The Cascade Vol. 23 No. 9

Vol. 23 Issue 9

March 11, 2015 to March 17, 2015

No artificial colours or flavours since 1993

Holi

painting the

communit y p. 8

UFV subject of court hearing Alumnus Jack Brown files for an injunction against UFV to stop the closure of its Writing Centre

p.5

Stories, art, and salmon UFV’s first literature conference explores the essence of the Fraser Valley

p.10-11

Threads that bind Art show forges new connections for visual arts diploma grads

p.13 ufvcascade.ca

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NEWS

Briefs SUS holds AGM ABBOTSFORD - The Student Union Society (SUS) is holding its Annual General Meeting on Monday, March 16 at 4:00 p.m. in room B101 on the UFV Abbotsford campus. SUS will reveal its 2015-16 budget and discuss potentially changing quorum in Bylaw 16.

Various student groups are lobbying for an Equality Resource Centre, and will present at the meeting. The AGM is open to the public, and will also be broadcast to the Chilliwack CEP campus in room A2207.

International student tuition rises ABBOTSFORD — The UFV Board of Governors meeting last Thursday passed a 6.1 per cent increase on international student tuition and fees.

This would equal $520 per credit if the student is enrolled in 15 credits per semester, and $620 per credit if the student is enrolled in 12 credits. UFV says this is to cover recruitment costs and allowances for enrollment variances. There are also increases to the data analysis post-degree certificate, the hospitality and event management post-degree certificate, and the business management post-degree certificate.

The Cascade will continue to cover this story in the coming weeks.

Metro Vancouver holds tax referendum VANCOUVER — Vancouver is holding a referendum proposing a 0.5 per cent increase in sales tax for new trains, buses, a new sea bus, and other general public transit improvements. Residents of the metro Vancouver region also include those who live in Langley, Maple Ridge, and Surrey. Voting packages and ballots will be mailed to registered households in the applicable areas, and polls will be open from March 16 to March 27.

— CBC

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Prof talk

News

5

Opinion

7

McJobs

Culture

9

Moony masquerade

Arts in Review

16

Julius Caesar comes to UFV stage

Sports & Health

19

Mental health monologue

News

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

Candace Taylor brings personality to the teaching of psychology — literally.

Kodie Cherrille calls for the destigmatization of the service sector.

Students from all cultures celebrated the Lunar New Year by partying in masks and formalwear. Nadine Moedt has more.

“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war!” UFV theatre presents Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Check out Ashley Mussbacher’s review.

What do depression and anxiety feel like? An anonymous student talks about their brush with suicide.

Multiculturalism or marketing?

Indigenization and cultural sharing should go deeper than words KATIE STOBBART

However, I have questions about how it works in practice. Recognition is not the same as integration; words do not equal actions.

Too often, institutional diversification is used as a marketing ploy rather than a genuine attempt to bridge cultural gaps.

At a planning forum for UFV 2025, the director of teaching and learning Maureen Wideman referred in passing to aboriginal students as a good “market” for UFV. The art gallery usually contains the same art it always has, and there is a jarring difference between its form and its message.

It seems to be fashionable to scatter a few Halq’emeylem words around campus and claim that this is what a successfully “indigenized” university looks like. In other words, it’s great PR. Certainly there are people on campus sharing indigenous knowledge and perspectives, and contributing to a more inclusive campus community, but their placement in an institution that sees every demographic of students — First Nations, international, domestic — as clientele is troubling.

When does an attempt to make

space in the thorny brambles become a marketing scheme for the guy with the machete?

There is evidence to suggest cultural sharing and inclusive celebration can create community and combat ignorance in a peaceful way by using our perceived differences to bring us together.

Last week there were three big

News Editor megan@ufvcascade.ca Megan Lambert

Varsity Writer nathan@ufvcascade.ca Nathan Hutton

Opinion Editor alex@ufvcascade.ca Alex Rake

Production Assistants shyanne@ufvcascade.ca Shyanne Schedel

Editor-in-Chief katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart

Culture Editor nadine@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt

eugene@ufvcascade.ca Eugene Kulaga

Managing Editor valerie@ufvcascade.ca Valerie Franklin

Arts in Review Editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt

Director of Business Development joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson

Interim Sports Editor sasha@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt

Contributors Martin Castro, Graeme Beamiss, and Miranda Louwerse

Production and Design Editor anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi

Video Editor mitch@ufvcascade.ca Mitch Huttema

Illustrations Brittany Cardinal and Graeme Beamiss

Copy Editor kodie@ufvcascade.ca Kodie Cherrille

Webmaster ashley@ufvcascade.ca Ashley Mussbacher

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Do you know what S’eliyemetaxwtexw means?

It is the name recently bestowed on UFV’s art gallery in Abbotsford. A fluorescent white sign spells it out in capital Roman letters at the junction of two hallways in B building.

One way diverse narratives are embraced is by integrating them with institutional practices informed by the dominant culture’s values. At UFV, this takes shape through the university’s efforts — at least on paper — to indigenize the academy.

In a way, it seems like trying to grow a fruit tree in a blackberry thicket.

UFV’s efforts to acknowledge the aboriginal community include encouraging departments to incorporate indigenous knowledge and ways of learning into curricula; acknowledging our presence on unceded Stó:lō territory at the beginning of events and gatherings; and the renaming of the aforementioned S’eliyemetaxwtexw art gallery.

The basic idea of indigenization, as I understand it, is good.

Volume 23 · Issue 9 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

When does an attempt to make space in the thorny brambles become a marketing scheme for the guy with the machete? gatherings at UFV. One was a literature conference whose speakers predominantly represented indigenous culture, then Caucasian and South Asian. Another was the Lunar New Year celebration, a masquerade purportedly in light of Anti-Racism Week.

Finally, there was Holi, during which participants throw paint at one another until everyone is

Advertising Representative jennifer@ufvcascade.ca Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts

Cover image: Anthony Biondi

covered in rainbow hues. Ethnicity becomes ambiguous; for once, everyone in the community looks the same.

Is the mask effective? The fact that we have to hide our differences suggests we haven’t really progressed from the basic instinct of othering.

However, these multicultural celebrations are effective in introducing a new ideal: rather than the white, homogeneous, and singular being revered, there is holiness in the myriad, the community, and the colourful. Many fruits can grow in the same open space when it is made less thorny and invasive.

But the goal of building a multicultural community at UFV can’t be to attract clientele, and it can’t be isolated among a fragment of the campus community.

It has to be deeper than a fresh coat of paint and a name plastered above a gallery that has nothing to do with indigenous culture. It has to go beyond words. It has to reach, if I may say, S’eliyemetaxwtexw: a place that holds dreams and visions.

Printed By International Web exPress The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It provides a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a circulation of 1500 and is distributed at UFV campuses and throughout Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission. The Cascade is a member of the Canadian University Press, a national cooperative of over 50 university and college newspapers from Victoria to St. John’s. The Cascade follows the CUP ethical policy concerning material of a prejudicial or oppressive nature.

Submissions are preferred in electronic format through e-mail. Please send submissions in “.txt” or “.doc” format only.

Articles and letters to the editor must be typed. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. The writer’s name and student number must be submitted with each submission. Letters to the editor must be under 250 words if intended for print. Only one letter to the editor per writer in any given edition.

Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, Cascade staff and collective, or associated members.

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

“Je suis Charlie?” roundtable explores limits of free speech VALERIE FRANKLIN

THE CASCADE

Image: Valerie Franklin

English instructor Rajnish Dhawan and Student Life’s Martin Kelly hosted a roundtable discussion on March 4 in U-House, using the case of the Jan. 7 massacre at the headquarters of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as a springboard for conversation about cultural constraints on freedom of speech. A wide range of topics were covered, including concerns about how Bill C-51 may infringe on Canadians’ freedoms, the way international students and immigrants can have their freedom of expression restrained by their fear of making mistakes in a foreign culture, and whether digital activism and hashtags like #jesuischarlie can have any effect in the real world.

Lifesaver campaign reaches $30,000 goal, partly due to staff and faculty donations MEGAN LAMBERT

THE CASCADE

If you’re stuck in an unexpected financial situation, UFV faculty and staff have you covered.

In a recent presentation about the UFV Lifesaver campaign, the advancement officer for special gifts and stewardship, Sheila Reimer, said about 150 faculty and staff donate a percentage of their pay.

“They make regular payroll deductions,” she said, “so every paycheque, employees are giving $5, $10, [or] $50, depending on their level of generosity.”

That money goes straight into a student emergency fund which

Image: Megan Lambert

students can access via the financial aid office in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Reimer noted that last year, the fund helped a student continue studying at UFV after a house fire, as well as a couple of students who

were homeless.

“It’s pretty shocking,” she said.

“You have that internal crisis where suddenly you’re faced with additional expenses.”

To encourage UFV staff to donate, Reimer explained the cam-

paign relies on existing donors to reach out to others at UFV functions. Most notably, she asked faculty and staff donors to wear life preserver jackets at the Welcome Back Staff and Faculty BBQ in August.

“The reason for the success is really due to the visibility,” Reimer said.

This kind of outreach enabled the campaign to reach a 201415 goal of $30,000 raised — a 50 per cent increase from last year’s $20,000.

The campaign also reaches out to alumni and community members, and teams up with local businesses to sponsor events.

Certain items in the cafeteria, like cinnamon buns or the Life-

saver burger, are a source of revenue as well, since a percentage of the profits go to the campaign. Sodexo’s contract ends in two years, which may mean an end to that particular source, but Reimer says it’s not completely clear Sodexo will leave.

