Nov 27, 2014

NOVEMBER 27, 2014 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XXVI READING UPSIDE DOWN SINCE 1918

MILLIONS IN MEDICAL FUNDING

ESCAPE FROM SUNSET ISLAND

STOP CODDLING CARTER

Three UBC professors to further Alzheimer’s research with a grant for over $1 million each.

New board game created by UBC alumni makes both zombies and your friends a challenge.

Coyotes aren’t pets; for his own sake, don’t let him get too used to people.

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SWIMMING DOMINANCE Men’s and women’s teams take home Canada West championship.

CANADA’S SMARTEST

PERSON Braden Lauer outperformed other finalists in order to win the CBC television series

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014 |

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS, PEOPLE + CAMPUS

EVENTS THURSDAY

OUR CAMPUS

THIS WEEK, CHECK OUT ...

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ONE ON ONE WITH THE PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS THAT MAKE UBC

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BE THE CHANGE

4:30 - 6:00 P.M. @ LARGE ASSEMBLY HALL, HILLEL HOUSE

Join UBC president Arvind Gupta and chair of the non-profit organization VIDYA in a discussion of the empowerment of women and youth in India through mentorship with UBC students. Free

FRIDAY

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PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN / THE UBYSSEY

Kull has lived alone in the wilderness and was recently arrested for protesting the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

Prof Bob Kull is a naturalist, activist and nonconformist POLAR BEAR SWIM

Austen Erhardt Opinions & Blog Editor

Take part in UBC’s (unofficial) annual polar bear swim. It’s a great and chilly way to celebrate the last day of classes and (hopefully) a short respite before exams. Free

Bob Kull is a UBC professor of interdisciplinary studies who flunked out of Berkeley, lived in complete solitude on a Chilean island for a year, and, as of Saturday, has an arrest record.

Kull grew up in California, in an academically minded family.

After taking a year off to hitchhike around the USA following high school, Kull enrolled in University of California - Berkeley — and found himself completely ill at ease with the atmosphere.

“The only two courses I passed were fencing and modern dance,” Kull said.

After dropping out, Kull moved to Canada to avoid conscription in the Vietnam War. He studied photography in Edmonton, for a time, and eventually ended up in B.C., where he worked as a maintenance worker, logger, tree planter and firefighter.

3:00 P.M. @ WRECK BEACH

FRIDAY

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THE CALENDER’S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY

9:00 P.M. @ MANCHESTER PUBLIC EATERY

The Calendar is hosting its annual Christmas party at the Manchester this Friday. Dress up, bring your friends and celebrate the beginning of the holiday season and with a live band and a DJ. $5 Early Bird, $10~$15

My whole focus shifted — the animal whose behaviour I’m really interested in studying is myself. What are the effects of long wilderness solitude on a human being?”

ON THE COVER I felt my IQ was either getting higher or lower. I’m not sure which. Photo -Cherihan Hassun

Bob Kull UBC interdisciplinary studies prof and pipeline protester

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NOVEMBER 27, 2014 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XXVI

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When he was 28, Kull lived in isolation in Tweedsmuir Park for three months. After he returned, he signed up to volunteer in the Dominican Republic, teaching organic vegetable gardening.

“In having avoided the draft, I felt as if I’d avoided a really important social obligation. Not to go kill people, but to participate in our common world — and not just for my own life.”

He spent nine years in the Dominican Republic, teaching vegetable gardening and conducting first aid after a hurricane hit the area. He then became involved with water sports, and taught diving for a time on the coast, until a serious motorcycle accident led to him being hospitalized in Montreal for nearly a year. After his release from the hospital and the loss of both his leg and his livelihood, Kull began his studies at McGill.

Kull graduated with a dual degree in psychology and biology,

with a minor in environmental science and won an NSERC fellowship to go on in biology.

“By this time I had really shifted the way I was looking at the world.

It started with my first long retreat into solitude when I was in my late 20s. The world wasn’t just a collection of separate things and times — it was really a transformation of consciousness. There’s this underlying unity of which all organisms are a manifestation.”

Kull put his studies on hold and travelled to South America, eventually deciding to study interdisciplinary studies at UBC. Though he started his research by studying organisms in the conventional way, Kull eventually came to the realization that he wanted to bring himself into the research he was conducting.

I was resisting what is so often counselled: ‘It’s just a dissertation’ ... just write it and get on with your life … then you’ll do your real work!’ And I said, ‘no — this is my real work… this is my life.’”

Bob Kull

“My whole focus shifted — the animal whose behaviour I’m really interested in studying is myself. What are the effects of long wilderness solitude on a human being?”

Kull had passed by the isolated coast of Chile on a ferry during his travels and was struck by its natural beauty. Once he had determined that he would go into the wilderness, he thought back to Chile, and decided to spend a year on the island there — 100 miles from other people.

“Whether you’re there a month or a year, you have to deal with what comes up day by day. There was a lot of physical pain — I hurt myself badly, several times … had to pull a tooth. A lot of spiritual and emotional challenges,” Kull said.

When he returned to Vancouver with 900 pages of notes, Kull found himself at a standstill in his thesis, for a time.

“I was resisting what is so often counselled: ‘it’s just a dissertation,’ or ‘it’s just a master’s thesis’ — just write it and get on with your life … then you’ll do your real work!’ And

I said, ‘no — this is my real work … this is my life.’”

Eventually, the media caught wind of his experiences and Kull’s generally solitary life became inundated with newspaper interviews and TV and radio appearances.

After receiving his PhD, he started teaching systems thinking at Royal Roads University and, four years ago, UBC invited him to teach a course in interdisciplinary studies. Kull has always worked part time, and currently lives in a 250 square foot Kitsilano basement suite.

“My time is more valuable to me than money.… Nice things just don’t matter to me. If you ask the question, ‘how much do you need?’

The answer seems to be ... ‘we need more.’”

