The Cascade Vol. 28 Is. 04

JANUARY 29 TO FEBRUARY 4, 2020

VOLUME 28 ISSUE 04

The coolest cult on campus since 1993

THE DARK SIDE OF K-POP 9 5

PAWS OFF OUR PARKING

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LENORE NEWMAN's "LOST FEAST"

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EMILIA FART IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04

Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca

News Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca

Jr. News Editor Sam Young samuel@ufvcascade.ca

Culture & Events Editor Carissa Wiens carissa@ufvcascade.ca

Opinion Editor Andrea Sadowski andrea@ufvcascade.ca

Feature Editor Darien Johnsen darien@ufvcascade.ca

Arts in Review Editor Chandy Dancey chandy@ufvcascade.ca Sports Editor Alex Jesus alex@ufvcascade.ca

Photographer David Myles

Illustrator Kayt Hine

Staff Writer Aleister Gwynne

Illustrator Kelly Ning

Staff Writer Nicholas Ashenhurst- Toews Staff Writer Krystina Spracklin

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Sports Writer Nic Jackson The Shuffler Aaron Levy

Cover Design: Mikaela Collins Back Cover: Elyssa English

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

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12 20......Events Calendar

Snapshots.......8 @UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/UFVCASCADE Volume 28 · Issue 04 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a print circulation of 800 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Pitch meetings are held every Monday in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus at 2:30pm.

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic, or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 200 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

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

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ARTS

Digital Media Manager Anoop Dhaliwal anoop@ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

Production Manager Elyssa English elyssa@ufvcascade.ca

NEWS

Creative Director Mikaela Collins mikaela@ufvcascade.ca

CONTENTS

FEATURE

Business Manager Aneesha Narang aneesha@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor Nadia Tudhope nadia@ufvcascade.ca

CULTURE

Executive Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca

18.......CIVL Shuffle

Study Break.......16

NEWS UFV Thrive week......3

4......Rebel Pizza

Bring It!......4 OPINION Editorial.......5

5.......Dear Robin

Arranged marriage.......6

6.......Academy Awards

Wet’suwet’en.......7 CULTURE Cascade Kitchen......12

12.......Lost Feast launches

Writer-in-residence Adéle Barclay......13

13.......Feminist reading group

SPORTS Men's and women's basketball .......14

15......Dan Kinvig Q&A

ARTS American Dirt......17 Cascade Rewind......19

18......Emilia Fart 19......Ares

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020 news@ufvcascade.ca Jessica Barclay — News Editor

NEWS NEWS

UFV //

NEWS BRIEFS

Abbotsford planning more affordable housing

UFV Thrive Week promotes self-care Week-long event brings mental health awareness to UFV

Despite record levels of building in Abbotsford, rental housing remained scarce in 2019, new figures from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) show.

Over the last two years, more than 600 rental apartment units have been completed in the city, but according to the CMHC, demand has kept pace with supply. Only 1.3 per cent of rental homes in Abbotsford were vacant in 2019, and rent is continuing to rise.

Abbotsford city council saw a draft outlining a new affordable housing strategy Monday, which aims to incentivize the building of more homes, especially for those with lower incomes.

The council is also appealing to the federal and provincial governments for further support addressing the shortage.

- Abby News Melissa Friesen's zen garden. Jan. 28, 2020 (The Cascade)

SAM YOUNG Abbotsford mayor wants $8 billion from province for rail expansion Speaking to Abbotsford city council on Monday, Mayor Henry Braun called for B.C.’s provincial government to lend the city $8 billion for an ambitious new commuter rail project. The proposed line would see Abbotsford, and possibly Chilliwack, linked to TransLink’s existing transit infrastructure in Metro Vancouver.

“I do think the day has come,” said Braun, who cited historically low interest rates on loans as a reason the province should consider supporting the expensive rapid transit link. “[This] would be a good debt, because that infrastructure would be built to last 100-plus years.”

From Jan. 27-31, UFV is hosting its first-ever Thrive Week, a series of events and activities designed to promote mental health literacy and improve students’ mental and physical well-being. Each day follows a theme, such as Mindfulness Monday, and features events that promote different aspects of selfcare, including meditation, yoga, dance, and more.

Thrive Week was first conceived at UBC just over a decade ago as a way to fight the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and the event has since been adopted by schools across Canada including SFU, Queen’s University, the University of Winnipeg, and over a dozen more.

UFV’s Thrive Week is the result of a partnership between Campus Recreation and the Peer Resource and Leadership Centre (PRLC), who provided financial support for

the week’s events. Several other organizations have also contributed to programming, including UFV’s Mental Health Club, who hosted “Cups of Calmness and Colouring,” an event for students to enjoy a hot beverage and colour while conversing about mental health topics.

This year’s Thrive events are primarily occurring at UFV’s Abbotsford campus, although a few of the Chilliwack campus’s regularly scheduled events, including multiple yoga sessions and dance fitness, are being included in Thrive as a way of promoting them to students who may otherwise be unaware of what’s going on on campus.

Cheryl Van Nes, program manager for Campus Recreation and Wellness, is responsible for coordinating the week’s events (along with some assistance from her colleague Ashley Ward-Hall at the PRLC) and said the idea of hosting a Thrive Week at UFV was inspired by some of those other schools.

“Thrive happens within the cam-

pus recreation community at other universities, and my colleagues that I know from other universities have participated in it and promoted it,” she said. “Health and wellness, and mental health, is a hot topic these days.”

Van Nes also said she hopes future Thrive weeks can be even more comprehensive.

“The Chilliwack campus is a bit more challenging because of resources,” Van Nes said.

Students interested in volunteering in the future (and receiving cocurricular record credit) or being involved in the event should email CampusRec@UFV.ca or send her “an email if they have something cool that they want to do that’s related to health and wellness.”

Students can find more information about Thrive and view the full schedule of events at UFV.ca/ Thrive, or by following UFV Recreation on Twitter at @UFVRec.

- Abby News

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VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04

NEWS SUS //

Make-your-own pizza joins campus food options JESSICA BARCLAY A make-your-own pizza joint has joined Streats on the second floor of the Student Union Building.

Rebel Pizza opened at the beginning of the winter semester and is operating out of the old Canoe restaurant kitchen and lounge space. Rebel Pizza started in Winnipeg, and the franchise at UFV is the only one in B.C. Streats and Rebel are both franchises under the same ownership and same contract with the Student Union Society (SUS).

The restaurants do not pay rent, but SUS does receive a percentage of their profits. They also pay for their own utilities.

The same ownership means that nothing much will change except additional food options for students; the two stores will maintain the same staff and have the same responsibilities over the lounge space.

“It's all under one organization. They're just able to offer more services,” said Gurvir Gill,

SUS vice president external.

While the addition of the pizza franchise was not under the original contract negotiations, Gill said that Streats was able to bring in any additional services they wanted to offer. As the old Canoe restaurant had a functioning pizza oven, pizza was a strong consideration for the franchise owner.

“It's exciting to have pizza on campus. It caters to different people that have dietary restrictions,” Tripat Sandhu, SUS president, said.

The menu at UFV includes make-your-own pizza options and a selection of “do it our way” predesigned pizzas. A four-topping, nine-inch pizza is $9.99, and a two-topping of the same size is $8.99. There is also a 17-inch party pizza option and cheesy garlic sticks.

“Students get a bit more bang for the same buck … Getting pizza [in addition to Streats food] is kind of neat,” Gill said.

“It's a nice added bonus I think for students, and we’re hoping that they try it out.”

Rebel Pizza. Jan. 28, 2020. (The Cascade)

UFV //

Bring It! workshops put the life back into UFV clubs

Student Life organizes several workshops to deliver skills and knowledge to UFV club executives KRYSTINA SPRACKLIN As school resumed session for the winter semester and students adjusted back into their academic routines, Student Life organized various workshops to ensure clubs and associations were equally prepared.

Clubs have a high mortality rate at UFV — many students are unaware of what clubs are offered, where they meet, and what participation entails. Last year, Student Life gathered with club executives to determine how they measured their success as a club and what, if any, difficulties they faced. Executives expressed concerns over a lack of resources, skills, and knowledge of how to expand their club.

“We understood there was not enough

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help from UFV,” Vladislav Gavrilov, Clubs and Association assistant at Student Life and one of the instructors of the workshops, said. “Clubs were dying off because of that lack of support. When troubles appeared, they didn’t know how to solve them.”

Sustainability was introduced as a key theme in these workshops. Gavrilov noted that there were occasions when past executives graduated without hiring a replacement. In his workshop “Unbreakable,” he proposed a “Sustainability Folder” — a formal document of club policies, social media passwords and account information, and attendee feedback from club events — to keep track of paperwork. The workshops also covered topics of budgeting, event planning, fundraising, advertising, how to receive

funding, available resources, leadership development, and social media. Social media is a key component for engaging with not only prospective club members but updating current members as well.

After a tumultuous brigade of snow the second week into the semester, Student Life reorganized several workshop dates, offering at least two workshops per topic in order to cover a variety of schedules. They will continue to host more workshops in the future; you can keep an eye out for these dates by visiting the myCampusLife website.

“We’re trying to teach executive members some skills that they need to run a club successfully and ensure that they’re attracting members, engaging their current members, and advertising events. In the future, we’re also planning to roll out

[even more] workshops that will help not only in their success as a club executive, but in their leadership as [a part] of their community and as a student at UFV,” Gavrilov said.

As mentioned earlier, the myCampusLife website is an important tool for finding clubs and events happening at UFV. You can scroll through workshops, events, and club meetings happening on UFV campuses. The service is free to use but requires your UFV login to access.

For anyone interested in developing a new club or reviving a past one, Student Life has forms to register a club on myCampusLife. You can also visit a Student Life employee in person in the Student Union Building, room S1111 to receive help and information.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020 opinion@ufvcascade.ca Andrea Sadowski — Opinion Editor

Editorial //

OPINION

Advice //

If you can’t park, Dear Robin you can’t go to class JESSICA BARCLAY Students who drive to UFV for classes need a place to park. When parking is the limitation on education, that becomes a problem that the university needs to prioritize.

Last Wednesday, the Abbotsford Centre hosted PAW Patrol Live! during the morning and afternoon, when most classes were taking place. Performances took place at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m., and students and professors reported having difficulty both entering the campus and finding parking as early as 8:30 a.m.

The university was aware that this would cause a major disruption; the commuter alerts webpage warns those at UFV to “be advised parking will be heavily congested on this day.” A parking advisory was posted in the usual locations: on the website and on UFV Announce blog. But it appears that a warning email was only sent out to UFV staff, not to students who would be the most disrupted by the increased traffic.

