October 13, 2011

STAR

October 13, 2011 | VOL. XCIII ISS. XII

The wrong coach SINCE 1918

CRAFT The brutal world of competitive gaming on campus.

U

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CHICK

THE UBYSSEY BEER P6 16 MORE SPOTS New SUB will have temporary childcare for students with children

P3 BROAD BASED ADMISSIONS

EXPAND UBC continues to admit more students based on their extra-curriculars rather than their grades.

Is the future of admissions beyond the GPA?

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OCCUPY VANCOUVER

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2 | Page 2 | 10.13.2011

What’s on MOA >> 13 THU

This week, may we suggest...

Our Campus

One on one with the people who make UBC

Studying the mysteries of the deep Catherine Guan Staff Writer

Hiroshima: Photographs by Miyako Ishiuchi: 7pm @ MOA Features images of personal belongings and clothing left by victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Entertainment provided by the Vancouver Chamber Choir and master Japanese flute player, Takeo Yamashiro.

14 FRI

NDP >>

16 SUN

DINING >>

Meet Quebec NDP MP Laurin Lui: 4pm @ SUB Art Gallery For all you future political leaders (or future critics), come and meet one of the newly elected student MPs from Quebec. You may even be inspired to follow in her footsteps. Or run and cower in fear in the corner.

15 SAT

MED >>

Medical Admissions Day: 9am @ Forest Sciences Centre UBC Pre-Med Society is bringing in some of the best medical schools from around the world and in Canada. This should be a jawdropping event that will catapult their bright-eyed ambitions into the dazzling field of medicine.

17 MON

HARPER >>

Dining Etiquette Workshop: 11am @ Roundhouse Community Arts and Rec. Centre Feel as if your culture and manners have died from so many dorm room ramen sessions?

Learn the art of fine dining, proper cutlery usage, and all around how to be a civilized member of society when you leave UBC. And who knows, it might help you on some dates. Tickets are $10.

Racism and Criminalization in Harper’s Canada: 6:30pm @ Grandview Calvary Baptist Church Come discuss the implications of the Conservative-backed crime bill that would have wide-ranging effects on mandatory minimum sentences and punitive criminal programs. Who voted for this guy?

U

Got an event you’d like to see on this page? Send your event and your best pitch to printeditor@ubyssey.ca.

THE UBYSSEY October 11, 2011, Volume XXXIII, Issue XI

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

Copy Editor Karina Palmitesta

CONTACT

copy@ubyssey.ca

Business Office: Room 23 Editorial Office: Room 24 Student Union Building 6138 Student Union Blvd Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 tel: 604.822.2301 web: www.ubyssey.ca

Video Editor David Marino

video@ubyssey.ca

Senior Web Writer Andrew Bates abates@ubyssey.ca

webmaster@ubyssey.ca

BUSINESS

Senior Culture Writers Taylor Loren & Will Johnson

Ad Sales Ben Chen

business@ubyssey.ca

tloren@ubyssey.ca wjohnson@ubyssey.ca

advertising@ubyssey.ca

Sports Editor Drake Fenton

Andrew Hood, 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

features@ubyssey.ca

Business Office:

604.822.6681 advertising@ubyssey.ca

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Webmaster Jeff Blake

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STAFF

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.

The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press (CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guiding principles.

Letters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include your

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.

The delusional are known for setting out on quixotic quests for beasts mythical and newfangled. But cryptozoologist, Paul LeBlond, is far from your average nutcase. A bonafide scientist and world-class academic, he also happens to be the retired head of the department of earth and ocean science at UBC. Crytozoology, according to LeBlond, studies cryptids: “animals that have been seen, exist in oral tradition, but has not been verified by science.”

Here, in the wild wild west of the fringe sciences, LeBlond has the liberty to speculate on the existence of strange and wonderful creatures. But his method is purely scientific. He’s a scientist.

He proves things, experimentally, COURTESY UBC ARCHIVES using methodic observation and Leblond, seen here in his 1967 professor photo, studies creatures unknown to science. capturing specimen.

“I’m a physicist by training,” he Twilight Zone monster-of-theattract curiosity, and interest, and said. “I used to study the ocean week, or perhaps a headline in attention, and derision…There and waves and fisheries, and then, the ever trusty National Enquirer. are people that say things that go someone asked me about giants According to LeBlond, “there have beyond the evidence, and it gives eels in the BC waters.” And thus, been a couple hundred reports.” In really interesting creatures a bad he stumbled into crytozoology. his seminal work on the creature, name.”

LeBlond is one of the Cadborosaurus: Survivor from Now living on Galiano Island, world’s leading experts on the the Deep, the scientist lays out an LeBlond is enjoying his retireNorth Pacific Megaserpent, extensive body of evidence that ment and has cultivated a interest Cadborosaurus willsi. “It’s an traces back to the 1930s about the in “small square-foot gardenanimal that’s been seen off the creature he affectionately refers to ing.” He still does consultation on BC coast from San Francisco to as “Caddy.” ocean conservation and marine Alaska,” said LeBlond. “People LeBlond co-founded the crytozoology. usually report a long neck, horsey British Columbia Scientific His vision for the future? “I head and bumps on the back. We Cryptozoology Club, which fohope crytozoology will disapdon’t know what’s beneath the cuses on Caddy and the provpear, because then all the crytids surface, but based on the way it ince’s other famous cryptid, the will be found or clearly shown to moves, probably flippers.”

Sasquatch or Big Foot. be mistaken for something else.”

Like its better known kin, Acknowledging the stigma But meanwhile, “I keep an eye on the Loch Ness Monster, the surrounding his field with good Caddy through the BC Scientific Cadborosaurus sounds like a humour, LeBlond said, “Cryptids Cryptozoology Club.” U

News

10.13.2011 |

3

Editors: Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan

ADMISSIONS >>

Broad-based admission use expands across faculties at UBC Mike Dickson Contributor

The Faculty of Law is the latest UBC faculty to examine whether broad-based admissions are worth implementing.

Broad-based admissions are meant to use more than academic performance in determining admission, allowing extra-curriculars, volunteering and special skills that might not show through a GPA to factor into a university’s decision.

Claire Young, a law professor at UBC, said that while the debate is in its infancy and no consensus has been reached, it’s an important topic to consider. “Personally, I think that numbers don’t always tell the whole story,” she said.

“While academics are a good indicator of a student’s merit, it’s also important to determine the suitability of a candidate with other factors that demonstrate their aptitude for their desired program.”

It’s a belief echoed by many

faculties at UBC who use broad-based admission criteria rather than a traditional reliance on grades alone.

The Sauder School of Business changed to broad-based admissions in 2004/2005, based partly on feedback from employers of Sauder grads. As senior associate dean of academic programs Brian Bemmels explained, grades alone left the employee stories a little unbalanced.

