The Cascade Vol. 21 No. 6

Vol. 21 Issue. 6

www.ufvcascade.ca

February 20 to February 26, 2013

lots of hawt stories and cool reportings since 1993

Rag & bone

Inside the wild world of the UFV Theatre Department ’s Props Collection

p. 10-11

What’s the deal with My Safe Ride Home? p. 4

Men’s and women’s basketball playoff bound p. 20

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S ISSUE Opinion

News

Arts & Life

Sports & Health

As UFV’s nationally top-ranked women’s volleyball team finishes off the best season on record, Emad Agahi asks the question, “why are they still playing in the BCCAA, a college league?”

Is it a matter of skill, of funding or perhaps a mix of both?

Science for one and all!

In the year 2000: UFV edition

Weekend movie choices

Take a gander at our brand new science and tech column – every week, Ashley O’Neill dives into the scary world of science and emerges with the newest, coolest details. Science might not be your forte, but in this case we’re doing Science on Purpose and we invite you to come along.

This week she explores bionic eyes and the evolution of vision.

Dessa Bayrock has spoken with the oracles, bringing you a vision of the University of the Fraser Valley, 200 years in the future. Beer at Tim Hortons, dolphin exchange students, bazookas, strawberry fields forever, Baker House aquarium, cyborg administrators, library biodome and an all-new meaning to the term satellite campus.

Whether you’re in the mood for a thriller or an action flick, Michael Scoular and Jeremy Hannaford will tell you what you need to know before braving the world of Side Effects and A Good Day to Die Hard.

pg. 4

pg. 8

pg. 14

“See ya” to the BCCAA?

pg. 19

EDITORIAL

Fixing the gender gap in student gov’t NICK UBELS THE CASCADE

Nearly two-thirds of UFV students are women. Yet only 21 per cent of current SUS reps are female.

It’s not altogether surprising that such a wide gender gap exists in student government, but it is disheartening. With nomination packages for the upcoming board election due Friday, it’s worth taking a hard look at why this is the case and start talking about finding viable solutions.

Gender parity in political representation is vital to women’s empowerment. The university should be a place where persistent inequalities are rectified, not reinforced. There should be at least some cracks showing in the glass ceiling that has descended on the outside world.

Elsewhere on campus, the ratio is a little more equitable. At The Cascade, six out of 15 staff members, including three out of four sectional editors, are women.

That totals 40 per cent. It’s not ideal, but we’re getting there.

Meanwhile, the executive of the English Students Association is lightyears ahead, at 75 per cent women.

The percentage of female SUS reps at UFV is almost exactly the same as the 20 per cent of women representatives in Canadian House of Commons since 1997, according to a 2010 government study. The average number of female representatives in parlia-

ment hadn’t budged in the last 15 years until the May 2011 federal election, which saw an unprecedented 25 per cent of seats going to women.

It shows that progress is possible, but not easy.

That needed momentum must come from universities and colleges across the country. Experience in student government helps people prepare for public office and gain the confidence to pitch a campaign. Student government is an invaluable opportunity that promises a higher level of civic engagement later in life.

I don’t think guaranteed minimums are the solution in this case. There are far too many complications when quotas and voting collide that can compromise the democratic process. Not to mention that quotas can be incredibly patronizing. There’s a fine line between representative democracy and selecting competent, fairly-elected individuals to fill these roles. Such measures are merely a temporary fix to deeper societal problems.

There aren’t any outright restrictions or rules blocking women from running for SUS board positions, but faced with these numbers, it’s obvious that more needs to be done to encourage women to run. We need to reconsider the culture surrounding the student government and ask whether it’s still making the university’s female majority feel like outsiders where SUS is concerned.

Volume 21 · Issue 6 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

Image: minv.sk

Diane Ablonczy, one of Canada’s 76 currently-serving MPs. In my capacity as editor-inchief, I strive to create an equitable and open workplace, but I know there’s more I can do. Faced with numbers like these, I know that it’s something I have to do.

The issue reaches all the way back to childhood. Girls are taught to value nurturing roles and boys, leadership roles. These entrenched social expectations won’t change overnight, but in the meantime, we can find ways to encourage women to run for SUS board positions. This needs to come from current board members, professors, even fellow students. Perhaps SUS should host a workshop and information session for women interested in running for office. More women on the ballot means more women elected. Getting more women

elected will help provide role models for other women interested in politics. Under-representation can be eliminated through this kind of momentum.

It’s commonly-held knowledge that it is difficult to find enough candidates to fill all of SUS’ positions. Many candidates go unchallenged and this problem will likely be worse this year after reps have been stripped of their honouraria.

By finding little ways to improve the outlook for women in student politics, we can help repair two persistent issues simultaneously. Change won’t happen overnight, but small, concerted efforts will add up in the long run.

UPCOMING EVENTS Feb 18–22

Feb 20

Feb 21

Feb 22

Going once! Going twice!

Edible City? Don’t mind if I do!

Harlem Shake at AfterMath

Have a little Russian tragedy

Yes sir, there is a silent art auction happening right this second.

The very talented crop of graduates from UFV’s own BFA program have hung their work on the walls of B121 for students and faculty to look at and possibly purchase. Get your bid on! The adrenaline rush is enough to keep you going all day, I promise.

Cinema Politica is hitting campus once more with Edible City this Wednesday at 7 p.m. and it’s going to be fly. What’s cozier than watching a relaxing documentary on the projector screen, cuddled up to your favourite PBR and student for sustainability. Gardens!

Cities! Beer! What’s not to like?

We’ve all seen the videos, and now we’re finally going to number ourselves among the cool kids. Yes, dear reader, there will be a Harlem Shake video filmed on campus this week. Show up to your friendly campus lounge at 1 p.m. wearing whatever one wears to a Harlem Shake. Take a break from that paper and do some research.

Maybe you’re taking a Russian lit class this semester and it’s going over your head, or maybe you have a weird fascination with Napoleon. Either way, head down to the Reach gallery this Saturday to catch a free showing of Anna Karenina. It’s classic, it’s artsy and I’m sure it would be a super cute date for your hipster girlfriend.

Arts & life editor arts@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt Sports editor sports@ufvcascade.ca Paul Esau News writer jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind Photojournalist blake@ufvcascade.ca Blake McGuire Staff writer Taylor Johnson Varsity reporter Jasper Moedt Contributors Emad Agahi, Emily Gorner, Jeremy Hannaford, Daryl Johnson, Maurice Mautot, Kate Nickelchok, Ashley O’Neill, Ryan Peterson, Jasmine Proctor, Katie Stobbart, Tim Ubels Printed By International Web exPress

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, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

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NEWS

“If you felt it, it’s valid”

From music to spoken word, anything goes at Poems, Pints and Prose JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

There is a fine line between written word and spoken word.

At the English Students’ Association (ESA) first open mic night of the semester, this line was blurred even further.

English enthusiasts took to the AfterMath stage on February 6 to perform their original poems, short stories and songs. Fittingly titled “Poems, Pints and Prose,” it was a night filled with liquor, laughter and literary trivia.

The event itself was not a competition, but rather a coming together of other like-minded individuals eager to share or receive original pieces constructed by the UFV community.

ESA treasurer Michelle Giesbrecht explained the structure of the event, saying that there is no way to judge one piece against another in such a setting.

“We have prizes, but it’s not a competition. It’s apples and oranges. It’s art,” she said.

To open the floor, ESA president Scott Sparrow recited Steve Colman’s “I wanna hear a poem.”

He was followed by a steady stream of poets and musicians reciting their original work. Many readers took advantage of the opportunity to take the stage more than once and recited multiple pieces. In response to the addition of music to the Poems, Pints and Prose lineup, Tristan Smith accompanied himself on guitar and

Image: Susan Ujka’s Collection/flickr.com

Students braved the stage at AfterMath to recite poetry or perform music. performed some original songs.

A microphone malfunction early in the evening forced all speakers to project across the pub, but as the evening continued guests crept closer to the stage, making for a more intimate atmosphere.

Writer-in-residence Rex Weyler took the stage and entertained with an improvised limerick before jumping into “How do I love you.” The room was silent as he shared his poem before erupting in acclaim.

He expressed his love for open mic events in the face of a society reliant on commercialized enter-

tainment.

“It’s really refreshing to see people standing up on stage in a local pub and doing poetry and music and songs and stories,” he said. “To me it’s the heart of what real entertainment should be – where art and entertainment merge.”

The final reading of the evening went to Sparrow, accompanied by Giesbrecht and a typewriter. They mirrored each other in clothing and actions; Sparrow read from a music stand and Giesbrecht served as a prop in the performance, clacking away on the

typewriter for added sound effect to Sparrow’s piece.

SUS VP finance Ryan Peterson emceed the event and doled out candy prizes for correct answers to questions like, “Where is William Shakespeare buried?” and “How many languages has Harry Potter been translated into?”

Another chance to win prizes took the form of paper distributed to every audience member with instructions to create a limerick or haiku. This gave contestants a chance to win one of three classic leather-bound books.

To close out the evening Pe-

terson called all limerick and haiku poets to the stage for recitation. Many guests collected on the stage, including CIVL station manager Aaron Levy disguised as the ESA mascot, George Owl (a pun on the name of author George Orwell). The leather-bound books went to James Linde for a haiku and Beau O’Niell for a limerick as voted by cheers from the audience.

This was the third open mic event hosted by ESA, and the second open to musical numbers.

Sparrow commented on his fear of English enthusiasts missing out on the opportunity to get behind the microphone.

“The biggest thing I’m worried about are the few people that don’t show up that are the lovers of poetry and prose,” he said.

“They are out there, I guarantee it.”

Before the end of the semester they hope to host another event and see more English lovers come out. Giesbrecht summed up the spirit of the event and of the ESA board, which will be holding elections for the 2013/2014 executive board at the end of the semester and wants to see all English-lovers get involved.

“We love what we do, we hope other people love what they do and we can all do it together.”

Sweater up to save planet and money JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

If reducing energy waste seems as simple as choosing to wear a sweater, that’s because it is. On February 7, UFV turned down the heat by two degrees across the campuses as part of National Sweater Day. The initiative was originally coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a way to conserve energy and reduce waste. Last year, according to their website, 1.5 million Canadians and 300 organizations, including UFV, turned down their heat.

This year the reach is even bigger.

The site featured a reminder option in which participants could sign up to receive phone call reminders from one of 20 different grannies featured on the website, although UFV campuses chose to focus more on the two degrees and sweaters than the elderly reminders.

SUS VP academic Dan van der Kroon worked with facilities and the Department of Science to organize the day. He explained the goal behind the grannies feature, that it wasn’t simply a marketing gimmick.

“I guess they’re trying to create this intergenerational thing where our elders are working with the youth to encourage them to conserve energy,” he said. “I

think it was a neat way to do it.”

A photo shoot was organized in Alumni Hall for anyone wearing a sweater to join in. Three times the number of participants last year’s Sweater Day attended, and many more sweaters could be seen all over Abbotsford campus.

Staff were creative with their outfits, losing the traditional sweater in favour of brightly patterned Snuggies and Mexican baha hoodies.

According to van der Kroon, the change in temperature wasn’t noticeable to most people on the campuses.

“People are saying ‘we turned down the heat by two degrees and I didn’t notice a difference’,” he explained. “It’s not like there was consternation in the hallways.”

The WWF reported that if every Canadian reduced their heat by two degrees celsius, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by four megatons. While UFV didn’t take note of their savings, van der Kroon explained that the main goal of the day was awareness.

“It created a lot of awareness around the need to conserve energy ... sucking it up and dressing a bit warmer sometimes, and not always relying on essentially fossil fuels to heat our environments,” he said.

The building heat has since returned to the seasonal average,

Image: Univeristy of the Fraser Valley/Flickr

Time for sweaters: hallway temperatures were two degrees lower for one day last week. but it seems we won’t have to wait till next February to conserve energy.

“I do want to recognize and highlight that UFV has already turned down the heat,” explained van der Kroon. “Facilities has been working towards finding the optimum temperature that balances comfort with responsible energy usage.”

It is steps like these that will help to brand UFV as an environmentally conscious university.

Van der Kroon expressed that he

would like to see people go further than one day a year with sustainability initiatives.

“Let’s have turn down the heat year, bike to work year,” he said.

“Let’s do these things on a regular basis and incorporate them into our daily lifestyles.”

At the end of the day, turning down the heat on campus is positively reflected in the bottom line of UFV’s budget. Van der Kroon explained that the feel-good sentiment is not the only benefit from these initiatives.

“It is all of these things but it is also saving money at its core,” he said, adding that a permanent reduction in heat would save the university hundreds of dollars.

“Those are hundreds of dollars that can be allocated in other ways. They can be allocated to more services for students,” he concluded. “There are many ways that that money can be spent in positive ways if it’s not needed to be spent on heating.”

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

NEWS

PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

The Rocky Road to

My Safe Ride Home™

Illustrations by Anthony Biondi

What is it?

The little brother to the U-Pass, the My Safe Ride Home (MSRH) program was initiated in September 2009 and will run until April 30, 2013. The program guarantees each UFV student one $25 cab ride within Abbotsford or Chilliwack, but only with the usage of the old U-Pass card after it’s been activated through the SUS website portal. If you no longer have that card, you’re out of luck.

The My Safe Ride Home program was a risk mitigation service. It was meant to be a way for inebriated or endangered students to extricate themselves quickly from awkward or dangerous situations with

zero consequence for themselves or their wallets.

The Student Union Society sank a lot of money into the program, almost half a million dollars over three years of operation. The SUS also initiated the signing of two separate contract amendments, and eventually decided to shut down the program short of its original five year term.

This is goodbye to My Safe Ride Home. This is also your last chance to understand what the program was, who created/initiated it, and why it didn’t work at UFV.

MMC What is MSRH? Why not just

The MSRH program was originally created by a team of four individuals: Steve Paul, Jason Keeley, Terry Johnson and Alex Stuart. Stuart is currently president of MMC while Paul is president of Aislinn.

MMC is the business end of MSRH. The contracts with both the SUS and Central Valley Taxi (the only MSRH affiliate in Abbotsford) are contracts with MMC. MMC handles the finances of MSRH, developed the software which allows MSRH to function, and facilitates usage of the program and the data surrounding that usage.

call a cab?

“You could just call a cab, but what we did in our business model is we went a step further and we said to the cab company, ‘Let us reward you for making us a priority customer Let us pay you more for that cab ride, and when you have a student from UFV call you, we want to have the ability to track that cycle time and make sure that if that girl’s in a bad situation, [if] she can get to the washroom in the bar and call you, we want to know that, if [she calls] a cab and it typically takes 45 minutes we’d like to think that you’re there in nine.’ So there’s the qualitative difference…”

–Steve Paul, president of Aislinn

When will SUS get statistics for MSRH usage among UFV students?

