The Cascade Vol. 20 No. 21

Vol. 20 Issue. 21

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

Vague and fabulous since 1993

MONOCLES

MUSTACHES

MUGSHOTS

“Democracy is not a spectator sport” p 5

p. 6

Where the Forest Songs Are p 10

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S ISSUE News

Opinion

Arts & Life

Sports & Health

WOW is right!

KD controversy

PAX packs a punch

Rowology

In a thought provoking argument that is bound to create heated debate amongst scholars in the psychoanalytical community, writer Karen Aney introduces a cutting-edge theory: what, Aney asks, is the meaning behind the unique process of an individual’s preparion of Kraft Dinner?

Xenomorphs, a giant Kirby, The Walking Dead, and general cosplay madness! Contributor Jeremy Hannaford has the low down on the best this year’s PAX Prime indie gaming expo in Seattle, Washington.

Have you ever dreamed of being a galley slave? Rowing all day to the abuse of your merciless coxswain, and perhaps developing killer abs in the process? Get involved with UFV Rowing.

They probably won’t chain you to the oar ...

Read more on page 8

Read more on page 14

Read more on page 18

Did your face make it to the cover?

Well, maybe next time. Meanwhile, maybe you can spot yourself in a series of snappy shots taken over the course of SUS’s weeks of welcome!

Read more on page 6

The Cascade is now hiring an Arts & Life editor!

EDITORIAL

You can’t handle the truthiness!

The Arts and Life editor of The Cascade is responsible for assigning, collecting, editing and laying out the content of the Arts and Life section of The Cascade. The Arts and Life editor shall ensure that issues relevant to students are presented in his/her section, and allow the UFV arts community to be represented in his/her section. At all times, the Arts and Life editor shall adhere to the Cascade Journalism Society’s bylaws, Code of Conduct and other polices, as well as ensuring that all material in his/her section does not violate the Canadian University Press Code of Ethics.

Duties and Responsibilities 1) Ensure that matters of interest to UFV students are covered in the Arts and Life section.

2) Assign, collect, and edit articles for the Arts and Life section of The Cascade.

3) Hold at least two writing workshops per semester for the purpose of training.

4) Coordinate with the Managing editor entertainment-related promotions and contests.

5) Arrange and distribute media passes and tickets where applicable.

6) Create and maintain working relationships with the UFV Visual Art department, theatre department, publicists and local venue operators.

7) Write a minimum of one full article for the Arts and Life section per week.

8) Must work five hours per publishing week in The Cascade’s office.

9) Perform other duties as required by the Editorin-Chief.

10) Attend all writers’, editorial board and lay out meetings.

Qualifications 1) Must be a member in good standing of the Cascade Journalism Society.

2) Must be registered in at least one credit course during the fall/winter semesters.

3) Must be available to work varying hours.

4) Must be available to be present in the office for at least five hours per week.

5) Must be able to deal effectively with Society and university staff, students and the general public.

6) Must demonstrate strong command of the English language by passing an editing test, which will be administered during the interview process.

7) Basic literacy is required.

8) Must have knowledge of all relevant laws and journalistic standards concerning libel.

Send resume, cover letter, and sample arts article to Editor-in-Chief Nick Ubels (nick@ufvcascade.ca)

by Friday, September 21, 2012

NICK UBELS THE CASCADE

Two weeks ago, in Tampa Bay, Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan turned heads with a blistering critique of the Obama Presidency at the Republican National Convention. But there’s a catch.

Many of his talking points were built on misrepresentation and fuzzy numbers.

Take Ryan’s claim that Obama was responsible for the closure of a GM plant in his Wisconsin hometown. The plant closed in December 2008 before Obama was sworn in.

Some analysts dismiss Ryan’s errors as unimportant in light of his success at rousing the party base with the spirit of his speech.

But I disagree. Facts matter. Details matter. And journalists do the public a disservice by not calling out politicians on such false premises.

Page five of this week’s issue features an in-depth interview with BC NDP MLAs Gwen O’Mahoney (Advanced Education critic) and Megan Mungall (Skills Training critic) conducted during their recent UFV visit by The Cascade’s Joe Johnson.

The two MLAs are critical of the state of post-secondary education funding under the Liberal provincial government and cite a range of numbers to back up their arguments. For example, O’Mahoney states that BC’s apprenticeship completion rate is 34 per cent. Mungall later mentions that it’s 36 per cent. A small discrepancy, but it was enough to convince me to do some digging.

According to an op-ed by Tom Sigurdson, executive director of BC Building Trades, that appeared in The Vancouver Sun on August 28, BC currently has an apprenticeship completion rate of 37 per cent. A July 2 article appearing on the independent BC

news website The Tyee stated the rate was 40 per cent. The most recent BC Apprenticeship Student Outcomes survey results available online is from 2011. Finally, I decided to go straight to the source. I called the 24-hour BC government media relations hotline only to encounter a message that the operator was currently on holiday. And that I should call the 24-hour hotline instead.

My conclusion? Verifying the numbers is difficult, frustrating work. It won’t always yield the results you’re looking for, but it’s a worthy pursuit. When politicians spout off numbers to back up their arguments, they’re just as likely as we are to include misremembered stats.

The format of The Cascade’s interview with O’Mahoney and Mungall makes editing for factual accuracy a bit of a dilemma. Our news editor and I debated adding some kind of disclaimer about the veracity of the statistics in the article or including corrected numbers in square brackets, but ultimately felt obligated to print their responses as given.

Ultimately, this sort of mix-up is understandable when on the spot. But just because it’s a small error doesn’t mean it’s not one worth noting.

As journalists, we’re tasked with sifting through murky facts to provide the best obtainable version of the truth. Yet statements from politicians present a bit of a predicament. How should we balance uncensored interview content with fact checking?

Should we interrupt interviews with onthe-spot fact checks? Should we include a disclaimer with any errors at the bottom of the article? Or should we leave slight errors like this one lie and leave it up to you to investigate.

It’s just like Mungall said. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Volume 20 · Issue 21 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-Chief nick@ufvcascade.ca Nick Ubels Managing Editor ali@ufvcascade.ca Ali Siemens Business Manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson Online Editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular Production Manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour Art Director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy Editor joel@ufvcascade.ca Joel Smart News Editor news@ufvcascade.ca Dessa Bayrock Opinion Editor opinion@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt Arts & Life Editor arts@ufvcascade.ca Jennifer Colbourne Sports Editor sports@ufvcascade.ca Paul Esau Staff Writers Karen Aney, Paige Hoblak, Taylor Johnson, Nadine Moedt, Alexei Summers

Contributors Karen Esau, Jeremy Hannaford, Daryl Johnson, Ryan Peterson, Katie Tegtmeier, Tim Ubels, Amy Van Veen, Jess Wind

Printed By International WebExpress

UPCOMING EVENTS Sept 14

Sept 15

Sept 20

Sept 6 to 21

Aftermath Prize Party

CIVL sponsors the first concert of year

Welcome to CEP!

WE INSIST!

By now, there are a lot of names rolling around in the raffle hat. Add your name one final time by attending the prize party at Aftermath this Friday, starting at 3 p.m.. Grand prizes include a free course, bookstore gift certificates, and a trip to Las Vegas!

Catch GSTS, First Reign, Ancients, and more at Aftermath this Saturday. CIVL sponsors a myriad of concerts throughout the year; start your semester off right with a pint of PBR and some rocking tunes!

Music starts at 8 p.m. and runs until the day the music dies.

Where to start! UFV welcomes community members, students, faculty, and staff to the shiny new building at Canada Education Park. Live music, politicians shaking hands and kissing babies, face paint, popcorn, free food and cake, and some REAL EXPLOSIONS. Seriously.

Fireworks.

Get culture between classes by checking out art in B136 on Abbotsford campus. Featuring pieces

by Alicia Williams and other UFV art students, the works will surprise, delight, and astonish.

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It provides a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a circulation of 1500 and is distributed at UFV campuses and throughout Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission. The Cascade is a member of the Canadian University Press, a national cooperative of 75 university and college newspapers from Victoria to St. John’s. The Cascade follows the CUP ethical policy concerning material of a prejudicial or oppressive nature.

Submissions are preferred in electronic format through e-mail. Please send submissions in “.txt” or “.doc” format only.

Articles and letters to the editor must be typed.

The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. The writer’s name and student number must be submitted with each submission. Letters to the editor must be under 250 words if intended for print. Only one letter to the editor per writer in any given edition.

Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, Cascade staff and collective, or associated members.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

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NEWS

Don’t take a pass when it comes to U-Pass TAYLOR JOHNSON THE CASCADE

Being a student has its perks.

After all the long hours in class, not to mention the studying and stressing out over papers, students deserve some kind of break.

One of the perks of being a student is the UFV U-Pass, which is provided by the Student Union Society (SUS) and serves as a student’s all-in-one discount and transit card.

This semester SUS has made some big changes to our little student cards. Every semester students line up at the Envision Athletic Centre to update their UPasses, but this year was different. Instead of replacing the shiny outdated sticker on the U-Pass card, the cards were destroyed.

Now, instead of carrying around a student ID as well as a U-Pass, the U-Pass sticker is placed on the back of student ID cards. The result? Students only have one card to keep track of.

Forty dollars might seem pretty steep for just a sticker, and if

Image: ufv.ca

students have transit costs taken care of through another pass they can opt out of the U-Pass issued through SUS. But before you give up that shiny sticker, consider the many places that accept the U-Pass. There are a plethora of restaurants in Abbotsford that give discounts for U-Pass holders, including the Baron Bar and Grill, City Blends Coffee, Pita Pit, Olde Towne Bakery and Nature’s Pickin’s.

Not only will your U-Pass earn you discounts on food, but students can receive discounts at retail stores in Abbotsford, like Hemingway’s Books or Replay Boardshop. There’s also a discount at other Abbotsford establishments, which include Apple Auto Glass, Barberville Barber Shop, Bikram Yoga, Fraser Valley Tai Chi, and The Goddess Movement.

These benefits stretch through-

Community speaks out against existing pipeline NADINE MOEDT THE CASCADE

While most environmentallyconcerned British Columbians are focused on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, many are unaware that an existing pipeline is already carrying diluted tar sands bitumen right through our backyard.

The Trans-Mountain pipeline was built in the early ‘50s, and was intended to transport conventional oil for local use. However in 2005, Kinder Morgan (an American energy company) purchased the line and has instead been using the pipeline for transporting tar sands bitumen to the coast for export.

Now, Kinder Morgan has submitted a new proposal hoping to put in another pipeline parallel to the first.

Sheila Muxlow is a member of a group of concerned local residents known as PIPE UP (proinformation, pro-environment united people). The goal of PIPE UP, Muxlow says, is education and awareness about “the risks associated with transporting tar sands diluted bitumen.”

Public knowledge of the pipeline and its proposed twin line is limited, especially in comparison to public awareness of the Northern Gateway proposal.

“We don’t have stringent regulations when it comes to moving tar sands,” Muxlow said, explaining how Kinder Morgan was able to switch product without informing the public of the change. “Overall [the lack of awareness] has to do with the lack of regulations that exist for big companies to have to be transparent with the public when they are using old infrastructure to transport new product, regardless of how increased

the toxicity is or the increased risk of spills.”

Kinder Morgan’s proposed expansion would mean a brand new pipeline from Edmonton to the coast. It would cross the Lower Mainland close to schools, residential areas, farmland, watersheds and drinking water sources.

PIPE UP’s major concern is that tar sand diluted bitumen is much more at risk of spillage than conventional oil.

“On a local level, the fact that tar sands diluted bitumen is more subject to spills is an issue because it is a more corrosive product,” Muxlow explained.

“Tar sands at room temperature are solid, so to move it through a pipeline they have to dilute it with a cocktail of different solvents including benzene and other polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Then even so, when they get it to a state where it is fluid, they’ll have to pump it at higher temperatures, and at higher pressure to get it through the pipeline.”

This is an issue of concern even in brand new pipes, Muxlow said, let alone in a pipeline built in the early ‘50s. The Keystone pipeline, running from Alberta to Nebraska was built in 2010 and was designed specifically for transport of tar sand diluted bitumen. In its first year alone there were 12 instances of spillage.

An oil spill in the Fraser Valley would not only have a huge impact environmentally, Muxlow stated, but would be a significant hazard to human health.

“There is the issue with increased health risks for residents, with the chemical cocktail of dilutants they add to tar sands to move it through the pipes,” she said. “When it’s spilled, it evaporates into the air

quite quickly. When it does that, it is this really noxious, odorous cloud that lingers in the air.”

Long-term effects are not fully understood, but benzene, which is a major component of the product, has been directly linked to blood cancer.

