The Cascade Vol. 24 No. 16

JUNE 22 TO JULY 6 2016

VOLUME 24 ISSUE 16

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

Prohibiting prohibition since 1993

How it’s made: A printing adventure pg. 8-9 Experiential Learning and Wellness Fee · pg. 4 Orlando aftermath · pg. 7 Read TH BOOK · pg. 15

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY. JUNE 22, 2016

CONTENTS

Culture & Events

Arts in Review

News

Opinion

New interdisciplinary degrees

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Energy efficiency at UFV

Playing since Vanilla

UFV might have some new courses on the way for media arts and indigenous studies.

Apparently there’s a tech support centre in the SUB. But where is it?

Blair McFarlane, UFV’s new energy manager, talks his plans to make UFV more green.

The invisible knight elf shares his opinion on the new World of Warcraft movie.

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STAFF

CONTRIBUTORS

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

Opinion Editor Alex Rake alex@ufvcascade.ca

Illustrator Sultan Jum sultan@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor Mitch Huttema mitch@ufvcascade.ca

Culture & Events Editor Glen Ess glen@ufvcascade.ca

Online Editor Tanya Vanpraseuth tanya@ufvcascade.ca

Business Manager Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts jennifer@ufvcascade.ca

Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca

Multimedia Editor Mitch Huttema mitch@ufvcascade.ca

Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca

Production Manager (interim) Sultan Jum sultan@ufvcascade.ca

Staff Writer Sonja Klotz sonjak@ufvcascade.ca

News Editor (interim) Michael Scoular michael@ufvcascade.ca

Production Assistant Danielle Collins danielle@ufvcascade.ca

Advertising Rep Kayla Schuurmans kayla@ufvcascade.ca

Cam Stephen Cameron Schmitke

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

Invisible Night Elf Katie Stobbart Volume 24 · Issue 16 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Cover Design: Sultan Jum Back cover photo: Mitch Huttema

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

The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Writers meetings are held each Monday at 2:00 p.m. in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus.

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length.

The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 400 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

EDITORIAL

NEWS BRIEFS List of programs in development updated for 2016-17 While news of new degrees passed (see page X), and not yet passed (theatre, peace and conflict studies) continues to be on some faculty’s minds, UFV’s Senate reviewed a document that outlines future degree proposals to be considered at their June meeting.

Next up, according to the document, are a Bachelor of Environmental Studies, a Master in Migration and Citizenship, and a Master of Science in integrated science and

technology.

The

document

also

points to, further down the line, concept papers for potential degrees (including a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in graphic and digital design; currently only a diploma option exists).

Board of Governors appoints new chair The highest level of governance at the university announced who will be leading the Board next year at their June meeting.

The close of 2015-16 marks the end of term for several board members, including Barry Delaney, the chair since 2013.

John

Pankratz,

a

Abbotsford-based

partner

at

accounting

the firm Illustration: Sultan Jum

Friesen Pankratz & Associates LLP will be the new Board chair. Pankratz took courses at the then-UCFV and Columbia Bible College before graduating from SFU with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Randy Bartsch, the CEO of a health care-serving laundry business called Ecotex, will remain as first vicechair, and Elyssa Lockhart, associate counsel at the Surrey-based law firm McQuarrie Hunter LLP, is the new second vice-chair.

Hitchhiking to graduation: stick your thumb out and come along for the ride VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

New members to take the place of Delaney, George Hemeon, and Gwen O’Mahony, the other two Board members finishing their provincially appointed terms, will be named by the province before the next Board meeting in September.

UBC appoints new president VANCOUVER — After a controversial management conflict that led to its previous

president,

Arvind

Gupta,

resigning, UBC announced last week that Santa Ono, the seemingly unanimously beloved president of the University of Cincinnati, will be its next president.

Ono, known for his ability to connect with students over social media and his candour when it comes to discussing mental health and how it affects student life, spoke of a desire to bring the same level of engagement to UBC. “When you’re a president or vice-chancellor of an institution, you need to advocate for every part of the institution — there’s the student body, the faculty, the staff, the alumni,” he said to the Ubyssey. UFV’s own search for its next president is currently in progress.

There’s something about being a full-time student that makes you want to get as far away from your university as you can every chance you get. So after finishing one of the hardest semesters of my university career, I decided to go hitchhiking. While I knew that, regardless of what happened, it would be an adventure, I didn’t know where I was going to sleep, what I would eat, or who I would meet. But by the time I reached San Francisco, I knew that there was something addictive about hitchhiking.

It had its ups and downs, and more than a comfortable amount of terrifying situations, but it was also one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. From sitting on a cliff in southern Oregon overlooking the Pacific Ocean while talking with my ride about his experience seeing Jimi Hendrix live at Woodstock, to eating tacos in a small town in northern California with a Mexican marijuana farmer/tattoo artist, the people I met made every awful moment along the way worth it.

I had already travelled a lot on my own, but hitchhiking was something new. Having just finished the winter semester and being broke made it the only possible way to travel, but it was more than that. I wanted to try something different, to meet new people, and, most of all, see if I could actually do it.

It was during my trip that I applied to be the Editor in Chief of The Cascade. I was sitting in the common room of a hostel in downtown San Francisco with the worst case of food poisoning I’ve ever had when I finally sent in my application.

I had my hesitations, but after making it all the way there, more than 1,500 km from home with nothing but a backpack, I finally felt that I was ready, or at least as ready as I would ever be.

Even though in that moment I felt as if I could take on anything, I still had no idea what to expect taking on the position. In my two years working for The Cascade I had worked with three different Editors in Chief, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that taking on the position would be extremely time-consuming, challenging, and, most of all, one of the most stressful years of my life. But similar to hitchhiking, I have some control over what happens over the next year. While I can only hope for the best, I can choose my direction and (most) of what happens along the way. It still feels like I’m heading into new territory with nothing but a backpack, but this time, I’m not 1,500 km away from the people I need to make sure that this year is a success.

This isn’t very different from every student’s university experience. We start university with positive expectations, knowing deep down that things can, and probably will, go horribly wrong at times, but in the end, it’ll be worth it. There will be moments where we wonder what the hell we’re doing and why we even bothered with university in

the first place, but when it’s finally over and we have a degree, we’ll be glad we did it.