Event attendees were only restricted from parking in four lots on the Abbotsford campus: two of those were staff lots and one was the small parking lot directly in front of Building K. The only student lot restricted was the gravel lot, where a student parking pass is required.

If students are paying to attend university, and especially if they are paying for a parking pass, they should expect to be able to find a place to park within 30 minutes of entering the campus. This feels like the minimum expectation, but most of us who have driven have experienced the mind-numbing dance around the parking lot at least a few times.

Many students have been late for class because of lack of parking, and in classes where participation counts toward your grade, this is not acceptable.

Parking at UFV is not a new issue. Editorial and opinion pieces have filled The Cascade the last few Septembers as part of our accidental back-to-school tradition of complaining about parking. When every student attends their classes, there is not a reasonable amount of parking to accommodate.

Generally, shows at the Abbotsford Centre are not disruptive to classes; they take place in the evening, when the majority of classes are over, or students are already parked.

PAW Patrol Live! was shown to be popular back in September, when the organizers added an additional showing due to demand.

While it is difficult to estimate how many cars were brought to the university campus because of the shows, the Abbotsford Centre reportedly has a seating capacity of around 7,000. UFV has an on-campus parking capacity of around 1,900 stalls.

In their 2016 master plan, the university has claimed that they have sufficient parking capacity for an increased full-time student population of 7,831 and general demand is between 1,570 to 1,620 stalls.

Numbers can tell you a lot, but can’t paint the whole picture. Parking at UFV when there is an event or even slightly increased demand is an issue that affects students and faculty on campus. UFV needs to provide proper notification for students when a disruption of this size will take place. Finding a parking spot in a reasonable amount of time should be the rule, not the exception, even on the busiest days.

ROBIN HALPER Life is tough and confusing and weird.

We all need help sometimes, and when you need an expert opinion, you turn to an expert opinion-giver like Robin Halper. Whatever problem you’re facing in life, Robin will have a solution.

The Cascade cannot guarantee the effectiveness of Robin’s unique approach to life, but if you’re in a jam, get some advice by writing to halp@ufvcascade. ca Dishwasher dilemmas Dear Robin, My roommate and I do not have the luxury of owning a dishwasher. I prefer to not even leave my dishes in the sink, but to wash my plate, or knife, or mug as soon as I'm done with it to avoid a lot of work later.

However, my roommate will leave her pots, mugs, spatulas, and plates in the sink for days. I don't want to make this a bigger deal than it needs to be, but what is the appropriate amount of time to leave your dirty dishes in the sink and how should I address this problem?

Sincerely, Slumming with a slob Hello,

Building K. Abbotsford, BC. Nov. 12, 2019. (The Cascade)

Dishwashers are a luxury; you are not wrong there. I would say like two hours is the maximum amount of time to leave dirty dishes in the sink when you live with someone else. If you live on your own, throw caution to the wind: leave

those dishes for days; let that tomato sauce crust the edges of your saucepan so hard that it takes four soapy soaks to get that cleaned up.

Anyway, you have two options here: write an anonymous note by the sink telling your roommate to “clean the dishes asap or else…” or you can kick your roommate out and live on your own. Your call. All I’ll say is that my cat and I are living our best lives together.

Robin A keto tale Dear Robin, A couple rows behind me in my GEOG 103 class, a guy always talks about his keto life and how much he works out, and I’m sick of it. How do I tell him to zip his lid on his obnoxious lifestyle rants? Or is there a more clever way to handle this?

Sincerely, Unhealthy and happy Hello, Sometimes with these folks (that some say are the scum of the earth), it’s important to know that people like us can’t stop them. All we can do is make sure they don’t reproduce and pass their keto/ workout-constantly/muscular lifestyle down to the next generation, and wait for them to die. So cockblocking this dude in any way possible is the next step for you.

Godspeed.

Robin

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VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04

OPINION Relationships //

A new look at arranged marriages Falling in love slowly and deliberately ANDREA SADOWSKI I am currently spending my semester in India doing an internship with a non-governmental organization in Chandigarh. Out of the many ways this country contrasts Canada, one thing that stood out to me the most was the way people classified their marriage as a “love marriage.”

This is the first generation in which it is commonplace to get married out of a love connection rather than an arrangement by parental guardians.

Statistics for exactly how many marriages are arranged and how many are for love are unclear, but a survey from 2017 found that 84 per cent of all marriages in India are arranged marriages.

Arranged marriages are not like they used to be, when the bride and groom could meet the day before their wedding. With India being a subcontinent of 1.37 billion people, marriage traditions vary throughout the country. However, in most urban areas of India, semi-arranged marriages are on the rise. A couple is introduced by their parents or a matchmaker and allowed to court to see if they are compatible, and it is acceptable to call the wedding off if any party doesn’t want to continue further.

These marriages, which allow young couples to hold more autonomy, can help to protect women and allow them to use their agency to not get forced into a situation that could be potentially harmful to their well-being. According to a UN report, women who hold more power in choosing whom they marry are three times more likely than women who had no say in their partner to be able to make decisions within their families on topics such as finances, how to raise their children, and contraception. Marriage arrangements are usually more rigid in rural areas, with women not having as much autonomy with their parent’s choice.

I think semi-arranged marriages between consenting adults could actually be better than dating around trying to find a spouse, experiencing endless amounts of heartbreak in the process. Marrying for love is a relatively new concept in history; emotions weren’t taken into consideration up until the 18th century, as marriages were primarily used for political and economic security.

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Marriage throughout Europe, in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece for example, was strategic and revolved primarily around money and power.

In India, partners are commonly found for one another through family connections, newspaper classified ads, or matchmaking websites. When parents or matchmakers look for a suitable pair, they look at each other’s financial situations, education levels, and family backgrounds. In more rural areas, things like caste are considered, and bride dowries are still given. Marriages have more resemblance to a business transaction than a romantic Hollywood movie.

Marriages in India have around a one per cent divorce rate; however, these rates do not necessarily mean happy marriages, but rather women's inability to seek a divorce due to the cultural stigma and financial pressure. A 2012 study surveying 28 arranged marriages and 30 love marriages found that couples in arranged marriages were just as satisfied as couples in love marriages. So why do arranged marriages work so well?

In arranged marriages, you get married, and then you fall in love.

Love is not this sweet feeling you get when your husband brings you breakfast in bed: it’s a conscious choice you have to make every single day. It’s important to remember that no marriage is a guarantee. Even if you were head-over-heels in love on your wedding day, that doesn’t mean you will still feel the same way 20 years to come. Marriage is always a gamble, whether it's arranged or for love. I would argue that if you cut romantic feelings out of the picture, you are more likely to make a clear, logical choice on whom you want to spend the rest of your life with. And it helps to have input from family members who are keeping your best intentions in mind. In the end, it’s about commitment and a willingness to work through whatever differences you may discover along the way.

I don’t know if you have checked out the dating market recently, but if I was at that point in my life where I wanted to get married and I had the option of just asking my parents to find me a suitable husband, I might go for that. Dating for the specific purpose of finding a husband is exhausting and disappointing, which is why consensual, semi-arranged marriages could actually be a really great option.

World //

Where the only winners are war movies

Despite continued efforts, the Academy awards the same trends NICHOLAS ASHENHURSTTOEWS

common. The Academy is fond of certain themes, and films following those trends are awarded again and again. This is because, for much of the Academy’s life, the voter pool has been overwhelmingly white men that are presumed to be both heterosexual and cisgender.

Even after efforts to diversify, the 9,000 members remain 68 per cent male and 84 per cent white.

Despite being unmentioned in the Oscars’ conversation, 2019 was a very good year for women in movies. Women directed a record high amount of movies in 2019, which is 15 per cent of the total films released. In 2019, there was also a high number of female protagonists, up from 31 per cent in previous years to 40 per cent. While that sounds better, when you take into account that 70 per cent of those protagonists were white, with 18 per cent being black, six per cent being Latina, and five per cent being Asian, it is a reminder that people of colour in general and women of colour in specific still have significant barriers to getting major roles in film.

When posing the question “Do the Oscars Matter?” YouTuber Renegade Cut ran through how films can qualify for a nomination, the campaigns on behalf of film studios in favour of certain movies, and the representation that comes from the films that are allowed to be in the conversation. The video is fascinating and goes into far more depth than I can here. The conclusion he reached for the question of “Do the Oscars Matter?” was this: kind of. If anything, it reminded me just how much of a corporate machine awards associations are.

The Academy Awards has a long way to go toward giving underrepresented voices a platform. So this year, more than anything else, ask yourself what’s being left out of the conversation.

The 2020 Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 9 and honour the cinematic achievements of 2019. With the nominations announced on Jan. 13, the same conversations about the awards are being had amongst film fans. Chief among them always is this: why are the Oscars so bad at highlighting the cinematic achievements of women and people of colour?

Of the nine best-picture nominees, one is a foreign language film. Parasite, directed by Bong Joon Ho, is one of only three films foreign language films to be nominated for the best picture award in the 2010s, with the other being 2012’s Amour, which lost best picture to Argo, and 2018’s Roma, which lost to Greenbook. The other standout in this category is Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, a movie about women directed by a woman which was not nominated for best director. When it comes to the other films nominated for best picture, they hit on similar beats that harken back to the Academy's fondness for certain motifs: movies about men, war, aging, Hollywood, and times long since past. Most of the best picture nominees, including Little Women, are period pieces.

Surveying past best-picture winners, I don’t think Little Women will win. I have not seen it, I’ve only heard good things about it, but I don’t think it will win, mostly due to the fact that there have been only three films that have won best picture since the year 2000 that have had a female lead. Four if you count Crash, which is a can of worms I do not feel qualified to open. Adding to the fact that a film with two or more female leads has not won since Chicago in 2003, I don’t see it being a real contender. On that note, I expect Sam Mendes’ WWI film, 1917 to take the prize.

Mostly owing to the fact that 16 war movies have won best picture since the beginning of the Academy Awards.

When looking at the data, one notes the recurring trends that best picture nominees have in Illustration by Kayt Hine

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020

OPINION B.C. //

The Wet’suwet’en Nation’s battle against Coastal GasLink RCMP continues to use violence to access traditional territory DARIEN JOHNSEN Many people are already aware of the Unist'ot'en blockade on Wet’suwet’en territory. (Unist'ot'en is a clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation.) The blockade, located on a forest service road 120 km outside Smithers, B.C., has been set up to defend the land against the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline — planned to run through the nation’s territory. The hereditary chiefs of the clans of Wet’suwet’en have denied approval of the building of this pipeline.

Things escalated last winter when armed RCMP raided the blockade and arrested 14 land defenders, and the RCMP have become violent again this winter.