“I can’t really say what would happen, but the success we’re seeing with Sodexo is certainly encouraging,” she says. Reimer adds that UFV Advancement is establishing a coffee program in the near future, possibly by encouraging the use of reusable mugs over paper cups, with the cup cost going toward the campaign. However, this has not been finalized.

CORRECTION: On March 4, 2015, The Cascade printed “SUS will hold a budget forum on March 13 to publish the completed plan and further explain how much money will go to employees, clubs and associations, and other SUS services.” This is incorrect; UFV is having a budget forum on March 13th, which is not organized by SUS. SUS will explain their budget on March 16 at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) in room B101 at the UFV Abbotsford campus.

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NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Prof Talk

Psychology emerges from the age of old, dead white men Candace Taylor talks old methods of teaching and new ways of thinking

ALEX RAKE THE CASCADE

Prof Talk is The Cascade’s oral history series, featuring the people best qualified to talk about what UFV has been like over the course of its first few decades: its professors. Each week we’ll interview a professor from a different department, asking them what UFV was like before it was UFV, and how they expect things will continue to change here.

Candace Taylor is a psychology professor at UFV. She has been a full-time professor here for 12 years, and her teaching focus is on the personality. Included among her listed research interests are normal narcissism, self-disclosure and attraction, and mate attraction and selection strategies.

What brought you to UFV? I required a job. When I graduated from UBC, there weren’t a whole lot of jobs available, tenure track or otherwise, so I was just doing the usual sessional stuff here and there. Then — I was actually at Douglas — the head of the department said there were a couple of courses opening here and I should consider applying for them. I was a sessional for — gee willikers, I don’t know — three or four years, and then became full-time.

What kind of changes have you noticed in the culture at UFV? I don’t think I’ve observed any really drastic changes, except, I suppose, the one that’s most noticeable to me: largely because our provincial government undervalues postsecondary education, the cut-backs have been brutal. That will have, and has had to a certain degree, an impact on the university, service delivery, and ultimately students. That, I think, is a crying shame.

I haven’t noticed a lot of difference in the character or quality of the students.

This school has always been different in the sense that there are many more students who attend school and work in the real world, [compared] to UBC and other places like that. I have noticed relatively fewer mature students in the last five years; I used to see older students.

How do the courses you teach now differ from the courses you taught at first?

The content changes as a function of the research findings, of course, because psychology is a science — albeit a social one —

Image: pixabay.com

Taylor has created courses in evolutionary psychology and personality theory. so I’m constantly updating presentations.

I’m teaching a new course, one I created here: Evolutionary Psychology, which is a relatively new, burgeoning area.

The content of my Personality Theory course has changed somewhat. Personality Theory is sometimes called “a walk through the graveyard”: a bunch of old, dead, white men who developed most of the theories. I’m focusing on more and more recent things: research, findings, new ideas about the structure of personality.

Have there been any colleagues or students who have been particularly helpful or influential on what you do as a teacher?

I’ve had a couple of students. One in particular acted as a volunteer research assistant. I think he’s going on to graduate school soon and I’d be happy to write for

him when he does.

Someone who’s no longer here: Jackie Snodgrass. She was very helpful to me.

Most people have been, but I haven’t had a mentor as such. Colleagues here are pretty free and easy in terms of sharing information. If we see something we know is of particular interest to another individual, then we’ll inform them about it. It’s a pretty collegial atmosphere in the psych department, I think.

What kinds of projects are you involved with at UFV? When you’re required to teach full-time and you don’t have a teaching assistant to assist with grading, you don’t have time to do a lot of research. So I’ve been running subjects periodically, but that’s about it.

At other universities, like UBC for ex-

ample, people often have minimal teaching loads but they’re expected to do a tremendous amount of research — but they have the time to do it. They don’t have to teach seven or eight courses a year, that’s all.

How would you describe what you’ve gotten out of your time at UFV? While I was in graduate school I wished to be a teacher of psychology, and over my years here I’ve certainly determined that I like it. It’s meaningful, and I think I’m not too bad at it — or at least, so students say.

I think I have indeed found my calling in some fundamental sense, and I guess UFV has given me that.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Alumnus takes Writing Centre decision to Supreme Court MICHAEL SCOULAR THE CASCADE

If nothing else, the recent organization of a petition and rally to protest the administrative reconfiguration of UFV’s Writing Centres has brought a significant question to the forefront of student consciousness: who makes the decisions that shape how UFV changes, and how do they enact these changes?

Jack Brown, the UFV alumnus who started the petition, spoke at the rally, and managed publicity for the “#SaveUFV” campaign, is not interested in leaving things at “nothing else.” Brown, following the protest, presented his argument before the university’s highest level of governance, the Board of Governors, and sent a letter to the province’s Minister of Advanced Education Andrew Wilkinson. With no significant movement in response, he is now taking UFV and its actions surrounding the Writing Centre to the BC Supreme Court.

The process for making significant alterations to services at UFV is the basis of Brown’s findings. Often, ideas will begin at the departmental or committee stage — committees can be temporarily formed to plan around a specific subject or event, but the most prominent are the Senate Standing committees. One of these, the academic planning and priorities committee (APPC), reviews curriculum alterations, degree proposals, and any establishment, revision, or discontinuation of educational centres on campus. From there, the APPC passes on its decisions to the Senate for review, which then, depending on the subject under discussion, must also go before the Board of Governors for final review.

At the March Board of Governors meeting, Brown spoke for 12 minutes, passed out the petition, and presented his findings before the Board.

“You have fiduciary responsibilities to the institution, but you also have statutory responsibilities under the Act,” he said, referring to the University Act, which requires the approval and consultation of the Senate then Board of Governors, in that order.

Brown said he had reviewed all minutes and agendas for the ACCP, the Senate, and the Board of Governors.

“I have found zero evidence that any of this process was

even attempted,” he said. Since the announcement, UFV has released information explaining how an Academic Support Centre is different from the Writing Centre, but has not addressed the decision-making process.

In an interview with The Cascade, VP academic Eric Davis said, “The 20th-century university was centred around faculty and teaching; the 21st-century university is centred around students and student learning ... the role of faculty is vital, [but] it’s changing.”

Davis also cited usage statistics as a reason for the reconfiguration, saying under a peer-tutor model, UFV predicts student access will triple from 1,000 to 3,000 a year. However, in dean of arts Jacqueline Nolte’s unrelated presentation before the Board of Governors, statistics for the Writing Centre showed over 1,200 students used the Writing Centre in Fall 2014, a 15 per cent increase from the previous year.

There were also 46 workshops given during the same period; workshops have not been described as a component of the Academic Success Centre.

“Under these circumstances, trying to move ahead and close [the Writing Centre] down anyway is very problematic, and that’s why I came to you today and also why I wrote the minister,” Brown said. “I urge you all, as independent directors who have a stake in this university, to review the decision-making that’s occurred here and help to remedy the situation, both for the institution and for current and future students.”

Chair of the board Barry Delaney responded to Brown’s presentation, dismissing it on two points.

“A couple comments I would have for you is that: Good thing we’re not closing the Writing Centre!” he said. “You talked a lot about closing it and it’s not being closed.”

The semantics of the Writing Centre decision have taken up much of the debate over its future. The campaign to “save” the Writing Centre has referred to its “closure,” while UFV says it is an “expansion” into a new service. The key takeaway for students has been that the Writing Centre will not be continuing in its current state of operations, and that peer tutoring will be a completely different style of learning. Delaney did not discuss what that means for UFV’s

process in terms of a service being “established, revised, or discontinued.”

“Secondly,” he said, “we take very seriously any charge that we are violating the University Act. We are not in violation of the University Act, and we are not in violation of any processes of any kind related to this issue ... so I would be very careful about putting in writing those very egregious allegations of things like a breach of the University Act. It’s not a prudent thing to do, especially [for] someone heading out to law school.”

Delaney said the Board would review and respond to Brown’s letter. Six days later, Brown filed a petition with the Supreme Court, citing the same policies he presented to the Board of Governors. Because of UFV’s budget proposal to Senate coming this Friday, March 13, Brown was approved for short leave, and has a hearing Wednesday, March 11.

Brown is citing this as an example of “ultra vires by virtue of abuse of discretion.” He is calling for the current decision to be set aside and referred back to the APPC, where the approval process would have to follow the proper course of action — the process Delaney says the university is not violating.

“If I am successful in my action,” Brown writes in an email, “there will be an immediate injunction made against the university to prevent the Writing Centre from closing and the decision to close it will be overturned.”

Image: Michael Scoular

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

SNAPSHOTS

Image: Anthony Biondi

Interupting the interrupter

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Image: Anthony Biondi

Wind blows

Image: Eugene Kulaga

Image: Anthony Biondi

Why don’t you stick around?

Resting isn’t laziness

Megan Lambert

Joe Johnson

Mitch Huttema

Alex Rake

When you’re deep in conversation with someone ­— say, in a discussion about divestments, or an argument about the colour of the dress each person will have reasons for the position they take and should be allowed to express them. This is usually how things start, but when they get heated and reasons turn to rants, rudeness in the smallest form appears. When you are making your case for the black and blue, and you notice your gold and white opponent opens their mouth in the middle of your speech, please stop. In the middle of your presidential address, they have thought of a clever sub-point to inject, or they want to clarify your usage of the word “retina.” These notes are time-sensitive, so if you ignore your opponent’s sharp intake of breath and open mouth, those clever sparks will be lost in the muddle of your pre-meditated purge.

You begin gathering your breath, satisfied you’ve won — and you have! Reason being, you stampeded the other person’s thought process so all they can say is, “I don’t remember what I was going to say.”

