the issues and challenges that Aboriginal Peoples face when they come to postsecondary,” said Johnston. “I think we’ve come a long way, yet at the same time there’s still a lot of work that we need to do.”

For students looking to conquer end-of-summer jet lag or rise and shine for their first weeks of school, SFU researcher Jay Olson has just the trick.

In the wake of the successful launch of his website, JetLagRooster.com, earlier this year, Olson has released new iPhone and Android apps to help jet lagged travellers adjust their schedules. In addition, Olson is launching his newest website, EarlyWaker. com, which suggests that waking up earlier than normal and being alert can be achieved by shifting your body clock.

Olson was first inspired to create a jet lag program after a trip to Greece, where his jet lag caused him to sleep through the afternoons and stay up all night. “I was only down there for about three weeks, and the first week of the trip was basically lost,” said Olson. His own experience with jet lag was what motivated him to create a program for avoiding it when he discovered the science behind it as a psychology student at SFU.

With the success of the JetLag Rooster website, which gives travellers a “jet lag plan” to follow, Olson was encouraged to turn the site mobile.

“When you’re travelling, you don’t want to pay the data fees,” said Olson. “I thought an app would be a good idea because it could work offline.”

Both the JetLagRooster app and EarlyWaker.com use the same principle to adjust your sleeping schedule: light exposure. The human body is

driven by circadian rhythms, which align with our environment’s natural light and dark cycle: for example, peak drowsiness usually occurs around 5:00 a.m., when it is often dark out.

For travellers whose circadian rhythms are off track due to time change, it is necessary to cause a phase shift — an advance or delay in circadian rhythms. To shift your body clock, Olson suggests controlling your light exposure. This might include exposing yourself to light in the early morning to make yourself wake up earlier (“phase advance”) or light around bed time to make yourself wake up later (“phase delay”).

This technology developed into his newest website, EarlyWaker.com, after Olson was contacted by a sleep physician in Ohio. “He contacted me and said the procedure for shifting your body clock to avoid jet lag — if say, you were flying from Vancouver to Montreal — is the same as what he prescribes to patients when they’re trying to wake up earlier,” said Olson.

After further research and collaboration, Olson unveiled his site, which creates personalized light exposure schedules for individuals who wish to wake up earlier.

Olson told The Peak, “Say that you stay up late watching Netflix, and then you wake up in the morning a few hours before you usually do for a job interview. Regardless of how much sleep you got, if your body still thinks that it’s a time that it should be sleeping . . . then that’s how you’re going to feel.”

Students can also read Olson’s tips and tricks for better sleep on EarlyWaker.com.

These include napping early, reserving the bed for sleep and sex (not screens), exercising early, and no stimulants at night.

Olson hopes that his present and future research will bring professionals’ knowledge into the public square.

“It seems like there are a lot of things that psychologists know that the public doesn’t seem to know, and I am interested in bridging that gap.”

NEWS

Every September, the top 15 per cent of SFU students in their program receive a letter from the Golden Key International Honours Society, a non-profit organization, happily inviting them to join the society for the chance to participate in workshops, attend conferences, and apply for scholarships, for a one time fee of $90. Once a student has joined the society, they are a member for life. They count former US president Bill Clinton among their honorees.

For many students, the letters appear out of nowhere, and are received with a bout of skepticism. Top comments on in the SFU subreddit of popular social media site Reddit about the society read, “Scam. Don’t do it,” “Hey, you’re smart enough to do well in school, are you dumb enough to join this society?” and “Not quite a scam, but not worth your time and money.”

One of the more forgiving comments reads, “Be honoured that you are in fact in the top 15 [per cent] of your major, but I would not join unless you really want extracurricular activities. Most of the people online said that they gained nothing from joining and it was not really worth it.”

The letters are sent out from the office of SFU Registrar Kate Ross, who acts as the advisor to the SFU Golden Key chapter, along with Kim Thee, Student Life Educator and Leadership Programming.

“They’ve been around a long time . . . and they really are like a club in many many ways,” said Ross. “They actually do a lot in

September 9, 2013

order to actually be involved as a Golden Key chapter, there are a variety of things that they have to do to achieve a certain status, and it’s really around service and leadership.”

The SFU chapter of Golden Key has been around since 2000, and over 5000 SFU students have joined Golden Key since then, most of which are now alumni members. According to Ian Sankey, the director of Golden Key in Canada, approximately 400 SFU students join the society each year. At $90 per student, Golden Key receives approximately $36,000 from new SFU members per year.

The international organization started in 1977 and came to Canada in 1997. It now boasts chapters at universities in eight countries: Canada, the US, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, the Bahamas, and Malaysia.

The current co-residents of the SFU chapter are Andreas Hovland and Victoria Harraway, who will lead the chapter for this year. When asked why he chose to join Golden Key, Hovland said, “I believe in the three pillars of Golden Key. They are academic excellence, community service and leadership. I think that the work being done by the Golden Key chapters around the world is truly inspiring and wanted to be a part of this within our own community.”

Ross acknowledged the mistrust that students may feel towards Golden Key, and pointed to the fact that the idea of an

honours society is very much an American concept. “You don’t know how many times I’ve actually said to [Golden Key], you know the honours society doesn’t work in Canada,” Ross said. “Elitism doesn’t work well in Canada.”

She mentioned that Golden Key’s Canadian partners have even suggested changing the name to the Golden Key Leadership Organization, or something along those lines, in order to appear less elitist to students.

Activities of the SFU chapter include book drives, clothing drives, networking events, and

volunteer projects for Nanook Daycare and Charles Best Secondary School. The chapter receives approximately $5,000 each year from Golden Key to “support chapter activities and community service projects,” according to Sankey. In recent years, SFU students have also been the recipients of some of the larger scholarships offered by Golden Key, in amounts up to $10,000.

For Moe Kopahi, Member Services Officer of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), Golden Key’s practices are “nonsense.”

Kopahi compared the services provided to students by Golden

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Key as very similar to those provided by the SFSS. He also mentioned that the SFU chapter of Golden Key has previously applied to become a club of the SFSS, but was denied due to the elitist nature of the organization.

“I have no question about the legitimacy of Golden Key, but compared to the services that the SFSS provides, as the official representative of SFU students, it’s not legitimate,” said Kopahi. “We do the same seminars, we do all these different things, and if the students want to see something, they come to us and we find the funding to make it happen.”

10

OPINIONS

With the hype surrounding Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and the debate of whether it should be interpreted as a rape anthem, I have had a lot to think about in terms of feminism and social activism.

While I hesitate to linger on the problematic nature of Thicke’s performance with Miley Cyrus, it merits mention.

The lyrics of “Blurred Lines” raise many questions about the implications of party anthems, not to mention the visual juxtaposition between the two stars. Thicke (a married man of 36), stands fully clothed singing words questioning a woman’s ability to resist him while a

scantily clad , 20-year-old Cyrus rubs against him.

I cannot deny Cyrus her right to express her sexuality however she desires, but the combination of Thicke’s song and the image of them on stage exacerbates the lack of respect for women and their choices that the song implies.

After watching the performance, I couldn’t help but think of the children who tuned into the Video Music Awards. It made me question the way we educate of the importance of consent from a young age. Though it’s easy to point fingers at the media, there are other factors.

Children are often instructed by family members to physically embrace other people, regardless

September 9, 2013

of their wishes. Though this is definitely not done with illintent, it does raise important questions.

If we are so adamant that consent is important, why do we not respect a child’s right to choose who they want to embrace? While it’s easy to dismiss as a different situation, we have to remember children grow up to be adults — some of whom write controversial songs or write off problematic implications in favour of catchy beats.

Children are adorable, particularly when they dole out affection through a heartfelt hug.

While the action itself is tied to the idea of compassion and love, we sometimes ask a child to perform such actions in the absence of warm feelings or a genuine desire to do so. This disconnect is similar in theory to teaching young women to keep a man happy with her body, even when she doesn’t desire to do so.

opinions editor email / phone

Tara Nykyforiak opinions@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

While the latter is greatly opposed by society, the former is acceptable. I do not believe we have fully clarified the blurred lines (excuse the terrible reference) between what actions deserve consent and which actions do not.