Rather than the overt violence of a raid and arrests, RCMP have blocked access to the territory, stopping supply trucks and allegedly preventing media from coming in, putting residents of the land at serious risk in the cold winter weather of interior B.C. The land defenders are concerned about the risks that the pipeline poses to their traditional territory, stating that it’s “a highly sensitive ecosystem that contains important fisheries of central importance to the Wet’suwet’en. This proposed project not only threatens the way of life and culture of the Wet’suwet’en, oil sands activities are currently creating health problems for First Nations in northern Alberta.”

They wish to preserve the land for future generations.

My question to you, UFV, is this: why don’t we see Indigenous issues as all of our issues? Everyone wants to encourage veganism, reducing plastic, recycling, and divesting from oil, but the activist fervour around environmentalism seems to be overlooking the importance of supporting the Indigenous movement.

Am I the only one who is tired of hearing empty promises, and watching Trudeau flash a smile as he blatantly lies to Canadians and the entire world about working toward climate change action and Indigneous sovereignty? Don’t bother talking about indigenization and reconciliation if you’re not willing to step up and admit that this pipeline project is a direct violation of Indigneous rights and sovereignty, and counteracts any of our attempts to ban plastic straws and donate to wildfire recovery.

Our premier, John Horgan, cannot continue to make promises of climate action, especially with the NDP’s Clean B.C. plan

Wetsuwet'en Access Point. Jan. 13, 2020. (Gidimt'en Territory Facebook Page)

(featuring, by the way, a promise to “reduce methane emissions from upstream oil and gas operations by 45%”), and implementing Indigenous rights while at the same time refusing to meet in person with and listen to Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. Instead, Horgan suggested sending a liaison in his place.

The battle at the Unist'ot'en blockade is being continually swept under the rug and hushed. Why? This is exactly where leaders have the opportunity to step up and fulfill all of the shiny promises that they love to shout about during election campaigns and at international summits.

With the recent passing of Bill 41, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, the province has agreed to implement and enforce the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). This includes giving sovereignty over traditional land to Indigenous nations. When the province committed to implementing this, Horgan was quoted as saying, “I know it will be more than symbolic.” What mind-boggling hypocrisy is this? They’re taking us all for a ride and we’re letting them. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of Canada deserve better.

In his article for The Tyee, “UNDRIP Act Gives Horgan an Option in Wet’suwet’en Standoff. He Should Use It,” author and professor emeritus John Price argues: “Under Bill 41, the government has the legal

authority to authorize a member of cabinet to ‘negotiate and enter into an agreement with an Indigenous governing body’ relating to either joint decision-making or to gaining ‘the consent of the Indigenous governing body before the exercise of a statutory power of decision.’ It can and should immediately appoint a cabinet member immediately [sic] to negotiate with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.”

“Why don’t we see Indigenous issues as all of our issues?”

Politicians (and citizens) need to stop citing the fact that elected chiefs have consented to the pipeline. It is obscuring the truth. Elected leaders were developed from the Indian Act, a settler-imposed document, forcing Western-style government on First Nations territories, and part of the centuries-old divide-and-conquer colonial tactic. Its intention is to divide and pit members of colonized nations against each other — and it’s doing exactly the evil it is intended to do. Elected leaders have no say over traditional land. Period.

My final word is to you, John Horgan, so-called leader of our province: not meet-

ing with the Wet’suwet’en Nation, and flatout ignoring their literal cries for the land is immature — a blatant attempt to wear blinders. You can’t just shove cotton in your ears, tell everyone that B.C. is “moving on,” and hope this goes away, because 10 years down the road, or less, we’ll be paying for the consequences: paying (literally) for the destroyed land, destroyed livelihoods, and destroyed morale of a country. Canada, and B.C. in particular, is one of the lucky ones of the world. We’re watching entire countries burn, and we still won’t wake up to what’s going on in our own backyard. We’ve experienced minimal climate change-related catastrophes, but this won’t last. We are not immune. It’s time to take that reality to heart, look around at the beautiful land we are blessed with, and take care of it.

If you want to do more to support the Wet’suwet’en, there is a call to action for all supporters to join Wet’suwet’en on Gidimt’en territory. You can find more information on the Unist'ot'en or Gidimt’en Yintah Access webpages, and on the Facebook page, We Support the Unist'ot'en and the Wet'suwet'en Grassroots Movement.

Call your cabinet minister, and call the RCMP; if you’re not comfortable calling, then email. Don’t hesitate to share widely the updates that the Unist'ot'en camp posts. Their battle is our battle, and we must start seeing it that way.

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BRIEF BITS OF BITE-SIZED BREVITY

SN S AP HO TS

CURTAILED COMMENTARY ON CURRENT CONDITIONS

Illustrations by Kelly Ning

Hustle culture is a hoax

I’m so sick of free time being turned into a commodity. It’s this insidious idea of “hustle culture” that sounds great in theory but in execution slowly drains away our life force and happiness. It encourages the notion that any free time we have should be turned into a “side hustle,” or that we should strive to use every spare minute to achieve more or otherwise have work completely consume our lives.

I’ve bought into it myself, and it’s exhausting. If your side job is something that you love and, as an added bonus, brings in cash, that sounds cool. But outsourcing the only time

Grammy show stoppers we have to actually live our lives just to sink our teeth further into capitalism isn’t right. As someone who’s had to work for everything she has, I wish I’d stopped to smell the roses more, to take that extra vacation day, to book that time off for a trip. For those who genuinely struggle with money, I acknowledge and respect your struggle, but for those who are being called by the alluring glow of “hustle culture” to further themselves: think twice. Life is too short not to spend time enjoying it.

Chandy Dancey

It’s almost the end of January, and we’re deep into award season: the best season of all. Of course I don’t give a shit (too much) about who won what, but I truly care about who wore what.

We’ve seen the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards this month, and now the Grammys this past weekend. I’ll do you a favour and let you know who showed up and who disappointed at the Grammys’ red carpet.

Of course, Ariana Grande stopped the scene in a banger of a Giambattista Valli gown, reportedly 20-feet long: every person’s dream dress. Tyler the Creator and Lil Nas X rolled

up in funky outfits that could double as Halloween costumes. But the real takedown came from Maggie Rogers who promoted sustainability in two ways: she wore Chanel from 2013 and she toted along a reusable water bottle instead of a purse. Finally, I would be a horrible reporter if I didn’t applaud Billie Eilish for once again ignoring regular beauty standards for women as she turned heads with her neon green hair, non-functionally long nails, and a baggy Gucci suit. I want to be her when I grow up.

Carissa Wiens

Feelin’ blue, blue, blue, blue, blue

My first modelling gig I am spending my semester abroad in India right now, and adjusting to the culture here has been a steep learning curve. As a blonde, white woman I find myself receiving a lot of unwanted stares and attention. One of the most curious things I have experienced is people’s insistence that I take a selfie with them. Not knowing a lot of English, locals come up to me and simply say “selfie,” with their phone ready to go. Most of the time I deny them their request, as I have no control over where a stranger posts a photo of me online.

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However, the other day, a fellow exchange student and I decided to monetize the demand for our milky complexions. When a couple guys came up to us asking for a selfie, we replied “100 rupees each.” After a moment’s hesitation, they parted with 200 rupees (the equivalent of four dollars), and we took selfies with them so they could post the photos on their Instagram and get a lot of likes. That 200 rupees bought us a lunch of rice, dhal, paneer masala, and chapatis.

Andrea Sadowski

I’ve struggled with depression since I was nine, and it tends to get worse in the winter. I once asked my psychology professor if one could have depression and seasonal affective disorder at the same time. He kind of scoffed and didn’t answer the question. He must have thought I was joking, which I definitely was not.

I’m no longer nine, and I no longer lose it during the winter when I get extremely depressed. However, depression can often come out in ways other than sleeping all day, crying, and freaking out. For me, it began to manifest as irritability, memory loss, a feeling of being brain dead (like forgetting

how to spell or use certain words), and overeating — which is terrible, because I’m also recovering from multiple eating disorders.

My word to you is this: be mindful of yourself. As you grow, you change, and so do the symptoms of mental illness.

Do daily check-ins with yourself, and take a break if you haven’t had one in a while, even if your body is telling you to keep going. Winter is here and the world has stopped blooming, but you don’t have to.

Darien Johnsen

K-Pop?

K, Stop

by Chandy Dancey

T

hink that boy bands died in the ’90s?

Well, think again. Korean pop, otherwise known as K-pop, is a billion dollar industry that’s been sweeping North American audiences with girl and boy groups that consistently offer charming personas, intricate choreography, and infectious songs. It’s undeniable that the Korean pop phenomenon has been making leaps and bounds in the mainstream market, breaking YouTube records and contributing billions to the South Korean economy. (One group, by the name of BTS, generates $4.65 billion gross domestic product alone.) Despite any existing language barriers, K-pop has been establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with in pop scenes all across the globe.

However, as upbeat and fun as the K-pop world might appear, it’s still plagued by a siege of shady business practices and incredible pressure on the pop stars that leave many fans disillusioned, myself included. Between 2012 and 2015 I religiously devoured albums of the most popular groups, trying to learn the choreography to all my favourite songs and playing them on repeat. But then I started to notice the cracks through my rose-tinted glasses. During talk shows the pop stars would advertise their extremely dangerous and restrictive diets, mention how little

sleep they got, or talk about how they passed out on stage due to overworking themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I still love K-pop and all that makes it stand out from the North American music industry, but I began to realize that I was enamored by a façade while the reality was much more bleak.

When talking about issues in media, there’s a pervasive notion that if a piece of media is problematic, it shouldn’t be engaged with or promoted. Not everything is black and white though. The truth is, fans can and should continue to fervently love K-pop, but in doing so they need to become more aware of what they’re directly supporting, what they’re contributing to, and what goes on in the industry.

The genre’s roots are humble. Seo Taiji and Boys created a completely new genre in 1992 that combined critiques of Korean social issues with a Western flair.

This was the definitive beginning of K-pop as it’s known today. Since it originated on TV, K-pop has remained closely paired to its visual aspects; emphasis is put on the stage performance and all that it entails, including aesthetics, choreography, camera angles, and stage outfits.

This pairing of K-pop and appearances has morphed since the ’90s, and today, beauty

standards in South Korea are homogenous and dangerously pervasive.

It’s routine for jobs to require photos of applicants, and plastic surgery is considered a normal enhancement, appropriate for young teens and older adults alike.