I’m a fan of most weather. It doesn’t get better than when it’s screamingly hot and sunny outside. I’ll also give it up to the extremely cold and crisp days, which are quite rejuvenating. Even rain is acceptable on the odd occasion. But there’s one aspect of the weather that will ruin any day, and it’s been happening far too much these past two weeks.

I’m talking about the wind. I am not a fan.

I’m not a fan of this movement of gasses at any strength and I’m taking a stand here and now to express my displeasure.

Driving on the highway in high-gust areas (I’m looking at you, Chilliwack), the wind blows my awesome but small car around.

The next reason: my front yard has large evergreens whose branches bend and snap off, messing up my yard and sometimes causing havoc on the power lines. But really, the primary source of my hatred stems from spending the morning getting my hair finely coiffed, only to have it irreparably tousled within seconds of walking out the front door. It’s impossible to return to my sleek, initial combing. Wind blows.

UFV is a commuter university. We’ve heard it a hundred times before and usually in conjunction with something about community or student engagement, but the reality of it is that students don’t live nearby, they don’t have as much spare time as they’d like, and their excuses all suck. Students would rather stick to what they know and go home or hang out with their established friends, not branch out and expend time on something unfamiliar.

But the excuses need to stop. Regardless of where students live, campus engagement is a necessary part of university life.

The benefits reaped from investigating the latest lecture on culture or cheering on the sports team at their game leads to an allaround better university experience.

There’s a certain shame associated with taking a break in the modern world. While we may in theory feel sympathetic to other people’s stress, we generally need to be known as hard-working before others will consider our pressures authentic, and so we work and work and work.

Perhaps this is because we have the internet and so there’s less excuse for not being in “work mode” as long as we’re awake.

But previously, more people used to be able to relax after nightfall, and I think we ought to approach that kind of daily structure again. In any case, we all need a break once in a while. So have a nap, skip a class, and recharge your spirit; there’s no need to constantly exhaust yourself for fear of looking lazy.

Exopolitics: if alien life exists, how do we maintain peace?

GRAEME BEAMISS CONTRIBUTOR

Even if the term “politics” doesn’t already exhaust you, you wouldn’t be alone if “exopolitics” confuses you.

Exopolitics is defined by graduate of Yale Law School and co-author of the Spaces Preservation Treaty Alfred Lambremont Webre, who defined the term as the “science of relations among intelligent civilizations in the multiverse.” In essence, it is a tentative, pragmatic response to an extraterrestrial presence, something that over 500 military, government, airline pilots, and scientists in the US alone are now calling for.

Before I go any further, I need to make a few things clear. First, what follows is only to suggest that the reader do his or her own thorough research before accepting or dismissing information.

Second, being a skeptic myself,

I feel any information that challenges the status quo and potentially expands our perception is invaluable in helping us to become critical thinkers. Lastly, while this topic is undeniably inundated with sensationalism and false claims, there are parts that merit public acknowledgment.

That said; let’s take a brief look at the past 15 years of ufology.

According to the ExoUniversity website, over 30 countries have made their UFO reports, in part or in full, available upon request between 2000 and 2010, including Mexico, Germany, and the UK. In 2001, Dr. Steven Greer, former chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Caldwell Memorial Hospital, organized a national press club meeting in Washington, DC (called the Disclosure Project), during which he and 19 others testified about their involvement in top secret projects and other activi-

ties pertaining to extraterrestrials and their technologies. These included former high-ranking army and air force personnel, government officials, and scientists with either personal experience or access to sensitive data on the subject, such as those stationed at nuclear weapon storage facilities.

Among these officials was Lt. Col. Charles Brown, who explained that, while working as an analyst for the Office of Strategic Services in 1948, army and air force personnel “had ground visual, ground radar, airborne visual, and airborne radar confirmation of some of these sightings.” Sgt. Clifford Stone also detailed his experiences within the US army in 1969, stating, “I was involved in situations where we actually did recoveries of [crashed] saucers, for lack of a better term, and debris thereof.”

He went on to say that “there were bodies involved in some of

these crashes. Also some of these were alive. While we were doing all this, we were telling the American public there was nothing to it. We were telling the world there was nothing to it.”

In 2005, Paul Hellyer, the former Canadian Minister of Defense, spoke at a symposium in Toronto on the subject of secrecy and the dangers it posed in relation to the UFO phenomenon. At the 2008 X-Conference, he reiterated his point, saying that “an official US policy insists that UFOs don’t exist. The veil of secrecy must be lifted and it has to be lifted now.”

As it stands today, the official story hasn’t changed, but individuals like Alfred Lambremont Webre aren’t waiting on that. In 2012, he launched the ExoUniversity, a BC-based non-governmental organization designed to “bring affordable continuing education by high-profile authors, scientists, and educators in ExoSciences, PsiSciences,

and Exopolitics to a worldwide audience online.” This project is among the first practical responses to the UFO phenomenon aimed at extending knowledge to the general public. Its success depends entirely on you, the reader — not for your acceptance of the existence of extraterrestrials, but for your ability to look critically into the subject and make informed decisions.

It’s naïve to expect that our governments, our media, our education systems, or even our parents will present us with everything we need to know.

Only we, as individuals, can make that distinction. After all is said and done, I hope at the very least this has stretched your imagination, and encouraged you to think a little more about our place in the stars.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Some mean jokes are funny, others are just mean MARTIN CASTRO CONTRIBUTOR

Jokes are usually pretty funny.

Jokes at someone’s expense are funnier, especially when that person is marginalized. Jokes about women? Hilarious! Jokes about African-Canadians? Bring them on! After all, they’re “just jokes,” right?

Jokes that poke fun at certain groups of people have always been, and will probably continue to be, part of the collective repertoire of humour in our society’s back pocket. Everybody knows at least one racist joke. But when we further scrutinize whether there’s any further meaning behind these jokes, the answer is always: “Oh, it’s just a joke.” Are they just jokes?

Part of the problem stems from who is telling the joke, and, most importantly, to whom they’re telling it. Jokes can be used to make light of a potentially grim situation, as they break the tension surrounding an event or particular issue. This is a useful aspect of jokes, as they can be used (cautiously) to help the process of grieving, and to cope with adverse situations or conditions.

But jokes don’t always have this kind of effect.

During this year’s Oscars, for example, host Neil Patrick Harris made what some people have called distasteful jokes. Mind you, this doesn’t mean all his

Image: Wikimedia.org

Pay attention not only to the joke you’re telling, but to whom you’re telling it. jokes were distasteful, but many of them certainly caused a stir among guests and those tuning in from home, as evidenced by

the hefty amount of media coverage focusing on them. Some of the jokes that have been criticized the most had to do with the film

American Sniper, stemming from the number of people the titular sniper Chris Kyle had killed, as well as equating the movie

with Oprah. I watched the Oscars and I’m still trying to figure out why he thought the comparison was at all appropriate. Perhaps even more shocking was the one directed at Octavia Spenser, which pretty much amounted to Harris cracking a joke about the actress’ weight.

There are some people, even in our everyday lives, who can get away with making jokes that most would consider risqué or off-colour. Fine, I think we can all live with that. However, when the jokes move beyond just risqué to downright offensive (and not funny), the person making these jokes has to ask themselves why they’re making them.

Under regular circumstances, can Harris get away with making off-colour jokes? Of course he can; he’s Neil Patrick Harris, and most people already think he’s funny. But, as evidenced by this year’s Oscars, he can’t get away with making off-colour jokes that are more offensive than they are funny, regardless of who he is.

If there’s a moral to the disaster we saw during the Oscars, I think it’s this: some mean jokes are funny — hilarious even — but some jokes are just mean, and comedians (and everyone else) need to really evaluate the kind of joke they’re telling, and who they’re telling it to, before letting loose their comedic prowess on the audience.

Reclaiming the service sector requires making it meaningful KODIE CHERRILLE THE CASCADE

Consider the undesirable McJob, which is defined by MerriamWebster dictionary as “a lowpaying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.” Such jobs tend to be in the service sector, and are, according to Douglas Coupland’s Generation X, “considered a satisfying career choice by people who never had one.” In our time, the McJob is the lowest common denominator job, the one that no one wants but everyone can get, the job of the unaccomplished life.

We go to university to escape the McJob and the unaccomplished life, leaving behind those we consider not as smart or able or determined. We leave with the hope that we’re going somewhere better, that we’re going to

Image: Wikimedia

Working a McJob doesn’t make you a McFailure. get a career, and that we’re heading towards a more accomplished way of life.

When we think we deserve better than McJobs, we are looking down on a descendant of a

way of life that was once considered very legitimate, even if it wasn’t exceptionally financially alluring. Before the chain retail store was the family-owned retail store, and what they might have lacked in terms of products from around the world, they made up for with closer ties to the community. Now chain stores and supermarkets choke out the family-run competition, and give the service sector a bad reputation.

This happens because we think we’re too good for service-sector jobs. While we look for careers that might offer something closer to what we think makes an accomplished life, corporations have their way with the service sector. They sell clothes and food because somebody has to, but they get to sell things their way. And we know well what the multinational corporation can do for the sake of profit: poverty

wages for their employees, overseas sweatshop labour, environmental devastation, and selfinterested influences in politics to the detriment of the people.