In order to change something in society, we need to change the way it is framed.

The issue of consent is often reserved to matters purely regarding intercourse, and whether a sexual act is classified as consensual sex or rape.

Consent applies to more than just sex, though; one should have the right to refuse touching or being touched by anyone. This

includes anything from groping to a pat on the shoulder. Consent is important, and should be thought of as such before the situation escalates to the point in which intercourse is on the table.

This is my reason for questioning why youth are forced to embrace those whom they do not necessarily desire to. These same individuals will one day be adults faced with the option of intercourse and the reality of giving and receiving consent. Though we are not malicious when we ask a child to give an aunt a kiss, we are missing a key time to educate on the importance of consent and the ability to refuse without having to be ashamed.

Though likely unintentional, Robin Thicke has opened up a dialogue about consent that is resonating not just through the feminist communities, but general society also. We need to step back from the specific issue and look at everything as a whole.

OPINIONS

It was impossible to avoid.

She’s been splattered across the front pages of news sites and dominated days of coverage and discourse — a paper thin cover over news holes that could be filled by matters of global importance. But okay, pop culture enthusiasts, I give.

Let’s talk about Miley Cyrus for a moment.

I’m not here to tell you that your moral panic would be better spent on Syria or Egypt, because I know you know that you are fucking that up. Nor am I here to say that what can only laughably be called “The Twerking Incident” doesn’t matter.

I’m talking to you, aren’t I? I’m here to ask why on earth you made it matter. Sure, I know why you say you did it: you’re outraged — outraged — that a former Disney child star would publicly show kids how to touch their “hoo-has” with a giant foam finger.

But when a pop star’s lifestyle poses a major threat to the moral character of your child, it’s not time to boycott that pop star; it’s time to seriously reconsider how you’re raising your child to interface with pop culture, and — here’s the rub — how you consume it yourself.

By talking up Cyrus’s twerking as an affront to culture, you’re implicitly condoning the

Physical adaptations in a species typically occur over a long span of time — hundreds or thousands of years. It’s fascinating to flip through a science textbook and read of the many changes a species has undergone — such as a giraffe’s neck growing taller or a bird growing a longer beak to enable more efficient feeding. What’s even more extraordinary is that these adaptations occur in response to environmental

September 9, 2013

rest of the Video Music Awards as legitimate culture, instead of recognizing it for what it really is: an industry’s self-promotional monument to itself.

When entertainment is dichotomized from meaning or artistry, an environment forms that doesn’t just make shocking, pointless displays possible.

It makes them inevitable; vapid

demands. We as humans are constantly pitted against our environments, so we rarely think of other species’ challenges to survive. With everything from drought to natural disasters to food sources dwindling, it’s amazing that a species is able to survive at all. So thank you, evolution, for making our species and many others able to keep on keepin’ on!

spectacles draw ratings.

What exactly did you expect when you tuned in to the VMAs? Has it never occurred to you that only the most popular megastars get nominated for ostensibly artistic accolades? That the whole enterprise might therefore be hollow grandstanding?

Yes, Cyrus was being especially lewd, but it was hardly unprecedented; the Video Music Awards feature provocative displays on a yearly basis.

Maybe sex isn’t the real problem, here. While a salacious lyric or Gaga’s bare ass get a few gasps, Cyrus gets a firestorm. You’re offended, but it’s not really because degraded

While these changes are cool to witness, the reasons for some of them occurring are far from rad. Poaching in Africa has led to an increase in elephants being born without tusks, which is both sad and worrisome. Data gathered at the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda exhibits that 15 per cent of female elephants and nine per cent of males were born with tusks.

Compared to data from 1930

your precious pop culture. It’s because she waved its banality, its intellectual baseness, its totemic emptiness in your face, and there was no longer any way for you to ignore how shallow the whole thing is, and how vapid you are for gobbling it up.

Cyrus is just a scapegoat for people unwilling to face the fact that they watch

— merely 83 years ago — when only one per cent were born tuskless. By evolving in this way, these elephants may be free from poachers’ attacks, but are at a disadvantage because they need tusks for digging up food and water, for self defense, and for sexual display.

So while this elephant evolution is surreal, it isn’t a change we’d all like to see.

11

lowest-common-denominator garbage. Blaming her is like going to McDonald’s every day and then screaming about how unhealthy their new burger is.

Fucking duh. It’s McDonald’s!

You think they’ll go healthy if you stick with the quarter pounder?

You have to take responsibility for your entertainment diet. It takes work to actually think about what you and your kids watch. It means stepping outside of your comfort zone of screaming down pop stars, and instead asking yourself “What does all this stand for, and what do I stand for by consuming it?”

Fucking duh. It’s the VMAs.

12 OPINIONS

Dating back to the 1880s, the first Monday of September has been recognized as Labour Day in Canada to celebrate our nation’s workers. Increasingly, however, this weekend has been utilized by writers of certain publications to highlight the supposed futility of an organized workforce, an effort I deem ungrateful and incorrect .

One such article by Brian Lilley was published in the Toronto Sun. In his article “Labour Day: No reason to celebrate,” Lilley lists the many ways in which

It’s not unusual to see someone plugged into an electronic device in the form of a smartphone or laptop. We are in an age in which we observe the transformation of culture by technology, rendering the ability to communicate and access information expediently and more efficiently. But with regard to our language, it may prove degenerative, making it so we have to think less as technology does more.

Even before the computer or information age, writers such as George Orwell criticized what he saw as the degeneration of the English language. He observed that modern English contains many bad habits, as people become lazy with it. In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” he writes that, “the slovenliness of our language makes it easier to have foolish thoughts,” going onto point out that this “slovenliness” is leading to the political and economic degeneration of modern civilization.

Many are probably more familiar with Orwell’s dystopian fictional world created in his book 1984. In his novel, Orwell demonstrates how

unions are no longer relevant.

He describes how unions now are more about union bosses than about union members — that they tend to care more for the “outrageous salaries” of their top executives than for the wellbeing of their rank and file workers. This may occasionally be the case, but is certainly not an issue faced solely by large unions.

Lilley also states that the average worker must simply not want to be a member of a union, given that 70 per cent of government workers are unionized, while just under 15 per cent of the private sector are members. After all, according to Lilley (who himself was once a member of the Communication, Energy, and Paperworkers Union), it has never been easier to join a union.

He correctly asserts that labour laws across the country do

language can influence peoples’ thoughts and society as a whole, through the simplification of English in what he calls “Newspeak.”

Orwell’s Newspeak (his fictitious language) reflects his cynicism expressed in the previously referenced essay, and predicts a decline of language through its simplification via slovenliness.

Newspeak eliminates words deemed unnecessary in order to express a thought in the most simplistic way possible. For example, “bad”

September 9, 2013

— at least in writing — tend to favour unions. By law, Canadian workers can usually not be fired for creating, joining, or expressing interest in joining a union.

However, Lilley has overlooked the fact that in practice, these laws are far from being carried out to the letter, as seen with large fast food chains and department stores.

That all said, it is not about conveniently timed articles or the first weekend of September.

The real issue is the rights we all enjoy and take advantage of — or should be able to take

becomes “ungood,” and “excellent” or “extraordinary” become “doubleplusgood.” Thus, all complicated words used to express the same or similar meaning are eliminated.

Using this system of language, Orwell surmises that there will be “every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller.” This simplification limits language, which subsequently limits one’s range of thought as well.

advantage of — every single day we go to work.

Things like the 40 hour work week and vacation pay were all fought for by workers who were faced with a loss of livelihood.

The first Labour Day was staged in support of workers fighting in favour of a 58 hour work week.

Once they had that foot-hold, they rallied for a 54 hour week and so on until we got the most universally accepted and “fair” amount at 40 hours. What this exemplifies is that the modern world has benefited greatly from the work of organized labourers.

The rub, however, is that these laws protecting the rights of workers are by no means set in stone; just because we are able to enjoy them today does not guarantee that they will still be in place tomorrow. Much like SFU’s Burnaby Campus,

Through our generation’s urge to exuberantly text and tweet, we can observe this simplification of language through what I like to call “Textspeak.”

