The Cascade Vol. 25 No. 5

FEBRUARY 1 TO FEBRUARY 7, 2017

VOLUME 25 ISSUE 5

Punching facists in the face since 1993

Plans start for the Digital Hub UFV has contracted professional services company Stantec to start planning the Digital Hub, a digital teaching facility.

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When whales fly Get your weekly dose of scicne: learn about the aerodynamics of a blue whale.

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Silence A movie that we can’t keep quiet about.

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Israel vs. Palestine pg. 10-15

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

EDITORIAL

Sometimes pissing UFV off is a good thing VANESSA BROADBENT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The dangerous thing about running a student society on a campus that’s known for having a hard time getting its students engaged in its student societies, is that with an uninterested membership, there’s not much that can’t be done. The Cascade could choose to run only comics about cats and the Student Union Society (SUS) could choose to buddy up with UFV instead of advocating for students, and although people might care, unless enough of the student body actually banded together to do something about it, the societies could get away with pretty much anything — and with students’ funds supporting them.

So, when you are one of the minority of students who pays attention to what their societies are doing, and you’ve also figured out that letting a group of students manage a $6-million company (is SUS’ case) could lead to a pretty disastrous end, you make sure that you vote for someone you trust, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. At least that’s what I did in the last SUS annual election.

Over the past term, SUS has done some pretty cool things, let a few pretty cool things slip by, and is still working on some pretty cool things that I really hope will happen. One of those is the implementation of free condom and feminine hygiene product dispensers in the Student Union Building (SUB), and a few other

Photo: The Cascade

spots around UFV. The Cascade published an article last week about how the promised dispensers have not yet been installed, although students were told they could expect them in November following an incident where a student was found poking holes in the free condoms supplied in a public washroom in the SUB. The whole thing was a big cloudy mess over who was going to pay for them, which is why they’re still not here.

The article included a quote from SUS president Sukhi Brar that said: “This [UFV offering to pay for the dispensers] was because of all the media attention. What pisses me off, again, and I had been wary of it then too is it’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s partner,’ and so when Abby News was contacting, when people were contacting it’s like ‘We’re partnering with SUS to do this thing.’”

It’s not hard to tell that this quote wasn’t exactly planned or carefully thought out, but likely came from a place of frustration and candidness.

It’s safe to assume that the publication of this quote spurred a few negative reactions, but, the thing is, this is the first time this year that I have ever felt like SUS, a society that I as a student am paying to represent and advocate for me as a student, is actually doing this.

Student politics usually tend to attract the “involved in everything” type of students that are looking for more things to fill out their already shining resumes, and not necessar-

ily the ones that really want to make a change, and that’s the problem.

When you’re running an organization — a position that the students you’re representing have elected you to be in — your alliance should be with those same students. Your top priority and main goal should be what’s best for students, and I would expect that occasionally that would include saying things that UFV might not necessarily want to hear — or might not want students to hear — but that need to be said.

I know this puts SUS in a bit of

STAFF

an awkward position; it’s always hard to coexist with an institution where tension exists, especially when there are relationships that quotes like this could hurt. But if our Student Union is more worried about causing conflict between themselves and university administration or ruining personal friendships in the institution that they’ve established more than they are worried about letting an important service to students not be offered, then they’re not doing their job. I get that conflict is uncomfortable, but isn’t that what you would

expect from joining student politics, especially a union which solely exists to protect and advocate for its membership?

While it may have come as a shock to many that our SUS president admitted to being “pissed off ” with UFV, it should be more of a shock to learn that she hasn’t been all along.

After all, I voted for her to question the university and be a voice for students, not befriend the university. I’m proud to see that is exactly what she is finally doing.

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

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

Culture & Events Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca

Photographer Alexandrah Pahl alexandrah@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca

Distributor Griffy Vigneron distributor@ufvcascade.ca

Business Manager Quintin Stamler quintin@ufvcascade.ca

Production Manager Brittany Cardinal brittany@ufvcascade.ca

Cover: Colter Louwerse Back Cover: Brittany Cardinal

Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca

Online Editor Tanya Vanpraseuth tanya@ufvcascade.ca

News Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Features Editor Bradley Peters brad@ufvcascade.ca

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

Opinion Editor Panku Sharma panku@ufvcascade.ca

Illustrator Amara Gelaude amara@ufvcascade.ca

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Rachel Tait Colter Louwerse Laura Andrés Mike Friesen Sarah Ferencz

Volume 25 · Issue 5 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

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

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 400 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

NEWS NEWS BRIEFS

UFV releases new app geared towards students

Cascades women’s rugby manager passes away Todd Di Guistini, manager of the Cascades women’s rugby sevens team, passed away Monday after being involved in an automobile accident. Di Guistini was a UFV graduate from the bachelor of business administration program in 2009, and served as the president of the Abbotsford Rugby Football Club from 2010 to 2013. “Todd was a great friend, and this is a huge loss,” head coach Jen Ross said. “We’re going to keep playing in his name.”

- UFV Cascades

UFV Library hosts poetry book sale In order to raise funds for the UFV Library Heritage Collection, the UFV Library is hosting a poetry book sale.

From Feb 6-10, nearly 400 poetry books published in 2014 will be on sale in the library on UFV’s Abbotsford campus. The UFV Heritage Collection is a database of rare material relevant to the Fraser Valley. Consisting of mainly books, the collection exists with the goal to preserve but also supply sources for research. The collection was founded in 1988 and in 2011 was relocated from the Chilliwack campus to the Abbotsford campus library.

Pipeline through Chilliwack final Kinder Morgan announced this last week that the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion is confirmed to pass through Chilliwack, via a flyer delivered to homes near the route.

However, according to WaterWealth campaign director Ian Stephen, the National Energy Board (NEB) has not yet approved the route. Kinder Morgan will be required to provide formal notice upon approval of the NEB and residents will have 30 days to oppose the decision.

- The Chilliwack Progress

Cascades wrestling excels at tournament Brad Hildenbrandt and Karla Godinez Gonzalez of the UFV Cascades wrestling team both won medals at the Cascades Classic, the program’s third annual Canada West home tournament.

Hildenbrandt defeated opponents Kyle Nguyen of the Winnipeg Wesmen and Donovan Dale of the Saskatchewan Huskies to win the men’s heavyweight (130 kg) title. Godinez Gonzalez was defeated by SFU’s Abby Lloyd, but still finished with a bronze medal in the women’s 51 kg weight class.

- UFV Cascades

Photo: Vanessa Broadbent

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR

UFV’s mobile app was unveiled yesterday. Focusing on student interests, the app offers academic and campus specific information. Some of these features include class schedules, access to grades, and campus information, among other tools and utilities.

“It’s primarily just a tool for students to make things a little easier for them,” said Caleb Zimmerman, director of marketing and recruitment.

The app also includes a map with GPS waypoints for buildings on the Abbotsford campus.

If location services are enabled, it will display relative location to each building and allow users to search for the location of the campus’ main buildings. Currently this feature only applies on the Abbotsford campus.

The app also includes a Blackboard (myClass) integration component. If the Blackboard app is already installed and activated on the device, selecting “myClass (Bb Student)” on the UFV app’s sidebar will redirect to the Blackboard application. If Blackboard is not installed, the UFV app will prompt an installation notification from the app store.

Darin Lee, chief information officer of information technology services oversaw the techni-

cal side of the app’s design.

“One of the things that I was pretty motivated by was making sure we weren’t just making an app because people were asking for an app, we actually had some functionality,” said Lee. Other features that the app includes are the phone directory, shuttle bus schedule, links to social media channels, and news and events.

While there is some notification capability, the UFV student email service Zimbra is not yet connected to the app. Lee said that it hasn’t been made to be a part of the app yet, but it could become another component if there is enough demand. Currently the notification tab may be used for reminders such as payment deadlines.

“There’s of course all kinds of things that we’re going to continue to improve, a lot of it will be based on feedback we get from students,” said Zimmerman.

The UFV app had already seen some student useage during a pilot test phase with a group of 20 students before it launched.

The app was developed in house by UFV employees in both the University Relations and Information Technology Services departments (ITS). The platform for the app was created by a company that specializes in resources for educational institutions and is also the creator of the platform for myUFV. While ITS handled the back end and built the

technical side of the app, university relations focused on what exactly will face the users. They are also responsible for promotion and to ensure that the app’s features are useful to students.

Both groups focused highly on making the app relevant to students.

“One of the things that I was pretty motivated by was making sure we weren’t just making an app because people were asking for an app, we actually had some functionality,” said Lee. The UFV app was built off of a platform that most universities use so it will share similar functionality with other university apps. While the app won’t offer exactly the same features, it will deliver a similar experience and may resemble other designs.

Ultimately, the app was designed predominantly to be used by students.

“I think there’s expectation particularly from students, that they should be able to do things on their mobile phone,” said Lee. Because of this, Zimmerman and Lee both welcome feedback on the app’s functionality and what students would like to see included.

“We really want to hear what people liked, what they didn’t like, what was useful, what was useless,” said Zimmerman. “That will allow us to make it more useful for students.”

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

NEWS

Chinese delegates visit UFV MICHAEL CHUTSKOFF STAFF WRITER

In preparation for the upcoming 2022 Olympics in Beijing, UFV recently hosted a group of Chinese delegates who came to Canada to learn more about the success of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, as well as the history of winter sports. The 20 delegates arrived October 30 and stayed for 13 weeks. The delegates came to UFV with two goals in mind: to learn about long-term athlete development and how to host Olympic Winter Games.

The group consisted of a variety of professionals with experience in the sport industry. This included sports administrators, HR personnel, national coaches, team managers, and university faculty.

UFV International and the department of kinesiology collaborated to provide the delegates with lecture-style seminars as well as hands-on learning sessions relating to long-term athlete development. Seminars were delivered by members of the faculty of kinesiology on such topics as sports psychology, physical literacy, exercise science, and best practices in coaching and leadership theory. The delegates were especially interested in how Canada dealt with long-term athlete development.

Chris Bertram, associate professor of kinesiology, stated that the delegates were curious about how Canadian athletes develop.

“When we look at the Canadian long-term athlete program, we look at how we can develop kids into elite athletes, or even olympians,” said Bertram.

Unlike China, Canadian children are exposed to a variety of sports and athletic development is made to be fun and engaging.

As children get older and more mature, that’s when the sport they have chosen becomes more intensive and more specialized.

According to Bertram, the Chinese identify key strengths in children at a young age and herd them into a specific sport path.

The child will then grow up in that chosen sport until they have

developed into a high performance athlete.

The delegates also had the opportunity to tour various Vancouver Olympic venues such as the Richmond Oval, Roger’s Arena, the Sliding Centre, and Nordic Centres in Whistler.

The delegates wanted to see how the 2010 Games in Vancouver were conducted. By visiting some of the Olympic venues, the delegates were able to see firsthand how the venues are run and maintained. On these tours, they were also able to learn more about the operations of large venues.

As well as learning from various faculty members from UFV’s department of kinesiology, the delegates had the opportunity to meet with some of the representatives from the 2010 Olympic Games to learn from their experiences while being a part of the Games.

These representatives included coordinators for volunteers.

The representatives shared their experiences and strategies for screening, selecting, and methods for managing all the volunteers. On-site managers also shared the successes and challenges they faced during the Games. They then offered advice for avoiding potential problems.

Other experts included the director of performance, the director of pacific sport, and the chief medical officer for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

The delegates also met with Jeff Pain, a former Canadian skeleton silver-medalist who is now the head coach of the Chinese skeleton team. Pain, who was a Canadian pioneer of skeleton, shared his experience of finding the sport, how it was initially organized, and how it operates now. As a Canadian-trained athlete now coaching in China, Pain was able to contrast his perspective on long-term athlete development, and offered insight as to how the Chinese system could be improved.

UFV was able to connect the Chinese representatives with members of the Vancouver organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). Through

these connections, the delegates were able to learn about things like planning a general timeline that spans across the entirety of the Games, to managing the general workforce that will be responsible for all aspects of running the event, and even learning about Vancouver’s medical / crisis response strategies that were put in place for the Games.

Kara Bertram, a contract training and study tour coordinator at UFV International, said the tour was made possible because the general administration of sport in China reached out to UFV. “In addition to the in-classroom sessions, the group was able to see and hear first-hand from those on the ground at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, our legacy programs, how sport venues operate and how sporting events operate,” she said.

Chris Bertram mentioned that during the visit, a Chinese consulate member from the embassy in Vancouver came to see the delegates, and were very excited to see what they were learning.

The consulate member had seen a news story about the delegates coming to Canada while back home visiting family in China, and wanted to see it first-hand.

“It is a big deal that the Chinese government is sending out the delegates to help improve the infrastructure for athletes,” said Chris Bertram.