Over the past few weeks, Kull has been a frequent visitor of Burnaby Mountain, protesting Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline expansion. On Nov. 22, Kull crossed into the injunction zone and was arrested by the RCMP. “I’ve felt for a considerable length of time now, that given what I know … about climate change, I don’t live and I don’t see very many people living as if it were real. We just keep doing what we’re doing,” Kull said. “When the police did show up [on the mountain], there was a sense that this was just not right, and that I needed to stand up somehow.”

Kull was released from jail the same day as his arrest — his court date set for January — and has already resumed protesting. He wrote a letter to the Vancouver Observer detailing the courteous behaviour of the RCMP during his arrest and the generally cordial relationship that he and many other protesters have had with the police on Burnaby Mountain.

“My sense is that, finally, there are no angels or demons. We’re all embedded in a really dysfunctional system. A system that allows Kinder Morgan to exist,” Kull said.

“The way the system is set up, we all need petroleum to survive. It’s not that ‘these guys are good and these guys are bad’. It’s that we all need to wake up … and make long-term, fundamental changes in our relationship with the environment and with ourselves. That’s the fundamental reason I go up to the mountain: the sense of the long process of standing up for my own vision of waking up. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong — it’s just what I feel called to do.” U

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014 |

EDITORS JOVANA VRANIC + VERONIKA BONDARENKO

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STUDENTS >>

Canada’s smartest person is a UBC Law student Despite tough competition Braden Lauer won the first season of CBC’s new game show

Lyra Fok Contributor

On the night of Sunday, Nov. 23, golden sparks showered upon UBC Law student Braden Lauer to mark his victory in the season finale of CBC television series Canada’s Smartest Person.

Lauer outperformed other finalists including a fighter pilot, home-schooled orthopedic surgery resident and a spoken word poet.

Currently in his second year at UBC Law, Lauer applied to be a contestant on the show on a whim, following a bad final exam in Constitutional Law, he said.

After being selected as one of the top 32 contestants, he joined the program production in Toronto over the summer and kept quiet about the results until the final broadcast.

According to Lauer, he thought being on television would be easy, but he turned out to be wrong.

“It was much more stressful [than school and work]. The host would say the same things four times in a roll so they could take the same shot from different angles, and you had to answer all the questions four times,” he said.

It was a strange “stop and start feeling,” having to repeat himself in front of the cameras, Lauer said; especially in contrast to the

NEWS BRIEFS Fire alarms force students to evacuate Two fire alarms went off this week, causing evacuations of two major UBC spaces.

At 11 a.m. on November 24, the SUB was evacuated after a fire alarm went off due to a minor accident in the construction area in the building’s basement.

Two days later, on November 26, another alarm went off around 10:30 a.m. in the Henry Angus building, causing hundreds of students and staff to evacuate.

The fire department was not available to comment by press time.

UNA community centre robbed The University Neighbourhoods Association’s (UNA) Old Barn Community Centre on Thunderbird Blvd. was broken into on the night of Sunday, Nov. 23.

According to a media release, some $20,000 worth of equipment was stolen from the centre.

The UNA is asking the public to send in any tips they have that may help determine the suspect of the break-in.

UBC searches for new VP Finance A broadcast email was sent out on November 26 informing university students and staff of UBC’s search for a VP Finance candidate.

Former VP Finance Pierre Ouillet left UBC in September. Since then, administration has been planning to reform the position to separate it from the Resources and Operations sector “to ensure that the next VP Finance focuses fully on the financial affairs [of UBC],” according to the broadcast message.

A committee has been put together to sift through nominations, which may be submitted by anyone around the world. U

Braden Lauer was the very first winner of the CBC’s new television series, Canada’s Smartest Person.

one-take challenges that were also shot as part of the show.

The series, which aims to redefine what it means to be smart, pits contestants against each other in a series of games to test six types of intelligence: musical, physical, social, logical, visual and linguistic. This categorization of intelligence is based

on the Multiple Intelligences Theory of Harvard University professor Howard Gardner.

This set of unconventional criteria led to contestants improvising songs using randomly shown lyrics, advocating for cities to become Canada’s new capital and stacking cups into towers.

In the finale, Lauer raced past

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY

his fellow contestant, Johnny McRae, a Vancouver spoken word poet, in a giant gauntlet before claiming the title.

Lauer said his experience with the show was an exciting and positive one. He expressed appreciation for how the competition was able to showcase the diversity of people’s intelligence.

“You can apply yourself in different ways, not just in logical means,” he said.

He was also impressed by the diversity of the contestants.

“It’s something CBC sometimes maybe struggle to do, but they really found 32 people across Canada from different walks of life ... and brought them together,” said Lauer. “It’s kinda cool showcase for anyone who watched to see what’s out there in Canada, how many special people we have and how proud we can be of having these people in the country.”

Off-screen, getting to know the contestants and the producers was another perk of the show for Lauer, who said he is doing his best to stay in touch with many of the contestants and production crew.

Since Sunday’s season finale, Lauer has been busy looking at feedback from the show’s audience, which he claims has been 80 to 90 per cent positive so far.

“I’m excited about the whole show,” he said. “I hope it sticks around. I would totally love to watch it again.”

Lauer is now back at school, studying for finals just like any other UBC student, only now, he has the title of “Canada’s smartest person” to serve as motivation. U

ALUMNI >>

Businesspeople, humanitarians and leaders honoured with alumni awards Veronika Bondarenko News Editor

UBC recently held an awards ceremony to honour achievements of seven influential alumni and community members.

Alumni UBC, which brings together UBC graduates and the university, organized its annual alumni UBC Achievement Awards ceremony on November 17. This year’s recipients included doctors, social justice advocates and computer programmers.

Karolin König, alumni relations coordinator at alumni UBC, said that the awards are a way to celebrate and recognize some of the most interesting and inspiring people at UBC. “We honour seven members of the UBC community who have done extraordinary things through different activities and have connected to the university, as well as tying up to the larger local, global and international community to create positive change and affect people in inspiring ways,” said König.

