Oct. 14, 2015

OMEGA THE

THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

ISSUE 06 NO.

VOLUME 25

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OCTOBER 14, 2015

NEWS

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OCTOBER 14, 2015

Coming Out and Being Out explores LGBTQ life

Struggles and experiences shared in campus forum hosted by TRUSU

TRU prof. Silvia Straka speaking at the Pride event “Coming Out and Being Out.” (Jennifer Will/Ω)

Jennifer Will CONTRIBUTOR Ω It was a full house in the TRUSU Lecture Hall on Oct. 9. A panel of three, including TRU professor Silvia Straka and TRU students Valen Onstine

and Laura Hsu, discussed many common misconceptions about the LGBTQ community. They shared their experiences and their struggles of coming out.

A commonly agreed-upon struggle of coming out to the panelists was having to come out every single day, because

there will always be people who don’t know.

After the discussion the audience broke into five groups of eight to talk about their personal stories and struggles.

TRUSU LGBTQ rep Julian Simpson facilitated the event and is an active advocate for

other LGBTQ students at TRU. Simpson said events like this are important because they “facilitate conversations that normally people wouldn’t talk about. This is a chance to get people empowered and for people who are not part of the communities to become allies.

People want to have the discussions, people want to bring it to the facility, and by bringing it to the facility it trickles down.

That process of trickling down is vital for change. People are always talking about radical change; my radical change is being the dandelion of queer, I spread my seeds and hope they land in the right places.”

Elise Huffman is an animal health technology student at the university.

Huffman said, “For me, I never really came out, it was never really a big event. I’m just myself, but people are constantly asking me ‘oh so are you this thing?’ and I always have to explain to them that I’m this thing and that thing. There isn’t one label to fit my entire identity. I find it really affirming to

just be myself out in public. It’s a really nice feeling that not a lot of queer people may not always have, so when they’re able to just be themselves it can be really difficult.”

Huffman asked other students to imagine what it would be like to be told that your identity is wrong and to have to repress it and be someone else. To anyone in the LGBTQ community who hasn’t come out yet, Huffman advised “be kind to yourself, and remind people to be kind to you. Don’t tolerate people who are not kind to you. You might feel comfortable coming out one day and you might not, and that’s okay too. Just be yourself, do things that make you happy and do things that make you feel safe. Just be unapologetically yourself and the rest will come.”

More events like this one are in the works, and there are Pride meetings every Friday night at TRU. If you are in need of help or need someone to talk to about coming out or being out, you can call 310-855-4673 or text TEEN to 839863.

Kappa Beta Gamma hosts class on importance of voting Peter Navratil CONTRIBUTOR Ω On the evening of Oct. 6, a class was held outside the usual hours and the usual subject matter of instruction at TRU. The purpose of this class, hosted by the Kappa Beta Gamma Sorority, was to increase student knowledge of voting.

Kassie Atkins of the sorority said that by giving students the opportunity to come and learn, it was hoped they would see how voting “will actually affect [the] country, and [how] it is important.”

The guest speaker for the class was Bill Sundhu, the NDP candidate for the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding. Ten students attended the event.

When asked how the presenter role was filled, Atkins said that Kamloops City Council and TRU

faculty members were contacted, but Sundhu was eventually chosen because of his expertise in the field, his history as a human rights lawyer and because he “showed a general interest” in the idea of the class. No other local election candidates were contacted.

Sundhu began the evening by talking about the Magna Carta and the history that has gone into forming Canada’s democracy.

Sundhu went on to speak about how important it is for people to vote and take advantage of our democracy. Sundhu then answered questions from the students in attendance concerning the Senate, the upcoming election and voting.

Some advice about the electoral process given by Sundhu included voting on a special ballot for your home riding if you are not in your place of residence on election day and going to the elections office to vote early if you are not available

NDP candidate Bill Sundhu was a guest speaker at the Oct. 6 event. (Peter Navratil/The Omega) on Oct. 19.

Only 61 per cent of Canadians came out to vote in the previous election. Sundhu was adamant that in order for political change to occur in Canada, more people, especially young people, needed to come out to vote. When people

vote “the conversation changes and the result changes,” Sundhu said.

When asked why he felt it was important for him to come to this event amidst a busy campaign schedule, Sundhu said it is key “to have a healthy informed public,

and democracy is the number one principle.”

Atkins said that she was happy with the result of the event and that the sorority is planning more classes in the future with topics such as student budgeting, addiction and taxes.

Mental Health Matters: on dealing with depression Daniel Hicks CONTRIBUTOR Ω I have had a mental illness since I was 16 years old and was misdiagnosed a number of times and put on medication that didn’t work for me. When my doctor took me off of that medication, I felt great. I was never tired like I had been and was able to think better than

I could before. A year after making changes, I finished my high school upgrading so I could get into university.

The reason that I wanted to do these articles was that there is not a lot of education on mental health that is done through people who have it.

In this article, I want to talk about depression. It’s an illness that a lot of people suffer from.

Robin Williams suffered from

depression and had an illness called bipolar disorder. When he was up, he was good, but when he was down, he was really down. Most of his friends and family knew that he was bipolar but they didn’t know at the time that he was suicidal that he would take his own life like he did.

If you think that you have depression and don’t know what to do about it, you can get

help for it and there are places you can go. The one place as I mentioned in my last column is the Canadian Mental Health Association, but you should see the mental health office on Lansdowne St. They can assess you and tell you what to do, and then they can suggest what to do next. There is also help if you are suicidal, available by calling the Kamloops Urgent Response Team at 250-828-4438 (8:30 a.m.

to 4:30 p.m.) or 250-377-0088 (4:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.).

Now if you ever need to talk to me about anything, I am at TRU Monday to Friday usually from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can email me at hicksd14@mytru.ca.

I have a little experience in helping people who need help, but not that much, but since I have a mental illness I can offer an understanding that some others can’t.

OPINION & EDITORIAL

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Rise and fall has created a centre-left dilemma Progressive contenders in the region are right to pursue a win, but does either one have a chance?

Sean Brady EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω It seems like there are only two kinds of people who don’t put any stock in the polls: party or candidate loyalists and the candidates themselves. I understand why anyone would hesitate to believe them – there’s been more than a few instances where they’ve been completely wrong. But they’ve been right plenty of times, too.

Point is, they’re the only indication we’ve got as to how a party is doing.

Me? I’ve been glued to sites like ThreeHundredEight.com and various other news organizations’ poll trackers. With constantly updated polls from Nanos, EKOS,

Forum, Angus Reid, Mainstreet, Léger, Ipsos Reid, Innovative, Abacus and probably more, an aggregated result makes a lot of sense. You can easily spot the outliers and get a pretty good idea of what the situation looks like.

