The Cascade Vol. 20 No. 24

Vol. 20 Issue. 24

www.ufvcascade.ca

OCTOBER 3–10, 2012

Thinking you might call since 1993

Fifty Shades of Green

Environmental initiatives more than just a buzzword at new CEP building p. 10-11

TTurning class on its head p. 5

Vancouver International Film Festival coverage p. 16-17

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S ISSUE News

Opinion

Arts & Life

Sports & Health

Interview with Advanced Ed. Minister

AmPol strikes back

Blisterin’ Barnacles!

Brockian Ultra-Cricket

Nick and Sean return to bring you up-to-speed on all things American politics leading into tonight’s big debate between President Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Beau O’Niell spends a Friday night at a pub where patrons rock out to three local punk bands.

Okay, so maybe we didn’t grow three extra legs, but The Cascade did partner with the UFV Cricket Club to explain a sport that, while tons of fun, leaves many scratching their heads.

Read more on page 8

Read more on page 16

The Cascade’s Joe Johnson chats with new BC Education Minister John Yap about the state of post-secondary education during these trying economic times.

Read more on page 6

Read more on page 18-19

Green cars, green shampoo, green energy?

It’s Friday afternoon. I’m working on a hard copy-edit of one of my essays. Having entered my changes into Microsoft Word, I crumple up the page and toss it towards the corner bin.

Just before I throw my arms in the air to celebrate scoring my second three-pointer that day, I’m struck with a sudden realiza-

Managing editor amy@ufvcascade.ca Amy Van Veen

Online editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular

Mr. Green in the drug store with the toothbrush

THE CASCADE

Editor-in-chief nick@ufvcascade.ca Nick Ubels

Business manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson

EDITORIAL

NICK UBELS

Volume 20 · Issue 24 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

tion: I could have recycled that.

It’s Monday morning. I’m on my way back to the office with an empty paper coffee cup in my hand when I spot one of UFV’s multi-purpose waste disposal stations. Where to toss my cup?

It’s part paper, part plastic, and stained with what’s left of my double-double. Paralysed by the thought of ruining an entire bag of recyclable material, I toss it in the trash. Could I have recycled that?

Kermit was right. It’s not easy bein’ green.

Even with the best intentions, we’re bound to slip up.

If you’ve been to the grocery store in the past decade, you know there’s no escaping the rows and rows of products claiming to help you contribute to saving the planet. That little sticker is a badge that tells everyone around you that you’re putting sustainability first.

When you arrive at the checkout counter, rather than being asked if you’d prefer paper or plastic, you show the cashier your reusable cloth bag. Now ev-

Production manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour

erybody on the block will know you’re chipping in.

The word “green” has been associated with nature and healthy ecosystems for centuries. But it’s also become a go-to marketing word for companies looking to cash in on folks feeling guilty about their consumption habits.

And most people will stop there, feeling like they’ve done their part, that they won’t be judged.

After all, we are what we buy.

At least that’s what advertisers are hoping we’ll believe.

So how much should we trust these labels?

In Canada, environmental labelling is regulated by the Canadian Standards Association, whose 2008 guidebook does not include any standardization, allowing for a wide range of products to fall into this category.

Advertisers are not allowed to deliberately mislead consumers, but it is still up to each company to decide what constitutes an eco-friendly product.

Before spending a little extra cash to buy something solely for its arbitrary little sticker, think twice about what it really means.

We need to make informed lifestyle choices rather than falling prey to advertisers’ minor concessions made to squeeze an extra dollar out of our pockets.

Buying a particular kind of toothpaste won’t make a difference.

Art director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy editor joel@ufvcascade.ca Joel Smart News editor news@ufvcascade.ca Dessa Bayrock Opinion editors opinion@ufvcascade.ca Nick Ubels/Amy Van Veen Arts & life editor arts@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt Sports editor sports@ufvcascade.ca Paul Esau Staff writers Karen Aney, Taylor Johnson, Nadine Moedt, Jess Wind

Contributors Joel Colbourne, Jeremy Hannaford, Beau O’Niell, Ryan Peterson, Jasmine Proctor, Tim Ubels

Printed By International Web exPress

UPCOMING EVENTS Saturday, Oct 6

Saturday, Oct 6

Wednesday, Oct 10

Friday, Oct 12

Moving and grooving

Comedy Night at Corky’s Pub

Author reading at UFVrace!

Free salsa classes

As the first event in the Envision Concert Series in Abbotsford, Groovedaddy will perform from 8 to 10 p.m. at Clayburn Gourmet Gallery. Don’t miss the soulful jazz blues vibe – let’s face it, couldn’t you use a little relaxing this week?

Subtitled “Sometimes I Laugh So Hard Tears Run Down My Leg,” close to a dozen comedians will take the stage at Corky’s Pub in Chilliwack this Saturday. $20 gets you a ticket, burger, fries, beverage and donation to the Ann Davis Transition Society. Call 604.792.2760 for more details.

Shauna Singh Baldwin will be reading from her newest book, Selector of Souls, at UFV’s Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies this Wednesday. Her novel explores the journey of two strong-willed women: Damini, a Hindu midwife, and Anu, who flees an abusive marriage. Catch the action at 7 p.m. in U-House.

Have you ever wanted a little salsa with the burrito of your life? Come on down to U-House for some free salsa dancing lessons. All students of any experience level are welcome, from old pros to utter newbies. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, and we’ll see you from 2:30 to 4 p.m. strutting your stuff.

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, OCTOBER 3, 2012

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NEWS

The wheels on the bus go round and round Chatting with SUS about a Chilliwack/Abbotsford connector jess wind

THE CASCADE

It has been some time since whispers of a bus linking the Abbotsford and Chilliwack campuses have wafted through the halls. However, SUS VP east Shane Potter, VP academic Dan van der Kroon, and representative-at-large Jay Mitchell hear the need loud and clear.

What makes this project so important to you?

Shane Potter: Well, when I was elected, one of the stances I was elected on was a bus between Chilliwack and Abbotsford. I’ve been on this board six months now, and even early in my term, people were constantly asking me when this bus was going to happen. It’s something that’s important to the students, so it’s important to me.

Dan van der Kroon: When the U-Pass was approved, I saw an immediate need to have this connection. I want people to be able to live a car-free lifestyle comfortably. Right now, frankly, it’s almost impossible to go to UFV without having a vehicle at some point during your time here and that’s a real shame. So I feel that this link is one of the last things that needs to be in place before that becomes a possibility.

Jay Mitchell: The U-Pass came in just before I was brought on to the board and, like Dan, I recognized there was a need for a con-

nection from Chilliwack. Once I was elected it was one of the projects I wanted to work on the most.

This connection in particular is of interest to me because I recognize that the public sector is listening, but at the same time they’re not taking action as fast as the public would like and the private sector isn’t really picking up with a feasible option to meet that public demand.

“The public sector is listening, but at the same time they’re not taking action as fast as the public would like.”

-- Jay Mitchell What are some of the options you are looking into?

SP: There are three companies that are proposing options. Two of them are offering a traditional 40-person charter bus, and Jay’s looking down the path of [running] school busses between the campuses.

Does the charter bus pose limitations with scheduling?

SP: One of the companies we’re looking at already owns busses, and is providing the service at Kwantlen University where they’re offering transit services between the campus. So we would be using a bus that’s al-

ready bought for that purpose.

Scheduling would be entirely up to us, so the nice thing about going with a private option is we would be allowed to tell the bus exactly how many stops per day, what time to stop, what time to end. So it does give us some freedom that way.

How many busses are you looking to use for this connection?

JM: A one or two bus option.

Then we’re looking to schedule it approximately along the same schedule that BC transit suggested. It was eight to nine runs a day, so we sort of wanted to model after that so … students can get adjusted to it. Then once the service comes from BC Transit it won’t be too difficult to align their schedules.

So BC Transit is looking to put a city bus in, but you’re looking to do it faster?

JM: Yes, the way that it works is Abbotsford and Mission work together on transit, then Chilliwack sort of works on their own, so we have to liaise through BC Transit.

They’ve been trying to push the municipalities to prioritize this connection, but city politics are generally slow.

There was a petition a year ago, but we haven’t heard much about the bus since. What happened?

DvdK: It was a bit of a political

saga where the Mission/Abbotsford transit committee received the petition and they debated it internally. Then the city of Abbotsford passed a motion to focus on improving the local transit service … which effectively killed that option in the short term.

The city of Chilliwack has currently budgeted for the funding to implement the public service on this route, and is waiting for their Abbotsford partners to step up. It’s unfortunate that there’s not enough dialogue between the two jurisdictions to make that happen.

“We want this to be a short-term solution; the public option is really the ultimate solution.”

– Shane Potter

The board votes to put forth a referendum on Friday?

SP: We’ll be putting a motion to the board in the near future for going to a referendum with the students. The referendum will basically be outlining the student contribution to this contract. I was looking at $5 to $6 per student. The rest would have to be made up by the university and sponsors.

The $5 to $6 would be in the

form of a fee increase?

SP: It would be a specific fee increase for this project, and it would be tied to the project. This would die as soon as the contract dies. There were early suggestions to put it as part of the U-Pass, but that allows the fee to never go away when the contracts end.

Where do you go from here?

SP: Referendum and information to the students. We are currently looking at three different companies, we have quotes and we know the cost lines we need to be at. We haven’t had a referendum until now because we spent the whole summer researching what this would actually cost.

It’s going to be a very open and equal referendum. In the next three weeks I’m looking to have a full public disclosure with a press release, as far as [what company] we’re going with and the cost.

We want this to be a short-term solution; the public option is really the ultimate solution. The companies we are looking at are looking to sign a one-year contract. We’re hoping that will push the government to hurry the public option.

With any government, if you want something done, do it yourself. That will show the absolute importance of it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SUS faces decision: CASA, CFS or none of the above?

KAREN ANEY THE CASCADE

Sometimes there are issues facing UFV students that SUS needs help to tackle, which is where student advocacy groups step in.

UFV’s Student Union Society (SUS) is currently an associate member of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA).

This is still a fairly new development; it was during the spring 2012 semester that the SUS board voted to step down from a full membership.

The job of student advocacy groups is to approach government on a variety of levels on behalf of university students everywhere. CASA is one such group, and the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is another.

CASA is a student advocacy group that lobbies the federal government in regards to student-related issues, such as the cost of tuition.

Their website states that between 2008 and 2010, they were one of just 12 organizations who lobbied Stephen Harper more than once. They were the first to lobby for the Scholarship Tax

Credit and the Textbook Tax Credit, and since 1999 their lobbying efforts have resulted in more than $13 billion of funding to students.

When UFV’s SUS was a full member, they had voting power in all matters. Now that SUS is an associate member, it still has some influence: SUS can attend meetings, table discussions, provide input from the perspective of a UFV student and more.

This move saved the student union $15,000, but SUS can only spend a year as associate member; after that, SUS has to decide if it’s completely in, or completely out.

Dan van der Kroon, vice president academic for SUS, explained that the move from full member to associate member was based on finances and a lack of progress on the part of CASA, but also that stepping down gave SUS opportunity to focus on things closer to home.

“We have a lot of in-house work to do locally,” van der Kroon explained, “for instance, lobbying municipalities to connect the Chilliwack-Abbotsford transit route. That’s just one example of what we want to focus on as a

board ... what we feel is important to our students.”

He also mentioned the recent protests in Quebec as a factor, where protesting students caused the incoming government to promise to halt tuition fee in-

“If there are two federal lobby activist groups that are very active, yet the student debt envelope continues to increase, what does that say about how effective those organizations will be?”

– Daniel van der Kroon creases.

“They’ve shown what can be achieved on the provincial level ... perhaps CASA could take an approach that is a little bit more ambitions in calling for changes to policy at the federal level,” van der Kroon speculated. “My perspective has always been that if there are two federal lobby activist groups that are very active, yet the student debt envelope continues to increase, what does that say about how effective those

organizations will be?”

The second federal activist group van der Kroon mentioned was CFS – the Canadian Federation of Students.

While they can’t boast the savings for students that CASA does, CFS spearheads initiatives like awareness of the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan being considered by the government, and the “No Means No” date rape awareness campaign.

Van der Kroon said that rather than choose one group over the other, SUS would ideally be a member of each.

“Both have things to offer and both have various strengths and weaknesses. Frankly, right now my perspective is that there’s more work we can do at the local level to increase our influence as an organization – more so than at the federal level.”

SUS president Carlos Vidal and van der Kroon recently had a chance to attend the CASA Policy and Strategy conference in Sackwell, New Brunswick. In general, van der Kroon felt that some of the issues they presented as UFV students were heard, but some were not.

One issue Vidal and van der

Kroon advocated for was the initiative that CASA is currently trying to remove regarding vehicle ownership. Currently, if a student owns a vehicle worth $5000 or more, they may be found ineligible for a student loan.

“This creates an unfair playing field for students that live in places where essentially you need a reliable vehicle to conduct your life and meet your obligations,” van der Kroon said.

SUS is able to remain an associate member of CASA until April 2014, at which point they must choose to become a full member once again or leave the organization. At this time, van der Kroon feels that there is no reason to change our status – and that the funds SUS is spending on CASA membership fees might be better spent elsewhere.

“I do value having the voice at the federal lobbying stage,” van der Kroon said. “If some budget room opened up—and that’s always a possibility—then I’d be [open to being a full member again].”

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

NEWS

Your SUS AGM in a nutshell: three hours in tidy sub-headings Students can petition to have a referendum

Dessa Bayrock THE CASCADE

Thanks to Shane Potter, among others, the bylaws now state that students can petition to hold a referendum. A mere one per cent of the student body can bring a referendum into being simply by putting their names to a sheet of paper.

One per cent of the student body (which Potter estimated to calculate out to between 100 to 200 students total) is a substantive enough number to represent a valid interest group, Potter explained.

Referendums in the past have largely revolved around fees – from raising the CIVL fee, to raising the Athletics fee, to raising the SUS fee.

We get it: you’re busy. There are very few people who are passionate about giving up their Wednesday afternoon to attend a dry, political meeting, which is why we did it for you. You’re welcome.

About 30 students drifted in and out of AfterMath for SUS’ Annual General Meeting on September 26, and since 16,000 students attend UFV, it’s fairly safe to say that you probably weren’t one of them.

“The meat of this meeting is going to be motions,” explained vice president internal Greg Stickland.

He wasn’t lying; the three-hour period was chock-a-block full of motions, amendments, striking and passing.

For the 15,968 of you that had other things do to, here’s a handy recap of the results.

The minutes of the AGM will also be available online in the coming weeks.

Less of the SUS board has to agree to put a referendum forward

Bylaw changes

Image: UFV/Flickr

SUS’ AGM will be held in the winter semester

The first notable amendment to the bylaws was to change when SUS holds their AGM, moving from the fall semester to the winter semester.

“Right now, we have to have our AGM—which is this, what we’re doing right now—in September,” Stickland explained, “Which can kind of catch you guys off guard, and usually catches us off guard.”

Instead, the bylaws were amended so that the AGM will be held in the winter semester.

This means that SUS will have another AGM next semester, since the bylaws also state that an AGM must be held every 15 months.

A student fee increase can only happen in a referendum

Shane Potter, vice-president east, motioned that a student fee increase could only be instituted by referendum, striking out the portion of the SUS bylaws that also allowed a fee increase to be instituted at an AGM. “It makes it so we have a more

direct democracy, if there is a fee increase,” Potter explained.

