The Cascade Vol. 21 No. 9

Vol. 21 Issue. 9

www.ufvcascade.ca

Everyday I’m shovellin’

March 13 to March 19, 2013

Obscuring our since 1993 text with a garden tool since 1993

With SUS elections in ate full-swing, one candideper is digging a little de p. 5 than the rest.

More SUS elections coverage inside! p. 12-13

Abby-Chilliwack connector shuttle coming this fall p. 6

Women’s volleyball win gold at nationals p. 23

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S ISSUE Opinion

News

Bif Naked shares her story

Marlboro man in Middle Earth?

Canadian punk rock queen Bif Naked spoke at UFV’s International Women’s Day. Griffy Vigneron describes the empowering talk that showed a vulnerable and honest side of the artist. UFV president Mark Evered also awarded Bif with a special commendation.

Defending The Hobbit from a fire of recent criticism of the habitual pipe smoking of the inhabitants of middle earth, Paul Esau speculates on the phsiological effects of smoking on wizards, hobbits and dwarves.

pg. 4

pg. 11

Arts & Life

Canadian lit minus the bleakness

Sports & Health

I survived men’s league!

Toronto author Andrew Kaufman dishes about his latest novel, writing Canadian fiction without being depressing, and the inherent goodness and empathy of the Canadian people.

Check out the interview and character bios, complete with illustrations!

Jasper Moedt, former UFV varsity player, describes the trials of recreational basketball in the legendary underground leagues of inner-city Abbotsford. The way he tells it, he barely escaped with his life.

pg. 14-15

pg. 22

EDITORIAL

Skis and trees Nick ubels THE CASCADE

Canadians, especially Canadians on the West Coast, have a unique gift: a beautiful rainforest landscape, habitat to many species aside from our own. British Columbians tend to be acutely aware of this fact, taking every opportunity to get outside and hike, ski, bike or just bask in the natural wonder. And despite having spent the majority of my 20odd years living here, I have a startling confession to make.

In February, I went cross-country skiing for the very first time.

When the opportunity to partake in this Canadian rite of passage appeared kind of out-of-theblue, there was no way I could pass it up. It seemed like not only a hell of a lot of fun to glide across endless tracks of packed snow, but also a great way to get back in touch with our province’s greatest feature.

Making our way to Chilliwack Lake, we travelled kilometre after kilometre of forest road supported on either side by green overgrowth. There was a low cloud shelf verging on fog that cloaked the tops of the trees and nearby hills in layers of billowing white.

It was gorgeous and wild.

Interrupting this idyllic scene were swaths of trees ripped out of the land in strips, the fallen lumber scattered grotesquely like telephone poles across the barren ground. These patches looked more like the product of mud-

slides than any sort of human action.

It was shocking, but not altogether surprising. The lumber industry has been a major part of the BC economy for centuries and I can appreciate that. So don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to responsible logging practices, responsible being the operative word.

I was dismayed to discover that the BC Liberals had tagged on a provision, section 24 of their miscellaneous statute amendment bill 8, which would radically change the way in which BC’s forests are managed.

It would be largest reclassification of Crown forests to Tree Farm License status in BC history. The move would more or less privatize 25 million hectares of forests that are currently owned by the public.

This would enable forestry companies and corporations to begin logging in these areas without any public consultation or approval process. Section 24 proposes a fundamental shift in control of our province’s greatest resource that would prove difficult, if not impossible to overturn.

In an interview with The Vancouver Observer, retired BC Forest Service worker Anthony Britneff explained that if the public ever wanted to regain access to these lands again, they would be required to pay large sums of money to the corporations who would retain the rights.

The move is egregious, not only

Volume 21 · Issue 9 Room C1027 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Editor-in-chief nick@ufvcascade.ca Nick Ubels Managing editor amy@ufvcascade.ca Amy Van Veen Business manager joe@ufvcascade.ca Joe Johnson Online editor michael@ufvcascade.ca Michael Scoular Production manager stewart@ufvcascade.ca Stewart Seymour Art director anthony@ufvcascade.ca Anthony Biondi Copy editor joel@ufvcascade.ca Joel Smart News editor news@ufvcascade.ca Dessa Bayrock Opinion editor opinion@ufvcascade.ca Nadine Moedt Arts & life editor arts@ufvcascade.ca Sasha Moedt Sports editor sports@ufvcascade.ca Paul Esau

Nick Ubels experiencing the scary glory of nature. ecologically-irresponsible, but economically-irresponsible. What’s worse is that it’s not the first move of its kind, but part of an ongoing trend to treat natural resources as an ordinary commodity rather than a public treasure. The results will be similar to those of the omnibus bill which passed through the House of Commons will little fanfare.

Public outcry prevented a similar measure from passing BC legislature under the Social Credit party in 1989. Bill 8, currently in

Image: Marvin Moedt

its second reading stage, is set to pass with little to no coverage in mainstream media. The only articles I was able to find on the subject appeared in The Tyee and The Vancouver Observer, not the Vancouver Sun or The Province.

Have British Columbians simply resigned to the fate of their forests or have their media and public officials failed them?

Looking out at the greenery all around me, it’s hard to believe that it could ever be the former.

UPCOMING EVENTS Mar 13

Mar 15

Mar 17

Mar 17

Open Mic is calling your name

Make it a true daily double at Quiz Night

Celebrate St. Patty’s with B. A. Johnson

MythBusters bust into Abbotsford

Have you been secretly nursing artistic talent in your basement? Maybe it’s spoken word, maybe it’s written word and maybe it’s a ukulele solo. Whatever it is, it’s time for you to bring it to the world.

Come to CIVL’s Open Mic at AfterMath, and you can sling back some PBR to get your courage up. The action starts at 7 p.m. and we’ll save you a spot.

I’ll take “Yet Another Kick-Ass Event At AfterMath” for 500, Alex. Yes, it’s true – quiz night is coming to a campus pub near you. Put a team together and prepare to kick the asses of your opponents’ brains. Preregistration is necessary; email Jennifer.Pride@ufv.ca for full details. The fun starts at 7 p.m. and as always – PBR will be deliciously on tap.

Go for a hat trick of AfterMath events and finish up the week with the St. Patty’s day extravaganza on campus. Don’t miss the glorious return of B. A. Johnson! You know it promises to be a good show when he finished up his last AfterMath show with an encore in the bathroom. The beer will be flowing by 7 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door.

If you don’t plan on heading to the pub for St. Patty’s, maybe explosions are more your thing.

Your favourite television special-effects stars are coming to the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, a mere stone’s throw away from campus. UFV student tickets are $22.75, if you inquire at the box office. Visit the AESC website for details.

News writer jess@ufvcascade.ca Jess Wind Photojournalist blake@ufvcascade.ca Blake McGuire Varsity writer Jasper Moedt Staff writer Katie Stobbart Contributors Emad Agahi, Jeremy Hannaford, Maurice Moutot, Kate Nickelchock, Ashley O’Neill, Ryan Peterson, Jasmine Proctor, Adam Roper, Melissa Spady, Tim Ubels, Griffy Vigneron 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, MARCH 13, 2013

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NEWS

Student Union Building could include corporate sponsor

SUS turns down third-party naming rights – for now

DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

The Student Union Building (SUB) is finally starting to move from the theoretical realm into the physical, bringing an onslaught of new questions. What will it look like? How will the space be divided?

Amidst this tangle of queries, the student union society (SUS) is facing an even more basic question: what will it be called?

Last year, under former president Carlos Vidal and former general manager Jhim Burwell, SUS entered discussion with UFV about pursuing third-party sponsorship.

Like the Envision Athletic Centre on campus, this would mean trading a lump sum of money for the naming rights to the building.

This would link a corporation’s name to any mention of the SUB, and also include logo placement on internal marketing.

Current SUS administration became aware of this situation last November when executive director of university advancement and alumni engagement Madeline Hardin came to the office to talk about the process.

The SUS executive board, including interim president Shane Potter and general manager Meghan McDonald, decided to put the discussion on hold.

Vidal and UFV president Mark Evered signed a letter in the fall to approach a third-party company

Image: UFV SUS

SUS will be looking into third-party naming rights when the Student Union Building is built. and request negotiation for naming rights, and Potter and McDonald can’t say for certain how far discussions have gone since. “[Hardin] wanted to know if the Student Union, especially since we’d gone through so many changes, wanted to further continue that relationship,” McDonald says of the November meeting. “UFV’s been very supportive – they haven’t placed pressure on us to make this decision.”

The tentatively proposed deal would put offer naming rights for 10 years in exchange for $3 million. Half of that sum would go to SUS, and half would go to the university itself.

It might be hard to turn down $1.5 million, but Potter says the sum should be kept in perspective.

“I’ve got to reiterate the fact that the university students are putting in well over $10 million,”

Potter stresses. “For me to unilaterally say yes to a fragment of that and allow a third-party company to name the building without [students’] consultation does not feel right to me.”

The idea of naming rights has been put on hold for the time being, but SUS intends to reopen the matter when the SUB is closer to completion. The executive board will look into holding town hall meetings, circulating more in-

formation among the students, and possibly holding a survey through myUFV to gauge how students feel about the matter.

Depending on feedback it might go as far as a referendum.

For now, SUS is withholding the name of the company involved in preliminary discussion.

Consultation won’t involve a specific corporate name, but instead focus on what naming rights will include and how heavily the name will be featured in the building and related internal marketing.

Potter says this student-led process might start as early as next September, depending on the construction timeline.

“When the building is actually there, I think [students] will be able to grasp the importance of what the name means,” Potter says. “And if the students feel strongly about taking the money … then that’s fine. They can still make that choice. We haven’t closed the door yet.”

McDonald notes that students may choose to name the building after a community or UFV faculty member, creating a more cultural history.

“We recognize that the decision ... in naming the building is very impactful to what the student union centre will represent for students,” she concludes.

While rumours name Envision as the potential third-party sponsor, SUS would neither confirm nor deny this claim.

How safe is Abbotsford? Apparently 95 per cent GRIFFY VIGNERON CONTRIBUTOR

How safe are you in your own home?

A recent survey by the Abbotsford Police Department has found that 95 per cent of Abbotsford respondents feel safe in their own home. A whopping 88 per cent feel safe in their community as a whole. No other municipality in BC received such high feedback from survey respondents.

So why are the numbers so high?

A few years ago, Abbotsford was considered the murder capital of Canada. Do the survey numbers reflect a changing Abbotsford crime rate, or are people just feeling better about it?

RCMP university criminology research chair at UFV Darryl Plecas says he’s not surprised by the survey’s results. Abbotsford’s police department has been taking a particularly proactive approach at ridding the city of crime.

According to Plecas, the Canadian drop in crime over the last 10 years has been 24 per cent. In comparison, the Abbotsford police have seen a 50 per cent drop.

That’s twice the national average.

Instead of a murder capital, Abbotsford is now considered the second safest city in Canada according to Statistics Canada. Our own police department even went to the UN last year to talk about reducing crime.

What’s made the big difference?

“It’s a direct consequence of police initiatives,” explains Ple-

cas. “They focus on that group of people who are responsible for most crime.”

Plecas and his colleague Jennifer Armstrong, both of whom were involved in putting together the survey report, explained the reason we have crime is because we have criminals.

Instead of focusing on community policing, as they have in the past, the Abbotsford police have been cracking down on gangs.

Police have been offering criminals, especially gang members, two choices.

“They say, ‘If you want to get out of the business, we’re going to help you do that,’” Plecas says.

Criminals are offered help finding education or jobs, or whatever they need to get back on their feet. The only other option the police give career criminals is to, “get your ass out of town, ‘cause we don’t want you here!” Plecas exclaims. If criminals don’t leave, he continues, they’ll be hunted down.

Abbotsford is no longer the Fraser Valley base of several major gangs. There used to be over 130 gangs in BC, Plecas explains, and now there are less than a handful.

“Where are they today? It’s called jail. Clayton Rouche is doing 30 years in a U.S. jail. The Bacon brothers are in jail or dead.”

Plecas says.

Another important factor in the reduction of Abbotsford’s crime is the leadership in the police department.

“We have a police chief and two deputies and they kick ass,” Ple-

Image: Rick Collins/ UFV Flickr

UFV’s criminology prof Darryl Plecas comments on a Abbotsford Police Department survey. cas describes, “and that’s not so true in other communities.”

The police chief of Abbotsford is the kind of guy who responded to the survey’s results by saying it was simply not good enough, Plecas explained. Where most people would have been content with a low crime rate, our police chief wants it at zero. On top of that, he’s not the kind of guy to sit

around and send other people to do his work for him.

“Lip service is not in the vocabulary of Abbotsford police,” says Plecas. The deputy himself is personally invested in the community. “It is a bona fide interest in caring for the community.”

Plecas notes that Abbotsford could certainly improve on a few things. “One way in which they

could improve is they could have better relations with victims,” Plecas notes.

Overall, however, Abbotsford seems to be doing well in its proactive fight against crime, and Plecas hopes that more cities will take on the same methods.

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NEWS

IN BRIEF E-textbooks remain unpopular in Canadian universities KAMLOOPS (CUP) — Despite saving students’ money and conveniently helping them avoid future back problems, electronic textbooks aren’t gaining popularity on BC campuses.

Glenn Read, TRU’s bookstore manager, said e-texts, which have been offered for four years, are consistently less than one per cent of total sales.

“It’s not caught on,” he said.

The numbers are the same at Capilano University, said Brian Ball, bookstore manager. Etexts accounting for less than one per cent of total sales.

Ryan Hirowatari, manager of the University of British Columbia’s bookstore, said etext sales are 1.5 per cent of total sales.

At Simon Fraser University, e-text sales are about 6.5 per cent, according to Carrie Harfman, bookstore supervisor.

Conclave day one: no pope yet VATICAN CITY (Reuters) — Thick black smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney on Tuesday, signaling an inconclusive first vote in the conclave to elect a new pope at a time of strife and scandal for the Roman Catholic Church.

Thousands of faithful huddled in St. Peter’s Square to watch the smoke pour out of the narrow flue in the rain-laden gloom following a day rich in ritual and pageantry.

Earlier, after praying for divine guidance, the red-hatted cardinals took a solemn vow in Latin never to divulge any details of their deliberations.

They then secluded themselves behind the chapel’s heavy wooden doors.

No conclave in the modern era has chosen a pope on its first day, and some cardinals speculated this week that it might take four or five days to pick the man to replace Pope Benedict, 85, who unexpectedly abdicated last month.

Venezuela investigates poison allegations in Chavez’s death CARACAS (Reuters) — Venezuela says they will begin a formal inquiry into suspicions that the late President Hugo Chavez’s cancer was the result of poisoning by his enemies abroad.

The accusation has been derided by critics of the government, calling it a Chavez-style conspiracy theory intended to feed fears of “imperialist” threats to Venezuela’s socialist system and distract people from daily problems.

Still, acting President Nicolas Maduro vowed to push through a serious investigation, which was first raised by Chavez after he was diagnosed with the disease in 2011.

“We will seek the truth,” Maduro told TV network Telesur late on Monday. “We have the intuition that our commander Chavez was poisoned by dark forces that wanted him out of the way.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

Civil rights leader Jack O’Dell to speak at UFV 89-year-old activist worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jesse Jackson, Jr. during dedicated career NICK UBELS THE CASCADE

From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, Jr., popular history often focuses on charismatic figures who capture the public imagination. This spotlight of attention can make it easy to forget countless individuals that have worked tirelessly to support those figures.

Jack O’Dell, one of history’s unsung heroes, will visit UFV this Thursday to speak with students about his experience in the U.S. civil rights, anti-poverty and peace movements of the 20th century and its relevance to today’s progressive causes.

The 89-year-old colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young has spent a lifetime committed to promoting equality and social justice through his leadership in organizations as varied as Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Freedomways magazine, Pacifica Radio and the PUSH/Rainbow Coalition.

His uncompromising beliefs and early connections to the Communist Party of America have pushed him out of the spotlight, but that hasn’t stopped O’Dell

from helping realize significant reforms in American society.

Thursday’s talk will focus on 1965, a year that held key successes for the American civil rights movement, including the signing of the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed practices used to prevent African-American citizens from voting. O’Dell will examine this moment of legislative change in the context of the two decades leading up to and following it.

“Dr. King used to say that it’s important to collect facts, but you don’t get the truth until you get the relatedness of facts,” O’Dell said. “I want to relate those four decades to the present situation.”

Since retiring to Vancouver in the 1990s, O’Dell has focused on speaking with young activists and passing on his knowledge to a new generation. This is how Ian Rocksborough-Smith, the sessional UFV history instructor responsible for bringing O’Dell to campus, first met the activist as an SFU student.

“I’ve known Mr. O’Dell for quite a long time because I had the chance to get to know him and write part of my master’s thesis about his activism and some of the organizations he was involved in,” he said.

O’Dell will be on campus next week.

Rocksborough-Smith asked O’Dell to come speak to his second-year American history class but decided that other students could benefit from the first-hand account.

“I think Mr. O’Dell provides a really valuable perspective to young people going to school today,” he said. “We’re really privileged to have someone like Mr.

Image: trackedinamerica.org

O’Dell to make time to come and speak to students here on campus.”

Jack O’Dell will be speaking at UFV from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. this Thursday, March 14, in room B121 on the Abbotsford campus.

International Women’s Day with Bif Naked GRIFFY VIGNERON CONTRIBUTOR

“Women are resilient. Men are too. I don’t want to exclude anyone, but it’s kind of our day,” Bif Naked said humorously at her sold-out event last Friday for International Women’s Day. The powerful “Women’s Warrior Song” from the Stó:lō Women’s Empowerment group provided a strong opening for the guest lecturer. Bif Naked, a heavilytattooed punk rock artist and recent survivor of divorce and cancer, has long been the image of a strong, tough woman. But at the event, the crowd saw also another side of Bif – humble, genuine and down-to-earth.

Before undergoing cancer treatment, Bif described feeling anxious and insecure about unspoken expectations placed on her appearance, an experience many women could relate to. In response, she decided to start dieting, but really she starved.

“I just basically stopped eating,” she said.

Bif described shooting music videos as another tough struggle with body image.

“Sometimes I could wear what I wanted ... Sometimes they would shoot by a pool and you wear a bikini and you just kinda learn to live with it,” she said.

Pressured to follow certain industry standards, and also being somewhat naive, Bif was pressured in a way many women in media are.

While she laughed about not

being self-aware enough to realize it at the time, Bif explained how she used her tattoos in an effort to cope.

“It became a bit of an armour,” she explained. “It enabled me to bravely go forth in my underpants if I was covered in tattoos.