“There are a whole lot of unknowns here, but what is quantifiably going to become very clear is that come April 30, [SUS will] have very succinct numbers on how many students have actually used the service. I still won’t know how many students who registered have in fact left the program a year earlier. But that doesn’t matter, because if they were originally on with the program and they didn’t use their ride that will fall under the non-redemption category and the Student Union will be given back effectively 50 per cent of that fund in support of student scholarships and bursaries as was per the original agreement.”

–Alex Stuart, president of MMC

Aislinn Education and Safety Foundation Who operates it?

UFV’s MSRH program is operated by the MMC Software Canada Corp with the supervision and partnership of the non-profit Aislinn Education and Safety Foundation. The service took the tangible form of the old U-Pass cards, which were a product of the MSRH program.

The distribution of these cards was orchestrated by the UFV SUS, who also negotiated the initial 2009 contract with MMC and paid for student involvement in the program. Currently, UFV is the only major MSRH contract MMC operates.

The MSRH is a fledgling program and UFV is MMC’s only major contract. What kind of protection did/does SUS have for their hundreds of thousands in the program?

“Everything was transparent here. There wasn’t at any time, a saying or suggesting to SUS that we weren’t new with this idea that it [wasn’t] something that we were creating and crafting. All of that was upfront. You can ask a Jay Mitchell or a Jack [Brown, both former SUS presidents], they knew right at the outset that we were trying to create this thing and that this was our first attempt to try to get this connected to a post-secondary that could benefit with a relatively low cost unit price of a My Safe Ride Home. At no time did we come in and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got 30 years [of] experience, lots of bench strength here’. We didn’t embellish or misrepresent the reality, we came and said, ‘Look, we’ve got a concept here that we’d like to conjunctively work with you folks on to undertake this U-Pass initiative.”

–Steve Paul, president of Aislinn

Aislinn is the non-profit foundation which provides the secondary incentive for SUS participation in MSRH (the primary incentive being risk mitigation). If a student doesn’t use the $25 dollar cab credit within the contracted period, the money is transferred by MMC to a “non-redemption” fund, which is then considered profit. When dealing with non-profits such as SUS, MMC turns a certain percentage of that fund over to Aislinn (in SUS’s case 50 per cent), to be donated back to the participating organization.

Aislinn is supervised by a Mentorship Advisory Team consisting of several notable individuals including: Peter Podovinikoff (former CEO of Envision Credit Union), Dr. Lee Summers (former executive director of BC School Trustees Association), Dr. Arvinder Bubber (former chancellor of Kwantlen University), and Ken Goosen (former senior vice-president operations for Air Canada).

Your UFV SUS

Why survey the UFV student body?

“What constitutes success when it comes to MSRH? Does it mean that we’ve prevented one injury? Several major injuries? Worst case, did we in fact actually prevent a possible fatality, and if so, why? We’re eager to get that statistical evidence because UFV SUS was our first institutional account. It became our most important in terms of an incubator for the service model in an institutional environment, and we were so delighted to see that students were using it.”

–Alex Stuart, president of MMC

In 2009, SUS (under the oversight of financial administrator Luis Guevara) signed a contract with MMC agreeing to a partnership in which SUS would provide MMC with $25 per each UFV student to cover the cost of that student’s potential usage of the MSRH program. In late 2010 into 2011 and again in 2012 SUS renegotiated portions of the initial contract in response to “misinterpretation” of the operation of the program by the SUS board. SUS’s role was to distribute Aislinn’s MSRH cards (the former U-Pass card) to first-year students, and to inform and enable students to use the program effectively.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

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NEWS

THE HARD MONEY How much has the SUS paid to MMC Software since signing the contract in 2009?

Roughly $481,101.96 (roughly $225,000 in 2009-2010, and another $256,101.96 since then).

Where did SUS get that $25 per student?

Originally, SUS reserved a $5 portion of the semesterly U-Pass fee for the MSRH program.

While SUS would pay the entire $25 to MMC in the first semester of a student’s enrolment, that student would repay SUS in semesterly $5 increments. After five semesters of enrolment that student would have paid off their MSRH credit and any further semesterly charges would be rolled over into other student programs.

How much has been returned to SUS by the Aislinn Education and Safety Foundation? $105,000 in October, 2010.

How much is still owed to SUS? This is hard to calculate without knowing exactly how many students have used the MSRH program, but it will be exactly half of what is unused after the end of the contract in April. If

program usage remains static at roughly 600 students a year, the SUS should receive a little over $100,000 (not including any interest accrued).

As a student, where has my $5 a semester been spent since SUS stopped paying into the MSRH fund last April?

It’s been used to pay for other portions of the U-Pass program.

The MSRH program was not part of the original U-Pass referendum and therefore a referendum was not required to end the program.

What happens now?

What happened then?

The original MSRH contract drawn up by MMC and signed by SUS gave each student a year to use their $25 credit before that money was translated into profit and half of it returned to UFV SUS through Aislinn. Due to what former SUS Communications Administrator Jhim Burwell labeled “a misinterpretation” of the contract by several of the signing SUS members, many didn’t realize that MSRH coverage would last only for a year, and not for the entirety of a student’s time at UFV. The misunderstanding was only discovered after SUS received and spent a check for $105,000 at the end of the first contracted year in October, 2010. At the time, then-SUS President, Jay Mitchell, stated at the time that the check presentation “represents a U-Pass partnership that is obviously working – our partnership with the My Safe Ride Home program.” This shows how contradictory SUS’s understanding of the program actually was. Within months the SUS board (under a new president) would be negotiating with MMC to amend the contract, without returning the money they had received in October.

According to Steve Paul, he and Guevara discovered the problem with their respective interpretations during the ride back from the check presentation in Chilliwack. The question of why SUS accepted the check (or cashed it) is a mystery to the current SUS executive; neither the timing nor the amount fit with the contractual understanding Burwell claimed SUS had at the time.

Did the renegotiation work?

The contractual agreement reached at the beginning of 2011 adapted the MSRH model to cover students for the entirety of their time at UFV– or at least attempted to. What SUS needed was a way to determine when students left UFV, either through graduation or unenrolment, and the tentative model SUS proposed (if a student “hadn’t registered for three or four consecutive semesters” according to Burwell), was obviously not financially viable for MMC. Then SUS attempted to restart the program, which also proved unsuccessful, and led to a second amendment in Spring 2011 which provided for the program to end in April 2013.

On the first of April, SUS will invoice MMC for the amount owed to them under the terms of the contract (exactly half of the non-redemption fund). This fund is composed of the $25 credit for each student entered in the MSRH program who does not use that credit before the April 30 program termination. SUS will determine the number of students who have used the program (and therefore the size of the non-redemption fund) using numbers provided by MMC. Earlier in the year, MMC asked SUS to survey the UFV population on their awareness and usage of the MSRH program. SUS president Shane Potter agreed to survey the student body as soon as MMC provided SUS with the number of students who have used the program since its beginning in 2009. As of press time, those numbers have not been provided to either SUS or The Cascade, however, Steve Paul stated that 609 students out of the 8,990 registered in the first year used the program, and Alex Stuart claimed that “2000 plus” have used it altogether.

Interview with Shane Potter, Jan 25, 2012

On various occasions, I asked SUS how much money goes into the MSRH program, how many students use it, what the contract was like. Why were you unable to answer?

Unfortunately the contract which we have with MSRH has a privacy clause in it, so it prevents me from disclosing those details.

I would argue that it is probably in the best interest of the students who are paying for this program to know details like these.

It would not be in the best interest of the students to violate a contract. We are expecting a check from MSRH, and to violate that contract would therefore obviously decrease the possibility of obtaining that check.

This program has been running for three and a half to four years now. You’re saying SUS has never asked for that information before a month ago?

Unfortunately, I’ve just been elected as interim president, so as soon as I was elected I looked into this program as much as I could.

I will say that I feel that there

should have been more, there could have been more dialogue between MSRH and the SUS, but that’s the nature of changing boards. Unfortunately I have all the data I could get, perhaps more questions should have been asked, but we asked the questions when we came in.

The Aislinn corporation which runs MSRH guarantees on the website that with contracted partners they will provide all data on how many people use the system, how it operates and so forth. You are telling me that the data has not been provided to you. Has Aislinn then violated that portion of the agreement?

No, because there is no timeline with which they have to present me with that data. They are telling me that they are gathering the data and I have to take their word for it. They have told me that they are prepared to give me the data, and I have to take their word for it at this point.

When was the last time someone from UFV SUS talked to an Aislinn representative on the

phone or in person?

We had a meeting a month ago and we’ve exchanged a couple emails since then. We’re just waiting to hear back on the information.

Aislinn met your request for data with a proposed survey of UFV students, but you turned down their offer. What was the reasoning behind the survey and your denial of that survey?

Well, basically we didn’t deny the survey. They requested information of our students, which was in their right to ask. I merely requested the information that I asked from them before the survey was conducted. That was all I asked. We’re waiting to get the information that they have to us, and then we will allow them to do any survey they wish.

What kind of information did they want from the student body?

I don’t think my contract allows me to disclose that, but it was pretty basic data for marketing purposes.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

NEWS

What SUS did on their reading break Before votes are DESSA BAYROCK

cast, you have to have candidates

THE CASCADE

While most students were having one last hurrah of a Friday before the end of reading break, your Student Union Society met to finalize funding, talk about the things getting done around campus and make plans for the future. The regular SUS board meeting on February 15 lasted a little over an hour, and took place at the Mission campus.

Do you have any desire to be on student government?

Big Bang gets funded

A coalition of science student groups planning the Big Bang event this year received $3761 in funding, as reviewed and recommended by SUS’s finance committee.

Absolute Style gets funded

Fashion students received $1500, as reviewed and recommended by SUS’s finance committee, to go towards the annual Absolute Style year-end fashion show. It’s too late in the process for SUS to be mentioned on the posters or tickets, but they’ll show up in the lists of thank-yous and on the website.

“We’re just essentially supporting the fashion students,” president Shane Potter says. “Recognition is quite secondary.”

Health Club gets semester funding UFV Health Club claimed $100 as their semester funding.

Dinner for library grads

Library and Information Technology Student Association requested and received $800 for a graduation dinner. This is an event that they host every year, and this sum will cover roughly $25 per plate per graduating student, VP finance Ryan Petersen estimates.

Cricket Club hosts tourney

The UFV Cricket Club received $450 to host their annual cricket tournament. This funding will cover the cost of the pitch and the trophies.

“They’re a fairly active group, in their own little cricketing

Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade

Here’s the skinny on what your SUS did in their latest meeting. way,” Petersen says, noting that they draw “quite a few” students out to the tournament every year.

Psych students speaker series

to

host

The Student Psychology Association was given $160 to host a speaker series.

“They’re looking to bring in a number of doctorate speakers to speak on varying topics within their field and doctoral work.

This would cover the cost of food and the speakers themselves,” Petersen says.

BCSA gets a vacuum

The Biology and Chemistry Student Association asked SUS for $70 to purchase a vacuum for their study space. The space is fully run and cared for by students, which BCSA president Jennifer Martel says led to some complaints by facilities.

“We had a complaint from facilities that there was food and stuff on the ground – but it’s a carpeted ground, people eat their lunches while they’re studying, and there’s not much we can do,” she explains. “We try to keep it as clean as we can.

Martel also says that the space is windowless, which means it can get extremely stuffy, so the BSCA is also looking to purchase a fan with the funds. SUS granted the BCSA the funding, pending a response from facilities to both

problems.

New clubs and committees

United Way Fraser Valley Student Committee registered as an official club – Stickland says that their club is based largely around volunteering in the community, but they’ll meet on campus.

Social Work Student Association has submitted a registration package to become an official club, and have been approved as a club pending a faculty representative signature to sponsor the club.

In the future, SUS is looking into ...

• Facilitating an inter-campus video feed between campuses – which would allow students on any campus to tune into a SUS regular board meeting in real time.

• Developing a permanent optout option from the U-Pass for disabilities students, who have to go through the current opt-out process every semester.

• Gaining or rotation more staff to deploy the U-Pass over the course of the year, which can turn into a major time commitment if handled by one or two staff only.

The next meeting will be at the CEP campus at 9 a.m. in room A1426 on March 1. Your trusty Cascade will be there, and so should you be.

SUS CHEAT SHEET

Quoted in this summary...

Image: Anthony Biondi/The Cascade

Image: Ryan Pete/facebook

Image: Greg Stickland/Facebook

Shane Potter

Ryan Petersen

Greg Stickland

President of SUS, previous VP east. Also involved in Humans VS Zombies on campus and looks good in argyle.

AKA @shanerpotter

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.

(Trust us, it’s cooler than it sounds.)

SUS is currenly accepting nominations for the following positions: President Vice-president east Vice-president academic Vice-president social Vice-president internal Vice-president finance Accessibility representative Aboriginal representative International representative Residence representative Clubs and associations representative Chilliwack representative 8 Representative-at-large positions

time is running out Completed nomination packages must be filled out and submitted

by Friday, February 22.

Nomination packages can be printed off from the SUS website or picked up at any SUS office.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

7

www.ufvcascade.ca

NEWS

Seed library:

borrow, grow, return

KATIE STOBBART CONTRIBUTOR

To grow anything, you have to plant a seed.

In good soil with sufficient sunlight and water, a seed can take root and green shoots can emerge. A seed can also represent an idea, which only needs a fertile mind and an opportunity to become a plant that produces seeds of its own. In a way, this is how a seed library works.

A seed library is an idea currently circling among some students at UFV. Wouldn’t it be great if we could borrow seeds the way we check books out of the library, free of charge? It’s that simple: “borrow” some seeds to grow vegetables, herbs or flowers, and plant them at home. When the plants grow, collect some of the seeds and return them to the seed library so that someone else can grow them too.

“Having a seed library in the community would give students and anyone else on a low budget the opportunity to start growing their own gardens,” says Ashley Mussbacher, a UFV student.

“When I first started [gardening] it was a challenge, because I had little to no experience and very little space to work with. I just have a balcony, and I also don’t have a very big budget to get anything too fancy.”

Ashley recycled egg cartons to start her own radishes, lettuce and herbs, and uses the lid to protect the small shoots from her cats.

Existing seed libraries in the United States offer workshops on gardening and starting seeds in-

doors for beginners. Borrowing and sharing seeds becomes an exercise in community building; it provides opportunities to volunteer, to eat fresh local produce and to cultivate common interests with our neighbours. And, as Mussbacher explains, “even caring for a few perennial seedlings can be a great way to get outdoors and do something that relaxes and unwinds you. I need a break from my studies, even if it’s just for a half an hour here and there.”

The library in Richmond, California, suggests separating seeds into categories of super-easy, easy and difficult-to-save seeds. Visitors to the seed library can borrow and plant seeds from any category, but are only asked to return super easy seeds at first, until they know more about saving the seeds from the plants they grow. There is no fine for not returning seeds. The library also runs a Community Seed Garden – if you don’t have the space or time to grow seeds at home, you can still take part in the gardening experience at the library.

If a local seed library was started in Abbotsford, it could be the first of its kind in Canada. For a city that thrives so close to agriculture, a seed library could be a logical step for a blossoming community.