This obsession with looks has infiltrated K-pop in insidious ways. Wendy, a member of the girl group Red Velvet, was relentlessly criticized by fans about her weight despite already being thin. On an episode of Non-Summit, a Korean talk show, Wendy disclosed she tried the Wheesung 13-day-long deadly diet consisting of only half a cup of rice for breakfast and half an apple for lunch, supplemented with excessive aerobic exercise. After losing weight and looking visibly emaciated during performances, K-pop media outlets toted her dieting tips, inadvertently encouraging fans to follow suite.

K-pop stars have come to embody the South Korean ideal for beauty, boast-

ing double eyelids achieved through surgery, flawless skin, pale complexions, and slim figures. The best way for fans to avoid adding additional pressure is to not comment on looks at all, especially weight.

By adding to an already saturated dialogue about the appearances of celebrities, fans unknowingly contribute to the same culture that suggests looks are paramount. K-pop fans can’t dismantle the beauty standards of an entire country, but they can directly control how much they reinforce them.

In many ways, performers are kept in check by feedback from fans, who might not realize they’re contributing to the pressure, but also by their management companies. The three music studios that have dominated the K-pop market since the ’90s are SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. These companies recruit children as young as 12-13 and have them sign exploitative contracts, often called “slave contracts,” that have been known to stretch up to 13 years and have inspired numerous lawsuits. And to breach or terminate a contract means having to pay a penalty to recover the company’s direct investment.

These contracts give companies a shocking amount of control over trainees who are treated like investments and products. After signing a contract, budding stars — dubbed “trainees” — go through strict training and cut-throat competition with their peers for up to 10 years before possibly being selected to debut in a group for the masses. Trainees are taught how to sing, dance, and speak different languages; they’re weighed daily, told what to eat, if they can date, and potentially what plastic surgery they will undergo. The work days can commonly run 20 hours, meaning that burnout and exhaustion are almost guaranteed, and when injuries occur, K-pop artists can often be seen carrying on with the show, even if that means performing with a neck brace or passing out onstage.

In the world of trying to make it as a K-pop entertainer, it’s damned if they do, damned if they don’t. If trainees remain with a company they accrue debt with no guarantee

they’ll make it big or be chosen to debut in a group, and if they break their contract they’ll still have a hefty fee to repay. The enormous pressure K-pop stars face has taken lives and is a topic that needs to be addressed. In 2017, fans of the boy band, SHINee, were shaken by the death by suicide of Kim Jonghyun, who suffered from depression. Similarly, 2019 saw the death of Sulli, an actress and ex-member of the group f(x), where suicide was investigated as a possible cause, incited by cyberbullying.

Despite all the streams of income for K-pop groups through tours, merchandise, and TV appearances, these entertainers are also criminally underpaid. Larger companies don’t require paying off trainee debt, but those that are smaller employ a 90/10 rule. This means the companies reserve 90 per cent of any generated money for themselves, while the remaining 10 per cent is divided between all the members of the group.

This would be bad if it ended there, but it gets worse. Each member needs to repay a debt to their management company for singing, dancing, and language lessons, food, accomodation, staff, and more, only making a profit after they break even. This often takes years for even the most successful groups, but for those that are middle-tier it’s next to impossible.

When fans promote groups, buy merchandise, or attend a show, there’s the impression that they’re directly supporting their favourite group members financially when that might be far from the case — and spending more on merchandise isn’t necessarily the solution. The onus of paying a reasonable and liveable wage to performers shouldn’t be on fans: it should be on the companies responsible for their wellbeing. Before sinking any funds into K-pop, fans should be fully aware that the majority of each dollar spent will be lining the pockets of behind-the-scene staff and not the faces of the industry that they’ve come to love.

While K-pop began with a hip-hop-infused sound established by Seo Taiji and Boys, it’s continued with its incorporation of R&B and hip-hop elements in ways that, at times, cross into cultural appropriation.

Stephanie Choi, a PhD candidate and native Korean, describes cultural appropriation as taking elements of other cultures for your own advantage but not conveying the meaning and culture behind it. An example is Zico, a Korean rapper who released his music video for “Tough Cookie” in 2018 that showed off a jacket with a confederate flag on the sleeve, a controversial symbol of racism against African-Amer-

“The international audience for K-pop is no longer a minority whose concerns can be brushed to the side, especially when their cultures might be the ones appropriated.” icans. This isn’t an isolated case, however. The rap segments of K-pop songs will regularly feature members in Indigenous headdresses, dreadlocks, cornrows, and gold chains, cherry picking an aesthetic from other cultures without giving them proper significance.

The K-pop celebrities can’t be entirely to blame, though. They often have very little creative input when it comes to their lyrics, stage outfits, or concepts, serving as the end product of an entire production team’s work. At the same time, they can’t be completely let off the hook either. In 2017, Jackson from the group GOT7 wore dreadlocks during a Pepsi China commercial and refused to apologize to outraged fans, citing he was only appreciating the culture — except he was using it to push and sell a product. While K-pop stars may have the intentions of appreciating the culture in question, what they end up doing is reducing those that are Indigenous or black to stereotypes used for an aesthetic that’s quickly discarded when no longer needed.

K-pop still heavily borrows elements from the American hiphop scene, and it can produce a grey area where we need to ask when they go too far.

Unfortunately, other than fans being upset on social media, there’s little to no real world conse-

quences for these actions, and that shouldn’t be the case. More followers of K-pop need to be aware of what cultural appropriation is and voice their concerns over incidences of it happening.

Or, alternatively, avoid promoting works that feature culture appropriation on social media and refuse to buy offensive

“The Korean entertainment industry as we know it needs a reformation.” merchandise. The international audience for K-pop is no longer a minority whose concerns can be brushed to the side, especially when their cultures might be the ones appropriated. Although it’s true that company management makes most of the decisions, K-pop celebrities also still have a personal responsibility to educate themselves and apologize once they’ve realized what’s happened.

Another sensitive topic plaguing the K-pop community has been how the LGBTQ+ community has been both revered and rejected. On a surface level, K-pop can seem to be promoting aspects of LGBTQ+ culture such as androgynous females (see Amber of f(x)), men wearing makeup, and Saturday Night Live Korea skits of homoeroticism involving celebrities. This has a name: queerbaiting. It’s a marketing strategy

employed to appeal to fans who are LGBTQ+ without alienating their heterosexual audience, marked by same-sex romances that are never overt. In essence, it’s performative.

The reality is that South Korea is lagging behind in LGBTQ+ rights. Although the country has legalized homosexuality, same-sex marriages are not allowed and only married couples can adopt, thus making same-sex adoptions impossible. South Korea also lacks non-discrimination policies to protect LGBTQ+ citizens in the workplace and against hate crimes. Holland, who’s one of the few openly gay K-pop artists, debuted with his independently produced song “Neverland” in 2018. It depicted him kissing another man, forcing the video to have a 19+ rating which limited its publicity. Holland was refused to be signed on by several entertainment industries due to his sexuality and had to finance his single himself. It goes to show that despite the popularity of queerbaiting, actual gay artists are silenced.

Pushing an LGBTQ+ narrative as a means to promote a product isn’t representation. Fans need to stop settling for queerbaiting in K-pop and support artists that make it publicly clear they stand with the LGBTQ+ community. For example, Rosé from Blackpink and Sunmi, a K-pop soloist, both waved pride flags onstage during concerts, and Doyoung from NCT used LGBTQ+-inclusive language when answering a fan question about a crush. South Korea also needs more activists like Holland who, despite the odds and personal risks, make it to the public eye with a message of love and equality bundled with talent.

The questions that remain are what’s being done about the behindthe-scenes corruption of K-pop, and where can fans go from here? The truth is, the Korean entertainment industry as we know it needs a reformation. In 2017 the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) investigated eight companies and modified several unfair contract clauses, but they’ve only improved things marginally. There’s a petition currently for the KFTC and the Korea Entertainment Management Association to do better in response to recent suicides of K-pop artists. With all the profit coming in from international fans, K-pop enthusiasts should have a say in how stars are

treated. Companies should be able to provide psychiatric services, reasonable contracts, time off for those that are injured, and the basic decency not to overwork young teens with a dream.

The passion that people have for K-pop is real and valid, but more can be done to promote better business practices that support the mental health and general well-being of entertainment agency employees. Rather than Korean celebrities having to represent an ideal and bearing all the pressure that comes with it, awareness needs to be raised along with open dialogue for mental health in the industry. Fans can play a direct role in fostering a progressive and constructive community by offering positivity and validation to those that are brave enough to open up.

It seems like common sense, but when Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation discussed her depression on an Instagram story, she received numerous unnecessary responses from followers, ranging from telling her to grow up to mockingly asking if she has bipolar disorder. Other artists have encountered cyberbullying when speaking out about activist issues, as was the case with the late Sulli. That’s why the fact that BTS, one of the hottest groups right now, who have acknowledged their platform and have been using it to advocate for selflove, holds so much significance. They’re helping pave the way for others to open up about their experiences.

K-pop has become an international phenomenon that doesn’t show any signs of dying down. While actively encouraging those with a love of the music genre to maintain their devotion, fans should also be implored to change their tactics.

Although done with good intention, not every release by a favourite group needs to be supported if it’s going to endorse concepts like queerbaiting or cultural appropriation. It’s a matter of prioritizing values.

What’s crucial to keep in mind is that K-pop has the power to inspire revolution and change. During a university protest to remove President Park Geun-hye from office in 2017, “Into the New World” by Girls’ Generation became a protest song to unite students amidst police intervention. It’s also inspired fans to rally against the unfair termination of a member from the group Monsta X and start Twitter accounts meant to support fans with mental health issues. While K-pop might have an unethical underbelly that most fans aren’t aware of, we can’t forget it’s also a breeding ground for hope and positivity.

CULTURE

VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04 culture@ufvcascade.ca Carissa Wiens — Culture Editor

Column //

UFV Event //

Cascade Kitchen: Easy, creamy, one-pot soup

Lost Feast launches at UFV

UFV professor Lenore Newman’s new book tells “a tale of culinary extinction” ALEISTER GWYNNE

One-pot soup. Jan. 27, 2020. (Jessica Barclay)

JESSICA BARCLAY The Cascade Kitchen is a student-run food column that brings you budget-friendly recipes and cooking tips. Check back weekly for something new to try in the kitchen, or if you want to see your own recipe featured next, get started by reaching out to culture@ufvcascade.ca.

This recipe dirties a grand total of six dishes (four if you use the same spoon to stir and eat the soup, and eat out of the pot) and can use up virtually any leftover vegetables you have around the house. Pan fry fresh vegetables in step 4 and add fully cooked vegetables in step 6. Pre-cook your large tubers. I’ve listed my usual options, but the only limit is your imagination.

