March 19, 2012 (12 pages)

March 19, 2012 | VOL. XCIII ISS. XLVIII

You can get one food for $2.50, but booze is priceless SINCE 1918

GOING FOR GOLD

U

UBC’s Olympic Swimmers have high hopes for London

THE UBYSSEY

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PRESIDENTS

BRACKET SEASON PUSH BACK P3 Vote on the ultimate UBC experience.

Win two Canucks tickets

PAGE 6–7

BC post-secondary institutions share concerns with government

LIGHTS OUT FOR

PLAYHOUSE Will UBC Theatre students suffer?

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PROTESTERS IN THE

SUB

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2 | Page 2 | 03.19.2012

What’s on 19 MON

This week, may we suggest...

Our Campus

One on one with the people who make UBC

TALKS>>

AIESEC UBC Presents Exploring Diversity: 6-7:30pm @ Global Lounge

Immerse yourself in cultural discussion, hear personal stories from speakers and share experiences about your travels. Food will be provided. RSVP at bit.ly/exploringdiversity.

20TUE

JAPAN >>

22 THU

THEATRE >>

Retell, Rethink, Recover @ UBC Rare Books and Special Collections: 9am-8pm The UBC Library commemorates the one-year anniversary of Japan’s triple disaster with photos and social media archives.

21 WED

DEGREES >>

UBC’s Response to the Internment of Japanese Canadian Students: 5-8pm @ IKB Lillooet Room UBC will examine its role in the internment of 76 JapaneseCanadian students during WWII. RSVP at equity@equity.ubc.ca.

23 FRI

GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

Art History PhD Asato Ikeda sees her work on Japanese propaganda art during WWII­differently since Japan’s triple disaster last year.

UBC Theatre presents Macbeth : 7:30pm @ Freddy Wood Theatre Ol’ Willy Shakespeare’s classic. Theatre@UBC’s production promises to be a bloody good time, and includes a banquet scene with more than 60 people on stage. Show up and get rowdy.

BEER GARDEN>> Eurofest: 7pm @ Abdul Ladha The Russian, French, German and Armenian student associations are organizing a Eurofest. It’s a cultural event followed by a beer garden, and a DJ will be on hand mixing European pop and dance music. Tickets are $5 at the door, and drinks are only $2.

One year later, a UBC student reflects on Japan’s triple disaster Micki Cowan News Editor

It’s not easy being both a mother and a PhD candidate at age 28. It’s even more difficult to face tragedy in the midst of it.

Asato Ikeda had one year left in her PhD program in art history at UBC when the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, causing immeasurable damage to the area where her in-laws lived. She was four months pregnant at the time.

“It was mentally not a good thing to happen to a pregnant woman,” she said about dealing with the news of the tsunami while living in Vancouver. “I was constantly turning on the TV...I kept watching, watching, watching for an entire day. I think I was traumatized by the images I saw on TV.” Both Ikeda’s mother- and father-in-law’s lives were drastically impacted by the tsunami and earthquake. Her father-in-law, who was in Sendai—the centre of the disaster—was stranded in the fourth storey of a building for 24 hours without food or water, unable to escape as the flood water crept up to the second storey.

He was eventually rescued by

UU

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THE UBYSSEY March 19, 2012, Volume XCIII, Issue XLVIII

EDITORIAL

Coordinating Editor Justin McElroy

coordinating@ubyssey.ca

Managing Editor, Print Jonny Wakefield printeditor@ubyssey.ca

Managing Editor, Web Arshy Mann webeditor@ubyssey.ca

News Editors Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan news@ubyssey.ca

Art Director Geoff Lister

art@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Ginny Monaco

culture@ubyssey.ca

Senior Culture Writer Will Johnson wjohnson@ubyssey.ca

Sports Editor Drake Fenton

sports@ubyssey.ca

Features Editor Brian Platt

features@ubyssey.ca

Copy Editor Karina Palmitesta copy@ubyssey.ca

Video Editor David Marino

video@ubyssey.ca

Senior Web Writer Andrew Bates abates@ubyssey.ca

Graphics Assistant Indiana Joel

BUSINESS

CONTACT

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STAFF

Bryce Warnes, Catherine Guan, David Elop, Jon Chiang, Josh Curran, Will McDonald, Tara Martellaro, Virginie Menard, Scott MacDonald, Anna Zoria, Peter Wojnar, Tanner Bokor, Dominic Lai, MarkAndre Gessaroli, Natalya Kautz, Kai Jacobson, RJ Reid, Colin Chia, Ming Wong, CJ Pentland, Laura Rodgers, Jeff Aschkinasi, Collyn Chan, Anthony Poon, Vinicius Cid, Veronika Bondarenko, Yara DJong

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LEGAL

The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publications Society. We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate.

Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubyssey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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phone number, student number and signature (not for publication) as well as your year and faculty with all submissions. ID will be checked when submissions are dropped off at the editorial office of The Ubyssey; otherwise verification will be done by phone. The Ubyssey reserves the right to edit submissions for length and clarity. All letters must be received by 12 noon the day before intended publication. Letters received after this point will be published in the following issue unless there is an urgent time restriction or other matter deemed relevant by the Ubyssey staff.

It is agreed by all persons placing display or classified advertising that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad. The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ad.

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helicopter, but lost his car to the waters.

Her mother-in-law was at a mountain-side cafe when the earthquake struck, starting a massive mudslide that filled up half of the cafe. Although rescue workers discovered later that several died in the cafe, she was a lucky survivor.

Ikeda and her husband breathed sighs of relief when they finally received an email from her mother-in-law saying they were alive.

Though Ikeda feels blessed that her in-laws survived, there have been many other losses for the family. And the ongoing threat of nuclear contamination from the power plant is still strong for the family in Fukushima, who live only 70 kilometres away from the damaged nuclear plant.

“We felt really lucky they survived. It was a matter of survival at first. But then, after we got to know about the nuclear issue, now its more about the...ongoing issue of how much radiation they’re getting from the air or the rain, or how much radiation they’re getting from their food and water,” she said.

Out of fear for the health of her now eight-month-old baby girl, Airi, Ikeda has not yet returned to Fukushima to visit her in-laws and introduce them to their grandchild.

So far, most of the coping has been done here in Vancouver amongst friends and her husband.

“When the earthquake and tsunami happened I got together with my Japanese friends and talked about it,” she said. “That

was the only thing I could do to go through that kind of terrible experience.”

One year later, life has regained much of its former balance— though with the added bundle of joy that is her daughter. When she’s not working on her dissertation and looking after her family, she takes time to do yoga and go swimming. But one other thing has been added onto the agenda since then—an inspiration to teach others about what happened.

