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ZOE WAGNER
OUR CAMPUS
Rashmi Prakash wants us to talk about menstrual health without shame
Liana Raisanen Contributor
A stifling, often ignored silence tends to surround conversations on menstrual care. Even when menstruation is mentioned, shame shadows the language we use — you may have heard euphemisms like “that time of the month” or “shark week” used to refer to periods. If we can’t talk about menstruation, how can we improve the resources people use to cope with it?
Traditional menstrual products can pose major hazards to our bodies and our planet. Some have been proven to contain traces of toxic metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium, which can increase the risk of dementia, infertility, diabetes and cancer. Some pads are 90 per cent plastic and can take up to 500 years to decompose.
Rashmi Prakash is an adjunct professor of biomedical engineering at UBC and the CEO of Aruna Revolution, a company which has come up with a potential alternative to typical period products. She has developed a menstrual pad that is intended to be safer for people and the environment, made of a blend of cellulose fibres that are fully compostable within two months.
Prakash’s work with Aruna Revolution was recognized through her recent win of the Dyson Award for Design Innovation at the national level — which puts her in the running for the international award and, more importantly, aligns with the goal she strives for with all of her projects: “A world where everyone has equitable access to health care in a way that doesn’t destroy the planet.”
Prakash’s interest in health care and sustainability began long before
on society and the environment. She said it’s designed to “teach students how to design medical devices that have a better impact on our world, whether that’s equitable access to health care [or] better products for the environment, [and] products that consider a wide range of things that have previously negatively impacted our world.” At the intersections of health and environmental concerns, it is this very philosophy that is echoed in Prakash’s current work with Aruna Revolution.
the genesis of Aruna Revolution. As a kid, she dreamt of genetically engineering a dragon that would soar through the sky to suck all the greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Even then, she considered herself an innate problem solver, which sparked her interest in health issues — they seemed like the one thing she could “never solve.”
Since then, Prakash has completed her bachelor’s in electrical engineering and master’s in biomedical engineering at UBC, contributing to a variety of projects aimed at improving accessible health care and assistive technologies. One of her first projects was an accessible Wii controller for a person who had dexterity issues resulting from a brain injury earlier in life — she created a version that was larger and easier to navigate. She also worked on tourniquet systems that have pulse oximeter-type sensors attached to them and a surgical robot for breast biopsies and spinal tap procedures.
However, it was working on fetal health monitoring systems that inspired her deep dive into women’s health care in particular. Women’s health, especially relating to pregnancy, is underdeveloped. Beyond a few ultrasounds and a bit of bloodwork, Prakash said, expecting parents tend to be left in the dark. “When you look at the rate of stillbirths and miscarriages … it’s huge. What do you mean that there’s nothing to monitor if a pregnancy is going well or not?” She also mentioned a course on midwifery she took during her master’s, which exposed her to the “horrors of women’s health care” — she took that fear and decided to do something about it.
At UBC, Prakash currently teaches a course she designed on the impact of biomedical engineering
Aruna’s pads hope to provide a unique solution to mainstream menstrual products that “break down into microplastics, which leach into our body.” Although marketed as biodegradable, Prakash believes other menstrual products that use materials such as bamboo or cotton are “completely irresponsible” to use for a disposable product, given the labour and materials required to produce them. Growing just one kilogram of cotton can take around 10,000 litres of water, and with cotton and bamboo, growing the same crop leads to soil degradation from monocropping — so “they’re not actually that much better when it comes to environmental sustainability or safety,” according to Prakash. Aruna Revolution instead works with farmers growing rotating crops of corn, canola and soy; crop rotation can create healthier soil and improve plant productivity. Made from natural cellulose fibres extracted from agricultural residuals, Aruna Revolution’s compostable pads can be disposed of in any green bin or home compost. While the products may not be accessible and affordable to all audiences at this stage, Prakash is optimistic that this will improve as the scale of the product increases.
