June 18, 2024 - The Pride Month Supplement

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JUNE 18, 2024| VOLUME CVI | ISSUE II COMING OUT THROUGH THE UBYSSEY SINCE 1918

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UBC unveils Workday, students frustrated

Vancouver’s favourite anti-festival

Speech, silence and protest at UBC

Being a walk-on athlete at UBC

UBCO program reduces student stress with dogs

NEWS

CULTURE

OPINION

SPORTS

SCIENCE

THE UBYSSEY

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JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

WHO’S WHO AT UBC

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Dr. Scott Ramsay shapes the future of concussion care

JUNE 18, 2024 | VOLUME CVI | ISSUE II

EDITORIAL

BUSINESS

Coordinating Editor Iman Janmohamed coordinating@ubyssey.ca

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President Ian Caguiat president@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Elena Massing culture@ubyssey.ca

Visuals Editor Emilija Harrison visuals@ubyssey.ca

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Opinion Editor Spencer Izen opinion@ubyssey.ca

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ON THE COVER COVER IMAN JANMOHAMED

THIS MONTH IN UBC HISTORY

1991: The Ubyssey publishes Pride special issue

THE UBYSSEY

In February 1991, The Ubyssey published a pride issue which included an editorial criticizing the lack of Queer representation in media.

If it weren’t for Ramsay’s brother, he wouldn’t be a nurse.

Lauren Kasowski Sports + Rec Editor

When Dr. Scott Ramsay was 19 years old, he wasn’t in the hospital as a medical resident — but as a family member supporting his younger brother with stage 4 lymphoma.

“I spent the night at the hospital at VGH and all of a sudden, [my brother] started getting nauseous and ended up vomiting. The nurse runs in and gives me heck because I’m holding this little … cardboard tray that you can vomit into,” Ramsay said. “And she’s like, ‘You can’t touch that. It’s cytotoxic, there’s chemo drugs.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know any better.’ I’m this 19-yearold jock hockey player who was just trying to help him out.”

At the time, Ramsay was in transition from playing hockey to thinking about a career as a doctor or physiotherapist. But it was that experience with his brother that shaped Ramsay into the person and pediatric nurse he is today.

“My mom told me after he passed away that he had told her that he thought I would make a great nurse,” said Ramsay. “That was the push over the edge that I needed to go into nursing.”

“If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be a nurse.”

When Ramsay was a child, he dreamed of playing in the NHL — “hockey was my real first love.”

He remembered being around five years old, watching the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux play on TV and falling in love with how cerebral the game was.

“The tactical aspects of playing a team sport and trying to think ahead of your opponent is what really drew me to hockey,” he said. “I was never the most skilled person on my team or playing against other teams, but if I could out-think someone to get an advantage then I really enjoyed those aspects of it.”

Next to his love of hockey growing up was Ramsay’s interest in science. He said he had a knack for it and even took grade 12 biology twice — the second time just for fun.

GUNTAS KAUR / THE UBYSSEY

Ramsay began his bachelor of science at UBC with plans to become a doctor, but switched to a bachelor of science in nursing at the University of Fraser Valley in 2012 after his hospital experience with his brother.

“I recognized that it was the nurses who did a lot of the care — physical, mental, emotional, social care — with patients and that was more so who I was as a person than being a physician,” he said.

After three years, he earned his registered nurse license and started working at BC Children’s Hospital.

There, he started to notice he was getting calls from parents whose children had sustained concussions months prior and lacked follow-up care after their initial diagnosis.

“After hearing the nth one, I’m like, ‘Is there something here in terms of the care that we’re providing — or not providing in this case — that could be preventing these children from having these debilitating neurological sequelae?’”

He was already enrolled in a master of science in nursing at UBCO, but the thought of a research question continued to intrigue him, so he switched to UBC’s School of Nursing.

In 2018, Ramsay started his PhD dissertation on concussion after-care in BC youth, looking at health outcomes after initial diagnoses.

Overseeing the largest study on youth concussion care, Ramsay has rightfully gotten a lot of attention from major media outlets for his work. But he remains humble, keeping the focus on the research and the work being done in youth concussion care.

“I hope … we do recognize that a concussion is a brain injury, and it can have long-lasting impacts,” said Ramsay. “I hope that eventually we have parent services through clinics, and health care personnel that want to look after them, [so] that they can get the care that they need and deserve.”

Today, Ramsay continues to clinically practice in pediatrics.

He finds working with kids very rewarding.

“To me, it’s night and day difference getting to work with the pediatric population in the sense that children just want to be children,” he said. He recalled making kids smile with something as simple as an orange popsicle.

Through pediatrics, Ramsay found another calling — family-centred care.

“I think the thing that a lot of people don’t recognize though is when you look after a child, you’re also looking after their family,” he said.

Family-centred care refers to a medical philosophy that maintains that the person who’s sick isn’t the only person affected — the family is also a key part of the care, alongside medical staff. “[It’s] making sure that you have everyone’s perspective and that there’s no one less important in that situation,” Ramsay said.

Family-centred care leads to more positive patient outcomes.

For Ramsay, that’s because there’s greater collaboration, which leads to more informed decisions for each unique patient and their situation.

“When we can appreciate people’s perspectives and where they come from in the knowledge that they bring to conversations, it opens up a lot of doors.”

Ramsay earned his PhD from UBC in November 2023 and is now an assistant professor in the School of Nursing. This past winter term, he taught NURS 346, the theoretical perspectives of nursing for infants, children and their families.

He uses his current clinical experience to shape nursing philosophies and practices for his students in a more tangible way.

Teaching has also given Ramsay more of an opportunity to mentor future nurses.

“It’s always nice to have people that can help and support you in your nursing journey,” he said.

“I’d love to be that person for our people as they progress and they want to do pediatrics.”

Mentorship isn’t new to Ramsay. In both his undergrad and graduate years, he was a peer mentor for other Indigenous students. For Ramsay, who is Métis, being an Indigenous person who was raised assimilated to Canadian culture puts him “in a place of power and privilege.”

“If you can make a situation [easier] or help someone else along their way so that they have — especially as an Indigenous nursing student — a little bit less weight to bear, I think it’s totally worthwhile.”

“I feel like it is almost paying it back because so many people helped me along the way to help me achieve where I’m at,” he said.

Moving forward, Ramsay plans to keep working on concussion research because there’s still “lots of work to do” to prevent and properly care for pediatric concussions. But he also hopes to continue in pediatrics — being a nurse and helping people is at the core of who he is. U

NEWS

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITORS AISHA CHAUDHRY + VIYAN HANDLEY

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CAN YOU GUESS HOW MUCH THEY SPENT ON THIS? //

UBC transitions to Workday Student, students express frustration Harleen Kaur Contributor

UBC implemented a new student portal, Workday Student, on May 21.

Workday Student is now how students can access course registration, grades, transcripts and personal and financial information.

UBC used the Student Service Centre (SSC) for the past 30 years. Transitioning to Workday Student is part of UBC’s Integrated Renewal Program (IRP), a project to replace the university’s decades-old IT systems.

In a statement to The Ubyssey, IRP Student Co-Lead Sponsor Joanne Fox wrote the SSC “could no longer meet the needs of UBC as it is based on outdated technology.”

Some students have expressed concerns regarding Workday Student and have taken to Reddit to express their frustrations.

One Redditor wrote, “Should I worry if a course I have saved has 0/0 available seats, or if Workday says I’m not eligible for the class even though I’ve met all the prerequisites.”

Another Redditor wrote “recently just got readmitted … getting a ‘Workday Sign In Error.’”

Fox wrote that “with any new system implementation of this

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

Workday Student will be connected with UBC’s HR, finance and students system.

scale, there can be challenges.

We are aware of some transition issues that some students are experiencing and are working to resolve these quickly.”

She also noted UBC staff had been granted early access to the system in March to explore and prepare for students’ use of

Workday, especially as course registrations started on June 4 and continue into July.

Fox wrote that advising offices and enrolment services will be providing support to students during the transition process.

She added that online tutorials have been posted to help stu-

dents set up and navigate their Workday Student accounts.

Workday Student will be connected with UBC’s HR, finance and students system so students can “access all of their information in one place,” wrote Fox. “For example, a student can use the same system that they

use to register for their classes to enter their work hours, if they have a part time job on campus,” wrote Fox. “The goal is to create a better digital experience for students so that they have access to all of their information through a secure and modern system.” U

WHAT IF WE TRIED LIVE MUSIC? //

Quorum not met at AMS special general meeting, staff food bank access remains restricted August 31, 2024.

Quorum was not reached as just under 460 people were in attendance, and the meeting was adjourned at around 10:30 a.m.

AMS ADOPTS ‘NO’ STANCE ON MOTION

In response to the quorum failure, Sulong UBC held a community meeting to discuss the motion.

Aisha Chaudhry, Viyan Handley & Iman Janmohamed News Editor, News Producer & Coordinating Editor

On June 4, the AMS’s special general meeting (SGM) was adjourned before a vote could take place as the meeting did not meet quorum.

In April, Sulong UBC submitted a petition, signed by over 500 students as per AMS bylaws, which called on the AMS to hold a SGM to vote on a motion to reinstate AMS associate members’ access to the AMS Food Bank and

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

to hold referendums, going forward, regarding changes to food bank access. Associate members include UBC and AMS staff and faculty.

In March 2023, the AMS restricted UBC staff access to the AMS Food Bank starting in May 2023 because of financial hardship.

For the petition’s motion to be voted on, the meeting needed to reach a quorum of 623 students, roughly 1 per cent of students registered in the 2023/24 academic year which runs from September 1, 2023 to

On Instagram, the AMS posted saying “Prioritize UBC students at the AMS Food Bank” by voting no to the motion.

In the post, the AMS wrote it believes staff deserve access to the food bank, but “budget restraints have already limited the quality and quantity of food [the AMS] can offer to students.”

“Reinstating access for UBC staff and faculty would limit students even further,” read the post.

In an interview with The Ubyssey, AMS President Christian ‘CK’ Kyle said the AMS adopted a no stance because AMS Council’s last decision was in favour of keeping food bank access solely for students. As chair of the SGM, CK said he has to remain impartial and did not take a stance regarding the motion.

Student groups like Sprouts, Climate Justice UBC, UBC Social Justice Centre and Sulong UBC advocated for students to vote yes. In an Instagram post, the student groups wrote “food is for everyone,” and that voting yes is “the only option … that comes from a place of compassion for others in the community.”

STUDENT EXPRESS GOVERNANCE CONCERNS, SULONG TO HOST COMMUNITY MEETING Students expressed concern online about the AMS not following its bylaws regarding the SGM. CK said SGMs do not have technical rules in the AMS bylaws, so the society used Robert’s Rules of Order instead.

