The cascade vol 25 iss 8

MARCH 1 TO MARCH 7, 2017

VOLUME 25 ISSUE 8

Up too late since 1993

SUS candidates announced Less than a month away from the election, candidates will begin campaigning.

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Life in Switzerland What they don’t tell you about studying abroad.

Jordan Abel pg. 8-9

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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake rattlesnake

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

EDITORIAL

Running out of student roles Photo: Alexandrah Pahl

VANESSA BROADBENT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

This is the time of year where not only am I hit with a slew of midterms, term paper proposals, and group projects, but also a slew of emails letting me know that there are available positions on UFV’s board of governors and senate. Now in the final year of my degree, both have just become something I expect to happen roughly halfway through the winter semester.

It’s probably not that many, but I swear that every time I log into myUFV there’s an email from the university secretariat’s office reminding me that there is a call for nominations for student positions.

The good thing about this, for me at least, is that every time I see that I have unread emails in my UFV email account, and I assume that the worst has happened and the email is probably from a prof, asking me why they haven’t received an assignment that I had no idea I even had to do or something like that. But when I realize it’s just another one of those emails, my mind leaves panic mode, I’m thankful that there’s no surprise homework, and I click on the email so the notification will go away.

But the bad thing about this is it means the positions aren’t getting filled, and even though I can almost count on one hand how many students they need, they still find themselves unable to do so.

The first of this round of emails was sent out on January 31, letting students know about the four open positions for senate and two for board of governors, and the deadline for applications on February 17. The last email was sent on February 20, letting students know that there was still one open position on the board of governors and that the deadline for applications was extended to March 10.

The problem with this lack of interest, is that it ends up being the same people doing everything. Out of the four elected student positions

on senate, three of them are currently on the Student Union Society (SUS) board, and one of them is running for a SUS board position again next term as well. The one board of governors position that was filled, was done so by the current SUS board chair, who is also running for a board position this term.

Part of me admires these students for taking on so much, and is a bit jealous at their ability to do it all while balancing classes.

But the other part of me is a little hesitant, and even more uncomfortable to accept this.

The SUS board includes student representative positions from senate and board of governors, but this upcoming year they won’t be the only students that are on both boards.

The SUS board also provides feedback and communicates with both boards. For example, when senate revises academic policies, they send them to the SUS board for consultation because SUS is supposed to be acting as a voice for students. But this means that the students on senate that helped come up with those policy revisions, are also now the students providing feedback on their own revisions.

Whether this is a conflict of interest or not, is not as disconcerting to me as the thought that there is a small handful of students that are representing the entire student body, across all of its governing boards.

The only solution for this is for UFV and SUS to not allow members to sit on both boards, which would only make filling both harder for them, or simply for more students to take on these positions, and it clearly can’t be that hard to do so.

Truth be told, there isn’t a simple solution in our situation. The position should really only be filled by someone who truly wants to engage with whichever board they nominate themselves for. It’s not resume glitter. But if no one reaches out to fill the role, it can be made into whatever the few who are interested want it to be.

STAFF

CONTRIUBUTORS WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA @UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/THE.CASCADE

Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Broadbent vanessa@ufvcascade.ca

Opinion Editor Panku Sharma panku@ufvcascade.ca

Features Editor Bradley Peters brad@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Culture & Events Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca

Illustrator Amara Gelaude amara@ufvcascade.ca

Business Manager Quintin Stamler quintin@ufvcascade.ca

Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca

Photographer Alexandrah Pahl Alexandrah@ufvcascade.ca

Cover: Brittany Cardinal Back Cover: Brittany Cardinal

Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca

Production Manager Brittany Cardinal brittany@ufvcascade.ca

Distributor Griffy Vigneron Distributor@ufvcascade.ca

News Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Production Assistant Molly Jones molly@ufvcascade.ca

Ad Rep Kayla Normandeau-Cowan Kayla@ufvcascade.ca

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a print circulation of 1,250 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

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Rachel Tait Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts

Volume 25 · Issue 8 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Writers meetings are held each Monday at 12:00 p.m. in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus.

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. 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. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 400 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

NEWS NEWS BRIEFS

Staying warm sustainably UFV blanket program aims to cut down on space heater usage

Supreme Court will hear appeals on university law school’s policies The Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear two appeals involving accreditation of Trinity Western University’s (TWU) law school because of their community covenant. Trinity Western has been trying to get full accreditation in all provinces for future graduates of their law school.

The opposition TWU faces comes from B.C., Ontario, and Nova Scotia.

The university won in British Columbia last November when an appeal court overturned a law society refusal to accredit the school’s graduates.

However they lost in Ontario where the law society refused accreditation. Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society lost in court twice against TWU and does not intend to appeal.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada, as well as law societies in the remaining seven provinces approved recognizing Trinity Western’s law graduates.

-Vancouver Sun

UFV Cascades gold in wrestling UFV Cascades’ Brad Hildenbrandt became the first Cascades wrestler to take home a U SPORTS national gold medal last Saturday at the national wrestling championships.

U SPORT is the national governing body for university sport in Canada.

Hildenbrandt tied his opponent, Kyle Bonk-Dann of the Western Mustangs, in the second round and finished the game in the lead with 5-4. UFV’s previous best wrestling medal from the national championships was silver, won in 2015.

-UFV Cascades

2017 budget lowers student loan interest rates B.C. Budget 2017 will lower B.C.’s student loan interest rates from being the highest in Canada to closer to the national average. The reduction in interest charged on student loans will cut rates in half starting this summer’s semester.

“According to the Federation of PostSecondary Educators, tuition revenues across the province have gone up 350 per cent since 2002,” reports the CBC. After years of record levels of tuition fees and student debt, the 2017 budget will limit interest rates on student loans to the prime rate of interest. The government estimates that this will save students and their families about $17 million a year.

-BCTF and The CBC

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR/PHOTO

The first UFV-led program to encourage a reduction in space heater use by providing fleece blankets distributed its two remaining blankets last week. The 125 UFV-branded blankets were supplied to faculty and staff offering an alternative way to keep warm in their work spaces.

“There was no shortage of demand for them,” said energy manager Blair McFarlane, who launched the initiative. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive which is great.”

The blankets themselves costed about $2,100 but the bill was footed entirely by B.C. Hydro.

“We reaped some incentives to do this; [B.C. Hydro] fully supported us going through this process,” said McFarlane.

UFV Facilities were able to attain the funding through the workplace conservation awareness program. The program’s aim is to promote energy conservation behaviours within businesses and organizations throughout B.C. The UFV blanket program itself was launched to accomplish several goals within UFV; the main focus was largely to create a sense of awareness about energy consumption and personal ownership over how energy is used.

“We were looking for ideas on how to engage students, staff, and faculty to get them interested in sustainability on campus,” said McFarlane.

Because of the large amount of space heaters

on campus, McFarlane and the Centre for Sustainability wanted to provide alternative means of personal passive heating — using a blanket, for staying warm.

Travis Gingerich, sustainability coordinator assistant, said that the program also had goals to influence beyond UFV. “A big component is creating those conversations so that people recognize this is something that we do not only on campus here but it’s something we can do at home too,” said Gingerich.

In terms of energy usage, the focus of the program was to reduce institutional energy consumption as well as the strain that space heaters can put on the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

When the temperature near a thermostat is raised beyond its set temperature, the system is tricked into thinking a room is warmer than it is. The thermostat tells the system to send cool air which drops the ambient temperature in that area while still heating others.

“But it’s not the case of just saying, ‘You’re cold, here’s a blanket, deal with it,’” said McFarlane. “It’s saying, we understand that there are deficiencies, we’d like to make it more comfortable for you in a sustainable way.”

Beyond being overworked, UFV’s HVAC system has limitations of its own. Because there have been so many space changes and renovations over the years at UFV, the original design for the system may not accommodate the demands of the new spaces.

“Where there once was a classroom, now there’s a dozen offices and our HVAC was designed to serve a classroom, not 12 smaller spaces,” said McFarlane. “Staff are pretty understanding of some of the constraints and challenges that go along with those space changes.”

The HVAC system does frequently get upgraded to fix any deficiencies when possible.