Federally, as of the Monday, Oct. 12 figures on CBC’s Poll Tracker, the Liberal party leads with 34.2 per cent, with the Conservatives trailing closely with 31.7 per cent and the NDP continuing to fall at 23.4 per cent.

It would appear that the Canadian hive mind is slowly making a decision.

But while the Liberals emerge as the progressive choice federally, the situation here in Kamloops is more complicated. Riding high

on federal support, local Liberal candidate Steve Powrie is still campaigning hard and hoping for a win, despite his party’s dismal 5.3 per cent showing in 2011 and not-much-better showing of 9.8 per cent in 2008. Powrie is banking on federal support to transfer over to local support. By one indication, it might.

Along with federal poll aggregation, Éric Grenier’s ThreeHundredEight.com also makes riding projections for every riding in Canada. (For the curious and skeptical, Grenier provides his methodology and a history of how accurate his projections have been on his website.)

In the Kamloops–Thompson– Cariboo, Powrie is projected to pull in 13.9 per cent of the vote

and Cathy McLeod is projected to have a 63 per cent chance of winning the riding with a vote share of 41.7 per cent (as of Monday, Oct. 12).

Before the Liberals surged, NDP candidate Bill Sundhu and Conservative Cathy McLeod were tied around 40 per cent. Sundhu’s lead has since evaporated and he’s now projected to bring in 35.7 per cent, largely due to rising Liberal support. For progressive voters, this has created a dilemma that is likely to worsen.

Sundhu feels bolstered by the polls and the riding’s history of moderate NDP support, while Powrie feels bolstered by Trudeau’s success at the federal level. In reality, however, they may both be disappointed and the

victims of each other’s success.

Meanwhile, it seems unlikely that Powrie can overcome the riding’s history of not voting Liberal and gain enough support to beat Sundhu, let alone McLeod.

Instead, what seems likely is that progressive support will be further divided in the final days of the election, leading to another victory for McLeod.

Strategic voters have pointed to the NDP as the “Anything But Conservative” vote of choice for the riding. Judging by this riding’s projections, that’s still the “ABC” party of choice.

Of course, trying to predict the results of an election is a fool’s game – but really, I’m okay with looking foolish in this case. editor@truomega.ca

Is sharing a link an endorsement?

On Monday, Oct. 12, Kamloops City Councilor Donovan Cavers was called out for sharing a recent Vice Motherboard article titled “‘Sluts Against Harper’ Will Send You Nudes for Voting.”

YOU

Conservative candidate Cathy McLeod issued a press release saying Cavers’ actions were “appalling” and that the idea was degrading towards women.

What do

think?

Cavers fired back with a press release of his own, saying that it was McLeod who owed women an apology instead, referring to programs cut by the Harper government and citing his own history of advocating for women. He also insisted that sharing a link isn’t endorsing an idea, and that he often shares articles he is critical of.

Some called the story the product of a slow news day, others an opportunistic distraction that McLeod jumped on. But what do you think?

Share your thoughts.

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Write to editor@truomega.ca.

THE OMEGA STUDENT NEWSPAPER • PUBLISHED SINCE NOVEMBER 27,1991

Publisher and Board

Editorial Staff

Cariboo Student Newspaper Society TRU Campus, Old Main, OM2691 900 McGill Rd, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 0C8 Phone: 250-828-5069 Advertising inquiries: www.truomega.ca/advertise or email accounts@truomega.ca

Editor-in-Chief Sean Brady News Editor Jim Elliot News Editor Wade Tomko Arts Editor Marlys Klossner

Publishing Board

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF INDUSTRY REP FACULTY REP STUDENT REP STUDENT REP STUDENT REP

Sports Editor Cameron Doherty

Sean Brady Christopher Foulds Charles Hays Kim Anderson Mason Buettner Vacant

Copy Editor Annie Slizak

Production Coordinator Rachel Wood

Letters Policy

Literary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Omega will attempt to publish each letter received, barring time and space constraints. The editor will take care not to change the intention or tone of submissions, but will not publish material deemed to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. Letters for publication must include the writer’s name (for publication) and contact details (not for publication). The Omega reserves the right not to publish any letter or submitted material.

Opinions expressed in any section with an “Opinion” label do not represent those of The Omega, the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society, its Board of Directors or its staff. Opinions belong only to those who have signed them.

Contributing Writers Daniel Hicks, Jonathan Malloy Brock Morford, Peter Navratil, Jennifer Will

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CONTRIBUTE

WRITE FOR US! We’re always looking for contributors.

If you’re interested in writing for us, make sure you check out our contributor guidelines found at:

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ARTS

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By Levin C. Handy (per http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpbh.04326) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

You don’t have to sit in school to stand among greatness.

› Thomas Edison: The world’s most extraordinary failure never gave up.

Thank goodness.

open. online. everywhere. go.athabascau.ca/online-courses

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Questioning reality in AWT’s Back to Beulah Annie Slizak COPY EDITOR Ω TRU’s very own Actors Workshop Theatre (AWT) kicked off their 2015-16 season last week with the opening of “Back to Beulah,” directed by Robin Nichol. The play, written by Canadian playwright W.O. Mitchell, follows the lives of three mental patients and their doctor, all of whom have moved out of the mental institution (Beulah) and into a halfway house.

Harriet, Betty and Agnes (Maddison Hartloff, Jessica Buchanan and Selena Tobin) live downstairs, and their doctor, Dr. Margaret Anders (Morgan Benedict) frequently visits the three women from her room on the ground floor. The action of the play focuses on the three patients and how they go about their daily lives, always wary of something they might do or say that could be the reason they are sent back to Beulah.

The play begins innocently enough, with the characters getting themselves ready to enjoy the upcoming holidays, but audience members are quickly enlightened to the play’s overlying theme: who defines sanity and reality? When things in the halfway house take a turn for the worse, the audience is forced to decide what is right and what is wrong; what is real and what isn’t. The play is an emotional one, and the actors all do an excellent job of clearly delivering their lines with passion. If I may forewarn those planning on seeing this play, be ready for a lot of swearing and a lot of screaming.

TRU’s Black Box Theatre is not a large space, but the AWT construction crew was able to make it appear larger than it is with their set’s high walls (suggesting a high ceiling) and breakaway walls that open the space up even more. The stage has two acting areas: the

interior of the halfway house and its exterior, which include the stairs leading up to Dr. Anders’ room and the boiler that Joe (Daniel Moen) works on at the beginning of the play. Even though the wall separating the two areas is cut away, audience members seated to the far left might have a difficult time seeing into the “exterior” space. Furthermore, visibility is very limited in the kitchen of the halfway house. This room is closed off from the main acting area by cupboards that have a pass-through between the two rooms, but the overhead cupboards are positioned directly at head level for the actors, and it is difficult to see or hear any action taking place behind them.

Even though visibility is an issue, it is not extremely difficult to follow the action of the play.