It didn’t take long for me to learn that working at The Cascade would be different from any other job I’d ever had. Having just finished my first year at UFV, I still felt eager to take on whatever university threw my way. At that time I had no idea that the paper would become my life over the next two years, and even more so in the year to come. It hasn’t always been easy and there have been a few of those terrifying situations along the way, but it’s the people I’ve met and the sense of belonging that have made it worth it.

One of my main goals as Editor-in-Chief is to bring back the community environment that attracted me to The Cascade in the first place.

While student newspapers exist to inform students about what’s happening on their campus, they also serve as a training ground for anyone interested in writing and design, and most importantly, a way to get involved and meet people on campus. This was what has kept me at The Cascade over the past two years, and is what I hope will attract more students to it in the future.

While I still don’t know what to expect from the year ahead of me, I know that it will be a rewarding one. I know that it’ll be tough and full of its own terrifying situations, but at the end, in the words of a young Eddie Vedder, I’ll (hopefully) be able to say “I’m still alive.”

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY. JUNE 22, 2016

NEWS Staff hires from new student fee detailed ahead of fall addition Connections with industries, work experience documentation emphasized MICHAEL SCOULAR VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

As students register for the fall semester, the first funds of the experiential learning and wellness fee are beginning to accumulate.

The fee, set at $2.79 per credit, is specifically designed to fund new staff positions to support management of student services. And, as part of the ministry regulations surrounding the fee, those staff must be considered part of “new programming.”

UFV is installing this programming within pre-existing services, with a goal of having the new hires in place by September.

The student funds from the fee will be divided between a variety of student services, including athletics and campus recreation, the Career Centre, the Academic Success Centre, supported learning groups, Student Life, portfolio development, and experiential learning initiatives.

Michael Baumann, the Career Centre director, says that the centre’s portion of the fee will support integrated learning programs, which he defines as “any kind of work experience that you can get during your studies.”

The fee will fund a Career Centre employee dedicated to increase employment opportunities for students.

“This position will be going out into new industries and new areas to help promote our program for students,” says Jody Gordon, the vice-president for student services. “The hope is that we’ll generate work opportunities for students in industries that we have yet to discover or that we haven’t had past interest from.”

In the Student Life department, the fee will go towards a staff position at the peer resource and leadership centre, where work will be done to expand the co-curricular record (CCR) program beyond campus volunteer opportunities.

“Our CCR is really about helping students to identify the skills and learning outcomes that they’ve established and been able to practice outside of the classroom when they’re here,” Student Life director Kyle Baillie says. “We’ve got that in place, but what the fee is going to do is help us develop external [memoranda of agreement]. The ability to develop more of those and facilitate those relationships is something that we’d like to do and this fee will directly support.”

Similar to the Career Centre, the athletics department will be using revenue from the fee to create a new position in charge of developing campus recreation opportunities, as well as promotional initiatives to encourage students to have healthier lifestyles.

“We have to recognize that wellness and well-being is a critical component to being successful,” Gordon says. “Campus recreation is not something well-established here and we want to be able to have this position go out [and] learn what it is that our students want.”

On the experiential learning side of things, UFV is creating two positions, which it is calling an “experiential education coordinator” and a “learning designer.”

“This position will do an inventory of all experiential learning opportunities that currently exist for students on and off campus, [and] begin to establish partnerships with community groups where students might do experiential learning placements and opportunities, both locally or internationally,” explains provost and vice-president academic Eric Davis.

The learning designer will be responsible for coordinating a portfolio program, necessitated by the recently approved changes to the bachelor of arts and bachelor of general studies degrees.

“We’ve incorporated portfolios into two of our degrees and that’s just a start,” he says.

“They’ll get the portfolio program up and running and they’ll provide training for students and resources and ongoing support.”

Photo: Mitch Huttema

Do you have a nose for news?

The Cascade needs you to sniff out stories and keep students up to date

on campus happenings. Send a resume, cover letter, and writing sample to mitch@ufvcascade.ca by no later than June 24, 2016.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

NEWS

After Ministry approval, new interdisciplinary degrees set to be offered in 2017

Photo: UFV Flickr

New faculty and updated courses potentially to come for and Indigenous Studies MICHAEL SCOULAR THE CASCADE

Following the Ministry of Advanced Education’s approval, two new degrees within the college of arts will be open to students — though not until Fall 2017. The Ministry’s approval came after multiple important dates at UFV: deadlines for the academic calendar and financial budget and, in both cases, the anticipated year the programs would begin to be offered.

For the new degree (bachelor of media arts) and the new degree option (a major or minor in indigenous studies for bachelor of arts students), that means additional time to plan and organize programs that signal UFV’s shift toward degrees that emphasize interdisciplinary study.

Students will still be able to earn credits that will count toward the degree in 2016-17. One of the features of both is that, while the degrees will require UFV to add new courses to the calendar and link others together in new ways, many required courses are already available. The media arts degree covers (among others) theatre, film, art history, and media communications, the indigenous studies major includes history, anthropology, and Halq’eméylem language courses, and both require students to take at least one business course.

On the administrative end, the extra time will need to be used

to update the degrees to what UFV looks like in 2016-17. Since both proposals were written (media arts in 2013, indigenous studies in 2014), courses have been altered, re-numbered, or their prerequisites changed. Dean of Arts Jacqueline Nolte says that, in the case of media arts, a curriculum committee will have to be reconvened to make sure the degree is ready to fit in with current offerings.

That’s not to say the major work of the committee will be counting credits and tracking minute changes in course descriptions: Nolte points out that for an interdisciplinary degree to thrive, a team of supportive faculty needs to exist.

And the committee will, in part, need to figure out what that could look like.

“When you have a department delivering a major like English, or a major like French, you have direct ownership — but as soon as you have an interdisciplinary degree ... unless there’s that [same kind of ] continued commitment, the degree’s not going to be successful,” she says.

Since there won’t necessarily be a department head of each degree (and some of the department heads involved in the degrees’ creation have changed roles at the university), hiring new faculty in both cases is something Nolte says will be part of the plan.

“We have to position ourselves to make these degrees viable,” she says. “That means, if not in the first year, certainly in the second or third we’d be looking at hiring what preferably would

be an interdisciplinary [instructor].”