The continual delegitimization of the service sector maintains a vicious circle that strengthens the image of the McJob as something undesirable. This, in turn, makes a way of life in the service sector look terrible. To weaken the chokehold of franchises and to strengthen the internal bonds of a community, the service sector must be made legitimate again — we need to believe that we can live an accomplished life in the service sector. That can be done by looking back to smaller businesses and seeing the place they once had in the community; when compared to chain franchises, we will see the true worth of these places and what it means to work for them.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Indian spring festival brings a splash of colour to the Green

Upcoming

Events March 12

Sustainability in the face of “the big one” Dean of science Lucy Lee will present at this GreenSpeak lecture on sustainability lessons learned from the 1970 earthquake in Peru. How can Cascadia prepare for the inevitable megathrust? Rebirth and survival will be discussed in terms of the Cascadia fault lines and Peruvian experience. The lecture begins at 1p.m. in A413.

March 13 Paradise Lost revisited Students, faculty and staff are combining forces to read Milton’s Paradise Lost from start to finish. Stop by to show your support, bring some food to participate in a potluck snack feast, and cheer on the readers as they take on twelve hours of Milton! The day will start at 8:30 a.m. with Book One and end 11 books later, around 9 p.m.

March 13 German cuisine at the Cascade Café Images: Mitch Huttema

By Mitch Huttema Gurvir Gill of UFV’s Baker House organized and hosted the Holi event on Friday, March 6, 2015. Holi, an annual spring festival, originated in India as Holika. At the time of its origin, skin colour was very important to one’s social status. Legend tells that one day a man of darker skin took gulal (the coloured powder) and smeared it on his friends, saying, “Now we’re all coloured.” The Holi event was organized to be a part of UFV’s Anti-Racism Month, which takes place over March. Check out The Cascade’s video coverage at ufvcascade.ca.

Craving beef goulash soup and some kasespatzle? You’re in luck!

Chef Frank Schönmeyer from the Sodexo Global Chef Program is coming to UFV. Come out to meet the chef and sample German specialities. The event starts at 11 a.m. in the cafeteria and is free for UFV students.

March 16 East vs. West literature showdown It’s a literary Game of Thrones: authors from the east will be pitted against authors from the west to see who can match random quotes to their original authors. BC writers Doretta Lau and Aaron Peck will be up against Ontario writers Janette Platana and UFV’s writer-in-residence Emily Pohl-Weary. The competition begins at 7p.m. in the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies.

Stakes are high: in the literary game of thrones, you either win, or you die.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Masquerade ball celebrates inclusiveness at UFV NADINE MOEDT THE CASCADE

In celebration of the Lunar New Year, a masquerade ball filled UFV’s gym and AfterMath with masked dancers in formal wear and masks, ranging from flamboyant Carnival styles to Princess Bride bandit masks.

The March 6 celebration, which was put together by a long list of student groups — including UFV’s international club, Arab club, Latino club, UFV India, and Chinese student association — commemorated the ushering-in of the Year of the Sheep (or ram, or goat, whatever your preference).

Some 150 guests and masked dancers drifted from the dance floor to AfterMath to socialize.

Sourav Aggarwal, a member of the international friendship club who helped organize the event, said that the night signified more than just a celebration of the Lunar New Year. Their choice to have it masquerade-themed was inspired by the Lunar New Year coinciding with Anti-Racism Week. Organizing the event was

Image: Nadine Moedt

Ball attendees take a break from the crowded dance floor. a “cultural collaboration,” Aggarwal said.

“Getting to know people from another culture, working with

them and sharing ideas helps a lot in creating those ties ... It just creates a stronger sense of diversity that we have at UFV. Such events

celebrate diversity across our university.”

According to Aggarwal, the celebration attracted both inter-

national and local students from a wide variety of religion and race.

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FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

Oral narratives and contemporary By: Valerie Franklin, Nadine Moedt, Martin Castro, and Katie Stobbart It’s easy for Fraser Valley residents to lament the lack of artistic creativity in the community — but UFV’s Literatures of the Fraser Valley conference proved how outdated that point of view is.

Hip-hop artists, writers, storytellers, and keepers of oral tradition came together to showcase the range and depth of the Fraser Valley literary scene. The conference consisted of four themed sessions, each with a panel of lectures followed by a facilitated discussion. The event was brought together by Ceilidh Hart of the English Department.

The day wrapped up at AfterMath, where students, faculty, and community members gathered for further readings of poetry and prose.

Considering creativity: artistic production in the valley “Light Through the Cedars: Discovering Subversive Communities in the Fraser Valley”

by Paul Falardeau UFV alumnus Paul Falardeau spoke first, pointing out that the image of the Fraser Valley as a cultural desert is quickly changing as distinct new artistic voices rise from the community. However, he noted that the city still marginalizes artists and writers in many ways, such as by failing to acknowledge the artistic community in its urban planning, and by perpetuating the common view of art as a commodity rather than as a pillar of culture. Wearing a sprig of Oregon grape on his lapel, Falardeau also emphasized the importance of connecting with the natural world and incorporating environmental stewardship into political action.

“We need to move away from corporatism and government that does not govern,” he added.

“The Resonance of Oral Traditions”

by Erica Jurgens Erica Jurgens, a First Nations educator and UFV alumna, spoke on the importance of oral traditions as aboriginal languages and stories are threatened with extinction, likening aboriginal cultures to raindrops falling into the ocean of the dominant culture. Born biracial, Jurgens

described the European and Aboriginal aspects of her identity as “twins” within her soul — but she didn’t learn the songs, stories, and history of her people, and so one twin was smaller and weaker, and gradually died.

Like Falardeau, Jurgens suggested that in order to heal our society, we must find ways to connect with nature, with each other, and with our own identities.

“All cultures trace back to tribal ways … We need to look back to those ways to find better ways of conducting ourselves on this Earth,” she said.

“Never Surrey, Maybe Vancouver and Far Too Often New York: Teaching Creative Writing in the Fraser Valley”

by Billeh Nickerson Local poet and Kwantlen instructor Billeh Nickerson spoke on the struggle of getting creative writing students to set their stories in the Lower Mainland, let alone the Fraser Valley. Not only does transplanting stories and characters to big American cities mean a loss of authenticity in the writing — “‘Have you been to New York?’ ‘Yeah, I saw it on Law & Order!’” Nickerson quipped — but it indicates the deeper problem of devaluing the Fraser Valley’s culture.

Nickerson finished by reading his poem “13 Ways of Looking at the Fraser Valley.”

History of place and building community “Building Connections: Popular Literature and Sikh History in the Fraser Valley”

by Rishma Johal Rishma Johal, a recent SFU graduate, spoke on the long-standing history of Sikhs in the Fraser Valley, as well as the importance of building connections within a community. Johal noted the importance of Abbotsford’s Sikh temple, saying that the “establishment of [the] Sikh temple was symbolic, and marked … harmony between residents of the Fraser Valley and Sikhs at the time.” Johal stressed the importance of fostering a sense of pride and community within South Asian immigrants to Canada: “South Asian Canadians are not outsiders, but long-standing Canadians within Fraser Valley … it is their rightful home.”

“The Epistolary Farm: Constructing Settler Culture in Langley from Afar”

by Jane Watt Watt spoke on the importance of First Nations lands: “Not why they matter, but how they matter.” Watt illustrated the importance of First Nations lands and

community through several examples of 19th-century correspondence with figures such as George Underwood.

“Together, [these narratives] offer a story of the leisurely pace of settlement,” said Watt, noting that there is a “breezy banality to [the] letters” which makes the struggles of early settlers less distant and more relatable. “Together, they form an iconic Canadian [pioneering] story.”

“Woolgathering: Fibre Artists Contradict Journalists in Published Works about Cowichan Woolworking”

by Paula Johnson Johnson handed out Cowichan sweaters to the audience for viewing, speaking on their history, and the way that knitting is used by First Nations peoples to convey stories. She noted that the current commercial production of Cowichan sweaters lacks these stories: “Authentic is not really a word you can use in terms of what’s being made now. Artists are like musicians jamming together … you learn from the people you’re with.”

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FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

storytelling in the Fraser Valley

Oral narratives of the Fraser Valley “Stó:lō Protocols and Oral History”

by Eddie Gardner UFV’s elder in residence opened the intergenerational Stó:lō panel with a discussion of his journey home to Stó:lō territory.

“I didn’t become an ‘Indian’ under the meaning of the Indian Act until I was 55,” Gardner shared. “Now I’m learning how to be a ‘status’ Indian.” Gardner talked a little about himself as a “wild salmon warrior,” and his passion for protecting our waterways. Joined by panel member Teresa Warbus, the elders shared a song in honour of the meal of wild salmon provided for the conference participants.

Gardner began his discussion by reading an excerpt from Keith Thor Carlson’s The Power of Place, the Problem of Time, which explores issues of identity and memory in a history marred by colonialism, and followed by sharing some of the stories important to the Stó:lō.

“These stories need to be told ... as they were passed down in oral history,” Gardner said. “The old ones always told the children, ‘These stories are true, these things really happened and there is evidence of them in the landscape.’”

“Sxwoxwiyam and ‘Storywork’ in the Fraser Valley”

by Winona Victor Victor, an instructor in the indigenous studies program at UFV and member of the Ts’elxwéyeqw tribe, told a mix of

Reading in the valley

Sxwoxwiyam, which are stories of the ancient past — sometimes called “myth time” — and Sqwelqwel, more modern stories that belong to people, families and communities.

From the Sxwoxwiyam, Victor focused her lecture on T’xwelátse, a great warrior turned into stone, recently repatriated to the Stó:lō people. For her Sqwelqwel, Victor told of her own personal connection and experience with T’xwelátse.

Our ancestors, said Victor, are “the key of our society, the key of our livelihood.

They are our everything, and they need to be listened to and recentred.”

“Sustenance of the Soul: A View of Food in Literature of the Fraser Valley and West Coast”

by Dessa Bayrock “Each meal serves as an oral history on a plate,” says Bayrock. In her paper she explored the connections between the food we eat and our identities via literature.