That it still meant that I was very unapproachable, and tough, and invincible, and powerful, and not hurtable. Of course that doesn’t work anyway, as we discover through life.”

Being diagnosed with cancer, Bif described, was one of the best things to happen to her.

She signed up for a clinical trial, which became an accidental support group. Even after chemo, Bif said, “I just kept going back there, it was one of the only normalizing things in my life.”

“Women can gather, and they [will gather strength]. And they’ll laugh. Laughing can get you through any health crisis that you know,” Bif emphasized. Undergoing cancer was one of the first times in Bif’s life, she said, that she could simply exist and be a woman. Many of the women in the cancer trial group, whom she still maintains contact with now, didn’t even know who she was.

After talking a while, Bif managed to make everyone in the crowded sold-out room feel at home. She offered up her podium for anyone to come up and speak, and she openly and honestly answered their questions.

She responded with humour to a question about her past relationships. The singer has been

Image: Blake McGuire/The Cascade

Bif Naked came to campus to guest lecture last week. married twice and engaged seven times.

“Well, what are you going to say? I couldn’t be rude!” she laughed.

Ending on a surprising note, Mark Evered, president of UFV,

annouced that Bif will be the recipient of an honorary UFV doctorate later this spring. The crowd responded with a standing ovation, and Bif, teary-eyed, expressed heartfelt gratitude.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

Health and Dental referendums unsuccessful

Shovel for president

Although it gained less attention than the transit referendum, two Health and Dental referendums ran last week during the same period and failed.

The first of the two Health and Dental referendums asked students if they were in favour of setting the Health and Dental fee to $229.92, which would increase basic dental and prescription drug coverage. The second question asked if students were in favour of allowing SUS to adjust the Health and Dental fee by five per cent each year after 2014 to adapt to cost fluctuation and inflation.

Both of these referendum questions failed to pass.

Interim president Shane Potter responded to the failed referendum.

“I think this is the first time we tried putting all the referendum questions on the same day. It had some successes but it’s difficult to switch gears to Health and Dental after so much push behind the transit referendum,” he said.

The referendum question failed to offer a no opinion option, so students were forced to vote on all three questions that were being offered at the time.

As well, Potter explained that misinformation contributed to the Health and Dental’s success.

“I think you’ll see the health and dental referendum run again, just because the numbers were so close and there were a few errors with communication,” he said.

Preliminary counts indicate that the referendum questions received roughly 50 per cent positive votes, but failed to meet the 60 per cent required to pass.

More concrete numbers will be announced later this week, and the official results will be ratified at the March 15 board meeting at the Mission campus.

NEWS

digging into the issues

JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

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JESS WIND

students with spades of questions. We can use the feedback to ditch bad board habits and avoid the pitfalls of past grave errors.

THE CASCADE The Student Union Society’s third presidential candidate is hindered by his lack of being human. That doesn’t stop the SUS Shovel from speaking to the changes it hopes to see coming out of SUS. We caught up with it last week as it prepared to dig deep and power through the last days of the campaign period.

Who is the real shovel? What do you do in your spare time; what are you studying at UFV; what is your favourite book, favourite movie? What should student voters know about you?

I’m labouring on a double major in Agriculture and Physical Geography and have sifted through some Archeology options. My favourite book is Holes, my favourite movie is Holes, based on the book: Holes. And while I usually listen to underground music, the song “No Diggity” is a guilty pleasure. Basically, I enjoy any pastime with some depth to it.

Why are you running for president?

I think my candidate statement sums it up nicely, you can find it at facebook.com/TheStudentUnionShovel: “I believe in getting below the surface on student issues, unearthing the average student’s concerns while adding some depth to our advocacy points.

But to move forward, we have to acknowledge the ground on which we’re standing. SUS is in the pits, financially speaking. As your [SUS president] and shovel, I would work with the SUS Board [to] fill in the holes in our budget and get a handle on a long-term strategic plan.”

What do you think you offer that a human doesn’t?

Well first of all, I’m grounded in digging deep when it comes to negotiating student issues. When it comes to building a vibrant campus (in our case the SUB) you first need a shovel.

Student apathy is an issue on campus; how do you plan to fix this?

Dig a giant moat around each campus and fill it with deadly animals, no bridges. If you want to come on campus, you’ll have to be committed.

Your candidate’s statement says you dug up some dirt on your fellow candidates, can you elaborate on this?

Do you ever feel at a disadvantage, not having hands or feet?

I’ve got a handle on it, even though it makes it hard to get around. Thankfully most folks are willing to lend a hand.

Should we expect other tools to run for office in the future?

Of course, tools run for office in every level of government.

Image: Kate Nickelchok

The SUS Shovel is digging in deep and running for office.

I may be a shovel, but I’m not a mud-slinger. Once you get into the trenches of dirty politics, it’s tough to dig yourself out.

So though I’ve unearthed some dirt on my competitors (and it’s filthy!), I wouldn’t want to soil [their] image.

What about your involvement above and beyond UFV. Do you plan on lobbying the government on any issues that concern students?

CASA, the Canadian Alliance of Students Associations, is a

valuable lobbying resource we should mine. Check out my Facebook page and sift through my advocacy efforts [with] Stephen Harper and Barack Obama.

What new and exciting things do you have planned for students, should you get elected?

Over and above completing the SUB and other things outlined in your candidate statement, are there any specifics?

I’m not grounded in those issues alone. For example, more online polls. I want to survey the

What are you trying to say to the student body with this sort of movement? Or to the SUS board, or about the political system in society itself?

I just dig politics. I support a lot of movements, but having no legs makes it difficult. Students face many grave issues. Issues that are more than surface deep, which I want to bring to light.

I just want students to be entrenched in the fun, yet serious, nature of student politics.

SUS presidential candidate Chris Doyle removed from ballot DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

Former SUS presidential candidate Chris Doyle is contesting a unanimous electoral committee decision to strike his name from the general election ballot last weekend.

Doyle, current VP social, was removed from the ballot last Friday night.

Chief electoral officer RaeLynne Dicks stated the electoral committee would not be releasing specific details of the the complaints lodged against Doyle, but noted Doyle has been fully informed of his transgressions.

Doyle chose to appeal the decision, and the electoral committee re-reviewed the case.

“We collected further information taking into consideration the submissions made in Mr. Doyle’s appeal, then discussed, reviewed and voted in the same manner as the original decision,” Dicks stated.

After he was informed his appeal was unsuccessful, Doyle released that email conversation to The Cascade.

According to the documents supplied by Doyle, the electoral committee voted to declare his candidacy invalid after Doyle violated election rules, as laid out in the SUS governing manual, in five ways. These rules have been summarized below.

4.1.31 – Candidates are forbidden from receiving organizational aid from “Organs of The Society” The electoral committee counted Brad Ross, manager of AfterMath, within this description and found that Doyle either asked for or was offered help from Ross concerning his campaign poster.

The electoral committee did not rule out the chance that the posters were completely Ross’s creation. ““[E]ither he produced it for you or you produced it on [his] laptop,” the committee stated.

Doyle admits he received help but believes the aid he received should not be considered a violation.

“I asked a formatting question,” Doyle states. “I did the

work myself.”

4.1.21 – All physical campaign materials must strictly adhere to university policies According to university posting policy, notices are to be placed on “notice boards as space is available.”

By placing a campaign poster to the front checkout desk at the bookstore, the electoral committee states that Doyle both violated UFV’s posting policy and made it appear as though the university was endorsing his candidacy.

Doyle said he wasn’t aware he was violating posting regulations.

“It’s a common area where students go, and there was nothing that said I couldn’t put [a poster] up in the bookstore,” Doyle explained.

4.5.2 – The university is forbidden from endorsing a candidate As part of his campaign, Doyle approached Educational Technology Services (ETS) to have materials posted to the informational

televisions around campus. According to the electoral committee, this would appear as though the university was endorsing Doyle as a candidate. ETS educational technologist June Pitcher informed Doyle this would not be possible and the electoral committee alleges that Doyle then pushed the point.

“You attempted to bully your way into having this university staff member do as you asked despite being advised that it was against the rules,” the committee stated in its email to Doyle.

4.5.2 – The university is forbidden from endorsing a candidate Finally, the electoral committee stated that Doyle “made a campaigning post” to the Facebook page of Campus Buzz, a UFV group run by a UFV staff member through UFV international.

According to the electoral committee, this post appears to present the university as endorsing Doyle.

Doyle argued in his appeal that Campus Buzz does not specifically represent a UFV department.

4.1.18 – All campaign materials must be approved by the electoral committee before use The slide Doyle requested ETS place on televisions around campus was an unapproved version of his campaign poster.

“I simply attached the wrong document,” Doyle stated in his appeal. “Since it was not used and the issue was an accident I would like to point out that there was no harm done, the intent to use an illegal poster was not their [sic] and it was all simply an accident.”

There are six members on the electoral committee, including two faculty members in advisory positions and four students. As per the governing manual, their identities are kept anonymous.

Rae-Lynne Dicks has allowed her name to be released, as her identity will come to light when the electoral committee makes reports to the SUS board and outlines their reasons for Doyle’s removal. This report will take place at the next regular SUS board meeting.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

NEWS

New program benefits mentors and mentees KATIE STOBBART THE CASCADE

It’s not easy to be a first-year student at any university. There are new course loads, new lifestyles, new places and new expectations to take on. It is also a time that coincides with the inevitable plunge into adulthood, which usually goes hand in hand with increased responsibility and pressure.

UFV is trying to make the transition a bit easier.

In January, the Arts Advice Centre hired four upper-level students to be part of a new peer mentoring program. Matthew Dirks, David Graewe, Emily Mar-

conato and Megan Vander Deen are the current peer mentors hired this year.

“The rewards of being a peer mentor are two-fold,” Graewe explains. “Firstly, it’s encouraging to see students [...] develop, learn and grow. Secondly, the processes and strategies involved push me to develop and grow myself as well.”

Each of the mentors work with a group of four to five students, and share their expertise on how to be successful in university.

“It’s so cool that sometimes something small like learning a new time management trick or study skills can make a big difference in someone’s life,” Vander

A new kind of mob KATIE STOBBART community-building thing,” organizer Scott McVetty told the THE CASCADE Chilliwack Times in September.

In an age of big box stores, it “It’s a good way to get out and can be difficult for local busi- meet your neighbour.” nesses to survive, let alone In both cities, mobbers meet thrive. As a grassroots response for coffee after shopping to comto this struggle, some commu- pare purchases and chat. nities have married the idea of Each city’s Cash Mob also a flash mob (a group of people has its own Facebook page; sospontaneously meeting and per- cial media is an integral tool forming) with efforts to stimu- for spreading the word about late their local economies. The events. Chilliwack’s page also offspring of this union? “Cash appears to be a venue for other Mob.” grassroots initiatives to seek The first Cash Mob in Mis- support: there are informational sion took place in January of this posts about the impending chloyear, when about 40 people gath- rination of Chilliwack’s water ered at the Olde Raverty Mall on and promotional updates for First Avenue, each with $20 in local fundraisers as well as pichand. The mob walked the short tures from past events. distance to Murdoch’s Booke “We each do a little. We all Shoppe to spend the cash they do a lot,” is the motto for Chillihad brought. wack’s Cash Mob group.

This is the essential idea of This positive, communityCash Mobs: they shine a spot- minded mob tries to serve as an light on local businesses and example of how every person create opportunities for mem- can contribute to a strong local bers of the community to meet economy – $20 doesn’t seem like and socialize – as well as pur- very much, but a large group of chase some cool stuff for under people spending $20 each has a $20. lot more weight to it, especially There are some basic guide- if those shoppers may not have lines: the business chosen otherwise visited a local busishould offer products for both ness. And if they like what they men and women, and it should bought, people will probably contribute to the community in come back to shop at that busisome way – either struggling in ness again; the Cash Mob puts a competition with big box stores, business back in the community or be family-owned. Business grapevine, and there is a lot to owners are generally contacted be said for word-of-mouth adbefore arranging the event, so vertising. they can prepare for high cusMission’s next Cash Mob event tomer traffic, and help select a is March 23. To attend, check out date that works well for their the details on Facebook at Cash schedule.

Mob Mission BC. Chilliwack also has had Cash There is also some helpful Mob events since June, when 70 information for starting a Cash people shopped en masse at two Mob at cashmob.com. local downtown businesses: the Bookman and Sticky’s Candy.

Another event organized in the fall had a turnout of over 90 people.

“We look at it as more of a

Deen notes. “Showing students things that took me a long time to learn or become comfortable with [and] seeing them excel is the best part of my job.”

Mentors meet with their mentees regularly throughout the semester and are available between meetings via email. By participating in the program, mentees have constant access to someone who knows the ropes, making it easier to navigate both the academic and social aspects of university life.

“Overall it’s about connecting.

We want to help [students] be the best they can be,” Vander Deen says. “Success comes in many forms.”

Both mentors stress social in-

volvement as a major factor of students’ success, and encourage mentees to strike a balance between academia and social activities.

“Spending all your time studying will suck the fun out of life, but spending no time studying will result in an unpleasant meeting with your program advisor.

Balance is the key,” Graewe advises.

Graewe explains that he would have loved to have a peer mentor to teach him the tips and tricks that help students through university and adds that peer mentors are students just like the mentees – it just might have taken them a bit longer to learn.

“[Don’t] shy away from meeting with professors outside of class time,” he says. “Take some time to visit them during their office hours any time you have questions or concerns or just want to chat.”

Vander Deen agreed that getting to know her professors really helped her in classes, and tells students not to box themselves in “I never thought I would be a psych minor, but I took a class and loved it. Branch out. It’s only first year! See what you like and don’t be afraid to try something new,” she says.

More information on the peer mentoring program is available at the Arts Advice Centre.

Transit referendum passes

Bus to follow in September 2013

JESS WIND

THE CASCADE

Students who commute between Chilliwack and Abbotsford will be able to save their money starting in September; the SUS transit referendum saw a majority vote, and a bus will be instituted between the two main UFV campuses.

Over 1000 students voted in the referendum that ran between March 8 and March 11. The question asked if they approved a $6.75 fee to run a bus service between Chilliwack and Abbotsford.

Seventy-five per cent of voting students approved the fee, and SUS is hoping to see the bus running as soon as September 2013.

Interim president Shane Potter has worked on getting the bus running between the campuses since his election to the VP east position in Winter 2012.

“I said that in my term I will get you a bus between Chilliwack and Abbotsford,” he said. “I was not the first person to think of a bus between Chilliwack and Abbotsford. I was not the first person to say, ‘Hey this should happen.’ It just took throwing everyone into a room and getting it done.”

Referendums need a 60 per cent majority vote to pass, as revised in the 2012 SUS annual general meeting.

Historically, referendums pass or fail with a small margin above majority, and Potter says the 75 per cent majority clearly reflects students’ attitudes.

“It is surprising, but in a way it’s not,” he explained. “UFV students want a different option. UFV students want to start thinking green and want to start finding ways to get cars off the

Image: Nick Ubels/The Cascade

The transit referendum passed with a 75 per cent “yes” vote. road. So I think this is a success all around.”

Potter went on to explain how the efforts put forth in this referendum differed from previous ones.

“We got out there ... whether it was Tim Hortons, whether it was A&R, whether it was CEP, TTC. We made sure that we were getting the walk-by traffic,” he explained. “The reason we saw higher numbers [and] the reason why we saw more feedback was because we started communicat-

ing to students.”

The success of the referendum is based on a preliminary count.

SUS is currently confirming the numbers, and the official count will be ratified at the March 15 SUS board meeting. The meeting will be held at the Mission campus, and will be open to the public.

The Cascade is hiring a new editor-in-chief!

The position runs from September 2013 to August 2014 Full details can be found at ufvcascade.ca/employment Applications must include a resume, cover letter and sample article and be submitted to nick@ufvcascade by Monday, April 15.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

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NEWS

SCIENCE ON PURPOSE Organic particles ... from outer space?

ASHLEY O’NEILL CONTRIBUTOR

A team of chemists from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Hawaii in Manoa have recently discovered that under the right conditions, complex molecules called dipeptides can be formed in space.

Dipeptides are linked pairs of amino acids essential to our bodies, making up muscle and brain tissue in humans and other mammals. They are essential to all life on Earth, so what would it mean if these organic molecules can be found in space?

The chemists have evidence to believe complex dipeptides, proteins and enzymes can be created in the icy, interstellar space dust commonly found in comets. They conducted an experiment to simulate a comet in space and found the organic residue it produced revealed the presence of some of these organic molecules.

Seol Kim and Ralf Kaiser from the Hawaii team simulated a snowball in space—including carbon dioxide, ammonia and various hydrocarbons such as methane, thane and propane—in a vacuum chamber chilled to 10 degrees above absolute zero. The

Image: Flickr Creative Commons

Berkeley recreated a comet in laboratory, which produced complex organic compounds. team then zapped the snowball with high-energy to simulate how cosmic rays affect objects in space. They found that the chemicals in the produced residue reacted to form all sorts of complex organic compounds, specifically dipeptides.

“It has been known that amino acids can be formed by ionizing radiation, so what we were trying to do is use these simple mol-

ecules, irradiate them, and see if biologically significant molecules could be formed,” Kaiser said in an interview with Marcie Kagawa for Star Advertiser News.

When the residue was further examined in California, the analysis revealed the presence of nine different amino acids and at least two dipeptides. Richard Mathies and Amanda Stockton used the Mars Organic Analyzer, an ultra-

sensitive instrument that Mathies designed for detection and identification of small organic molecules in the solar system. The amino acids found are capable of catalyzing biological evolution on Earth, but Kaiser is still skeptical about whether complex amino acids that are formed in space can be delivered to Earth. In the same interview with Kagawa, he noted that “there has been no consensus

that the amino acids, once delivered to Earth, could form dipeptides or more complex polypeptides since these amino acids are likely too diluted in the ocean.”

Organic molecules have been discovered on various meteorites that have fallen to Earth in the past, but scientists have been unable to find the complex structures required in the planet’s biology on such cosmic entities.

Kaiser said this new evidence “might change the thinking that dipeptides can be directly seeded to Earth from outer space.”

This discovery definitely opens up the possibility that organic molecules were brought to Earth a long time ago, and that they helped in the formation of enzymes and sugars essential to life.

“It is fascinating to consider that the most basic biochemical building blocks that led to life on Earth may well have had an extraterrestrial origin,” Mathies said to Robert Sanders, journalist for Phys Organization.

Fire drills should be second nature Conservation effort reminds students to turn the lights off JASMINE PROCTOR CONTRIBUTOR

Despite much confusion from some of the students, a fire drill on the Abbotsford campus last week went completely according to plan.

