Vol. 21 Issue. 3
www.ufvcascade.ca
January 23-29, 2013
The handy man’s paper since 1993
Dirt Devils
Is the SUS getting ready to break ground on the Student Union Building on UFV’s most eligible dirt lot?
p. 10-11
BMO donates former Chilliwack branch to UFV p. 3
Detachment and objectivity in Zero Dark Thirty p. 12
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S ISSUE Opinion
News
Arts & Life
Sports & Health
Both men’s and women’s varsity squads took to the home court this weekend against the Capilano Blues for a dramatic series of matches. Who won? Who lost? Did Paul Esau shed a tear? Read on to find out.
ZOMBIES!
PIRATES!
STRIP CLUBS!
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: zombies need love, too. Now UFV’s very own local zombiefied folk have precautions in place to keep them safe, even as they’re trying to kill off the remaining humans on campus. Safety first, zombie-kids!
Eulogy for a pirate: looking at the suicide of Reddit founder Aaron Swartz, who faced 13 criminal counts as an online pirate, Cascade contributor Beau O’Neill discusses the parallels of contemporary pirates and pirates way back when – and what the deal is with piracy today.
Sexy sex writers Naughtya and Lady Oracle hit up two strip clubs: one full of naked women, one with hot naked men. What will our adventurous sex columnists discover on their journey of hot, hot bodies? Read all about it. You know you want to.
pg. 5
pg. 13
pg. 4
BALLS!
pg. 19
EDITORIAL
The student press should stick together NICK UBELS THE CASCADE
To the University Students’ Council at the University of Western Ontario, Leave The Gazette alone. The Gazette is one of the oldest student-run publications in Canada. Since its debut in 1906, it’s undergone many changes, from its roots as a literary mag, to biweekly news editions mid-century, finally settling into a weekday publishing schedule that it has more or less maintained since the early 1990s. The Gazette’s embattled editorin-chief Gloria Dickie eloquently detailed the varied history of the campus press in her editorial on January 16. Since April, the USC has been antagonizing the paper in all sorts of ways. This culminated in last week’s announcement that The Gazette would be moved from its offices in the USC-operated University Community Centre. The decision was made with the intent of converting the 1900-square foot office space into a new multi-faith prayer centre while the Gazette offices would be downsized to a 1165-square foot space elsewhere. For a daily newspaper with a staff of 24 full-time editors, the space crunch would be devastating. What’s more, it seems that few campus faith leaders are clamouring for an upgraded or renovated space, many of those interviewed by The Gazette ex-
pressing surprise at the proposed move. Based on this rocky relationship over the past nine months, it’s not hard to see the decision as an attempt to reassert editorial control. This is a very, very bad idea. I realize that, unlike our publication, The Gazette is not autonomous from its respective student association. This poses a lot of different challenges to maintaining journalistic integrity. The Gazette policy itself states the importance of maintaining an objective distance between the two groups, in order for the paper to properly carry out its “watchdog” function. What’s at stake in this decision is a key service to university students. While it may seem appealing to throw the Council’s weight around by meddling in student press now, it will only reduce the accountability and transparency of future USC executive boards. This hurts students’ ability to make the most of the services USC provide. Less accountability means more corruption and misuse of student funds. The Gazette itself is a key feature of the University of Western Ontario and has been for more than a century. A free student press is a hallmark of any thriving university community. It’s crucial to remember that the student press does more than report on the shortcomings of its student association. It’s a feed-
Volume 21 · Issue 3 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-chief nick@ufvcascade.ca Nick Ubels Managing editor amy@ufvcascade.ca Amy Van Veen Business manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson Online editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular Production manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour Art director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy editor joel@ufvcascade.ca Joel Smart News editor news@ufvcascade.ca Dessa Bayrock Opinion editor opinion@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt Arts & life editor arts@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt
The front page of the January 16 issue of UWO’s Gazette. back loop for USC services and initiatives. It’s a public platform for students to discuss important stuff on campus and to do with college life. It’s an alternate voice to cover hyper-local issues. Aside from our reporting on the comings and goings of UFV’s Student Union Society (our counterpart to the USC), we’ve profiled local artists, covered the local mayoral election from the student perspective, run plenty of student letters, reported on university developments and much more. Without the ability to report
honestly about its student association a newspaper begins to lose its credibility and the trust of its readers. And that’s concerning anything it reports on. It’s impossible to have it both ways. Either you’re a newspaper or you’re a newsletter. Don’t turn The Gazette into a newsletter.
Sports editor sports@ufvcascade.ca Paul Esau News writer jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind Photojournalist blake@ufvcascade.ca Blake McGuire Staff writers Karen Aney, Taylor Johnson
Sincerely, Nick Ubels Editor-in-chief The Cascade
UPCOMING EVENTS
Contributors Brittni Brown, Mike Cadarette, Matt Giesbrecht, Beau O’Neill, Jasmine Proctor, Hailey Rollheiser, J. Timmer, Tim Ubels Printed By International Web exPress
Jan 7-25
Jan 23
Jan 30
Jan 28
Listen as the Whispers Look Around
Café Philosophique
CIVL hosts open mic at campus lounge
You kinda gotta see Kai Nagata
Do you ever wander around campus and catch something unexpected out of the corner of your eye? UFV alum Scott Schnell hopes to pull students and wanderers alike out of their own experience if only for a moment with concrete sculptures of casted body parts scattered around the Abbotsford campus.
You know those moments when you really want to discuss the larger things in life but you have no platform to do so? If you seek out B121 at noon you’ll find what you were looking for. This week’s Café Philosophique big question is “Where does your freedom end; where does the state begin?”
CIVL music director and show host Adam Roper will be hosting an open mic night at the campus lounge. The collaborative environment will be open to poetry, free style and acoustic music with the opportunity for mingling with fellow artists. Don’t want to share your poetry? Have a PBR and enjoy the show on January 30 at 7 p.m.
Don’t know who Kai Nagata is? What kind of a rock have you been living under? Nagata left his prominent position at the CTV in Québec for a laundry list of reasons all contributing to the questionable state of contemporary Canadian media. Attend his free lecture in B101 from 4 to 7 p.m. to learn more and to meet an inspiring guy.
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, JANUARY 23, 2013
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NEWS
Bank of Montreal donates downtown Chilliwack building to UFV
Chilliwack CEPCO kicks in $650,000 to sweeten the deal JOE JOHNSON THE CASCADE
UFV announced last month that it would once again be expanding its presence, this time in historical downtown Chilliwack. However, unlike the rigorously planned new building at Canada Education Park, this development came as an unexpected turn of events when the Bank of Montreal (BMO) decided to donate their unused building to the university. The building, located on Chilliwack’s five corners, joins the project to redevelop and better the heart of Chilliwack’s downtown core. By donating the building to UFV instead of putting it on the market, the university’s presence will now be a part of that redevelopment. As the largest one-time donation in BMO’s BC history, this step has been in the making for some time. As BMO moved out of the building to a new location across town and had no direct purpose for their former location, the Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation (CEPCO) saw it as an opportunity for a win-win situation all around. “That donation from the Bank of Montreal – we encouraged the
Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade
The new space in downtown Chilliwack will become UFV Plaza. bank to look at that [option],” John Jansen, president of CEPCO, says. In terms of a larger plan for the downtown area, Jansen says this has the potential develop into a university plaza. But two questions arise: what does this mean for UFV, and what will be made of the space? First and foremost, with the building secured, program planning is now in place to be completely rolled out by the fall 2013 semester. While plans are not 100 per cent complete, according to Madeleine
Hardin, executive director of university advancement, the university is looking at a communitybased set of courses to offer in that location. “We’re hoping for appropriate community programming that would meet the needs of the area,” Hardin says, “So business and upgrading courses, those sorts of things.” Although acquiring a building before you know exactly what you will do with it can appear backwards, in this case it is the result of confidentiality agree-
Anika Geurtsen takes the reins as VP east TAYLOR JOHNSON THE CASCADE
Due to personnel and organizaional changes there have recently been some new faces added to the SUS board. One of those faces is the newly appointed VP east Anika Geurtsen, a fifth-year student based at the CEP Chilliwack campus. Geurtsen may be new to SUS, but she was attracted to the opportunity to work on campus after a positive experience working at Student Life. She says she felt SUS would open learning possibilities and this education would further her future career goals. She was elected to the SUS board of directors in the October by-election as Chilliwack representative, the new version of what used to be trades representative. Geurtsen says she has never had experience with anything quite like SUS. “It was not what I expected [at first] and full of surprises,” she says. After a short month of representing the students of the Chilliwack campus, Geurtsen moved
into the broader position of VP east, representing the entire student body of Chilliwack. VP east holds greater responsibilities than her old position of Chilliwack rep, but Geurtsen says she felt up to the challenge and drew on the experience of those around her. On large decisions, Geurtsen explains that she “is very careful to get an expert” when she feels that a decision goes beyond her expertise. Geurtsen, who lives in Chilliwack, says she cares deeply about where she lives and hopes that she’ll be able to help SUS power some improvements on campus, including transit issues and bringing more events to Chilliwack. Geurtsen reassures students that SUS is “working on the problems,” and that she feels the “constant board meetings” have brought executives to the same page in order to move both SUS and UFV campuses forward. Any student is welcome to contact Geurtsen with questions or concerns to do with anything SUS at vpeast@sus.ca.
penses, Hogan notes, that “the operating costs are expected to be fully offset by revenue,” and also that there is the potential to lease some of the space to a third party. “The decision to accept the donation was based on full analysis of all aspects of the offer,” Hogan says. “Financial information was a significant factor. The business case, which recognized the value of the building as a significant asset to UFV plus the value of the CEPCO contribution, supported accepting the donation.” When both the BMO donation and CEPCO’s grant are taken together, UFV is the recipient of an estimated $1.5 million. Finally, there are the intangible benefits such as regaining a location in downtown Chilliwack, a title that would have disappeared with the sale of Yale Road campus. And as to whether this may only be the beginning of major donations to UFV, Hardin says that it’s definitely a sign. “It’s a signal to the community that we’re ready to accept good gifts,” she concludes, “and that we can manage large gifts like this.”
Ryan Petersen steps in as new VP finance dessa bayrock THE CASCADE
Image: The Cascade
Anika Geurtsen: VP east.
Like what you see? Interested in writing for your university’s student newspaper? Want to be part of a fun, creative team? Join us Mondays at 10 a.m. in room B133!
ments. “ ... a deal like this, when it comes about, there has to be a lot of secrecy around it. And that means even from our own deans, some of them can’t know,” Hardin explains. “So we’re in a position of receiving the building prior to our deans having the opportunity to think of robust programming ... but of course we did have a good idea of some of the things we wanted in there.” However, developing programming isn’t the only thing to consider upon accepting this donation. There are costs, both upfront and operational. In this case, much of the upfront costs for building maintenance upgrades, renovations and repurposing are going to be covered by CEPCO, as they have stepped up and provided a $650,000 grant, according to UFV chief financial officer Jackie Hogan. However, the operational costs, will be left to UFV at an estimated $65,000 annually, which includes ongoing maintenance, utilities and security. There is also the possibility for added overhead if new staff need to be hired based on the final programming decisions. In hopes of covering these ex-
Image: Anthony Biondi/The Cascade
Ryan Petersen: VP finance.
Following the surprise resignation of SUS’s vice-president finance Sam Broadfoot in November, vice-president internal Greg Stickland says the remaining SUS board didn’t quite know how they were going to fill the position. “We first were scratching our heads,” Stickland describes. Ryan Petersen, who has been a rep-at-large for the past five years, was the SUS member who stepped up to fill the role of VP finance. “He had been on the Finance Committee for five or six years ... so it seemed like a natural choice,” Stickland explains. “He’s also a big part of [the SUS Governance Committee].” Jay Mitchell, Debbie Ellis, Zach Soderstrom, Nick Willms—all seasoned reps—also put their names forward for the position. Petersen, a geography student heading towards a double major in international and urban studies as well as a minor in English, says he feels comfortable in his new role. “I’ve been on the financial committee for the entire time I’ve been on the Student Union board,” he says, “So I’m fairly familiar with how things are run and how things have been run.” Petersen has been a rep-at-large his entire time at SUS, except for a brief period where he stepped in as trades representative. He was immediately welcomed by trades students, he says, entirely due to his facial hair. “It was funny, all the guys who saw my picture online – they were like, ‘Yep, that’s a trades representative. He’s got a beard,’” Petersen
says with a laugh. There are several things he says he’d like to tackle as VP finance – the gap between VP and rep, for starters. Petersen notes that he was always a part of making SUS decisions as rep-at-large, but never really saw how that decision was carried out. “I always knew there was a gap in the requirements of a rep and a vice-president, but I didn’t quite expect such a large gap. And I think that’s something that I’d also like to address,” he explains. Otherwise, he’s currently kneedeep in figuring out the fallout of the new budget adopted at the November Extraordinary General Meeting. “It was unfortunate that it came about in such an abrupt fashion that had a lot of serious repercussions for many students,” Petersen says, “but for the most part we can still make something good out of this.” One of the sections of the unprecedented student-led motion instituting the new budget describes the formation of a financial oversight committee manned by students outside of SUS. This committee would be responsible for overseeing how SUS pulls from its contingency fund or goes into deficit – both a help and a hindrance, Petersen explains. “Just how the committees and how the board works – it always seems to be the same group of people doing it over and over again. So you know what? A fresh pair of eyes would be welcome,” Petersen says. “As soon as I can get everyone in the room at the same time to make this work.”