This year, the UBC alumni who were recognized at the ceremony included Leona Sparrow, the Director of Treaty, Lands and Resources for the Musqueam Indian Band, and John Demco, the creator of the original .CA domain name.

The award winners are selected from public nominations to categories for alumni as well as current students and faculty.

Once nominations close in January, an awards selection committee chooses the winner for each of the seven categories. “[The awards are] honouring people who are connected to the UBC community in a meaningful way, really honouring not only their commitment to the UBC community but also celebrating the positive change that they have made in the world,” said König.

PHOTO WILL MCDONALD/THE UBYSSEY

Alumni UBC holds an awards ceremony each year to honour its most notable alumni.

Alumnus Videsh Kapoor and current Faculty of Surgery Clinical Instructor Kimit Rai both received awards for establishing health organizations that aim to bring medical aid to remote and poverty-stricken areas in developing countries.

Recent UBC Law graduate Emily McKinnon received the Young Alumnus Award for her research and volunteer work with people who are living with HIV/AIDS. The remaining two awards went out to Randall Findlay,

the co-founder of the Provident Energy Trust, and Matt Husain, a current PhD student who has spent six years working at the World Bank Group and started up numerous humanitarian and poverty-reduciton initiatives. U

4 | NEWS |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

MEDICINE >>

BOARD OF GOVERNORS >>

Erasing Alzheimer’s with millions in munitions BoG briefs: sports medicine, life “Government is commitsciences and quantum matter ted to supporting those living

FILE PHOTO JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

Over $4 million in funding was awarded to UBC professors for Alzheimer’s research.

Veronika Bondarenko News Editor

Degeneration of the brain is about to become the focus of much more research.

Three UBC professors will receive more than $4 million in grant funding to continue their study of Alzheimer’s disease.

The grant has been made with the aim of supporting research on Alzheimer’s disease, a form of

dementia that affects over 70,000 people in B.C. Organizations that have contributed include Brain Canada, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Genome B.C. and The Pacific Alzheimer Research Foundation.

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said that this research will be an important step in researching and possibly developing an eventual cure.

with dementia and recognizes the importance of research and working collaboratively in finding a cure,” Lake said in a news release.

James Johnson, an associate professor in the department of cellular and psychological sciences, will receive $1.05 million in funding to study the ways that insulin production affects Alzheimer’s patients.

Christian Naus, also a professor in the department of cellular and psychological sciences, will receive $1.5 million to develop drugs that can help preserve neurons that are responsible for brain degeneration.

Neurology professor Neil Cashman will also receive $1.5 million to develop better diagnostic and treatment options for Alzheimer’s patients.

Along with two more Alzheimer’s researchers from SFU, these professors will use the money from the grant to help the medical community develop a better understanding of Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s advocate Jim Mann said the research that will be generated by these professor is expected to make a lasting difference in the lives of people who are affected by the disease.

“These research projects are key to advancing therapies and diagnostic tools for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia,” said Mann.

“Investment into research is critical to our struggle and offers us greater hope than before.” U

DIVERSITY >>

Really? campaign hopes to encourage students to speak up against discrimination

PHOTO VERONIQUE DEBORD-LAZARO/FLICKR

The Really? campaign aims to teach students how to be active bystanders.

Vicki Chow Contributor

Access & Diversity’s Really? campaign hopes to encourage students to speak up about the discrimination that they see in their everyday lives.

The campaign is devoted to promoting respect for UBC’s diverse community by teaching individuals to respond to discrimination that they witness instead of walking away.

CJ Rowe, diversity advisor-women for UBC Access & Diversity, said that program had its beginnings in January 2011 when

guest speaker Jackson Katz gave a talk on how people can begin to break the cycle of silence when it comes to violence against women.

According to Rowe, the campaign started with the idea that small and seemingly benign behaviours such as sexist jokes can all contribute to a culture of violence and discrimination.

“The idea of the campaign was sparked by those issues but expanded to incorporate all types of diversity, including race and sexual orientation, and the discrimination that goes along with

being a member of any of these groups,” said Rowe.

The campaign is meant to encourage students to be active bystanders who speak up when they encounter situations when people make discriminatory comments.

On a larger scale, the campaign hopes to open up conversation on how discrimination against someone’s race, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity can be perpetuated in small ways.

“We’ve all witnessed related toxic behaviours both on and off campus, but it’s hard for people to respond to them because they don’t think they know how or they’re afraid of the possible repercussions,” said Rowe.

The campaign’s primary focus involves holding interactive workshops where participants learn how to speak up in a safe and effective way when they encounter these types of situations.

“Participants will learn what they, as bystanders, can do when they witness these types of scenarios and the skills required to intervene with them,” said Rowe.

Rowe also said that the name of the campaign was meant to reflect a phrase that could be used to call out a problematic comment or behaviour.

“Since the program emphasizes questioning negative behaviours, we wanted our name to reflect that,” said Rowe. “’Really?’ in itself can be used as a phrase to help bystanders point out prejudicial situations,” said Rowe.

Access & Diversity also recruits student leaders who lead and organize these types of workshops throughout the year and, in doing so, teach their peers how to speak up against instances of prejudice and inequality in everyday situations. U

Jovana Vranic & Veronika Bondarenko News Editors

On Tuesday, Nov. 25, UBC’s Board of Governors met for their last standing committee meeting of 2014. The majority of the meeting was held in camera.

Here is a summary of the three motions that were passed during the brief open session.

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESS ENGINEERING LABORATORY The Quantum Matter Institute (QMI) is expanding to open a new, state-of-the-art, research lab.

The project will be contributing to the university’s goals to strengthen and expand research opportunities, and, as the Board documents state, “make UBC one of — if not the — world leaders in quantum materials research.”

AMPEL has a final budget of $27.2 million, with construction costs coming in $2 million above the previous proposal presented to the Board.