The excellent casting allows the

characters’ personalities to really shine through, and I was able to sympathise with them throughout the entirety of the show. This is not a play one can simply walk away from: it invites conversation and contemplation, even after leaving the theatre, everyone walks away considering “aren’t we all a little mad sometimes?”

Back to Beulah runs Oct. 15 to 17, with doors opening at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are available at the box office in Old Main (next to Starbucks) or online at kamloopslive. ca. Tickets are $14 each, or you can get a season ticket to all four shows for $40. Be sure to catch AWT’s upcoming productions, Mail Order Bride at the end of November, The Love of the Nightingale at the end of February and their 17th annual Directors Festival at the beginning of April.

The tables turn when the doctor is questioned. (Emily-May Photo)

Film review: The Martian, or “a man and his potatoes” Jonathan Malloy CONTRIBUTOR Ω A dark, starry sky slowly lowers onto the desolate and dusty crimson sphere. Mars, a planet usually associated with barren landscapes, is given new life with this adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon.

The film follows astronaut-botanist Mark Whatney (Damon) as he is stranded on the red planet following a violent storm that forces the rest of his crew to abandon him. The power of reasonable deduction and good humour act as Whatney’s greatest strengths in his attempt to survive the hostile environment

and wait for his colleagues back on Earth to formulate a feasible, and financially-capable, rescue.

The illustrious cast provides a vast canvas for Scott to bounce between comedy and drama as each scene transitions from Mars to Earth, and in between.

Kate Mara, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Michael Peña and several others all provide excellent performances and grip into the dense text adapted

by Daredevil showrunner Drew Godard.

Two performances that stand out of this glowing cast come from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Community alumnus Donald Glover as scientists tasked with bringing Whatney home. They bring a diversity to the scientific community by showing strong-willed

men who do not back down in the face of a challenge.

Rounding out the film is a stellar performance from an always-on-form Damon. His work to bring humanity to his character distances himself from the pantheon of “lone survivor” types in films with his wit and positive outlook on the situation, be it from tending to a necessary crop of potatoes to flipping off the commissioner of NASA. While it would have been nice to peek into the darker side of total seclusion, the performance is on point and one of the front runners for this year’s soar season.

Treading on possible relations to last year’s Interstellar, Scott takes the great unknown and brings it beautifully to life in the

best film of his recent catalogue while distinctly varying the wellknown look to mine something new and interesting. This is indeed thanks to recent collaborator Dariusz Wolski who brings the vast, open expanses to the screen in stunning oranges and popping (in this case due to the well used 3D) visuals.

Tying together in a well-rounded and entertaining final act, the film almost runs too long at 141 minutes but keeps interest all the way through until the last frame. The stellar cast and smart direction take the material to an altogether different level: one that not only makes The Martian a smart and funny movie, but also as one of the year’s best. So dust off your 3D glasses and strap in for lift off. 4.7/5 Loops.

The Martian, starring Matt Damon, is in theatres now.

(Twentieth Century Fox)

WWW.TRUOMEGA.CA

ELECTION DAY: OCTOBER 19

WAYS to

VOTE 1 On Election Day

Elections Canada can tell you where your local polling station is. Just enter your postal code at: www.elections.ca to get information on where you should go to vote on voting day (or before).

2 On Campus TRUSU will have an on-campus polling station in the TRUSU Lecture Hall that will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This poll is only open to students who live on campus.

3 In another riding According to Elections Canada, “If you live in two places – one while at school, the other while away from school – choose which one you consider home and use that address to register. You vote for a candidate in the riding where your home address is located.”

4 Right now

NEWS

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Don’t put water on that grease fire! (and other safety tips to not burn your house down) Wade Tomko NEWS EDITOR Ω Just because Fire Prevention Week ended last Saturday doesn’t mean you can start slacking on your efforts to prepare for a possible fire.

For many young people, attending university is their first experience of living on their own.

They don’t have mom or dad there to cook their meals, wash their socks and clean up after them.

Therefore it is imperative that you, as a student living on your own, know what to do when faced with fighting a fire, as well as what measures you can take to prevent fires from happening in your dorm, basement suite, apartment or wherever you may be living.

TRU has been fortunate in that it hasn’t had very many serious fires involving on- or off- campus student residences. The last major fire involving students happened at Copper Ridge Court in 2012, when a fire started in a third-floor laundry room and forced the evacuation of over 100 residents, many of them students at TRU. In 2007, a fire started by a hookah in an off-campus residence claimed the lives of two UVic students in Victoria. Kamloops Fire Rescue Captain Sheldon Guertin said he would rather not have a devastating fire like that happen here, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prepare for one.

“Make sure wherever you are staying has a working smoke alarm. Off-campus residences need them just as much as on-campus residences, and although landlords must provide them, not all of them keep their smoke detectors up to date. Test them at least once a month,” Guertin said.

He added that it is especially important that you have a smoke alarm either inside or directly outside of your bedroom. In recent weeks, this has been heavily reiterated by fire halls across Canada and the U.S. as part of the “Hear the beep where you sleep” campaign. Only four in ten North Americans have a smoke alarm in their bedroom, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The faster you’re alerted to

a fire, the more likely you are to survive.

Of course not all fires will creep up on you in your sleep – 83 per cent of fires start from cooking mishaps.

“Most of the fires that that we deal with involving university students are started by young males in their twenties,” said Guertin. “Lots of them don’t know the basics of cooking, like not to put water on a grease fire. If you’re dealing with a stove-top fire, cover it and smother it.”

Guertin also said that you should never hesitate to call 911, especially if you’re not sure you can put out the fire. Calling 911 is the safest way to protect you and your property in the event of a fire, and though there is a common perception that calling emergency will net you a charge, Guertin promised that playing it safe would not result in a fine.

As a student living on your own you should invest in fire damage personal insurance as well. For $300 to $400, you’ll be making sure that if fire does destroy your property, you’ll have it replaced with no cost to you.

For their part, TRU conducts fire safety drills three times a year and conducts an emergency overview at the beginning of every school year. TRU safety officer Stacey Jyrkkanen said that both staff and faculty are taught fire safety and what to do in an emergency, such as marshalling students to rally points. These teachings are, in turn, passed on to students when fire drills are conducted.

Residence buildings, like the ones on McGill, have their own plans for safe evacuation in the case of a major fire too. All smoke alarms are checked regularly and a fire drill is conducted annually. If an evacuation is ordered, students can feel safe knowing that residence staff check each accessible room before leaving the building themselves.

The first step in fire prevention still rests with you, however.

Wherever you may be staying, make sure your living space and kitchen is neat and uncluttered, make sure no electrical cords are covered and never leave what you are cooking unattended.