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
NEWS
Apocalypse to gain safety officer JESS WIND
stepped in to fill the role. “At the start of every game I’m going to be going over some safety rules, things like that,” Potter said, adding that the majority of injuries incurred during the game are minor scrapes. “It’s a bunch of people running around with Nerf guns,” Potter explains with a grin. “You throw 60 people on a field with a bunch of Nerf pellets, [and] someone’s going to slip ... nothing too crazy.” Potter, who used to participate in the games, decided that he wanted to take on a more volunteer role and offer his experience as a first aid attendant. Another amendment to the club’s safety regulations focuses on weather conditions. Games, which formerly ran on a comerain-or-shine basis, may now be postponed if adverse weather affects the safety of the playing field. As of yet, there haven’t been any weather-related injuries, but Potter attributed the decision as another example of their proactive approach to safety. “They’re even doing things that are unpopular and going safety first,” Potter says, noting that these decisions won’t necessarily be happily accepted by the players. “[It’s] really unfortunate because people just want to play, but ... I agree with them.” The meeting also covered the creation of participant waivers. The rules, available on their Facebook page, already mention a form must be signed at the beginning of the game, but Potter explained that the university and Student Life
will be looking into developing a stronger waiver. “Right now a lot of clubs are running without ... or they have very loose waivers,” Potter explains. “HvZ is really going to spearhead this new waiver ... they’re kind of the guinea pig for the new process.” Potter also adds the measures being taken by HvZ not only follow the requirements set forth by the university, but surpass them. “We’re just going ... to make sure that we’re above and beyond any policy from the university,” Potter
concludes. The new waiver will only permit UFV students and alumni 18 years of age and older to participate in the games. McGuire says limiting the field of eligible players is unfortunate but necessary. “This was a difficult decision, but we feel it is in the best interest of club members,” he explains, adding that they are certainly open to further suggestions. Other changes to the safety regulations for the HvZ events involve updating their first aid kit, adding more active moderators
per game to more strictly enforce the rules, and requiring players to pre-register. McGuire finished by saying that it may take some time to get the changes formally adopted into their set of rules, and until the process is complete, they have suspended the planning of new events. Once the technicalities are worked through, McGuire assures that the players will be back to wielding their Nerf blasters and fending off the zombie apocalypse in no time.
Image: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/
Image: http://www.uwo.ca/
Image: http://ca.reuters.com/
Image: http://ca.reuters.com/
Image: http://ca.reuters.com/
Atari files for bankruptcy protection
UWO student council threatens student newspaper with eviction
Wal-Mart plans $450 million expansion in Canada
Canada seeks evidence on hostage-taker
Protests mark anniversary of landmark abortion ruling
(Reuters) — Video game company Atari SA said it filed for bankruptcy protection in Paris and New York on Monday after it failed to find a successor to main shareholder and sole lender BlueBay as it wrestles with tough market conditions. The U.S. operations plan, in addition, to separate from their French parent to seek independent capital to grow in digital and mobile games, Atari Inc said in a statement. The U.S. businesses plan to sell or restructure all or almost all of their assets in the next three to four months and are seeking $5.25 million in financing from Tenor Capital, Atari Inc added.
OTTAWA (CUP) — After occupying the same office for 40 years, the Gazette, the student newspaper at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), is being threatened with eviction. The school’s students’ council is looking to relocate the paper to a smaller office in order to make room for a multi-faith space. “This is being marketed as an issue of multi-faith but there isn’t much evidence to support this,” said Gloria Dickie, the editor-in-chief of the Gazette. “We’re concerned this is in fact a tactic to erode press freedom and campus democracy.” The Gazette, is the only Canadian student paper to publish four-times-a-week and is one of the few large student papers in the country that is not fully autonomous from its student union.
(Reuters) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s Canadian unit will expand its distribution network and open a handful of new stores in the coming fiscal year, as rival discounter Target Corp prepares to open its first stores in the country this spring. Wal-Mart’s planned $450 million investment pales in comparison with the more than $750 million it earmarked for expansion in the current fiscal year, which wraps up at the end of January. That said, it has been a particularly active year, thanks to Hudson’s Bay Co’s decision to mothball its discount banner Zellers. Target secured its first Canadian locations from HBC, and Wal-Mart took over 39 former Zellers outlets.
OTTAWA (Reuters) — Canada wants to see Algeria’s evidence for saying that last week’s attack and hostagetaking at a desert gas plant was coordinated by a Canadian militant, a government official said on Tuesday. Around 80 people died when Algerian troops attacked the plant and ended the hostagetaking on Sunday. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday that a Canadian gunman, identified only as “Chedad,” had coordinated the four-day siege. “Here in Ottawa and in Algiers, Canadian diplomats are requesting access to the information the Algerians are using to identify any hostage taker as ‘Canadian,’” the government official said in an email sent to Reuters.
(Reuters) — Americans on Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, even as battles over the contentious issue have largely shifted from the federal courts to statehouses. “Choice is good,” said Alex McInick, 18, a student at Millsaps College in Jackson. “Nobody should be able to tell someone what they should do to their body.” Across the street, Roy McMillen, 69, an anti-abortion activist, said the procedure led to social ills that cost everyone. Surrounded by graphic posters of aborted fetuses, McMillen said, “The worst thing that happened in the 20th century was the advent of birth control and the legalization of abortion.”
THE CASCADE
The UFV Humans versus Zombies club (HvZ) might be fighting the undead, but with recent changes members will be safer than ever. HvZ holds semi-monthly apocalyptic battles in which students split into teams of humans and zombies and fight one another with Nerf guns. Following an incident at their last game at which a student suffered a serious knee injury, the club sought to revisit their safety regulations. HvZ has experienced unexpected and rapid growth, and with close to 100 participants in the club, more formalized safety procedures were necessary. Blake McGuire, the student in charge of the club’s public relations as well as photojournalist for The Cascade, spoke to the recent focus on safety. “We found that our standards regarding registration, safety, and enforcement of rules were not sufficient for this level of participation,” he said, adding that the club is putting a “proactive emphasis on safety.” At their annual general meeting earlier this month, the club considered several options that would increase the safety for participants without affecting the game. Electing a qualified volunteer to act as an on-site safety officer was among the decisions. With an occupational first aid level three certificate and three years of experience as a volunteer emergency responder with St. Johns Ambulance, SUS president Shane Potter
Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade
Even zombies need safety precautions, which is why HvZ has revamped their protocol.
NEWS BRIEFS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
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Clubs, pubs and SUBs
Updates from last week’s regular SUS board meeting
DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE
The SUS board of directors meets every two weeks on rotating campuses in public meetings open to all students. Starting with last Friday’s meeting, The Cascade will be bringing you condensed updates on what went down. One or some of our reporters will also be live-tweeting these meetings in real time using the hashtag #thingsSUSdoes.
In-camera protocols to be tackled by governance
An in-camera session is basically a discussion about a sensitive topic in which the voice recorder is turned off and SUS relies solely on the VP internal to take minutes. This type of discussion can involve anything from disciplinary issues to contract discussions. “My worry is the process we are going down right now would not involve the context required for future boards,” Potter said, proposing that in the future a separate in-camera agenda be written, approved in advance by board members, and attached to the minutes of the regular meeting. “I think this sounds like a really good idea – in not only keeping better documentation of what happens in an in-camera discussion but also [it] keeps us on top of bringing things public when they’re no longer of a sensitive nature,” Mitchell agreed. The revision of the in-camera policy was delegated to SUS’s governance committee. Under the proposed policy change, in camera minutes that don’t involve human resources issues would be released to the public after a certain length of time.
Advocacy report by DvdK
SUS is currently developing a referendum to ask students if they want to be in or out of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), a federal lobbying group. Van der Kroon has also continued pursuing an active relationship with Cinema Politica, a group that brings independent films and documentaries to campuses and town halls across the country. “I’m hoping it will turn into a long-term partnership for this organization that will help to raise the level of democratic discussion among our members,” van der Kroon said. “We are aiming to increasing the frequency of those films to bi-weekly.” Van der Kroon is also looking at helping organize town hall discussions across the Fraser Valley concerning the upcoming provincial elections.
Three motions and two referendums
Two referendums concerning membership in CASA hit the table at the board meeting – one worded to ask students if they are in favour of staying a part of CASA and willing to pay a dedicated fee, and one worded to ask students if they are in favour of leaving CASA. Either way, the referendum would need a 60 per cent majority to either pass or fail. “I would be concerned asking questions in the negatory, along with questions in the positive,” Potter also commented. “I see that as a potential cause for confusion.” There was discussion of creating a more general lobbying fee rather than a dedicated CASA fee, which would mean the fee could be used
to pay for membership in CASA or any other lobbying group. After approximately 45 minutes of debate, the issue of wording was tabled. The upcoming transit referendum was the second to see discussion, changing to describe a more accurate $6.75 student fee instead of a $6 fee.
Clubs, clubs, everywhere
The first club discussion of the day centred around the idea of similar clubs, and whether or not they should assimilate into a single club. “I just wanted more input on how you feel about clubs with similar activities or clubs with similar portfolios,” Potter said, using the example of a Video Games club, a Minecraft club, and a Video Game Team club. Consensus was that as long as membership lists between clubs avoid major overlap in membership or events, similar clubs dedicated to niche groups shouldn’t prove a problem. Both Potter and Zach Soderstrom, clubs and associations rep, said they would only become concerned if they saw the same group of students running similar clubs. In other club news,the Students for Sustainability Club was allowed to carry over funding from last semester to this semester, since they registered as a club late in the term. The board also granted funding to the Baker House Residents Association to bring brunch to the residents of Baker House, and funding was likewise granted to the UFV Dance Club to provide refreshments at their meetings.
The Table Top Games Club, Students for Sustainability Club, Visual Arts Student Association, and the Video Game Enthusiasts Team (VGET) club were reviewed and officially accepted as UFV clubs – VGET pending submission of a full membership list. The board approved the UFV Health Club as an official club, with signing authority suspended for two of the five executives pending their confirmation as UFV students. According to Petersen, $2800 is left in the pot to fund clubs and associations as of the end of December. Finally, Stickland revamped the registration package for new clubs and associations to reflect the information SUS actually uses from it – notably the addition of student numbers and the subtraction of phone numbers.
The pub formerly known as AfterMath
Sales are up approximately 25 per cent at the campus pub over last January, even though it didn’t quite manage to break even in November and was closed for the month of December. There was an electrical fire at the pub earlier this month, which was caught before it caused any serious damage. “We smelled the smoke before it became a fire,” Ross explained, noting the part was replaced for a little under $200. Several events are slated to hit the pub, including a Cinema Politica screening, two pub crawls, and a show by B.A. Johnson, who will be performing on St. Patrick’s day this year. “He did his encore in the wash-
room,” Ross said, describing Johnson’s charismatic performance at the pub last year, “and everyone followed him to the bathroom.”
Posters up on campus for the military
An advertising agency approached SUS on behalf of the Canadian department of defence to mount six posters in and around high traffic areas at UFV at a price tag of between $800-1000. After a brief discussion, the motion passed.
Honoraria returned reps for December
to
As part of the motion presented at the November Extraordinary General Meeting, reps-at-large and community reps were stripped of their honoraria. “For an honoraria to be taken from a member [on Nov. 28] is not adequate notice,” Potter stated, arguing that reps be paid for the month of December. “If they were an employee, we would not be allowed to do this.” According to Petersen, there was room in the honoraria budget to support paying reps for the month of December. The motion passed by a secret vote that excluded any affected reps to avoid conflict of interest.
When next we meet
The next regular board meeting will be held on the Abbotsford campus at 9:30 a.m. on February 1 in a room to be determined. All student members are welcome to attend as guests.