The soup gets its creaminess from the condensed soup, and yes, I know this is culinary cheating of the worst variety, but my kitchen is a lawless wasteland of frozen pizzas, store-bought pie crusts, and laziness.

Ingredients: Meat, such as ham or bacon 1/2 yellow onion, diced A few cloves garlic 1/4 cup leeks, chopped 1 medium carrot, chopped 1 can (284 ml) condensed cream of potato soup 1 can (284 ml) milk or water 1 cup frozen vegetables Olive oil for pan 1 tbsp total of herbs (I suggest thyme, parsley, and rosemary) Salt and pepper, to taste Shredded cheese and green onions for garnish Instructions: 1. Heat up oil in a pot. Add meat and cook until done.

2. Add the onions and cook until translucent.

3. Add in garlic and leaks. Cook until leeks begin to soften, 5 or so minutes.

4. Add in carrots and any other fresh vegetables you are using. Cook for another 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Add in the condensed soup. Slowly add in the milk/water, stirring until combined. Bring up to a boil. If using precooked meat, add now.

6. Add in frozen vegetables, salt and pepper, and herbs. Add more milk/water if too thick. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, or until frozen vegetables are done.

7. Consume with well-buttered bread or bread-like product.

This step is non-optional.

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UFV’s Abbotsford campus library played host to the launch of Lenore Newman’s new book, Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food.

Newman is a professor at UFV, but she has done research that has taken her to the far corners of the globe. “I’m a nomad by nature,” said Newman.

The choice of venue was no coincidence, as Newman helped create the library’s Newman Western Cookbook Collection, tours of which can be arranged through librarian Mary-Anne MacDougall. Newman has also written two other books and several scholarly journal and newspaper articles, worked on mapping the Fraser Valley’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), and is the Canada research chair in food security and the environment at UFV. Lost Feast is primarily about the extinction of plants and animals that were once used as food sources by humans, such as silphium, a herb much loved by the Romans, and the aurochs, wild ancestor of domesticated cattle.

The poster child for the book is the passenger pigeon. The passenger pigeon was once a very common bird in North America.

Flocks of them darkened the sky, and up to 40 per cent of all birds in North America were passenger pigeons, according to Newman. Tragically, so many of them were hunted for food that the species was driven to extinction. The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in captivity in 1914. Martha is an example of an endling, the term for the last living member of a species. Newman lamented the fact that we need such a word as endling.

Newman read some excerpts from her book. The subject of the chapter she read was an expedition to the Yukon to experience the environmental conditions of the last ice age, when now extinct megafauna, like cave lions and giant ground sloths, roamed America.

“The North is a living shadow of the Pleistocene,” said Newman. The extinction of these species correlates very closely with humanity’s first arrival in those areas, too closely to be coinci-

Lost Feast. Jan. 21, 2020. (Aleister Gwynne/ The Cascade)

dence.

She regaled her listeners with experiences of the wild that remains in the Yukon, such as a herd of majestic wood buffalo crossing the road, and how she longed to run her fingers through the thick fur around their shoulders. She also sampled local delicacies such as fireweed jelly on sourdough bread.

For the uninitiated, fireweed is a pink wildflower common in the Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia that can be made into a jelly that has a very sweet, honey-like flavour.

Despite the grim themes of Lost Feast, the book has many lighthearted moments, and Newman did not intend for it to be a depressing read. “I have the personality of a golden retriever who listens to too much Leonard Cohen,” said Newman.

During the question-and-answer period, the topic of the Pacific salmon fishery and what its chances of survival were came up. Many residents of B.C. fear an equivalent of the cod fishery collapse in Atlantic Canada that occurred in the 1990s. The cod was just as important for

Newfoundland as salmon is for B.C. Newman has been to Newfoundland, and while she reports that the people there are very friendly, there remains a deep sense of loss in the community from which they have never truly recovered. Newman expressed hope for the salmon fishery as long as ocean temperature rise can be kept below three degrees; however, the underlying feelings of Newman and her audience did not seem so optimistic deep down, despite the brave face she put on.

Even so, Newman has hope for the future. “We have all the technology we need to solve this problem,” said Newman, who feels that what is most needed right now is political will.

The event concluded with the serving of hors d’oeuvres prepared by the culinary program students from Chilliwack campus. The refreshments, while delicious, were nevertheless haunted by the knowledge that our descendants might never taste such foods as these and were a reminder of what we stand to lose if we fail to take care of the species that nourish us.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020

CULTURE UFV Event //

English department welcomes 2020 writer-in-residence Award-winning poet Adéle Barclay starts her residence for the winter semester NICHOLAS ASHENHURSTTOEWS UFV’s writer-in-residence program runs during the winter semester each year. Created in 2007, the Kuldip Gill Writing Fellowship seeks to allow accomplished Canadian writers to work with students and faculty in order to inspire and provide advice to writers in the UFV community. Past

“Writing is a beautiful act that can feel solitary.” writers-in-residence include Kuldip Gill, whom the fellowship is named for, Anosh Irani in 2012, Jordan Abel in 2017, and Robert Wiersema in 2019.

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, UFV welcomed its newest writer-in-residence, Adéle Barclay.

An established poet, she has appeared in The Fiddlehead, The Puritan, and Prism International, as well as other magazines. Her debut poetry collection, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You, won the 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Her second poetry collection, entitled Renaissance Normcore

was released in the fall of 2019. Barclay has a PhD in English from the University of Victoria, and has worked as a poet-inresidence for Arc Magazine and as an editor for Rahila’s Ghost Press.

At the welcome ceremony on Tuesday, Melissa Walter, the head of the English department, and an audience of students and faculty members welcomed Barclay with tremendous fanfare. The ceremony included an introduction made by Walter, a short speech by Barclay, and a reading of selected poems, both written by herself as well as other authors. Many of the poems included were from her most recent published work Renaissance Normcore, including the poem that opens the collection, “Self-Portrait of 2018” which is part of a series of poems written to a friend, and “I Wanna Get Better,” which takes its name from Bleachers’ hit song.

Following was a brief question-and-answer period, where audience participants inquired about her degree and how music interacts with her writing process. The reception was followed by coffee.

At the event, Barclay revealed she is currently working on a third collection of poetry, tentatively about eco-grief and the status of the world while it is on fire. She is also working on a series of essays as well as stories inspired by people she meets.

When asked about why she wanted to work with students through the writer-inresidence program, she said, “Writing is a beautiful act that can feel solitary.” She

hopes to provide advice for aspiring writers on projects, and allow for some of the solitary nature of writing to be confronted and broken.

Barclay will be doing a number of things during her residency at UFV. First, she will be at the Abbotsford campus on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can be scheduled through her email, adele.

barclay@ufv.ca. She will also be hosting a workshop as well as a reading and discussion on mentorship in writer communities, neither of which have finalized dates at this time.

We would like to formally welcome Adéle Barclay to UFV, and we hope her stay is a roaring success for her, the English department, and the community at large.

Adéle Barclay. Jan. 21 2020. (Nicholas Ashenhurst-Toews)

Club Spotlight //

Disrupting the male gaze with a feminist’s lens UFV has a new reading group focusing on the discussion of feminist philosophy KRYSTINA SPRACKLIN UFV’s Philosophy Association now offers a reading group for students who yearn for feminist discussion and literature. You might be curious how feminist philosophy departs from standard philosophy; to borrow Wikipedia’s succinct definition: “Feminist philosophy is united by a central concern with gender.”

The group is hosted by Sarah Pahladsingh, a psychology student and member of the Philosophy Association. The group’s first meeting was held on Jan. 24, 2020, with a small group of attendees, and ran from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Pahladsingh’s introduction emphasized the importance of keeping conversations intersectional, especially on the unceded land of the Sto:lo Nation.

Members are encouraged to suggest reading material and tailor their participation in discussions to whatever makes them

most comfortable.

“We are building our own community here, and I want it to be a safe place,” Pahladsingh said.

Her passion for feminist philosophy ignited during an independent study with Anna Cook, an assistant professor at UFV. “The conversations that took place in the study were really special in that all of those involved were able to discuss feminist theory and feminist philosophy freely and safely from a personal and educational perspective,” Pahladsingh said. “I hope to be able to recreate similar stimulating conversations that connect one person to another, and help people consider situations in a way they haven’t before.”

Pahladsingh intends to replicate that success by making the reading group as accessible as possible.

For the debut session, the group read the first chapter of Nancy Tuana’s Women and the History of Philosophy, which fea-

tured the ancient story “Susanna and the Elders” from the Book of Daniel. The chapter covered Tuana’s dissection of the tale, how Susanna isn’t awarded agency within her story, and how ancient philosophers have excluded women from their “universal” teachings. We analyzed and theorized how these instances appear within our culture today, and discussion expanded into topics of feminist portrayals in film, including Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019) and Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman (2017). Notably, both films feature a female director and female leads.

While two hours is about the length of a class, the time spent in discussion and analysis allows it to pass quickly, and the group appeared enthusiastic about the coming Monday’s reading. When asked about her impressions after the first meeting, Pahladsingh said: “I thought it went great! It was really fun being able to connect with such a kind and understanding

group, and they were very patient with me while figuring out the best way to run the session together.”

If your interest in philosophy is broad, the Philosophy Association also hosts open philosophy discussion groups on Tuesdays from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Abbotsford campus in room A227, and a Nietzsche reading group on Fridays from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Abbotsford campus in room S3102.

The feminist reading group meets every Monday from 4 – 6 p.m. in room S3123B. The next meeting will be held on Feb. 3, 2020, and will feature Sandra Lee Bartky’s “On Psychological Oppression” and Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege and Male Privilege.” Those looking for more information about the group or who would like to join the email list for the readings can reach out to Pahladsingh at ufvphilosophyassociation@gmail.com.

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SPORTS

VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04 sports@ufvcascade.ca Alex Jesus — Sports Editor

Women’s Basketball //

UFV continues to dominate on the hardwood

After the weekend, the Cascades hold a record of 12-4 NIC JACKSON Although the Cascades are not in the top three teams in the Canada West conference, it is safe to say that, as of late, the UFV women’s basketball team has been a dominating force in the league. Despite starting their season off with two losses, the Cascades have bounced to enter their weekend against the Mount Royal University (MRU) Cougars with a record of 10-4.

The first of the two games against the Cougars was held on Friday, Jan. 24. Although the Cascades had a long road trip to play Mount Royal in Calgary, there was no sign of fatigue. From the start of Fri-

day’s game to the final buzzer, the Cascades dominated the Cougars.

The first quarter saw the Cascades outscore the the Cougars by 10. Similarly to the first, the Cascades continued to increase their lead throughout the second quarter. By the time the first half had ended the Cascades had created a large lead over the Cougars. When the final buzzer went in the first half of the game, the Cascades held a lead of 42-23.