“It was what we expected it to be,” says Brian Leonard, UFV’s director of security & emergency planning. According to Leonard, the students followed directions as they were supposed to, keeping with the floor wardens and following the procedures in an efficient manner. From what he can tell, it is because students have been continuously doing these types of fire drills all throughout their grade school lives.

“Students have come from K-12, so the expectation is that they’re going to do what they have always done,” Leonard says.

There is definitely some truth to this. From the age of five and up students have learned how to react in a crisis, be it earthquake or fire. By now, responding to a fire alarm is second nature.

Nevertheless, UFV is still taking measures to improve its fire safety.

“We’re always looking at how we can make the program better,” Leonard says.

One of these measures is changing the role of fire wardens to floor wardens. This small difference will reorganize the position to help not only in fire evacuation instances, but also for all emergency situations. These floor wardens will help to direct students where they should exit, what area to congregate in, and when it is safe to proceed back into the building.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to

Image: Dessa Bayrock/The Cascade

A fire drill last month resulted in mild chaos and confusion. the students to evacuate safely and efficiently.

“When you hear the bell, proceed to the exit calmly; grab your personal belongings, because you don’t know if you’ll be coming back into the building or not, even if it is a drill,” Leonard advises.

Once outside of the building, there will be designated evacuation areas for each section of the building. The floor wardens will also be there to help evacuees find where their section of the building should gather, a good distance away from the school.

Leonard also urges that students “don’t leave until the drill is over,” for obvious safety reasons.

This evacuation style should be completely familiar; it’s ex-

actly the same as those students experienced in middle and high school.

“Nothing changes,” Leonard says, “A fire drill’s a fire drill.”

UFV typically has at least one fire drill per year for each building on campus.

“We stagger them,” Leonard notes, in order to minimize disruption to classes and avoid confusion for students.

So if next time you find yourself in the midst of a fire drill, just remember that the bottom line is to follow directions, stay calm and stay with your group – just like we learned in grade school.

Image: Nick Ubels/ The Cascade

Leaving the lights on in empty rooms can waste a lot of energy. Organizers are hoping to cut down on this at UFV.

Nick ubels THE CASCADE

“Last out, lights off!”

UFV facilities is getting behind this simple slogan as an easy way to reduce the university’s energy tab.

Organizers will be hitting the pavement next week to get the word out about their new plan to cut down on wasted electricity.

It’s just the latest effort to make UFV more ecologically-responsible, according to UFV energy manager Sam Thomas.

“The idea behind this is to try and create a behavioural shift

in having people turn out lights when they are the last to leave a room,” Thomas says.

Classrooms and meeting rooms are often left empty while the florescent lights needlessly suck electricity. That’s why Thomas says this campaign has “a particular focus on common spaces.”

Posters, desktop reminder cards and an adopt a room program will all be rolled out over the course of the coming week.

Students can pledge to turn out the lights if they’re the last to leave at the group’s booth on campus next Tuesday and pick up a free cupcake to boot.

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Curtailed commentary on current conditions

SNAPSHOTS

OPINION

Image: photoscott/flickr.com

Dessa Bayrock

NICK UBELS

Katie Stobbart

AMY VAN VEEN

Vintage engagement rings and Zen

Pay-by-weight is a deal with the devil

Automatic flushing toilets

Damn you, autocorrect users

I was browsing Etsy and looking at postcards made by low-budget abstract artists in California, mostly just killing time, when I reached the end of the page, glanced over the other suggested Etsy searches, and there it was.

“Would you like to look at vintage engagement rings?”

Well now, Etsy, that’s a little bit of a trick question. I’m not looking to get engaged any time soon, but you’ve obviously figured out the chink in my tomboy armour. I love jewellery, even if I can’t actually remember the last time I wore any.

So I clicked the link, considering it a daydream vacation. Maybe one day I’ll be glamorous and learn how to wear jewellery, I argued to myself, in which case it’ll be useful to know that I hate princess-cut diamonds.

But it also connected me to the human whole in a way I didn’t expect. One little tag: layaway.

In an instant, I could pick out which rings other people had decided to buy, putting together monthly payments and trying to be patient. These were the rings that, with one little question, were destined to cement a lifelong relationship. I started imagining these couples. I was happy for them, and I was excited for them, and in the case of one particularly gorgeous ring I leaned a little toward violent jealousy.

That little word was enough to open a crack, and through it I caught a glimpse of another person’s life. Overall, it was an interesting—and unexpected—moment of Zen. We’re all connected, even if it’s just through a gallery of pretty rocks and metal.

I recently found myself scouring the well-stocked shelves of The Candy Aisle, a Vancouver candy shop specializing in nostalgic and international treats not otherwise available around these parts.

I apologize for any wall-punching jealousy I may have just caused, but I digress.

They also have this giant wall of bulk candy of the worst sort. We’re talking bananas, jawbreakers, sour cherries, jujubes, coke bottles, you name it. All along this diabetesbaiting wall are these innocuous little bags and tongs accompanied by a sign advertising price per 100 grams.

If you stop at 100 grams, two dollars isn’t all that much. But nobody stops there. Nobody.

Your mind tricks you into thinking the weight of the bag is much lower than it actually is. As you pass each new plastic bucket filled with sugary goodness, you think adding just one other variety couldn’t hurt. After all, you’d be kicking yourself later for neglecting to pick up a couple of gummy worms.

Finally, after several hours, you make your way to the till. It’s judgement day. Your sweet sins are weighed on the unsympathetic scale and you must pay the cost, both with your maxed out credit card and ever-expanding waistline.

Fifteen dollars. You do the math.

Public bathrooms invariably drive me nuts.

Here’s why: you go in, you put your bag on the floor because you’ve chosen a stall that doesn’t have a hook, and you unbutton.

You pull down your pants and sit.

The toilet flushes. It sprays water everywhere. It’s uncomfortable.

Then, after you have finished your business, so to speak, you stand up and ... nothing happens.

No flush. You pull up your pants and step toward the toilet, then back again, to trigger the motion sensor. Nothing.

With a long, suffering sigh, you bend down to press the tiny button above the motion sensor, and manually flush the toilet. It flushes – finally.

You collect your bags and leave the stall, only to hear the toilet flush again, as if to say: “Yeah, I could do it the whole time, I was just screwing with you.”

Long story short: it takes at least three times as long to flush an automatic toilet.

Do we really need them? Are we so incapable of flushing in public that we need it to be done for us?

Do we not flush the toilet at home?

Automatic flushing toilets are supposed to solve that problem of me walking into the stall and seeing a non-flusher’s waste. Yet I see just as much of this as I did with manual toilets. All automatic flushing really teaches us is that it’s even more acceptable not to know how to flush.

Is it that difficult to just turn the autocorrect option off?

Maybe it’s because I don’t actually have an iPhone, but when I receive messages from friends and the messages are nearly incomprehensible, I wonder if it’s such a luxury to even have autocorrect.

Because almost immediately after I get a text message, I tend to immediately receive a second text with an asterisk correcting the previous message.

So my quandary is thus, does autocorrect actually save time?

Certainly it has birthed an entire website and humorous trend of, “Look how awkward that text was.

Ha-ha. Damn you, autocorrect.”

But even then, is it possible for Apple to autocorrect so many words to sexual references? What are these people texting 90 per cent of the time that their phone thinks “Cheerios” should be “cheery whores” or “sew” to “sex” or “pudding” to “pussy.” iPhone, as far as I know, isn’t a dirty bird in and of itself ... is it?

Autocorrect, to me, is like an MTV reality show. I don’t get why it exists when it causes more confusion than explanation. I also don’t get why it’s so popular when it would make the world a better place if we all just turned it off.

Premier Clark should step down KATIE STOBBART THE CASCADE

Christy Clark owes more than an apology to the Province of British Columbia.

In the Liberal Party’s “Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan” drawn up by deputy chief of staff Kim Haakstad, strategies for “quick wins” include “identify[ing] and correct[ing] ‘historical wrongs’” and “advanc[ing] government initiatives and projects that would be resonant in ethnic communities.”

The implication of soliciting these “quick wins” by apologizing for historical wrongs to certain communities is that the Liberal government would not have bothered to right those wrongs or apologize for them had it not been beneficial to their cause. Anything to get back into power, right?

The strategies listed in this privately-circulated document clearly outline an intention to use public funds on initiatives that are specifically designed to gain votes from

those “ethnic communities.”

I think some politicians today forget their purpose, which is to serve the people who elect them.

We’re not paying them to campaign, and we’re not paying them to make a list of ethnic voters they can target so they can run for office as Miss Popularity. We’re paying them to do their job.

If you break the trust of the people you are supposed to represent, you should at least have the decency to step down. To refuse to do so adds insult to injury.

It seems to me that there is a type of person scarce in Canadian politics, and that is someone genuine.

Sincere. Honest. Compassionate.

Someone who knows right from wrong.

Clark apologized for the ideas and for the language in the document. Did she apologize for exceptional disrespect of the people she works for? Did she apologize for flippantly disregarding the severity of the historical wrongs that need to be corrected? Her apology

“Ethnic” vote scandal final straw in Clark’s contentious premiership. falls flat. I think the only truly sincere apology she could offer would be her own resignation.

What fuels my disappointment and disgust that Clark ever managed to land the top spot in this province is that Christy Clark was not elected in the first place. I don’t recall having been given the option to select her as Premier, nor do I remember giving her permission to spend public money that should

be serving the interests of taxpayers.

I would prefer that Clark save her campaign strategy for when the writ is dropped in the middle of April, and leave public money out of it. At least there is the small consolation that the plan to target ethnic voters backfired and is more detrimental than beneficial to her goal of being properly elected as Premier.

Image: BC Gov Photos/flickr.com

In May, we will have the opportunity to actually decide who we want as premier. If I hadn’t already decided that Clark is the last person I want as the leader of this province, the ethnic-vote scandal would probably have settled it for me.

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OPINION

Why minimum wage jobs are good for the soul NADINE MOEDT

THE CASCADE

I’ve had my fair share of minimum wage jobs. And even after all the mistreatment from customers, managers and difficult coworkers, I still think that this sort of employment is good for the soul, and not just in a Calvinist sort of way.

Here’s why you should take comfort and know that you’re taking more away from your minimum wage job than your criminally small paycheque.

I moonlight as a gas station attendant (shockingly, being a student journalist does not cover all of my expenses). Gas stations are one of those places where you see all types of people – from the bejeweled gangster driving an equally bejeweled Hummer, the suited business woman in her polished Lexus and the down-and-out guy who collects the cans and bottles from the garbage bins before coming to pay for a pack of budget cigarettes with a handful of change.

Eight hours of attempting small

Image: juicyrai/flickr.com

Possibly not as good for your heart if you work at In-N-Out Burger. talk with this assortment of people makes for a long day. I’ve had to find inventive ways to amuse myself: making a study of different wallets, trying to judge personalities by the way someone cares for their fingernails, making up back stories for the regulars. It might not seem so at first glance, but creativity is a large part of surviving this

sort of job.

Like many workers at this level of employment, I will never get a raise. I don’t get lunch breaks, instead having to find time to eat between rushes; I have no expectations of a reward for exceptional work. I also must be able to deal with petulant and short-tempered customers on a daily basis. I was

Rethinking BC’s prostitution laws JEREMY HANNAFORD CONTRIBUTOR

“We don’t want to be safer, we want to be safe.”

This is the straightforward demand of Samantha Grey, a member of the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network (AWAN). Her response, recorded by Krystle Alarcon in The Tyee, is typical of sex workers in regards to the court proceedings currently happening in British Columbia and Ontario.

The debate on the issue of legalizing prostitution, making it a constitutional right, rages on. Along with the legalization of pimping and brothels, one can understand that there are going to be some strongly differing opinions about the subject.

The proceedings are more commonly known as the Bedford Case, or the Sex Workers United Against Violence v. Canada Case.

I view the issue of legalizing prostitution from both sides. If it were to be legalized, how would the government propose to keep the women safe? They have just allowed their pimps to continue using them for their own benefits.

I hope that if it is passed, the government would take a firm stand on the situation and would register the women’s activities as a government occupation. In doing so, it would be the government’s duty to check on and provide protective and medical services for these women. They would take control of the brothels from the pimps and help create a safe environment for the women.

Prostitution is the oldest profession in human history and whether it is legalized or not, it will continue to exist for a long time.

However, the physical and emotional abuse these women currently face will also continue if nothing is done to help them. While I hope for good things to come if the Bedford Case is passed, I fear that government officials will not provide enough support. I am also concerned that more young children will become sexual victims to this law. This is why I am interested in Samantha Grey and the

Image: Anthony Biondi/The Cascade

The law and the world’s oldest profession are often at odds.

AWAN’s struggle to legalize the “Nordic model.”

The Nordic model—used in Iceland, Norway and Sweden— proposes that while prostitution is decriminalized, “pimps” and “johns” remain criminalized. At first, this sounds like a great idea and upon hearing about it, I was upset that something like this hasn’t been fully initiated yet in Canada. However, after some consideration, I had disturbing thoughts about the circumstances of the law. With this model in place, it certainly could help clean the streets and help young women who are forced into the sex trade.

But, unlike the Bedford case, I believe that the women wouldn’t be recognized or logged by the government. I also fear that if prostitutes brought legal allegations against their pimps, they would only put themselves in further danger. It’s no secret that Canada’s legal sentences are lenient so what would happen when pimps get out after their short jail sentences? Revenge would be upmost in their minds. These women and their families would be facing potentially grave danger.

While both methods have their definite pros and cons, the end

circumstances lie in the hands of the government and police forces.

I am drawn towards the Bedford case because of what it offers the prostitutes. Bedford would directly deal with the issue of prostitution whereas the Nordic Model would indirectly address it. If either model is set in place, the Canadian government will need to provide sufficient services and protection for these women if they wish to live safe and not just safer lives.

daunted at first, taking antagonism from customers personally. As time passed I was able to let the abuse slide off my back; being able to take criticism with composure, even if completely undeserved, is an important skill. Instead of issuing a quick and angry retort, I’m forced to listen and respond calmly.

In Forbes magazine, Peter Ubel compares the emotional intelligence of a Starbucks employee to a physician. Doctors put in “thousands of hours memorizing Latin words, learning to recognize signs and symptoms of illness [and] thousands more familiarizing [themselves] with tests and treatments—with medication side effects, surgical indications and whatnot.” Left behind, Ubel writes, is the emotional intelligence that Starbucks employees receive; learning to “recognize and respond” to customers who “express negative emotion.” So really, your experience as a minimum wage worker gives you a one up on medical school graduates.

Ubel cites Charles Dhigg’s book,

The Power of Habit in describing the training Starbucks employees undergo. They learn the “latte method,” as a means of responding to upset customers; they are taught to“listen to the customer, acknowledge their complaint, take action by solving the problem, thank them, and then explain why the problem occurred.” In doing so, the employees learn to be able to “recognize when their customers are exhibiting negative emotions and, more importantly, how to address these emotions in positive ways.”

In the end, your minimum wage job is giving you a skill some people never acquire: empathy. And not just for the outwardly aggressive customers, but for workers in your own position. The people you end up respecting are the ones who treat you like a human being; through them, you learn what sort of person you want to become.

Your minimum wage job is just another step in the long trek to becoming a grown up.

Letter to the editor

Re: Fixing the gender gap in student govt Hi Nick, I came across your editorial, “Fixing the gender gap in student gov’t” from volume 21 issue 6 of The Cascade, and had a few thoughts about it.

In the article, you make a strong statement against gender disparity, saying “The university should be a place where persistent inequalities are rectified, not reinforced”. Speaking about The Cascade, you mention that “[Women make up] 40 per cent. It’s not ideal, but we’re getting there”. You establish a gender disparity of 20 per cent (60 per cent male minus 40 per cent female) as passable, but improvable.

However, you also say that “the English Students Association is lightyears ahead, at 75 per cent women.” How is a 50 per cent gender disparity “lightyears ahead”? Gender parity is “an equal proportion of men to women.” However, your ideal seems to be “50 per cent or more women”.

If society were to work towards your ideal, then in the long-term gender inequality will be just as it was when feminism started, albeit in women’s favour this time.

Having been moderately involved with SUS over my university career, I’m aware that SUS is somewhat exclusive (luckily

they’re working to solve this). You mention that “the university’s female majority [feels] like outsiders where SUS is concerned.” I’d be interested to hear your examples of sexism from SUS, as their “private club” vibe seems inclusive of all genders to me.

You suggested that “SUS should host a workshop and information session for women interested in running for office,” but why can’t we just ask SUS to host a workshop for people? Gender imbalances will never end if we keep singling women out as needing extra help. Doing so belittles their abilities and worth, treating them as incompetents that wouldn’t succeed without special consideration. We need to stop trying to solve the gender imbalance with more gender imbalance, and just start treating all people like people, regardless of sex. ~Derek Froese Letters to the editor should be no more than 300 words and emailed to editor-in-chief Nick Ubels at nick@ ufvcascade.ca

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OPINION

Forget knitting, give me online dating Too cool for the AMY VAN VEEN THE CASCADE

You’ve got mail? You’ve got a hobby.

Online dating is an ever-growing trend. As with any trend, people want something new and exciting lest they get bored and have to look for another hobby – like knitting. Especially since online dating doesn’t come with the same spinster taint as does knitting sweaters for cats.

Just want to meet someone for lunch because you’re too busy?

There’s ItsJustLunchVancouver. com. Want to ensure you’re finding someone whose religion matches your religion? Check out ChristianMingle.com, JDate.com or MuslimFriends.com. And now if you are unwavering on your diet selection, you can base a relationship on your pescetarianism thanks to SamePlate.com.

Hold up, you may say aloud

while reading this in the stacks.

What is SamePlate.com?

According to a press release, this free service, which began in July 2012, appeals to the millions of people who are on specific diets and require their partner to switch to their specific diet, too. Founder Jeff Nimoy explains the motives behind creating this dating service.

“About three years ago I started eating an all organic diet. It suddenly occurred to me, if I ever want to get married, I’m gonna have to find a women who’s willing to eat this way, otherwise, we’ll have to cook two meals every time we sit down to dinner! ...

I did some research, and ‘incompatible diet’ is one of the top reasons couples break up! So I created SamePlate.com for everyone with this problem ... but mostly so I can find a girl who likes my cooking!”

I have a couple of concerns about this idea, Jeff, Emmy Award

winning writer for NFL Films Presents on ESPN and Fox, voice actor of multiple anime TV series and second cousin of Leonard Nimoy.