SUS CHEAT SHEET
WHO THE HELL IS WHO
Image: Anthony Biondi/The Cascade
Image: Ufv Cascade
Shane Potter President of SUS, previous VP east. Also involved in Humans VS Zombies on campus and looks good in argyle. AKA @shanerpotter
Zack Soderstrom Image: UFV Cascade
Image: Ryan Pete/facebook
Image: Greg Stickland/Facebook
Dan van der Kroon
Ryan Petersen
Greg Stickland
VP academic. Spearheads advocacy on campus, including a steady hand in the Cinema Politica offerings every month. Wears a lot of green. AKA DvdK.
VP finance, former rep-at-large. Five years of experience with SUS and has a penchant for bow ties. Has been known to sport muttonchops.
VP internal. Often wears a Squirtle hat and has a knack for policy. A student of English and TESLA.
Clubs and associations representative. Networks with clubs and associations and reports back. Life goal: build a giant Lego dinosaur somewhere on campus.
ALSO IN ATTENDENCE: Jay Mitchell
Image: Jay Mitchell/facebook
Seasoned rep-at-large, previous SUS president. Recognizable by his overwhelming common sense, sarcasm and backwards ball cap. AKA @therealb0wser.
Meghan McDonald, Anika Geurtsen, Harrison Depnar, Jun Feng, Sean Webber, Debbie Ellis, Ahmed Hussein
SENT REGRETS:
Chris Doyle, Mehtab Singh Rai, Nick Willms
Brad Ross Manager of the pub formerly known as AfterMath. Big smiler, fast talker and has a degree in Journalism. AKA @aftermathtoday.
Image: Brad Aftermath/facebook
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
Idle No More comes to Chilliwack MATT GIESBRECHT CONTRIBUTOR
The Idle No More movement has taken on many forms. Sheelah McLean, Sylvia McAdam, Jess Gordon and Nina Wilson started perhaps the biggest movement of the year when they declared they will be idle no more in Saskatoon. Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence started a hunger strike in Ottawa. There were flash mobs in Regina with over 2000 people. Protest blocked the railway line for three hours between Toronto and Montreal. Late last week, Joanne Gutierrez Hugh, Sakej Ward, Hamish Telford and Robert Harding were guest speakers for the local aboriginal Idle No More, held in the gathering place at Canada Educational Park. With a sunken speaking platform in the middle of the room, the space was open and welcoming. Opening with the steady beating of native drums, Eddie Gardner, UFV’s resident elder, guided the discussion. The first guest speaker was Sakej Ward, who holds a Master of Indigenous Government degree from UVic and is a member of Warrior Societies Alliance. He discussed the colonization of Canada and how the natives were treated wrongly. He ended his time by suggesting that all
Image: thevalleyvoice.ca
The aboriginal gathering place at Chilliwack’s CEP campus was the ideal spot to discuss the issues that inspired Idle No More. people take responsibility for the next seven generations, and echoed the goals of the Idle No More movement to protect water, air, land and all creation. Joanne Gutierrez Hugh, a Sto:lo and Cree woman, voiced concerns for future native generations. She pointed out that current statistics do not favour native growth and development in Canada, and that we should be concerned. She insisted we open our hearts. Robert Harding, a UFV social
Clubs you’ve never heard of: hooray for wrestling! Taylor Johnson THE CASCADE
You might not find a wrestling varsity team at UFV, but where theres’s a will to wrestle there’s a way. The club is made up of students from a variety of degree programs, sometimes polar opposites of each other and ranging from science to arts students. These students have varying experience levels, some with a background in wrestling and others who are simply looking to try something new. The club guidelines say students of any and all experience levels are welcome, and anyone wanting to try wrestling out is encouraged to come to a practice. Beyond students, there are various teachers and coaches involved, from the community, as well as professors from UFV who oversee practices. The club receives some funding from SUS, but practices are held off-campus at Yale secondary school. Matt Knott, the club president, explains that being off campus allows them to open the club up to the community. “This gives [the club] a little more freedom to operate with people that are not UFV students, such as high school students that compete for their schools that come out to train,” Knott explains. Unfortunately, training off-campus does pose some difficulties for the club: Knott says the club needs to find locations with wrestling mats, since the mats are fairly expensive and a “funding struggle”
which stops the club from purchasing its own. The club is largely organized through social media, including Facebook and email (ufvwrestling@gmail.com). It is difficult to attract new members through a purely online presence, which is why the club had a booth at the welcome back barbecue. Knott explains the club felt it was important to attend, to help “new students to learn about the club and to let the student body know that there is a wrestling club they can come out to.” Knott explains that the main purpose of the club goes beyond wrestling as a hobby – eventually they hope to move into provincial competitions on behalf of UFV. “Eventually we would like to see the club become a varsity team and compete at the CIS tournaments representing UFV and BC in general,” Knott says, explaining there is currently no CIS wrestling team in BC. Unfortunately, Knott notes, expanding the club beyond UFV and the community will “take time and money [of] which the university and athletics department is in short supply.” In the near future, the club will organize a team for the Spartan Race later this year. Although not technically wrestling, the event will serve several purposes, most notably “as a way of advertising the club, fostering camaraderie and improving fitness of the team,” Knott says, explaining that despite big dreams, the club is taking things one step at a time.
work instructor, pointed out that media coverage concerning Idle No More and First Nations people has been less than positive and also that the aboriginal voice of Canada has not been fully heard. He spoke about how some articles portray the native argument as unreasonable, while others simply give these issues minimal coverage. Finally, Hamish Teldord, a political science instructor at UFV, helped define terms around the central issue: Omnibus bills C-38
and C-45. Both federal government bills contain a large number of unrelated items. Both bills, over 400 pages long, were proclaimed in less than three months of the first reading. He pointed out that the rapid process has become a staple of the Conservative government and that the party is abusing the process. He concluded that we needed to hold the government accountable. With recent global concerns Idle No More is not just a Canadian issue. Canada is the second-
largest country in the world; its land holds about 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water and one quarter of the world’s boreal forest. Bill C-45 inspired the Idle No More movements and discussion sweeping the country, and the concepts have been spreading through the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Canada and World Wildlife Fund. UFV joined this discussion on a more local scale, echoing issues in hot debate across the country.
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
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www.ufvcascade.ca
OPINION
Take heed, pirates: In memoriam of Aaron Swartz BEAU O’NEILL CONTRIBUTOR
The anonymously-written text commonly attributed to the young web-entrepreneur Aaron Swartz, the Guerilla Open Access Manifesto ends with a call to action: “We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that’s out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks ... ” This is just what the 26-yearold Swartz tried to do in the fall of 2010, in a basement of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He downloaded millions of scholarly articles from JSTOR, the familiar database used frequently by me and almost every other privileged post-secondary student, to a laptop linked to one of the institute’s computers. But JSTOR caught on, and so did the feds. On Friday, January 11, facing millions of dollars in fines and years in prison for 13 criminal counts ranging from computer fraud to breaking and entering, Swartz committed suicide. Swartz was a technological genius. Among other achievements, he built a user-edited encyclopedia website before Wikipedia and was a co-creator of RSS, all by age
14. He worked on the foundations of Reddit, which has become one of the internet’s largest places of user-exchange, and according to friends, he worked tirelessly to make as much information as he could free to the public, including moving much of the U.S.’s law cases into public domain. This was a tragic and premature end to a man who held moral convictions alongside skill and intelligence; he fought for the liberation of knowledge and information in a time where the world’s powers worship legal convictions uber alles. Swartz was still ascending – he had not yet plateaued. JSTOR had asked the courts to drop the action concerning them, and asked the government to stop their action as well. But the prosecution went on. I’d like to read the articles from any quarterly that is worth a man’s life. Currently, there is no difference in the law between distributing electronically accessed material for personal gain and doing it for the edification and liberation of the public. This case shows there should be. There is a tendency for those in the armchair to intensify nonexistent links between historic events, and it may be that we are missing much from the distance to the man’s inner life. But there is still something to be had from recognizing that today—in a country Canada regards as a peer—a man would rather die than face the fate awaiting him for trying
Reddit founder Aaron Swartz committed suicide January 11. to disseminate scholasticism. I see in Swartz’s decision a reflection of Socrates’s drinking of the hemlock: he lived by the law, and so would suffer as it imperiously wished. I have to look now at the databases provided by our own institute of higher learning with a whole new respect for the system of it all. The amount of time saved by not having to leaf through dusty, stained journals; being able to log on at home via my own computer, to use the search feature to find the salient points I’m looking for, these are but the adjunct ben-
efits attached to having access to these articles that connect me to the celestial order of academia. In 18th century England, among other practices, pirates charged with high-seas crimes were hanged and their bodies were left on display in public for several days. This was both an insult to the pirate’s corporal body, and, more importantly, a warning to those who viewed it. This is how the laws are treating the criminals of intellectual property laws. A Calgary man was fined $60,000 for sharing two adult movies on a torrent site.
Image: creativecommoners/flickr.com
A man from Boston faces $675,000 for sharing a music album. This must be similar to the treatment of pirates in Boston in the 1720s. On June 30, 1704, pirate captain John Quelch met his end on the gallows. His penultimate words were, “I am not afraid of death.” Aaron Swartz was treated like a pirate though he was, by all accounts, the furthest thing from one. It’s regretful that he had to repeat history in such a manner.
How can we prevent school shootings? HAILEY ROLLHEISER CONTRIBUTOR
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings have sent a shockwave through the media, government and health care system. Although past school shootings have been equally tragic, this one hit a particular nerve among people. The fact that this school shooting took place only 11 days before Christmas and many of its victims were children, resonated with the country. There are now 26 families from Newtown, Connecticut, who have experienced unfathomable loss and tragedy. The first question people ask during such immeasurable tragedy is why? The answer may lie with mental health support. There needs to be more funding to mental health programs, more availability and success of treatment as well as a raised awareness of mental health issues. If the raging debate that has been going on for the past month is any indication, Americans are most preoccupied with the gun control side of things. A loud minority are terrified of losing their gun rights; the Second Amendment states that Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, and many states allow for guns to be carried on their person or in their vehicle. But massacre-style shootings are about much more than guns alone. We know how the shootings took place. What we need to look at is why. News organization Mother Jones reports that of the 61 mass shootings that took place in the U.S. over the last three decades, mental
The memorial of Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. illness was apparent in over half of the shooters before the crime occurred. Obviously something is seriously wrong if you open fire on a large mass of people before turning the gun on yourself. But these people have struggled with lifelong issues that should have been treated. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill prison inmates is five times greater than in people of the outside population. Instead of shoving the mentally ill into prisons where their condition is more sedated than
treated, the mentally ill need hospitals and treatment centres that can intervene before incarceration does. It is obvious that there is a serious need for more funding for mental health care. Mental health is easy for politicians to underfund or ignore. Yet it should be at the top of their agendas; it is a very serious problem with far-reaching effects. Crime and unemployment are just two of a host of issues directly linked to mental illness. Investing in mental health programs would pay off too; if the government took better
Image: davebarger/flickr.com
care of the mentally ill, the crime and unemployment rates would decrease, eventually saving the government money. As individuals, we need to be more aware of one another and ourselves. Beyond the obvious physical signs of neglect, sometimes we notice someone who seems a bit intimidating or we overhear disturbing bits of conversation. As a fellow peer, it is not reasonable to interfere or inquire directly to the person we think is a bit “off.” However, in an institutionalized setting such as school or
university, there is an “authority figure” that we can come to with our concerns. If you notice someone who seems like they just might need someone’s help or someone to talk to, chances are other people have noticed too. There is nothing wrong with talking to your teacher, professor or school counsellor about someone who you think may be struggling with some aspect of his or her life – especially if that person is you. This is even more important for close friends and family members of struggling individuals. The Canadian Mental Health Association states that one in five Canadians have or will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. With such a high percentage, the stigma of mental illness needs to be eliminated. There needs to be a more open conversation about mental illness and an increased priority for education in schools is a must. Many people are uneducated and wouldn’t be able to notice signs even if they saw them. When it comes to the prevention of tragedies like Sandy Hook, mental health needs to be given much more attention. If Americans don’t like the idea of changing the availability of high magazine, military-style assault weapons, the only option is to focus entirely on mental health. Ideally, greater mental health awareness and treatment would be the most important way to prevent such catastrophic loss from happening again.
