The Cascade Vol. 23 No. 17

Vol. 23 Issue 17

June 17, 2015 to June 30, 2015

Irresponsibly and disrespectfully conforming since 1993

Hats off

to our graduates SENATE REVIEWS WRITING CENTRE REPORT

p. 10 - 11

“There are significant concerns about the Academic Success Centre’s implementation and feasibility”

p. 6

MISS SOMEWHERE IS GOING PLACES Award-winning UFV alumna Cait Archer couldn’t find a short play with strong roles for women — so she wrote one

p. 12

JURASSIC WORLD JUMPS THE MOSASAURUS Bigger, louder, and more teeth, but story lacks bite

p. 16 ufvcascade.ca

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NEWS

5

Opinion

7

Culture

13

Arts in Review

14

Splatoon makes a splash

Sports & Health

19

UFV golf goes international

Briefs

FVX bus gains ridership

www.ufvcascade.ca

New program for UFV advising takes course-planning online

News

News

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

UFV purchased a new program that allows students to create “what if” scenarios when choosing their degrees.

Hermits, rejoice!

Martin Castro explains why staying inside all summer isn’t such a bad idea.

Like a whodunit, but with art instead of murder Valerie Franklin checks out the Abbotsford Arts Council’s second-annual Anonymous Art Show, where all the paintings are sold for the same price and the artists’ names remain a secret — until you buy them.

Territorially splattering paint hasn’t been this much fun since you were a teenage delinquent. Alex Rake reviews the new game.

Katie Stobbart talks to UFV golf star Aaron Pauls about his upcoming trip to South Korea.

ABBOTSFORD — The Fraser Valley Express (FVX) bus connecting Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and Langley has approximately 200 riders per average weekday. The BC Transit bus started up in April of this year, and says ridership is growing for commuters.

— The Abbotsford News

Yelling over bulldozers: the City, UFV, and the people on the ground

BC seeks public input for distracted driving penalties

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ABBOTSFORD — From June 16 to July 16, the provincial government is seeking public input on distracted driving penalties. According to Attorney General Susan Anton, police in BC issued over 50,000 tickets in 2014, and she says that the problem of distracted driving isn’t going away. The Province is asking BC residents if the $167 fine for driving while using cell phones is enough, and if raising the fine would contribute to fewer distracted drivers.

— CBC

Next SUS Board meeting to have U-District presentation ABBOTSFORD (UFV) — The Student Union Society (SUS) board meeting will be held on June 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the new Student Union Building (SUB). The agenda is yet to be posted, but ex-officio Ryan Petersen will give a presentation regarding U-District planning, and executives will talk more about Weeks of Welcome planning and goals for the upcoming year. The Cascade will continue to cover this story in the coming weeks.

UFV statue found abandoned and forlorn behind liquor store

Image: Katie Stobbart

ABBOTSFORD — This stone fellow, whose pose is reminiscent of Rodin’s “The Thinker,” used to wear a real backpack and sit outside C Building on the Abbotsford campus. However, he was recently spotted amid the unkempt grass in the back of a parking lot on Montvue Avenue in Downtown Abbotsford. How the statue got there is a mystery. If you have the story, we’d love to hear it! Tweet @CascadeNews or email news@ufvcascade.ca.

Have a news tip?

Let us know! news@ufvcascade.ca @CascadeNews

KODIE CHERRILLE

It’s hard to ignore the irony of Abbotsford’s recent public forum concerning the commercial development of land that was tentatively slated for U-District planning.

The May 25 forum was advertised as a public consultation on whether or not a shopping centre featuring a Cabela’s outdoor supply store should be built on a property on McCallum Road.

Those in favour of the centre argued that it would raise property value, and attract shoppers from outside Abbotsford.

But others claim the commercial development would just be another project that threatens to alienate young Abbotsfordians — and would also complicate the City’s and UFV’s plans for a U-District.

The irony was that by the time the forum was held, bulldozers had been on the property for weeks, preparing the land for a massive 639-space parking lot.

The bulldozers may as well have said, “This is happening, no matter what you say here.”

Then, on June 15, Abbotsford City Council officially, unanimously decided to approve the development.

If Council’s decision was made Volume 23 · Issue 17 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-Chief kodie@ufvcascade.ca Kodie Cherrille Managing Editor valerie@ufvcascade.ca Valerie Franklin Business Manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson Production and Design Editor anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy Editor katie@ufvcascade.ca Katie Stobbart

unanimously despite the concerns brought by a large number of concerned citizens and students, then how effective is public forum as a way to influence City decisions?

It’s a question that can be asked in relation to UFV, as well, which has had its own share of what looks like the paving over of public opposition.

Last Friday, June 19, UFV’s Board of Governors discussed in-camera two recommendations from the Academic Planning and Priorities Committee (APPC)’s report on the Academic Success Centre (ASC), which is replacing the Writing Centre in the fall.

One of the recommendations made by the APPC is that “Senate and Board develop mechanisms and criteria to determine jurisdiction of, and processes for, review of academic support services and units.” This recommendation is intended to prevent a decision — like closing the Writing Centre — from happening again without due process.

UFV held fast to its decision to close the Writing Centre despite a protest, a petition that collected over 800 signatures, and an injunction request (which was dropped before going to court).

Regardless of all the noise, the construction crew remained

hard at work.

Even in APPC meetings, there were questions of whether discussions about the Writing Centre changed anything. In the May 13 APPC meeting, geography professor Michelle Rhodes expressed how the committee’s findings were unable, at that point, to affect any decision in the Writing Centre’s replacement.

“We are stuck in a position right now where the old Writing Centre has been disbanded, and the ASC, they’ve already started hiring tutors,” she said. “The process of review has unfortunately not been connected to the process of actual change on the ground.”

If the APPC’s recommendation is accepted by the Board of Governors, it will hopefully mean that decisions that affect student services will need to be subject to more scrutiny than what we’ve seen with the Writing Centre.

But even this provision seems to neglect public forum as a place where meaningful consultation can happen. Instead of public discussion, the Board of Governors is given a certain set of rules to follow. And regardless of any good intentions of the Board or the APPC, and no matter how well-written a set of rules might be, the people on the ground will

still be alienated if they feel that their concerns aren’t taken into consideration.

And the fact that the Board made their decision to accept, accept with changes, or reject the APPC’s recommendations in-camera only maintains a distance between administration and students. That’s what makes the exercise of public consultation feel useless: the concerned public get their moment to speak, but the decision-making happens somewhere else, where those concerns are more easily pushed aside.

UFV student Dylan Thiessen was one of those speaking out against the commercial development of the McCallum property at the public hearing. The irony of the bulldozers’ presence at the forum was not lost on him.

“It makes this exercise almost feel useless, like this is just one more hurdle City Council has to jump over before it finally gets to build its development,” he said.

The APPC’s recommendation may add another hurdle to UFV’s decision-making, but looking at the university’s persistence to continue with the ACS despite all the outcry, it seems UFV can jump hurdles pretty well.

News Editor megan@ufvcascade.ca Megan Lambert

Webmaster (interim) michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular

Printed By International Web exPress

Opinion Editor alex@ufvcascade.ca Alex Rake Culture Editor nadine@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt Arts in Review Editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular Sports Editor vanessa@ufvcascade.ca Vanessa Broadbent Video Editor mitch@ufvcascade.ca Mitch Huttema

Production Assistant eugene@ufvcascade.ca Eugene Kulaga Advertising Representative jennifer@ufvcascade.ca Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts Contributors Martin Castro, Remington Fioraso, Jeffrey Trainor, and Maxwell Scott.

Illustrations and Comics Dessa Bayrock, Danielle Collins, and Kenichi Kajiyama.

Cover: Anthony Biondi

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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Welding students left holding their breath UFV conducts air quality test after new ventilation system leaves residue MEGAN LAMBERT THE CASCADE

Three weeks ago, 11 UFV welding students filed through Student Union Society (SUS) doors to make a semi-formal complaint to president Thomas Davies about the new ventilation system at the Trades and Technology Centre (TTC) in Chilliwack.

“I’ve got significant concerns from students in various welding programs regarding facility issues for the ventilation air flow system,” he said at the last SUS board meeting.

“At this point, I’ve been touch with facilities and the dean of Applied and Technical studies.” Davies then went on to say that he had only just received the complaint the previous day.

The problem started at the beginning of the winter semester when the university decided to upgrade the welding booths. Before the construction, each booth had an open roof with a snorkel to pick up debris, and there was a larger fan in the welding shop.

When the air quality was tested before, associate welding professor Pat McGurk says the results

turned out well — save for higher traces of one metal.

“We have old samples ... which showed higher levels of chrome — above the exposure limit, I believe. All other levels were lower than the eight-hour exposure limit. That meant we could weld in the booths without respirators,” he says.

“But because they’ve changed the conditions and put a hood on, we have to [take] a new test.”

During the semester, the university installed hoods on the booths with small fans at the top.

These fans are controlled by a sensor that adjusts the speed of the fan according to how much work the welder is doing, then turns off as soon as the welder leaves. The fan at the top of the hood is meant to pick up any fumes that the snorkel would not.

The university remodelled 10 booths out of 40 in the shop at once. There are over 40 students in both morning and afternoon welding classes, so in the meantime the welding faculty set up temporary booths elsewhere in the shop.

McGurk says the hoods were supposed to be more efficient,

saving energy with the varying speeds. However, the welding students started noticing a buildup of residue after the system was installed.

“What the students have been noticing is there is a lot more particulate showing up in the booth,” he says. McGurk added that the powder in the booths was not there before, and guesses that the particulate is confined to the booth instead of escaping into the room at large.

However, McGurk says nothing is set in stone until the air samples come back.

“We don’t know if there’s a problem yet,” he says.

According to McGurk, UFV has brought in a private company to take air samples that was to have the results by Monday, June 8.

Those test results are a week late at time of print.

For now, welding students are required to wear respirators to protect them from potentially harmful chemicals while they finish their projects. The Cascade will continue to cover this story in the following weeks.

Commercial shopping centre paves over public criticism MEGAN LAMBERT THE CASCADE

After listening to public opinion two weeks ago, the City of Abbotsford has decided to accept the proposal for a 130,000 square foot commercial shopping centre.

Despite opposition from UFV students and community members, Abbotsford City Council passed the motion last Monday to move forward with the new shopping centre. The outdoor sporting goods store Cabela’s will be the main focal point, with a large parking lot and other commercial spaces for other retailers.