She referred to a selection of Vancouverbased fiction and poetry, including Wayson Choy’s The Jade Peony and Evelyn Lau’s A Grain of Rice. Food, Bayrock argues, is an act of literally consuming culture; this is reflected in how we portray it in literature.

“Hip-Hop as Contemporary Storytelling”

by Teresa Warbus Warbus is a spoken-word artist and student, currently enrolled in UFV’s Lens of Empowerment program. Warbus spoke on hip-hop and rap as a new means of telling stories, and shared some of her work as a spoken word artist. Her raps are sad, defiant, confused, and unquestionably beautiful, addressing topics of genocide and colonialism in a creative way. Warbus described her work as an attempt to reach her generation by telling stories differently.

“It means a lot, what art and words and literature do to bring us together to be able to experience something together, to all feel something in one moment together.”

Dessa Bayrock is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Cascade.

“Creating an Enchanted Reality: A Magical Setting Inspired by the Valley”

by Emily Seitz Seitz, an honours creative writing student at UFV, recently completed her fantasy children’s novel; rather than present a strictly scholarly paper, she used readings from her manuscript to set the framework for her presentation. She suggests local settings supply ideal in-

spiration for creative works. In her case, the inspiration for her novel was Harrison Lake. Seitz says that in her writing project, the real world is connected to a world of magic, and a sense of childlike wonder informs her exploration of enchanted realism.

“Tablecloth and River: Tomson Highway’s ‘Mega Banquet’ in Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout”

by Shelley Boyd In her paper, Boyd navigated ethnicity, religion, and gender in Highway’s play and explored the symbolic significance of the river used as a tablecloth in the central feast motif.

Boyd said the play enables the voices of First Nations women who were muted or silenced to be given “an opportunity to speak through food.” Gender and ethnicity also interact metaphorically; Boyd used a line from the play in which Laurier gorges himself on “beaver and tits” as an example of sexual wordplay underlined by a “cannibalized colonialism,” representing the rape of First Nations culture.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

“What does drag say about reality?”

Jim Daems explores gender in reality TV in his book on RuPaul MARTIN CASTRO

Have you found any connections between topics expressed in 17th-century literature and contemporary reality shows?

No, what’s interested me mainly is just the way that gender works.

For me it’s always, how do they see gender? As being something essential, or is it something we make up? Drag kind of shoots the whole thing to pieces. We can go back to the 17th century and look at William Prynne’s Histriomastix, and there’s this problem of, “Does dress make the gender?” If you dress like a female do you become a female? And if a female dresses like a male, does she become a male? So there’s that sort of tenuous kind of link because it’s in a different context.

CONTRIBUTOR

Jim Daems, a sessional English professor at UFV, recently published a book titled The Makeup of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Essays on the Queen of Reality Shows.

Daems has published four books, as well as numerous articles focusing on literary figures such as Edmund Spenser, John Milton, and J.K. Rowling.

You’ve published a number of books and papers on 17th-century Irish literature. You’re particularly interested in authors like Spenser and Milton, and also in representations of Ireland and gender. What is it about this period and these authors and topics you find so interesting?

Coming here [to UFV] and starting as an anthropology major, and doing my English [requirements], I got carried more to the English side of it. In terms of gender, I’ve always been interested in gender.

It was a weird fixation of mine as a kid.

Seemingly out of the blue, you drop this new project focusing on RuPaul and reality shows.

What prompted you to pursue this drastically different topic?

It’s kind of an offshoot. I mean, it’s different than gender theory in 16th- and 17th-century texts, but the interest is sort of there. You have time during office hours, so you sit there looking through the calls for papers. It was a Canadian publisher — I can’t remember which — doing a pop-culture series, and they wanted proposals on reality TV shows, so I sent one to them, and they didn’t get taken in there. And as of the New Year,

Image: Amazon.com

Image: Amazon.com

The visual arts diploma grad show celebrates connection within a wide range of medium and theme.

I’d been looking for something to do.

So the book focuses on what aspects of reality shows? And what aspects of reality shows interest you?

The book looks specifically at RuPaul. There are eight or nine contributors, and they all entered their own angle on it. All of them looking at what the standard conventions are how you have certain types of reality shows: you have the competition show, Survivor. You have the makeover show, whether that’s a home makeover or a [personal] makeover. In terms of reality TV as an overall genre, RuPaul’s been able to kind of pull bits of [all those types] into a

show on drag. But then also, obviously, in terms of gender and queer theory.

How do you make a show on drag accessible to different viewers?

Last season, one of the big controversies was a trans controversy.

There was one challenge, where you’re supposed to guess, from kind of a close-up of somebody’s mouth whether they were male or female. Anyway, some trans [people] kind of complained about what he was doing. So, some of the essays look at that and, because it’s America’s Next Drag Superstar, a lot of Puerto Ricans are on the show, so they’ll look at it in terms of Puerto Rican identity …

What sort of drag is [RuPaul] favouring? And if you speak in broken English, then does that work against you?

Were you interested in reality shows, or had you seen reality shows before you started work on this RuPaul book?

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to avoid running into reality TV. What interested me is the fact that he is taking a genre that’s kind of running itself out, and is really closely defined or categorized by sub-genres, and was able to kind of pull that into something new. He’s kind of running out of steam, so this next season will be interesting; we’ll see what he can do with it.

How do you go about researching reality TV shows?

Breaking them down into different sub-genres, because they have a different focus. A lot of them, say, are about self-improvement, you know makeover-type shows; competition shows aren’t. It’s hard to break them apart into those genres. You can look at it in the meta way: What is a reality show? And you can question in that kind of sense, how real is it?

They all involve scripting; they’re all choosing contestants because they think there’s going to be conflict. If you’re going to put them into Big Brother, you want conflict.

So there are a lot of big questions.

What attracts me is the nature of drag itself, and what you have in terms of reality, because what does drag say about reality?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

CAMPUS FILM SCREENING LISTINGS Friday, March 13, 12:00 p.m.

The Beautiful Game (90 min.)

Presented by UFV International Student Club (Global Lounge, B223)

Victor Buhler’s documentary follows the influence of soccer in Africa — where the sport brings together nations, resulting in lower crime rates, and stimulates the economy. Desmond Tutu makes an appearance, commenting on soccer as being more important than a religion. Free popcorn will be served.

Wednesday, March 11, 7:00 p.m.

Directly Affected (120 min.)

Presented by Raincoast Conservation Foundation , PIPE UP Network, and University of the Fraser Valley (B101)

A documentary exploring the impacts of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline. A panel discussion will follow, with Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation, film director Zack Embree, UFV agriculture expert Lisa Powell, Lynn Perrin of PIPE-UP, and Raincoast biologist Misty MacDuffee.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Diploma grad event showcases creative connections VALERIE FRANKLIN THE CASCADE

Interosculate: to form connecting links.

It’s the title of this year’s visual arts diploma grad show — and just like the word suggests, the university community came together at the S’eliyemetaxwtex Gallery on March 6 to celebrate the work of this year’s graduating artists, with over 50 attendees filling the small gallery.

The gallery’s far wall is taken up by the word Interosculate, formed by green thread woven around carefully placed nails.

Students Tanya McMillan and Shannon Pahladsingh were behind the mural’s creation, which took 15 hours.

“We all decided on the word ‘interosculate,’ and then we decided to put the title across a full wall, since they hadn’t done that before,” says McMillan. “It works, since the whole show is about connecting lines.”

The works in the grad show incorporate a broad variety of media, and although the title of the exhibit may suggest connections between them, each piece is wildly different. “Peach Blossom Spring,” an animation by Jiayi Zhong projected on the wall beside the door, depicts paper cut-out figures travelling by boat across Chinese landscape paintings, bringing new movement and life to the traditional watercolour style. Balsa wood raindrops, an untitled sculpture piece by Willow Mussell, are suspended from the ceiling, casting rainy blue shadows on the wall. And

Images: Sarah Sovereign

The visual arts diploma grad show celebrates connection within a wide range of medium and theme. across from the raindrops, a lifesize figure composed entirely of chicken wire is seated on a folding chair.

“It’s about meditation,” explained Dorothy Keating, creator of the prickly wire figure, which is titled “Release.” “It’s posed in the elementary meditation position, the first position you learn. The idea is to take the most terrible material I could think of and use it to make a piece about meditation and life’s problems.”

The exhibit features a variety of traditional art forms as well. McMillan’s framed ink piece “Eye of the Storm” consists of a series of

startlingly symmetrical overlapping mandalas; Sylvia Canfield’s realistic acrylic paintings make punchy social statements; and “Mental Glow” by Reece Spofford depicts one face emerging from another, decorated with earthy tendrils and glowing points of white. Photographer Sarah Sovereign produced a series of abstract portraits of women, including “Cocoon” — a crouching woman’s figure swathed entirely in gauzy white fabric in the middle of a forest, her face barely distinguishable, the hint of a flower tucked behind her ear.

Sovereign’s work is inspired

by 19th-century literature she read in an English class taught by Karen Selesky, especially the detective novel The Woman in White, in which a strong female character loses her “voice” and power when a male character reads her private diary.

“That inspired me to look at historic female figures, and other figures in history too,” said Sovereign.

“I work as a family photographer, so my personal stuff is abstract, quite different,” she added.

Many of the works in Interosculate share Sovereign’s dreaminess and abstraction. Pahladsingh’s

work is marked by a celestial motif, including “Roadside Constellations,” a series of photographs contrasting stars with city lights at night, and “Bring Back the Night,” a triptych painting with three vertically ascending panels: road at the bottom, clouds above it, starry skies on the highest level. And Keating’s ceiling-to-floor piece “Dream On!” symbolizes a dreamscape, with hundreds of pins hammered into tree-patterned wallpaper; under the bright gallery lights, they cast a cascade of thin black shadows down the piece, drawing the dreamer’s eye lower and deeper.