After the group left, Bertram said that their experience was positive. He was confident that this trip provided the delegates with the tools to better serve their athletes back home, as well as providing insight to the successes that attributed to the running of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics rapidly approaching, Bertram said that the Chinese delegates feel confident in what they learned during their time in Canada.

CIVL aims to provide journalism training with CIVL Radio Mini School VANESSA BROADBENT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

In an effort to provide volunteers with professional journalism training, CIVL Radio’s latest project is combining workshops and speaker events to create “Radio Mini School.”

The five-month-long program comes as part of a $50,000 grant that CIVL Radio received from the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC), which made it possible for CIVL to hire three staff to coordinate the program, and even pay volunteers for work they produce.

“It’s called the CIVL Radio Mini School and we are creating a series of workshops and events around building capacity for students and community members in the area to do radio storytelling and radio journalism,” explained Gordon Katic, the project coordinator and one of the staff members hired as part of the grant.

The project is split into two components: three sets of workshops with industry professionals after which volunteers will work with CIVL staff to use their newly-learned skills to

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create radio pieces, and a speaker series where volunteers can showcase their completed projects.

“Right now we’re in the process of booking some professional journalists to come in from all over the country and some from the United States,” Katic explained. “[Students] are getting the best education that you can get in terms of radio storytelling.”

Along with booking some of the industry’s best as speakers, the grant also allows CIVL to offer compensation between $250-500 for students who complete the training and produce a radio piece, which CIVL Radio station manager Aaron Levy describes as “more like a oneoff podcast.”

“We are paying volunteers to learn about radio production from professionals in the field,” explained Levy. “We have hired staff to work with them on producing pieces that we will then air on CIVL and then we will showcase them at speaker events where we will hire professional and high quality speakers for public speaking engagements.”

Part of the reasoning behind offering com-

pensation to volunteers was to hopefully attract a more diverse variety of contributors.

“It’s vital to give people that space, not everyone can just afford to do these projects on a lark and people have jobs and people have lives,” Katic said. “I think in community radio and these creative industries we tend to see a certain class of people represented because this is an issue and people need to put food on the table.

That’s why the project made priority of a substantial amount of budget going to volunteers.”

In the grant proposal, CIVL committed to focusing the projects on members of minority communities including First Nations (including residential school survivors), immigrants to Canada, members of the Punjabi community, the elderly, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and environmental advocates.

“There’s an emphasis on that in the grant and we’re hoping to see those kinds of stories told,” Katic explained. “If you’ve always been wondering what are LGBTQ students on UFV caring about and you haven’t made it out to an event and spoken to a lot of the groups, here’s an opportunity to do that and get paid for it.”

The project was initially inspired during the early planning stages of the Fraser Valley Music Awards in 2015, which CIVL also received a grant for. Levy was required to ask the CIVL board of directors for approval to apply for a grant and board member and UFV geography professor Jonathan Hughes suggested that a grant be put together to bring speakers to Abbotsford.

“The next grant round that came up, that was what I focused on,” Levy said. “I focused on that concept that he had and it turned into a speaker series, and feeding into that speaker series is going to be a series where we pay volunteers to learn skills to make productions and have professional journalists come and work with our volunteers to help them put together better pieces.”

The first installment of the workshop series is this Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in room A229 on UFV’s Abbotsford campus and will feature CBC’s Angela Sterritt and Garth Mullins, with the rest of the project scheduled to occur over the next five months.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

NEWS

UFV contracts to move forward with plans Pre-planning for the Digital Hub will begin shortly Photo: Alexandrah Pahl

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR

UFV has contracted Stantec to assist with the pre-planning of the university’s number one capital project, the Digital Hub. Stantec, a professional services company, offers expertise in engineering, architecture, and project management as well as in other areas of consultation. The Digital Hub is one of the major components of the university’s master plan, as well as their fiveyear capital plan.

The Digital Hub will be a sophisticated digital facility with labs and active learning spaces. It will also create the new home for UFV’s theatre program with a black box theatre. The theatre program is set to come to Abbotsford in September 2017 and UFV’s Chilliwack North campus, which currently only houses the theatre program, will continue to be marketed as per their agreement with the provincial government.

The Digital Hub is purported to align with the province’s BCTECH strategy. It will be designed to teach students and prepare them for jobs in B.C.’s tech sector.

“We see the Digital Hub project as extremely important to our future. Especially because our own organizational innovation involves creating a culture of innovation,” said Craig Toews, executive director of campus planning and resource management at UFV. The new space will also facilitate newly approved degrees, bachelor of media arts degree and bachelor of education with a secondary school option.

The objective of the Digital Hub is to host the infrastructure

for interactive teaching and performance-based learning. It will all be held together with a modern digital framework.

According to UFV’s capital plan, “The Digital HUB will create an inviting and architecturally stimulating representation of the university, a place that stimulates innovation and collaboration with a true entrepreneurial spirit.”

“It’s going to be one of our most sophisticated buildings to date,” said Toews.

Stantec was chosen through a competitive bidding process because of their expertise in related areas and a strong resume.

They’ve also worked with UFV before, helping to build the CEP campus in Chilliwack.

In order for the Digital Hub to be built, a number of processes must align. Stantec will help UFV lay out the groundwork and meet the requirements to get government and the Ministry of Advanced Education’s approval on the project as well as locate capital funding. Stantec will build a business case for the project.

The business case will include important components to appeal to donors for funding and to inspire the City of Abbotsford as they develop their innovation platform together.

Stantec will work with UFV to answer questions inherent to the pre-planning phase of the project by conducting a feasibility study, asking who and what activities are going to go in the building, considering building design, and looking at where it will be sited on the campus.

“When we have that information, we can do some order of magnitude costing, we can develop some renderings to help the advancement team, and develop partnerships and inspire others to join the project and perhaps donate,” said Toews.

The pre-planning phase sets up the project so that it can be

presented as a package. The contract with Stantec does not however include architectural design or construction — these processes will only take place after pre-planning is complete, approval has been met, and funding is in place.

Although UFV has established their own vision for the Digital Hub, part of what Stantec will do is facilitate forums and consult with focus groups to solidify what components are most crucial to the project. These groups will include external groups such as the City of Abbotsford, The Reach Gallery Museum, and student groups.

The consultation period for Stantec and UFV is expected to be between eight and 10 months long.

“Hopefully somewhere in the fall we’ll have a really crisp and compelling plan that we can share with the community of what we’re envisioning with this,” said Toews.

The final completion date for the space will depend on when funding is received. Assuming funding requirements are met, architecture design and construction could be about a threeyear-long process.

“So if you have funding in place following that, all in total it’s about a four-year window optimistically,” said Toews.

To fund the project, UFV hopes to partner with local and provincial governments for financial support. The UFV capital plan also says that the Digital Hub may house commercial enterprises and / or lease out professional and retail spaces to offset costs.

UFV has already begun fundraising with the goal of $10 million but the project will largely be dependant on whether it will receive funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education.

“It touches just about everything at UFV, that’s why it’s so integral to our future,” Toews said.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

NEWS

Bridging community plans A pedestrian overpass paralleling McCallum will close gap between UFV and community

Photo: City of Abbotsford

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR NEWS EDITOR

A pedestrian overpass connecting the north and south sides of the Trans Canada Highway will provide the UFV community with access to the Marshall / McCallum block of Abbotsford.

The overpass will reach, on the south side, from Salton Road, right around the large digital advertising board along the freeway towards Salton Road on the other side of the freeway. Currently, the two portions of Salton Road on both sides of the freeway are unconnected but will be joined once the overpass is built.

The project is estimated to cost $3.9 million. The City has also received a $1 million grant from the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, through the BikeBC program.

“That will connect our community with the community on the North side of the Freeway,” said Craig Toews, executive director of campus planning and resource management at UFV. “We know there are a lot of students who live in housing or apartments on the North side of the freeway.”

The overpass is intended to give pedestrians a safer route than they would have crossing the McCallum vehicle overpass —

where pedestrians may have to cross through two roundabouts multiple times, while vehicles move and merge at high speeds.

The bridge itself will be a four-metre-wide overpass. On the north side of the freeway it will connect to a 2.6-metre-wide bike path along Salton Road to Marshall Road. It will be accompanied by a 1.5-metre sidewalk and parking on the west side of Salton.

The south side of the freeway will see a three-metre-wide separate bike path along Salton to King Road and the U-Walk. It will also be accompanied by a 1.5-metre sidewalk and parking along Salton.

Connecting both Salton roads also brings the City’s U-District vision closer to fruition. In 2011 the City and UFV began collaborating to create a vision for the community surrounding UFV. In 2015 the vision was turned into a detailed plan that will guide development for the university and surrounding area.

The vision includes a university village to bring university life and community together, natural green zones, and the campus U-Walk — a pedestrian and cyclist walkway. This trans-campus walkway will reach from the forested land on the south side of campus and Student Union Building, through campus, across

King Road, and over the Trans Canada highway via the planned pedestrian overpass.

Although the vision for U-District includes many potential changes to the university campus, it is only a general plan set by the City. It will be up to developers to work with the City and their vision in order to build what will become U-District.

“The two benefits that are immediate are it would connect those students as well as it moves the U-District vision forwards,” said Toews. “The overpass was a really significant piece to the U-Walk and to connecting our campus.”

The overpass will also help to meet one of the targets of the Official Community Plan, that 25 per cent of trips around Abbotsford are made without a vehicle.

The City of Abbotsford’s website says: “This bridge will help improve mobility and safety for pedestrians and cyclists and will also align with the City’s strategic goal to enhance multi-modal transportation systems in the community to support walking, cycling and transit.”

The project will start this spring and is expected to be completed within a year.

Stories worth paying attention to #WorthaDam The Columbia River Treaty may be renegotiated The Columbia River, where it crosses the Canada / U.S. border has been governed by a 53-year-old treaty. The Columbia River Treaty (CRT) stipulates that Canada be compensated by the U.S. in exchange for damming the river on the Canadian side. The Mica, Keenleyside, and Duncan dams provides flood control, hydropower efficiency, and water control for irrigation.

This significant river also produced up to 50 per cent of the power production for B.C. The CRT was signed in 1964 and on top of the bundle of cash first received, the B.C. province has received payments annually.

Although the treaty has no end date, it can be ended with 10 years’ notice, any time after 2024.

A story by The Globe and Mail, “A River Worth a Dam” looks at some of the history and it’s expected renegotiation.

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#DirtyDonations

#StakingClaims

B.C. Premire and pipeline proponents in alleged conflict of interest

Cunning former First Nations Chief play legal chess with Mining Minister

An alleged conflict of interest between premier Christy Clark and proponents of the trans mountain pipeline may be reviewed by the British Columbia supreme court.

Lawyer and former First Nations chief of the Xat’sull First Nations, Bev Sellars, made some waves in British Columbia recently with a cunning legal maneuver.

The Globe and Mail reports that “Democracy Watch and PIPE UP Network have applied for a judicial review of the environmental assessment certificate granted earlier this year by the province for Kinder Morgan Canada’s $6.8-billion project.”

The claim is that the approval process of the pipeline was tainted by political donations made to B.C.’s Liberal party by Kinder Morgan that total $560,000.

No allegations have been proven in court yet.

In less than an hour, Sellars was able to obtain free miner status and use online resources to claim her right to explore the land of Minister of Energy and Mining, Bill Bennett.

Sellars is motivated by a long history between her community and the mining industry. In 2014 the Xat’sull felt the repercussions of the Mount Polley dam collapse. The breach released over 20 million cubic metres of waste generated from mining.

In hopes of generating discussion and advocating for tightening the regulations on mining development, Sellars displayed just how easy it is to stake claim on private land.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

OPINION

What the women’s march and white feminism have in common MICHAEL CHUTSKOFF STAFF WRITER

First off, I want to thank everyone who contributed to the women’s march. It was inspiring to see a vast amount of people marching to protect their rights.

Moving on from that, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty. While the march was successful, with millions participating, I just don’t understand why so many people let it get to this point, or the irony that exists in the march itself. Where were the supposed “white feminists” when the equal rights movement was pushing for marriage equality? Where were they when Black Lives Matter was in full swing? Instead of standing together in solidarity, we saw the “All Lives Matter” movement in response to Black Lives Matter, which was mostly pushed by white people. The point is, they weren’t there for other issues that intersected with women’s rights, and are only out there protesting now, because the orange monster is impeding on their own lives and issues. Instead of working together with men and women across all races to fight for women’s rights, stories have begun to flood the internet about some of the plain ignorance the white feminist movement has caused.

I recently came across a Native American woman’s experience at the rally on Twitter. @ synderain recounted some of the straight up deplorable actions she and her friends encountered while they showed up to the protests.