McFarlane said that renovations to new spaces also do incorporate plans to improve system performance and its design is taken into account.

The blankets were distributed freely but are considered UFV property. It’s expected that the blankets will remain on campus and with whomever they were given to.

“People’s comfort and personal temperature is something you don’t really want to alter,” said McFarlane. “You want to keep people comfortable and productive and happy at work, but at the same time, space heaters have been a massive challenge for the facilities department.”

While the facilities department encourages staff to eliminate space heater usage, the blankets are optional and UFV does not require that staff give up their space heaters.

Because of the strong reception this year, McFarlane said they would like to continue with something similar in following years.

“I think we’re going to go to Fortis next year for some incentives and funding,” said McFarlane. “We’re going to try and roll it out again next year and expand it beyond the 125 blankets that we dished out this year.”

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

NEWS

An exploration into the national food identities A Q&A with Dr. Lenore Newman on her new book Speaking in Cod Tongues RACHEL TAIT CONTRIBUTOR

Canadian cuisine, how does one describe it? Of course there are the maple stereotypes and defending cheese curds and gravy on potatoes as a meal. What more is there to Canada’s food than what is already considered “American”?

Dr. Lenore Newman is UFV’s Canada Research Chair in Food Security and Environment as well as an associate professor in geography. In her new book Speaking in Cod Tongues, she explores Canada’s culinary identity and journeyed all across Canada to do it.

Here she talks about her experiences and quest to experience and know Canadian cuisine.

You recently wrote a new book, Speaking in Tongues of Cod, could you tell me a bit about it?

Well, when I first took the position of Chair here at UFV, I wanted to produce something that was academic but would also be of interest to the community and the wider public. I decided to write up my results as a book on Canadian food. And that is where Speaking in Cod Tongues came from. The question of what is Canadian food had interested me, as there was no definitive answer at the time; I thought I would go and look for myself.

You embarked on a five-year quest to explore Canadian cuisine, what was that like?

It was great fun. It was a number of trips over several years and in all seasons because I wanted to travel in the winter as well, to get an idea of how Canada works in the winter. I was cheating a bit because I had lived in Ontario for 13 years, so I knew the mid part of the country fairly well. But it was a chance to see the whole country. Newfoundland and the Maritimes were new for me and they were amazing. I got up to Labrador and Quebec and to the Northwest Territories too. It was also a chance to get to know the foods of the prairies and their producers.

It was a lot of driving. My goal was to get out of the cities, so I drove 30-40,000 kilometers. I got to pick berries off in the middle of the tundra and eat in some of the best restaurants in the country, and meet some of the more interesting producers, farmers, and fisherfolk, those who collect wild food.

Was there anything on your journey for this book that really stood out to you?

I was really struck by the passion everyone puts into their cuisine. All these restaurateurs, farmers, fishermen, etc., they put so much passion into their food, and often it is a very perilous busi-

ness. It’s dangerous, the money is not very good, restauranting is a terrifying business with huge money flows. You are always on the edge of going bankrupt. But they put so much into it, they put their whole life into it. And it really made me realize that to say there isn’t true Canadian cuisine is disrespectful to those people. I think we have to realize we have a cuisine and it’s amazing and we have to stand by these people who have put so much into it. They had so much time for me. That’s another thing, they love to talk about their food and that is what really stood out for me. It was across the country.

looking at how foods are being endangered by environmental change — that arose out of this project. I was frightened by how many of Canada’s iconic foods are threatened in various ways.

I’ve got a project to go and look at the foods of the world that are most threatened, or have disappeared. I am beginning another five-year project to circle the Pacific Rim and look at how Pacific Rim cuisine is changing and emerging as all these countries interact.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Were the restaurants you visited aware of your project and what you were doing?

Sometimes. I did interview restaurateurs about what they were trying to do, how they saw our country’s cuisine and how they made it theirs. But sometimes I was just passing through and getting to observe life in these smaller communities as an outsider.

What was interesting is that I was a tourist in places that often don’t see outsiders, for example out on Grand Manan, which is an island in the middle of the Bay of Fundy, outsiders out there are out of season, so they would come and talk to me and ask me what I was doing there. I met a lot of interesting people.

You mentioned in your book that Canadians’ love for wild foods such as salmon and berries are what make our foods culturally different and unique. Can you expand on that?

I discovered a few things, actually, that make our cuisine our own. We use more wild food than anyone else. And that is right across the country. From fish, to wild game, rice, mushrooms, berries. And I am still experiencing that. I have been doing a lot of radio call-in shows and a lot of older men are calling in to tell me about what they do with their game, they hunt elk or wild sheep and they call in to share their family recipes. And with that goes seasonality, we love eating food in season. A good example from Abbotsford is berries, people go to their favourite berry stand and wait for the berries. It is very typical of Canadian cuisine to eat the freshest and seasoned foods.

What is your ideal Canadian meal, after all the research you have done?

It may betray my roots as a fisherman’s daughter, but good old roast salmon, blueberry pie, and some local greens. That is pretty ideal for me and maybe some Ontario wine and some Québécois dessert, they do desserts really well.

After this what is next for you?

I have a couple exciting things, new projects. One of them is

SUS creates seeking reconciliation student award VANESSA BROADBENT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Nominations opened Tuesday for the second annual Student Union Society’s (SUS) student awards, now including a seeking reconciliation award.

As outlined in the nomination package, the award “recognizes a student leader who is committed to the ongoing work of implementing recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to Indigenize the campus community.”

The idea for the award initially came out of meetings on campus regarding reconciliation and indigenizing, both within SUS and with Senate and the Indigenous Centre.

“This was one of the recommendations. It wasn’t to expand the SUS awards, [but] in some way to recognize this,” Sukhi Brar, SUS president. “Then it was just coming up with the right terms and talking to people about what exactly we’re trying to recognize here and what kind of thing we’re trying to encourage students to do.”

While the award exists to recognize students who are making steps towards reconciliation on campus, Brar hopes that it will also spark conversation surrounding indigenization, as well as educate students.

“A lot of us are in programs that haven’t encountered this ma-

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terial yet,” she said. “As a kinesiology student, I’ve never heard of territory acknowledgement. I didn’t know the significance of that until I got involved in all these other public events that UFV has where you hear it and people explain the significance of it, but we all need to be doing more so it reaches more students …

I know there’s a lot of people that are trying to change that, but it’s a slow process.”

Like the three other award categories (leadership, volunteer, and club or association), the award will still focus on highlighting the work students are doing on campus.

“We’re hoping this recognizes that kind of work, but it also motivates students to do that kind of work, or just draw attention to that kind of work that’s being done by the student body,” Brar said. “If I look at last year’s nominees, they were fairly involved, but at least 50 per cent of that work and the people nominated, I didn’t know the stuff they were doing until it was announced.

I think people forget how much activity we have on campus.”

Although SUS has not yet confirmed after whom the award will be named, like the other awards, the seeking reconciliation award will be named after UFV alumni.

“It’s adding legacy pieces and tradition and culture, which we’re kind of missing on this campus,” Brar said. “This is our way of recognizing work that the UFV community has done …

We’re recognizing students, but with naming these awards we’re recognizing people that have made significant contributions in

these areas. It’s something to aspire to.”

The award is only part of a larger plan that Brar is hoping to implement, outlining SUS’ responsibility to address and make efforts for reconciliation.

“The importance that SUS as an organization commits to this long term, things we can be doing to promote indigenous culture, to make UFV more welcoming to Indigenous students, that’s turned into, I don’t know whether to call it a strategic plan or an action plan, but it’s turning into that,” she said.

It’s still unclear what the plan will include, but it’s scheduled to be presented to the SUS board for approval at the next meeting on March 28.

“If you look across Canada, there’s a lot of universities that have passed action plans … but there’s not a lot that’s being done by student unions, and it’s kind of a challenge to come up with that,” Brar explained. “I think the past few months have been learning a lot about that. It’s been conversations with Indigenous students, the centre, with Shirley and our chancellor, to find out what we can be doing to support things that are already happening on our campus by the institution.