Michael Hale, who is a member of PIPE UP, was shocked to learn that the pipeline runs directly under his farmland, and that diluted bitumen is already being transported through his property. After the shock wore away, Hale became determined to know more.

“We have all these hearings for Enbridge northern gateway pipeline, yet suddenly there’s tar sands being shipped right here,” Hale says. “We have to talk about what our community wants and other alternatives.”

Hale looked specifically at the economics of the pipeline, trying to determine any benefits of an expansion.

“We are getting royalties,” Hale explained, “and that would double, but it’s still a pittance.”

“The other thing that really smacks you in the eye,” he continued, “is that the companies don’t address the economic costs and environmental risks associated with any spill. If you have a big spill, that comes to hundreds and millions of dollars in costs to clean up.”

This is the outcome that PIPE UP is struggling against.

“If we can stop Kinder Morgan from transporting tar sand diluted bitumen,” Muxlow concluded, “that would send a really strong message that this is not a piece of infrastructure that we want as part of our economy. We don’t want to be a doormat. The best way to help achieve that is just public awareness.”

out the Fraser Valley, to stores and restaurants in Chilliwack and Langley as well. A full list is available online.

Beyond retail and food, the UPass is also good for transportation. Students with a valid U-Pass can use any of the Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack bus systems free of charge.

One slight change to the transportation benefits of the U-Pass is to the My Safe Ride Home program. This program is basically a $25 credit towards a cab, which is built into the U-Pass and designed to get students home safely. It requires an online registration, and will expire for good in April 2013, or once the credit has been used.

Finally, the U-Pass makes staying fit easier. Staying physically active between classes can be difficult, especially considering costly gym memberships and student budgets. However, the U-Pass gives students access to the Abbotsford Recreation Centre, Chilliwack Landing Leisure Centre, Matsqui Recreation Centre, Mission Leisure Centre and

Cheam Leisure Centre free of charge.

The U-Pass has its limits; each semester the sticker has to be updated and registered. Once a semester is over, the U-Pass expires.

Students who are not registered in any classes at UFV will not be able to renew it.

It’s possible to have your U-Pass taken away from you. It is not the property of the student and misuse can result in having your UPass confiscated. Misuse includes taking someone else’s card and claiming it as your own, or giving the U-Pass to a non-student.

Penalty fees can be forced on students who breach the agreement terms of the U-Pass.

While $40 might seem a lot to pay for a sticker, if your U-Pass is used right it will save you at least that much in the long run.

The SUS website offers complete lists of services connected to the U-Pass, as well as the option to suggest local businesses. Visit www.ufvsus.ca for more information.

New library opens with a song at CEP Dessa bayrock THE CASCADE

After a long wait, UFV’s Chilliwack library finally has a new facility.

It’s a journey that they’ve been working towards for over two decades.

“Back in the early ‘90s, there was a plan that another building would go up on campus, and that the library would be the primary tenant,” Kim Isaac, UFV’s head librarian, explained during the official opening last week. “So we got really excited, and had these wonderful plans, and were imagining the best – and then the funding got pulled.”

Those plans were dusted off several times over the years, but the new library didn’t materialize until the opening of UFV’s new building at Canada Education Park (CEP) earlier this summer.

Isaac could barely stop smiling long enough to introduce the new facility.

The new library, which is housed on the ground floor of the new CEP building, is twice the size of the old facility, with 20 rows of shelves and an integrated study room for students.

Another new feature of the new library is the inclusion of the Writing Centre, the Math Centre, and Educational Technology Services within the library.

“This is the Learning Commons,” Isaac explained. “So it’s a physical area that’s brought together a number of departments that share common goals of working with instructors and working with students in the context of their academic work here.”

This will allow students to get help with whatever they’re working on without having to leave the library, and is something that will also helpfully allow the Writing and Math Centres to reach more

students.

The building is not only functional, but beautiful; it boasts a wall of windows overlooking the nature of Canada Education Park, and accents of reclaimed cedar are threaded in the walls and ceilings as part of the green initiatives of the new building.

Although the library opened to the public in July, it had an official opening last week with speeches, tea and cake. The afternoon also included a nod to local Stó:lō culture with a traditional cedar brushing performed by Shirley Hardman, UFV’s senior advisor on aboriginal affairs. The ceremony, Hardman explained, served to cleanse the library of stress and make it a welcoming atmosphere for students and faculty alike.

Hardman also sang and drummed as part of the library opening, an act of welcome that is a Stó:lō tradition.

“The tradition of welcoming people this way with a song, in opening things like the library, is something that our people would do when visitors would come into the valley and up the river,” Hardman explained. “Even if you were just going by, we would sing a song that would acknowledge you had come by, and that you were welcome to stop.”

UFV’s president, Mark Evered, also spoke at the opening, describing libraries as the core of a university.

“A library is a manifestation of a fundamental feature of the human spirit,” Evered said, “one that has moved us forward in so many ways, as a species – a desire to reach beyond not just our own community, while we live, but to future generations.”

The library is now open for the semester: 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m on Friday, 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday, and closed on Sundays.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

NEWS

The basics of your health and dental plan nADINE mOEDT THE CASCADE

The SUS health and dental plan is one of the fees that appears on a full-time student’s invoice every year. It’s easy to sigh at another number adding itself to your tuition fees, but the health and dental plan might be doing more for you than you think.

First of all, the health and dental plan at UFV provides students with coverage from the first day of September until the end of August the following year. Aside from your basic visits to the doctor, the plan covers visits to other health practitioners, such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopaths, dieticians – the list goes on.

It doesn’t stop at visits to professionals.

Up to 70 per cent of prescription drugs and vaccinations are covered. Diagnostic services, ambulance services, home care and medical equipment are all taken care of.

Psychological health is also considered in the way the plan covers visits to a registered psychologist of your choice.

If you wear glasses, your plan will cover your prescription glasses, contact lenses, eye exams, and even laser eye surgery.

Another great benefit of the plan is the travel coverage; you can use your benefits anywhere on the globe.

In short, full-time students pay $159.92 a year for a $900 plan.

The SUS plan easily covers more than what is provided to students with provincial coverage. The provincial plan only covers the basics, like visits to the hospital or the doctor, and not additional services such as prescription drugs or other types of health practitioners.

Most full-time students are automatically enrolled in the SUS health and dental

plan. You can even extend your coverage to a spouse, common-law partner, and/or dependent by paying an additional fee.

Students who are not automatically included in the plan and wish to have the coverage are able to enroll online for an additional fee. Students starting in January may enroll at a pro-rated rate for eight months of coverage rather than 12.

If you are already covered by another health and dental plan, you can opt out of the plan online at www.ihaveaplan.ca.

You will need your student ID number, your date of birth and proof that you are covered by another plan. Proof of coverage must consist of a copy of a certificate or card indicating your coverage, an image of a summary of benefits detailing your coverage, or a letter from the plan sponsor/ insurance company. Aboriginal students may use an image of their status card as proof of coverage.

But an option to consider if you are already covered by a different plan is to combine it with the SUS health and dental plan for increased coverage. This choice could give you up to 100 per cent coverage.

Any opting in, opting out, adding family members, or change of status has to be done within a designated “change of coverage period.” The change of coverage period for this semester started August 27 and ends September 18. Another change of coverage period will run January 3 to 24.

This health and dental plan is one specifically designed with students in mind.

Your suggestions and feedback regarding improvements or additions to the plan are taken into consideration so that it fits your specific requirements.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can look online at www.ihaveaplan.ca or pop into the SUS offices in C building in Abbotsford, or in the basement at CEP.

NEWS BRIEFS

Image: CUP Wire

Image: CUP Wire

Image: Reuters

Image: Reuters

Image: www.salzgeber.at

UVic opens gender-inclusive washrooms

Canada’s first law school in 33 years flourishes

Canada closes embassy in Iran, to expel Iranian diplomats

Apple’s iPhone needs to dazzle as market gets crowded

Russia’s Deputy PM says country must shoot for moon base

VICTORIA (CUP)—Two formerly gendered washrooms in the main concourse of the UVic Student Union Building (SUB) were reopened as multi-stall gender-inclusive washrooms, meaning any person of any perceived gender can use either space.

“The driving force behind why we are going gender inclusive is there are a lot of issues of violence against transgendered people in washrooms and difficulty for them to access or enter gendered spaces,” said Ariel Tseng, UVSS director of Finance and Operations and a member of the gender-inclusive washrooms committee.

KAMLOOPS (CUP) — After more than 30 years of the same law school options in Canada, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) changed the landscape, opening a new law school in September 2011. After accepting 75 students into its inaugural class, how has the law school established itself over the first year of its existence?

“Our main theme, we are attempting to blend learning the law with learning the professional skills to put that knowledge to use,” said dean Chris Axworthy.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada has suspended diplomatic relations with Iran, closing its embassy in Tehran and giving all Iranian diplomats in Canada five days to leave the country, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday, calling Iran the biggest threat to global security.

Baird, in Russia for an AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, said Canada’s actions were not linked to growing speculation that Israel might launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The new iPhone 5 has to be more than just another smartphone as it carries the weight of Apple Inc’s future on its slim frame.

Five years after the first iPhone upended the mobile industry, analysts say Apple is looking increasingly defensive as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other rivals have been first to market with phones that sport bigger screens or run on faster wireless networks.

Apple will try to close that gap on Wednesday with the unveiling of the newest iPhone.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia should set itself the “super goal” of building a large base on the Moon it could use to achieve “leaps” in science and to give a new sense of purpose to its troubled space program, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.

“There is a lot of competition among countries in the space sector and so we must have a big super goal that could pull forward science and industry,” Rogozin told the Vesti FM radio station.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

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NEWS

BC NDP critics talk advanced education, student debt, stress, and skills training field, especially in the trades.

GO: My prediction is skills training; it’s going to be essential in the next campaign for both parties to talk about what they’re going to do. Because it is one of our top issues – a top economic issue.

Michelle, you’ve been sitting with the NDP for three years now. In that time have you noticed a change to the problems facing students in achieving a post-secondary education?

Image:Joe Johnson/The Cascade

NDP critics Gwen O’Mahony and Michelle Mulligan visit UFV during a cross-provincial tour of BC’s post-secondary institutions. joe johnson THE CASCADE

Michelle Mungall and Gwen O’Mahony are both members of the BC NDP; Mungall serves as the Advanced Education critic, and O’Mahony serves as the Skills Training critic. They are currently on a cross-provincial tour of BC postsecondary institutions, and stopped

by UFV last week to chat with The Cascade.

You both have positions as critics within the BC NDP, Michelle as the Advanced Education critic and Gwen as the Skills Training critic. Can you tell me what these roles are in regards to the specific ministries?

Michelle Mungall: For myself, John Yap’s just been newly appointed the Minister of Advanced Education, so his duties around Advanced Education are what I focus mostly on.

We’re talking about the funding to post-secondary institutions, tuition fees, and the big one on a lot of students’ mind is student debt and affordability of post-secondary institutions.

That’s the focus that I’ve been tasked with and have been doing for the last year-and-a-half or so, and Gwen, being new, was given a new role out of that.

Gwen O’Mahony: Yes, which is skills training. It’s specific to any kind of training affiliated with the industry and post-secondary institutions, so there’s a link [with

Mungall’s focus].

What we’re really focusing on is completion rates for apprenticeships; the fact that we have a growing skills shortage in this province and how we’re going to address that need.

We know that in the next five to 10 years, 80 per cent of all jobs are going to require some form of post-secondary education, and we know that receiving appropriate training is essential.

Right now our province is lagging. We have a 34 per cent completion rate in apprenticeships, so it’s a really serious issue.

What has your encounter with UFV students been like?

MM: It’s been great. It was really great, a really great opportunity to talk with students.

One young man was telling us how this is his first year taking out a student loan. He took out $5000, and that’s the start of his student debt, and he’s looking at having to possibly go to Alberta for a job as a teacher because those jobs are not available here in British Columbia.

Another young man was saying something along similar lines.

Both of them want to stay in British Columbia, both of them want to stay in their communities. But the options available to them are just not there.

Another young man was telling us how he just graduated high school and he’s starting his post-secondary career at UFV in

Chilliwack. What he really liked about it is he could still stay at home and go to school. And so the fact that UFV provides that to students is really wonderful.

Gwen, with UFV’s Trades and Technology Centre in your riding, has the need for increased skills training been a strong issue?

GO: Oh, absolutely. I think it’s going to be essential to the campaign because it’s an issue that affects our economy.

We’re looking at a time in history where economic development could be stifled by a lack of what’s known as human capital versus financial capital; in other words, by not having enough skilled workers to fill those jobs.