Dressed in traditional garbs, the Twitter user

and her fellows held a prayer circle before the march. She continued to say that many white women questioned if they were “real Indians” (sidenote: calling an indigenous person an Indian is actually offensive), and many took pictures and saw it more as a show instead of a cultural ceremony. Many even tried to walk into the prayer circle, and seemed to not care about their actions. Perhaps the most disgusting part of the Twitter recollection is that when the march started, two white women beside the Native American women said “Guess we are real Indians today!” as they giggled. When confronted that you can’t just choose to be a race, one responded: “I’m from Minnesota. I know a lot of the lakes around me and they are all in Indian. I even know some tribes too.” When they were asked to leave, they said “It is unfortunate Indians can’t take jokes.”

Nothing beats the classic phrase “I know X, or my friend is X, so I can’t be racist!” This phrase, and all its variants, have seeped their way into the white feminist movement, and clearly show how ignorant people are. Just because you may be friends with someone who is a different race does not mean you are not racist.

Just because you have “experienced” another culture does not mean you can appropriate it, and slander those who are a part of said culture.

Racism has always been a toxic mechanism of human history, and the so called progressive white feminists have placed themselves in an echochamber where only their problems are heard, and their casual racism cancels out any concerns people of colour have.

When it comes to fighting for the rights of others (including your own) it is paramount to understand that while your rights are important, the way you see your rights is different from others. In order to be a successful feminist, you absolutely have to be educated on the issues your compatriots are facing. By standing for your rights only when it affects your turf, and those who have struggled for ages have to accept only your terms, your voice is dampened, and your credibility is lacking. When I say becoming educated about others, I don’t necessarily mean a university education. It’s pretty obvious that some who have worked for their degree are clearly inept at dealing with contemporary issues. Empathy goes a long way when it comes to understanding other people’s lived experiences. If that means having a difficult, emotional conversation, or recognizing some of the privileges you may have, that’s one of the best ways of educating yourself on the struggles of others.

Lastly, it is important to point out the ironies of the women’s march. It shouldn’t come as a shock to hear that a whopping 42 per cent of female voters voted Republican, according to the New York Times. The rhetoric behind it was that “Trump won’t do that.” Plot twist: he did. The fact that so many people live in a delusional world where they thought that their Cheeto Jesus would save them is worrisome. He literally ran on a campaign of hate and ignorance and yet people just said he was pandering.

They thought they were fine because their safe little havens weren’t directly at risk, and that

their blissfully ignorant utopias would be untouched. Here’s a thought: a known adulterer, who has historically treated women horribly, and was caught saying he likes to grab women’s genitalia without consent is now signing executive orders to impede on women’s rights. If that level of ignorance is not rectified soon, then the fight for equality will soon become a very, very difficult battle.

My thoughts on white feminism, and the lack of empathy seen in others traces back to an old poem I grew up with. Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor and outspoken public enemy of Adolf Hitler was quoted during a lecture that soon became a cornerstone of my beliefs.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

When Mango Mussolini inevitably continues to strip the rights of others, will you sit and watch, or will you be a part of the change that needs to happen?

The SUS manifesto, part 1 How many non-specific complaints can a student really have?

PANKU SHARMA OPINION EDITOR

For the purposes of full disclosure, I am both a once failed executive candidate and non-voting member of the Student Union Society board (as a representative from CIVL Radio). What that means is I have to both refrain from coming off too salty, picking sides in the upcoming election, or commenting on items that have come up directly at the board level. What I can do however, is considering that this week is the nomination period, offer out some ideas into the zeitgeist that might prove useful in decision making for anyone deciding to run and hopefully for the hundreds of you who will decide to vote.

Something to straighten out, for all of us

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really, is our expectations of what our union should be. First time I ever heard the word was in my parent’s living room, hearing the latest news from a Punjabi AM station about the ongoing strike at the factory my father worked at.

Didn’t work out for them how they wanted, as a compromise they got an “association” and some of the jobs stayed locally, but not the full benefits they deserved. Sold out by “champcha men” as he called them, spoon-fed by management. So whenever I hear the word, I’m naturally inclined to see it as adversarial to corporate interests or whoever really controls the purse springs, that there is a fight to be had.

But a factory worker’s union has different contexts and history than that of a student’s, which has broader mandate considering its inevitable turnover in membership. We’ve taken

on a lot of services, some extremely warranted like healthcare, but there are others (and it’s going to be up to the future membership to take a look at what they value) that are either adopted even though they are beyond our capacity or they take away from the responsibilities UFV has as an institution.

There’s a balance to be had though, with balancing services with advocacy for students.

There is only so much time, energy, and money that can be spent — the more we focus on engagement, clubs, or other areas of overlap with UFV and Student Life the less we are putting towards meaningful advocacy at home and provincially. I mentioned some of these issues before: course variety and availability, standards in instruction, services and setbacks due to a multi-campus environment, rising fees, and

lack of meaningful student consultation. These don’t have to necessarily be fights with UFV, they can be areas we work on together, but the student body certainly doesn’t see these discussions in transparent processes that we trust will go somewhere.

This is an election year, the provincial government controls not only education funding but also that for services related to many of our programs and future fields. I’m not saying we take a partisan stance by any means, but that the expectations of a union held by the membership might influence how it acts and behaves. We’ve had years of frustration and lower expectations; let’s set the standard higher but also clearer.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

OPINION

SNAPSHOTS

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Rachel Tait

Joel Robertson-Taylor

Illustrations: Amara Gelaude

Cool cabs

Alt-fight

Coming back to UFV in one of the coldest months in Abbotsford has been tough, but a much appreciated act of kindness from a fellow student has at least kept my heart warm with good feelings. A few weeks ago, the city buses were cancelled due to icy roads and drivers were ordered to stop servicing the community until road conditions improved. Being late for class is not a normal occurrence for me, so after calling a cab and being told there would be a 30 minute wait, I sat in uneasy anticipation with the small shivering crowd at the bus stop. Soon, a blue and white taxi van pulled up at the bus station and a young student got in. Much to my surprise, he came back out and called out to the group of us asking if anyone was going to the university. I grabbed the chance and five complete strangers ended up sharing and paying for the same cab. The student didn’t have to share the taxi, but he chose to. This incident taught me to realize that we take for granted nice people in the halls, and in the campus, but this is exactly what we need in a dog-eat-dog and disconnected world. I believe that students at UFV are some of the kindest and smartest people I know, and as for the students who rode with me in the cab, we are all grateful for our friendly fellow student. Thanks.

I believe we should do our best to not cause harm or suffering to one another, and that everyone deserves to be able to speak their mind no matter how crass, wrong, or objectionable it might be. In this same world however, you have to live with the reaction people give as citizens and neighbours; only the government should be held back.

Noted white nationalist Richard B. Spencer has gone around making a living off the promotion of ethnic cleansing, racial superiority, and the election of alt-right goons into government office; and he has every right to do so. The law and principles of a just society and democracy are pretty clear when it comes to strongly suggesting against acts of violence, but I think this recent hubbub in the news has more to do with the moral question of whether or not it is okay to punch someone who you don’t like.

It’s a simple validation process, really: Is that person benefiting from espousing views and statements that can incite violence, especially against marginalized groups with less power?

Is that person ever willing to come to the table in good faith and with an open mind for a better solution?

Will punching that person in any way make hate, ethnic cleansing, or bigotry less widely accepted in public and its proponents feel less validated and safe?

Are you willing to take a punch back?

It’s up to you to find the alternative answers.

You’ll risk an arrest, but might get my respect.

Panku “Stephen Rogers” Sharma

Don’t skirt the skirt issue

Sleeping in class

I don’t see why I can’t wear a skirt. I’ve never actually worn one, so maybe I’m overlooking potential handicaps like needing to cross my legs while sitting or having to be cautious about how high of an object I chose to jump off of.

But look at the Roman soldiers and the Scots.

They were perfectly content to be clad in skirts, not worried about having each leg individually wrapped.

And of course the real win is that a skirt is to pants what a loin cloth is to shorts. Can you imagine how much simpler life would be if all I needed to wear was a loin cloth?

You might think that I can wear a skirt, after all, it’s a free country. But the truth is I can’t, not without making a statement.

I don’t want to make a statement or push any gender norms. I don’t really have an interest in that conversation. I just want to wear a skirt, and for no one to wonder why.

And in a truly progressive society, I’d be allowed to wear a loin cloth on casual Fridays.

After a late night of last minute studying and finishing assignments that I forgot were due, I fell asleep in class on Thursday. I don’t know for how long, but it was long enough that when I woke up I didn’t remember where I was and didn’t have much of an idea of what was going on. Luckily, this was a film class in B101, so it was dark and cozy. A short power nap was exactly what I needed and although I ducked out of class early because the movie no longer made sense, I felt energized and ready to sit through a lecture.

Unfortunately, had I not been sitting in the back of a classroom with all the lights out, this would have been a whole lot more awkward — but it shouldn’t be that way. Sometimes a 20-minute nap is exactly what I need to be able to make it through my class. I don’t want to skip class just because I’m tired, but sometimes I’m just too tired that if I can’t sleep, I might need to skip class.

To any professors that will or already have seen me fall asleep while sitting in the back of the room, I promise it’s not because I’m bored by what you’re saying, it’s because it’s so important I want to make sure I’m rested enough to understand.

Vanessa Broadbent

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

STUDY BREAK v CROSSWORD DOWN 1: Unwanted emails 3: Popular, often canned sandwich fish 5: Weak and / or cowardly 7: Former world power, now Russia (2 words) 11: The leader of a pack of wolves 13: Word type referring to a person, place, or thing 14: Spinning string suspended toy

ACROSS 1: Sticky tree juice 2: Versatile paper-cup dwelling baked good 3: Something shunned or forbidden by society 4: Not asleep 6: Himalayan cryptozoological ape 7: Most populous city in Australia 8: Major credit card company 9: Not rural 10: Layered, tear-inducing vegetable 12: Horoscope that talks about the food referenced in the final line of the Riverdale review in this issue.

LAST WEEKS ANSWERS Across: 1: Paddock 4: Bradbury 6: Slug 8: First person 10: Typo 12: Gremlins 15: Erratic Made by Jeff Mijo

v HOROSCOPES

Down: 1: Par 2: Dub 3: Keys 4: Buffet 5: Days 7: Genius 9: Roll 11: Ogre 13: MBA 14: NBC

Astrological mysteries interpreted by Master Moji

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 In the event that your week leads you to a fancy restaurant, tip generously. The server is actually your long-lost second cousin, and you don’t want to make a bad first impression. Also don’t tell them you figured it out because of a horoscope, they’ll think you’re weird.

Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 Learn from your past mistakes: don’t assume that any door is motion activated.

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 This is a great week to try something new!

As long as it isn’t dangerous, expensive, offensive, ambitious, or inspired by exploits of a famous person whose name starts with S. Other than that, go for it!

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 The best thing about you is that if you’re ever feeling grouchy, you can just shrug and say “My sign’s Cancer, I’m allowed to be crabby.”

Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 Here’s a fun fact for you: the planet Saturn is actually a sentient super-being (unlike the rest of the planets which are just big balls of rock / gas). That’s why it has rings, you see.

It used its ability to see into the future and foresaw onion rings, and was like “Dang, I gotta try those.” The tragedy, of course, is that the rings are trapped in its gravitational field, so as Saturn flies around the galaxy, ever chasing its rings, they keep pace, always just out of reach. Sad, isn’t it?

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 Send a postcard to a friend this week! But write it from the perspective of their pet, and be sure to include a request for extra treats.

That animal will thank you when it next sees you with extra attention.

Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 Every week, I stare at the stars for hours trying to divine these truths to give to all of you, my unmet friends. But did you know horoscoping ain’t easy? This week, Libra, I think you should figure out your own destiny. Sure, it takes decades of practice to perfect, but I’m sure if you look at the stars for a bit you’ll get an idea.

Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 One time, I spoke with an entomologist who focused on insect joints. He loved his work.

Said it was the bee’s knees.

Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 Over the course of the week, a slow sense of dread will start to build inside you. After all, your horoscope warned you it would. And your horoscope knows something you don’t.

Something involving the rats that live under your floorboards. Something involving the plans they have for you. Have a great week!

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 Have you ever really thought about how weird humanity as a whole is? I haven’t, getting existential creeps me out. I was just asking to say if you have, please don’t tell me about it.

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 Winter’s probably your favourite time of year, isn’t it? Pretty snow all around, long nights to get all cozy and warm in bed, cold weather keeping small animals cooped up in little burrows, plenty of camouflage for your thick white fur — wait a second, are you a polar bear?

Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 There’s no time like the present to present a present to your present company — may I suggest a pheasant?

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

FEATURE

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

FEATURE

Isreal vs.