Did you know you can vote right now? If you vote by special ballot by visiting an Elections Canada office, you can get your vote in before Election Day. The office is located at corner of Columbia St. and Summit Dr. Visit elections.ca for more information.

More safety tips from Kamloops Fire Rescue – Do not overload your electrical outlets - If you need more plug-ins use a POWER BAR with Can-UL certification.

– Check your power cords for any excess wear or cuts – It is never a bad idea to have one or more fire extinguishers in your home - typically one in the kitchen and one in the garage – Extinguishers should be ABC classification – If you are storing any gasoline or other flammable liquids, make sure they are stored in cooler and well ventilated areas away from any sources of ignition – If you use candles, make sure they are never left unattended. Make sure you extinguish them if you leave the house – Don’t forget to empty your lint trap in the dryer after every load of laundry. Excess lint in the lint trap or ducting does not allow for the proper drying of clothes and can cause lint to build up in other areas of the dryer where they may cause a fire hazard – If you have a grease fire on your stove never attempt to carry the pot outside. Doing so may result in serious burn injury to yourself or excess fire spread if the pot is dropped. Put the lid on to extinguish the fire, or use your home fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Always call the local fire department if you have any kind of fire in your home, even if you believe you have the fire extinguished – If you have a designated smoking area on the outside of your home, make sure you have a proper container to dispose of the smoking material. Never use a pot planter or plastic container as your ash tray or extinguishment container

LEARN MORE: ELECTIONS.CA Not sure if you can put out a fire? Don’t hesitate, call 911. (File photo)

For more information, visit kamloops.ca/firerescue

ARTS

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OCTOBER 14, 2015

Q&A

with Hyena Road writer, director, star Paul Gross Marlys Klossner ARTS EDITOR Ω Marlys Klossner: After making Passchendaele, which was an arduous process, you said that you’d never make another war movie again, and then you visited Afghanistan and made another war movie.

What happened?

Paul Gross: War films are so phenomenally complicated to do, and they cost an enormous amount of money, so I just thought I’d try and do something different. But then I went to Afghanistan for the first time, as a group who went to visit the troops, and I was absolutely thunderstruck by this place. I don’t know exactly what I expected to encounter, but it wasn’t that.

It was so complicated, so busy, so lethal, so opaque, and seemed to bear no relationship at all to what I’d been led to believe by the government or the media for the most part. We did have some good correspondents, but largely I think it was not a terribly well-covered endeavour. I thought that at the very least I should go back with a camera team and try to understand it a little better and photograph it, because at that time they were already pulling out of combat.

I went back a few months later, and spent a couple of weeks outside the wire. It was in that trip that I talked to soldiers and was meeting Afghans who worked with us as informants or liaison guys, so I got a pretty good sense of what we were doing there. I filled up a bunch of notebooks with extraordinary anecdotes and stories from soldiers of all sorts of ranks.

When I got home, looking through all of it, I could see lines in there. I called my old friend and producing partner and I said “Gosh, I think there might be a movie here.”

I could practically hear his head fall into his hands.

Four years later we finally came out with this movie. I really didn’t want to do another one, I really wasn’t planning on it, but being there I thought, this is kind of important that we try and do something with this.

MK: What is it about Canadian war dramas that gets you thinking “people need to hear this story”?

PG: I think it’s about war dramas in general. It’s one of the constants of human history. Someone said to me, and I can’t confirm it, but they said that there’s only 29 years that there was actually peace and a war is not being fought somewhere.

In terms of this specific war, I think Canadians had a pretty poor understanding of it. I don’t think

Paul Gross, director of the 2008 film Passchendaele, wrote, directed and starred in Hyena Road, which opened Oct. 9. (Image submitted) I was alone in my ignorance. I think a great swath of us didn’t have any sense of what was really going on, what was expected of [the soldiers]. I think at the very least, if, as a country, we say to our fellow citizens and neighbours “would you please go over there and fight on our behalf” we ought to understand what it is we’re asking them to do.

Furthermore, I think the state of the world right now is extraordinarily unstable, and it seems unlikely that we won’t be engaged in another conflict in the not too distant future. It would be good for all of us in this country to have an idea of what it is we mean when we say we would like you to go into this country.

MK: Who are the three characters we follow in Hyena Road?

PG: The main character is Ryan, he’s a master sniper. We know what snipers do. In the military they call it the kinetic war, the shooting war. He is relatively morally clear in that there are lots of rules to follow and if they are broken, then he can engage. To some extent the kinetic war is very clear, which I couldn’t understand until I was there.

My character is an intelligence officer. He works in what you might call the field of hearts and minds.

That seems to have a great deal more weight to it, however it’s much murkier than I was initially aware of. It’s a lot of maneuvering people in positions of power, say pushing someone acting against our interests down in the pecking order.

It was funny, early when I was there, this intelligence officer said “We work in the field in Psy Ops [psychological warfare],” so I said, “You work in the field of hearts and minds.” He said “Yeah,” and I said “So you build schools and irrigation projects.” He kind of made a face and said, “You know, mostly what we do is give people a lot of money to induce them to do things that are otherwise uncomfortable.”

I had no idea that that’s what that was, so that became part of the film. Those agendas, the kinetic side and the non-kinetic side don’t always agree, they’re not always compatible.

Then you introduce the Afghans themselves, with whom we were in

partnership. We weren’t fighting with them, we were trying to build a country with them. Their character is known as the ghost. He’s a real guy, I met him when I was there.

He was Mujahid [an active Jihadist] in a war against the Soviets and he kind of emerges out of obscurity. His agenda is unknown to the Canadian soldiers, but for a period of time they work together, and that culminates with unforeseen results.

“

“It was so complicated, so busy, so lethal, so opaque, and seemed to bear no relationship at all to what I’d been led to believe by the government or the media for the most part.,” Paul Gross Writer, director, star in Hyena Road

MK: You got to work in two amazing places for this film: Jordan and the Canadian Forces Base Shilo, north of Winnipeg. What was filming there like? Did it add another level of difficulty?

PG: Not really. Jordan’s a great country with a fairly robust tradition of film. A lot of movies are shot there. The Martian came and shot a week after we left. They’re used to having film around. Obviously, they’re in a terrible neighbourhood.

There’s problems going around all of their borders, but Jordan’s quite stable for now which is remarkable considering what all its neighbours are like.

It is obviously a completely different culture. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Middle East, so I’m quite used to it, but for most of our actors and a big chunk of our crew it was a really alien world to go into. For the actors it was perfect because I really wanted them to be somewhere where it didn’t feel like home. They had to be constantly feeling like they were in a strange place, as they would if they were in the armed forces. The

Jordanian aspect of the shoot was terrific.

Equally the Shilo part because there were lots of soldiers around so everybody had access to soldiers in terms of advice and council, like with costume design and props.

The film has a really high degree of authenticity and accuracy.