First of all, I didn’t realize that cooking two diet-specific meals was such a hassle or that compromising on food preferences was such a dealbreaker. It’s not something I remember Liz Lemon coming up with in her book, Dealbreakers. And I’m also not entirely certain you want to match people up based on their diets when chronic dieters often switch between things like Atkins, South Beach, Biggest Loser, Master Cleanse, Skinny Bitch and French Women Don’t Get Fat. (For the record, these are all diets that are listed on the SamePlate application.) Additionally, I’m not sure doing away with the complicated algorithms and personality tests is ideal for long-lasting relationships – the likes of which are promised on sites like eHarmony and

Match.com.

But maybe people don’t want those empty promises. Cynics, after all, wonder what the divorce rate is compared to the marriage rate these veteran sites offer. Maybe people really do just want to talk about their cabbage soup diet.

There’s no harm in meeting new people or gabbing about grub— unless, of course, you are harmed in an unfortunate online dating scam—but there is no one size fits all when it comes to relationships, in the same way there’s no one diet matches all.

Online dating, dieting, zombie/ vampire/werewolf novel writing – these things have become the new hobbies for our generation.

And with so many options, it’s a hobby that can continually offer something more to enthusiasts.

Can we justify being anti-stupid?

The consequences of the Whatcott ruling PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

A few weeks ago in an internet café in Berlin, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated “in America you have a right to be stupid if you want to be. And you have a right to be disconnected to somebody else if you want to be. And we tolerate it ... and I think that’s a virtue, I think that’s something worth fighting for.”

Admitting that your country considers stupidity a “right” seems pretty funny. Still, jokes aside, Kerry’s statement sits in stark contrast to a Supreme Court ruling in Canada only a few weeks later – a ruling that suggests that in Canada you don’t have the right to be “stupid,” or perhaps even to tell the truth.

Perhaps, stupid Americans aren’t the largest of our problems.

The ruling was for a case known as “Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) vs. Whatcott,” a case against an old, white male named Whatcott who was accused of passing out homophobic fliers containing hate speech. The court attempted to reconcile the tension between Whatcott’s freedom of expression and freedom of religion, and the Charter-guaranteed right of Canadians not to be discriminated against on a “prohibited ground” (race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability and conviction for a pardoned offence).

The court ruled that Whatcott was indeed guilty of hate speech in two of the four types of fliers he distributed, but only by setting new precedents for acceptable infringement upon the rights to expression and religion guaranteed by the Charter. It’s these precedents which have many journalists and commentators worried, since they would seem to place serious constraints upon free speech in Canada.

One of the most blatant changes is to the legal understanding of “hate” itself, which has been reinterpreted. “The term ‘hatred’ contained in a legislative hate speech prohibition,” reads the ruling, “should be applied objectively to determine whether a reasonable

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Whatcott holding a sign. person, aware of the context and circumstances, would view the expression as likely to expose a person or persons to detestation and vilification on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.”

This is remarkable when combined with the section of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code that Whatcott was found to have violated [14(1)(b)], which prohibits the distribution of material “that exposes or tends to expose to hatred … any person or class of persons on the basis of a prohibited ground.”

How exactly does any reasonable person decide what is “likely” to expose someone to “detestation,” or what “tends to expose to hatred” in a possible future circumstance? How can an individual be convicted of a hate crime on the possibility that what they’ve said could potentially expose another person to hatred? How many levels of separation can the court allow between an individual and his or her alleged crime?

In the U.S. this dilemma is

avoided by forcing the prosecution to prove that the very utterance of hate speech inflicted injury or historically tends to incite a breach of the peace. In Canada, no such proof is apparently required.

To add insult to injury, the ruling explicitly states that even “truth” is no longer a defence against an accusation of hate speech, since “truthful statements can be presented in a manner that would meet the definition of hate speech, and not all truthful statements must be free from restriction.” As Andrew Coyne stated in his Feb. 27 piece in The National Post, “I cannot quite believe I am reading these words, even now.”

Further changes come thick and fast. Proving that the defendant’s “intent” was to be hateful is no longer necessary to gain a hate speech ruling, and the law no longer provides any acceptable defence once the definition of hate speech has been satisfied. Most worryingly for some religious groups, the courts no longer recognize one’s sexual orientation to be differentiable

from one’s identity. An attack on the behavior is, by proxy, an attack on the group associated with the behavior, and therefore potential grounds for a hate speech charge (ie. Whatcott claimed to “hate the sin, love the sinner,” yet he was still convicted).

In a country and democratic system that supposedly prides itself on being a “marketplace of ideas” and allowing the free and transparent exchange of public discourse, the Whatcott ruling removes many of the barriers necessary to preventing systematic repression. Yes, Whatcott himself is a disgusting example of the consequences of free expression, but the alternative is far worse. Do we really have the right, after all, to decide who to silence and who to let speak based upon such generous criteria as what is “likely” or “tends” to cause hate?

Do we have the right to convict someone based upon the possibility that their remarks may lead to hatred of a certain minority group?

Or to ignore the annoying detail that their remarks might actually be true, if poorly stated?

Hopefully, the Whatcott ruling is a hiccup in the history of the Canadian courts and its precedents will be quickly overturned. I would hate to imagine a society in which the robust discussion of ideas is not the accepted means to pursue truth, but that instead “truth” is a politically-correct commodity decided upon by the courts and the thin-skinnedness of the citizenry.

Maybe you already considered stupidity to be an inalienable right of Americans, maybe you even considered it a birthright, but remember that the right to pursue stupidity is inversely connected to the right to pursue wisdom and knowledge. In the U.S., the right to free expression is considered to be one of the central principles of a democratic state. In Canada, we’re frittering it away to prevent nutcases like Whatcott from passing out pamphlets door-to-door.

Does that sound like a fair exchange?

Globe and Mail

Image: DBduo Photography/flickr.com

UFV should be unconcerned with petty rating system.

DESSA BAYROCK THE CASCADE

Well, UFV, you’ve done it again. You’ve proved that we are, indeed, the hippest university ever.

We are the rebellious and often-ignored sibling. We are that plaid-wearing, vinyl-listening, thrift-store shopping university with big glasses and a don’t-care attitude.

When universities were cool, we were a college. Later, when universities were less cool, we became the ironic universitycollege. Even later, when everyone thought they knew what a university was, we gained university status and threw the definition in the face of The Man. We’re small. We’re personal.

We’re a commuter campus. No one’s ever seen a university like us before. Damn, UFV – you’re so figuratively underground you may as well be literally underground.

We don’t need praise. We don’t need approval. We don’t let The Man tell us what to do.

And we definitely don’t let a national newspaper give us grades.

Grades are for fools. External recognition? For fools. Bragging rights? For fools. A place on a national standard of postsecondary excellence? For fools, and fools only!

This is precisely why we refused to send our statistics into The Globe and Mail for their highly-acclaimed, cross-country annual university report. We don’t want to be on that report. We are too cool for that report.

I mean, we’ve been on that report before. It’s not really all that important. I mean, we got “A”s all over the place. Thanks, Globe and Mail, but we don’t need your grades. It’s just going to detract from our street cred, you know?

If it looks like we still need mommy and daddy to tell us how cool we are, our mad rep is going to go down the drain faster than you could say “honour roll.” We can’t sell out like that.

We don’t need motivation to be awesome. We just are. So that’s why we didn’t submit any data to this national report.

We just chose not to, in order to preserve our hipster cool. Our absence is completely on purpose, and don’t you doubt it for a second.

So if you happen to be browsing through the annual Globe and Mail university report card, you go ahead and feel a swelling pride in your gut. We’re too damn cool to be included.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

11

www.ufvcascade.ca

OPINION

“Your love of the halfling’s leaf has clearly slowed your mind”

Image: Asher Klassen

Marlboro man: the white wizard.

PAUL ESAU

THE CASCADE

I’ve had to defend Tolkien against a number of assaults in my day.

I like to think of myself as Turin amidst the girdle of Melian, Gurthang in hand, waging endless war on the orcish neo-troglodytes of contemporary literary analysis.

And yet no matter how many of the dirty little bastards I disembowel, there’s always a few dozen more on the horizon.

While the latest charge isn’t a direct attack on Tolkien, it does deal with Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which is based on Tolkien’s book of the same title. It’s the result of an accusation from a California-based project called Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! that The Hobbit’s (admittedly extensive) smoking scenes are a bad influence upon the impressionable youth of the world. The program uses trained primates (young adults, actually) between the ages of 14-22 to analyze tobacco content in movies and rate its seductive pull on innocent young minds.

“We’re taking the Hobbit to get some gold,” writes this particular reviewer before assigning grades to all aspects of tobacco usage in the film, “but not without a dis-

gusting overused pipe that gives us cancer!”

I actually have a couple problems with this statement, even excluding the fact that “Hobbit” is not in fact a proper noun. I’ll spare my literary quibbles with the assumption that the quest is simply a heist to “get some gold,” and instead point out the stupidity of attempting to foster moral outrage over pipesmoking practices in Middle Earth.

First of all, it’s somewhat naïve to assume direct correlation between fantastical fauna and its real counterpart. What are the hobbits smoking exactly? Tolkien never said, and while theories have been proposed (“Weed!” squeals a troglodyte in the moment before Gurthang tastes his blood), there is not definitive answer to this question. While I can see why an advocacy group would be concerned with any depiction that seems to mirror the harmful practice of tobacco smoking, the idea that “Old Toby” and “Longbottom Leaf” are simply “Marlboro” and “Camel” by other names is unsubstantiated. We have no idea if the plant smoked by the races of Middle Earth even contains significant levels of nicotine, and there is even less evidence for the assumption

that it causes cancer.

Second of all, no man, woman or child is ever seen smoking in The Hobbit. The only beings who light up are hobbits, dwarves or wizards. Frankly, I have no idea what pipe-smoking does to the physiology of a wizard, and neither does anybody in California. Perhaps certain youth might be influenced to start smoking conventional tobacco products upon seeing hunky dwarves blowing smoke rings in Hobbiton, but that’s the same line of reasoning which links Halo to mass shootings in suburban USA. I’m not saying that such causation isn’t a possibility, simply that if we do choose to make a case for it there are significantly more important influences to control in Hollywood than chain-smoking dwarves.

Ultimately, The Hobbit isn’t a film that anti-smoking advocates should be concerning themselves with. Yes, Tolkien was a pipesmoker, and yes, he did refer to “pipe-weed” in his appendices as a probable variety of “nicotiana,” but I doubt seeing a 73-year-old Ian McKellen puffing away in a pointy hat is going to seduce anyone into cigarette slavery. Channel your outrage somewhere else please, and leave The Hobbit alone.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

SUS ELECTION COVERAGE. KNOW YOUR POSTERS. Nick Ubels, Dessa Bayrock and Stewart Seymour discuss the posters that will make or break the election

Accomplishments in my previous term 1) Created and chaired the SUS transit committee, which brought the possibility of a Chilliwack to Abbotsford Shuttle.

2) Signed and approved the final Student Union Building documents allowing construction to begin Spring 2013.

3) Created and chaired the Budget committee which involves the student community in the budget making process

Shane Potter President

Comments Questions More information?

Vote for Shane Potter for President

Visit my campaign website ShaneRPotter.com

General Election March 11th-14th

or follow me on Twitter

4) Passed a bylaw preventing fees to be increased except through referendum.

Vote on portal.ufv.ca

@shanerpotter

Shane Potter

DON’T KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR THIS SUS ELECTION Zack Soderstrom

for Student Union President Vote online at portal.ufv.ca th

March 11 -17

Website: ShaneRPotter.com Twitter: @shanerpotter

Shane Potter

VOTE

MEHTAB SINGH RAI FOR SUS PRESIDENT SO HIS PARENT'S WILL LOVE HIM. location

VOTE ON MYUFV

time

8 AM

HE WILL WORK TO FIX THE REGISTRATION PROBLEM MOST FIRST YEAR STUDENTS FACE. date

location

10/03/13

time

MYUFV

8 AM

My Goals: To eliminate the interest rate on BC student loans; To eliminate the perennial issues of misrepresentation; To lobby MPs and MLAs to increase the core funding to UFV.

Mehtab Singh Rai

Dessa: We’re looking at a basic poster here, which isn’t bad, but I’m a big fan of putting a face to a name -- a headshot would have gone a long way toward spicing up the black and white partitions. Otherwise I think the simplicity works.

Rather than a second poster, Potter went with an informational brochure, which is an interesting choice. It certainly allows space for more explanation about what he plans to do and what he’s already done.

Nick: My biggest question with the informational brochure is one of distribution. It’s easy for students to see a poster in the hallway and get a little information, but unless Potter is going around handing out the brochures, it seems a bit like wasted energy.

To be fair, his website also contains most of the information included in his brochure.

My favourite part about the simplicity, though, is that it largely avoids listing campaign promises that could never be fleshed out properly within the attention span of the average student on the way to class. Instead, it points them in the direction of further information that they can look up later.

Stewart: Simple, minimal and uninspired. Still, the poster is clear in its execution. It works to generate name recognition. I like how the poster moves from black to white. It works effectively to break

10/03/13

VOTE MEHTAB SINGH RAI.

th

Let’s bring the Student Union back to the students

date

candidate’s name should be the most visible text on the poster and Kristianne’s choice of font makes it barely legible. Still, I think it is great to have a face to go with the name.

There is nothing here to grab the attention of the voter as they pass in the halls.

Verdict: Text 4/5 Design 3/5

up the text. Due to the lack of colour, it looks like every other piece of clutter on the poster boards. Is Shane Potter campaigning in stealth mode?

Verdict: Text 4/5 Design 4/5

My Goals: To eliminate the interest rate on BC student loans; To eliminate the perennial issues of misrepresentation; To fix the registration problem most first year students face.

Nick: Rai’s first poster is catchy.

I mean, who couldn’t love that winningly mischievous smile?

The misplaced apostrophe makes me cringe, but those sort of grammatical errors seem to be par for the course so far.

His goals are ambitious but I’m not so sure he can pull of such a big task as eliminating interest on BC student loans in one term. It’s great to see a candidate reach for the stars, but I wonder whether it will be at the expense of more local issues or the day-to-day management of the SUS. Dessa: I’m going to chime in whole-heartedly about the misplaced apostrophe -- I’m sorry, but I’m still cringing. Will that really affect the majority of the voting student body? Probably not. But I noticed, Mehtab -- I noticed.

Turning to advice mallard, I’m pleased to see a candidate use a humourous, conversational approach to campaigning. For those not acquainted, this image is the “Advice Mallard” meme often found on internet forums, and the text is just generally good advice. (Not to be confused with “Malicious Mallard,” whose “advice” is guaranteed to land you in hot water one way or another.) The use of a meme, however, leads me to the problem that not everyone is familiar with this image. This is bound to leave some students baffled at the use of a duck.

Nick: Like me. I’m not familiar with this meme, despite being a fairly typical 20-something internet user. Right over my head.

Stewart: Of all the posters, I actually notice this one as I pass by in the halls. Mehtab is clearly enjoying himself. That wouldn’t stop me from making a few changes.

The name has to jump out more. I would place Mehtab’s name at the top. Be careful with the choice of images as well. The picture of the duck does not make sense. It makes it so there is no connection between the two posters. Always check for spelling and punctuation; that can’t be overlooked when designing a poster. The mistaken apostrophe serves as an unneeded distraction and unwanted embarrassment.

Verdict: Text 3.5/5 Design 3.5/5

Dessa: Well, this is on the side of simple. On the other hand, there are no competing posters from Willms, who is running for the same position. As Soderstrom demonstrates, it doesn’t take very much effort to throw some words on a page and print them off. In ordinary circumstances, I’d want to call Soderstrom on his lack of effort -- but compared to the alternative, which is nothing at all, he’s looking pretty good. You don’t need to be flashy to get a message across.

Nick: Soderstrom is quickly building a reputation for short, well-aimed bursts of energy. He’s efficient and his posters reflect this lack of fussiness. I could see his posters actually standing out for their simplicity. Some students might appreciate something less concerned with appearances than getting the basic message across.

Soderstrom comes across as a populist rather than a slick politician.

Stewart: I am going to need a little time to reflect on this one. Simple and to the point.

Verdict: Text 3/5 Design 2.5/5

VOTE As your VP Academic, I will: -strengthen connections between students and SUS by personally engaging with you -lobby for you to improve transit options by speaking with regional decision makers -Demand education receive the priority attention it deserves through interaction with MLAs and CASA Let me help you to find the solutions you need!

Kristianne For VP

Academic

kristianne.hendricks@student.ufv.ca www.facebook.com/KristianneForVPAcademic

Kristianne Hendricks Nick: Kristianne’s poster isn’t the best designed, but it’s the most substantial we’ve looked at so far.

For students who take the time, she outlines lots of specific ways in which she’ll carry out her role as VP academic if elected. I think the inclusion of her student email and Facebook page are great additions.

They make it easier for students with questions to get in touch and point them to further info.

Dessa: I’m on board with seeing her email and Facebook page front and centre -- I feel like it makes her a little more grounded, since she immediately backs up her promise to engage with a way to engage. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m also a huge fan of seeing faces on posters. It’s a way to make it stand out and connect the face to the name. It’s not the most flattering picture in the world, but she’s willing to put herself out there – and that counts for a lot.

Stewart: This poster fails in generating any name recognition. A

Vote Natalia Deros Clubs and Associations Rep natalia.deros@student.ufv.ca

From March 11-17nth on www.myufv.ca My election platform is to:  Increase visibility and advertising of clubs and associations on campus.  Empower the student body to become involved by establishing a network of clubs and associations.  Provide an updated list of current clubs both on paper and online.  Increase joint events between clubs and associations.  Provide help and access to those wishing to form new campus groups.

Natalia Deros Dessa: Not sure how I feel about this picture of Deros ... having a picture is good, but what’s the significance of the Harry Potter reference?

Nick: I think she ties it to the fact that the poster outlines her “platform.” I feel like making the reference a little less subtle might have helped; tying herself to the wizardy J.K. Rowling series is sure to win her some votes.

Dessa: Oh! I get it. Okay. I can see that. Yeah, aligning herself with Harry Potter is never bad, because I have yet to meet anyone who is completely against the wizarding world. I think Clubs and Associations rep has to be whimsical in a lot of ways, so this is a good way of showing that.

Her goals also balance between informative and doable, without diving into vague or oblique promises. This might be the best information poster we have so far -- it’s simple, but we get a clear sense of her as both a person and a political candidate. She’s got my vote, that’s for sure.

Stewart: This is an example of what not to do, unless you want to campaign in stealth mode. Again, make the name visible. I like the Harry Potter reference. Charming.

Verdict: Text 5/5 Design 3/5

Sarah Gabor-Martinez Nick: It seems Gabor-Martinez is intent on getting the varsity vote, taking the athletics slogan “Think Green” to the next level with this verdant poster. It also suits her main campaign promise: to make

UFV the fourth fair trade campus in Canada.