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
www.ufvcascade.ca
Curtailed commentary on current conditions
SNAPSHOTS
OPINION
Beau O’Neill
Amy Van Veen
Sasha Moedt
Nick Ubels
Pop music: “aural diarrhea”
The worst Monday of the year
Cat lady stigma
Currency conundrums
Pop music is of an empirically poorer quality than those artistic categories, to name a few, of classical, operatic, jazz and folk. In these latter forms, the sophisticated and creative composer ’s mind expresses its highest qualities in the rich and prolific body of music. Contrarily, in popular music we have a creation showing that the drive of the songwriter was a desire simply for popularity, for satisfactory attention, for him/herself or for the performer it was written for. Without going into the wellknown details of the untrustworthy and knock-you-outand-rob-you tactics of pop music, I’ll say how easy it is to stop the root of any complaint before it can sprout into the cynical remarks in which it sometimes blooms. Stop listening to that aural diarrhea. Like a fairytale monster, popular music grows fat on your attention; it’s sly, tricky secret is that “popular” is not the extension of pop, nor “soda pop,” but “poppycock” and all it wants is talk, talk, talk.
This past Monday students were given a free pass to be blue. And I, for one, definitely took advantage of it. According to The Guardian, there is a formula for why January 21, 2013, was the worst day of the year. It was created by life coach Cliff Arnall, a man who has made a profession of his expert knowledge of ... life itself. The variables of this equation include the weather, debt (particularly student debt), the amount of time since Christmas, the amount of time since most people have dropped their New Year ’s resolutions, motivation levels and the need to take action in some area of life. While this formula screams bogusness, there is something to that feeling of “blah” that rolls around halfway through January. The aforementioned factors mixed with the fog that seems to be lingering far too long for comfort does not make this week one to remember. Actually, I sincerely hope it’s quickly forgotten and blue skies push away this particular blue Monday.
Having recently welcomed a second cat into my one-bedroom apartment, I’ve become more and more aware of the stigma that comes from being a woman who has cats – and who spends time with her cats (perhaps more time than with people). What’s the deal? So what if I am replacing human contact with that of an animal’s company? They’re my bros. If you people would be kind, accepting, and more snuggly, then maybe it wouldn’t be like this. But every time I interact with people it’s awkward, ugly and superficial. Cats aren’t like that. They go by a code I understand. They listen and are cool with me. People these days don’t let me behave like a human being without punishing me in their own sociallyacceptable ways. And if it’s socially-unacceptable not to pretend to just love people, then so be it. And if you’re all going to bitch about how I spend my time, well, fine. You’re all assholes anyway. I’d rather be with my cats.
I hope you’re all enjoying your crisp, new $20 bills courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint. Hey look, they can’t be bent! Neat. Since entering circulation, these precious plastic pieces of legal tender have been attracting attention over embarrassing holes in their seemingly resilient design (better not leave that Lizzy on your dashboard lest you want it permanently melted onto your air conditioning vent). What’s more, as Jill Mahoney reported in The Globe and Mail on Friday, the maple leaf design on the new bills isn’t as Canadian as some of us would hope. What the Royal Mint is attempting to excuse as “stylized,” one botanist is calling more reminiscent of Norway maples than those found in our home and native land. So there you have it: sketchy functionality, questionable symbolism. While I’m thankful for the Mint’s attempts to keep Canada’s currency on the cutting edge of counterfeit-proofing, maybe they should take a step back before introducing their next design. And considering how often they seem to be churning them out, I’d wager they’ll have the opportunity to make a better impression before too long.
Image: photoscott/flickr.com
New plagiarism policy a step back for UFV NADINE MOEDT
THE CASCADE
Incidences of plagiarism in Canadian universities are on the rise. According to a CTV news survey, 55 per cent of both instructors and librarians say that first-year students are “less prepared” for university then only three years ago. It’s easy to speculate why this is; perhaps it’s the unlimited access to online material, the inability of high schools to prepare coddled students for university or the apathy of many students who would not be going back to school if not for their parents. Whatever the cause, it’s a matter that has come to the attention of UFV policy makers. UFV has responded to the influx of unprepared and oblivious students with a new “academic misconduct” policy. However, the policy—an unwieldy and obtuse thing—is not as student-friendly as one would hope. With UFV’s old plagiarism policy (policy 310.1), if an instructor had evidence of a student plagiarising, the process was simple. The instructor could speak with the student, assign a zero if necessary and file a report in the Stu-
dent Conduct Registry. If another incident were to occur, the student would be forced to withdraw, and another report filed. A repeat offence could result in “suspension” from UFV. This method relied not on a specific series of steps outlined in a policy, but on the instructor’s own judgment. This method of addressing plagiarism has been replaced by Policy 70, a much more diluted and removed series of actions. Simply put, the misconduct must be reported to the “relevant head of the school,” who will from then on be “responsible for the pursuance” of an investigation-appropriate penalty. The student will be notified, but the instructor will not be in control of the proceedings; the student must deal directly with the head of department. The investigation may include any form of “reasonable legal method,” including “circulation to other instructors in related courses,” interviewing the student and requesting that the student hand in “proof of composition” to investigators. Picture your first-year self— that unmindful, unaware person you were when you first started here—being investigated via poli-
cy 70. Do you know what you did wrong? Is the instructor able to simply point out your wrongdoing and have you carry on, lesson learned? Or are you stuck in limbo, waiting for this great procession of an investigation to be carried out and verdict to be read? This policy appears to contradict everything that makes UFV a great school; small class sizes allow for a cultivation of the student-instructor relationship, making the classroom experience all the more personal and the learning experience that much more rewarding. So now, what could have been a simple learning experience for a naive student is taken out of the hands of the instructor and placed in the lap of a department head who, most likely, couldn’t care less. The purpose of the new policy is unclear; perhaps it protects the instructor from accusations from upset students or their parents. Maybe we’ll never know. Policy 70 demonstrates UFV’s willingness to edge towards the cold bureaucracy of much larger institutions.
Image: CCAC North Library/flickr.com
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
www.ufvcascade.ca
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ARTS & LIFE
CROSSWORD
Things about CIVL
By Nick Ubels & Dessa Bayrock
LAST WEEK’S
ACROSS 1
2
4
3
5
6
7
1. The father of CIVL radio back in 2008. Used to be in SUS but flew to radio. (7 letters, 6 letters) 4. Bearded and baseball cap-sporting CIVL station manager since 2010. (5 letters, 4 letters) 8. If Bob Marley were from Poland, this might be his show. (6 letters, 6 letters, 4 letters) 9. Where the hell is CIVL on campus, anyway? (1 letter, 8 letters) 10. CIVL broadcasts in English, but also in this second common language of Abbotsford. (7 letters) 11. The show where CIVL sums up UFV varsity and other sporty material. (7 letters, 5 letters)
DOWN
8
Answer Key Across
1. DANIELCRAIG 7. WIIG 8. SHERIFF 10. ARGO 12. GIRLS 13. HOMELAND 14. SALLYFIELD
2. The abbreviation for the mandatory Canadian content required by Canadian radio stations, including CIVL. (3 letters, 3 letters) 3. It’s not the candlelight hour, that’s for damn sure. (3 letters, 10 letters, 4 letters) 5. It’s not just a Dancehall... it’s The Dancehall _________! Plays on weekends. (12 letters) 6. Alt. music/talk show named after a Replacements track. (4 letters, 2 letters, 3 letters, 4 letters) 7. NCRA award-nominated punk show hosted by Alicia Williams. (4 letters, 6 letters)
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10
Down 2. GEORGECLOONEY 3. BILLCLINTON 4. HUGHJACKMAN 5. LIFEOFPI 6. BRAVE 9. CHRISTOPH 11. MERYL
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EclipseCrossword.com
The Weekly Horoscope Star Signs from Lady Oracle Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18
Gemini: May 21 - June 21
Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22
Learn how to swim. It’s embarrassing.
New Canadian bills stick together. Be careful next time you make a cash transaction or that gas station attendant is going to end up buying himself dinner, your treat.
Are you psycho? Snow camping? You’ll be facing some harsh realities if you go through with your plans this week.
Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20
Cancer: June 22 - July 22
Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21
Conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories. Keep up your speculation. One day they’ll see. They’ll all see.
It’s time to rearrange your furnature in your bedroom. You’ve stubbed your little toe one too many times. Get some Feng Shui.
Do you know how disgusting your sign is? Call a soothsayer and try to emancipate yourself or whatever.
Aries: March 21 - April 19
Leo: July 23 - Aug 22
Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21
Rawr.
Remember Gentlemen Prefer Blondes? That was a time when women gave a fuck about what men preferred. Keep that in mind when looking to dye your hair.
Taurus: April 20 - May 20
Virgo: Aug 23 - Sept 22
Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19
You’ll find it easy and rewarding to reach out and develop meaningful and lasting relationships this week; unfortunately they will only be with cats. Buy a lint roller.
Wearing loose, baggy clothing will end in disaster. Keep away from zippers, buttons and Velcro. Your birthday suit is your best bet.
Here’s a little known fact the stars would like to impart upon you: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
You’ll have the urge to make a personal, intimate epiphany sound lame this week. Try posting a status about this revelation on Facebook.
#EmbarrassingFirstClass We want to hear your stories!
Tweet about one of these humiliating first class moments and include #EmbarrassingFirstClass You may be a featured Tweet of the Week!
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www.ufvcascade.ca
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
Your SUB Past, present and yes, it does have a future by Jess Wind
If you spend time walking from D building to the campus lounge formerly known as AfterMath you will recognize the dilapidated orange construction fence that surrounds a flattened pile of dirt. This site of the eventual Student Union Building (SUB) has remained untouched over the course of the last five years while SUS and UFV have tackled multiple challenges. They are finally in the final stages of approval; the last step being the green light from the Ministry of Advanced Education. If they succeed in breaking ground this spring, the real work will begin. For now here’s a look at the current state of the SUB.
SUS has spent a great deal of time working towards the construction of the SUB and getting students informed and excited about it. UFV who is partnering with SUS on the project has stayed relatively quieter over the years. As much as it will be a student union building, funded largely by students’ contribution through the capital building fund, the university has and will continue to take a large role in the building’s construction. Chief financial officer Jackie Hogan describes the university’s involvement with the project. “The project [has] a $15 million budget, with $5 million from the university ... We’re also contributing the land and management resources,” she said. SUS went to the university in 2008 with the idea to build a student union building that would serve students as a hub of activity and resources on the Abbotsford campus. UFV prepared to loan the money to SUS, but the sale of their Yale Road campus fell through and offering a lease of that size was not feasible. SUS then contacted the BC government to ask for a loan, but they were likewise unable to lend funding. It was at this point that the idea of mortgaging the building through a financial lender was proposed. Envision, SUS decided, was the institution best suited to fund the project.
Throughout these financial challenges, Hogan says, UFV remained committed to the idea of the SUB. “I think that just does so much for generating a commitment to the university and a home on ... campus,” she says. “[It will] create that environment that builds to a more enriching university experience.” The project was originally planned as a one-stop-shop for students, but has been scaled down due to size constrictions. The architect sketches depict various services moving into the SUB, including the SUS offices, the pub (whatever it will be called at that point), the Career Centre, Student Life and campus media outlets CIVL radio and The Cascade. This leaves extensive space open in current school buildings for the university to repurpose. “Plans are under way about what the vacated space would provide,” Hogan confirms. “We’re in dire need of classroom space and office space, so lots of ideas [are] coming forward.” Apart from a couple of hurdles they still need to clear, including final approval from the ministry of advanced education, Hogan said that they are hoping to break ground this spring. “Administration is just very excited about it,” she said. “It’s going to create such a great space on campus and it’s what we’re lacking.”
Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade
SUS president Shane Potter prepped for construction.
www.ufvcascade.ca
SUB referendum: A “bad foundation”? A student union building built by the student union society implies a certain sense of unity among the SUS. However, during November’s EGM VP academic Dan van der Kroon called for a referendum that would ask the students once more if they were prepared to pay for the SUB. The Capital Building Fund, which still appears as a fee attached to tuition, was introduced in 2008 after a referendum, which offered a reduction in the Student Health and Dental plan fee with the adoption of a $35 capital building fund fee to be paid every semester. Van der Kroon spoke out against the implications of a referendum question worded in this way. “It’s not an illegal way of doing democracy [but] it’s a very poor way of doing democracy,” he said. “It’s really important we get our democratic principles right – that we don’t get into bad habits.” The project is theoretically approaching the construction point, but van der Kroon says that another referendum is necessary. At a SUS board meeting held on December 7, van der Kroon brought a motion to the table to pursue another referendum, which was eventually defeated
with eight votes against, two votes for and two abstentions. The preceding discussion acknowledged the wording of the 2008 referendum was confusing, but also that calling a referendum at this point would result in a loss of time and money already spent on the SUB project. Van der Kroon maintains that moving forward with the project legitimizes the process by which it was voted in. “I prefer to correct wrongs and then start over rather than starting off from ... a bad foundation,” he explains. His proposal for a referendum speaks to the confusion of the capital building fund fee and asks students if they support the cancellation, thus correcting the previous board’s oversight. The referendum would also allow SUS to move forward based on the opinions of the students they currently represent. The 2008 referendum barely passed, and the following referendum regarding the sizable mortgage that SUS has taken on to build the building is now two years old in and of itself. Van der Kroon’s motion would make the current student voice clear in whether or not stu-
SUS talks SUB The majority of current students on campus weren’t around in 2008 when the idea for a Student Union Building took route. SUS decided that UFV Abbotsford campus was in need of a student space, polled the student body for a general opinion, and the rest is history. The SUB has been an ongoing project for at least five years and it seems as though the present SUS board is ready to break ground – almost. SUS president Shane Potter is hesitant to give an exact timeline, but is eager to put a shovel in the ground. “The student government at the time didn’t have a realistic idea of a timeline,” he said. “So they gave early timelines ... it was a new experience; they didn’t understand how long it would take.” If all goes according to current plans, students and SUS could see the building completed by Fall semester 2014. For students just beginning their university experiences it might feel like a quick process, but SUS and UFV have gone through many challenges to bring it to this point. Apart from overcoming various funding hurdles, the building itself has evolved. Originally it was planned as a sprawling two-floor structure, but the same square footage has been reworked into three floors, reducing the footprint of the structure on campus. Potter assures that even though the student body has grown since
the original plans were drawn, the SUB will be able to support them for the next 30 years. General manager Meghan McDonald says there is a lot to get excited about with the construction of the SUB. “I’ve always compared it to a living room of a campus. So you have very functional areas of a house like a kitchen where you cook, and bedroom where you sleep, but a living room is a gathering place, and that’s going to be the student union building here,” she says. Both Potter and McDonald are positive about the opportunity that the SUB provides. It will allow SUS to grow and offer strong services to students by giving clubs and associations a place to meet and hold events, and allowing students to gather in the main open atrium or in the expanded space for the campus lounge. In short, the SUB will be a hub for all the the things that students want outside of their lectures. “This is going to be a lot of fun ... it’s going to give us an anchor,” Potter says. For now, the future SUB it is still a flattened dirt pile outside D building that could double as an ice rink on cold days. However, before the end of the semester, you might be lucky enough to witness at least the beginning of construction of SUS’s long awaited SUB.
dents are still willing to pay for the building, and continue paying for the duration of the mortgage. That being said, van der Kroon agrees that the SUB is a positive thing for the Abbotsford campus. He says he won’t be upset to see it built, and there is certainly value in it for both the university and the community. “One of the biggest values that I see in the SUB building [is] it will provide a place where you can set up a stage,” he said. “There’s a lack of a real, good venue in this region.” Van der Kroon’s Motion WHEREAS the existence of the Capital Building Fund reflects undue prejudice on behalf of the University of the Fraser Valley Student Union Society and in no way can confidently be said to reflect the genuine sentiments of the membership, BE IT RESOLVED THAT that UFV SUS conduct a referendum with the question, “Do you support cancelling the $35 per semester Capital Building Fund?”
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History of the SUB
2008 SUS approaches UFV with the idea to build a “One Stop Shop” for students Student referendum passes with 52 per cent majority in favour of the capital building fund fee. 12 per cent of students voted.
2010 SUB put on hold after funding supposed to come through from UFV following the sale of the Yale Road campus falls through.
2011 Referendum asks students if they are willing to enter into a $10 million mortgage with Envision, to be repaid over the course of the next 30 years. 63 per cent vote in favour.
2012
The date to break ground between April and June arrives and passes with no shovels in the ground.
2013
According to original plans, the year SUB is set to open. According to updated plans, the year SUS hopes to break ground. Open house TBA: everything from design mock-ups to paint swatches will be on display, allowing students and members of the UFV community to get reacquainted with the SUB.
SUB is the new green
22% did it to get ahead.
The Canada Education Park (CEP) campus might already be UFV’s signature green space, but the SUB will also be environmentally friendly: the construction of the SUB will focus on LEED gold level certification. The new UFV building at CEP was built with this certification in mind, and the SUB is another step towards UFV’s environmentally conscious efforts. Sustainability initiatives built into the SUB will include low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water consumption by 30 per cent, energy cost savings 50 per cent above industry standard, and a focus on environmental quality through daylight, ventilation and indoor air quality.
Do it your way. Having difficulty getting into courses you need? Enrol today and combine online courses with your campus studies so you can complete your degree on time.
www.truopen.ca/yourway
MC117213
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
Flexible • Credible • Online and Distance
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www.ufvcascade.ca
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
ARTS & LIFE Cascade Arcade
We need university video game textbooks JOEL SMART
THE CASCADE
I remember when I first learned how to type, they introduced me to a computer game called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. A game we played at school – for marks! It was a revolutionary concept to me at the time, and I remember imagining how cool it would be if we could learn in other classes using a similar style. Now I’m not saying I want all of my classes to turn into video games, or that I think teachers should be replaced by digital avatars with pre-recorded messages. We’ve gone close enough to that with online classes for me to know that something would be lost in the process. But I’ve been at university long enough to know that I’m not the only student who struggles to get through the often dense readings and stale homework assignments that are typically assigned each week. How many of us have tried to sit down and do homework only to have our eyes glaze over – even when the subject material is about something we genuinely care about? These methods of teaching pale in comparison to the exciting media landscape that we’ve come to expect from our entertainment and social networking experiences. Learning doesn’t have to be dull.
image: sobriquet.net/Flickr
People learn better when they can interact with material and find ways of applying it in a personal way. Games, unlike any other medium out there, allow people to experience something first-hand. Science students, for example, might have the chance to safely carry out experiments or try out some of the natural processes they’re studying in a game. Students might also better understand certain theorists’
concepts through a series of minigames designed to explore the different perspectives being studied. Games could work for literally every field of study – and they could make learning a more enjoyable experience. Games also have the ability to learn and adapt to different learning styles, and to identify problem areas. They could become invaluable tools during busy cram ses-
sions. There are already applications designed to make studying easier – working similar to online flash cards. However, if an entire course was designed around a game, the study tools could be a lot more in-depth and useful. If you struggle with a certain math concept, a game would remember and point you towards the simpler concepts that clarify it, and test you on those as well, come test time.
After students have used a game, it could report those stats to the teacher; that way face-to-face class time could be designed to better help students with the specific areas they’ve been struggling with. Some designers have termed games like these “serious games.” One Gamasutra article suggested that they replace airplane safety videos. They could be designed to ensure each person on the flight understands how to find the floatation device, put on the mask or find an exit in an emergency. Serious games could become part of the learner’s license for driving, to make the transition onto the road a little easier. They could even come with cookbooks, IKEA furniture or parenting books for anxious, expecting couples. The possibilities are nearly endless, but university campuses would be one of the best places to start. As a bonus, upgrading to the latest edition of a “textbook game” would be a simple DLC pack away. With more and more textbooks coming with included discs for online study material and small study applications, perhaps the reality is that a full-on textbook video game isn’t that far off. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Film Reviews
Zero Dark Thirty MICHAEL SCOULAR
THE CASCADE
Objectivity is a word thrown around in a way usually linked with reality, professionalism and hard data – it is better than, more mature than, its lesser forms: opinion, emotion, margins of error. In one of the many explanations of the various methods of doing what the people in Zero Dark Thirty are trying to do (find logic, patterns, traceable movements in clusters of half-recorded information) that ideal of objectivity—this is all “deductive reasoning”—is brought up as a way to close off criticism. But Kathryn Bigelow’s movie about tangled post-9/11 national intelligence threads has a central organizing principle: Maya, the figure played by Jessica Chastain. Through her, every equal-sided deliberation or expansive survey, there is always subjectivity in what is being done – whether it is specific to this person or where she comes from. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal approach the past 10 years of American involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan with a netlike structure, covering as much as possible, casting everything (seemingly) in equal light, probing into both dead ends and leads with fine detail, but Zero Dark Thirty is defined by its limitations: it can only (and pointedly only) show the point of view of Americans, even as they occupy territory and bodies not their own. When crises strike, or there is any kind of venturing out that re-
veals the deprivation or compromised landscape outside but just around the investigation, there is never any more than the mere acknowledgment by the camera that this exists – there are jobs to do that mean none of this is an active concern, at least in the minds of the movie’s focal points. Much of Zero Dark Thirty takes place in camps or undisclosed locations that only exist because of American dominance, moving into other countries and setting up structures or temporary bases, but despite the on-location sense of the movie, Chastain and those that work over her are primarily shot indoors, as replays and re-reads and meetings take place to find what is impossible to perceive in the world out-
side. At one point, in the seconds before a gruesome scene, Dan (Jason Clarke) says to Maya “There’s no shame if you want to watch from a monitor.” It’s a line that carries all kinds of weight, from what it means as an audience address, to what it comes to mean for Maya as the bulk of the search will be carried out via similar methods, and similar methods as viewed from a screen. While the records and documents and intelligence reports are all sortable, all manageable, what everything in Zero Dark Thirty comes down to is that what is being worked toward is human life. Characterization of all the people carrying this out is rendered with an opacity that makes it easy
to forget what this looks like— there is no inner life (or the inner life is beaten down) there is only the work—and every turn towards new insight is taken through more cost, more damage. A particularly laborious point is directed at Dan’s keeping of monkeys on the base, and how they are more valued than any human we’ve seen him deal with, but it necessarily points toward the larger picture – where is the line drawn between lives that matter and lives that don’t, if there is one that isn’t changeable in a screen-depicted instant? When explosions and aridness and torture and surveillance are all blanketed by the mediated sense of the image, and every image is noteworthy only for its use,
everything is objectified. Passing judgment is a mess that has no end here (“How do you evaluate the risk of not doing something?”) so while Zero Dark Thirty’s procedural elements might draw comparisons to lengthy series like The Wire or Rubicon, this is one drained of all colour, free action or choice that might lead to gain. One of the first unnerving moments in Zero Dark Thirty is when Jessica Chastain delivers the line “You can help yourself by being truthful” with an automated, posthuman deliberation, despite the natural reaction shots to what is happening Bigelow has returned to as balance for the surrounding murk. Bigelow does not allow for catharsis (as opposed to a symbol to direct hate towards, bin Laden is just another figure on a screen here) clarity (everything is awash in weary, sleepless study) or for anything new to be gleaned. It muddies what is known, and in its climax has nothing that couldn’t have been learned from the New Yorker account of the event published a matter of months after it occurred. Zero Dark Thirty stays inside the messy dealings of the American side, the obsession to find a solution where solutions are obsolete. Despite being “first” to the topic, it has company in post-9/11 films like Steven Spielberg’s Munich or Julia Loktev’s Day Night Day Night that focus on unrelated personal stories to expand on the greater whole. If Zero Dark Thirty doesn’t reach in the same way those do, it is entirely by design.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
www.ufvcascade.ca
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ARTS & LIFE
Discussions Below the Belt A taste of two strip clubs
image: apnattimepass.com
LADY ORACLE and NAUGHTYA THE CASCADE The two gay men outside of the Remington’s: Men of Steel almost scared us off. “If you want to see some cock swinging in your face, get in there,” they said, offering us cigarettes. At that moment we didn’t really want either, so we decided to ease into it by going to Zanzibar, less than a block down Toronto’s famed Yonge Street, where “The girls never stop,” as the blinking sign said. LO: The sign board above us flashed with gaudy colours, boasting of “dozens of nude dancers” inside. Cover was free for women so in we went. N: There was just one girl on stage. We missed the actual stripping part, and she was just walking up and down the stage ... LO: Like a caged tiger! N: Yes. A caged tiger. The stage was long, all along the side of the club, and the patrons sat alongside it. The back of the stage was curtained off, probably where the strippers came out at the beginning of their show. There was a red throne-like chair and a pole. She was wearing nothing but stilettoed boots that laced up knee-high. LO: She moved very slowly, sensually, spinning on the pole every now and then. N: The atmosphere wasn’t as intense as I thought it would be. It was sort of like a bar, and the stripper didn’t command the attention of the patrons. The men kind of stared blankly at her ... The table beside us had a bunch of girls on a night out; they were just drinking and having fun. You’d think going to a strip club, it would be about the stripper, but people were pretty chill. The servers were very friendly and enthusiastic, though. LO: They were wearing corsets and heels. Maybe that’s where the tips came in. N: I was expecting the stripper to look more ... typical, like a mainstream pornstar. This girl looked like a real girl – dark hair, natural breasts and a healthy body that wasn’t too skinny. She was definitely shaven down south, though. LO: No beard of the south, that’s for sure. N: That’s a typical characteristic of pornstars and strippers – mainstream, anyways. LO: My favourite move is when she got on her knees and sort of laid down, stretching like a cat. She’d kind of whip her hair
around. Not a lot of smiling, but she was doing the serious-sexy look. It almost came off as bored, but maybe that’s sexy, too. N: Well, it wasn’t that interesting. Altogether, I felt like she was holding back because she wasn’t getting the right “tip vibe” from the audience. So we decided to try Remmington’s for a bit more action. LO: Ten bucks each to get into Remmington’s! N: It was laid out much like its female counterpart, with a long stage, except instead of a curtain, there was a mirror on stage. There were also two poles, because there were two men on stage. It was much darker, and the music was much louder. It also felt seedier on some level. LO: There were more men than women again. One man waved money at a stripper as he came up on stage. The strippers were good looking, both well-built, with generically handsome faces. They were just beginning their act. N: The customers were definitely there for the strippers at this club. There was a lot more hollering and whistling. LO: So the waiter, good-looking with a tight white shirt, comes over and tells us that there is a minimum two drink policy for customers. And I’m thinking, bullshit! We just paid 20 bucks to get in! N: Yeah. LO: And of course when I ask him how much a drink is, say a Long Island iced tea, it’s an arm and a leg. N: Nine bucks or something. It might have been an expensive night. LO: So I told him we’d think about it, and he leaves, and I tell Naughtya, we’ve got to weasel out of this one. We hardly had enough for four drinks! N: I didn’t want to leave straight away to avoid buying ... LO: Because the men up on stage hadn’t even started to take their clothes off! N: ... And the seats were comfy. LO: Right. So I said, why don’t we tell him one of us is glucose intolerant? N: Gluten. LO: Gluten intolerant! So when Mr. TightShirt came back we told him you couldn’t drink because of gluten intolerance. N: He was totally cool with it. LO: So I drank a drink slowly, and the men started stripping. They had a lot more swagger than the female stripper did. No flexible moves like the female stripper at the other
place with her cat-move, but a lot of pelvic thrust and running their hand up their bodies. Something interesting was the way both strippers sort of fondled themselves. I think it was both to be sexy and to stimulate themselves to be hard when the pants eventually came off. N: It is interesting to think of those differences just in the visibility ... You can easily tell when men are not into it. Men have to work a lot harder to keep erect. Women can do their moves and think about paying bills and doing grocery shopping, you know? LO: Though every guy knows that he can be turned on and not erect. N: Yeah. And it would be hard doing it under pressure. LO: Or not hard. N: Well, yes. LO: Even when the pants came off, they were fidding with their bits. I’d say from what I could see, the most effective way of keeping things erect was dancing up to the mirror and eyeing themselves. N: That mirror definitely had smears once they were done. Another interesting thing was that they were both circumcised. LO: And shaved. Their penises looked like ... penises; one of them was definitely a grower not a shower, but he got it on pretty quick. The guy who was lurking right up by the stage with his cash waved it around. He was pretty stingy with it – didn’t give up anything until the stripper was close-up doing his moves. And—I’ll admit I found this really unattractive and a bit repugnant— the stripper did this move where he took the money with his butt-cheeks. Literally clamped down on that bill and gave the patron a little wiggle. N: They weren’t on for as long as the female stripper was, probably because they can’t have a hard on for that long. Two more gents came up on stage. One of them was Jamaican, a real looker with some interesting hip thrust moves. But these dancers did not strip completely naked. Was it not in their job description? The Jamaican took everything off, deftly covering himself with a scarf. LO: You could tell he was well-endowed. N: But he kept that silky scarf over his goods, we didn’t even get a glimpse. LO: Why didn’t he move the scarf away? N: I think sometimes the anticipation is better than the event. LO: Fuck that.