There are other new considerations with these degrees: a contingency fund is in place for elders to have a role in indigenous studies-related courses “as often as possible,” five MEDA courses unique to the degree will be, as part of a new program, exempt from the provincial tuition limit in the first year they are offered, and the media arts degree as a whole, which has five concentrations as outlined in the proposal, could end up looking slightly different by the time it’s open for applicants.

“The whole objective of a media arts degree was to recognize that students need to create their own positions — they need to be able to think about how to be savvy, in terms of setting themselves up for jobs that don’t exist already,” she says. “And in order to do that, you would think there would be sufficient elective space for students. But in actual fact, I think we’ve created some quite narrowly prescribed concentrations.”

Those changes will be up to the curriculum committee — and any major changes will need to go to Senate. Nolte notes that, as part of meetings bringing advisors up to date on how to assist students that are interested in the new degree options, info sessions for students may be offered next year. Info sessions are also planned for the new bachelor of agricultural science, an interdisciplinary degree to be offered by both the faculty of science and applied and technical studies.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

OPINION S

O’CANADA

Our home and native land!

True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free!

From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Oh, C Cam Stephen

There has been a lot of debate lately regarding the changing of our national anthem. Those in favour say it makes Canada more gender-neutral, while others say the change is a waste of time and money.

Is it really that big of an issue? It makes some people feel more included in their country, and the change isn’t hurting another group.

Amusingly, many claim that changing the anthem goes against Canadian heritage. But our anthem has only been official since 1980, a mere 36 years. The song itself has been around for a lot longer, coming into form in 1880, but only in French. Directly translating the French version, the song differs dramatically from the current one.

We didn’t have an English version until 1906, and our familiar version wasn’t created until 1908.

Ironically enough, the original English version was lyrically similar to what our anthem is proposed to become.

I don’t have a stance on the change. The bill proposing it is bound to pass Senate. Nothing I can do about it, though I’ll probably sing the old one out of habit for a while. Complainers are sure to forget this in a month or two anyways.

Curtailed commentary on current conditions Illustrations: Danielle Collins

Sometimes I do risky things: biking without a helmet, rock climbing, walking through Clearbrook at night, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I am something of a daredevil.

I’m also something of an utter moron. This is my third greatest failing.

I will let myself get talked into doing the most idiotic sort of thing, by my erstwhile friends, purely because of the adrenaline rush that will surely result.

“Break that cinder block with your head!” they say, “Okay!” I cry. Then I do it, and I actually cry, because cinder blocks are really hard.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Don’t look up to me kids. Stay safe, and when someone asks you to do something because it’s “totally badass,” just look them dead in the eye and say: “fuck off.”

The pains of peer pressure Evel K-ow-my-knee-val

Agreeing or disagreeing with an idea or with a position of thought is a tedious game that can turn you into the evil doppelganger of the thing that you are opposed to. If I am a feminist and am so staunch in my values that I come to ostracize and hate men for rubbing me the wrong way, then I walk dangerously close to doing exactly what it is that I initially became disillusioned with men about. If I am a Christian and I become too legalistic in my values, excluding and hating people based on my rigidity, then I begin to dance with the loss of the very heart of my religion’s purpose. Do not be afraid to offend people as you do your best to stay true to your walk of life, but bear respect for those that you do offend. Be nice and think twice is what I always say.

What is it about looking cool that’s so damn desirable? My own vision of the world is shaped by the conviction that the way people look is unimportant, and so I shouldn’t judge them on what clothes they wear or how ugly their face is. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes wish I looked like a badass.

I’m a dorky white dude with a cleft lip, scraggly beard, and gangly body, and proud enough of it. But I’m proud of the way I look in the same way that a mother will forever be proud of how charming and well-liked her son is, despite his being a known serial killer. The pride would be more meaningful if I had the shocking good looks of an anime dude: pink hair, an eyepatch, a classy collared shirt. I know that sounds ridiculous, but nothing looks cool if not ridiculous.

Be nice, think twice

What’s cookin’, good enough lookin’?

Mitch Huttema

Alex

All this is to say we all have some qualms with who we are when compared to who we think we ought to be. If a change in attitude is not a good enough solution, maybe all we can do is adopt a sense of resignation. We look good enough, y’know?

Letters to the Editor Re: Experiential Learning and Wellness Fee

Re: “New agreement opens transfer path from Columbia Bible College to UFV”

In signing up for my Fall 2016 classes, I noticed a charge called Experiential Learning & Wellness (ELWF) of $50.22. I called OReg to ask what this new charge covered and how it benefits me and the student body. OReg told me this fee is meant to provide support to students in the form of peer and mentoring relationships.

I would like to initiate a conversation on how this fee covers “Learning and Wellness” in the majority of student disciplines at UFV. As with all fees, this additional fee is capable of increasing with time along with existing tuition fees. Furthermore, there should have been a notification delivered to all students regarding an increase in fees and what these fees support.

I suggest this new additional fee be itemized as to its spending and have the ability for a student to opt out if this fee does not cover any benefits available to certain students (ie. physics does not have an SLG or additional help or peer mentorship for a student having trouble in physics).

This additional fee for me totalling $50.22 is approximately 5.0 hours of work on minimum wage to cover services already in existence — I would think UFV would like to keep its services affordable and not pay for redundant services comparable to those already in place.

Thank you, Jon Dearden

It has taken a day or so for me to find the words as to why this makes me angry. Columbia Bible College is a private institution that has specifically outlined in its Student Handbook that “homosexuality will not be tolerated.” … This passage can be found in the section titled “Community Standards,” under the section called “Appropriate Sexuality.”

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UFV is already an extremely intolerant university towards the LGBT community as it is. This baffles me because UFV is a public university. I do not understand why these attitudes of intolerance are so openly allowed on campus. If someone can please explain, I would truly appreciate it. But I really do not understand why these attitudes will now be invited — unless of course students transferring to UFV from CBC would be willing to give up their intolerant ideas, which I know will happen when hell freezes over.

Craig Michael Campbell

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

OPINION FixIT: All quiet on the IT support front CAM STEPHEN CONTRIBUTOR

Illustration: Sultan Jum

FixIT, opened along with the grand opening of the Student Union Building in the 2015 Fall semester, is an IT support service operated by the Student Union Society. But where is this service located?