Dessa: Varsity vote? Remember that the university as a whole claims the colour, not just athletics.

I don’t think “verdant” shades by themselves are enough to get the basketball teams raring to vote for her -- just saying.

This seems like the poster that’s had the most work put into it, and it’s pretty to-the-point about her goals. Add a candidate dressed as an ear of corn, and the poster lacks nothing. As possibly the most obvious connection between SUS and the greater UFV student community, reps-at-large have to be outgoing and willing to try anything to get attention – which Gabor-Martinez has already figured out.

Stewart: The colour scheme is an odd choice. I see there was some effort. If you are going to have a picture, make sure the face is visible and easily identifiable. The candidate’s name needs to pop out more.

I would place the campaign promises at the bottom. Getting name recognition is what matters most when running a campaign. It is the name that shows up on the ballot, not the campaign promises.

Verdict: Text 4/5, Design 3.5/5 In Conclusion Nick: There we have it, this year’s SUS posters. We’ve seen spelling and grammatical mistakes, vague rhetoric, odd colour schemes, fuzzy photographs and stark simplicity in this year’s field. It’s a little bit charming to see inexperienced politicians try their hand at graphic design. Dessa, how important do you think posters are to an effective SUS directorial campaign?

Dessa: Considering only four people showed up to watch the Abbotsford all-candidates meeting, it’s pretty safe to say that posters are the main way the election message gets out to the student populace.

Less than half the candidates put together posters, and I think good things can be said about those that did -- whether the posters themselves were decent is another matter entirely.

Stewart: Walking through the hallways of UFV, I would hardly notice that an election is actually happening. I can tell that little thought or enthusiasm went into these posters. In the future, I would like to see a more colourful effort from the candidates to get their names out. An effective poster can be the difference between winning or losing. Generating name recognition is a must and that is the point of a poster. It is clear some of these candidates failed to take advantage of that. Good luck to all the candidates!

Nick: One thing I’d love to see in a campaign poster would be a QR code. Posters could be a little less information heavy and focus on what I think their main function should be: driving student voters to websites and Facebook pages so that students can make a more informed decision.

Dessa: Do people actually ever scan QR codes? Cool factor is way high, but useful factor is definitely debatable. But I bet you we’ll see some keener try it in the next year or so – I just bet you.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

www.ufvcascade.ca

13

Where the candidates stand on AfterMath, CASA and board reform Not sure who to vote for in the contested executive positions of president, VP academic and VP social? The Cascade surveyed candi-

AfterMath should cut down on costs in menu items and staff

dates for these positions on three pressing stu-

Potter Hendricks Soderstrom Willms

dent issues, asking for specific responses and additional comments if necessary. Results are

AfterMath should receive less funding

How do you think SUS should manage AfterMath in the coming year?

Rai

presented in such a way as to help distinguish the positions of each candidate.

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e Pott , s k m dric Hen derstro o S Rai

me sa e th tly. tay ren s e uld iff ho ed d s d niz ar bo orga S U e s eS tb illm Th e bu W siz

The S be o US boar rgan d ized should h diff eren ave few tly. er p osit Po ions tter and , Rai , He ndri cks, Sode rstr om

What do you think of the current SUS board structure?

CANDIDATES

CASA

AFTERMATH

SUS BOARD REFORM

Mehtab Singh Rai (President)

“CASA has given students access to $13 billion in federal funding. I plan on using them to make my lobbying more potent.”

“I think that we ought to have a campus pub.

However we should be ensuring that this business becomes self-sufficient.”

“Our current board structure is less than efficient.

I also think that we could reduce the number positions on the board, while at the same time increasing the hours of work required from each position.”

Shane Potter (President)

“I believe that lobbying is an important aspect to student unions but the decision needs to be made, once and for all, by a well-informed student body via referendum.”

“Funding should be based on the realistic expected run costs for the year. Outside of that, we should continue to work on lowering the costs.”

“The board needs to involve more of the student community and I believe a restructuring is in order to bring accountability to the student body.”

Kristianne Hendricks (VP academic)*

“CASA offers local and provincial advocacy assistance which we should use during our last year as an associate member while deciding if they are the right long-term solution.”

“Two actions are needed: SUS needs to promote and use AfterMath to its full potential, while AfterMath completes Profit & Loss statements monthly to act on concerning lines effectively.”

“Several board positions have no nominated candidates, so decreasing board size seems needed.

Re-organization should focus on ensuring accountability and increasing student engagement.”

“I believe CASA to be a fine organization but for as long as I have sat on the SUS board our involvement has been to a minimum. If we are to continue being a member we’ll need to step up our game and be more active, otherwise we should leave.”

“AfterMath is a valuable service and I would like to see it stay open. However, I have not been convinced it is valuable to the tune of $130,000. I’m not saying we should budget for less, that would be foolhardy, but I will say that we need consider changing AfterMath. Not just by changing a couple menus items or adjusting prices but serious radical changes to the fundamentals of what AfterMath is.”

“CASA is a great service but our lobbying efforts may be more conclusive on a local level.”

“AfterMath is an excellent service for students, if it becomes too expensive we should reduce its costs.”

Zack Soderstrom (VP social)

Nicholas Willms (VP social)

*Note: The Cascade did not receive any responses from VP academic candidate Zera Gregoire by print deadline.

----

“Associations should get more of a say in our affairs.” *Note: The Cascade did not receive any responses from VP academic candidate Zera Gregoire by print deadline.

14

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

ARTS & LIFE

Andrew Kaufman on reality, reading, writing and portraying the essentially Canadian DESSA BAYROCK

THE CASCADE

Canadian author Andrew Kaufman published his fourth book, Born Weird, a little over three months ago.

Blending the everyday a supernatural element of five siblings cursed and blessed with strange powers, Kaufman portrays a world that is both realistic and fantastic, leading the reader to examine the plusses and negatives of real life, with or without superpowers.

The question that’s been racing through my mind since I read Born Weird is that at one point Richard’s playing with his camera in the van, and his siblings kind of gang up on him and say, “You use that as a shield against the world.” He denies it and denies it, but then he realizes they’re right, and he’s been using it as a protective device.

Do you ever feel that way about your work?

Oh. Interesting. Um. Good start.

I think that’s a danger. I guess I have to say yes. Sometimes it’s easier to work through issues and through emotional problems in my mind, with a fictional character. So yeah, I think you’re right – and I think before you asked me that I’ve never really had to address it.

Yeah, every book I’ve written has turned out to be something that I’m trying to work through in my own life. Maybe it’s not so much a shield – maybe it’s like homework or margin notes, where I’m kind of doing out the math. So then the idea is that I’m actually having to figure it out, and I take it out of the studio and I incorporate it into my real life.

But yeah, I think that’s a big danger, that it’s easier to be vulnerable and emotionally open to people that don’t actually exist. [laughs] What kind of issues were you dealing with personally, if I can ask that question?

Well, that’s the funny thing about Born Weird – I really don’t know yet. This is the fourth book that I’ve written and I can tell you what the other three were about pretty openly, pretty matter-offactly and simply. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it was I was figuring out, that prompted me to write Born Weird.

I kind of suspect—although I don’t know for sure—that the five of the Weird siblings kind of represent a slice of my personality, something that is really hard to explain. Blursings, right? Trying to deal with the fact that every ability you have also comes with a shadow or a dark side. I am someone that doesn’t give up hope that easily, and that can lead to being in denial. I’m also someone who can rise up when confronted with a tough situation, like Kent, but then that also makes me more aggressively combative than I need to be in some places.

So I can definitely go through all of the blursings that the siblings have and find the correlation in my own personality. Everything has a downside. Every strength that you have can be a weakness as well.

What originally drew me to this book was a review that said, “Fi-

Image: blog.waterstones.com

nally! A Canadian novel that isn’t bleak!”

Yeah, I read that too! A lot of the reviews have touched on the humour and the optimism and the positivity of the book. But I see this as a really sad book – there is lots of comedy, but I see the comedy just as a way of dealing with tragedy, you know? They’re all really messed up, and there are three or four scenes in a graveyard, people are dying, and they all have this huge hole in their lives. They were all blown apart when their father disappeared, and they’ve never really been able to put themselves back together.

Ultimately, it is a positive book because they do manage to put themselves back together. The positivity is that they actually manage to get to zero, right?

But I mean, it’s not As For Me and My House. There’s more joy.

To me, a lot of Canadian fiction tends to lose me when it’s all so bleak, and it’s all so dry, and it’s always so disparaging. I just feel like the whole story would include all that stuff, but even in the midst of crisis there are funny moments.

There’s hope. So I think the whole story has to include both the ups and the downs. Otherwise you’re not getting it. You’re just getting the half of it.

The other interesting facet of this novel was the idea of that supernatural blursing, which is reality with a twist. I’ve been trying to place that in a genre – And you’re failing miserably. [laughs] I don’t know what genre it is either – it’s not completely fantasy and it’s not really science fiction.

There are definitely certain conventions that all classics of Canadian literary fiction have and I don’t think I’m falling into that either. It’s a hybrid – it kind of falls between two genres, for better or worse.

What I try to do is to take the everyday, just real-life stuff, and then exaggerate it. So the idea that the grandmother gave her grandchildren a power – that’s just based on family. Who you grow up around, and who your siblings are, and what your family’s like – that shapes a lot of who you are, and it gives you plusses and minuses, and it gives you things you have to overcome. That reality, which everyone can relate to, is just sort of exaggerated to the point where it’s this supernatural gift that the grandmother gives. Uh, have you read All My Friends Are Superheroes?

No, but I read The Waterproof Bible.

Oh! Really? That’s my favourite.

Why’s that?

That book was written when I was overcoming a lot – I had some pretty major losses. So for me, I was pretty happy with all the storylines and the characters and I really loved the way it wove together. It was a challenge to keep that going and have everyone interact.

Every one of those characters interacts somehow and influences the shape of the story in a way that seems completely random.

I think my favourite moment was when the boat starts leaking. [deliberately] Now, I think that is – I mean, there is a beautiful moment in life, in anything. It’s the same thing with the Weirds, when you have people who are pretty hard on each other, and full of conflict, and then comes a moment when all that bullshit that you use to keep yourself from each other just goes away, and everybody has to start working together. I think it’s true but kind of sad that it takes some sort of great crisis before that happens.

And that’s why I wrote that scene where the boat starts leak-

ing, and then all of a sudden everyone has to start working together.

I love those moments in life, too, where something happens that unites everybody – and it can be as simple as the rain sometimes, like when you’re at a bus stop and it’s raining and all of a sudden everybody crowds together. In Toronto a couple weeks ago, we had a snowstorm, and people were walking on the streets, pushing strangers’ cars out of snowbanks and stuff.

It’s just wonderful to see that, and it makes me feel like there’s some sort of hope, that we’re not all just trying to screw each other over to get further along.

It’s compassion, right? We’ve been blessed with empathy.

Which I think in its own way is a centrally Canadian sentiment.

I think so too! It’s hard because as far as Canadian literary fiction goes, I get a lot of people not really knowing what to do with my books, or how they fit in. A number of reviews of Born Weird have actually stated that it isn’t CanLit. But I personally feel that I’m a very Canadian writer, that my themes and my storylines are really influenced by Canadian values – like empathy, like compassion. So it’s an interesting situation to be outside of traditional Canadian fiction, but [laughs] feeling that what I’m doing is essentially Canadian!

And your books all seem to have a very strong sense of place, and that place is in Canada.

Yeah, all of the books are in Canada. Part of that is just the fact that I use so much magic realism that I really need to ground it. As a writer, I’m asking a lot from the readers as far as suspension of disbelief goes. Getting the details right is a great way to convince you to keep reading, and keep believing in the story. The fact that all the places in Toronto exist, and that Winnipeg is mapped out correctly, and that

the addresses line up, and there’s the right number of lanes on the highway – all that stuff is really, really important. Because I’m asking a lot of the reader to keep going, so I have to get those details right – so when the magic comes, the reader’s willing to make the leap with me.

I’m trying to say that these stories, even though they’re impossible, happened. They’re still really real. That there is a truth to these characters and what they’re dealing with, that the magical qualities just kind of reveal.

I never had a problem making that leap to believe in the story …

I felt like I was sitting on a bus and somebody sitting beside me had just turned to me and said, “Oh, hey – this kind of weird thing happened to me the other day.” It was just very personal.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, totally. I think that’s why books still exist – with all the different things you can turn to, art of television or film, or video games, or all that sort of stuff, it’s still the only medium where it’s one-onone. I’m writing a story and you’re reading the story and we’re both doing it alone in rooms by ourselves. So I think that novels and stories and prose is the last truly intimate medium.

I’m not sure who the quote is – maybe it’s Dorothy Park or something like that – but the legend is she’s at some cocktail party, chatting somebody up, and he’s one of the biggest neuro-surgeons in New York. And they’re talking, and he says, “You know, when I retire, I’m going to write a book.” And she says, “That’s interesting. When I retire I’m going to take up brain surgery.”

I kind of feel like that sometimes, you know? The whole idea is to make it look simple and it’s really hard to make it that simple.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

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ARTS & LIFE

Born Weird – Character blurbs Author of Born Weird “Andrew Kaufman is the author of All My Friends Are Superheroes, The Tiny Wife, and The Waterproof Bible. He was born in Wingham, Ontario, the birthplace of Alice Munro, making him the secondbest writer from a town of 3000.

His work has been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. He is also an accomplished screenwriter and lives in Toronto with his wife and their two children.”

Richard Weird Richard is the eldest of the siblings and was the first to be given a blursing – he has the ability to keep himself safe. This backfires when he is unable to let himself be emotionally vulnerable in relationships, despite the fact that he marries three times in four years. He is also a photographer – another way, his siblings point out, that he keeps himself emotionally distant.

Lucy Weird Lucy’s blursing is that she is never lost. To combat this, she can often be found in one-time trysts with anyone and everyone in an effort to lose herself. This leads to her getting fired from most of her jobs, including a stint as a librarian. She is methodical and organized.

Grandmother Weird AKA “The Shark” “I will die at 7:39 p.m. on April 20,” the grandmother proclaims in the first pages of the novel, jumpstarting the quest. “Not a second later or a second earlier.” Before she goes, however, she fervently feels the need to take back the blursings she bestowed on her grandchildren. When Angie comes to visit her grandmother, the shark sends her on a quest to gather all five siblings into the hospital room before the time of the grandmother’s death – at which point they’ll be stuck with the blursings forever.

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you by The Oatmeal SASHA MOEDT

THE CASCADE

Kent Weird Kent is slightly stronger than anyone he physically fights. When the siblings find him living in their childhood home, he’s pretty much a wreck – since there’s nothing he can’t beat, he ceases to try at anything. Instead, he lets himself and the house fall into disrepair.

Angie Weird As the fourth-born Weird, Angie was given the ability to forgive anyone for anything. This leads to her being extremely emotional a lot of the time, and also to her siblings abusing this power – they can literally get away with anything, and Angie will forgive them. Angie is pregnant, and although the father is a nice guy and they really do love each other, Angie doesn’t want there to be another person who can take advantage of her forgiveness – leading to her trying to stay away from him for most of the novel.

Book Review

Abba Weird Abba’s blursing is that she never loses hope. At the time of this tale has become the Queen of a tiny country called Upliffta. The primary economic foundation of Upliffta is eel-fishing, which is just as gross as it sounds. By the time the siblings track her down, her constant state of hope has become, in and of itself, a state of hopelessness.

Lewis (from another novel entirely, called The Waterproof Bible.)

Lewis notably moves to a landlocked city in Manitoba, and begins building a boat. The idea came to him in a dream, and as he waits for his wife to ask for him back, he constructs a ship of elegance and beauty without worrying about the fact that there is no nearby water and Winnipeg is currently experiencing a drought. Just as he finishes the boat, it begins to rain and the city floods. There is a beautiful moment when the boat is lifted by the water and Lewis begins picking up other stranded citizens, and an equally beautiful moment when, despite his hard work, the boat springs a leak and those citizens are put to bailing. What, you think an amateur can just build a boat without prior experience or reference materials?

Anyone who has a cat knows the complexities of his or her character. Cats aren’t just creatures of one mould. Even an individual cat – one day you think you know her, the next she’s a completely different creature. I’ve known many cats in my day. I’ve known scheming cats, frisky cats and curmudgeonly cats – I know a cat that thinks she’s a person, a cat that has a strong attraction to being near my face, a cat that bullies his owners. The only thing I can take away from knowing them is that you can’t know them.

But even if you can’t truly know your cat, there are ways of reading what he or she is thinking.

The Oatmeal guides you through learning these important skills that might save your life in his new book, How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you.

Yes, it’s a comic. And yes, there is something funny about your fuzzy friend plotting your demise.

But between the lines, like any great comedy, we see meaning.

And you know you have a book that was written by one of the greats if it has a pull-out poster.

The Oatmeal’s real name (I know, his name isn’t actually The Oatmeal. What a downer.) is Matthew Inman. He started out by designing websites, but moved to drawing web comics. His website features comics on cats, grammar, food, animals, technology and a lot in between. But this book is based solely around that marvellous creature – the cat.

The Oatmeal’s humour can be described as crude and random, and I’ve never read one without actually laughing. And that’s saying something, considering internet humour, where you flip through hundreds of comics or memes with a dopey half-smile on

your face but no real reaction for hours on end.

Anyone who doesn’t like Family Guy humour, you’re safe with The Oatmeal. It’s a sanctuary for people who like crude humour but not irritating, gross or offensive material – and I find crude humour is often crossed with all of those elements, which is unfortunate.

A few of the comics featured in How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you are posted on his website (theoatmeal.com), but there are quite a few originals in the book.

Not sure if you want to buy it? Go to the website and see if it’s your cup of tea.

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you is an essential book for new cat owners. I strongly believe the SPCA should give out copies with adoptions. In the table of contents, we have guides on “six ways to tell if your cat thinks it’s a mountain lion,” “How to pet a kitty,” “The three ways of dealing with cat litter,” “How to tell if your cat is a raging homosexual,” and so forth. I had no clue about my cat until I thumbed through these pages. Of course, now I can read the signs and interact accordingly – but she’ll always be unpredictable. The Oatmeal doesn’t pretend he can understand the impossible.

The Oatmeal’s style is a mix of whimsicality and bluntness – of fancy and cold, hard reality. Like the experience of petting a cat’s fuzzy tummy and cleaning out his or her stinking, clumped up poo, The Oatmeal truly captures what life is like with a cat as your roomie.