“Just because someone has excellent grades does not mean they are going to make a successful

businessperson,” Bemmels said.

“We were communicating with the Business Advisory Council (BAC), which represents many employers of our graduates, and some of those that had outstanding marks were lacking in interpersonal skills or practical business sense. We then decided a few years ago to expand our admission criteria, and the feedback from the BAC was positive and surprisingly quick to occur.”

Sauder’s results reflect the desire of many universities and employers to

bring well-rounded students into university and turn them into similarly well-rounded members of the work force. How best to gauge the “x factor” is left up to each faculty.

They might not have the academic credentials of a student with a 4.0 GPA, but possess the intangibles that make them distinctive all the same, said Bemmels.“If we admitted on grades alone today, the cutoff would be about a 94 per cent average. We don’t want robots—we want people who are best suited for business.” U

CHILDCARE >>

FINANCES >>

Veronika Bondarenko

Policy 72 picks up students’ financial slack as last resort

AMS to offer childcare for students Contributor

A rooftop childcare centre designed to meet the needs of student parents will be one of the new services offered at the new SUB, slated for completion in 2014.

UBC Childcare’s full-day programs are an invaluable resource for many university-affiliated families.

However, the need for a part-time childcare service that gives students with changing schedules greater flexibility has continued to increase.

“The AMS recognizes the need for more childcare for students on campus,” said AMS VP Administration Mike Silley. “As such, we have not only committed one million dollars to fund capital childcare projects on campus, but we also saw an opportunity to create a dedicated space for childcare in the new SUB.” Darcelle Cottons, director for UBC Childcare Services, said the AMS decided to have the service operated by UBC Childcare. However, the AMS childcare centre will differ substantially by the number of spaces offered, the faster turn-over rate and reservations for students’ children specifically.

As the first ever “occasional care” centre, it will limit the amount of time any given child can spend at the centre to no more than eight hours a day and forty hours a month.

This way, the centre will be able to accommodate more children over a shorter period of time. Adhering to BC Licensing, this childcare centre will hold a maximum of 16 children at a time.

While details are still being finalized, this childcare program is, according to Cottons, meant to operate as a short term service that will allow

JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

Karen Ma & Catherine Lai Contributors

HAZEL HUGHES/THE UBYSSEY

The childcare centre in the new SUB is slated to go on the roof.

parents to register their children online.

“This service is intended as a parttime service to meet a variety of university family needs,” said Cottons.

“For example, a student attending classes every Monday for a term could register their three year-oldchild for Mondays. Or another family could use the service full-time for one week a month. There are dozens of ways the service could meet the needs of families accessing the university, and attendance will be based on first come first served, with students given first priority.”

Jamie Paris, Graduate Student Society (GSS) rep on the AMS, said that while the GSS is only having

initial discussions about organizing childcare, it was the GSS which stressed the creation of the AMS centre.

“We pushed the AMS to have that space and we pushed them to make sure that space stayed as large as possible.”

Perhaps more-so than the undergraduate demographic, graduates have particular interest in studentonly childminding space.

“If you look at my inbox and you ask what are important the two most important issues, they’re childcare and housing,” Paris said. “It’s time of life when having a family is a reality.

Right now UBC is unable to fill the demand, and someone needs to.”

UBC Childcare’s full-day program currently offers space for 560 children. These much-coveted spots are shared by the children of UBC staff, students and faculty. And since program space is limited, many applicants are wait-listed, said Cottons.

“Toddler-aged children are currently waiting 18-24 months for services, and yet for 3 and 4-year-olds, the list can be as short as 6 months depending on the time of year you apply.”

As UBC’s first part-time childcare program, Silley said the AMS’ childcare centre will work independently of current waitlists.

“This occasional childcare type has been desperately needed at UBC for quite some time now,” he said. U

Sauder professor examines the roots of workplace sabotage

Study argues Vancouver is not serving elderly Chinese

City council discusses parks on viaducts

Abusive relationships cost Canadians $6.9 billion per year

Karl Aquino, a professor of organizational behaviour in the Sauder School of Business, has recently released a study examining the roots of workplace sabotage.

The paper focuses on envy as a key component, but finds that envy is not the only catalyst in sabotage. A sense of “moral disengagement”—a line of thinking that justifies harming others for personal gain—is also a large part of the problem.

“We basically change our way of thinking about envy and argue, “It’s okay for me to do it in this particular case,” said Aquino.

A recent UBC study suggests that Vancouver has an “overwhelming need” to provide elderly Chinese immigrants with housing support in their native tongue.

The study, written by Sauder School of Business professors Tsur Somerville, Azimuth Wazeer and Jake Wetzel, cites that within the next 15 years, over 3000 seniors of Chinese descent will need a form of affordable housing that can provide for their needs. “The number is greater than all other speakers of non-official languages meeting the same criteria combined,” said the study.

Officials in the Metro Vancouver Parks board are considering converting the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts as well as the old Port Mann Bridge into an aerial park, featuring benches, trees and flowers.

While officials question whether the infrastructure is even stable enough for the project, city councillor Geoff Meggs told the Vancouver Sun that there is some merit in the idea—but cautioned that it could be costly. “It’s been successful in New York because of the enormous densities [of people] and a lot of philanthropic contributions,” said Meggs.

A study led by UBC Nursing Professor Colleen Varcoe estimates that abusive relationships cost Canadians $6.9 billion each year. Helping people leave abusive relationships involves provision of healthcare, food bank use, counselling and social assistance.

The study focused on 309 women from BC, Ontario, and New Brunswick who left abusive male partners within the last three years. “In pointing out the economics of violence, we are also showing the human costs, which are incalculable. As a society, we must do a better job of prevention, early detection and support,” said Varcoe. U

News briefs

UBC has made it its mission to educate every qualified student—even those who can’t afford it. But while Policy 72 ensures the university will step in to fill the financial gap if students are left with unmet needs, the qualifications narrow down the number of eligible students significantly.

“A student must be on a government student loan in order to qualify.

That is 22 per cent of the UBC population,” said AMS President Jeremy McElroy.

“That means 78 per cent of campus doesn’t have access to this policy.

International students and part-time students are also ineligible.”

According to the Student Financial Assistance and Awards (SFAA) office, between UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan, 4000 students a year receive funds under Policy 72.

In the 2010/11 year, 3543 students were helped by the policy at UBC Vancouver. The policy has been in place since July 2004.

Anne DeWolfe, director of SFAA, explained that the amount awarded to students under Policy 72 varies according to tuition, length of study period, family situations and the amount of personal resources students are able to contribute.

In order to qualify, students are required to exhaust all other resources, including student loans, family assistance and bursaries.

Students must take out the maximum loan amount available from StudentAid BC, ask family members for help and apply for scholarships and bursaries.