N: It was a very flattering scarf. LO: I paid $10 plus a drink. I could easily walk around UFV and look at the outlines of penises for free. What a rip off. N: Well ... there were several strippers working the crowd, so I decided to get an interview from the topless, and supposedly Russian fellow who approached us. LO: He was pretty fine. Sort of Fabioesque. N: After declining his amorous offer (“Come dance with me in the back. I want you alone”) I asked him how he got into his line of work. “I’m so horny,” he replied, gazing into my eyes. LO: You really couldn’t get anything else out of him. N: Dull conversation really is a turn off, isn’t it? LO: He wasn’t hired for his conversation! It was weird to be hit on like that; I would’ve liked to flirt, maybe feel those abs. But you had to pay for it. N: There’s a certain misconception about that sort of thing. Women seem to think of men as having an unlimited sexual appetite and appreciating any sexual attention, physical or otherwise, whereas men know (for the most part) that they can’t just go groping a woman. LO: The respect should go both ways ... Sexism goes both ways, and I think men are less aware of it, which isn’t a good thing. N: So in all, I think the Remington’s was more enjoyable. The dancers were the centre of attention and seemed to be a bit more cocky, you know what I mean? LO: I really do. Personally the laid-back atmosphere of the Zanzibar appealed to me more. I felt sorry for the men, just because of the way the patrons acted. Also the men looked kind of like they were having a shitty time, besides the Jamaican, he had some fun. The girl looked bored, but she had things under control. N: The strip club is an interesting atmosphere. Maybe it would be better if the atmosphere was less focused on making money and on sordid, furtive touching and more on positive energy, fun, healthy and athletic strippers, then I’d go more often. LO: Everyone should check out a strip club, though, just for the experience. Who knows, maybe your hot Jamaican will reveal what’s beneath his scarf.
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www.ufvcascade.ca
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
ARTS & LIFE
Katie Armiger
Parquet Courts
Burial Truant/Rough Sleeper
Free Energy
Like many of her predecessors, Katie Armiger asserts her newfound independence with her latest album Fall Into Me. The 21-year-old attributes the album’s inspiration to her recent break-up – which is clearly reflected in every track on the album. The album is heavily focused on the extremely cliché themes of young love and heartbreak, but who I am kidding? I love this stuff. The acoustic guitar paired with her soft country twang and breakup lyrics could really serve as the perfect breakup remedy, or more simply, some easy listening for the soft hearted. I wouldn’t say the album is suitable for a Saturday night while hanging with friends, but for some Sunday driving, it’s perfect. “Cardboard Boxes,” one of my personal favourites, discusses the ups and downs of moving on: it showcases the artist’s range and has a mid-tempo, catchy beat. The leading single, “Better in a Black Dress,” discusses the pressures of marriage and Armiger’s desire for prolonged freedom. While many men may not be drawn to this album, Fall Into Me definitely speaks to the ladies.
The Brooklyn-by-Texas post-punk quartet Parquet Courts have produced a debut Light Up Gold that establishes their abilities as songwriters and musicians amongst the two chords and two chords only fundamentalists of the late ‘70s. Echoing acts like Wire and The Feelies, Parquet Courts possess more in the way of inspiration than they do in musical chops, but their untainted, jangly guitars, steady rock drums and clever and detached lyrics offers plenty of treats for those who are eager to approach the album with open ears. What truly impresses about Light Up Gold is the way the songs, ranging from the choppy post-punk “Stoned and Starved” to the hypnotic drone-rock like “Careers in Combat” to tightly written and catchy pop song “Borrowed Time,” is that the songs all shoot for the same mood and message. Parquet Court’s two-and-a-half minute idiosyncratic, cynical, very lively and minimal post-punk tunes really maintain a stable and balanced sentiment, for its musical roots construct modern variety of musical fruits. Light Up Gold is an album that effortlessly molds into whatever occasion; it’s an album for all seasons.
In proximity (less than 12 months apart) Truant/Rough Sleeper is hardly separate from last year’s Kindred, and when arpeggios build and collapse and repeat on “Truant” like they did on “Loner” and “Ashtray Wasp” they sound like they come from a series, but in form and progression Burial’s latest is a marked departure. Retained is the sound; bass always in attendance, samples drowned and stretched nearly apart into multiples, and corrosive record static, the past inflicting the present. But both tracks here (together running almost half an hour) are marked by division, an assortment. Silence engulfs just as sound begins to build, leading to a reset, or a continuation of an earlier dropped track, as if there are patches of unplayability, or the tossing and turning of most of Burial’s recent work has reached its natural culmination. There’s nothing here that exceeds “Ashtray Wasp,” which by comparison is standard— three songs stitched together in broken crossfades—and neither piece ends well: abrasive, unpleasant, and suggesting there must be something more to follow, only for there not to be – unless the better ending, like the retoned, elongated organ and chimes of “Rough Sleeper,” already came before.
Perennial Titus Andronicus tour mates Free Energy have gone bigger, but not necessarily better on their sophomore LP Love Sign. The follow-up to 2010’s windows-down love letter to rock and roll is bigger, dumber, and certainly triumphant. But it’s also a little ounderwhelming and in places lacks the more subtle charms of their debut, Stuck on Nothing. It’s difficult to doubt the earnestness with which Love Sign is delivered, reminiscent at times to Atlantic treasure Joel Plaskett, but the songs lack a certain roughness which helped win me over the first time around. Lead single “Dance All Night” pulls back the volume, but doesn’t quite make up for it with convincing hooks. There’s a swagger here too, but one that seems more polished than strictly necessary. All it takes is to compare the hammering bombast of “Girls Wanna Dance” with the swinging breakdown of Stuck on Nothing’s “Coming Out.” Melodies still abound, with sing along “Ohs” and “Las” throughout, but there’s an arenaready quality that doesn’t translate as well as it should given the wide-open guitars of Love Sign. Most everything’s just a little less particular and less personal. I can’t deny the effectiveness of the horns on “Time Rolls On,” but too much of the album just blends together as one big, loud mess.
BRITTNI BROWN
Tim Ubels
Michael scoular
nICK UBELS
Mini Album Reviews
SoundBites
Fall Into Me
Light Up Gold
Dine & Dash The Victory Restaurant
The Victory Restaurant
45695 Hocking Avenue, Chilliwack Prices from $7.95 to $21.95 (All you can eat for $11.95) Monday through Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
DESSA BAYROCK
THE CASCADE
Last time I ate at this restaurant it was still called Victory Fish and Chips, and the fare doesn’t seem to have changed at all. There is a definite focus on crispy, delicious British fish and chips (halibut, cod, and haddock), but also a selection of coleslaw, fish burgers, and meat pies. In a phrase: British delicious! Character can make or break an establishment, and character is something that The Victory Restaurant has in spades. Sticking with an unsurprising British theme, posters and other memorabilia line the walls. One plaque tells me that beer is good with all meals, not just breakfast. Another sternly warns that all flintlocks, cudgels, daggers and swords are to be handed over to the innkeeper
for safekeeping. Scarves from the last 18 football (soccer?) championships take up almost a whole wall. A flat-screen television informs me I am watching EastEnders, and judging by the drama unfolding around Janine’s wedding, it can only be a long-running British soap opera (the internet seems to confirm it’s been a staple of British airwaves since 1985). I am both terrified and intrigued by the selection of imported beer and fancy mugs hanging above the bar. Unsurprisingly, I order fish and chips: more specifically, a piece of cod on a bed of potato counterparts. Spoilers: fucking delicious. The batter is just the right thickness and the kind of crispy, honey-nut brown colour that CLovers will never accomplish. The meat of the fish is almost too hot to eat, with just the right amount of flakiness that allows you to pull it apart into neat pieces without disintegrating completely. Warning: that fish will be gone before you can say no-slap-and-tickleof-the-wenches (another thing a poster warns me is strictly forbidden in the tavern). You know why? It’s delicious, delicious, delicious. I can’t say it enough. It’s just the perfect temperature of too-hot-forfingers, not-too-hot-for-tongues.