It is being developed in partnership with the Max Planck Society and the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Quantum Materials and Devices, held by Harvard materials scientist Jenny Hoffman.

Designs and tender documents have recently been completed, and the majority of the project is ready to head into the construction phase.

The site of the addition will stretch the Brimacombe building to the end of the Engineering Lane block, to East Mall.

UBC is planning to have construction of AMPEL completed

by July 2016.

LIFE SCIENCES TEACHING LABS RENEWAL UBC will be spending $80 million on renewing and expanding the Biological Sciences complex to open new, better equipped teaching labs to replace the ones in the BioSciences centre, North wing, Wesbrook and D.H. Copp buildings. It will also address seismic risk associated with the three buildings.

At the November meeting, the Board approved a funding release

of $5.5 million to finish up design drawings and tender documents, after which final plans for construction will be brought to the standing committee.

The provincial government has pledged $21.25 million toward the project through the Ministry of Advanced Education.

The remainder of funding is slated to come out of UBC’s Central Operating Budget and Trek Endowment Fund.

As part of the project, the General Services and Administraion (GSAB) building is also going to be demolished to provide a site for further development in the Wesbrook Mall area.

The GSAB and Copp sites will serve to generate development revenue by shifting two university housing projects from Wesbrook Place to the academic lands of centre campus. The new buildings in place of GSAB and Copp are expected to take the form of mixed use complexes.

These developments will provide revenue for the endowment funds and the Trek spending account, which will, in turn, fund the teaching labs loan.

CHAN GUNN SPORTS MEDICINE PAVILION The Board also approved the initial plans for a new Sports Medicine Centre, to be located between the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre and Robert F. Osborne Centre, by the Thunderbird fields.

The new centre will replace the current building, which is scheduled to be torn down in June 2015 to make room for the centre that will become a joint training facility between UBC and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The new space will house offices, research labs and clinical facilities for sports injuries.

The Board also approved an initial funding release of $500,000 in order to hire a consultant who will begin working on the initial designs for the building.

Thanks to a $5 million naming donation, the centre is proposed to be named the ‘Chan Gunn Pavillion,’ after the president of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Pain and member of the Order of Canada. U

U

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014 |

EDITOR JENICA MONTGOMERY

5

ART >>

#westcoastbestcoast questions representations of west coast landscapes

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN / THE UBYSSEY

One of the paintings on exhibit in the #westcoastbestcoast collection is Molly Lam Bobak’s Fishboats at the Mouth of the Fraser.

Olivia Law Senior Staff Writer

Search the hashtag #westcoastbestcoast on almost any social media platform — Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest — and you’ll be bombarded with a swarm of photos promoting the beauty of our edge of the continent.

And why not? All of us living in Vancouver know how blessed we are — where else in the world can you be within an hour of the beach, the mountains and the city? The celebratory hat tip we

use to revel in the privilege of living in such a naturally beautiful, sublime landscape is used to accompany landscape pictures of the west coast of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California, as a teasing nudge to our more eastern fellow Canadians as they battle snow, ice and storms.

The AMS Permanent Collection in the SUB’s Art Gallery is entitled just this: #westcoastbestcoast. The cheeky nod to the materialism of our time is effect-

ively used to show the changes in our landscape and the portrayal of the increased industrialization over time.

Curated by UBC’s Erin Watkins, #westcoastbestcoast is a case study exploring the increasingly problematic issues surrounding the idealistic representation of the west coast landscape through progression of time, technology and popular style. The famous ‘Group of Seven’ artists, known for their iconic landscape paintings are

criticized for the reinforcement of ‘terra nullius’ — presenting the nation as an area of untouched nature, pristine and unseen by human eyes — when in fact the areas of land depicted in their works have been dominated and changed by humans for centuries.

One work in the #westcoastbestcoast exhibition is entitled “Development #1”, by Vancouver artist Roy Arden. His work featured all over the world, Arden is focused largely on industrialization of the natural environment. His work which is featured in #westcoastbestcoast shows human development completely annihilating the once beautiful natural landscape. The emotional message is strengthened by the intense realism of his work. It could be suggested that Arden wanted the title of his work, “Development #1”, to highlight the fact that there is no end to the destruction of the earth — this site is just one of many.

Another work in the collection again makes the viewer ponder the ‘naturalization’ of a landscape. Ron Tran’s “It Knows Not What It Is” piece is not a landscape, it is an applique stick on a banner. The removal of this stick from its natural world is a subtle reminder of the destruction of our earth. This certainly provokes thought into the concept of #westcoastbestcoast — how can something be ‘the best’ when we are changing it, adapting it, taking everything natural and making our sublime landscape artificial. The title of this work also places blame of the natural world onto the viewer, or the people, which perhaps brings about a reflection into

the new generations. If the stick is removed from the landscape, changing the natural beauty, what will be left for the children of the future? The stick may not know what it is, but neither will the next generation.

There is one First Nations piece in the exhibition, an untitled work by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, an internationally renowned political, environmental and cultural documenter.

His work revokes a traditional Salish style, but is broken up with large, imposing numbers and patterns, suggesting the intrusive presence of the western colonizers. The juxtaposing colours and patterns is suggested, as per the accompanying plaque, to be a ‘jab’ at the construction of UBC, a place of learning, on the Musqueam territories.

Lawren S. Harris’s “Mountain Spirit” evokes a strong sense of spirituality in the viewer. Based upon the Northern Lights, Harris fuses elements of earth, water and sky into a unified depiction of the world. Contrasted with strong, geometric motifs, however, there is a definite underlying tone of futurism which contrasts from the traditional sublimity of the west coast.

Although many of the pieces in the #westcoastbestcoast collection demonstrate an approach akin to the realism of the ‘Group of Seven’, several of the works are moving towards abstraction — highlighting the abstract view we have of this popular hashtag.