So how do you tell if your cat is plotting to kill you? I’m not going to give any spoilers. But reading The Oatmeal’s insights, I realised I am in grave danger. And almost worse – there’s no comic called “what to do if your cat is trying to kill you.”

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

Mini Album Reviews

SoundBites

ARTS & LIFE

The Men New Moon

Mise en Scene Desire’s Despair

Cerulean Salt Waxahatchee

Tales from Terra Firma Stornoway

Their early work garnered them a reputation of a band that didn’t really fit into any neat category, playing fast and loose guitar-driven rock on both their brash debut Immaculada and sophomore follow-up Leave Home, not unlike 1980s hardcore pioneers Hüsker Dü. However, last year’s Open Your Heart was a revelation for the band, as they incorporated their abrasive production with pleasing melodies, culminating in a sound that The Men further hash out on New Moon. Recorded over two weeks in a Catskills cabin in upstate New York, The Men’s abrupt change in attitude, tempo and genre may be disconcerting to some of their purposefully-naive longtime fans, but it’s a move that the band has been telegraphing since the inclusion of the confessional “Candy” on their previous effort. Standout tracks on the album include the garage-rock infused “The Seeds,” the organ heavy and gutwarming “Bird Song” and the rootsy, but fuzzy “Half Angel Half Light,” which ends with “la la” backing vocals reminiscent of America’s “A Horse With No Name.” With so many promising paths to take, The Men’s three lead singers cover a lot of ground on New Moon in an equally satisfying and mature way.

Mise en Scene—Manitoban duo Stefanie Biondal Johnson and Jodi Dunlop—released their first fulllength album and carved out a place in my heart. It’s beach surf and roadtrip rock that flows from nostalgia to carefree whimsicality about love in the summer, melancholy and accepting the self. There’s a ‘60s girl-band vibe with all the gentle and all the rawness a feminine voice can give – Johnson’s voice is dreamy but full-bodied and often with a bad-girl vibe, and her lyrics are unashamed. “Endless Summer,” “Desire,” and “Hey Velvet” are all notable tracks – the track that I flip to first is always going to be “Paris, Texas,” where the roughness of life is channelled through capturing the emotion of escapism: “They loved each other to a violent end / the border of abuse would move and bend / control imposed, jealousy, pretend / ...

Find me, get me out of Paris ...” It’s a smooth listen from start to finish—the drums won’t slow down for long—and each track’s got the great guitar tone and vocals that you won’t forget.

There probably wasn’t a more emotionally devastating album last year than American Weekend, lo-fi echo-voice guitar-melancholy from Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) that began “Crave desolate” and never let up, a half hour of held breath, empty nights and the regret that fills in gaps of hesitation and action alike. Things sound a little different on Cerulean Salt, sonically (cleaner production) and in some ways dramatically (Crutchfield’s characters don’t all seem to stumble the same way). Words hang like clouds, but suspended between are breaks of broken melody. Many of the tracks here don’t go much longer than two minutes, but in the pauses, the interruptions, the way the scenes, even if negative, are alive with detail and syndetons of attempted connection, the narratives of AW aren’t repeated, instead Cerulean Salt is all moment. “I cannot see into the future,” Crutchfield sings, and to the end any futures are qualified by the past, all flux with description and doubt. Some of those moments enter electric, louder and more abrasive, but ultimately as full of self-mistrust as the rest - the circle does not become complete until “Swan Dive,” where drums palpitate as Crutchfield moves through spaces of pain, separating the past, vocalizing its worst permanence.

With the release of their freshman album, Tales from Terra Firma, Stornoway really seems to be set on evolving. Although, going into this I really wasn’t expecting them to have ventured away from the simple indie sound they initially set out with. Listening to the first two tracks made me begin to question this album, where they fused a few other genres and expanded their musical repertoire. So it’s not that there was anything wrong with the songs, just different than what I know of Stornoway. However, when “The Bigger Picture” comes on it’s recognizable through their familiar meaningful and melancholic lyrics. It’s really by the time “(A Belated) Invite to Eternity” hits that I began to fall into the album.

Given that they did an outstanding job at creating that easy indie sound, albeit with their unique English flare on their debut, having created an atmosphere of a few guys hanging out, maybe at Dude Chilling Park, and just letting their acoustic guitar rip, it’s with Tales From Terra Firma that I’m left feeling a lot more satisfied. The greater use of instruments, injection of some genres, and my favourite two tracks at the end, “The Great Procrastinator” and “The Ones We Hurt The Most” make this an outstanding listen from beginning to end.

Tim UBELS

Sasha Moedt

Michael Scoular

JOE JOHNSON

Album Review

Sunshine – Sunshine NICK UBELS

THE CASCADE Music sometimes has this way of capturing a sense of place in a way that a hastily-snapped photograph or postcard never can.

There are certain bands that, for better or worse, are so immersed in their surroundings that their music becomes synonymous with the place they come from. The Replacements were Minnesota, Girls were San Francisco.

And Sunshine are Vancouver.

Sunshine attack those long, wet Vancouver nights with as much dream-like fervour as their name suggests. There’s an unmistakable sense of belonging in their music, a wide-open embrace of the gambit of sounds that make up the Vancouver music scene: from jangle pop instincts to dance-ready synthesizers and driving, unhinged guitar rock alike. Lingering in the fuzzed out, soft-hearted shadows of another neon block, it’s hard not to associate Sunshine with scenes of their hometown on a typical weekend. Or if you were at The Astoria for last week’s album release party, maybe it’s a Wednesday.

Opening their self-titled debut is the effervescent pop gem “Showering With Wine.” Our introduction to Sunshine comes in the form of cascading drums and a woozy guitar riff split open by a lightning crack of a snare. “Showering With Wine” is one of the album’s most

propulsive, hook-laden tracks and crystallizes a lot of the best elements of their eponymous digital release. The song writing feels effortless, not just agreeable. The way that the pre-chorus descends with each chord change, bubbling over into the chorus with one final, unexpected change is remarkable for its casual complexity.

The five-piece outfit combines the driving, but sensitive guitar pop of The Pains of Being Pure At Heart with the sparkling cavern atmospherics of the Raveo-

nettes or Big Troubles. Influences are worn proudly, but they don’t overshadow the strength of Sunshine’s original material, which has a voice that strongly reflects its origins.

Sunshine’s local flavour is strong, particularly evident in the album’s lyrics. “Ice Cream Social” is a softly-sung ode to the nostalgic Monday night dance party of the same name that once filled the now-defunct Waldorf hotel.

If place is something Sunshine excels in capturing, time is some-

thing wilfully obscured.

While the meticulously wellcomposed guitar work rises to the fore, Sunshine’s versatile rhythm section backs up the album’s best tracks. “Ice Cream Social” is propelled by the raucous fills that usher in the chorus. Likewise for the jolty tom riff behind “Two Hundred Grand” or the fantasticallytitled “Sundays Are For Cats.” The rock-steady bass complements and anchors the roomy and whispered vocals, delicate synths and hazy guitar lines.

“French Exit,” a summery duet featuring the soaring guest vocals of Louise Burns, is one of the album’s highest points. “Arnprior’s” marriage of glam rock guitars and glittering synths is, unexpectedly, a match made in heaven.

Unfortunately, the album is front-loaded, with the underwhelming and overlong pairing of “Shanghaied” and “The Tyler Rose” leading up to the album’s warm and kaleidoscopic gospel elegy of a closer, “Wet Thank Yous.”

Sunshine’s debut record is a rare instance of a band emerging fullyformed and realized. While not every solo note or hook rings true, this is a band that knows exactly what, and where, they are about.

Looking for more?

The Cascade also lives online! /UFVCascade @ufvcascade

Visit us online for up-to-date coverage, livetweets from key campus events, additional photos and comments from other readers just like you. ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

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17

ARTS & LIFE Concert Review

Matt and Kim Live at The Paramount MELISSA SPADY

THE CASCADE

CHARTS

1

Peace The World Is Too Much With Us

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This Hisses Anhedonia Classified Classified

Shuffle ADAM ROPER

CIVL DJ

Adam Roper, host of Birds Of Canada Tuesdays from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., would like to challenge you to track down these brilliant Abbotsford bands who have long since broken up and gone to band heaven.

Minnesota Nice The Basement Sessions

TRI 5 La Dee Da

Ghibli Clubs

Pissed Jeans Honeys The Bicycles Stop Thinking So Much Elephant Stone Elephant Stone Suuns Images Du Futur

HILOTRONS At Least There’s Commotion

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Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow

13 14 15 16 17 18

Iceage You’re Nothing Oneyedjacks Back From The Dead Random Dander First Delivery WETYUO TTHNDFLLTHNGS

The Grapes of Wrath High Road Corin Tucker Band Kill My Blues

Fun100 – “Ghetto Mall” Obscure pop-punk bands, well into their 30s, are getting back together to relive their glory days left and right these days.

Maybe if everyone on campus started spinning their tracks again the band would become utterly convinced that a reunion album/tour is the only reasonable response. Seriously man, this band was great, let’s make it happen.

Edmund – “Uncle Andrew’s Trouble” Not many people knew about this Euro-tinged, keyboard driven power-pop outfit, aside from their friends who are now all young professionals starting families. A chance encounter with fame surely would have made this band’s music essential fare for indie-film soundtracks and hip mixtapes for your latest love interest.

Laureate – “Lonely Mountain Road” Just a few bros from Columbia Bible College who eventually parted ways and started working at JJ Bean on Commercial.

The band left behind a few great pieces of unreleased altrock Canadiana.

Oats – “Isobelle Why Would You Leave” A short-lived trio featuring Cultus Vibes artists Teen Daze and Manitoulin. The band recorded and subsequently scrapped a beautiful springinspired folk-pop record. The scrapped songs are likely residing quietly on a hard drive somewhere aching to be heard.

Making a pilgrimage for music is, in my opinion, the most important experience in any concert go-er’s photo album. It’s the difference between passively attending the shows that come through your home town and aggressively pursuing music for the sheer love of it.

For Valley dwellers, the tame version is heading all the way to downtown Vancouver. It’s a good baby step in the right direction, but as a seasoned concert attendee and certified “woo girl,” nothing beats making a proper trek for something I just have to see.

On Tuesday, March 5, I had the pleasure of adventuring down to The Paramount Theatre in Seattle to see Brooklyn indie duo Matt and Kim in all their live glory. I hit three birds with one stone; I was going through serious pilgrimage withdrawal, Matt and Kim were at the top of my concert bucket list, and they absolutely delivered.

Opening for the duo was Swedish synthpop team Icona Pop. Opening bands are always hit or miss, but in this case I felt it was a solid hit. The only accurate way to describe this electro-house couple is as the result of Tegan and Sara and dubstep having a leather-clad love child. Flashing their hand signal hearts out to the crowd and receiving a very healthy response, they played a refreshingly short but sweet 10 - 15 minute set including their 2012 hit single “I

Love it.”

After a short wait, Matt and Kim came bursting out on stage opening with a sample from Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize.” Stage presence is everything. I have seen great bands go awful, and okay bands become amazing with stage presence. Coupling their own upbeat dance tunes with mini covers (Dr. Dre’s “Next Episode,” Sugar Gang Apache’s “Jump on it,” etc.) in-between, they effectively kept the crowd involved throughout the set.

A sub-category to stage presence is crowd control. Some bands have so much control they could make a crowd take off their shirts in sweaty unison, while others struggle with a simple clap-along. Matt and Kim are aligned with the former by standing on their instruments without missing a beat and harping on one another playfully to add comfort. A screen stationed behind each of them added touch of a wickedly colourful footage and intercut with a live feed made being in the nosebleeds an enjoyable experience (for once).

Stopping mid-show to do the Harlem Shake, and keeping up the tradition of Kim walking out on the crowd to shake her booty, Matt and Kim are exactly where they want to be. You can tell they are having the time of their lives, doing what they love. The authenticity that oozes from their performance will keep me coming back for more every time they mosey on over to the West Coast.

The only complaint that I can muster about this show was the

stage set up. The Paramount, a multi-balcony theatre, lacked decent sound quality for anyone not on the ground floor. If I’m at the very back of the theatre and I cannot understand what the performers are saying, there is a serious problem. I’ve never been a fan of theatre-style venues, but I have heard some excellent shows at the Orpheum in Vancouver.

This leads me to shift the blame on the person managing the sound equipment, and not the venue itself. Concerts are social events. You’re in a room full of people who are all there because you love this band, and it’s one of the only chances you’ll get to see your favourite musician in person. I felt like I was missing half a conversation. Something would be said, the ground floor would cheer, a muffled “Seattle” would bleed through, then everyone would scream. Some might dog on me for nit-picking on minute details, but if I’m paying to see a show and miss out on the crowd interaction you better believe I’m going to be at least mildly displeased.

Despite this small annoyance, the overall adventure went beyond what I had imagined. These are the types of experiences that make shelling out the dough for gas, tickets, food, drinks, parking and any show swag you pick up worth the time and effort that go into a pilgrimage for music.

They aren’t easy and you’re dead tired when you get home, but the goosebumps I’ve had for the last three days speak for themselves.

Fashion Doctor

Hats

JASMINE PROCTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

Hats are peculiar things. They have a certain quality to them, something that is classy, sophisticated, and yet edgy, in an odd way. They possess this ability to pull together an outfit, balancing the top with the bottom, making you look put together. Maybe it is this characteristic about them that I like so much. Or perhaps it’s that they are this simplistic item that people have loved for centuries.

Either way, they can work wonders on your outfits, and I—quite recently—have discovered just what hats work amazing for different seasons and looks.

First and foremost, there is the bowler cap. Not quite sure what that is? Well you’re not alone. The bowler hat is not one of the most common types of hats out there, but let me assure you, that is going to change.

This little angel is one of my goto head pieces if I am looking for a fun, hipster-y, yet chic aspect to put with my outfit. Pretty much an all-season item, I can pair it with a combination as simple as a printed pant, a plain white t-shirt and a denim vest and come out looking like a Forever 21 mannequin. Something about the roundness of its form adds a child-like quality that is both cute but somehow classy at the same time. You can virtually find them anywhere, too. I own a simple black one from Forever 21 that goes with everything. I highly recommend getting one in a neutral tone, too, which

Image: Ikhalasul Amal

makes it much easier to pair with outfits. That being said, though, there is always room to mix things up, and Topshop has a number of them ranging in colours from light seafoam to eccentric purple.

Next is the fedora. Oh, the fedora. Critiqued by many, this style of hat has been around since pretty much forever and—despite some opposition—it is not going away. In my personal opinion, the straw variety is the way to go, especially in the hotter months. Pair it with a breezy white sundress, some gladiator sandals and a pair of aviator sunglasses and you are ready to go. This is the perfect hat for spring and summer because it is light weight, so you won’t feel weighed down or over-heated.

With that in mind, large, floppy hats are also a great piece to have in your closet. Wear them any season, and you will ooze chic.

Black ones with a velvet texture

look great in the winter or spring time when paired with something like a maxi skirt or an oversized sweater and skinny jeans. They’re elegant, sleek and make you looked like you just stepped off a runway. Some may say they are a bit over the top, but I beg to differ.

If you feel great, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

In the summer, again, floppy hats made out of straw are a great essential to have, as they not only keep the sun out of your eyes (and protect your face from those harsh UV rays), but they also can complete an outfit by giving it that laid-back, beach-y feel. They are definitely a throwback to the ‘70s, and I think they are just brilliant.

Vintage is always a good thing, in my books.

So treat your head to some style – wear a hat!

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

ARTS & LIFE Dine & Dash

Bavarian Haus

Work In Progress: Bradley Borthwick GRIFFY J. VIGNERON

CONTRIBUTOR

Image: Dessa Bayrock/The Cascade

45300 Luckakuck Way, Chilliwack

wurst and schnitzel. Interestingly enough, the liquor menu was $12 to $28 far more extensive than the food menu, and offered an inspired seMon 4-10 p.m. lection of wine, dark and importTues-Sat 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. ed beer, and mixed drinks. However, upon further inspection and Sun 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. the help of a smart phone, we soon realized that the mark-up was asDESSA BAYROCK tronomical. A bottle of imported THE CASCADE Argentinian wine ticketed at $32 was on sale for $14 at the liquor The spot where Bavarian Haus store down the road, and another is located hasn’t been lucky for priced at $60 could be found less restaurants in the past – two oth- than five minutes away at $18. ers have occupied the same terriWith such limited food choice, tory and given up a year or two most of our table opted for schnitinto the endeavor. The location is zel. I ordered “gipsy style,” which on a fairly high-traffic road, and promised a bell pepper sauce, and the restaurants nearby seem to do others went for schnitzel with alright, so I’m more inclined to mushroom gravy. blame the restaurants than the loFirst of all, our food was hapcation itself. Unfortunately, I have hazard leaving the kitchen; with a sneaking suspicion that Bavar- a party of six, I can understand ian Haus will soon be joining its plates taking two or three trips fallen restaurant comrades. In a to deliver, but the first plate came word: lacklustre. seven or eight minutes before the We were greeted at the door by next one. We all sat awkwardly as a waitress dressed like a Bavarian our food arrived piece by piece, milkmaid, which was an odd if torn between waiting politely and logical experience. As she led us eating while our meals were still to our table, we all realized that warm. the music we’d be listening to all One of the few good features night was campy and accordion- of the meal was the amount of filled. And then we realized that food; plates were heartily set with our menus were attached to weird generous portions. On the other wooden handles. hand, this also worked against the It’s not that I dislike having restaurant’s favour. The red caban “experience” with my din- bage leaked into the fries, the red ner. The weirdness of the situ- pepper sauce (instead a largely ation was the juxtaposition of acidic tomato-y concoction) polthese borderline-cheesy elements luted the vegetables and made the in such an elegantly-set restau- shnitzel soggy, and by the time I rant: high-backed chairs, glossy worked through the schnitzel the wooden tables, soft lighting, a fries underneath were cold. tastefully dark colour scheme and We ordered bourbon-infused chandeliers edging on artwork. I ice cream for dessert, which tastwould hazard a guess that chairs, ed exactly like plain old vanilla tables and paint job were left over and came at a price tag of $6 for from the previous restaurant. The two half-hearted scoops. result was a classy restaurant atOverall, the food was hearty mosphere caught in the midst of a and filling. It was home-cooking, last-second theme party – odd, to just like the menu promised. But say the least. paired with higher-than-average The menus themselves contin- prices and the fact that you can ued the lacklustre themes, with find better schnitzel for half the plain printed pages encased in price elsewhere in town, I’m sorpage protectors that I swear came ry to call this particular eatery a out of my middle-school binder – bust. and maybe it’s just me, but I have Just like the restaurants that a hard time thinking I should pay came before it, I don’t think Baupwards of $20 for a plate of food varian Haus is going to last long. when the menu looks like the one It’s not the location that will sink I threw together for my lemonade it, but the lack of selection and stand at age 12. grievous over-pricing.