It’s tucked away at the very top of the building on the 3rd floor in a hallway that is probably frequented more on a trip to the bathroom than to visit the IT service itself, as it has done little in the way of advertising its existence.

This is actually quite unfortunate, as the service has been quite useful to me since it opened and I would love to see it get more use. Twice in the time it’s been open have I required some kind of tech support and both times I found myself quite pleased with the results. My laptop battery became fried so I gave them the make and model of my laptop and they did the research finding a number of different batteries for me and then ordered the one I needed for my laptop. When it arrived I dropped my laptop off (it’s funky and its battery isn’t easy to access or remove), went off to class, and by the end of the day it was all fixed and ready to go. Another instance was using their service to fix my broken phone; within a week (the phone needed a new LCD screen so it was useless during that time), it was repaired and ready to go,

looking brand new and functioning just as well as a phone can in the SUB. One of the largest benefits was both the cost and the speed of service. I only needed to pay the cost on the actual part itself and then when the part had arrived the repair was done the same day.

But, despite the speed of the service, every time I have gone up there it has always been exceptionally quiet. Rarely if ever have I seen another student in there (not counting the employees). Speaking with the employees there it seems like they get the occasional computer in to fix but a majority of the time is spent with little to do.

This is a little disconcerting to hear, but at the same time it does not surprise me. FixIT does not advertise as much as some of the other services that the Student Union offers. The Canoe and Fair Grounds are both large with massive signs announcing their presence, while FixIT has only a small banner above its windows, which is difficult to see unless you are already looking for it.

With the introduction of printing into FixIT’s services (removing that from the main SUS office), perhaps it will start to see more traffic in the coming months. I’ll continue to use the service, but I would like to see more students using it and taking advantage of such a service, especially when they are already paying for it to be there.

Orlando shootings a tragedy, and should not be treated with bilateral politicizing GLEN ESS THE CASCADE

Let’s be honest here, the Orlando shootings, one of the worst mass shootings in history, was a tragedy. Make no bones about it, it was fucking terrible. What’s also terrible is how this has been turned into a political battleground.

It does a disservice to all the people lost, to the families rent asunder, to so quickly politicize this issue with all the grace of vultures.

Just like the aftermath of every other mass shooting in the states, the debate about gun control rages with all the dignity of a rabid dog, frothing at the mouth. The United States, and much of the world, have had this discussion over, and over, and over again. The world reels in mourning for one of the worst hate crimes ever committed, and then you have people talking about gun rights, again.

They really should have figured this out by now.

But the Orlando shootings are not only a pro- versus anti-gun debate; they have also incited debate about Islamophobia. The gunman, of Afghan descent, is reported to have sworn allegiance to ISIS. Naturally this became a huge factor in all the rhetoric tossed around. In the world we live in today, how could it not be?

It shouldn’t be.

We live in a world possessed by fanaticism. We have to listen to people constantly painting issues as “Us versus Them,” and howling about their own rightness and the inherent, utter wrongness of their opponents. We live in

a world where one looney-bin idiot can claim to speak for an entire religion, an entire country, an entire group of people. That looney-bin idiot can then attack another group of people, wounding them, their family, and many, many others.

Let’s not turn this into yet another “Islam hates X” debate, because, so far, despite claiming to be working for ISIS, investigations into the perpetrator haven’t made those connections factual. Hell, ISIS hasn’t claimed the guy, and ISIS is, to be completely honest, a bunch of assholes who love to hate everyone.

It’s a good thing everyone, and by everyone I mean anyone with half a brain, hates ISIS. Muslims, Christians, Arabs, and Americans: practically nobody is on ISIS’s side.

Disavowed by the majority of the islamic world, hated by the very people they claim to be fighting for, and being absolutely trashed by everybody else: that’s what ISIS have to deal with, and that’s what the Orlando gunman will have to face.

So please, when we discuss this latest tragedy, let’s do so with empathy. Let’s not start making sweeping statements about entire peoples. We can all agree that individuals, like the gunman, can be vile. Members of the LGBTQ+ community, Muslims, pro-gun, anti-gun, whoever, we’re all shocked, we’re all in mourning. We need to help oneanother, we need to listen, and we need to care for one another, no matter what our differences are.

That’s how it should be.

Illustration: Danielle Colins

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

How it’s made at the Cascade Follow us through the printroom where The Cascade ceases to be a digital dream MITCH HUTTEMA

THE CASCADE / PHOTOS

Last Friday, June 17, employees of The Cascade toured the International Web exPress facilities in Coquitlam, where the newspaper is printed. WebExpress, which specializes in small-run print jobs, prints student publications from all over the Lower Mainland, including Kwantlen’s The Runner, SFU’s The Peak, and CiTR’s Discorder, as well as various other magazines and papers.

We enjoyed getting up close and personal with the process that goes on behind their ink-spotted doors, so we want to give you a sneak peek of how the publication that aims to capture UFV’s story in print physically comes to be.

All quotes in this article are from Web exPress Production Coordinator Tania McGuire or from Carl Turnbull, the sales rep that co-ordinated our tour.

It all starts when The Cascade’s production team sends its master PDF file of the weeks issue to International Web exPress’s FTP site.

The printers layer cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink to create the full colour images you see. Each colour is printed with a seperate aluminum registration sheet. These sheets are created by the machine in the photo which uses lasers to etch the aluminum.

“When your file comes in, prepress works on your files. They look at where your colour pages are supposed to be and then they put them into a workflow called ‘Polka dot.’ It translates all of the information on each page to x and y coordinates for the printer to laser on to the plates for writing the image.”

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“

“PS, Print is NOT dead!” - Carl Turnbull Many of the presses at International Web exPress are decades old and are still in prime condition. Many of the technicians who work on the machines have been working with the machines for a long time as well.

“The printers are pretty old.

Sometimes in the middle of the night something will break and we fall behind and we’re just a few hours late. We have electricians that are on call 24 hours a day so we can always get someone in.”

Each of the print jobs gets sent to the computers in the photo and added to the queue of jobs to be run on the manual presses.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

“The guys put the plates on press and they weave the paper into the right units on press and then they start printing.”

“I know that the owner here believes in free press, so there are a few jobs that other printers wouldn’t touch that we do sometimes.”

In the warehouse of the print shop, there are flags hanging which represent each of the countries and languages which the print shop services.