Despite trying to find momentum, the Cougars were unable to match the offensive effort of the Cascades. By the time the third quarter had ended, the Cascades held an astounding lead of 69-38. From there, the Cougars continued

to try and catch up; however, their best effort would only allow them to score five more than the Cascades throughout the fourth quarter. With a dominating presence, the Cascades walked away from game one with a winning score of 83-57.

While the Cascades were able to show their mastery in the first game, Saturday’s rematch was a different story. Although they were able to win their second game against the Cougars as well, the score was much closer.

Unlike the previous match, the Cougars were able to hold the lead heading into the second half, with a score of 40-33.

For most of the latter half of the game, the two teams fought to hold the lead. With only 2:48

left in the game, the score was tied 63-63. As the clock began to run down, the Cascades once again showed why they have been a prevailing force within the league. From the 63-63 tie, the Cascades would go on to score another six points, while shutting down the Cougars’ offence.

With the late-game run, the Cascades won their seventh game in a row, with a score of 69-63. Now in fifth place in the Canada West standings, the Cascades will head to Kamloops to face off against the Thompson River University Wolfpack on Friday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m.

Men’s Basketball //

The Cascades win two games against the Cougars After two games against the Cougars, the Cascades now have a seven game win streak NIC JACKSON This past weekend the UFV men’s basketball team travelled to Calgary to face off against the Mount Royal University (MRU) Cougars for two games.

The Cascades headed into the weekend with a five-game winning streak, and an overall record of 8-6, while MRU held a record 3-11.

The first of the two games was held on Friday, Jan. 24. Although the Cascades were coming off a strong performance the last few weeks, they started the weekend slower than anticipated. Eight seconds into the game, the Cougars’ Adam Pahl scored a three-point shot.

Despite still having almost 10 minutes left in the quarter, the Cascades only fell further behind in the score.

Heading into the second quarter the Cougars led, 2822. MRU continued to hold the lead well into the second quarter, but the Cascades slowly chipped away at the score differential. With only 1:27 left on the clock, Cascades’ Sukhjot Bains drained a three-point shot, which gave the Cascades their first lead of the game. Although shortly after the Cas-

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cades’ basket MRU’s Adam Pahl would tie up the game with a basket of his own, the Cascades’ Daniel Adediran would go on to score a layup from within the key, which would result in the Cascades heading into the second half with a lead of 45-43.

The third quarter of Friday’s game saw the two teams trading turns at holding the lead.

With the Cascades only scoring 18 points in the third, while the hosting team scored 20, the two teams entered the fourth, and final, quarter with a tied score of 63-63. Both teams were driven to find the win; however, it was the UFV Cascades that came out of the game with the victory. Scoring just four more points than the Cougars, Friday’s game ended with a score of 86-82 for the Cascades.

The Cascades continued their momentum into their Saturday game against MRU. In the first quarter of the second game, they were able to outscore the Cougars, 24-13.

The Cascades ended the first quarter strong, but the second quarter was a completely different story. After substituting all five of their players heading into the second, MRU began to answer for their slow start.

By the end of the first half, the Cougars bounced back from their large score deficit, and had even taken the lead from the Cascades. The half ended with the Cascades down to the Cougars, 41-38.

Although the Cascades started the second half off slow, the visiting team took control of the game shortly after, outscoring MRU by 12 in the latter half.

The Cascades’ late game effort resulted in them winning their seventh consecutive game. The final score of the game was 95-

86.

With 16 games now played in the season, the UFV men’s basketball team sits in seventh place in the Canada West standings, with a record of 106. Next weekend the Cascades will look to continue their winning streak against Canada West’s sixth-place team, the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack. The two games against the Wolfpack will be held in Kamloops on Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.

Cascades Classic Date: Sunday, Jan. 26

UFV Men’s

UFV Women’s

1st Place

1st Place

Jason Bains- 100 kg Argot Gill- 130 kg

Calista Espinosa- 48 kg Amber Wiebe- 55 kg

3rd Place Ali Raghuzar- 68 kg Amar Atwal- 76 kg Karan Dhillon- 90 kg

UFV Cascades Sports Scores Jan. 24 – Jan. 26, 2020

Women’s Basketball Game/Date: UFV at at Mount Royal / Friday, Jan. 24 Score: UFV 83 MRU 57 Game/Date: UFV at at Mount Royal / Saturday, Jan. 25 Score: UFV 69 MRU 63

Men’s Basketball Game/Date: UFV at at Mount Royal / Friday, Jan. 24 Score: UFV 86 MRU 82 Game/Date: UFV at at Mount Royal / Saturday, Jan. 25 Score: UFV 95 MRU 86

Women’s Volleyball Game/Date: UFV at Camosun/ Friday, Nov. 15 Score: UFV 2 Camosun 3 Game/Date: UFV at Camosun/ Saturday,Nov. 16 Score: UFV 0 Camosun 3

Men’s Volleyball Game/Date: UFV at Camosun/ Friday, Nov. 15 Score: UFV 1 Camosun 3 Game/Date: UFV at Camosun/ Saturday, Nov. 16 Score: UFV 0 Camosun 3

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020

SPORTS Q&A //

UFV Athletics’ Dan Kinvig speaks about the Cascades sports media ALEX JESUS The roles of the athletes and coaches that make up any sports program are clearly significant; however, what about the team behind them that you don’t hear about? The unsung crews of athletic departments often seem to be the teams that drive their very success: the communications departments. Posting videos, maintaining websites, and performing countless hours of work behind the scenes are just some of the aspects of their job, and UFV is no different.

Dan Kinvig is the communications coordinator of UFV Athletics and you’ve probably seen his work more than a few times. As Kinvig explained, his background as a journalist helped him transition into his communications career.

What was your journey to becoming the communications director of UFV Athletics?

My background is in journalism. I completed my Bachelor of Arts in journalism at the University of Regina in 2005, and then moved out to Abbotsford to take a job as sports editor at the Abbotsford News.

I spent almost a decade in that role and really enjoyed getting to know the local sports community. I moved over to UFV

to take the job as communications coordinator in September 2014. I decided to make the move because I was eager for a new challenge.

As to why I chose UFV Athletics specifically… I had a lot of existing relationships with coaches and staff here from my time at the newspaper, having covered the Cascades extensively, and I felt my skill set would be a good fit and that I could make a difference here.

When you got to UFV, did you have a plan as to what you wanted to do, or were your goals more general?

How has UFV’s media presence changed since you got to UFV?

You won an award from Canada West for your work. What is the name of that award, and why do you think you won it?

We’ve greatly increased emphasis on social media, and we’ve launched a new website.

When I arrived, the UFV Cascades Twitter account had been fairly active, but the Facebook page was largely dormant and there was no Instagram account. Those are the three platforms we use to reach our audience. I’m far from an expert on social media, but I’ve figured [out] a few things through trial and error, and I like to think we have a solid presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter now.

In the fall of 2018, we launched a new website at GoCascades.ca. It’s on the Sidearm Sports platform, which is one of the main providers of websites for university athletic departments in North America.

My first goal was to ensure that the written word (web articles, press releases, etc.) as it pertained to UFV Athletics would be done to a high standard. And that’s right up my alley, as a former newspaper guy. And then to enhance our social media presence.

I was awarded the Top Social Campaign award for the senior night graphics I’d built for our graduating athletes in 201819. I had each of them in for photo shoots in Building C, and the distinctive feature is the athlete’s autograph. We published these on social media, and also printed and framed them and gave them to the athletes on senior night.

As to why I won the award? Not sure… there were some other really strong nominees who may have gotten robbed, but it was a definite honour to receive an award that my peers in Canada West voted on. It definitely went to my head!

How’s work now?

Work is great, but it is work. I think there’s a perception that people who work in sports are so lucky and that they must have so much fun… and that’s totally true at times. But it’s also a lot of Friday and Saturday game nights where I’m at the office until 1 a.m and later, as the case may be.

One of the greatest things about my job right now is that I have incredible student workers. Adam Hutchison is in his third year with me, and Jordie Arthur has been with me for just over a year. These guys are absolute sports nerds like me, and they’re hard workers. I give them a job to do, and they just run with it. I never have to worry about their work ethic or quality of work.

Before Adam started, it was not uncommon for me to work until 3 a.m. on game nights. These days, because Adam and Jordie help me out to such a degree, it’s more like 1 a.m. So when you factor in that I’m home in my bed two hours earlier on game nights on average, these guys are probably literally adding years to my life!

I really get a kick out of Adam and Jordie — there tends to be a lot of laughter coming from my office after the games wrap and we’re finishing up for the night.

Slapshots // Reduced to tears…by tennis?

In a very bizarre situation, I found myself, a football fan who was trying to watch football, sitting on the floor of my living room glued to the TV. However, I wasn’t watching football. To my chagrin, the channel was set to a different program when I turned on the TV. It was Rally for Relief.

The event, prior to the Australian Open tournament, was a global showcase held in order to raise money for wildfire relief, as Australia has been suffering from dramatic fires that have caused unbelievable chaos for its people and wildlife.

The stars of the sport turned out for the event, highlighted by professionals such as Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, Caroline Wozniacki, Kyrgios, and many

Is Queen B still bootylicious? others.

They played games, they laughed, they competed against each other. It seemed like so much fun for all the players. Fans were brought onto the court or interviewed at times, namely firefighters who had been battling the dangerous conditions.

The show not only worked — it was a huge success. Raising nearly $5 million for fire relief, it brought the tennis world together in a way almost too good to be true for TV. Did I tear up a few times? Maybe so.

Did I skip the NFL playoffs in favour of tennis? Oh yeah I did. Not only that — I would do it again.

Alex Jesus

Beyonce’s own Ivy Park clothing company’s new collaboration with Adidas had some pretty major hype before its release on Jan. 18, 2020.

Even though the entire collection of athleisure wear sold out almost immediately, it received plenty of criticism. The main issue with this line: only including sizes XS-XL. With an artist who has had plussized dancers in her shows, it seems odd that she would eliminate them from her new clothing line.

In an interview with ELLE, Beyonce said: “I rarely felt represented in film, fashion, and other media. After having a child, I made it my mission to use my art to show the style, elegance, and attraction in men and

women of colour. We are living in a beautiful time of real progression towards acceptance.” Here she singles out people of colour, but if we’re experiencing a “real progression towards acceptance,” why wouldn’t something as simple as expanding the size range in clothing be part of it too?

People from a wide variety of demographics desire adequate clothes to work out in, including people who wear plus sizes. It’s a problem for these people, and it’s unfortunate that, with all her money and power, Queen B failed to include.