“We went pretty far above our actual bylaw requirements for notice of a Special General Meeting,” said CK. The meeting did not hit quorum after a 30-minute grace period from the meeting’s official start time. This grace period is in accordance with the AMS bylaws for its annual general meeting.

Students and student groups have also criticized the AMS for limited promotion of the SGM, for requiring registration to access the webinar and for releasing the registration only a day in advance, but CK said the society adhered to its bylaws.

The meeting was initially supposed to take place in-person. CK said Sulong UBC asked the AMS to move the meeting from in-person to hybrid, but the AMS couldn’t afford to host a hybrid meeting. Instead, the society held the meeting online over a Zoom webinar.

“I wish we had gone through the online option earlier … We wanted it to be as accessible as possible,” said CK. In response to the quorum failure, Sulong UBC wrote in an Instagram post that it is holding a community meeting to discuss the

motion.

In an interview with The Ubyssey, Sulong representative Maya Fernando explained “there were people who wanted … to speak” at the SGM. “I know that they’re disappointed, so we wanted to provide them another opportunity,” said Fernando.

Additionally, CK said this motion will be discussed by AMS Council at its June 19 meeting.

“I’m excited for the discussion of Council. I hope that students come and make their opinions heard,” said CK. “I think it’s unfortunate we didn’t get quorum, but it’s a trend in the AMS.” While Fernando will speak at the upcoming AMS Council meeting, they highlighted their discontent with the restraints of the platform.

“They only offer three slots [to speak at Council] ... We really wanted to centre the workers’ voices ... and that’s why we were really looking forward to the original SGM, because they let non-students speak,” said Fernando. “It’s about giving the voice to the people … most affected by the decision.”

Fernando said that although not reaching quorum “was a bit of a disappointment,” the SGM set a “precedent” given that the last SGM was about 30 years ago.

“Now people know that there’s an option to have your voice heard,” said Fernando.

“There’s this democratic process for you … so even though it was a loss, I think it’s still a gain overall that the student body knows of this process.” U

NEWS

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITORS AISHA CHAUDHRY + VIYAN HANDLEY

I’M LOOKING FOR A MAN IN FINANCE //

AMS unveils three-year financial plan after 2024 referenda

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NEWS BRIEFS

Bernice Wong Senior Staff Writer

The AMS has unveiled a threeyear financial plan aimed at stabilizing its operations, reducing deficits and fostering sustainable growth.

The plan, spanning from 2024 to 2027, outlines specific goals, objectives and strategies for each year to ensure the organization’s long-term stability and expansion.

The creation of a three-year financial plan was passed as a referenda item by students in the 2024 AMS elections. This plan — the first ever of its kind — was passed

by AMS Council on April 25.

“Looking beyond the threeyear horizon, the AMS envisions a future where financial stability and growth are not merely aspirations but tangible realities,” read the plan.

The plan is broken into three categories for each year. The first focuses on immediate actions the society can take for stabilization.

The two goals for the first year are to reduce the operating deficit and increase revenue streams.

The 2023/24 AMS budget had a $738,766 deficit, but the 2024/25 budget is anticipating a $1,439 surplus.

To combat this, the plan aims to achieve a 33 per cent reduction in the current operating deficit

SPENCER IZEN / THE UBYSSEY

Aisha Chaudhry News Editor

PERSON INJURED FOLLOWING ATTEMPTED ROBBERY AT THE ROSE GARDEN PARKADE

The AMS aims to achieve budgetary balance by eliminating the operational deficit.

through reducing unnecessary expenditures and renegotiating contracts. The plan includes a $150,000 revenue increase through corporate partnerships and other fundraising initiatives.

In the second year of the plan, the AMS aims to achieve budgetary balance by eliminating the operational deficit and achieving a balanced budget through continued financial discipline and

revenue diversification.

Strategies include continuing cost control measures, increasing efficiency in AMS operations and consolidating gains from new revenue initiatives. The AMS also plans to reinvest surplus funds into strategic areas to promote sustainable growth and enhance student services.

In the plan’s third year, the AMS aims to establish financial

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reserves equivalent to 15 per cent of the annual operating budget to safeguard against future uncertainties.

This involves developing a reserve fund policy, allocating annual surpluses to reserve funds and investing in low-risk financial instruments.

The AMS did not respond to The Ubyssey’s request for comment by press time. U

SO CAN I USE CHATGPT NOW? //

Senate releases draft guidelines for generative AI at the same time mitigating risks around privacy, security and ethical concerns.

The document is currently in its final stages of revision. Hendricks said the guidelines will be in effect by the upcoming school year.

THE FUTURE OF AI IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Senator Drédyn Fontana said UBC needs to adopt a “forward thinking” approach to generative AI.

Bernice Wong Senior Staff Writer

At the May 15 Senate meeting, the Generative AI in Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee presented draft guidelines for the use of generative AI to help professors and students navigate AI’s evolving landscape.

Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President of Teaching and Learning Christina Hendricks spoke to The Ubyssey about the implications of these guidelines and what she hopes it will bring to the community.

“This is meant to be an evolving document,” said Hendricks. She

ANYA A AMEEN / THE UBYSSEY

said that despite consultation with Indigenous groups, copyright and security specialists and other Senate committees, UBC is continuing to keep the document open to feedback to allow new areas of concern to be addressed and reflected in the guidelines.

Hendricks said while drafting the document, the university purposefully tried to use an approach that involved incorporating different perspectives. Approximately 30 people across UBC’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses served on the committee.

Hendricks said UBC is trying their best to support opportunities for teaching and learning while

Dr. Richard Spencer, representative from the Emeritus College, said UBC is placing too much emphasis on the risks of generative AI and would like to see a proportional consideration of the potential benefits.

“UBC educators need to ask themselves, ‘How can information technology help learning?’ and not ‘What are the threats that that information technology poses to learning,’” Spencer said. He said there is far more to be gained by embracing generative AI than vice versa.

Before retiring in 2012, Spencer worked for the central IT department at UBC and served as its executive director. During his time, he worked toward getting the university to incorporate information technology into student learning.

He sees generative AI technology as beneficial in enriching student learning in personalized areas where professors or lecturers may not have the time.

He acknowledged the use of generative AI may come with issues of cheating and academic misconduct, but he believes these are issues that have always existed in universities, regardless of the use of generative AI. However, Spencer said he has observed the quality of students

entering UBC is extraordinarily high and he believes that the university should be more aware of the students’ appetite to acquire novel skills and create opportunities to enrich their learning.

“They’re here to take advantage of the learning opportunities,” Spencer said. He said this is where generative AI can play an important role in enhancing learning in the classroom and preparing students for future careers.

Applied Science Student Senator and AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Drédyn Fontana echoed some of these sentiments and said UBC needs to adopt a “forward thinking” approach toward the changing nature of generative AI. Fontana cited current literature, saying current AI detection software is inadequate for the changing AI landscape. Fontana said the university should embrace a perspective that acknowledges the deficits of AI detection software while leaving the possibilities of its use in classrooms open.

“We use the metaphor of the calculator,” said Fontana in explaining the incorporation of generative AI into the classroom. He explained that the invention of the calculator essentially made one skill of manual mathematical calculation less relevant and opened up the possibilities for academics to engage with mathematics at a higher level that was not previously possible.

“So my question is, when professors are indicating that students are losing the skills they’ve had previously because of [generative] AI, are those the skills like with the introduction of the calculator?” U

One person was injured following an attempted robbery at the Rose Garden Parkade on June 12.

Four RCMP units responded to reports of an assault with a weapon at the Rose Garden and arrived on the scene at around 1:34 p.m.

According to an RCMP statement, the attempted robbery “led to an altercation where one person was injured.” The victim was brought to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, said RCMP. The RCMP also wrote that the suspect was not located.

UBC spokesperson Thandi Fletcher said UBC is now taking “additional precautionary actions to enhance campus safety.”

These actions include “increasing security patrols and conducting a full review of the incident.” UBC is working with University RCMP to support their investigation, according to Fletcher.

Fletcher encouraged the UBC community “to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities,” listing AMS Safewalk, Campus Security and emergency blue phones as campus safety resources.

UBC asked people with information about this incident to contact University RCMP at (604) 224-1322.

SENATE MOTION TO CUT TIES WITH ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES QUASHED The UBC Vancouver Senate met June 1 to discuss cutting or suspending academic ties with Israeli public universities.

The motion calls on Senate to recommend to the Council of Senates and the Board of Governors to suspend academic agreements with “Israeli government entities, including public universities, for faculties of the Vancouver campus of UBC until further notice,” to condemn “actions committed by Hamas on October 7” and to support the subsequent ICC investigation and “peaceful efforts to advocate for the release of the remaining hostages.”

The motion was brought to Senate by UBC law professor and Senator Brenna Bhandar and Student Senator Jasper Lorien.

Bhandar moved a motion to close the public gallery, which passed with 41 in favour and 16 opposed. The meeting was continued privately.

The motion to cut academic ties with Israeli universities eventually failed, 16 votes in favour and 49 opposed. U

CULTURE

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITOR ELENA MASSING

5

GARBAGE-THEMED, BUT NOT TRASHY //

MUSIC WASTE IS TURNING 30, AND IT’S A GIFT TO US ALL

words and photos by Fiona Sjaus

In 1994, Kris Mitchell of Smak, Gilles Zolty of Zolty Cracker and their respective bands got rejected from Music West. The festival was one of Vancouver’s largest — at one point bringing in over 300 local acts.

Mitchell and Zolty could’ve wallowed in self-pity, but instead they initiated a music mutiny and called it Music Waste. It was a modest lineup of four bands, but the press was livid.

“It got a bunch of attention just for doing something rebellious,” Mitchell said.

The next year, Music Waste’s founding members decided to put out applications for local bands to join their bill. Eighty groups applied.

By the following year, that number had grown to 250, at which point Music Waste was “neck and neck” with Music West.

If you’ve never heard of Music West before, that’s not surprising — it was trumped by Music Waste years ago. Around 2004, Music West faded into Vancouver’s archives while Music Waste stayed an annual reality.

This year, Mitchell celebrated 30 years of the endemic anti-festival he started and eventually handed over to the people to maintain its pulse. At a certain point, Mitchell was at the crossroads of music and event coordination — if he hadn’t entrusted the public to resurrect his revolt, he would never have started the whimsically audacious Bohemian vehicle that is the five-person folk-rock band Blackberry Wood.

Last Saturday, the band performed at Green Auto. To say that Blackberry Wood can put on a show barely scratches the surface.

Their first song was met with an eruption of preposterous uproar and fancy footwork. Strangers were suddenly friends, clapping

along to the stomping of a polka rhythm as some of Blackberry Wood’s members descended the stage and maneuvered a marching bass drum around the floor.