MK: Was it at all nerve-wracking having these troops around while you made a project about them?

PG: It wasn’t so much nerve-wracking. I mean everyone wanted to honour what they had been doing as far as trying to do it properly. What I did find, was that if I wrote something, and I didn’t really know what I was talking about, let’s say an ambush on Khandahar City, lots of times a soldier would say “that’s not actually how we would do it, we’d do this and that.” Usually what they had come in to tell me was better than anything I had written, so I would immediately switch it. It worked largely to our benefit almost all the time.

MK: What was the technical preparation for Hyena Road like?

PG: There’s a huge amount of props to assemble. The designing itself was very complicated because we didn’t have a lot of money. Arv Greywal, our production designer, was a magician. He was able to do a lot with very little. We had to build an entire Afghan village in Jordan.

We had to build a big chunk of a forward operating base at Shilo.

In order to accomplish that we had to figure out ahead of time what I needed to see in cameras. We weren’t building unnecessarily big sets that I wasn’t going to photograph, but that were also big enough to keep a level of reality. And then trying to figure out how to shoot a film as complex as this in 30 days was really tricky.

The head of photography [Karim Hussain] is a lunatic and a genius and he and I spent hours and hours going through every scene. In order to be able to do a fairly ambitious film like this with very little money you have to have every little thing planned out. Of course, none of it ever happens the way you planned it, but you can shift quickly because you thought it all through.

MK: With Hyena Road as well as your past films Passchendaele

and Men With Brooms, which you wrote, directed and starred in, have you ever considered hiring another person and giving yourself a break?

PG: [laughs] I do all the time, it just never seems to fall out that way. The thing is for the most part these jobs don’t all happen at once.

The writing ideally is finished by the time you get to starting the shoot. The acting, I guess because I’m recognizable in Canada, the distribution company wanted me in it. As far as the direction goes, I sort of felt that if a director had not been to Afghanistan, it would be very difficult for that person to have a sense of what they needed to capture, what the atmosphere was like. I don’t know any other directors that have made that trip.

Plus I have a little bit of ADD. If you’re just acting you spend a lot of time just sitting around, but if you’re doing two jobs, you’re always busy, and I like it that way. I’m just trying to control my own problems by being busy.

MK: What’s your status on war movies now, would you make another one?

PG: Oh God, I hope not.

MK: That’s what you said last time.

PG: I know. I don’t suppose I will.

I’ve been in there long enough. But it was interesting to do Passchendaele and then do this one. Passchendaele takes place at the formation of modern Canada. You could argue that Canada came into itself, came to be a separate country in the course of that dreadful war.

There is a direct line between the Canadian expeditionary force in 1914 to the soldiers in Afghanistan. I see it as a kind of a bookend, where we came from and where we are now.

MK: Do you have any other projects on the horizon?

PG: I’ve got a couple of things on the go. I’m doing a play with my wife in Toronto. We start rehearsing end of October and go through until Christmas.

Next year I’m either going to do a tiny little feature I have, which does not involve warfare, or I’ve got a couple of television pilots which may get picked up, in which case I’ll probably be getting ready for those.

Hyena Road opened in theatres around the country on Oct. 9.

ARTS

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Gob brings ‘90s angst rock revival to the Grotto Marlys Klossner ARTS EDITOR Ω Langley band Gob played at the Blue Grotto on Oct. 7. The show was the first stop on a cross-Canada tour which will take them east to Toronto and back.

Opening the show was Floorboards, a Kamloops emo punk band who performed their last show before disbanding. They closed their passionate performance with the offhand remark “this is our last song ever,” which is not something you hear at your average concert.

Next up was Montreal band Boids, who is touring with Gob. Boids built up the hype and the crowd before it reached its peak with Gob’s performance.

Unfortunately, we could barely hear the lyrics during Gob’s performance, with the volume from the mics almost completely overpowered by the instruments.

This didn’t seem to matter to Gob fans, who sang along themselves, especially during the closing numbers “I Hear You Calling” and “Give Up The Grudge.”

The crowd was slow to build, but decent for an event in the middle of the week. They were

clearly there more for the music than for the party, and in between acts the dancefloor emptied completely.

The audience was what you would expect. Men who grew up with Gob relived their days as a teen by moshing with moderate violence. Their enthusiasm was palpable, and even before Gob took to the stage, a group of five determined men began shoving each other excitedly.

Gob’s music is the kind that would be as at home on an episode of The OC as in a teen boy’s headphones as he screams “You just don’t understand!”

because his mom won’t buy him skinny jeans. Gob’s sound hits the sweet spot between generic dissatisfaction and accessibility that made so many rock bands in the early 2000s successes.

In between sets Gob pandered to their fans with some good-natured swearing for the sake of swearing, as they tried to fill time between songs.

Gob also debuted a new song that they had never played in

public before, and isn’t on their latest album. In lead singer Tom Thacker’s own words, “this is a really hard one to play, so hopefully we’ll get through it.” They did, and it certainly showcased the group’s musical ability.

As I found myself succumbing to the nostalgia, I couldn’t help but think “I might be a loser, but at least I’m not alone.”

Photos by Marlys Klossner

Don’t be late for WCT’s Film review: Far From The Madding Crowd “Don’t Dress for Dinner” Carey Mulligan plays a woman in a Victoria-era love triangle Annie Slizak COPY EDITOR Ω Those who saw Western Canada Theatre’s production of Boeing Boeing back in 2013 will be delighted to know that the theatre company is now showing its sequel, “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” at the Sagebrush Theatre from now through Oct. 17.

Regardless of its status as a sequel, don’t assume you had to have seen the first show to be able to enjoy this one. Although it makes use of many of the same characters, Don’t Dress for Dinner has a madcap new plot that will be enjoyed by all audience members.

Typical of classic farce, Don’t Dress for Dinner has tons of zany twists and turns revolving around multiple love triangles (a love hexagon?) It is obvious the actors know the script inside and out, as they are able to turn the dinner into a real affair that has audience members laughing the whole way through. The play is rife with dramatic irony, so even though it

has a terribly twisted storyline, it is not difficult to follow. This is aided by the actors’ amazing ability to play off each other’s words and actions with well-executed banter.

Also typical of farce is physical comedy, of which Don’t Dress for Dinner has no shortage. Actors make use of the entire multi-leveled stage and interact with furniture, props, costumes and each other in unusual and entertaining ways. It is obvious to see they are working hard and putting their all into the performance by the beads of sweat rolling down their faces obvious even to those seated far back into the audience.

By the end of the play, all of the confusion is more or less worked out, albeit in a bit of an unconventional way. But with a show as crazy as Don’t Dress for Dinner, who could expect anything else?

Student tickets for this show cost $19 and can be purchased online at kamloopslive.ca or at the Kamloops Live! Box Office located in the Pavilion Theatre on Lorne Street.