Coming away from the exhibit, one is filled with thoughts of a conscious nature — why are we so keen to change this beautiful landscape of which we appear to be so proud? U

BOOK >>

Hooked leaves readers fishing for realistic characters

UBC alum Michael Hetherington’s new thriller is about main character Adrian as he falls in passionless love with Mandy.

Gabriel Germaix Senior Staff Writer

It is a common trait of revered novels for the characters to feel real and alive to the reader. However UBC alumnus Michael Hetherington’s thriller Hooked — released in October — fails to achieve this key literary device.

Adrian, an accomplished outdoorsy vancouverite, meets similarly outdoorsy Mandy when the young woman rescues him as he is entangled in a fish line whose hook lodged itself under his skin. From

there evolves a passionless romance that spans over a handful of days where the not-so-happy couple hikes, sails and swims almost without talking to each other. All the while he is followed and threatened

by Mandy’s ex and two mysterious oarsmen in a rowboat, Adrian’s future is cloudy at best.

Hetherington fails to make his characters endearing to readers, they lack redeeming features to compensate for their flaws, and the reader is left unsympathetic to their cause.

Adrian is too little developed for the reader to bond and start taking an interest in his endeavours. Hetherington himself found no connection between his own personality and any of his characters.

“No, I do not [feel close to the characters], I made them up,” said Hetherington. Adrian’s overall personality seems to lack coherence, missing something that we can relate to in order to turn him from a product of words into a product of flesh.

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN / THE UBYSSEY

Hooked appears to leave aside the potential interest that character development could arouse in the reader, and instead trades it for action scenes that follow each other at a reasonable pace. The book throws its main characters into realistic scenes of tension while they are still sketches, not taking advantage of the pressure exerted on a reader who fears something bad will happen to their favourite hero.

Hetherington created the background of his character while writ-

ing. “It kind of came up as I went along,” the author said. Hetherington opted to create the characters as he wrote the story rather than develop them and reveal the character throughout the story.

The book was written in less than two months, a short time if we consider the complexity of setting up a plot and its characters. “The story all poured it out of me in about seven and a half weeks,” said Hetherington, adding “I wrote at a daily quota of about 3,000 words a day.”

This impressive rhythm reassured the coherence of the novel’s action scenes.

Editors’ cuts nonetheless prevented Hetherington from tying together the plot. “When I first wrote the book ... the final scene was about at least twice as long, if not three times as long, and it was a lot more gruesome,” said Hetherington.

It also had the consequence of gathering characters that seemed to have almost no relation to one another. Once edited, the climax of the thriller simply leaves a number of questions, as secondary characters who hover around Adrian end up never stepping fully into the story.

One could say this adds to the mystery, it could also push the reader to shrug their shoulders without looking for an explanation they know cannot be guessed anywhere in the book.

With lacklustre characters and an anticlimactic ending, Hooked is a pleasant read past the oddness of some of its scenes, but does not immerse the reader due to a depiction of action and characters. U

6 | CULTURE |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

BOARDGAMES >>

UBC alumni create zombie apocalypse board game Escape from Sunset Island

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/ THE UBYSSEY

Ubyssey editors and writers had an opportunity to try out the game with one of its creators, Robert Straker.

Lawrence Neal Garcia Senior Staff Writer

WARNING: Will push human nature to its limits.

It’s the cautionary notice on Escape from Sunset Island, a board game — a zombie apocalypse simulator to be exact — created by two brothers and UBC alumni, Robert and Daniel Straker.

The game has one objective: get off the island before you become a zombie. And although the gameplay is simple — it uses basic tokens, intuitive mechanics and a straightforward layout -- the

interplay is much more complex.

The idea for the game came to Robert Straker while he was working at a before-and-after school care center, where he would routinely think up games for the kids to play. Although not a board game junkie himself — though by his own admission, he probably plays more than the average person -- Straker thought of making a simple zombie-themed one that the kids could play on Halloween.

Two years later, with the help of his brother Daniel, he turned that initial idea into what is now

BEER >>

Escape from Sunset Island — doing everything from learning Photoshop, finding a manufacturer and starting a small Kickstarter project, to make it a reality.

The game is currently in its first production run of 500 units.

With six character cards (plus a zombie card), resource items (food, water, gas), weapons and more, the game — which can be learned in just a few minutes — quickly comes together in a race for survival.

Unlike in most games however, the focus of Escape from Sunset Island is more about avoiding the zombies than it is about killing them (though there are opportunities to do so, with chainsaws, guns and the like). In that sense, the zombie angle — in itself not a novel idea — is somewhat peripheral to the game itself.

“It’s just a good game whether they are zombies are not. Lots of games rely on the zombies to carry it. But … you could call them coyotes if you wanted,” said Straker.

The game is also what Straker describes as “co-petitive,” a blend of cooperative and competitive gameplay rather than strictly one or the other. Beyond the zombie setup, it’s the group dynamics that result from this approach that liven the game, ensuring a different experience each time.

“You’re not told whether to cooperate or compete …

Some people just assume it’s cooperative; some people don’t,” said Straker. “You’re just trying to get off the island, so you can do it however you want.”

It’s also why the game, while simple in framework, is more complex than it would seem.

“It’s always different. And that’s what makes it interesting for me to play with people still, I get to see how people approach it,” said Straker, who recounted games with people who simply shot each other and where no one survived, or others where the players counted it a victory if even just one person escaped.

In that respect, the game is less about the zombies, and more about how people react to them.

And like the best of games, it’s harder to win than one might think, requiring a good mix of strategy and luck. It also often requires some form of cooperation for success — whether players realize it or not.

This element also speaks to the underlying philosophy of the game, which Straker summed up with a line from Robert Frost’s The Tuft of Flowers: “‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart, / ‘Whether they work together or apart.’”

Escape from Sunset Island is certain to delight gamers and non-gamers alike. Whether they’ll actually escape or not is a different question entirely. U

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 14036

Campus has a new watering hole: BierCraft

Public Open House

Jenica Montgomery Culture Editor

You are invited to attend an Open House on Wednesday, December 3 to view and comment on the proposed new National Soccer Development Centre located within Thunderbird Park in the Athletics Precinct.