In the social impact sphere, Prakash stresses the importance of destigmatizing menstrual health. “The biggest thing for me personally,” Prakash said, is that “people can feel comfortable enough to go and access menstrual health care, to go talk about it, because so many people don’t even feel comfortable talking about it with their doctors.” Many women suffer without reaching out, as the pain, discomfort and other issues surrounding menstruation have become normalized. Aruna Revolution comes from a place of making sure people can access health care by helping them feel normal talking about it, and “making sure that the people around you understand and are able to support you through it.”
The menstrual pads, for Prakash, are more than a product. They are an accumulation of everything she stands for: accessible healthcare and environmental sustainability. Aruna Revolution is “just [herself], as a company” — she began this work simply because “I care about all these things, in perhaps a bit of a selfish way. But I think that’s okay.”
Prakash feels strongly about circularizing health care by improving equitable access to products.
Whether she continues to achieve this through Aruna Revolution, as a biomedical professor or in other projects, Prakash believes this is “the direction I’m going to be heading towards for the rest of my life.” U
COURTESY RASHMI PRAKASH
The menstrual pads, for Prakash, are more than a product. They’re an accumulation of everything she stands for.
For fourth time in 40 years, AMS AGM meets quorum
Isabella Ma News Reporter
The AMS’s Oct. 22 Annual General Meeting (AGM) was the fourth AGM in the last 40 years to meet quorum, with around 900 members attending.
The meeting was held over Zoom and in-person. In the weeks prior, the AMS announced $5,000 in prizes, including tuition credit, resource group funding and a school-year supply of Blue Chip cookies for attendees
Here’s what you might’ve missed.
BYLAW AMENDMENTS PASSED
The AMS proposed several bylaw amendments, which, according to AMS President Riley Huntley, were developed in consultation with undergraduate societies, resource groups and the AMS’s legal counsel.
Huntley explained the rationales for the amendments were to ensure that AMS governance aligns with legislation and industry practice, and to strengthen accountability measures for both the student body and AMS executives.
Some of the bylaw amendments included changes that would allow AMS Council to discipline, suspend and remove members of council (which includes both elected councillors and AMS executives) who are “found to be in violation of the Society’s Bylaws, Code, or internal policies.” Another amendment would formally enshrine the AMS’s resource groups into the bylaws. The amendments also aimed to create a procedure to deem a seat on AMS Council vacant and the ability for council to appoint temporary replacements for vacant members.
Some students asked if they could vote for specific bylaw changes and not others, but Huntley said the amendments were being presented as a “package” and would need to be voted on together.
The amendments unofficially passed with 92 per cent in favour. Huntley explained that they will have to recheck the voting to ensure only active members have voted and will announce the official results later, hence why these results are considered unofficial.
SKYTRAIN TO UBC NOW FORMALLY A CORE AMS GOAL
VP External Solomon Yi-Kieran proposed a motion to enshrine advocacy for the SkyTrain to UBC as one of the AMS’s “core advocacy goals.”
“Right now, governments at all levels understand the importance of [the] SkyTrain. They understand that students are finally rallying around this issue, and they understand the public pressure is on,” said Yi-Kieran.
“The public attention that we’ve generated has created a moment, but moments can pass very quickly in politics. I’m committed to keeping up the pressure.”
During the discussion period, one student raised concerns that
building the SkyTrain to UBC would result in the demolition of affordable housing along the route. In response, Yi-Kieran noted that the Jericho developments — projects contingent on the SkyTrain to UBC — will be mandated to be 30 per cent affordable housing and 20 per cent social housing.
The motion unofficially passed with 93 per cent voting in favour.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Finally, VP Finance Gagan Parmar presented the AMS’s financial statements and auditors’ report for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
In the presentation, Parmar reported an “outstanding year” for AMS businesses — led by strong
performance from Catering and Conferences, which had nearly $4 million in sales, according to Huntley.
