Luring students into the office with candy since 1993

BRADLEY DUNCAN

It’s May again. The trees have displayed their cherry blossoms, and are now unloading them onto the unsuspecting cars parked beneath their branches. Birds, too, are nesting in those trees, and they’ve also been unloading onto my car as of late. There’s a lift in my spirits as I walk through the campus grounds, richly greened from the April showers. The smell of the spring buds, and B.C. Bud, mingle in the air. It’s a full five minutes before I think about how brown the lawns will look in a matter of weeks because we’re converting the planet into an Easy-Bake Oven.

Staff

CONTRIBUTORS

Sharon Strauss

Caleb Campbell

Sydney Marchand

Gabe Martyn

@UFVCASCADE

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Volume 31 · Issue 7 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

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 other Wednesday with a print circulation of 800 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

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. Pitch meetings will be digital for the remainder of the semester. Please email managing@ufvcascade.ca to be put on the assignment email list.

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 200 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.

The Cascade is published on the traditional, unceded territory of the Stó:lō peoples. We are grateful to be able to work and learn on this beautiful land.

Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal — and if your NHL team didn’t make the playoffs — potentially to rebuild as well. University is naturally a transitory experience, with our fleeting time as students (and the irregularity of our Tim Hortons’ hours of operation) seemingly the only constant. As students graduate, like baby birds leaving the nest only to soil my windshield as they venture into the world, the impermanence of collegiate life will be leaving our Cascade family diminished. Talented, dedicated members of the team are finishing up their time at UFV, and therefore at the paper, and since my initial wish that they’d tank just enough courses to not graduate didn’t pan out… I’ll instead wish them well. In the spirit of crisitunity, I’m choosing to see this as a period of spring renewal. The change in seasons is a time of transformation, and that is what UFV’s student press will do in the coming months. It’s not just the broken and disheveled office furniture that’s getting tossed out, but outdated production models as well. While The Cascade has no plans to do away with its physical form, we understand that many readers consume their news online, and one of the benefits of digital publication is timeliness. Many articles will now publish online ahead of print, fostering a more dynamic and responsive space for news. We also want to tackle more thoughtful, investigative journalism. The Cascade has space enough for levity and difficult questions, but we have to make room for it, and we need the staff to report it. In that spirit, we’re looking to expand our ranks of Staff Writers. We’ll also be converting some of our lengthier articles into an audio format so that students can listen to some of our longer pieces, where much of our investigative journalism resides. We’ve also just heard about something called ”podcasting” (I assume that’s Latin), and while I’m not sure this new media space will take off, we think it’s a great opportunity to have deeper discussions about current events.

The Cascade is changing. Next spring, it may change again. As an entity it should be like the deciduous trees that dapple UFV’s campus: ever-renewing, spirit-lifting, and deeply rooted. It should also serve as a home — however temporary — to those who chose to nest here while they grow, and learn to spread their wings.