Rachel Waslewsky, a SUS representative-at-large, agreed with this sentiment.

“It also increases the amount of students that will be able to actually contribute. A lot of people are in class [during an AGM] and by referendum, which is online, it allows more people to actually participate,” she explained.

This amendment passed by consensus without further comment.

The bylaws previously stated that 75 per cent of the SUS board had to agree on an issue to bring it to referendum. That has been changed to 66 per cent.

Chris Doyle, vice-president social, would have liked that figure to drop to something even lower. “[Making that number lower] allows the students to have a bit more of an opinion,” Doyle explained. “That allows more things that the board can argue over to actually go to the students that it’s affecting. It’s their money. It’s their school year. It’s their choice.

So why aren’t we giving it to them as much as we can?”

The percentage dropped to 66 per cent, which may result in the student body seeing more referendums in the future.

“Don’t worry that we’re trying

to throw more referendums at you that are going to be trivial,” said SUS president Carlos Vidal, “We’ll only put something [to referendum when] we feel that the students really need to make the decision.”

Other motions business

and

The creation of a Chilliwack Representative

The discussion lingered on the reformation of the Trades representative position on the SUS board – since the Trades student schedule directly conflicts with SUS meeting times, the role can’t usually be filled by a trades student.

There was discussion of revamping this position to include all students at Chilliwack Education Park (CEP), and allow the position to be held by any student, but in the end it was decided to create an entirely new position to cover CEP students and leave the trades position to be looked at and reworked another day.

Since trades students are in Abbotsford as well as at the Trades and Technology Centre at CEP, the general consensus was that it wouldn’t necessarily make sense for the Trades Representative to be a Chilliwack-based position and responsible for other Chilliwack students.

Despite hype, no student fee increase

Chris Doyle, vice-president social, made it clear prior to the AGM that he intended to motion to bring a student fee increase to referendum, but his proposed motion was struck down before it could even be considered.

NEWS BRIEFS

Image: CUP

Image:Flickr Creative Commons

Image: Reuters

Image: geography.org.uk

Image: last.fm

Obesity in Canadian youth a growing concern

Campaign targets blood donation ban for men who have sex with men

Guantanamo detainee having tough time back in Canada

Canada beef plant hit by recall may reopen this week

Adele lends sultry voice to Bond theme for “Skyfall”

WATERLOO (CUP) — Obesity has become an increasingly critical issue in Canada, especially for children and young adults.

Obesity, a medical condition in which a person is grossly overweight, has affected 11.7 per cent of Canadian children ages five to 17, according to a recent Statisics Canada study.

An additional 19.8 per cent of youth in this age group are considered overweight.

Weight gain occurs when the energy ingested is more than the energy burned from physical activity. The use of television and computer games has contributed to the lack of physical activity, resulting in a sedentary lifestyle.

WINNIPEG (CUP) — A call for campus blood donations on Sept. 24 reopened the debate on the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) long-standing donation ban from men who have sex with men.

A Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) campaign, End the Ban, calls for CBS and Health Canada to dismantle the policy that enforces a lifetime prohibition on blood donations from men who have sex with men.

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) was stationed near the CBS blood donation clinic with informational material on the ban and why it should be eradicated.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, who was transferred to a prison in his Canadian homeland over the weekend, is having a difficult time adapting to his new circumstances, one of the inmate’s lawyers said on Monday.

Khadr, the youngest prisoner and last Westerner held in the U.S. military prison on Cuban soil, returned to Canada on Saturday to finish his sentence. He had spent almost 10 years in Guantanamo. As part of deal with prosecutors he pleaded guilty in 2010 and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

(Reuters) - One of Canada’s largest beef-packing plants may reopen this week, as Canadian food authorities continue to track down millions of pounds of meat potentially tainted with E. coli bacteria.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is getting closer to locating all the beef products that were made at the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta on five dates from late August into early September, CFIA spokesman Guy Gravelle said on Tuesday.

Privately held XL has to make changes to the plant to comply with six requests for corrective action from the CFIA before the agency will consider reinstating its operating license, Gravelle said.

(Reuters) - Grammy-winning British singer Adele is adding Bond girl to her superstar resume by signing on to write and sing the theme of the latest James Bond film Skyfall— her first song to be released since her best-selling heartbreak album 21—Columbia Records said in a statement on Monday.

Adele, 24, who swept the Grammy Awards earlier this year with accolades in six categories, will release the song on Friday on her official website, to coincide with the Bond film franchise’s 50th anniversary and Global James Bond Day.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

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NEWS

Turning the traditional classroom on its head dents who have some sort of learning disability, particularly any of the attention disorders, because that’s what a person with ADHD needs,” said Burton.

“They need to do things; they need to be involved.”

NICK UBELS THE CASCADE

“What if we stopped lecturing?”

It was this question that inspired Colorado high school teachers Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann to completely rethink their approach to education.

Their controversial decision to remove direct instruction from the classroom in the 2007/2008 school year was so successful that teachers across the world, including some here in British Columbia, have begun to follow their lead.

They call it a flipped class, but it’s also known by other names: inverted classroom, blended learning or reverse teaching.

The concept is simple: in traditional classes, most of the time is spent on a lecture delivered to a passive student audience. In a flipped classroom, the instructor uses class time exclusively for learning that cannot be done independently.

Reached in Illinois, Bergmann explained that it’s all in the interest of providing students a richer classroom experience.

“I see this as a gateway to deeper learning,” Bergmann said.

“What happens with a teacher is he or she flips for a year and the next year, they’ll have all this extra time. They’ll wonder if they can do something better and deeper with their students. That class time becomes really rich, meaningful, and valuable.”

Bergmann and Sams’ method takes advantage of readily available recording and viewing technology to make lectures available outside the classroom.

This could involve streaming lectures online or providing students with DVD copies for home viewing before class.

“The question I ask is: what is the best use of your face-toface class time?” he said. “Whole group direct instruction is a wrong answer. You may still need direct instruction, but you can commit [lectures] to video. It’s

All about access

Image: Fabbari/Flickr

easy to make, it’s easy to distribute.”

The two chemistry teachers, who were working at a small Colorado high school at the time, discovered software that allowed them to simultaneously record their lectures and slide shows for students that missed class. They began to consider other ways they could use this software to help improve their teaching. Why eat up class time if lectures could be watched at home?

“We made a crazy decision,” said Bergmann. “We said, ‘I think what our kids really need a teacher for is to get help with their stuff.’ And so we stopped lecturing.”

Their gamble worked better than they could have hoped.

“In our classes, students started learning better. Accidentally, we saw some really cool stuff happening with kids – they were really learning it. Our kids wrote a standard deviation test better than they had before,” Bergmann explained.

A personalized approach to education

According to Bergmann, flipped classrooms allow teachers to cater teaching to the specific needs of the students in the room.

“Each kid needs something different,” he said. “We have a one-size-fits-all approach that we need to get away from.”

Bergmann also likened customized teaching methods to ordering a coffee at Starbucks.

“You’re going to personalize

the coffee to your liking, aren’t you?” he said. “All of Western civilization has moved to personalization and education hasn’t done that.”

The concept behind flipped classrooms is not altogether new.

Bergmann was quick point out that the two teachers were not the first to come up with such an idea. Yet few teachers had taken it as far as they did, and none as prominently.

Translating a flipped class to a university setting

These techniques can also be used in a post-secondary environment. Wendy Burton, UFV’s director of teaching and learning, said interactive content has been embedded in science labs for years. Instructors from other faculties have only recently begun to incorporate these techniques into their lessons.

“In the past five years there has been more and more activity from instructors who are in faceto-face classes where the expectation is that they will lecture and most of the hands-on activity will happen somewhere else,” said Burton. “When the class starts, it’s interactive, experimental or enquiry-based learning. Small groups. Field trips.”

This approach benefits students by encouraging engagement during class time. Burton said that high school students with fragile academic interests could be reeled back in with these techniques.

“It’s also really good for stu-

Despite the noted learning benefits associated with flipped classrooms, ensuring students have access to the necessary technologies poses a big challenge.

“One of the things I find myself doing when we start dreaming big is to remind everyone that there’s a lot of students who don’t have that kind of access,” said Burton. “We do have a lot of solutions. Not everyone’s toting around $2000 of equipment.”

Aside from equipment, reliable high-speed internet access is also an issue. There is a danger of leaving behind students from rural areas or those from families who can’t afford it.

“For a lot of folks, cable is the first thing in the apartment that goes when money gets tight,” said Burton.

According to Statistics Canada’s most recent internet usage survey, conducted in 2010, approximately 84 per cent of British Columbians have household internet access. This does not account for low-speed access, which also prevents streaming video.

Wendy Burton said that internet access is an issue even here in the Fraser Valley.

“I live less than 15 kilometres outside Chilliwack,” said Burton, “and there is no high speed internet access in my area, Ryder Lake.

And that’s my job.”

Burton suggested instructors burn DVDs that include the entire semester’s lectures and leave them on the corner of the desk.

That way, students who might feel embarrassed about admitting that they don’t have access to a computer with high speed internet at home can discreetly pick up a DVD. “If you can record a lecture, you don’t need to stream it,” said Burton. “You can also burn it onto a DVD and hand it out. It costs a

dollar.”

Jonathan Bergmann indicated that, in his experience, increasingly affordable access to digital technology and the internet is also helping to alleviate these issues.

“I was with a school district on Monday in rural Illinois with really challenging economics,” he said. “They flipped their whole school and so far, they have hardly had any issues. It’s becoming less and less of a problem as time goes on.”

An ever-expanding reach

Since their use of this methodology first gained media attention in 2007, Bergmann and Sams have been the driving force behind flipped classrooms across North America. Flippedclassroom.org, their social network for teachers using their techniques in class, has over 9000 members and is rapidly growing.

“If my life schedule is any indication, it’s growing a lot,” added Bergmann.

Bergmann noted that the grassroots nature of the project is both a benefit and a drawback.

“It was started by teachers and for teachers and kids,” he said.

“But one of the weaknesses was that it started with a couple of teachers in Colorado. Because how do you scale this to make it bigger? How do you get people trained who haven’t heard about it?”

Sams and Bergmann have since written a book, gone on media tours, visited school districts, and met with policy makers to help introduce this concept into the larger education conversation.

“There’s some people that think this is just another fad that will just go away, but I don’t think so,” said Bergmann. “I think this is something that will have a lot of traction down the road.

“The beauty of the flipped classroom is that we can personalize learning for every kid in the class.”

Popcorn and intellectual discussion form the basis for Cinema Politica NADINE MOEDT THE CASCADE

Towne Cinema may only be a short jaunt from Abbotsford campus, but this semester students will have a chance to see some films right here on campus.

UFV’s Student Union Society (SUS), along with several other UFV student groups, has partnered with Cinema Politica, a non-profit network that describes themselves as a group aimed at bringing “free screenings of alternative, independent, and radical political film and video.”

The group kicked off at UFV this month with a showing of The Age of Stupid at U-House. It was a night of entertainment and intellectual stimulation. There was free popcorn, door prizes and—to end the evening—a rigorous discussion about the film’s content.

Daniel van der Kroon, SUS vice-president academic, is excited about the partnership and the film line-up for the year.

“These are fun films, they’re

highly entertaining, while raising some important topics, and they’re entirely free,” he stated in the SUS press release. “While they’ll be open to the general public, I think UFV students are going to get a lot of value out of this film series.”

Cinema Politica started as a group at McGill University in Montreal. Local chapters have spread across Canada and internationally. The films celebrate independent and underrepresented activist-type documentaries, selected with the intention of initiating discussion and thought.

Kevin Francis, the founder of the local chapter of Cinema Politica, said that the films are political but there’s no pressure put on the audience.

“I know a lot of people get afraid of the name Cinema Politica, because they think we’re going to be saying vote NDP or vote

Liberal, which is not the case,” Francis explained. “The reason it is called Cinema Politica is because a documentary is a political work, it’s a movie with a message.”

Conversation after the film screenings is encouraged and facilitated by Francis.

“The whole point of this is to get people to talk, because it’s a long-lost art and today people are just spoon-fed everything, and they don’t discuss, they don’t have a chance to actually have their say,” Francis said. “We’re trying to have people come here and just express their opinion.

Come and have your say, have a debate if you want!”

According to Francis, the films shown by this grassroots movement are largely excluded from mainstream media, only occupying about five per cent of the screening space in the country.

There’s a lot that Francis hopes to do with Cinema Politica at UFV. “I was shocked to hear—some of the students were telling me— that UFV is fairly conservative,” Francis said with a short laugh. “I was really shocked to hear that, especially when you’re in a university setting.”

“I just want to bring a bit of debate, a bit of conversation,” Francis continues. “I want people to open their eyes. What they do with the information that’s shown in these movies is up to them. “ The next film, Addicted to Plastic, will be presented at AfterMath on October 25, followed by A Crude Awakening on November 22. For more information, visit the Cinema Politica website or contact Kevin Francis at fraservalley@cinemapolitica.org.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

NEWS

Talking school with the Advanced Education Minister John Yap talks passion for post-secondary and the power of trades in a struggling economy Post-secondary education, as all areas of government spending, is participating in ensuring every dollar of tax payers’ funds is spent to best value.

JOE JOHNSON THE CASCADE

In the most recent BC Liberal cabinet shuffle, John Yap was moved to the front lines of student and advanced education issues. As the newly appointed Minister of Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology, he discusses where the government stands on institutional funding, student loan interest rates and the party shakeups of departing MLAs. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and why the Premier chose you as the Minister of Advanced Education?

First of all, I’m really honoured to have the opportunity to lead this ministry, which is so fundamental to British Columbia’s economy and our future. I’m passionate about advanced education – about education in general, but certainly post-secondary education. I myself attended university, I have two degrees, my children are attending university.

So I’m very familiar with the issues and, like I said, it’s fundamental that we continue to support what I believe is a worldclass post-secondary education system.

Can you tell me exactly what falls under your ministry?

There are in British Columbia 25 post-secondary institutions.

That includes all the universities: research universities like UBC [and] SFU, teaching universities, and all colleges and institutions.

Colleges would be all of the skills training and colleges that [grant degrees], and the institutions like BCIT. There are 25 in total around the province and these are publicly supported, publicly funded.

I also have innovation and technology in my ministry which is also crucial to BC’s economy.

Innovation technology is a very important sector. It’s probably not widely known that, in BC, we have 84,000 people employed in the tech sector, or the knowledgebased technology sector, which is more than forestry and mining.

I’m also the minister responsible for multiculturalism, which I [dealt with] previously as Minister of State. I’m very pleased to

Image: BC Gov

John Yap tackles education in uncertain economic times be able to continue the work that we’re doing in multiculturalism.

BC is certainly very multicultural, probably the most multicultural province in Canada, and it’s important to continue to engage with communities and promote multiculturalism.

What are some of the policies you’re going to pick up right away?

First of all, we are very much focused on our jobs plan here in British Columbia. As we saw last week, the Premier, myself, and Minister Bell announced a number of initiatives to support skills training. That is very much a priority right now … at this time we are very focused on promoting trades training. We want to encourage our youths to consider careers—rewarding, challenging careers—in the trades and we’re putting resources to support this initiative.

Last week we announced total funding of $75 million throughout the province to support trades training. The focus today is very much on encouraging skills and trades training.