While Canadian students have access to Policy 72, others may have to wait for a similar policy. DeWolfe says that the university is trying to develop financial assistance for international students, but because UBC is a publicly funded institution, there is currently no ability under Policy 72 to fund them. U

4 | News | 10.13.2011 OCCUPY WALL STREET >>

Occupy Vancouver focuses on local, not global concerns

Andrew Bates Senior Web Writer

Globally inspired but local; spontaneous but organized: Vancouver’s protesters are looking to bring the occupation home.

Organization has begun for Occupy Vancouver, the local wing of the Occupy Together movement.

The international web of events aims to emulate the Occupy Wall Street protests (OWS), where activists have maintained a presence in a New York park since October 17 to protest corporate influence in politics and the actions of the financial sector. “[It’s a] pretty big umbrella of, as you say, a non-issue based demonstration of people really banding together to talk systemically about what’s going on in a lot of different ways, in ways about more than just what’s literally going on about Wall Street,” said Sarah Edwards-Noël.

Edwards-Noël is a co-facilitator for the event’s general assembly, which determines the messaging and demands of the protest movement.

According to Rima Wilkes, an associate sociology professor at UBC, the attempt to define the movement may be one of the big challenges.

“To say that we want to create a new movement—well, what’s the movement?” she said.

“It doesn’t seem clear to me that it wouldn’t be part of an anti-capitalist movement...but I guess they won’t like that terminology because ‘if you’re anti-capitalist, then you’re a communist.’ You have to be careful with that whole label.”

Protesters at Occupy Wall Street in New York. The protest has spawned anti-corporate protests around the world.

But according to Edwards-Noël, it’s important not to force a definition. “This concept of the 99 per cent is not a homogeneous one. I think it’s about reaching out and being willing to work together in a way that’s productive,” she said.

The movement will reflect local protest concerns like the environment and Aboriginal rights, but there is a conscious desire to create a movement rather than a protest, according to Porter.

“What will make this strong and avoid the danger of globalizing in a way that doesn’t allow for a local context is that there is an organic

process,” she said.

“A nice thing about using the Vancouver Art Gallery as home base is we can take that long history of protest and say, ‘This is a movement.

We’re no longer standing here protesting individual things.’”

One idea of the movement is based around the 99 per cent, which is seen as a counterpart of the 1 per cent of American households who control 42.7 per cent of the country’s wealth, according to a University of California study.

“We are all of the people who get screwed over by a system that privileges the wealthiest one per

MAT MCDERMOTT/FLICKR

cent and has our politicians beholden to corporations and the interests of the wealthy,” said Ace Porter, a UBC midwifery student who also moderates posts on Occupy Vancouver’s website.

According to Wilkes, the same messaging used by OWS won’t be suitable.

“I think here, it’s going to be a really tough sell, because our economy isn’t in the state [the US’s is in],” she said. “I don’t get the feeling that there is this groundswell of rage about the economy in the same way there is in the US, so I don’t know how they’re going to sell this.”

“Only speaking for myself, I hear that and say, they follow that in the news with, ‘We have a large portion of the Canadian populace living on credit.’ For me, that’s not a very strong financial system,” Porter said.

“The high student debt load is foreshadowing our really serious economic situation, in which you have an entire generation with large numbers of people burdened by heavy student debt who aren’t going to be able to move forward with their lives.”

Other instances of the movement, like Wall Street and Boston, have been beset by difficulties in the relationship between protesters and the police.

“It’s a different police force, and we hope that the VPD here in Vancouver is not going to behave in a way that we’ve seen the NYPD behave,” Porter said, “because I think everyone can agree that the way in which the NYPD behaved reflects incredibly poorly on them.”

Wilkes isn’t sure that the public will be as critical of police action than they have in those areas. “I’m wondering, if they do crack down,” she said, “will the population say, ‘And that’s what they should have done with the riots?’”

Wilkes isn’t certain the protest will be as successful as the Wall Street movement. “I’ll be honest, I’m not expecting a lot at all. I think there’s going to be an event.”

“It may not take the same route as the Wall Street movement, but we hope that we are as successful..in our own local way,” said Porter. U

Culture

10.13.2011 |

5

Editor: Ginny Monaco

MUSIC>>

Blank Vinyl Project combines musical talent with business savvy Flora Wu Contributor

JON CHIANG/THE UBYSSEY

Blank Vinyl Project founder Ben Chen wanted to create a collaboration between UBC musicians and business students with marketing skills.

There are plenty of groups on campus. But do any adequately bring together student musicians? Ben Chen, founder of the Blank Vinyl Project (BVP), believed there was a gap, and sought to fill it.

“There’s so many really talented people out there that nobody gets to hear,” said Chen, who works as The Ubyssey’s ad salesman. “What if we had some place at UBC for some budding musicians? Why don’t we get some people together who know all the business stuff and love music? Why don’t we get them to use their skills for marketing?”

Others joined Chen to create the group. What began as a series of meetings became a student-run record label. Chen admits that many of the BVP executives don’t have much musical experience, but he says the collaborative project allows musicians to focus on their craft while a separate group works on the business side.

“As musicians, I understand that [they] have no idea how to do business stuff. You could be an amazing musician, but you could

have three recordings and the only people who would hear it are the people on your Facebook friends list.”

As BVP grows, the team hopes that its future expansion will reach out to musicians on other campuses. But Chen admits that at this point, the project is still in its nascent stages. “’Blank Vinyl’ is something that’s not created yet,” he said.

“It’s blank and we can make it into anything we want to,” said Chen.

Their current featured artists, the duo Amie & Carlo, say that the help of a team dedicated to promotion and marketing has motivated them to work harder and manage deadlines. The change from casual gigs to more organized shows has also helped them grow as musicians.

Chen believes that the arrangement will benefit them and future UBC artists.

“We do have a contract,” he said. “It’s not like exclusivity; it’s not [that] when you’re with us, you can’t sign up for Sony once they find out you’re amazing. Obviously our dreams are with the artist, we want to make them.” U

VIFF reviews Inni: Sigur Rós

pendular structure, swinging back and forth between split-screen concert footage and organic glimpses into Bird’s life beyond the stage.

Bird’s passion for art steadily consumes him, and manifests in his physical condition. The film isn’t an account of the demise of Bird’s career, but a focus on his mad-genius creative process.

The lack of conventional film structure is balanced by another sentiment that you can’t put your finger on, until you realize that you just vicariously spent a year with Andrew Bird.

Rebekah Ho

Contributor

Inni: Sigur Rós is the closest you can get to seeing the titular band in concert without actually seeing them in concert. Literally the closest.