Before festival staff could answer Mitchell’s query of whether the group had time for one more song as their set came to a close, the audience gave them their answer, pleading for one last tune to dance to.

The chaos that ensued during Blackberry Wood’s set wouldn’t have been nearly as booming if M01E hadn’t charged up the crowd beforehand. The hotheaded punk group crafts DIY musicianship into its most unalloyed form. They had their break at Music Waste two years ago, so M01E’s spot in the festival’s lineup was part of a full circle moment.

At the foot of the stage, a sign invited spectators to scream. It illustrated M01E’s mission to redefine conventions of what music sounds like by regressing the art form back to its original purpose — having fun.

“Music is not about how perfect or how professional or how intelligent something is,” said UBC alum and M01E’s singer and songwriter Jerome Cohen. “Folks really need to stop taking themselves seriously [and] start having fun when it comes to music. I think once you have fun, you’re free.”

But to free your sound you must also free your source. The same ethos that energizes M01E also fuels Cohen’s other project, the UBC Cry Club. As M01E’s drummer and fellow UBC student Willow pointed out, both initiatives share an approach to music that is, first and foremost, accessible.

Cohen added that this accessibility reaches every part of the musical process. The band often opts for makeshift pieces like an easily portable half of a drum kit.

While some may feel limited by the instruments they have access to, Cohen argues that the hindrance to making sound really lies in one’s mindset.

“If we go back in time [to] when we were still living in caves, we just gathered by a fire, and we just hit other bones or stones,” Cohen said. “And I think that’s what we essentially, hopefully, want to achieve; is to bridge that gap between [what] people perceive as music [and] the role music plays on humanity in general, which is essentially to bring people together and to have that release.”

We don’t dance around fires anymore, but over concrete in an urban sprawl. The sun came to play with concertgoers this last weekend. Black tarp strung over empty freight containers sprinkled light over the pavement as feet shuffled in charmingly clumsy coordination. In a tight space like

the outside lot of Green Auto, everything looked choreographed from the sidelines.

On Sunday, DANI YOUR DARLING, as they usually do without fail, soaked their sound in ethereal, genre-bending storytelling.

“I mainly create based off of how I feel. So the music is just surrounding that,” Dani said.

“When I’m writing music, I am inspired by music or things that help me hold on to the [sentiment] that I’m trying to portray,” they wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey.

Throughout the course of their narration, Dani hopes people dance. And they did, some raising their arms up to the sky, eyes closed, others opting to stay low to the ground, switching between a bounce and a sway.

The meaning behind each song is closely personal and relatable.

When Dani performs, you get the

sense that they are singing to each audience member simultaneously rather than to a crowd.

Mitchell doesn’t think much has changed about the local music scene since he first found his place in it 30 years ago. Because at the heart of it is the DIY approach to music — something that Music Waste has succeeded in preserving, even after all these years.

For Mitchell, his brainchild will always be about giving different parts of Vancouver’s music scene “a place in the same festival” and “getting to see something that [audiences] wouldn’t normally see,” allowing people to broaden their expectations of the local music ecosystem.

“Ultimately, [Music Waste] is a community,” Cohen said. “It’s people supporting each other and people encouraging each other and also people protecting each other.” U

FEATURES

EDITOR FIONA SJAUS

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

6

CREATIVE NON-FICTION //

THE MEANING OF PEACOCKS words and illustration by FIONA SJAUS

The summer of 2002 was unnaturally hot in my hometown, or so I’ve been told. By then, my mother’s belly hollowed outwards — nearly bedridden, she was pregnant with me. The part that she doesn’t like to share about her third trimester is that she was probably exhausted and delirious from the heat.

But Balkans have a certain prowess: an immunity to heat.

In the suffocation of a dried out room, we open its window and the door so the wind from the outside and the air from the house blow past each other in a kind of syncopation that, if you stand in its way, provides immediate relief.

We call it promaja — and no, it’s not a draft. It’s a science, a tradition, something weaved into the household from the roots of our land. And that summer, I imagine that its presence became my mom’s closest antidote.

My grandmothers were conductors of this orchestration. In hushed harmony they’d meander around the house to find the best door stopper to prop the hardiest

door with, which window to unlatch so the cold air wouldn’t lead to headaches.

And when the wind formed its inconspicuous circuit, my mother would lay in its path so it could relieve the beads of sweat that bubbled on her hairline. According to her, she’d gaze out the window and speak to me in utero, stroking a veiny hand across her stomach.

When I look outside a window, I see my mom. Not out there, but in me. I’m staring out the same window she did, at a fir tree that was overgrown over our fence, a green shed nudged in the corner by a garden of marigolds and shrubbery.

My mom doesn’t tell stories in words, but in suspense. “And then,” she’d say, “they just flew in.”

It was mid-June. The air was circulating, as it did in the afternoon sun. She must have been leaning against the kitchen countertop as I was doing when she told this story last.

Two peacocks flew into our backyard from the west and

fluttered onto the sizzled grass.

Their ruffled blue feathers must have reflected the sun in a way that made them look almost alien.

They gawked their heads in every direction, scrambling for patches of grass that hadn’t already been scorched by the heatwave. But, swooping in from the farm a few blocks down the road, they had also come to tell us something.

“They must have been there for 20 minutes,” my mother would recount, staring out at the spot where they had been years before, the promaja nodding past her the same way it did that day in mid-June. “And then they just,” she’d hesitate as if she had been hoping the birds would speak, “flew away.”

My whole life we’ve been trying to find the meaning of peacocks.

Lofty hand gestures and interjections pass around theories that braid into a carpet of stories told through the generations of a region where peacocks and their feathers bring luck.

Unbeknownst, the answer

was already above us, overseeing these discussions with concentration — the poltergeist, the evil eye.

You see, the world is made of energy. And this energy has eyes that are always observing, with threads intertwined in the tapestry of our lives. The power of the evil eye is inherently supernatural, but in Mediterranean cultures, it’s said to ward off malevolence. Like a guardian, its overlapping circles of different shades of blue have peppered my childhood memories.

It’s peacocks that have been personified to take on this guardian role. The distinctive circular patterns on their fern-like feathers undoubtedly resemble the evil eye. And we concluded this many dinner times ago — the peacocks had not just come to bring good luck, but because they had also come to guard from something looming, a knot in the tapestry.

A daughter is of her mother, but a mother is not her daughter. We are still connected, but mostly when this knot is tied by a

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Email features@ubyssey.ca.

distance.

When my mind can make out the peacock’s feathers vividly enough, the eyes almost wink, as if to acknowledge the grip that they have on the woes of maternal love.

These birds are protectors of a bond that I share with the one that held my tapestry, my stories, together. And I sew it with care through grief and frustration.

Because even 22 years after they flew away, the peacocks’ presence is what holds us together, through rips and tears, through that day in mid-June and everything that came of it.

When I think about the meaning of peacocks, I think about a collective maternal warmth, a familial heat, one that itches. I see the birds, I see my mom, I see my grandmothers and their dance of opening up the household to the outside, to its malevolence and sun. The thought hides beneath a fabric and some eyeing feathers.

But I remember it fondly every time. U

r t a o e f h Qu T e R I DE M O N 2 02 4 P TH

SU PP LE M

T

EDITORS

ELENA MASSING & AISHA CHAUDHRY

ASSISTANT EDITOR

joy er

EN

FIONA SJAUS

LAYOUT

IMAN JANMOHAMED

8 | The art of Queer joy

Lesbians love making playlists instead of talking about their feelings words by Aisha Chaudhry | illustrations by Iman Janmohamed

T

here is something so inherently sapphic about making a playlist.

While this probably isn’t unique to the Queer community, it feels like every other minute I’m hearing about lesbians making playlists for their love interests — often before they’re even dating.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that people are often afraid to be vulnerable. Admitting feelings is always scary, but doing so as someone young and in the closet can magnify the terror. But God knows lesbians have never been good at being casual (Chappell Roan reference, anyone?), so when there aren’t words to express how you feel, you can string together a series of songs to hopefully get those feelings across.

Borrowing the words of another person, tied together with instrumentation and melodies, can sometimes bring shape to feelings in ways you would have never been able to do by talking. But the gesture is also not an explicit admission to anything (plausible deniability). You could give your friend (who you’re clearly in a homoerotic relationship with) a playlist full of love songs, but that doesn’t mean you like them. It just means they were good songs that you thought they’d like — duh.

It’s a way to admit your feelings without actually having to commit to anything and dealing with the possibly negative consequences of confessing.

When I was 16, which was the first time a girl ever told me she liked me, she also showed me the playlist she had made me. There was so much Girl

in Red on it.

I watched my little sister make her crush a playlist just a few months ago.

It wasn’t just a Spotify playlist — she burned a CD, made cover art and wrote out the tracklist. They learn how to yearn so young.

On my 20th birthday, the girl I liked made me a playlist as a gift. While it was probably just songs that she liked, I so badly hoped she thought of me while listening to them (the probability was low, but no one could stop me from living in delusion). And then when we actually started dating, I included a playlist in her Christmas gift.

There are other instances where playlists spoke for me without me even having to open my mouth. It was a way to feel closer to my dad by listening to songs I knew he liked, the way I connected with a long-distance friend and how my coworkers found out I had a girlfriend by Spotify-stalking our joint playlists.

And since sapphics are the patron saints of arts and culture, telling someone these lyrics reminds me of them, that they’re on my mind, that I want them to appreciate the same music I do and acknowledge my desire to share it with them — it all feels more genuine than just saying “I love you.”

Being part of this community means that art often becomes the way to express how you feel when you have to do so quietly, whether that be through music, photography, drawing or any other form

of media.

Places where art is shared, like music venues or art galleries, can be safe spaces to build community.

Sharing art has always been one of the most powerful ways in which people have created bonds with each other — and a playlist is no different. ❦

UBC invests $18,801 into 2SLGTBQIA+ equity projects words by Aisha Chaudhry

I

n April, UBC invested $18,801 into gender and 2SLGTBQIA+ equity projects through their Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (StEAR) Enhancement Fund.

First launched in September 2023 as a collaboration between the Equity & Inclusion Office and the VP Students Office, the fund has multiple equity streams including racial, disability, intersectional and gender and 2SLGBTQIA+. This year, UBC invested $294,385 across the four streams.

UBC Okanagan Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Anti-Racism Dharshi Lacey wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey that the university hopes “the projects move the dial on enhancing student, faculty and staff experiences at UBC, including a sense of inclusion and belonging and that they lead to broader systemic changes.”

“The StEAR Enhancement Fund is in place to help advance the implementation of UBC’s strategic equity and anti-racism priorities outlined in the

StEAR Roadmap for Change,” wrote Lacey.