Image: Dessa Bayrock/The Cascade
The Victory Restaurant makes cluttered feel cozy. It’s just the perfect amount of grease to make you appreciate the deep-fried carbohydrates you are putting into your body, without feeling like the grease is trying to eat you from the inside out. Given how perfectly wonderful this fish is, it is to my sadness I am forced to report the matching chips are disappointingly lacklustre. Their golden exteriors lie, promising melt-in-your-mouth crispy potato heaven and instead delivering the sort of fry I would buy mass-market at Costco and bake in
my own oven. I am an amateur. I am not good at baking fries in my oven. This is apparently something The Victory Restaurant and I have in common, despite their use of a deep-fryer. The chips alternated between too crispy and not crispy enough, and seemed lukewarm next to the absolutely perfectly wonderfully scalding temperature of the fish. I am sorry to say there are better fries almost anywhere in town, but I will mention the one perfect fry I ate from my order – it was crispy on the outside, smooth
Love Sign
on the inside, and had sucked enough heat-juice from the fish to be the most gorgeous temperature found in fry-nature. This fry gives me hope for all other fries, and I have high hopes that these unenthusiastic chips are not the typical offering of this establishment. I have several things to say in conclusion: First, that British tartar sauce is the best tartar sauce, and I’m 90 per cent certain that Victory creates their own mysterious tartar recipe in house. Second, the portions are more than generous and two decently hungry people could easily share a double-fish-singlefry-order combo. Third, I’m not sure I can get through a fish and chips restaurant review without using the word “sea-cow,” and I apologize in advance if it should sneak in. So here’s The Victory Restaurant in a nutshell: if you’re looking for some classic British fish, this is the place for you. If you’re looking for British chips, I am sorry to report you can probably find better versions elsewhere. But don’t let that deter you; if you’re in the mood for “sea-cow,” there is no better restaurant in all of Chilliwack.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
www.ufvcascade.ca
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ARTS & LIFE FASHION
How-to-style: Maxi Skirts JASMINE PROCTOR
CONTRIBUTOR
1
CHARTS
Fist City Buried b/w Cryptic Transmissions
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Viper Central Thump & Howl The Ballantynes Misery b/w Stay
Shuffle AARON LEVY
CIVL DJ/ROUGH RIDER
Aaron Levy is CIVL’s station manager, and though he doesn’t party too hardy, some people are getting back into the swing of that kinda thing for this time of year!
Major Lazer Free the Universe
We Hunt Buffalo We Hunt Buffalo
Renny Wilson Sugarglider
Blue Hawaii Untogether Modern Superstitions Modern Superstitions Lee Harvey Osmond The Folk Sinner Wanda Jackson Unfinished Business
Nu Sensae Sundowning Crystal Castles Crystal Castles (III)
Daniel Romano Come Cry With Me
14 15 16 17
Tom Fun Orchestra Earthworm Heart Acres and Acres Truth And Sky Papermaps Inferior Ghost
How To Destroy Angels An Omen
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The Soupcans Good Feelings
You Say Party! – “You Say Party! We Say Die!” Abbotsford’s most successful indie rockers definitely know how to rock a local party. They also know how to revitalize and reinvent themselves with samples and loops after the tragic loss of their drummer/friend, Devon Clifford, to whom the brand new release Friend is dedicated. Bassist Stephen is a CIVL DJ!
There is something to be said about the maxi skirt. It is one of the fashion world’s most classic creations, sported and adored by fashion lovers worldwide. For the past year or so, this designer masterpiece has been seen both on and off the runways, flowing gracefully off the hips of such celebrities and fashion icons as Lauren Conrad, Ashley Olsen and Jennifer Lawrence. Ideal for both summer and winter due to its versatility, the maxi skirt is one of those great pieces that works for virtually every style. But why, then, are so many of us afraid to try one out? From what I have learned, it boils down to two main issues: body shape and height. Too short or too tall, too thin or too curvy: we always end up finding some excuse not to wear one. So many of us believe that maxi skirts only work for girls five-foot-five and above, and that short girls couldn’t possibly wear one because they would inevitably end up looking even smaller than usual. This is far from the truth. Whether you are short, tall or average height, the maxi skirt can work for you – regardless of your body shape. You just have to know what you’re looking for. The main trick to wearing a maxi skirt is all about balance: finding the right proportions on top to balance out the bulkiness on the bottom. One great way of achieving this harmony is by pairing the skirt with a slim-fitting top, as it will keep the attention on the skirt and make everything sym-
metrical from top to bottom. Look for ones in a solid colour or a simple print, something that coordinates well with the colour of your skirt. You could even try wearing a bodycon dress underneath to get this look. Or, for more daring individuals, try pairing the skirt with a crop top or bodice, and throw on a comfy cardigan for warmth. The most important thing is to make sure you find the type of skirt that works for you. Generally, what you want to be looking for is one that cinches in at the smallest part of your torso or rather, your natural waistline, and flows down to your ankles. Make sure the skirt is slimmer fitting, nothing too voluptuous or billowy as you can easily get lost in the fabric, regardless of your height. This will give you a fluid line from top to bottom, which is what you want a maxi skirt to do. As for colours, it is completely up to you. In my opinion, solid colours work best. If you are aiming for a more slimming look, stick with darker neutrals, like black and grey. For a more girly look, you could try colours like blush pink, beige and white. As for fabrics, look for skirts made from cotton or silky chiffon, as these tend to lay flat and glide over the skin. With all that in mind, let’s now focus on the accessories. For most styles, you want to keep the jewelry minimal, with nothing too over-the-top. A single long necklace or a couple of thin bangles can go a long way with this look. If you want to go one step further, try adding a vintage-looking belt to add even more definition to the
image: KristinaJ./flickr
Finding the right maxi skirt fit.
waist. Adding a beanie or bowler cap could also be fun, while also serving to balance out the top and the bottom – it can add a little quirk to your look. If you are on the shorter side and are looking for length and height, I would definitely wear any solid-coloured, closed-toe wedged heel or ankle platform boot. An alternative to heels could be a pair of oxfords or flats. Put on a pair of nylons or tights underneath it all and you’ve got what you need to look fabulous in a maxi skirt.
The Constantines – “Some Party” Great track with jagged guitar strikes imitating the awkward inappropriateness of the negative behaviour some party goers decide to engage in when their inhibitions are lowered and their morals are compromised. It’s kind of a downer if you really get thinking about it, but it’s such a good tune. You’ll live. Andrew Gold – “Thank You for Being a Friend” Originally rocketing to Billboard #25 in 1978, this theme to Golden Girls is also the title of B.A. Johnston’s second-to-last album, songs from which you can see him perform March 17 (St. Patty’s Day) at the pub formerly known as AfterMath! Relevant lyric: “If you threw a party and invited everyone to come ... ” Lesley Gore – “It’s My Party” Lesley cried. She wanted to. A sad state of affairs; Judy and Johnny kept dancing all night, even though he was supposed to be hers, but there was nothing Lesley could do about the “perfect” surprise she found when Judy was wearing his ring. Hopefully you never experience something similar.
COME TO ROOM B133 FOR OUR WEEKLY WRITERS’ MEETINGS MONDAYS AT 10 A.M.
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www.ufvcascade.ca
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
ARTS & LIFE
Image: Tony Biondi/The Cascade
Art advertising PuSH International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver fills C building’s hallways, grabbing the attention of passersby.
Human Library offers books you can’t put down RHYS EDWARDS
entirely possible to be in excellent physical condition — Suzy also skis, gardens and goes mountain climbing — and still be overweight due to factors entirely beyond personal control.
UBYSSEY
VANCOUVER (CUP) — In many ways, human beings are like books. Some of us can ramble on and on without saying anything, while others can explain complex ideas in a few sentences. Some of us cover ourselves in lavish designs and patterns; others are more austere. We often speak of our life story, and say that we can read each other like a book. And of course, as we grow older, we begin to wrinkle and decay. So it’s not beyond the stretch of the imagination to conceive of a human as a living book — the walking incarnation of text. These are the thoughts I had in mind last Saturday when I went to the Human Library, a performance project currently being hosted by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver. In keeping with the festival’s boundary-pushing mandate, the Human Library is an interactive experience that compels participants to challenge their preconceptions about a variety of stereotyped people by asking them to simply talk to each other. Visitors to the Human Library, located on the third floor of the Vancouver Public Library’s downtown branch, will find a desk covered in an array of different “books” they can check out, such as “Asperger’s Syndrome,” “Refugee” and “Born Again Christian.” Shortly after, a librarian will take them to meet their selected book, and, for the next 20 minutes, can-
image: Andrew Bates/The Ubyssey
did conversation ensues. The books are real people, not fictional characters. As I walked to meet my book — a tome ominously titled “Livin’ Large” with no additional context – I had misgivings. What if we didn’t get along? What if I offended the book? And what if the conversation was awkward? Fear, I hoped, would be requisite to some kind of learning. It turns out that the subject of “Livin’ Large” is a young woman who calls herself Suzy Shameless. I had anticipated that she would be overweight; what I had not anticipated, however, was that she would be an enthusiastic roller derby girl. For the past six years,
Suzy has played with the Terminal City Rollergirls in competitions across North America, even as far away as Alaska. She hopes one day to compete in Dubai, just to see how the locals respond to her: a 220-pound woman wearing fishnet stockings, hotpants and a tanktop. Suzy once modelled for the cover of Sad Magazine, where she was described — in the nicest possible sense — as “an overtly sexual, hyper-aggressive bully.” She frequently rolls into the ring with a message scrawled across her bare belly, which she slaps to intimidate the opposing team. “I’ve broken one girl’s ribs and another girl’s tailbone through
hitting them,” she cheerfully informed me. For Suzy, roller derby is not merely a pleasurable pastime; it affirms the total confidence she has in her self-image. The way in which she has embraced her body, she said, has inspired other women to confront the prejudice against non-heteronormative images of the female body. “This is who I am,” Suzy stated. “I’m going to use every inch of my body to convey this message that, ‘I am big, and I love it.’” As our conversation continued, I found my (admittedly limited) understanding of roller derby, and the human body, changing rapidly. I learned, for instance, that it’s
I eventually worked up the courage to ask her how she fares on the romantic side of things. Without hesitation, she tells me that she has a boyfriend, and that she has been approached by men on numerous occasions. “I’ve said ‘no’ a hell of a lot more times than I’ve said ‘yes.’” By the time our conversation ended, I realized something else: not only is Suzy totally okay with who she is, she’s also one of the most confident people I’ve ever met. Rather than perpetually aspiring to be someone else, she enjoys the life that she has made for herself. “I couldn’t imagine letting my body hold me back,” she mentioned in passing. The fact that I could learn so much through a basic interaction with another human being left me feeling both elated and despondent. I appreciate the knowledge I gained, but I was also left with the impression that my understanding of the world I live in is woefully narrow. How many other stories are circulating beneath Vancouver’s glass veneer? The Human Library, at least, provides a way for us to find some of them.
www.ufvcascade.ca
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
17
SPORTS & HEALTH
The good, the bad and the ugly: Heat mid-season review Heat and its 2000 or so regular attendees haven’t been able to have that experience in a while. If it weren’t for six sellout crowds to watch the Chicago Wolves and Oklahoma City Barons, the Heat would be on pace to have their worst attendance record in their four-year history. The good thing is, the Heat players have adjusted to having little to no fan emotion at the AESC. Their record at home this season is 13-6-2-1, which is good for second best in the league.
MIKE CADARETTE CONTRIBUTOR
The midway point of the Abbotsford Heat’s 2012-13 season has arrived. There have been highs and there have been lows throughout the first 38 games of the 76-game season. The Heat started the first month-and-a-half of the campaign as the best team in the AHL. Then injuries hit. The offence dried up, but the defence did not. They have since fallen from the podium in an awful losing streak that began in December. Yet, despite the nature of the NHL lockout taking many of the Heat’s key players and having a rough month to finish 2012, Abbotsford remains one of the top teams in the Western Conference. The second half of the season is always the most difficult in any pro sport. The pressure to finish out the season with consistency is integral. When the Heat look back on the first half of the season, there are certainly some things they should try to forget, while there are others they need to continue. Image: Clint Trahan/Abbotsford Heat
Goaltending Rarely in life can you come in first and second place at something simultaneously, but the Heat have found a way — at least in the goaltending category. Barry Brust and Danny Taylor continue to put up the stingiest numbers in the American Hockey League. Brust, sporting a league-leading 1.45 goals against average, has been nothing short of spectacular. The one they call “The Ninja” beat NHL legend Johnny Bower’s AHL consecutive shutout streak of 249 minutes and 51 seconds. Brust did not allow a goal in 268 minutes and 17 seconds. Yeah, he’s good. Danny Taylor is having an equally impressive season. Second only to his teammate, Taylor has played 20 games this season and is maintaining a 1.68 goals against average. The 26-year-old veteran may not have broken any
records, but he’s been air tight as one half of the double-headed dragon coach Ward has at his disposal. Special Teams Special teams has been something the Heat have both thrived with and struggled at. Their power play at home is top five in the AHL, but on the road they’re second last with the man advantage. Penalty killing has been a strong suit for the Heat at home as they are the second best team in the league when they’re down a man. They have only allowed 18 shorthanded goals all season. If the Heat can find a way to pick up their power play on the road, they could become one of the premier clubs on special teams in the American League. Whether a man up or a man down, the Heat should be able to continue their
outstanding penalty killing and power play in the second half of the season. Offence From October 12 to November 30, the Heat scored 54 goals in their first 19 games (2.8 goals per game). Since December 1, the Heat have scored just 30 goals in their last 20 games (1.5 goals per game). It’s clear that the Heat started off as an offensive juggernaut in the AHL, but rapidly declined when December hit. It was an odd dynamic that swept over the team. From scoring almost at will to being one of the worst offensive teams almost over night, there are only a few possible explanations. On November 30, Sven Baertschi (the team’s leader in point per game) suffered a whiplash that kept him out of the lineup for over a month.