“There’s just something about watching its progress,” Mussbacher says about her own small garden. “It’s exciting to know that a few months from now I’ll be munching on vegetables and cooking with herbs I grew right on my balcony.”

SCIENCE ON PURPOSE

New bionic eye cures blindness in patients with eye disease ASHLEY O’NIELL What if the future we see in movies and on TV soon becomes our reality?

We live in a world where there are exciting discoveries and inventions in the field of science every week. From modern touch screen/voice command interfaces on modern phones and gadgets to NASA speculating about developing a “warp drive” for space travel, we are living in an age full of possibilities for the future. Our technological innovations stretch all the way to landing a rover on Mars and putting a man on the moon.

On top of that we’ve developed aesthetically-pleasing mechanical body parts that we can control with our minds.

A particularly amazing invention entered the scene earlier this month, when Second Sight Medical Products released the world’s first bionic eye to be available on the market.

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System benefits people with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease that deteriorates vision in the retinal photoreceptors, which is the part of the eye responsible for seeing colour and light. Retinitis pigmentosa is usually diagnosed in childhood and affects vision more over time. Among other vision impairments, affected individuals can experience tunnel vision or night blindness; later in life these symptoms develop into blindness.

Basically, the Argus II elec-

trically stimulates the retina through about 60 electrodes implanted in the retina, and also requires glasses fitted with a special mini camera. The signals generated by the device actually take over the role of the photoreceptors in our eye, converting the light entering the eye into electrochemical impulses. The impulses are sent from the optic nerve to the brain where we process the information our eye sees.

The Argus II is the first treatment of its kind to be released in Europe and the United States. It won approval of European regulators last year based on safety and long-term performance, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed the Argus II’s medical benefits outweighed risks to health.

With preliminary testing in rats and the first clinical trials in human participants, patients could only see black and white images because the device only activated the eye’s light receptors (rods) and did not stimulate the colour sensitive receptors (cones).

However, Brian Mech, vice-president of business development of Second Sight Medical Products, says that with further research and trials they were able to produce colour vision as well. In a clinical trial of 30 blind people aged 28 to 77, Mech said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that there were “some patients who got just a little bit of benefit and others who could do amazing things like reading newspaper headlines.” The outcome varied

by participant; most patients only saw black and white while others were able to see distinct detail and colour.

The popularity of this artificial “eye” has encouraged a team of researchers lead by John Wyatt at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to try developing a bionic eye of their own that will offer higher resolution images. The team is currently working on a system that will upgrade from 60 electrodes to 400 electrodes implanted in the retina.

Another approach to vision correction was proposed by Daniel Palanker of Stanford University, California. His approach involves implanting tiny photovoltaic cells into the retina instead of electrodes. This would provide an even better image resolution.

Not only would this system help people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, but it could also help common age-related degeneration of the macula, the spot of the retina that provides us with clearest detail and best colour perception. So far, the photovoltaic system has been successfully tested on rats and they hope to start clinical trials in a year.

Even if Superman-quality vision is not quite an option yet, we are already reshaping the future of vision technology. The Argus II is only one step in bionic eye evolution.

Image: Neetu Garcha/The Link

Image: REUTERS

Image: Kim Pringle/Ubyssey

CONTRIBUTOR

NEWS BRIEFS

Image: UJMi/flickr.com

Image: Big Dave Diode/flickr.com

Canadian police accused of abuse and failure to help natives

Canada’s Mounties say will root out sexual harassment

BCIT president resigns for potential position with BC NDP

Thousands at climate rally call on Obama to reject pipeline

BC research universities and trade schools fight over funding

TORONTO (Reuters) — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are failing to protect aboriginal women in northern regions from violence, according to a report from an international human rights group that also alleged abusive behavior by police officers themselves.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the Canadian government to probe dozens of murders and disappearances of females along a northern strip of highway in the Pacific province of British Columbia known as the “Highway of Tears.”

“The threat of domestic and random violence on one side, and mistreatment by RCMP officers on the other, leaves indigenous women in a constant state of insecurity,” said Meghan Rhoad, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

OTTAWA (Reuters) — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Thursday promised to stamp out sexual harassment and bullying after a wave of complaints from female officers added to problems facing the fabled national police force.

“Harassment has no place in the RCMP. We recognize it may be impossible to prevent entirely, but we will implement a zero tolerance approach,” the force said in a plan outlining what steps it will take.

Several female Mounties have filed lawsuits in the past year alleging they were harassed at work and some said their complaints had been ignored or covered up.

BURNABY (CUP) — Don Wright, president of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), announced his resignation on Feb. 13 in a formal address where he was holding back tears while optimistic about the road ahead with the B.C. branch of the New Democratic Party.

“Adrian Dix has offered me the position of head of the civil service over in Victoria if his party wins the election in May,” Wright announced to a crowed of BCIT staff and students, “and I have accepted that offer.”

Wright communicated his support for Adrian Dix and the BC NDP to listeners, noting he is not partisan but expressing his own personal philosophy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Thousands of protesters gathered on the Washington’s National Mall on Sunday calling on President Barack Obama to reject the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal and honor his inaugural pledge to act on climate change.

Organizers of the “Forward on Climate” event estimated that 35,000 people from 30 states turned out in cold, blustery conditions for what they said was the biggest climate rally in U.S. history. Police did not verify the crowd size.

Protesters also marched around the nearby White House, chanting “Keystone pipeline? Shut it down.”

Among the celebrities on hand were actresses Rosario Dawson and Evangeline Lilly, and hedge fund manager and environmentalist Tom Steyer.

VANCOUVER (CUP) — A limited pot of post-secondary funding in BC has begun to pit the province’s large research universities and trade schools against one another.

As technical and skills-based programs at schools were given sizeable sums in recent weeks as part of the BC Liberals’ Jobs Plan funding rollout, a group representing research universities’ interests across the province fired back.

The Research Universities Council of BC recently re-released a report they’d originally publicized back in October 2012. The report shows, based on the government’s own jobs data, that job-market demand for university graduates in BC will outstrip supply by 2016.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

www.ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

Tweets of the Week #MyProfSays

Future UFV: dolphins, cyborgs and beer DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

Jessica Hawkes @jayhawk__ “How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? An obscure amount and you probably wouldn’t know it anyways”#macs221 #myprofsays Ali Siemens @alithemenno “Paris Hilton is the most inauthentic human being alive.” --@fearkeysersoze #MyProfSays

Katherine Levett @katherinelevett #myprofsays @goUFV “if you want to get really kinky... I mean the Econ kind of kinky with things.” @michaelmaschek

UFV MACS @ufvmacs “Anything that’s new and successful gets copied and beaten to death.” --@fearkeysersoze #macs221 #MyProfSays

UFV MACS @ufvmacs “I can’t get out of bed until I know what Lindsey Lohan did yesterday.” --@fearkeysersoze #macs221 #MyProfSays

Next week’s hashtag is #NobodyNoticed

Tweet your comments using this hashtag and you might end up featured in next week’s paper!

Right at this moment, our beloved university is much like the tender sprouting plant on official UFV stationary, but also like that plant we have a lot of growing to do.

Student body, I have a dream of what’s to come.

Let me tell you about UFV 200 years in the future.

Our student body will increase to 50,000 or so. Some of those will be dolphins, since anyone who can fill out an application is more than welcome at UFV, and I’m sure dolphins will at least learn dictate in the next 20 years or so. To accommodate them, the university will build Baker House 2.0, which will be completely underwater. During the first year Baker 2.0 is open, there will be an entertaining mixup where international students are accidentally assigned dolphin quarters.

Overall, we’ll need a bigger campus. After buying a nearby strawberry farm to turn into additional buildings, UFV admin will quickly see the benefit of unlimited strawberries and instead start construction where free parking used to be.

Dear old King Road campus will see some other changes as well; after overwhelming majorities pass several oddly-effective referendums, half of all staircases on campus are turned into slides. Likewise, a ski lift is installed to carry

Image: Scott the Hobo/Flickr.com

This future dolphin got an A thanks to his Baker House buds. students and faculty from the cafeteria to the top of A building.

After many years battling leaks, library staff realize that G building is not leaking, per se, but has somehow developed its own cycle of seasons. Oddly enough, this proves to be an effective anti-procrastination tool, since students quickly realize research will have to be done in the months before G building is closed for monsoons.

Mark Evered completes his initial term as president in the current century, but, due to popular demand, returns as UFV’s first cyborg administrator in 2154. One of his first projects is to single-handedly complete the Student Union Building, which has been in progress for the last 140 years.

The campus pub is quickly put out of business when Tim Horton’s begins selling beer.

The women’s volleyball team has won every game for the last 100 years, mostly because the institution refuses to let any of them graduate.

To the university’s chagrin, the city of Chilliwack continues to renew its contract with the RCMP to keep the firing range at CEP open.

UFV eventually gives up and begins scheduling classes around the gunfire schedule. The RCMP, very nicely, informs professors when they’ll be testing bazookas so classes can be cancelled.

Giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “satellite campus,” students secretly build rocket boosters below UFV’s Chandigarh campus and launch it into space.

These are my dreams for the future. I have no doubt that UFV will live up to my expectations in every way.

BC government gives a how-to on not being stupid AMY VAN VEEN THE CASCADE

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

This is what the BC government wants to impart on its residents in order to make our little West Coast sanctuary the safest province in all of Canada.

Preventable.ca is a campaign that picked up last summer from where SafeBC left off. Their goal is to inform members of the public via social networking, television and mass media, “guerilla activity” a.k.a. billboards and corporate partnerships of the same message every mother tells her moronic child who is not yet aware of the consequences of their own actions – think before you act.

Perhaps, for example, as a child it was not wise of me to put two classroom size chalkboards on my basement staircase turning it into a giant slide without informing my mother. But now the BC government is telling me that as an adult, I really, really, really need to not do that.

As plausible as Dr. Seuss makes it seem that in lieu of a ladder I can stack a bookcase on top of a chair on top of an umbrella to reach the rooftop, it’s not exactly safe.

Even though helmets look dopey, they do save your life by reducing the risk of a head injury by 88 per cent, according to Preventable. ca.

These are some of the injuries Preventable hopes to cut down on.

While it seems like an inane message to hammer into the pub-

Image: Preventable.ca

British Columbia’s Preventable campaign raises awareness any way they can. lic’s mind, it seems to be one worth presenting. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 2000 children die every day from injuries that are accidental or unintentional – also known as entirely preventable.

But the BC Public Health Association campaign isn’t looking at strictly children’s injuries and/or deaths. They’re looking at those sustained by all ages, especially

adults. It’s easy to think that only tragedy happens to other people.

That other people get their heads smashed in while cycling or other people get hit by cars while jaywalking or other people are dumb enough to stretch their arm out to take down Christmas lights instead of getting down from the ladder and moving it over a foot, but hospital visits prove otherwise.

In BC alone, preventable injuries

account for 400,000 injuries and 1200 deaths per year – at a cost to the healthcare system of $4.5 to $5 billion. That makes it the third largest drain on our healthcare system.

From cooking in the kitchen to falling at work, from sitting around a campfire to driving through a parking lot, this not-for-profit initiative wants to remind the public to think first and act later. Their

goal is to move from the education of small preventable injuries like these to larger issues like obesity, climate change, homelessness and drinking and driving in the next few decades.

As tempting as it is to see the commercials or guerilla advertising and roll one’s eyes, it might be worth it to follow the advice of Ice Cube and “check yo’ self.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

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www.ufvcascade.ca

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

SNAPSHOTS

OPINION

AMY VAN VEEN

KATE NICKELCHOK

KATIE STOBBART

NICK UBELS

The gas price dance

Give us a (bathroom) break!

The little human is walking

The joy of eavesdropping

Commuters know the pains of gas prices. We drive along Highway One and watch as the prices go down cent by cent the more eastward we travel.

We wonder if 264 Street exit is where the cheap stuff is, or is it Mt. Lehman? What about Clearbrook or McCallum? Sometimes I drive out to Whatcom, an extra two exits onto my commute to school, just to try and get the cheapest gas in the Valley.

It’s an agreement between driver and gas station that I have come to accept. Sometimes the extra 10 minutes of driving might save you two cents per litre and even though mathematically you may not be getting a better deal, logically you abide by the arrangement.

The last straw, however, was on a Sunday morning when I drove past a gas station advertising 135.8 cents per litre and when I drove back three hours later it was marked down to 125.8. Ten cents in three hours? Sure, it’s brilliant to catch those early morning travelers who didn’t have the foresight to get gas when it was cheaper the evening before, but 10 cents? In three hours?

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back as I grumbled and did absolutely nothing about it – except to wait until Monday forces me out east again.

Press one for service in English.

Press two to talk to a customer service agent. Press three if you expect that agent to be wearing an adult disposable diaper.

Though diapers are not yet (nor hopefully ever) the workplace norm, they’ve been raised as a threat for tardy bathroom-breakers in the apparently high-stakes world of call centre productivity.

While waiting on hold can be maddening, (there are only so many instrumental John Denver covers one person can take!) the latest news about call centre working conditions show that the other end of the receiver is perhaps even worse.

At Norwegian insurance company DNB, for example, workers are protesting a flashing alarm system that alerts management when an employee passes their daily eight minutes of allotted bathroom time. In the UK, Barclaycard centres have workers log their bathroom time manually: three minutes allowed for a pee and five if what you’re doing requires a bigger flush.

For better or worse, most centres aren’t creating elaborate schemes of enforcing shorter pee breaks; they’re simply denying them altogether. Employees’ right to their bodily functions are often denied or humiliated in the name of productivity.

So next time you chat with a customer service person who acts like they don’t give a crap, remember, it might be because they’re not allowed to.

There’s a problem with the world we live in, and it operates heavy machinery. Driven by a clock whose seconds tick closer together every day, this problem is about to be late for work or class, and doesn’t seem to notice the little human-shaped walk signal or the larger human walking. This is literally an accident waiting to happen.

Pedestrians know it as, “the driver.”

We’ve all had those days—we woke up late, we didn’t think the queue would be that long at Tim Horton’s—but I don’t understand the driver’s inability to wait 10 seconds for a pedestrian to finish crossing the street.

That’s right: I’m already in between those white lines that demarcate the crosswalk, in that sacred space where I have the right to stride without fear of your front bumper.

If you want to make the world a better place, leave earlier. Wait for both of my running shoes to touch that sidewalk before you turn.

It’s not anything sinister. It’s not anything sneaky or underhanded as common associations with the term might imply. But I have a confession to make.

I love eavesdropping.

Listening in to a nearby conversation at just the right time to catch an out-of-context quote from a stranger is a favourite past time of mine. These bizarre phrases are that much better robbed of any meaning they might have had within the conversation.

This happened to me twice in short succession at a coffee shop in Vancouver last week. I was left alone for a few minutes and heard the following sentence uttered by what was perhaps a 20-year-old woman in conversation with her friend next to me at the bar across the storefront bay window: “It was just a zoomed in picture ... of our butts!”