Lacey also wrote that there were 10 applicants specifically for the gender and 2SLGBTQIA+ diversity stream. Two projects — PrideMind Hub and Queer Collections Project at the UBC Library — were approved for the Vancouver campus, while Heat Pride Night was the only project approved for the Okanagan campus.

UBC’s Queer Collections Project, spearheaded by Associate Professor of English Dr. Gregory Mackie and Associate Professor of German and Scandinavian studies Dr. Kyle Frackman, is seeking to acquire Queer archival materials from 1869 to around 1969.

The project strives to make a diverse array of Queer primary sources — like rare historical printed books, ephemera, letters, artwork, diaries and other historical documents — more readily available to students.

In 2019, Mackie and Frackman held a public exhibition with the Rare Books

and Special Collections division at UBC Library, titled A Queer Century, 1869–1969. Some pieces in the exhibit included a postcard sent between two female lovers from the 19th century and the 1922 book The Female Impersonators, which is considered to be one of the first autobiographies and memoirs from a Trans person.

Psychology lecturer Dr. David King, one of the organizers behind the PrideMind Hub, wrote in a statement that the project’s “goal is to create a more supportive and inclusive community for 2SLGBTQIA+ students, staff, and faculty in the Psychology Department.”

King started the initiative in 2023 alongside graduate student Kiarah O’Kane and UBC staff member Fides Arguelles to form a “stronger queer community” in the [psychology] department. They plan to develop a website that makes it easier for Queer students in the department to find and access support resources as well

as academic opportunities.

“Though its function will evolve over time, the website will initially be aimed at facilitating and supporting the professional development and well-being of 2SLGBTQIA+ undergraduate and graduate students in psychology.”

King hopes this will aid student retention as it will improve accessibility to research opportunities and mental health resources. He also added that in the future, the group hopes to hold more social events, discussion groups and workshops. So far, the group has organized two events “for 2SLGBTQIA+ department members in order to build connections and learn more about the unique experiences and needs of the community.”

“It is critical that 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals come together as a community to ensure that everyone feels safe, respected, and included,” King wrote, “no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity.” ❦

2024 Pride Month Supplement | 9

A Spanish Hour? is queering opera words by Elena Massing illustrations by Aisha Chaudhry

I

n the early 1900s, a clockmaker’s wife plans to meet up with her lovers while her husband is out of the house. Hijinks ensue and both lovers end up stuck inside clocks, forced to somehow make their escape without the clockmaker catching on to his wife’s agenda.

That’s the premise of Maurice Ravel’s one-act opera L’heure espagnole — but what if it revolved around Queer people in 21st-century Toronto?

When UBC Music Associate Professor J. Patrick Raftery first saw the opera in the ‘70s, he noticed parallels between its storylines and the experiences of people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. He imagined playing around with the voice types to experiment with the genders of the characters and started thinking about a rewritten script integrating elements of contemporary Queer culture.

Around the beginning of the pandemic, he worked with his friend Peter Tiefenbach to develop the libretto for a reimagined version of Ravel’s work. They received grants from the Canada Council of the Arts and BC Arts Council and ran a libretto workshop in 2022.

Now, the rewritten English version titled A Spanish Hour? will be staged at the Chan Centre on July 27.

Coming into this project, Raftery had never worked on a team where everyone identified as part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and this was the perfect opportunity

to change that. Regina Symphony Orchestra conductor and Vancouver City Opera Artistic Director Gordon Gerrard joined the project — then the hunt to find singers began.

“Getting the cast was tricky actually, because I set this parameter for myself that I wanted professional, out singers with management,” Raftery said. “It was tricky because there’s lots of people in different communities [that are] not as comfortable being out.”

Raftery, who’s been singing for over 50 years, has never had the opportunity to play a Queer character — and often hid his identity as soon as he stepped into the audition room.

“I wanted directors to see me as [being as] viable as possible so that I was a tool for them, which is also part of how we were trained then … My generation was trained to lose yourself in the role and put on a mask and be somebody else.”

Taking on a character drastically different from yourself is part of the appeal of being a performer, but it’s also exciting to sing roles that align with your own identity.

Raftery believes that there has been a shift in this area; that younger generations of opera singers are starting to take more control of the parts they’re singing and seem more inclined to want to represent themselves in their art.

Funnily enough, three members of the cast — Spencer Britten, Andrew Love and Madison Craig (whose fiancée Simran Claire is also part of the production) — are all Raftery’s former students.

In his UBC studio, Raftery encourages students to find a balance between respecting tradition and encouraging exploration. While scales and vocal exercises are a tried and true necessity, being limited to singing repertoire by cishet white men isn’t — all of his students are asked to perform at least one piece composed by a woman and are encouraged to find pieces that speak to who they are in one way or another.

It may not seem like much, but classical music is an industry married to tradition and deeply rooted in histories excluding certain identities. It can be rigid and resistant to change, so even a small step outside the box can have a huge impact.

Raftery noted that one of the best parts of working with an entirely 2SLGBTQIA+ cast is being in a room where everyone is operating on a similar wavelength. They come from similar backgrounds, understanding the references and not needing to spend as much time learning about why

their characters act a certain way.

Opera is known for its affinity for tragedy, and so is most Queer media, which often centres trauma and conflict. It’s important to represent the difficult side of growing up Queer, and because creating art can be a powerful coping mechanism, this pain often trickles into portrayals of Queer people in media. But what if we want to step away from that and explore the lighthearted, humorous sides of this community?

Raftery brought up Netflix teen rom-com Heartstopper. It’s not the most profound piece of writing, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously and may be the exact kind of Queer representation we need most right now.

“I wanted to make something that was joyful and fun. I think that certainly my circle of friends and my community is a lot of fun, even though we have to sometimes fight for our place in the room. There’s a lot of fun to be had, so I really wanted to pick a piece that was not super dramatic at this point.”

That’s why Ravel’s piece made for the perfect base material — nothing really happens. It lets the characters’ personalities and references to Queer culture shine through and reminds audiences that being Queer doesn’t have to be dramatic.

In fact, after years of resistance, a bit of mundanity is a blessing.

“I never thought in my lifetime that there would be gay marriage. I never thought in my lifetime that gay people would be allowed to adopt children, or all sorts of things that are happening in many countries,” Raftery said.

This production is special because it marks how times have changed — a team of openly Queer people can now come together and engage with a script that accurately paints the daily realities of their lives. Not only are Queer people slowly gaining more basic freedoms that people like Raftery never expected to have, they are even beginning to see themselves painted in a positive light in the media they create and consume. It’s yet another step towards not just accepting, but appreciating diverse identities. ❦

“My circle of friends and my community is a lot of fun, even though we have to sometimes fight for our place in the room.”

10 | The art of Queer joy

‘We need each other to help make sense of ourselves.’

Sasha Velour on camp and community words and illustrations by Iman Janmohamed

S

asha Velour is my favourite drag queen.

Watching the season 10 finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I saw season 9 winner Velour for the first time as she crowned her successor, Aquaria. Covered in pearls and scales with a dramatic headpiece and a red rhinestone snake wrapping around her, I was instantly captivated.

I was watching the series in reverse order, so I already knew Velour would win season nine before I even started it. Some might argue I spoiled the season for myself, but I disagree. It made me so excited to see how far Velour would come, how much she’d change and push the envelope.

So, of course, I was jittering as the packed Chan Centre crowd waited for Velour to come out on stage for her Phil Lind Initiative talk titled “The Big Reveal: Why Drag Matters” on April 18. My friends and I buzzed about the talk for months and finally, we were there.

Velour, in a yellow dress with a slit up the leg and a matching yellow ostrich feather headpiece, took the stage and spoke about the importance of drag, with the audience hanging on to her every word.

“The art of drag, though, has never been about deception. Drag is self-expression without shame, joy in the face of fear … drag is profoundly illuminating of humanity, but also not particularly serious.”

“It brings joy. It creates community and sometimes, at its best, it inspires us to stand up for justice, for each other’s lives,” said Velour.

ment apartment snowballed into almost weekly watch parties, cheering on our favourite queens and getting in on all that sweet, sweet Twitter discourse.

And recently, the show has taken stances on hot topics in US politics. In the show’s 2020 season, each episode ended with queens dancing with signs that urged Americans to vote in the country’s federal election. In 2023, one of the Drag Race challenges was to participate in a new musical, Wigloose (a parody of Footloose), which followed Heaven Bacon navigating a town that outlawed drag in the 1980s.

During her talk, Velour spoke about anti-drag laws in the US, specifically how Republican lawmakers have centred the drag debate around ‘protecting’ children.

“Despite the backlash, I think this is a time of great hope for Queer and Trans people … We are coming out of the shadows, we are finally refusing to be too afraid,” said Velour. “If these conservatives knew anything about Queer history, they would know that despite the pain they may cause us, their demonization of Queer and Trans people will never obliterate us.”

In March 2023, Tennessee was the first state to explicitly ban drag shows in public spaces (a court found the ban unconstitutional in June of that year).

In May 2023, Montana was the first state to explicitly ban drag performers from public reading events geared to children in spaces like schools or libraries.

Over a dozen state legislatures have advanced or passed laws that would ban drag in public spaces or from minors — and could result in a possible felony charge — often characterizing drag as a lewd or sexually-explicit act.

“Drag is no less appropriate than any other forms of entertainment,” said Velour. “In fact, I think it’s much more appropriate than most of the straight people TV and culture I was exposed to as a child.”

“It didn’t mess me up too much. I just love murder,” joked Velour.

Despite Drag Race’s championing of Queer rights, it wasn’t always that way. Racism, transphobia and other types of discrimination have held space on the show. Notably, in a 2018 The Guardian article, RuPaul responded to journalist Decca Aitkenhead asking him if he’d allow Trans women on the show by saying “probably not.”

This remark — very reasonably — sparked backlash from fans and Drag Race queens alike.

“This is a time of great hope for Queer and Trans people.”

R

uPaul’s Drag Race has brought me closer to my friends. What started as a one-off hangout that ended with an episode of Drag Race in my base-

“Camp is turning all that human drama into an art, allowing yourself just to live ... as sublime as everybody else.”

2024 Pride Month Supplement | 11

RuPaul told

The Guard“Drag isn’t ian drag is “a big f-you to really about male-dominated transforming culture” and a “rejection of from one gender masculinity,” and that drag “loses into another. It’s its sense of danand its sense about the freedom ger of irony once it’s not men doing that we can all it.” And in the words of Vox’s experience if we Caroline Framke, saying this, just reject those.” byRuPaul “ended

up dismissing all that trans women, trans men, cis women, and nonbinary people have contributed to the complex, beautifully weird world of drag.”