“We have a huge compactor here. In our bindery department, we have these big hoses that suck up all of the trim and transport it over to the compactor. Our compactor gets emptied every night, so there is a lot of paper that gets recycled.”

Huge reams of paper are stacked in columns in the warehouse. Behind these are flags from the many countries WebExpress publications represent. McGuire says, “We have more than 150 daily, weekly, and biweekly publications in 22 languages.”

Many student newspapers rely primarily on web content, with the bulk of their readership being online, and only have a print issue to maintain a presence on campus. UFV and The Cascade are a different story; most of our readership is print, with our online content being a support rather than a pillar of circulation.

There are many quotes and clichés out there that suggest knowing where we come from is important means knowing where we’re going.

We’ve taken you on this journey to show how important print is in terms of our origins, our ability to bring you news, commentary, and entertainment with every issue, and our future.

With files from Katie Stobbart and Miranda Louwerse.

Photos: Mitch Huttema

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

CULTURE & EVENTS UFV’s new energy manager outlines his goals for the coming year GLEN ESS THE CASCADE

UFV recently hired a new energy manager, Blair McFarlane. To get an idea of what his responsibilities here at UFV will be, The Cascade sat down with McFarlane to discuss our energy consumption and his plans for a greener future.

What exactly does your position and work here at UFV entail?

Energy and projects. I touch on a lot of sustainability issues on campus as well; I’m kind of the go-to guy for sustainability, and the reason I was brought onboard was to increase energy efficiency and identify some projects throughout all of our campuses.

Sustainability is a major issue here, what are your initial thoughts on UFV’s energy efficiency?

My first thoughts were that there’s a plan in place, but maybe it’s lacking a little in the cultural support around the campus. I think that it’s tough to hit all of it right away, or tick all the boxes right away. The campuses are expanding so quickly that there’s a little bit of lag time for things regarding energy efficiency and sustainability. So one of the things I’ve been brought on to do here is change the culture a bit, so it not only benefits the student body, staff, faculty, but also so it benefits the business aspect of running a university. I’m identifying projects

that are not only good for the environment — which we have our civic responsibility to protect the environment and land we love working and learning in — but also identifying business cases for these projects that are favourable for the running of the university and looking for projects that have a rate of return.

To save money and lower our utilities bills?

Exactly. You invest some capital up front, but through energy efficiency increases you’re lowering your utility costs. So those savings are now being collected by the university, rather than our partners at FortisBC and BC Hydro.

You mentioned the culture towards energy efficiency here at UFV. What do you mean by that?

I have to suss it out a little bit. I’ve only been on board for about 75 days right now so it’s a little hard to get a definitive feel for the culture and lay definitive foundational project planning to make improvements to that. We’re working towards that, identifying how our financial structure is going. We’re identifying past projects and how they’ve performed and where we are right now so we can forecast into the short and long-term future as UFV grows.

Would energy from your projects be green / eco based?

For example, vegetable gardens and tree planting?

Maybe not so much of a biological stream, but

when we’re talking about recycling, organics, and compost, that’s definitely something I’ll be working on.

We don’t really have many compost bins here on campus.

There’s a few throughout campus — it’s something we need to increase and have a bit more cohesion, a better understanding of what the purpose of composting is and what is compostable, recyclable, and waste for the landfill. That’s a difficult one to tackle because there are different waste removal companies, so it depends on what contract we have at what time. I don’t have specifics, but it’s interesting that if you go to Maple Ridge, to Vancouver, or Victoria, what is considered organic or a compost may differ through different communities, or different contracts for neighborhood waste removal.

I didn’t know it was that complicated. Is it not consistent?

It’s not uniform. When we’re looking to — [notices my cup of tea] like your paper tea cup there, some districts or organizations, depending on their waste removal contract, could compost that. There’s a really small plastic lining the inside, but it depends on how that company has their composting recipe, if you will. How they mix their compost together; are they able to test the compost? The soil produced from it? Is that minute amount of plastic from those coffee cups affecting the product? And to what extent? It’s sort of at the discretion of the waste removal

company.

It’s difficult to get the message across on every day-to-day item what slot it fits into. If you live in Chilliwack, then it might be different, so at home your recycling habits are different to what they need to be here at the Abbotsford campus.

You might be contaminating the wrong things.

So that’s one of the things I’m going to be really focused on this fall, and through the winter: getting a cohesive understanding of what’s appropriate across our campuses on what’s compostable, recyclable, and what’s waste for the landfill.

That’s a lot of cultural changes. How will you you be getting those ideas across?

Communication, and it starts here with you — print communication. We also have nine boards dedicated throughout the campuses to sustainability, so that’s a good location to go to for information, but also going to the sustainability section on UFV’s webpage, or facilities and janitorial as well. Some of the initiatives that we’re taking to increase awareness and functionality of those recycling and composting systems. The interesting thing about a university environment is that every four years there’s nearly a 100 per cent turnover in the population. So every year you need to reinforce the message, you have fresh ears, fresh faces that are willing to learn and to participate in new initiatives. At least to the individual they’ll seem new, even though they may be long-running programs.

Dancing, art, stories, and fun: celebrating National Aboriginal Day GLEN ESS

THE CASCADE

The month of June is a special one, serving as National Aboriginal History month here in Canada.

June 21 is even more special, as it’s National Aboriginal Day: a month long celebration of Aboriginal culture, all centred around a single day. UFV’s celebration of our indigenous peoples was held on Wednesday, June 17, in the Student Union Building.

Lasting four hours, UFV’s National Aboriginal Day awareness event saw a traditional welcome performed

by Elder Eddie Gardner, as well as Aboriginal arts and crafts on sale, some of which were crafted by UFV Aboriginal students. With vendors along the edges of the Great Hall, the central focus of the event was on the cultural demonstrations provided.

Cedar weaving and language lessons from the Coqualeetza Cultural

Education Centre, Eddie Gardner’s medicine wheel, the explanation and demonstration of a game of Slahal — all this and more was on display.

Most enjoyable of all was a traditional Sts’ailes dance performed by several young children which was complemented by thunderous drumming. It was an emotional moment, though smiles were raised at what appeared to be the troupe’s youngest member holding onto to an attendant adult’s hand all throughout the performance.

The event was a success, as UFV students were given a glimpse into the rich history and culture of the indigenous people of the Fraser Valley.