Mere moments later, from the other side, I caught this gem: “It’s such a victory when I see a cat I recognize from six months earlier.”

I’m afraid the victory is all mine.

And it is such a victory when I hear stuff like this.

I don’t know whether it’s a product of random happenstance, or whether these full conversations would yield more sentences just as remarkable.

While waiting on public transit, in line at the grocery store, or studying alone in a coffee shop, it’s worth it to pull out the ear buds on occasion and just listen in on the conversations happening all around.

Image: photoscott/flickr.com

Ignorance fuels political apathy in Canada EMILY GORNER CONTRIBUTOR

It seems ironic to me that a generation so enthusiastic about selfsurveillance via social networks is so unwilling to surveil their own government.

Despite the majority of us having at least some vague political ideology, along with a not-sovague opinion on how the world should be run, our generation shows a complete disinterest in politics. Perhaps it has something to do with how we teach history; every major movement is summarized so conveniently – everything is a revolution. Unfortunately, reality operates in tedious roads that take a century or so to traverse. It’s hard to look at all the great changes in our past, and focus in on all the tiny efforts it took to make them happen. So, why should I vote?

Why should I take interest in a system that I won’t reap any personal outcomes from?

Only necessity can facilitate

Image: Shahk/Flickr.com

Students get politically involved in the Quebec tuition protests. change; in the face of radical politicians, citizens are more than willing to raise hell. Countries with systems in dire need of reform are wrought with violence. This is not a sight we see here in Canada.

We did see some active protest in

Quebec last spring with the rise of tuition, and while the increase wasn’t necessarily the work of radical politicians, it gave some necessity to the ever-starving student.

This leaves me to suspect that the reason the majority of this genera-

tion shows so much political apathy is simply ignorance.

It is so easy to let things slip by you when you don’t even see them.

Voter apathy can be summed up to relative peace in the small picture, minor concerns for the big picture, and feelings of helplessness to make a difference, for which only intentional ignorance is the answer. You think your vote doesn’t count? It sure would be a lot easier to say you’re not informed enough to participate in the next election than to find out why it doesn’t.

I’m not saying any person should just start a violent riot and take what they assume is theirs – what I’m saying is that you should inform yourself so that our system doesn’t change into something unrecognizable while we are purposefully watching our Facebook feeds. The funny thing about a democracy is that it requires participation not only by the government, but by the citizens. Things never change overnight, but when

you choose to ignore politics, it sure seems like they do. It’s like when falling asleep during a movie and waking up to find that the loveable protagonist has got themselves a drug addiction and lost their job. You may not like what you’ve found, and wonder how on earth it got that way. Changes are always extreme if you haven’t observed the causes.

If you choose to ignore the politics of your country, you may wake up someday to find that you do not recognize your country, or that you have no say. If you do want a say, find out why your vote doesn’t count. When it comes to politics, just remember: nobody is asking you to change the world. If given a world to run, like any university student, you would probably put it off until next week and order a pizza. All anyone could ask of you is your awareness, and awareness is the least you should ask of yourself.

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Rag & Bone www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

The carpentry workshop behind masks hang above the door.

art: Anthony Biondi

Digging through masquerades and the macabre with UFV Theatre

By Nick Ubels. Photography by Blake McGuire.

The Cascade “Just watch where you’re walking that you don’t trip on anything.”

This, and only this, is my brief safety primer from Astrid Beugeling before we depart on an accelerated hour-long tour of UFV theatre’s massive props collection. She estimates that there’s nearly 10,000 items in the collection.

“Think of someone’s worst attic nightmare,” she jokes.

Beugeling is the theatre’s technical manager, and she’s been on staff since 1986. Every item, every nook and cranny of the theatre has a story. Beugeling is one of the few that knows the story behind each of these objects. It is her job to deal in things: props, sets, costumes, you name it. Beugeling is the one responsible for the huge stock of physical properties belonging to the UFV theatre department.

She’s talking excitedly and I’m scrambling to make note of each intricate object I see while praying that my battered Sony voice recorder doesn’t cut out along the way.

I was here on a mission. As soon as I had heard that there might be a real, human skull in UFV’s prop storehouse, I went full Indiana Jones mode about it. I just had to find that skull.

Grim, yes. But endlessly fascinating. Skulls have a long history as a theatre prop, stretching back to Hamlet’s famous grave digger scene in which our despondent Danish prince holds aloft the skull of Yorick, whom he calls “a man of infinite jest.” In a very real, physical way, holding Yorick’s skull prompts a meditation on mortality, connects Hamlet to death and memory of life in a closer, more intimate way.

The 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play featuring David Tennant attracted plenty of attention for Tennant’s use of a real human skull, one donated

to the theatre by Polish pianist Andre Tchaikovsky for such use upon his death. The skull controversy overshadowed Tennant’s reportedly brilliant turn. The question, though, is one of necessity.

Plays and films involve a certain suspension of disbelief. Everything is presented as on a stage, but it’s meant to be convincing. Does

“The theatre is fun because every show is so different. Even though you’re doing the same kind of job, you’re always reinventing or finding a way to make something.” something need authenticity to be convincing? Would the audience even notice the difference unless it’s pointed out to them? Do authentic objects allow the actor to perform with more genuine feeling and acuity? Do you need to touch death to become Hamlet?

I put these thoughts to the back of my mind and begin to take in the years of artifacts gathered throughout the space. Unlike a museum, these objects are not held behind glass just to look at, but to be used and adapted as necessary.

Beugeling tells me that just being around so many interesting objects can inspire creative reuse for new productions.

“This looks like an old microphone,” she says, pointing to a facsimile of an old-timey suspended studio mic used in last fall’s production of Once In A Lifetime. “But all it is is a bunch of springs, plastic tubing, and you know, you just create whatever you want.”

We approach a set of three blue and yellow-painted high school lockers marked with masking tape. They’re labelled ROMAN SWORDS, FENCING SWORDS and GUNS. “Everything’s been welded so you can’t accidentally shoot somebody,” she points out.

“Do you want to look at them?”

I attempt a casual reply, but end up sounding a little too eager, revealing my inner 13-year-old self.

“Yes. Definitely!”

She hands me one of the Roman swords. I hold it at a 45 degree angle with both hands, feeling the surprising weight in the muscles up my arm as I carefully manoeuvre the shaped piece of metal. Beugeling explains that actors go through an intensive training process with one of Canada’s national fight directors before using the real swords.

Fight safety and sword maintenance go hand in hand. Because the swords aren’t forged steel, they get nicks and chips with use, so the backstage crew is responsible for filing down the swords after each night’s performance.

“You have to build these things, but you also have to take care of them,” Beugeling says.

It’s one thing to amass such a collection of odds and ends, but it’s another thing altogether to keep them in working shape. The upkeep required for such a massive collection wasn’t something that had crossed my mind before I entered the belly of the beast of the theatre department – a rag and bone shop.

She continues our tour with a quick sweep of the theatre shop. In some of the adjacent rooms are wooden chairs, benches and stools of various styles; rolls of table cloths and green shag carpet; frilly doilies; fake mounted animal heads. There’s a three-tiered metal storage system

recycled from old productions of Pentecost and Richard III. Below the scaffolding is a grand piano donated by the Lion’s Club of Chilliwack. The card stock from old show posters are in the process of being converted into things as diverse as fake phonographs and backdrops for UFV’s upcoming production of The Merchant of Venice.

“What I’m working on is called a ground row,” she says. “I’ve got this thing at the back along the floor that creates a skyline. I’m going to create the Rialto bridge with a gondola.”

Beugeling drafts these threedimensional designs on a program called Sketch Up and cuts the pieces herself, or gets help from resident carpenter Bryan Cutler, who’s busy operating a table saw when I arrive. Massive paintings of frogs and bourgeois maidens, not to mention masks and banners, cover the highceilinged walls of the carpentry shop. A small collection of chandeliers is stashed away in the corner.

Some time before Cutler was hired, a local carpenter who did much of the work for the theatre donated a series of five massive Mexican masks. The quartet is carved out of dark-stained wood and hang together above the dock doors used to access the 206-seat theatre.

“Someone gave them to him and told him they’re not supposed to be separated,” she says. The masks have yet to be used in a production, but they’ve lived on the shop wall for nearly 25 years.

Introduction to stage craft We leave the masks and enter the main campus theatre. In past shows, forklifts, golf carts and other vehicles have all been brought in through the wide dock doors.

“This is a good time for you to come because you can see that

we’re in the middle of building a set,” she says as we step into the theatre. There’s bits and pieces of the previous sets all around: an art deco backdrop built for the Once in A Lifetime set, indistinguishable pieces of unpainted wood, a stack of background pieces that will make up the Venice horizon line. There’s a sort of painted watercolour effect that gives the impression of dusk or twilight. Once everything’s been assembled, there will also be little lights twinkling behind the false windows.

Beugeling proudly showcases the T-shaped theatre pit running under the stage. It has removable sections that can house a hand-crank elevator or high jump mats for quick exits. During UFV’s production of The Wind in the Willows in November 1999, they set up a canvas river along the pit. An otter jumped out through a trapdoor under the river and then back in. Between scenes, the backstage crew rolled up the canvas river and closed the trap door.

“It was a really magical moment for people,” Beugeling says as she reminisces about the show.

Beugeling guides me through the lobby and then the production booth. It’s equipped with an infrared light and video system that enables the production manager to make sure everyone’s in position before calling a scene. Everyone’s on headsets so no one is caught off guard.

Next we visit the gallery level and the lighting catwalks. I hold tight to the metal railings. Indiana Jones mode. I look down to see a bird’s eye view of the stage below and have to catch my breath for a second. Beugeling likes to fire up a couple of the “house hang” lights while she paints the sets in order to see how the lighting will change their appearance. In previous shows, they’ve used this level to rig up flying entrances for Humpty Dumpty and The Tempest’s Ariel with the help of military professionals.

“Because if you’re flying people in, you have to be really careful,” Beugeling adds.

We finally descend. My heart rate lowers considerably.

Living in a ghost town Beugeling takes me out into the main part of the building, towards the prop rooms. It’s like a ghost town. There are abandoned TVs and chairs. I notice a spot where an old pay phone has been hastily pulled from the wall, telephone line still sticking out. There are classrooms that look ready to host a class covered in a thin layer of dust. Every other program that used to share the space with the theatre department has moved to UFV’s new CEP campus in southern Chilliwack.

That the empty upper hallway is

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

the theatre. The five Mexican eerie is something Beugeling and I both pick up on as we start to lower our voices into a whisper.

Beugeling points into a fullystocked classroom. Door locked, outside blinds drawn. “See, everything’s just left here. It’s so weird,” she says. “Everything’s here but the people are all gone. It’s like a sci-fi movie.”

Before the theatre department moved into the Chilliwack North building in 1994, it worked out of a renovated motel. It was supposed to be a temporary fix, but UCFV theatre was there for nearly 15 years.

The university took down a wall and combined two classroom spaces, and that served as the theatre. At that time, when Beugeling was first hired, the entire prop room consisted of one walk-in closet. Over the years, she’s slowly built up the collection through donations, purchases, and getting in touch with local newspapers and businesses.

“I would go into the local newspapers and I’d say, ‘Hey look, if you’re having a garage sale and you have stuff left over, we’ll take it.’” she says.

Every item is now labelled and catalogued in a central inventory.

The collection of little treasures and knick-knacks has now expanded to take up four classrooms, a workshop, and two small side rooms.

Beugeling unlocks the door to the first classroom and turns to face me before dramatically opening the door.

“What you see right now is the culmination of 30 years of theatre.”

Beugeling flicks on the lights and reveals aisle after aisle of salvaged paraphernalia. There’s ancient bathroom vanities, mannequins, hollowed out book spines, a 1940s radio, barbed wire and dozens of travel trunks.

“I don’t want any more donations of trunks,” Beugeling says, laughing. “I’m done with that.”

While Beugeling doesn’t keep everything used in a UFV production, anything unique or particularly reusable is kept. The rows of stacked goods of every variety is staggering. The imagination runs wild with possibilities. I can see what she means about just being around this stuff inspiring the creative process.

I’m struck by the fact that these items, for the most part, weren’t created as props, but found a second life in the theatre. They all have at least two stories: a life out in the wide world before they were adopted by Beugeling, and a life in the theatre. You can divide those theatre lives by as many times as a prop is used, reused or refashioned into something entirely different.

I wonder about this supposedly real skull’s human life.

It’s a substantial collection that not every theatre department can offer. Beugeling, a UVic theatre tech graduate, says that UFV’s col-

www.ufvcascade.ca

A severed head based on one of the actors in Richard III. lection now rivals that of the bigger schools like UBC and UVic. High schools, church groups, private theatre troupes and other universities from throughout the Fraser Valley and beyond often borrow gear from UFV for their productions.

Beugeling shows me through the three or four costume rooms. There are racks of military uniforms, bins upon bins of shirts, fur coats, capes, an entire room of boots and a couple of creepy mascots heads donated by a former costume rental guy. In the sewing room, there are extra hangers and other bits and pieces hanging from piping on the ceiling.

“As you can see, we try to utilize every little space we have,” Beugeling says.

Limbs, eyes and bones We finally arrive back in the hand prop room just off of the main shop. On one of the back shelves, Beugeling spots a bag of heads made for Richard III. “Richard kills. He kills a bunch.

He kills everybody,” Beugeling adds with a slight grin.

Each of the heads was cast from an alginate mold placed on each actor’s face with a straw to let them breathe. The plaster of paris cast would then be filled out with papier mache and affixed to a smaller wig head. She used bits of wigs to approximate the hairstyles and eyebrows and gummy fishing lures and wires to stand in for protruding blood vessels and veins, imitating the look of a freshly severed head.

For one actor, Beugeling had to cast the head with his mouth open at the director’s request.

“In the scene, Richard pulls this strawberry out of this head that’s served to him on a platter,”

“All it is is a bunch of springs, plastic tubing, and you know, you just create whatever you want.”

Beugeling says. “He pulls it out and eats it.”

The parade of body parts continues as Beugeling rifles through a box of stray limbs and other pieces donated by the health sciences department when they no longer needed them.

“Because you never know when you’ll need a torso,” she tells me.

And then we find it. The skull.

It’s browned with age and it looks like it’s about to fall apart. It had been buried in the bottom of a plastic bin filled with skulls, bones and other body parts. Before I know it, Beugeling has handed me the skull as she continues to browse through the plastic bin. I stare at the horrifically empty face and wonder. Rather than being moved to a

monologue, I’m dumbstruck. This is someone’s skull, someone who died at least 30 years ago. After a few minutes of silence, I pass the aging skull back to Beugeling and ask her where it came from.

She tells me that it was already there when she was first hired over 25 years ago. Theatre legend has it the skull simply arrived in a cardboard box one day.