Obviously universities are feeling the financial crunch right now. Your predecessor re-

ceived a letter from the 25 BC post-secondary presidents primarily addressing this concern.

Will things change to help in easing the financial burden?

Well first of all let me say that we’re investing significant amounts in operating grants to our universities and colleges. The total budget in operating grants is just a shade under $2 billion. To put that in context, that’s $5 million each and every day for the year to support programs and to support our universities and colleges. It’s a very significant portion of the budget of British Columbia.

What you’re referring to with that letter from the presidents is in regards to the fact that we are in challenging economic times.

Our province and our government has committed to balancing our budget; all sectors of our government need to look at ways to operate more effectively to find potential savings.

In the context of an almost $2 billion operating budget, we asked the universities and colleges to just find ways to operate more efficiently and find savings – through initiatives that will not affect the classroom experience, that will not affect programs, but will help save some funds.

But ultimately, in order to fund universities effectively, is it possible that it may have to come down to altering the cap at which tuition rates can be increased?

In regards to tuition fees, let’s keep in mind that our government has capped tuition fees.

We’ve capped them at about two per cent each year since 2005/2006, and in Canada we now have, on average, the fourth-lowest tuition fees in post-secondary.

So we have a very good story to tell. Our universities and colleges are relatively affordable.

But of course this is an area that we continue to monitor to ensure that we have a great system. We have great universities and colleges, and we want to make sure that it continues to be accessible.

Education is a certainly key in sustaining a vital economy, but just today I heard a friend jokingly say that she’s going to be paying off her student loan for the rest of her life. Would you like to see the interest rate on loans dropped or removed altogether, and do you plan on pursuing that?

What you’re referring to is after a student graduates and carries some debt. We believe it’s reasonable that after the taxpayers provide support to students through student loans, as they embark on their careers, that [students] pay the cost of the funds.

I do realize that there are those that call for lower interest, or no interest, but these are challenging economic times. We’re facing [a] challenging global economy, we want to continue to be fiscally prudent, and this may not be the time for us to be increasing the cost to taxpayers.

We believe overall that we have a balanced approached to providing a post-secondary system that’s accessible, that’s affordable.

And you know, when you look at it, 70 per cent of students do not have student loans. So by and large we have a system that’s affordable and accessible.

Premier Clark announced that

there won’t be a fall sitting of the legislature and it won’t resume until February. Having just been appointed to a new position, doesn’t that interfere with your ability to step in and get work done? Especially when you’ll have to start campaigning shortly thereafter given the upcoming election?

Actually this gives me the opportunity to reach out and to meet with all of the great people who are working at colleges and universities. I have already started reaching out to the college and university presidents. I’ve talked to almost all of them; I’ve put in calls to everyone. I’m looking forward to getting out there and meeting with the college and university people, with students, with the administrators, with the teachers, to really get to know the great system that we have.

I’ve had a chance to visit a number of colleges and universities already in the last two weeks. We have a great system and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet with as many of the people working in our colleges and universities, and as many students [as I can].

There have been a number of high-profile MLAs who announced they will not seek reelection or have left altogether.

Does this turmoil within the government affect morale and productivity?

Well, let me say this: every time we’re at the stage [where] we’re approaching election, MLAs [decide if they are] going to stand for office again.

It’s totally understandable, after two or three terms, that it’s time for them to take on other chapters in life.

I look at it as very much a normal part of elected office that people will decide to run again or not run again. If they choose not to run again, it means that we can attract new blood. That’s a healthy thing; it gives us a chance to renew, and that’s exactly what’s happening. We’re looking forward to new people joining the team, and some have already stepped up. It will be a renewed team as we head to the election.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Community, respect and never a dull moment at Atangard TAYLOR JOHNSON THE CASCADE

Its long hallways are lined with the artwork of its artistic and friendly residents, lending to a strong sense of community and family.

The Atangard Community Project was developed three years ago by a group of young workers and students, who found that living on their own was a difficult and expensive experience.

Coming together, they took over the lease to the Fraser Valley Inn, a grungy and unmaintained hotel with a bad reputation. After extensive cleaning and renova-

tions, the hotel was transformed into an artistic home for working and studying young people between the ages of 19 and 35. Dirty carpets were replaced with dark hardwood, walls were lined with artwork and photos and rooms became a blank canvas for inhabitants to express themselves and their tastes.

Three years later, Atangard has become home to 24 residents sharing 19 bedrooms, a TV room and a communal dining room with attached kitchen. Each resident is expected to pitch in on chores and plan two communal dinners a month.

Atangard focuses on fostering a feeling of community, and this

means that there is constantly something going on. Resident and coordinator Levi Binder described Atangard as a “time suck,” since there is always something intriguing grabbing residents’ attention the minute they leave their rooms.

Resident and coordinator Lia Bishop agreed. “Everyone brings in something different and something is going on all the time,” she said.

Privacy seems like it would be a non-existent factor when living in a community, but there are still rules to allow residents to get solitude when they want it. Residents are respectful of doors, and if a door is closed it typically means

either a resident is out for the day or doesn’t want to be disturbed.

This unspoken agreement depends on a level of trust; doors may be closed, but they are rarely ever locked at Atangard.

Becoming a resident is similar to applying for a job. There is an intensive screening process which determines if the candidate is suitable for the community living.

“Community living is not for everyone,” Binder said. “There has to be respect for the community and each other.”

Residents take pride in the cleaning up of the downtown core, the environment and the Abbotsford community itself;

new residents should have this same level of respect not just for Atangard, but for Abbotsford and each other.

The costs associated with living at Atangard range from $350 to $500 per room, which includes a private bathroom and a $30 staples fee paid every three months, which goes toward community supplies such as flour, sugar, and dishwasher soap. Income is managed by the Board of Directors and is discussed at monthly house meetings.

It might be a little different than other living situations, but Binder said it allows residents to be part of a respectful—and affordable— community.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

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OPINION

False alarm on the fee increase ... for now JESS WIND

CONTRIBUTOR Somewhere between the circular arguments and distracting restaurant noise, SUS’s Annual General Meeting managed to come to some agreements. Of course, this was a second attempt.

VP internal Greg Stickland addressed the room as official chair of the meeting, a role normally filled by SUS president Carlos Vidal.

His absence was missed during the drawn-out debate as to whether or not board members should be allowed to disagree with the opinions of the SUS board after a motion has been decided upon. We were already two hours into the meeting when this, the third motion, was brought to the table and it had every non-board member student looking around wondering

what it had to do with them.

After an uncomfortable display of unprofessional sarcastic quips between VP finance Samuel Broadfoot and former SUS board member, Mehtab Singh Rai, rep-at-large Jay Mitchell, who has served on the board for four years, called a point of order and the microphone was passed back to Stickland.

I suppose it wouldn’t be an AGM without some excitement.

During a motion that had everyone in attendance debating the technicalities within the SUS bylaws, fourth year English major Samantha Lenz motioned to amend the 75 per cent majority vote needed on the SUS board in order to push through a referendum to 50 per cent plus one and was seconded by Heidi Luhmert.

This launched a debate about how much power SUS has to make decisions, which careened off topic quick-

ly, with people requesting a smaller percentage for student petitions. It had already been decided that students can push through a referendum on their own with a petition containing signatures from five per cent of the student membership.

Despite Stickland’s attempts to control the room and the amount of amendments being proposed, one on top of the other, the debate went on for 40 minutes before a call to action was requested.

Of course, by that point, no one knew what we were voting for anymore.

SUS now needs a board majority vote of 66 per cent to push through referendums and students may push through referendums with a petition containing the signatures of one per cent of the membership (about 160 students).

Prepare yourself for an onslaught

of referendums based on these numbers – it’s easier than ever to have your voice heard on this campus. However, the shining moment for the meeting was the one we’d all been waiting for: the motion to increase SUS membership fees.

Stickland read out the motion, put forward by VP social Chris Doyle and everyone held their breath for another long-winded debate. However, before Doyle was given the opportunity to open the speaker’s list, VP academic Dan van der Kroon proposed a call to action, the vote was counted and the motion stricken from the table without consideration.

It happened so fast that there was barely time to realize that the room had publicly silenced Doyle. Had he lashed out, it wouldn’t have been the first time that procedure had been ignored to force a point that afternoon.

Instead, he quietly stepped outside as

the meeting continued.

The motion didn’t propose a direct fee increase, but rather a request for referendum; it was a diplomatic request at its core. I can’t honestly say how I would have voted for the fee increase, had we been given the chance to approve or deny the referendum, but it would have been nice to hear the reasoning. Of all the motions on the agenda, why is it that that one was the one robbed of a debate?

I would like the hour back that we spent debating the Trades Rep position (and whether to call it CEP or Chilliwack Rep) and give it to something that directly affects each and every student on this campus. Of course, considering the revised bylaws, we may see this membership fee referendum yet. After all, 160 student signatures, or two-thirds of the SUS board is a far more achievable number.

agree with the terms and conditions?”

One part of the privacy act explains how Facebook (and Twitter and Linkden etc.,) have the right to use your information for third party applicants.

Information such as our name, age, interests and our location can be given out without being informed. This includes more technical information, such as the browser you are using, your IP address and the times you have logged on and off.

We are living in a world where technology is advancing quickly, and it seems like everyone is connected to some online social media platform.

The internet is a useful tool, and in many ways, we are all dependent on it.

Researchers Deirdre O’Brien and Ann Torres conducted a study in 2010 that was aimed at understanding how Facebook users perceive and apply their knowledge of privacy concerns on their personal accounts. After running a series of questionnaires to 285

applicants, they concluded, “[w]hile Facebook users believe they are more cautious in what they say and do on the social networking site some activities in terms of information disclosure and number of Facebook “friends” appear to still be driven by the desire for social acceptance on the social networking site and not by privacy concerns.”

Looking at my own newsfeed, I’d have to agree with the assertions made by O’Brien and Torres. Users update their statuses, upload pictures and communicate with friends and family for more reasons than just keeping in contact. It has become an avenue for posting the funniest meme, most controversial update or cutest cat video.

In the way Facebook has developed in recent months, as soon as one of your friends “likes” a video you have uploaded, their “like” will appear on their friends’ newsfeeds, even if you are not mutual friends. Sudden-

ly, the privacy settings we previously selected are no longer protecting us.

Our information is making its way to other places without us knowing.

Facebook is a brilliant invention.

Completely functioning with usergenerated content, it acts solely as an interface for us to communicate and share as little or as much as we want.

Until recently, I had not read the privacy act in its entirety. I trusted the site as a whole, thinking it would not betray my trust and I could go on posting the funny, inappropriate and sarcastic internet content I enjoy. Then I started looking at my future, and realized all this information is going to be saved, and never erasable. Every key stroke, Facebook like and humorous video I upload is being saved for someone else to gather at a later date. Have I read all the terms and conditions for everything I look at or download on the internet? No. Will I start? Yes.

citement in any of those sentences. As I write this, I have four classes-worth of reading to do and three textbooks awaiting my highlighter. But I’m not excited about any of it. My textbooks are a battlefield, and I’ll get in and get out as fast as I can, underlining relevant paragraphs and ideas in some kind of mad dash.

Every semester I buy a new set of highlighters and promise that I’ll stay up-to-date on my reading. Not once have I kept this promise to myself.

There’s always one chapter (and usually more than one) that I skip over entirely. Last semester there was one textbook that I didn’t open until the week before the final exam.

Reading.

I have reading to do.

I should probably do that reading for tomorrow.

I don’t know how to fix this absolute disinterest in textbooks, and I’m at the point where I’m just going to give up and power through. Battlefield.

Crack that book open, gather up the necessary knowledge like wounded soldiers, and get the hell out.

But despite the mountain of read-

ing I have staring at me from my to-do list, I did something this week that I’ve never had the guts to do before.

I had just gotten home from work, and was cooking some dinner. I had 20 minutes to waste while it was in the oven.

I feel like reading, I thought to myself.

Then, guiltily, I should probably do that reading.

I have that reading to do.

I should catch up on my reading.

But then I rebelled.

Fuck it, I thought. I’m going to read some Vonnegut.

And I did. Because there’s a part of me that loves reading, and textbooks don’t count as reading.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s a difference between reading and doing reading. Whatever you do, don’t mistake one for the other – because there’s still a shiny, exciting world waiting for you. I’m just saying it’s probably not in your textbook.

Although I still recommend pulling some late nights because you will seriously regret it.

Google search: everything about you ALI SIEMENS CONTRIBUTOR

People all over the world have become a part of online communities such as Facebook and Twitter. 2012 QuantCast statistics say that there are over 800 million users worldwide, with more joining every single day.

Online social media has become a part of our societal fabric; terms such as “Facebook me” and “add me as a friend” have leaked into our everyday vernacular.

One of the amazing aspects of social media is that it has brought people closer together in terms of being able to communicate with friends and family across the world. We no longer have to rely on long distance phone plans because inventions such as Skype have provided us with the ability to talk and see our loved ones for free.

Unfortunately, social media has been both a blessing and a curse when

it comes to privacy. Before social media, when we would share information with friends and family, it was assumed that it would stay between the person we confided in. Today, we log onto our Facebook accounts and are immediately faced with the ubiquitous question, “What’s on your mind?”

With 800 million people connected to Facebook, there is a good chance a few of those users are people we don’t want knowing everything about our lives. Bosses, parents, professors and others are all logging on to the same social networking site that we are.

Facebook is constantly changing its privacy settings, and users around the world seem to be very conscious about it. Awareness of privacy concerns is not the issue. It’s the apathy surrounding the issues. Reading through the Privacy Act can be a tumultuous task; it is long and full of jargon. One of the internet’s biggest lies has been made into the infamous meme, “Do you

Sorry, I have reading to do DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

Congratulations! We’re officially a third of the way through the semester.

Welcome to October – the month of scarves, pumpkins and midterms. It’s the time of year when the leaves starting turning vibrant shades of red and yellow, and the time of year that all the reading you haven’t done is starting to catch up to you. May I suggest pulling a couple of late nights in the library to get yourself caught up before you seriously regret it?

But let’s turn back to that verb for a second: reading. To read. I read, you read, the class reads. But when did that verb take such an ominous tone?

Reading.

I have reading to do.

The prof assigned us so much reading.

I can’t go to the movies tonight, guys – I have to do my reading.

I remember loving reading as a kid.

I’d go to the library every week and sometimes twice a week, checking out 10 or 15 books at a time. I couldn’t help

myself. Everything looked so exciting and fascinating. I recall several titles with fondness – The Phantom Tollbooth, for instance, or Harold and the Purple Crayon. I dug myself a little nest in Shel Silverstein for a while and stayed there.

Maybe one of the most exciting discoveries was venturing out of fiction and into the realm of non-fiction, checking out every single book in the Eyewitness series for starters and then diving into dinosaurs, origami and pirates. One of my favourites was titled Fire and Ice, which had glorious huge pictures of glassblowing in action. I haven’t touched that giant volume in over a decade, but I’m pretty sure I’ll remember the red-hot illustrations forever.

The world is pretty damn exciting, especially when you’re 12. So what happened to that excitement? When was the last time you remember being excited about your reading?

Reading.

I have reading to do.

I’m behind on my reading.

I’d better catch up on my reading.

There isn’t even a single iota of ex-

Image: szilard 365/Flickr

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

OPINION even happen.”