Nominations for the awards will be accepted until March 17 and the awards will be presented at the second annual SUS Awards & Volunteer Recognition Event, which will be taking place at the end of this semester, likely in the beginning of April.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

NEWS

Candidates for SUS election announced JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR

Now, almost a month away from the voting period, the candidates for the 2017 / 18 Student Union Society (SUS) election have been announced.

The review period for candidates by the chief electoral officer came to a close on Feb. 24 and the campaigning period for candidates began on Feb. 27.

This year, six positions will be campaigned for but only two will be contested — meaning only two positions have more than one candidate. Last year’s election saw six positions being campaigned for and five were contested.

Although some positions are uncontested, it will still be possible to vote for or against the running candidate.

The executive candidates this year are: for president, Cameron Stephen and Gurvir Gill; for vice president internal, Jaleen Mackay and Manbir Sadhar; and for vice president external, Alison Gher-White.

The Candidates for student representatives are: for Aboriginal representative, Cody Dumas; for arts representative, Andrew Stahl; and for college of arts representative, Ekanki Chawla.

Candidates are asked to prepare a “candidate statement” which can be accessed from the Student Union website.

For president: Cameron Stephen is in the bachelor of science program, majoring in Biology. He has volunteered with clubs and SUS and worked for SUS. Stephen’s experience on campus has been vice-president and secretary of eSports valley, and has worked as manager and supervisor in the food services department.

Gurvir Gill is a fourth year business student. He has volunteered with UFV student life, international, res life, athletics, and SUS. He is currently a work study for the student engagement team.

For vice president internal: Jaleen Mackay is in the bachelor of science program in biology with a pre-medicine concentration. She has served as an executive for the eSports valley club and started the UFV advocacy for men and boys club. She has also volunteered for SUS. Manbir Sandhar is currently enrolled in the bachelor of business administration program and will be majoring in accounting and finance. Sandhar has had experience working at a tax bank.

For vice president external: This uncontested position will be campaigned for by Alyson Gher-White. She studies in the bachelor of arts as a third year criminology student. Gher-White currently works with SUS as the advocacy officer and also works at Fair Grounds café in the student union building.

BOGed down in disinterest UFV board of governors looks to fill student position JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR

Even after the regular nomination period closed, the UFV board of governors is still looking for student interest in the board.

In order to fill the one remaining student position, the nomination period has been extended to March 10. There are two student positions on the board, but only one student was nominated.

The board of governors is the governing body responsible for the university’s fiduciary issues, issues of property, and finance. Positions on the board are held for a one-year term that extends from August 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018.

Andrew Stahl, currently SUS board chair will fill one of the board of governors positions.

UFV’s senate filled all four of its student positions during the regular nomination period. The four senate student positions will be filled by three current SUS members: Senate rep, Ekanki Chawla, faculty of professional studies rep, Sahil Chawla, and vice president internal, Ashmeet Saran. The fourth position will be filled by Dildar Vardi.

The senate is the academic governing body and is responsible for academic affairs and advising the board of governors.

The regular nomination period is from Jan. 30 to Feb. 17.

“What we do is we run expressions of interest in elections in February, so that by the time their term starts in August, they’re already in place,” said Al Wiseman, UFV university secretary.

Incoming board members are also typically invited to the board’s last meeting of the academic year in June to get a feel for the workings of a board meeting.

Some of the tasks that a board member is responsible for include attending regular in camera and public meetings, attending committee meetings, as well as various events representing UFV and the board of governors.

During meetings, student members, like any member of the board, are encouraged to comment and vote on items of business presented at the meetings.

“They’re kind of looked at, from the boards perspective, as a window into the perspectives of students on whatever issues come forwards,” said Wiseman. “It’s students’ best position to actually comment and say, ‘well this is the way we think students see this issue’.”

Board members are also expected to review and know the agenda which is sent out prior to the meeting. The board of governors meets about eight times a year and meetings usually to run about five hours.

Individual committees also meet multiple times a year but meetings tend to be less frequent and not as long.

Stories worth paying attention to #WeDidn’tStartTheFire

#ICBCvsNDP

#LawsuitNewsuit

Fire and Death in Canada’s First Nations

NDP challenges on government’s role in ICBC failures

TransCanada Corp. suspends lawsuit after Trump’s comments

A Toronto Star investigation revealed that there has been a disturbing amount of deaths related to house fires in First Nations communities.

Last week NDP Leader John Horgan and NDP party member Adrian Dix brought forward issues with the Insurance Corp. of B.C. and the role the Liberal government had in creating them.

TransCanada Corp. has suspended their $15-billion NAFTA lawsuit against the United States. The challenge was filed under the North American Free Trade Agreement last year, alleging the U.S. government failed in its commitment to protect Canadian investors.

The article starts off: “Behind a low wooden fence, nine new headstones stand in a row, framed against white snow and black pines.

Last March, three generations — including three children — died in a house fire just down the road in this northern Ontario First Nation community. The final stone in the line belongs to Amber Strang, only six-months-old when she died.”

The article looks at issues including how the federal government doesn’t know the death toll from these on-reserve fires because it stopped keeping track in 2010.

-Toronto Star

The Globe and Mail reported that Mr. Horgan pointed out that when the government tabled its budget in 2015, ICBC projected $678-million revenue over a three-year period turned into a deficit of $833-million.

Even though many of ICBC’s problems have stemmed from internal management issues, the Globe and Mail noted that “despite a significant rise in expensive injury claims between 2012 and 2015, the corporation, under orders from Victoria, decided to reduce staff in its claims division. In a misguided attempt to save operating expenditures it created horrible claim backlogs, resulting in $2-billion in basic claim liability.”

-Globe and Mail

The lawsuit centres on the Keystone XL pipeline. After U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he will likely approve the project, he asked the Canadian company to reapply for a permit.

TransCanada Corp. maintains that previous president Barack Obama turned down the pipeline because of climate change issue despite the government claiming that it would have a minimal impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

The pipeline, almost 1,900 kilometres long, would carry about 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

-Globe and Mail

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

OPINION Photo: Facebook/Milo Yiannopoulos

Flowers for Milo Hopefully the last time we have to talk about him, and a eulogy for his career PANKU SHARMA OPINION EDITOR

While most of 2017 so far has been marked by the constant and unsatisfying edging towards either an impeachment, economic implosion, or all-out war, there has been a shining moment of mystifying but karmically gratifying news — the hopefully final death knell of Milo Yiannopoulos’ career.

I mean, you could hold a level of sincere wonder at a man making something out of a start in tech journalism through only years of trolling, contrarianism, and blatant attentionseeking narcissism. But I mean, if that really surprises you this day and age you’re a chump who hasn’t been paying attention to the track record and career paths of self-proclaimed pundits and commentators on 24-hour news and the landscape of the internet. And you especially haven’t been paying attention to the last few years of a resurgent “right” that’s been propelled by failsons who fancy themselves edgelords, people who continue to follow and claim that “Gamergate” was about ethics in gaming journalism, red pillers, our resident alumni embarrassments, and hot air balloon baskets full of deplorables.

The reactionary British media personality has tried to pass himself off as a wry scoundrel and relentless proponent of free speech, especially in opposition to a demonized (if not sometimes justifiably) and overestimated campus left and social justice circles. Part of this shtick has included: advocating against gay rights even though he himself is openly gay; ha-

rassing people online until he got banned from Twitter; outing and mocking a transgender student (who was in the room at the time) at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee by displaying her name and photo onscreen during his presentation; and encouraging students at the University of New Mexico “in the spirit of Trump’s agenda” to purge their local illegals by calling the authorities on undocumented people and students.

Recently a rumor of this happening again at the University of Berkeley not long ago prompted a response from antifa and students that turned violent and resulted in a riot. The final straw, for his compatriots and bedfellows in the movement who had originally planned to invite him to the Conservative Political Action Conference, was a recently resurfaced video where he made disgusting remarks about pedophilla.

It’s too bad that it took this long, but hopefully the former Breitbart editor can finally have his soapbox taken away.

Hopefully this is the moment of sobriety for his Pepe-loving fans to realize that the only reason he’s been as successful as he is is a good business sense (in the sense that he took a bunch of money during a fundraiser for white male student grants and just kept it) and a posh accent. He’s a member of a long and storied pantheon of pundits and personalities that have gotten ahead purely on the basis of British accents sounding smart to stupid people and not necessarily on the thoroughness of their beliefs or the character of their beings. Good riddance, I hope this is a trend. Let’s knock off some Canadian trolls next for the sake of balance.