MM: And as Gwen has pointed out, 80 per cent of jobs in the next decade are going to require some level of post-secondary education. Completion rates for apprenticeships are one of the lowest in the country; we’re at 36 per cent, Alberta’s at 70 per cent.

It’s not just about the oil sands and so on – there are other factors.

The fact that Alberta’s putting a lot of effort into their skills training is one of them. For BC it’s been an area of—I would say—neglect over the last 10 years and while [the liberals] opened new training spaces, what they didn’t do was ensure people could complete.

That’s the key, that’s the ticket.

Literally the ticket, people have to have their ticket to work in their

MM: I’d say in the last three years—and you can even compare it to five years, or 10 years ago— the increasing cost of post-secondary education has left people with huge debts. They have to go back to school if they’re going to be employable. Period.

But they’re not completing in the same timeframe as previous generations were. Instead of doing a four year degree in four years, people are doing a four year degree in five or six years, and that’s happening more and more.

Instead of finishing a 10 month program in 10 months, people are going to do five months and then they’re going to come back at another time and do the other five months.

It all boils down to finances.

When students are paying double the tuition that Christy Clark did when she went to SFU, they’re paying the highest interest rate on those student loans and they have absolutely no access to financial needs based grants. They’re not only working part-time, they’re working full-time.

One young man we talked to today, he’s working two part-time jobs just so he can go to school.

And that financial stress is actually the number one stress point for students, in national studies.

It’s not if you’re going to pass the midterm or not any more, it’s whether you’re going to pay the rent.

Institutions themselves are having problems financially.

We’ve seen cutbacks here at UFV. Is there a concrete plan towards institutional core funding?

MM: What we have from the Liberals since 2005 is stagnant funding. They haven’t addressed the increasing costs that institutions have with staff increases, or pay increases. BC Hydro rates going up, the provincial government sets those, they know they’re going up; MSP premiums

going up for benefits packages, for staff, right? Again, provincial government sets those; they know they’re going up and yet they have not been giving institutions any funding to address those increased costs.

So we have stagnant funding which, in the end, is a systemic cutback of funding. Systemically, institutions have experienced a nine per cent cutback since 2005, and for the 2013/14 budget and 2014/15 budget, a total of $50 million is going to be cut from postsecondary institutions.

They’re not even getting stagnant funding anymore; they’re getting a full-on rollback in their funding. And Liberal government keeps saying, “Oh, this won’t impact students.”

Well, we know that there’s clear evidence that when tuition goes up it impacts students. And tuition has been going up at the same rate as funding has been [stalled] by the Liberals, so it’s impacting students.

With the upcoming cuts, all 25 presidents of post-secondary institutions [in BC] wrote a letter to the Minister telling her that these cuts were unrealistic. Two months later they got an answer back from her deputy minister saying, “That’s just too bad, we’re going to do it anyway.”

That’s where we’re at under the Liberals.

The Where’s The Funding? student-led BC lobby group recently began a new campaign asking students to pledge their vote in the upcoming provincial election for the political party that best represents student needs. What’s your take on this particular campaign?

MM: If young people don’t get out to vote, their voice doesn’t get heard. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

GO: I think it’s brilliant. We’re looking at a time when political engagement is at an all-time low, and I think it’s brilliant. It’s a brilliant way to actually bring politics into the personal, which is what really it takes to get people to come out to the polls. I really hope that students will look at all the platforms, make an informed decision, and get out there and vote on Election Day [on May 14, 2013].

MM: And on that note, the NDP is the only party to date to offer a $100-million to financial needs based grants.

Shots interrupt election night in Quebec Laurent Bastien Corbeil THE MCGILL DAILY

Shots were fired halfway through Pauline Marois’ victory speech on [September 4] after it was announced that her party, the Parti Québécois (PQ), won a plurality of seats in the National Assembly. The results brought an end to nine years of Jean Charest’s Liberal government, one of

the longest in the history of the province.

One person was killed and another injured after an attempt to stop a lone gunman from entering Metropolis, where the PQ victory party was taking place.

After being whisked away by her bodyguards, Marois went back on stage to reassure the audience.

“This is what it’s like to be a

female head of state,” she said in French.

The gunman later tried to set fire to the building. Inside the building, attendees were told that a sound grenade had gone off and were urged to remain calm. Most supporters were unaware of the events that were unfolding nearby, while others left prematurely because of a strong burning odor, similar to

gasoline.

Marois’ government faces several challenges, including a staggering debt and stiff opposition in Parliament. While the PQ has vowed to repeal the tuition hikes through a ministerial decree, most of its campaign promises are likely to be difficult to pass through the National Assembly because of its electoral minority.

The PQ’s victory and the elec-

tion of the first female premier in Quebec marked an important shift in the province’s politics, and members of the PQ were quick to point out its historical significance.

“I’d like to remind you that in 1940, women gained the right to vote in Quebec,” the announcer said in French. “Sixty years later, we have the first woman premier in Quebec.”

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

NEWS

image:Blake McGuire

Sasq’ets shows new students that he has the moves like Jagger.

image:UFV Flickr

The English Students Association’s Scott Sparrow and Sasha Moedt go head to head in a bungee race battle during SUSpocalypse. image:UFV Flickr

SUS’s Samuel Broadfoot and Greg Stickland grill up hotdogs and buns for the hungry masses during SUSpocalypse.

Image:UFV Flickr

Orientation leaders line up for instructions at Abbotsford’s new student orientation.

Image:Blake McGuire

“WOW” IS RIGHT

Student Union Society president Carlos Vidal shares an apple with Sasq’ets after some serious bobbing action during the welcome back barbeque on the green.

SNAPPY SHOTS FROM SUS’ WEEKS OF WELCOME Image:Blake McGuire

New students fill the gym for a series of presentations, including speeches from Mark Evered and Martin Kelly, and activities like an eating competition and teamwork exercises.

Image:Blake McGuire

Warriors hit the green, loaded to the gills with nerf guns as part of the Humans vs. Zombies club at UFV. There were two Humans vs.

Zombies nights as part of SUS’s Weeks of Welcome.

Image:Blake McGuire

A zombie chases down a human on the Abbotsford green as part of UFV’s Humans vs.

Zombies action.

Image:UFV Flickr

And what event would be complete without sweet Chilliwack corn? The prize-winning vegetable made an appearance at several events, including SUSpocalypse and the Welcome Back Barbeque.

Image:UFV Flickr

VP East Shane Potter takes one for the team and dresses like a geek for the dunk tank at the Student Union Society’s SUSpocalypse.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

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www.ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

A period is only ever just a period.

SASHA MOEDT THE CASCADE

When I was 14, I had my first period. I grew up, like every girl in my culture, in a place where periods fall into the category of body functions that are considered disgusting, alongside things like defecation and passing wind.

Though I was given the (quoteunquote) talk, I didn’t know my body well enough to know where exactly to position the pad, so I had my first leak as well. How was I supposed to know where the blood came out?

This confusion, and—especially at that age—painful embarrassment I experienced should be blamed on this weird hush-hush, snicker-snicker thing going on about periods.

It’s the woman’s curse. Although, I’ve discovered that the curse isn’t the period itself. Women do feel physical discomfort before and during their periods, as well as hormonal changes. But the real curse is

the way we are treated as women all the time, with the excuse of that one time of the month.

Firstly, why are periods such a shameful topic? Commercials portray it like some terrible thing – but not if you purchase their product!

Then you can dance and laugh with your boyfriend. The tampon and pad commercials rely on making periods seem like an extremely uncomfortable or heavy flowing situation. Meanwhile medicinal companies rely on exaggerating intensity of the physical discomforts – the pain, bloating, cramps and aches.

If I didn’t have periods myself, I’d likely think you couldn’t even function physically (without the right products) on your period. The shame women have in these commercials, before using the products, is very evident.

But that’s only one piece of the picture we’ve got wrong. The second piece of it is the idea that women are not rational while menstruating.

Periods don’t make us crazy. It

makes us impatient and irritable. Impatient and irritable is nowhere near irrational. This means, when we become angry about something, it is not about something we wouldn’t consider annoying in the slightest another time of the month. We are becoming angry about something that does bother us – but another time of the month we would perhaps have more patience, and just point it out, or even ignore it.

But the fact that the world seems to think we’re off our rockers when having or about to have our periods gives them an excuse to dismiss us all the time. Disrespect us; belittle our concerns, opinions, emotions.

Oh, she’s just probably going to have her period soon.

Women even get fooled into believing it themselves. Read the caption on Cosmopolitan a few issues back? “When Your Period Makes You Cra-a-zy.” Apparently we can’t make decisions while on our periods. And it’s a twisted mind game that so many people, including

women, believe.

Gloria Steinem, a great American Feminist, wrote an essay that posed the question: how would men spin it if they were the menstruating sex?

Her point is clear: as the dominant gender insistent on maintaining superiority—however deluded the reasoning is to maintain it—menstruation would provide males a wealth of reasons why men are inherently better than women.

“Menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event,” Steinem writes. “Men would brag about how long and how much.”

“Boys would mark the onset of menses, that longed-for proof of manhood, with religious ritual and stag parties.”

Instead of using periods and PMS as reasons why women are hypersensitive and shouldn’t be in power positions—recalling, for example, the 2008 US elections in regards to Hillary Clinton—Steinem writes that men would use their ability to

menstruate to their advantage.

“Military men, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation (‘men-struation’) as proof that only men could serve in the Army (‘you have to give blood to take blood’), occupy political office (‘can women be aggressive without that steadfast cycle governed by the planet Mars?’), be priest and ministers (‘how could a woman give her blood for our sins?’) or rabbis (‘without the monthly loss of impurities, women remain unclean’).”

It took me a while after that first time when I was 14 to figure out that a period is just a body function. All that extra meaning is just bullshit.

For most women, it isn’t a disabling five days of physical and emotional torture.

We should be okay with talking about it, the reality of it. It’s normal.

It’s not grotesque. It doesn’t turn us into nutters. A period is only ever just a period.

How oil companies plan to kill you (yes, you) NADINE MOEDT THE CASCADE

How will two oil companies (Kinder Morgan and Enbridge) try to kill thee? Let me count the ways.

Having spoken to two representatives from PIPE UP, Sheila Muxlow and Michael Hale, I am thoroughly scared shitless and wish to list the reasons why continuing to allow tar sands oil through BC is a terrible and downright irresponsible idea.

First off, the product that these companies are shifting to—tar sands diluted bitumen rather than conventional oil—puts everyone at risk. Because tar sands bitumen is in its natural state is solid, it must be diluted by a variety of toxic chemicals to be moved through the pipeline. In order to be transported it must be submitted to pressure and heat, which increases the risk of spillage. The chemicals used include benzene, a chemical that has been linked to blood cancer. If there is a spill, these chemicals would evaporate into the air for us to breathe in.

To make things worse, tar sands diluted bitumen is nearly impossible to clean up in the event of a spill.

That’s because tar sands bitumen is solid, so once it cools in the event of a spill, naturally it sinks. Sheila Muxlow, a spokesperson for PIPE UP, points to the Kalamazoo Michigan spill in 2010 as an example of what might be in store for us. After two years of attempting to clean up that spill using conventional methods, such as skimming oil off the water, they still have not been able to rid the water of this poisonous substance.

No amount of money thrown at this issue will clean up an oil spill if we simply do not have the method to do so.

Many people are not aware that we are already allowing tar sands oil through BC. Considering all the attention given to Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, I was shocked to learn that Kinder Morgan’s Trans mountain pipeline runs right through the Fraser Valley and is now carrying tar sands diluted bitumen. What makes things worse is that this is a pipeline built in the

early ‘50s for the transport of conventional oil and natural gas; it was not built to accommodate the heat and pressure tar sands diluted bitumen requires. Now, Kinder Morgan is proposing an expansion: another pipeline running parallel to the first, right through our backyard.

And if this doesn’t sound bad enough, both Kinder Morgan and Enbridge are setting up this pipeline solely for export. At the moment we have something like 71 to 80 tankers a year in the Burrard Inlet. If these proposals go through, god forbid, this number would go up to 365 tankers a year. The tankers would not be the relatively small ones we have now, but large crude carriers, ranging up to 400 meters in length.

Muxlow mentioned there has been talk about the need to “dredge the inlet” in order to make sure these beasts can make it through the inlet.

This dredging would have a horrible ecological impact, stirring up any pollution resting at the bottom from the tankers we already have coming through and disturbing any present marine life.