When asked about his expectations for the upcoming fiscal year, Parmar said “[he didn’t] expect that strong of a performance.” He noted that the previous year’s surplus was due to “unique” factors, including investment gains and staffing vacancies.
Both items were unofficially passed with 97 per cent voting in favour.
TOWN HALL
The meeting ended with a town hall where students were able to ask executives questions; notably, the attendance of the meeting also
dropped to around 100 people after the motions had been approved.
During the town hall, a student asked how the AMS is addressing student calls for UBC to divest from companies complicit in human rights abuses in Gaza; students have also called on the AMS specifically to support this effort.
According to VP Academic and University Affairs Zarifa Nawar, the AMS’s advocacy efforts are currently focused on implementation and transparency, as “language alone is not enough.”
“UBC is in the process of developing a human rights framework to guide what kinds of companies it should and shouldn’t invest in,” said Nawar. “That framework is in the works
only because students continue to push for it and the AMS has also continued to work on it.”
“Once it’s complete, the university will be able to take more tangible steps toward divestment.” She noted, however, that divestment is a long process and persistence is key to ensure these goals are seen through.
On climate advocacy, Nawar said that the AMS is working to ensure that UBC upholds its commitments set out in the Climate Action Plan 2030, and meets sustainability goals outlined in Campus Vision 2050. Yi-Kieran added that their office is advocating to the federal government for “a fully-funded Canadian Youth Climate Corps,” which would create green jobs for young people. U
At points, over 900 students were present at the AGM online, in-person and at watch parties.
ZOE WAGNER / THE UBYSSEY
ZOE WAGNER / THE UBYSSEY
ZOE WAGNER / THE UBYSSEY
Jewish students tried to celebrate Sukkot on MacInnes Field. UBC called the police
Aisha Chaudhry, Spencer Izen &
Stephen Kosar
Editor-in-Chief , Deputy Managing Editor & News Editor
Students celebrating Sukkot on MacInnes Field had their sukkah structure taken down by UBC building operations, after campus security called the RCMP on them.
In the drizzling rain and cold wind, students sat underneath a sukkah on MacInnes Field to recite prayers in celebration of the Jewish holiday Sukkot. Over the next hour, UBC would ask the students to leave, and when they would not, UBC called the RCMP and had building operations remove the structure.
On Oct. 10, students from Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) — an advocacy organization that supports Palestinian rights — set up a sukkah, a temporary hut structure built for the Jewish holiday Sukkot, at about 2 p.m.
During the holiday, observers eat meals, pray and sleep in the sukkah, treating it as a short-term home to commemorate the huts used for 40 years in the desert following the Jewish exodus from Egypt.
Students A and B, who participated in the sukkah and spoke to The Ubyssey on the condition of anonymity, fearing they would face harassment,
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identified themselves as members of the UBC chapter of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), an advocacy organization that supports Palestinian rights.
The national organization believes “no one should have to choose between embracing Judaism or Jewishness and supporting Palestinian rights,” and works to “distinguish” critiques of Zionism from antisemitism, according to its website. Recently, IJV UBC helped organize a vigil on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7
attacks, commemorating the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel since then.
Student A said that campus security was monitoring the sukkah before they had completed putting it up. They said they made it clear to UBC campus security that it was a temporary structure they would only use for a few hours for learning, ritual and prayer.
Despite this, student B said that when they declined to move, campus security called the RCMP “right away.” B also said UBC did
not give any warning that they would call the RCMP.
Three RCMP officers arrived on the scene and informed the students that the structure had to come down because the property owners, UBC, had asked them to move.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, UBC Media Relations Director of University Affairs Matthew Ramsey wrote, “erecting temporary structures without permits is not allowed at UBC. This is to ensure the safety and security of our students, campus community and
infrastructure.” He didn’t answer questions about whether or not university personnel had explored other options to support the ritual’s conduct, or whether any options were available. The specific safety risk also wasn’t articulated.
The RCMP asked students to move from underneath the sukkah to allow a UBC building operations employee to dismantle it and take away its remains. The students did move, saying they were not obstructing anyone and just wanted to finish their prayers.