While the UFV theatre has performed Hamlet twice during Beugeling’s era, she doesn’t think the real skull’s ever been used other than as set decoration. It’s just too fragile to be handled constantly. In this case, it seems that durability beats authenticity. Beugeling packs the skull back into its box, alongside fake thigh bones and a bag of googly eyes.

“In the theatre world, you come across all sorts of strange things,” Beugeling says, noticing me staring at the box. “And that’s what we all love about it. It’s so weird and strange.

“Even though you’re doing the same kind of job, you’re always reinventing or finding a way to make something new.”

When Beugeling first joined UFV’s theatre department, there was scarcely a closet full of props.

Now there are endless rooms and corners of the building filled with different objects she’s assembled over the years. I realize that what I’m looking at is more than a series of fascinating props, but a quantifiable, visual representation of one woman’s life’s work.

“That’s one of the things when I leave,” she says, pausing. “I know everything they’ve used since 1986.

I have a fairly good memory of everything we have and where it is.

That’s not something you can just tell somebody.”

Beugeling turns to show me the door to her office, covered with photographs of her former students. Some have gone on work in the lighting crew of internationally touring rock bands, others have joined production studios or theatre companies. Many have become teachers, who regularly visit to borrow props for their plays. One of her students is currently sitting as a Chilliwack city councillor.

She tells me that the masks are her favourite props to make. Opening the door of her office, she retrieves a red, blue and white minstrel mask, complete with hat and bells, from her coat hanger. The mask was made by one of her former students, Jay Havens. It is perfectly carved and coated with spackling paste and carefully painted.

“It’s all about taking your time,” she says, admiring the mask. “You can put spackle on top and smooth it out because papier mache can be rough. But by taking your time and having a good vision, you can make it into something beautiful.”

11

A mustachioed, uniformed band leader puppet sits on one of the shelves in the hand prop room.

Astrid Beugeling has worked in the theatre for nearly 30 years.

A faux sheep carcass once carried by shepherds across the stage.

Beugeling holds the human skull of mysterious origins.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

OPINION

Sex reassignment surgery should be covered by tax payers NADINE MOEDT

THE CASCADE

In September, a federal judge ordered Massachusetts authorities to provide a taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery for transgender prisoner Michelle Kosilek. In this ruling, a convicted murderer will receive better health care than law-abiding citizens in both America and Canada.

Should we be outraged that a convict is getting this sort of care on the taxpayer’s dollar? Or should we consider the fact that any other ruling would be considered “cruel and unusual punishment” under the eighth amendment of the U.S. constitution? We are submitting many innocent people to treatment “incompatible with the concept of

human dignity.”

“It may seem strange,” writes Judge Mark Wolf, “that in the United States citizens do not generally have a constitutional right to adequate medical care, but the eighth amendment promises prisoners such care.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, Kosilek has attempted to castrate herself and twice tried to commit suicide despite hormone treatment and psychotherapy.

Gender dysphoria—characterized by persistent discomfort and anxiety about one’s assigned gender—is a characteristic of Gender Identity Disorder, which is listed as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association. Gender dysphoria leads to extreme

distress and unhappiness, disrupting one’s ability to lead a normal and happy life, socially and otherwise. High rates of depression and suicidal tendencies in people with gender dysphoria emphasize the need for professional and medical help.

Canadians pride ourselves on our healthcare system. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is an “essential medical treatment.” In 2003, a federal court agreed. Yet the federal government does not make decisions about specific services on a local level, so many provinces do not recognize the medical necessities of transgendered Canadians. Many provinces only offer partial coverage. In

fact, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia do not cover the treatment at all. In many cases a patient will have to travel to Toronto for a procedure. There are hoops that a patient must jump through: specific institutions one must be referred by, and a certain time period they must live as their preferred gender before being considered for treatment.

The varying coverage for people who suffer from gender dysphoria is unacceptable. A sex reassignment surgery is not a cosmetic elective; it’s a necessary procedure that is critical for a person’s mental wellbeing. The Canada Health Act’s purpose is to act as a safety net, ensuring that necessary medical treatment is accessible for those

who require it. Such a procedure may cost anything between $10,000 and $30,000. Asking an individual to pay this is ludicrous; taxpayers should fund it collectively. It is not a procedure that is high in demand or that a person would take lightly.

Some taxpayers may be opposed to these types of procedures, considering it a moral offence. However, it is a decision that must be based on fact and not on the intolerance and prejudice of a narrowminded minority.

Our tax dollars go to lung cancer patients who chose to smoke; it goes to obese people who ate what they wanted and now suffer from diabetes. Why should we not be funding those who did not choose to suffer from gender dysphoria?

Prison rape needs to be acknolwedged as a crime

Editorial Cartoon

JAMES POPKIE

THE CORD (WILFRED LAURIER)

by Maurice Motut

Letter to the editor

Re: “New plagiarism policy a step back for UFV” I’m a regular reader of The Cascade.

Although I always encourage students with concerns to bring them directly to my attention, The Cascade is another good way for students to engage publicly and constructively on topics important to our University.

When I read Nadine Moedt’s opinion piece about recent changes in policy on plagiarism and appeal, I brought it to my executive committee for

discussion. I thought it important to investigate whether we had unintentionally impeded the kind of direct communication and problem-solving that has been a strength of UFV’s student/faculty interactions.

Our Vice-President Students, Jody Gordon, will follow up on our behalf.

I thank Nadine for writing about her concern.

Mark Evered UFV President

Image: UFV

UFV President Mark Evered.

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WATERLOO (CUP) — In the United States, according to official statistics from 2008, over 216,000 prisoners were raped in one year.

Similarly, over 9.6 per cent of the prison population will be raped during the duration of their stay.

These figures are likely far lower than the actual numbers due to the multitude of unreported incidents, with unofficial estimates putting it between 14 and 23 per cent of prison victims at least.

In Canada, there is less of a perception of prison rape as common and statistics are harder to find, but it is still a prevalent issue. Prison rape is something that is often joked about and depicted in movies and television as a simple fact of life in the penal system. While some shows like Oz and Prison Break have depicted this topic with the appropriate level of darkness that it deserves, many other shows and movies use it as a source of comedy.

While I would never advocate censorship and I don’t believe any topic should be off limits for jokes.

In this particular case however, the sheer amount of jokes regarding rape in prison are highly indicative of society’s attitudes toward it: that it is a laughing matter.

The idea largely stems from the notion that it’s a form of karmic justice or an ironic twist of fate that dishes out punishment in an unofficial form, on top of the official form of punishment that prison itself embodies.

While all sexual assault should be condemned, what makes the attacks in jail important to focus on is that it is sometimes defended along the lines that it is the justlydeserved punishment of prisoners.

While the tolerance of rape culture in society is also an important issue, rape in prison needs to be focused on within its own specific context.

There are many who would never defend rape in any other circumstance, but regard the same act against prisoners as a type of just desserts. Through this mentality, prison rape is part of a package deal of sentencing. You do the time, and you go through the tri-

Image: derekskey/Flickr.com

Prisons should uphold laws.

als and tribulations necessary to drive in the punishment, including potentially being raped by other prisoners.

This mentality is barbaric and has no place in the modern era.

Regardless of who a prisoner is, whether they’re in jail for something minor or as major as murder or even for sexual assault, prison rape should never be tolerated by the prison officials, nor by society at large. In addition to the fact that prison rape is defended by many who would not tolerate sexual assault in any other circumstance, what makes prison rape important to focus on is its institutionalized nature.

It occurs at rampant rates within the confines of a government-run facility. It is tolerated and ignored by prison officials to the point where it could almost be considered an officially sanctioned part of going to prison. While it would be impossible to eliminate prison rape completely, short of absurdly totalitarian measures, the sheer prevalence of these instances shows that there is a tolerance of prison violence that exists amongst many of the guards.

Similarly, it exists among prison officials and more indirectly, across society at large. While prison is meant to be punishment, rape should never be a part of that punishment.

A prison sentence involves doing time for a crime, time away from society, away from one’s family and friends, confined in one building, lacking many of the freedoms that normal life involves.

What a prison sentence should not involve is being raped.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

www.ufvcascade.ca

13

ARTS & LIFE Dine & Dash

Clayburn Village Store and Tea Shop

34810 Clayburn Rd, Abbotsford, BC (604) 853-4020 www.clayburnvillagestore.com Prices: up to $8.95

Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

SASHA MOEDT

THE CASCADE

The Clayburn Village Store & Tea Shop always evoked a sense of awe in me as a child. That’s because a good portion of the store is dedicated to candy. Jars and jars, row upon row, of jellies, marshmallows, hard candy, chocolates, lollipops and caramels. You name it, it’s there – all bright colours in pinks, purples, blues; in wrapping papers and swirled into canisters. There’s all sorts of specialty candies. What really caught my eye was the Harry Potter goodies like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans (“They mean every flavour!” Ron Weasley said), sugar mice and Dumbledore’s sherbert lemons. But no cockroach clusters.

I checked.

It’s like being in Honeydukes, and even today I’m in ecstasy.

I’ve always known there was a tea shop in there as well, but it was just recently that I sat down and took a look at the menu.

First of all, the atmosphere. The restaurant is blocked off from the view of the people buying candy by shelves lined with jars of candy. The flooring is wooden – not hardwood, per se, but wood that squeaks when you step on it. There is nothing modern in the decorations and atmosphere, and I mean this in a good way. The walls are decorated with old British memorabilia. Fresh flowers sit in little vases on each table, and the tables themselves are elegant and quaint.

It’s the kind of place that makes you nostalgic for Britain in the early 1900s, even if you’ve never been to Britain.

The server let us sit wherever we

Image: the life photographic/Flickr

On the right of Clayburn Village Store and Tea Shop are dozens of candy-filled jars and on the left an adorable tea shop. liked, and gave us menus, printed on beige pieces of paper. Just being a small shop, the menu isn’t extensive, but there is a fair amount of selection. There is a soup of the day, sandwiches, savouries (including sausage rolls, quiches and salads), cheese plates, desserts and pastries, as well as beverages, including a specialty coffee list.

I am a soup person, so despite the fact that I don’t like ham, I ordered the soup of the day: chipotle black bean and ham. I took this risk easily because the first time I’d been, I ordered a carrot and orange soup on a whim, strange sounding as that was, and it was truly phenomenal. You can order in a cup or a bowl; the cup is a bit cheaper.

I ordered the cup because I’m fiscally responsible, of course.

I also ordered a Cornish pastry. My partner ordered a turkey

breast, described on the menu as “lightly smoked, lingonberry sauce, lettuce, and tomato,” and he added aged cheddar. If I were to order a sandwich, I’d have gotten the traditional Italian toasted panino with provolone cheese, pesto, tomato and choice of parma ham or Genoa salami, but whatever floats your boat, right?

I tried the soup first. I ordered it with bread on the side, but it turns out the bread comes in very small portions. But, oh man, the soup was good. The chipotle added a kick to a creamy, savoury soup. I am going to order the soup of the day every time I go from now on, even if it doesn’t sound like my cup of tea—ahem, soup—because they’re geniuses. Soup-lovers, take heed.

My Cornish pasty was delish as well. Cornish pasties are like

a meal baked in pastry, which is definitely my style. On the outside, the pastry was nice and thick, with a fine crust.It was a good portion, and the inside was filled with meaty, potato-y and onion-y goodness.

My foodie-partner wouldn’t let me near his sandwich, for real, even though I told him I needed a research bite for this restaurant review. This may be because I used this excuse before, in a little fib.

It works for the first few times, people. But his sandwich looked good – though, again, it wasn’t the biggest sandwich. It came with two slices of apples on the side, maybe to make up for that. My partner described the bread as “really soft.” The lingonberry sauce added a sweetness to the turkey (which was layered generously on the bread), the same way cranber-

ry sauce does at Thanksgiving.

I definitely have a good experience at the Clayburn Village Tea Shop. The server was friendly, not in a “ready to order, hon?” diner way, but in a polite and courteous way. My only warning is the prices: the sandwich was $7.95, my soup was $4, and my pastry was $4.25. There’s no real student prices on the menu; the cheapest sandwich is $6.95 for a fairly plain sandwhich, and there’s not much below that if you want a full meal.

Considering the potions, prices aren’t fantastic – but considering the flavours, I’m going again.

Remember to walk around old Clayburn Village, it’s a lovely location. And get candy on your way out; it’s got to happen.

Book Review

A Memory of Light - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson PAUL ESAU

the cascade “Death is lighter than a feather.”

Thus says Lan Mandragoran many times in this last chapter of The Wheel of Time series. It is a saying that has played several roles in this long and convoluted fantasy epic for the man who was born with two things: “a sword that would not break and a war that would not end.”

It’s simply too bad that Robert Jordan (and more importantly Brandon Sanderson) decided to apply that saying to A Memory of Light itself, rather than a single crazy prince of Malkier. In the fantasy tradition of which Jordan is a part, death is symbolic, it has gravity, meaning, purpose. This ain’t Game of Thrones, no badass horse lords get blood-poisoning as a plot device. “Death is light as a feather, but duty is heavier than a mountain.”

A lot of people die in A Memory

of Light. I won’t give names, I don’t need to as no one who’s read the entirety of the series will expect all of Jordan’s thousands of characters (or even his dozens of important ones) to survive Tarmon Gia’don, the Last Battle. This is right, it is necessary, but it also reveals the massive schism between the cohesive epic this series could have

been, and what it has become.

The truth is, the only death that meant something was Robert Jordan’s in 2007. The Wheel of Time died with him. For all his faults, for all the annoying, simpering Aes Sedai and tugging of braids, Jordan was the man with the vision, the power, the skill. Jordan’s widow’s decision to pass the torch and his legacy to Brandon Sanderson (Brandon Sanderson of all people!) was the first nail in the coffin of Jordan’s memory. Sanderson’s strength is in his world-building, his soul contains neither the nuance nor the poetry necessary for The Wheel of Time.

And so Jordan’s beloved characters struggle and suffer, fight and die, and it means little, for behind every death and every triumph is the shadow of what could have been under a more subtle hand.

A Memory of Light, as the third and final installment of what Jordan hoped to be the final book, is simply a 900-page vicious clash

between the gathered forces of humanity and an endless flood of trollocs, draghkar, myrddraal, Forsaken and sundry other forces.

It’s powerful in the tedious, belabored way of any other 900-page battle (can’t think of another one at the moment). Gambles are won and lost, dreams are realized and rejected, and small but important flaws compel the doom of various players. Within the mountain of Shayol Ghul, Rand Al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles with the Dark One for the fate of the Pattern, a conflict that (presumably) turns all other battlegrounds into sideshows of the main event.

Yet who would have thought the Dark One would be so incredibly ... boring?

UFV professor Dr. Miriam Nichols once said that “radical evil requires a character of stature,” in order for a story to have a compelling struggle. There have been few forces in fantastical literature as inscrutable, as poisonous as

Jordan’s Lord of the Dark, Shaitan, and yet somehow Sanderson manages to strip evil of any significance or guile. One would assume that, given evil’s place as the central antagonist of a series more than 10,000 pages in the making, Sanderson would find an angle, a slant, to make the creature itself as memorable as its fingerprints, but alas, he lacks the ability to paint beyond the primaries.