So what are the benefits? Surely by prostituting our environment for the sake of Ottawa and these big oil companies we get some compensation. Right? Michael Hale has done the research and our gains, he says, are a “pittance.” Here are the facts he has summarized, taken directly from the report on the economic benefits of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). To start, over $10 billion would be spent (Enbridge has estimated a $5.5 billion dollar project and Kinder Morgan, $4.5 billion). There would be “spin off,” i.e., people get work. Yet economic benefits would result for any new project and the fact is that building pipelines is “capital intensive” and results in “relatively less employment” than if that money was spent on other projects. It makes sense. Manufacturing the actual pipes can be done in factories, and the digging/laying down/raping of the environment would not result in full time employment for many workers. The cost of carbon emissions, the cost of potential spills, and

other environmental risks is glossed over by Enbridge. CCPA states that “while private gains accrue to the oil and gas industry, huge costs are borne by others.” Others being you, your children and your children’s ...

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We probably won’t make it that far if this pipeline goes through.

Here are some other economical facts Hale lists. For local residents: the price of gas would go up, drinking water from the aquifer would be at risk, and local manufacturing would be negatively impacted as the export of raw material contributes to inflation.

We need to explore our options before we allow these oil companies to put all of us at risk. At this point, it is absolutely critical to be thinking about building infrastructure that promotes a more green way of life.

We need to focus on alternative energy sources. To build a pipeline that would speed up extraction of the tar sands oil and reinforce our dependency establish on fossil fuels would be completely irresponsible and— let’s be honest—just plain stupid.

Move over library, there’s a new study space... and it’s got beer JESS WIND

CONTRIBUTOR “Can’t drink beer in the library,” said AfterMath Socialhouse server Ally Schuurman. Very true. And this was the unofficial reasoning behind sectioning off the back corner of AfterMath for studying, according to Schuurman.

It would seem that on top of bringing in Pabst Blue Ribbon for $3, and releasing a new menu, AfterMath is also offering students a new place to study where they won’t be bothered much.

The back section consists of three high tables and is wallpapered with signs indicating a self serve atmosphere, though the servers may still bring a requested meal to your table and check on you occasionally. A

portion of the area is used for storage, but AfterMath manager Brad Ross shared some of the future plans for that space.

Ross plans to add additional power bars and a deeper counter to accommodate laptops as well as two brainstorming whiteboards along the back wall. When asked about the visible storage that is frequented by servers, he said he only needs 25 per cent of the space and is looking to separate the storage from the studying.

It seemed odd to me that they would add yet another place to study on campus, reducing the seating options for the eating and drinking patrons. Don’t we already have plenty of places to study? Don’t people go to AfterMath to relax and get away from classes?

I questioned the servers about

this, wondering why they felt that the space was necessary. Apparently, there had been patrons coming in the previous year that were looking for a place to study and grab a bite, but didn’t necessarily want to mingle with a group of rowdy beer enthusiasts. This way it satisfies both groups of patrons and welcomes a wider range of visitors into the restaurant.

Because all the reasoning appeared planned out and logical, I couldn’t help but wonder why it was so poorly advertised. You actually have to wander into the back of the restaurant to see the signs, and if you miss them, you’re left waiting patiently for service that may not come. Ross assured me that he plans to make the space better known on campus, but is waiting to complete the space before taking advertising out of store.

I spent the week in AfterMath, in between classes, for lunch and until closing time one day. The place was buzzing with back-to-school excitement, and it became clear that the space is more than just a self-serve study area.

It was used for student group meetings, as a green room and setup space for the bands during SUS’s W.O.W events, and overflow seating when the restaurant was packed full with new hungry students. It is not so formal as a red rope only permitting those prepared to study quietly; the servers move freely, making sure that everyone is well taken care of, and the space is open to anyone and everyone.

The question was raised by a fellow student, however: “how do we tip?” Good point. In a section clearly marked as self serve, how does one

handle the accepted norm of tipping on good service? By removing the expectation that you get served when you sit down at the table, AfterMath has given the liberty to—or to not—tip back to the diner.

We agreed that the expectation is removed and what is left is quite simple: if you sit in the back study section and you receive service (good service that is) from the staff, a tip would then be warranted. However if you truly take advantage of the self serve opportunity of the area, and collect your drink or meal from the bar, then there is no service to tip on but your own.

So tip yourself another beer and keep studying.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

www.ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

Child abuse is a personal family decision JOEL SMART THE CASCADE

You’re restrained. Held down.

Cut. Your screams are ignored. You aren’t told why it’s happening or if it will ever stop. Long after you’ve given up hope that you’ll ever be held and comforted again, you are assured that, no, this wasn’t a violation. It was for your own good.

Would that make it okay? Would it be okay if you didn’t remember the experience several years into the future? These are the serious considerations that must be taken into account when we discuss the subject of infant genital cutting – while few actively remember it, the trauma that many children are forced to go through is very real.

Now, consider what your position would be if a medical organization declared that we should tie down our baby girls and cut off some of the most densely innervated genital tissue on their body. What if they said that the risks of performing the operation weren’t that great if performed by trained physicians? In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made a statement similar to this in 2010, when they argued that female genital cutting should be made legal in America, so that physicians could “prick” or “incise” the “clitoral skin to satisfy cultural requirements.” They

hoped to appease religious groups that believe in the practice. It was a position they quickly retracted when human rights activists condemned the policy, suggesting it violated the child’s right to bodily integrity – a human right that all people are born with and guaranteed under the law.

Would we tolerate female genital cutting if the same group came out and said that the practice had some minor health benefits? Perhaps fewer urinary tract infections for baby girls in the first year of life? What if cutting off a girl’s clitoral hood and her inner labia might reduce her chance of acquiring HIV if she slept with an infected partner without a condom on?

I don’t think we’d accept that rationale. I don’t think we’d say those reasons were greater than the harm done by holding a baby down and cutting off a part of their body without their consent. However, the AAP made just such a statement on August 27. They argued that the benefits of genital cutting outweighed the risks; the only difference is that they were talking about boys, not girls.

Once again, the critics are arguing that the statement fails to consider the child’s right to bodily integrity – the right to make choices about your own healthy, sensitive, functional body parts, or to have that right preserved until you’re old enough to decide. Among the critics is

Canada’s advocacy group The Children’s Health and Human Rights Partnership, which condemned the AAP’s new policy and encourages the Canadian Paediatric Society to maintain its current stance against circumcising healthy infants.

The foreskin, which is removed during a circumcision, is the most sensitive part of the penis to finetouch, according to Sorrells (2007) and has unique nerve endings much like those found in the fingertips and lips, according to Taylor (1996). Yet, the AAP argues that circumcision doesn’t “appear to adversely affect penile sexual function/sensitivity or sexual satisfaction.” One need only ask a man with a foreskin whether it has any sensitivity to know that cutting it off would reduce what he could feel. In contrast, the Royal Dutch Medical Association explains that “the foreskin is a complex erotogenic structure that plays an important role in the mechanical function of the penis during sexual acts.”

Regardless, the AAP can hardly

Image: Alexandra Rasmussen

argue that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, because they themselves admit in their statement that the true complication rate of circumcision is unknown. So, you should be asking at this point, why would they make a conclusion that they admit they can’t say for sure?

Brian Earp, who writes Practical Ethics for the University of Oxford, suggests that at least part of the answer comes by following the money.

“The AAP is not a dispassionate scientific research body, but rather a trade association for pediatricians,” he explains, “Those among its members and stakeholders who perform [circumcisions] stand to profit from the procedure, to the collective annual tune of $1.25 billion.” While the point isn’t that the statement is entirely driven by profit, it’s undeniable that money is a motivating factor; the AAP explicitly requested circumcision funding from medical insurance companies. Currently circumcision is classified as “cosmetic surgery” due to the fact that it is unnecessary and

removes normal, healthy tissue.

Chris Booker, a researcher at the Centre for Neuroendocrinology at the University of Otago, had his critique published alongside the updated statement. He and Earp both challenge many of the assertions of the taskforce, explaining that studies done in Africa testing HIV-acquisition of heterosexual men were methodologically flawed, and that even if they weren’t, they couldn’t be transferred to an American population where the HIV rates are lower, come from different types of behaviours, and are otherwise not related to the situation in Africa – a problem that the AAP statement acknowledges, but goes on to do anyway. For Earp it’s simple: “Bad science + bad ethics = bad medicine.”

It’s an issue that provokes strong, emotional reactions on both sides of the coin. Those who wish to have their children’s genitals cut feel oppressed by Germany’s recent ruling that declared infant male circumcision illegal, while human rights activists believe the AAP has put their pediatricians’ interests ahead of their duty to “first, do no harm.”

There is no simple way to get everyone on the same page, but when in doubt, shouldn’t we let the individual make the choice for their own body? After all, it is the individual who will live with the consequences, good or bad, for the rest of their lives.

Who needs Freud when you’ve got Kraft Dinner?

KAREN ANEY THE CASCADE

I’ve taken a few psychology classes in my day. It’s a by-product of a complete and total unwillingness to actually finish my degree and become an adult. In any case, I’ve learned a few different methods of psychological analysis. I find most of them, quite frankly, are complete crap.

Dream analysis? As if my nighttime visions of Channing Tatum mean anything about my psyche?

Come on!

I will admit that trudging through life without any aid to comprehending yourself or your fellow human is a perilous idea at best. How are you supposed to understand what kind of person someone is if you don’t have some simple way to analyze the deep reaches of their soul?

So, to those of you who haven’t taken any psychology and don’t spend your time quoting Jung and Freud, here’s what I do: if I want to figure out what kind of person someone is, I look no further than their Kraft Dinner (KD) habits. Yes, I feel that these heavenly tubes of synthetically cheesy, fake orangey goodness are truly the windows to our inner selves.

Before you laugh, let’s pause to think about it for a minute. It’s pretty much the great equalizer: do you know anyone who hasn’t had Kraft Dinner? Even culinary Luddites have probably made it, and it’s economical enough that no one omits it from their diet based on price. It’s pretty ubiquitous.

Thus, it’s a great standard for analyzing people.

Here’s an example, using my dating life. In a misguided search for affection in high school, I may or may

not have dated the older brother of one of my best friends (note to readers: don’t do this. It’s not worth it). He was a bit of a tool (he did date one of his little sister’s best friends, after all), but he was out of high school and, like, totally super cool. I should have been scared away by his Kraft dinner habits: his preparation method was to put everything in one pot (noodles, milk, questionable cheese powder, butter, salt and some water), then cover the pot with a lid, throw it on high, and leave it until it boiled over in a congealed, crusty mess. He’d then eat it out of the pot with a fork. Huh? It should come as no surprise that he was too lazy to read instructions, never cleaned up after himself, and was unequivocally stupid. Stop judging me, please. I was 17, and he had a car and could buy liquor.

As a parallel, my current sidekick has only made KD around me once:

Don’t quit your day job: how to be a writer ALEXEI SUMMERS THE CASCADE

I’ve been involved in journalism for a number of years now, and I’ve been involved in Canadian University Press journalism for exactly one year as of this issue being published. However, I only consider journalism to be my day job. While it’s a pretty damn good day job, I am first a foremost a writer of fiction who only writes journalism as a means to make ends meet.

It’s a cliché, but it pays the bills.

It’s not easy to get published these days. The days of prolific authors who made a living on writing fiction are almost all but gone. Today the big names are almost all postmodernist writers, such as Tao Lin, Chuck Palahniuk and Brett Easton Ellis.

I’ve had three short stories published, and nothing else. Only one of the magazines in which I’ve been published in was remotely reputable

– it was based out of Istanbul. I didn’t get much money for my stories, and I don’t have much to show for all the hard work. Of course, not all of us do it for the money. Although – money is nice. I like money. Don’t you?

Writers write because they love to – at least, real writers do. But when the story is over, and you want to publish it, you can’t always forget about how difficult it is to break into the industry.

The American scene is even more impossible to break into as far as publishing goes. In order for a writer to be published there is a certain formula he or she needs to follow. First you write a short story that appeals to people. Even if it sucks. Then you must send this story to around 100 literary magazines. Possibly more.

Again, bear in mind your story probably sucks.

Even if it’s good, it doesn’t matter.

Publishers are overly cautious and usually reject you for the stupidest

reasons. When the responses come back, wade through the rejection letters, rinse and repeat until a really lame literary rag accepts your shitty story. You probably won’t get paid, so be prepared to live off of fingernails and black coffee for the first little while. Don’t quit your day job.

Repeat these steps, adding each time, a publication to your resume of published stories, and then hope and pray that a slightly better literary magazine editor will take pity on your worthless subhuman writer soul and publish your next work.

Well, maybe it’s not as faceless and cruel as all that. But, it’s true that writers write so that readers can read.

They’re often not good at selling themselves. The publishing industry overlooks this. We’re not all Don Draper.

The Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella, who won the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1982 for his novel Shoeless Joe said in an interview published in The Winnipeg Review, “Unlike

it was when I was laid up with a back injury and couldn’t stand up long enough to get myself a glass of water.

He made it to my exacting specifications (get rid of some noodles, use only a little bit of butter, and add more milk than is strictly necessary). This proves a couple things: one, he listens to me when I tell him what to do. Or maybe it means that he respects me or something. Two, he’s honest enough about his faults to acknowledge that the cooking of even something so simple as Kraft Dinner is best left to me. The combination has worked for us; we’ve been together for seven years.

There are many more aspects to this tool for analysis: does the subject eat it out of the pot, or transfer it to a bowl? This has obvious implications into their time management skills; if they’d rather do two dishes than one they clearly have too much time on

their hands. Do they always mix it with a can of chili? This could mean a few things – maybe they have some weird fart fetish. Stay away. Do they put one noodle on each fork tine before consumption? This likely alludes to a lack of a hobby (translation: these people are stage-one clingers). Do they use a noodle to slurp the milk out of the spoon? Are they strictly a spiral person? Do they get the creepy flavours that get released every now and then (sundried tomato, I’m looking at you)?

Yes, I’ve given you two small examples, but I urge you to use this analysis tool in your daily lives, readers. And, as I learned with that high school boyfriend of mine, don’t ignore what the Kraft Dinner habits tell you. KD doesn’t lie, kids. It doesn’t lie.

me, don’t quit your day job. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and was able to make a good living for many years. It is almost impossible to do that today. The markets and the money are just not there.”

He went on to state that he did not think that if he tried to make it as a writer in our current day and age that he would be successful.

These are discouraging words to those of us who write fiction. It’s not that we’re not good enough – though certainly some of us who consider ourselves writers, in fact aren’t. It’s that the publishers don’t want to take any risk. They’ve backed themselves into a corner. Imagine for a second if these changes to the publishing industry had occurred in the early twentieth century instead of in the 1990s.

Imagine a young Ernest Hemingway approaching a certain Maxwell Perkins at Scribners and Sons, with his new novel The Sun Also Rises, and being rejected, going undiscovered.

Imagine if Scott Fitzgerald never being able to publish The Great Gatsby because nobody wanted to take a risk on him.

Imagine JD Salinger not publishing Catcher in the Rye, or Kurt Vonnegut not publishing Slaughterhouse Five.

These are books that changed the world. And if they had been ignored by the publishing industry, the world would be lacking something because of their absence.

So how many Hemingways and Fitzgeralds have we missed so far?

How many have gone unnoticed – their voices unheard? Their words never printed. Too many, I’m sure.

Like I said, it’s a difficult industry to break into. You need perseverance, and patience. You need confidence to take the rejections – and there is plenty of rejection along the road to success, assuming you ever see it. It’s a bleak picture, isn’t it?

So take my advice, if you’re a writer, don’t quit your day job.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

www.ufvcascade.ca

9

ARTS & LIFE

CROSSWORD 1

2

TGIF 3

THe cascade ACROSS 1. This production company, who brought Kermit and Miss Piggy to fame, also brought audiences a not-so-average nuclear and prehistoric family. (3, 6 letters) 8. Tia and Tamera played long lost twin sisters reunited as teenagers in this repetitiously named sitcom. (6, 6 letters) 9. By the end of the show, how many children did the Lambert-Fosters have in the blendedfamily comedy Step by Step? (5 letters) 10. ___ and Zelda play Sabrina’s aunts in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. (5 letters) 11. The English teacher Mr. ____ is known, by Cory Matthews, as “Feeny with an earring”.

(6 letters) 13. What did the “F” in ABCs more family friendly acronym of “TGIF” stand for? (5 letters)

4 5

AMY VAN VEEN

6

7 8

DOWN

9 10

11

13 EclipseCrossword.com

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2. ____/Boyett was the production company for some of TGIF’s most popular sitcoms. (6 letters) 3. Jeff ___ was the creator of this show set in San Francisco that followed the antics of three men trying to raise three girls while also warding off Gibbler. (8 letters) 4. The brother of the actor who plays Boy Meets World’s Cory Matthews is the star of the TV show The Wonder Years. (4, 6 letters) 5. Uncle Jesse’s last name. (10 letters) 6. What former pro boxer and creator of the almighty grill had his own ill-fated sitcom? (6, 7 letters) 7. What was the last name of the Family Matters family who had to put up with their obnoxious neighbour Steve? (7 letters) 10. What trio, and recent headliner at the PNE, had their own documentary during TGIF in 1997? (6 letters) 12. This Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper alum has yet to follow in the footsteps of her Disney Channel peers by going the route of self-destruction. That’s So Interesting. (5 letters)

LAST WEEK’S Answer Key Across 5. Lilac 7. Fluffy 9. Tom 10. Kreacher 11. Pig 13. Bezoar 14. Expelliarmus

Down 1. Voldemort 2. Parseltongue 3. Dudley 4. Butterbeer 6. Severus Snape 8. Horcruxes 12. Grim

The Weekly Horoscope Star Signs from Swamp Bob Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18

Gemini: May 21 - June 21

Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22

Pluto states that your future is bleak and should therefore stay in bed watching old Disney movies and eating grilled cheese.

After imbibing some possibly illegal herbage and chortling to himself, Neptune predicts that you will be savaged by an enraged piece of toast.

Your favourite barista will be discovered by a Hollywood agent, leaving you elated yet caffeine deprived.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Neptune would like to ask you to go on a munchies run for him and remind you that as delicious as they are, fish sticks are not considered haute cuisine. This tidbit of knowledge may help in the future when attempting to impress potential partners.

You may be saddened after your third lucky bamboo plant leaves you for a nice elderly couple in Arizona. Pluto mourns for your loss and suggests filling the empty void in your life by collecting tchotchkes of frolicking kittens.

Aries: March 21 - April 19 Venus whispers that your complexion is looking the worse for wear and recommends a rejuvenating facial mask of rolled oats, organic honey and extract of enraged badger.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20 Financial security is in your future when you dream up a revolutionary nose hair groomer. Sadly, you forget the intricacies of the device in your next dream, where you are Allen Ginsberg being chased by a bowl of zesty banana pudding.

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22 You find yourself getting over your fear of clowns, as they are merely men in makeup…creepy men in makeup… creepy men in makeup that insist on forced humour and smiles and ridiculous shoes and disturbing stick representations of animals made out of balloons!

Anyway, good for you.

Virgo: Aug 23 - Sept 22 Mercury foresees a cultural faux pas as you botch the proper etiquette on parasol handling. He is afraid your only redemption lies in llama jousting at dawn.

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21 A bad day can be remedied by having breakfast for dinner. Other remedies include naked sky diving, drinking an extract made from the rare Mexican yodelling goat, or remembering that you’re Neil Patrick Harris.

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21 Beware of sushi, tattoo and bikini waxing services provided out of the backs of trucks or by individuals named “Bubba.”

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19 The moons Calisto and Europa see office romance in your future. Let us hope it turns out better than the embarrassing copy machine incident of ‘08.

Visit us at www.monktucky.com!

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

ARTS & LIFE

Kicking up dust Where NICK UBELS

TIM UBELS

THe cascade

CONTRIBUTOR

“What is a ‘forest song’ anyway?”

“Well, I suppose it’s a song played in a forest.”

“Well yeah, except it makes the name kind of redundant. Ask me ‘Where the Forest Songs Are’... Answer? The forest.”

Andrew Koole, Jordan Klassen’s new keys man was, like most people we spoke to, stumped when it came to unravelling the mysterious meaning behind the name of Saturday’s indie music festival at

Chilliwack’s Island 22 regional park.

Set against a sylvan background in a dusty gravel parking lot overlooking the mighty Fraser River, the second annual Where the Forest Songs Are gathering brought together some of the Valley’s best folk, dance and electronic acts to celebrate what might have been the last truly hot day of summer 2012. Attendance was modest, but the 100 or so concert goers present at the event’s peak made up for the

occasionally spotty crowd in sheer enthusiasm. Their excitement was likely boosted by the range of pleasant distractions including face painting, 50/50 draws, and a crafts table, not to mention the tremendous samosa and gourmet grilled cheese tents. Melted’s $5 “Viva Elvis” sandwich—an unholy concoction of Monterrey Jack, bacon, peanut butter and banana— fortified these reporters’ hungry stomachs extremely well.

The Harpoonist summed up the atmosphere best when he likened it to “a barbeque at a friend’s house.

With a great sound system.”

a surprisingly varied set from the stompy opening number to reflective acoustic songs reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens, ukelele-fueled trad-pop, and the soaring “You Are the Branches,” which he used to close his well-received set. Klassen’s voice was at its best on softer fare when he could unleash his signature falsetto, but also fared respectfully when pushed just beyond his usual range. The band’s recent week-long boot camp as

part of the Peak Performance Project top 20 showed in their tight musicianship and easy management of what could have been a set-killing power outage that claimed half the stage’s equipment for seven minutes near the middle of the band’s performance.

You can catch Klassen’s showcase set at The Red Room on Richards this Thursday at eight sharp along with three other Peak Performance Project finalists.

Jordan Klassen After much wrangling with a shoddy Bing map that suggested opposite directions at nearly every turn, we arrived at Island 22 just after the start of Jordan Klassen’s set. The folk-pop troubadour was accompanied by a quartet of backing musicians that helped flesh out his grand-scale song writing with piano, bass, vocals, drums and some beautifully moving violin work by Indiana Avent. Klassen and company powered through

30% said they did it on the couch.

Do it your way.

Enrol anytime, complete your course where and when you want and transfer credits back to your on-campus program.

The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer Taking to the main stage immediately following a hushed acoustic set from Adam Klassen, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer (HAM) quickly brought much of the crowd back to its feet with their barn burning two-man blues act.

Shawn Hall and Matthew Rogers are consummate performers, supplying a surprisingly full-sounding set with a single telecaster, coarse

vocals, distorted harmonica and all manner of pedal-based percussion that has earned them a place alongside Klassen in this year’s Peak Performance Project. Yet despite their unorthodox set-up and gritty Black Keys-inspired sound, the duo ultimately stacked up to a technically proficient bar band that aped classic blues acts rather than crafting anything that could truly be called their own. HAM’s lyric “can’t judge a book by looking at

its cover” certainly would apply here. Their strict adherence to clichéd blues riffs and lyrics (nearly every song was rife with “mama”s or “hoochie coochie” men) limited their appeal, especially to a crowd mostly made up of indie kids.

Rather than explore the depths of the genre in a satisfying or novel way, HAM’s complacent by-thenumbers song writing made them seem out of place at Saturday’s festival.

MC116858

www.truopen.ca/yourway

Flexible • Credible • Online and distance

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ARTS & LIFE

the Forest Songs

Are

Young Liars Young Liars is a five-piece indie/dance band fronted by Jordan Raine that takes after Two Door Cinema Club, making dancefriendly tunes that overflow with liveliness. The Vancouver-based band plays songs that can function either as low-volume backdrops or pumped-up danceable beats.

There was very little development

or alteration in their sound from song to song in Saturday’s set, but Young Liars do what they do incredibly well. Combining bubbly disco bass lines, programmed synth loops and lightweight pop vocals, Young Liars briefly transformed the festival into an indie nightclub. Their two new tracks, off a forthcoming full-length, were

well-received by fans and showcased an ambitious complexity.

The band’s energy faltered slightly towards the conclusion of their set, likely due to technical problems with one of their guitar amps and compounded by a weaker vocal performance from Raine, but still managed to make a distinct impression.

ful up-tempo samples with expert knob-turning and coordinated head-bopping, sending the crowd into a good-time frenzy. Even the more passive audience members had their hips moving to the infectious track “Shine On You Crazy White Cap.” His short set ended in

a wonderfully surreal atmosphere, as Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting “Twin Peaks Theme” glided alongside the last puffs of fog from the smoke machine into the towering Douglas-firs beyond the outskirts of the stage.

Teen Daze Concluding the 2012 edition of Where the Forests Are, Teen Daze took the crowd on a reverb-heavy and pleasantly aimless musical journey, and all at a danceable clip.

Sporting a CBC Radio 3 t-shirt, the hometown DJ interwove light beats, smooth rhythms and soul-

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ARTS & LIFE

The Bartender

The Cascade Cookbook Jordyn Siemens’s Triple Chocolate Cookies

Jordyn Siemens is an English student at UFV. She is the secretary of the English Students’ Association (ESA), and enjoys working on her family farm. She can often be found posting recipes, craft tutorials and fashion updates on her blog at psheart.blogspot.ca.