“I’m involved in the exhibition that is going on at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. We try to raise awareness about the earthquake and tsunami, and also about the nuclear issue.” As someone whose doctoral dissertation focuses on Japanese propaganda art during WWII, she has the nuclear reality of Hiroshima and Nagasaki clinging to her thoughts.

“I came to wonder how much we actually learned from Hiroshima now that we have so many nuclear plants throughout Japan. We don’t really care about what’s going on in those plants.

We want people at UBC also to think about these issues.”

Ikeda will be finishing up her PhD this summer (“Hopefully,” she added with a laugh), and heading to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, for a one-year fellowship next year.

She’ll be leaving Canada, her home of six years, for at least a while. After that, her plans are as clear as many students’.

“I’ll go there for a year and after that I don’t really know. Hopefully I’ll get a job somewhere.” U

News

03.19.2012 |

3

Editors: Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan

PROTESTS >>

Students threatened with arrest for protesting military recruitment booth Arshy Mann Managing Editor, Web

A small protest elicited a strong reaction from AMS Security last week.

A group of about half a dozen students were told they would be arrested if they continued to hand out leaflets protesting the Canadian military presence in Libya.

“I feel like our perspective is really being actively silenced by security,” said Arielle Friedman, a student at the protest.

The protest was taking place in front of a Canadian Forces booth at a job fair being held in the main concourse of the Student Union Building (SUB) last Wednesday.

An AMS security guard at the scene confirmed that they had told the students to stop handing out the leaflets or else face arrest, and that AMS policy stipulates that a SUB booking is required to hand out leaflets in the building.

“It’s not about their cause, we have nothing against that. It’s policies right now,” he said.

According to one of the recruiters, the protestors were handing out leaflets to people who were trying to get information from the booth.

This made it difficult for people to get to the booth itself, and also clogged up the hallway for people who were trying to pass by.

“We told them basically that if they didn’t give us space for people to come to our booth, that we would talk to security. So we did,” said Corporal Evan Clark.

Friedman said that the protestors had told AMS Security that

they would move elsewhere in the SUB in order to be less intrusive, but security insisted they could not hand out leaflets anywhere in the building.

Clark, who is a BA student at UBC, said that this was his first time recruiting for the armed forces.

“We’re not by any strech of the means professional recruiters,” he said. “We’re just part-time soldiers.”

He said that the protestors were peaceful, but not pleasant, to the recruiters. “They weren’t really aggressive,” he said.

“They weren’t shouting or pushing, they were just a little antagonistic, trying to say things to get emotional responses.”

Clark said he wasn’t surprised by the protest.

“When the Canadian Forces is in the public, …we do come up with people that protest various things, and we’re the target of that sometimes, justly or unjustly,” he said.

“When you’re wearing something like this,” he said, referring to his uniform, “you’re a target, for good or bad.” U

PROVINCIAL BUDGET >>

ELECTIONS >>

University presidents oppose funding cuts

Undergraduate election results announced

Arshy Mann Managing Editor, Web

BC’s college and university presidents are speaking out against provincial cuts to post-secondary education, which they say will directly result in service cuts at their institutions.

A letter signed by the presidents of all 25 of BC’s publicly-funded universities and colleges, including UBC President Stephen Toope, takes issue with the education provisions in the 2012 provincial budget. It argues that it is “unrealistic to assume that the [funding] reductions contemplated by Budget 2012 can be achieved without implications for service levels.”

This contradicts the government’s claim that the $70 million funding gap can be overcome through administrative savings and that neither student services nor research would be affected.

“It is critical for Government to understand that the $70 million reduction to institutional grants over the last two years of the fiscal plan, combined with five years of unfunded inflationary pressures, creates a strain on the operations of post-secondary institutions,” reads the letter addressed to Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto.

The letter also expressed worries that post-secondary was the only sector that received an overall funding reduction. “We are very concerned that the Provincial Government is not aware of the measures the post-secondary sector has undertaken in the last number of years in response to significant cost pressures and no increases in institutional operating grants.”

The presidents did, however, praise the government for providing

GEOFF LISTERTHE UBYSSEY

Mona Maleki won the SUS presidential race against Joaquin Acevedo last week.

Laura Rodgers Staff Writer

COURTESY DON CRAIG_/FLICKR

BC Finance Minister Kevin Falcon. Presidents of BC universities are banding together to oppose funding cuts to post-secondary.

more money for capital maintenance and that the overall funding would stay stable for the next year.

Michelle Mungall, the NDP’s critic for advanced education, stressed the importance of the letter.

“This is unprecedented,” she said.

“This has never happened before in BC’s history, where all of the presidents of public post-secondary institutions come together in a unified voice to express their dismay and what I interpret as their lack of confidence in the Liberal government and the minister.”

She argued that because the letter was sent out on February 28, seven days after the budget announcement, it indicated a lack of consultation between the ministry and the institutions.

“Shouldn’t [Minister Yamamoto] have worked with the institutions

on this very issue before the budget was developed rather than just telling them what’s going to happen and leaving them feeling like they’re out in the cold and not involved?”

Mungall has been calling for the Minister’s resignation for the past week, in the wake of a private email from a reporter to the ministry about a private education consortium leaking to the head of that organization. She said that this letter will simply add fuel to that fire.

In the letter, the post-secondary presidents also said that the government’s mandates around collective bargaining will put even more pressures on university finances.

Presently, if a university or college is undergoing collective bargaining with any of their employees, it can only raise wages or benefits if those increases are offset

by savings found elsewhere in the institution.

Robert Clift, executive director of the Canadian Federation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA) said that the expectation that universities will be able to find savings for both the provincial government and for unions is going to create strife during negotiations.

“You remove all the flexibility,” he said of the government’s proposal. “Now, I doubt we’re going to see faculty at the research university marching the picket line over this, but what happens is that thing that just keeps eating away at the desirability of BC as a place to [work].”

The collective bargaining agreements for the faculty association at the five major BC research universities, UBC, UVic, SFU, UNBC and Royal Roads, all expire this year. U

UBC appoints new Vice President Communications

UBC engineers test super light 214-mpg vehicle

Missing woman’s body found in Pacific Spirit Park

UBC wraps up 5 Days for the Homeless campaign

Pascal Spothelfer has been appointed UBC’s new VP Communications and Community Engagement.

Spothelfer formerly served as the president and CEO of the BC Technology Industry Association.

“His breadth of experience and his track record in steering organizations through innovation and change will help to guide and strengthen our university,” said UBC President Stephen Toope.