This new language eliminates unnecessary vowels or words, and ignores traditional grammatical rules such as complete sentences and proper spelling.

For example, words like “you” are simplified to “u,” and homonyms such as “to” are replaced by the number “2.”

labour laws will simply fall apart without proper diligence and maintenance.

It is naive to adopt the line of thought that an organized workforce was a great thing back-in-the-day and that we can now just sort of get on with our lives. Not only is there still a long way to go — with many laws and regulations going ignored especially, in minimum-wage workplaces — everything we enjoy can very easily be taken away.

In short, people across the nation have profited far too much from the work of those before them to simply dismiss the relevance of organized workers. To do so would have the effect of, say, deferring upkeep on a large concrete structure that is being constantly exposed to water for long periods of time with inadequate drainage.

This new language also consists of a series of acronyms (i.e.

TTYL or WTF), which can evolve into new words altogether, and the addition of auto-correct, which eliminates the strain of having to know how to spell.

However, not everyone is convinced technology is dumbing down our language, with some in fact claiming the complete opposite. Linguist John McWhorter believes that texting is “an emergent complexity,” and is an evolved type of “fingered speech” which he says has transformed into an entirely new language. For example, the acronym “LOL” has evolved from its original meaning of “laughing out loud” to being an empathetic when written as a word on its own in lower case (lol), according to McWhorter.

With that said, I am not convinced. Yes, new words are emerging, but old words are also being eliminated. In addition, shortened versions of words are replacing more lengthy, complicated ones as well. In order to text faster, or squeeze thoughts into a prescribed 140 character tweet, complex thoughts are becoming degenerated through this simplification, and so is our written language as a consequence.

Though it’s apparent that the English language is changing through the advent of technology, this may not constitute as an evolution as McWhorter suggests, but rather the “slovenliness” that Orwell warned about instead.

OPINIONS

September 9, 2013

I first want to point out that I don’t have a problem with breastfeeding, nor with women who do so in public. I don’t think that breastfeeding is a pre-programmed act in mothers and infants, so the pride and accomplishment you take in being able to feed your child and keep him alive and healthy is something I as a man cannot fathom. Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing, and you are fully within your right to do so wherever you choose.

However, nursing your child on a crowded bus without attempting modesty and proceeding to ream me out for

questioning your wisdom is more than a bit offensive. Are you within your rights to proceed as you wish irrespective of my feelings? Perhaps you think so, but you fall into an exasperating sect of nursing mums who self-righteously frame this as a feminist issue. It isn’t.

Should women feed their children in public? There’s no reason why not. Some swear by formula, but that doesn’t mean it should be an expected standard. Pumping and bottling milk is an extremely painful and time consuming alternative, but more often than not, mothers seem to respond best to infants suckling. So breasts become the sacred cow.

Some mommy-bloggers declare smugly that anyone against public breastfeeding is against breastfeeding altogether. Others choose to play the poor, put-upon victim: “Don’t you understand how hard it is being

a mother? Why should I have to carry bags of formula and bottles? Can’t you see how exhausted I am caring for my beautiful child? Are you going to deny my angel and I our emotional bond?�

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but nobody rides a packed Bline down Broadway for the hell of it. Exhaustion is not a mental or physical condition reserved for nursing mothers. I’m not asking you to wear a snuggy while you breastfeed. Nursing blankets are a pain, I understand that, but it’s a common courtesy that you extend to fellow riders and other people who

dare to exist around you and your cherub when you enter a public space. It’s the same courtesy you were extended when seats were vacated to accommodate your stroller.

I understand mothers don’t want to sit in smelly toilet stalls while they feed their children in restaurants or in shopping malls (though claiming there isn’t enough space carries little water when some women McGyver everything together within the confines of a bus seat), and badgering them to do so is selfish. However, your snooty retort that I can “simply look away� is ridiculous, especially after you bemoaned my disrespect toward your personal space.

I’m not going to compare public feeding and urination (as many opponents do), as they really aren’t the same thing. But it’s odd that breastfeeding acolytes retort that breasts, unlike a

penis, aren’t sexual — that feeding renders them purely utilitarian. That’s an absurd argument, given how sexuality, penises and breasts are entwined in global human culture.

However you choose to phrase it, your naked exposure on a bus is discomfiting. I doubt that it would be too long before I got belted across the face if I blatantly stared at your ‘utilitarian’ appendages.

This isn’t a treatise encouraging female repression; I am not a religious or moral zealot or a volcano of barely suppressed sexual frustration that needs to curb some disgusting desires so you can feed your child.

I fully support your right to feed in public, please understand that. I’m only asking that you exercise a modicum of respect before painting yourself as a victim of some patriarchal conspiracy designed in your own mind.

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13

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It’s mid-July. I’m sitting in my apartment, sipping my mediocre cup of coffee, scrolling through the “Current Auditions List” on the Vancouver Public Library website. I’m looking for something, though I’m not quite sure what it is until I find it, an open casting call for an original Vancouver Fringe Festival show called Writer’s Block:

Let’s back up a little bit. As this is a personal story, an introduction is in order. My name’s Natasha Wahid. I’m 24, a woman, and an American. My dad hails from Lahore, Pakistan (hence my last name). I am regaling you with

these fairly basic identifiers because my race, gender and age are a part of why I was cast as Nazo Tarzi, the story’s Afghan civilian. As they say in the business, I look the part.

My American-ness and my heritage play a huge role in why I auditioned for the part in the first place. The United States has been a presence in Afghanistan for half of my lifetime and the war hits close to home for me, both figuratively and literally. I was immediately infatuated with the idea of getting inside the head of a woman who lives the war every single day, of touching something so close to my own heart.

Alright, back to my living room. I reread the casting call, set down my coffee cup and draft a quick email to the show’s producer, Claire Jane McGillivray. I attach my headshot and resumé and express interest in auditioning. She responds with a date and time, and a little thrill goes up my spine.

Even then, I had the feeling that I was about to get involved in a project unlike anything I’d done before. I was ready to dive in, headfirst.

Writer’s Block is the brainchild of 24-year-old UBC grad Nathaniel Roy. With a furrowed brow, Roy describes the play’s evolution, saying, “this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, on all fronts. I started this two years ago . . . but finding the story, what’s the story, what am I trying to say, answering those questions, I really didn’t have a clue. Not until a few weeks ago.”

The story is told from three very different perspectives: a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, an Afghan insurgent and an Afghan civilian caught in the middle of it all. All three are pretty far removed from point of view of a middle-class, white Canadian male living in Vancouver, BC. “The courage to write from very different points of view came from watching a TED talk of a Turkish author,” Nathaniel explains. “Writers tend to get stuck and her thesis, I think, was to let yourself let go. Try writing from the points of view of different people; try doing it from different cultures. Make sure you put your

name on it and say this is my view, this is not an Afghani view, this is a Canadian’s view of what’s going on. But don’t limit yourself. Once I watched that, I was like, okay, let’s try it. Let’s see what it’s like to challenge myself and write from three points of view that are so far removed from my own.”

Okay. So, we have Nathaniel, a history major and playwright with an ambitious idea and the mental commitment to see it through. But he can’t do it alone. Next move: hire a producer and assistant director. Enter Claire Jane McGillivray and Julian Legere, two ridiculously motivated Capilano University acting students.

“I had about 12 people contact me for the position [of producer]. I interviewed about six or seven of them. It was interesting, let’s just leave it at that.

CJ came in and was super organized, super on the ball, ideas were flowing, she had thoughts immediately for what we could do and I was blown away by the detail. Julian has an incredible eye for things like feeling and how to stage

Tragedy strikes close to home in a provocative war drama that fearlessly tackles the issues behind Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan back in 2005.

CAST: one female Canadian soldier, age 20-30, one male Afghan insurgent, age 20-30 and one female Afghan civilian, age 20-30.

it and how the actors are working. I’ve learned a lot from them, but most importantly, I’ve learned that I want those kinds of people to work with.”

Writer, director, producer, assistant director, stage manager — Nathaniel had filled each role, he had the backbone of his production. Now, it was time to embark on perhaps the most frightening step in the process: casting.