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

CULTURE & EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Student Life workshop shows students how to paint through the stress GLEN ESS

THE CASCADE

JUNE 22-23 JUNE 22 JUNE 23

JUNE 23-25 JUNE 25

It may be summer, but for students registered in condensed courses, it’s crunch time. With exams and final projects peering over the horizon, it’s understandable that stress levels are on the rise. On June 14, Student Life held a workshop to help students creatively channel their stress through painting.

The workshop, running for only two hours late that Tuesday morning, was led by local artist Karrie Murray.

The goal of the workshop was to highlight a meditative approach towards painting, and Murray would lead the small group of students and Student Life staff through the completion of their paintings.

With a soft voice, Murray instructed the group in what direction their brushstrokes would go. In many ways, it was similar to a yoga lesson, with an instructor leading from the front of the class with a demonstration which was then copied by the class. While on the surface it appeared that the group hadn’t been given much room to express themselves, after some time it became clear that Murray would encourage them to incorporate aspects, colours, and techniques of their own choosing within the framework she provided.

With students and stress often walking hand in hand through UFV’s halls, perhaps the meditative art form espoused by Murray can help refocus your mind.

LANslide gaming marathon

@SUB 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 a.m

Gathering to remember Orlando victims

@U-House 11:00 a.m. - 12:00p.m.

Grand Opening of Mission Central Community Garden @ 7477 Welton St 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Field House Music festival

@SUB 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m

Envision concert in the park series ft. Western Jaguar @Kariton Gallery 7:00 p.m.9:00pm

What’s on your plate?

UFV hosts Cities & Food Conference, research by UFV students key SONJA KLOTZ

JUNE 30 JULY 1 JULY 1

Whoop-Szo, Chastity, and Villain Villain @ Brothers Bowling 8:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.

CIVL and Sup present: Canada Day special show @Phoenix 7:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.

Canada Day Parade and festivities @Exhibition Park 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.

JULY 1

Fresh air Fridays (music) (recurring every Friday in July)

JULY 2

Envision concert in the park series ft. Cascade Wind Ensemble

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@Highstreet 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

@ Kariton Gallery 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

THE CASCADE

Research conducted by UFV students was showcased alongside UFV’s involvement in the agricultural sector in the Fraser Valley region and B.C. on Friday, June 10. Held in the Student Union Building, the Cities & Food Conference, funded by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship, featured UFV’s Agriculture Centre of Excellence (ACE) along with their various partner organizations and NPO’s, such as the Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Eminus academy.

Four students, Sierra Nickel, Jeremy Wagner, Josh Rempel, and Curtis Finley, presented their research projects, conducted in East Africa last summer, at the conference.

“I am so proud of those students,” said Cherie Enns, associate professor of geography, environmental science and the global development studies program. “I think that’s what undergraduate research or university should be doing is allowing students to research and then present.”

When asked for defining moments from their internships, three of the four students replied enthusiastically about their individual experiences with conducting research abroad.

“You learn about how to do research projects, but [while] being actually able to do something that’s never been done before and then writing a paper together,” said Nickel. “Being able to have your paper published in your third year undergraduate is an amazing experience — to be able to put that on your resume before you even graduate.”

Rempel stated that “the biggest one is being able to take the research project all the way from us thinking of something to do, making the surveys, and then actually executing the surveys. [It is about] being able to go through the entire process rather than just bits and pieces in a classroom setting.”

“Going over there I was anticipating on engaging with foreign issues, but what

I kind of realized is that a lot of these issues are also happening within the Canadian context, albeit at different extents,” said Wagner. “So while engaging with these issues in Tanzania is for food security discourse in that region, I think that there’s a lot of transferability to how we can get by in the Fraser Valley and Canada.”

Enns reiterated her pride in these students, who were able to explore the greater world of international development and engage in the global discourse surrounding food security.

“I also really wanted to bring our partners to showcase who we are, but also so people here could hear them and listen to them and then showcase to them student research,” she said. “I feel like we’re doing everything we should, but at the same time, we’re interacting with experts, so I hope there’ll be some really strong outcomes from this event as well. I think this really speaks to UFV’s success as an institution, but it also speaks to their potential.”

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

CULTURE & EVENTS ESports Valley to host first-ever gaming marathon GLEN ESS

THE CASCADE

Students with a love for electronic gaming will be transforming the Student Union Building into a LAN party on July 22-23. The Esports Valley (ESV) club is hosting its first LANslide at UFV, an event where gamers get together, many bringing their own laptops and computers, to get their game on.

Jay MacKay, public relations manager for ESV, said that with the event day getting closer, ESV members are getting excited.

“We’ve been planning this event for an extremely long time,” she said. “It’s been over a year, and it’s finally getting close.”

Games that could be present include: ***League of Legends, Super Smash Bros., Hearthstone, DOTA, Counterstrike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Pokémon,*** and perhaps some party games, such as ***Mario Party, thrown in for good measure. The club also plans to show movies and provide a more relaxed hangout area located in the atrium.

ESV is looking to expand its community and hopes to support different games by generating more interest. The club has also been in communication with local businesses to have the event sponsored.

Organizers are expecting a turnout of close to 100 people.

“We are going to stagger the types of events that we’re having throughout the day,” MacKay said.

“Even though we are going to have multiple things running at once, there is probably going to be a set time for mostly League players, a set time for mostly people interested in Hearthstone, things like that.”

MacKay encouraged non-gamers to check out the event, as well.

“Even if you’re not a gamer and even if you’re not especially interested in the stuff we have to offer, you might find it to be a nice social event — a really great place to meet people,” she said. “We are pretty social and friendly people, and I think it’s a real opportunity, gamer or otherwise, to come and meet someone.”

Proceeds raised at LANslide will be donated to the Starfish Pack program at the Abbotsford Food Bank, an initiative that provides local underprivileged students with lunches.

LANslide will largely be using computers that eventgoers bring themselves, but ESV has been provided with five computers.

MacKay also hinted at some surprises in store for LANslide.

“You can expect some fun and faintly ironic surprises at LANslide,” she said. “We got something planned … a little underlying theme just for kicks.”

LANslide will run from 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22 until 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 23.