Politics is like camping in the rain By the time you’ve built the tent you hate each other PANKU SHARMA OPINION EDITOR

The thing about big tents is it’s all fun and games until a gust of wind comes along and you’re crushed beneath the tent pole or buried under the fabric that leaves a rash if you’re lucky or prolonged death via suffocation if you’re not. In the case of politics, that metaphorical gust of wind can come in many forms: irreconcilable ideological divisions that flare up at the wrong time, divisive candidates (oh boy), pressure from opponents, or just a simple lack of foundation or principled purpose to keep everyone together.

There are some glaring examples of the danger and difficulty with big tents and infighting that are in the news right now and on both sides of the border. Not only do you have Jason Kenney’s almost Don-Quixotesque campaign in Alberta to “unite the right,” but you have almost a dozen people lined up on the federal Conservative stage who can barely agree on what conservative means besides saying the words “balanced budget” and “responsibility.” You have climate deniers, carbon tax proponents, social conservatives, reality TV stars, immigrant fear mongers, policy wonks, budget hawks, and immigrant success stories all sharing the stage and trying to make the case for not only leadership but that this is a party where they all belong and can work together.

Unity is a hard sell once passions and principles get involved, even more so when people feel they have been wronged or misled. It’s even more difficult in a two-party system like in the States, where the dividing centre line can be a bit nebulous but polarization and necessity drive people to share space with strange bedfellows. The struggle between Berniecrats (a resurgent progressive left who fell in behind the

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grassroots campaign of Independent Senator Bernie Sanders) and the establishment Democratic Party, with a closer to centrist establishment, came to a head during the race for the Democratic National Chair. On one side you had Keith Ellison, one of Bernie’s most popular surrogates and critics of the 2016 General Campaign, and on the other Tom Perez who was urged to run by Obama himself. On paper, their policies and proposals weren’t so far off, the position itself has in the past been more symbolic than a centre of systemic power, and in the aftermath of Perez’s win there was a show of unity in him making Ellison his deputy chair.

Yet while on paper there is unity, the passions underneath by the millions who saw it as a doomed compromise and not enough of a turn to the left show signs of tearing at the tent.

This leads to the point where you have to start considering the value of your tent; while it might keep you out of the rain, you aren’t necessarily moving anywhere. Is it worth the energy to try and build up supports or negotiate on the fabric colour, or just strike out with your own umbrella?

I’m all for coming together, but there’s only so far you can go when you don’t share the same vision of the world. In the case of the DNC, there are fault lines along capitalism and class, on establishment and grassroots. If we developed systems that allowed for better proportional representation we could give people a greater voice and have governments that better represent the needs and wants of the people, and not the norms and traditions of political organizations and parties. You could work together where you need, but still have your energy put to proper use building towards a better world and better ideas, instead of lukewarm compromise, and energy and time wasted on infighting.

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Him and Her - Jordan and Erika Toohey

Travis Ree

Norman Price

Brandt Fradette

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CHILLIWACK

CULTURAL CENTRE

9201 Corbould St., Chilliwack • www.chilliwackculturalcentre.ca

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

OPINION

SNAPSHOTS

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Panku Sharma

Jeff Mijo

A Landmark Proposal

Procrastinhating

Look, maybe I’ve been wrong this entire time and the best way to encourage diligent and passionate minds really is in the form of drawnout, three-hour PowerPoint presentations in a dim room. For the purposes of challenging my own positions and perhaps finding a new angle to approach a problem, let’s say that UFV students really do want text-only summaries of the textbooks they paid $200 for.

If that’s the case, I have a proposal that I think will not only help students get more of what they want, but help UFV expand its services and take a step closer to a thriving U-District: buy the old theatre on McCallum Road.

Think about it; at least a dozen rooms with huge potential for slideshow projection, a hundred or so seats (our current small class sizes are only in ratio to the size of our available PowerPoint dimensions per UFV policy), and only a few minutes walk from C building. It’s bound to smell better than D building, even with the vacancy and potential bat colony. UFV could probably take the opportunity to shake us down for even more money by instituting a health and facilities fee or just charging industry rates for candy and pop. Students will also be psychologically primed to learn because we’ve been conditioned to expect a familiar, uninspired retelling of a text source when we go to theatres.

Every semester I tell myself I’m going to start projects earlier and work on them piecemeal during the semester. Every semester I renege on this deal, and instead leave anything of value or importance until the absolute last minute. Sure, there’s that common wisdom that diamonds are only formed under extreme pressure; but is it worth the guilty Netflix binges, grocery trips, and naps that take my afternoons in place of studying?

It’s like the logical part of my brain knows exactly what I should be doing, and why it would be better for my all around health and success — but the hedonistic work adverse procrastinator always wins out, churns out mediocre assignments, and slyly affirms to do better next time. Personally, I don’t know who to blame, but I’ll take any suggestions on how this can be put at the feet of media barons, the internet as a concept, or the public education system rather than myself.

Panku Sharma

Facebook Official

Typewoes

Over the break, I proposed to my girlfriend of almost three years. After the requisite celebrating and explaining how I built my elaborate scavenger hunt to lead up to the ring (including a secret clue hidden somewhere in an issue of The Cascade... ), we did what any good young millennial couple would do: posted an update to our relationship status on Facebook. It turns out there’s no better way to be overwhelmed with that approval from friends, acquaintances, family, and people you barely know than a major life event. It made for a fun night, hanging out with my new fiance, talking with her family about wedding ideas, and just watching the comments pour in.

I’m sure a lot of people would criticize that, saying we should’ve done something more romantic to celebrate rather than getting Burger King and looking at our phones, saying “ooh, so-and-so commented!”, but is it really so bad to be excited and want to see that people are happy for you? It was memorable, cozy, and probably a better example of what the life we’re going to lead post-marriage is like than a fancy candlelit dinner. Sure, there’s such a thing as oversharing on social media and getting caught in a cycle of needing that validation, but I don’t see anything wrong with sharing some big news on the primary communication medium of our generation and then wallowing in the approval for a few hours.

It constantly makes me laugh how often people will use a single typo or other small mistake on platforms like Facebook to try to completely discredit or look down on someone else. Now I’d love it if everyone was a little more concerned with spelling, grammar, etc., but more often than not, it’s pretty obvious that a small error and / or someone not taking the time to proofread everything does not automatically equate to them being a moron. And (surprise, surprise) being a better writer does not always necessarily mean what you’re actually saying is correct, so in debates, when someone acts as if a single misspelled word instantly negates everything else the other person has said, it just comes across as them having no better points to make or argue against.

We ALL make mistakes from time to time, regardless of how smart we may or may not be.

So when it comes to writing, if, as a bloody copy editor, I’m capable of not being a condescending, dismissive asshat to those less proficient than I am, I kinda think the same should go for everyone else. I’m not against noting errors and offering corrections constructively, but please don’t be one of those miserable prats who thinks that simply pointing out that someone else used the wrong form of “they’re / their” in a discussion makes them look superior or really challenges the other person’s position.

Kat Marusiak

Illustrations: Amara Gelaude

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

FEATURE Written by: Bradley Peters Illustrations: Molly Jones

Jordan Abel dismantles colonialism to reconstruct a community:

Jordan Abel is the UFV Writer in Residence this year. Abel is a Nisga’a writer from Vancouver, B.C. He holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and is pursuing his PHD in digital humanities from SFU. Abel’s third and most recent book of poetry, Injun, is an uprooting of historical racism in Canada. Injun is a very unique and striking poetry book, utilizing experimental found-text poetry to literally rewrite colonial history.

The UFV Writer in Residence program is a six week affair where a successful writer “resides” — i.e. spends most of their time — on campus doing readings and workshops, visiting classrooms, and answering every question that comes their way with deep consideration and a and what are you trying to achieve with healthy dose of charisma. Abel’s poetry this complexity? is available at the UFV bookstore.