Sonic Screwdriver

“Three different types of chocolate are combined in this recipe to create a wonderfully fudgy little piece of heaven!”

Ingredients:

3. Mix in salt and baking soda.

1 cup softened butter (or margarine) 1 cup white sugar 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. of salt 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup white chocolate chips/ chunks (I usually cut up white chocolate wafers) 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

4. Add in cocoa powder and mix (I like to add it before the flour, to try and reduce the puff of cocoa powder that sometimes goes everywhere!)

Directions:

9. Try not to eat them all yourself.

1. In a large bowl, cream together margarine and sugars.

2. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix well until light and fluffy.

5. Then mix in the flour.

6. Finally, stir in semi-sweet and white chocolate chips.

7. Place on cookie sheet in 1 1/2 inch balls (squish down a bit for flatter cookies).

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes.

*About two thirds of the way through baking the cookies, I like to squish them down with a metal flipper! This gives them a nice uniform flatness.

Dine & Dash DESSA BAYROCK THe cascade With the opening of the shiny new building at Canada Education Park (CEP), it is finally kind of cool to be from Chilliwack. It might not be the corn capital of the world anymore, but it’s my stomping ground, and this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. For all you newbies heading to the ‘Wack for the first time, here’s a guide to food near campus – I’m sure you love having a Tim Horton’s underneath your classroom, but you’re going to get sick of bagels and cream cheese pretty damn quickly.

Support fellow students and get some exercise on the way Rivers Café

5579 Tyson (UFV TTC), Chilliwack Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Prices: $5-$10 Fare: The menu changes day to day and week to week, but always has three options for entrees (think lasagna, salmon, roasted chicken) as well as a daily burger special and a daily pizza special.

The closest place to grab a bite near campus is technically campus itself: UFV’s Trades and Technology Centre is just down the road from the brand new CEP building, and the cafeteria is attached to UFV’s culinary arts program.

This means that the prices are still affordable, since the meals are really the projects of culinary arts students, but delicious, since the meals are really the projects of culinary arts students. The only

This drink was created by a Doctor Who fan in tribute to the Doctor’s favourite tool – in matching colour, no less.

1 1/2 oz vanilla vodka 1 1/2 oz blue curacao 6 oz lemon-lime pop Image: Kelsey Siemens

Estimated cost: $7-8

Mix: Stir with ice Glass: Highball glass Garnish: Orange slice Type: Late night TV drink

A guide to meals at CEP without breaking the bank or eating another bagel

downside is that the hours reflect class-time: it closes at 1:30, leaving you out of luck if you’re trying to grab a bite before an evening class.

a glass of wine or a cold beer. Their food edges on the gourmet side of things, with blue cheese and bacon chicken wraps or personalized flatbread pizza with feta and olives, and you’ll pay a little more for the upscale atmosphere. But you know what? Once in a while, it’s nice to treat yourself. Just don’t wear your sweatpants, because the hipsters will glare at you.

The best in the west is a feast from the east Peggi’s Donair

45641 Lark Road, Chilliwack Hours: Mon to Sat: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Prices: $8-$12, depending on donair size and drink choice

A home-cooked meal away from home

Fare: Donairs, donairs, donairs, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, more donairs.

I have oft waxed poetic about the joys of the donair; hot and tender shaved meat, fresh veggies, and a cornucopia of sauces encased in a tidy pita packet. Peggi’s Donair is run by a kindly donair maven fittingly named Peggi, and although the menu is entirely donairs, there is enough variation that it’s an alternative to fast food you won’t soon get tired of. Try a Halifax donair with tomatoes, onions and sweet sauce, or go the taco route and get one with lettuce and jalapeños. You have the choice of chicken or beef, and a variety of indie drink brands to choose from.

(Anyone want some real iced tea or a British soda?)

Or is the best in the west a feast from FAR east?

Sushi Maru

1-45540 Market Way, Chilliwack Hours: Mon-Thurs,Sat 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Fri 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Closed every day 3 p.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays.

Prices: $14 lunch box, $17 dinner box, $5-$14 rolls

The Hide-A-Way Café

45639 Lark Road, Chilliwack Hours: Sun to Tues: 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Wed to Sat: 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Prices: $10-$18 Image:UFV

Fare: Teriyaki, tempura, sushi rolls or sashimi, specialty spicy dishes, steamed rice and green tea.

Living on the west coast, we have ample access to fresh fish – which means ample access to good sushi. Sushi Maru is a 15 minute walk or a five minute drive from CEP, tucked in the Garrison development on the other side of Keith Wilson. After recent renovations, the restaurant is looking snazzy; it’s a quiet and calming atmosphere for a gentle meal. The fish is flavourful and fresh, and the tempura is perfectly crispy, hot, and melt-in-your-mouth. Their menu ranges from simple California or tuna rolls to the more elaborate specialty rolls, each of which is a meal in and of itself. Maru is a little more expensive than some of the other sushi places in town, but

the small price hike is definitely backed up by quality.

I’m feeling a little classy Garrison Bistro

45555 Market Way, Chilliwack Hours: Sun to Thurs: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Fri to Sat: 11 a.m. to 12.a.m.

Prices: $15-$30, depending if you order a steak or a glass of wine.

Fare: Wraps, salads, flatbread pizza, steak, wine and seafood.

Chilliwack might be more of a redneck town than Abbotsford, but we are capable of classy operations; if you’re feeling a little fancy and your wallet isn’t groaning under the weight of tuition, you may well find yourself at the Garrison Bistro. It’s down the street from Sushi Maru in Garrison Crossing, and is also the closest place to get

Fare: All day breakfast, burgers and fries, fish and chips, butter chicken and samosas, soups and salads and onion rings.

Finally, maybe you just want some simple, good food. The meals at the Hide-A-Way Café are simple, but hot and good. This is the place for a burger like the ones your grandmother made when you were a kid. Love went into those crispy onion-rings, and using hash browns instead of an English muffin in eggs Benedict, drowning in cheese and hollandaise sauce? It’s a match made in heaven. This is the kind of food you would make if you were ever home, weren’t so damn busy, and actually bought groceries once in a while. (By the way, you need to pick up some milk on the way home.)

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ARTS & LIFE

Connect With Your SUS Health & Dental Plan Your Benefits for 2012/2013 Health prescription drugs, chiropractor, physiotherapist, ambulance, vaccinations, medical equipment, and more...

Travel travel health coverage for 120 days per trip, up to $5,000,000, trip cancellation and interruption

Vision eye exam, eyeglasses or contact lenses, laser eye surgery

Dental cleanings, checkups, fillings, root canals, gum treatments, extractions, and more...

Networks Enhance Your Benefits and Save You Money Get even more coverage by visiting members of the Dental, Vision, Physiotherapy, Chiropractic, and Massage Therapy Networks.

Find a health practitioner at www.ihaveaplan.ca.

Why a Health & Dental Plan?

The Plan is a critical service of the Student Union Society (SUS) designed to fill the gaps in provincial health care. Most full-time students who are SUS members are automatically covered by the SUS Health & Dental Plan. The cost of the Plan is part of your student fees. Part-time students who are SUS members are not automatically covered, but may enrol themselves during the Change-of-Coverage Period by paying an additional fee.

Change-of-Coverage Dates

All enrolments and opt outs must be completed between Aug. 27 - Sept. 18, 2012.

Only new January students can enrol themselves and their spouse/dependants between Jan. 3 - 24, 2013 for coverage from Jan. 1 - Aug. 31, 2013.

ihaveaplan.ca Have a smart phone with a QR code reader? Scan the box to the left to be directed to your Plan’s website.

The Member Services Centre is there to assist you from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays : 1 866 358-4437

14

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

ARTS & LIFE

Cascade Penny Arcade Gamers flock to Seattle’s PAX Prime JEREMY HANNAFORD CONTRIBUTOR

1 2 3 4

CHARTS

Hannah Georgas Hannah Georgas White Lung Sorry From East to Exit Lowbanks

Needles//Pins Getting On Home b/w Picture My Face

5 6 7 8 9

Matt Mays Coyote

Oh Village Far Side of the Sea

C.R. Avery Act One Japandroids Celebration Rock

Cold Warps Cold Warps/Endless Bummer

10 11

Dusted Total Dust

Shad Melancholy and The Infinite Shadness

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Real Problems Welcome to Scum City

Shuffle AARON LEVY

CIVL Station manager/ AKA RIp tide Aaron Levy is CIVL’s station manager and he wants to show you some cool BC artists coming to UFV on September 15 at AfterMath for the UnCIVLized CIVL Stage, and the September 20 New U event at CEP!

The Zolas – “You’re Too Cool” This Z band is not to be confused with Arts and Crafts’ Zeus, though this track certainly reminds one of the “How Does it Feel” hit that stormed the indie rock airwaves two summers back. Billed as a piano rock outfit, name-checking Vancouver’s Biltmore, their new album drops this October.

GSTS – “I Get My Nooses Second Hand” This is one of, if not the most talented, technical and heavy bands I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. This song shows just why they’re so special, calmly building from slowly plucked melodic guitar notes into vicious, cascading walls of unrelenting sound. A sure-fire must see for anyone.

First Reign – “Inception”

The Men Open Your Heart

Doubt it’s named after the movie, but the lead track from First Reign’s As The Dead Lead the Dead evokes shades of Opeth and Devin Townsend, with a softly plucked introduction, jumping into soft arpeggios, and suddenly smouldering speed licks. They’ve got a new single out this Saturday at Aftermath!

Wax Mannequin No Safe Home

ANCIIENTS – “Humanist”

13 14 15 16 17

Passenger All The Little Lights Gabrielle Papillon Little Bug

The Tallest Man On Earth There’s No Leaving Now

18 19

Ringo Deathstarr Shadow Goldfrapp The Singles

From the forthcoming Smoking the Hashes of the Pharaohs, this track owes far more to the likes of Townsend than the former.

Unabashed pin prick palm mutes staccato under melodic screaming, gruff growls and short hardcore breaks. This band has been blowing Vancouver up lately, so jump on the bus!

The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX Prime, is a public gaming convention that is held every year on the Seattle Labour Day weekend. It’s a combination of big name video games, indie developments, board/card games, special speakers, development sessions, console free-play and after-parties. PAX has something for everyone, especially those who have the patience to wait in line. This PAX marks its eighth year of providing a haven for gamers and media personas alike.

One main change I noticed this year was that PAX featured far more indie games. In the past, the main expo hall was full of big name games and developers.

While they were present for this event, the amount of booths they had was considerably fewer. The indie games had their own section and they featured multiple inventive IPs. A game called Catch-22 was one of the most unique indie games I saw. It was the winner of the 2012 Global Game Jam in Amsterdam and was made in only two days! Developed for the i OS, the game’s main feature is the player competing against themselves as they switch between two small spheres circling one large ball.

When the spheres switch, the previous sphere repeats the actions the player performed with it – a simple but creative premise. It was one of my favourite games at PAX this year.

One particularly interesting big booth was Aliens: Colonial Marines.

They were not only letting people play a demo of a new multiplayer mode against the developers of the game, they were letting people sit in a power loader similar to what Sigourney Weaver sat in many years ago in the hit film. The massive set piece was part of a photography attraction that let you stand in the loader which is being attacked by a massive Xenomorph.

The game itself was also quite impressive. The featured game mode “Escape” had four human players racing to get to the other end of the level, while the other four players controlled the aliens bent on stopping them. While this was not Gearbox’s main game for PAX (Borderlands 2), they showed that they have put a lot of dedication

into the project and are making a good quality game that will be a new and worthy addition to the Alien saga.

Panels are also a big thing at PAX. Key members of a game or production group will come onto a stage, discuss or present features for a game they are working on, and then take questions from the audience. I was able to see three big panels about Assassins Creed 3, The Walking Dead and Hitman Absolution. While some will turn away from the Q&A sessions, they miss out on some interesting questions. For instance, one fan asked the Walking Dead panel how it felt making the main character an African-American convict living in the southern United States. They were pleased that someone would ask such a serious question, and expressed that it was a concern of theirs throughout the entire production.

Everything from a massive Kirby to assassins to zombies to Zap Brannigan is possible when it comes to cosplayers at PAX. The amount of dedication and craft that goes into these costumes is incredible, let alone the courage/insanity required to wear it for eight hours straight! Some are hilarious while others are quite scary, such as an American McGee Alice I found outside the hall. I met with a few Mass Effect cosplayers, including a very impressive Kia Lang. Members of the group said they spent more than 70 hours making their costumes. Everything from plastic lid covers to LED lights to protective matting materials from school gymnasiums is used to make these costumes. But not all of these people are hardcore nerds. One Fem Shepard told me that she was a dedicated elementary teacher as

Image:Jeremy Hannaford

well as being the founder of the Mass Effect cosplay group.