The centre will be on the corner of the Trans-Canada Highway and McCallum Rd., within a 5-km radius of UFV. Because of the bylaw changing from 12 to 81 per cent commercial, some community members felt that the project would interfere with the livable character of the UDistrict and Official Community Plan (OCP). These initiatives promote public transportation, mixed-use business and resi-

dential properties, and a “livable” way of life. Some citizens felt that the new shopping centre didn’t fit in with a sustainable way of life.

“The public clearly articulated a different vision for Abbotsford with their input into the Abbotsforward OCP process. I don’t see how a development like this fits in to this input,” UFV alumni Derrick Swallow says in an electronic message after the meeting. He spoke at the last public hearing regarding the potential U-District planning.

Mayor Henry Braun spoke to this, admitting that the site does not exactly fit in with the OCP or the U-District.

“These plans need to address the concerns of the private sector as well, in order to create employment,” he says.

He then went on to say that the complex goes beyond needs within the city and would attract traffic from outside of Abbotsford.

On top of the noise and dust coming from the construction on the site, a complaint from citizens was that the construc-

tion was happening before the public hearing. Speakers from the hearing said this was a mark of City Council’s attitude toward public consultation. “[It] makes this entire exercise almost feel useless,” former Student Union Society vice-president Dylan Thiessen said at the public hearing.

However, Braun also addressed these concerns on Monday. He says the construction on the land was to remove pipes from the previous trailer park, layers of peat soil, and to raise the plot of land. He said that the developer obtained legal permits from the city, and that it did not show predetermined support from the city for the proposal.

“The citizens recently elected a new council, and through that process indicated their support for us to govern this city,” he says. The motion was passed unanimously, with other city council members offering their support.

The site’s completion date is fall 2016.

Image: Megan Lambert

Welding students now need to wear respirators to protect them from potentially harmful chemicals.

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Prof Talk

LibTech’s Jan Lashbrook Green on creativity and curiosity in the classroom MICHAEL SCOULAR 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.

Jan Lashbrook Green is a library technician professor at UFV. She has been a professor here for 14 years, and her teaching focus is on self-knowledge in learning. Green was recently awarded the UFV Teaching Excellence award at the 2015 convocation last week.

What brought you to UFV? I actually came as a student in — I think it was September ‘96. I was looking around for what to do with the rest of my life, and I knew that I wanted to work in libraries, although I never had before. I had a BEd from UBC. I graduated in ‘72. So, in my mid-40s I went, “I’m looking for something different and challenging.” And so I came to the library technician program as a student and found that it suited me so well in so many ways. I loved it.

So you’ve been in BC for a long time?

I was raised in BC. I was born in North Van and raised in West Van and lived in West Van and then in Victoria and then back to West Van and then eventually, my husband and three kids, we moved to Port Coquitlam. And it was there, when my kids were sort of scattering, I had some time for myself, and I was kind of going, “What am I going to do?” So I looked around and, there were actually two programs, because we have the program here, but there’s actually a library and information technology program at Langara College.

And I chose very consciously not to go to Langara for many reasons. And coming to UFV — well, it was UCFV at the time — it was one of the best things I ever did.

When you started teaching, what did you start with?

Well, it’s funny because I did the whole program as a student, and I was hired as a sessional here in the program in January of 2001, and I taught a course I hadn’t actually taken as a student. It was called Database Management or something like that.

One of our most technological courses, though all of courses have some measure of technology. This was all about creating and managing databases to solve specific problems. And so I leapt in and went for it.

In the meantime, after having done my technician program here, I had worked as a technician for a while, then I went back to UBC to do my master’s, because of course you can’t teach without it. So I had my BEd, as well as the library and information technology diploma, and then my master of library and information studies.

So it was a great combination.

What kind of changes have you noticed in what you’ve had to do as a teacher?

We’ve actually changed our approach to how we teach technologies, and we don’t focus so much on particular systems because they change so quickly. We now focus more on how you as a student — and therefore you as someone working on the job as a technician — interact with technology. It depends on how you learn to use it, because it may be one version now, but you don’t know if next week or next month or certainly next year it will have changed.

Technology changes so fast and is so much more complicated and nuanced now than when I first came into the program.

When I first came into the program as an instructor, we had students who didn’t know anything about computers and were very afraid of computers. Now you see people coming in with much more exposure to digital devices of any kind and so they are much less reticent to attempt something. So now it’s more about teaching them how to roll with the punches of the change and, because they’re working with people on the job all the time, teaching customers. It’s a lot of teaching, one-on-one, hands-on, and you might be teaching a five-year-old, you might be teaching a 95-year-old. You have to really like people and want to help them solve their problems. So that hasn’t changed!

But it’s the various types of technology — they’re much more personalized now.

Are there any other ways you’ve noticed students have changed?

The expectation is I’m not going to tell you, in a step-by-step process, how to do things. I tell my students, when I learn a new technology, I just fiddle around with it. And so instead of me saying, “Push your computer start button, turn your screen on,” which we used to have to do, it’s all about, “Look at the interface, what do you see there? What intrigues you? Pretend that you’re a customer and you want to do something. What does that button say?

That link, where is it going to take you?”

So it’s about being curious and that’s the term that I use — I’m sure my students are tired of hearing me say it — “You’ve got to be curious.” You’ve got to want to know how this happens, why this happens, how to manage whatever this tool is.

What kind of projects have you worked on at UFV? When I did my sabbatical a few years ago, I did a lot of research on self-assessment.

Is it a valid learning- or technique-assessment technique and how can it be incorporated in the learning experience? In order to think about where you fit on the job, because we’re an employment-based program, the idea is to prepare for employment, but there’s many different places you could find yourself. Well, if you don’t know yourself, you can’t establish or even think about your best fit. So I help my students do a lot of private reflection on what their educational preferences are, if

Image: Michael Scoular

Jan Lashbrook Green won the teaching excellence award at UFV’s 2015 convocation. they are interested in particular aspects of the job or what aren’t they interested in, what intimidates them, that kind of thing, so that they can get a sense of, “Okay, this is my strength; I really am an exploratory learner,” or “I am somebody who needs to read the manual from cover to cover.”

I think it’s a more nuanced program than it used to be — we ask a lot of our students, in many ways, but we really want them to understand themselves as a person, because we don’t want them going out on the job, getting a job, and finding out, “Oh, this was a terrible choice.” And it may be that that’s how you explore and they may be willing to say, “Okay, I’m going to take this job even though I know it’s not my best fit, but I’ll learn lots of things.” But you want them to have some self-knowledge, so that when they’re in an interview, you know how to actually deal with that.

Have there been any colleagues or students who have been particularly influential to what you do?

Absolutely. When I was here as a student,

there were two full-time instructors who were very supportive of me. One of them is Kim Isaac, who now is the university librarian, and the other was Tim Atkinson, who is actually now the university librarian at Vancouver Island University. Tim supported me as a student; he was an excellent teacher. He really opened my eyes to a lot of issues that I really hadn’t taken the time to think about. And then he really encouraged me to go and get my master’s.

He was just an excellent mentor to me, and he’s still a close personal friend.

And there was a history professor, Bonnie Huskins, who is now at the University of New Brunswick, who was supportive of me — the writing that I did, and she encouraged me to take part in conferences, so I’ve really benefited from her mentorship as well. And there have been students along the way who have, for whatever reason, helped me understand how to be a better teacher, how to address the needs of students, and you benefit from everybody, in one fashion or another. And my

—CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca —CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 colleague, Christina Neigel, she and I have worked very closely together, because there were only two full-time faculty in the department. We support each other, we learn from each other, we taught a lot of the same courses in rotation, those kinds of things, so a very collegial department.

And now we have Dr. Kenneth Gariepy as our new department head, and he’s been instrumental in helping Christine and I understand some of the nuances of being university-driven rather than universitycollege-driven.

Another mentor I should mention is Wendy Burton, and she’s just retired in the last couple of years as the director of teaching and learning. She was terrifically helpful in my development as an instructor. If I was looking to do something a different way, or I was struggling with something that didn’t seem to work the way I thought it would, I would head over to the Teaching and Learning Centre and just sit

and chat with her. She really encouraged me to try things that I was thinking about and she also encouraged me when she understood what my scholarly interest was.

What about the culture of UFV and its place with the broader geography of the Fraser Valley?

I think it’s always been the intent to be central to the Valley. And of course the Valley’s changed, but it’s still made up of communities that are centred around families and church and friendship and people wanting a job, not necessarily to leave the Valley — they want to stay in the Valley because they value what it has brought them and what they can contribute.

As I said to my students in one of my courses, it’s all really about how do you put food on your table? When I was a newly minted teacher out of UBC, I actually didn’t know where I was going to go.

I happened to be getting married at that point, which was very typical in the early ‘70s, and I was going where my husband’s

job was. Well, you always go where the job is. So if there aren’t jobs here, we have to have instilled enough confidence in our students so that when they graduate, they can look outside the Valley. But they take their values with them, and they promote the Valley. One of the reasons I came here rather than Langara as a student was just the beauty of the physical Valley, and I still appreciate that. Whenever I drive here, even when it’s raining, I still appreciate the beauty of the Valley.

Is there anything that I’ve missed with my questions about the teaching experience?

It is a huge challenge to teach. I didn’t understand the challenge of it until, of course, I was teaching. Every time I teach a course, I change it, because I see, or at least I hope I see, better ways to teach the concepts, more ways to involve students in both the teaching and the learning. We have to keep on top of things, but it’s hugely gratifying.

For me, I’ve been a teacher all my life.

It’s just been so important in my life, and that’s why UFV morphing into a teaching university was so important for me as a person, as a professional, as a teacher — that we value teaching. And that’s what we have to remember when we go forward. Students and graduates talk about the value of the teaching experience, the learning experience that they have here at UFV, and that’s our core value. That value of the teaching-learning exchange.

And I talk about it in my course syllabi, the teaching and learning process is inevitably linked. That my responsibility is the teaching, with the end goal of you learning, but we have to do it together. It’s always been exciting for me. You run into all kinds of things you never expect.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Academic Advising to have new course-planning program for fall MEGAN LAMBERT THE CASCADE

If you’ve ever paused to consider, halfway through your degree, what it would be like to take criminology instead of creative writing — UFV has a new system for you.

As general, arts, and science advice services move into the third floor of the SUB, UFV has purchased a new component called Ellucian DegreeWorks to accompany Ellucian Banner, the program that tracks your academic transcript. The cost of both DegreeWorks and Banner, including hardware and software costs as well as training for staff, totals $235,000.