The book consists of multiple layers of Can you explain what is happening meaning and text separated into multiple with this work, Injun, because I’m sections. So when I do a reading of this holding the book and it’s becoming book, I'm trying to re-present this idea of blaringly apparent that there is so multiple layers to attempt to communicate much more going on than simply how these layers came together during the process of writing and reading the the words on the page. book. So my performance sounds like Yeah, I think it’s a necessary multiple layers of voice, some of them process to talk about how this book being distorted and some of them not came together. Every time I do a being distorted. I think that throughout public reading from the book, I the performance of the poem there's only also talk about how the work came a couple of sections with only one layer together conceptually. The work is of voice; every other section has multiple compiled from found text from a layers, and so there is multiple different website called Project Gutenberg, types of depth that you can hear or read, which is a site consisting of public or not hear. domain books, books that have After experiencing your presentation, their copyright expired. I went to the Western bookshelf section of project I don't think I was alone in feeling some Gutenberg, which contains all of the slight unease; the tension was palpable website’s old, pulp, dime Western in the room. It was an uncomfortable novels. There I found 91 novels that feeling, with all of the multiple layers of fit that description, so I took all 91 dialogue and indecipherable sound. Are Westerns and copied and pasted you purposely unsettling us? them all into a single Microsoft Word I think that question comes up a lot when I document. That source text ended do this performance, as it isn't comfortable up being over 10,000 words long, sometimes to listen to it and to hear it, and crashes my computer every time and I think part of that is that it's such a I try and open it. I began searching different way of listening than we're used the text for words that related to. It's not an everyday kind of listening to race, indigeneity, racism, and experience and I would say that as the discrimination. One of the words that performer and the writer, my intention is I ended up searching for was this word not necessarily to produce discomfort; I'm “Injun.” I found that there were 512 not doing it solely to produce discomfort. sentences that contained the word I would say the main intention is actually Injun compiled within those 10,000 to attempt to re-present the spirit of the words of source text. From there I text. So in this case, this is a book about copy and pasted those 512 sentences racism. It's a book about colonialism. It's into a separate word document, a book about colonial nostalgia and about which ended up being much more the Western genre and the representation reasonable; 26 pages. I printed out of Indigenous peoples and about the those 26 pages, took a pair of scissors attempted genocide of Indigenous peoples. and I cut up each page, and all of So when I think about all of the avenues of the bits of those pages created one meaning that the book has, a lot of those section of a long poem. Within the topics are uncomfortable. A lot of those book there are lettered sections, from trajectories are difficult trajectories. We A to Z, and each section represents know that these are difficult things to talk one of those cut up 26 pages. about, but important things, necessary When I attended your presentation things. I think there's a similar discomfort on campus during UFV’s literary simply in the reading process. These are arts week, I noticed that what you difficult issues, and so my goal is to talk were doing with multiple voices and about these issues, and discomfort is a sound was very striking. You have natural side effect of that. so many different things going on So your goal is to expose this complex with this book; what are your hopes and difficult issue. Do you also feel

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like it's a responsibility of yours being an Indigenous artist?

indigenous existence? What was it like for you growing up?

I'm not exactly totally sure to be honest.

All of my writing does attempt to engage with the difficulties of colonization, and also attempt to examine contemporary indigenous existence. So I think that my writing necessitates a discussion about all of those issues including colonization.

Those are the kinds of books I'm interested in writing. Those are the kinds of conversations I'm interested in having.

This is actually a very interesting conversation. So I was born in Vancouver.

I grew up partly in Vancouver, partly in Ontario, near Toronto. That's my natural response. But if another Indigenous person is asking where I'm from or where I grew up, the response that is more common and what they probably want to know is what community I belong to. That is the Nisga’a community. My grandparents were both born in Kincolith, B.C. My dad was born in Prince Rupert. All of my family eventually

Can we talk about the contemporary

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

FEATURE moved south and ended up in the Lower Mainland. So when an Indigenous person asks me where I'm from, there's a slight tension there because I want to tell them I’m Nisga’a, but during my lifetime my family has never lived in Nisga’a territory. There's definitely an interesting tension there.

or multiple communities and multiple languages. So although there may be many people who are in a similar position as me, feeling disconnected or severed from their community through colonialism, I think those positions are in the minority, especially regarding the positions represented through indigenous writing.

Do you ever talk to your parents or grandparents about where they grew up?

When did you start trying to find your place in the world through writing?

Both of my grandparents passed away before I was born, and I didn't meet my dad until I was 23, and I had exactly two conversations with him. I asked him as much as I could during those two conversations, but I think it's a difficult thing to work through. So I think that my familial connection with my indigeneity is very difficult to navigate.

Somewhere around five or 10, when I realized it was something that I could do, literally writing words on the page. It was just something that I really enjoyed doing. It happened very early in my life. When I was young I was much more interested in writing stories or narrative; poetry came in during the last year of my undergraduate degree.

Do you feel like you're trying to navigate that with your art?

Absolutely. There is a certain way of thinking through all three of my books that point to an experience of indigeneity from the position of both urban indigenous identity and the position of an intergenerational survivor of residential schools. I think there's ways to read into this in all of my writing. I think it’s really

What kinds of narratives were you writing?

The stories that I really got into were video game stories. I played a lot of really crappy old RPGs, fantasy games that I was obsessed with. The 3DO was this really crappy video game system, one of the first ones that had the CD drive. The company went bankrupt almost immediately after being released, and I stumbled across the system when it was on sale.

experimental art. Is this a progression of aboriginal art that is happening with your generation, or am I just discovering it now?

The cut up method that I use in Injun is not new; William S. Burroughs was doing that half a century ago.

There's a long history of that, and other conceptual visual art forms that I looked to when seeking inspiration for my work. Maybe you're speaking to the way that my poetry has come together both in the book form and the performance form that makes it seem cutting edge. I do know some other poets that are starting to experiment with performance art and using sound and digital tools to create some very interesting work, so maybe that is what makes my work seem progressive.

What do you think this new cutting-edge take on indigenous art is doing for the tradition of aboriginal storytelling?

I think that is where it becomes really interesting.

Specifically for indigenous art and indigenous poetry; my writing and my performance art does stray far outside of mainstream indigenous poetry. Not that indigenous poetry is mainstream, because it isn't, but there's a certain aesthetic that holds a lot of indigenous poetry together. My work is pretty far outside of that.

The thing that I hope it's doing, which I guess could potentially be different than the thing it is actually doing, is allowing people to talk about the differences in the indigenous experience, to talk about the layers of complexity of being indigenous, to talk about how our work interacts with colonial forms of artwork, to talk about what's possible in terms of art, what art can accomplish, and how the arts can be resistant to colonial narratives.

Do you think art is enabling you to accomplish your goal of reconnecting with your heritage?

The art that I'm making is attempting to grapple with that specific struggle. Whether or not the art I’m making is successful and ultimately moving me forward, I'm not actually sure. I think what it does try to do is identify and express that it is actually a struggle; that connecting with community and connecting with family is actually a really difficult thing to do for Indigenous peoples in my position, or it can be, because those connections have been impacted by a history of colonial violence in very particular ways, ways which have really disintegrated my familial connections. And I think addressing that, to talk to you on how colonialism has impacted me as an Indigenous person, and how it has impacted my relationship with my community are all really important things that don't get talked about often enough. So I really hope that what I'm writing speaks to that experience somehow. As I continue to try and repair some of these relationships, and also try and move back towards community, my writing will represent that transition as well.

This theme of reconnection and rediscovery of traditions seems almost like an undercurrent in aboriginal art, surging back towards a place of healing. This seems like something that represents the power of art. What else could stand a chance to tackle such a feat?

Totally.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

productive for me, or anyone going through something similar.

Do you feel like your experience of trying to reconnect to your heritage is a common one for Indigenous youth?

I think it's a common experience. I know people who've had that similar experience. But I also know many people who have strong connections to their communities. When I think of indigenous writing, whether it be poetry or fiction or nonfiction, there are a lot of Indigenous writers who have very close connections to their community and their language,

I was playing this point-and-click adventure game that was really narrative heavy and I had an elementary school creative writing assignment. The game was full of dialogue, so I remember just copying dialogue from the game, word for word, and writing the scenes around that dialogue. In retrospect, it really suits my preference for the creative constraints of using found text, but at the time I was so excited because I was thinking “Oh man, I can totally steal all of this dialogue and nobody will ever play this game.” I'm sure that still nobody's played that game.