Ode to the NFL playoffs
By MIKE CADARETTE
New England, Baltimore, Atlanta and San Fran, To make it to the end was the game plan. But now two remain in the biggest game of them all, To come out on top as the kings of football. Boldin, Jones, Suggs and Reed, Was all Baltimore needed in order to succeed. They beat the Patriots in convincing fashion, With a defence like that, there’s little compassion. Baltimore was the underdog in every game they won. A Championship team is what they’ve become. With Flacco in the pocket and Rice on the run, The Ravens dynasty has begun. From
blowouts
to
upsets,
whether night or day, The pride of Baltimore and the boys from the Bay, Will now make a stand to prove they’re the best, “Kaepernick’s unstoppable!” is what they profess. The Bay Area had been blessed with Rice and Montana, The path to history began by beating Atlanta. With Aldon, Whitner, Willis and Bowman The Niners in the Super bowl Blooked like an omen. And now the big game is around the bend, Every team vowed to make it to the end. Only two have achieved what all desire, It’s Ray Lewis’ last chance before he’ll retire!
In addition, the NHL lockout ended and all of the best players left for Flames training camp. Then there’s a matter of plain old cold streaks. Players who are expected to get points can’t buy a goal to save their lives. All of these factors amounted to the biggest offensive drop off in the AHL. It’s something the Heat hope to look back on as simply a bump in the road. Attendance While attendance is not something the team particularly has influence over, it is something that can have influence over the team. Few things are better in sports than having a loud, supportive crowd in a hockey arena. Feeling the energy of the crowd not only helps the experience off the ice, but on the ice as well. Unfortunately, the Abbotsford
Defence The outstanding goaltending from Brust and Taylor is evident, but team defence has been a hallmark of the 2012-13 edition of the Abbotsford Heat. In the first half of the season, the Heat have only allowed 81 goals (2.07 goals per game). To put that in perspective, the teams with the next fewest goals allowed are the Binghamton Senators and Springfield Falcons with 93. It seems that head coach Troy Ward and staff have mastered “trap” defence. A big reason for that result is the emergence of towering blue-liner Chris Breen as the Heat’s premier shut-down defender. Breen, in his third season with the Heat, has proven why he should be a leading candidate for most improved player. Accompanying Breen on the blue line are a collection of sturdy veteran defenders Joe Callahan, Steve McCarthy and Joe Piskula, who all do their part in stopping the other teams’ best players. Looking ahead to the next half of the season, the Abbotsford Heat look to increase their offence all while maintaining the stingiest defensive numbers in the league. With players returning from NHL training camp, the Heat will return to a sense of normalcy by having most of their old roster back. That static roster should give the Heat enough consistency to secure their third post-season appearance in their first four years.
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
www.ufvcascade.ca
SPORTS & HEALTH
Building a women’s basketball dynasty J. TIMMER
CASCADES ALumnus
UFV athletics seems to be on a roll these days. With various teams being ranked in the top 10 in the nation there is a lot to be proud of in our little school. A definite highlight of the year thus far has been the outstanding performances put on by our women’s basketball team. Currently ranked number one in the nation and currently sitting at 11–1 and in first place overall in the Canada West University Athletics Association (CWUAA), the team has consistently proven itself to be tops in the nation. The Cascades, as of January 19, sit in first place in all of Canada West. On average the team has a winning margin of plus-16.8, and has 10 players averaging more than ten minutes a game with no player averaging more than 30 minutes a game. In short the team uses a deep bench and consistently blows the opposition out of the water. The team has depth and experience; boasting a roster full of third and fourth year players and scoring is done by committee with four players averaging more than 10 points a game and several others regularly contributing. Surprisingly, a moment that does well to summarize the season so far for the Cascades came from a rare night where they did not come out the victor. In their
Images: Blake McGuire/The Cascade
final game before the Christmas break, the team was out on one of the worst road trips in the league. After collecting an easy win on Friday night in Brandon, the team had to bus overnight to Regina to a hotel where they would play on Saturday night. A six-hour bus ride in the middle of the night is never fun, but they ended up getting delayed further due to extreme winter conditions. In the end, the women’s squad walked off the bus and onto the court with no sleep or preparation time to face a Regina team that was widely considered the top team in the country on one
of the most notourious courts for a little bit of referee home cooking. In a hard fought battle the Cascades finished the game with a four-point loss. Despite the end result, the Cascades could hold their heads high and walk away with a new level of confidence; it was now clear that they could play with any team in the nation no matter the situation or location. The Cascades are a team that grew into their success. Masterminded by Al Tuchscherer, the team all came in as first-year students from the junior Cascades program designed by Tuchscherer
to draw in local talent to a university that many in the past would have overlooked in favour of the province’s bigger schools. In the early years for this team, it was rough-going. To be on the losing side of lopsided scores was not an uncommon occurrence. But according to Nicole Weirks, a fourthyear forward from Chilliwack, those years are finally paying off now. “The previous years were just part of the process for us,” she said. “This year is just a result of all the work we’ve put in over those past years, growing as a team and find-
ing out what works for us.” Whatever the secret formula to chemistry is, the Cascades seem to have found it. Maybe it was suffering tough loss after loss in the early years, or the bonding that came with huge playoff victories in recent years; whatever the case, something is going very right now for the Cs. Night in and night out the pure joy of playing the sport they love is apparent on the faces of every player on and off the floor. On their chances at a national title run, Weirks wasn’t taking anything for granted. “There is still a lot of work ahead of us before we get there, and we’re playing against a lot of good teams who have a lot of top class players,” she said. “Our best now can’t be our best come March if a national title is going to be a possibility for us.” A great way to answer the question without actually answering it, a skill that takes many years for most athletes to learn. One thing is certain however; regardless if this season ends in a championship or not, this team will continue to play an electric brand of basketball and will likely go down as one of the most talented basketball teams that have ever played in the Fraser Valley. The Cascades next home games are January 25 and 26 at the Envision Athletic Centre.
Is height a determining factor for sports success?
TRAVIS ROBINSON THE mELORIST
LETHBRIDGE (CUP) — Height is not everything in sports; it’s the only thing. To illustrate this rule, one can examine the heights of the past 10 Olympic decathlete champions. Many consider the champion decathlete to be the world’s finest athlete. He must be proficient at 10 track and field events, and compete in these events in a gruelling two-day competition. He can sprint, throw, and leap within a reasonable standard deviation from the Olympic specialists, and must do so within the compressed time constraints of an Olympic schedule. To be world class in these events takes an exceptional athlete, one who is blessed with both genetics and a broad skillset. Genetically, these Olympic champion decathletes share one thing: height. Of the past 10 Olympic champion decathletes, all stand at least 5 feet 11 inches tall. Dan O’Brien, the tallest of the bunch, stands a long 6 foot 2 inches. Bryan Clay is the stockiest of the bunch, standing a bit under 6 foot 0 inches. Ashton Eaton, the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, meets the middle at 6 foot 1 inches tall . This remarkable consistency in the athlete’s heights is mostly due to the nature of the sport. They must have the leverage of a thrower, the stride of a sprinter, and the length of a jumps specialist. Thus, having a consistent height (not too tall, but not short) means that the decathlete will be able to replicate the forms of the
specialists at a high level. A shorter athlete would never be able to compete in the decathlon, as their compensation for one event would lead to inferior results in other events. The decathlete must be consistent in all 10 events, and if they can stand at a height that falls between a javelin thrower and a middle distance runner, then this athlete will have the necessary physicality to compete on a consistently world class basis. 6 feet 0 inches tall, which is about three inches greater than the average North American male, seems to be this mandatory number. Height is not confined just to a decathlete. Within the ecosystem of sports, height is advantageous, and nearly necessary, to a growing number of athletic disciplines. The obvious examples lie in the vertical games, where a higher reach means a higher score. Basketball and volleyball players have always been extremely tall, and will continue to be. The average National Basketball Association (NBA) player has been 6 foot 7 inches tall since Michael Jordan entered the league some 30 years ago. What is more surprising is the growing importance of height in sports not necessarily dependent on a vertical advantage. Take, for example, the National Hockey League (NHL). 40 years ago, the average NHL player stood 5 foot 11 inches tall. Today, the average player is 6 foot 1 inches tall, and has the muscle mass to match. The average NHL player in the 1970’s would have been regarded as tall, especially considering that
the average male has grown since 1970. What is non-existent today, however, is the compromise between height and skill level. In professional hockey today, a shorter player with a great skillset would simply be ignored by scouts. A Theoren Fleury-sized man would not be able to rise through the ranks as he did 25 years ago. Today, the NHL player must be at least 6 feet tall, and being taller is a major advantage. There are exceptions to this rule of course, as some smaller players have found success in the big league. Generally, however, the NHL player of today is tall, and if he does not meet the height expectations, he will be ignored by most NHL general managers. The obvious questions remain: why is height so crucial to athletic prowess? Is it a reflection of the importance of height in life? While the latter may be true, with even Fortune 500 CEOs now standing a statuesque average of 6 foot 2 inches tall, the former is answered with one word: leverage. The taller athlete has more leverage, and can generate more subsequent power than an athlete’s power at a shorter height. An athlete with more leverage means that they can throw farther, jump farther, run faster, and be more physically commanding than an athlete with less leverage. As discussed before, the taller decathlete is able to generate more leverage to bolster their throwing, running and jumping events than a similarly skilled athlete at a shorter height. Having more leverage than your opponent is a com-
Images: Kevin Jarret/Flickr Creative Commons
petitive advantage in any sport requiring the athlete to generate his or her own power. Simply put, height matters, and
unless you are a jockey or a gymnast, your height determines your ability to compete.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
www.ufvcascade.ca
19
SPORTS & HEALTH
Beating the Blues: a positive note for Cascades last weekend
PAUL ESAU
THE CASCADE
As of the beginning of last weekend the UFV volleyball program was one of extremes. On one hand, the Cascades women were ranked first in the CCAA standings, just ahead of Lynx d’Edouard Montpetit. On the other, the Cascades men were ranked last in the PACWEST, just behind the CBC Bearcats (another cat-named religious school, for you conspiracy theorists). Things couldn’t get much better for the ladies, and couldn’t get much worse for the men. Enter the Capilano Blues, who thankfully spread the melancholy only to their own win/loss record (mostly) when they faced off against both UFV volleyball squads. On Friday, the UFV women cruised to a quick 3–0 victory (25–9, 26–24, 25–16) over their Cap counterparts, while the men embraced the short end of the analogy with a stuttering 0–3 surrender (19–25, 20–25, 17–25). The next day, nothing was quite as simple. The Cascades men opened their match with a furious effort from third-year left side Chris Schmicke (12 kills over four sets, and rode that momentum to 25–20 set victory. In a dramatic reversal, they would take the match 3–1, with the help of a 17-kill performance from another third year, Josh Togeretz. The victory moves them into a tie with CBC for sixth spot in the PACWEST and the final playoff spot. The Cascades women would also begin in fine fashion with a 25–20 set, but then dropped a shocker to even out the scoreboard. UFV head coach Dennis Bo-
kenfohr commended the Blues for their play after the game: “Even though they’re ranked secondlast [in the PACWEST] it’s pretty tied up there. Second-last to third, anyone could win any match. But Capilano, they just played very good defence, they didn’t let the ball hit the ground and they swung aggressively back at us. Also [left side Sydney Thornton] on Capilano just went off and had a great attack for a while there.” Bokenfohr’s team would storm back, taking the third and fourth sets 25–23 and 25–13. The win keeps the Cascades in first place in the PACWEST, one match ahead of VIU. “It’s flattering,” Bokenfohr said of his team’s rank as top in the nation, “It’s just a result of hard work. We’re not any different than we were at the beginning of the season, just the country’s perception of us is a little different.” Last year’s PACWEST Female Athlete of the Year, UFV’s Kayla Bruce, commented on her string of kills which helped turn the third set in the Cascades’ favour. “When we needed points, my high school team used to have an expression, ‘feed the beast!’ ... ” [laughs] “You set to the people who are hitting well, and it opens up the outside as well.” Ultimately, all the girls contributed to a dominating performance. “[I’m proud of them for] constantly competing,” coach Bokenfohr said of his team. “Their strength is in their maturity and composure and they just stayed composed. We realize that we’re not going to win every set and we came back strong in the third and fourth set.”
Images: Blake McGuire/The Cascade
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
Published on Jan 23, 2013
The Cascade is the University of the Fraser Valley's autonomous student newspaper, and has been since 1993.