The program allows the student to “try out” different degrees to see what program paths need and how the classes they’ve already taken fit in. DegreeWorks interprets the requirements in the academic calendar, such as the mandatory lab science in the bachelor of arts, and matches up the required courses with what the student has previously taken to see what’s left.

Deputy registrar Darren Francis says this is currently done manually, but that the new program will allow advisors to talk more with the student about what they are looking for.

“In my mind, a human advisor is to create a human connection,” he says. He adds that an advisor should focus on the student’s goals and aspirations, and the new program can do the gruntwork of figuring out how to get them there.

Image: CollegeDegrees360/ flickr

Academic advising will have access to course-planning software that will enable students to try out different programs.

According to Francis, the program-specific advisors who are staying in their respective departments, like criminology, will also have access to DegreeWorks.

A year from now, students will also be able to access the second phase of the program, a student

planner, online. Students will be able to log in and access “what if” scenarios to experiment with different program paths.

“A computer system can help give you more scenarios than just writing out the core requirements,” he says.

The program also has an analytic component, which will collect data on which courses are more in demand. Francis says this may help academic planning in the future.

“If we know what students are looking to take in the what-if sce-

narios, we can track that back and say, ‘Oh, maybe we should offer more Business 400 courses,’” he says.

The first phase of the program will be installed in time for the fall semester.

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Senate approves review of Writing Centre and Academic Success Centre, discusses admission requirements MICHAEL SCOULAR THE CASCADE

The Writing Centre-Academic Success Centre review written and compiled by the Academic Planning and Priorities committee has passed through Senate on its way to the Board of Governors, two months after the process began.

The call for a review, initiated by a motion from the private session of April’s Board of Governors meeting, emerged from a context of miscommunication, unanswered questions, and uncertainty over how the decision to change the Writing Centre’s operations should have been made.

Now completed, the review and its recommendations, which answer some of those questions, was approved unanimously and uncontroversially by a nearly full-attendance Senate.

The motion now headed from Senate to the Board of Governors submits the review and identifies two areas that can be addressed over a long-term period: further review of process and writing support quality.

In various discussions, the proper jurisdiction and process for review was interpreted differently among members of UFV’s faculty and administration. So one part of the motion recommends: “That Senate and Board develop mechanisms and criteria to determine jurisdiction of, and processes for, review of academic support services and units.” In the creation of this motion, the APPC mutually agreed that a method for looking at how changes should be proposed and examined earlier in the process would be beneficial for UFV. The other part of the motion responds to concerns about writing support quality in the developing ASC. The motion recommends: “That a process be developed for initial (a year from now) and ongoing evaluation for the Academic Success Centre, specifically including the quality of writing support provided by the ASC,” before appending a modified version of the review’s conclusion: “There are significant concerns about the ASC implementation

Image: Michael Scoular

UFV Senate approved the Academic Planning and Priorities Committee (APPC) motions unanimously. and feasibility, and about its ability to provide writing support of equal quality. Writing is key to the student success sought in the Ed Plan and the SEM [Strategic Enrolment Management] plan.

UFV should adopt a model that seeks to maintain the integrity of writing support at UFV, which therefore needs to incorporate the expertise of those in the field and be appropriately budgeted.”

This conclusion comes with a note that the review is, to some extent, incomplete. “No program review or detailed program closure proposal has been done regarding the Writing Centre, and no formal and complete proposal for the ASC, including details of budgeting, duties of employees, comparatives, priorities, and most significantly, the identification of measurable outcomes, has been submitted,” it says.

As discussion wrapped up, Dean of Arts Jacqueline Nolte reminded Senate members that the passing of these motions does not signal the end of their work, saying that it is now their responsibility to follow up on the recommendations in a future meeting.

Nolte adds that there are multiple ways to approach this matter.

“Senate would do well to return the item to the agenda in the fall with a view to discussing

what UFV can do to ensure that students are benefitting from the same levels of [writing] support they enjoyed in previous years,” she says in an email. “I don’t know how we ascertain this except through surveys of students and faculty.”

In addition to the part of the motion that calls for a review of the Academic Success Centre, Nolte says the Writing Council, “a group of faculty who meet to discuss how best to teach and to support writing” at UFV, will also pay close attention to the ripple effect this change will have.

The Board of Governors will consider and interpret these submissions at its final meeting of the academic year on Friday, June 19. However, Senate’s motions are not included on the agenda for the Board’s public session.

Graduate student admissions discussion begins In other business, Senate considered a motion to approve changes to a fundamental piece of university administration: the admission of graduate students.

Currently, UFV offers master’s degrees in criminal justice and social work. Alastair Hodges, presenting the work of the graduate studies committee (GSC), explained that an alternate path

to admission besides holding an undergraduate degree with a 3.0 GPA was vaguely described in the current guidelines.

“Other than precedent, there is no clarity on how exceptions to the minimum requirements should be made,” he wrote in the motion’s rationale, adding that “exceptions to the minimum requirements have made up a significant number of admissions (17 per cent of admissions to one graduate program in the past nine years).”

The GSC amendment would give students conditional admission based on two scenarios. Instead of “submitted evidence of the student’s ability to undertake advanced work in the area of interest,” students would be given two semesters to either improve their GPA (specific courses and specific grade targets unique to each student), or to complete their bachelor’s degree.

These changes were postponed at the May Senate meeting, and as a result discussion carried over, beginning with how, when it comes to applicants, universities across Canada are looking more into applied work or other forms of practice, rather than academic numbers alone. Dean of Arts Jacqueline Nolte, drawing on research prepared by program

development coordinator Sylvie Murray, noted the shift at a graduate-studies level.

“There are institutions beginning to talk about admitting people into their programs on the basis of core competencies,” she said. “Some med schools have moved into this direction — not many — but it is an emerging discussion.”

Amy Prevost, the director of the school of criminology and criminal justice, shared an anecdote of how a student at UFV applied to the criminal justice graduate program, was turned down due to GPA, and then was accepted at Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island, where there is also a flexible admission option based on experience in the field of study.

University secretary and registrar Al Wiseman brought up the example of UBC, where broadbased admissions have been in effect for all faculties since 2012 at the undergraduate level. Broadbased admissions attempt to look at the character and potential engagement levels of applicants, but also require a more extensive reading process on the part of the university.

As well, the question was raised of how these admission requirements could apply to upcoming graduate degrees yet to be approved. Currently, there are three at a preliminary planning stage, but have yet to receive approval from the GSC: masters in integrated science and technology, in migration and citizenship, and in professional accountancy.

Senate chair and UFV president Mark Evered proposed that because of the depth of research required to adequately broach the topic, and the timing of input from existing graduate degree programs, the motion should be postponed again. The next meeting of Senate will be in September.

“This is a vital matter,” Evered said. “It touches on the very nature of our university, in terms of access and opportunity.”

The motion was subsequently postponed.

You’ll fit right in.

All UFV students are invited to write for The Cascade! Drop by our new office in room S2111 (at the top of the stairs in the SUB) to say hi, or email valerie@ufvcascade.ca.

7

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

SNAPSHOTS

Image: Anthony Biondi

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Image: Kenichi Kajiyama

Image: Anthony Biondi

Confessions of a “terrorist”

The SUB closes too early

Music video, or a musical ad?

Registration needs a makeover

Thanks to the latest from the Senate of Canada, I will soon be considered guilty of hate crime according to the Harper Government.

Because I take part in the BDS Campaign (boycotts, divestments, and sanctions) against Israel in order to place stress on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, according to the Harper government and Bill C-51 I am guilty of hate crime. This means I am vulnerable to having my digital privacy violated and even to being thrown in jail.

Of 72 senators, 44 voted in favour of Bill C-51. The bill has yet to be approved by the Governor General of Canada before it can be passed into law, though the Governor General is merely a puppet position that remains as another example of our archaic and corrupt system of government.

Bill C-51 is so ambiguous and vague that it defeats its original purpose of fighting terrorism and picks up and joins the ranks of terrorists everywhere by removing Canadian citizens’ rights to believe whatever they bloody want to. Welcome to 1983, because 1984 is just around the corner.

I’m sure that every student can remember the times of our youth where we would come home late at night and try to sneak in, ever so quietly, without waking our parents.

Usually, it wasn’t that hard. But every once in a while I would forget my house keys and have to ring the doorbell or call until they awoke and unlocked the door for me.

As I got older, late-night escapades became only a memory of youth and I was happy to be done with the days of being locked out at night — until the new Student Union Building opened. If you haven’t noticed, the SUB also locks its doors in the evening, but SUS isn’t giving us as late of a curfew as even the strictest of parents would. The SUB locks its doors at 5:00 every evening.

This means that the only way to get into the building after closing time is by calling campus security to come and unlock the door. And as the officers trudge across the campus lawn to open the SUB’s doors for waiting students, I can see the same look in their eyes as in my father’s every time he had to come and unlock the door for me at 2 a.m. It’s a hassle for everybody.

After taking media and communications courses at UFV, the inclusion of advertising in mass media has become more apparent. Music videos are not untouched by the phenomenon of product placement.

Recently, pop singer Hilary Duff released her music video for “Sparks.” While I highly enjoyed the song, the music video was essentially an advertisement for the Tinder app. Instead of a subtle product placement in the background, it took over the video. It became the main subject matter. It was not about making a video to sell records, but to sell an app.

Where is the line between a music video that contains product placements and a full-on commercial? Are commercial-oriented music videos the “new thing?” I hope not. Product placement in media needs to be at least somewhat subtle.

Registration for the fall has started up, and it’s time again to navigate UFV’s labyrinthine website.

Online registration should be convenient, but it can often take the good part of a day to sniff out all the information you need on different classes before making your decisions. Info like course descriptions, credit values, program requirements, and even class times are found on completely seperate pages. For newer students, not knowing which tabs to open on your browser beforehand can lead to a lot of hassle.

So why not have this kind of course information on the registration page itself? And why can’t myUFV keep a record of which of your program requirements you have met and which you have yet to meet? Keeping this information all in one spot instead of randomly across the website would not only make registration less confusing for students, but would reflect positively on UFV’s ability to keep up with technology and design their website for efficient use.

Mitch Huttema

Vanessa Broadbent

Remington Fioraso

Alex Rake

Spending summer inside: not as crazy (or boring) as you might think MARTIN CASTRO CONTRIBUTOR

Summer is pretty much in full swing by now. We can now walk out of the oppressive, timeconsuming vortex that is the day-to-day life of a university student and bask in the sunlight, revelling in our newfound freedom for one dew-covered second before turning around, walking back inside, and shutting the door.