Marlys Klossner ARTS EDITOR Ω On Oct. 8, the Kamloops Film Society held a showing of Far From The Madding Crowd, the story of a Victorian love triangle based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Hardy.

Carey Mulligan stars as Bathsheba Everdene, a woman more independent than most of her time, yet irresistible to most of the men she comes across.

Beginning in 1870, Everdene inherits her uncle’s farm, and proves her worth in running it and contributing to the manual labour. Soon however, her romantic entanglements take centre stage.

First is Gabriel Oak, played

by Matthias Schoenaerts, a sheep herder who proposes to Everdene. Everdene turns him down because she dislikes the principle of having a husband, and hires Oak to work as a bailiff on her farm after his sheepdog drives his flock over a cliff. Oak

is the constant, waiting in the wings and calling Everdene out for leading him on.

Next is William Boldwood, played by Martin Sheen.

Boldwood is a well-off, highly sought-after older bachelor, to whom Everdene sends a Valentine’s Day card on a whim. This sparks his interest, and he too proposes to her.

Third is Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Francis Troy, a passionate and impulsive man, with whom Everdene has instant chemistry.

They elope.

Each of the male leads inspires sympathy, though some more than others. They are portrayed as real people, rather than caricatures, which happens with many a love triangle in film.

The film is an ode to pastoralism, with gorgeous sweeping shots of horses running through picturesque countryside.

Compared to a lot of other films out this year, this one is rather subdued, with most of the tension just below the

surface. What distinguishes this film from being just another period piece are the sincere performances and beautiful dialogue directly from the pages of Thomas Hardy’s book.

Through a series of misfortunes and questionable decisions, Everdene frets between the men, eventually discovering that the one she really loved was there all along, surprising no one. Although the fact that the outcome is so expected could be a mark against the film, it only makes the ending so much more satisfying and makes you emotionally invested.

Throughout the film, Everdene learns when to compromise, and when to nurture her stubbornness.

Compared to other period pieces it moves at a brisk pace.

It is a beautifully presented tale of romance. There will be people who find Far From The Madding Crowd boring, but those who do would probably be watching Avengers: Age of Ultron or San Andreas instead.

NEWS

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OCTOBER 14, 2015

International student tuition sees slight change Those calling for changes not happy with new tuition model – some fees up, some down Jim Elliot NEWS EDITOR Ω TRU has changed how international students are charged tuition, leaving the flat-rate model which many claimed led to higher tuition fees. The new system, approved at a Sept. 25 Board of Governors meeting, will replace the current flatrate model with a hybrid model that will combine flat-rate and per-credit billing. The new model is expected to come into effect in the fall of 2016.

The current system has all international undergraduate students at TRU paying $7,900 per semester, regardless of how many courses they are taking.

According to TRU World’s Associate Vice President Baihua Chadwick, the new model will see a flat rate for up to twelve credits (four courses in most programs). Additional tuition will be collected from students who wish to take five or more courses.

“This model change will

result in many students seeing a decrease in tuition, but some will see an increase,” Chadwick said.

Chadwick does not anticipate a negative impact on international enrolment at TRU and said it would positively affect student retention.

The billing model change will also be tied to a tuition fee increase for international students.

Chadwick said that the increase is due to inflation and an increase in faculty salaries. The increase is projected to be somewhere between six and nine per cent. In the past, changes to the tuition model have only affected incoming students, but this time, there will be no grace period.

The lack of a grandfather clause is because of the possibility that it will result in lower tuition for many students Chadwick said.

Some programs will be exempt from the new billing model.

Post Baccalaureate courses will retain the per-credit model they adopted last year. The summer semester will also be billed per credit and the engineering, law and trades programs will be

billed differently due to their unique schedules and greater number of courses.

“The flat fee model encourages students to take more courses, even if their academic standing doesn’t support it,” Chadwick said. According to Chadwick, a tuition model which encourages students to take only four courses will allow students to work part-time and help them balance other aspects of their lives.

Although Chadwick spoke highly of the co-operation between TRU World and TRUSU, TRUSU’s international representative is not entirely satisfied with the new model. “[We] think that it is a good start. We have been supportive of the per-credit model for a number of years. However, it is only fair that people pay for classes they actually take,” said TRUSU international student rep Debbie Efretuei via email.

Efretuei claims that the fee increase is a calculated move to make up budget shortfalls.

“On a personal level, this is

wrong to charge international students as much as we are missing in the institutional budget. We do not support increase in international tuition fees … It will impact international enrollment and show

how much the institution is over-reliant on international fee revenue,” she said.

“I do not anticipate that we would ever be able to come to agreement on this issue,” Efretuei said.

New international tuition undergraduate fee model

Number of credits

Cost (current)

Cost (2016-17)

12 credits or fewer

$7,900

$6,900

15 credits

$7,900

$8,400

More than 15 credits

$7,900

+$500 per credit

Does the rest of Canada vote like us?

TRU political science student explores the bellwether status of our riding Jim Elliot NEWS EDITOR Ω For as long as many TRU students have been following politics, Kamloops has only elected the MPs from the Conservative Party of Canada and the provincial Liberals.

Both of these parties have formed government for the past decade, causing some to think this means that how Kamloops votes is a good indication of how the country will.

TRU student Steve O’Reilly used a research opportunity grant to delve into Kamloops’ political history and find out if we are, in fact, a bellwether riding.

O’Reilly’s study focused on the period between 1986 and 2005, but

he said that the results of the upcoming federal election could have a major effect on the final result of his research. According to O’Reilly, throughout the 1980s and ‘90s and on to today, Kamloops has always voted for the party that went on to form the provincial government, but it has not been nearly as reliable federally.

Kamloops continuously voted for Nelson Riis of the NDP throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, but they never went on to form government.

O’Reilly attributed this to the NDP of the ‘80s general popularity in B.C. and activism on behalf of the province’s forestry industry.

Kamloops continued to vote for Riis after the Reform Party overtook much of the NDP support in

Western Canada, but O’Reilly said that this had more to do with Riis’ personality than anything else.

Some commentators have said that Kamloops reliably votes for the successful provincial party because it has balanced demographics, but O’Reilly said he takes issue with that assumption because Kamloops’ demographics do not change when it votes for unsuccessful federal parties. O’Reilly instead attributes Kamloops’ deviation from victorious federal parties in the 1980s and ‘90s to Kamloops’ support of parties, such as the NDP, that had no realistic hopes of forming government but who were “tapping into western resentment for Central Canada and Ottawa.”

Kamloops’ voting preferences

changed with the unification of the Conservative Party of Canada.

“Now that the right wing vote is centralized under one party, we have become more predictable, maybe we’ve become a bellwether federally now,” O’Reilly said.