Palestine Written by: Colter Louwerse Photos by: Colter Louwerse

T

o many, the political contours of the Israel-Palestine conflict are confounding — often because one intuits that the mainstream press is not telling the whole story. Take for example Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s well-publicized military incursion into the Gaza Strip over the course of July – August 2014. Western media outlets explained to us that the State of Israel was exercising its “right to defence” when it attacked targets in the Gaza Strip. Israel, we were told, had to invade and bomb Gaza, had to tighten their blockade of the region, had to inflict massive damage on crucial Palestinian infrastructure — all in order to protect its citizens from the terrorist organization known as Hamas. Closer analysis of these events paints a radically different picture.

The struggle between the Palestinians and Israelis is waged primarily over land ownership and the right to self-determination. Modern Israel was established in 1948, an act that generated the forcible displacement of some 750,000 Palestinians from their land by the Israeli army, limiting the majority of Palestinians to the geographically separated areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. During the June 1967 “Six Day War,” Israel conquered those territories as well and the Palestinians living in them remain under foreign military occupation to this day.

Israel has transformed the Gaza Strip into a massive prison.

Home to almost two million people packed into an area about 40 km long and ranging between 6 and 12 km wide, it is one of the most densely populated regions on Earth. There is little opportunity for departure; the Strip is bordered on three sides by a separation wall and on one side by the Israeli controlled sea.

Since 2007 the government of Israel has enforced and tightened its systematic blockade of Gaza, preventing not only military but also much needed commercial and humanitarian supplies from entering. Despite the blockade being condemned by the international community and human rights organizations as an illegal and inhumane act constituting “collective punishment of a civilian population,” the siege has never been lifted and is often escalated.

The blockade’s effect upon the living conditions of the Palestinian population has been astronomical. According to the United Nations, 90 per cent of Gaza’s water supply is unfit for human consumption and the severe lack of resources available to the health sector has served to “seriously impede safe medical practice, treatment capacity and patient safety.” Eighty per cent of Gaza’s population is dependent on international aid for their basic needs. The human rights organization Amnesty International has determined that if it were not for the trickle of international aid allowed in, Gaza would be in a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Comparatively, in the West Bank the situation for Palestinians is less dire, in part because the ruling Fatah party has largely elected not to resist Israeli policies. Those policies include but are not limited to the bulldozing of Palestinian homes, the rapid expansion of settlements, arrest, and detention of Palestinians without trial (Israel’s Military Court has a 99.7 per cent conviction rate) and the harsh suppression of nonviolent popular protest. During my own trip to the West Bank in May 2015, I witnessed the teargassing of elementary school children, unprovoked night raids into Palestinian villages, and the utilization of military checkpoints to restrict movement and to humiliate Palestinians into submission. The message from the Israeli authorities to the Palestinian people has been clear: concede to our policies and you may be allowed to live without civil or human rights in an open-air prison not unlike the West Bank.

Resist, violently or nonviolently, and receive further punishment in maximum incarceration (Gaza).

For decades there has been near universal international consensus as to how the Israel-Palestine conflict ought to be solved.

Known as the “two-state settlement,” it proposes that a Palestinian state be constructed alongside Israel, with a just settlement of the Palestinian refugee question. The International Court of Justice along with the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council have all ruled that Israel’s official borders end at the pre-1967 boundary lines — the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem are legally Palestinian territory. The Palestinian leadership has repeatedly signaled that it would be willing to agree to a settlement along these lines, while Israel continues to reject such a settlement. Since 1967 it has preferred an expansionist policy towards the Occupied Palestinian Territories, illegally appropriating for itself and building settlements upon land in the West Bank and Palestinian East Jerusalem. International condemnation — most recently in the passing of a UN Security Council resolution this January — has done little to deter Israeli officials.

"The Israel-Palestine conflict deserves our attention not only because it involves the longest military occupation in modern history and the mass violation of human rights, but also because the Canadian government has long been complicit, albeit indirectly, in its perpetuation."

Israel has long justified its rejectionist stance towards a peace settlement by claiming that because Hamas and Fatah rule Gaza and the West Bank respectively, Israel cannot negotiate with a politically divided entity. In April 2014 however, Fatah and Hamas joined together and created a Unity Government. The Unity Government agreed to respect three longstanding Israeli demands: “nonviolence, adherence to past agreements, and recognition of Israel.” These actions constituted a major step towards a peaceful settlement and the new government was deemed legitimate by most of the world, including (tentatively) the United States and Canada.

Israel, however, was outraged and quickly discovered a pretext by which it could prevent the peace process from moving forward. When three Israeli settlers were kidnapped and killed by a rough Palestinian militant cell, Israel invaded the West Bank, arresting hundreds of Palestinians in an effort to break up the Unity Government, killing six. The fact that Israeli forces had killed two unarmed Palestinian teens only a month prior to the kidnapping was dutifully ignored. This is us, that is them, goes the reasoning; when Hamas carries out killings it is an “act of terrorism,” when Israel does so, it is “defending the Israeli people.” Until this point Hamas had sought to uphold its end of the ceasefire but now it responded, firing its first rockets towards Israel in 18 months. This provided the “justification” the Israeli government needed to engage in another episode of what the Israeli Defense Forces refer to as “mowing the lawn,” launching a massive air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers targeted civilian infrastructure, bombed United Nations schools (despite repeated warnings against doing so), and fired

tank shells into highly populated civilian areas. The campaign lasted for 50 days and ended with over 2,400 Palestinians dead, some two-thirds of them civilians, including nearly 500 children. For its part Israel lost some 72 citizens, 66 of them military combatants.

This entire sequence of events has occurred, albeit with some variation in 2008-2009, 2012, and 2014. The basic cycle remains the same. At the end of every conflict a ceasefire agreement is signed. The Palestinians abide by the ceasefire while the Israeli government does not, maintaining and oftentimes tightening its illegal blockade. Any “threat” is dealt with by increasing pressure on the Palestinians until Hamas responds, most often with rocket fire. Then, citing security reasons, Israel conducts another invasion and bombardment against a people unequipped for effective resistance or escape. Another ceasefire is signed. Repeat.

The Israel-Palestine conflict deserves our attention not only because it involves the longest military occupation in modern history and the mass violation of human rights, but also because the Canadian government has long been complicit, albeit indirectly, in its perpetuation. During Operation Protective Edge, the Canadian government quickly moved to lend diplomatic support to the Israeli offensive. Stephen Harper pronounced: “Canada is unequivocally behind Israel. We support its right to defend itself, by itself.” Canada has furthermore been consistent in opposing a negotiated settlement to the conflict. Though the official website of the Canadian Government endorses the international consensus on a two-state settlement, in November 2015 the Trudeau government continued a trend set by Paul

Martin in voting as one of only seven countries opposing a “Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine” resolution at the United Nations. It is notable that this one-sided approach to the conflict is in no way evidence of Canadian democracy at work — polls demonstrate that in contrast to Canadian policymakers, Canadian citizens are split in support for Israel and Palestine, with the vast majority anticipating a “neutral” Canadian stance towards the conflict. Increasing awareness of the nature of the occupation has furthermore caused the Israeli stock to drop precipitously in Canada — a 2012 BBC poll found that 59 per cent of Canadians now have a “mainly negative” view of Israeli policy.

It is possible to achieve an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Israel has come close to a peace settlement with the Palestinians before, such as when it was put under pressure from Western democracies to negotiate seriously during the Taba Talks in 2001. Although the Talks failed due to Israeli withdrawal from the negotiations, both parties agreed in a joint statement “that they have never been closer to reaching an agreement.” In discontinuing its current diplomatic stance, Canada would have an opportunity to live up to its reputation as a peace-loving and humanitarian state. As such, conscientious citizens should encourage their government to leave behind unilateral support for Israeli actions and to join the international community in calling upon the Israeli government to end the occupation and work towards a just and viable settlement with their Palestinian neighbours.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

FEATURE

An inside look on the IsraelPalestine conflict

Hebron, once you’ve been there — I stayed there for almost a week — within a couple days it just starts to feel incredibly claustrophobic. In the old city you can’t walk more than 100 metres without hitting a checkpoint, they’re just everywhere.

And I mean, for myself I can go to a checkpoint and at most they’ll say “Can I see your passport” but for a Palestinian they’ll say “Hands on the wall” and they’ll pat you down and do the whole nine yards, and apparently it’s worse when internationals aren’t there. When there are internationals there with a video camera, Israeli soldiers tend to behave but if there is no foreign presence then they are more likely to abuse the Palestinians living there. And on top of that, you’re hearing the sound of shells going off fairly consistently, because they use rubber bullets to put down demonstrations or they’re teargassing parts of the street and it becomes — many Palestinians say — that it becomes something that you don’t even notice anymore because it’s just so regular and consistent.

Did you witness an uprising?

By: Bradley Peters

T

he struggle between Palestine and Israel is the paramount conflict of our time, and it is our generation that has the power, and therefore the responsibility to end it. It is our duty as intelligent, educated, critical citizens of the free world to inform ourselves on the world’s great undertakings, so that when the time comes, and we are compelled to take a side, we have the confidence to firmly state our virtues and to stand for what we know is right.

Colter Louwerse is a UFV political science major dedicated to championing change in Palestine / Israel. He has marched in Jerusalem, protested in Palestine, slept on ramshackle rooftops beneath ancient stars, and spoken publicly on this topic numerous times.

Now we get to hear about it all, in his own words.

When did you go to Palestine?

I went in May of 2015, so almost two years ago now.

Was that with the school?

No, I went with a group called Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT); they’re a well-respected human rights organization that monitors the situation in the area, predominantly the West Bank. They submit reports to the UN and so on.

There was a group of you?

Yeah it was a two-week delegation, and then I stayed for two weeks afterward on my own.

Where were you staying when you first went? In a camp, hostels?

Basically I got picked up from Israel, Tel Aviv. I was picked up

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at the airport and drove down to Jerusalem and stayed in the old city and then from then on it was basically just travelling and slowly working our way through the West Bank. I stayed a couple nights in Bethlehem. I stayed mostly in Hebron because that’s where the CPT apartment is based out of. I spent some nights in south Hebron, in Palestinian villages, all over the place really.

Palestinian villages?

Yeah, slept on the roof, under the stars, it was pretty great.

So what was it like first arriving in Jerusalem? *Laughs* For myself actually, it was uh, interesting. Because my flight was supposed to arrive at 9:00 in the evening and I got delayed, so by the time I showed up in Tel Aviv it was 1:00 in the morning and by the time I got to the place where I was sleeping it was 3:00 in the morning so the streets were entirely empty. I got three hours of sleep and then we got up at 6:00 to get going on the actual day, so the first night I was jet lagged, plus no sleep. But it got good from then on.

I’m personally curious what it’s like there. Is it pretty stark, walking into basically, like an apartheid state?

Well, I had done a ton of reading on the topic before I went.

I had been interested in it since summer 2014, when Israel launched its assault on Gaza and basically over the course of that next year I read as much as possible so I could have an understanding of what was going on. Once you start doing the reading, you realize very quickly that the situation on the ground there is very different from what is presented in the media or in the general public consciousness. And eventually I realized that if I wanted to start talking to people about this and if I wanted people to actually take me seriously I was going

to have to see it for myself. And seeing it for yourself takes it to an entirely new level. No amount of reading can prepare you for witnessing human rights abuses and a system of discrimination and segregation. I still can’t really comprehend it at the level that a Palestinian would comprehend how that system operates. Just on account of being an international, I have many privileges going through the occupied territories that Palestinians don’t.

An Israeli soldier is not going to hold me up at a checkpoint and they’re not going to, you know, strip search me or anything like that. I don’t have to worry about any of those things, but even still, it’s pretty stark. You spend about two or three days there and you’re already beginning to grasp what’s going on.

Once you see it, in my opinion, you’d have to be a pretty much entirely heartless person not to want to be pretty dedicated and involved after that. You feel pretty morally compelled.

Did you ever see anything you know you will never forget?

I went to Hebron, it's sort of a microcosm of how the occupation works. It has the military, about 2,000 Israeli soldiers living in a compound in the middle of the old city, and they’re there to protect some 500 Israeli religious and ideological settlers, which are holding captive, essentially, some 250,000 Palestinians living there. Within this one city, the whole of the occupation sort of comes to a focus there. The first thing that I saw when I stepped out of my taxi at the main intersection leading into the old city of Hebron was an Israeli military patrol with a frothing attack dog — and they’re walking next to small Palestinian children.

So to a westerner like myself it’s shocking, because, you know, that’s just not something that is in any way normal. But to the people living there they wouldn’t even bother to look at it. It’s just a totally normal thing.