As an actor, I’ll tell you all right now that auditioning blows. There’s just no way around it. You prepare as best you can, but dredging up emotions on cue beneath cold fluorescent lights will always make your palms sweat. Everything tightens up, you forget to breathe, and you hear your own half-hearted performance. There are plenty of tips and tricks of the trade but, undoubtedly, you will disappoint yourself.

Still, I never really considered what the experience was like on the other side of the table. “I was very afraid,” Nathaniel says, chuckling a bit, as he recalls auditions. “The Canadian role, we kinda figured, okay, we’re gonna fit

that but the other two roles, that was very, very scary because they’re very specific.

“Talent was actually pretty low on my list; I wanted hard-workers. I needed people to throw things into the pot, not get offended if their ideas don’t get chosen, realize that it is a process, understand the hierarchy but not get thrown off by it.” He grins. “We blew it out of the park. There’s no way this would’ve worked if we had people who were just as talented but didn’t want to work as hard.”

No kidding. Claire Jane and Nathaniel put me through the ringer even before I was officially cast. They had me audition three times before finally announcing that the part of Nazo Tarzi, the Afghan civilian, was mine.

As Nathaniel puts it, Nazo’s story is the

central tragedy of the show, so it was imperative that he cast the right actor.

Upon meeting my fellow cast mates, Capilano acting grad Devon Thor and UBC acting student John Dickinson, I thought to myself, these lucky sons of bitches snagged themselves one hell of a cast. Alright, alright, I’m not actually that arrogant, but I was pretty pumped when I heard Devon and John read — they are truly stellar.

Nathaniel had a cast and crew, but the journey from page to stage was not an easy one. Rehearsal by rehearsal, the cast and crew worked on the script testing out dialogue, delving into each character’s background, and making different suggestions. But at the end of the day, the ball was in Nathaniel’s court. “It was tough. We did one

workshop and it did not go the way I wanted,” says Nathaniel, describing a low-point.

“It doesn’t make sense, it’s rambling, it’s just, I don’t know the story of my own story and it was really depressing and we’ve got a month to go. It’s like, oh my god. The thing that kept me up was, I have a great crew, a great cast and I cannot fuck this up for them. I’m not gonna be the weak link in the chain. That fear kept me up every single night . . . and then when the changes started to work, then it was more joy, but between that workshop and finally getting things to work, it was mostly fear and anger and ‘I cannot fuck this up, for them.’”

16 FEATURE

Two weeks ago, we received the final script. From that point, it’s been memorization, timing and more character work. I’ve watched the show evolve constantly and I am confident, going into the run, that we’ve unearthed a true gem. Each of us has poured ourselves into this project over the past month.

And what we’ve created, as a true team, is a beautiful thing. And that’s the beauty of the Fringe Festival — there’s so much talent in the city of Vancouver, and it needs a space, it needs a voice.

I’m submitting this piece to my Editor on Wednesday, September 4 and the show opens tomorrow.

September 9, 2013

Yesterday, we had our technical rehearsal and final dress rehearsal and today is the calm before the storm, so to speak. For my part, I really believe in this show and while I’m obviously biased, I think I’d believe in it just as much as an outsider.

We live in a world that is truly gray.

There are no absolutes and anyone who tries to convince you that there are is arguably blind and deaf. This piece doesn’t allow you to walk away untouched. It forces you to hear and think and process. It doesn’t let you off easy. And I really think that’s what art is all about: communicating, sharing and

discussing our world, the real world.

I’ll leave you with Nathaniel’s final pitch; Writer’s Block is, after all, his baby.

“It has a lot of heart. That’s the one thing that’s been consistent from day one.

Even if the story didn’t quite work, it had heart. And that shows. It’s a welltold story that’s traditional because it is just storytelling but it’s told in an untraditional manner. People are gonna go on an emotional roller coaster; they’re gonna go up and down and then they’re going to go to the end and it’ll be interesting to see where they end up. I think that’s what people want from stories.

They want to feel.”

ARTS

Daryn Wright Arts Editor It all began in a monastery.

Devan Scott, an SFU film studies graduate, was helping out a friend with a documentary being shot at a monastery. After living with the monks for three days, an idea was formed, and Paradiso was born.

Scott’s grad film, a blackas-night comedy, follows two brothers after the sorting of the second coming. Cain is sent to heaven — mistakenly — and his brother to hell, a slip-up that Cain spends the span of the film’s 13 minutes trying to remedy. Joined by St. Peter, a scruffy, white robe-clad, foulmouthed angel of sorts, Cain confronts God and tries to set

arts editor email / phone

September 9, 2013

the record straight: he was not meant for heaven, but his brother was.

The short film has been selected for the Toronto International Film Festival’s Short Cuts Canada Programme, a feat that only a handful of SFU film grads have achieved. “It totally blindsided me. I didn’t think it was programmable; it’s profane yet deals with religious iconography. It was a film I made just for fun for myself,” Scott says.

The film is a manifestation of Scott’s ideas about existentialism and religion at the time, his visit to the monastery acting as a sort of incubation period.

“It really changed my view

on religion. I used to think not only that the whole thing was based on fiction, but that the entire lifestyle based on it was kind of stupid. Seeing these people . . . they’re very content and are really hurting the planet less than I am and are really having a higher standard of life doing it. It made me think ‘maybe it isn’t so bad,’ but at the same time it got me thinking: if god existed I’d be really, really screwed.”

The end result is a film tinged with the existential terror of living in an indifferent universe where there are no real choices. “The thing about Cain is he never has much agency.

He kind of gets tossed into heaven and he only has one option, and that’s to try and talk to God. St. Peter is the one who either has to help him escape or not. He represents the kind of natural, logical conclusion to there being an all powerful God, where he’d have to have people who have no choice but to help him, regardless of what they think,” Scott says.

Daryn Wright arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

The chilling ending of the film — which I won’t give away here — demonstrates this thinking, a visual narrative indicating that there’s no way out: “I think the ending is a case where it’s me following the idea of heaven to its conclusion. In the more pop cultural forms it’s this green field, in others it’s literally whatever makes you happiest. What if what makes you happiest is rebellion? And not being in heaven? Then the only definition for heaven would be a lie. You would have to literally live a lie.”

Paradiso’s place in TIFF’s scheduling may have something to do with the very personal quality of the film. It’s possible it’s this very reason that “a lot of people who make shorts [with the express purpose of ] festivals

17

. . . don’t tend to get in. Often the films kind of lack soul.”

As for Scott’s own success, as well as his filmmaking philosophy, it’s all very close to home.

“The ones [I’m most proud of are] where I just hit on something really personal for me.

They’re almost mischievous, where I feel like I’m gonna get away with something. If I feel like I’m being told not to make something, I’ll make it; I have a rebellious streak that only manifests in movies, apparently.”

Next he’ll be working on a project based on a recent news article about a white supremacist who is trying to take over a small town: “I thought, that’s incredible, it’s basically a political zombie movie.” Before he turns his “five pages of word vomit” into a script though, he’ll be seeing as many films at TIFF as he can.

“We bought tickets to [Alfonso Cuaron’s] Gravity and [Errol Morris’] The Unknown Known. There’s also the new Kelly Reichardt film, the new Claire Denis film, so I’ll be busy.”

18 ARTS

What if Shakespeare lived today as a university student? What if he studied with Ben Johnson and Chris Marlowe, and what if the head of their school’s creative writing department was Professor Elizabeth Tudor? The new webseries Blank Verse, created by UBC theatre and film graduates, brings Shakespeare into the modern world.

The show had its premiere on August 25 and a new episode is released online every Sunday at blankverse.tv. The first season is divided into five acts, each with four episodes, and every act is created by a different writer and director.

The first season aims to cover the themes of Two Gentlemen of Verona, Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Romeo and Juliet. The show doesn’t follow the plots of these plays, but instead they colour the mood and style of each act.

“The show is the brainchild of Amanda Konkin and it was developed by her and Ryan Caron,” explained Xander Williams, who plays William Shakespeare. “The show asks what would these famous historical figures be like if born today . . . with our problems in the artistic scene.”