When asked about poll results which seem to show Kamloops as a two party race between the Conservatives and NDP and a national race coming down to the Liberals and Conservatives, O’Reilly said that “if the NDP wins this riding and does not win government, that likely shoots a hole in the idea that we’re now a bellwether of the federal riding.” O’Reilly went on to say that if the Conservatives won both in Kamloops and nationwide it would further cement the idea.

Poli-sci student Steve O’Reilly (Submitted)

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Local organizations come together to help refugees

Following the Syrian refugee crisis, groups emerge with compassion problem. Syrian or not, we knew we needed to help someone,” Fisher said. “If there is too NEWS EDITOR Ω much paperwork and time inIn nearly five years, the Syrian volved in bringing Syrians over, civil war has taken an immense we’ll bring over a family from human toll. According to elsewhere.”

Amnesty International, around Using the Kamloops United 11 million Syrians have been Church as a base for fundraiskilled or displaced since March ing, RAFT has encouraged many 2011, yet the world hasn’t idly businesses and organizations stood by while families have across the city (religious and been torn apart, and 104,410 nonreligious) to help bring refresettlements have been offered ugees to Kamloops. They have globally. also shared a critical role in Despite the fact that Kamencouraging discussion on the loops seems like it is a world issue throughout the region by away from the turmoil, there hosting information sessions. are still many in the city who RAFT has even prepared for have been deeply impacted by the refugees’ arrival. Fisher has the loss stated that of human they will life in the pay for “The Syrian civil war has region. profesOne sional been in the media so such orgatutors to often lately, we knew we nization teach the had to take action. With is RAFT refugees 60 million refugees in the (Refugee English. and They world, this is an ongoing Friends have also problem. Syrian or not, Together), enlisted we knew we needed to which the help started of immihelp someone,” in the gration Lynda Fisher, president of RAFT 1970s as a services to (Refugees and Friends Together) group of help them concerned secure Kamloops jobs once United they’ve Church arrived. members who wanted to But Fisher said this process sponsor Vietnamese boat people “may take a while, as it is very to Kamloops in the wake of the difficult to integrate people into Vietnam War. Fast forward to a society where they know none today, they are still actively of the customs.” working to sponsor refugees in While RAFT has been working Kamloops. to sponsor refugees, one KamThis time, they are looking loops family has been working to sponsor two Syrian refugee to set up a fundraising dinner families in Kamloops, but, “so to sponsor humanitarian aid far the fundraising and paperto Syria through the Canadian work have proved onerous,” said government’s Syrian EmergenLynda Fisher, president of RAFT. cy Relief Fund. TRUFA equity Fisher has said that even if the committee co-chair and Open paperwork takes four years to Learning instructional designer, process, they are determined to Gail Morong and her family give refugee families a new start have organized a dinner fundand a new life in Canada. raiser for Syrian Refugees. All “The Syrian civil war has been proceeds from the dinner will in the media so often lately, we be donated to the United Church knew we had to take action. of Canada where they will be With 60 million refugees in matched by the government as the world, this is an ongoing part of the relief fund.

Wade Tomko

“

The dinner, which has a Caribbean theme, will be held on October 17. This isn’t the first time Morong has used her event organizing skills to fundraise for a good cause. She had previously organized a dinner fundraiser for a sick Jamaican student studying at TRU who needed to undergo surgery. This time however, she’s fundraising in memory of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who washed ashore in Turkey.

“There was that picture of that little boy on the beach.

When I saw that, I knew I had to do something,” Morong said.

Local NDP candidate Bill Sundhu will be attending the fundraising dinner to speak on the crisis, but for reasons non-political.

“I want him to come as a human rights lawyer and speak from the heart. I don’t want him there as an MP candidate,” Morong said.

Students here at TRU have taken an active role in helping refugees as well. WUSC (World University Service Canada) TRU is currently trying to sponsor student refugees to come study at TRU. This July, TRU officially joined WUSC, the cross-Canada initiative to help build global engagement on Canadian campuses.

Kenna Sim, co-chair of WUSC TRU, said she wished TRU had formed a WUSC club sooner.

“The WUSC initiative is active in many Canadian universities, and we believed that it was time TRU joined this nationwide network. We felt having a WUSC club on campus would be great way to get students engaged with international issues,” Sim said.

Although the organization mainly focuses on raising the awareness of international humanitarian issues at Canadian universities, one of the group’s most well-known initiatives has been the Student Refugee Program.

WUSC is active in many refugee camps in the world, from Malawi to Thailand. In these camps student refugees apply for sponsorship to

Canadian universities and are selected based on academic merit. Around 85 refugees are brought to Canada to study every year. Back at home WUSC gathers funds to bring the students over, prepares for their arrival and acts as a support structure for sponsored students once they arrive.

TRU political science professor Robert Hanlon has credited groups like RAFT and WUSC for bringing the refugee crisis into focus.

“It is extremely encouraging to see the local community focus on an important issue like this,” he said.

He added that more Canadians should be involved, or at least informed, on the issue.

“There is a lot more people

can do. Even if you can’t give funds to humanitarian groups, simply having a conversation and raising awareness in the greater community helps. If you want to have a bigger impact, try emailing your MP and starting a conversation on the issue that way,” Hanlon said.

However, Hanlon also warned citizens to think critically about the situation before jumping straight in.

“Stabilization in the Middle East is important, but Canadians need to think about how far they want to get involved in another country’s affairs,” he said. “The key to stabilization in the region isn’t only humanitarian aid, but international co-operation amongst opposing forces.”

Gail Morong points to a poster for the event. (Wade Tomko/Ω)

Immigrant outreach workshops get entrepreneurial twist Brock Morford CONTRIBUTOR Ω The TRU branch of the global entrepreneurship club, Enactus, will be working with Kamloops Immigrant Services to help new Canadians adapt to business and life in the country. Classes and workshops taught by Enactus to recent immigrants living in Kamloops will be offered for the rest of the year.

Enactus has offered these

classes for several years now, teaching job skills such as resumé building, networking and interview skills. According to Danika Schmietenknop, a director at Enactus, the goal of teaching these classes is to improve immigrants’ quality of life and to “make them feel more one with the community.”

According to Enactus VP of Program Development Katie Doherty, the focus of this year’s program is entrepreneurship, to help immigrants create their

own jobs.

In the entrepreneurship workshops, Enactus members will work one on one with people help them obtain the grants, sponsorships and help from the community needed for their business succeed. According to Schmietenknop, a lot of people in the community are willing to help out with the entrepreneurship program. In the past, those using the program have expressed a desire to set up restaurants, hotels, farms and

importing businesses that would improve services in the city.