A new pub opened on campus — and it wants you to know it’s not just a drinking joint . BierCraft has been an anticipated new addition to campus since last April. They opened their doors to the public in early November.

Joining the ranks of Koerners pub, Mahony & Sons and — of course — the Pit pub, BierCraft offers a comfortable environment that’s not just for getting your Friday night drink on. From the separate dining rooms to the menu, BierCraft makes it known that it is restaurant, not a pub or bar.

Staying true to its name, BierCraft offers a wide array of beers, both on tap and bottled, for patrons to try. For those who are adventurous beer drinkers, the restaurant has both bottled domestic craft beer and imported craft beer — mostly from Belgium and Germany. Though not the largest international beer collection, the restaurant provides a good starting point for beginner beer connoisseurs.

The spirits drink menu, as expected from a beer-centric restaurant, is sparse but has the basics: mojitos, caesars, etc. So if beer isn’t your drink of choice

BierCraft still has you covered.

The restaurant is divided into two sections — a separate dining section for all ages and a bier house themed section where minors must be accompanied by an adult. Both sections serve the same food and drinks, making the only real difference the aesthetic ambiance of the two segments. The bier house themed section of the restaurant has high ceilings, wood pillars and stained glass lining the top of the bar, catering to the Belgium bier house aesthetic.

BierCraft has a surprisingly large menu. From burgers to muscles to charcuterie platters; Biercraft doesn’t lack in culinary options. However, beer and wing lovers beware — BierCraft does not offer the wing selection that many other pubs do. Hot wing and beer lovers will find better deals elsewhere.

It comes as no surprise that the feel of BierCraft is warm and inviting, however, it is slightly expensive for what a student would reasonably spend on a beer and some poutine.

Whether you’re looking for an international beer or a casual dinner with friends, BierCraft will most likely have something suitable for a hungry and thirsty university student. U

National Soccer Development Centre

Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 Time: 4:30 - 6:00 PM Place: Commons Room, MBA House, 3385 Wesbrook Mall Plans will be displayed for the proposed new 3,400m2 National Soccer Development Centre, a joint project between UBC Athletics and the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club.

Representatives from the project team and Campus + Community Planning will be available to provide information and respond to inquiries about this project.

An update will also be provided on the Thunderbird Park Precinct Plan.

For more information on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586 This event is wheelchair accessible.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014 |

STUDENT VOICE. COMMUNITY REACH.

LAST WORDS >>

EDITORIAL >>

Coyotes aren’t pets: scare Carter off for his sake and yours JOVANA VRANIC NEWS EDITOR

ILLUSTRATION JULIAN YU/THE UBYSSEY

LAST WORDS BOG MAY NOT BE ELECTED, BUT THEY SHOULD STILL BE REPRESENTATIVE On Tuesday morning, our news editor made her way on over to the Isabel MacInnes room in the Gage commonsblock to sit in on the last Board of Governors standing committee meeting of 2014.

However, she had to put the live-tweeting on hold as guests to the meeting were shooed out while the Board discussed the first two motions on their agenda, including one on international tuition.

The meeting wasn’t open to the public until 10:30 a.m., nearly an hour after its scheduled start time. Once everyone settled in, administrators chatted about new development proposals on campus for a half hour before moving into closed session once again.

While it’s true that the Board does have the power to change their meeting agendas whenever necessary, this isn’t exactly the best policy.

Transparency should be, and is, one of UBC’s top priorities.

But with the massive tides of criticism crashing administration in light of their recent fee increase proposals, students are making clear their need for more openness.

Being able to adjust to circumstances through methods like altering agendas at the last

7

PARTING SHOTS AND SNAP JUDGEMENTS FROM THE UBYSSEY EDITORIAL BOARD

minute is an important power for the BoG to have — but it also is a power that has the potential to be abused. Especially in regard to controversial topics like fee increases.

Government transparency is a fundamental aspect of democracy, and when the federal government of a country seems to be more open than a government of a university of 50,000 (relatively) politically engaged, or at least informed, people there’s a problem. Representative democracy is a point that Canada and many other developed nations pride themselves on. One would hope that the BoG would at least try to appear to live up to this standard of representation by openly discussing issues that their constituents care about.

RIDICULOUS ASSERTIONS OF REVERSE RACISM A UBC history professor has become another target of Brad Saltzberg, a man who has gained quite a reputation for sending out anti-Chinese and anti-immigration letters to various Vancouver organizations. A few days ago, Saltzberg started a petition that demands that Henry Yu, who teaches Asian-Canadian history, B.C. immigration patterns and social theory at UBC, be fired from his job. In the petition, Saltzberg accuses Yu of ‘reverse racism’ against people of European descent for talking about

the discrimination that Asian Canadians have historically faced in B.C. We deliberated whether to write about this situation in an article, but ultimately decided that covering it without the necessary context (that, unfortunately, a news article cannot always provide) would give the petition a platform that it does not deserve and should never have. Instead, we thought it was important to point out just how truly warped the situation is: merely talking about the history of minority groups and the difficulties that they face can put one at risk of being accused of ‘reverse racism’. What’s more, it is completely unacceptable that a professor doing scholarly work on Asian-Canadian history can spur the kind of hate and malice that we have seen with this petition.

And some people think that racism is a thing of the past? U

While it’s been a very slow couple of weeks in the news section, our blog seems to have a bustling audience made up of folks with one common passion — Carter the coyote.

Sure, I get it, Carter is adorable, and he’s a great model for candid snapshots, but his growing fame just isn’t doing him any good. Actually, it could get him killed.

The dozens, or at this point, probably hundreds, of social media posts about Carter make him out to be a menace to the squirrel populace, but I can hardly take him seriously when a student isn’t afraid to stand only a few metres away to take a picture of him. We shouldn’t be so comfortable with him, and he definitely shouldn’t be comfortable with us.