Excellence Awards feature three new awards for faculty and staff CAMERON SCHMITKE CONTRIBUTOR

Staff and faculty mingled, chatted, and were treated to wine, courtesy of the UFV alumni association, on Wednesday, June 8, as the UFV Excellence Awards were held at U-House. Staff and faculty gathered and showed their appreciation for the contributions of the honorees. The annual teaching and research awards were given to Dr. Martha Dow and Dr. Derek Harnett respectively. The remaining three awards: the inspirational leadership, staff excellence, and teamwork awards, were new additions.

Derek Harnett, a physics professor in the faculty of sciences, was given the research award for his work in the field of quantum chromodynamics.

Harnett was unable to attend the reception, as he is currently on a sabbatical at the University of Saskatchewan, working as an adjunct professor.

“There are probably no more fundamental questions than the kinds of things about life and the universe and everything in it than the kinds of questions that Derek works on,” UFV president Mark Evered said. “These are problems that we’re all interested in and they’re extremely difficult to understand — perhaps well beyond the understanding of mere mortals. But, I’m not sure Derek’s a mere mortal.”

The teaching excellence award was given to Dr. Martha Dow from the sociology department.

Dow’s unique approach to her introductory course, Sociology 101, sets her apart from her peers — Dow is even known for offering students refunds if they feel it hasn’t altered their worldview by the end of the course. So far, not a single one has taken her up on the offer. Evered described Dow as “someone

who really does care about students and reaches out to them in ways well beyond just transmitting knowledge in the classroom.”

Outgoing executive assistant to the president and inaugural staff excellence award recipient, Jill Smith was recognized for her longtime contributions to both faculty and students. Smith is set to retire this summer after 29 years of service during the tenure of four presidents.

Evered lauded Smith, saying, “That encyclopaedic knowledge of the university that Jill brings after that many years of service has really benefitted us all.”

The new teamwork award was bestowed on five leading members of the Green Team, a collaborative effort including both students and UFV faculty.

The recipients were: Pat Harrison, Alyssa Bougie, Gayle Ramsden, Mark Goudsblom, and Sheldon Marche. Along with other members of the Green Team, the five were responsible for organizing events such as Turn It Off week and a waste audit.

Finally, Samantha Pattridge received the UFV inspirational leadership award for her work as the head of the communications department. In addition to her work for her department, Pattridge made the suggestion to invite Terry O’Reilly to the President’s Leadership Lecture Series, which saw record attendance and was a resounding success.

Evered, who is set to retire in 2017, expressed optimism for the future of UFV. “There’s so many great people at this university who have and no doubt will continue to do great things,” he said. “Our history is a history of successes, from a small regional college to the university that is now recognized internationally.”

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www.ufvcascade.ca

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

vvv

ARTS IN REVIEW MOVIE REVIEW

LOK'TAR-OGAR!

Shuffle AARON LEVY CIVL STATION MANAGER

The Weeknd "The Hills" Is this what people are really doing these days? I mean, 2 a.m., 3 a.m., even 4 a.m., but half past five? That seems just a tad late to me. I mean, the bars don't even stay open in Abbotsford past 1, and Mission usually shuts down around then too.

White Town "I Could Never Be Your Woman" The title of this song is appropriate enough for me, because I could never fulfill the pronoun necessary to satisfy the category of personhood invoked here.

Abbotsford, on the other hand, is nearly 75 per cent accurate with regards to the name of the artist of this particular piece. 25 per cent not though.

Madison Avenue "Don't Call Me Baby" Nobody really ever calls me baby, so I'm not personally able to identify with the title / intention of this song, however, I'm able to basically understand the concept of not wanting to be treated possessively by someone else. Again, I don't know how many people desire me as a possession.

Alice Deejay "Better Off Alone" A question asked all through my adolescence, essentially only because of the title and chorus of this song, it's a question that has resonated throughout the last two decades for men and women and others alike; do we sacrifice security and struggle for independence and self sufficiency? Are we better?

CHARTS 01

Radiohead A moon shaped pool

02

Basia Bulat Good Advice

03

Wolfmother "Victorious"

04

Anvil Anvil is Anvil

05

Primal Scream Chaosmosis

06

John Cale M: Fans

07

Tricky Skilled Mechanics

08

Garrys Warm Buds

09

Hot Panda Bad Pop

10 11

Laura Sauvage Extraordinormal Nothing Tired of Tomorrow

12

Blessed Blessed

13

Programm A Torride Marriage of Logic and Emotion

14

You Say Party You Say Party

15

Rae Spoon Armour

16

Jordan Klassen Javelin

17

Short of Able Welcome

18

Smash Boom Pow Higher Power of Desire

INVISIBLE NIGHT ELF TELDRASSIL

War what? Is this the next Lord of the Rings movie? No mom, this is the game that I’ve been playing for a very, very long time. Oh …

Warcraft, based on the real-time strategy (RTS) and massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) franchise and directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code), has the task of overloading a ,~,gaming multiverse into a stand-alone, two-hour-and-,change epic, and possibly a trilogy.

What’s refreshing about Warcraft is that despite the inevitable information dump — warrior orcs from the dying world Draenor find a magical gateway into peaceful Azeroth and come up against its human (and dwarf and high elf) inhabitants — the emphasis from the very beginning is on its character. Indeed, some may overlook just how bold a move it is to kick off proceedings with an orc couple, Frostwolf leader Durotan (Toby Kebbell) and Draca (Anna Galvin), who are prospective parents worrying about the fate of their clan and their newborn. You don’t get much more “human” than that. And only after their journey begins do we meet the actual people, chief among them Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and right-hand man to benevolent King Llane (Dominic Cooper). Naturally, the kingdom is perturbed to find signs of unwanted visitors, particularly those bearing the hallmarks of The “Fel” — dark magic that warps its users as much as its victims and surroundings — a magic that ruthless orc warlock chieftain Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) wields to seize Azeroth for his commander Sargeras in exchange for power.

We haven't even touched on Azeroth’s Guardian (sorcerer) Medivh (Ben Foster), sorcerer’s apprentice Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer), half-orc, half-draenei slave Garona (Paula Patton), Blackhand (Clancy Brown), King

Magni (Michael Adamthwaite), and, of course, Grommash Hellscream (Terry Notary). Attempts to keep everyone in play and develop meaningful connections initially seem to be defeating Jones and co-screenwriter Charles Leavitt.