The new position replaces the role of VP External, Legal and Community Relations, formerly held

by Stephen Owen.

Spothelfer will begin his five-year term on May 28, 2012.

The UBC Supermileage Team will be testing a 200 pound, 214 mile per gallon, fuel–efficient vehicle named “Argo” before a competition in Houston, Texas.

The UBC team will compete with 130 other teams from North and South America in the annual Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition, which challenges high school and university students to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles.

Resembling a Smartcar, “Argo” is a single passenger, four-wheel vehicle fuelled by gasoline.

“We hope to break 500 miles per gallon this year,” said UBC team captain Connor Schellenberg-Beaver.

The body found in Pacific Spirit Park on Thursday has been identified as missing woman Violet Puskas, but investigators say there is no evidence of foul play.

The 47-year-old Vancouver resident last contacted her family on January 3. A VPD release said Puskas needed medication to assist her with a number of medical concerns.

The body was confirmed as Puskas through a comparative dental examination. The BC Coroner’s report has ruled out foul play.

The VPD blocked off the park near 33rd Ave and Camosun Street Thursday after a body was discovered by someone walking in the park.

Last week, ten UBC students slept outside the UBC Bookstore to raise awareness about homelessness in Vancouver.

“The goal is to live the same life as all these other students, but do it in a way that a homeless person would. It’s sort of like a merging of the two lives, seeing where they meet and where they differ,” said Natalie Shojania, public relations director for 5 Days for the Homeless. The students donated the money they collected to Directions Youth Services Centre, an organization that supports homeless youth in Vancouver. This is the fourth year that UBC has participated in the national campaign. U

News briefs

Results of the undergraduate society elections were announced on Friday.

Arts, Science and Kinesiology all had contested presidential races.

The Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) race was particularly contentious, with Harsev Oshan clinching the presidential position with 406 votes to second-place candidate Jenny Chen’s 328. Jeff Boudreau received 105 votes.

“I’m not surprised, because I put in a lot of effort,” said Oshan. He was enthusiastic about getting started. “I want to focus a lot on clubs,” he said. “That is what I’m going to work on next year, mainly.”

The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) presidential race saw Mona Maleki beat Joaquin Acevedo 450 votes to 146.

“I don’t think you can ever expect to win, to be honest,” said Maleki.

She mentioned that improving the accessibility of SUS to other students was going to be her first priority.

In the Kinesiology Undergraduate Society, Alex Rebchuck was elected president with 160 votes, beating out fellow candidate Alyssa Reyes who recieved 94 votes.

“It was amazing to get the support of my faculty,” said Rebchuk.

He explained that he wanted to start work right away on a campuswide “KIN Week” for next year.

As well as electing next year’s undergrad councils, Arts and Science students were asked to weigh in on something else entirely.

Both the AUS and SUS ballots contained a referendum question asking whether students opposed non-student housing in the Gage South area. Both referenda passed, with 547 yes to 52 no in Arts and 529 yes to 51 no in Science.

After a year in the role, outgoing AUS president Justin Yang offered advice to all who were newly elected: “Just enjoy yourself. That’s not to say it’s not really hard work.” U

4 | News | 03.19.2012 SECURITY UNION >>

AMS Security puts work stoppage on hold COPE 378 returns to the bargaining table after giving a 72-hour strike notice Friday

Andrew Bates

Union update

Senior Web Writer

Bargaining between the AMS and its security staff has fallen apart, but there won’t be picket lines.

On Friday, the AMS applied to the Labour Relations Board for a mediator who has the power to impose a collective bargaining agreement between the two sides.

This came after the union’s move to end talks and initiate a work stoppage.

The AMS had the right under provincial law to unilaterally apply for mediation, as this is the first contract negotiation between the two sides since the security workers unionized in September.

The mediator has the power to either impose a settlement or determine that the union should be allowed to commence with job action.

Jarrah Hodge, communications representative for the workers’ union, COPE 378, was confident that a mediator would produce a favourable settlement.

“We’re hopeful because we think we have a pretty strong case...and that we’ll get a positive resolution out of that, but we won’t be taking any job action,” she said.

AMS President Matt Parson said the society was in the midst of evaluating the cost of the union proposals. “We’re still optimistic that we’ll be able to resolve that without having to actually go to a strike,” he said.

While security staff voted unanimously in favour of a strike on March 7, they didn’t file a 72-hour strike notice until March 15, after a meeting between employees and Security Manager Shaun Wilson.

What happened there is under dispute. The union alleges that Wilson told seven employees that they would be laid off, but could still work for Live Host International, a private security company contracted by the AMS. But Parson said the employees

AMS Security workers Union: COPE 378 Dissatisfied with: Wages, private security contracting Current status: In mediation Supervisor Irfan Reayat helped unionize 26 security workers last fall. Since then, the union lodged complaints against the AMS, alleging disciplinary actions meant to punish workers for unionizing. The AMS said the union’s wage proposals are unrealistic.

After Reayat was suspended, staff unanimously approved a strike. The union is currently in mediation.

Teaching assistants

GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

AMS Security workers were prepared for a strike to take place on March 19.

were being informed about decreased hours during the summer and that Wilson was offering up his professional contacts.

“If the security workers, employees, wanted any help finding work elsewhere, he was more than happy to help them, but he was not implying that we were laying people off,” he said.

But the union said there is no excuse for the AMS’s actions.

“It is normal to see a few layoffs in the summer, but it’s completely inappropriate for a manager to be negotiating any layoff or hiring by a contractor, directly with members, during ongoing mediation,” Hodge wrote in an email to The Ubyssey.

Other unionized workers on campus are also preparing for a possible COPE 378 strike.

UBC clerical employees and library staff of CUPE 2950 were told to decline to cross picket lines in

the event of a work stoppage.

Parson said he hoped that SUB services would continue as usual in the event of a strike, but said contingency plans are not yet finalized.

The union is taking issue with lower wages for new staff; the wage proposal offered by the AMS stipulates a wage difference for new and continuing workers.

Current union employees would receive a one per cent increase immediately, 1.5 per cent increases in the second and third years of the contract, and two percent in the fourth year.

However, new employees would start at $10.50 an hour compared to the $11.50 an hour that current staff earn. Wages for newly-hired staff would increase by $0.50 at 2000 hours and 4000 hours.

Hodge said this would codify a system of reduced wages for new employees. In 2008, incoming

employees were hired at $16 an hour.

“I think we were honestly shocked...to see that the proposal that came from the employer was so out of line with what the workers... would see as reasonable,” Hodge said.