Williams described one major difference: “It was a hard market for Shakespeare, but it wasn’t as saturated as it is today. There are seven billion people now, and anyone with a word processor can write.”

September 9, 2013

With a BFA in acting from UBC, experience acting in a few of Shakespeare’s plays, and the opportunity to study with Neil Freeman, “One of the greatest

Shakespeare minds in my opinion” (also the director of act five), Williams feels like he is prepared to take on the role of Shakespeare himself.

Aaron Adams, a recent English Literature graduate of SFU and writer for act two of season one, agrees. “What’s really fun is to think if we didn’t have Shakespeare, what would we have? We brought Chaucer forward and now there are lots of Chaucer jokes.”

He also talked about the audience that the show will most likely appeal to: “people in their twenties who are just starting out in their lives, they know they have talent, or greatness, and they are trying to figure out how to make it work.

I think we assume greatness is automatic, but it comes with a lot of doubt and work.”

Of course there are always things to overcome when working

on a creative project. “My computer was destroyed a few days ago, and it is kind of ironic because that happens in the episode we were working on. . . I guess it’s an example of life imitating art,” laughed Adams.

“The general rule is not to look at YouTube comments, but we’ve had nice comments so far,” said Xander Williams. “It’s hard when you’re not there with the audience; it’s difficult to gauge — other

than by likes. With film at least you have premieres, but there’s nothing like that for a webseries. . . it’s a funny industry.”

While Shakespeare is the main focal point of the show, Williams assures me that the other characters will be explored as well, creating many perspectives — all the while asking the question “Why Shakespeare?”

“There are a lot of ancillary items surrounding the series.

We’re trying to create a world in real time. Usually stories happen in the past, but we’re trying to make it happen in the present,” said Adams. The characters will all have their own twitter accounts, and they plan to tweet before each episode. Some might even start blogs during the series. If you ever wanted to follow William Shakespeare and his friends on twitter, now’s your chance.

ARTS

The Electric Lady continues Janelle Monáe’s ambitious seven-part concept series, loosely based on Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, in which she stars as a time-traveling android named Cindi Mayweather, sent back in time to free her fellow cyborgs from the persecution of a secret society of tyrannical despots.

It’s high concept, to be sure, but Monáe’s talent and charisma have always grounded her gleeful musical experiments. The Electric Lady, her latest full-length, is no different.

Following on the heels of 2010’s The ArchAndroid, Monáe’s newest LP shares its predecessor’s boundless

When I listen to Either/Or, I get to revisit my past selves who’ve done the same thing. I remember which lines hit me when I was 12, 15 and 18 years old, and I’m surprised at which ones hit me now.

September 9, 2013

creativity and energy. With over 19 stellar tracks, she combines New Order synths, Curtis Mayfield orchestration, hip-hop beats, Jimi Hendrix guitar solos, strummed ukuleles and hot-blooded funk, among more than a few other genres.

I don’t envy record store owners who plan to sell — and surely run out of — copies of The Electric Lady: it doesn’t fit comfortably into “rock,” “soul,” “hip-hop,” or “pop” sections, although a strong argument could be made for its placement in each.

At the centre of The Electric Lady and its constantly shifting moods and genres is Monáe’s vocals — from passionate croons over lost lovers to bubblegum pop sing-alongs to rapid-fire rap verses — making her voice the most versatile tool in her impressive arsenal.

Elsewhere, the album’s trio of skits — featuring a fictional radio station run by androids, who serve as a metaphor for ostracized minorities — keep the album’s complex story arc from derailing.

Monáe makes it look easy. Like her tuxedo-clad image and her immaculately coiffed hairdo, her music seems at once carefully designed and completely effortless. The Electric Lady easily ranks among the year’s strongest releases, an inventive and selfassured mission statement from one of the strongest creative forces in the industry today.

I remember which songs have earned a place on one of my many mix tapes, and which songs I associate with people that I used to know. Listening to this record feels like visiting an old friend: like many Elliott Smith fans, I feel like I know him, if only by virtue of his honest — and often biographical — songwriting.

To speak in plain terms about the music on Either/Or is to scratch the surface of its impact. The melodies are textbook Tin Pan Alley, the vocals airy and unconfident.

Drums and bass are present in Elliott’s songs for the first time on this LP, although they add relatively little to the mixture, and most of the album’s best tracks (“Between the Bars,” “Angeles”) retain the tried and true guitar-and-vocals foundation on which Elliott built his solo career.

But like The Mountain Goats or Will Oldham, Elliott’s music is first and foremost about the lyrics: the words on Either/Or are nimbly poetic and quietly heartbreaking, and any knowledge of Elliott’s tumultuous personal life or the circumstances behind his eventual suicide only serve to lend extra gravitas to the already devastating impact of his songs.

Like many Pixies fans, I have trouble reconciling Black Francis’ genius as a songwriter with his downright draconian rule as bandleader of the Pixies. Naturally, Kim Deal, the band’s long-suffering bassist, vocalist and secondary songwriter, bore the brunt of the abuse. After all, her songs were arguably just as good as Francis’, and her ambition made it so the two were barely on speaking terms by 1990.

So when the group reunited in 2004, I — like many others — wondered how long it would take before Deal left the band to focus on her own group, The Breeders. The answer was June 2013, and it seems fitting that the band would release EP1, their first new release in 22

I think of Elliott’s final live shows, when he was too strung out to remember his lyrics; his fans would sing them for him. These songs, personal enough to be diary entries, take on new meaning for each new listener.

Though this album may be too melancholy for some, those who pay close

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years, following Deal’s departure.

With no one left to challenge Francis’ vision, EP1 bears a striking resemblance to Francis’ solo material as Frank Black, and though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it certainly comes as a disappointment to those of us who thought “a new Pixies album” meant, well, a new Pixies album.

The band, whose new bassist is also named Kim, have done an admirable job updating their sound for a contemporary audience: their famous loud-quiet-loud dynamic and Francis’ screech have been replaced by studio sheen and surprisingly airy balladry, albeit with their lyrical perversity intact.

The only song on the four track EP that bears resemblance to Golden Age Pixies is closer “What Goes Boom,” which is reminicsent of “Gouge Away,” the closing track off the band’s 1989 masterpiece Doolittle.

Sadly, the simple truth is that the Pixies just aren’t the same without Kim Deal. Her clean vocal harmonies and economic basslines are sorely absent from slow-burners “Andro Queen” and “Indie Cindy.” Even a squealing calland-response guitar solo in “Another Toe in the Ocean” — classic Pixies — isn’t enough to save EP1 from feeling like a stitched-together Frankenstein of this formerly great band. This monkey’s gone to heaven.

attention will find a wealth of deeply felt songwriting from arguably one of the most beloved musicians of our time. Either/Or is the most cohesive and measured album that Elliott ever recorded, and more than 15 years after its release, it can still bring listeners to tears with a single chord progression.

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September 9, 2013

ab

Looking to make summer last a little longer? Earnest Ice Cream’s brick and mortar location on Fraser and King Edward has finally opened its doors, just in time for the last rays of sunshine. The local business, formed by Ben Ernst and Erica Bernardi, started out with a little cycle-freezer, transporting to-die-for pints and gourmet ice cream sandwiches to farmer’s markets around the city. Their company eventually outgrew the cart, which is understandable considering their goods are some of the best ice cream to come around in a long while. Check out some of their staple flavours, like whiskey hazelnut or vanilla, or take the adventurous route and sample their earl grey or summer-preserving basil strawberry.

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The Cobalt’s new Karaoke event, offered the third Thursday of every month, is not to be missed. Ear Muffs: Karaoke is “a potentially horrific karaoke night hosted by Seany Guys.” There’s a host to guide you through the good and bad performers, plus drinks are cheap — which is good, because the more drinks you have, the better the brave soul on stage is going to sound. Bring your friends and liven up a regular Thursday night.

Cinematheque’s new fall schedule is out, and it’s looking hot. This week, check out their Blue, White and Red series, featuring the Three Colours Trilogy (inspired by the three colours of the French Flag) by the late Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski. His Blue, White and Red trilogy stands out as one of his crowning achievements. Blue is the first film in the series, following Juliette Binoche as a young woman who loses her family in a car accident; White is a black comedy follows a hairdresser who is left penniless on the streets of Paris after a divorce; Red is the story of a young model who meets a retired judge.