To continue with the excruciating football metaphor, Romney is way behind heading into the fourth quarter and his team needs a Hail Mary to salvage a catastrophic start. Obama’s best strategy right now is just to stay the course and watch as Romney continues to fumble his way to selfdestruction.

Nick and Sean make their comeback

Image: from mychinaconnection.com/manipulated by Stewart Seymour/The Cascade

Fumbling towards November NICK UBELS

back to talk American politics for the everyman. And the everycat.

SEAN EVANS

Sean: With just a few of weeks ‘til the big day, and early voting underway, Willard Mitt Romney (yes, that is his first name) is struggling. Ever since Clint Eastwood took the stage in Tampa, giving what seemed to be an alcohol-fuelled interrogation to a nonexistent Barrack Obama, the Romney campaign that never was began to tank. From secretly-filmed videos that ostracize 47 per cent of voters, to comically suggesting that planes would be safer if the windows opened (there was a fire on a plane his wife was on), Romney has not done himself any favours. So, is Mitt Romney finished?

THE CASCADE

CONTRIBUTOR

Previously on AMPOL: When we last left our heroes back on the dusty campaign trail in March, Romney had taken a firm lead in the Republican primaries and the Obama re-election juggernaut was just rumbling to a start.

Now it’s just over a month until election day. We’ve seen controversies and blunders aplenty as America’s big two political parties gear up for the November 6 smackdown. Returning from a private 26-foot yacht somewhere off the coast of Argentina and a condemned Kentucky salt mine, Sean and Nick are

Nick: Never say never. If I’ve

learned one thing, it’s that the voting public (at least independent or swing voters) can be incredibly volatile in their opinions. Back in August, the race was almost neck and neck. But now Obama leads by six or more points in most national polls, a huge gap by U.S. election standards. Coming back from that is a tall order and evidence of the Romney-Ryan camp’s desperation is piling up quickly. Just last week, Paul Ryan used a question about the NFL’s referee strike to throw in another dig at Obama’s economic policies.

Let’s go to the tape, shall we?

Paul Ryan: “I half think these refs work part time for the Obama administration in the budget office. They see the national debt clock staring them in the face, they see the debt crisis, and they pretend it didn’t

Sean: I agree, Nick. But, I think that no matter what happens, this will be a close election; many Americans are pretty set in their ways and will vote Republican or Democrat come hell or high water. It will come down to those who are not so set in their ways. It will be the 10 or 15 per cent of independent voters that decide who will be the next quarterback leading America to future touchdowns and greatness.

That said, I think Obama still needs to do more in the way of winning back the idealistic, disenfranchised, college-aged voters that propelled him to a relatively easy victory in 2008. The President needs to get young people excited again. He needs to revive the rhetoric of hope and change – but, at the same time, not draw attention to unfulfilled promises, of which there are many. Let’s not kid ourselves, old white people (Romney’s wrinkly base of support) will vote no matter what.

Young, idealistic people don’t vote, not unless they are excited. Obama needs them to be excited.

As for Mitt, I think that he is obviously struggling, but a strong performance in the upcoming debates could really do wonders for his campaign.

Although Obama is obviously the better communicator, Romney could very well get a couple of sacks in (and the football metaphors continue).

As the incumbent, Obama faces the challenge of giving an account for the current state of things, the economy, mainly. While he could simply blame it all on the Bush era, the President ultimately needs to take responsibility.

In the end, the big issue is the economy. A lot could hinge upon what the

markets do this fall. Even more will depend on who the American people believe can restore the economy.

Nick: Do you really think Romney will perform well in the debates? If he’s proven anything over the course of this campaign, it’s that he’s able to place his foot firmly in mouth with deadly accuracy. Any time he goes off script or tries to improvise, you can almost hear his campaign managers bashing their heads against their clipboards.

Yet the debate topics are far from unpredictable. I’m sure both democrats and republicans alike have spent ample time prepping their candidates for not only the questions about health care and foreign policy that are sure to crop up, but how to respond to their opponent’s expected responses.

You’re right that young voters are a lot less engaged in this election. In a recent survey released by the PEW centre, only 63 per cent of registered voters under the age of 30 said they would vote in this year’s election, compared to the 72 per cent who voted in 2008. That said, Obama is currently leading Romney by a large margin in spite of this young voter drop off. If he can find a way to bring disaffected youth back on board, it will only strengthen his lead.

I guess all that’s left to do is brace ourselves for tonight’s [October 3] debate.

Sean: Will Romney come out swinging? Will Obama stay the course?

Nick: I’ll make the popcorn!

Next week: Nick and Sean rehash this week’s Presidential Debate with Romney and Obama squaring off in their first headto-head contest. They also ponder why, amid all this apathy towards major party politics, third party candidates have been excluded from the national stage.

Sharing is for kindergarten, not full-grown countries DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

Let’s think of Canada and Britain as individuals rather than countries for a second.

Last week, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced that Canada and Britain will start sharing embassies.

“What does that even mean?” I said to myself, pulling a Clint Eastwood and pretending the empty chair next to me was John Baird.

“Why would you think that’s a good idea?”

Well, John Baird a.k.a. empty chair, let me explain to you why I think it’s a bad idea. Then you’ll have a chance to respond. Just kidding. You can’t respond. You’re an empty chair.

Like I said, let’s think of Canada and Britain as regular people rather than giant countries.

British Foreign Minister William Hague described the two as “first cousins.” Well, William, I have an empty chair for you, too. They are nothing like first cousins. Did you forget the part where colonialism happened? Britain started Canada.

We had to claim independence from Britain before we were considered

Image: Stewart Seymour/The Cascade

anything more than a cute little hanger-on. The term “first cousins” implies that Canada and Britain would be considered roughly equal, and that’s just plain untrue. It’s more like Canada became an unruly teenager and joined a band and moved out of Britain’s house.

Deciding to share a house together again seems like a really bad idea.

Hague and Baird both insist that it’s for purely administrative purposes. That makes it an even worse idea – Canada and Britain are combining embassies not because they

want to and because they love each other, but because it’s the easy and cheap thing to do. Since when are those reasons considered good?

Hint: Never.

“But Canada and Australia have shared embassies for a long time,” Empty-Chair-Baird whines.

Sure they have, I retort to NoOne-Will-Sit-In-You-Baird, Australia and Canada were unruly teenagers at the same time, did crazy drugs together, and were in the same shitty band.

I would say that if anyone is first

cousins, it’s Australia and Canada.

Britain’s more like the disapproving great-aunt who hates rock and roll, has never smoked a cigarette and complains that her children should have become doctors.

Is that what this is about, Britain?

You want to be more like Australia?

Oh, come on!

If Australia and Canada want to bunk together, that’s fine by me.

They’ve been hanging out for years and get along swimmingly. Britain has no place in that equation.

Whose idea was this in the first place? Either way it seems awkward to the power of nine.

Let’s run through a couple of scenarios for these two nations.

One – Britain wants to share with Canada.

Britain: Oh hey, Canada. Nice little embassy you have. Very smooth operations.

Canada: Oh, you know. I try to keep it clean and running.

Britain: I sure wish I had an embassy like this. But I don’t. It’s really quite sad. I don’t have an embassy in this country at all.

Canada: Maybe you should build one or something?

Britain: I know! I’ll share with you!

Canada: Um. Britain: Roomies!

Canada: Um. Two – Canada wants to share with Britain.

Canada: Um, Britain?

Britain: Yes, Canada? What is it?

Spit it out. I don’t have much time.

Canada: Well, Britain, I was kind of wondering if ...

Britain: Speak up, Canada, I can barely hear you.

Canada: I WAS WONDERING IF YOU MAYBE WANT TO SHARE EMBASSIES SINCE I DON’T HAVE ONE IN THIS COUNTRY AND I’M TOO BROKE TO BUILD ONE. [Pause. Britain steeples hands and looks ominous.]

Britain: Well, well, well... look who’s come crawling back.

I have acted these scenes out for my empty chairs. Neither of them can look me in the eye.

“Well?” I demand. “Whose idea was this?”

That’s what I thought. It’s so awkward that nobody wants to own up to it. Cooperative? Cooperative my ass. You’re both grown countries now. Get your own damn embassies or I guarantee this will end in heartache for all three of us.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

www.ufvcascade.ca

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ARTS & LIFE

CROSSWORD

Characters of SNL*

3

5

THe cascade

ACROSS

1 2

NICK UBELS & AMY VAN VEEN

4

3. The woman who is constantly one-upping everyone else. “Um, I’m best friends with all the Muppets, so, including Scooter, so, I was invited to all their weddings, so...” (8 letters) 5. Ill-fated plasticine adventurer with a high-pitched voice. “Oh no!” (2, 4 letters)

8. “This place has everything. Pubs, geezers, doo-wop groups, a wise, old turtle that looks like Quincy Jones. And you’ll have your When Harry Met Sally moment when you share a special kiss with Gizblow, the coked-up gremlin.” (6 letters)

6

10. The mischievous girl in elementary school who no one can trust. (5 letters)

7

11. British singer-songwriter who fails to produce a new demo before meeting the label executives, resulting in an improvised piano ballad featuring an endless chorus of “Choppin’ Broccoli.” (5, 7 letters)

8 9 10

LAST WEEK’S Answer Key Across 2. WWI 5. Australia 8. The Great Escape 11. October 12. Great Britain

DOWN

Down

1. That friend who has the ability to take anything positive and spin it into a dark, rainy cloud of negative. (6, 6 letters)

1. Littlefoot 2. Great Gatsby 3. Great Scott 6. Alexander 7. Erie 9. Great Coat 10. Grate

2. Never before has anyone been as excited as this character about your retail purchases. (6, 4 letters) 4. Matching suits, matching hats, matching sunglasses. Enough said. (5, 8 letters)

6. Chevy Chase’s star of (the fictional) Jaws II who lured victims to the door with promises of flowers, telegram or candygram. (4, 5 letters)

7. Inept, vest-and-mullet-sporting ‘80s action star whose weekly attempts to defuse a ticking time bomb invariably end in disaster due to his inability to focus on the task at hand. (9 letters) 8. Andy Samberg’s most timid character who once robbed a bank with Rihanna. (3, 6 letters)

11

9. Listen to this motivational speaker’s advice or risk a future “living in a van, down by the river!” (4, 5 letters) *All clues, answers and inspirations belong to NBC. Please don’t sue us.

EclipseCrossword.com

Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18

The Weekly Horoscope Star Signs from Swamp Bob Gemini: May 21 - June 21

Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22

Cora and Karpo overheard during their cardio class that you will experience a life-altering evening listening to worldrenowned flautist Emmanuel Pahud after which you will devote your life to making fruit characters of celebrities.

Calypso suggests that learning a new language will improve your future job prospects. She hears Esperanto is all the rage these days.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21

Io and Triton both agree that you should embrace the panda lifestyle … we are still working out the details on what that actually entails.

After peering through the veil of space, time and the backstage curtain of the Victoria’s Secret spring fashion show, Saturn assures you that great things are in your future which may include promotions at work, unlocking your new iPhone 5 or that frilly pink number worn by Brazilian model Michelle Alves.

Europa suggests that to impress your partner you should take him or her out for authentic Chinese beer duck.

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21

Pluto remarks that day-to-day stress can be relieved by taking a nice walk … Or throwing apples at the nearest hipster (utilizing either phone or the fruit are up to your discretion and price range).

Ares suggests that to get in shape for parka season you start a strict regimen of chicken wings with a side of poutine.

Venus cautions that you should take great care while you try to finish your 20-page paper in one night and reminds you that drip-lining Red Bull is neither wise nor medically recommended.

Aries: March 21 - April 19 While on a six day spray cheese and Shasta bender, Neptune mentions that you will stumble upon the Isle of Lost McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys from Last Season while on safari in your local malls “Adventures in the Amazon” display next to the food court.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20 Jupiter sagely states that you will finally discover what a mackintosh is.

Virgo: Aug 23 - Sept 22 Mars suggests that—since your attempt at creating a reverse osmosis machine for studying based on the principles of cognitive learning and string cheese theory did not work—maybe a spot of studying should be attempted.

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19 Mercury was unavailable for comment as he was standing in line for the new iPhone 6. He said he wanted to get a jump on it before all the big lines form.

Visit us at www.monktucky.com!

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

FEATURE

CEP built with sustainability in mind KATIE TEGTMEIER in Chilliwack isn’t just great for CONTRIBUTOR

It seems that everyone is focussed on being “green” lately.

While most initiatives towards decreasing your carbon footprint include simple tasks such as recycling and composting; UFV has given a whole new meaning to “green initiatives.”

The brand new UFV Canada Education Park (CEP) campus

students, but good for the environment as well. With an open source geo-exchange system working its magic by maintaining the temperatures of the building in an eco-friendly manner, solar-thermal heating for the water and the use of natural lighting throughout the building, the CEP campus really is cutting down on its carbon footprint.

Electric car parking stalls Taking the green initiative a step further, UFV has created several designated electric car parking stalls. These stalls allow the driver to charge the vehicle while it is occupying the space, almost acting as a free gas station. While this idea sounds ideal, it does raise some questions as to why these stalls belong at our humble university.

The Ford Focus Electric starts at $37,477, and the Chevrolet Volt at $41,545. The average student probably can’t afford either of these vehicles, so why give prime real estate to electric cars? Sure, faculty or staff may drive electric cars, but are there enough UFV professors driving these kinds of vehicles to warrant special parking stalls?

Craig Toews, UFV’s executive director of Facilities and Campus Development, said

that the stalls were a way of planning for the future and keeping UFV true to green standards.

When the new CEP campus was in the designing stages, it was built to attain LEED Gold Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

“The electric car charging stalls are one of a number of sustainable design features required to attain LEED Gold certification for our new building,” Toews explained.

The stalls represent a level of achievement for the campus, but the number of stalls still seems disproportionate to the use they’ll see, especially considering they occupy prime real estate.

“While the number of electric stalls implemented at CEP are a little high for that location,” Toews admitted, “it was

a LEED requirement and will be reviewed once we have completed the second electric charging project.”

This second electric charging project Toews referred to is the plan to build two more electric car stalls at the Abbotsford campus near C building, as well some at the hangar close to the airport. These will be constructed using money from a grant UFV received from the Fraser Basin Council.

“This funding is to promote electric vehicle use,” Toews continued, “and our Automotive Trades faculty are converting some vehicles to electric to encourage electric vehicle use between campuses.”

So as unnecessary as the electric car parking stalls may seem at the moment to students, their purpose represents great change on a larger scale for the future.

Image: saturn /flickr.com

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

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FEATURE

30 year plan

The new CEP building was designed and constructed especially with an eye to the future; UFV looks at the new CEP campus as more than just a shiny new building.

With the Garrison Crossing complex just across the road, all the amenities and housing students require are close at hand.

Representing the foundation for a university section of the city, Garrison has enabled UFV to expand on their 85 acres at CEP with peace of mind that students will have access to all their needs, both on and off campus.

With hopes to add many more buildings to the new campus, UFV has drawn out a plan for which they anticipate erecting new buildings in which to offer more programs than those currently offered.

For the most part, what UFV has been trying to accomplish since initially purchasing the CEP plot of land in 2006 is to

keep up with the growing student population of the Fraser Valley.

“Right now,” Craig Toews explained, “we are producing five per cent more students than what we are funded for.”

With an ever-growing community, and an ever-growing need for post-secondary education in the workforce, the university is operating beyond its maximum capacity – not a shock to those currently enrolled in classes at UFV. However, as Toews explained, the money UFV makes from charging tuition is only about 25 per cent of its income.