Sometimes shots are so zoomed in that lead singer Jónsi’s sweat (or is it glitter?) gets a little too close for comfort. Though most of the movie is made up of black and white footage of a live performance, it is also woven with clips of humorous interviews and home movie-type recordings. It captures both sides of the Icelandic band: the intimate passion of Sigur Rós’s music onstage, and their offstage personas.

This film is a concert film. There is no plot or story, and few documentary-style shots. However, there is a large amount of experimental filming in Inni, such as shaky camera work, grainy footage and overexposure. Occasionally, there are bursts of seizure-inducing strobe lights, which is surprisingly overwhelming for a monochromatic film.

With that being said, Inni is more an audio experience than a visual one. Although viewers may be expecting more from this movie than just a concert caught on film, Inni focuses mainly on the music.

Inni is not the most engaging of films, but sometimes, you just have to close your eyes and absorb the divine qualities of Sigur Rós’s music to appreciate it fully.

Miss Representation Kayi Wong Contributor

In Miss Representation, director Jennifer Siebel Newsom examines how the media has contorted Western culture. The film focuses mostly on how reality TV, advertising and Hollywood movies perpetuate the objectification of women.

The documentary features a range of successful public

Wiebo’s War Rhys Edwards Contributor

COURTESY OF VIFF

Andrew Bird’s battered body and unconventional talents are on display in Fever Year.

figures—including Katie Couric, Gloria Steinem and Condoleezza Rice, among others—discussing the traps set up by advertisers and the mainstream media, and the insufficent resistance to this conditioning.

The importance of the documentary is in its exposition of the regression of gender roles, the underlying sexism in mainstream media’s pseudo-empowerment of women, and the effects of this phenomenon on individuals.

The most distressing accounts in the film are delivered by high school

students of both genders.

On the issue of society’s increasing expectation of women to fulfill an idealized body type, there is nothing more pressing than a teenage girl raising the question: “When is it enough?”

Andrew Bird: Fever Year Dulguun Bayasgalan Contributor

For 15 years, violin vitruoso Andrew Bird has been making records and

touring, which has placed him comfortably in the indie rock scene with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Owen Pallett and St Vincent (the latter is a fellow artist who makes a cameo in the film). But 15 years is a long time, and Bird’s body shows the damage.

The film chronicles an exceptionally strenuous tour for Bird, in which he, along with his band, played 165 shows in a perpetual state of tenuous fever—hence the title.

The movie, which is the directorial debut of Xan Aranda, has a

Wiebo’s War tells the unusual story of Wiebo Ludwig and his family, a group of Northern Alberta fundamental Christians known for their long-standing conflict against against the oil and gas industry.

From the outset, filmmaker David York strives to remind viewers that this is not only a case of David versus Goliath (though the Biblical parable would otherwise be appropriate). Wiebo’s profound faith is irrevocably connected with his life and activism, which proves problematic for the documentarian’s objectivity.

On one hand, Wiebo and his family convey a sense of wisdom and authority far beyond the capacity of the average person. Yet there is a subtle undercurrent of dogmatism, which is ultimately realized in Weibo’s ambiguous attitude towards the violence that has characterized his activism over the years.

The editing can be somewhat confusing, and a bit more exposition from outside the immediate family circle would provide some objective context.

Nevertheless, Wiebo’s War is an insightful documentary that challenges our preconceptions of social activism and conservative religion. U

6 | Culture | 10.13.2011 Under review

MARKETING >>

COURTESY OF MOA

Hiroshima is the first time Ishiuchi Miyako’s work will be shown in North America.

UBC hosts annual Apple Festival On Saturday and Sunday, the UBC Botanical Garden will be hosting the annual UBC Apple Festival, featuring over 70 varieties of locally-grown apples.

Varieties, both “tried and true” and newly created hybrids, will be available for sale, along with various types of apple trees.

Also on sale at the Food Fair showcase are bushels of applerelated merchandise, delicious fall food products and other goods. The event will feature hands-on demonstrations from the BC Fruit Testers Association on cider making, information about apple-related diseases and pest issues from the UBC master gardeners, and a children’s area, as well as the opportunity to tour the Botanical Gardens and walk on the canopy walkway.

Admission is $4 for adults and children over 12, and includes free admission to the gardens.

Hiroshima photo exhibit opens at MOA On October 14, a new exhibit titled Hiroshima will open at the MOA. The exhibition features 48 photographs by Ishiuchi Miyako of clothing and accessories left behind by victims of the 1945 atomic bomb at Hiroshima.

Unlike the black and white images most often associated with Hiroshima, Miyako’s colour photographs represent her own deeply personal encounters with everyday objects that, unlike the people to whom they once belonged, continue to exist in the present.

Testaments to a profound trauma, they also illuminate the beauty, diversity and complexity of individual lives in ways immediately accessible to contemporary audiences.

Miyako is one of Japan’s leading contemporary photographers. This is the first time her work will be shown in North America.

Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference begins next week Close to 100 North American poets will gather in Vancouver from October 19 to 22 as part of celebrations for the city’s 125th anniversary. The Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference will feature four days of readings, panel discussions and cabaret nights.

With a focus on a new generation of poets working in a wide range of styles, the event is being touted as a landmark exchange of poetry.

The conference will open with an all-Vancouver lineup on its first day, including Governor General’s Award nominee and UBC creative writing graduate Elizabeth Bachinsky. The cabaret nights will be headlined by names like Christian Bök, Wayde Compton and Matthea Harvey, plus musical guests.

Mayor Gregor Robertson is also set to be in attendance for a ceremony to inaugurate the third Vancouver poet laureate on October 22, along with current poet laureate Brad Cran. U

PETER WOJNAR/THE UBYSSEY

Kalyeena is just fine enjoying a perfectly passable Pilsner on a Wednesday afternoon. She doesn’t need to have her femininity defined by easily marketable stereotypes.

Chick Beer: for you/your vagina Anna Zoria Staff Writer

Ladies, we all know that after a long day, there’s nothing more refreshing than a beer (or two or three) with some friends. But why, you might ask, are none of the beers out there made for ladies? Molson, Kokanee, Guinness, Sleeman’s: they’re all just so...manly. Sigh.

Enter Chick Beer: a new kind of beer that’s made just for you and your vagina. It comes in a pink bottle (so that you can instinctively be drawn to it at the liquor store) and is low in calories and carbs (so that you can now consider having dressing with that salad). The company slogan, “Witness the Chickness,” is done in a sophisticated Curlz MT font over the image of a little black dress on the label. And if that doesn’t sound like your grade three lunchbox already, did I mention that the six pack is designed to look like a purse?

The Spice Girl power doesn’t stop there. The beer is also less carbonated so that you won’t feel “bloated” or, god forbid, burp. It also has a milder, sweeter taste. To recap: if you’re still considering that liquid bread, known as regular beer, you should also seriously think about getting a sex change.