Prices aside, the selection was In short: the accordion music lacking; keeping with a “Bavar- refused to quit, but maybe Bavarian” theme doesn’t mean your ian Haus should. menu has to be 75 per cent brat-

Work in Progress, UFV’s current gallery exhibition, ties all artists together with one all-encompassing theme. Whether a student, instructor, hobbyist, or professional, all art is a consistent effort to attain something more. It is all, like the title, a work in progress.

The show, curated and organized by Sarah Ciurysek, is a display of works done by faculty.

Each faculty member in the show, has a work up from their undergrad as well as a more recent piece.

The idea is to show a progression of skill, or theme, or format, of faculty work from their student days.

Bradley Borthwick, a sculptor and instructor with UFV, is one of the artists with work in the gallery. He related the theme to any discipline or creative endeavour.

He described everything we do, including art, as having nothing to do with any kind of terminus “It’s all a work in progress,” he explained. “Like we’re not [ever] done with anything, it’s just a little bit of a pause... within an ongoing line of practice and thought, and research, and dialogue, and experience.”

Borthwick’s two pieces in the show, are Monolith (Perpendicular) from 2011, and Untitled from 1996, as his undergrad work.

Monolith (Perpendicular) is displayed as a series of black and white photographs. They display several views of a perfectly spherical stone sculpture that lies alone in stark simplicity, amid rolling Irish hills. One is left to ponder exactly why this ‘monolith’ has been placed here, and what it’s purpose is.

Borthwick describes being influenced by the works of the German philosopher Karl Jaspers for this piece. Jaspers’ work entailed a detailed look into the dilemma of re-

Image: Stewart Seymour/The Cascade

corded history. Historical artifacts, like a stone henge for example, can only be explained within the framework of the life and experiences of the historian themself.

“It’s really just someone’s interpretation, who happened to have written it down. And of course, there’s all kinds of bias and incorrect telling of the tale,” Borthwick explained.

In describing the feelings of finding an artifact like a stone henge or monolith, Borthwick explains “You can’t really relate to it.

I think you can find a sense of awe or a sense of nostalgia. I think you look into your own sense of mortality, because we’re finite, yet this stone endures for so much longer.”

Inspired by such an idea, and as a stone carver, Borthwick desired to create his own “monolith.” Ireland was chosen as the placement of his work in the spirit of the preindustrial civilizations who also left many stone artifacts in the area. Also, Borthwick wanted to tackle the complexity of sculpting a perfect sphere.

The completed piece has no mention of authorship, and sits alone in a valley with no path. If anyone is to find it, it would sim-

ply be a matter of happenstance, left as a sort of myth for the viewer to ponder.

Borthwick’s other piece, Untitled, is pictured in another black and white photograph. This piece is a large sculpted square, fashioned in a patchwork or woven sort manner.

When asked how he’s improved between pieces, Borthwick describes it as a fairly linear progression. As an undergrad student he was focused more on all the demands of being a student, including deadlines. He says his work then also focused more on the creation of the object itself, and he didn’t think much beyond the task at hand. Now however, Borthwick is able to focus beyond the creation of the object itself. He says now he can, “[move] beyond the veneration of a given medium, with the fact that I can ultimately find placement for the work that far outdoes the formality of the work.”

Work In Progress has been displayed on the Abbotsford campus the gallery in B 1306. It will continue to be displayed until March 13, 2013.

Discussions Below the Belt The survey on going solo LILY LABELLE

Sex columnist There’s an old joke that goes “98 per cent of people masturbate – and the other two per cent are lying.” Stats say that 89 per cent of people masturbate, but they mostly do it in secret.

In the mid-1990s, a landmark study, Sex in America, also known as the National Health and Social Life Survey, was conducted. It stands, to this day, as the most sweeping and comprehensive poll on sexual health. Sex in America put the number of male and female masturbators at 85 per cent and 93 per cent respectively, but goes on to reveal that 54 per cent of men and 62 per cent of women won’t admit it to a partner.

When the survey was released, the public collectively blushed at how often their friends and neighbours apparently touched themselves. Which makes sense, considering that over half the population, albeit American population, simply hid their self-love habits.

But in 2007, the same group conducted a face-to-face survey and the stats dropped to 38 per cent of women and 61 per cent of men

who said they’ve masturbated at any point within the past year.

The numbers simply don’t add up. Since sexology started, credible, national surveys have shown masturbation levels anywhere between 49 per cent-95 per cent.

Where’s the truth?

From Dr. Kinsey to today, there are a few things that the surveys agree on. First, that women warm up to self-pleasure in university, as the number of girls who masturbate jumps significantly after the age of 20. Second, only male masturbation continues at more or less the same rate after the age of 50.

And thirdly, what most people do and what they’re willing to admit, differs wildly.

While secrecy and shame around sex has been steadily decreasing with each generation, the numbers show that we still have a long way to go. On the occasions that I’ve given “the talk” to either high school or university audiences, the topic of masturbation, particularly female masturbation, always comes up. Both male and female students have asked “Do women masturbate?” Not “how often?”

Not “what percentage?” But rather they are curious as to whether it happens at all, you know, “out-

side of porn and prostitutes,” as one high school student phrased it.

Now, that perception is probably not shared by the average Cascade reader, but it exists. And, as stats show, more than you’d expect.

My answer to the curious: Do fish swim? Do birds fly? Do people masturbate? Yes! It’s an expression of nature. There are ultrasound videos of babies whacking off in the womb. Your first orgasm likely happened before your third birthday (possibly at birth). Sex and pleasure is written into your genetic code and it is the lovely reason that we still exist as humans.

There are legitimate-looking sources online that still claim masturbation affects memory, causes impotence or even blindness. They are scientifically untrue. It has been shown, however, to reduce stress and increase sexual confidence and pleasure; it is a common prescription for premature ejaculation and is the safest form of sex.

So, 89 per cent of people masturbate. Not everyone does it, though most people do. But whatever a person’s solo libido, shame and misinformation shouldn’t factor into the equation.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

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ARTS & LIFE

CROSSWORD

All that glitters is green

by AMY VAN VEEN

LAST WEEK’S

ACROSS

4. Finding this symbol of hope, faith, love and happiness will bring you luck.

(4, 4, 6 letters) 7. This land is also known as the Emerald Isle. (7 letters) 11. When St. Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity, he

designed this to combine old Irish beliefs with the new religion.

(6, 5 letters) 12. A black cauldron whose contents could probably erase your student debt.

(9 letters) 13. You should wear this on St. Patrick’s Day, or someone might pinch you.

(5 letters) 14. St. Patrick used this as a symbol to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish.

(8 letters)

Answer Key Across 4. KALE 5. RADISH 8. ONION 9. BEET 10. SPINACH 11. TOMATO 13. LETTUCE 14. ARUGULA

DOWN

1. If someone offers you a pint, they’re probably offering you some of this.

(4 letters) 2. The 17th day of this month is St. Patrick’s Day. (5 letters) 3. Kissing this on St. Patrick’s Day is supposed to give the kisser a gift of persua

sive eloquence. (7, 5 letters) 5. This sometimes painful tradition, similar to poking, is also a slang term for

stealing something. (8 letters) 6. A traditional Irish walking stick that leprechauns sometimes use. (10 letters) 8. Caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun’s light by rain. (7 letters)

Down 1. CARROTS 2. BEANS 3. CHICORY 6. ARTICHOKE 7. POTATO 9. BROCCOLI 12. PEAS

9. A popular nickname of St. Patrick. (2, 5 letters) 10. A lively dance with leaping movements. (3 letters)

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 discover a drowsy Ursidae rummaging through your cupboards looking for a pre-Spring snake. Try to lure it out of the house with offerings of honey.

Your day at work will dramatically improve when that annoying co-worker (you know the one) is run afoul by a wandering Panthero Leo.

Bubalus Bubalis Bubalus Bubalis Bubalus Bubalis Bubalus Bubalis Bubalus Bubalis Bubalus Bubalis Bubalus Bubalis.

Pisces: Feb 19 - March 20

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21

Traffic will be halted next Saturday when a local Bovinae tries to make for greener pastures in the small town of Spuzzum, British Columbia.

You will be mauled by a horde of enraged Felis Silvestris Catus after you friends line your jacket with Nepeta Cataria as a practical joke.

That paper is due tomorrow and since you are long past using the excuse, “my dog ate it” we suggest advancing to, “A wandering Oreamnos Americanus, which I was studying for my North American ungulate studies course, ate my homework.” Bound to work like a charm.

Aries: March 21 - April 19

Leo: July 23 - Aug 22

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21

Preppy pink pachyderms will be prancing in purple pajamas on your porch next Tuesday.

Paying overdue parking tickets would be in your best interest as certain companies have taken to hiring Rhinocerotidae to trample vehicles with outstanding tickets.

Your day will be progressing in a positive and pleasing manner until you run across a hippopotamus amphibious in your shower, eating all your chocolate and listening to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

Taurus: April 20 - May 20

Virgo: Aug 23 - Sept 22

You will be late for school as you battle a rambunctious haplorhini that has made off with all your fresh socks after drinking all your coffee.

Your friends are being rather stalwart of late, what with them not supporting your new career choice of Doritos flavour tester.

Now may be the perfect time to denounce them all as a bunch of malcontent Equus Asinus.

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19 You will be tempted next week by a Camelini Camelus who pulls up in a vintage sports car wearing a red leather bombers jacket and offering you cigarettes. Your options are to politely decline or cut back on hallucinogenic substances.

Cascade Arcade

Indie steampunk platformer tackles depression-driven alcoholism JOEL SMART

THE CASCADE

It can be difficult for video games to tell emotional stories, especially without relying heavily on cut scenes to make the point. Recently, games like Dear Esther and Papo & Yo have pushed gamers to find their emotional side by putting darker themes and touching moments into the gameplay itself.

Topics like substance abuse and depression have typically been restricted to other mediums, like film and music. It’s a new frontier being explored in the gaming world, with mixed results – but with a gaming audience increasingly interested in mature, compelling stories with detailed, believable characters, it’s a sign of good things to come.

Spate—a Steam Greenlight proj-

ect, funded Kickstarter project and winner of IGN’s game project show The Next Game Boss—draws inspiration from these emotionally-driven games as it follows Detective Bluth, a private eye hired to track down a businessman who has gone missing after entering Xzone, a forbidden area in the game’s rich steampunk world. While Spate uses traditional platforming gameplay familiar to fans of Mario or LittleBigPlanet, it includes gamers in the troubled emotional state of its protagonist, a man struggling to deal with the death of his daughter and his regret in how he handled their final moments together.

In order to handle the swirling depression, Bluth turns to absinthe – alcohol with hallucinogenic effects (though many dispute whether real absinthe truly has this effect). Eric Provan, the game’s

designer, describes on his site the symbolic way this reliance acts as a crutch and a growing hindrance.

“At the click of a button the character can take a swig of absinthe.

This temporarily gives the player higher jumping and faster running abilities. But, it also makes him hallucinate, which changes the world both visually and physically,” Provan explained. These effects are meant to “mirror” the “emotional seesaw battle of drinking,” he added. As the game progresses, Bluth is lost further and further into the fictional world of his madness and has to fight not just to find the missing person but also his own sanity.

Provan began working in the game industry since 2005 when he was hired at Kush Games, but he’s never been the sole designer of a game before. He’s also done a lot

of work with storytelling in television and film, working for the Cartoon Network, Sony Pictures Imageworks and, most recently, Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Provan began the game with Temo Kokiashvili, the game’s lead programmer. However, after receiving $10,000 funding from The Next Game Boss and $14,430 from Kickstarter, the small team has been able to hire on a small team to improve and finish the game. The “2.5D” sidescrolling platformer is being developed on the Unity3D game engine.

While most of the initial feedback for the game has been positive, it has re-opened debates among gamers about the future of the medium and the possibility that the recent obsession with emotional game mechanics among indie developers is akin to Oscar-

bait (the flurry of emotional, heartwrenching films released just before nominations are announced).

Some who’ve played an early demo of the game say that it’s still a long way from being a hit game.

While both these angles of critique hold some merit, the game has a lot of potential – as do games pushing the medium in new and more meaningful ways. If Spate does become a success, it could encourage other developers to dig into deeper issues that people are struggling with in their real lives.

There will always be a place for escapism in gaming, but it’s time to explore what else they can do as well.

Spate is expected to release later this year on Steam.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

ARTS & LIFE

Notes from four hours of contemptuous cinema Jack the Giant Slayer and Oz the Great and Powerful in review MICHAEL SCOULAR

THE CASCADE

The studio system heights of three-credit screenplays and effects studios by the handful bring with them a question of how there ever happens to be a movie with a distinctive edge, a movie with an individuality among the smoothness of adjustments fitted to focustested anticipation.

Bryan Singer (Jack the Giant Slayer) and Sam Raimi (Oz The Great and Powerful)made some (or in Singer’s case, all) of their best movies in what has become the most over-determined and predictably “entertaining” genre – the straightforward superheroes, up against evil, identity and fear.

Compromises and conventions are everywhere, but Singer showed a keenness for navigating iconography, a patience with character that made the core of his X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns more about statements against rule, questioning the passing of generations, when they weren’t fulfilling the plane-saving, claw-baring requirements of entering a narrative midway.

With Raimi, almost everything is a joke or a horror show, and the Spider-Man series was a space for these sides to stand in opposition, mingle, come out in slapstick, visions and dances. Together, this was the base of the best of the genre, something alive (something even more noticeable with each year of new numbers and team members) found in the dead-forprofit of action figure advertisement.

But that is the past. There are questions of authorship in a studio system to be made, but the real impression from seeing these two directors’ latest movies is how little it takes for a thought-to-be individual touch to be assimilated, and how little they count for when in the service of something so completely contemptible.

Jack the Giant Slayer and Oz the Great and Powerful are two movies that occupy the same space. Both carry barely attached copied manuscripts of tired stories with the names changed and the old values continued – the reluctant hero overcomes schemes and danger to

rescue the princess and the reluctant hero overcomes schemes and danger to save the people (and the princess).

In Jack the Giant Slayer, which lacks a forbearer of quality like The Wizard of Oz, pains are taken to impress a brand where there isn’t one – Jack is asked what his name is, what his qualities are, and what his name is in hope he’ll make a heroic impression. Whatever they call themselves, both are products of synergy – taking a part of that thing you liked that one time and a part of new technology and names to create a sort-of spectacular movie that’s in between completely expected and completely pointless.

The nadir of this might be the 3D re-release, a coincidental trailer example of Jurassic Park 3D playing before Jack the Giant Slayer as reminder. Actually, the word, the

imperative word in trailer text is “Remember,” which is actually the opposite of what seeing Jurassic Park 3D would do. Remembering is fallible, flexible and completely free, which is nothing a studio or studio release would want anything to do with. The solution then is what Jack and Oz are all about: working against what we remember, and trying to be what we will newly remember – this is the telling of the tale for our time, with more ugly realism or more magical objects thrown through the screen.

Oz the Great and Powerful is the less unbearable of the two because, even if there’s something too-slick about the digital repetition of techniques Raimi roughly, ridiculously displayed in The Evil Dead, those familiarities are as good as it gets here. Black and white long takes of cascading physical comedy,

a playful precipice in animated silhouette, the technique of material magic: this is what Raimi brings, though a waste that it was brought here. Whatever Singer ever brought, if Jack the Giant Slayer is any indication, that has and can stop. Lit to highlight nothing and point out the green screen of everything, digitally dated (the movie was delayed for a year, and it shows), and full of bereft creature design with ugly motion capture to fit, the best that can be said for it is it skips the double-speak lie-allowance of Oz and is plainly worthless in total.

Both movies open with fictions – the stories told to children that lead to ideas. And the ideas of Jack the Giant Slayer and Oz the Great and Powerful are sold in their titles and the names above them. Nicholas Hoult (Jack) has the perpetual look of being half-frightened, talking out of the side of his mouth like someone else is operating his mouth, and James Franco (Oz) plays himself playing himself as seen in comedy skits and awful award ceremonies.

Neither really stands out, because aside from some typical greatness from Rachel Weisz, the performances in all cases fall into a place where jokey innocence is the target, though their respective roles run on irony and lies. So they’re not getting by on screen presence. But they’re getting into positions of power.

It isn’t fair to call these plots

retrograde, because if anything they are damaged by the present – additions and removals come as monarchy is now what defines both stories, and female roles vanish (even the mother in Jack and the Beanstalk). There’s nitpicking, and then there’s the obvious detail that—and these are films from the 1930s—Maid Marion in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (the movies these variants aspire to be) are more active, progressive and intelligent characters than those in two popular movies from 2013.

Just about everything about Jack the Giant Slayer is unintelligible – the warlike, grimy atmosphere sliding into mock-fantasy (with The Lord of the Rings-culled fanfare), suggesting incongruous collaborative efforts. But one thing remains consistent: Princess Isabella asks what Jack’s name is, learning to be able to scream it as she becomes the damsel in helpless distress she was destined to be.

The women of Oz (Weisz, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis) are notable mainly for their complete inability to do anything before a rightful ruler arrives on the scene to tell or suggest them to. There’s a conflict on the table, but nothing happens until the one “who’s going to fix everything” shows up. And it turns out the politics of warfare of the kingdom of Oz are the vindictive, petty scorned lover acts of easily-fooled and willinglydeceived witches. Everything revolves around the one who holds the throne, even from beyond the grave – the seething line during climatic violence? “You took what mattered most to me – my father.” The everyone-encouraging finale congratulation? “Your father would have been more than proud.”

It’s not as if there’s anything to be gained when clueless screenwriters put pseudo-proto-feminism in material (Snow White and the Huntsman), it’s just terrible all around, at best laughable and worst the propagation of careless bullshit, tautologies of male dominance.

Theatre Review

The Merchant of Venice KATE NICKELCHOK

CONTRIBUTOR

Three cheers, for UFV theatre’s The Merchant of Venice! How fitting that Shakespeare’s controversial play set in threes—three boxes, suitors, pairs of young lovers— would be the third production of the UFV theatre department’s 33rd year. The number, alongside many other aspects of the staging, is executed with artistic subtlety in UFV’s production.

The coincidence of thirds, however, is not what you’ll be talking about when leaving the theatre.

Director Bruce Kirkley moves The Merchant of Venice from its traditional renaissance setting to a Venetian summer in 1912. This choice moment of time both underscores and critiques the play’s overt anti-

Semitism. As a 21st century audience member, it’s hard to believe that most of the “comedy” in this romantic comedy is just racial abuse towards Shylock, the Jewish moneylender. UFV’s rendition doesn’t run from the script’s antiSemitism, but instead lays it bare for the audience to wrestle with.