The importance of Trans people in drag is something Velour emphasized in her talk. She said drag serves as a mirror as it “plays with a culture’s views of gender, of beauty, of Queer and Trans people, and then really attempts to expand on those ideas and norms with a little gorgeous fantasy.”

“To me, drag isn’t really about transforming from one gender into another. It’s about the freedom that we can all experience if we just reject those,” said Velour. “What transforms is our sense of what is possible for ourselves, for each other … The truth always runs deeper than what we believe to be real.”

A

s Velour’s lecture-like portion of her talk came to an end, she moved from her podium to the stage’s centre, which was adorned with two armchairs and a red phone smack in the middle to talk about the word ‘camp.’

For centuries, according to Velour, camp was a term of “secret recognition for Queer people to make fun of each other and ourselves.”

“It’s not just making light of what would otherwise be serious. It’s acknowledging that the boundaries of taste, of goodness, are another frontier through which powerful people, powerful institutions exclude and oppress people for being a little different,” said Velour.

Camp, said Velour, requires self-awareness and recognition of “inevitable failure … some understanding that anything we do is going to be a little flawed, or a little tasteless or a little bad.”

“For Queer people who face rejection by various standards and norms all the time, this is a familiar feeling. We know it better than anyone,” said Velour. “That’s why we invented a cute little word for us.”

Camp gives Queer people encouragement, according to Velour. Encouragement to “press on, in spite of judgment, or maybe even because of it.”

And Velour’s right. Whenever my friends and I fail, we call it camp.

Oh, we both went on a date with the same guy? Who cares? It’s camp. Oh, you’re going to use the cafe’s free milk to make your tea taste better? That’s camp. Oh, the situationship isn’t going to work out and you’re very upset and you don’t know what to do about it? Let’s sit and talk things through. The situation is camp, but everything will be ok.

But more than mocking failure, we celebrate each other’s wins; whether it’s starting an internship across the country, an intramural soccer team dub or getting that public service job you’ve always wanted.

And Velour said it’s up to entire communities to uplift each other as “representation alone doesn’t tangibly uplift our community.”

There has always been limited fame for a select few, said Velour. She said while ‘60s drag legend Danny La Rue

appeared in Vogue and in soldout West End shows, other Queer people were arrested for doing the same things in other contexts. And while Drag Race has won Emmys and has franchises in multiple countries, the Queer community is “still fighting for basic human rights and recognitions around the world.”

“Drag artists like me are sometimes guilty of upholding the myth of self-empowerment as activism — the idea that an individual can rise above their context through willpower and a good attitude alone and by doing so, help others by modeling the way,” said Velour. “But there are real institutional barriers that cannot be so easily toppled by individual determination.”

As Velour called on people to come together and fight for each other’s freedoms as a community, the red phone on stage rang.

“H

ello,” said Velour into the phone. “Oh, actually, it’s a really bad time. I’m right in the middle of this talk.”

And then it rang again. When Velour picked it up, “Telephone” by Lady Gaga played. And then it rang again, this time playing Drew Barrymore’s scene with Ghostface in Scream. And again, with “Boo, you whore,” from Mean Girls.

The phone kept ringing, and each time Velour picked it up, a stream of campy (whatever that means to you) pop culture references spilled out.

Cher’s “Snap out of it,” “Nancy Jo, this is Alexis Neiers calling,” “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this” and “Leave Britney, alone” played for the audience to guffaw at. America Ferreria’s iconic Barbie monologue played and so did Meryl Streep’s The Devil Wears Prada cerulean sweater monologue and Toni Collette’s “I am your mother” monologue from Hereditary. Joan Crawford’s “Barbara, please” from Mommie Dearest bled into Jennifer Coolidge’s “Please, these gays, they’re trying to murder me” from season two of The White Lotus.

As reference after reference was laid out for the audience to soak up, the entire room laughed and spoke along. The women beside me giggled to each other whenever they knew the references. My friends sat beside me, gagged, with each and every quote we heard. The room’s tone shifted — from an eager audience listening to the origins of camp to sudden warm laughter, like that of close friends watching Drag Race over $12 wine in a basement apartment.

These references — cheesy, silly, iconic — are art. Velour spoke about the representation of camp as frivolous, unseemly or in bad taste. Sure, camp can be all those things, but that doesn’t make it bad. Camp is a rejection of normativity, it’s creative expression and it brings people — Queer people — together. In Velour’s words, “we find artistry in what is supposedly undesirable so that we at least never give up on ourselves.”

“Camp is turning all that human drama into an art, allowing yourself just to live in a way that is as absurd, as fucked up, as sublime as everybody else,” said Velour.

Queerness is camp and community. It’s just as much celebration as it is strife. Queerness, according to Velour, is a “collaborative and communal project.”

“We need each other to help make sense of ourselves.” ❦

“We need each other to help make sense of ourselves.”

“Drag is selfexpression without shame, joy in the face of fear.”

12 | The art of Queer joy

Imagine Me & You: Queer joy and the rom-com words by Sally Elhennawy | illustrations by Aisha Chaudhry

T

hough many early passions have yielded to time and growth, my adolescent love for rom-coms appears to have weathered the storm.

In my childhood, these films were characterized by a rote interplay between a woman and man, an on-screen wooing that kept me rapt despite the inevitability of its unfolding — the formula was simple and comfortingly predictable. I delighted in the witty banter, the charm, the picture-perfect endings that I was certain were made for me, hopelessly romantic beyond my years. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Pretty Woman, Notting Hill — all these and more I held close to my heart, wide-eyed at the easy beauty of Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts, the endearing charm of Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Grant.

My affinity for romantic comedies did not diminish as I grew older and my expectations around romantic relationships grew more refined.

Although I now understood that the formulaic sequence of events was rarely replicated in life beyond the screen, I took secret pleasure in watching the characters find their way. Whether Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were meeting their happy fates in Sleepless in Seattle or in You’ve Got Mail, I was right there with them, cheering them on through the perils of miscommunication, long-distance dating and corporate wrath.

As I grew more acquainted with myself, however, I was drawn away from the genre out of a perplexing necessity. I’d always known, with the vague intangibility of intuition, that I was attracted to women, but this awareness had remained hazy in my youth without cultural reference to ground it. As my Queer identity began to come into focus, I started to gravitate towards media that reflected it back towards me, turning to characters whose romantic attraction, if not the shape of their journeys, resembled my own.

Films like Desert Hearts and Carol, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Disobedience all featured lesbian relationships — protagonists whose hungry intimacy and affective touch stirred something in me that had lain dormant

through my compulsive rewatchings of heterosexual storylines. Yet the deep, lingering glances between the women — hallmarks of the slow burn — often belied wells of despair. The consummation of their love marked a reckoning with the trauma of their non-normative desire or offered a depiction of lesbian attrac-

laugh out loud, to see love and levity coexist on-screen once more.

So, like stepping gingerly into an ordinary wardrobe and emerging in Narnia, my first viewing of Imagine Me & You gained me entry into a world aglow with potential — never before had I seen my notion of love affirmed in the

tion as raw sexuality.

In either case, the somber dramatism of the narrative left little room for the sweet hilarity of emergent love and all its little missteps. The bright, cheery scenes I had grown up loving had been replaced by a darker ambiance — a formula of distress and grappling that found its characters taking deep comfort in one another, but little in much else. I wept for these women, and found a certain joy in doing so. But still I longed to

language I spoke best.

The 2005 movie takes its title from the first line of the Turtles song “Happy Together,” and channels the dreaminess and charm of the eponymous ‘60s pop hit. Piper Perabo and Lena Headey are charmingly sincere as Rachel and Luce, and I fell in love with their love (at first sight). Luce and Rachel meet, of all places, at Rachel’s wedding to the adorably hapless Hector. The newlyweds strike up a friend-

ship with Luce, their florist, and the two women begin to fall for each other.

After a romantic scene in the back room of the flower shop, they decide they cannot betray Hector in entering into a relationship, and their burgeoning romance halts. Luce decides to take a trip out of the country, and Rachel embarks on an urgent journey to catch her before she departs. They kiss triumphantly as “Happy Together” plays on in the background.

Bliss.

Gone were the petticoated women communing on a desolate seaside; here was a tender, funny, moving portrait of two women in love, with an ending that was comfortingly, predictably, predetermined.

The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus said of the film, “Aside from its lesbian theme, Imagine Me & You can only offer more of the same generic rom-com cliches.” I was struck by the disparaging tone of this take, lamentable in its failure to recognize that in a Queer movie market saturated with solemn period dramas and borderline erotica of the male gaze, generic rom-com cliches might be just what the doctor ordered.

Romantic comedies might be silly, yes, and might simply provide a welcome escape from the horrors of contemporary dating.

But despite the simplicity of the formula they often engage, they do the good work of valorizing complexity in human relations.

They capture the nuance contained in falling for someone, a process that is always sweet but fraught, at once the easiest thing in the world and the most difficult.

In life, as in art, the obstacles to attaining love can and do include systemic oppression, widespread homophobia and prohibitive policy.

They can also be as simple as unfortunate timing, a missed connection or a wildly irreconcilable taste in literature.

Queer people deserve to see themselves in the romantic comedy genre’s offering: a version of the story that simply happens to work out. ❦

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illustrations by Aisha Chaudhry

an em i loved words by Abbie Lee somehow there is always an emily — she is beautiful, cool, sometimes goes by em or emma, stone-cold, blunt like a dick in someone’s, but as i was saying, there is always an emily an em i love, yes. when she hides behind her friends, she is the man behind the curtain — i am the ruby shoes that bring her home, there the whole time, forever composed of nows, and she is her worst enemy, her own rival. she is a very capable shapeshifter, a sweet, doting farm girl, a femme fatale, the most convincing actress.

let me stay in it

but when she stands alone, waiting on customers at the sad cash register denying me, settling for him, waiting. the em i love is just a fantasy, the em i loved is just emily ❦

words by Elena Massing i only ever practice religion when i need the universe to act in my favour.

As a kid, i pleaded to: skip steps, look older, seem wiser i couldn’t bear to sit with myself each red light, a barrier to being better, each sleepless night full of sickening reminders of my own mediocrity at some point, i accepted that i’d always be fighting against time but when did i start moving in the other direction?

She drives me home i send prayers to the traffic lights, begging them to stay red for a bit longer so she’ll lean over the centre console and kiss me.

She does, then twice more as we ignore the impatience of the driver behind us i spend a lot of time searching the night sky, but not for a higher power i call out to the earth, urging it to take its time with this rotation — and all the other ones, for good measure — or if that isn’t possible, to spin so fast i get dizzy and fall into her.