Contrary to what Tide detergent commercials would have us believe, not everyone wants to spend their summer rolling around in fresh grass in an attempt to gradually turn offwhite khakis into mint-green khakis. If, like me, you don’t practice khaki alchemy, here’s a couple of things you can do this summer that won’t require you to journey outside for very long, if at all.

Remember that book you got for Christmas? The one you

never got around to reading because school and work took up too much time to allow for an activity as bourgeois as reading?

Well, you can totally read that book now. You have more time both to read and to look for a novel you might actually want to read. If anything, it’ll strengthen your vocabulary while enabling your pathological fear of the outside.

Speaking of activities that require you to sit still for prolonged periods of time while staring intently at an object: summer is literally the perfect time to binge-watch a show. For the two of you who still haven’t watched Breaking Bad, this is the perfect time to hunker down and entertain yourself with the moral and physical deterioration of a cancer-afflicted chemistry teacher / meth cook. Perhaps you don’t want to spend your summer alone watching TV? Invite a couple of friends over

to watch Mad Men and take a shot every time Don says or does something that contradicts the set of morals you thought he had.

Or better yet, every time he lies.

If you don’t want to stay home all summer long, but also don’t want to go outside, I’ve found a loophole for you. Concerts are technically inside, and usually held at night. If you’ve got the money for it, go to as many concerts as you can. You’re still technically inside a building.

You can also learn to play guitar in lieu of watching someone do it. Less glamorous, but also less expensive.

If the recommendations included in this article follow any one principle, it’s this: increase, as much as you can, your consumption and creation of art in all its many forms.

Because if you’re not going to be entertained by nature, you might as well be entertained by what best imitates nature.

Image: Danielle Collins

If you’re not going to go outside, at least enjoy inside to the fullest.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Democracy for dummies A beginner’s guide on how to get millennials to vote MEGAN LAMBERT THE CASCADE

The first step to getting ballots in boxes is simple: stop thinking millennials don’t want to vote.

The truth is that we can and do want to be involved in politics — but the amount of research and effort it takes to make an informed decision takes time that could be used for other, more important things.

I understand the outrage that comes from calling politics “boring” or “unimportant,” but they are those things to youth, and I’ll explain why.

In the information age, millennials everywhere have the ability to research political parties and construct an informed opinion.

If we wanted, we could subscribe to political reporters on Twitter, read about elections on Facebook, and even peek at the front page of the Globe and Mail or National Post when we’re waiting in line for our coffee orders. It’s getting easier and easier to understand politics — but the problem is that it’s still a lot of work.

Even with so much available to us, there is still history, bias, and language used by politicians and political reporters that can take years of studying political science to even understand. For those whose interests lie elsewhere, it can be intimidating to join in the discussion having very little to contribute.

Besides, why would we?

We have it pretty good.

Compared to other countries, Canada has a pretty stable political system, low crime rates, and many people living above the poverty line. Corporate giants dominate the market, constantly innovating ways to make life simpler for us (here, I am thinking of pre-wrapped dishwasher tablets and K-cups).

Life is fairly easy for the average Canadian. We could go years living happily enough without noticing the effects of irresponsible budgeting or laws that encroach on our privacy online.

Politicians know this, and apart from them warning us “not to vote for those guys” they leave us alone.

Those who are pursuing journalism, informed about politics, or writing futuristic dystopian novels are more aware than most of the dangers of a society that ignores its government. Simply put, the government gets away with stuff just like a child stealing snacks out of the cupboard — if nobody is watching, they won’t get in trouble.

Image: Nipatsara Bureepia/ Shutterstock

“The trick is to make politics interesting.”

The answer seems simple: have more eyes watching. Bring more clicks to your articles, more voices to your protest, and more ears to your broadcasts. I can hear a chorus of whining from the tiny roundtable of journalists inside my head, slamming down stacks of analytic data and screaming, “We’re trying! Just look at our Twitter! What more can we do?”

However, it’s not about writing more — I feel like getting millennials interested in voting comes down to writing smarter.

When I read a 750-word article of a political nature, I usually need a separate tab to look up words and phrases I don’t understand.

The tiny journalists facepalm when I don’t immediately know what they mean by “caucus” or “party discipline.” But those journalists shouldn’t, and neither should I when I’m explaining what the Student Union Society (SUS) does. Instead, let’s go back to basics and make politics accessible for everyone.

For instance, we could high-

light those words in articles and link them to definitions so readers can learn as they go.

We could continue to support non-partisan organizations like Elections Canada, teaming up to make infographics and interactive maps online. We could make short YouTube videos, graphs based on historical data, and interesting stories that explain why what’s happening in the House of Commons is important to us in daily life. With all the information given to us, we could

make politics interesting.

We could make people feel intelligent and involved when they read our coverage, instead of alienated and disinterested. If we used tools that get millennials interested in sports or music festivals, we could get millennials interested in voting. We could show them why they want to vote, and inspire a whole new generation of citizens. Using new tools could mean building a new Canada.

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STUDY BREAK CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

CROSSWORD The Little Things

ACROSS

by VALERIE FRANKLIN

1. Young tree. (7) 4. A plant embryo. (4) 5. Name for a fox cub. (3) 9. Squirrels go nuts for these. (6) 10. Frogspawn, once its a little bit older and more wriggly. (7) 11. Name for young fish — or a cooking technique you might use on a large one. (3) 12. Mary had a little one. (4)

DOWN 2.

3.

6.

7.

8.

The Weekly Horoscope

Its parents might hiss or flap if you come too close. (7) A flower before it blooms, or what you might call your pal. (3) A miniature pig or dog might fit in one. (6) Tiny handheld shovel. (6) Microorganisms that live in yogurt. (8)

Last issue’s crossword ACROSS 4. CASCADE 6. SLUICE 7. MARSH 10. LAGOON 11. SPRING 12. CHUTE 13. POOL 14. TARN 15. GROTTO DOWN 1.

2.

3.

5.

6.

8.

9.

OASIS WELL STREAM BAY STRAIGHT (Error: should be “strait”) FOUNTAIN RESERVOIR

Star Signs from Sybil la Clair

Aquarius: Jan 20 to Feb 18: If the troll at the fork of your road offers you a riddle, keep walking.

Gemini: May 21 to June 21: Remember the three Rs: Reese peanut butter cups, rabble-rousing, and racquetball.

Pisces: Feb 19 to March 20: Cook your ramen noodles for at least three minutes, and add some chopped green onion.

Cancer: June 22 to July 22: If you use the second-floor women’s washroom in the Student Union Building, beware of the Basilisk.

Aries: March 21 to April 19: If the little patient pinwheel spins on your cursor for more than 20 minutes, there is a problem with your computer.

Leo: July 23 to Aug 22: This week, you will be so happy that you’ll be fit to audition for a yogurt commercial.

Taurus: April 20 to May 20: Coffee will not offer you the source of all that is good, but it will wake you up.

Virgo: Aug 23 to Sept 22: Lotion is the potion that will scent your sweat in motion.

Libra: Sept 23 to Oct 22: If a Gemini tells you about the time they went to the lake, throw a ball of rubber bands their way and scram.

Scorpio: Oct 23 to Nov 21: If you had a nickel for every time somebody thought you were fine, you’d have at least a dime.

Sagittarius: Nov 22 to Dec 21: Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes, but if you add lots of gauze you should be fine.

Capricorn: Dec 22 to Jan 19: You will encounter a small and quirky Libra. Run.

10

WITH POMP AND PARCHMENT, CONVOCAT

By Megan Lambert Photos: UFV Flickr After joking about looking like wizards in full regalia backstage, the 2015 class of UFV graduates filed onto the floor of the Abbotsford Centre, led by the beat of a traditional Stó:lō drum.

On June 11 and 12, four separate convocation ceremonies saw graduates from all faculties cross the stage, with friends and families blowing air horns and cheering in the stands.

Each ceremony lasted roughly three-and-a-half hours, as over 2,000 grads received their credentials and shook UFV president Mark Evered’s hand.

UFV administration, including Evered and chancellor Gwen Point — who attended UFV convocation despite her own PhD ceremony occurring at SFU the same day — opened the ceremonies with speeches. Evered encouraged students to take advantage of technology while approaching life as “respectful and responsible rebels.”

WORDS OF WISDOM Four honorary degrees were awarded.

Human rights lawyer Shirzad Ahmed once attended UFV, while the other honorary doctorates — Aboriginal performance artist Margo Kane, volcanologist Catherine Hickson, and mental health advocate Ginny Dennehy — are active in the Greater Vancouver area in their respective fields.

Professors Ian Fenwick, Trudy Archie, Wendy Burton, Virginia Cooke, Allan McNeill, John Carroll, Lynne Wells, Rosie Friesen, and Susan Milner are retiring, and received professor emeritus status.

For each group of graduates, a student speaker approached the podium with words of wisdom for their fellow students.

Nursing graduate Tony Chae had a fun and lighthearted speech, thanking coffee as his biggest supporter.

College of Arts student speaker and art history graduate David Seymour took a more contemplative tone, talking about how important being different is for students. He used Van Gogh

as an example, noting that his lack of popularity while he was living did not define the worth of his art later; it is now seen as innovative, unique, and therefore valuable.

“Be different,” Seymour said. “Our individuality, despite the voice of doubt, produces fruit that is ultimately much sweeter than living a life of conformity and compromise out of convenience.”

CROSSING THE STAGE As grads filed on and off the stage, a rhythm was established: the student’s name was called by the dean, the student crossed the stage, they shook Mark Evered’s hand, they posed for a picture, and they exited. That is, until one graduate was surprised by her significant other, who ascended the wrong side of stage, knelt, and proposed to her. The whole crowd cheered, and Dean of Arts Jacqueline Nolte teased that the results of the proposal were still unknown after the couple left the stage.

Outside the stadium, there were booths selling UFV merchandise from the bookstore, flowers from Simply Flowers, and framing for degrees and graduation photos for the new alumni. Wine and refreshments were served while families waited for graduates, listening to pop music coming from the CIVL radio tent.

Grads took photos outside in front of large green canvases with UFV branding, looking through empty picture frames and posing for the camera. At an English department table, English grads collected humorous horoscopes predicting their lives ahead of them. (“You will be a consumer of trade paperbacks,” read one.)