Eager to expand on the CEP campus as quickly as possible, but faced with a tight budget, the university is relying heavily on government grants, donations, and the funds from both parking and the bookstore.

With 55 per cent of the funding solely tied to the government, it does raise the question

of how long it may take UFV to expand on the CEP campus to accomplish their 30-year plan.

The Abbotsford campus is facing similar problems; currently operating at a 130 per cent capacity, they are desperate for expansion.

“We have literally renovated every broom closet,” Toews remarked, explaining that in order to expand, new buildings would have to be built in Abbotsford as well.

UFV’s 30-year plan touches on the Abbotsford campus as well, highlighting the potential of a Garrison Crossingtype university residential area across the street. Currently, commercial businesses are occupying the land UFV is interested in for such a project.

The hope, according to Toews, is that UFV will be able to build the “U-District” once an opportunity for purchasing the desired plot of land arises.

Garrison Crossing in Chilliwack

Image: courtesy of UFV

Longhouse under construction

Image: courtesy of UFV

Longhouse at CEP

With how diverse our culture is here in Chilliwack, it is important to embrace and celebrate all the elements, as well as the people who bring such diversity to our population.

When the new building on

the CEP campus was being planned out, there was talk of how the building could reflect many things: prosperity, education, culture and innovation. One of the ways UFV decided to reflect the culture of

Chilliwack was to build an aboriginal longhouse inside the school. Not exactly your traditional longhouse—it is inside a university after all—although it does hold many characteristics of the classic longhouse.

Image: courtesy of UFV

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

ARTS & LIFE

Dine & Dash Maan Farms

790 McKenzie Road Abbotsford, BC

Hours: Every day 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Approximate cost: $7 to $14

ALI SIEMENS

CONTRIBUTOR

We are approaching the season where soups and sandwiches are a comforting lunch item. Maan Farms (known to some as the Apple Barn), located right down the road from UFV on McKenzie Road, has those menu entries advertised on their message board outside.

With Maan Farms being in such close proximity, I thought it would be a good idea to offer students a place of lunch refuge – an alternative to Sodexo or AfterMath.

As you walk into the barnshaped business, you can see their kitchen is much like an indoor farmer’s market setting. There are two bistro tables inside, as well as lots of outdoor seating with umbrellas and picnic tables. A large chalkboard menu is hanging above the deli display, featuring a few different lunchtime foods: hot dogs, panini sandwiches, crepes and pizzas. All of the selections had descriptions, and they sounded high-quality.

For instance, one of their pizza

Image:Ali Siemens

choices was topped with goat cheese, blueberries and caramelized onions, which sounds delicious.

Unfortunately, we noticed a sign to customers stating that the menu above was not available, and to check on the sandwich board on the ground for the meals that they were providing that day. The server who was working explained that the kitchen was going through some changes, and they were revamping their menu; so the selection was not as wide as we had

originally anticipated.

My compadre ordered a hot dog, which came dressed with prosciutto, caramelized red onions, smoked bacon and drizzled in a mystery sauce that looked like BBQ, but didn’t taste like it. The hot dog was of decent size, and came with a side of watermelon.

I ordered the turkey panini made with Havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato, in house cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. The bread was a cranberry sourdough, which really tied it all together. Along with the

The Cascade Cookbook Kim Isaac’s Fabulous French Bread

watermelon side I also received, I ordered their chicken noodle soup.

Of the two meals we ordered, mine was the superior for two reasons. My pal’s hot dog came to almost $9 (a few cents short) and was not particularly memorable.

Although the ingredients sounded decadent, like something you could find at Japadog, her review was that it was nothing special.

Specifically looking for something on a student budget, leaving campus to pay exorbitant prices for a hot dog just seems a bit silly.

The bread used for my panini was really tasty, but overall, the sandwich as a whole was nothing to write home about. My chicken noodle soup came with chicken, but no noodle. It seemed like the only other ingredients besides broth and pulled chicken were corn kernels, but even those were far and few between. More importantly, it cost me $12 for a soup and sandwich that was mediocre at best.

I wanted to review Maan Farms specifically because of its proximity to the university. On those days where you need a break from campus and you are looking for something local and fresh to eat, Maan Farms seemed like a good alternative. The nice thing about Maan Farms is that it also makes many different kinds of homemade jams, canned pickles, beats and other goodies. Not to mention, their plethora of pumpkins and apples throughout the property makes for a great opportunity to support local as the fall season approaches.

The business works great as a farmers market, and I will definitely go back to buy some of their spreads and jams, but for lunch, I will either wait until they work out their kitchen difficulties, or find a new place for lunch.

The Bartender

Honey Bee

Kim Isaac is UFV’s university librarian, the administrator for all campus libraries and library services. Her UFV roots run deep; she was a student at Fraser Valley College somewhere in the mists of time, and has worked here in a number of different roles since 1988.

“Fall is the time for comfort food, and nothing is more comforting than a fragrant loaf of homemade French bread. Making bread is not difficult, and your friends and family will be very impressed with you!”

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups warm (not hot) water 2 tablespoons active dry yeast 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 6-7 cups unbleached white or all-purpose flour 1 egg white 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Mix together water, yeast, sugar in a large bowl. Let stand in a warm place 10 – 15 minutes, until yeast has dissolved and become bubbly.

2. Mix in salt and vegetable oil to the above ingredients 3. Mix in 3 cups flour. Beat 300 strokes (don’t cheat!) until mixture is quite elastic.

4. Add remaining flour slowly to the bowl until dough reaches a consistency that you can knead – not too sticky, not too stiff. Then, knead for 10 – 15 minutes. Don’t shirk! It’s good exercise, and the bread needs it!

5. Place kneaded dough in a greased, large bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise until

double in bulk. This usually takes 45 minutes to an hour.

6. Punch dough down and divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Roll each half into a rectangle. Roll into a loaf shape, lightly from the long side, and seal well. Taper the ends.

7. Place each loaf, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.

Gash tops diagonally every 2 ½ inches, about ¼ inch deep.

8. In a separate bowl, beat egg white until foamy (not stiff) and add water. Brush tops and sides of loaves. Cover loaves and let rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Brush again with the egg mixture.

9. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, brush once again with the egg white mixture, then bake for another 20 minutes until golden – 40 minutes total.

Loaves should sound slightly hollow when you tap them gently.

10. Remove from baking pan, slice and eat!

Image: UFV.ca

*The trick when you’re working with yeast is to keep it warm but not hot. Watch the temperature of your water at step 1, and find a warm place in your kitchen to let the bread rise.* Estimated cost: Less than $10, if you already have flour, sugar and oil on hand and don’t have to buy full containers.

This was the time-old cure for the common cold in the ‘50s: soothing for the throat and sent the kids straight to sleep.

2 oz. dark rum 1/2 oz. lemon juice 1/4 oz. honey Mix: With an ice-filled shaker Glass: Cocktail glass Garnish: Lemon slice

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

www.ufvcascade.ca

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ARTS & LIFE

Album Review

Piramida by Efterklang BEAU O’NIELL

CONTRIBUTOR

CHARTS

1 2 3

Treasure Eyes Treasure Eyes Teen Daze All Of Us, Together

Divine Fits A Thing Called Divine Fits

4 5 6 7

Grizzly Bear Shields

The Ballantynes Misery b/w Stay

Oh Village Far Side of the Sea

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

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Dinosaur Jr. I Bet on Sky Jenn Grant The Beautiful Wild Ladyhawk No Can Do

Japandroids Celebration Rock Mac DeMarco Mac Demarco 2 Stars The North Thee Oh Sees Putrifiers II Young Galaxy Shoreless Kid Hot Panda Go Outside Yeasayer Fragrant World The Raveonettes Observator Chilly Gonzales Solo Piano II Snowblink Inner Classics

Shuffle AARON LEVY

CIVL station manager

DAVID KANDAL CIVL DJ Aaron Levy and David Kandal are top notch CIVLians! Listen to Left of the Dial every other Wednesday (like this Wednesday) at 6 to 8 p.m. on CIVL with David and Keaton!

The City Streets – “If I Go Back To Paris” Aaron discovered this song in 2009. It reminds him of The Boss and Wilco, but only at their best. For a modern look at the Jazz Age, David feels the City Streets are unparalleled by even fellow Edmontonians.

During their two-date summer tour stop in Vancouver, it was clear that The City Streets are both nice guys and good musicians.

Paul Westerberg – “My Road Now” Any new recording from the former Replacements frontman and Minneapolis recluse comes across as a welcome message that St. Paul is not done with recording music. This demo (just Westerberg and his piano) contains everything we have come to expect from PW: ragged vocals, great wordplay and an unsatisfied mind.

Japandroids – “The House that Heaven Built” Ironic that this song should feature the term “go to hell” prominently as the hook from the chorus. Call and response chants perforate the same section of a song that’s been burning up rock radio all summer and shows no signs of slowing down. Best live show in the province.

Pink Slips – “Seeing the World” This Vancouver band played What’s New @ Your U last Thursday, showcasing a smattering of the 100 songs written by singer-songwriter David Orr over 100 days this past year.

Each morning he woke, wrote a song, recorded it all by his lonesome, and returned to his slumber. Hard freaking core.

On the sea-swept archipelago of Svalbard, overlooked by Mount Doka, against the frozen waters of the Billefjorden, lies the abandoned Russian mining town of Pyramiden: the setting, background, and thematic origin of Danish indie band Efterklang’s new concept album, Piramida.

This desolate town is important to understanding the album, as the content stays so close to the concept. This is a work with a fixation on the complexities of naming and representation.

Pyramiden was named after the nearby mountain that visually suggests a pyramid. The album is so called because it sonically imitates the town—deserted so abruptly by its population that the buildings remain intact—through field recordings and a cold, sometimes gloomy tone.

Furthermore, each song is structured like that pyramidal mount, only inverted. The compositions begin minimally with a single instrument and a simple phrase, and are layered over until they form large musical expanses, though never attempting too great a strain on the base.

Among their other various contributions, Casper Clausen’s vocals, Rasmus Stolberg’s synthesizers, and Mads Brauer’s bass lines compose this ground layer, and are accompanied by the horn, clarinet, saxophone and percussion playing of multiple guest musicians, including the light-as-snow backing vocals of the South Denmark Girls’ Choir.

But the music is not as distant and inaccessible as its inspiration. The first track, “Hollow Mountain,” is the single for good reason. Though it begins with a tinny percussion rhythm that may have been recorded in a Soviet oil tank, and features a mystifying,

dark synth that harmonizes with Clausen’s eerie, echoing vocals.

The intro imitates the water drops that now fall in the tunnels of the carved out hills, with a percussive quality that reflects John Cage, only more coherent.

Questioning the purpose of a settlement in such a demanding part of the world, and being humbled by the region’s remoteness, Clausen asks, “Do it, do it operator, So what, so what, so what? It’s impossible, when the night inverts us / And I wonder ... what I am.”

Though the bulk of the recording was done in Berlin, he sings, and sounds, as if he were still on the island. On “Apples” he frames a similar thought under the guise of a love song: “Start to look a second, and then we’re off / The more you take to yourself, the more you take away.”

Running parallel with the theme of desertion found on “The Ghost” and “Sedna,” the name of an Inuit sea goddess and a song imitative of her domain, is the theme of the contrasting but connected states of abundance and exhaustion, which is explored in “Told to be Fine,”

“The Living Layer,” and “Between the Walls,” but is expressed most forcefully in the prima facie paradoxically titled “Black Summer.”

Because of a funky baritone saxophone that jumps alongside a full set of horns, this track is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s second piece from their Atom Heat Mother Suite, “Breast Milky,” and is easily the most pop-sounding and lively of the 10 tracks. It is as representative of the whole as “Hollow Mountain.”

The album finishes with the dreamy “Monument,” most likely referencing the bust of Lenin outside the town’s cultural centre, symbolic of all that has come and gone, which leads us out of town to the tune of birds chirping and a light breeze blowing. In their endeavour to capture, transform and communicate the fate and essence of Pyramiden, Efterklang has succeeded both artistically and technically, producing a work neither cold and barren, nor which should be left to the odd, adventurous tourist.

Film Review Cleanskin JEREMY HANNAFORD

CONTRIBUTOR

Cleanskin is the definition for a homegrown terrorist who has no connections to any criminal organizations, making them invisible to national security. Following the ideals of radical groups and creating secret terrorist cells, these operatives are extremely dangerous and unpredictable. This lifestyle is portrayed in the film of the same name, showing both the moral quandaries and consequences they face.

Sean Bean plays Ewan, a guiltridden Secret Service agent who recently failed to protect a fellow agent. His director keeps him in the field but forces him to go underground. She gives him free reign to find and eliminate the suspected terrorist cell in London.

While Bean appears to play the lead, it is Abhin Galeya who steals the show.

Abhin plays Ash, the “cleanskin” who leads the terrorist cell that Ewan is hunting. Throughout the

film, we are shown moments of Ash’s past that lead up to what he becomes. It shows his introduction into a radical group and how he rises through the ranks to take on more serious tasks. It is when he is told to assist in an execution that Ash begins to question what he truly believes. His world which was once black and white becomes a blur of indecision and chaos.

Ash’s development is the defining moment of the film.

However, during the final 20 minutes, Ash’s conflicted relationships with his terrorist cell and his on and off again girlfriend seem to just disappear. The curse of many straight-to-DVD terrorist threat films is that they always end the same way. While Cleanskin first appears like it is going to break this formula, it falls right into the same pit as all the rest. The sudden change in Ash breaks everything that the viewer has invested in him.

Hadji Hajang brings a sense of brutality to his film that is rare. It isn’t senseless but it is vicious. It

shows that the characters will do what they have to do. The means to the ends aren’t set in front of them. Nothing is just good or bad. The line in the sand has been covered and it is up to them to decide where is must be drawn.

And sometimes, they are horribly wrong. The first three quarters of the film is quite enjoyable with decent character development and an intriguing story. But Hadji just seems to rush his own ending and forgets everything he established in the first place. For a straightto-DVD flick, it’s definitely more admirable than the rest of the category but is shy of being a really good film. At least Sean Bean can be proud of this one.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

ARTS & LIFE

Dum Dum Girls End of Daze

Mumford and Sons Babel

The Glorious Dead The Heavy

Wild Nothing Nocturne

“Mine Tonight” introduces End of Daze with a stately, unhurried march that reinforces Dum Dum Girls’ expanding range and maturity. First appearing amid a wave of surf/garage acts circa 2008, the band has worked to distinguish itself by mining darker and more complex territory with each subsequent release. End of Daze is the band’s fourth record co-produced by Brill building veteran Richard Gottehrer, who tellingly penned hits like “I Want Candy” and “My Boyfriend’s Back” before going on to produce power pop and punk acts such as Blondie and Richard Hell in the 1970s. Gottehrer’s production perfectly accentuates Dum Dum Girls’ moody, damaged and darkly thrilling garage pop. Conviction and self-doubt characterize lead singer Dee Dee’s further reflection on the aftermath of her mother’s death. While their elemental musical philosophy remains intact, the band delves deeper into the genre than their contemporaries; take the gorgeously simple, achingly vulnerable “Trees and Flowers” or the “Crimson and Clover”-quoting “Lord Knows” which kicks off with a compressed drum beat that wouldn’t feel out of place on an early hip hop single. Garage rock is often at its best in short, hook-heavy bursts. This makes an EP the perfect format to showcase Dum Dum Girls’ increasingly singular take.