“The big issue is that a lot of their employees are students and foreign students...They need to make ends meet like anyone else and they’re doing a job that’s valued higher almost everywhere else.”

Parson said the new staff wage cuts were a way of paying for current staff pay increases.

“There needs to be a consideration of what the cost would be to the society to counter the increases in wages to the current staff,” he said.

The Labour Relations Board has until March 23 to appoint a mediator. U

Union: CUPE 2278 Dissatisfied with:: Wages and graduate funding Current status: Holding a strike vote this week Contract negotiations have been stalled since 2010. Matters escalated when the union obtained documents suggesting administrators received increases despite the Province’s net-zero mandate.

TAs are holding a strike vote on March 22.

Service workers Union: CUPE 2950 Dissatisfied with:: No wage increases Current status: Approved strike .

On March 15, 86 per cent of workers voted in favour of a strike. The union is holding a meeting March 22 to discuss next steps. Because wages are their main concern, this is the union most affected by and most likely to protest the province’s net-zero mandate.

RESEARCH>>

Facebook helps smokers quit Morgan Radbourne Contributor

Growing up, Rebecca Haines-Saah played Kathleen Mead on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, shows that weren’t afraid to discuss societal taboos.

Now a postdoctoral research fellow at UBC’s school of nursing, Haines-Saah is continuing to raise public awareness—albeit in a different way.

Last year, the Canadian Cancer Society funded a $125,000 project

by Haines-Saah that uses Facebook to engage smokers.

The project features participantdriven photography and a nurturing and supportive online community for quitters.

“Young people are the demographic that smoke the most” Haines-Saah said.

She explaining that people who experiment with smoking at a young age are more likely to develop a tobacco habit, especially youth aged 18-24.

In the project, participants are asked to capture photos of themselves smoking in casual situations, and then upload them to Facebook

along with a caption. The pictures act as a catalyst for discussion in a supportive digital environment.

Images of tobacco have been used before in advertising and quitsmoking campaigns, but mostly as stern warnings from Health Canada.

Haines-Saah’s research looks at how young people are affected by discussions of smoking hazards when partnered with social media.

The hard-hitting images on cigarette packages may be effective for an older age group who understand tobacco’s consequences, but they can be largely ineffective for young adults.

Youth, Hanies-Saah said, “quite frankly, aren’t all that interested in quitting yet.”

This project recognizes that current smoking advisories include images that have become increasingly morbid—something that may be stigmatizing and harmful to the smoker.

“I feel like we need to offer alternatives and think about the images that are going to work better for different groups,” said HainesSaah, who hopes the research will aid in future health initiatives.

Tyler Janzen of the web initiative “Quitters Unite” was optimistic that the project will yield positive results.

“With young adults especially, social media is an effective tool because it is where they are anyway,” said Janzen, who is the project manager of the organization, which targets the 18- to 24-year-olds who are more difficult to reach.

“We need to go to them and engage them where they are, in a way they will respond positively to.

Social media allows young people to support one another and influence each other in a peer-to-peer way, rather than having a healthrelated organization tell them to quit.”

The projects allows participants to discuss all aspects of smoking, from cravings to tips for quitting. “[The opportunity to] communicate with like-minded people can be very inspiring and give someone the push they need to quit for good.” she said.

“Often, these people know what you are going through and can provide advice and support on a much deeper and personal level,” said Janzen. U

Culture

03.19.2012 |

5

Editor: Ginny Monaco

THEATRE >>

Final act for Playhouse a blow to theatre scene

Arshy Mann Managing Editor, Web

The stage for Vancouver theatre students has become a little bit smaller.

The closing of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company means one less large theatre able to provide roles for local actors.

“Actors got paid more to work at the Playhouse than they did anywhere else [in the city],” said Jerry Wasserman, head of the theatre and film department at UBC. “The closing of the Playhouse means that professional actors, who hardly make any money at all to begin with in Vancouver, are going to make a lot less money now because even if they’re working all the time, they’re going to be working in smaller houses where the equity rate is lower.”

However, Wasserman said that graduates from local theatre programs won’t immediately feel the pinch.

“Generally what happens when a student graduates a theatre program, they kind of work their way up the system,” he said.

“They get their first professional jobs in smaller theatres, in children’s theatre, and it takes a while to establish a reputation. And once you establish a reputation, then larger

COURTESY OF RADIOBREAD/FLICKR

theatres start to look at you.”

Only one person from last year’s graduating class performed with the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company—Jameson Parker had a small role in Death of a Salesman .

But UBC theatre graduate Maryanne Renzetti said the closure of the Playhouse sends a signal to young actors in Vancouver to look elsewhere for opportunities.

“A lot of my friends are leaving

the city and trying to make it elsewhere like Ontario and Calgary where they support their arts a lot more than we do in Vancouver, and that makes me sad,” she said.

Despite the closure, Wasserman said that Vancouver’s theatre scene has never been stronger.

“There have never been more theatre companies in Vancouver than there are now,” he said. “There have never been larger audiences

for the Arts Club, for Bard on the Beach, for the Fringe Festival, for the PuSh festival, for the Talking Sticks festival, for the Chutzpah festival.”

With such an open reception to the arts, Wasserman is optimistic that a solution could be found.

“There are a lot of people in the theatre community that are working really hard to try to revive the Playhouse,” he said.

“Everyone who cares about theatre in this city has their fingers crossed that this isn’t really the end.

It may just be Act four [and] there may be a fifth act yet.”

But Renzetti, who participated in a costumed demonstration on Sunday to bring attention to the Playhouse’s closure, isn’t as hopeful.

“I think it would take a pretty big miracle for it to come back,” she said. U

6 | Contest | 03.19.2012

UBC MARCH MADNESS BRAGGING DIVISION

1. IMAGINE DAY No other Canadian university makes such a strong point of confusing and overwhelming its new undergrads on their first day.

ROUND OF 32

SWEET 16

2. STORM THE WALL Building a giant wall for the express purpose of letting students try to feebly to climb over it in exchange for no concrete reward has got to be some sort of commentary on academia.

3. WRECK BEACH Satisfy your cravings for weed smoke and sun-blasted scrote.

W

ELIT

(1) IMAGINE DAY (8) SLC

4. MOCKING SFU Q: What do UBC students and SFU students have in common? A: They’re both graduating into a recession.

5. MOCKING UBC-O

(4) MOCKING SFU (8) MOCKING UBC-O

There is no definitive proof that UBC Okanagan actually, in fact, exists.

6. MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY Can you say “Perfect first date?” (Afterwards, they’ll be begging for “MOA”)

7. LONGBOAT

(2) STORM THE WALL (7) DAY OF THE LONGBOAT

WRECK-BEACH

IMAGINE-DAY

Hey, guys! Have you tried motors?

8. STUDENT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE Hundreds of students gather to confirm that yes, they are the Leaders of Tomorrow.

(3) WRECK BEACH (6) MOA

COMPLAINING DIVISION

1. THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH For some reason, it’s expensive to live near a topranked university in one of the oldest, prettiest parts of Vancouver.

2. B-LINE PASSUPS

FINA

When you’re the one riding the bus, these are hilarious.

3. NO ACADEMIC ADVISOR TO SPEAK WITH

(1) REnT TOO DAMN HIGH (8) UBC TOO DAMN BIG

Sometimes using Degree Navigator is just too much work.

4. GIANT PUDDLES Making the Aquatic Centre redundant since forever.

5. CONSTRUCTION Why does this stupid university have to be so rich all the time?

(4) GIANT PUDDLES (5) CONSTRUCTION

6. NO INEXPENSIVE BOOZE NEARBY Originally the title of this bracket was going to be “No cheap bars to go to,” but then we remembered The Pit.

7. BEING FELT UP ON THE B-LINE Less “felt up,” really, than “bumped into” and “occasionally breathed upon.”

8. THE CAMPUS IS TOO DAMN LARGE If only there were fewer students and academic options.

(2) B-LINE PASSUPS (7) B-LINE GROPING

(3) ACADEMIC ADVISING (6) LACK OF CHEAP BAR

B-LINE-PASSup

CONSTRUCTIO n

03.19.2012 | Contest | 7

Alright UBC, here’s the deal. Go to our website, and vote on what you think is the quintessential UBC experience. For every matchup you post a comment on, you gain another entry into our draw.

The prize? Two lower-bowl tickets to the Cancucks vs. Flames on Saturday, March 31.

We may be a disconnected campus, but we can all agree that cheering against Calgary brings nearly every UBC student together. The winner will be announced on Friday, March 30.

ROUND OF 32 1. THE 24-HOUR IKB SESSION Exam-time penance for skipping all your readings and copying your notes from that chick who thinks The Communist Manifesto was written by Marx and Spencer.

2. NOT BUYING A COURSE PACK

(1) 24 HOURS AT IKBLC (8) SLEEP THROUGH CLASS

If it can’t be kept on your bookshelf to make you look wellread, it’s not worth buying.

3. PAY FOR CLASS TO GET U-PASS If you think this will save you money, you’re obviously not a Commerce student.

4. MOCKING SAUDER’S SUITS

(4) SAUDER SUITS (5) ENGINEER COURSES

Not that you’ll say anything to his face, because he’ll probably, like, sue you.

5. MOCK ENGINEERS’ 7 COURSES

LEARNING DIVISION

TE 8

SWEET 16

Not that you’ll say anything to his face, because, seriously, have you seen most Engineers’ faces?

SAUDER-SUITS

6. EXTENSIONS FROM PROFS “bUYING”-U-P ASS

(2) NOT BUYING COURSE PACK (7) not using i>clicker

“I just wanted to let you know that this is like my favourite class this year. Also, my second cousin is getting married next week, and I was wondering...”

7. BUY i>clicker, NEVER USE IT

(3) pay for class/upass (6) extension from prof

A classic first-year Arts error, usually due to the misconception that it will sync with assorted Apple products.

8. SLEEP THROUGH CLASSES Hit snooze for two thirds of the year. Oops.

This is an essential part of the UBC experience in the same way that falling and hurting yourself is an essential part of learning to ride a bike.

AL 4

2. LAST N17 TO UBC

(1) PIT NIGHT (8) KICKED OUT OF PIT

Take the last N17 back to UBC: if you don’t make it back to UBC before midnight, all the 99 B-Lines transform into meandering, overcrowded hell-rides.

3. FRAT PARTIES Because sometimes life just isn’t mediocre enough.

(4) AMS BLOCK PARTY (5) REMEMBERING ACF

4. AMS BLOCK PARTY A pre-party for the stuff you’ll actually do to celebrate the last day of classes. Conveniently located next to the bus loop, so you can B-Line to a bar when things get shut down at 9pm.

5. REMEMBERING ACF If you’re old enough to reminisce about Arts County Fair (ACF), you shouldn’t even be here any more.

PIT-NIGHT

BLOCK-PART Y

(2) LAST N17 TO UBC (7) GRANVILLE AT 2AM

6. GALLERY KARAOKE This is the vocal equivalent of drinking so many pints of Molson Canadian that you wet your pants in public.

7. GRANVILLE ST AT 2AM

(3) FRAT PARTIES (6) GALLERY KARAOKE

If you don’t make it out of there before 2am, everyone around you transforms into an aggressive douchebag.

8. KICKED OUT OF PIT “Listen, buddy, I decide when I’ve had enough. Hey, what the fuck! Let go!”

DRINKING DIVISION

1. PIT NIGHT

Sports

03.19.2012 |

8

Editor: Drake Fenton

OLYMPICS >>

London calling: UBC’s road to the 2012 Olympics With plenty of Thunderbird alumni on board, the national men’s swim has many medal hopes

CJ Pentland Staff Writer

Canada is not usually heralded as an international power when it comes to summer sports, but at this year’s summer Olympics in London, the men’s swimming team hopes to fix that trend.

Big things are expected from a talented team that has been swimming strongly as of late, and there are multiple past and present UBC Thunderbirds who plan on being a part of that success.

Brent Hayden, Scott Dickens, Tommy Gossland and Jordan Hartney all have their sights set on London this summer. They couldn’t have picked a better time to be at the top of their respective games— Olympic qualifying trials begin March 27 in Montréal.

“We’ve got everything in place that we really need to be able to perform, and it just comes down to whether we have what it takes on the day,” said Tom Johnson, head coach at the National Training Centre in Vancouver and coach of all four swimmers. “We don’t have any excuses now.”

While the four are united in their desire to represent their country, they are divided by the different roads each has taken to get to this point.

These will likely be Hayden’s last Olympic trials. Hayden attended

GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

Potential Olympians from the UBC men’s swim team. Olympic trials begin March 27 in Montréal.

UBC from 2001 to 2003 and is perhaps Canada’s best chance at a podium finish in London. He won the silver medal at the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) World Championships in 2011 and is looking to build off that come July.

“I’m definitely where I want to be in terms of confidence. I think I’m just going to use these trials as an opportunity to gauge where I’m at,” said Hayden, whose World

Championship performance already pre-qualified him for the 100m freestyle. He will attempt to qualify for the 50m freestyle and any of Canada’s relay teams.