Tonight she’s fast asleep at my side so i reprimand my eyelids and watch the clock, hoping that if i wish hard enough, its hands will slow to match her breathing. i will steal every second i can i will memorialize the minutes i once prayed away for i might not make it to your heaven, but have built my own on this earth.

Please, let me stay in it? ❦

asonnet words by Abbie Lee how can you love someone without craving their insides? is it to live to eat, or eat to live? we figured out we’re capable of love even when we ate foods that refused to touch on plastic plates or when we would drink from sippy cups. we were princesses and picked play pretend partners, when pleasure was pure and all we could do was live to eat. we figured out we’re capable of love when simply breathing the same air as them satiated and satisfied what’s missing according to everyone else, but i have never felt more grown, or more complete inside. ❦

14 | The art of Queer joy

Pride from Amritsar

photos curated by Saumya Kamra photos by Guntas Kaur

Acknowledging, accepting tenderness

Pride outdoors (2019)

photos by Viplav Bhaskar

photos by Yashvardhan Joshi

OPINION

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITOR SPENCER IZEN

15

SPEECH AND SILENCE //

Why the protesters won’t talk Anna Pontin Contributor

Anna Pontin (she/they) is a fourthyear student studying English and philosophy. She is from Yellowknife and likes weird trees, and has participated in the pro-Palestinian movement on campus.

On the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, pro-Palestinian protestors occupied UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon’s office in Koerner Library. The video posted to the Peoples’ University UBC Instagram is a hard watch. VP Students Ainsley Carry entreats the room of masked faces to “Please, take my card” and is repeatedly, politely refused.

At the time of the sit-in, students were only two weeks into their encampment. Now, after over a month of sustained protesting, the uncomfortable dynamic played out in the President’s Office has continued to repeat itself at escalating registers.

Decision-makers, counter-protestors and skeptical onlookers have echoed one another’s pleas for “respectful and robust discussion,” and tolerant “bothsides” talks.

According to Bacon and his administration, this is the only way protestors will have their demands met. So why don’t they take Carry’s card?

Mainly because pro-Palestinian student activists have ample reason to believe that “listening sessions” will lead to no meaningful outcomes.

But also, because all bad-faith actors, including UBC administration, Zionist agitators and reporting from certain mainstream media outlets are asking for or emphasizing dialogue on false premises. Their “respectful discussions” are a tolerant front concealing their actual goal, which is first and foremost to silence pro-Palestinian dissent.

In the video from the President’s Office on May 15, Carry is asked what he means when he says UBC will try to “follow through” on the boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) — a movement seeking to disable the institutions abetting Israel’s genocide — demands. He stumbles, apparently realizing he’s said the wrong thing, and admits that “by follow through ... I promise that we can start the process of discussion with you.”

Even more revealing is the transcript from Bacon’s May 27 appearance at a Parliamentary hearing.

In front of a panel of MPs, Bacon said UBC’s administration opposes BDS. This statement has since been reinforced by the UBC Senate, who voted on June 3 against suspending academic agreements with Israeli universities and research institutions. With such outcomes looking increasingly predetermined, what incentives are left for “meaningful dialogue?”

Beyond BDS’s economic priorities, UBC has also failed to make even the softer cultural concession of condemning Israel’s genocide and scholasticide (as it did when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022).

A public condemnation is the encampment’s simplest, most negotiable demand. It’s also the most susceptible to the liberal institution’s favourite game of empty talk.

But if UBC won’t even start there, resistance to discussion makes perfect sense. To take Carry’s card at this juncture would be hugely naive;

Anna Pontin argues administrators’ failure to continue earlier conversations is the source of stangation between UBC and protestors.

accepting a seat at UBC’s negotiation table only to arrive and find the other guests have failed to show. This isn’t just a metaphor — the last time pro-Palestinian activists agreed to a discussion, Bacon offered a 30-minute chat then promptly cancelled after students refused to provide names and student numbers ahead of time.

So the better question becomes, why do Zionists, university administrators, media outlets and politicians continue to cry for genuine dialogue when it’s clearly the last thing on their minds? Wouldn’t it be simpler at this point to just put their foot down?

After all, Bacon might as well give the firm “no” he’s just announced in Parliament directly to the protestors themselves.

But for institutional powers to compromise their appearance as stewards of tolerant free speech would be to lose a weapon years in the making. For over a decade, college campuses and their left-wing students have been the target of endless criticism. Hysterical anti-woke “free speech” advocates have glutted media and publishing with books such as The Coddling of the American Mind, The Identity Trap and God and Man at Yale diatribes against the evils of cancel culture, the all-powerful mob of Twitter libs ready to fire well-meaning professors at a moment’s notice, and, of course, the naive snowflakes weaponizing identity politics in every classroom.

To hear this version of reality (and trust me, we have) is to believe that the most powerful censorship body in Canada is the students themselves. Epitomized by their stubborn encampments, these reactionaries are not “good activists.” Certainly not the mature activists required in the Real Adult World which operates according to long-term, nuanced and complex political machinations carried out by “reasonable” actors unafraid to speak hard facts.

The UBC administration may not be the source of the narrative, but the impression that left-wing activists are ‘coming to police you’ is a powerful tool in their belt. In the

context of Israel’s ongoing genocide, anti-woke rhetoric mostly comes from counter-protestors, columnists and well-intentioned (but misplaced) liberal allyship. As the intended effect of a sustained conservative backlash against left-wing criticism, it serves to conceal the reality of who is actually being censored. Worse, it sets the stage for bad-faith negotiation under the pretense that both sides are free to speak.

But this illusion cannot be maintained. Thanks to Canada’s senseless and total defence of Israel, it’s hard to miss who is being silenced.

Look around; there can be no neutral ‘both-sides’ dialogue with Zionist influencers like Montana Tucker, who patrol encampments trying to film contextless, edited sound bites with the intent to doxx and demonize students. There can be no objective interviews with journalists caving under the influence of pressure campaigns openly operating on behalf of Israel — interviews in which their articles prefer quotes calling unaffiliated protests “celebration[s] of the heinous murder of Jews” instead of responsibly describing the encampment’s outspoken contingent of Jewish supporters (often wearing “Jews for Palestine” t-shirts) and their strict anti-discrimination agreement (painted on a massive sign at the entrance). And there can be no safe space for negotiation under the state-sanctioned surveillance of the RCMP’s brutal paramilitary Critical Response Unit (formerly C-IRG).

This might not sound like your idea of Canadian liberal democracy, but just take a look at the state we’re supporting. Israel is itself a goliath of censorship at home and abroad.

Under gag orders, its newspapers redact any text concerning the unlawful detainment of Palestinians, and its high-ranking officials have recently been exposed for stalking and threatening former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. This is real state-sanctioned censorship under the jurisdiction of a well-documented war criminal. This is the threat Palestinians have been up against for decades.

Israel is not Canada, but political and popular support for Israeli policies are a litmus test for the health of our own democracy. As the Canadian Dimension pointed out in their thorough critique of CBC’s biased pro-Israel reporting: “Despite its several capitulations to HRC, highlighted by the Martineau affair, the whistleblower’s revelations, and Farawi’s pre-October 7 investigation, CBC is still accused by most conservative politicians as being hopelessly unfair in its coverage of Israel. The conclusion to be drawn is that no amount of appeasement will ever be enough.”

If it sounds to you like I’m just reversing right-wing rhetoric, you’re right. The woke mob is an aggrandized spectre and a projection of the right’s own tendencies. Its symbolic purpose is to conceal the threat posed by the insatiable machine of distortion, misrepresentation and silencing conducted by agents who have already made up their minds about Palestine.

The endgame of positioning left-wing students as the antithesis of free speech was always to take away actual freedom of speech. In order to confront injustice we must reclaim our ability to call out this censorship and somehow scrape out platforms to voice resistance — online, on campus, in public and in the halls of institutional power. This is an overwhelming task, but, thankfully, the pro-Palestine movement is already succeeding.

By staying silent behind a wall of clearly articulated demands, campus protestors are paradoxically fighting to be heard. This strategy will work because it recognizes that when Carry and Bacon offer a “process to engage,” their “respectful and robust discussion” is only that. By participating, protestors risk losing their voices entirely.

It is frustrating to waste time wading through social media clips and empty discourse. As of press time, Palestine has been occupied for over 76 years. Genocide has been ongoing for 37 weeks. There has never

IMAN JANMOHAMED / THE UBYSSEY

been any time to waste or space for great compromise.

Protestors cannot risk being censored or diffused. They will not show their faces, because this movement already has faces: over 15,000 murdered children, including sixyear-old Hind Rajab who was killed in her family’s car by Israeli forces, along with the two paramedics sent to save her. And living faces: Ahmad Sa’adat, Issam Aruri, Bisan Owda, the 49 journalists in Israeli custody, outspoken Palestinian scholars, doctors, poets, parents, refugees, diaspora and on and on and on.

More words defending the encampment aren’t necessary. But as violence continues to escalate beyond belief in Gaza, protests and their tactics must escalate as well.

If you find yourself frustrated by a roadblock or a disruption on campus, irritated by a TikTok or a Tweet, or wondering why these students seem so resistant to negotiation — remember what they’re up against.

Even better, remember what they’re fighting for.

It’s easy for the UBC administration to look like the reasonable adults in the room. And they’re not entirely wrong — conversation and democratic processes can be useful first steps toward meaningful action. But talk cannot be only talk, and conversation can’t happen until both sides are allowed a voice. Each time UBC patiently asks to engage in dialogue, they ignore the fact that protestors have already spoken. Like a child throwing a tantrum, UBC plugs its ears, shuts its eyes and pretends not to hear. U

Editor’s note: UBC Senator Brenna Bhandar, who moved the Senate’s motion to cut or suspend ties with Israeli universities, said the motion is not a BDS motion.

This is an opinion article. It reflects the author’s views and does not reflect the views of The Ubyssey as a whole. Contribute to the conversation by visiting ubyssey.ca/pages/ submit-an-opinion.

OPINION

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITOR SPENCER IZEN

16

PROTESTS AND POLICING //

Whose safety? Policing Palestinian activism at UBC

SPENCER IZEN / THE UBYSSEY

“By repeatedly relying on police to control protests in the name of safety, UBC administrators are achieving the opposite.”

Collective of Concerned Asian Studies Faculty Contributors

Editor’s note: This article was submitted by Christina Laffin on behalf of a collective of concerned faculty members in the department of Asian studies who contributed equally to the drafting of this piece. It is adapted from an open letter sent to UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon on May 17, signed by faculty members in 41 academic units and programs.

On May 15, we witnessed police with guns in our library — a phalanx of tactically armed, black-clad intruders surveilling and taunting a group of peaceable students and other protestors who chanted and drummed plastic bottles to make their demands heard.