Carissa Wiens

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STUDY BREAK Crossword //

VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04

Made by Carissa Wiens

DOWN

ACROSS

1. A popular credit card

2. Use this to row the boat

3. A do-over

4. Aladdin’s flying vehicle

6. A small, filled-in circle

5. The birthplace of potholes

8. Where lions jump through hoops

7. The group who selects the Oscar winners

9. Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran and Future 11. Contents may be hot!

14. A quaint hotel

10. Some would say this subject is even worse than physics 12. Rapunzel’s defining quality 13. A spongy source of protein 15. Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 16. Who Harry and Meghan have lost favour with

LAST ISSUE’S

ANSWERS: Down: 1. Gas 3. Ibuprofen 4. Canuck 5. Darwin 6. Men 9. Cop 12. Ice 13. Dab

Across: 2. Fossilize 7. Air plane 8. New 9. Cutoffs 10. Kilo 11. Linseed 14. Sphere

Snakes and Lizards

Horoscopes //

Illustration by Elyssa English Your weekly life predictions as told by Ang the Great

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 Come out of your hibernation shell and let your gorgeous self shine! After many months of being loaded down by chunky sweaters, blanket scarves, and heavy boots, show yourself some self-care this week and make unexpected fashion choices.

Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 You will be attracting new lovers like moths to a flame this week, as your beautiful, radiant energy draws every eye toward you. Be careful with whose attention you acknowledge, as not all those who are attracted to you have good intentions.

Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 You have been living a much more lavish lifestyle than your student budget can afford.

Take it easy on your credit card and make wise financial choices these coming weeks unless you want to be homeless before the semester is over.

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 You have been doing too much for too long, and you can feel your immune system shutting down because of it. Take some time to look after yourself before it’s too late.

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 You will awaken a new passion with an old lover this week. Welcome this warm, familiar embrace into your life again, as it will be over as quickly as the first time around. Enjoy the affection while it lasts.

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 Wrap up any loose ends that you may have left hanging in your life. This week is a time for closure, finality, and potentially heartbreak as you will be asserting your decisions in ways that may leave others feeling uncomfortable.

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Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 An opportunity to travel will arise this week, and you should definitely take it! Don’t let fear rule over you as the chance to take some exotic journey falls into your lap. Take risks and trust your gut.

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 You will make great leaps and strides at your work this week, as your ambition and confidence will impress those above you. Be sure to stay humble and work hard and you will surely be getting a promotion in the near future.

Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 Talk through those issues that are keeping your relationship with your partner from moving up a level. Work through tricky topics on full stomachs and with content hearts, as you will be navigating through stormy waters.

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 Welcome some variety into your life this week, as your life has been grey, monotonous, and drab for far too long. Just because it is slushy and gross outside doesn’t mean you have to feel that way inside. Spice up your life with some colour and excitement!

Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 Be fully yourself this week. Stop presenting the world with an idealized version of who you want them to see. Don’t be afraid to embrace all your quirks and nutiness and you will find those people who truly appreciate every part of you.

Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 Out with the old and in with the new! It is time to make room in your life for new opportunities, new relationships, and new possessions that will come your way. This means you must get rid of what is no longer serving you.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020 arts@ufvcascade.ca Chandy Dancey — Arts Editor

ARTS

Book //

American Dirt doesn’t deserve the credit it’s received At first glance, it might seem like a good book to read, but don’t CARISSA WIENS American Dirt follows the story of a woman and her young son as they escape drug cartels in their hometown within Mexico.

We learn about the massive difficulties of fleeing one’s homeland with minimal resources to find safety in America. Just standing on its own, American Dirt appears to be a quality novel. The story is captivating, the characters are well-developed, and it’s simply an interesting read. But there’s a lot more to this novel than just what’s written on the page.

The book has received rave reviews from top-tier authors like John Grisham and Stephen King, but it’s also received a large amount of criticism, mostly because the author, Jeanine Cummins, is a white woman living in America telling the story of Mexican immigrants; plus, she also received a seven-figure advance for this novel. This is problematic because Mexican writers, especially women, are incredibly underpaid and underrepresented in mainstream literature. In an article for Book Riot, Romeo Rosales asks, “Why was that seven-figure sum not offered to a Latinx author whose heritage and expertise aligned with Mexican culture?” It could have even helped the people who are the ones who actually

experience these hardships.

Recently this book was selected for Oprah’s Book Club.

When asked to help promote the novel, Kate Horan, director of McAllen Public Library (which lies near the U.S.-Mexico border) declined, saying: “The numerous inaccuracies in her story are clear evidence of the white gaze, capitalising on hurtful stereotypes and cashing in on human suffering.” Horan went on to say that instead of endorsing Cummins’ novel, she will highlight “authentic Latinx authors” for her community to read.

I feel guilty for enjoying this book. Immigration from Mexico to the States is an issue that’s very far removed from me, and I found it interesting to learn about an experience that I’m not aware of. But Cummins has been accused of stereotyping and appropriating Mexican culture (the opening scene of the novel takes place during a quinceañera), which begs the question, did I really learn about an experience that is truly authentic?

The answer seems to be no.

Throughout the entire book Cummins injects random Spanish words, phrases, and sentences. I’m not fluent in Spanish, but even I could tell that these thrown-in phrases felt awkward and artificial. To confirm my suspicions, Mexican-American author David Bowles said

the “examples of Spanish are wooden and odd, as if generated

by Google Translate and then smoothed slightly by a line editor.” This is another example of how Cummins is not equipped to tell this story.

Instead of paying the cover price of $23.99 (CAD), I encourage you to support actual Latinx authors who are underrepresented and who are more equipped to tell these stories. I will do the same. To get started on reading a more diverse selection of authors, I’m going to be reading from Mexican authors suggested by Book Riot. The Texas Observer also released a selection of 17 books to read instead of American Dirt, which I will add to my TBR (to be read) list as well.

If you’re still not convinced to ditch American Dirt, maybe this thought from author Daniel Peña will push you to read something else: “[American Dirt is a] lab-created brown trauma built for the white gaze and white book clubs to give a textural experience to people who need to feel something to avoid doing anything and from the safety of their chair.”

Through the simple act of purchasing a book we are able to either give credit where it is not due, or support an author’s voice who needs to be heard. I encourage us all to empower those who deserve it through this action.

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VOL. 28 // ISSUE 04

ARTS YouTube //

CHARTS

SHUFFLE

1 Necking

AARON LEVY

2 WUT

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy has a few songs with videos worth watching associated with them in this week’s shuffle, starting with a new one!

Cut Your Teeth White Walls (Single)

3 Lié

You Want It Real

4 Kaytranada BUBBA

5

Kristin Witko Zone Of Exclusion

6

Blessed Salt

7

Woolworm Awe

8

Mr. Merlot City Sex Vol. 2

9

Graftician Mandarins

CULT GROUPIE

Nap Eyes - “Mark Zuckerberg” This song is significant in more ways than one, and here they are: (a) naming a song this way is brilliant, (b) watch the hilarious DIY with talent video, (c) what’s with the references to never seeing his hands in public and collecting sand? and (d) it’s Nap Eyes, ffs y’all.

Run the Jewels - “Oh Mama” I am not a huge fan of ***Rick and Morty, nor am I a Dan Harmon disciple — though I’ll agree with his accuser who points to his attempts to address his own #MeToo as being a master class in doing it sincerely — but they do this RTJ video.

10

Black Mountain Destroyer

11

Begonia Fear

12

U.S. Girls Overtime (Single)

13

Lungbutter Honey

14

Tanika Charles The Gumption

15

Jeremy Jay Dangerous Boy

16

Howie Newman Musicians for Democracy

Fatboy You”

17

Leo Sinclair Seagreen Hyundai

18

Sue Decker Outskirts Of Love

19

Rich Aucoin The Other

20

Becky Ninkovic Woe

This video is so thematically similar to the “Weapon of Choice” video that it almost eludes you that Walken does in private and unfettered in his video what our troupe is trying and being encumbered from accomplishing in this earlier video whilst amidst a busy moviegoing crowd. So, there’s that.

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Emilia Fart’s absurdism holds a mirror up to society

Fatboy Slim - “Weapon of Choice” This video would’ve broken the internet if we had anything more reliable than Kazaa or LimeWire available to us to consume it at the time — Christopher Walken of “more cowbell” fame, but more importantly, the big boss bad guy in ***True Romance, and nothing but. Like Pizza Hut. Slim

-

“Praise

CHANDY DANCEY Emilia Fart has made a name for herself (and no, Fart is not her real one) as a Montréal-based YouTuber with bizarre videos, a unique sense of fashion, and a down-to-earth attitude. While remaining a small creator for several years, she’s now approaching one million subscribers, having blown up after her May 2018 video titled, “Showing what I looked like when I was normal” went viral.

One noteworthy aspect about her channel is that there is absolutely no clickbait involved.

If the video advertises her making salmon tartare in a library or dying her hair in a public washroom, that’s exactly what you’re going to get with every ounce of awkwardness that comes with it. Other videos will range from her vlogging while sitting in a bathtub full of water, fully dressed and eating pizza, to videos of her exposing her darkest secrets on a playground or lounging on an inflatable pizza slice in a fountain. They’re simultaneously fun to watch, hard to explain, and one hell of a ride.

When asked to describe herself, albeit as a food, to those unfamiliar with her work in an email interview, Fart offers: “I would be a slightly whack but surprisingly high-quality Caesar salad, like with some confit baby tomatoes or tarragon or something. It’s familiar but strange but comforting.”

Although Fart is entertaining, she also teaches viewers something deeper by fully accepting herself and her weirdness. In a digital landscape where appear-

ances have inflated importance, where apps are regularly used to perfect selfies, where the fear of missing out (known on social media as FOMO) phenomenon is real and insidious, Fart is a breath of fresh air.

Detractors say that she seeks attention with her videos, and although every absurd choice she makes feels genuine, it also doesn’t matter. Even if she were seeking attention, the way she goes about it is innocuous and empowering, especially compared to the questionable deeds that frequently occur on the YouTube platform to gain notoriety — namely scamming subscribers, engaging in drama, and putting down others.

While Fart will have viewers laughing at her antics, she also doesn’t shy away from sharing parts of her painful past. She advocates that recovery from eating disorders is worth it, that it’s okay to accept your weight, and that it’s not necessary to rely on the validation of others to tell you your worth. The reason why Fart resonates with such a large audience is because she proves that it’s possible to heal from trauma, be yourself, and thrive in a culture that so often scrutinizes appearances.