“I’m very fascinated by dreams, the unconscious and subconscious minds,” said Keating. “I have very vivid dreams and I remember them, and they fascinate me.”

UFV president Mark Evered, who addressed the crowd at the opening celebration, noted that he always looks forward to art exhibitions from UFV’s artistic community, as they represent the talent at the university.

“This is inspiring — the themes you’ve drawn on, the creative ways you’ve explained and connected them,” he said.

Dean of arts Jacqueline Nolte noted the fitting choice of the word “interosculate,” as graduation means moving forward to form new connections.

“It’s very appropriate. Many of you are thinking about the kinds of territory and the places you’re going to be situating yourselves in next,” she said.

The Interosculate exhibit will run from March 6 to 24 in B136.

Left, “Untitled” by Willow Mussell; right, “Dream On!” by Dorothy Keating. Both pieces used the gallery’s lights to produce shadows, adding an extra dimension to their work.

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STUDY BREAK

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

CROSSWORD Sensational smells

by Katie Stobbart

ACROSS 2.

6.

8.

9.

11.

12.

This scent, also a flavour, is only French if there are eggs in it. (7) This vine bears sweet-smelling, star-shaped white flowers. (7) A certain doomed lover may have worn this scent, but if the play’s to be believed, it doesn’t matter what it’s called. (4) This is one of the things Hermione smells in a love elixir. It’s easy to make on a summer’s day when yard work needs doing. (3, 5) As chemicals in the pages break down, these owe their alluring scent to a combination of compounds that smell like vanilla and almond. (3, 5) A sharp smell you’d like to get between your teeth. (9)

DOWN 1.

3.

4.

5.

7.

9.

10.

This member of the mint family is known for its purple colouring. (8) This smell’s origin is neither fruit nor flower: just the creamy, white flesh of this drupe. (7) Nothing says caffeine like this coffee-shop aroma. (8) When you’ve been waiting 30 minutes for a pie, this smell at your door makes it all worth it — as long as it tastes just as good. (5) An undesirable smell present in bleach and soiled litter boxes. (7) A popular, fruity perfume for household cleaning products. (6) Some people like it, some don’t. Sometimes glandular secretions from animals like deer are used to put this scent in perfumes. (4)

SUDOKU 7

4 9 3 1

3 2 1 7 5 8 8 9 7 9 5 8 1 3 6

9

5 7

7 5 1

8 3

7 2

The Weekly Horoscope

Last issue’s crossword ACROSS 1. SUMMERTIME 3. ROME 6. RHYME 9. ANIME 10. WELCOME 12. VOLUME 13. SESAME DOWN 2. GNOME 4. CREME 5. HANDSOME 7. MEME 8. TAME 11. CRIME

Sudoku solution

4 7 3 2 1 6 9 8 5 9 5 6 8 7 4 2 1 3 8 2 1 9 5 3 4 7 6

3 6 4

3

5 4 7 1 8 9 6 3 2 3 1 9 7 6 2 5 4 8 6 8 2 3 4 5 1 9 7

2

2 3 4 5 9 7 8 6 1 7 6 8 4 2 1 3 5 9 1 9 5 6 3 8 7 2 4

5 9

Star Signs from Natalie Nebula

Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18: Red pen is no reason to be afraid: purple ink is your true enemy.

Gemini: May 21 - June 21: Performance is a spectator sport; life is a performance. So, you should have aced phys ed.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20: You will be full of sudden adoration for a political leader you despised until now.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22: The air is getting warmer. Go skinnydipping outdoors and tell the rest of the world if the water has followed suit.

Aries: March 21 - April 19: Steel rods and tailing ponds will feature heavily in your next nightmare.

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22: No matter what hair products you use, you’ll find frustration with taming your mane.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20: Your ability to communicate with others this week will be hindered by circumlocution.

Virgo: Aug 23 -Sept 22: Now’s the time to start a piggy bank, if you haven’t already. An unexpected expense may be imminent (can we say shoe-shopping, anyone?)

Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22: Watch your step, kid.

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21: Protect your neck.

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21: Vous soupçonnerez quelqu’un de voler votre abilité à lire en votre langue patrie.

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19: If you haven’t been using your time effectively, prepare to reap the consequences. At least the weather is improving!

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Albums

Black Bear Hushed strips down Andrew Belle’s sound JOE JOHNSON THE CASCADE

CHARTS 1

Cheap High Idle

2 Dodgers Bombshells 3 Spectres Dying Pink 4 Ariel pom pom Cong 5 Viet Viet Cong Johnson 6 B.A Shit Sucks No! Yoko 7 Oh Pinhead’s Paradise

8 Various Mint Records Presents: Hot 9

Heroes Purity Ring Another Eternity

10 Drake If You’re Reading This It’s 12

Too Late Queen Bee & the Buzzkills Stalk to Me Father John Misty I Love You, Honeybear

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Death From Above 1979 The Physical World

14

Old and Weird What I Saw

11

de Courcy 15 Johnny Alien Lake Deacon 16 Dan Glass Riffer

17

Deerhoof La Isla Bonita

18 Siskiyou Nervous

Shuffle

AARON LEVY

STATION MANAGER / AWARD WINNER

Levy watched obsessively as UFV men’s basketball took home a Canada West Bronze medal at the Final Four tournament in Saskatoon, SK. Here are some bronze and metal songs in honour of their accomplishment.

Queens of the Stone Age “The Bronze Age” “You can take it off my hands, do me a favour,” UBC Coach Kevin Hanson might have said to his former point guard — UFV’s bench boss Adam Friesen — ­ when he took the Lower Mainland Canada West title from the T-birds by 16 big points.

Nerfherder “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme” Famously named after an insult hurled at Han Solo by Princess Leia, this band played in the Sunnydale pub known to all, undead and otherwise, as the Bronze.

Buffy and Angel had their first date there — Kevon and Kadeem’s Lakeland.

Smashing Pumpkins “Heavy Metal Machine” Nate Brown proved to CW that he is, indeed, some machine on D, shutting the heck down any potential offence from Most Outstanding Conference Player, 6”10 shooter Chris McLaughlin, with steals, blocks, and box-outs galore. Brown even hushed naysayers with his perimeter range, and free throw accuracy. Well oiled.

Bill Withers “Lean on Me” UFV soccer fans will remember this one being the Women’s Cascades’ rallying cry for the 20102011 season, when they brought home a CIS bronze after their storybook season. Supposedly, the men’s B-ballers have a similar routine involving Kadeem Willis and some MJ. Kazzer “Pedal to the Metal” This song is terrible but it fits the theme, and I’ll relate it to Kevon Parchment and Vijay Dhillon/ Manny Dulay putting the pedal to the metal — Dulay’s 6-11 3-pt performance Saturday, Dhillon’s clutch shooting heroics against Calgary, and Parchment’s coastto-coast statement dunk vs Vic. Super MEN.

Andrew Belle, who chose a path of music over his business and marketing education, recently came through Vancouver as an opening act for Joshua Radin. On this trip Belle was performing tracks off his Black Bear Hushed EP, and as a personal newcomer to Belle, I was taken aback by the intimate nature of this music.

Hushed is actually a strippeddown version of Belle’s 2013 full-length album Black Bear. In this new take, Belle is focusing solely on a minimal expression of elements, mostly a drum machine and keyboard. Belle found that it was far easier to perform with this simpler set while touring, and became captured by the sound — then hit the studio with Hushed.

I can fully express that this album is stunning, having made the decision to give up listening to any of the full-band versions of the songs in order to fully appreciate the Hushed versions as they are. While it is only six tracks, and I hope that Belle expands on this sound on his next album, each song works within the mix. The album may only be 25 minutes,

but it stands up to repeated listening, which has yet to become tiring.

Belle is a true singer-songwriter, but he gravitates away from the folk genre. If anything, he borrows elements from Coldplay, but elevates from there by integrating undertones of R&B and grit, which lends a distinct substance to his sound.

The two tracks “Pieces” and “Sister” were singles off the original Black Bear, and they could be considered the singles on Hushed. As these songs play, you can almost touch the atmosphere that lifts through the slow, bouncing percussion and Belle’s flowing, extended enunciations. Ultimately, all the songs progress in this fashion, baring Belle’s soul.

Megan James’ voice drips honey on Another Eternity MARTIN CASTRO CONTRIBUTOR

Canadian electronic duo Purity Ring’s second record is replete with smooth, synthy instrumentals courtesy of Corin Roddick and the honeyed and powerful vocals of Megan James. Purity Ring, who took a break from releasing music under their name to produce tracks for artists such as Danny Brown and Ab-Soul over the last three years, deliver some thoroughly catchy tracks on Another Eternity.

“Bodyache” is the type of song that’s made for hazy summer evenings; a synthesis of high-energy peaks and more soulful valleys layer the track beautifully. “Push Pull” is more of a straightforward pop song, something that’d be right at home on a more refined, more

electronic Chvrches record.

“Begin Again” is one of the best tracks on the record — everything from the production, to each verse, to the chorus.

This is the very essence of an infectious jam. The track is only made stronger by James’s beautifully hesitant (I don’t want to risk using the word “dainty”) vocals. “Dust Hymn,” in contrast, is much more grounded;

trappy production layers the track while Megan confidently pours her voice over the instrumental like honey slowly dripping on a stack of pancakes, then kicks it into high gear with a more energetic chorus.