Not like a mass protest or anything, I wasn’t around for that, but a lot of little things. For example, one of our jobs as members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams is to monitor military checkpoints in Hebron. Another is to walk Palestinian children to school every day. Because, these kindergarteners actually have to go past what is known as Chuhada street, which used to be the main market street of Hebron but has been taken over by the settlers and is considered essentially Jewish only. Internationals can walk on it but it’s basically barred, Palestinians can no longer walk on that street. So these Palestinian kids have to go past that street, through a small section that they can walk on and there’s a sort of hill up to their school, and they have to go through a number of checkpoints to get to school as well. On one occasion when they were monitoring the checkpoint they pulled one of the elementary school teachers to the side, they said give us your green card, which is basically his ID. They said go sit on the barrier and they kept him there for about 40 minutes, and that’s not because he was a security threat or anything, it was basically just to humiliate him. Because they know who he is, he walks through that checkpoint every day to get to school. At the same time, his students, ranging between six or seven years old, some 13 or 14 years old, many of them would stop to shake his hand or offer words of encouragement or whatever and eventually some of those students started gathering around the checkpoint sort of, many of them were getting frustrated, and a few of them started picking up stones and they threw them at the soldiers manning the checkpoint. Immediately after that happened the soldiers just stepped right out, loaded tear gas into their rifles and teargassed the street. These kids that are as young as six or seven walk through tear gas like nothing, because it is a part of their lives I guess. It really puts your own life in perspective because your natural reaction is fear, to be scared because it’s tear gas and violence, but for these people, these little kids, they just walk right through it. It’s crazy.

So what were some other tasks you guys did while you were there?

It was a delegation so, Christian Peacemaker Teams has a permanent group of people there and they do most of the hard work, the delegation is mostly to give people an idea of what is happening there. So you don’t do any longer term work in any one given area because they want to give you a kind of overview

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

FEATURE of the occupied territories. So it was a lot of meeting with and talking to people, if I’m honest about it. We went to villages like Susia which is under threat from Israel demolition. They’ve been expelled from their land multiple times and they keep returning.

And keep having their homes bulldozed and then they rebuild them. It’s this constant cycle.

Another interesting story, talking about throwing stones — we went to meet a family, the Al-Jibari family who lives right across from a large Israeli settlement, on the outskirts of Hebron. As we were walking up the hill to this family’s home, and on the land below them — the Palestinian families’ land — a group of settlers were standing in a semi-circle praying over the spot where they were illegally going to build a synagogue. As that occurred, these settlers’ kids, 12- to 13-year-olds, came out and started throwing stones at our delegation, and as they did that we were all ducking and trying to avoid these stones being thrown at us. Our Palestinian guide yelled at two Israeli soldiers who happened to be on the road below, something like “Hey these settler kids are harassing us, can you do something about it?” and the soldiers just turned and smiled and kept walking, because for them their orders are very explicit — they are there to protect the settlers, they are not to interfere with anything that the settlers do.

They’re not a police force?

Yeah, they’re not. Well, they’re a police force for Palestinians. If a Palestinian tries to attack the settler or commits some infraction against the Israeli military law, then yeah, the soldiers will intervene and arrest them, but it’s a very clear example of the different standards that are applied to two people, even though they live within one territory.

That is why so many observers, respected human rights lawyers, and respected figures from the South African apartheid movement have said that the system that Israel is implementing in the occupied territory would constitute apartheid, it’s very close to fitting that definition. It’s not exactly the same as South Africa, but it’s fairly similar.

"It really puts your own life in perspective because your natural reaction is fear, to be scared because it’s tear gas and violence, but for these people, these little kids, they just walk right through it. It’s crazy."

So, a day for you would constitute a lot of talking, hearing stories from people; was there anybody that you met that really impacted you in a specific way?

One of the people that impacted me most was a man named Mousa, he lived in a village called Beit Ummar. It’s about 17,000 Palestinian Muslims situated between Bethlehem and Hebron, and I stayed with him on my own for about a week after I was done with the delegation. Probably the most striking thing about him was one of the first things he told me after I met him was that he had been in prison for seven years of his life, on two separate occasions; once for four years, once for three years.

He is still not entirely certain as to why, because Israel military law allows for Palestinians to be put under administrative detention, which is basically a three-month sentence without a trial, and they are allowed to renew it. So many Palestinians just get renewable three-month sentences and they’ll be in prison for a long time and they’ll never be given a fair trial. And of course they’re charged in a military court, so even if you do get a trial the conviction rate is something like 99.71 per cent. So it’s basically a kangaroo court.

The second thing that he told me, after telling me about prison, was that if you were a Palestinian living in that particular village, if you were a young man aged say 21 or above and you hadn’t been inside an Israeli prison, people began to view you as suspicious because everybody, all young men, have been charged with something by the Israeli army and spent time in prison. If you haven’t people begin to wonder if maybe you’re a collaborator.

you ever afraid? Were you ever scared that it was a bit risky?

Well, before I went there I was a little bit nervous about it. But once I got there, there was only really one occasion that I could say I was really scared, which was when I was staying with Mousa, in his home, and Israeli soldiers banged on the door so that everybody in the village would wake up. It was in the middle of the night and there were about two dozen or so soldiers in three military Jeeps. We found out later that they were there to issue three arrest warrants to Palestinian youth, but basically Mousa and I were standing on the roof taking photos of these guys and video. They didn’t see us, and I asked Mousa, “What will they do if they see us?” He said, “They’re going to assume you’re Palestinian, they’re going to shoot at you.” So that was the only time that I was ever scared.

You were pointing a camera at them in the dark on a rooftop?

Yeah. I mean, in retrospect I probably wasn’t in any danger, because those soldiers were laughing and joking as they did it.

They had teargassed the whole neighbourhood, they had woke everyone up, and you could tell sort of from their demeanor that they didn’t find themselves to be under any form of real threat.

So they were kind of just doing it for fun?

Well, I mean they had a job to do in that they had to issue these three arrest warrants, but everything is done in a very calculated fashion. They could have issued those in the middle of the day and come in with one Jeep and just a couple guys but instead they chose to do it in the middle of the night to basically humiliate and terrify the population and it’s all part of the matrix of control that Israel has implemented to try and force the population to submitting to their policies.

Do you have any other stories or experiences that affected you?

No, Israel likes to present an image of its occupation to the world as a sort of benign and liberal occupation that doesn’t really affect the Palestinians all too negatively, but that is just not true. There are some parts of the occupied Palestinian territory where you can sort of maintain the illusion that there isn’t an occupation, mostly in the larger cities like Bethlehem and Ramallah. If you’re in the middle of those cities, the Israeli army tends not to go into those areas, but the fact of the matter is that those areas too are surrounded by military checkpoints and the Israeli military; if it ever feels that it needs to carry out an operation in that area of the city, they can come in at any moment.

Something that has always affected me is meeting some of the people that have been involved in advocating for human rights and justice in that region, and at such large personal cost. It boggles the mind. We are very privileged to live in a country like Canada where we have the freedom to do whatever we want on our weekends and not really have to worry about it, whereas I met Israelis who have decided that they are going to stand up for the rights of Palestinians living in the occupied territories and have decided that they are going to spend their weekends going out to demonstrations and getting teargassed and arrested by their own government, and they’ll do it week after week after week. It takes a lot of dedication and you’re also completely ostracized from your own society. A lot of those people, their relationships with their parents or their family breaks down — they’re considered traitors. It’s the same thing for Palestinians.

The worst thing that can occur to me if I go to a demonstration is that I might get hit with some tear gas and deported. But for a Palestinian, if you get arrested it could be three or four years of your life, but people do it anyway. It’s amazing.

It’s pretty cool that even after your two-week stay was over, you wanted to stay on your own. But, were

Were there any times in your trip that were enjoyable? Some fun times?

Wow... So there’s no real like middle ground. It’s just a stark us and them, there’s no compromise.

Yeah, in spite of it all, the Palestinians are incredibly hospitable people, incredibly hospitable. They will immediately give you tea or coffee, many of them have a great sense of humour ... and the food is amazing — hummus on everything. Shawarma is pretty big, falafel was really big. So yeah, it’s an enjoyable place to be even though there’s a massive conflict raging.

Do the people find time to try and live a normal life, or are they constantly fighting?

Well, people do the best that they can to live a normal life given the circumstances. Most Palestinians, that’s all they really want.

They’d rather not go to demonstrations, or deal with the occupying military, or oppose Israeli settlements. Many of them, at this point, have almost given up. There’s a lot of Palestinians who are completely disillusioned with politics and just do their best to keep their heads down and avoid aggravating the Israeli forces, which is unfortunate, but it’s hard to keep the spark of resistance lit when you’ve been under occupation for 60 plus years. The situation at this point is pretty bad. I went in 2015 and everything I hear from people that have gone back is that it is way worse.

Where is the end?

I think the end is pretty much Israel. Israel has realized it can’t annex the entire West Bank, even though that’s the goal because it wants to be a Jewish state. If it annexes the entire West Bank it will become officially an apartheid state and that would opportune the Palestinians to wage a civil rights struggle and they could have a stronger footing to get equal rights. Israel won’t allow that, but it wants the territory. Basically what Israel is doing is pushing Palestinians into tiny concentrated encampments like quarantined districts and constructing settlements on every surrounding square foot of land. What I think the endgame will likely be is that Israel will end up annexing parts of the West Bank that it wants, and the small leftover bits will be area for the Palestinians to simply struggle to exist.

Historians are going to look back at this conflict in 100 years and say, “Why wasn’t this solved?” If you look at other conflicts like Syria, they are so complex and complicated; there is no legal framework to guide what is going on, or what should or can be done. But with Palestine, it’s really clear. It’s the most clear conflict that I can think of, where international law clearly dictates where the border is, where Israel has a right to be, and they have disregarded the law. They should have to cease and leave their occupied territories. The only thing stopping them, really, is the United States not pressuring them to. If the U.S. were to threaten to cut Israel’s funding, the conflict would be over by the end of the month.

The Obama administration recently signed a $38 billion aid deal, and that is massively supported by the corporate industrial side of the U.S., because companies like Halliburton and Lockeed Martin know that Israel is going to take that aid, and is going to buy U.S. artillery and weapons, so it’s basically an indirect subsidy for weapons manufacturers. There is lots of corporate pressure for the U.S. to support Israel, there’s the Israel lobby, and of course there’s the Christian Zionist extremists.

The interesting thing is that in all of those aspects, the conflict in Palestine is worse than it’s ever been — but from an international aspect, it’s possibly the best that it’s ever been. Europe is fed up with having to constantly foot the bill every time Israel devastates Gaza. West Bank economy is kept almost entirely afloat purely by foreign aid, and Europe is very upset with Israel at the moment, and that is made tangibly clear with the UN Security Council bill that recently passed, where every country, with the exception with the U.S. who abstained, voted for it. Latin America is very sympathetic for the Palestinian cause. Almost the entire world is positioned to support the Palestinian cause at the moment. Even in Canada, the perception of the conflict has evolved immensely in the last few years. There’s a lot more sympathy for the Palestinian plight now. The problem now is simply internal to the Palestinians themselves. When their nonviolent struggle was the most effective was during the first intifada in the 1980s when they had a very strong civil society, women’s groups, leadership on the ground, organizing mass gatherings of people. But now those organizations have been replaced by the Palestinian authority which is the “government” of the West Bank, and it is totally corrupt and in bed with the Israelis in terms of security and other things, and basically restricts any opposition on the side of the Palestinians to organize a mass protest against Israeli policies. In that sense Palestinian society is crippled, and if they are to organize a mass nonviolent movement against the Israeli occupation they are going to need to start it from within their own ranks. It has to happen this way, in the same way it happened in South Africa during the apartheid, with the people basically saying “We have had enough.”

When you say it like that, it almost seems hopeful.

The international community is getting poised to support the Palestinian cause, so it is up to the Palestinians to incentivise the world to support them. This is a tough pill to swallow for an international activist, but it’s the only way. I could understand why many Palestinians are hesitant, because that scale of a mass nonviolent movement will entail unbelievable suffering and death. If there is one thing I’ve learned studying conflicts in the Middle East it’s that it is almost impossible to predict what will happen, so who knows, things could turn around.

Why is the U.S. so pro-Israel? Is it simply fundamental Zionist Christianity?

It’s scary and hopeful. All we can do is to try and be informed, and to inform people.

There is big debate about this question, but in my opinion the big factor is basically the fact that Israel serves as a powerful and convenient offshore base for the U.S., and is a crucial ally in an oil-rich sector of the world. That in combination with the fact that there is an enormously powerful U.S. / Israel lobby group in the U.S. that could make the lives of any dissenting U.S. politician a living hell.