WHAT HAPPENS NOW? As alumni, UFV grads have perks like discounted tickets, access to Alumni Association events, and discounted travel and hotel rates. Former manager of alumni engagement Nancy Armitage, now working for BCIT’s

11

TION TRANSFORMS STUDENTS INTO ALUMNI

alumni department, says it is to keep lines of communication open so grads can donate if they choose to.

“The university wants to provide an opportunity for alumni to give back, should they wish,” she says.

However, Armitage says alumni are less focused on donating to UFV as an institution, and more interested in helping students.

“It is at the bursary level now, and that’s what alumni expressed an interest in giving back to. Through surveys, through stakeholders meetings, the message is very clear

that alumni want to help students,” she says.

But with 50 per cent of bachelor’s degree grads taking out loans (as of 2009/2010), it may become difficult for some alumni to donate, even after they find work.

Geography graduate Kalei Swanson, for example, says she would be willing to donate — provided she can find employment after graduation.

“If I find a career and am making money, sure,” she says with regards to donating back to the university.

LOOKING BACK As far as education goes, Swanson says her time at UFV was well spent.

However, she says she wishes she were more involved in the campus community at the beginning.

“I would have liked to join clubs sooner,” she says. “I joined them in my last year or two, but sooner would have been nicer.”

Another geography graduate, Barb Mitchell, who is headed for the teacher education program at UFV, advises first-year students to take their time in choosing a major

and make sure it aligns with their interests.

“Do something you’re passionate about,” she says. “Take some classes and see what you love, because I think everyone gravitates towards certain things that they hear about and it doesn’t measure up all the time.”

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Miss Somewhere goes somewhere: to the Theatre BC Mainstage ALEX RAKE

THE CASCADE

Miss Somewhere, a play written and co-directed by UFV alumna Cait Archer, is headed to the Theatre BC Mainstage in Kamloops after sweeping several awards at the Fraser Valley Zone Festival, including Outstanding Production and Achievement in Playwriting. But what is this winning play presented by the Chilliwack Players Guild all about?

The play follows the struggles of three 20-something best friends, Steph, Allison, and Nicky.

“It’s a play about friendship, most importantly,” says Archer.

“It’s also about the fight you have with your demons, and how you can win even if you don’t win.”

Geneva Perkins, a fifth-year theatre student at UFV who won Outstanding Actress for her role as Allison, would agree; she says

her character comes out of the play “not a complete and whole person, but stronger in her sense of who she is and what she wants.”

Perkins explains that at the beginning of the play, Allison has “just started taking antidepressants, which sort of mute all of her feelings. And so it’s her figuring out that she doesn’t actually want to mute her feelings. She wants to feel all of this range of emotion.”

Miss Somewhere debuted in an earlier form at UFV’s 2013 Director’s Festival. It was a one-act play featuring the same cast, minus a few roles.

“I’ve added a couple of extra characters,” says Archer, “because the boys were sort of just the supporting cast in this play, which is one of the reasons I wrote it — that year I was looking for a play that had good roles for women, because in 2013 we had a really

good group of ladies in the theatre department.”

Archer insisted on finding a play that not only had good female parts, but “that isn’t about tanning, and that isn’t about boys — and that isn’t from the ‘80s because the ‘80s are a weird time for short plays.” Ultimately, she found she had to write one herself.

Since the 2013 production, the play has expanded both in terms of character and length. With this new version, Archer agrees that the play is more focused. Matt Janzen, who took the award for Outstanding Actor in his role as Allison’s ex-boyfriend Tony, celebrates the script’s development and the chance to do it again.

“We’re always growing and developing as actors and I think it’s important that your characters (and understanding of them) grow and develop as well,” he

says. “Especially in cases such as this where you’re working with a new script over an extended period.”

Perkins also welcomes revision: “I think [coming back to a play] makes it stronger. The longer you sort of sit and let it marinate, the longer you have to actually figure out what you’re trying to say with it and the story that you’re actually trying to tell.”

There are further changes between the Zone Fest production of Miss Somewhere and the one to be seen at Theatre BC Mainstage.

“We’ve had a casting change — named Amanda,” Archer enthuses. “I think it’s amazing. It’s keeping everybody on their toes.”

Amanda Thiessen is filling in the role of Steph for Danielle Warmenhoven, who could not make the performance in Kamloops.

“I feel like I have a really wonderful support system,” Thiessen

says, referring to her cast mates.

“With the amount of support that I am being given ... even if I do suck a big one, they’re going to make it so that it is not so terrible.”

She adds that directors Archer and Gabe Kirkley are “a wonderfully supportive team. They’re very honest.”

Archer explains that she and Kirkley, who were both awarded Outstanding Direction at Zone Fest, “have been working together creatively on productions since 2007, when [they] were in high school.” Eight years later, this second round of Miss Somewhere is their first time working together as a directing team.

Before the Theatre BC Mainstage performance in Kamloops on July 10, there will be a threeshow run at the Langley Playhouse between July 3 and 4. Tickets are $15.

Conversations with Picasso David Newkirk’s art exhibit at the Reach imagines visual dialogues among the greats NADINE MOEDT

THE CASCADE

Art is an imitative act, whether through realism and a pre-selected scene, or through a surreal lens, via a transfer of imagination and ideasthesia.

In David Newkirk’s exhibition at the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, the Ontario artist does both, playing with his own inspiration and influences through imagined conversations between his artistic predecessors.

Newkirk explores his gratitude and connection to historical painters, dedicating each work to his different inspirations. His works, abstractions of varied tones, bear both the names of these influences in the title, and also a nod to their signature styles and graphic gestures enmeshed with his own.

For example, a piece dedicated to Hans Hoffman employs the 20thcentury painter’s notable modernist “push and pull” technique, an interaction of warm and saturated advancing colours with cooler receding colours.

Newkirk’s nod to such historical techniques, however, doesn’t copycat. Rather, it addresses the influence and speaks to his personal growth as an artist and of his own transformation. The title of his series is very fitting: The Conversation isn’t a stagnant process, but a development of idea and inspiration. Through his exhibition, Newkirk hopes that this conversa-

tion will extend to the viewer.

“Exhibited together in the same space, my paintings will suggest a kind of sacra conversazione among artists and with the viewer, who — by entering the space — interrupts the dialogue between ‘conversing’ artists, and then joins the conversation,” Newkirk writes in a statement about the exhibition.

The conversation isn’t just a figurative term. The viewer can also read an imagined account of a dialogue between Picasso, Marden, Valazquez, Cézanne, and Van Gogh, among others. Newkirk applies a comical and playful spin on their conversation through characterizing descriptions and allusions to biographical events.

“Van Gogh’s severed ear seems to have been restored, as has a modicum of calm sanity — modern pharmaceuticals perhaps,” he writes. “His eyes are shaded by the brim of a frayed straw hat, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up in the heat.” Time and space have no say in the 167-page conversation.

The exhibition also has four audio stations positioned beneath the paintings, each playing loops of interviews, each with a different famous artist. As a result, viewers experience a piqued curiosity, as if eavesdropping on a private conversation.

The Conversation will be displayed at the Reach until September 6.

Image: Nadine Moedt

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

“Perfect for closet artists”

Local show displays and sells anonymous works of art — and all for a good cause VALERIE FRANKLIN

Upcoming

Events

THE CASCADE / PHOTOS

Would you buy a painting if you had no idea who the artist was?

Late on the sunny afternoon of Saturday, June 13, the Kariton Gallery at Mill Lake was filled with supporters of the local arts community who gathered to celebrate the opening of the second annual Anonymous Art Show Fundraiser. Rows upon rows of small, square paintings were displayed on the walls of the gallery, and behind each one was a secret: a card with the name of the painter and the title of the piece.

Held once a year by the Abbotsford Arts Council (AAC), the Anonymous Art Show features dozens of works by local artists, each painted on 12” square canvases. Each piece is sold for $100, with half the proceeds going to the artist and the other half to support the AAC’s many community initiatives, including art markets, music festivals, children’s workshops, and the Arty Awards. When a painting is purchased and removed from the wall, the artist’s name is revealed.

Anyone can submit their work to the fundraiser, and as a result the artists range from professionals to those who are newly emerging in the local art community.

“I always say it’s perfect for closet artists,” said Aymee Leake, gallery co-ordinator. “Maybe they’ve been painting for years, but they’re shy. It’s a good beginner step for them to get their

June 17

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

National Aboriginal Day celebrations at UFV

June is Aboriginal Awareness Month, and UFV is hosting its own day of cultural awareness in the new Student Union Building. Come out for demonstrations of Stó:lō weaving and slahal, dance performances, Métis finger weaving, drum making, and Halq’emeyelm language instruction.

June 20

10 to 11 a.m.

Abstract painting lessons

Once a painting is purchased, the artist’s name is revealed. work out there.

“I have a piece up this year, and I’ve never exhibited before,” she added. “It’s nerve-wracking!”

The pieces were arranged by themes: one wall for female figures, another for flowers, another for landscapes, and so on.

Many of the pieces featured distinctly British Columbian scenes of farmland, mountains, coastal sunsets, and local wildlife, but there were also plenty of less orthodox designs: skulls, diamonds, wine bottles, an Illuminati eye, a Rubik’s cube …

So far 97 people have submitted paintings to this year’s Anonymous Art Show, according to DJ Gay, a volunteer with the Abbotsford Arts Council.

An avid fan of the show, Gay purchased several paintings last year and several more this year.

“Sometimes if you know the style of an artist you like, you can recognize it, but other times it’s a complete mystery,” said Gay. Although she tends to select works by artists she already knows and loves, this year one of the paintings she bought was by an artist she had never seen before.

“I didn’t know the artist at all,” she said. “I just picked it for the picture. When you look at the right painting, you fall in love with it.”

Leake also likes to buy at least one painting a year at the show.

“It’s always an instant connection,” she said. “You just look at it and you know.”

The Anonymous Art Show will continue to accept paintings on 12” by 12” by 1.5” canvases until June 26. The exhibit and sale will continue until July 7.

The Abbotsford Arts Council presents “Talking Abstract,” a series of lessons with local painter Ursula Rettich. Participants will learn how to create their own abstract art in the first lesson, titled “Zen Like — Painting with Your Mind Alone,” which will take place at the Kariton Gallery. For more information and to register, see the Abbotsford Arts Council website.