Only half of PAX goers actually intend to see upcoming games or meet game developers. The other half of people go there for anything and everything that is ‘free swag.’ Like hungry vultures, they circle until they find their prey. The perfect example occurred during a raffle for some computer hardware at the Cool Master booth on the sixth floor—nowhere near as crowded as the main expo hall— when the announcer mentioned the word “free shirt.” Swarms of people magically appeared and stormed to the front. And swag does not have to be a shirt either, varying from inflatable tomahawks to beta keys to potato hats.

My friends and I stood in line for almost an hour to grab limited edition Plants vs Zombies hats. They are completely laughable, but they ran out in two days with lines of people spanning over 500 waiting to get them. Thankfully, this is not the case for everyone.

When the expo halls closed for the day, the atmosphere changes.

People were far more friendly and social. The convention center became a place of casual gaming as convention goers play board/card games and converse about what they had seen and experienced.

PAX had several areas set up for people to play PC and console free play with a large range of games and systems that were lent out by PAX goers. There was even a classic console free play area where people can play on the old systems they hadn’t seen in years, or even ever in their lifetime.

PAX is more than just a bunch of sheltered nerdy gamers coming together into one large building and trying to grab as much free stuff as they can. It is a collection of opinions, ideas and aspirations.

Development seminars are held in theatres that give PAX goers the heads up on the gaming industry and how to promote themselves in the growing business. The conglomeration of action and idea never gets old for me. As the call went out that PAX was over, I felt the same sadness that I have felt year after year. I plan to go to PAX for as long as I can and experience the same feeling of excitement and curiosity that keeps bringing me back every year.

Gnome Chomsky says: “Come to our story meeting!”

Every Monday at 10 am in A421

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

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15

Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

ARTS & LIFE

Holy Other Held

The Fresh & Onlys Long Slow Dance

Jens Lekman

Sea to Skylines Aphelia EP

Gasps as punctuation, breathless vowels as main ingredients, and growing, fleeing beats as the rise and fall of declaration: this is the music of producer Holy Other. While Held’s source and habit may bear some similarities to other EDM, hip hop and genre in between beatmakers, there is a distance between those acts and this. For Holy Other, words are mostly unnecessary to wind through cavalcades of senses and feelings; the landscape of their sound is one most often defined by displacement, rather than overload.

Comparisons to similarly emotional/ language-free contemporaries like Burial or Clams Casino are inevitable, but Holy Other keeps things relatively short, refusing to dwell on singular sounds, weaving in and out undefined but recognizable sounds of counterparts. And while the flow of rhythms may seem to exist free from structure or reason, in moments like the shifting tempo of album opener “(W)here” and the thudding, snapping cries and whispers of “Impouring,” these ideas fade. The one that remains is the elusive past tense of the title, the process of “Love[ing]Some1,” the hollow song of the wind and the digital beat of two of the few audible words on the album, “my heart.”

Essentially devoid of the background distortion and cathartic rock and roll anthems that their past releases yielded—“Foolish Person” notwithstanding—the band’s principle songwriter, Tim Cohen, boldly establishes a lighter sound with The Fresh & Onlys’ fourth full length release Long Slow Dance. Guiding them through a collection of jangly riffs coated with forlorn sentiment and further away from their murky, lo-fi garage rock beginnings, Cohen leaves their generic ‘60s-inspired garage punk by the wayside and instead pursues a fullyfledged pop tone resembling that of Mitch Easter’s early productions, like Let’s Active’s EP Afoot. Songs like “Long Slow Dance” and “Presence of Mind” explore territory once occupied by early Shins records. Although their technique is far removed from the now passé mid-2000s brand of indie music, they both have the same result, a blissful late summer atmosphere, long and serene, but unforgettable. Cohen is at his best when his song writing focuses on the pleasures of romance instead of just love songs, and Long Slow Dance does exactly that. The album drifts effortlessly and unassumingly, strengthening the argument that great music doesn’t have to sound difficult to make.

Jens Lekman’s third record I Know What Love Isn’t is a doggedly stylized, characteristically sweet and self-effacing collection of songs unafraid of exploiting AM radio clichés to advance tales of unrequited feelings and persistent sadness. Detailing the aimless minutiae of a post-breakup summer spent in Melbourne, the 31-year-old Swedish musician draws on a simplified musical palette this time around, but the end result is just as stylized, if not as soaring as his earlier work. I Know What Love Isn’t is an even more distinctive musical universe than Lekman has presented us with before, heavily influenced by smooth, dark and soulful early 1970s R & B. Lekman is like the filmmaker who opts for beautifully painted backdrops rather than on-location realism, giving his latest album a dreamlike sense of heightened reality. Yet this illusion is ultimately brought to life by his wordplay, penchant for bizarre, inventive and above all sincerely-delivered lyrics that recall the infectious, anti-hip earnestness of Jonathan Richman. Not everything resonates as deeply as peppy opener “Erica America,” but when Lekman sings lines like “so let’s get married/ but only for the citizenship,” his irresistible charm wins the day.

Sea to Skylines is a group that’s reminiscent of Dashboard Confessional, but with a dash of The Twilight Zone added in for good measure. “Amelia,” the first track on their album, is catchy and accessible; the guitar solos are subtle, and the drumming is far from obnoxious. The second track, “Andromeda,” has a great intro: quietly plucked guitars combine with a sci-fi sliding melody and both lead into the bulk of the song and are rehashed in the bridge and chorus. It makes for a cohesive sound, apart from the second verse which opens with a disjointed tempo change. It’s startling to the trained ear, but provides some interest in an otherwise predictable track.

The EP rounds out with “Saturn.” This track is a little too experimental for my tastes: the soundscape created is decidedly other-worldly, complimented by vocal lines with a slight distortion.

Despite that, it’s unique enough to be interesting while still being radio friendly – a commendable feat. All in all, this EP is worth a look if only to support a group on the rise – for $2.97, it’s worth the buy.

MICHAEL SCOULAR

I Know What Love Isn’t

TIM UBELS

NICK ubels

KAREN ANEY

Album Review Stars – The North JEN COLBOURNE THe cascade Imagine an entire album composed of the slowest, unremarkable sounds from The Five Ghosts and In Our Bedroom after the War, and you have Stars’ newest album The North. From a technical point of view, there’s nothing to complain of; everything is tight, the musicianship flawless – yet Stars seem to have lost that certain sparkle. This is a lacklustre tragedy for long-time fans anticipating a comeback revival like Set Yourself on Fire.

The North initially gets off to a weak start with “The Theory of Relativity,” which begins with the line “The only way I see this happening is in an extended ride north,” followed by obnoxious ‘80s synthesizer. It seems that with this lyric Stars are trying to recapture the genius of the beginning of “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” (“When there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire”), but fails here because it lacks the insightful, poetical punch of the latter. It may be a fitting tribute to their Canadian roots (the speaker being celebrated Canadian pianist Glenn Gould), but it comes off

contrived. Certainly it lacks the raw indie edge of having Torquil Campbell’s dad do it.

While the first track is a slightly troubling, at the very least it’s a bit more remarkable than the rest of album. It’s difficult to pinpoint just where The North goes wrong.

Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan’s vocal work is as enchanting and beautiful as ever. The instrumentation is still at-times ethereal, at-times electronically upbeat, though perhaps it could be argued they could use a bit more string (recall the haunting cello of “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”) and a lot less synth. Still, Stars are strong, capable musicians and this shows as always. Yet it’s as if they’re trying too hard to be, well, Stars. It’s overthought and … boring.

The one gem of the album just so happens to be the one song that breaks the classic Stars mould, “Do You Want to Die Together.” It’s a strange yet pleasing combination of ‘50s doo wop guitar with striking moments of distortion and surreal dreamy vocals. The lyrics are surprisingly simple, very unlike Stars’ usual trademark eloquence, yet appealing nonetheless.

It also transitions wonderfully into “Lights Changing Colour,” though

this song, like the others, starts off with appealing potential which rapidly dissolves into lulling monotony.

Stars seem to be a part of the trend with alternative indie rock bands: starting off with one or two enjoyable albums with a few great hits, culminating in a landmark album (The New Pornographers’ Twin Cinema, The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife, Stars’ Set Yourself on Fire), followed by another good, but not half-as-stellar album. Then comes a decline into album-afteralbum that either sounds the same or just falls short of the mark.

Why? Have these bands lost that impetus of struggling young artists? Have they been lulled into complacency? Are the expectations just too high? If only we knew, because mediocrity is more heartbreaking in some ways than spectacular failure. Regardless, more musical risks need to be taken, or these once-spectacular bands are doomed to fade away.

The North is enjoyable enough, and there are good moments in every song. But it all seems to blend together, even after a dozen or so listens. It’s not a bad album, but it’s not a good album either. It’s completely lukewarm. It’s prob-

ably worth buying if you’re a diehard Stars fan, but it’s doomed to be background music even for the most dedicated.

Do Stars have nothing left to burn? Hopefully not, because they desperately need to re-set themselves on fire.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

ARTS & LIFE

Film Review Lawless MICHAEL SCOULAR THe cascade The historical calling card of “The Great Man” predominates in Lawless, a film that springs from the tradition of men writing about men doing great things while dreaming of being inserted into the pantheon of men doing great things recorded by men. It is filmed with neither curiosity nor intrigue by John Hillcoat, best-known for his post-millennial works inspired by the writing of Cormac McCarthy.

From the outset, the claim is to veracity: “Based on a true story” emblazoned across the screen, date posts triumphantly placing this in that time when men could be men, the prime cases here being the brothers Bondurant: Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia LeBoeuf). Their private business of distillery and malice thrives on bribes and knuckles, at least until adversary deity (Guy Pearce) tries to knock them off their perch. But his determined outward appearance (hair slicked and suit cut) and delivery (highstrung mannerisms and effeminate laugh) all glare as neon signs. How he matches up, how his manhood compares to the Bondurants, is never left to interpretation.

Deviation from a source is never reason alone to disregard a creative work, but Hillcoat has never been able to incorporate the vast swaths of racial, gender and moral politics that have defined McCarthy’s depiction of violence and reborn myth. Here the supposed authen-

ticity of what we are seeing is the premise of almost all of what Lawless shows, yet race, class and occupational division appear as highway signposts, not worthy of much mention, but included all the same to lend some illusory import.

Back to the gun battles at home, slightly unmoored, Hillcoat’s camera locks on tough faces and period details with musty disinterest. The impression conveyed is that this is gray and real and hard, and not the gray of black-and-white gangster pictures; these drinkers of earthderived moonshine and speakers of broken language are not the hicks of the prohibition or depression-set images in your mind, which just isn’t as in tune with reality as Hillcoat’s picture of history.

The truths of Lawless want to stand as incorruptible: these are the facts, the things that happened, reported from a reliable source (the book the movie is based on was written by the main character’s grandson/nephew), as if Hillcoat or script writer Nick Cave are not responsible for these images, the turning of the globe – the actuality of experience is. But even if one were to put aside the perceptual skewing that relying on a selfaggrandizing account as history causes, just about every frame of this movie sets up a standard of transcendent greatness: stitches and bruises as badges of honour, powerful weapons as extensions of inherent strength. One of Tom Hardy’s speeches revolves around the definition of men as “we,” definable, exact, on a path where the ideal terminus is unquestionably

the ending of this movie.

Of all the disingenuous moments, the narration of Shia LeBeouf’s character that opens the film is chief. For it to have any purpose and reason for existence, it presupposes an audience ignorant of any of the details of the American prohibition, which is, in addition to being a reasonably well-known part of recent history, a crucial part of traditional American filmmaking. Even among recent efforts in that terrain, examples like Linklater’s The Newton Boys, where his fascination and playing with truth and fiction, as in his more cited films, is on full display, or Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, grounded in digital invention and inquiry, a mode Hillcoat will likely never appear near, put Lawless to shame.

If LeBoeuf’s ignorance is precisely the point, the reappearance of the same tone at the movie’s conclusion and the turns his character take along the way, make the possibility of that perspective remote.

For unlike the worlds of McCarthy, death is not what a weak character like LeBoeuf will inevitably meet, or needs, but masculinization.

The apparent factual basis of the events of this picture do not mean their depiction is worthy.

As the other figures caught in that inevitability (Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska) prove, whatever happened during the prohibition era, whatever gun pleasure, alcohol dreams, or hardscrabble ways defined, in a real way, life in that period, Lawless is still a particular kind of fantasy.