The banjo used to inspire massive eye-rolls at concerts and was mostly an instrument of comedy acts, but because of its incorporation into modern acts like Sufjan Stevens and the Avett Brothers, it has become a somewhat respectable instrument – yet Mumford and Sons look to change that. The band’s sophomore release Babel, aka Sigh No More II: It Doesn’t Get Any Better is devoid of any significant evolution in the band’s sound. It assaults the listener with nonstop kick drum and indistinguishable climaxes that fade into generic background folk music.

Their shallow cry at genuineness does not deal in subtlety or variation of any kind. The biggest departure from their formula of starting quiet and going loud is found on the first track and single “I Will Wait.” The band periodically stops dead mid-song to let lead singer Marcus Mumford get quiet, showing some progress into more diverse arrangements. Unfortunately, Mumford and Sons’ unbridled sincerity and drive can’t cover up for their lack of nuance, dynamics and genuine emotion, coming across as another overproduced British boy band.

This band sounds like the Black Keys on drugs, and I’m talking about the good stuff. The album opens with a vintage radio drama snippet warning the listener against the horrors of “the she-beast,” and continues on apace.

The lyrics are recklessly honest, kind of like you’re sharing a joint with the lead singer. He passes you a doobie, warns you against this ex-girlfriend who has “VENOM LIKE A COBRA” and has her “SHIT ON ELEVEN.” (That’s the other thing about this album – the listener gets the innate feeling that the lyrics are in all caps.)

The elements of this album are unlikely, but perfect together. It sounds like the soundtrack to a seventies Halloween TV special: the bright colours and crazy outfits of Moulin Rouge on LSD, meet Tim Curry from Rocky Horror Picture Show, and have a play-date in the carnival from Zombieland, which is populated with anyone who has ever been way too into Mardi Gras.

Every song is rife with animal and magical imagery, and these elements combine with string instrumentals and smooth-funk undertones to produce an album that is creepy, sneaky, catchy, bright and ultimately ready for Halloween. Turn this shit on eleven and leave it there.

Reticent and abstract even as words and guitars and strings direct, Wild Nothing continues an un-unique way of explaining the possibilities of being in love professed “if you asked me to” in Nocturne. Main member Jack Tatum drifts along, comfortable in the space of the act, the corners of the album, falling for everything he sees – but passing the responsibility of action to an indefinite “you.” The soundtrack consists of tightly circling guitars, uplifting contrails of voices, softly landing rapid percussion accompanies. In Nocturne’s central song, love is declared for “Only Heather,” but of course other names of desire appear in neighboring tracks, the “high” (fantasy) felt at name’s mention turns as Tatum shrinks into “better to fake/than to love her for real.” It would be easy to situate Nocturne in dream pop land, though in “Counting Days,” “dreaming has come undone,” or predict from the first chords its consistency in style, in all but the disco-striving “Paradise.”

It may be easier still to sweep it, in error, under the meaningless “indie” umbrella, for in Nocturne’s musical synchronicity and voicings, Wild Nothing is independent of nothing, existing as a self-placed piece, wanting desperately to be a part of, reciprocated, in dependency.

NICK UBELS

TIM UBELS

DESSA BAYROCK

MICHAEL SCOULAR

Discussions Below the Belt Masturbation makes you better

JOHNNY RODDICK THe cascade You’ve probably heard that masturbating makes hair grow on your palms.

We laugh about it now, but that’s just one of many outrageous beliefs that people used to take very seriously.

Our culture is still trying to recover from a puritanical era that saw pleasure as immoral. Although we’ve dismissed many of those myths, the shame and silence that surrounds the topic of masturbation still leads to a lot of misinformation and sexual dysfunction in our culture. It’s silly, really; so next time you’re tempted to feel guilty or ashamed about this topic, think instead about some of the ways self-touch has been shown to help and improve our lives.

Masturbation increases comfort with one’s body and self-esteem, according to Dr. Eli Coleman, in the Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality. It can make you more comfortable with yourself.

Julie Shulman and Sharon Home back up that finding in their 2003 article in the Psychology of Women Quarterly; they found that overall, there was a greater correlation between positive body image and masturbation frequency among American women.

It’s good for your sex life too. Coleman notes that masturbation improves

sexual satisfaction between partners.

Melissa Daly expands on that aspect as well, in a Current Health Teens article.

She notes that you’re actually more likely to reach orgasm if you masturbate. It makes sense, too, because learning what you like and how your body works will make it a lot easier to share with a partner. Imagine it’s like driving a car. It’s easier to give someone directions to a place you’ve been many times than to somewhere you’ve never been before. In fact, if a woman doesn’t have an orgasm before she gets married, she’s much, much less likely than other women to ever have one.

Masturbation can be used to help men as well. It can be used to treat sexual dysfunctions, ranging from dangerous pathological desires to common afflictions like premature ejaculation. For the latter, it can be as simple as learning to masturbate slower, taking deep breaths and paying attention to the approaching need to ejaculate – and clenching the PC muscles “doing Kegels” to control the desire. It’s a technique best learned and honed in regular masturbation, and one that can easily lead to a more fulfilling sex life with a partner. Similar techniques and practices can be applied to women’s sexual dysfunctions as well.

As a bonus for men, regular masturbation could lower the risk of developing prostate cancer by up to 25 per cent.

Image:wallz.eu

There is another reason why women really need to fight the cultural attitudes about masturbation. You may have noticed that female masturbation is even more taboo. A 2011 study by Christine Kaestle and Katherine Allen in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour showed that women are struggling more than men are to deal with the stigma associated with masturbation, despite the pleasure associated with the act.

It’s the Madonna-Whore Complex – you’re either a prude or a slut. In her 2012 article “The Pleasure Principle,”

Renee Bondy writes about the dichotomy between “abstinence-only” messages in our culture and exploitative portrayals of women’s pleasure in porn, film and other media. The way women are forced into one of those two categories (and nowhere in between) reinforces the idea that “good girls don’t” self-pleasure. It’s not healthy for women to be thought of and treated in this way and the only way to change things is to start the conversation that “good girls, in fact, do!”

Of course, it can’t stop there. We need

to change the way we raise our kids.

We can’t be satisfied with the silent approach. Most kids learn about masturbation from the media and from their peers, instead of from their parents or from sex ed. We need to teach our kids that there are healthy ways to deal with our sexuality. It’s time to push ourselves on this subject, to become more comfortable admitting that we are sexual beings, and that it’s normal and okay.

Talking to kids works – it really helps knowing the facts before you’re thrust into the challenging world of high school where teenage hormones and peer pressure collide. Letting kids know that masturbation is healthy and normal means fewer STDs and fewer unwanted pregnancies.

Masturbation is awesome. It’s good for you, it reduces menstrual cramping and relieves headaches, it gives you something to do when you need a break studying for your midterms, it gives you something completely safe to do when you’re ready to go to the next step with your partner but don’t want to go any “further” than that. It feels great, plain and simple.

Isn’t it time that we let go of history’s bogus reasons for making us feel ashamed and learn to love getting off?

Even if you’re still not sure about the whole thing, take a risk, get in touch with yourself and get better.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

www.ufvcascade.ca

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ARTS & LIFE

Book Review JASMIN PROCTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

If someone were to ask you what you value most in life, what would you respond with? Family?

Friends? Your career? All of these are of substantial importance to most people, but then, think about how precious your hours, your minutes, your seconds are. Mitch Albom’s The Time Keeper brings to light this very thing which many of us take for granted: time.

Initially set long before the idea of time existed, this short novel’s protagonist, Dor, is a man who is fixated on the concept of counting and recording. All his life, he is obsessed with keeping track of the rising and falling of the sun, always measuring with the various contraptions he builds. Little does he know that he has created the first means of calculating and documenting time.

Displeased by this, God punishes Dor for discovering his precious gift and locks him in a cave for centuries, making him prisoner to endless amounts of voices, begging for more minutes on this Earth. He is only allowed freedom once he has brought two people—one who wants more time on this earth, and one who wants less—together and taught them the value of a minute.

From this point forward, he would be known as Father Time.

These two people are polar opposites who, by chance, stumble upon Dor at completely different times. Sarah Lemon, an awkward high school senior, is desperate to end her life after the boy of her dreams completely shuts her out.

Victor Delamonte, an 87-year-old billionaire, yearns to find a way to

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

live forever after being told he only has weeks left. Though the two are dissimilar in stature and mindset, both fail to comprehend the importance to time. Through a series of radical events, Dor brings both characters together, causing them realize the sheer importance of the hours and days they are given.

Right from the beginning, The Time Keeper was very easy to get hooked on. The plot line is straightforward, but very impacting, and the short, glimpse-like chapters keep you interested. The purpose of each chapter is to reveal a specific part of one character’s story, right until the climax of the novel.

This technique works effectively for its purpose, as it keeps the reader in constant anticipation of what will come next for each character.

Albom does an even better job on the story structure of the novel, as he uses techniques like short paragraphs and bolded sentences to relay the significant messages he wants the reader to grasp.

The characters are generally quite basic, but this aspect is necessary in order for the moral of the narrative to shine through. Other than Dor, Ablom seems to base his characters off of stereotypes; Sarah is the self-conscious teenaged girl who falls for the popular boy at school, and Victor is the rich old man who makes his employees work late on weekends. That is probably why Albom made Dor’s gentle and growing personality contrast that of the other characters’ – in order to display the message within the story more significantly.

The part that is bothersome, though, is the quick change of heart from two of the main char-

SASHA MOEDT THe cascade

acters, nearer to end of the novel.

While experiencing a flash-forward to their potential futures, the two suddenly change their minds and dismiss the very thought of their earlier plans.

It seems as though it came straight out of A Christmas Carol, to be honest. It was just too sudden for it to be realistic, almost as if Albom wanted to find a quick way to wrap it up. It doesn’t alter the overall impact that the novel gives the reader, but it was still a flaw that taints the ending.

If you’re looking for a short read with a provoking theme, this is your story. The Time Keeper uses conventional characters that we can easily familiarize ourselves with in order to get a specific message across: we need to cherish the moments we are given. We only have one life to live, no more and no less, so we must use it wisely.

Through the characters’ mistakes and realization, Albom made this message of appreciating our moments on earth one that will stick with you, long after you’ve finished the last sentence.

Cascade Arcade JOEL SMART

THE CASCADE There’s no story. There are no fancy graphics. There are certainly no mainstream artists providing the music for this game.

Yet, Terry Cavanagh is a game designer with the clout to get the gaming world interested in his new game about a basic six-sided shape.

It’s going to be tricky to describe how this game works, so by all means, look up the trailer on YouTube and skip this description. Remember that scene in every action movie ever, where there is a slowly closing door/roof/ gate and the hero needs to escape ... and they do, at the last second.

Well, that’s what happens in this game, albeit, in a much more abstract way. Instead of looking like Indiana Jones, you are merely an arrow. As the arrow, you must rotate around the edges of a hexagon at the centre of the screen. The aim is to avoid being crushed by an ever-encroaching series of objects that converge on the hexagon, generally leaving only one small space to escape. Oh, and it all happens ... quickly.

It’s the type of game that could give someone a seizure just from hearing about it, with colours changing and shapes spinning and transforming at an ever-increasing rate as the game goes on.

Yet, perhaps those who should be

most excited for the game are Rubik’s Cube aficionados.

It’s very much a puzzler at heart, and as Cavanagh explained, it’s best suited to those who enjoy challenging themselves, obsessing and learning patterns in order to work out the mystery. “[It’s] about training you to recognize the things that happen and how to react,” he told Joystiq. “[Players wind up] between this alert state where [they’re] reacting to what’s happening, and this zoned out state where [they] know what’s happening because [they] recognize it. That’s where your head should be when you’re playing.”

The game has sold over 45,000 copies since its September 6 release. While it’s only available for iPod and iPad right now, it should be available for Android soon – with Mac and PC versions also upcoming. Although Cavanagh prefers the controls when played at a computer, he actually enjoys the mobile version the most.

“It’s very suited to being a thing you carry around and play while you’re waiting for a bus or something,” he explained to Joystiq in an interview.

It’s because this game is all about trial and error, about beating your previous best. For most people, that means each turn is going to take about 10 seconds ... 11 seconds ... 15 seconds. Eventually improvement comes as you wrap your mind around the challenges.

Shauna Singh Baldwin to do author reading at UFV Shauna Singh Baldwin is coming to UFV. On October 10, with a reading and reception hosted by the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies, well-known writer Shauna Singh Baldwin will discuss her new novel, Selector of Souls.

Baldwin has won numerous awards for her novels and short stories, most notably the Commonwealth prize for best book for her novel What the Body Remembers.

UFV students interested in literature, creative writing, women’s issues and social issues—even free snacks—should come out to the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies where the reading will take place.

Sharanjit Sandhra, coordinator for the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies, said Baldwin is an approachable author, one that students should look to for questions and discussion.

“She’s a very engaging author, open to speaking to anybody.”

Baldwin has spoken once before at UFV, in 2006, on her then-new book What the Body Remembers.

She will be reading a passage from Selector of Souls for the audience, and will take questions at the reception, which will also feature food.

A common theme running through many of Baldwin’s stories is women’s issues. Selector of Souls is about two women—one of whom is a Hindu midwife fleeing an abusive relationship, the other a Catholic sister dealing with her own problems—whose lives cross as they both make an effort to aid other women in their own way.

“Most of her novels are on

women’s issues, because that’s just predominant, especially in South Asian culture and society, so she writes to those issues” Set in India in the mid-1990s, Selector of Souls confronts social, political and religious issues with gender and abortion.

“It crosses cultures, women’s issues, it crosses so many boundaries,” Sandhra said. “It’s not like it’s just a South Asian issue, it’s issues that we all face as women, so that’s why her books touch everybody a little bit, that’s what makes her so amazing” Baldwin will also be speaking on another topic: the shootings that took place at the Wisconsin Sikh temple. Though Baldwin is originally from Canada, she currently lives in Wisconsin. She had intended on going to the temple that morning when she got a call.

“She was getting ready to go to the Gurdwara, she’s putting on her bangles and then she got a phone call saying this has happened. So she just missed being there by a matter of, I don’t know, 20 minutes, half an hour,” Sandhra explained.

“Because she volunteers for the Red Cross, so when she got that phone call, she was there immediately assisting families, serving food and trying to assist in any way she could.”

“She’s going to speak on that issue; how near and dear it is to her heart and what happened.”

For an engaging and stimulating dialogue, about these varied issues, come out to room F 125.

The event is free and open to public, and will take place at 7 p.m. on October 10.

Super Hexagon turns basic shape into great escape twitch puzzler

Image:whatculture.com

Before long, committed players will beat the game on the easiest mode, unlocking new modes with harder patterns to master. It may sound frustrating, but with retries at the touch of a button, it’s easy to try just one more time to pass your record.

The music is really a highlight in the game, the entire game throb-

bing and shifting according to the beat. The tunes come courtesy of Irish composer Chipzel, who makes music using a Gameboy as a musical instrument, creating 8-bit sounds and reworking them into pulse-pounding dance tracks.

Cavanagh’s previous game, VVVVVV, is also notoriously difficult, but also regarded as one

of the best-designed platformers ever made. While Super Hexagon seems at the surface to be a simple game, perhaps one a few stages above a Flash game one might find for free online, there is a lot more lurking under the surface here.