Carter should be out wandering around the woods, terrorizing critters and startling individuals brave enough to venture into Pacific Spirit Park, where I suppose he may call home. He’s a predator and a scavenger — but changing his address to UBC’s campus is making him more of the latter.

Though there are plenty of squirrels around for Carter to chase and chew on, he has a hard time hunting when campus is constantly flooded with students.

He’s clearly not afraid of us, but he’s been smart enough to keep his distance thus far. And this divide means having to wait until nightfall to ease his munchies.

When the squirrels are tucked away to sleep, Carter has no choice but to rummage through our garbage to feed himself. Not a lot of UBC’s trash is very accessible to him, what with all of the bins only being accessible through small holes at the top made for human arms, not grasp-less coyote paws.

Really, there’s not much here for Carter at all. I’m sure he’s getting sick of eating little scraps of trash and waiting for class hours to terrorize the squirrels. And as he gets more and more used to all the human folk around, he’s going to start coming to us for dinner.

No, that doesn’t mean he’s going to start hunting students or bullying them for their lunch money.

He will, however, schmooze his furry little self into our hearts and souls, and more importantly, our tupperware.

Folks need to give Carter his space, and if they’re not afraid, shoo him away. Don’t let his puppy dog eyes fool you — feeding him or letting him get too comfortable on campus is no good for him.

The sad reality is that if we don’t help him find his way back home soon, Carter may very well grow dependent on us, or may simply become too accustomed to the presence of humans and become unable to reintegrate himself into the wild. At that point, if and when animal control services need to intervene, he will likely need to be put down.

It’s okay to love Carter, but the relationship just has to be long distance. Humans and coyotes can definitely coexist — just not necessarily in such close quarters. U

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 14027

Public Open House University Boulevard - Site B

You are invited to attend an Open House on Wednesday, January 7 to view and comment on a mixed-use development proposal for University Boulevard - Site B. Plans will be displayed for a new 6-storey mixed use building with retail/commercial uses on the ground floor and 5 storeys of residential rental accommodation for students, faculty and employees at UBC.

Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2015 Time: 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM Place: War Memorial Gymnasium Lobby, 6081 University Boulevard Representatives from the project team and Campus + Community Planning will be available to provide information and respond to inquiries about this project.

The public is also invited to attend the Development Permit Board Meeting for this project to be held on January 21st from 5:00-7:00pm, at the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) Policy Labs A+B, 2260 West Mall.

For more information on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014 |

EDITOR JACK HAUEN

9

SWIMMING >>

UBC swimming sweeps Canada West — again Women and men finish 409, 360 points in front of second place teams, respectively The

Women Total Points 1,049 Swimmer of the year:

Savannah King

Rookie Natalie Scadden Senior Staff Writer When the UBC Thunderbirds swim team stormed the Max Bell Aquatic Centre in Lethbridge this weekend and took home both Canada West Championship banners, it almost seemed like déjà vu.

It was another dominant performance where T-Bird swimmers missed the podium in just one of 38 races. UBC again picked up awards for best male and female swimmers and rookies. Head coach Steve Price was again coach of the year for both teams.

And, due to scheduling changes within the conference that moved the championships to November, this was actually the second time UBC has done all of this in 2014.

Back in January, UBC had taken its swimming dominance at Canada West Championships to a whole new level: the women’s side put up a whopping 1,071 points with a 497-point margin of victory — both conference records.

Now it seems those kind of num-

bers are just par for the course with this team. Competing with one fewer swimmer this time around, the UBC women managed 1,049 points and were 409 ahead of second-place Calgary, while the UBC men gave themselves a much bigger cushion than they did last time, finishing 360 points ahead of Alberta and becoming the first men’s team in Canada West history to break the 1000-point mark.

A team operating at such a high level almost needs another way of measuring its performance than banners — its success is about more than just winning.

It’s about consistency and leadership. Take King for example. In five years as a Thunderbird, the two-time Olympian has collected 20 gold, two silver and two bronze medals at Canada West along with four conference Swimmer of the Year nods.

She’s never lost the 400- and 800-metre freestyle.

But it hasn’t always been easy. King’s coach doesn’t think she was enjoying swimming very much last year. “To see her

come back this year with a great attitude and much more positive and enjoying the sport a lot more has had a really big impact on the girls’ team and for herself as well,” said Price.

It’s about the team effort. All 32 swimmers scored points — awarded to the top 16 swimmers in each event, from 20 points for first place to a single point for 16th. In fact, everyone cracked the top eight in at least one event.

UBC won all six relays, swept the podium in six events and 20 different T-Birds won multiple individual medals.

And, of course, in a sport measured in hundredths of a second, it’s about swimming fast. UBC swimmers broke 12 Canada West records this weekend, including three new marks set by Allen in the 100- and 200-metre butterfly and 100-metre backstroke, and two by Strydom in the 100- and 200-metre butterfly.

“Coleman is maturing and just rounding out the kind of athlete that he can be,” said Price of the three-time Canada West Swim-

mer of the Year. “He’s a very fiery and emotional guy, and sometimes that gets the best of him as an athlete. I think he learned a lot about that this summer, and he’s really settled down and taking one swim at a time. And obviously winning a world cup medal boosted his confidence a lot. It’s just good to see a young man maturing and showing some leadership and being a real positive influence on the team.”

To top it off, in the last individual event of the weekend, Keegan Zanatta erased the oldest record in the book by more than three seconds, winning the men’s 400-metre freestyle in 3:46.82 to replace Mark Johnston’s time from 2001.