Check out the opening of SFU Gallery’s newest exhibit, Samuel Roy-Bois: Not a new world, just an old trick on Sept. 14. Between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. the gallery will offer breakfast, mimosas and live Dvorak for guests of the exhibit. Samuel RoyBois’ work questions the conceptual and physical definition of space and how we define the spaces around us. The exhibit will question the boundaries between art and exhibition. Check out sfu.ca/gallery for more details.

Board of Trade is a concept clothing shop with two locations in Vancouver, in Chinatown at Union Street and in Gastown at Carrall Street. The main concept is to offer local creatives a place to showcase and sell their work, and the shop hosts a medley of brands ranging from clothing to jewelry to ceramics. If you’re looking for some back to school duds, or some unique pieces to spiff up your dorm, consider buying local. Check out Wylden’s stacked thin and wide silver rings or the classicwith-a-twist denim western shirts by Soulland.

DIVERSIONS / ETC

September 9, 2013

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CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA

Across 1- Delicious 6- In ___ land 10- Jason’s ship 14- Dean Martin’s “That’s ___” 15- Word that can precede hygiene, tradition and agreement.

16- Reclined 17- Doctor’s replacement 18- Donated 19- Make weary 20- ___ see it...

21- French school 23- Bridge positions 24- Choreographer de Mille 26- Mother of Isaac 27- Actress Dolores 29- “The Wild Swans at Coole” poet 31- Creepiest Great Lake 32- Bobby of the Black Panthers 33- Dove sound 36- In spite of 40- Mao ___-tung 41- Referential words 42- I’ve Got ___ in Kalamazoo 43- ___ lunch

44- Inhumanly cruel 46- Rub out or remove from memory 48- One forking over 49- Best of the best 50- Pipe cleaner 52- PC panic button 55- Deep affection 56- Capital of Calvados, in NW France 57- Bob Saget’s mouth type 59- To practice boxing 60- Lennon said Let ___ 61- Bits 62- Moorays 63- Blue hue 64- Thorax Down 1- Currency unit in Western Samoa 2- Old Testament book 3- Socially prominent person

4- Capote, to friends 5- Aden native 6- Company emblems 7- Asian sea 8- Wash 9- Bar order 10- Church pieces 11- Mikhail’s wife 12- Circumference 13- Singles 22- Corporate bigwig 23- Devoured 25- Increased in size 26- Room in a casa 27- Fender bender 28- Archer of myth 29- Binary question 30- Breaks bread 32- Close 33- Baby cigar 34- ___ even keel 35- Give the eye 37- Busy 38- Carry 39- Judy Dench, or Edna

43- Westerns 44- Author Fleming 45- Nearsighted 46- Get hitched quick 47- Competitor 48- Discussion group 49- Catch-all of if/then structure 50- Go out with 51- First name in country 53- RR stops 54- Fluid-filled sac 56- Local technical school, without the British 58- Precedes “aah”

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SPORTS

At first glance, one might think SFU’s football team was bound for a step back. Gone is quarterback Trey Wheeler, who led the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) in total offense — by over 700. Gone is star running back Bo Palmer, lost to graduation. And gone is last year’s offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, now at Division I’s Brigham Young University.

But not gone the team’s confidence or sense of optimism.

Walk into the coaches offices in West Mall Complex and you’ll see the argument could be made that it’s higher than ever. And you’ll see the argument is being made that said confidence is entirely justified.

September 9, 2013

I knock on new ofensive coordinator Nick Lucey’s office door, and he greets me with a smile, even though we’ve never met. I introduce myself, and he invites me in to chat. Within minutes, he’s gushing about his new team.

Steps were made to replace the teammates that were lost, Lucey assures me from his desk that overlooks the busy central bus loop. Even more were taken behind the scenes that could change SFU’s reputation from a scrappy underdog to a potential GNAC frontrunner.

“We added a running back, Chris Tolbert, from (Div. I) Central Connecticut, who’ll step in and start,” said Lucey. “Most guys drop down from Div. I because they weren’t playing. Chris was playing, and he came here to get the chance to lead. He’s a very accomplished back and a very mature guy.”

“We really, really like the guy we’ve got at quarterback, Ryan Stanford,” he continues. “We think our guy can be as good as anyone else in the league.”

Lost in the shuffle is the fact that much of the offense is

returning, including most of the team’s offensive line and receiving corps, led by superstar passcatcher Lemar Durant. “We have a lot of key players back from last year,” said Lucey, with a smile that hadn’t yet wavered. “We’ll see as we get going here, but our expectations are very high.”

After leading the GNAC in total offense last year, the Clan might be hard pressed to match those gaudy numbers from a year ago with a few fresh faces in offensive skill positions. But new quarterbacks coach Steve Axman will help.

Axman was the offensive coordinator for the University of Washington when they won the Rose Bowl in 2001 over the Drew Brees-led Purdue Boilermakers.

He was the quarterbacks coach for Troy Aikman at UCLA, who’s in the NFL Hall of Fame. “To have a guy with so much experience . . . It’s been really good for me,” said Lucey of Axman.

Despite the losses on offense, a string of notable hires and recruits answer most questions. To the casual observer, those departures could have overshadowed

sports editor email / phone

Adam Ovenell-Carter sports@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

the defensive side of the ball, where the Clan struggled last season.

The Clan finished with a 4–6 record last season, and too often those games turned into shootouts. For head coach Dave Johnson, defense had to be a priority for the 2013 season, and he brought in James Colzie III as the new defensive coordinator. Like Axman, Colzie has a resume that speaks volumes.

Colzie began his coaching career in 2000 at Florida International University, coaching cornerbacks and working with returners as the assistant special teams coordinator. From there, Colzie returned to his alma mater, Florida State University — where as a player he won a national title

in 1993 — and served as cornerbacks coach from 2004-07.

“He’s got a tremendous background,” says Lucey of his defensive counterpart. “What he’s doing is really, really good.” He continues, “It’s just a matter of taking the time to coach [the new system], and have the guys master it. But I’ve seen a lot of improvement in the defense from spring practice.

“We’ve done so many things and brought in the people to put our guys in the best position possible,” said Lucey, who joined the team officially on April 1. “You go out there and hire a guy like coach Colzie or coach Axman, it’s exciting.”

Lucey’s excitement is infectious. The team will have played its first game by the time you read this, an away game against Humboldt State. No matter the result, it’s easy to tell this team is ready to make its mark in the GNAC. “I think last year the guys were finally growing up enough to start going toe to toe with the big boys,” said Lucey. “I think we’re just set to take off from here.”

SPORTS

The Simon Fraser University Men’s hockey team ended last year’s BCIHL season on a sour note, losing to Selkirk College in the championship series. The deciding game in that series was played, for the most part, without the team’s leading goal scorer Ben Van Lare.

His injury served as a precursor to the upcoming 2013-14 season as his graduation, along with captain Chris Hoe’s and several other key players who graduated, sent head coach Mark Coletta hard along the recruiting trail to replace the offensive production that was departing. He did just that.

This offseason saw the Clan introduce a recruiting class of 12 new players, all with significant shoes to fill.

The most notable players of the 2013 recruiting class are Trevor Esau, Josh McKissock and Yan Kalashnikov.

It will be hard to miss Trevor Esau when he hits the ice, as he stands 6’4 and weighs 220 pounds. Esau will bring much needed leadership and physicality to a very young squad; the physical defenseman served as captain for his former team the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL, and he also racked up 290 penalty minutes in only 159 games played. Esau will likely team up with returning defenseman Mike Ball to create a formidable defense in front of goaltender Graeme Gordon.

Incoming forwards Josh McKissock and Yan Kalashnikov will be relied upon heavily to put pucks in the net, and judging by their

September 9, 2013

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track record, scoring will not be an issue. Mckissock netted 51 points in 43 games for the Junior B side Fernie Ghostriders and Kalashnikov chipped in 35 points in 36 games for his former Junior A club, the Alberni Bulldogs.