All joking aside, it is undeniable that the founder of Chick Beer, Shazz Lewis, tapped into a niche market when she decided to make a beer “just for women.” While anyone who’s ever seen a beer commercial can tell you that the advertising is largely geared towards the male consumer, research shows that 25 per cent of all beer in the US is bought by women. But is putting a light lager into a pink bottle really helping bridge that gap?

Lewis said that from the start, she knew that the uber-feminine

packaging would garner some criticism. But she insisted that Chick Beer sends a positive message. “The women who embrace Chick Beer are self-assured, confident and powerful,” said Lewis. “They believe that fun and sexy are positive traits.

They embrace their femininity, and are bold enough to understand that a word like ‘chick’ can’t hold them back.”

This type of argument, however, falls short when we consider what femininity in the year 2011 actually means. If we constrain it to all things pink, girly and Sex and the City, aren’t we trivializing femininity?

UBC’s Scott Anderson, a philosophy professor who specializes in gender, agreed that “the use of derogatory and diminishing stereotoypes to categorize women tends to reinforce a sense that women enjoy being treated in ways that are sexualized and unserious.”

But Lewis does not seem to be fazed by the feminists. “Real progress requires dissent. We never expected everyone to like the Chick Beer concept. Name any concept—even something as accepted as the iPod or democracy—and I can show you some people who simply hate it.

“It would have been easy to make a quiet little beer for women that would have met with both universal approval and universal disregard,” she added. “We chose to go another route.”

While it is debatable that a beer that looks like a Sophie Kinsella novel is bringing progress to the feminist cause, Lewis does touch on a viable marketing point. By being modestly provocative, the young company

has managed to garner a substantial amount of publicity. Though the responses have not been entirely positive, in its mere eight weeks of existence, Chick Beer has caused quite a stir in the press and has been featured on two of America’s three major morning news shows.

Sauder School of Business chair of marketing Darren Dahl says that, while the company could have chosen to present the product with a bit more class, “often in marketing you’re not trying to get all the customers, you’re trying to get a segment that will make your organization viable. You may piss off a bunch of people in doing that,

but those are not the people you are interested in.”

True, Chick Beer never claimed to appeal to all women. And if there is such a huge demand for this beer, then maybe our next step should be to develop some Forever Alone PMS Chocolate and tap into a whole new segment of Carrie Bradshaws.

At the end of the day, though, beer is beer. Women, just like men, enjoy it for its taste, body and strength. To assume that what women drinkers look for in a beer is mild taste and a low calorie count only further reinforces the idea that real beer is for men. U

Sports

10.11.2011 |

7

Editor: Drake Fenton

E-SPORTS >>

RUGBY >>

Men’s rugby team wins first game of the season

COURTESY DAVID TURNER

Colin Chia Contributor

JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

After only one year on the AMS club scene, the UBC Starcraft Club already has more than 300 members, including several gamers who play on the professional circuit.

The UBC Starcraft Club redefines sport Vinicius Cid Contributor

Your command centre is being burnt to the ground, all of your miners are dead and, to make matters worse, you only have one tank left to fend off an approaching Zerg horde.

Your life is about to be control + alt + deleted.

Welcome to the UBC Starcraft Club.

Last November a group of 20 gamers banded together with the aim of propagating e-sports throughout campus. Less than a year later, the Starcraft Club has more than 300 paid members—all united by their desire to mingle and have fun with like-minded gamers.

“Most of the time, people play online games by themselves or with a couple of friends,” said James Choi, the club’s president.

“But we want to get everyone together and have fun as a whole.”

It isn’t just about gaming, however. The club has a goal of developing e-sports, which in essence is the game of playing video games.

It may be silly to think of sitting in front of a computer and jamming away at a keyboard as a form of sport, but that may be a matter of perception.

It takes work ethic and skill to play a game and triumph over opponents, just like it does in hockey or football.

“We call it mechanics,” said Alek Hrycaiko, a fellow Starcraft Club member. “The way that you navigate through the game, you

get used to the commands until it sinks with you and you become better at it.”

You have huge amounts of people who watch the game and sponsors who are putting up big money. So in that sense it’s already a sport.

Sarana Sopanpanichkul Starcraft Club member

With a mastery of the mechanics comes a mastery of the game.

When two skilled players face off against one another, the intensity of the game becomes palpable. It is this aspect of Starcraft that makes it plausible to label competitive gaming as a form of sport.

“In order for e-sports to become a professional sport, it has to be a business. It needs to have an audience and people who pay the players to do their job,” said Sarana Sopanpanichkul, another fellow Starcraft Club member. “You already have huge amounts of people who want to watch a game and sponsors who are putting up big money, so in that sense it’s already a sport.”

The perception of gaming as an e-sport is already concrete in South Korea. Top Starcraft 2 gamers receive the equivalent of

thousands of dollars in sponsorship deals to participate in national tournaments, which receive the benefit of television broadcasts and are capable of selling out stadiums.

E-sports are also experiencing an explosion of popularity in China that could soon reach the same levels of intensity.

“It’s like our sports [in North America], teams are sponsored by companies like Pepsi, Samsung and LG,” said Choi. “And games get broadcasted on TV and people go out there to watch the finals.”

The hope is that the UBC Starcraft Club will do its part to contribute to the rise of e-sports in North America. While the members don’t really see parents encouraging their children to play video games in the future, a more realistic expectation is that the ability to effectively command virtual troops in a strategy game or be a marksman in a shooting simulation will be considered a genuine skill worthy of appreciation, similar to throwing a football or shooting a puck.

That would be much better than the current consensus, where gaming is seen as an inherently antisocial and wasteful activity.

“Right now I’m so happy to be at the forefront with how the community is turning out,” said Choi. “It brings down some of the stereotypes people might have about gamers, but when we come out and play together, it’s just like any other sport and a very social activity.” U

Starcraft stats

1998

The year Starcraft was originally released on Microsoft Windows.

12

The approximate number in millions of Starcraft copies sold.

2800

The beginning of the 27th century, when Starcraft is set.

15+

The rating given to the game by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.

56:49

The length in minutes of StarCraft: Game Music Volume 1.

9.5

The rating given to the original game by IGN in 2000.

37

The game’s ranking in Edge magazine’s top 100 games of all time.

100

hours Bryce Warnes plays Starcraft.

The UBC men’s rugby team captured their first win of the season last Friday, winning 25-0 against the Vancouver Rowing Club (VRC).

Unfortunately, their victory was overshadowed by concern for their captain Taylor Dalziel, who left Thunderbird Stadium in an ambulance with a dislocated ankle and a fractured tibia.

With UBC cruising to the win and the match near full time, Dalziel was left lying in pain on the turf.

The referee decided to stop play and call the game.