Yeah, that’s what every Palestinian family whom I got to know would tell me: “We don’t need aid, we don’t need money, what we need is for you to go back and to tell people what is happening here, and to ask people to stand in solidarity with our cause.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

CULTURE SCORE BOARD

Welcoming the year of the Rooster Photo: Alexandriah Pahl

JEFF MIJO CULTURE EDITOR

SCORES Men’s Basketball: Jan 27 UFV Cascades vs. TRU Wolfpack W 80-72 Jan 28 UFV Cascades vs. TRU Wolfpack L 79-67 Women’s Basketball Jan 27 UFV Cascades vs. TRU Wolfpack W 69-64 Jan 28 UFV Cascades vs. TRU Wolfpack W 82-77 Men’s Volleyball

On January 26, students gathered in the Global Lounge (B223) to usher in the year of the Rooster with a Lunar New Year party.

In addition to games, prizes, and snacks, the event — hosted by UFV International — taught attendees about the Chinese zodiac and gave them a chance to try their hand at calligraphy.

The year of the Rooster officially began on January 28, and will continue until February 16, 2018 when the year of the Dog begins.

Jan 27 UFV Cascades vs. VIU Mariners L 3-2 Jan 28 UFV Cascades vs. VIU Mariners W 3-1 Women’s Volleyball Jan 27 UFV Cascades vs. VIU Mariners L 3-2 Jan 28 UFV Cascades vs. VIU Mariners L 3-0

UPCOMING GAMES Men’s Basketball: Fri, Feb 3 8:00 pm UFV Cascades vs.

UVic Vikes (home) Sat, Feb 4 7:00 pm UFV Cascades vs.

UVic Vikes (home) Women’s Basketball Fri, Feb 3 6:00 pm UFV Cascades vs.

UVic Vikes (home) Sat, Feb 4 5:00 pm UFV Cascades vs.

UVic Vikes (home)

How to find friends and make connections without leaving campus JEFF MIJO

Visit a lounge

Attend events

CULTURE EDITOR

In my role as Culture & Events editor, it’s my job to keep tabs on what’s going on throughout UFV, and perhaps the place most actively hosting events is the Global Lounge, located in B223 on the Abbotsford campus. With games nights every Thursday, a big TV, and space to hang out and chat with fellow students, it’s well worth a visit.

There’s also the student lounge on the second floor of the Student Union Building (SUB), which is a similar hangout space, complete with a pool table.

Did you know there’s some kind of special event happening almost every day at UFV? From talks to workshops, from parties to games, there’s even more than can fit on our handy upcoming events calendar (located on the back cover of each issue).

Check out events.ufv.ca for a full listing of what’s coming up, or if sports are more your thing, check the schedule at ufvcascades.ca. Tickets are free for UFV students! To help meet new friends at these events, you may have to take a step beyond attending. Interact, too. Talk to the person sitting next to you, ask a question of the speaker, or make your way around the room. Everyone else is there because they’re interested and more often than not, they’ll be happy to talk to you.

It’s not easy balancing a social life with the workload of school, jobs, and other commitments, but it’s also tough taking on all of that stress without some friends to help you along the way. For many students, university is a time of transition, and even for those who aren’t new to the area, it’s easy to slip out of contact with friends who may be attending different schools or joining the workforce, or have moved here from far away and don’t know anyone in the area. Speaking as an introvert, I know connecting with new people can be challenging, so in an effort to spread a little more friendship around UFV, here are some suggestions to make connections and build bonds without adding too much more to your busy week.

Join a club

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UFV students run a whole host of clubs which are always looking for new members. Their focuses range from hobbies to places of origin to causes, and the great thing about clubs is that they can involve very low time commitments. You can take a look at UFV’s official clubs at ufvsus.ca/current_ clubs. If you find one that interests you, search for it on Facebook and you can probably find more details, and don’t be afraid to email the contact person to ask questions!

Get involved There’s no better way to meet people on campus than being plugged into what’s going on at your school. You could make a point of following the upcoming Student Union Society (SUS) elections, or work with the organization more directly. You could start a radio show on CIVL to share your favourite music with the community. Or you could join us at The Cascade, by writing, taking pictures, drawing illustrations, or applying for one of the jobs advertised throughout this issue. All three options are great ways to meet like-minded, engaged people while also helping to build UFV’s community.

Engage in class If all of those options require too much of your extracurricular time, here’s the simplest suggestion of all: pay attention in class. Join in the discussions.

Ask the person sitting next to you questions. Don’t feel like you need to sit in a corner away from everyone else. Ask another student what their plan is for that upcoming assignment during the break. Comment on their unusual phone case or t-shirt. You could be spending three months sitting in a room with someone who shares all of your interests, and you’ll never know until you strike up a conversation.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

CULTURE

Dissecting the science of plummeting whales “What’s this thing suddenly coming toward me very fast?

Very, very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big widesounding name like . . . ow . . . ound . . . round . . . ground!

That’s it! That’s a good name — ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?”

MIKE FRIESEN PHYSICS STUDENT ASSOCIATION

Before you start reading, I have a confession to make. My last three Google searches were “asteroids breaking up in the atmosphere,” “aerodynamic heating,” and “surface area of a blue whale.” If you have to know, I am indeed a fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, especially the events that led to a whale appearing high up in the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet. And yes, I know what you’re thinking. Those missiles didn’t turn into a blue whale, they turned into a sperm whale.

And a bowl of petunias. Well, I have two responses: one, if I’m going to be dropping any gargantuan animal from a ridiculous

height, it’s going to be the biggest animal that has ever existed on this Earth. My second response is that I’m sure that most whales act fairly similarly when falling through the atmosphere. Any whale-based calculations done here are estimates, so if you really want to, you could swap out my majestic blue whale for its smaller, less colourful cousin. But they might not be quite as stealthy as the blue whale. And yes, you did hear me right. Stealthy.

Without further ado, let’s get to the question. If we have a whale falling from way up in the atmosphere — like what happens in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — what events would unfold?

We could compare our whale to an asteroid entering our atmosphere, but that isn’t a great idea, for a few reasons. First off, whales are not big rocks. Of that I am quite certain. Second, our whale is not entering the atmosphere at speeds of 10 kilometers per second. It begins to plummet from rest, reaching much more reasonable speeds; so instead of burning up in the atmosphere, our goliath reaches the ground in one piece. An interesting result of blue whales being truly enormous is that their terminal velocities are correspondingly huge. They fall so fast, in fact, that a blue whale would have a terminal velocity that just barely exceeds the sound barrier. This means that if you were standing in its path, the air wouldn’t have time to carry the sound waves to your incredibly unlucky ears below, and the whale would hit you before you could even hear it coming. The grisly impact would have an energy yield equivalent to that of two tonnes of TNT, enough to turn a whale into something that bears little semblance to the original creature. Due to the likely messy explosion of debris, I would stay a very healthy distance away from any falling whales you might see. Although I would say that ad-

vice holds for any large falling objects. If it’s large, and falling towards you, run.

But what if instead of appearing in our atmosphere with relatively low speeds, the blue whale is travelling with asteroidlike speeds? While doing research to make sure I would get my numbers right, I came across why regular old asteroids break up in the atmosphere. The immense head-on stress of the asteroid ramming into the air causes it to pancake, either fracturing or disintegrating outwards in a large (and very pretty) explosion.

Unsurprisingly, the whale would fare worse than the big piece of rock. It would quickly turn from a beautiful creature into a fasttravelling, vaporized cloud of debris, burning up as it went. It’s like a fairy tale in reverse. On the brighter side, it would make an amazing light show at night.

Unfortunately, having blue whales burn up in the atmosphere is not possible with our current technology. The surprisingly good news is that space whales are actually going to be possible within the next 15 years! The Space Launch System (SLS) will be able to reach low Earth orbit carrying a massive 130 tonne payload, which just happens to be about the weight of a fullygrown blue whale. Now, I know NASA has grand plans for the SLS, and it may gather the concern of several animal rights boards, but I for one would love to have the SLS tested with a whale on board. For Douglas Adams’ sake.

UFV faculty shares thoughts on Trump Panelists analyze the causes and consequences of the presidency of Donald Trump LAURA ANDRÉS CONTRIBUTOR

“This can’t be happening” was a sentence often repeated during the recent presidential campaign in the United States. However, it happened and Trump is already the 45th president of the U.S. In a context of uncertainty, the UFV Politalk Roundtable held a discussion on January 26 entitled “Trump as President: What Now?” to help understand a part of this puzzle.

The puzzle is so complex that even the experts could not be sure of the future.

“I think that Trump’s victory says that anything is possible, because all the way along the course many people said it would never happen, but it happened. In political science we are not real scientists, we can’t predict anything,” said Fiona MacDonald, professor in the political sciences department.

“It is too soon to know why what happened happened, and it is too soon to know what will happen,” said geography professor Michelle Rhodes. She suggested that most of the decisions which affect the daily lives of citizens are made locally, and the Republican Party will not support all of Trump’s decisions.

“There were a lot of voices critical inside the Republican Party. This is a challenge,” she said.

“The Republicans need to know where they are.

They are trying to figure out what path Trump is going to take.”

The success of Trump has been linked to the social and economical constraints. The messages projected during the campaign have been a mirror for nostalgia, one of the most powerful “weapons” he could use.

“With the nostalgic promise to ‘make America great again,’ Trump tapped into a deep national longing for ‘the American Dream,’ a utopian ethos which is one of the most significant ideals of the American nation. Trump’s campaign slogan intersected and resonated against the real experience of Americans who had been socioeconomically left behind,” explained Nicola Mooney, professor in the department of social, cultural, and media studies.

However, his approach to this nostalgic past also has negative connotations, creating a dystopian reality for some.

“Depending on the era one idealizes, a great many social exclusions and inequities are in play — for instance, gay rights, civil rights, women’s rights,” said Mooney. “This was deeply

unsettling to many Americans for whom the past is not utopian but dystopian: unequal, oppressive, violent.”

The electoral race was a field where language violence played a crucial role.

“During the campaign, there has been cultural violence based on language. ‘Crooked Hillary’ or saying that foreigners have stolen our jobs are examples of this violence,” said peace and conflict studies professor Steven Schroeder.

Women’s rights and the fact that Donald Trump has been considered by some as the ultimate expression of toxic masculinity are one of the main social concerns, according to MacDonald. “We need to start engaging with this topic. Many men are already doing that in their daily life and their relationships.”

Immigrants have been in his spotlight and the building of the Mexican wall crystallizes Trump’s aspirations. However, experts point out that its construction is unviable.

“There is a gap between signing an order and translating it into reality. Trump says it will cost $8 billion, but experts say that [it could be] from 15 to 35,” said Stephen Piper, professor in the social, cultural, and media studies department.

According to Piper, the wall is to build on the

fear of Americans.

“In this context, the answer was blaming Muslims and Mexicans. They felt they threatened their jobs,” he said. “This is going to be a wall with a lot of holes in it. It will bring back the popular hopes but it won’t bring back their jobs or the American Dream.”

The map of international relations of the United States is being reshaped with increasing tensions in different places. According to history professor Scott Sheffield, the main focuses are in Palestine, China and Taiwan, Europe, and Russia.

“In Europe, he wants the destabilization and disintegration of the euro,” he said. “He was inciting the Brexit and he has been very critical of voices such as Angela Merkel, and supporting Marine Le Pen.” In this context, Canada has the opportunity to draw a pacific impact worldwide.

“Canada used to mirror in the U.S., like a brother in the south. This is a good opportunity to awaken. We can make a positive contribution to international relations, be peace builders,” concluded Schroder.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

CULTURE

New French club takes off in full swing RACHEL TAIT CONTRIBUTOR

Bonjour tout le monde! Calling all French students: a brand new and exciting club has launched! The long-awaited and muchanticipated French Club is initiated by the French department, and students were invited Wednesday, January 25 to participate in a friendly get together called café-croissant in D115 at UFV’s Abbotsford campus. Students from beginner to advanced levels gathered to drink coffee, eat delicious croissants, and converse… in French! All were welcome, and the introductory session explained very clearly that although the professors may have come up with the idea, they are handing over the reigns to students almost immediately after.

Food was provided by teachers, with croissants bought from local Duft and Co. Bakehouse and coffee from Tim Hortons. Students were able to meet each other via speed dating en francais!

The premise of the game was to get to know the

person sitting in front of you before moving on to the next when the student leader flicked the lights on and off.

The food fare was delicious, and the professors hope to continue to be able to provide it and to get enough funding for this event. As for the French Club, they needed a certain number of students to apply, and they were happy to exceed that figure. The croissants were huge, buttery, and flakey, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air as students speaking French sounded like a deafening roar in the little room.

The passion they exuded in having an outlet to use their skills in the language spoke volumes.