If it’s not yellow, red or blue, if it’s not black or white, it’s beyond Sanderson’s palette. He may have Jordan’s momentum, he may have over 30,000 pages of Jordan’s notes, but the creator’s vision has proven too elusive. Sanderson moves from point to point, notation to notation, with admirable promptness, but too much is lost in the translation to another mind. A Memory of Light is not the book it was meant to be.

It was an ending yes, but it was not the end as the wheel might have spun it.

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

ARTS & LIFE Film Reviews

Side Effects

MICHAEL SCOULAR

THE CASCADE

[Spoiler alert: It is impossible to discuss Side Effects without getting into details that a first-time viewer probably wouldn’t want to know. Unless you hate surprises.]

By the time the opening credits have concluded, the audience has already been witness to two textbased lies. The commonly-known pseudonyms of Mary Ann Bernard as editor and Peter Andrews as cinematographer for director Steven Soderbergh will hold no meaning for those expecting a conventional credit open, yet their unhidden nature for those who have even a slight idea of what Soderbergh tends to do means it is a lie out in the open, exposed and in continued use, not despite, but in tandem with its fairly widespread knowledge.

A topic as wide and uneditable

as the truth/lie quotient in human behaviour could appear to be one with diminishing returns. No matter how many approaches there may be (from his breakout debut Sex, Lies, and Videotape, to the heistwith-vocabulary Ocean series, to the cover-ups and investigations of Erin Brockovich and The Informant) there is the eventual dead end of irresolution. Lies lead to more lies which lead to nothing save the promise of a new generation (Contagion, Magic Mike). But Soderbergh finds something attractive, something solid and workable in this atmosphere, and so Side Effects, in what may or may not turn out to be his final film released to theatres, begins and ends in this mode.

Martin (Channing Tatum) is nearing the end of his prison sentence for the crime of insider trading, Emily (Rooney Mara) is nearing the end of her ability to wait

on the outside in silence, Dr. Banks (Jude Law) is the psychiatrist that might open up a closed connection, make life a possibility. The “outside” for Emily is a barrier of mental imposition, dislocation, the ability to see what should be and the knowledge her world is not.

As in their previous collaboration, Contagion, Scott Z. Burns provides Steven Soderbergh with a precise vocabulary that is unsparing in its dissection of the reality of the consequences of a particular ailment – in this case a form of depression.

The “structure that helps with hopelessness,” the “construction of a future,” this is what is said of Banks’s services, the spoken exchange of therapy, but what Soderbergh is really concerned with, and eventually lifts out of this setting and into another, is the contract of trust in this or any relationship.

By the introduction of other ways of looking, other ways of in-

terpreting, Soderbergh punctures Side Effects’ narrative, his own, the one that moved with momentum and tension and uncertainty. The doctor-patient relationship is a fragile one to begin with—to invest an entire life story, an entire person, a body, into the care of another—and it is a deal that Side Effects’ narrative misses no opportunity to hint at duplicity within. The beneficiaries of medication, the selling of stories and the changeability of personality are all moving parts Soderbergh trains with a cynical eye. Amongst the canopy of fine-tuned media and speech, what really stood out in Contagion was the way he took a realistic situation and extrapolated it to his own concerns. But here there is a game to be played between actor and audience – allowing sight of what is being moved toward while obscuring the truth of what is being seen.

As Side Effects moves and changes, what it diverges from (itself) and what it arrives at (an openedup piece of itself) presents points of conflict. In its use of, rather than narrative based on the experience of a person suffering from mental illness, Side Effects walks a line that converges with the film that also happened to be crashing, soundwise, through the walls of the theatre the next room over – Silver Linings Playbook.

Silver Linings Playbook also uses the sensory details of mental illness, folding it into a recognizable genre, editing it into a rhythm that possesses a musicality that can only come extra-diegetically (there Dylan and Cash and Brubeck, here Thomas Newman). There’s even the coincidence of both films holding a conversation about the treatment of, the provision of, help to

its main female character, while as a larger narrative the same discussion could be had about who is in control of events. That Soderbergh moves away from any association with the truth of any experience though, means there is the unconventional attitude of discarding all prior knowledge, good included, and the shift to a new perspective of ironically viewing main characters fumble though and with information just about everyone else already holds (something that is the opposite of the extension present in Silver Linings Playbook, even on re-watches). Side Effects never looks back, and we’re left to relish or become re-accustomed to this new search. Lies have made further questions pointless.

If this is Soderbergh’s final release, then to leave things on a note of defeat, of negation, is to a degree fitting, but only as a detriment. Deception, like any conflict beginning that’s said to be necessary in narrative, serves as disruption, but the way Soderbergh uses it, it is necessarily woven into every exchange. It is a possibility. It is the norm. Side Effects then, for all its trickery, ends up as a more conventional movie – in its surprising shift it becomes less surprising, for what could be less interesting than a crime picture where the only motivation is passion-less capital, and what could be more disappointing than the halting of Soderbergh’s digital outgrowth, which builds in the first half until a crash to black – from then Soderbergh’s cutting is less sharp, details less pronounced, paths not pursued to their end but wrapped up into the convenience of plot and games.

left. One could think that having been thrown into so many horrible situations before, McClane would be as used to fighting bad guys as we would be waking up in the morning. But later on it just feels like he’s doing it because he needs to push the movie along. The film rolls like a conveyor belt rather than an actual engaging story and no amount of awesome that Willis emits can change that.

In Die Hard there was a scene where the villain played by Alan

Rickman pretended to be an American to disguise himself from hero McClane only to trick him later on. They wrote the scene into the script because they discovered Rickman’s talent for mimicking American accents. There is nothing even close to being that creative or original in the new film. It doesn’t even have a proper villain. So with no true adversary for McClane to fight, he just shoots whatever gets in his way. Some would say that the director of this film is the vil-

lain. Many fans were upset when they saw that John Moore, the man who directed Max Payne, was directing this film. It certainly didn’t help when Skip Wood’s recent films were X Men: Origins – Wolverine and Hitman. We aren’t given a Die Hard movie, we’re given an extremely dumbed down action flick that leaves you with nothing but disappointment.

A Good Day To Die Hard JEREMY HANNAFORD

CONTRIBUTOR

Action films have always pushed the boundaries of disbelief. Lots of times, they take it too far but there are certain films that play it just right. Die Hard wasn’t just an action movie; it was a pinnacle of the everyday hero. Everything that the 1988 classic did has been reused and copied hundreds of times over but never to the same effect. Now we have been given Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard which completely breaks the boundaries and tarnishes the last bit of credibility the Die Hard franchise had left.

Die Hard 5 starts out as well as one would expect. While the story isn’t inventive, we are thoroughly entertained once the action starts.

But any time the film tries to be more than meaningless violence; the cracks really start to show. McClane goes to Russia to find his son, who is all too willing to repeat how much he doesn’t like his father. His repetition is nauseating and really doesn’t further establish his character. He turns out to be a CIA agent on a mission and together, they fight bad guys and toss each other wise cracks despite the bad chemistry.

The essence of the film was to

try and establish this damaged relationship between McClane and his estranged son. But there is no depth here beyond what is stated.

The conflict between the two is stale and empty and is completely forgettable.

Then there is a moment where you can tell screenwriter Skip Woods wrote himself into a corner.

He has nowhere left to lead the characters and stay in the realm of believability. So instead, he puts McClane and son on the most ridiculous path ever conceived and proceeds to decimate the film in the final 30 minutes. The original Die Hard kept itself in the realms of reality and encapsulated many action movie moments that by now have become every day clichés – clichés that are ripped off in this sequel. These moments are so blatant and unoriginal that it feels like Woods put them in there just for namesake. He does nothing to mold them into something unique or at the very least original.

The only truly decent thing in this movie is Bruce Willis, but not in the sense of being classic John McClane. Bruce is older now and he tries to reflect that in the character. We get a more run-down version of McClane, who is still full of witty banter and wise cracks but has no real emotional factors

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

www.ufvcascade.ca

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ARTS & LIFE

CROSSWORD

All about Seal, seals and SEALs

2

3

3. Seal’s facial scars are due to this systemic autoimmune disease. (5 letters) 6. “Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the ____.” (4 letters) 8. Seal is a coach for this reality singing competition in Australia. (3, 5 letters) 9. Buster Bluth mistakenly heard this when someone called out, “Loose seal!”

(7 letters) 10. This 1994 family film depicted ____ the seal who befriended a little girl

named Toni and her family. (5 letters) 11. Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel was born in this British city.

(6 letters) 12. Seal contributed a cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” to the

soundtrack of this 1996 Michael Jordan/Bugs Bunny vanity project.

(5, 3 letters) 14. “Kiss from a Rose” was featured in this 1995 superhero movie. (6, 7 letters)

4

5 6 8

9

Answer Key Across

2. KFC 5. NIPPLES 6. TURNER 8. ROXANNE 11. ANTHROPOLOGY 13. READINGRAINBOW

DOWN

3. Seal’s facial scars are due to this systemic autoimmune disease. (5 letters) 6. “Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the ____.” (4 letters) 8. Seal is a coach for this reality singing competition in Australia. (3, 5 letters) 9. Buster Bluth mistakenly heard this when someone called out, “Loose seal!”

(7 letters) 10. This 1994 family film depicted ____ the seal who befriended a little girl

named Toni and her family. (5 letters) 11. Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel was born in this British city 50

years ago yesterday. (6 letters) 12. Seal contributed a cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” to the

soundtrack of this 1996 Michael Jordan/Bugs Bunny vanity project.

(5, 3 letters) 14. “Kiss from a Rose” was featured in this 1995 superhero movie. (6, 7 letters)

10 11

12

LAST WEEK’S

ACROSS

1

7

by THE CASCADE

13

14

EclipseCrossword.com

Down 1. BIBLIOTECA 3. FATNEIL 4. BANANA 7. HANSOLO 8. RACIST 9. COUGARTOWN 10. LEONARD 12. HILDA

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

Gemini: May 21 - June 21

Libra: Sept 23 - Oct 22

You will realize this week that your life is lacking direction and meaning, and that running for student union could be the answer you desire.

Avoid geraniums at all costs for the month of February; they are the harbingers of stuck zippers and broken fan belts. They’re also responsible for the Kuiper Belt. Take a stance against geraniums by running for student union.

After a late night viewing of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic you realize that to truly empathize with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and their struggles of being a ruler you must run for student council.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21

Your grand desires of global domination will fall short when you realize your current budget does not allow for funding a secret volcanic base with jumpsuit wearing henchmen. You will have to console yourself by running for your university’s student union.

Your attempt to broaden your academic career by taking advanced fingerpainting based on the principles of thermodynamics applicable to flightless water fowl leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Try running for student government instead.

You find yourself flustered and behind on all matters and decide to make a change.

You will run for an executive position for the student council which demands organization and discipline.

Aries: March 21 - April 19

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21

Your grand desires for partying during spring break like they do on MTV has left you with a bad hangover and frost bite (what with it being still winter in Canada).

Swirling chaotic negative energies in the form of bunnies dressed as the sailor scouts bombard you from all sides. Take control in your like by running for a position on your university’s Student Union Society.

You realize that your lactose intolerance can be built up by imbibing goat’s milk products. Run for student council to share the news with your peers.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20

Virgo: Aug 23 - Sept 22

You will be heartbroken over being unable to break your all time high score on Rock Band Justine Bieber Edition. Take your aggression out by crushing your opponents in the upcoming university student union elections.

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19

Trying to cross, “learn to play the piano with chopsticks in your mouth” off your to-do list has left you with an embarrassing scar and a chopstick lodged in your nasal conchae. Try to forget the ordeal and aim for crossing “running for student politics” off the list instead.

You find life to not present the challenge it once did. Before taking drastic measures such as dressing as a meat loaf and wrestling bears we suggest trying your hand at student politics first. Apply now!

Cascade Arcade

Dead Space 3 JEREMY HANNAFORD

CONTRIBUTOR

Some people say that video games aren’t scary anymore – that the feelings of horror and dread from games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil no longer exist. I can say for those people, they certainly have more stones than me.

While Dead Space 3 doesn’t terrify me to the point of hiding under my covers in fear of monsters coming to get me, it sure does give me a good scare along with an amazing gameplay experience.

Dead Space 3 is the third instalment in the sci-fi horror series created by Electronic Arts and Visceral Games. The games have followed the extremely unlucky Isaac Clark, an engineer who has been tormented by alien artifacts called Markers and the undead monsters known as Necromorphs

that spawn from them. Dead Space 3 puts Clark at the forefront of a fight he no longer wants any part of. With the Unitologists—a fanatic religious cult who believe the Markers are the next step in human evolution—hot on his trail, Clark is forced to face his nightmares once again.

Dead Space has always been about putting yourself in a very dark and dreary place with futuristic weapons, untrustworthy and slightly crazy characters and a whole lot of undead alien things that you have to blast the limbs off of to kill.

This (for the most part) has returned in Dead Space 3 with one major difference to the IP’s classification. Dead Space 3 is now a sci-fi horror action shooter and surprisingly, it is a refreshing spin on the series.

No longer surviving on extremely limited ammo, Dead Space 3

gives you an array of weapons and ammo which you can customize and tune to make into an ultimate killing machine. Customization itself has been revamped. No longer just upgrading damage and capacity levels, you can actually make a unique and powerful weapon. In one instance, I made a chain gun spike launcher with an electrified bola launcher underneath. The possibilities, while limited at first, can be very extensive the farther one gets into the game.

In a solo experience, Dead Space still offers thrills and chills all the while throwing in homages to classic sci-fi horror films like Aliens and The Thing. I played solo for a short while but I found the real excitement was in playing the campaign cooperatively. Having the rugged and stone-hearted soldier John Carver constantly alongside Isaac really adds to the mix. His involvement includes additional

dialogue, story elements and optional missions – way more than just having another player present.

Carver and Isaac both have their own visions and moments that are unique and really build the Dead Space universe. The gameplay is even more fun with a partner. The enemies are tougher and there are still some scares to be had, but it’s nothing but fun for the two of you and having additional help solving the game’s puzzles is most welcome.

Dead Space 3 isn’t without its shortcomings, however. Unlike the last two games—where either the atmosphere or Isaac’s chronic insanity was the forefront of the story—this time around we are given a lacklustre story with a love triangle that is more childish than a teenage drama flick. There are moments where information is inexplicably discovered and most of the additional objective missions

involve tedious backtracking and uninspired item collecting. The Dead Space games have never really been about giving you a full answer, but this time it feels like the writers took that for granted. While that can make the cut scenes cringe-worthy and boring, it doesn’t take anything away from the exceptional gameplay.

Dead Space 3 is the same game that players know and love, but now with a few added upgrades and enhancements, making the game that much more enjoyable.