“Flood on the Floor” makes use of a chopped, layered style (while keeping to the record’s synthy aesthetic): a siren injects a measure of energy into the pre-chorus as James croons with the graceful confidence of someone who knows they’ve got it down. “Sea Castle,” more of a ballad than the rest of the tracks, shows off James’ vocal prowess, which consistently steals the show on this record.

Overall, Purity Ring’s record is comprised of a smooth, electronic backbone, beautifully ornamented by Megan James’ uniquely elegant voice.

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Theatre

Ancient history collides with 21st century in Julius Caesar ASHLEY MUSSBACHER THE CASCADE

UFV’s highly anticipated play Julius Caesar opened its doors Friday, March 6, to a large audience. Directed by Bruce Kirkley, the play takes Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, set in the year 44 BC, and moves it to 2044. This, as Kirkley says in his write-up, is “breaking new ground,” and bravely alters what has been a long-standing classic. So, what happens when you mix the two eras?

Kirkley explains the intention was to “shed light on the historical context that led honourable Romans like Marcus Brutus and Caius Cassius to rise up in opposition to Caesar ’s power.”

The play is meant to make us question our responsibility to ourselves and our government.

In light of terrorism attacks, Bill C-51 (which allows search and seizures without a warrant), and growing international hostility, Kirkley asks, “How much political and personal freedom are we prepared to sacrifice in the pursuit of global security?”

If you’re not familiar with the storyline of Julius Caesar, the fu-

turistic feeling of the play can be somewhat reminiscent of the totalitarian government from James McTeigue’s adaptation of the classic graphic novel V for Vendetta. The collision of the two timeframes made for an interesting experience. The lines are directly from Shakespeare’s play — including the classic Roman names — but the outfits, media, and weapons are pulled directly from the 21st century.

The stage allows for a dramatic digital experience, with live video and visual overlays.

In one scene rain is projected, and in another scene the skyline of a crumbling city stands defeated. During a scene where Brutus calls to meeting his conspirators, a live feed of three pairs of actors appear on the wall, giving the impression of a futuristic FaceTime call. The digital injections, paired with audio, are key in creating a powerful atmosphere for significant moments in the play, and without those elements the scenes would be sorely lacking.

However, Kirkley’s choice to keep the original lines in a futuristic play causes some con-

Image: Brittany Cardinal

The play upgrades knives to guns in its famous murder scene. flict. While the lines are timeless and powerful, they clash

with the setting of a contemporary world. Sometimes the lines

are difficult to follow, pauses are short, and eventually the words ran together, especially in long monologues.

The scene in which Caesar is brutally murdered by the Senate is altered significantly.

In the original scene Caesar is stabbed by each member of the conspirators until his robes are bloodied and he falls to his knees, grabbing hold of Brutus, who delivers the killing blow. In Kirkley’s adaptation, the scene is altered so that each member of the conspirators fires a single shot from their firearm. It is acted as though in slow motion, Caesar bending and twisting with every shot. At the finale of this moment, Brutus shoots him point blank between the eyes, and Caesar falls back, convulsing, dead. The firearms remove a feeling of intimacy that was present in the original scene, and though the loud shots are awe-inspiring, I’m not certain it felt as powerful as the original.

Julius Caesar plays until March 15; showtimes are 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online, or in person at the UFV Performance Theatre at 45635 Yale Road, Chilliwack.

Dine and Dash

Bow and Stern brings fine seafood to Downtown Abbotsford

SASHA MOEDT THE CASCADE

Abbotsford has been missing a nice seafood restaurant. Jojo’s and C-Lovers have their time and place, but when you want something classy, Abbotsford doesn’t have anything to offer.

Sure, the seafood salad at Milestones is tasty, but there’s something about a seafoodfocused place. The space is dedicated to seafood, the menu items are diverse, and the décor is always interesting.

Bow & Stern fills that niche.

On a whim, I went there with a friend on a Friday night and was surprised that they had a waiting list. In Abbotsford, I thought that was only an ABC Country thing. It was a good omen; the diners were a mix of people, young and old. I wrote down my number and in less than 10 minutes, I received a text saying there was a table for two open.

The interior was painted white with nautical and tastefully minimalist décor. Anchors and ship’s wheels made it look like something straight out of

Image: Facebook

Oysters, Dungeness crab, lobster — it’s easy to get on this boat.

Kinfolk magazine.

Though I found the décor kind of cool, the music was quite loud. Bow & Stern isn’t a bar, but the music made me feel like I was in one. Diners raised their voices to talk to each other, making the noise level a bit much.

I was very impressed with the drink menu. I was looking to try a new beer, and as luck

would have it, Bow & Stern featured 18 breweries and over 40 beers from those breweries.

It took my friend and me quite a while to pick out a beer, and that was a good thing. I tried a chestnut ale from Whistler Brewing, and it was delicious — dark and rich, like a dessert beer.

Bow and Stern’s menu was fairly impressive, though they

didn’t have a huge selection of entrées. If you want to eat there with someone who doesn’t eat seafood, there are a couple of chicken and beef entrées (only two of them not being a burger or salad). For vegetarians out there, it’s pretty slim pickings — there is an uninspired black bean burger or salad.

But for those who love seafood, the menu items are tempting. There are hot and cold seafood platters, muscles, prawns, oysters, Dungeness crab, salmon, lobster mac n’ cheese, and your classic fish and chips. The appetizer list is fairly long, including calamari, deep fried Brussels sprouts, and poutine.

Price-wise, Bow & Stern will never be a student hangout.

The average entrée is about $14, and some selections — such as the seafood platters — are ominously marked “Market Price.”

After remembering Troy’s experience in Community (“What market are you shopping at!?”)

I avoided the seafood platter, and ended up with a classic — cod and chips.

From what I could see from diners’ plates sitting around

me, Bow & Stern brings the fancy with their fish. The plates of food weren’t huge, but they were well-arranged.

The service was decent, considering every table was full, and our food came out quickly.

The portion of cod was a good size. The batter was crispy, light, melt-in-your mouth, and not too oily. The fish itself was healthy; I hate it when a fish isn’t entirely white. It was delicious. The coleslaw was clearly fresh and very creamy. The chips that accompanied it were kind of a cop-out, though. I know the style for the “chips” part of “fish and chips” is thickcut, but I wasn’t impressed.

There wasn’t enough crisp to it, and I really didn’t feel the need to finish.

All in all, Bow & Stern does good fish and chips. After eating that entrée, I’d be interested in trying some of their more creative and exciting entrées.

After such a busy Friday night, I’m hopeful they’ll stay in business. I’ll definitely consider Bow & Stern when I have my next seafood craving.

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

TV

House of Cards season three can’t stand up to its predecessors MITCH HUTTEMA THE CASCADE

This review contains spoilers.

The Netflix equivalent of primetime television, House of Cards is back again with its third season. Season three departs from the shock factor and absurd behaviour seen in the first two seasons, and focuses instead on the relationship of Francis and Claire Underwood, turning the show from a thrilling ride to a domestic kerfuffle. Without the curveballs of its preceding seasons — and relying almost solely on the unspoken frustrations between the President and First Lady — season three’s ability to keep the viewer coming back is greatly diminished.

Let it be said that season three maintains a similar number of jaw-droppers; however, many of them can be seen coming.

Unlike the more surprising moments from previous seasons, where viewers held onto their seats as they were aware of the gut-wrenching chasm they were being forced into, this season felt a little too predictable on the way down.

House of Cards deals with a continuum of Frank Underwood’s (Kevin Spacey) descent in approval ratings, all stem-

Image: Faceook

Season three is more predictable than past House of Cards seasons ming from his lust for complete power and his unwillingness to compromise. Opening on a rather depressing note that carries on for several episodes, there seems to be no hope for TV’s latest and greatest antihero. In fact, he is nearly invisible in the opening episode of the series, as Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) takes the lead role.

Most disappointing about

this latest installment is how drawn-out everything feels.

The relationship struggle, Doug’s recovery, Underwood’s success, and the doings with Russia all seem to get old fairly quickly. Plot-wise, the pacing of this season is lacklustre in comparison to the others. It’s not that the plot events happen any faster or slower, it’s just that they don’t happen as intensely

as before.

I would speculate the momentum of the season is much different from those previous because Frank is no longer riding forth in battle for the presidency. Instead, we see him in season three seated behind a desk signing bills, solving (and creating) diplomatic conflicts, and dealing with his relationship. This shift in structure has

caused the show on the whole to suffer.

One rather encouraging bit of season three is some of the incredible cinematography.

The motivation of the camera is as intentional as ever. We see Frank shrink in size compared to the rest of the frame when a decision is made out of his control. The camera barrels backwards down the hallway as Remy Danton storms down it the opposite way. The camerawork is always smooth, always steady, and always defying the boundaries between CGI and live-action camera work. One of the only times the camera is shaky and handheld is in the final episode in that incredible and unsettling exchange in the hotel between Frank and Claire.

All criticism aside, despite the season being mediocre in comparison to the others, it is still superb TV. House of Cards has always been a cut above the rest and continues to stay that way with this season. While it seems to be more of the same and nothing new in regard to the seasons before, it contains some U-turns and surprises in Frank’s dabblings with absolute power.

Concert

Bleachers on fire in Vancouver performance ASHLEY MUSSBACHER THE CASCADE

A bleaching agent was on fire at the docks on Wednesday — the same night I just happened to go see Bleachers at the Rio. This show had been originally scheduled for December, but after members of the band got sick, it was cancelled and later rescheduled.