The key aspect to each player’s offensive game is consistent scoring, as both players tallied, essentially, a point per game. The added production, along with the return of talented forward Nick Sandor, gives SFU a vaunted offense that could give every BCIHL goaltender nightmares this upcoming season.

As for the rest of the BCIHL, the upcoming season seems to be leading to another two-horse race between SFU and Selkirk College. Selkirk lost BCIHL leading goal scorer Jordan Wood but returned two dynamic forwards in Logan Proulx and Connor McLaughlin.

Selkirk also added a former junior hockey goaltender of the year in Guelph Ontario’s James Prigione, making the Saints a formidable opponent once again.

The Clan hockey team’s regular season begins October 12 against Thompson River at Bill Copeland Sports Centre. Until then, the team will play exhibition games against cross town rivals the UBC Thunderbirds, as well as make a trip out to the East Coast of the United States to take on four NCAA Division I hockey teams. The preseason schedule will give coach Coletta a great idea of how his team stacks up against elite talent and will serve as a measuring stick for an upcoming season that should end in a championship title and nothing less.

The beginning of SFU’s men’s basketball season is still a month or so away, but the team is already busy getting all its puzzle pieces in place.

Head coach James Blake announced on Sept. 3 that Frank Konig and Matt McKay will join him and assistant coach Chris Cline on the team’s coaching staff for the upcoming season, which tips off in October.

Konig isn’t a stranger to the SFU West Gym sidelines, as he last coached with the Clan during the 2011-12 season, before taking a season off. This season, he’ll oversee the team’s scouting department, both game scouting and recruitment.

“We missed his competitive, hardworking attitude [last season], so we are pleased to have him back,” said Blake. “He has great connections in the high school and college scene in Canada and will help us with local recruiting in British Columbia and across Canada.”

Konig’s experience prior to his time at SFU will serve the team well, as he’s spent time coaching in

Canada and playing in the NCAA’s Division II. He was an assistant coach at the University of the Fraser Valley from 2002-05, and helped lead that team to the National Championships every year. During his playing days, he spent a year at Div. II Glenville State College.

“I’m excited to return to SFU,” said Konig. “It’s exciting to get the opportunity to work with such a quality staff and I believe we have the right group of players here to be successful.”

Konig’s counterpart, Matt McKay, will join him in game preparation and recruitment duties, and will also focus on player development, as well as daily issues like practice. “Matt is a very respected coach that has worked at the high school and collegiate level. He has great recruiting connections in the province and he will help SFU land some top notch talent out of BC,” said Blake.

And, like Konig, McKay has experience coaching in British Columbia. McKay was the Kwantlen

Polytechnic University’s women’s basketball coach in 2010-11 and previously served as the team’s assistant coach from 2006-08. This past season, he was the head coach of Delta Secondary’s high school squad.

“I’m excited to join Coach Blake’s staff and work under him at Simon Fraser,” said McKay. “Despite looking forward to a successful high school season, the opportunity to coach NCAA basketball, in Canada, and in a conference as strong as the [Great Northwest Athletic Conference] was too good to pass up.

“This is a great opportunity for me to work under a fantastic head coach and with a great coaching staff, which I know will help me both grow professionally as well as provide me with a competitive challenge unparalleled in British Columbia,” continued McKay. The team’s training camp begins in October, which will give the new coaches their first opportunity to work with their players.

They’ll have their work cut out for them; the team opens its preseason with games against Div. I teams, the University Montana Grizzlies and the powerhouse Gonzaga Bulldogs. And though those games mean nothing in terms of standings, they’ll be critical for these coaches to see how their own puzzle pieces — the players — fit together.

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September 9, 2013

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When you think of fall, you likely think of back to school, pumpkin lattes and falling leaves, but for 40-odd SFU students, the season is synonymous with one thing: cross-country.

As the school year begins these Clan athletes are revving up for the start of their short, but actionpacked season as they prepare to qualify for the West Regional and National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.

It will be a season of growth for the team, as well as a re-try for the women’s side, who fell short of their goal last season. Last year was the first year that the Clan teams were eligible to qualify for the NCAA Div. II Championships, and the women, ranked top three in the West Region throughout the season, were favorites to make the cut.

But the Clan learned quickly that rankings on

paper don’t always influence race day, as the team was stalled at the regional qualifiers by a slew of illness, injury and difficulty in the blazing Hawaii climate.

“Our goal for the women’s side was to make nationals last year, and while we were capable of it we ran into some difficulties,” explained head coach Brit Townsend. “This year it is our goal again, and we have the depth on both sides to have an outstanding season and grow a strong core for the next few years.”

Townsend knows a lot about the workings of the team and the importance of depth, having been at the helm of the cross-country and track and field programs for the past 13 years, and explained that a strong core of athletes is key when coverage for injuries and fatigue is necessary.

This season it will come into play in the competitive Division II races, as both sides will need to be at the top of their pace throughout all the competitions.

Collegiate cross-country works like golf at team competitions: schools send groups of six or more students, and the combined points of the top five athletes from each institution determine the team scores.

The points are awarded based on individual placing, so any athlete can score depending on how they finish.

Athletes are also awarded individually, with top athletes in each gender receiving All-Conference, All-Regional and All-American honours.

“Our recruits will really add to the program this year,” continued Townsend. “We have more incoming strength on the men’s side than we have had in the past which really bodes well for the future.”

Leading the squads through the vigorous workouts and competitions this year are seniors James Young and Lindsey Butterworth, both

British Columbia locals, and Townsend couldn’t be happier with her choices for captains.

“Both of them are quiet leaders with a great sense of humour; they relate to everyone on the team,” she explained. “They are always ready to step-up and help with anything I need both on and off the track. They have both improved tremendously since their freshmen years due to hard work and motivation to accomplish something great.”

The cross-country season consists of several open races prior to the GNAC and West Regional Championships; at the regionals the top three teams are able to qualify for the NCAA nationals.

While the national dream fell short last season, the SFU women return All-Regional competitors Kansas Mackenzie and Peggy Noel, as well as a strong senior core, while the solid men’s program will be aided by their strong freshmen contingent.

“Last season was very successful despite the performance at regionals, and the team is stronger and ready to compete at a very high level this year,” said Townsend. “I am extremely excited for the next few months, and am looking forward to our first meet at the Sundodger to see our preparation take form in competition.”

The cross-country squads begin their regular season on September 14, in Seattle, WA as they prepare for strong, consistent showings at the top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

September 9, 2013

COMMUNITY PHOTOS September 9, 2013

photo editor email / phone

Mark Burnham photos@the-peak.ca

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HUMOUR

New Vancouver Canucks coach, John Tortorella, has reportedly begun his workouts for a new season of yelling at adults about games and has been spotted laying into millionaires at Vancouver country clubs who reportedly need to “fucking get their fucking heads out of their asses and play some fucking defense.”

According to frequenters of one exclusive Point Grey club, Tortorella is really giving it his all in his training saying that he’s at the club at least twice a day screaming at them and that his presence has really had an impact on the terrible “country club atmosphere” they have around there.

September 9, 2013

humour editor email / phone

Brad McLeod humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

A local entrepreneur has hit the brakes on his plan to build a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art ski resort after he discovered that the molehill he intended to build on had a small dent in it that could potentially make the resort at risk of earthquakes.

Although they have long-believed by both the general public and comedy experts to be the “lowest form of humour”, joke researchers in New York have discovered the existence of a number of laughter elicitors that they have evidence are beneath puns.

Although the man has been accused of overreacting to such a minor problem, as the odds of an earthquake coming in the next hundred years is 1 in 25,000, he says he isn’t taking any chances on this enormous project and is also hopeful that he can manage to make a federal case out of his situation.

Lurking in the crevices of the internet, the team of comedic ana-laughers (remember, this is no longer the lowest form of humour) uncovered several lesser forms of comedy buried deep below irony, slapstick and even puns which were found to include memes, the phrase “said no one ever” and whatever “trolling” is.

With files from The Idiom Inquirer

With files from Not Another Teen Science Magazine

With files from The Brooksie Globe

Questionable Information: One of the seven main food groups in China is “fortune.”