While the demonstrators took care to enable ongoing access to offices, workspaces and the continuation of work in the library, police officers shut down entry to the building and repeatedly threatened them with arrest.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen police presence

increase, including the arrival of a paramilitary force on campus.

Alarmed by this militaristic response to students’ rightful protest of UBC’s complicity in genocide, on May 17 we composed a letter to UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon which was endorsed by faculty members from 41 academic units. Our plea to the president was for police to be removed from our campus.

In our letter, we wrote, “The presence of police leaves us less safe and endangers those on campus, particularly UBC community members who may be vulnerable to racial profiling including Black, Indigenous, Arab, Muslim and Middle Eastern communities. We demand that all police immediately leave campus and that Campus Security stop targeting student activism.”

Bacon responded to our letter of concern regarding police on campus, indicating in a short May 22 email that the administration has chosen to ally with “law enforcement authorities” as a means of securing a “safe” campus environment.

Following Bacon’s assurance of a “measured approach,” on June 1, police arrested a hijab-wearing Muslim UBC alum following a peaceful protest on June 4. We ask, whose safety is the university claiming to protect, and why is it that certain lives, including those of our community members, are treated as exceptions?

Over the past month, many of us have spent considerable time with members of People’s University UBC, including our students, and have stood alongside them at protests. The UBC encampment has been created with a great deal of thought and careful organization, from the setting up of tents and a medical station, to the development of a library and archives, artwork and a small flower garden.

Those in the encampment have worked in tandem with some Indigenous members of First Nations in solidarity with Palestine. All of this has been accomplished while enduring bouts of windstorms, heavy rain and cold weather. We have been

deeply impressed by their dedication in calling for just demands.

Students have legitimately protested our complicity as UBC continues to support the Israeli war machine through investment in companies that fund weaponry and war technologies and the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.

As UBC faculty members, we are disturbed by the so-called “neutral” stance claimed by our institutional leadership, which willfully ignores our role in the financing of the ongoing Nakba inflicted on Palestinians. We are appalled by the use of policing as the university’s communication strategy and the mobilization of our campus as a laboratory for shared tactics of violence across police forces (RCMP, VPD, C-IRG/Critical Response Unit, partnered with Campus Security) in the name of “safety” and the “protection” of “community.” We have seen students and community members involved with the encampment be targeted by police on our campus.

Through his actions, Bacon

has made clear the voices he is open to hearing and the members of our UBC community he values.

It speaks volumes that he is willing to engage with Zionist politicians and lobbyists for Israel in Ottawa yet unwilling to genuinely listen to his own students. Students have voiced their demands clearly, building on the tenets of decolonization and anti-racism our institution claims to foster.

If we all took heed, we would recognize that those who built People’s University UBC are not the enemy, but are forging a path based on knowledge and justice.

We hope that the Palestinian flags which have been planted by UBC students across campus are appreciated for what they truly represent — not threat or danger, but as emblems of Palestinian resistance, resilience and fearless hope. U

This is an opinion article. It reflects the author’s views and does not reflect the views of The Ubyssey as a whole. Contribute to the conversation by visiting ubyssey.ca/pages/ submit-an-opinion.

HUMOUR

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITOR ELITA MENEZES

17

NO HARD FEELINGS? //

How to break up with your friend after winning a Trek Excellence Scholarship Joyce Park Contributor

“You’re out of my league.” (Way beneath it.)

We’ve all had the thought. You look at the faces of your grinning, beautiful friends in the study hall and think, “I’m better than you.”

And congrats! With the bestowment of your Trek Excellence Scholarship, UBC has given you the validation that your therapist refuses to admit: you really are just better.

After bleeding tuition, residence payments and a slew of random student fees to UBC, they’ve invested a generous amount (barely enough for one month’s rent) in you for a change. You’re cut from a different cloth. You’re in the top five per cent, better than all (domestic undergraduate) students (in your year and faculty) at the best(ish) university ever.

The natural next step is to stop associating with all your friends who didn’t get the scholarship.

Here’s how to do it.

POST IT ON LINKEDIN You’ve been directly acknowledged by UBC. Surely an internship is just around the corner.

Kill two birds with one stone by showing recruiters you’re a serious scholar who surrounds themselves with the right people.

Here’s a template: I’m happy to announce I am a recipient of the Trek Excellence Scholarship at UBC. Thank you to the university

THROW A FAREWELL PARTY

The natural next step is to stop associating with all your friends who didn’t get the scholarship.

and the Faculty of [insert faculty].

Special thanks to… the money people? Mr. British Columbia?

Tyrannical Rudolf ’s Everlasting Konglomerate? (I don’t really care, it’s free cash) for donating this incredible scholarship.

Unfortunately, this means I will no longer be friends with [ex-friend #1], [ex-friend #2] and despite all her impeccable relationship advice, [ex-friend #3].

If you have also received the

Trek Excellence Scholarship, connect with me. Let’s make a group chat.

GOOGLE ‘BREAK-UP TEXT GENERATOR’ Tried and true. If you want something quick and clear, these phrases work for both relationships and friends (who, let’s be honest, regardless of their scholarship-less status, are still better than your

ELITA MENEZES / THE UBYSSEY

exes).

Here are some classic break-up texts that do the trick: “It’s not you, it’s me.” (I have a Trek Excellence Scholarship.)

“I need to focus on my career.”

(Which you clearly haven’t been doing.)

“We should start seeing other people.” (Of similar status.)

“You’re going to make someone else really happy.” (Try finding them below the class average?)

If you want a more gracious exit out of your friends’ lives, text the group chat that you’re hosting a get-together and break the news all at once over Fanta and homemade brownies with Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” on speaker. It’s efficient.

Straightforward. Delicious.

Think of it as the opposite of a networking event. Instead of exchanging business cards, make sure they delete your number from their phone.

As a final gathering, it’s a fantastic opportunity for some honest closure. Tell him to go buy deodorant. Tell her that her boyfriend is a scumbag. Tell them about that dream where you fought mutant squirrels together in a subaquatic helicopter owned by Jeff Goldblum’s evil twin.

Get it off your chest, then get them out of your life.

FINAL TIPS However you do it, shed a maximum of 10 tears for the friends you’re leaving behind — any more is a waste of time and moisture. If they’re worthy, you’ll see them again when they catch up.

Congrats on your Trek Excellence Scholarship! If you don’t get it again next year… well, looks like you’ll see your friends sooner than later. U

YOU’RE ALL STARS TO ME //

Need a sign? Here’s your summer ha-roscope Elita Menezes Humour Editor

As someone who has mastered everything I’ve ever done, I’ve always figuratively reached for the stars. Now, I’m doing it physically.

Astrology is an enigma to me, but if NASA can do it, so can I. Oh, that’s not what they do? But they’re the stars people. No? Oh. Well, I’m about to acquire a skill that not even NASA has. Suck on that, NASA. The problem is that nightfall is so late that I’m fast asleep before I can even see it (8 p.m. bedtime vibes). But recently, I had a realization: the biggest star in the whole universe is available during the day.

So, in order to complete my service for the people, I stared directly at the Sun for 16 hours. When my eyesight came back, I wrote down everything I learned.

But I then came across a second problem: the Sun can’t talk or communicate, at least not in a way that I can understand. So, I did some improv to fill in the gaps (in the readings and my vision).

Aries: Ohhh Aries. Yep. Yeah, you’re, you’re gonna have… a time.

It’s reasonable to go buy that thing you wanted… to celebrate your circumstances. Or maybe to console you? One of those two.

Taurus: You guys are cool.

This is going to be your summer, except for one week in August. I

In order to complete my service for the people, I stared directly at the Sun for 16 hours.

don’t know which one, but keep a sword and/or fire extinguisher close that month. Lucky number: 574,367,483,747,384,793,909.

Gemini: I just had a rock, paper, scissors battle with my brother (who is a Gemini) and I

lost. So I actually recommend that Geminis watch out. Your summer is going to be full of dread and agony.

Cancer: Good health, hopefully.

Leo: You are going to have the best summer in the world. All of

ELITA MENEZES / THE UBYSSEY

your dreams will come true. Yay you!!

Virgo: Someone is going to surprise you when you least expect it. Will it be a good surprise?

Depends on how big a fan you are of clowns.

Libra: Are you guys the balanced ones? Like, the justice ones?

Okay. Looking at libra imagery, I think you’re going to take your first step to becoming a judge.

I searched it up and apparently you have to spend a “minimum of 10 years at the bar,” so you better drink up and watch your liver this summer.

Scorpio: You’re going to go to the beach and see a celebrity, but you’re going to be really chill about it. They’ll think you’re cool and down to earth, not like all the other rabid fans they meet. You’ll share a few laughs and go your separate ways. Lucky number: 80,085.

Sagittarius: You’re going to meet a person on the beach who mistakes you for a celebrity.

Because you’re a funny guy, you’re going to go along with it. You’ll call them cool and down to earth, not like all the other “rabid fans” you “meet.” You’ll share a few laughs and go your separate ways.

Lucky number: 8,008,135.

Capricorn: Hmm. Good summer. Then bad summer. Then good summer. Then bad summer.

Back and forth until September.

Sorry.

Aquarius: I searched this up and all I’m getting is tanks full of fish. Fake sign.

Pisces: Maybe drink water?

Yeah, drink some water. I think you’ll like that a lot. U

SPORTS + REC

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITOR LAUREN KASOWSKI

18

MOVE OVER MARK WAHLBERG FROM INVINCIBLE //

HARDLY HOLLYWOOD: BEING A WALK-ON ATHLETE AT UBC

words by Caleb Peterson illustration by Ayla Cillers

Being a walk-on athlete sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. Despite being passed over for the team during the recruiting process, an athlete shows up to a tryout and wins a roster spot. It’s a classic underdog story — one that almost seems more fiction than fact.

Yet, at UBC, that path is very real. Open tryouts are run by many varsity teams, including the baseball, soccer and track and field teams. Given the high number of potential high school recruits these teams have to sort through during scouting processes, it’s inevitable that a few talented prospects will slip through the cracks. These tryouts give the teams a chance to make up for that — by finding anyone they might have missed.

Any registered UBC student is welcome at open tryouts, making it technically possible for any of the 60,000 students on the Vancouver campus to make a varsity team. However, while the tryouts themselves are open, chances to succeed and make the team are generally low.

For instance, while there are currently 76 athletes on the UBC track and field team, according to the team head coach Laurier Primeau, very few, if any of them, joined the team through an open tryout. He said that, on average, the team takes one walk-on athlete a year.

With chances that low, it can seem almost impossible for walkon athletes to succeed at UBC. But

it’s not. Just ask Jared Knott, a former UBC student who walked on to the men’s hockey team as a goalie in the 2017/18 season.