Discussions Below the Belt Where porn went wrong and the rise of feminist erotica

JOHNNY RODDICK THe cascade “Ew, porn? No, I don’t watch that.”

It’s a typical response, especially among women, but that’s not because porn is inherently gross or “for men only.” The problem is that, somewhere along the line, porn let us all down.

There was a time when porn was only accessed via the back row of the convenience store magazine rack and the forbidden zone in the back corner of the local video rental shop. But with the rise of the internet, porn became accessible in a way that it had never been before. Suddenly it could be accessed by almost anyone with few barriers or embarrassing moments at the cashier. Unfortunately, the same companies that dominated the magazine racks had control over the majority of porn that was accessed online. They marketed their porn at rich white males in order to guarantee the most possible profit, and without a doubt, they succeeded. Porn has become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Yet, this mainstream porn industry still only serves a very small portion of the population, and so most people just assume that particular idea of porn is what all porn is like, and that it just “isn’t for them.” It’s unfortunate, because it’s spawned a number of really

Image:Me In My Place/tumblr.com

harmful ideas. We have an idea of what a “porn star” looks like. We have ideas about what porn itself looks like – often the very formulaic pattern where a woman strips, gives a man a blowjob, has sex in a few positions, and then watches as the man ejaculates onto her face.

In a culture that is afraid to talk

openly about sex, some men (and women) get the idea that this is what sex is really like.

Porn can be so much more though. That’s why the still-recent explosion of amateur porn available on the internet is such a blessing. Amateur porn features real people making erotica and

releasing it on the internet. Those involved often break the bleachblonde, fake-breasted stereotype of a porn star. Many people are starting to realize that porn is a lot more erotic when it features people they actually find attractive having and enjoying genuine sex, often with a partner they love instead of someone paid to be with them.

Most importantly, amateur porn has decentralized erotica. Instead of a couple rich old white men deciding what type of men and women you should be watching have sex, and what type of sex they should be having, the choices are now in the hands of those making it. That’s a huge step forward, and it’s worth it for those who’ve been weirded out or turned off by porn in the past to look around for something that works for them.

Women, in particular, have most benefited from the change.

Women, for the first time, have the chance to create, distribute and consume their own sexual fantasies in widely-available pornography. It’s even lead to the development of the Good For Her Feminist Porn Awards, which began in 2006 and occurred most recently in April of this year.

The awards celebrate pornography with three specific qualifications. First, a woman had to have a “hand in the production, writing, direction, etc. of the work.”

Secondly, it must feature “genuine female pleasure.” Lastly, it must “expand the boundaries of sexual representation on film and [challenge] stereotypes that are often found in mainstream porn.” Those three things make all the difference.

“It’s not that sex is degrading – sex is awesome,” Abiola Abramas, an African-American producer of pornography, told the National Post in 2006. “It was the images that were degrading.” That’s why she and so many others set out to create something that empowered, instead of degraded them.

Though not all feminists agree about porn, the development of feminist porn should be celebrated for its role in breaking down harmful stereotypes and giving a voice to those who were forced to the sidelines in the past. Some sex-positive feminists, like Carlin Ross and Betty Dodson, are creating erotica that doubles as sex-education for adults, teaching techniques and reducing body shame.

Whether you’re a man, a woman, or intersex, it’s time to re-evaluate your relationship with porn, and to consider looking for erotica that liberates those involved and, ultimately, leads to healthier, more open-minded views about our sexuality and those around us.

Not only should we want that, we should demand it.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

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SPORTS & HEALTH

Row, row, row your boat!

PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE Ninety-five per cent. That, according to UFV rowing coach Liz Chisholm, is the percentage of her varsity rowers who barely touched an oar until university. By itself this percentage makes rowing unique among UFV varsity sports, since what other team provides the opportunity for the average student to reincarnate himself or herself as a varsity athlete?

This is not to say UFV has a weak rowing program. Last year Chisholm took a novice student rower named Alex Jansen and turned him into one of the top student rowers in Canada. He was part of a UFV crew that finished second only to the national Olympic men’s team at a competition last March.

This year, the team is looking for a new batch of student rowers to fill out their ranks, or even to simply come out and experience the sport.

Chisholm is offering students the chance to join the “rowing club”: a month of instruction, exercise, and equipment usage culminating in an amateur rowing competition in October. Students are given the opportunity to try out the sport at their own level of ability and comfort,

choosing which and how many training sessions to attend per week at the team’s practice grounds in Fort Langley.

It’s a wonderful opportunity both for students interested in an unusual recreational activity through the fall, as well as those looking to become part of the team. It’s also an easy way to become part of a community on campus.

“There is such an opportunity [in rowing] to meet others on campus,” says Chisholm, “and it’s so unique.

[Students] enjoy it so much and it forms friendships whether you end up being a varsity rower or not. We let them come back again in another year as well [to the rowing club] if all they wanted to do was have fun … we get quite a few that do that, that return for a second year.”

For those who missed last week’s meeting but are still interested in rowing, Chisholm is accepting new rowers until September 20. Training sessions are held most days from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at the boathouse in Fort Langley, or from 4:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon.

The cost is $200 for the sessions, equipment usage, insurance, and a t-shirt. Contact Liz Chisholm (liz. chisholm@ufv.ca) for more information about UFV rowing.

New recruits to the UFV Rowing club, fresh from learning how to get themselves (and their oars) into the boat without falling into the drink.

Rowing Tip: Never call your oar a “paddle”. Everyone will laugh … and you might have to do push ups.

Confessed Rower:

Debra Neufeld

Debra is a volunteer coach with the UFV rowing team. The Cascade spoke to her during the first training session for new student rowers last Saturday.

When did you start coaching?

I started coaching in May 2011.

Did you start your rowing experience with the UFV program?

I had rowed [only] once before.

Did you have a first experience like [us] here today?

Actually I had a different experience. I started in May, so instead of starting with a bunch of new people I jumped in with varsity program right away. I got to go to the Canadian University Championship my first year, which most people who start in September don’t get to because the Canadian University Championship is in November.

Do you remember your first session with UFV? What was it like?

It was pouring rain. I was soaked and freezing, and I thought “what the heck am I getting myself into?”

Yet I couldn’t quit, I loved it!

What was the hardest thing for you to learn about rowing?

Coach Debra Neufeld (and oar)

Probably that whatever you think your limit is, is fictional. Whatever you think that you can do as your maximum, that’s just your current goal and you have to push past it and push past it and push past it.

What keeps you coming back to rowing?

Absolutely everything. I love the feeling of being on the water. I love the girls [on the women’s varsity team], they’re great. On Sunday’s we don’t have practices and by Monday I feel like I’m missing all of them because I haven’t seen them for 24 hours … I’ve been injured this last year so out of 10 months I’ve only rowed three, but I’m still out here every day in the coach’s boat.

What would your advice be for the rowing virgins out on the dock today?

It’s never as easy as it looks. It’s not, but it’s fun. Put your all into it because it’s worth it!

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SPORTS & HEALTH

Cascades scare Eagles in exhibition match

Jordan Blackman, who had 30 points on the night PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

The Cascades’ second exhibition game of the season started off in dubious struggle on Monday night as the men surrendered one to the Eastern Washington University Eagles (79-84). The international clash pitted a fresh-faced UFV team against the power of a NCAA Division One school coupled with a frighteningly efficient contingent of German transfer students (here’s to you Martin Seiferth, Thomas Rueter and Frederik Jörg). Despite a noticeable disadvantage in the category of scary seven-foot-tall, blonde Aryans, the Cascades put on a show that bodes well for the coming year.

As stated above the Cascades began the night dubiously, quickly springing to a 16 point deficit in the first quarter. New UFV head coach Adam Friesen looked nervous, the Germans looked unstoppable, and the home crowd was envisioning a flashback to last week’s 96-56 loss to Cal State. The men themselves were shooting like a bunch of traditional Mennonites at a rifle range, and even Jordan Blackman, the only one of last year’s starters left on the court, couldn’t seem to shake the

Sean Asheknazy is back at UFV after a one year hiatus

shudder.

The Cascades made a short run at the end of the quarter to cut the lead to 10, but it wasn’t until the second half that the squad showed some semblance of last year’s form. They spent much of the third quarter chipping away at the Eagles lead, and (in the fourth) pulled within one with 2:15 remaining courtesy of a beautiful three-ball from first year point guard Manjodh Dulay. That moment, at least for this reporter, was a deeply satisfying one.

Looking down the Eagles bench to their coaching staff, a half dozen big white men squirming on ridiculously small chairs, was almost a patriotic experience.

UFV made it interesting, but a number of critical turnovers in the fourth kept the men from actually taking a lead over their opponents. The Eagles’ press break worked with disappointing efficiency, accumulating critical points with time winding down as the Cascades simply bent under the pressure.

“We’ve been practicing for only four days as a complete team” said coach Friesen after the game, “and we’ve just been working on offence. So basically we’ve just solely focused on offensive execution and trying to play together and get the best shot possible.”

Sasq’ets chats with a few Cascades fans

Still, a five-point loss against a Div One team is a promising start for the squad, especially since it was accomplished without fifth year stalwarts Sam Freeman or Kyle Grewal who didn’t dress due to small injuries. Blackman, one of the best freshman in the west last season, dropped a monstrous 30 points, including a 6-12 performance from behind the arc.

Eagles coach Jim Hayford had some positive remarks about UFV’s performance following the game. “I thought Fraser Valley played with extremely great effort,” he said, “and played as hard as any team we’ve played against on our tour. It’s our fourth game in four days, that’s a lot of travel. Fatigue maybe is starting to set in, but they played with exceptional effort and their one player [Blackman] had a tremendous night. He’s a great basketball player.”

Friesen was also encouraged by his team’s performance. “I was happy, I was very happy,” he said. “With our three fifth years not playing it was a good opportunity for a lot of guys to step up and show what they’re made out of. A lot of guys showed a lot of good things, and after four days [of practice] you can’t ask for more than that.”

Nathan Kendall dribbles down court Photos by Blake McGuire/The Cascade

Coach’s Corner: Volleyball JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

we’ve been at it since July. Just been getting the new players used to the new system. As for stories, it’s not really special, but we’re starting the season without any injuries, so that’s something!

Can you tell us anything about the team’s training regimen?

W. Coach Dennis Bokenfohr Women’s Volleyball After coming third in Canada last season, the Cascades women’s volleyball team has only improvement on the brain. I caught up with head coach, Dennis Bokenfohr and asked him about training and the upcoming season.

How has your training been going over the summer? Any special stories?

Training has been going good,

It’s been a bit of a fun first week, we call it “hell week”. We work on getting the girls back in game mode, with a little bit of everything. There’s swimming in the morning, today they did Zumba, and there are long hikes, plus training in the evening.

Well we finished third in Canada last year, and are now ranked number two going into this season, so we are really looking to improve on that ranking and have our shot at nationals. Very high expectations for this season.

How does the team deal with pre-game superstitions?

You’re probably talking to the least superstitious person here.

We go through a lot of mental prep to avoid that kind of thing.

That being said we are a very routine based group when it comes to warm-up.

Have you made any new acquisitions over the summer? How will they affect the composition of the team?

Considering their training only started last week, the Cascades men’s volleyball team spared no time getting back into game mode for their upcoming season.

I caught up with assistant coach Carl Nienhuis while he and some of the players observed the women’s practice.

How has your training been going over the summer?

Great, we’re in the first week.

Just finished tryouts. It’s a good sign going into the season not knowing who the starting six are.

Can you tell us anything about the team’s training regimen?

Yeah, well we lost our starting centre from last season, and replaced her with a very capable rookie, so looking forward to that.

As well as we gained a 5th year transfer from Capilano; she’s going to close out her career here.

What are your expectations for this season?

Men’s Volleyball

M. Assistant Coach Carl Nienhuis

We train every day, Monday to Friday for two hours. Then the team does strength and conditioning together and two or three fitness sessions on their own. We train seven days a week.

Have you made any new acquisitions over the summer? How will they affect the composition of the team?

There are tons of new bodies this year, with seven returnees, that’s about 50 per cent. Change is always a good thing, we’re a bit bigger and deeper. We have also gained some new coaching help that bring in a new perspective on training and other elements.

What are your expectations for this season?

As a sports psychologist, that’s not a fair question. I’m sure they expect to bust their butts, and earn starting roles, but that’s more of a demand (laughs). They all want to earn play time.

How does the team deal with pre-game superstitions?

I would say routine is a better word. And I think a lot of the men have them, or are just trying to figure them out. One thing we stick to is sleeveless Thursdays; one of our freshest rookies came in this past Thursday with sleeves, so we ripped them off (laughs). There’s an entertaining story for you!

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012