The current condition of the Burnaby campus is so bad that over the past year Peak Humour has compiled the following photos that show just how much VLJQLÀFDQW damage is all around us.

JOIN THE CLUB is a feature that highlights SFU’s lesser known clubs and non-existent organizations.

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Founded by disgruntled members of SFU’s Debate Society who just wanted everyone to get along, the SFU Agreement Society is a group of students who get together weekly to practice saying “yeah, that sounds about right.” The club tackles all sorts of issues except any that are in anyway controversial or could possibly cause members to have a disagreement, which might lead them to give reasons for why the other is wrong in an organized and civilized fashion. Due to this policy, the club has never brought up the issue of setting a time for meetings fearing it would cause unwanted “debate.” Although they’ve never formally gotten together to agree on things, they all concur that this is probably for the best.

HUMOUR

BURNABY — Aging, deteriorating and coming apart at the seams, members of SFU Graduate Student Society have been reported to be “a serious concern” to the well-being of the Burnaby campus and its prized mould and algae deposits, according to concerned students.

Several SFU students have told The Peak that they’ve noticed significant grad student infestation across campus, in classrooms, in stairwells, in the parkade, and even in the recently renovated washrooms where more often than not they’re covering up or obscuring popular campus mould deposits or celebrated structural faults.

Diane Peters, a third-year business student, who lives on SFU’s main campus and has seen the problem first hand brought to attention the grad student infestation problem last week and believes that serious and immediate action must be taken before undergraduates like her become infected with their disease.

“I love the broken stairs, crumbling concrete and mouldy classrooms at SFU . . . those things make me want to get out of here and get a job.” Peters explained,

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extremely expensive” explained one representative for SFU who said that the school only has so much money to spend on nonterrible slogan related projects.

“We just don’t have funding to be able to survive without grad students right now but we’re working on preventative measures to, hopefully, keep them away in the future. We’re hoping to get some more mould growing and maybe expose a couple more particle boards in the washrooms . . . they seem to really hate that.”

saying that there’s no better motivator to graduate than a serious breathing condition.

“But these grad students are dangerous, if I ever have to spend too long in a room with them I start thinking about getting another student loan, I feel a stirring

to spend a couple years really getting to the bottom of ancient Mesopotamian accounting secrets . . . it’s infectious.”

Peters isn’t the only one concerned about the persistence of grad students on campus, SFU’s administration understands and

sympathises with students but says that there just isn’t anything they can do.

“We completely get where these students are coming from but they need to realize that having them removed would be an enormous hassle and also

While these are surely noble efforts, students are still not satisfied. This ineffectiveness has led Diane Peters and a group of undergraduate students to take action which so far has only sparked the creation of a report that lists things that annoy them about grad students, but this is unlikely to accomplish anything at all.

As for the mould and other rustic qualities of Burnaby campus, SFU is fully intent on preserving them despite grad students’ constant attempts to have them maintain the campus even just a tiny bit, a decision that can be appreciated by all students who come to school as an escape from their awful, clean, hygienic lives.

28 LAST WORD

Though many strong arguments exist against the sexist representation of women in comic books, the most immediate of them all may well be the Hawkeye Initiative.

Begun in late 2012 by female webcomic artist Noelle Stevenson, the Hawkeye Initiative is a satirical blog comprised of images of Hawkeye aping female comic book characters in “Strong Female Character” poses, which have been criticized as degrading and unrealistic by feminists, comic book fans and members of the artistic community.

The results are, predictably, hilarious. Those of you who are familiar with the comic series, or with Jeremy Renner’s performance of Hawkeye in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, will doubtlessly find humour in seeing the character seminude and twisted like a pretzel, often with a set of pursed lips and a seductive come-hither expression.

But the Hawkeye Initiative also successfully sheds light on the oftdegrading depiction of women in comic books: if we find a male character in these poses so ridiculous, why don’t we react the same way when characters like Elektra, Batgirl and She-Hulk are presented the same way? For that matter, where is that Wonder Woman movie that’s been in development hell for decades? And what’s the deal with all the revealing costumes — wouldn’t armour be more practical?

The natural conclusion that many cite for the myriad issues under the Women in Comics umbrella is that comic books are naturally a male domain, and artists depict women with the male gaze in

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mind; that is, as objects rather than subjects. Although this may have been the case in the Golden Age of comics, that was more than half a century ago.

Nowadays women form a sizable percentage of the comic book market, and a comparably large chunk of the industry, especially in the realm of “alternative” comics.

Writers and artists like Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist), Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Pia Guerra (Y: The Last Man) and Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) have done incredible work for the comics medium in the last decade alone, and those are just a few of my personal favourites.

Still, many of the biggest names in the medium seem hell-bent on reminding their fans just how oldfashioned their views are. Tony Harris, the artist behind such comics as Brian K. Vaughan’s Ex Machina, took to Facebook last year with a rant about female cosplayers — fans who dress up as fictional characters — which culminated in an all-caps accusation: “YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT COMICS, BEYOND WHATEVER GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH YOU DID TO GET REF ON THE MOST MAINSTREAM CHARACTER WITH THE MOST REVEALING COSTUME EVER.” More recently, Todd McFarlane and Mark Millar — the creators of Spawn and Kick-Ass, respectively — came under fire for their comments about the supposed inherent masculinity of superhero comics, and their use of rape as a plot device.

Let’s get this straight right off the bat: superheroes are fictional. It is entirely up to a given author or artist to depict superheroes in any way they choose.

Calling the superhero genre “testosterone driven,” as McFarlane recently did in a panel promoting a PBS documentary, is missing the point. Just because comics have mostly been macho power fantasies in the past doesn’t disqualify their potential to grow and evolve with

time. To deny the possibility for change is laziness, plain and simple.

If we all thought this way, we’d still be riding horses to work and bloodletting at the barbershop.

Maybe the reason that so many still see the medium as a boy’s club is that many comic series just aren’t very inviting to women as fans. After all, who wants to see their gender constantly objectified, contorted into anatomically impossible poses and depicted as either virginal and innocent or seductive and sexualized? (Google the Madonna/Whore Complex sometime.) Those of you who’ve seen the Fake Geek Girl meme or who’ve spoken with gamers online know that geek culture can be viciously and unapologetically misogynistic — comic creators and fans alike seem obsessed with preserving this reputation.

Take Millar’s comments on rape as a storytelling tool. In an article for The New Republic earlier this year, Millar defended his use of rape as a plot device, saying, “The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know? [. . .] It’s the same as, like, decapitation. It’s just a horrible act to show that somebody’s a bad guy.”

But Millar’s defense hints at the truth of rape as a storytelling tool: its purpose is, more often than not, to have an effect on the male protagonist rather than the female victim. Though several male comic book characters — Batman and Green Arrow among them — have been raped themselves, it’s always been advance their own character arcs, and to develop them as protagonists.

When female characters experience the same fate, it is almost always in the service of the arc of a male character; the victims are often secondary or tertiary figures, and more often than not, little attention is paid to the physical and psychological repercussions of their experience.

September 9, 2013

The website Women in Refrigerators borrows its name from a particularly gruesome Green Lantern comic in which his girlfriend is killed and stuffed into a refrigerator by his nemesis. Created by comic writer Gail Simone, the site lists female characters who have been “killed, raped, depowered, crippled, turned evil, maimed, tortured, contracted a disease or had other life-derailing tragedies befall her.”

Compiled in 1999, the original list includes over 100 characters.

Of course, these tropes are common in film, television, literature, video games and music videos, too.

But where these mediums have seen a steady improvement in their depiction of women, most comic books remain as exaggeratedly misogynistic as ever. And those are the ones that have the audacity to even include female characters; many modern comic books have scarcely any speaking roles for women at all.

Women read comic books, write comic books, and are affected by their portrayals in comic books, directly and indirectly. Heck, a comic book made Time magazine’s list of 100 best novels of the last century (Alan Moore’s Watchmen) — the medium is gaining respectability every year, and rightfully so. For a genre with so much potential, there’s no excuse for the antiquated, sexist portrayals of women that still plague panel after panel. If there’s any hope for a new Golden Age in comics, this would be a good place to start.