Dickens is another veteran, most likely in his last Olympic trials. He attended UBC from 2003 to 2010, swimming for the T-Birds and winning four CIS gold medals.

Heading into Montréal, Dickens is hoping to revive a swimming career that stalled in 2008 before

the Beijing Olympics. After qualifying for the Olympics in 2004, and capturing gold in the 100m breaststroke at the Pan Pacific Championships in 2007, he didn’t make it to the 2008 Games in Beijing.

“I want to prove to myself that I can compete again,” said Dickens, who will be competing in the 100m and 200m breaststroke. His goal is to set the Canadian record in the 100m event.

Compared to Dickens and Hayden, Gossland is the new kid on the block. A current UBC student and the reigning CIS male swimmer of the year, Gossland is heading into his second Olympic trials.

The fifth-year Kinesiology student is aware that he has at least one more Olympic trial ahead of him, and is planning to take the experience in stride.

“I think it’ll be a lot of fun,” said Gossland, who will be competing in

the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle races. “I don’t really have any expectations. I’m just going to go there and see how it goes.”

Both Johnson and UBC swimming head coach Steve Price cite perseverance and a competitive fire as keys to success for the swimmers.

“The results that transpired in 2010 in Vancouver have done a lot to change the mindset of our athletes,” said Johnson. “We need to keep doing what we’re doing, eliminate any mistakes and take advantage of our opportunities.”

There is a lot riding on the talents of Hayden, Dickens and Gossland there is one other former T-Bird hoping to make some noise at this year’s Olympic trials.

Jordan Hartney is an individual medley (IM) swimmer, who specializes in the 200m IM. Hartney finished 35th in the 200m IM at the 2009 FINA World Championships, and though he didn’t finish with a high ranking, his time was a personal best. Hartney is still trying to master one of the hardest races in swimming, but if he qualifies in Montréal, he may end up Canada’s best chance in the IM at London.

Each of these athletes has been offered a special opportunity to compete at the Olympic trials, said Coach Johnson, and it is an opportunity that she hopes each will take advantage of.

“You have to have an opportunity to race at your level, above your level and below your level, and all those different opportunities mould you as an athlete and shape your mindset,” said Johnson.

With a trip to London on the line, it can be expected that each of UBC’s potential Olympians will embrace the opportunity they’ve been given, and hopefully secure a new opportunity to not just represent their school, but to represent their country. U

03.19.2012 | Sports | 9 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL>>

T-Birds play for national championship tonight

Drake Fenton Sports Editor

CALGARY—With 20 seconds left on the clock and the UBC Thunderbirds leading 57–51 against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, fifth-year T-Bird forward Zara Huntley stepped up to the foul line.

Her shot’s release was flawless. As the ball dropped into the basket you could see her face visibly change—a mixture of relief and elation. The point put the game out of reach and secured UBC a berth in the CIS women’s basketball national final.

The point capped off a heroic fourth-quarter effort by the T-Birds, as UBC eliminated Ottawa Sunday night at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium in Calgary.

“I think the fourth quarter really was the quarter,” said UBC head coach Deb Huband. “I think our girls really stepped up, got really tough defensively and limited scoring. And then we were able to start getting some of our threes to fall.”

Ottawa shot an atrocious 3 for 21 from the field in the fourth, including 1 for 9 from downtown. With star point guard Kellie Ring—the player Ottawa’s entire offence flows through—in foul trouble, the GeeGees struggled to find any rhythm.

UBC played tough press defence, cleaned up defensive rebounds and eliminated second chance opportunities. They outscored Ottawa 19–7 in the final frame.

With the Gee-Gees’ offence struggling, UBC’s fourth-year point

guard Kristen Hughes singlehandedly shifted the momentum in the T-Birds’ favour. With Ottawa leading 47–46 and only five minutes remaining, UBC’s Kris Young collected a rebound in the defensive zone. She streaked down the court and dished it to a wide-open Hughes.

Sitting on the perimeter, Hughes hesitated for a brief second, looking for an open pass. Seeing no other option, she took the chance, draining the three to give UBC a 49–47 lead. Ottawa quickly responded, but then Hughes struck pay dirt again.

Once again Young found Hughes with a wide open look on the outside. Hughes hesitated again for a second, allowing an Ottawa defender to close the distance between them. With a defender in her face, Hughes faded backwards and let the shot go. It was dead on, giving UBC a lead they would not relinquish.

While the T-Birds were hot in the fourth quarter, they started the game slowly. Huntley only made one basket in the first frame and Ottawa quickly took a 17–12 lead.

The Gee-Gees came at UBC with a lightning attack, relying on the fast break and getting quick balls out in transition to escape UBC’s press defence.

“You expect that at this level,” said Huband. “You’re not just going to breeze through. You just stay immersed, possession to possession, and stay focused. We knew there would be a push from them and we

GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

UBC forward Alex Vieweg drives against the University of Ottawa. UBC beat U of O 57—51.

hoped there would be push back from us.

“I am just happy we ended up with more points at the end of the game.”

UBC managed to respond in the second quarter. Young led the offence. She repeatedly drove the lane and forced Ottawa to react, in turn opening up space

for her teammates. Young finished the half with 11 points, while Leigh Stansfield and Alex Vieweg chipped in 8 and 7 points respectively.

Young finished the night with a game-high 17 points.

While Ottawa’s offence didn’t fully deteriorate until the fourth quarter, there were signs of a breakdown in the third. When Ring got into foul trouble, Ottawa coach Andy Sparks was forced to reduce her minutes. “[Ring] hasn’t been in foul trouble all year and she only played 19 minutes today,” said Sparks. “She runs our team, so we’re playing a catch-up game without a super-key player for us.”

With Ring out, fifth-year guard Teddi Firmi took charge of the offence. The ‘Birds must have known Firmi was not a strong shooter—she finished 1 for 5—as they played off her and gave her plenty of room to shoot. She almost never did. It took away space from Ottawa’s offence and forced them to play a style of game outside of their comfort zone.

“We knew it was going to be a dogfight, we knew it was going to be a tough game and it was,” said Sparks. “I am obviously disappointed because it wasn’t what we were anticipating, but we lost to a really good team today.”