June 21

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

National Aboriginal Day at Mill Lake June 21 was pronounced National Aboriginal Day in celebration of the heritage and cultural diversity of Métis, First Nations, and Inuit cultures. The Fraser Valley Métis Association is hosting a day of family-friendly festivities at Mill Lake Park. Stop by with your kids or younger siblings for live music, jigging lessons, traditional and non-traditional games, and a free lunch!

June 27

2 to 7:30 p.m.

Meet Abbotsford Arts Fair The Abbotsford Arts Council is hosting Meet Abbotsford Arts Fair at Mill Lake. The event begins at the Kariton Gallery, where attendees can connect with local art groups that are part of the council. Afternoon entertainment will include a reading by the Fraser Valley Poets Society, as well as prize draws and family-friendly activities. The day ends with the first of the Envision Concert in the Park series with live and local music from 4 to 7:30 p.m.

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Arcade

The pleasure-paint principle CHARTS 1

Will Butler Policy

2

Jamie xx In Colour

Philip Sayce 3 Philip Influence

4

Girlpool Girlpool

5

Titans Eve Chasing The Devil

Chip 6 Hot Why Make Sense?

7 Torres Sprinter 8 Limblifter Pacific Milk Kil Moon 9 Sun Universal Themes Moroder 10 Giorgio Deja Vu Watson 11 Patrick Love Songs For Robots Kelli Pop 12 Peach III

13 Drenge Undertow Sean 14 Big Dark Sky Paradise Jupes 15 Les Some Kind of Family

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Cafeine New Love

Kotzen 17 Ritchie Cannibals Aeroplanes 18 Paper Joy Acorn 19 The Vieux Loup

Shuffle

Splatoon urges players to mark territory, have fun

AARON LEVY

CIVL MANAGER / JENGA MASTER

So many themes to jump on this week! CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy wonders what the best choice is!

It kind of makes him …

Black Sabbath “Paranoid” Who doesn’t love the opening riff of this song? If it’s not one of the most recognizable guitar licks of all time, right up there with “Purple Haze,” “Smoke on the Water,” “The Weight,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” to name a few. Prepost Ozzie-era Sabbath.

Clipse “Nightmares” This is one of the best hip-hop albums you won’t hear anyone talk about too often in too many circles, kind of like EPMD or the original DOOM stuff before Danger with the Mouse … “I got nightmares, ooh, ooh ooh ... they say I’m pnoid. Say I’m just p-noid.”

Nirvana “Territorial Pissings” “Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try and love one another right now. Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you, gotta find a way, a better way.” Song seven on Nevermind, I think? Let’s see, Spirit, Bloom, Come, Breed, Lithium, Polly, yup.

Katie Moore “Rush Enough” Worse than being paranoid is when, as Kurt says above, it’s not paranoia, just legitimate stress and fear, that drives you to frustration and psychological handcuffing.

This song was the first track on the Pop Montreal 2005 sampler. Great harmonies, harrowing tales of love and loss and laudably lascivious liaisons.

Image: Bago Games/ flickr

ALEX RAKE THE CASCADE

I recently had the misfortune of discovering that certain videogames give me motion sickness.

Years ago I could play Spyro the Dragon until I starved, but now it just nauseates me. Whether it has something to do with the way televisions are huger and clearer, or getting sick from everything just comes with age, I know I won’t be playing Spyro again anytime soon.

Splatoon for Nintendo’s Wii U also gives me motion sickness. It’s fast and colourful and requires focused eyeballs. The greatness of the game is that, even though I felt like I was trapped in a spinning teacup ride with nothing in my stomach but root beer and ground beef, I still played it for six hours straight the night I bought it. In other words, if you’re the kind of person who plays games primarily for fun, get into Splatoon.

The concept is simple: two teams spray ink everywhere and whoever covers more ground with their colour wins. Unlike many other popular shooters, the purpose is not just to kill the other team — although kill-

ing them is totally an option — but to be more strategic and efficient at covering ground as a team. There are several different types of ink-spraying weapons to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses; spray guns shoot far, but don’t fire much ink, while paint rollers cover a tonne of ground but lack range. Knowing what your weapon is good at and what skills your team as a whole needs covered is essential, and keeps the game constantly stressful — but the fun kind of stressful where you get to use both your hand-eye coordination and your mind to repeatedly reverse impending failure.

So far I have just been describing the online multiplayer mode, which is really the best part of the game. The story mode, in which players are a valiant “Inkling” (humanoid squid) preventing a takeover by the “Octolings” (humanoid youcan-guess-whats), is more of an amusing distraction than anything else. The levels are more about breaking stuff and killing things than the team co-ordination that makes the competitive mode so much more fun.

The local multiplayer is also

fun, but only two people can play at a time. This is the worst thing about many shooters today, and I don’t understand it; if GoldenEye for N64 was still fun split into four screens on a puny television, why is four-player split-screen at all an issue in an era of giant screens and projectors? This kind of arbitrary limit is unusual for Nintendo, whose games’ online services are typically junk compared to their local multiplayer modes.

Maybe this will change, though. The game is constantly updating with more modes and weapons, and apparently a “major update” is coming in August. The benefit of the constant updates is that it allows for the game to improve. Splatoon can only get better from here.

Ultimately, few games welcome a broad audience this well.

Strategy games like Starcraft, for example, allow players to exercise their intelligence, but are hard to get into and repel younger gamers. Simpler games like Angry Birds are addictive, but numbingly unrewarding. Splatoon is the best of both worlds: neither gruelling nor mindless, and fun in the face of whatever motion sickness it might trigger.

Radiohead “Paranoid Android” I’ve definitely shuffled this before, and likely made reference to the fact that many see it as our generation’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” with its ever-changing dynamic, quick shifting momentum, and magnificent vocal breakdown for the “Rain down on me” section at the very least. And who can forget the Douglas Adams reference?!

& The Hunter 20 Folly Awake Image: Kenichi Kajiyama

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

S undBites

A$AP Rocky

Mini Album Reviews

Best Coast

At.Long.Last.A$AP

Florence + the Machine

California Nights

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Brandon Flowers The Desired Effect

At 19 tracks long, A$AP Rocky’s third album is decidedly underwhelming. In comparison to Long.

Live.A$AP, (his previous project, which was only 12 tracks long), A.L.L.A. is riddled by, quite frankly, forgettable material.

Thematically, there hasn’t been much of a change — everything’s still pretty much a continuation of Rocky’s self-aware boasts (mostly regarding fashion, wealth, and women). The production, however, is much more relaxed and, at times, more experimental than what A$AP Rocky usually jumps on, which is a welcome change.

Part of my misgivings about this record stem from the fact that there are little to no verses of note throughout. The tracks are a lot less hooky, which I can overlook and perhaps even applaud, as I find a lot of Rocky’s contemporaries use hooks as crutches, but apart from “Everyday,” “Canal St.,” and “Back Home,” the tracks just sort of blend into one shapeless, directionless auditory mass. Most importantly, “Everyday” and “Back Home” are only noteworthy due to Rod Stewart and Mos Def’s contributions, respectively. “M’$” is also worth mentioning due to Lil Wayne’s guest verse, which is surprisingly on-point for the Young Money rapper.

But as far as any overarching impressions go, At.Long.Last.A$AP has next to no replay value and comes as a disappointment from an otherwise pretty decent artist.

Three albums in, Best Coast’s name comes with a few obvious associations, connecting the band to hazy bliss and twilight, California sunset with tambourine and hypnotic guitar. But no, that’s Mazzy Star. Bethany Cosentino, who writes all the band’s songs (Bobb Bruno, Wally Gagel, and Brady Miller are her backing band), strikes a balance between Brill Building simplicity and skateboard video adrenaline; at its best, it could be a slightly less anxious counterpart to Wavves’ Afraid of Heights (“When Will I Change” is the clearest at saying paralysis sucks), or a carrying of the baton left by the Breeders’ cover of “So Sad About Us.” Best Coast still doesn’t hold much in the way of great album cuts — the Drew Barrymore-directed video for “Our Deal,” a mall-punk Romeo & Juliet set in underpasses and drainage canals, remains the best thing the band has been a part of; here, songs like the sha-la-la-ing “Jealous” seem made more for music videos than album plays.

Cosentino debuted California Nights on Tumblr, which fits the lazy-seeming yet intensely committed sensibility she’s cultivated: ready to fight, but mostly lamenting wasted time. “What is life / what is love / what’s the meaning of it all / Do I even care / or is it just / I am so unaware?” is pure arrested adolescence, but it’s also intimately close to the fear of a rapidly ticking social clock, where the possibilities of shutting off and knowing everything co-exist, uncomfortably.

In the title track of her third album, lead singer Florence Welch shifts from the big, blue expanse overhead to the near-confessional, “and every day I wear your face like an atmosphere around me,” subtly threading together the minute and wider scope that interplay throughout the album. Lyrics are moved by a poetic simplicity, with subtle but poignant figurative moments like, “every skyline was like a kiss upon the lips.”

“How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful” also marks a shift in instrumentals early in the album, coming in heavy with the brass, especially saxophone.

The instrumental complexity and featuring of different brass voices (like the notable punctuation of trumpet notes against a quick, urgent percussion in “Queen of Peace”) picks the album up after some abrupt shifts in tone and tempo that create a disjointed feel in the second track, “What Kind of Man.” In that song, a minute-long, soft, sad intro segues into a punchier attitude with staccato guitar notes, and the moods don’t coalesce well.

That said, the album’s great strength is its conveyance of emotion, restlessness, and urgency, especially in “Caught” where the vocals are at once powerful and seemingly contained by the tortured intensity of feeling trapped.

My favourite song, though, is the first one: “Ship to Wreck.” The layering of instruments and particularly the use of celesta (similar in tone to the glockenspiel) is compelling and unique, the mood of the piece a perfect blend of reflective and restless — setting the tone for an album that’s worth listening to on repeat.

Though Brandon Flowers is best known as the front man for Las Vegas rock ’n’ roll band The Killers, he has slowly chiseled out a musical niche of his own as a solo artist. Flowers’ first solo release Flamingo introduced us to his retro 80s rock and pop style and his newest release The Desired Effect ventures deeper into that sound.

Throughout the record, Flowers and producer Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, HAIM) create a sonic tapestry that spills over with nostalgic melodies. A prime example is the track “Still Want You,” a tropical, light and airy pop track with jangly pianos, laid-back percussion and spastic vocal rhythms.

Other standout tracks include “I Can Change,” which samples the backing synth, bass, and vocal cries from Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy,” and “Can’t Deny My Love,” which is perhaps the most modern-sounding piece on the album, but successfully mixes into the flow and feel of the entire record.