It normally retails for $3, but if you’re quick you might be able to pick it up on sale for just $1.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

ARTS & LIFE

Not Yer boring rock and roll BEAU O’NEILL

CONTRIBUTOR

If the idea of sweaty musicians, fast music and cheap beer appeals to you in any way, Friday night at Gators Pub on Montvue Avenue would have been a great night for you. Three local punk bands crowded and rocked the small tavern, overcoming what could have been a show cancelling problem: two of the scheduled bands—the Lovesores and Kill Matilda—dropping out last minute. On top of that, Abbotsford’s own Blisterin’ Barnacles played without their rhythm guitarist.

Fortuitously, organizer Seamus McThirteen, head of Not Yer Buddy Productions, got ahold of the Langley band Guts & Glory. No more than an hour-and-a-half before show time, the punk-thrasher band came out and helped save the night from the disaster it was close to becoming, turning it into the riotously good night it was.

The Broken Hands broke the evening in with their quick, hard and tight blend of hard rock, punk, ska and hardcore. As the Black Label Supreme flowed from the tap fast as the waitress could let it out into the plastic mini-pitchers, the trio let out their lightningfast bursts of body-rocking tunes,

which prompted a few denim vestclad patrons to rock out shoulderto-shoulder on the lager-stained carpet.

The atmosphere of the venue belies its primary function as a quiet watering-hole, as the majority of those there kept to their seats; though that only lasted through the Broken Hands’ set, and was turning to the opposite by the time Guts & Glory began.

Incredibly Guts & Glory, a quartet of energetic, young 20-somethings, scrambled themselves together and got to Stabbotsford—as it’s called by those who love the city’s recent criminal history—to bridge what would have been a gaping hole in the night’s proceedings.

Boomer, the multi-colour haired drummer, was as excited to let me know of the band’s various influences as he was to beat his drums and yelp his vocals on stage. Hints of early Offspring, Black Flag and a potpourri of metal were evinced in this sonically redolent young band’s output.

Once the Blisterin’ Barnacles went on, the audience was ready to jam out with them, sloshing their beers to the hollering of the instruments and the wailing vocals.

Moustaches, denim vests, patches, leather pants, beat-up guitars

and a drum kit with an abusively fast drummer. This is what was on stage. These were the seismic origins of the tidal wave of sound that—in the 200-person occupancy space of the pub—got the audience moving. In the end, the show was a success that flew and spat in the face of the vicissitudes that tried to derail it.

I caught up with Seamus McThirteen after the show, and he gave me a better idea of Not Yer Buddy Productions (NYB), who put on Friday’s show and plans on organizing many more similar events in the future. Having been a punk-rock advocate, supporter and listener for decades, McThirteen created NYB in response to the lack of local punk shows. NYB has now been organizing and promoting events in Abbotsford and Vancouver for several years, hosting in diverse venues, from Friday’s pub-concert and similar locations in Vancouver to the basements and barns of local musicians.

But it is a labour of love for Seamus McThirteen, who acknowledges that there is little profit to be made in the punk-rock business, though there is much to gain from creating and sustaining a lively community of musicians and fans, through a positive and conscientious course of action. For example,

Image:Beau O’Niell

in NYB’s early days, Seamus asked everyone who attended a show, usually labeled 19-plus, to bring a designated driver, so that the police would not interfere, knowing the revelers were conducting themselves safely and legally.

This understanding of community was evident at the show on Friday: punk is an inherently aggressive style of music, but the only violent occurrence was an isolated case of a man punching another man for an unknown reason.

He was escorted out of the building and away down the street, not thrown out and harassed with retributive fists; in this way the Barnacles could finish their set without a brawl erupting. Even the name of Not Yer Buddy sounds antagonistic, but is really a humorous

reference to a South Park joke involving two Canadian fart-centric comedians.

Future shows at Gators Pub will include a Halloween show on October 26 and another on November 12 that will mark NYB’s official anniversary. On October 6 at the Out House, 30630 Downes Road, will be an Abbotsford-first—a versus show—where Hot Damn! will square off song for song against Monkeys in Drag. Seamus is also working on putting together a compilation album of local and Canadian punk bands as a first step towards NYB Records. Check out Not Yer Buddy on their Facebook page for more information, and expect a more vibrant music scene in Abbotsford in the coming months.

In review: VIFF week one MICHAEL SCOULAR THe cascade Bay of All Saints (USA/Brazil) Bay of All Saints covers a period of seven years, yet doesn’t cross 90 minutes. It attempts to encapsulate a country’s neglect of its people, yet remains tied to a very small part of it. It follows real people, yet many of its situational conversations seem arranged. None of this is to its discredit, as Bay of All Saints, the first directorial work of Annie Eastman, unlike many issue or poverty documentaries, has a contra for most of its sentiments, political action, claims to easy truth.

The place is Brazil’s palafitas, no-income housing on stilts over a manufactured delta of trash, and the throughline is refrigerator repairman Norato. Eschewing verite by shakiness, the film dials into its four main subjects mostly in traditionally shot-reverse shot, mic’d interviews by Norato, replacing the voice and direction of the filmmaker with the subject. This is a microscopic-by-distanced picture of a system that has led to class segregation, one that shows up most unavoidably in the oblivious sheen of a TV-star turned politician briefly visiting who “knows” their plight, and a teacher reciting poetry, descriptive but at a great remove from the experience of one of her students.

Through observation and following through the palafitas, what come out are people that have grown to accept the ignorance of the government, accepting, for a time, their closed-off environment of decay. A gesture at a plan for a solution of state housing is the feint that sets off the central turmoil of the documentary, but they can see nothing of the political process, are excluded from it. Nothing good, nothing resolved can come

of this, and Bay of All Saints, commenting through its editing, its not commenting, leaves everything hanging.

Student (Kazakhstan) [In the final paragraph of this review, the ending of the film is discussed.]

The question of re-appropriation – if it is simply copying, can ever be considered at equal or more than its ancestry - is present at all times in Derezhen Omirbayev’s Student, a work inspired by the framework of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Where in early works like Kaïrat the mark of great filmmakers, the primary one being Robert Bresson, could be suggested, in Student, it is obvious. Unmoving shots capturing movement or just as likely its absence, spatial violations and redefinitions through editing, there is no mistaking how closely Bresson’s conditions of visual creation are followed. There is some deviation within these lines, yet two of the most sticking scenes in Student are its most explicit references: the first act of violence in the film in its suprisingly-set opening, and the first dream, mixing memory (of another time, other films) and reality. Elision by incorporation

is where most of Student finds its form.

A pointed, early series of shots during the film’s opening credits is of the architecture of the Kazakhstan glimpsed by its bus-travelling protagonist, steel and glass towers you might find in every major city in the world. Following this, whether by lecture or television, the two primary ways information is delivered during the film, the condition of Kazakhstan, how it is being reshaped by outside knowledge and losing its regionality, is up for comment. American images show up as kitsch or televisual signs of death, and the murder weapon is not a tool but an automatic killer, as distanced and easy as the lecture hall discussion of capitalism. It is in that setting other ideas of great force are introduced, with equal deference given that earlier topic and to the writings of Sun Tzu and a local saying. How a student interprets all this is the narration of the film, as Omirbayev leaves aside the crime and punishment of plot as much as possible.

As a closure to all the watching of foreign dynamics, Omirbayev saves his most explicit visual quote of Bresson’s Crime and Punishment reworking, Pickpocket,

for his penultimate shot, making what follows even more noticeable for existing. The child, listening, watching, the beneficiary or otherwise of the influences we incorporate and carry, previously in the role of the suicidal Svidrigailov, now addressing the camera, studying her student teachers.

Reconversão (Portugal) It’s likely that for someone already possessing an understanding of architectural design and photography, Thom Andersen’s film essays aren’t so revolutionary, but as someone who brings neither to viewings of this or Andersen’s previous, sprawling Los Angeles Plays Itself, that is exactly what watching them is like.

Andersen proposes an image, in the more well-known first case a film clip, in Reconversão’s, a few frames of Eduardo Souto’s designs, standing, ruined, in between, and explains them first in terms of their observable qualities, then what they represent. These few frames, taken by Peter Bo Rappmund, are projected at a speed that is fragmented, and encapsulates a greater part of an ungraspable whole, showing Souto’s buildings over time, than if they were shown at a normal framerate for

film. Andersen’s narration, voiced again by Encke King, measured and uninflected yet awakening in its atypical calmness and dry wit, takes this display of natural granite and manufactured steel in the form of houses, public buildings, and unbuilt structures, and doesn’t authoritatively demonstrate, but opens up these objects to interpretation, both physically and philosophically.

As in Los Angeles Plays Itself, much of the construction of Andersen’s piece is of quotes, though here it is of words instead of images. Souto’s own rationale for what his methods, materials, and views on the lifespan of a building as a part of life make up a large part of the discourse, but this is balanced

by Andersen’s own knowledge of ways of seeing. Their combined observations comment on the buildings on the screen, documenting lifespans of ideas and development of design, but what Andersen through Souto is saying about the spaces humans live in, apply also to city planning, artistic expression, and the nature of relationship between human beings and their environment in a wider, applicable way.

If Reconversão doesn’t necessarily add another layer to what his large theses were in Los Angeles Plays Itself, it is still a clarifying, demonstrative approach to an underrepresented perspective in film. Every shot, every movement in every film/life is a reaction to the space or openness that surrounds it, and understanding this, as gleaned from Andersen’s work, is an opening into something intelligently spectacular. continued on next page...

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

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ARTS & LIFE The Invisible War (USA) The most sickening thing about The Invisible War is its consistency.

At one point in his documentary on rape and related physical abuse in the United States military, Kirby Dick cuts through as many as 20 stories of violation, all remarkably similar, all going through the same steps, all lives ruined, right through to the conclusion: that nothing was done about it. Chain of command, personal (male of course) relationships, protection of personal and symbolic military reputation, all conspire to see an obscene number of women raped, disavowed and abandoned by the institution they joined up with.

Statistics, interviews with those on the critical and bureaucratic sides of the (to this point) mostly silent argument, all add up to a single story of self-sustaining rape culture, violence and cowardice.

Dick has made it a practice to take on institutional sins of omission and hypocrisy, and in terms of approach, The Invisible War most resembles his closest previous documentary Outrage. But no matter the ugliness of the subject matter or the built-in emotion of its title, that documentary’s mixture of news footage and blogger interviews had a very short way to go if met by ideological opposi-

tion, possible to be dismissed by those unconvinced as either partisan or relying on hearsay rather than facts. Here there is no room for argument. Sometimes a documentarian will say that their issue divulgement is there to start a conversation, but what comes out of the copious interviews here is how meaningless talk is. The military personnel responsible hide behind words, none of the talk on the part of those abused can completely repair the destruction already done, and all of this has been recycled over more than half a century. It is the culture, the people, that must change – this is unacceptable even as discussion.

But these interviews, conducted

by Dick and producer Amy Ziering and assembled by editors Douglas Bush and Derek Boonstra are a necessary, single step, and The Invisible War, one hopes, is the kind of documentary that becomes a moment in the past where something began. In the middle of a meeting between survivors at one point in the documentary, it is brought up, with regret, that “knowing that there are others who have gone through the same thing,” to not be alone, is a comfort. It is, as something to be discovered, and also by its very existence, the horrifying undergirding of this documentary.

KAREN ANEY

natural, real ingredients so it’s a little different. It’s all natural, premium.

When Night Falls (China) [In the final paragraph of this review, the ending of the film is discussed.]

Like This Is Not a Film last year (and this year), When Night Falls is a film that grows in importance and political significance when the conditions of its production become known, but even without that knowledge is still a tremendously vital, sensitive and brave work of cinema. Accused of multiple murders at a police station, Yang Jia, son of Wang Jingmei, is given the death verdict, despite incomplete investigation into the event and those it involved. As replayed in the film, the delivery of this message is as regimented, listed, inordinate unstopping pronouncement of paperized characters, figures, without stop until sections [all] and verdict [final] are announced. “[This] is not to be explained.”

Director Ying Liang recreates these actual events from 2008, depicting an environment that is outwardly indifferent to complaint.

Frames of space in which people are seemingly able to move spontaneously hold figures at a distance. Accelerated entropy decides where everything is headed as blackened artifical light barely lets

out an auburn glow.

It is the mother, Mrs. Wang, that the film follows, as she attempts to provide her imprisoned son with clothing, legal support, and her own measure of unceasing defiance. As connective tissue and moving strength of the film, Nai An gives an immeasurable performance. With only her movements as she reads a letter and handles a plant in When Night Falls’ opening scene to observe, Nai An as Wang Jingmei conveys everything before she finally speaks out, and the entire film rests on this ability to comprehend when there is only the wind outside and silence in. The history of cinema is filled with mother figures of strength, and it is not hard to imagine the lengths Mrs. Wang would go to with those as a reference, but the static, unfeeling repetition of the frame takes her resemblance to become that of Jeanne Dielman, powerless – in one unbroken shot alone, sitting, partly illuminated, emotional, but all internally.

This could be taken for listlessness, as in When Night Falls’ final scene, as Ying refuses to cut away as hands find confined action in drinking and rending of the pages of a calendar. What is the purpose of all this? As eyes search the screen for something noticeable,

changing, there is the clock on the wall, presumably for the seconds, then minutes to be counted, defining this closing as an interminable shot if one is waiting for something to happen – but it is, and it has. If it doesn’t dawn until the final title appears what has just happened somewhere Mrs. Wang cannot be, then that experience, in part, mirrors the encroaching realization of her own mind. The over and over tearing of the days could be taken as some kind of symbolism, but it is, more than anything a futile, disregardable action, where repetition turns motion into forgotten meaningless space, with only thoughts and the static, same darkness everywhere beside. Of all the deaths in cinema, this one might be the truest, the un-simplest, for aside from the mawkish death bed, how does anyone recall the moment someone departs, what action can be done against the force that brings this about? This is not an all-encompassing film, but a specific, lived one, that is, in my experience, difficult to hold in a complete, definable way, and yet one I find myself inescapably connected to, and not in a dour or depressive way, even after the lights come up.

and then eventually expand into the States, because especially on the west coast of the U.S. there’s a huge demand for craft beer right now, especially the kind of beer that we produce, which is really hop-forward. IPAs and our Pale ale would do really well.

... he was one of the first people who brought IPAs up from Oregon, so he’s being doing it for 20 years now. And we actually have his brother-in-law who’s been in the industry for 10 years now, just got him on board, so they’re a great team. They’re pioneers in the industry and have a lot of credibility.

Q&A: Dead Frog’s secrets THE CASCADE In an effort to figure out exactly where beer comes from—and to celebrate local brewers—The Cascade sat down with Chris Landsman, vice president at Dead Frog Brewery in Aldergrove.

Tell me about how you landed this job.

Started here five years ago, actually got an email from one of my professors at Kwantlen ... I started here, and there were around five employees. From there I went to marketing manager and then recently stepped into vice president.

So there’s been some fast growth in the company, then.

We’re available all the way to Ontario, up in the Yukon too. We’re expanding really fast, growing really fast. Craft beer is growing really fast right now, so we want to make sure that we’re at the ground level of it ... as a result we obviously have to increase our capacity. We’re seeing a huge increase in sales in Alberta right now, so we’re spending a lot of time and energy making that go.