You're one of the contemporary Aboriginal artists that is really pushing the boundaries with

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

STUDY BREAK v CROSSWORD ACROSS

DOWN

1: Country that houses Pretoria, Cape Town, and Johannesburg

2: The inland regions of Australia 3: Common shorthand for the home city of UFV’s main campus

5: Internationally famous segment of Indian film industry

4: Popular orange cheese

6: Family members or relations

7: Pecan food type

8: Average in a game of golf

8: Precedes answer to 7 down to form a popular snacking legume

9: The action required to dismantle a knot

10: Small branch

11: Beheaded historical figure, Mary, Queen of _ _ _ _s

11: Sticky tree juice 13: Tolkien’s treefolk race

12: Common teenaged skin condition 14: Main character in a piece of fiction

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS: Across: 1: Bingo 4: Savvy 7: Vet 8: Hold the line 11: Rome 12: Mess 13: Sideburns 15: Butterfly

Down: 1: Butcher 2: Novel 3: Overt 4: Style 5: Verdi 6: Yankees 9: Dread 10: Lemur 13: SUB 14: Sly

Made by Jeff Mijo

v HOROSCOPES

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Astrological mysteries interpreted by Master Moji

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 Just over a month of classes left already?

I think that snow warped the space-time continuum, because there’s no way this semester is as many weeks as last fall was.

Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 I read once, I think in some kind of textbook or something, that flying is really easy. All you’ve gotta do is throw yourself at the ground and miss.

Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 It’s a good week for cheese.

Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 Okay, it’s March. Probably time to find a place for that stuff you got at Christmas.

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 Time to do a deep dive into those old hard drives / folders / computers you have from your misspent youth. Who knows what kind of gold might be hiding on there!

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 You should write a letter to the editor about something you read this issue! C’mon, it’ll be fun. You can see your name in print, get your thoughts out, tell these writers what’s what.

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 You know that feeling you get when someone walks up to you and you think you recognize them, but aren’t 100 per cent sure?

That’s how someone is going to feel about you this week, so take advantage of the opportunity and introduce yourself with a cool new name.

Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 The guy who writes fortune cookies at one of the biggest manufacturers just retired after 30 years. I wonder if I have a shot at his job? That’s like horoscopes, but without all the need for hard, complicated science.

Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 You use memes to mask your insecurities.

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 If a time-traveller appears in your life this week, please steal their time machine, go back in time to when I started this job, and give it to me. My horoscopes are pretty dang good, but can you imagine how accurate I could be with one of those?

Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 If you feel a twinge of guilt next time you close the fridge, that’s probably just your brain subconsciously acknowledging that each time you do, you’re plunging the tiny fridge gnomes into another era of darkness, given their ten minute long lifespans. But those that saw the light will tell their children and grandchildren of that “day,” and those descendants will wait and hope against hope that just maybe they too will see that blinding glow before the omnipresent darkness consumes them.

Don’t just leave it open, though, that wastes electricity.

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 Try to avoid spending any time this week contemplating how absolutely terrifying ovens are. Don’t think for even a second how scary it is to have a machine in your house that can produce scalding, flesh melting heat at the press of a button, and holds that heat in with just some metal and tempered glass. Just ignore the deathmachine-like qualities, and you’ll have a great week!

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

CULTURE

UFV faculty presents bite-sized information Photo: Alexandrah Pahl

JEFF MIJO

CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR

UFV’s Road Runner Café played host to a wide assortment of the university’s faculty as they shared two-minute talks on their recent research with a curious crowd. Called “microlectures,” the event aims to “provide ‘snapshots’ of the range and depth of our faculty research, as well as highlight the interdisciplinary nature of our work.”

This year’s event, which took place on February 21, was followed by a publication celebration, giving attendees a chance to engage with the speakers by reading their recent publications or discussing their topics.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

CULTURE

Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates:

Every day is a new adventure!

JENNIFER TRITHARDT-TUFTS CONTRIBUTOR / PHOTO

Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates is a weekly column showcasing the life of a UFV student studying abroad. Jennifer is in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts this semester, and documenting the process as she goes.

This week has been a very full week! I started classes, attended the traditional Swiss carnival called Fasnacht, and road tripped to Geneva and a little town in France.

First of all, I am pretty excited about all four classes I am taking. They are more focused on the social and political sides of business, which I feel I haven’t had an opportunity to study at UFV. The program also has a much more internationally-focused aspect, which is very eye-opening.

There are some similarities between the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and UFV, like smaller class sizes and a focus on in-class participation as well as group work. However, there are a few aspects that are completely different, and I am not sure yet if I will enjoy the differences or find them frustrating.

One thing is the time structure of the longer classes. My Monday class is six hours but has a one hour lunch break and two to three 15-minute breaks. My Monday and Friday classes also have multiple instructors. At this point I have spent around 28 francs ($36 CAD) on books; most instructors here make handout versions of their PowerPoints and readings for the next week, which is a lot of paper but very, very handy. My campus is also

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easy to get to, as it is right at the Lucerne train station, which is like the Seven Oaks bus loop times 100.

Another thing that is different at this university is that the students and faculty almost always close the doors after they enter the classroom. I am used to the UFV standard of if it’s closed you wait until it opens. Needless to say, I kind of panicked when I did not see anyone come out or go into the room five minutes before the class was supposed to start. Then I watched some local students just walk right in and there were all my friends sitting down in the class.

There is a very exciting five-day annual carnival in Lucerne called Fasnacht, which happened this week in the old part of downtown Lucerne. People were dressed to the nines in all types of costumes and the libations were definitely flowing throughout the whole place. It is acceptable to drink outside almost anywhere here.

I woke up at 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, got dressed in my hippy costume, and met my fellow hippy exchange student friends at the train station to take the 4:15 a.m. train into downtown Lucerne. The train was packed full of people in every costume you could imagine. There was a big bang to kick off the carnival which was just one elaborate firework shot off a large yacht. Afterwards the crowd marched into the centre of the old town beside marching bands that came from every side possible to battle and try to outdo each other. It was the strangest and most amazing experience. The bands played everything from Sweet Caroline to Green Day to traditional Swiss music — it was awesome. In the main square of the old town there were people dressed in traditional costumes tossing oranges and cookies into the crowd while cannons full of

confetti went off. I am still finding confetti in my shoes, bedding, and on my floor. Anyone on my Snapchat knows all about it.

I also made my first venture out of Lucerne with a few other exchange students this weekend. We went to Geneva and saw the famous Jet d’Eau fountain, the World Trade Organization building, and the United Nations buildings. We even saw a small protest across from the UN under the Broken Chair monument.

Once we found the car again we decided to head to France for what we hoped would be a cheaper meal than in Switzerland.

The other Canadian in the car and I got out our passports and expected to be stopped and asked where we were headed, how long we would be gone for, and why we were going. We were expecting an experience more similar to entering the U.S. but there was nothing. No one stopped us, and we just drove right into France past a mirrored somber building. Just like that we were in another country!

I was so excited to be in a country where I could read and understand the signs and the people talking on the street. After much debate the five of us decided to go for Indian food. We went all the way to France for Indian food, but what can I say? I have been thinking about butter chicken since I left home. The meal was great and the boys were happy so we all piled into the car and headed back on our three-hour trek home. I live three hours from France, weird!

It has been an exciting week starting to adjust to what is now normal in my life for at least the next few months. It’s so crazy, I am often overwhelmed by all the exciting things to see around me.

You should do this too!

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

CULTURE

Just how thirsty is UFV? JEFF MIJO CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR

As someone who makes a point of staying hydrated, I’ve become very familiar with UFV’s water bottle filling stations. But it wasn’t until recently that I stopped to pay attention to what the little digital display above each one said. I’d read it before, but I’d never really registered the numbers listed in between the words “helped eliminate waste from” and “disposable plastic bottles.” But recently, I stopped to really consider that five digit number, and just how much water that was, and for just a single fountain. So I decided to do a bit of research to find out just how much UFV is drinking.