Dalziel underwent surgery the next morning and was in good spirits despite the setback. He hopes to be back on the field by March, said head coach Spence McTavish. “That might be a little ambitious, but that’s his goal.”

With Dalziel out for the majority of the season, McTavish is hopeful that some of his younger players will step up and compensate for the loss of their captain.

“Obviously with the loss of Taylor, the strength of the team is slightly diminished,” said McTavish. “But it’s an opportunity for one or two guys to fill in and and see if they can get the job done.”

Eric Hunter-James is a developing player who will now get a chance to prove himself at the centre position, said McTavish.

During the game against VRC, UBC’s forwards controlled set pieces and their back line was able to use that to their advantage, receiving quick ball movement to generate several breakthroughs.

Though was controlling the game, they weren’t able to score a try until the 36th minute. Fly-half Connor Fuller was finally able to burst through the VRC back line, and a successful conversion made the score 13-0.

With the score 20-0 at the begining of the second half, VRC seemed more settled. UBC kept pressing though and substitute secondrow forward Tristan Slade broke through on the left wing in the 64th minute to score UBC’s third try.

This win for UBC came after they lost their first three games of the BC Rugby Union Spray League season. Their next match will be at home this Saturday afternoon against fourth place Bayside RFC. U

8 | Sports | 10.13.2011 ATHLETE OF THE MONTH >>

JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

Maria Bernard’s strong performance at last weekend’s Charles Bowles invitational earned her 14th place in a very competitive field.

Athlete of the

Month

U

BC’s athlete of the month for September is Maria Bernard. Bernard is an incredibly talented first-year athlete on the women’s cross country team. With an early-starting season, Maria has already proven her strong running ability on multiple occasions this year. Maria’s accomplishments include a first place finish in the Sundodger Invitational College Women’s Open in Seattle, Washington. In a pack of more than 200 competitors, Maria won by almost 20 seconds. Maria also

played a pivotal role in women’s cross country team’s success over the past weekend at the Charles Bowles Invitational.

Bernard finished in 14th place and helped the women’s team to a Gold Division team title.

Bernard, who is an internationally recognized athlete, is a phenomenal addition to the Thunderbird squad. Her early success is a great indicator of things to come.

—Thunderbird Athletic Council

The Thunderbirds Athletic Council [TAC] is a council comprised of varsity UBC athletes to organize social, charity and fundraising events. The TAC aims to enhance the varsity experience for all UBC athletes.

CANADIANA >>

Sweeping into the spotlight

Broomball experiencing a rise in popularity a century in the making Katherine DeClerq The Fulcrum (University of Ottawa)

OTTAWA (CUP)—Every Canadian knows about hockey, our unofficial national sport played on ice with a puck and a stick—but how many people know a thing about hockey’s counterpart, broomball?

Founded in Canada between 1909 and 1910, this sport is played on a hockey rink, but with a rubber broom, ball and rubber shoes instead of skates. While it may not be the most popular sport around, broomball has grown considerably in recent years. Younger athletes are beginning to play the sport, including fourth-year University of Ottawa student and sports therapist, Sarah Achtereekte.

“I got into broomball because of my parents,” said Achtereekte.

“I started when I was four or five.

My feet couldn’t actually fit in the shoes, so my mom gave me extra socks so I could start playing early.”

The rules of broomball are similar to hockey. The goal of the game is to get the ball into the opposing team’s net. The only two

rule-related differences between the sports are the location of the offside lines—for hockey, it’s the blue line and for broomball, it’s the red. And there is not just a whistle for a highstick in broomball—hitting the ball above your shoulder results in a penalty.

Achtereekte plays on an elite team in the Eastern Ontario region. Broomball tournaments are scheduled throughout the year, with the teams competing to go to provincials then nationals. The season for elite teams is quite different from that of other broomball teams, as the squad must make it to provincials the year before in order to qualify for the national competition.

Achtereekte explained she doesn’t mind the system because if offers her team an opportunity to develop without worrying about protecting a championship.

“This year, there are no teams from Eastern Ontario going to nationals; it’s the western team that is going. But our team is younger so we have time to grow,” said Achtereekte.

DAILY INVENTION/FLICKR

Broomball has been around for 100 years, but has only recently become a popular sport.

“Right now, because we aren’t going anywhere, playing broomball is more of a health benefit for me this year.

“Plus, because I’m a student, the sport is great for stress,” she joked.

Broomball was taken under consideration for the the 2010 Winter

Olympic Games, but didn’t pass the bar. Achtereekte thinks the Olympic consideration is indicative of new popularity for broomball.

“Since I’ve been playing, [the sport] has gotten pretty big. I mean, you have teams from Ontario, and just in Eastern Ontario you can usually play against three or four good teams and a couple of [exhibition] teams, but I don’t think it’ll get close to hockey,” she said.

“There are still a bunch of people who don’t know about the sport.”

Achtereekte also feels that broomball has the potential to become widely accepted among families because it is more cost efficient than sports like hockey.

“It’s a lot cheaper than hockey and the equipment [costs] practically nothing,” she said.

“Registration fees are getting a little higher … [but] it is less time consuming than hockey. I don’t know exactly what is being done for advertising, but it seems to be getting out there.”

Achtereekte has no doubt that the sport will gain popularity in years to come. U

10.13.2011|Games&Comics | 9 Sudoku by Krazydad

Comicsmaster by Maria Cirstea

Ski Ninja by Alex Lees

As you may have noticed, we need comics!

Contact printeditor@ubyssey.ca with your submission, or stop by our office in the SUB.

First person to enter The Ubyssey offices and hug Geoff Lister wins 100 free copies of the paper.

Great for swatting flies!

COME BY THE UBYSSEY OFFICE

SUB 24, FOLLOW THE SIGNS

U

Opinion

10.13.2011 |

10

Editor: Brian Platt

Making sense of the copyright dispute Perspectives >> Alex Lougheed

The AMS’s new rooftop daycare has a few drawbacks

INDIANA JOEL/THE UBYSSEY

The Last Word Parting shots and snap judgments on today’s issues A provincial police force would benefit students As the RCMP and the province negotiate a new policing contract, some people—including the solicitor general—are musing about the possibility of bringing back a provincial police force. The original one, called the BC Provincial Police, was disbanded in 1950.

We ran an editorial this summer calling for a metro police force to replace the mishmash of city police and RCMP that currently serve the Lower Mainland. A provincial police force would be a step in the right direction.

It would especially help UBC. The RCMP station on campus is chronically short on resources.

It may be counterintuitive, but students would actually find it easier to hold licenced events if there were more police on campus.

Currently, events are often curtailed or even prevented from happening because the RCMP are worried about being unable to control them with current staffing levels.

This is also why bars on campus often close early and why cheap drink specials are discouraged.