Can you explain what craft beer is?

Craft beer is essentially beer produced on a smaller, higher-quality level. Instead of producing beer in huge vats using alternative ingredients to cut costs, we use premium ingredients, traditional ingredients and small batches so we can make sure that the quality level is there. For craft beer, it stands for a higher level of quality: no preservatives, we don’t pasteurize ... some of the big breweries have gotten into using syrup instead of actual grains—it’s cheaper—so craft breweries kind of stand for brewing beer in the traditional way. Grains, hops, water, yeast. If we do add anything, like the [Pepper Lime Lager] we have, we add black pepper and lime, but it’s all

What kinds of yeast do you use?

We use multiple kinds of yeast.

There’s different kinds of yeast for different kinds of things. There’s lager yeast, and ale yeast, and they kind of have multiple different characteristics but ultimately produce a different end product.

There’s Belgian yeast that we use for the wit [editor’s note: for witbier, meaning white beer]. Right now I think we have four or five yeasts in the brewery. There’s some breweries that will only use one or two kinds of yeasts, lager and ale usually, but we have more kind of specialty beers ... so we need specialty yeasts for that.

Your Toasted Coconut beer is one that really interests me – can you tell me how it differs from the rest of your line?

The key things with a Belgian wit like that are the yeast – it’s a ground-level important piece of it; there are Belgian yeasts we use that kind of give that sweetness, the “bubblegum flavour,” is what they classify it as ... then there’s spices [like] coriander and cloves.

We actually toast coconut – we get all-natural shaved coconut and put it in after the fermentation so the coconut doesn’t ferment. It gives it that little bit of sweetness ... we put the coconut into what’s called a hop sock, and that prevents it from getting into the beer, because if it gets into our beer then it gets into our filters.

How do you filter your beers?

With a mesh grate? Or are they filtered at all?

It depends on the brew ... for the toasted coconut it’s actually unfiltered. For cask products, we leave the yeast in, but we traditionally filter three times before it gets to the bottle. Yeast is an active ingredient in most products, the less active ingredients you have

the better. We filter at three different levels because we have to have a shelf life of six months in all the government agencies, if it was our way we would probably produce beer to be consumed in a month.

But when you’re shipping beer, that’s not a reality. It’s a balance between keeping the flavours in the beer, keeping the hop flavours— not stripping the hop flavours—so even at six months our beer is a solid, quality product.

So where is all the beer produced?

We make it all right here. There’s a distribution network set up for us to get our beer out there easily ... Liquor connect, it’s called ... it’s not cheap.

Can you explain the distribution process?

The way the liquor boards are set up is that ... each province has its own governing agency with different rules and regulations ... for us to sell beer in Alberta, we have to make sure we have someone living in Alberta and representing our product so we can’t just sell beer there and have all the profits come back to BC. They want to keep people employed in Alberta, keep profits in Alberta ... we’re taxed less in Alberta, so we charge less and we still make more, so everybody wins.

How much of your business is in BC, then?

BC is the bulk of our sales because it is our backyard. We’re at the point where it comes off the line and we pretty much load it right on the truck. We added three new tanks this summer, now we’re trying to get the staff up to actually fill those tanks.

Where is Dead Frog headed – what’s your five year plan?

Our five year plan right now is to get distribution across Canada, get to the point where we have all of our provinces running smoothly and all of our staffing set up ...

Will you continue to produce new beers at the same time?

Yes. Craft beer is all about what’s new, at shows we always have people come up to us and ask what’s new. So we have our core line-up—our lager, our pepper lime, our pale ale and our nut ground ale—then we have a 650 ml lineup which is more geared towards craft beer enthusiasts or educated craft beer drinkers. So we have our new Fearless IPA coming out, which is really hop forward, bitter IPA that uses hops from New Zealand and from Yakama valley in Oregon, which is where most of the hops come from that west coast brewers use. It’s a really unique hop variety. The zythos and the galaxy actually give it a kind of tropical fruit aroma the cascade gives it a citrusy aroma.

We also have our Stiff Stout, which is a higher alcohol stout – 6.5, and that’s what the IPA is as well.

Things like water can affect the flavour of beer dramatically. How do you control that?

We plate all of our beers and we analyze them on a micro-biological level, we send them out to labs on a regular basis. We plate them multiple times through the process ... we take plates and take a microscope and run it through a boiler at extreme temperatures highs and lows and then we analyze them on a microbiological level to see what results. Brewing is incredibly scientific; a lot of brewers have science degrees.

Do your current brewers have a science background?

They’ve been to brew school.

Tony Dewald is our head brewer right now, he started out in the ‘90s

Let’s focus on the beer more.

How long does it take to produce?

Once we have the recipe, for lager yeast they’re 21 days, for ale yeast they’re 14 days. After that, once you put the carbonation in, it’s still two weeks before you can taste it.

All beers start with grain. The grain determines the flavours and also the colour. Dark beer is dark grain, light beer is light grain. It doesn’t necessarily mean if the beer is darker that the beer is any more calories or higher alcohol or anything.

First it goes to the mash-tun.

It stirs the grain around and the kernels break apart. The sugary sweetness from the grain goes into the water, all the rest of the stuff drops to the bottom.

Then we pump the water into the kettle and add the hops. The sugary sweetness from the grain and the flavour from the hops come together to make the flavour of the beer. That whole process takes about three hours for 3000 litres, so for a 9000 litre tank we do it three times and pump it into the tank. It goes from there to the fermentation vessels, where we add the yeast so the yeast can ferment.

At that point, the yeast reacts with the sugary sweetness of the grain, and creates alcohol.

We take them out of the fermentation vessels and put them in ... the bright tanks. We filter it twice in between, and at that point it’s essentially finished beer, it’s just not carbonated. Then we filter it one more time before bottling to make sure there was nothing that reacted badly to it in the bright tank. Then it gets bottled.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

www.ufvcascade.ca

SPORTS & HEALTH

UFV cricket: The best thing since Quidditch From The Cascade:

Blake “Navi” McGuire (Photographer)

Lord Alexei Summers

Paul “The Duke” Esau

Tony “Trenchcoat” Biondi

Team member Arslan Minhas shows off some professional form.

Wicket-tastic!

PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

Douglas Adams writes of cricket in Life the Universe and Everything that “of all the races in the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to sunder the universe and transform it into what I’m afraid is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game.”

While I agree with Mr. Adams on most of life’s complexities, the sport of cricket is something I think he got completely wrong.

Neither incomprehensibly dull nor tedious, cricket is what baseball should have been. No bases, less steroids, more chaos, and wickets! WICKETS! What sport, after all, wouldn’t be improved by the inclusion of wickets? In what other sport can you comment that one must “protect his wicket from the ferocious attention of a half-toss fast bowler?”

When I discovered that UFV had a functioning Cricket Club—indeed had possessed such a club since 2009—I was almost delirious with joy. I immediately called up Ahmed Iqbal, founder of the club and former captain of the team. “Ahmed,” I said, “my colleagues and I wish to learn to play cricket. We wish to learn to preserve our wickets and avoid being stumped. Ahmed, can you make this happen?”

Being the fly guy that he is, Ahmed was happy to help, and a week later he and a large part of his team met with myself and several other pasty journalist types in the UFV gym for a crash course in cricketology. Ten guys, a bat, a ball and a couple of wickets.

All we were missing was a stuffed tiger and a bandit mask.

The nice thing about cricket is that, unlike in baseball, there are no troublesome strikes, walks or foul balls. As long as the batter stays within his or her crease and prevents his wicket from being knocked over he stays at bat. Also, he or she is spared the tedious expectation of always hitting the ball forward.

The cricket pitch is an oval that completely encloses the batter, so one may hit the ball forward sideways, up, down, or even orchestrate a clever backwards deflection to bean the wicketkeeper.

Once the ball is struck the batter can choose to run or to not run based upon the quality of the hit. But if he or she does choose to run to the other wicket to score a run (and this is the true insanity of cricket) a second runner must run from the other wicket back to the original wicket at the same time. If one runner’s wicket is struck while he is not in his crease, or

Lord Alexei cooly contemplates a bowl. by some curious chance both runners end up at the same wicket, then one of them is “run out” and he or she is impaled upon the violated wicket.

I may have made up that last bit.

Anyway, the UFV Club plays a variation of “One Day Cricket” (as opposed to “test cricket” which can last up to five days)* in which each side bats only once for a set number of “overs” or sets of six “bowls” (pitches). The side which scores more runs during their one inning batting advances to the nearest bar to celebrate, while the other side retreats to the second-nearest bar to drown their sorrow. Players are only allowed to pitch a set number of ‘overs’ to prevent the kind of specialization present in baseball,** and most matches played by UFV cricket are of the 50 “over” variation. These take about five hours.

For myself—and most of the other Cascaders—it was a victory simply to hit the ball. We played several 10 “over” games with our instructors, and learned quickly that were outclassed, outmatched and outgunned. Team captain Hamsa Razzak was especially impressive (he bowls like Chris Hemsworth hurling Mjölnir at a hapless ice giant), but the whole team easily made the rest of us look foolish. Not surprisingly, the strongest member of The Cascade’s staff was “Lord” Alexei Summers, whose aristocratic English heritage led him to a surprising 10 runs off of just three pitches.

In another devious twist of fate, cricket is played with a five and a half ounce cork ball bound in leather, which is both notoriously hard and expensive.*** To compound the indignity of the ball itself, fielding is traditionally a bare-handed activity. While the UFV team does wear gloves while fielding, they’re hardly the padded leather monstrosities worn by baseballers (and they have the crooked fingers to prove it).

But oh the joy of cricket! Of catching, of hitting, or running, and of preserving one’s wicket! This is a sport to cherish both for its implicit British humour and for the necessitated skill. Keep on bowling Ahmed, Hamsa and team! UFV would not be the same without you! *Not a joke. **As you might have noticed by now, I hate baseball. ***We used the indoor alternative, a tennis ball bound in hockey tape, so none of us future Hemingways would bash our craniums in.

FACT

Cricket was so popular in Canada during the 19th century that our first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, declared it the national sport.

Tony Biondi tries to figure out how to hold a cricket bat.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

19

SPORTS & HEALTH Which style of rules do you guys play for your matches?

HR: 50 overs.

So it takes about five hours?

FA: Five to six hours.

Do you guys get tired?

AI: It’s about the game that we like, so even if it was six to eight hours we would still play. It’s just that we love the game.

What are the scores usually around?

AI: Internationally it’s around 250 [per side] as an average total.

But when we play here it’s around 150 to 200. A good team would take it to 200.

AM: Some games go close to 300.

Club captain Hamsa Razzak unleashes a signature fast bowl.

Cricket talks PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

A brief chat with UFV cricketers Ahmed Iqbal, Hamsa Razzak, Farooq Azam and Arslan Minhas.

Most of the team is from Pakistan, so what is the history of cricket in Pakistan?

AI: It’s been played by a long, long time. Before independence and after independence. It was brought by the Britishers when they were in India and the whole subcontinent. It was carried on by the locals and then it’s been played all over. Every street, every kid, old people to the young people.

Everybody loves cricket. It’s been said that cricket is a religion of a sort there.

How young is young? When did you guys start playing cricket?

FA: Nine, 10 And where, usually?

FA: In the streets with friends.

In the local parks.

Ahmed, what is the history of the cricket club at UFV? AI: I started off in 2009 with all of these guys here, we all were together. We started having indoor tournaments because we didn’t have enough people to play outside … we had many people from different countries, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal. Everyone had participated in this. Many people from Baker House showed up here, it had been quite a success. We had indoor tournaments for three years here and it was huge. More than 50 or 60 people used to show up every Friday game … those don’t happen anymore because of the new floors and [our] class schedule also.

As a team what have you guys accomplished in the last four years?

HR: We didn’t win a tournament, but we won quite a few matches. We had friendly matches with UVic and Kwantlen. We won those, we went to the finals but we didn’t win the tournament. We went to the finals this summer.

Unfortunately we lost but it was a very close game and a good tournament … (including) Calgary, Victoria, Kwantlen and UFV. What is the cricket community like in Abbotsford?

AI: It’s big. There are five teams all together. The former Canadian cricket team captain was also selected from Abbotsford, Jimmy Hansra. He also went to UFV for a brief while, he used to play with us in indoor tournaments. He’s now playing for the Canadian cricket team and was the captain for a brief while … so cricket is good in Abbotsford. Quite organized, good people, good cricket.

How can UFV students get involved now with cricket?

AI: Well we used to have training sessions here before, but not anymore … If they want to join cricket they can always join the Facebook group that we have … we don’t have enough of a crowd coming in to learn cricket. We cannot organize things without having a crowd come in. If we know that there are around five to 10 people who are interested then we can do something about it like we did today.

A silly questions for you: What’s with the bat? I’m used to baseball where the bat is straight and round and you actually swing from the shoulder...

AI: In baseball you get the ball straight towards you; it doesn’t pitch. It’s a full toss it comes right at you. But [in cricket] we have to pitch the ball before the ball comes to you. For a batsman to hit it properly from the ground the bat has a curve. You have to lift the ball from the ground.

FA: The wood used for the bat is actually from the English wil-

low tree.

I want to know, in one at-bat sequence, who has scored the most runs [on your team]?

AI: The highest score from our team was one of the ex-students here, Ali Zahoor, [who got] 72 (last year). How many have you had Hamsa?

HR: I got 51 in a match once.

For me as an amateur cricketer, what’s the worst thing I can do?

AI: You need to learn the discipline of the game. For the technical wise while playing or batting or bowling you don’t want to hurt yourself first.

AM: Always put your gear up, put your guard in, always wear a cup. Once you get those things straightened then you used the bat, you can learn how to use it.

Just like you were explaining earlier if you could use [the bat] upside down and hit the edges the ball will hit it and come up to your face – which is brutal.

FA: The worst thing is “sledging” [disrespectful conduct]. It’s a gentleman’s game so you need to respect each other.

So what is sledging?

AM: When you get personal.

AI: In cricket that’s very serious, you don’t do it.

The secret to bowling is ... if you had to give two tips to beginners what would you say?

HR: Don’t give a full toss and no short balls … you don’t want to give time for the batsman to make a shot … and bowl as fast as you can if you’re a fast bowler. [Laughs] This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The basics of bowl and bat 1. The bowler must bowl from a crease behind the wicket opposite the striking batter. A bowl is differentiated from a throw (as in by baseball) by a restriction on the degree of extension allowed by the elbow of the throwing arm (15 degrees or less).

3. The batter must be prepared

to receive the ball anywhere from his toes to his head, although any “fulltoss” bowl that reaches the batter above his waist is considered a “noball penalty.” A bowl which bounces off the batter and hits the wicket still renders the batter out.

2. Bowlers generally use the “half-toss” approach to bowling in which the ball bounces in front of or at the batter’s feet. This allows a number of strategic options to the bowler that are not possible with a “full-toss” which doesn’t bounce.

5. The wicketkeeper is responsible for catching any bowl which eludes the batter and returning it to the bowler. He is also responsible for rendering the batter “out” by hitting his wicket with the ball if the batter runs following a hit.

4. The batter must be careful not to let the ball impact any part of his body in front of the wicket, as he will be called “out.”

A big thanks to both the UFV Cricket Club for taking the time to demonstrate their sport and to Cheryl Van Nes over at the Envision Athletic Centre for letting us use the north gym.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012