UBC will play for gold against the winner of Sunday night’s other semifinal matchup, the University of Calgary versus the University Windsor. The CIS final begins at 6pm Pacific time tonight. U

Opinion

03.19.2012 |

10

Editor: Brian Platt

Start preparing for strikes on campus Editor’s Notebook Justin McElroy

JONNY WAKEFIELD/THE UBYSSEY

The Last Word Parting shots and snap judgments on today’s issues UBC’s admission policy on Grade 11 marks makes sense There was much gnashing of teeth at UBC’s decision to revise its admissions policy so that the majority of students they accept are being judged on Grade 11 marks, rather than those from Grade 12. The university didn’t perform due process in warning students and parents about the change, so UBC deserves criticism on that front.

But on the whole, this is a sound decision, because UBC’s admissions strategy needs to be in line with its overall strategy. And UBC’s overall strategy is based on competing not with SFU and UNBC, but with universities like Stanford, Duke and the University of California—elite nonIvy North American schools where top students want to go.

These schools have broad-based admissions and admit most of their students on Grade 11 marks and SAT scores. To keep pace, UBC needs to do the same thing; otherwise, they will lose out on plenty of students who take early admission offers.

Of course, this also means UBC will be admitting more students who freak out about their Grade 11 marks in Grade 9 or 10 (with parents who do the same in Grades 7 and 8), which will result in cohorts of students who are high-strung after years of caring way too much about grades and getting into university.

But that’s a much larger problem, outside the scope of anything UBC admissions alone can address.

AMS Security’s draconian response to SUB protesters Last week there was a Canadian Forces booth in the SUB, giving advice and resources to any students interested in joining the military.

Whenever members of the military are on campus, there will be likely be protesters—and indeed, it didn’t take long for a small group of students to gather outside the booth and start handing out flyers protesting Canada’s Libya mission.

AMS Security then told the protesters to leave or face arrest, citing SUB rules around handing out flyers.

Essentially, a group needs to have permission ahead of time if they want to advocate their cause in the SUB. This is a fairly standard rule for campus buildings, but the AMS opens itself up to criticism because it doesn’t enforce the rule consistently or reasonably. We have seen many groups go through the SUB handing out leaflets, and unless they’re keeping it a secret, none of them have been threatened with arrest.

The AMS really has two choices here. It can threaten everyone who leaflets spontaneously in the SUB with arrest, which is a ridiculously draconian response that will piss off a lot of students. Or it can deal with such actions in a calm manner, limiting them to a time and place that won’t disrupt the groups who have legitimately booked their space in the SUB. Let’s hope they choose the latter method.

University rankings: What are they good for?

Last week, UBC was ranked number 25 in the “2012 Times Higher Education Reputation Rankings.”

This, in turn, resulted in news headlines like “UBC ranked No. 25 in the world,” (Vancouver Sun) and “UBC 25th in the world,” (CKNW) and “Does UBC have an equity gap?

A look at the independence and integrity of the Equity Office” (The Ubyssey).

Whoops, that last news article wasn’t about rankings at all!

Yes, our paper doesn’t do much reporting on university rankings.

They’re a very good tool for recruiting international students (Stephen Toope admitted as much to The Globe and Mail in September), but they’re a poor measurement for the actual quality of a university education.

For example, these most recent rankings are based exclusively on surveys, meaning that people outside UBC think UBC is really, really good. This is a testament to UBC’s outstanding branding and focus on international engagement.

It’s also undoubtedly true if you’re a graduate or research student. But

for undergraduates, the ‘learning and having good professors’ bit often leaves something to be desired.

Other university rankings are based on things like doctorates per faculty member, citations by journals and ratio of international to domestic staff. Which, again, has nothing directly to do with the quality of education for undergraduates. The best measurement of that, the National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE), shows UBC firmly in the middle of the pack within Canada.

But again, these things get in the way of a nice, easy story to report.

And these rankings mean that UBC can issue a press release saying “We’re special!” which means students can post on their Facebook wall “I am a special person that goes to a special school!” and everyone involved can feel rather pleased with themselves.

When pressed, university executives and communications directors will admit that rankings are nice, but they only tell part of the story.

But the truth is they don’t tell much of a story at all.

Too many bodies are showing up in Pacific Spirit Park In the past four years, there have been at least four bodies found in Pacific Spirit Park, and another one on Spanish Banks. This year we’ve also had the park searched for a murder suspect, and police have warned the public about a public masturbater frequenting the grounds.

To a certain extent, Pacific Spirit Park will always be slightly dangerous: it is a large forested area directly beside one of Canada’s biggest cities, and thus offers refuge for anyone trying to avoid the police.

But with the number of bodies that have been showing up there, Metro Vancouver needs to find a way to keep this park safer.

Two immediate steps that we can think of are better lighting and increased police patrols. Yes, this will come at a significant financial cost, but the alternative is to have a beautiful park that people will be increasingly afraid to use. U

When I was ten, my dad planned a wonderful birthday for me. We and four of my friends would take the ferry to Vancouver on a Sunday and go to a Vancouver Grizzlies NBA game.

Then it was announced that on the game day, ferry workers would walk out as part of job action. The trip suddenly became impossible. Ten-yearold Justin was pretty pissed.

Of course, I was ten. Reason and logic and collective bargaining didn’t matter to me. Seeing Big Country Reeves dunk did.

This brings me to job action at UBC. It hasn’t impacted students since 2003, when a teaching assistant (TA) strike lasted over a month.

But it might soon.

Forget about the AMS security staff and administrative employees, who are in a relatively small and personal labour dispute. CUPE 116 (UBC service workers, which includes food, custodial and IT workers) had 86 per cent of its members vote in favour of a work stoppage last week and CUPE 2278 (TAs) will conduct a strike vote on Thursday.

And this time around, unlike in 2003, the unions are waiting until the end of this term to ramp up the pressure. This way, if they strike, students will be inconvenienced by

a whole host of things. Timely exam marks. Library access during prime study hours. Extra tutoring time with TAs. Block Party. All could be impacted if these unions enact job action, and would impact students.

Which is the point. They have wage demands, they have political grievances, and should it come to a strike, they would very much like to cause the powers that be enough stress that they will be buckle.

There are two things that make this unlikely. The first is that this is the most conservative student body on a major campus in Canada. We don’t really care for protests here.

And unlike 2003, there isn’t the spectre of massive tuition increases to galvanize students.

And second, there are 11 years of BC Liberal action informing us what the provincial government will do. They will sit back for a while to let job action occur.

They will then draft legislation forcing the union back to work.

And they will let the matter solve itself through binding arbitration months later.

But Occam’s razor tells us that a union that votes in favour of striking intends to use it if they don’t get what they want. And history tells us if that strike happens, it will unfold a certain way.