A provincial police force would likely provide a better-staffed police presence on campus—and give us more opportunities to party hardy.

Municipal election costs are out of control If you don’t feel like voting in the November 19 civic elections, you’re in good company. In the 2008 elections, just over 30 per cent of Vancouver’s eligible voting population turned out to the polls.

It might surprise you, then, that these were some of the most expensive elections per capita anywhere in Canada. The four parties raised a combined total of about six million dollars in the election drive. The cost per voter of these elections is astronomical compared to provincial and federal elections.

With such a paltry mandate from the public, Vancouver politicians are especially susceptible to special

interests. You can bet that the folks in charge of zoning, parks, transit, sewage and the schools are very cognizant of the palms they have to grease.

The province recently carried out an extensive audit of its local government election laws and plans to make some heartening changes, such as making BC Elections in charge of holding candidates accountable to campaign finance laws and making provisions for public finance to allow the little guy to have a shot at taking on the party machines. But these changes won’t kick in until 2014, and more importantly, they still leave BC as one of the few provinces without a spending cap on local elections.

That means private interests will not be discouraged from pumping money into the parties for those little favours. It also means that the public is given even less incentive to involve themselves in a system where only the elite can play.

Vancouver experienced oneparty rule at the civic level for the better part of the 20th century. That might be one reason why most Vancouverites don’t care who runs their city. But the lack of a campaign expense cap could drive that 30 per cent even lower.

Costs of higher education should be a protest priority Of all the messages coming through in the Occupy Wall Street protests across North America, one that stands out for us is the cost of a university education. Many of the protesters are 20-somethings with stories of 5-figure debt and no job prospects to show for it. They did everything their parents and professors told them to do, received a degree—and now are in worse shape than ever before.

It’s a message we can obviously sympathize with (do you have floors that need to be cleaned, Globe and Mail editors? Because we’re cool with that), and it’s applicable in Canada as well.

The increasing cost of university and the pressure to translate that cost to a “real” job has meant

universities put more and more time into career training and mentoring. But this isn’t a job they’re suited to (see: last week’s Careers Days) and their time could be better spent elsewhere.

If a university degree wasn’t such a huge investment, students could afford to learn, get a degree and see what they want to do in the world without having to work three jobs to avoid years of debt and stress.

If these protests ever result in actual policy proposals with a hope of being implemented, the affordability of a degree and loan reform should be a high priority.

Stephen Owen will leave a mixed legacy at UBC Stephen Owen’s decision not to seek a second term as VP External, Legal and Community Relations of UBC is interesting, but altogether not that surprising for a 63-yearold man.

His five-year stint at UBC can be summarized as saying little while achieving much behind the scenes—unsurprising for a former federal politician. He was, essentially, UBC’s lobbyist-in-chief, the man tasked with working with governments. When UBC really wanted something from the provincial government—such as control over parking, control over zoning or... basically, any sort of control—UBC got it, so he deserves full marks on that end.

But the university seemed to struggle with the “Community Relations” part of the job under his tenure. UBC alienated as many local groups as they wooed, and Owen oversaw a communications department that had 40 different twitter feeds but no coherent and consistent message to its internal audience.

The university’s decision to rebrand the portfolio as VP Communications and Community Partnership signals that UBC understands the need to better engage with those inside and outside our campus. We hope Owen’s successor is up to the job. U

There is no institution in society that relies on copyright more than universities. Our schools are built for the creation, analysis and dissemination of creative works, and that requires legal protection. Unfortunately, this mandate is under attack because a gaggle of lawyers can smell a buck.

That gaggle is Access Copyright, a collective licensing firm that schools can pay so teachers are allowed to distribute photocopies of books to students. You have probably bought a custom coursepack; Access took a per-page cut of that sale. They also took a flat threedollar-and-a-bit fee to cover other copying, like that done in class. The internet has disrupted this model, and as paper use is going down, so is the use of the Access license— and their paycheques.

But you can always count on lawyers’ ingenuity to keep revenues flowing. Instead of acknowledging their product as no longer needed, Access is appealing to the government to implement a mandatory fee—a fee that copyright scholar Sam Trosow coined a “buffet rate.”

Except at this Kafka-esque buffet, admission will cost you 13 times more than the familiar à la carte menu and it is mostly food you have already eaten.

Collective licensing was created because an army of administrators to do direct licensing would bankrupt everybody. Instead, a deal would be struck in which universities would just pay a lump sum through a middle-man. Enter the internet and its data-collecting abilities that make direct licencing possible, and the middle-man is no longer needed.

This may seem like an esoteric battle, detached from the day-today of the classroom, but it’s a fight to let students and scholars use technology freely and to its full extent. It’s a fight to respect both creators’ and users’ rights.

This version of collective licensing is antiquated; direct licensing is now possible and it’s making groups like Access obsolete.

Universities, including UBC, are fighting to use new technologies to make life better. Without Access, we can get more access, cheaper licenses and more money directly to creators.

Which is great. Because if there’s ever been one force for creation in Canada, it has been our universities—and they can use all the money they can get. U —Alex Lougheed is a former AMS VP Academic, and currently works as a policy and research officer with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. These opinions are solely his own.

The danger with broadbased admissions Editor’s Notebook Arshy Mann Imagine you’re a high school student, and instead of grappling with trigonometric proofs or delving into the details of the Yalta Conference, you spend your time coaching a youth volleyball team.

Or engaging in competitive flag making. Or directing a theatre remake of All the President’s Men starring a cast of senior citizens.

These all demonstrate leadership, gumption and intelligence, which should count towards getting you into university, right?

UBC is now starting to agree with you. Many UBC faculties have begun admitting students under broad-based admissions, which means that they’ll admit you based off of more than just your academic grades, and will also consider your grade in life.

And overall, that tends to be a good thing.

Broad-based admissions give universities a more diverse student populace and provide hopeful scholars more than one route to a higher education.

But this flexibility can come with a price. Now imagine once again that you’re a high school student.

But this time, you come from a family struggling financially. And instead of being able to volunteer your time at a kitten orphanage in Djibouti, you have to work 20 hours

a week whipping up Blizzards at Dairy Queen.

Or maybe you have a child or need to care for another dependent, so you don’t have the time to buttress your resume. All of a sudden, you lose your university spot to someone who had the same grades as you, but had more money, and therefore time, to devote to the extra-curriculars.

Broad-based admissions can—and have—been used for more pernicious purposes.

According to Daniel Golden’s The Price of Admission, prestigious American universities use alternatives to grades to admit wealthier students and place unofficial quotas on some racial groups. In the 1950s it was Jewish students, while today it’s typically students of East or South Asian descent.

Going off of grades themselves can also have its problems. Many private schools throughout Canada inflate your grades when you apply to university. I know; I went to one of those.