Both Enactus and Kamloops Immigrant Services are planning to expand the program to encompass other important skills. New skills will include how to winterize a car, how to eat healthy on a budget and how to obtain a driver’s license. The goal of these future workshops is “to have a substantial impact in these new Canadian lives,” Schmietenknop said. The long term goal, according to Doherty,

is to have a sustainable program which can be passed onto Kamloops Immigrant Services, no longer requiring help from Enactus.

The workshops will run biweekly with four sessions before Christmas, each focusing on a specific topic. The first Enactus-run workshop will be on Oct. 28, followed by Nov. 4, Nov. 18 and Dec. 2. The club wishes to draw similar attendance as last year, aiming for approximately 12 people per session.

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COMICS & PUZZLES

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Andrew Robertson (submitted)

Puzzle of the Week #5 – Siblings

A sibling of a family states, “I have three times as many brothers as sisters.” Another sibling states, “I have as many brothers as sisters.”

How many male siblings and female siblings are there? What are the sexes of the first and second speakers?

This contest is sponsored by the Mathematics and Statistics department. The full-time student with the best score at the end of the year will win a prize. Please submit your solution (not just the answer but also why) by noon next Wednesday to Gene Wirchenko (<genew@telus.net>). Submissions by others are also welcome.

The solution will be posted the Wednesday after that in my blog (http://genew.ca/). Come visit the Math Centre (HL304): we are friendly.

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A story of job titles and heavyweight titles

Dave Madeley is chasing his dream of becoming a professional wrestler Cameron Doherty SPORTS EDITOR Ω Dave Madeley sounds sore. His voice is hoarse and you can almost feel a wince in his words while he is talking. This is because Madeley is still feeling the effects of a broken nose, which, as he casually informs me, is the result of a “stray headbutt.”

Madeley has a very different way of spending his time outside of the classroom than most TRU students.

He travels around British Columbia chasing a dream, a dream that just so happens to not only see him receive a bunch of bumps and bruises but also dole out a lot of punishment himself, as the holder of both the All-Star Wrestling Trans-Canada Cruiserweight and Heavyweight Champion belts.

Growing up in Smithers, B.C., Madeley loved watching wrestling as a kid, though he never thought of emulating one of his favourite childhood grapplers until 2007, when he watched a wrestling show live for the first time.

“I just fell in love with it, to a point where I said I could probably do that,” he said.

Professional wrestling is known as one the most physically demanding sports. It requires a lot of sacrifices from those hoping to make it big, and Madeley began making those sacrifices immediately after watching that show.

He saved money for a year before moving out to Calgary to study the craft under former WWE superstar Lance Storm, where a rigorous training schedule proved too difficult for a lot of his fellow wrestling protégés.

“This is one of those things where you definitely have to want

it. If you don’t, you get weaned out really fast – only the ones who love it survive.”

All of that hard work and sacrifice began to pay off this year, as Madeley not only captured the two titles that he currently holds but also was named number 477 of the prestigious Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine’s top 500 wrestlers in the world. To be included on the same list as prominent wrestlers like John Cena and Randy Orton is a level of recognition that Madeley has been striving for throughout his wrestling career and provides some proof that all of the broken noses and dislocated elbows have been worth it.

Madeley, who wrestles under the name Adam Ryder, plays up his business student persona when in the ring.

“Ultimately, I like being the bad guy. I like being able to tell a story and be kind of a jerk in the ring – the business-suit-wearing uptight kind of bad guy – it’s a lot more fun.”

Although Madeley is on track to graduate in December with a bachelor of business degree from TRU, he doesn’t think it’s time for Adam Ryder to hang up his boots just yet, even though he knows that time is running out. “There’s definitely more to go out and accomplish. I’m 27 right now, so I’m kind of at the age where I make it big in the next two or three years or it’s not going to happen.”

Madeley will next be in the ring in Vernon on Saturday, Oct. 24, although don’t be surprised if you recognize him from school and notice a big change in his personality at the event because, in his words, “Dave Madeley is a business student, but Adam Ryder is an ass-kicking wrestler.”

TOP: Dave Madely poses with the Trans-Canada Heavyweight Champion belt. (Afton Flynn photo) BOTTOM: Madeley prepares to deliver pain as Adam Ryder, his alter ego. (Submitted)

Men’s volleyball looks to repeat past success Cameron Doherty SPORTS EDITOR Ω The WolfPack men’s volleyball team played host to the Trinity Western University Spartans and the University of British Columbia-Okanagan Heat in an exhibition tournament this past weekend, finishing both second and fourth in one of their last remaining tune-ups before the start of the 2015-16 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) season.

The team split into two separate squads for the tournament, with head coach Pat Hennelly taking every opportunity to give the younger players on his team more experience by putting most of them onto the same team known as the ‘Pack, while the veterans of the program stayed together on the other team.

Getting the younger players experience in pre-season is

something that Hennelly is focusing on throughout the WolfPack’s exhibition schedule.

“Nothing beats competition. You get into practice and you get in a rut, so you get a truer sense of the player when you get to see him out on the floor competing,” he said.

The ‘Pack’s fourth-place finish at the tournament came at the hands of UBCO, who defeated them in straight sets in the battle for third place. It was a well-contested match, however, and it’s an encouraging sign for the future of the program that the inexperienced ‘Pack squad was able to keep things close with a full strength Heat team.

The tournament was a chance for revenge for the other TRU team, as they matched up against a TWU team that eliminated them from the playoffs in the first round last year. One of the problems for TRU in that playoff

matchup was that they didn’t officially qualify for the playoffs until the last weekend of the season, having had to go on an incredible eight game winning streak just to get in, which left the team burnt out when it came time for the postseason.

According to Hennelly, “The amount of energy you spend on having to get into the playoffs takes away from some of the energy and preparation you’re going to have when the playoffs start. I think the guys were ready to fight, I just don’t think the preparation was as good as it could have been.” Revenge was not meant to be however, as TRU dropped the first place game to the Spartans three sets to one.

Brandon Hewwing led the way for TRU with 15 kills in the match, and he is just one of the veteran leaders on this team that Hennelly expects to play a big role for TRU this year: “Brandon

Hewwing, Brad Gunter and Graham Stoliker, all fifth-year guys. Daniel [Eikeland] Rod is in his fourth year. That’s a real good core of guys.”

Men’s volleyball is one of TRU’s more successful programs since making the leap into CIS play and Hennelly attributes that success to three key aspects: recruiting, success breeding success and support from the athletic department. Hennelly has used these three keys to make sure that his team is in the fight for a playoff spot each and every year, so even though he is describing this season as a “partial rebuild,” you can be sure that, come February, the WolfPack will be playing in more meaningful games than the one they dropped to Trinity Western last Friday night.

The WolfPack’s home opener takes place Friday. Oct. 23 when they take on the MacEwan University Griffins.

Charlie Bringloe on Oct. 9 vs.

UBCO. (Cam Doherty/Ω)

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THE OMEGA

OCTOBER 14, 2015