After seeing Joshua Radin in the same venue just this past Saturday, I remembered that the seats up on the balcony were uncomfortable, so I sat formed in the front bottom this time. A crowd of people had created a pseudo-mosh pit at the front of the theatre. They greeted the opening bands Joywave and Night Terrors of 1927 with lukewarm head nods, and solidifying Vancouver ’s standoff reputation. No matter how many guitar solos or highperformance percussion freakouts, the audience was almost reluctant to applause, clapping almost politely. The lead singer

Image: Joe Johnson

Indie-pop musicians Bleachers more than made up for having to postpone their December show. of Night Terrors even jumped down into the audience at one point, and tried to get the energy going, but only a few were roused.

Bleachers opened with “Wild Heart,” the first single from their album Strange Desire, and put on a pretty upbeat show.

The energy in the room went

from chill to soaring as the night went on. Jack Antonoff, the guitarist from fun., led the band through several of their popular singles, including

“Shadow” and “Rollercoaster.”

He enlisted the audience to join in on the lyrics in some places, keeping percussion with clapping, and even taught us a tune to hum in the background.

Antonoff continued to rock out and play to the crowd, conversing with people at the front, including a girl who had just recently broke up with her boyfriend, someone with a flirty sign, and someone with a handful of rubber ducks (Jack is nicknamed “Ducky”). The feel-good music was enough to make anyone want to throw their arms up and rock out, as I did most of the time.

Bleachers closed with “Rollercoaster,” and as the lights went dark the audience began to hum the tune Antonoff had taught them as a means of calling him back for an encore.

Nobody could have possibly withstood the call of over 600 people humming the same tune in unison. Bleachers returned for a finale with their infectious single, “I Wanna Get Better.”

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Men’s basketball team secures bronze in final four Upcoming

Events

March 13 WWE Live Love WWE? WWE Live will make a stop in Abbotsford on the Road to WrestleMania Tour. Tickets start at $20 available at www.ticketmaster.ca or Prospera Box Office.

Abbotsford Events Centre, 7:30 p.m.

Image: Google

NATHAN HUTTON THE CASCADE

March 16 Health Sciences Series Speaker Series Inez Jasper hosts a talk on “Current Issues in Aboriginal Health Education,” exploring current health issues in the aboriginal community and reflecting on health education as an indigenous student. A panel of current health

sciences

students

and alumni will participate.

Chilliwack campus, building A, Atrium, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The record-breaking season for the men’s basketball team finally came to an end in the Canada West final four hosted in Saskatchewan this past weekend.

The Cascades earned their fourth consecutive berth to the final four after defeating the University of Calgary Dinos in two games last weekend — their first games of the year against a team in the Pioneers division. The number-two seed Cascades got a tough match-up in their final four opener, having to battle with the University of Victoria Vikes and Chris McLaughlin, Canada West’s most outstanding player of the year.

When the game got under-

way, the Cascades just seemed a step slower than their opponents. As the first quarter ticked along, the Cascades trailed by 17 points — and things were quickly going from bad to worse.

Although the Cascades outplayed the Vikes in the second quarter and trailed by only nine at the half, it wasn’t enough to get by a team with so much star power. The Cascades would eventually lose the game by a score of 86-61, making a potential nationals berth that much harder.

The Cascades did get the chance to play one more game and try to end their season with a win in the bronze medal game against the UBC Thunderbirds.

It was going to be the fourth game for the Cascades against the larger Pioneers division for

which they had a 2-1 record against coming into the game.

It was also the chance for the Cascades’ Coach Friesen to play against his own university coach Kevin Hanson in a friendly match-up for the Canada West bronze medal.

From the opening whistle, the Cascades jostled with the Thunderbirds in the first two quarters, with both teams making runs and responding to the best of their abilities. For example, the Thunderbirds would take a quick seven-point lead in the second quarter, which the Cascades would respond to with their own 13-point run, capped off with a four-point play from Kadeem Willis.

The Cascades went on to win the game on the strength of their 13-0 run in the second quarter by a score of 87-71, and

came away with the Canada West bronze medal. With that win, the Cascades brought themselves within a shot of the final CIS nationals’ wild-card berth. As the sun rose on Sunday, the CIS announced the final seeding for the final eight in the national tournament along with that wild card winner — unfortunately, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees (ranked number-one for the majority of the season) had been given the wild-card berth, making them the fourth team from Ontario in the final-eight teams.

With the end of the final four, the Cascades’ season is over, and they will look to the offseason to rebuild after losing both Kadeem Willis and Jasper Moedt to graduation.

HEADING TO CHILLIWACK?

Become a distributor for The Cascade!

The Cascade is seeking at distributor to place papers around the Chilliwack campus and community once a week. Must be available on Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

No experience necessary.

To apply, send your resume and cover letter to valerie@ufvcascade.ca by midnight on Friday, March 20.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Safe Space

An unshakeable shadow and the urge to disappear A personal account of dealing with anxiety, anger, and suicidal depression

Image: Graeme Beamiss

ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTOR

I used to believe that anxiety and depression was a mindset that a person could choose to change with good lifestyle and eating habits — until I was sexually assaulted. After that everything changed.

First to shift was my identity. I had always viewed myself as strong and capable, in control of my life. But after the incident I grew angry and negative. I became judgemental of everything and everyone around me, faulting them for even the smallest weakness and believing that I was the only person in the world that understood anything that was worth understanding.

In my anger, I pushed people away.

Burned bridges. I isolated myself, closed myself off from my friends and family, and once I’d retreated completely I felt a shadow moving into my life. Something I couldn’t shake, no matter what.

I lived this way for years, with this shadow following along behind me. I was acutely aware of it and how it made me feel when I was having a “down day.” There were full days when I would crawl out of bed, skip all of my classes, and lie on my living room floor, because I couldn’t bring myself to physically do

anything. My creativity and motivation diminished in these moments.

The anxiety came later when I entered into a relationship. I obsessed over having sex for the first few months, and then obsessed over avoiding it for the last few. There were days when I didn’t want to be touched, held, or kissed. If he tried to touch me I would imagine his hands going between my legs, and I grew uncomfortable — almost squeamish.

I would spend time thinking about what positions I could sit in when I was next to him so that it would make it difficult for him to touch me. Eventually, he repulsed me; everything he did or said,

I was running from something that was ultimately in my head.

how he smelled, his tics and physical cues. The relationship ended after one explosive moment and a slammed door.

Out of everything, the anger was the worst. I didn’t like the feeling of irrita-

tion I felt towards everyone, I learned that anger got results and reactions from people, but at the expense of their respect for me. As a result, I was further isolating myself, and I started to feel that everyone would be better off if I just left. Disappeared.

I considered applying for a traveller’s visa, packing a bag, and moving to work in another country. Somewhere in Europe. Escape my responsibilities here. I wouldn’t tell anyone, I would just leave quietly. If I left, it would be less horrific than a rope or a slashed wrist. There wouldn’t be closure, but at least I’d leave them with a sliver of hope.

But what if that didn’t fix anything?

I knew it wouldn’t. I was running from something that was ultimately in my head. The problem was me.

The worst about feeling the urge to kill myself was the helplessness. There were invisible walls closing in on me wherever I turned, and the ceiling was pushing down. I felt small, insignificant, and I felt if someone were to touch me I’d shatter.

I remember sitting on the couch in my living room feeling very overwhelmed with school, work, and relationships.

There was a tug on my sleeve. I wanted — no, I needed — to get up and do something, anything, but I couldn’t move. I wanted to kill myself. And in my head I

was going through all the ways I might want to die, painlessly but not messily. I was convinced if I died, everyone would be better off, and after a while no one would care.

What kept me from hurting myself were, laugh at it or not, thoughts of my cat. He is the only thing solely dependent on me. This small detail pulled me into a microscopic positive space. It was so tiny, but it mattered so much in that moment. It mattered enough for me to pick up the phone and talk to a close friend, and admit everything to her.

Now I’ve been seeing a counsellor at UFV, and I talk to my friend often to feel

There were full days when I would crawl out of bed, skip all of my classes, and lie on my living room floor.

enveloped in a support network. The outlet is helping. The shadow is always there, but at least it’s shrunk to a manageable size.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

UFV Rowing hosts Head of the Fort Regatta at Fort Langley NATHAN HUTTON THE CASCADE

The bright sun split the morning sky over Fort Langley on Saturday morning, where crowds of rowing fans gathered to watch the UFV rowing team host their annual Head of the Fort Regatta on the Fraser River.

Head of the Fort is the biggest event of the year for the UFV rowing team. It’s always a hit for locals, and this year was no different; throngs of people lined the side of the river and the bridge to get a glimpse of the rowers and snap photos.

In previous years this event, while yielding good results for the UFV rowing team, has had some bad outcomes in the weather department — but this year was different. The sun shone in the cloudless sky, making for the best possible viewing conditions for fans of a sport that isn’t always the best for spectators.

The event showcases rowers of all different skill levels and backgrounds, including junior (17 or under), university, and master (25+) crews.

Varsity rower Riley Dueck noted that it is advantageous for the team to have an event on their training ground, and to be familiar to your surroundings and nuances of the course.

“I think the reason why [hav-

Image: Nathan Hutton

ing an event in Langley] is so big is because we know it so well. Everybody knows the course so well. Everybody is fighting to do the turn exactly how we know it.”

According to Dueck, the rowing team cares about their fans a lot and just wants everyone to come down and have a good time for a couple hours.

“It is super important for us

to have a good race and train hard and perform well, but it’s also important that we put on the best show possible. People love it every year and that’s why they come back.”

Some notable rankings: UFV placed second in the Mens 8+, as well as the Womens 2x and the mixed 2x. For full results of the Head of the Fort, check out ufvcascade.ca.

Image: Nathan Hutton