I would be hard-pressed to say any song on The Desired Effect is a complete home run, but that being said, there is something worthwhile here if you’re hankering for an ‘80s sound in the modern age.

Martin Castro

Michael Scoular

Katie Stobbart

Jeffrey Trainor

Album

Surf overflows with jazz and rap collaboration Following up his mixtape breakthrough, Chance the Rapper spotlights bandleader Donnie Trumpet MARTIN CASTRO CONTRIBUTOR

Chance the Rapper, who has garnered success from mixtapes (particularly Acid Rap), has apparently foregone mainstream hip-hop fame in favour of making soul and jazz with Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, Chance’s touring band. Donnie Trumpet, whose real name is Nico Segal, headlines the group and provides intermittent backing vocals and horns.

The first track on Surf, “Miracle,” features a hazy, dreamy opening, complete with hesitant horns and vocal harmonies, which melt away to set the stage for Chance to spit what more

closely resembles spoken-word poetry than rap. Chance raps while piano and horns swell around his voice, before coming to an abrupt but powerful stop, setting the mood for the record.

“Slip Slide” is probably one of the best and most accessible tracks on the record. Featuring verses from Busta Rhymes and B.o.B, the track is a four-minute feel-good soul jam that’s immediately catchy. Having a live backing band gives Chance a more organic aesthetic to work with, and it works.

“Warm Enough” features verses from Noname Gypsy and J. Cole, both of whom shine on the track. Most of the record is really a soul and jazz record, which just

so happens to have people rapping over it every now and then.

What’s more interesting is the fact that Chance himself opts out of having full verses on a lot of the songs and is content to simply sing hooks and choruses. So what really stands out on Surf is the instrumentation and influences, which range from the jazz of Charles Mingus to traditional African music, to contemporary R&B. “Caretaker,” for example, seems to be a song explicitly made to play in the background as you share an intimate dance with a partner. At only a minuteand-a-half, the track is short but oh-so-sweet.

“Just Wait” brings the energy

back up by way of a trumpet solo that lasts another minute-anda-half, before watery synths accompany Chance and company crooning about “better things.”

One of the most surprising features on this entire project is Quavo, of Migos, who is literally the very last person I’d have expected to see giving a verse — particularly on a song such as “Familiar,” which is positive and soulful as hell, keeping the theme of being true to oneself that seems so prevalent throughout the record.

Quavo’s verse deserves praise, as it’s a sign of growth from a rapper whose content is usually as misogynistic as just about anything you can think of.

Perhaps the best song on the

entire mixtape is the first single, released some months ago, “Sunday Candy,” which features Jamila Woods on vocals and Chance reminiscing over being dragged to church with his grandmother.

It’s more of an ode to his grandmother than to church itself, and the last verse Chance delivers is one of the most appealing I’ve heard from him in a long time.

If this is what happens when Chance the Rapper takes a break — from making straightforward hip-hop to run around making jazz with his friends — Chance should take breaks more often.

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ARTS IN REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Film

“That is one big pile of shit” Jurassic World sells soul, suspense, sense of wonder for dino screams and cheap thrills ANTHONY BIONDI THE CASCADE

Since its launch, the Jurassic Park series has been about adventure, as the original slogan tells us, one “65 million years in the making.”

While Jurassic World tries once again to re-capture the wonder and majesty of the first film by bringing it to a modern setting, it mostly just rehashes the original idea of a park and ups the ante by making it functional, complete with thousands of guests.

This film, in my mind, is the inevitable completion of InGen’s dream, pushing the limits of a fully functional park and genetic manipulation. As a summer action movie, it works fine; it has action, it has monsters. As Ian Malcolm would say, it always starts with “Oooh” and “Aah,” but later there’s running and, uh, screaming. Where things fall apart is Jurassic World’s script, written

by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, which is dumb from the premise on down.

This film strays from being a smart, scientific Jurassic Park — one that questions environmental ethics, scientific responsibility, the philosophy of creation — and reverts it into just another monster movie. Sure, it does a better job than the third Jurassic Park film did, but it still lacks depth. Even when it nods toward the militarization of dinosaurs as a plausible threat and the treatment of animals as owned property, it seems to develop these problems peripherally, shallowly addressing the issue in a comic-bookish way. It seems Trevorrow, before he even knew what he had, patented it, packaged it, slapped it on a plastic lunch box, and started selling it.

A large portion of this film’s problems comes from the poor writing of the main antagonist and movie monster, the Indominus rex: a seemingly super-intelligent genetic hybrid dinosaur of unknown origin (inexplicably classified) that can lay unbelievably elaborate traps and trick even the smartest of humans, when convenient for the plot. It seems that at some point in its life the Indominus rex studied how to have a flair for dramatics, while also acquiring technical expertise with thermal imaging software. I seriously don’t understand how a dinosaur can hide its heat signature so that the thermal detection in its

pen wouldn’t detect it anymore.

Big ol’ smarty Rex would have to know that thermal tech was there in the first place, ultimately making the scenario implausible. But, I suppose, to quote Malcolm again, “Life, uh, finds a way.”

There’s also the small problem of the safety and emergency procedures of this operational park, which seems to have travelled backward from the Jurassic Park launch in ’93. When Rexy 4.0 disappears on a thermal scan, panic ensues. Bryce Dallas Howard’s character apparently needs to drive to control headquarters when she could clearly call them on her phone. Chris Pratt’s character goes ahead and opens the paddock without first confirming its location (using the tracking bug in the dinosaur), an easily avoidable fatal mistake. This is only the first of many issues surrounding the park’s inability to handle inevitable emergencies.

From the moment of disaster on, the movie flies from one action sequence to another, giving very little in the way of respite or time to think about these plot questions.

The sequence in the old, derelict visitor centre from the original movie was a nice touch, but many scenes are just long and nonsensical. I don’t see why it was necessary to spend nearly a full minute killing off one of the female support characters. It was overly elaborate and somewhat voyeuristic.

It reminded me of a rather gross scene from Carnosaur 2. Much of the action felt like a dinosaur fighting game like Warpath: Jurassic Park for Playstation One. Velociraptors vs. Indominus rex, T-rex vs. Indominus rex, mosasaurus vs. Indominus rex, mosasaurus vs. pteranadons, and so on. Round one, fight!

All in all, Jurassic World relies heavily on an audience not thinking about the events proceeding in front of them, which feels cheap (and that’s not including the subpar CGI). Instead of relying on good story, science, and anticipation of the “monster,” this film brings everything out: explosions, car chases, screaming citizens, and so on, reminding us how big studio summer action films have changed since 1993. It’s the same as it ever was: Hollywood scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Image: Anthony Biondi

Meanwhile, in the purgatorial holding pen for franchise characters during the sequel off-season...

SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

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Slacking off on the Green VALERIE FRANKLIN

THE CASCADE

No, UFV hasn’t started offering a major in tightrope walking. It’s a slackline — a taut, flat rope used as a balancing exercise.

“It’s a perfect set-up here,” said Radoslav Detchev, a kinesiology major, who strung his slackline between two trees on the Green for some fun before his afternoon class. “Usually I get people just jumping on and trying it.”

Although it may look easy, it’s not — the slackline sways, bounces, and stretches with the wind and the walker’s body weight.

“Usually when people step on it, it just shakes from side to side with no stabilizing control,” explains Detchev. “So when you practice keeping your balance straight and stiff, all your stabilizing muscles are firing on and off.”

Variations on the portable and increasingly popular sport

including slackline yoga, trick slacklining, and “highlining” (balancing on a slackline at high elevation). Many users, like Detchev, bounce or even perform flips on the line. The difficulty varies depending on the line’s height and how taut it is.

“Today it’s pretty low, but usually when I set it up at bouncing height people don’t want to step on it,” said Detchev.

Although you might get some scrapes and bruises if you set the line too high or don’t have soft ground to land on, slacklining is a worthwhile exercise for anyone looking to improve their balance, tighten their core, and strengthen their knees and ankles.

“I just ran the half-marathon for Run for Water,” said Detchev.

“My knees and ankles really hurt ... but movement helps recovery, so as far as I’m concerned this is helping.”

With files from Kodie Cherrille.

The Cascade is hiring a

CULTURE EDITOR! We’re looking for a strong writer with a passion for local events and journalism to edit our Culture section and write one article per week.

Must have an excellent knowledge of the English language and be a current UFV student taking classes in the fall and winter semesters.

Pay: $150 / issue.

To apply, send your resumé, cover letter, and a writing sample to valerie@ufvcascade.ca by Tuesday, June 23.

Images: Kodie Cherrille

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca

Mike Gilray steps in as new women’s volleyball coach VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

Mike Gilray was hired in May as the new coach of the women’s volleyball team after over a decade of coaching volleyball in BC, including leading provicial teams to the porium at the Canada Summer Games, the Western Canada Summer Games, and the BC Summer Games. He has also coached at both the secondary and post-secondary level in both BC and Alberta.

baseball weren’t offered at a lot of high schools, so I knew I would most likely be coaching a different sport. In Alberta, where I went to school, was strong in volleyball, and it got me excited about that game. I’ve spent 15 years honing my skills and being mentored by Ryan Hofer at Trinity Western University.

How did you start coaching?

As a teacher, one of the areas I was excited about in my profession was being able to coach the students. I started coaching volleyball during my practicum in Edmonton. My first coaching job in BC was assistant coach at Walnut Grove Secondary School. My first head-coaching job was at White Rock Christian [School].

What’s it like stepping into this position at UFV? I’m super excited; it’s my first time coaching at this level. I’ve been assistant-coaching at the university level previous to this.

It’s been pretty difficult starting very late in the season and trying to get some recruits to commit to the program. My head doesn’t really turn off, so I’m always thinking about the recruits that I may be bringing in. It’s very much a full-time job on top of my fulltime teaching, so it’s been busy.

So did you play a lot of volleyball growing up?

It wasn’t one of my favourite sports. I played a lot of hockey and baseball, growing up in Ontario. It was going into my teaching profession that hockey and

Do you find a change in the coaching from a high school level to university level?

I’ve coached a lot of the university level already so I have eight years’ experience working with university athletes. Before that,

Image: Dan Kinvig

for the last 12 years I’ve coached a lot of U18 [under 18], so the kids that are graduating and moving on to university. I worked with the Fraser Valley Volleyball Club and a program called the Blitz. I believe 95 per cent of my athletes went on to play post-secondary.