It encourages you to play the game a second time around and to keep constructing weapons and upgrading your suits. If you can, make sure to play this game with additional player. It’s an experience you certainly don’t want to miss.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

ARTS & LIFE

Veronica Falls Waiting For Something to Happen

Grouper The Man Who Died in His Boat

k-os BLack on BLonde

Right Away, Great Captain!

The Church of the Good Thief

Minor chords and shimmering melodies make for strong ingredients in this record of moody and nostalgic rainy day pop music. On their sophomore record, UK indie quartet Veronica Falls tighten up their cavernous jangle pop to closer resemble the output of the C86 bands who comprised Britain’s most thriving indie scene of the 1980s. The sad chorus of shared male and female harmony as lead vocal throughout provides the tracks on Waiting for Something to Happen with a haunting, roomy-quality not unlike that of Aussie popsters The Bats. Not everything on the album sticks, but lead single “Teenage” is an unerringly charming piece of guitardriven pop with just the right balance of melancholic underpinnings. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the record has trouble meeting the indelible quality of this one standout track. In particular, the early tracks are a little weak, especially album opener “Tell Me” which plods forward minus the energy or propulsive drumming of the following tracks. The melodies are precise and bittersweet, and the guitar lines are more than serviceable, but Veronica Falls struggle to take things much further than that. As “Teenage” suggests, this is a band that could acquit itself much better and do on occasion, such as “Everybody’s Changing,” “My Heart Beats” or the title track.

A long exhale extended by tape delay, backed by surrounding winds, fronted by guitars that issue like from a halfsubmerged secret hollow, Grouper (Liz Harris)’s The Man Who Died in His Boat contains maybe a hundred lyrics and a less countable number of pauses. These accreting moments mean while an individual track could exist as an abruptly quiet way between random song selection or a bridge between silences (despite the constant noise, so much of this album seems to be absence), The Man Who Died in His Boat as a whole is a slow passage of serenity, one matching its barelyunderstood voices that suggest otherwise, an entire period of circling around slumber. When any warped words come through the lo-fi hiss and recording and sound to add an air of suggestion (and it is always a suggestion, a vocalization, a sound, chosen over limitations of meaning) to the downcast atmosphere (though next to something like Waxahatchee’s tonally/ temporally similar American Weekend, its lack of comment speaks positive), they are buoyed by instrument, allowed to trail off, saved for the end (“looking for the place the spirit meets the skin”) where repetition of common questions doesn’t intimate a certain age, but state.

Mention k-os to anyone living outside of Canada and they’ll doubtless stare blankly back. k-os has no shortage of acclaim north of the 49th parallel, achieving a platinum record and multiple Juno Awards for his breakout Joyful Rebellion. So why hasn’t that reputation travelled south?

The answer is in the name, because his music is chaotic. His artistic vision tends to always be a few steps ahead of the listener’s expectations, which is where BLack on BLonde comes in. The double album produces the kind of duality we’ve come to expect from k-os, with the BLack side driven by hip-hop and pop trends, while the BLonde side is influenced primarily by rock and roll. A sample of Neil Young & Crazy Horse on the mesmerizing “Play This Game” and homage to the Beatles on “Wonder Woman (As My Guitar Gently Streets)” demonstrates k-os’ ability to produce an eclectic style all his own. This ambitious project is not without its faults and overzealous concepts, like the lacklustre “Alone In My Car” or repulsive opener “Like a Comet (We Rollin’)” featuring ‘80s heartthrob Corey Hart on vocals. Unfortunately, BLack on BLonde features some of the most awful aspects of both rock and hip-hop, with only a choice few songs standing alongside k-os’ best work.

nICK UBELS

MICHAEL SCOULAR

TIM UBELS

JOE JOHNSON

In the morning, festival staff were handing out earplugs, something I’ve never seen at any other show before or since. My Bloody Valentine is a band that likes to play loud. Real fucking loud. Deafeningly loud.

My brother, my father and I stood, some 100 metres back, taking in the wash of whirling guitars, looking on at the four shadowy figures with long hair staring at their feet, back-lit by purples and pinks on the white curtain behind them.

I could feel the bass and distorted guitars rumble through my chest while my earplugs stayed firmly planted in my ears. We were maybe three-quarters of the way into the show when I finally removed the obstructions from my ears.

It was like a space shuttle taking off.

I scrambled to put my ear pugs back in my ears when I suddenly stopped. The band had entered a moment in which any intelligible melody had disintegrated. I didn’t recognize what they were playing.

It ebbed and flowed and ascended and descended. The band continued to stare at their feet. This moment went on for nearly 15 minutes while I stood breathless. The noise built in intensity for it’s final summit, and without a word or nod or signal, the band snapped back into the familiar melody. It was one of the most electrifying moments I’ve ever experienced, hearing loss be damned.

I learned a few m b v works in

three movements of three tracks each. The first three act as a sort of post-script to Loveless. The rumbling, sailing guitars are back.

Shields seems keenly aware of the band’s sudden reappearance here, asking “I wonder how you found now?” It’s a rediscovery of the band’s space. As good a reintroduction as could be imagined.

The music cycles through the pop splendour of “Only Tomorrow” and into the ruminative and loud mid-tempo track, “Who Sees You” to end the first movement.

The second movement dials back the volume and the distorted guitars for a mostly synthesizerdriven trio. It’s a palate cleanser that serves to prepare the listener for the aural assault of the final three tracks, beginning with “In Another Way,” which propel the listener into an anarchic display of post-punk delirium that serves as counterpart to the sweetness of the preceding tracks.

This final suite is uncharted territory for the band. The drums circle in on themselves and the guitars are more aggressive and densely layered than before. There’s hints of drum and bass in the cacophonous headrush that ends, aptly with “Wonder 2,” which suggests a new way forward. These songs craft a road map for how to continue beyond Loveless’s dream pop perfectionism. While m b v may not quite reach the same exhilarating highs as its predecessor, a muted, tentative version of that same pio-

neering spirit remains. All told, it’s a valuable, welcome but unexpected addition to the My Bloody Valentine catalogue. It’s a record that could only be created by one band, despite how wide their influence has spread. m b v is a piece of music that looks more inward than Loveless, gently pulling rather than exploding outwards, pushing the listener into another world. It is concerned with the self in its place in the cosmos, rather than contemplating where that place might be. The sound is that of an unstable, ever-shifting landscape that exists just beyond the fringes of memory. There’s no Terra firma, placing the listener at the mercy of only the preceding chord until a familiar motif returns and reassures. There’s a thrilling moment of uncertainty and wonder that is consistently rewarded by something recognizable as soon as it veers too far into the unknown. Layer upon layer of guitar textures reveal themselves after each listen. Even the fairly quotidian mid-album track “New You” eventually feels inextricable in context, working as it does as a necessary precursor to the aggressiveness of “In Another Way.” As far as audience trust exercises go, My Bloody Valentine asks a lot of the listener. It is a daring gamble, but one that pays in chillinducing dividends.

Right Away, Great Captain!’s third release is a place of sorrow and pain.

But it’s also the final act in Andy Hull’s stunning solo project that has told the story of a sailor from the 17 century whom had come to discover an affair between his wife and brother.

Remarkably, this has been voiced so beautifully that the album is hard to let go and accept that Hull has brought it to a close. It’s raw and bare and drawn out by only a few distinct instruments, particularly the guitar and Hull’s own distinctly sounding heavy, yet fragile, voice. The album opens with two tracks, “Blame” and “When I Met Death” that instantly pull you in through their strong hooks. In fact the first half of the album progresses this way. It’s half way through when “Barely Bit Me” hits that the album comes to a denser, clinched, atmosphere. At first it can be difficult to reconcile the seemingly two incongruent qualities, but it’s in Hull’s lyrics that you begin to follow more closely. You finally see the despair that Hull’s character has come to. It’s the end of an amazing story crafted by absolutely steller songwriting.

Album Review

My Bloody Valentine – m b v NICK UBELS THE CASCADE

Heavily processed and distorted guitars and indelible melodies; cyclical drumming and whispered, inscrutable lyrics; haunting male and female vocals and kaleidoscopic synthesizers; incessant basslines and gliding, pitch-shifted guitars; a head-rush of impressionistic feeling and tape delay: this is the culmination of 20-odd years of on and off work on the first My Bloody Valentine record in a generation.

The correct way to describe effect on me is almost as elusive as the album itself. After staring at the pile of adjectives assembled above for close to a week, I’m still not sure I’ve come close to capturing anything easily transferable.

Never before have I felt so surely the truth of the well-worn maxim, “writing about music is like dancing about architecture,” (which has been variously attributed to actor Martin Mull and alt-icon Frank Zappa) than when I attempted to write about My Bloody Valentine’s first album since 1991’s shoegazing, genre-defining magnum opus Loveless.

It’s a struggle to avoid pretentious hyperbole, but m b v is a disarmingly simple record. Is it as good as Loveless? That seems beside the point. Loveless said all that needed to be said when it was released. A follow-up seems to have been a struggle for chief song

writer Kevin Shields who, crushed under the weight of a critical boon, retreated into his own life, much like Brian Wilson following the sessions for Smile, the Beach Boys’ half-finished follow-up to their groundbreaking 1966 album Pet Sounds.

The musical landscape has changed tremendously since the early 1990s, but My Bloody Valentine have crafted something here that wouldn’t have felt out of place then or now, a testament to their influence on bands as varied as Tame Impala, Japandroids, Sigur Rós, Teenage Fanclub and so on.

It’s a deeply-satisfying record, one that operates by it’s own rules. It’s also affirmation of the unique gift of a My Bloody Valentine record, a third record that most doubted would ever see the light of day.

My first exposure to the band was admittedly the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s 2003 movie Lost In Translation. I was drawn to the mysterious aura evoked by the heavy, but gentle distortion that seemed to perfectly suit the twinkling lights of Tokyo on a rainy night. My feelings on the film are still decidedly mixed, but my appreciation for My Bloody Valentine has only deepened. I absorbed Loveless, the band’s sophomore record from 1991. But it wasn’t until an April night in Indio, California in 2009, during the second night of Coachella music festival that the band became even more important to me.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

www.ufvcascade.ca

17

ARTS & LIFE THE FASHION DOCTOR

Mixing prints JASMINE PROCTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

CHARTS

1

LeE HARVeY OsMOND The Folk Sinner

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

BOY Mutual Friends Yacht Club Nonnavera + Flash White Lung Sorry

Shuffle DARYL JOHNSON

CIVL DJ/ROUGH RIDER

This week’s shuffle has been provided by Disposable Existence host Daryl Johnson. He likes chai tea lattes, people who use the word literally correctly and three digit numbers that end in eight.

The Sweet Lowdown May

Classified Classified

Minotaurs New Believers Kacy and Clayton Kacy and Clayton

Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow

10 11

Hayden Us Alone

The Human Orchestra Lip Service

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Homeshake The Homeshake Tape Local Natives Hummingbird This Hisses Anhedonia Beekeeper Shout At People Renny Wilson Sugarglider Ra Ra Riot Beta Love Painted Palms Lip Service

“SCCV” – Relentless Ben This song is fast, heavy and unapologetic in regards to any sort of comprehensible lyrics. It makes one think of fearsome feelings, feelings most commonly associated with the moment one removes a BandAid from the scabbed weeping wound that too much exposure to god left on their eternal soul.

“Voltaire” – Relentless Ben Like this song’s namesake’s famous philosophical novel Candide, shows that endless optimism is not a virtue found amongst the logical thinkers of this world. Still, like Candide’s loyal companion Cacambo, the disillusionments realized in life are rarely enough to break the decidedly lousy human trait of survival.

“A Joke” – Relentless Ben Everything a power-violence song should be; the brutalities of life in musical form. The expressionistic, stylistic and technicality of this song, truly speak to the duality of man. Poignant and without pretense, this song knows that Custard shot first, but what it presupposes is, maybe he didn’t?

“Cities” – Relentless Ben This song has a warm, summery, perfect mix of wuinoa and micro-brewed vegan beer kind of feel to it. Upon my first listen, I found myself reminiscing of my days spent gallivanting around the streets of Paris, with no possessions beyond a loaf of bread and many bottles of port wine.

One of the scariest but most rewarding risks one can take in fashion is switching up prints and matching them accordingly.

Even to this day, I occasionally hesitate when putting together an outfit in fear that the patterns will potentially clash. It’s one of those instances in the outfit picking process when you don’t want to make the decision alone – I’ve always needed a second opinion.

But recently, I’ve discovered a few fool-proof tricks to make sure each print I try to mix up ends up looking fabulous.

The first and most important tip I can give is that you should make sure there are similar colours in both patterns. Literally, if your prints both share some of the same colours, they will more often than not look great together. Say, for example, you have a knit, quarterlength top that is white with navy stripes and you want to pair it with a skirt of a different print. If that skirt is, say, black with white polka dots or navy with black polka dots, it will most definitely work. To tie the two prints together completely, use a neutral coloured belt between them. This distinguishes a definite beginning and ending to the prints, making them workable and also showcasing how they both are differ-

Mixing prints can be worth the risk. ent, yet look great together. This look has a very nautical vibe to it, which is actually right on trend for spring and summer.

Floral prints are also going to be trendy this spring, but they’re not always easy to mix and match.

Now, I am not going to be the one to advise you to try and mix two different types of floral patterns together because, to be quite honest, that’s bloody difficult. Even the slightest mistake with that one could end up making you look like you just walked out of a bad ‘90s movie.

No, I want to keep it simple and straight forward, which is why I would suggest mixing any dainty, smaller-printed floral bottom with a very basic, neutral-toned striped top. Since the shirt is so soft and minimal (preferably white or beige with a black stripe) it looks remarkably feminine when paired

Image: apairandaspare/Flickr

with the already girly flower pattern on the bottom. Both complement each other fabulously, and present a fresh take on two classic prints.

Finally, I must come to the animal print combos. This can seem at times to be a tricky duo to try and piece together, but really it can be quite effortless if you want it to be.

The most basic thing to look for is small print versus big print. What I mean by this is if you have a pair of large-printed Zebra-striped pants, try coordinating it with a top that has a smaller animal print on it, like cheetah spots or something of that nature. As well, try looking for a realistic print and pair it with a more abstract, exaggerated print. This allows you to mix both prints, but make it look fashionable as opposed to tacky.

Fuck Buddies and Friends with Benefits are now Facebook compatible JOHNNY RODDICK

THE CASCADE

You’ve got friends. Isn’t it time you got some benefits?

How many people on your Facebook friendslist would you actually “do” if you knew they were up for it? I’m not talking about taking them on dates or talking about your feelings. No need to adjust your schedule, buy gifts or put your travelling plans on hold. What if you could have just the sex and none of the commitments? Would you go for it if you could know which friends wanted your benefits? Well, there’s an app for that.

“Anonymously find friends who are down for the night,” claims the new website, bangwithfriends.com. The site details the four-step “How to Bang” instructions. First, sign in with your Facebook account. Second, select the Facebook friends you’d be willing to “bang.” Third, message the ones you selected who also selected you (the application sends you both an email, but only if you’ve both chosen each other first). The fourth step ... well, that’s up to you, but the site suggests you bring protection along.