Warcraft shapeshifts from a CGI experience you’re watching to one you’re actually immersed within. Other tech specs are suitably state-of-the-art: the orcs in particular move with impressively real heft and expressiveness and composer Ramin Djawadi (Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans, Game of Thrones) underscores the action with rousing, tribal rhythms. Like Christopher Nolan, Duncan Jones has gone from cerebral genre hit to slick thriller to major franchise opportunity, and he directs the combat scenes with assuredness, without ever reaching the rarefied heights of Peter Jackson or James Cameron.

But Jones’ real strength, and his overall priority, is more personal than technical. The story, cribbed from the 1994 RTS, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, is pretty simple at heart.

But the heart — teeming with frayed connections between parents and children, separated lovers, betrayed friends — beats ever stronger. The plot even does what Tolkien / Jackson conspicuously skimped on (give or take the odd Boromir), which is to genuinely raise the stakes by killing off seemingly key characters. As a result, the climactic face-offs and cliff-hangers have far more dramatic weight than you might have imagined. “Game Over” truly means something here.

While a bit bloated at times, Warcraft stands out with its character-focused approach and some stunning visual effects.

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

ARTS IN REVIEW BOOK REVIEW

Experimental poetry is not heartless ALEX RAKE

THE CASCADE

It’s easy to dismiss experimental poetry. Picking up a book and seeing a line like “i will not give / yu what yu want th vois sd 2 me” can be frustrating if you were expecting something you could immediately understand. The frustration can feel even worse if you have the sense that the poet who wrote it doesn’t want to be understood. “This writer thinks he’s so smart,” you say to yourself, “getting snooty artsy types to call his work genius for fear of looking stupid!” And so you toss the book aside to read some trusty Robert Frost.

In the case of bill bissett, the poet who wrote the above words in his new book, TH BOOK, you ought to reconsider your dismissal.

Forget what you know about language as the ultimate ark of meaning. This is poetry that furthers your coming to terms with the feeling we all have in our guts that no words will ever be eternally appropriate, precise, or perfect. Language is instead used as aesthetic material; you experience the sounds and shapes of speech, not the logic or argument. In this book in particular, bissett defies language’s hold on meaning with his “lettr texting,” walls of grammatical symbols and letters that form hypnotic waves on the page. He explains on page 79 that this form “liberates / langwage n th mind from forsd meenings 2 a nu realm / uv un naming n unmeening 2 just b free from content.”

Before that he claims “evreething dusint meen sumthing,” which begs the question: does it matter?

But TH BOOK is not a cold-hearted exercise in linguistics and philosophy. In fact, bissett — as always — manages to make the work incredibly personal, seeming at times too specifically personal for the poem to connect with the reader at all, beyond provoking a sense of pity for the writer. But

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that’s just at first glance. Many of the poems focus on the death of his daughter, for example, one of which goes into a detailed list of names of people who helped him out during that time (p. 26). This is a sincere expression of appreciation, but it is just a list. Because bissett’s poetry demands that we question everything, you have to ask: why should this be less legitimate in a book of poetry than a more traditional, Hallmark-y attempt at the same sort of expression?

That is not to say bissett is necessarily above trying Hallmark-esque forms (“all ways, always,” as he is often quoted in interviews), but nor is he below or even beside it. He is utterly within it, and the poetry reflects that with its sheer energy. One poem is just the word “avocado,” repeated again and again, with letters all jumbled up (p. 57). It has no singular, definitive meaning, and still it fascinates like a cubist still-life. And what does any still-life painting mean when stripped of any particular symbol? Why care what it means if, in some unnamable way, it resonates with you?

If language is a door made of diamond, protecting a room full of the mysteries of being, TH BOOK busts it down, breaks it apart, makes all kinds of baubles out of it, and just leaves the room intact and open for the reader to explore blindly. And yet, after all the distraction of my metaphor there, TH BOOK does not claim to be some key to the universe. It’s just a book, and one that deserves your attention.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

ARTS IN REVIEW GAME REVIEW

Overwatch oversteps expectations CAM STEPHENS CONTRIBUTOR

The newest game from developers Blizzard is the first-person objective-based shooter, Overwatch, and boy have they hit the mark with this one.

Overwatch is addictive, and with its 21 unique characters and 12 richly designed maps, each game feels like a unique experience that plays slightly different from the last, and things never feels boring as you quickly lose yourself in the chaotic rumbles.

Each of the characters is split into one of four classes: offense, defense, tank, and support, but these are really simplistic labels. Each character is so varied from the next that you need to look further to understand what you will truly need for your team. One tank, for example, is Roadhog, a large man with a double-barreled shotgun who fights by singling out targets with a chain hook before blasting them in the face.

But then another tank, Reinhardt, fights with a much different style: he has no gun, wielding a massive hammer as his primary weapon, and he is most known for the giant shield he projects, blocking damage for his team.

Loading into the game, you are placed onto a team with five other players and sent to one of 12 beautifully crafted maps. Each map

features a different objective, such as capturing and defending a point from the enemy team or pushing a payload to the end of the map while the enemy team attempts to stop you. Games are fast-paced with many coming down to the wire in a tense overtime finish. Many times have I seen a team (mine or the opposing one) be far from victory, only to somehow extend the game long enough via overtime to push forward and win. It’s an incredibly exhilarating experience to be a part of and only makes you want to dig deeper and play more.

Overwatch never makes you feel like losing is a terrible thing, either. In a few other online games, if you lose you get nothing, experience points are minimal at best, and any added incentives are also taken away during a loss. In Overwatch that isn’t the case — you still gain a decent amount of experience to level up your character, and if you or someone else on your team did well enough, they can show up in the commendation screen or even be featured for having the “Play of the Game.” The commendation screen lists four players who all did well during the game: if you did a lot of damage, were extremely accurate, held the objective for a long time, you have a chance to be featured. The Play of the Game is a bit different; typically, it will show a character who deals a massive amount of damage to

multiple opponents at once, resulting in a triple or quadruple kill.

Overall, Overwatch is a great game, whether you’re playing solo or with a group of friends. The

amount of fun it offers without being repetitive is incredible and you’ll find yourself wanting to keep playing game after game.

LAN SLIDE FUNDRAISER FOR THE STARFISH PROGRAM

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016

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