So be ready to be inconvenienced. And be prepared to have well thought-out opinions. After all, it’s what a university education—in theory—teaches you to have. U

This city could use a great bookstore Editor’s Notebook Brian Platt

In the past week, the Vancouver Playhouse, the Ridge cinema and the Book Warehouse chain have all announced that they are shutting down for good. The fact that people will lose their jobs is always sad, but a lot of Vancouverites are also lamenting what this means for the city’s cultural scene.

The loss of the Playhouse is a shame, a product of too few people willing to shell out money to see live theatre. The loss of the Ridge is also sad, but likely inevitable, given its age and location.

Yet I don’t think the Book Warehouse’s demise deserves much handwringing. Newspapers and blogs have called it one of Vancouver’s “most beloved local bookstores.” If that’s true, it’s a pretty strong condemnation of our city’s culture.

The Book Warehouse was essentially a big box with a bunch of shelves inside. The customer service was good and the prices were decent, but that shouldn’t be enough to make a bookstore beloved.

Yes, I know that many people really want a local competitor to the Chapters behemoth, and I sympathize with that. But a great independent bookstore should be defined by something more than being a not-corporation.

Look at Seattle’s famous bookstore, the Elliott Bay Book Company.

What makes it a cornerstone of the city’s character isn’t its vast supply of books, but everything else about its atmosphere: the funky, creaky wood floors, the vibrant cafe and the 500 author readings that take place there per year. The Book Warehouse didn’t provide any of that atmosphere, nor did the now-shuttered Duthie Books or any other Vancouver bookstore.

Elliott Bay had to move to a new location in 2009, but seems to be doing well now. If it ever shut down, it would be very sad indeed—but that’s because of how hard Elliott Bay works to be more than just a book repository. If all we want is a good selection at cheap prices, no independent store will compete with Amazon. They need to focus on what they can offer that Amazon can’t.

It’s not quite as simple as Vancouver needing to demand more out of its cultural institutions; most people agree that the Playhouse was a great place to visit, but it still died because of lack of support. Instead, we need to recognize that some institutions are more deserving of preservation than others, and that it’s not a sign of the end times when a mostly unremarkable bookstore goes out of business.

What really matters is to find the institutions that are worth preserving, and then to spend our time and money there (the money part is key).

If we give businesses a strong incentive to provide us with an irreplaceable atmosphere, maybe then we’ll have a few more of them. U

Scene

03.19.2012 |

11

Pictures and words on your university experience

LIVING >>

Dispatches from a social media exile

Weeks into my time away from Facebook, I’m pretty out of touch. Not that I mind.

Melodramatic Musings Will Johnson My little sister asked me about my thoughts on Joseph Kony the other day while I was eating cereal at my parents’ house.

“Coney?” I asked. “What’s that?”

“He’s this guy in Africa,” she said.

“So?” “Well, he kills people and rapes women and stuff.”

Now, I love my sister to death, but she has never shown even a remote interest in foreign affairs, so I was baffled by her choice of conversation topic. Of course, within a few moments, I knew where it was coming from.

“I saw it on Facebook,” she said, with a shrug. “There’s a video and everybody is watching it.”

But not me.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about deactivating Facebook.

It’s been nearly a month since I abandoned my account, and it’s been interesting to see the subtle ways my life has changed. I thought

I would be tempted to return to its cyber embrace, but I’ve yet to feel anything but relief for escaping from its productivity-stealing, voyeuristic black hole.

I’ve had a few different friends complain that their tagged photos were effectively halved when I left, as I used to be an avid Facebook photo uploader. I’ve also had people complain that it’s harder to get in touch with me, to which I reply—don’t you have a phone? Or is an email that much harder to send than a Facebook message?

Actually, in the weeks after I left, I had a sudden influx of lengthy, thoughtful emails from friends who might have otherwise whipped something off in Facebook chat. People called my cell phone instead of poking me, or came over to my house instead of writing on my wall. Rather than killing my social life, ditching Facebook has actually had an entirely positive effect on my day-today relationships.

Around the time I quit, #RIPFacebook was trending on Twitter. That’s stupid. Facebook isn’t going anywhere, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it outlives me. Google Plus is trying its

INDIANA JOEL/THE UBYSSEY

“I’ve had a sudden influx of lengthy, thoughtful emails from friends who might have otherwise whipped something off in Facebook chat.”

best to be relevant, but is failing hard. And Twitter will never fully replace it. I think Facebook is a useful and valuable tool for a lot of people, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

However, I think people are starting to question their relationship with Mark Zuckerberg. I think they’re starting to question the amount of time they spend looking at a computer screen. And then

wondering what else they could accomplish with the time they spend scrolling through someone else’s vacation photos.

Maybe you should think about it too. U

12 | Games | 03.19.2012

Crossword

45— Modern address 46— "That ____ help" 47— Good ____ 50— DDE opponent 52— Hives 53— Yank's foe 55— Skin 57— The act of gesticulating 63— Graph prefix 64— Seine spot 65— Work without _____ 67— Force 68— Praying figure 69— Back 70— All-inclusive 71— Strikes out 72— Exclamation of fright

Down

43— Of the third order 48— Artificial 49— Rainy 51— Slat 54— Two-legged support 56— Bridge positions 57— Manner of walking 58— Cube creator Rubik 59— Attention 60— Caspian Sea feeder 61— Dedicated to the ___ Love 62— Tide type 63— Palm Pilot, e.g.

66— It's past due

Dinosaur maze?!

Start here!

(CUP) — Puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com. Used with permission.

Across 1— Get rid of 5— Flora and fauna 10— Like some history 14— Golfer Ballesteros 15— Aromatic compound 16— Baum barker 17— K-6 18— Met highlights 19— Digits of the foot

20— Defer action 23— Lymph ____ 24— Attach by stitches 25— Flight of steps 28— Acid 31— Zingers 35— Secret stuff 37— Brit. lexicon 39— According to 40— Boundary 44— Stutz contemporary

1— Compass dir.

2— Assist 3— Always 4— Raging 5— Facial hair 6— Sharon's land 7— Elevator man 8— Milk source 9— Bears the ictus 10— Capital of Canada 11— Dig like a pig 12— Fit to ___ 13— Acapulco article 21— Horn-shaped bone 22— Kan. neighbor 25— Pelvic bones 26— Attempts 27— Greek physician, son of Xenon 29— Plinth 30— Essen article 32— Bluffer's ploy 33— Light-coloured hair 34— ___ Domingo 36— ___ Darya (Asian river) 38— Accomplished 41— Madrid Mrs. 42— Young fowl

Success!

Courtesy KrazyDad.com. Used with permission.