In high school, I try to work with the youngest groups, just to give them foundational skills and then make the job easier for my

other coaches. Then I try to mentor those coaches at my school so that I can start to build a volleyball program and get kids loving the sport of volleyball. That’s happened in the past few years here, where I’ve had a few of my old athletes come back and start coaching. We’re slowly starting to see more kids play club volleyball outside of high school.

Is there anything that you’re hoping to achieve this season or in the future with the team?

I would love to get the team back to the national championships.

Depending on some recruits, it’s taking a lot longer than I may want it to take. I spoke with the top coach in PACWEST last year, Chris Dahl, who had some wise words from a mentor when he first started: “It’s going to take four or five years to get your program where you want it to be at.”

I think as young coaches we get caught up in wanting it to happen right away and thinking we can get it done in two years or even in the first year coming in. Realistically, it takes four or five years to start implementing the things you want to see in your program and starting to get all the athletes you want to have come in. Hearing from him and other coaches I have worked with before, I think I’m in a similar boat that Chris was, and I feel like I want that to happen right away this year and give the girls that are already at UFV a great experience.

With biographical notes from UFV Athletics (ufvcascades.ca).

Walks, Hikes, and Bikes

From Bangkok to the Fraser Valley: a lesson in cycling MAXWELL SCOTT CONTRIBUTOR

Lawrence was from Belgium. He smoked these miniature cigarettes that he purchased while cycling through Iran, and he had an amazing story to tell. But it is his story, and I can only tell you what I learned from listening to him.

We met in Bangkok when I traded him my spare mosquito net for his machete and wok pan.

Lawrence had been travelling by bicycle for three years. He had been around Europe, through the Middle East into Mongolia, down through China, and pedalled through Vietnam. This trip of his stemmed from needing a break after his master’s degree in physics, but he never imagined such an adventure. After drinking good beer and hearing about his time in the Middle East and China, my view of cycling changed forever.

It is often hard to take the time out of our busy lives to just enjoy the here and now. We tend to let our routines shape our perspectives of the world and how we live our lives. Most people drive their cars or ride the bus to school or work, but I awoke one day and this routine felt wrong.

The sun shone — it was a blue-

Image: Kyle Pearce/ flickr

Biking between campuses each day isn’t for everyone, but it is an adventure! bird of a day. I woke up groggy, grumpy, and hungry. I wanted to escape the routine of eating a quick breakfast and rushing out the door to the CEP shuttle bus stop. The shuttle bus is a great and cheap way to get to school, but every time I ride it, I feel like a goat being herded onto a cattle car. Instead, I made spaghetti Bolognese and eggs, washed it down with some Tropicana, threw on my cycling shorts, slung

my school bag on my back, and began pedalling from CEP to the Abbotsford campus.

I left at 8:33 a.m. Having glanced over the route, I knew it would take roughly an hour and 45 minutes. Besides that, I didn’t know what to expect. After about 18 minutes of pedalling I arrived at the Keith Wilson Bridge, where I decided to try to overtake a woman walking her Mastiff.

This ended up being useless, as

the dog turned around and began growling and barking at me in a fit of rage. Nevertheless, I reached the end of No. 3 Rd. and began the long ride down the South Parallel Rd. at about 9:00.

When you ride down the parallel road toward Abbotsford you are able to glimpse the people inside passing vehicles on Hwy 1: blank-faced drivers, passengers absorbed in their smart-phones, and back-seat sleepers. As I pedalled onward — clocking in at 55 minutes as Whatcom Rd. passed by — the sweat soaked my shirt and my legs started to ache. Yet I felt as if nothing this day had in store for me could weaken my spirit.

After a smooth ride into Abby, I was feeling confident. My time was stellar: I only had about 15 km to go, and it looked like I would to be early for class.

However, as I turned right off of Sumas and onto Vye Rd., I was faced with a few problems.

The first was a truck filled with manure, which gave off a horrible odour; the second was the train that trapped me behind this rancid-smelling truck, and the third was the steep hill that would send pebble-sized specks of manure into my face.

The train passed, and I trudged

onward. With focus, determination, and a face full of shit, I had missed the road to get to the campus by 7 km. I found myself at the airport asking directions from a man selling strawberries and a homeless fellow who was also on a bike; he offered to show me the way, so we rode together until we reached King Rd. He turned left and I right, and eventually I arrived at the campus.

Despite the detour, I felt ready for the day, and was only 15 minutes late. I changed quickly and went to class. As soon as I arrived, I broke into the assignment of the day, but by the break, I was absolutely exhausted and needed sleep. I wandered around until I found a sofa and I put my feet up and slept for the remainder of class.

Biking between campuses each day is not for everyone, and I don’t think I would do it every day either. But it is important to take a break sometimes, and to explore something different — we are blessed here in BC, where we can explore something new and exciting each day. So break away for a day and see what you find, because the moment we stop changing is the moment we stop living.

www.ufvcascade.ca

Upcoming

Events

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

Aaron Pauls to tee in South Korea UFV golfer offers perspective on athletics, education, and having the right mindset KATIE STOBBART THE CASCADE

June 20

Mt. Cheam hike Join Mt. Waddington’s Outdoors for a hike up Mt. Cheam. The trip costs $89.99 per person and includes transportation and lunch.

For more information and to register, visit mtwaddingtons.com.

June 20

Walk for Down Syndrome awareness Help the Fraser Valley Down Syndrome Society raise funds and awareness for Down syndrome, by joining them in their ninth annual walk. The walk takes place at Mill Lake Park and will include a silent auction, door prizes, and lunch. Visit fvdss.org for more information or to register.

June 21

Summer Solstice Golf Tournament Cultus Lake Golf Club is hosting its Summer Solstice Golf Tournament on Father’s Day this year.

The event starts at 2 p.m. and ticket prices range from $19.95 to $29.95. For more details call 604858-9902.

June 27 to 28

Intro to Backpacking Mt. Waddington’s Outdoors is hosting an overnight hiking trip along Elk Mountain and Mt. Thurston. Participants will learn the basics of backpacking, including how to pack their bags and set up camp. For more information or to register, visit mtwaddingtons. com.

Aaron Pauls is a UFV golfer, now a graduate student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) studying kinesiology. After representing Canada at the 2014 World University Golf Championships in Switzerland, Pauls has been selected this year to golf at the Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea. He is one of three golfers (the other two of whom, Russell Bowie and Dylan Cave, are from Ontario — Mississauga and Kitchener, respectively) chosen to play for Canada at the Universiade. This year Pauls was also awarded the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Academic All-Canadian honours for excellence in athletics and maintaining a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

So, in a little under a month you’re off to South Korea! Are you worried the jet lag will affect your game?

Haha, no, not really. We’re there for six days before it starts, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

How do you prepare for a big competition like this?

Most of it is mental. Everyone practices a lot and they do what they can to get their games in shape, but what I noticed last year — playing for the Canadian team as well — was that people are representing their countries. It’s not just universities anymore; it’s a much bigger scale, and sometimes that can get in the way of what you’re doing, is focusing on things like that.

You’re one of three Canadian golfers going to the Universiade. What does that mean in terms of your career?

Well, this is kind of a last university thing for me. I’m doing graduate school right now, so golf, after this, is on the backburner for a while. I really don’t know down the road what happens, but for right now I’m just kind of focusing on this one event and trying to do what I can to make it a success, for myself and obviously for Chris [Bertram], who’s the head coach.

You’re in Gwangju for six days before the competition. Are you doing any touristing while you’re there, or will it mostly be about golf?

We’re going to get in on July 2; we’re leaving here on the first, and we’ll travel from Seoul on to Gwangju. Then the opening ceremonies are that night on the third, so me and Chris will be part of that. The next day we’re actually going to fly out to a little island called Jeju and spend a couple days there, checking it out and maybe relaxing a bit before we get back to Gwangju on the sixth. Practice rounds and stuff like that on the seventh, and on the eighth we get going with the event. We might check out a couple other events along the way and see what is going on with other sports, but that’s kind of our plan for the first bit.

Where do you hope to go with your master’s degree?

I would like to be a professor at a university — that requires a PhD, so I will do that after I’m done my master’s and go from there.

Image: Anthony Biondi

Pauls says had he gone to any other university, travel to Switzerland or Korea would never have been in the cards.

What has your academic experience here at UFV been like? Are there any professors or classes that really stuck with you or set you on the path?

You know, when I first got to UFV I absolutely hated school, and I was going to quit after my first semester. But Chris talked me into coming back and — oddly enough — doing more schooling after UFV. There’s teachers who have had an impact, but Chris has had the largest impact — you know, he kind of set me up on this too, UNLV, and got that going. So a lot of it is due to him. I mean, I’ve worked hard for my time at UFV, but going to graduate school is pretty cool, so that requires kind of knowing somebody, if your grades aren’t the top of the line, applying to schools like UNLV. Were you able to get any extra funding because of your involvement with Athletics, to go to grad school, or … ?

I do actually have funding, but it’s strictly academic. There’s nothing athletic to do with it when I’m down at UNLV, which is kind of cool because I’ve done the athletic stuff for a while now and to kind of switch over into academics and get scholarships that way is rewarding to me.

Is there any advice you would want to pass on to UFV athletes as you’re graduating?

Something I always tell the guys on our team is that you may not be at the top school or where the best players are, or where they have the most money, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t improve the program, whether

it’s basketball, soccer, golf … you can always, obviously, enjoy your time. It was probably the best time of my life playing at UFV, going to school. So to look at it as, “Oh, I’m not at the best place and this kind of sucks,” is a poor attitude because there’s so much you can do. Had I gone anywhere else or done something else I would never have been able to travel to Switzerland and play for a Canadian team or travel to Korea and play for a Canadian team, or win a bunch of stuff playing for UFV, travel all over Canada, see our country, meeting the people I’ve met and having the friendships I have. So I would say just to look at it as a chance to improve something — your program, your game, whatever it is you decide to do academically — that’s kind of what I tell our guys as much as I can.

Good advice. Is there anything you would have done differently?

No, I don’t think there is. Like I said, when I first got to UFV I had a really bad attitude about it and I was kind of sour to be there, like I wasn’t as good as other people going to other places but, you know, looking back at it now, I wouldn’t be where I am, and I love where I am in life, and a lot of that is just due to UFV and the people I’ve met there and the experiences I’ve had playing golf, and schooling. So, there’s really nothing that I would change.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 www.ufvcascade.ca