In her aforementioned viral video, Fart explains: “For years, I worked really hard, in my own way, to be palatable, to be fuckable, to be wanted by dudes — which was the currency I thought you had to have as a woman to have value. Devoting a large part of my energy to trying to be palatable hid light within me that I didn’t know was there until I stopped trying to be digestible for other people.”

If wearing a toga and boa every day empowers her, she does it. If talking openly about childhood trauma gives her agency, that’s the video of the day. Fart’s the person we all wanted to be when we were young and untamed — someone uninhibited and free. Her channel is a glimpse into what happens if you stop caring what others think and focus on your own joy.

In a way, her YouTube channel has also been cathartic to maintain. As she explains: “YouTube has meant so much to me, and the most healing part isn’t the website or the world of social media itself — it’s the creative expression and the potential. To have a dream … to be creative as a career, to be able to have complete agency over my life and my time, to be heard, to go from imagining that as a child and seeing that it’s possible to design your life exactly how you’ve always felt it’s meant to be — it’s absolutely magical.”

The Emilia Fart channel shows no signs of decline or lack of inspiration. On the topic of where she plans to take it in the future, Fart says, “I definitely have a vision with my life, and the channel is a part of that. I follow my gut with each video, and each one is a step on a staircase leading me to where I’m meant to be.

I know that’s mad lame to say, and I accept that.”

Although her channel might not appeal to everyone, that doesn’t stop her from doing what she loves and serving as a beacon of hope to many. The year 2019 was largely successful for Fart, but this is only the beginning of her career as a content creator.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020

ARTS Netflix //

Reasons to join ARES:

There aren’t any; pick a cooler cult NADIA TUDHOPE Netflix’s ARES, a Dutch horror drama, is the latest in a trend of shows about sinister secret societies in universities. This one revolves around an ambitious, biracial girl from a poor family who joins the secret society Ares for the privilege she believes being a member can grant her.

ARES starts strong and then quickly deteriorates into a nonsense mishmash of horror that leaves you wondering what the point was.

In every aspect, there is no better word to describe it than “senseless.”

The show seems promising in its pilot. It implements a decoy protagonist: a pretty, plain-faced blonde girl so unassuming that I kept losing her in scenes, and then subverts expectations by killing her off in the first five minutes. The gratuitous Hereditary-reminiscent gore used to excise her from our

screen, though, was frankly unnecessary and probably should have come with some warnings to viewers regarding depictions of suicide.

Although that scene in particular was horrifying, the horror elements in ARES are nothing to congratulate it for. The vast majority of its successful horror reminded me of scenes from MTV’s Teen Wolf, and honestly, they were scarier in Teen Wolf — a show which also heavily featured shirtless men doing backflips. The most frightening part of ARES is how quickly the protagonist Rosa is indoctrinated into the secret society. The day after she joins Ares, Rosa stonefacedly abandons her family immediately after finding out her mother had attempted suicide the night before, knowing that her father will be working and unable to watch over her mother.

However, with absolutely no work being done to convince us that Rosa would prioritize her brand new secret society

“family” over her real one and no cues that this was a ploy on Rosa’s part, this came off as lazy writing at best.

The secret society Ares seems to have absolutely no purpose beyond congratulating itself for being populated by rich, privileged people and giving all the newbies matching wardrobes. They have no mottos, no lore, no rewards for their members besides the validation of having passed their dark-frat initiation, and seemingly no beliefs — although upper members of Ares continually state that they do without giving any indication of what those beliefs are. The cult is motivated by secrecy, and has covered up the suicides of its members. We learn early on that they need new members to feed something, and then that isn’t followed up on.

The show ARES is motivated more by gratuitous violence than coherent plot.

None of its horror is original or well thought out. Jacob is the only character in this show that acts like a human being beyond the first episode. It leaves viewers wondering what the hell is going on and why they should keep watching, mashed together and unexplained as it is. Characters in the secret society do strange and inexplicable things, without the narrative giving us a real explanation of why. There seems to be no point to anything that happens in the show or to the show’s existence itself.

ARES does make some social commentary on those born into a life of opportunity, but it comes mainly from snarky comments from Rosa and lacks any substance or critical thought. What opportunities it does have to make social commentary it wastes: Rosa is pressured by an upper member of Ares to take drugs at a party, ends up in a threesome that appears to devolve into rape, and then the sexual assault elements of this scene never get addressed. ARES is a study of graphic on-screen suicides seemingly delivered for horror or shock factor and no other purpose.

There are plenty of ways to get your horror, dark academia, and/or secret society fix, but ARES isn’t one of them.

Rewind //

A Clockwork Orange: sexualized violence is not okay, brothers DARIEN JOHNSEN A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 crime and dystopia movie based on the novel of the same name, written by Anthony Burgess and published in 1962. The film is set in a futuristic London and focuses on a young man called Alex. London, at this time, is the pinnacle of a downfallen and ruinous society. The movie opens in a “milk bar,” where Alex and his friends get high on drugged glasses of milk and proceed to commit “ultraviolence,” as is the style of teenagers in this dystopian society.

As the film progresses, Alex becomes victim to an experimental government treatment for criminals, making him sick when he sees violence or sexuality — which doesn’t go quite as they expect.

The film is meant to be a larger social commentary and exploration in madness: the madness of prison, the madness of psychopathy, the madness of trauma and thirst for revenge, the madness of a society that seems to go in circles, a government’s inability to deal with offenders, and their attempts to placate the public without changing.

Alex goes from hated man to public hero and a token for state negligence, but is essentially a pawn in the government’s publicity game.

Director Stanley Kubrick is a master of perfectly framed shots.

Each scene is gorgeously laid out and full of detail and colour. He lingers the camera just long enough to force viewers to really see the shot.

While I can admire Kubrick’s eye for colour and scene, I can’t ignore the problems in the content of this film.

Following its release, strings of

violent crime were committed in the U.K. as teens were reenacting the “ultra-violence” they saw in the movie, leading Kubrick and Warner Bros. to pull it from release in the U.K. Sexualizing violence in films is a problem, and people should be mindful of consuming this media without being aware of the very real and serious problem of sexualized violence towards women. Indeed, Kubrick’s depiction of nude, young women in combination with the amount of rape scenes does come off as excessive and uncomfortable.

The movie remains problematic because rape is used as a pawn in the director’s attempt to make a statement about something else.

Kubrick could easily have used some other trick of cinematic magic and storytelling to come to the same conclusion.

What’s ironic is that one of the major themes of the film and the novel was that it was supposed to be a comment on this very issue: the harmful effects of media. An oversexualized culture is supossedly responsible for feeding into the corruption of Alex. The author of the novel, Burgess, wrote an unfinished non-fiction follow up, The Clockwork Condition, discussing further the themes of the book.

An article from the BBC quotes the director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Professor Andrew Biswell, saying: “The Clockwork Condition provides a context for Burgess's most famous work, and amplifies his views on crime, punishment, and the possible corrupting effects of visual culture.”

This leaves watchers, readers, and critiquers with much to chew on.

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Note:

Some of these events require tickets, most are on Facebook. If something catches your eye, take to the internet for more details.

• Teacher Technique Showcase @ UFV (Abbotsford) Thinkerspace G124, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

• Bell Let’s Talk Day @ UFV (Abbotsford) Library Rotunda G102, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

• Bell Let’s Talk Day @ UFV (Chilliwack) Building A Atrium, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

• Woof Woof Wednesday @ UFV (Chilliwack) Building A Atrium, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• Board Games “unplug” @ UFV (Abbotsford) S1111, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

• SUS ALP Module: The Revitalization of Indigenous Languages with Marny Point @ Evered Hall, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

• Environment and Planning Network Event @ UFV (Abbotsford) University House, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

• Open Mic Night @ Trading Post Brewery and Tasting Room, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

• Live Music @ S+L Abbotsford, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

• Casinos, The Sylvia Platters, Primp, & Bellflowers @ Carport Manor, 7:00 – 11:30 p.m.

• Beatles Live Band Nerdlesque @ The Stage, 8:30 – 11:30 p.m.

• Farmteam @ Tractorgrease Cafe, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• Art-making for newcomers to Canada @ The Reach, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

• Superhero Sundays: Marvel Champions Meetup @ Boardwalk Cafe and Games, 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.

• Double Bill with Brian O’Brien and Paul Caldwell @ Tractorgrease Cafe, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• School of Business Presentation: Dr. Christophe Schinckus @ UFV (Abbotsford) A235, 10:00 – 10:45 a.m.

• Community Lunch @ UFV (Abbotsford) S1111, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• Mindfulness Skills for Student Success @ UFV (Abbotsford) Evered Hall, 12:15 – 12:45 p.m.

• Let’s Get Physical: Fitness Workshop @ UFV (Abbotsford) S1111, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

• Scholarly Sharing Initiative @ UFV (Abbotsford) F125, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

• Glow Yoga @ UFV (Abbotsford) E105, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• Begonia @ Tractorgrease Cafe, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• Art-making for newcomers to Canada @ The Reach, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night @ Trading Post Brewery and Tasting

• Wellness Workshop: Coping Skills @ UFV (Abbotsford) D105, 1:00 – 1:45 p.m.

• Developing a Professional Growth Plan Workshop @ UFV (Abbotsford) A225, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

• Study Abroad Expo @ UFV (Abbotsford) SUB, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

• UFV Opportunities Fair @ UFV (Abbotsford) SUB Atrium, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

• Community Lunch @ UFV (Abbotsford) SUB, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• Live music @ Trading Post Fort Langley Eatery, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

• Live music @ Trading Post Abbotsford Eatery, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Room, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

• Physical Activity at Every Size Workshop @ Abbotsford Campus K173, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

• Cascades Volleyball Pre-Game Fun! @ UFV (Abbotsford) Envision Athletic Centre, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.

• 2019 Mission Business Excellence Awards @ The Stage, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

• Brad Pedwell @ Trading Post Brewery and Tasting Room, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

• Open Mic @ Tractorgrease Cafe, 7:00 – 11:00 p.m.

• Woof Woof Wednesday @ UFV (Chilliwack) Building A Atrium, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• Consent Cafe @ UFV (Abbotsford) A212, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

• Haq and History reception and opening @ UFV (Abbotsford) S’eliyemetaxwtexw Gallery, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

• Open Mic Night @ Trading Post Brewery and Tasting Room, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

• Live Music @ S+L Abbotsford, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

• Meditation Exploration @ Tractorgrease Cafe, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• The Limits of Division: Getting Beyond Polarized Politics — Public Talk by Dr. Scott Matthews @ UFV (Abbotsford) B101, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.

• Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night @ Trading Post Brewery and Tasting Room, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

• Art-making for newcomers to Canada @ The Reach, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

• Graphic and Digital Design Portfolio Info Session @ UFV (Mission) D227, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.