With a convincing Canada West Championship behind them, the focus now shifts towards the 2015 CIS Championships in Victoria in February. The UBC women are seeking their fourthstraight national title, while the men will have to get past the twotime defending champions from the University of Toronto. U

of the year:

Jacomie Strydom

Sixth Straight CanWest title (26th all-time)

The

Men Total Points 1,007 Swimmer of the year:

Coleman Allen

Rookie of the year:

Yuri Kisil

Second Straight CanWest title

PHOTOS COURTESY STEVE PRICE/UBC SWIM TEAM

(15th all-time)

10 | SPORTS |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

RECREATION >>

Ciaran goes clubbing: Quidditch The Ubyssey’s copy editor endures a few hours of broomstick-based sporting

PHOTO PETER SIEMENS/THE UBYSSEY

Upper body strength is integral to antigravity sport.

In this new column I will be visiting different UBC athletic clubs each week; I plan to recount my experiences to show exactly what we have on offer at the university.

The Quidditch pitch was the locale for my first outing so I laced up my cleats and headed over with my housemate, who happens to be a club member. On the way there he assured me that I would be, at some point, brutally assaulted. While this did make me a little nervous, I took solace in the fact that my pain might at least provide some entertaining footage for our Weekly Show.

Despite my friend’s warning, the team was immediately welcoming; one of the execs was quick to make jokes about my suitability for the game, largely due to me being from England.

I had assumed that my accent would function in the same way as it does in everyday life; that is, making it easier to score.

Surprisingly, being English gives you no natural advantage at the sport.

We started with some comfortable warm up drills before mounting our brooms. All players in this sport must remain on their brooms at all times unless they are knocked off, in which case they have to run back and touch their own hoops before they rejoin the action.

The sport is played with extreme similarity to how it is seen in the Harry Potter films. There are ‘Chasers’ who try to score with the ‘Quaffle’ through the opposition hoops and also defend their own hoops from opposition chasers. ‘Beaters’ try to knock ‘Chasers’ off their brooms using the ‘Bludgers’ and ‘Seekers’ chase after a human ‘Snitch.’

However, I was disappointed to discover that those of the Quidditch persuasion are yet to find an effective way to combat gravity, meaning the whole game is played on the ground. While I considered this a big setback, it does mean you get a solid workout from the running; this, combined with the skill required to throw the balls and tackle other players, makes the sport quite difficult.

Our own team is increasingly successful, I spoke to UBC Quidditch’s President, Alexa Rowe, about the club’s performance. “I’m actually very pleased … we had our first tournament with nine teams a couple weekends ago, and the A team came first and B came second, so it was super awesome,” she said.

The club has 77 members and they compete in major competitions five times a year, including the Harry Potter inspired World Cup, which functions as the US national tournament, where hundreds of teams come together for the title.

After some drills we started a scrimmage, and a burly ‘Chaser’ from the other team immediately floored me. I initially felt like this was a little bit aggressive for someone new to the sport, but I later discovered that our hilarious sports editor arranged that to happen.

The team and its members were in fact warm and friendly with a great attitude to new players.

“You can never have too many people come out to play Quidditch, because it’s kind of a niche market. Not a lot of people are brave enough to come and try it out, so as many people as we can get, we’ll take them,” said Rowe.

The game is quite straightforward and the team was excellent at making me feel welcome,

explaining little complexities and telling me where to stand. Despite the lack of flight and even though I was a bit rubbish, the whole experience was thoroughly en-

joyable. The club is inclusive, has good spirit and a genuine sense of humour.

If you like Harry Potter, or even if you just fancy trying your

hand at a new sport, I’d thoroughly recommend Quidditch.

Check out the UBC Quidditch Team’s Facebook Page for more information. U

GRADUATE STUDIES at OCAD University At OCAD U, we attract curious and creative students who expect something more from their education and are willing to challenge themselves to achieve it.

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Strategic Foresight and Innovation Students in the sLab, 2014. Image courtesy: Angie Griffith

Ciaran Dougherty Copy Editor

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

T-BIRDS 5-ON-5

LUKE REILLY

MOLLY DRISCOLL

BRYLLE KAMEN

Swimming

Field hockey

Basketball

MEAGAN PASTERNAK Soccer

| SPORTS | 11

CHARLIE THORPE Rugby

SPORTY AND STYLISH I. Try. Hard.

Chic, boho, with a touch — or gallon — of glitter.

Unique. Simple. Inspiring.

I like to think of myself as a young, up and coming Anna Wintour.

Classic Miami Vice.

I force our team to buy Versace uniforms … sorry about the tuition hikes.

Miley Cyrus buns on the field — nothing like dropping it low like Miley in the D. Oh and glitter.

I always try to be unique in every environment I’m in. Right now I wear pink and purple shoes on game day with matching socks.

I make sure I always change my pro-wrap headband colour to always stay “in” with the seasons’ best trends!

I will always incorporate a leopard-print banana hammock under my athletic attire.

3. If you were to buy one accessory or item of clothing tomorrow, what would it be?

Probably a fur jacket. Fur is in this season; all the animals are wearing it.

Ugh, a Celine bag … dream on Molly.

A scarf. The winter is slowly coming and it is an important accessory.

I have all the fashion accessories that are necessary. Soccer girls only need one thing and that’s their puffy jacket.

A camo doggy raincoat for my puppy, Maximus.

4. What do you think is the worst crime against fashion happening at UBC?

Sweatpants. Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.

High-waisted mom jeans without cringing a little — too much camel toe. And ‘larger than your head’ sock buns.

Can’t even.

I don’t even know where to start. From leggingsrain boots-coat for girls to outdated outfits for guys.

The amount of grey on grey combinations my roommates are always reppin’.

Liking The Vod Lounge on Facebook and showing up overdressed. No shoes, no shirt, more service!

5. Who are you wearing?

Sweatpants and Louis Vuitton shoes.

I dabble. A little vintage, a little high fashion, and then my basic self always ends up with some item from Aritzia.

Who am I wearing?

Brylle Kamen.

The better question would be who am I not wearing!

Sally Ann.

1. In three words, describe your personal style.

2. How do you incorporate your own style into your team uniform or athletic attire?

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12 | GAMES |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

Photo of the Day

PHOTO JUAN DANIEL LEANO

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