Many students in the room expressed thrilling expectancy on the potential of the club. Others were content just to be there, as a dream became a reality. Nearly the entire French department showed up, highlighting that the reason for this club was student engagement and to provide a safe environment for students to get together and practice their French. Another benefit is that the higher level students in the club will be able to

help mentor the lower level students. Professor Alan Cameron commented on how it is very difficult out in the Valley to have opportunities to engage in a French atmosphere, whereas it is easier to do in more metropolitan cities like Vancouver.

According to Professor Ghizlane Laghzaoui, who came up with the idea for the café-croissant, the main goal is to “involve students more and more without having teachers around to tell them what to do, that it is up to them to carry on.” Professors are confident students will take the lead, but they will still be around to help at a distance, hinting at possible field trips, board game nights, and conversation nights.

One student volunteer, Evelyn Johnston said, “I think it is the start of a good club and I find that, being in a French program, it is very difficult to go out and meet people who speak French and have that extra edge.”

Elizabeth Guevara, another volunteer, is hoping that the club will attract more students over time.

“We would like to see students coming out more confident with the language because a lot of people struggle with it, and are afraid to do something incorrectly,” she said. “If we can build a sense of confidence, this club will reach its goal.”

One of the greatest fears a student has is to say the wrong thing or mispronounce a word. The beauty of this club is it is not graded, so students are free to pace themselves and learn from each other in a more natural setting.

There is another event coming up, and all students are invited. On February 23, a French potluck will be hosted at UFV (location TBA) from 5-7 p.m., where students can play games, eat, maybe even partake in some karaoke!

Students can bring French-speaking friends, but everyone is welcome, even if they don’t know a word of French. So come and experience for yourself a night of fun, and walk away learning a French phrase or two — with a croissant of course!

Attending TRU’s philosophy, history, and politics conference SARAH FERENCZ CONTRIBUTOR

While the world witnessed Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, a gathering of fledgling scholars at Thompson Rivers University’s Philosophy, History, and Politics (TRU PHP) Undergraduate Conference in Kamloops engaged in collegial discussions pertaining to their individual research interests and the shared political landscape in which their research occurred. This was the 10th anniversary of the TRU PHP Conference, and an opportunity for undergraduate students to highlight their research accomplishments. Participants emerged from universities across Western Canada as well as Washington State University.

The conference opened with a panel discussion on Trump, democracy, and North American politics, which included a compelling presentation from UFV philosophy student Serena Geary, who discussed the incongruence of Adam Smith’s moral philosophy with Trump politics. Other presentations throughout the day covered a multitude of complex topics such as global security, migration, and racial politics. While discussions of this nature may yield conflict and intense emotion, the climate was calm and collected, with insightful contributions from participants of varying academic disciplines.

On the second day of the conference, Evelyn Kalman and I — both from UFV’s school of criminology and criminal justice — alongside former UFV student Aaron Siebenga, presented our research findings on youth political disengagement, which we had gathered through an interdisciplinary course offered at UFV during the Winter 2016 semester. We were accompanied in addressing youth political disengagement by students from TRU, University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO),

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Photo: Sarah Ferencz

and Vancouver Island University (VIU). Elections BC representatives, who had funded the research of the five participating universities, attended the event and offered insightful feedback as we engaged in a collective discussion.

While each Elections BC research project was unique in design and surveyed within distinct communities, there were consistent themes noted within the findings. Establishing these themes across the multiple studies validated our own research, and allowed for collaborative conversation among the researchers. Coming together as like-minded academics was also an opportunity to identify gaps in the research. For instance, we collectively acknowledged the limits of our research due to the undersampling of youth beyond academic settings.

The ability to collaborate in this manner is part of what made the conference an excellent academic opportunity for students interested in pursuing graduate studies. In fact, many students expressed an interest in continuing their undergraduate research at the graduate level. Participants were able to create networks beyond their own universities and engage in meaningful dialogue on local and international issues. Opportunities of this nature are rare, as the TRU PHP Conference is one the few undergraduate conferences available in Western Canada.

Beyond the academic gains, the TRU PHP Conference also revealed an ability of young citizens to gather, discuss emotionally-charged topics in a logical manner, and identify strategies and policy solutions to our current social issues.

As we observe the fear-stricken headlines since the Trump inauguration, my peers who demonstrate growing passions for research and positive social change provide some degree of optimism. I can only hope that such collegial conversation will continue beyond these academic events.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

ARTS IN REVIEW v NETFLIX REVIEW

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Loans Self-Loaning

2

Austra Future Politics

3

The Courtneys II

4

Heat Overnight

5

Cheap High Subterranean Suburbia

6

Future Peers Furture Peers

7

Grandaddy Last Place

8

Terrifier Weapons of Thrash Destruction

9 10

The Maras Welcome To Wax Beach Colin James Blue Highways

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Ravi R.Eal1ze

12

Mugg Shot & RZ Mean Muggin’

13

Lesbo Vrouven Grifff Pifff

14

Jens Lekman Life Will See You Now

15

Manitoba Hal Live in Ghent

16

The Hidden Cameras Home On Native Land

17

Little Sprout Little Spout

18

Tanya Tagaq Retribution

19

Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa bouche Pas Pire Pop

20

Alpha Omega The Outbreak

SHUFFLE

Why aren’t Archie and Jughead friends anymore?

AARON LEVY

STATION MANAGER

Times like these, all you can do is point to someone more eloquent to say what most people around you are thinking. So, here’s the man who bought the Tate mansion.

Nine Inch Nails “The Wretched” A glimpse, just a little reminder, of all the what abouts, all the might’ve, could’ve beens. Another day, some other way, but not another reason to continue, now you’re one of us. The hopes and prays, better days, far aways. Didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?

Nine Inch Nails “March of the Pigs” Step right up, march, push.

Crawl right up on your knees.

Please. Greed. Feed (no time to hesitate). All the pigs are all lined up, I give you all that you want. Take the skin and peel it back. Doesn’t that make you feel better? The pigs have won tonight.

Nine Inch Nails “Ruiner” You had all of them on your side didn’t you? You believed in all your lies didn’t you? The ruiner’s got a lot to prove he’s got nothing to lose and now he made you believe. The ruiner’s your only friend, well he’s the living end to the cattle he deceives.

Nine Inch Nails “Terrible Lie” Hey God, why are you doing this to me? Am I not living up to what I’m supposed to be? Why am I seething with this animosity? I think you owe me a great big apology. Terrible lie. I really don’t know what you mean.

Salvation comes only in our dreams.

Nine Inch Nails “Head Like A Hole” Do anything for you. God money just tell me what you want me to. God money nail me up against the wall. God money don’t want everything he wants it all. No you can’t take it. Bow down before the one you serve.

You’re going to get what you deserve.

VANESSA BROADBENT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Although Netflix’s latest series Riverdale is a modern take on the classic Archie comics, it doesn’t actually feel like Archie and the gang have entered the real world. Rather, they live in some alternative dimension where Twitter, smartphones, gay bars, and strip clubs coexist with vintage fashion and retro diners in a norm that everyone follows, and not in an ironic, nostalgic way.

Riverdale’s season premiere launched last week and like the Archie comics, it’s about teenagers attending Riverdale High, but this time there’s a plot and it’s a murder mystery.

The quaint town of Riverdale no longer seems so simple, and neither do its residents. Archie is now a bit more complex, having to decide between pursuing football or music, but most of his wondering is done at a soda shop (which happens to be Rocko’s in Mission), which is still the high school hang out, even though the show isn’t set in the 1940s as the comics.

This unlikely mix of worlds isn’t the only uncomfortable thing about the show. The characters are a lot more grown up than we remember: Betty takes Adderall to help her stay focused in school, Veronica has her eyes on Archie because she’s “had every flavour of boy but orange,” and Archie even has sex with a teacher in the back of a car (a vintage VW Bug, because apparently new cars don’t exist in this world).

And they’re not the only ones that have changed; some of the comic series’ staple characters are portrayed as different races and as having different sexual orientations.

All of this would be fine, and could even be a positive thing, if it didn’t seem like the show’s writers were only trying to cross off every box on a checklist of how many ways they can make the original narrative more relevant for today’s audiences. But rather than approaching these topics in a way that requires, or even encourages, discussion surrounding them, it seems as if they’re simply put there because they can be; the random girl-on-girl action at

cheerleader tryouts isn’t there to push society’s acceptance of homosexuality or add to character development, it’s there because it’s hot. As a result, it seems to be a step backwards more than anything.

However, there are a few things Riverdale does right.

Looking back on the original Archie comics, a lot of things just don’t seem right, but Riverdale corrects them. The classic love triangle between Betty, Veronica, and Archie originally just seemed wrong and frankly quite sexist with Archie always stringing along two girls that had no problem with his unfaithfulness. But for the first time, it makes sense.

The love triangle still exists, but is presented in a way that relies on the character’s emotions to drive it forward, in such a way that lets viewers know Archie will have to choose in the end. Finally.

The characters are also presented as real people with real problems. Veronica is still a spoiled brat, but she now has emotions; Betty is still really nice, but to the point where she’s a pushover; and Archie is still just as girl crazy but for once he’s actually facing the consequences.

We learn by the end of the episode that the show’s narrator is not just some omniscient voice, but actually Jughead Jones (played by a grown up Cole Sprouse, surprisingly), the brooding loner who has been in the background throughout the whole time, never actually interacting with anyone, and he’s writing a book about everything that happened over the summer.

This raises a lot of questions, mainly: why aren’t Archie and Jughead friends anymore?

Honestly, as uncomfortable as the show is in almost too many moments, and as many cringe-worthy pop-culture references there are to suffer through, it’s safe to guess that viewership won’t drop for the second episode. Like any good murder mystery, I want to know what happens next. Well, maybe that and it let me live vicariously through the characters and eat Rocko’s onion rings without actually making the trip from Chilliwack to Mission.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

ARTS IN REVIEW

SOUNDBITES

USS

AFI

New World Alphabet

The Blood Album I guess it was AFI’s turn to make a bit of noise, something to remind us that they still exist.

Their newest album The Blood Album (named only after an exhaustive brainstorm session) is set to be a comeback monument to outdated musicians and their fans.

The band features their old lineup, but to maintain a mid-2000s vibe, they’ve hired a 14-year-old boy with black painted nails as their chief lyricist.

I can’t compare The Blood Album to AFI’s old stuff because I didn’t listen to it. I can however beat “Miss Murder” on hard — this means my AFI frame of reference is accompanied by the sound of someone slapping away at

Mini album reviews

a plastic guitar. I actually thought AFI stood for amniotic fluid index until I connected the band with their Guitar Hero 3 hit.

In order to be fair, I did put on one of their older songs. I couldn’t tell the difference between what was made then and what was made now. Granted, I only listened to half of the one song, but it seemed like enough.

The Blood Album is kind of a regretful attempt to make an almost non-existent subculture remember their roots. It’s a nod to being noticed.

Don’t worry AFI, we see you; you still matter.

Joel Robertson-Taylor

Agriculture Day

Farm Crawl

The music of Canadian duo Ashley Buchholz and Jason “Human Kebab” Parsons, collectively known as the band Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (USS), is hard to categorize: alternative and indie rock mixed with electronica and dance, and plenty of drum and bass. As Buchholz put it: “We like to call what we do the campfire after-party. It’s like you’re at Nirvana Unplugged but there’s a drum and bass party and glow sticks all around you.”

Buchholz is the band’s lead singer, while Parsons is a DJ specializing in turntables and keyboards, not to mention plenty of craziness.

Together, the two exude a contagious energy that is famous for causing dance-floor action to break out at concerts. Their fourth studio album, New World Alphabet attempts (and succeeds) to embody this energy.

Experts in two-step rhythms, wordplay, and catchy hooks, songs like “Domino,” “California Medication,” and “Work Shoes” are great examples of USS’ clever and quirky rhymes,

Buchholz laying down fast lyrics with ease and a voice smooth as butter. “Defying laws of gravity, opinions like a cavity / You like to talk shit, I prefer originality … Bless the ones who copy me, respect the disk jockey / Stole Park Place and Boardwalk, so I always win Monopoly.” However, the guys still bring their also familiar more serious, emotional side, touching on self reflection and relationships, notably in the song “Us.” New World Alphabet is a fun, feel-good album that will surely resonate in your mind long after listening. Songs such as “Who’s With Me” are not only addictive and catchy as hell, but also uplifting and carrying a wonderful message: “Al-al-al-alright / Who’s with me, with me? / Sparks scream out unite / Who’s with me, with me? / Don’t try to paint my rainbow grey, I’m feeling fine.” I’m definitely with you, guys.