I am not saying that UBC is or will be engaging in these types of practices. But students and administrators need to be aware of the darker side of broad-based admissions.

It is indeed crucial for universities to foster and reward skills other than simply the academic; a well-rounded student means a wellrounded worker and citizen. And while there will never be a perfect system, we have to be aware that there may be a trade-off between a flexible system and an equitable one. U

Scene

10.13.2011 |

11

Pictures and words on your university experience

LIFE >>

When gaydar goes haywire People often question my sexuality; it makes things awkward.

Melodramatic Musings Will Johnson

People often think I’m gay.

I’ve never been able to pinpoint exactly what gives them this impression. Do I come off as effeminate or especially appreciative of other guys? Is it because I’m perceived as sensitive or is my personality just gay-ish?

One night, I met a girl at a party. She was short and sexy, and much to my surprise seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say.

We sat on the front steps of the house, passing a beer back and forth. I was starting to feel deliriously happy about my prospects.

Whenever I said something funny, this girl would grab my leg and lean towards me, laughing. At one point she threw her arm around my shoulder and kissed me on the forehead.

I was going to get laid.

Then, while discussing some of her dating woes, she said, “Well, you would understand that sort of thing.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Well, as a gay man…”

I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. She thought I was gay?

When I interrupted her to correct her on the subject of my sexuality, a confused look crossed her face for a moment, and then came a slow dawning of realization.Within three minutes she had excused herself to pee, leaving me alone on the front porch. I didn’t see her again that night.

I’m normally flattered when people make that mistake. Most of the gay friends I have are more interesting and bizarre than their straight counterparts.

One friend of mine came out when he was in grade 12. At a rich upper-middle-class suburban high school, I’m convinced that’s one of the ballsiest things you can do.

One day, while walking down the hallway, some guy walked behind my friend and whispered repeatedly, “Fag, fag, fag,” while he stepped on the back of my buddy’s shoes. This sort of rampant homophobia was an everyday occurrence in my high school.

Rearing up like a disturbed

elephant, my friend spun around and—Chuck Norris-style—roundhouse-kicked his tormentor in the head.

“I am a proud fag,” he yelled.

How bad-ass is that?

To be considered among the ranks of my gay contemporaries is hugely complimentary.

It’s not that I’m especially interested in being intimate with a man, but there is a certain whiff of rebellion and mystery that seems to come with being gay.

Not to mention the fact that you instantly become a member of an exciting larger friendgroup: the gay community.

A couple of years ago, I went to a meeting for the gay club on campus. The poster said that if you were gay, bi, curious, trans or an ally, then you were free to come. I saw the poster and said, “Sure, I’m an ally,” and decided to go check it out.

When I walked in the room, all conversation stopped. What is he doing here? He doesn’t belong here. I wandered around the room, casually glancing at the books on the bookshelves.

But

eventually, tired at being glared at, I retreated.

The experience left me kind of torn. How can you assume anything just by looking at a person? What could anyone possibly know about my sex life—and what does it have to do with my appearance? Whether people instantly assume I’m gay or others write me off as hopelessly straight, it’s annoying to see people jump to conclusions.

No matter how accurate you think your gaydar is, chances are you can be wrong every now and then. U Check out www.goodwilljohnson.com to read more, or to buy the Melodramatic Musings book. You can also follow Will Johnson on Twitter @ Goodwilljohnson.

I’m normally flattered when people make that mistake.

Most of the gay friends I have are more interesting and bizarre than their straight counterparts.

INDIANA JOEL/THE UBYSSEY

12 | News | 10.13.2011 SFU LOCKOUT >>

SFU lock-out of unionized staff comes to an end Staff to forego wage increases for two years, allowing for future student hiring

Arshy Mann Managing Editor, Web

Three months after Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) staff were locked out, the workers have returned to their jobs.

The SFSS and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents the 15 formerly locked out employees, finalized an agreement on Tuesday, which sent staff back to work immediately.

The new agreement will see that there are no reductions in wages or hours for current employees, but also stipulates a lower wage structure for new hires.

“We wish it had been three months ago, but we’re pleased that it’s over,” said Richard Overgaard, national communications representative for CUPE. “I know [the staff] are happy to get back to work. They like their jobs, they like their work and they like the support they provide students.”

“I think the deal that we reached is in the best interests of students and the society in general,” said SFSS President Jeff McCann.

According to Overgaard, this agreement marked significant movement away from an offer the SFSS board made at the beginning of September.

The lock-out, which began on July 10, was the result of two years of

failed negotiations between the SFSS and CUPE after their collective bargaining agreement expired in 2009.

The new agreement came during a mediated bargaining session at the BC Labour Board on Friday and will last for the next three years. The SFSS was originally hoping for a five or six year agreement.

“If the union was going to take concessions, they were going to want a shorter term...[for] the opportunity to renegotiate earlier,” said McCann.

Under the new deal, SFSS staff will receive no wage increase for the next two years, but a one per cent increase in the third year.

Also, wages for student employees will be lowered from $21.98 per hour to $14.50. “[This means] we can hire twice as many students and give more opportunities for students, but also provide more services by bringing down their wage rates,” said McCann.

Current employees will also have the number of hours they presently work covered under the old agreement. However, if an employee quits, the SFSS reserves the right to not rehire. They also reserve the right to rehire an employee under a lower wage rate or for fewer hours.

Returning to work Overgaard said that he wasn’t surprised that the union was able

MARK BURNHAM/THEPEAK

CUPE-BC President Barrie O’Neill speaks at a rally against the lockout last month

to compromise with the student society.

“In all fairness, I think we always knew there was a deal to be had, right back to the first day of the lock-out.

“I think what happened was that

over the course of September, the wind changed, and the board was under increasing amounts of pressure to end the lock-out.”

However, both parties stated that they were relieved that the staff were back at work.

According to McCann, now that the lock-out is over, the SFSS will be able to focus on some of the projects that they were elected to do, including increasing the number of food outlets on campus and advocating for a reduction on interest rates for student loans.

“Now we basically look at the next 203 days and try and figure out what our priorities are going to be and how much we can accomplish between now and then,” he said.

Both McCann and Overgaard said that now that the lock-out is over, they hope that staff and management will be able to work together.

“I’m not going to ignore the fact that certain things were said and that labour disputes are an ugly thing inherently,” said McCann.

“But once we start picking back up on projects, I think that comfort level is going to resume.”

Despite the turmoil of the past three months, Overgaard sees at least one upside to the labour dispute.

“Whatever side of the argument people are on here, I think our members, through the work they did on the picket line, actually educated a lot of students about what they do and the value of their work,” he said.

“Hopefully folks go in and thank the staff for the work they do. I know they’d really appreciate it.” U