To be completely transparent, none of this is remotely scientific. In preparation for this article, I took a walk around campus on January 30, a Monday, at around 4:00 p.m. I noted down the total water bottle savings of five different stations, some in very high traffic areas, and others more out of the way. Then I repeated the route at the same time on February 20, another Monday. Note that this seems like a long period of time, but that includes both mid-term break and the week of snow-related closures before it. All in all, that works out to about seven weekdays with classes, though some individual classes were cancelled during the snow, and there were 10 days where UFV was open but had no classes. Like I said, this isn’t scientific.

The first station I checked was also probably one of the newer ones, which I guessed would make its total lower, but I assumed it would be gaining ground fast. That was the one in the Student Union Building, right around the corner from Fair Grounds.

It went from 13,035 to 13,403 over the study period, an increase of 368 bottles of water. Not bad, I thought, but as the study continued I found that it was actually the smallest increase.

The second smallest increase indicated that perhaps being next to a coffee shop was bad for “business.”

The station outside the Academic Success Centre,

just down the hall from Tim Hortons, had an increase of 443, though its total ended at just past 55,000 — the most out of any station I checked.

The station I expected to have the smallest increase proved surprisingly popular. It was the most outof-the-way one I could find, on the third floor of D building, away from the busiest classrooms and walkways. It still had served 15,230 bottles, and 527 over the course of those three weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the gym seems to have created a mighty thirst in a lot of its users. With 45,350 served, it dispensed 764 bottles worth of water during my study. Glad to see that our athletes are staying hydrated!

The most popular dispenser over the course of my three weeks of surveillance, however, came as no surprise. In the entrance to A building, just inside from the bus stop and near stairs and elevators leading to numerous classrooms, one humble water dispenser helped quench thirst by filling 764 bottles, giving it a grand total of 41,348.

Speaking anecdotally, I don’t see the dispensers in use too often, so I was glad to see that other members of the UFV community make use of them as much as I do. That’s 2,819 bottles filled over just seven school days, and that’s only tracking a fraction of the stations. In total, UFV has 17 of these stations — 14 at the Abbotsford campus, and three in Chilliwack. If the average from the five stations in my study, 563.8, applies across all 17, that means UFV filled roughly 9,585 bottles of water during that three-week period, not counting any that came out of other taps throughout the buildings.

I spoke to UFV sustainability assistant coordinate Travis Gingerich about my findings, and to get his take on the stations.

“I think the bottle stations have helped us meet our sustainability goals in a number of ways,” he said.

“Obviously, we’re lessening our environmental impact by reducing the number of plastic water bottles being used on campus, plus we’re encouraging personal health and sustainability by making drinking

Photo: Alexandrah Pahl

water more accessible to all campus users. I use a bottle fill station at least once a day!”

Gingerich also expressed interest in putting together a more formal system to track the stations going forward with the help of

student volunteers. Anyone interested in monitoring a station’s count on a weekly basis can reach out to him for more information at Travis.Gingerich@ufv.ca.

Stay hydrated, UFV!

UFV rallies against bullying for Pink Shirt Day JEFF MIJO NEWS EDITOR

UFV marked Pink Shirt Day on February 22 with an advocacy fair, featuring a variety of speakers encouraging students to “rise up” against bullying and “to disrupt entrenched thinking and to inspire curiosity and dialogue.”

For those with lacking wardrobes, pink t-shirts with #RiseUpUFV were available for a minimum $5 donation, with all funds going towards the student emergency fund.

13

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

ARTS IN REVIEW

SOUNDBITES

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Alison Krauss

Flying Microtonal Banana

Windy City

Music from a simpler time. It’s that homey bluegrass that reminds me why my hard workin’ man works long nights at the mill. It’s tough to make ends meet, especially when the ol’ union is on strike, but we get by, if not only for our love.

Windy City is an album of classic country and bluegrass covers. Krauss’ angelic voice resonates the nostalgia of the classics beautifully.

Most of the covers I know from mother’s old record collection. Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Cindy Walker, to name a few.

On her fifth solo studio album, Krauss is accompanied by twang and good family values. “It’s Goodbye And So Long to You” even

Mini album reviews

features a lil’ fun guitar solo — it sure gets me excited.

An album this pure I might even consider playing on Sunday.

But it isn’t only rerecorded honky hits.

Krauss does mitigate some of the country through an easy-listening filter. With that said, don’t be fooled by the album’s easier side (“Losing You”), “Poison Love” and “It’s Goodbye and So Long to You” will give your saddle a shake.

She can sure sing right to my heart. I’ll be dreamin’ of you Krauss, every time I get-afeelin’ blue. I hope you do dream of me, too.

After last year’s Nonagon Infinity, I was curious to see just what else King Gizz had up their sleeve, and Flying Microtonal Banana, an album that uses instruments tuned in microtonal intervals, is surprisingly much more entertaining than its at-first-listen-homogenized structure implies.

Jam bands, take note: “Nuclear Fusion,” despite its limited tonal range, is a groovier, funkier offering than most other vanguard experimental acts have been able to cough up in the past couple of years. And while it pales in comparison to King Gizzard’s previous record, FMB gives us a more complex blend of guitars and drums at each turn. “Anoxia,” for

example, weaves melodies in and around us throughout.

The record’s only detractor would be its homogeneity. To a certain extent, once you’ve heard one of these tracks, you’ve heard them all.

Joel Robertson-Taylor

Martin Castro

Thursday,

MARCH 9th

11AM - 3PM Abbotsford Campus

STUDENT UNION BUILDING

Ryan Adams Prisoner

Ryan Adams’ newest album Prisoner starts out with a question: “Do You Still Love Me?” The opening track is a slow yet driving start that promises good things to come, and everything from the haunting synth to Adams’ surprisingly tense voice makes us think this won’t be like any other album he’s released.

But it is, and rather than delivering something fresh, the album doesn’t really go anywhere from there.

The rest of Prisoner is typical Adams — folky rock tunes with relatable lyrics and catchy melodies, and every song from the second track on is exactly this. This isn’t really a bad thing, it’s what you want from Adams

and what you expect from him, but after the buildup of the album’s opener, it feels like a letdown, not because it isn’t any good but because it brings you down when you were expecting to just keep climbing.

Although you’ll probably still love Adams after Prisoner, he would be better off leaving the tough questions until the end when we’re ready to answer them.

ufv.ca/jobs

career.centre@ufv.ca

The Cascade is hiring a Jr. News Editor!

In conjunction with the News Editor, the Jr. News Editor will find, assign, collect, and edit the content of the news section in The Cascade. The Jr. News Editor will help ensure that issues relevant to students are presented accurately and informatively.

To apply email a resume, cover letter, and writing sample to joel@ufvcascade.ca. Deadline for applications is March 9.

Vanessa Broadbent

14

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

ARTS IN REVIEW v ALBUM REVIEW

CHARTS

1

Kristin Witko Union

2

The Wild Reeds The World We Built

3

Obsidian Into Oblivion

4

Striker Striker

5

Terrifier Weapons of Thrash Destruction

SHUFFLE MEGAN HAMEL APPLIED BUSINESS PRACTICUM STUDENT

CIVL’s applied business practicum student Megan Hamel provides this week’s shuffle, focused on the king of “The 6.”

Drake Over

8

He begins talking about self improvement and how he’s lost himself but regains sight of James ‘Buddy’ Rogers what is important to him. He

By My Side was 23 when his first major album dropped and he gets reMichael Kaeshammer ferred to as a legend. Even if No Filter people don’t understand him, he teaches them through his Mitchell Ko music.

This is Hell

9

Tropic Harbour Glowing Eyes

6 7

10

Communism Communism

11

Jens Lekman Life Will See You Now

12

Royal Canoe Something Got Lost Between Here And The Orbit

13

Merkules Scars

14

Saint Soldier A Stray (single)

15

Snak The Ripper From The Dirt

16

Harpdog Brown Travelin’ With The Blues

17

Hoops Routines

18

Tennis Yours Conditionally

19

Ghost Thoughts Purple Period

20

Weed Born Wrong Love

Whitney’s debut brings life back to country-tinged folk

Drake Fake Love This song is about ‘Drizzy’ fighting his depression. He says people are still looking up to him even though he’s at his lowest emotionally. This is an important song for today’s youth fighting many mental health issues and the problem of “fake love” in the sense that people want you for what you can offer them.