Of course, since it’s anonymous, that third step will only come about if some of the friends you selected have also added the application and selected you as well.

That might seem like a long shot, but unless the site breaks its promise (“Your friends will never know you’re interested unless they are too!”) there’s no harm in trying, right?

According to an interview by The Daily Beast with the three

anonymous creators, the site was designed to take an “honest,” “forward” and “no bullshit” approach to sex. And, while the site has been designed mostly to appeal to the college-aged heterosexual male, the designers say that’s because they put it together in a couple of hours and claim that they’re making efforts to broaden its appeal, especially to the LGBT community. Hopefully that will happen, because the application actually has a lot of potential.

There are two types of sexual relationships that are often confused and both can work here.

The first is friends with benefits – this is usually a pretty good friend who’d go for a little sex on the side as long as it wasn’t a big deal. But they’d willingly sacrifice the sex to protect the friendship.

The other type of sex-friend is a fuck buddy. Here’s someone you don’t care to get much closer with emotionally, but they’re hot and when you’re bored they might just come over for a bit of fun.

Each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, but in the right scenario, both can work.

Sexpert Laci Green, who runs the YouTube-based education series Sex+, recently talked about

Image: BangWithFriends/Twitter.com

sex with friends. In her video, she noted how friends with benefits can really help career- or schoolfocused individuals who still want some kind of sexual outlet.

But, she emphasized that it’s not always a good idea. It can work if you’re too busy for a relationship and if you’re interested in someone sexually, but neither of you want anything more. But, if one person starts to develop feelings, it can potentially ruin the friendship and cause a lot of heartache.

The key is to communicate, to make especially sure that you’re still both on the same page.

Those are the rules, regardless of how you come to find your sex-friend. For some people, the risks are too great, or they simply don’t see the appeal of forgoing the emotional safety, comfort and support of a committed relationship. But for those who think they might like the idea, there’s no easier way to test the waters than simply clicking the pictures of those on your friendslist who you’d give it a try with, if they just so happened to feel the same way. So if you’ve been curious as to who might want a little something on the side, wonder no longer.

18

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

www.ufvcascade.ca

SPORTS & HEALTH

Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade

Trevor Nickel attempts a spike.

Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade

Katie Bilodeau goes for the finish.

UFV volleyball dominant as both teams clinch berths in post-season EMAD AGAHI CONTRIBUTOR It was reading break for the students at UFV, but for the women’s volleyball team it was just another day on campus. The Cascades went into their Thursday night’s tilt versus cross-town rivals Columbia Bible College, with a chance to set a team record for most wins in a season. A win would also help UFV clinch the top spot in the PACWEST ahead of VIU. This was senior night at the Envision Athletic Centre, meaning it would be the last home games for the team’s fifthyear players: Kayla Bruce, Brittany Stewart and Katie Bilodeau.

The Cascades fought off some early pressure from the Bobcats and won the first set 25-20. From then on the UFV women took full control of the game winning the second set 25-15 followed

by a 25-11 third set victory ending the game in just one hour and five minutes. The game also drew a big crowd as friends and family of the players were on hand to witness senior night.

Brittany Stewart showed tremendous hustle as usual providing key digs, assists and setting the tone for the Cascades play all night. Kayla Bruce was her usual dominant self with a game high 11 kills and two blocks. Katie Bilodeau contributed in all categories and she also capped off the final set with UFV’s eighth ace.

“It was a good win, a night for the seniors to succeed. We left them in the whole match and they executed the way we expected them too,” said head coach Dennis Bokenfohr after the game. Classy move by Bokenfohr, who made sure to showcase his senior players to their friends and family for the last time at home this year.

The Cascades improved their record to 21-2 with the win and 3-0 against CBC this year. UFV has looked unstoppable as of late and aim to sweep the season series on Saturday. This is also their last matchup of the year ahead of the PACWEST playoffs, which start this Friday.

The men’s volleyball team extracted two key victories from the Bearcats over the course of the weekend to sneak into the sixth and final playoff spot in the PACWEST. On Saturday, facing elimination, they pulled off a dramatic five set victory in CBC’s gym to cap a late-season surge in which the Cascades have won five of their last nine games. The team will face the third-ranked Camosun College Chargers on Thursday, February 21, in the first game of their post-season.

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19

SPORTS & HEALTH

We’re too good for this scene: Why no CIS? EMAD AGAHI CONTRIBUTOR In 2011-12 the UFV women’s volleyball team finished 20-4 in the regular season, won a silver medal in the provincial championships, and followed up with bronze at the national championships.

This year, they have just capped off not only a better regular season, but a historic one as well. The Cascades achieved a record of 22-2, placed first in the PACWEST division, and sat at number one in the CCAA national rankings for most the campaign. Those 22 victories also set a new team record for most wins in a season. Undoubtedly they have earned the right to be considered a heavy favourite for both the provincial and national championships in 2013.

Yet, unlike UFV’s basketball and soccer teams, UFV volleyball doesn’t participate in the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), the top league in the nation. The CIS is home to most major Canadian universities such as UBC, UA, UT, etc. Now, in no way does this dismiss the accomplishments by the side; yet it does raise the question of why this team is not com-

peting at the top level. How good are the Cascades really? Can they compete in the CIS and if so why haven’t they made the jump?

Cascades head coach Dennis Bokenfohr is confident that competing wouldn’t be an issue: “We would be competitive. I think it’s one of those things where it takes a while to build up a program where you’re one of the top teams in the country. We would like to think we’d be in the middle of the pack in the CIS right now.”

While Bokenfohr’s assessment is humble, judging by his team’s recent dominance in the BCCAA, it’s hard to imagine it taking too long for him and his staff to turn UFV into a power in the CIS. While additional player development would become a staple to achieving CIS success, UFV would also benefit from the ability to recruit higher prospects.

“In the CIS,” Bokenfohr said, “you get upgraded recruiting power, you don’t lose players who go to play with CIS programs.”

Fittingly, the top two ranked CIS women’s volleyball teams reside in the lower mainland – UBC (Vancouver) followed by Trinity Western (Langley). You can imagine the frustration in having to compete with those two schools in the battle for recruitment when

you cannot offer recruits CIS enrollment, at least not right away.

So if competing is not an issue now and certainly wouldn’t be an issue once in the CIS, then why hasn’t this move been made?

UFV currently is represented in the CIS with four teams, men’s/ women’s basketball and soccer.

The addition of women’s volleyball in 2012/13 would have cost an additional fee of $763.00 to be paid to the CIS; however, according to UFV athletic director Rocky Olfert, it wouldn’t be that simple.

“There are a lot of factors to consider, things like full time coaches, significant increase in operating cost with a travel budget, managing gym time with our current basketball team, facilities such as a team rooms and equipment upgrades in the fitness centre,” Olfert explained. Add those costs into the equation and you got yourself a hefty bill.

So is it essentially funding that’s holding volleyball back?

It appears to be so, for the most part at least. Olfert also mentioned that “[the] first thing we’re trying to do is bring some stability to our programs and put our best foot forward with programs that are currently in place.”

The school would like to main-

tain and improve its current CIS programs and continue in the success they have been having in those sports. The length of this assessment is unknown, but what is certain at this point is the notion of moving volleyball to the CIS will have to wait in line.

Here at UFV, we like to equate ourselves to other big Canadian universities in aspects such as academics, student life and student experience. Athletics is another tool that UFV has and can continue to use in putting itself on the map.

“Would it be easier if we were all in one conference? Yes. Would it be ideal? Yes. But it is not a current reality,” Olfert stated. Notably, neither he nor Bokenfohr have any timeline for when the change to CIS could be made.

Cascades women’s volleyball will continue succeed in the CCAA but it’s only a matter of time before the university of the Fraser Valley will need to leave the college league. For now we patiently await the day when this institution’s rapidly-growing athletic program is represented with a new sport on Canada’s biggest varsity stage.

Eligibility twist creates playoff scare

PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

UFV’s men’s basketball team has been forced to forfeit two wins because of an ineligible player (according to CIS regulations). The two wins occurred on Feb 1 against the UBC-O Heat, and Feb 8 against the TRU Wolfpack, meaning that the player in question was ineligible for a period including the two consecutive weekends.

UFV’s record on the season falls to 10-12, good for fourth place in the Pacific Conference.

With the two wins the Cascades would have been tied with TWU’s 12-10 record, but Trinity would still have carried third place in the conference with the tiebreaker.

The player in question has since regained his eligibility and will be available this weekend to play in the Cascades weekend series against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

“I think this was just a complete accident,” said head coach Adam Friesen. “There’s everything’s in place to make sure this doesn’t happen. This was just a bizarre situation that [we] couldn’t really plan for.”

Frequent call-ups and demotions hurting Heat performance TIM UBELS

CONTRIBUTOR

Call-ups have been way up since the NHL lockout ended last month. This is not only due to the replacement players needed for an injury-prone big league team, but also because the NHL salary cap works on per-day costs.

One of the most coveted resources for NHL management is cap space for maximum roster flexibility when they are looking to move a player. Organizations are saving cap-space by demoting players for as little as one or two games at a time, a strategy that is much easier for NHL clubs that have an AHL affiliate only a short drive away.

Lately the Abbotsford Heat, who play a fair distance away from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, have been plagued with daily demotions and crosscountry flights for a number of their players, causing their play to suffer.

Since the injury to Calgary Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff on February 5, the Heat have become a .500 hockey team, outscored 17-12 by their opponents over that stretch. With additional injuries to Sven Baertschi, Michael Cammalleri, and Mikael Backlund, the Flames recalled Heat goalie Danny Taylor and forwards Ben Street, Roman Horak and Paul Byron for short stints with the team.

Serving as stopgap players until Flames management can decide on more permanent replacements for these positions, Horak and Street have been returned to

Image: Clint Trahan/Abbotsford Heat

Heat goaltender Danny Taylor is just one of the players who recently returned to the team after a stint with the Calgary Flames. the Heat lineup, while Byron suffered a fractured hand in his season debut on February 13, with no timeline set for his return. The last thing the Heat need is to lose their top offensive contributors, especially considering the Heat, who rank third in their conference, sit 29th in the AHL in goals for per game (2.25).

After splitting back-to-back home games against the Rochester Americans, the Heat squeaked out two close shootout wins against the Lake Erie Monsters to end their home-stand, defeating them 4-3 and 1-0 respectively.

Heat goaltender Barry Brust gave his team a chance to win in the absence of Danny Taylor, stopping seven of nine shooters over

the two games series. The Heat finished their eight game season series against the Monsters by picking up 13 out of a possible 16 points.

Opening up a five-game road trip against the Milwaukee Admirals, the Heat came out flying, outshooting their opponents 3018 by the end of the game. However, they only solved Admirals’ six-foot-five goaltender Magnus Hellberg once out of those 30 shots, with Max Reinhert scoring his fourth goal of the season from Nemisz and Callahan in the third period. Despite falling 2-1 to the Admirals on February 12, they maintained their thin lead for top spot in the North Division ahead of Rochester, Lake Erie and

Toronto.

Friday night saw the Heat play the first of three road games over a stretch of three days against the Peoria Rivermen, then moving onto the Rockford Icehogs before finally returning to Milwaukee to settle the score with the Admirals.

The game also marked the first start of Heat goalie Danny Taylor after his short stint with Calgary ended on Wednesday, where he served as Leland Irving’s backup.

The Rivermen outworked, outplayed and outscored the Heat 4-1, with Ben Walter providing the lone offensive tally for the Heat, while Danny Taylor stopped 30 of 33 shots in his return.

Call-ups from a deep AHL

team can provide newfound energy for an NHL team in need of a big boost during a tough stretch of games. Although this frequent calling-up and demoting by the Flames allows Heat prospects a chance to prove themselves, it can also lead to inconsistent play for a team trying to stabilize its roster.

The Heat, who lost a lot of their top-end talent after the lockout ended, now have to contend with top line players disappearing for games at a time during their own tough stretches.

20

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013

SPORTS & HEALTH

UFV women best in the west as men struggle into final playoff berth JASPER MOEDT the cascade

The cross valley rivalry of the Trinity Western University (TWU) Spartans and the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) Cascades basketball squads was renewed this weekend for each team’s final regular season games. This year the UFV women came out on top with two wins in two games on the weekend, while the men split the weekend walking away with one win and one loss.

In Friday night action, the UFV women opened their series with a 77-66 win at the Envision Athletic Centre (EAC).

The Cascades got a huge game from fourth-year Nicole Weirks who notched 17 points and 11 rebounds – both numbers were game highs. On what would have been a seniors’ night for the women there was no one to congratulate, as all the women have at least one more year of eligibility left. For a team that has been consistently ranked in the top five in the country all year, this is a sign of great things to come for the Cascades women’s program.

Prior to the late game on Friday night, there was a short ceremony honouring the three graduating seniors from the men’s team: James York, Sam

Freeman and Kyle Grewal. In a short but heartfelt speech, head coach Adam Friesen spoke of the dedication and commitment these athletes have shown to the Cascades basketball program.

The speech appeared to rally the men’s squad, as they jumped on the unprepared Trinity Western squad for a 69-58 victory. In his final game on his home court fifth-year senior Sam Freeman was nothing short of spectacular, shooting five of six from the three point line, 12 of 17 overall, going for 32 points on the night.

With the win the Cascades clinched a playoff spot.

On Saturday, the women’s team were powered by a strong showing from Sarah Weirks, who posted a respectable 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead her team to an 84-76 win. The game, which was hosted at the Langley Events Centre (LEC), had a closer feel and was much tighter than the final score indicated.

With this win, the Cascades locked up first place in the pacific division and rights to host a first round playoff series. Also notable was the play of Jaslyen Singh and Kaitlyn Brink off the bench for the Cascades – both played effective minutes and put forward solid efforts.

Meanwhile, the UFV men’s squad dropped a 61-74 decision

to the Spartans at the LEC. The game was a back and forth affair with the men just not having enough gas left in the tank in the closing minutes.

Four Cascades played the entire game and in the fourth quarter fatigue became a factor, as the Spartans repeatedly grabbed offensive rebounds and ran an effective fast break, which eventually earned them the victory. The Cascades were led by James York and Sam Freeman, who put up 16 and 17 points, respectively.

With this weekend’s results the men’s and women’s squads now look ahead to the first round of the playoffs where the women will play host to the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the men will go on the road to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

Both teams will play a best of three series, with the men playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) in Saskatoon, and the women playing Thursday, Friday and perhaps Saturday.

For Cascades fans, the women’s home games will start at 7 p.m. each night at the Envision Athletic Centre. Fans should expect a high intensity playoff feeling as the Cascades look to get off to a strong start in their run at a national title.

Image: Blake McGuireThe Cascade

Clutching the sphere, James York contemplates the last home game of his career.

Image: Blake McGuireThe Cascade

Nicole Wierks shoots as Kaitlyn Brink posts up in the paint.