He had given up playing junior hockey a few years earlier, instead choosing to coach hockey on the side and focus on being a student.

While the door seemed closed for a return to hockey, an opportunity presented itself while Knott was coaching.

“Another guy that I was working with at the goalie school, Eric Williams, was playing for UBC. And he kind of mentioned that … he might not be going any further at UBC,” said Knott. “So from there, I just decided, maybe I’ll give it a go — it seems like the stars are kind of aligning.”

While Knott’s situation was unique — knowing of an open roster spot — it didn’t make the process of getting on the team any easier. Even just the term “walkon” implies a sense of just showing up and making the team, but that diminishes the immense amount of work that has to be done before an athlete can even think of trying out.

Trying out isn’t just a one day process — it’s a constant marathon.

According to UBC baseball head coach Chris Pritchett, there is a lot of hard work that needs to go into making the team in this fashion.

“They better be a grinder and they’ve got to be patient,” he said. “Because they weren’t recruited, they have to go and they have to prove themselves every

single day.”

That idea of proving himself every day was evident in Knott’s experience.

“It was pretty intensive training. I was on ice every day for basically two months with just a couple days off,” he said. “I was training pretty full-on, working with some high-level coaches, training with a lot of other high-level goalies who really pushed me to meet their level.”

On top of the physical strain of training, trying out for a team can also be a very mentally challenging process to endure. For Knott, it was often isolating to have to fight as hard as he did for a roster spot. “[I was] coming into a room where [I was] the only guy who’s not already on the team,” he said.

“I didn’t really have anyone to share the process that I was going [through] with.”

It’s an incredibly draining process, with months of physically and mentally grueling training, all just to have a chance to make the team. To push through this process takes an incredibly determined athlete and according to Dr. Whitney Sedgwick, a psychologist at UBC Counselling Services who often works with athletes, that determination comes from an athlete’s mindset.

“If someone says, well, the odds are stacked against me … my sense is, if they continue to have that inner dialogue, they’re stacking it even higher against

themselves,” she said.

That sentiment certainly applies to Knott — he pushed through the difficulties inherent in the process by viewing the tryout as an opportunity, not a roadblock.

“I didn’t try to treat it as a chore,” he said. “I was playing with house money. I really didn’t have anything to lose, so why not just give my all?”

Over the tryout process, Knott put his head down and continued to work with the team as the regular season grew closer. Then, as the preseason came to a close, he finally heard the news he was looking for.

“One day, coach called me in and said, ‘You’ve been working hard, we like what we’re seeing and we’d love to keep you around.’

It was pretty exciting,” he said.

It was an incredible reward for a long, arduous journey. Yet, for Knott, the work didn’t stop there.

As a walk-on, you still have to compete — maybe not for a roster spot, but for playing time.

In other sports, such as baseball, you may have to move up the ranks of an entire other team before you make it to varsity.

Pritchett mentioned that while few players make the varsity team right from an open tryout, many make it onto the junior varsity squad. Pritchett said injuries, personnel and continued determination could move a junior varsity player to varsity, but it is variable.

“It’s not a promise [to get a

varsity roster spot] when you’re on our junior varsity team, but there are some players that are on there now that will impact our varsity team,” he said.

It’s hardly the Hollywood ragsto-riches story described earlier.

But that doesn’t change the fact that there are indeed success stories. Even if walk-on athletes make it no further than the junior varsity level, there’s no denying that’s an impressive achievement itself. And for some, a junior varsity spot is all they may have wanted in the first place.

“Some kids don’t ever have that goal to play on the varsity team,” said Pritchett. “They just want to play college baseball and go to school here at UBC.” So while some walk-on athletes may never leave the junior varsity level, start a game or set program records, it doesn’t matter. That was never the point.

After making the team, Knott never started a game for the Thunderbirds. But that doesn’t take away from his accomplishment. After all, he was never trying out for the spotlight — he just wanted some more time on the ice.

“I just still really loved hockey,” he said. “Even if it’s just practice … I really enjoyed being out there, I was having a good time.

So not having playing time is not ideal, but just being there and having the opportunity to play hockey every day was enough for me.” U

SCIENCE

JUNE 18, 2024 TUESDAY

EDITOR GLORIA KLEIN

19

DOG DAYS //

UBCO’s B.A.R.K. program reduces student stress with canine assisted interventions

“It’s been a huge part of my stress relief throughout my degree.”

Gloria Rahgozar Contributor

Amid the stressful flurry of academic life, UBCO’s Building Academic Retention Through K9s (B.A.R.K.) program offers a potential solution: support dogs.

The program seeks to bring to-

gether students and trained therapy dogs to alleviate stress, address homesickness and loneliness, build interpersonal connections and support student social-emotional health.

B.A.R.K. was founded by Dr. John-Tyler Binfet, a professor in the Faculty of Education and a

COURTESY FREYA GREEN / FREYA L. L. GREEN PHOTOGRAPHY

developmental psychologist, who discovered an intersection between his personal interests and research.

Recalling his inspiration for the initiative, Binfet said that when he would walk his rescue dog across campus, students would flock to him saying “As much I miss my parents, I miss my dog more.”

“It was a lightbulb moment, as a researcher … I need[ed] to create [a] program opportunity for students to interact with dogs.”

Twelve years later, with the support of Dale Mullings, UBCO’s associate vice-president students, and Freya Green, the B.A.R.K. program coordinator, 64 volunteer therapy dogs have been recruited and trained to help students reduce stress.

B.A.R.K. hosts weekly activities on campus including dog stations called B.A.R.K.2GO and drop-in sessions. Both are informal opportunities for students to interact with therapy dogs and handlers.

“It was really nice either pre- or post-class, [or if ] you had an exam just to destress a little bit and take a breather,” said Mikaela Dahlman, a B.A.R.K. volunteer and graduate student in clinical mental health counselling with a concentration in animal studies, as she recounted her first experiences attending B.A.R.K. activities.

“It’s been a huge part of my stress relief throughout my degree,” said Amelia Willcox, a B.A.R.K. researcher.

Alongside providing canine assisted interventions on campus, the program also pursues research related to canine-human interactions.

To better understand the mechanisms of what makes canine

assisted interventions effective in reducing student stress, the program led a study investigating the importance of direct contact with therapy dogs. While touch and direct contact with therapy dogs was more likely to reduce stress and improve mood, spending time with the handlers only was more likely to elicit social benefits, such as feeling more connected and less homesick.

The program has even conducted research on the effects of virtual canine therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants shared their experiences after being randomly assigned to either a synchronous Zoom call condition or an asynchronous video condition with or without the presence of a dog.

Following four months of sessions, the study found that the presence of a dog in both the synchronous and asynchronous environments improved students’ self-reported well-being more than the conditions with only a handler.

As the B.A.R.K. program has grown, so has its impact on the UBCO student body.

“Sometimes people even come in crying [because] they’re so afraid of dogs, and then they end up being regular attendees,” said Dahlman.

“It’s created this very strong sense of community in a sense that everyone could be brought together with these dogs.” U

OPENING A CAN OF WORDS //

Reading between the lines: How a new AI can predict the mental health care needs of cancer patients Yomna Bedaiwy Contributor

In a new study, Dr. John-Jose Nunez and his team trained artificial intelligence (AI) to predict whether cancer patients would go on to see a psychiatrist or counsellor, based solely on their initial oncology consultation documents.

And they were over 70 per cent accurate.

The most common mental health condition in cancer patients is called adjustment disorder: a period of low mood or anxiety after their initial diagnosis. For most people, it’s gone in a few days. But for 24 per cent, these symptoms can persist and develop into major depressive disorder.

“That can [make] it harder to proceed with their cancer treatment … such that mental illness and cancer patients can actually affect not only quality of life, but also survival rates,” said Nunez, a clinical research fellow and psychiatrist at the UBC Mood Disorders Centre and BC Cancer.

The main mental health resources offered by BC Cancer are counselling and psychiatry. Though the two are often used interchangeably, only psychiatrists are qualified to diagnose and prescribe medication for mental illnesses. Counsellors focus more on the social, cognitive and behavioural contributors to mental

illness and offer various forms of therapy to help clients develop healthier lifestyles and thinking patterns.

While patients can refer themselves to counselling, there are barriers such unawareness about available resources or doubts that mental health care would be beneficial.

For psychiatric treatment, patients must be referred by a physician, such as their oncologist or surgeon. But initial oncology consultations are lengthy, so it can be hard to fit in the time to explicitly ask about mental health.

Additionally, most patients exhibit symptoms of anxiety at their first appointment, so it can be difficult for physicians who are not experts in mental health to determine whether a patient requires mental health care.

Rather than taking upwards of 10 years of medical education, the AI can “see 36,000 patients within 24 hours … so much more efficient training,” said Nunez.

The training process began by providing the AI with around 36,000 patients’ initial oncology consultation documents. Then, the researchers told the model whether the patient went on to see a counsellor or psychiatrist. Equipped with this data, the AI was then given a new set of oncology consultation documents, asked it to make its own predictions and corrected if needed.

Natural language processing (NLP) is the branch of AI that deals with how computers can process language like humans. NLP can be further divided into neural models and non-neural models.

Neural models analyze complex patterns and meanings in phrases and sentences, whereas non-neural models, such as the Bag of Words (BoW), analyze frequencies.

This study trained three different neural models and one non-neural model.

BoW, the simplest of the models, counts the number of times certain words, or “tokens,” are found in a document. Tokens that related directly to cancer, such as “myeloma” and “radiat” were the most important predicting factors for likelihood to see a psychiatrist.

This may be because the pathology or treatment for some cancers may make patients more susceptible to certain psychiatric disorders.

For example, multiple myeloma, a cancer that causes a buildup of plasma cells bone marrow, produces inflammatory proteins that can cause schizophrenia, a mental disorder that causes paranoia and hallucinations.

Important tokens in predicting counselling included demographic factors such as “retir” (retiree, retired) and “financi.”

Other common tokens in predicting counselling included “princ”

The AI uses initial oncology consultation documents.

and “georg,” which likely refer to Prince George — home to a BC Cancer site which services northern BC. The site is a long commute for many of its patients and many counsellors are also social workers who assist patients with their commute, which could explain the correlation between this rural town and likelihood to seek counselling.

In order for models to work outside of BC or with illnesses

EMILIJA HARRISON / THE UBYSSEY

other than cancer, they need to be tweaked.

“We can just give the model just a little bit of [new] data, let’s say from Alberta, and the model will just be able to adjust itself,” said Nunez.

In as little as 12 hours of fine-tuning, these models have the potential to be more widely applicable globally and for patients with a wide array of conditions. U

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