Applaudably convincing in his role, the balance of play’s prejudicial tensions relies on Ron Jackson’s portrayal of Shylock.

Villainous in Shakespeare’s original rendition, Shylock becomes a sympathetic anti-hero on the UFV stage. You’ll be rooting in his corner for the majority of the play. But the morality isn’t cut and dry. Just like the play’s heroines in drag, the audience is called on to judge what’s right from wrong in the end.

Before the intermission, I had thought that Jackson, a student, was really a 40-something community actor recruited to join the cast. My mistake should read as a testament to both the maturity of Jackson’s performance and the hair and make-up crew.

The professional looking visuals of the play shows off how much the UFV theatre troop can do with so little. Even though the set, props and scenery are minimal, the exposed thrust stage still manages to feel very full. The design dresses the stage like an Italian watercolour painting; soft, romantic and complete with a tiny gondolier paddling into the sunset. The scenes feel like a roman holiday, and the sumptuous costumes will have you plotting a raid on the wardrobe room.

One thing noticeably missing from this year’s production, however, was in the inclusion of a text coach. For 2012’s staging of As You Like It, UFV theatre hired alumnus Erin Wells to help actors project meaning through the tricky Shakespearian text. Though language wasn’t always a barrier, a chunk of the script was delivered rather quickly. Thankfully, through gestures, context and bits of physical comedy, the audience was never completely lost in translation.

Despite the anti-Semitic dialogue giving the play a much more serious tone than Shakespeare originally intended, the actors break up the scene transitions with laughter. Overprotective bodyguards, Spanish rouges and sassy guitar playing keeps this comedy feeling like a comedy.

Though at times more of a delight to the eyes than the ears, The Merchant of Venice is quality entertainment for your next night out.

Spotlighting the UFV talent both on and offstage, it will have you flamenco dancing after the curtain call.

The Merchant of Venice runs March 6 to 24 at the UFV Chilliwack Theatre on Yale Road. Upcoming evening performances on March 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 and matinees March 13, 14, 17 and 24.

Tickets price for remaining performances range from $14 to $20. For more information, contact the Box Office at 604-795-2814 or theatre@ ufv.ca

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013

21

SPORTS & HEALTH

Coach of the Year? A look at Adam Friesen’s first season at the helm

Image: University of the Fraser Valley/Flickr

Friesen rallies the troops during a time-out in the Canada West Final Four semifinals. The Cascades would lose this game to UBC 61-68 after leading by 10 points at half, a remarkable accomplishment considering they played only seven men and were down two starters..

JASPER MOEDT the cascade

Summer 2012 was not the most comfortable time for UFV’s men’s basketball team. Coming off its most successful season in school history, the program had suffered the unexpected loss of head coach Barnaby Craddock to the University of Alberta. Even worse, he’d taken two returning starters and several rookie recruits with him over the Rocky Mountains. There was suddenly a significant void left in the team as well as in the coaching staff. A squad that was previously expected to be national contenders looked to be in disarray, and many were predicting

they would not even qualify for playoffs.

In the wake of this mess, newlyminted head coach Adam Friesen (formerly assistant coach to Craddock) was left in charge of picking up the pieces and finding a way to put this team back on track.

Friesen was not left with bare cupboards, but with the prime recruiting season come and gone he had the daunting task of filling significant holes in his lineup with less than a month until preseason began.

By September, CIS basketball fans had forgotten about the Cascades, who were now expected to be a non-factor in a highly competitive Canada West league.

But a surprisingly successful

preseason during which UFV knocked off several big names led to an early national ranking and a target on the Cascades’ back once again.

The season saw mixed results.

When the squad was healthy the Cascades looked unbeatable. The team’s seniors did a phenomenal job of embracing leadership, and the role players seemed to know exactly what was expected of them. Still, injuries plagued the team throughout the year as Kyle Grewal and Sam Freeman (both seniors) watched numerous games from the bench.

Outside of injuries, the team ran into other personnel issues.

At the start of the second half of the season, second-year guard

Jordan Blackman was caught in violation of a team rule. After a short mediation session Blackman and the team parted ways.

Following this, an administrative error and miscommunication led to second-year guard Nathan Kendall playing while ineligible.

The team had to forfeit two wins and temporarily had its playoffs hopes put in jeopardy. How did the team respond? The Cascades confidently secured a win on the same night they were informed of the ineligibility issue – ensuring themselves a playoff berth.

To top off a gritty regular season, the UFV squad took to the road for playoffs and managed a two-games-to-one series win over the University of Saskatchewan,

largely without the help of leading scorer Sam Freeman who suffered a broken rib early in the series. To win a road series is a rare feat in the Canada West; it’s so rare, in fact, that over the last four years the home team has won 15 of the 16 played. This year’s UFV squad has the only road win, a remarkable accomplishment by any standard.

In the next round of the playoffs is where the Cascades finally saw their season come to a close.

Playing at UBC, without Freeman who was still out with a broken rib, the squad gave a good run but in the end fell in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

In a season where adversity seemed to be their calling card, it felt as though there was nothing that could stop this squad. Although many notable individuals could be credited for this team’s success, no one is more deserving of credit than the man who picked them up and managed to take them from a team in disarray to a team on the cusp of making the national tournament.

Friesen brought in high quality recruits in a last minute situation, ensured that each player knew their respective roles, and had the team buy into a collective vision for achievement. For a rookie coach to achieve this level of success in their first season as bench boss is something that is rarely, if ever, seen in the CIS. Friesen has all but ensured himself continuing employment with the university, as it would be a foolish move to hire anybody else (Friesen is currently on a one year interim position contract).

As a young coach with many local connections, Friesen seems to have found himself a home at UFV. In all likelihood Friesen will be announced as the next head coach of UFV men’s basketball in the coming month. Still, no matter the outcome of the coming hiring process, one thing is for sure. Coach Friesen can hang his hat on a very successful 2012-2013 season.

HEAT REPORT: Scoring burst ends a two game goalless drought for the Heat TIM UBELS

CONTRIBUTOR

With Marlies’ goalie Drew Macintyre following the play in his team’s zone, Heat forward Tyler Ruegsegger fired the puck past the screened tender, sending a collective sigh of relief through the Heat bench and fans across Abbotsford and beyond. Ruegsegger’s eighth goal of the season on Saturday afternoon ended the team’s 133:29 goalless drought, which stretched all the way back to their 5-1 home defeat at the hands of the Houston Aeros last Saturday.

Ruegsegger’s first period goal, which tied the two teams up at one goal apiece to end the period, seemed to spark the Abbotsford offence. Although the Heat had outshot their opponents 71-48 since the start of the road trip,

they had no goals to show for it, but Ruegsegger’s marker changed all that. Heat forward Blair Jones followed up the effort in the second period by potting a four-onthree power play marker, and Akim Aliu added another after Carter Bancks stole the puck and set up Aliu in the slot to give the Heat a 3-1 lead going into the third period. The new-look line of Bancks, Aliu and Heat captain Quintin Laing impressed, throwing the body and picking up a combined two goals and three assists. The Heat would go on to win the game 4-2 against the Marlies, with Bancks picking up a tally of his own, ending the team’s three game losing streak and offensive power outage.

This win was the first on the Heat’s current seven-game road trip, which is the longest of the year for them; they don’t return to the AESC until March 22, when

they face off against the Rockford Icehogs. The critical win against their division rivals, the Toronto Marlies, who currently sit atop the tight North Division, keeps the Heat in the playoff hunt. By defeating the Marlies, they were able to prevent a descent out of playoff contention (a potential first of the season). The Heat sat in 10th place in the Western Conference after Friday night’s loss to the Rochester Americans, but climbed back into sixth place after the Saturday afternoon win. This kind of gridlock in the standings in the last quarter of the season makes for desperate teams, entertaining hockey and critical match-ups between conference rivals.

The team also received word on Saturday that Flames’ prospect Sven Baertschi has been demoted to the Abbotsford Heat, after the injured Mikael Backlund

returned to the Flames lineup for the first time since suffering a ligament sprain against the Columbus Blue Jackets on February 7. Baertschi, who recorded six goals and added 12 helpers in the 21 games he spent with the Heat prior to the lockout, will hopefully provide an offensive spark that has been missing from the Heat lineup over the past month of play.

It’s fair to say that the young Baertschi could use this step back into the minors as a launching pad for his NHL career. Not all rookies are successful in their first stint in the NHL, and the Flames organization values this style of grooming their prospects, as opposed to their rivals from Northern Alberta, the Edmonton Oilers, who prefer the sink or swim method when it comes to developing their young players.

Wednesday’s victory over the

San Jose Sharks saw the talented Baertschi bench warming in the third period alongside fourth-line energy players Tim Jackman and Brian McGrattan. Baertschi seems to be destined to one day excel at the NHL level, but right now what the Flames management believes is best for the top prospect is a boost of confidence and not a spot on the fourth line. This is a move that should have Heat fans salivating, as the Flames’ 13th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft brings a fun, skilled style of hockey that’s rare at the AHL level.

Hopefully this step back for the Flames prospect will result in big minutes for Baertschi and in turn more consistent offence for a Heat team trying to secure their spot in the American Hockey League playoffs, which are closing in fast.

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Men’s league – for the love of the sport JASPER MOEDT the cascade

I made the choice to play in a men’s league this winter. I did pretty well, surviving almost three months of play before I suffered an injury. After getting tripped up and tossed on the ground I received a nice elbow to the right side of the face. A severe concussion, stitches and major swelling quickly followed. Needless to say, I have learned my lesson and will think twice about playing in a men’s league again in the near future.

Everyone knows the weekend warrior. It’s a term most often used to describe men and women who neglect to be active through the work week and get out onto their respective playing field/ court/ice rink over the weekend to try to relive the glory days.

As a guy who considers himself pretty active and enjoys competition, I have run into a fair share of these individuals.

My sport of choice is basketball.

This sport, for reasons unknown

Art: Anthony Biondi/The Cascade

to me, seems to draw in many older guys who just can’t let it go.

I have been fortunate to spend the majority of my adult years playing at a high level of competitive sport, but in the rare case that I have found myself in the setting of a men’s league or intramural league I have learned (often the hard way) that this environment

is not a safe one.

The first strike against a men’s or women’s league is that often it runs only once a week. Over the years the sheer number of gruesome injuries I have seen is staggering. Broken legs, shattered knee caps, torn ligaments, sprained ankles, dislocated shoulders, concussions – the list goes

on and on. The problem is that the majority of the individuals who compete in these leagues were once high-level athletes. They come into each game expecting their bodies to perform how they might have five to 10 years before.

The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak.

Strike two against these leagues is the type of players it attracts. Ex-athletes who can still taste the sweetness of victory and success from their glory days, or those who didn’t quite achieve what they wanted in their youth and are coming back to prove themselves. Either way these two groups are a cause for trouble. If they are successful, the ego overflows and the trash talk begins; if they get embarrassed, tempers overflow and “dirty play” ensues.

All roads lead to conflict.

The final strike against these leagues is the poor level of officiating and enforcement of rules.

If a ref misses one call it leads to an escalation of physical play or emotion, which lead to confrontation and conflict. Realistically, with no formal discipline policy,

there is no way to truly control the individuals on the court.

My three months of men’s league consisted of me avoiding unnecessary contact, avoiding any level of over-competitiveness and allowing myself to simply enjoy participating in sport. At the most basic level, men’s league can be fun – if you are just there to enjoy the sport and are willing to set aside your ego. As long as you are approaching the sport for what it was originally created for—recreational enjoyment—a men’s or women’s league can be a great outlet. But if you run into someone who is there with the intention of reliving the glory days, problems are just around the corner.

Ultimately, I have to say that despite all the strikes against recreational basketball leagues you will still find me out on the court as long as my aging body will allow. If this means that I have to risk injury to continue to play, then that is the risk I am willing to take.

UFV LEGENDS Trevor Nickel EMAD EGAHI CONTRIBUTOR

Height: 6’5” Weight: 200 lbs Major: Criminal Justice/ Sociology minor Favourite class: Sociology of The Simpsons Favourite prof: Terry Anderson Favourite food: Salmon Favourite Abbotsford restaurant: Nando’s Favourite musical artist/ genre: Led Zeppelin/ Progressive Rock This season, the UFV men’s volleyball team put to court a very young side with only one graduating senior player. That player is none other than fifth-year middle, Trevor Nickel. The former MEI Eagle finished the year ninth among all PACWEST players with 43 blocks in 71 sets played.

Trevor also captained the Cascades to a 4-0 finish to the regular season which ensured yet another playoff appearance for UFV. Nickel sat down to talk a little about his five years wearing the green.

How did you get into volleyball, when did you first start playing?

In high school, it was kind of just the something to do before basketball season. The teams that I played on turned out to be really good and we started winning provincial championships. I was like, “this is a lot more fun!”

It seems as if basketball was your original focus, why did you decide to play collegiate volleyball instead?

There was just more options for me in volleyball. I was beginning to like it more; I started playing club and meeting guys who were

playing around the province.

I was starting to develop more connections that way and I was beginning to enjoy it more than basketball as well.

even so I had to work pretty hard in the offseason to improve and get stronger. I ended up getting the starting spot for the entire season.

How have you seen the UFV team grow or improve during your time here?

Well, my first year coming in we were number one in the country, we had a really good team.

Ever since my second year, we have been in a rebuilding phase; however, this last year was the peak of that so the team is only going to get better. All those younger guys coming up together will improve a lot next year and the year after that.

What made you commit to volleyball during your five years in university, what did you love about it?

Well just being able to compete and be on a team, you can’t really replicate that in life later on.

I savoured being able to be with a group of guys that are fun to hang out with, being able to compete night in and night out, and hey, it was nice to get a part of my schooling paid for as well.

How much have you needed to adjust from playing on a number one ranked team to having to battle for the final playoff spots in the league?

It was kind of taken for granted; we had all these older players who always got it done. Once they were gone, everyone needed new roles and it was hard to adjust.

What was your favourite memory of being a part of the team and why does it stand out?

Probably when we qualified for nationals in my second year, because we weren’t supposed to. It was just really exciting how we got there; we peaked at the end of the season and then we kind of destroyed teams to qualify, it was really exciting.

What was your biggest personal accomplishment as a member of the Cascades?

Coming in my first year and being able to play right away when I wasn’t expecting to. Being able to start in my second year was also one of my biggest accomplishments. That summer I was competing for the position with three other guys. We were all pretty

What would you say to recruits coming to UFV about playing volleyball here?

You’re coming into a great group of guys who will work hard every night. Everyone is friends; there is no animosity on the team.

It’s a really good team environment and the coaches help with that. It’s a great atmosphere to be in, competitive but relaxed at the same time.

Where to from here?

Well I’m graduating this semester and right now I’ve been applying to anywhere and everywhere.

I also plan on moving sometime in the next few months.

Do you have any idea how much you’re going to miss playing for the team; have you given that any thought yet?

Yeah, I will miss it. Obviously it will suck not being able to compete. The thing I’ll miss the most is just being able to have the rush feeling at the end of games, when you have to get those last few points in the clutch. Experiencing those feelings with our guys I’ll miss, but you got to move on and do other things.

Image: Tree Frog Imaging

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A perfect ending to a perfect season; UFV women’s volleyball takes CCAA gold EMAD EGAHI CONTRIBUTOR

image: Lakeland College

Senior Kayla Bruce leading her team in the handshake tradition after the final set.

The Cascades came into the CCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championship in familiar territory – once again they were heavy favourites to win every game. The tournament was hosted by Lloydminster, Alberta’s Lakeland College and featured teams representing four provinces from across Canada. With the elimination of previous power houses: VIU and Douglas College in the PACWEST playoffs, the door was open for new finalists in this year’s competition.

The Cascades opened up the competition with a quarter-final

image: Lakeland College

Setter Kira Tome contests a play at the net in the national finals against the Lakeland Rustlers.

matchup Thursday, against the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics from Halifax, Nova Scotia. MSVU, much like UFV, had been dominant all season. The Mystics came into the game undefeated thus far with an 18-0 league record and an Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) trophy in their back pocket. This was a clash of East versus West as both teams geared for their toughest opponent yet.

UFV managed to finish on top in each of the first two sets by close scores of 25-23 and 25-22, building a crucial early lead and leaving MSVU with the daunting task of having to win the next three sets in a row. The Mystics were able to pull one back as they won the third set 25-21, but that was as close as they would come. UFV closed out the match with a 25-20 fourth set win to slot themselves into Friday’s semifinal matchups. Jenna Evans had a great all-around game for the Cascades, finishing with 11 digs, four aces, and 12 kills. Brittany Stewart also had an impressive game-high 23 digs for UFV. Next up for the Cascades was another division winner from the RSEQ, Collège François-XavierGarneau. Garneau was 15-1 in league play and was coming off a 3-1 win over NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) in the quarter-finals. For the first time in championship play this season, UFV was faced with an early deficit as Garneau jumped out to a 25-19 first set win. The set loss proved to be a quick wake-up call for UFV, who came out firing in the next set winning 25-13. The next two sets also went to UFV by scores of 25-17 and 25-22. Kayla Bruce had a strong performance offensively for the Cascades by

contributing 13 kills, eight blocks, and four aces. Krista Hogewoning had a game high 14 kills. The win placed UFV in the championship final Saturday night against host team Lakeland College.

Lakeland finished 17-3 in ACAC play this season and had only lost one set in their previous two matches in the tournament.

UFV and Lakeland had not previously faced each other during the season; however, the Cascades were the consensus favourites to come out on top. The game was a one-sided affair for the two first sets as UFV dominantly won each set with scores of 25-12 and 2510. Lakeland came up with more fight in the third set, but could only get up to 20 points and UFV closed the match with a 25-20 win.

Kira Tome was named player of the game, providing several key assists. Kayla Bruce and Jenna Evans lead the surge offensively with 11 and seven kills respectively.

UFV’s Jenna Evans was given the tournament MVP honours while Kayla Bruce and Brittany Stewart were named tournament First Team All-Stars. Katie Bilodeau was also named a Second Team All-Star.

Winning it all at the CCAA national championship is a fitting ending to what has been a season to remember for UFV women’s volleyball. Dominance is something that the Cascades became accustomed to throughout the year. They have brought home a league title, a PACWEST championship trophy, and now a CCAA national championship trophy. Dennis Bokenfohr has implemented a winning tradition in here at UFV, as the coach to a phenomenal group of student athletes. Congratulations ladies!

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Congratulations from The Cascade!

Image: Lakeland College