Drake Keep the Family Close From Drake’s most recent complete album, this number is a song about family, loyalty, and where you will stand when it comes down to it. From most of Drake’s lyrics you can tell that he’s had his heart broken a few times and this track, especially, is rumoured to be about Nicki Minaj.

Drake Know Yourself The title entails what the entire song is going to be about: being in touch with yourself before judging others. He talks about the rappers who make up their past while Drake says that his wealth speaks for itself and he hasn’t and won’t change for anyone. This speaks to great lengths about his character and through all the fame his wholesome spirit hasn’t been tainted.

MARTIN CASTRO ARTS EDITOR

Whitney’s Light Upon the Lake is one of the strongest debuts I’ve heard in a while. And somehow, it gets away with doing something most albums wouldn’t be able to mitigate: opening with its best track.

“No Woman” ran the risk of turning into one of those songs that reflects a trend within a genre so completely that they turn into jokes. But it didn’t.

Lead singer Julien Ehrlich’s falsetto, half-folk, half-shoegaze vocals are immediately the central point of attention, but where the track really nails it is in the fact that it doesn’t coast on Ehrlich’s vocals. Instrumentally, influences that range from R&B (the Ben E. King “Stand By Me” flavoured bassline) to folk, and more contemporary styles.

Songs like “Light Upon the Lake,” all harmonies and intricately picked, vaguely muted guitars contribute to the odd half-shoegaze, half-folk composition of the record. More than that, the record’s success can be explicitly attributed to the band’s practice of setting up, within each song, two or three tightly-constructed hooks, and driving them home with just enough time in between to avoid falling into repetitive ruts. “No Matter Where We Go” for example, is pure classic rock, but

much, much softer. Like The Stampeders’ “Sweet City Woman” but without any of the kitsch.

And then we get tracks like “Red Moon” which let the trumpet take centre stage. And as short as the track is, it comes off as a funky, danceable little jam that’s as distinct as it is a part of the record.

Whitney’s debut manages to be diverse enough to warrant multiple listens, and at the same time so sure of itself and its sound that it comes across as a “best of ” collection. Moreover, the record manages to largely embrace emotionality without turning to clichés.

Almost.

There’s one cliché. Well, really it’s one song that is also one long cliché.

“Golden Days” is every vaguely miserable, happy-go-lucky, looking-backover-my-shoulder ballad ever. But it’s also so damn good.

This is largely due to Ehrlich’s falsetto which is both groovy and earnest.

Also, structurally the track has one of the catchiest verse melodies ever, which the band takes advantage of by repeating verses before launching into a lush yet low key, spongy guitar solo. Trumpets join in halfway and are eventually joined by the kind of “nah-nah” phrase that gets so much criticism nowadays for being unimaginative.

It all comes together to make one

gorgeously uplifting track.

“Dave’s Song,” the track that follows, is unapologetically country in instrumentation, but delivered with an R&B sensibility.

I mentioned “Light Upon the Lake” coming off as partly shoegaze. This is also legitimate for the rest of the record, but inversely.

It’s happy shoegaze. “On My Own” for example, if it were cut down to half its tempo and delivered with much more monotone vocals, would be entirely shoegaze. Right there next to any number of third-generation Joy Division copycats. Its uplifting mood carries the track on without a fault, however.

If you only listen to one track on this album, though, make it “Polly.”

It’s simple, earnest, and yet one of the most successful instances of a track that’s instrumentally playful and lyrically earnest the entire way through, without getting boring. And boasts one of the least out-of-place trumpet solos ever featured in a contemporary non-jazz album.

The best sales pitch for Light Upon the Lake, however, is its first three tracks. But I don’t have to sell you this album, it does that well enough itself.

All I have to do is tell you to listen to “No Woman.”

Listen to “No Woman.”

15

UPCOMING EVENTS

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

MAR

1

VIRTUAL TOUR OF HEBRON

@ B121 (UFV Abbotsford) 5:00 PM

MAR

8

CAREER AND LIFE PLANNING EVENT @ A1202 (UFV Chilliwack) 4:30 – 7:00 PM

OCCUPATION OF THE AMERICAN MIND (DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AND DISCUSSION)

MARCH MAR

13

2

MESA LATINA (SPANISH LANGUAGE GROUP)

@ A305 (UFV Abbotsford) 1:00 – 2:00 PM GAMES NIGHT

@ Global Lounge — B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:30 – 6:30 PM

MAR

9

@ Abbotsford Arts Centre 7:00 PM

@ SUB (UFV Abbotsford) 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

MESA LATINA (SPANISH LANGUAGE GROUP)

@ Global Lounge — B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:30 – 6:30 PM

@ Abbotsford Centre 8:00 PM

UFV THEATRE: BAKKHAI

@ UFV Performance Theatre 7:30 – 9:30 PM

3 4

@ Abbotsford Arts Centre 7:00 PM

MAR

10

@ C1427 (UFV Abbotsford) 12:30 – 2:00 PM

UFV THEATRE: BAKKHAI

@ Mission Campus 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

FRIENDS WITHOUT BORDERS

MAR

(DIS)ENFRANCHISEMENT 1907 – 1947: THE FORTY YEAR STRUGGLE FOR THE VOTE EXHIBIT TOUR

14

@ Global Lounge – B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:00 – 6:00 PM

15

@ Sikh Heritage Museum 10:30 AM

@ Rivers Dining Room (UFV Chilliwack) 6:00 – 8:30 PM

MAR

16

@ UFV Performance Theatre 7:30 – 9:30 PM

MESA LATINA (SPANISH LANGUAGE GROUP)

@ A305 (UFV Abbotsford) 1:00 – 2:00 PM GAMES NIGHT

@ Global Lounge — B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:30 – 6:30 PM

HELLO, DOLLY! (MUSICAL)

@ Abbotsford Arts Centre 2:00 PM @ Kariton Art Gallery (Abbotsford) 2:30 – 4:30

MAR

11

THE SKY’S NO LIMIT — GIRLS FLY TOO! @ Abbotsford International Airport 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM

HOW TO WRITE SONGS — NO INSTRUMENTS REQUIRED

ONE MAN DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY, A BATMAN PARODY

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 7:30 PM

@ Kariton Art Gallery (Abbotsford) 2:30 – 4:30 PM

UFV THEATRE: BAKKHAI

7

MAR

LECTURE: SHOULD WE ABANDON CLASSICAL ECONOMICS

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 7:30 PM

MISSION WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL

RECORDING MUSIC FEARLESSLY

MAR

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 7:30 PM

GET A FRESH TASTE OF SPRING HELLO, DOLLY! (MUSICAL)

LION BEAR FOX

MAR

RING OF FIRE

GAMES NIGHT

TOM COCHRANE

MAR

PRESIDENT’S LECTURE SERIES: LINDA FRIMER

UFV HIRING NOW! FAIR

@ A305 (UFV Abbotsford) 1:00 – 2:00 PM

HELLO, DOLLY! (MUSICAL)

@ UFV Abbotsford 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

@ B101 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:30 – 5:30 PM

@ B121 (UFV Abbotsford) 5:00 - 7:00 PM

MAR

SPRING BREAK CAMPS AT UFV (AGES 5 – 12)

@ UFV Performance Theatre 7:30 – 9:30 PM

FRIENDS WITHOUT BORDERS

@ Global Lounge – B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:00 – 6:00 PM

MAR

12

MAR

17 MAR

22

ST. PATTY’S DAY AT THE CLUBHOUSE

@ Abbotsford Rugby Football Club 9:00 PM

TRAVEL AND PHOTOGRAPHY: A MONTH IN PROVENCE

@ The Reach 10:30 AM

MAR. 12 THE SKY’S NO LIMIT — GIRLS FLY TOO! @ Abbotsford International Airport 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM

UFV THEATRE: BAKKHAI

@ UFV Performance Theatre 2:00 – 4:00 PM

HOSTING ANY EVENTS YOURSELF? WANT TO SEE THEM POSTED HERE? Send the date, time, location, and any relevant info for the event to: jeff@ufvcascade.ca