Kat Marusiak

fill a gap in your program

February 16, 2017 Join us for a bus tour celebrating Agriculture in Abbotsford, featuring food, wine and beer from several local gems, including: Ecodairy/Nature’s Pickin’s Singletree Winery Janzen’s Poultry Farm Restaurant 62 Fieldhouse Brewing

Get tickets now at abbotsford.ca/farmcrawl

Athabasca University has over 850 courses for you to choose from to meet your needs. Monthly start dates of undergraduate courses fit into your schedule so that you can work at your own pace.

Fill the gap and save a semester.

go.athabascau.ca/online-courses open. online. everywhere.

18

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017

ARTS IN REVIEW

For the viewer, Silence is a trial, but then again, that’s the point MARTIN CASTRO ARTS EDITOR

Silence is, despite any reservations viewers might have about its narrative, undeniably beautiful. And, despite my explicit secularity, Silence spurred awe and contemplation from me.

Martin Scorsese’s newest film takes us to 17th-century Japan, where two Portuguese Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) are tasked with finding Father Cristovao Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a third priest, rumoured to have apostatised.

Yosuke Kubosuka’s portrayal of Kichijiro, a Japanese man who is tormented by the notion of his selfishness and apparent lack of will being in opposition to his outlawed Christian belief, epitomizes the existentialism of the film.

Silence has two modes: The first is suffering. There are multiple scenes of torture in the film, which were, to be perfectly honest, hard to sit through. The Japanese soldiers at one point crucify Christian villagers on the beach, where they are eventually drowned by the unceasing waves of the incoming tide.

Fathers Sebastiao Rodrigues (Garfield) and Fransisco Garupe (Driver) are forced to watch, from a hidden vantage point, helpless and in silence.

Later, on that same beach, Rodrigues is captured and told to apostatize or Japanese Christians who have refused to apostatize will be burned alive. A man of faith, Rodrigues refuses. And we, along with him, are forced to watch entire families burn on pyres.

The film lacks a musical score, so that during these scenes of torture and suffering, we are forced to confront the pain of characters on-screen. We drown in their screams just as they drown on their crucifixes on the beach, while they burn, while they are rolled in bamboo mats and pushed into the sea. These scenes of torture are almost unbearably long, and always, they are followed by silence. We are left to take in the horrors, and consider the depth of faith that must have driven the characters on-screen to stick to their beliefs so unquestioningly.

Scenes of persecution and torture are punctuated by sweeping shots which highlight the natural beauty of the Japanese landscape. Mountain-ranges, beaches, even the forests of the country are highlighted. (Perhaps unnecessarily, however.) Because although the beauty of these shots is undeniable and breathtaking, they do nothing to add to the story, other than perhaps give viewers a reprieve from the violence which throughout the film becomes increasingly difficult to stomach.

The introduction of Liam Neeson’s Father Ferreira comes rather late in the story and serves to open our eyes to, (we think) a new mode of thought in the narrative, outside that of strictly Christian-backed dialectic. At this point, we’re numb to cruelty, having witnessed it extensively throughout.

The film highlights Ferreira’s newfound Buddhist piety (to Rodrigues’ dismay) after having shown us faith through a purely Christian lens. This, interspersed with more scenes of torture, and punctuated by Ferreira’s musings on theology, would have driven a point home about the equality of faith across religious landscapes. But that, we know, is not reflective of the truth of human action.

Ferreira’s story, told through a prolonged flashback, highlights the arrogance of missionaries while managing to humanize them, a feat not overlooked by the narrative. We’re asked questions; must faith be proclaimed in order to be practiced? Whose faith is legitimized within the dichotomy of an oppressor and an oppressed? Whose oppression is justified? Whose faith, after such long hardships, remains pure?

The answer is given in the very last shot, and, despite its implications, we are met, invariably, with silence.

Kayla Czaga rips the door off time and helps us walk around BRADLEY PETERS FEATURES EDITOR

Whispering secrets in bed-sheet forts, public transit proclamations, plucking wisdom from philosopher baristas and unruly uncles, Kayla Czaga’s poetry subverts the analytical brain to access a deeper insight using concrete language and endearing vulnerability. For Your Safety Please Hold On is a masterful debut from a Canadian poet that manages to be both frighteningly personal and painfully relatable.

For Your Safety is categorized into five sections, starting with the nostalgic Mother and Father, then moving on to The Family, For Play, and ending with the earnest For Your Safety Please Hold On, and the all-encompassing Many Metaphorical Birds. The themed sections never feel restrictive as each poem’s unique message reaches far beyond its context.

Czaga’s poems are soaked in an infectious zeal that makes every word vital and each page necessary. An easy wit permeates the book, a wit that blooms into a barely stifled rascalglee in The Family poems such as “The Drunk Uncle”: “Late to your wedding in an alligator tuxedo, / he staggers straight into the open bar.

Resurfaces / for his too-loud lecture on the hullabaloo / of marriage. And he’d know from his three, all great ladies, mind you.”

Czaga doesn’t simply settle on humor, nor does she rely on her mastery of language or other entertainments (although her poetry is undoubtedly entertaining); she pushes deeper, past superficial wisdom and easy epiphanies, hounding the bone of each poem to crack it open and find its marrow. “In China, workers weave through fields / pulling paintbrushes across crops / for pollination, all the bees gone,

fallen / onto sidewalks, a billion yellow blossoms / underfoot.”

Much of For Your Safety wrestles underlying themes of loss and time. It’s hard to say whether the book ever comes close to concluding or answering these persistent existential questions, but that should be expected, and Czaga makes no direct attempt at any explanations. Instead, she uses honesty and tactile sensory experiences to elicit a deep-rooted and primal understanding that is otherwise lost in translation.

“That time from a provincial park I stole / wild lilac with my mother and gardened it / into the backyard. Those times into her arms/ made of fabric softener I ran, my skirt / flapping in the breeze. The time we drove / for sandwiches together to the next town / over with the radio and windows open. / The time she bought me a fairy journal / in Great Falls, Montana. The private time / we fled to the movies to escape family / reunion time. All that time before the time / she started dying, how there was less / of it and somehow more than enough. / Now there’s not enough and too much / sitting in doctors offices with expired / magazines. How hard it is to move through. / How over it my mother is crumbling. / Time’s a drag and with it drags the light, / the lilac blossoms into lilac dust. But how / lovely the lilac vanishing in the low dusk, / the petals deadlining all over the lawn.”

In this poem titled “Wild Lilac,” the theme of time is omnipotent. The word is repeated throughout, never letting us forget its weighty power, and it has an effect on the poems narrative as we witness the literal decay of her mother into dust, and one step further, time has an effect on the poems form and syntax as well.

Notice the youthful blossom of language in the opening, “those times into her arms / made of

fabric softener I ran,” the wilt of the centre, “all that time before the time / she started dying,” and the dust of the end, “time’s a drag and with it drags the light / the lilac blossoms and lilac dust.” The poem itself is bound, like a flower or all of existence, by the cycle of time.

The poem’s language-play suggests a malleability to time that we are aware of but cannot comprehend, “how there was less / of it and somehow more than enough. / Now there’s not enough and too much.” Time may be more viscous than rigid, but it will always continue flowing powerfully downstream.

“How hard it is to move through,” Czaga proclaims. This line illuminates the contest humanity plays to continue in a coordinated effort, to struggle, to strive for something that’s already disappearing, to flounder or flourish, according to your disposition, but to always fight towards no end other than dust, or the eventual dust of dust and blackness.

These difficult thoughts are always more apparent when someone we know and love is decaying before our eyes. “How over it my mother is crumbling.” Czaga intentionally keeps this sentence uninhibited by commas or line breaks, so we are left swallowing it whole and wondering whether her intention was for us to read it “How over it my mother is, crumbling,” or, “How over it, my mother is crumbling.” But the decision isn’t important, because now we’ve interpreted both and that’s the point.

Either way, the mother is still crumbling, just like us, but that’s okay. It’s a cycle, and like all cycles there is a beginning and an end. Like wild lilac we bloom from the dirt of so many crumpled flowers, inevitably sinking back to where we once came, but the sun felt good and the breeze smelt fine, like warm pine and pollen.

Kayla Czaga has created a book that is formed around this same cycle of time, with an early blossom in Mother And Father, growing throughout the remaining four sections from youth to adulthood, transitioning into a full arching bloom. For Your Safety Please Hold On is a poignant and profound book of poems that gets better with multiple reads, and Kayla Czaga is an exciting and impassioned new voice in Canadian poetry, reminding us that although life is uncertain and strange, we should hold on, if for nothing else than to read more poetry. “[L]ilac blossoms into lilac dust. But how / lovely the lilac vanishing in the low dusk, / the petals deadlining all over the lawn.”

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

UPCOMING EVENTS FEB

1

CLIMATE CHANGE: A CHANGE OF WIND

@ Lifetime Learning Centre (Mission) 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM STUDY ABROAD EXPO

FEB

4

@ SUB Atrium (UFV Abbotsford) 11:00 AM - 4:30 PM

THE KINDA OK CORRAL

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 7:30

@ Columbia Bible College (Abbotsford) 6:00 - 8:45 PM

2

DRUMMING & STUDENT LUNCH

@ Indigenous Student Centre (UFV Abbotsford) 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

FEB

6

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

TEA TIME WITH ELDER

@ Indigenous Student Centre (UFV Abbotsford) & Elders Lounge (UFV Chilliwack) 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

WWE ROAD TO WRESTLEMANIA

@ Abbotsford Centre 7:30 - 11:00 PM FRIENDS OF THE CHILLIWACK LIBRARIES SOCIETY ANNUAL PUZZLE SALE

THE KINDA OK CORRAL

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 7:30

@ Sardis Library 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH SEMINAR: DAVE HARDER

@ C1422 (UFV Abbotsford) 12:30 - 2:00 PM HALO (PLAY)

FEB

7

@ Abbotsford Arts Centre 7:30 PM

FRIENDS WITHOUT BORDERS

@ Global Lounge — B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:00 - 6:00 PM GRAPHIC + DIGITAL DESIGN PORTFOLIO INFO SESSION

@ UFV Mission 6:00 - 9:00 PM

FEB

8

BFA GRADS SILENT AUCTION

@ S’eliyemetaxwtexw Gallery B136 (UFV Abbotsford) 10 AM - 4 PM FROM BACH TO BRUBECK

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 10:30 AM MARIANAS TRENCH

@ Abbotsford Centre 7:30 PM– 12:00 AM AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH VALDY

TRUTH & RECONCILIATION COMMISSION REPORT READING SESSIONS

@ F124 (UFV Abbotsford) 7:00 - 10:00 PM

@ Abbotsford Arts Centre 7:30 PM

3

10

@ Chilliwack Cultural Centre 7:30 PM

FRASER VALLEY HOME & GARDEN EXPO

CANADIAN FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN MONTHLY MEETING

HALO (PLAY)

FEB

FEB

@ B140 (UFV Abbotsford) 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM

GAMES NIGHT

@ CEP - A1454 12:00 – 3:00 PM

@ The Reach (Abbotsford) 6:30 PM

HOW TO WRITE SONGS

10TH WORLD RELIGIONS CONFERENCE

INFLUENCES OF THE METIS

PANEL DISCUSSION: A LOOK INWARDS TO MAKE CHANGE OUTWARD

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

@ S’eliyemetaxwtexw Gallery B136 (UFV Abbotsford) 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

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

HALO (PLAY)

@ B121 (UFV Abbotsford) 5:00 PM

BFA GRADS SILENT AUCTION

GAMES NIGHT

@ A229 (UFV Abbotsford) 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

ROADMAP TO APARTHEID (DOCUMENTARY AND DISCUSSION)

FEB

BRUNCH WITH ARTISTS

9

CIVL RADIO MINI SCHOOL

@ Indigenous Student Centre (UFV Abbotsford) & Elders Lounge (UFV Chilliwack) 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

@ Abbotsford Arts Centre 7:30 PM

@ Sardis Library 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

FEB

@ The Reach (Abbotsford) 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

TEA TIME WITH ELDER

HALO (PLAY)

FRIENDS OF THE CHILLIWACK LIBRARIES SOCIETY ANNUAL PUZZLE SALE

FEB

@ Tradex (Abbotsford) Various Times

FEB

11 FEB

12

FRASER VALLEY HOME & GARDEN EXPO @ Tradex (Abbotsford) Various Times

FRASER VALLEY HOME & GARDEN EXPO @ Tradex (Abbotsford) Various Times

BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENT BEGINS @ The Reach (Abbotsford) 1:00 - 4:00 PM

BFA GRADS SILENT AUCTION

@ S’eliyemetaxwtexw Gallery B136 (UFV Abbotsford) 10 AM - 4 PM EAST AFRICA PHOTO EXHIBIT

@ Global Lounge — B223 (UFV Abbotsford) 4:30 - 6:00 PM CANADA AND THE ISRAELPALESTINE CONFLICT

@ B121 (UFV Abbotsford) 5:00 PM

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