A and B said they built the sukkah to celebrate the holiday and express solidarity with Palestinians.
“We’re trying to create an alternative space for Jews who are not for the Zionist message and the Zionist state … carving out the space for that on campus is pretty hard,” B said.
A said that their sukkah was built as an alternative to Chabad’s sukkah located on the other side of the Nest. “Both Chabad and Hillel are Zionist organizations. We would not be welcome in those spaces … If you’re making people support a genocidal, racist ethnostate in order to pray, that’s not an open space for Jews on campus.”
Both Hillel BC and the Chabad Jewish Student Centre declined to comment. U
UBC Symphony Orchestra & UBC Choirs
The UBC School of Music’s epic end-of-term concert!
Sat, DEC 6, 2025, 7:30PM
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Tickets for UBC Students: $15
Building Operations removed the structure after campus security called the RCMP.
SAUMYA KAMRA / THE UBYSSEY
UBC Contemporary Players Ensemble plays music for monsters at the Hatch
Julian Coyle Forst Arts & Culture Editor
As a part of ARTIVISM 2025’s lineup, the Hatch Art Gallery hosted a performance by the UBC Contemporary Players on Oct. 24. Two of the four pieces played by the ensemble were original compositions by student composers Rebecca Adams and Kelk Jeffery. The composers — both completing their master’s of composition at the school of music — were each tasked with creating a graphic score in response to one of the visual artworks on display at the Hatch’s current exhibition, Monsters and Other(ed) Bodies
Graphic scoring is a form of musical notation that forgoes traditional scales and clefs in favour of abstract visual representation of sound. In the case of Jeffery and Adams’ scores, this process resulted in flowing shapes and parallel lines that looked as much like abstract expressionist sketches as sheet music.
The composers agreed that their scores ride the line between visual art and musical notation. “I do a lot of visual art for fun,” said Adams, “and I write music. [The score] was an exciting way to bring those two interests together.”
Adams chose Naomi Dayell’s piece, Hysteria, to inspire their score. Hysteria is a set of three large ink drawings depicting dogs barking, raging and lying on the floor against backdrops of cell-like patterns. “It really did resonate with me on the theme of women’s health and how that’s been an overlooked area,” they said. “As someone with a chronic illness who’s dealt with a lot of that in particular, I think it’s such an important topic that isn’t spoken about enough.”
Jeffery was immediately drawn to Ethan White’s What Have You Done, an edited black-and-white photograph depicting a multi-
armed human figure shot from a low angle. Depending on interpretation, its pose can be read as a graceful dance or painful writhing. To Jeffery, the piece “suggested this play with the masculine and feminine sides” and spoke to the painful experience of cathartic transformation familiar to many queer people like herself.
Adams had never tried their hand at this kind of experimental composition before, but said they enjoyed the challenge. Jeffery had dabbled with it in a first-year composition class, but said the piece she’d written at the time was “standard notation, just maybe written in a funny way … Ultimately, it was still structured like a normal piece
of music.”
It is immediately obvious that this is not the case for Jeffery’s “Hatching / What Have You Done.”
The score is circular with sets of staff-like parallel lines intersecting sketched curves, reminiscent of the Wassily Kandinsky paintings Jeffery consulted while working on it. Its two titles are written on opposite sides of the sheet, and Jeffery said the piece can be played in either orientation. The open-endedness of these pieces — and of graphic scores in general — shifts the traditional balance of control in composer-musician relationships. Standard notation offers the composer near-complete control over the final product’s sound, down to
the strength with which a violinist draws their bow across the strings. Graphic notation, on the other hand, asks the composer to take a step back and places the interpretive work of reading the score onto the conductor and musicians.
This was a daunting prospect for Adams and Jeffery, both of whom were accustomed to traditional methods of composition. At times, it was difficult for Adams to imagine how the Contemporary Players would “[make] some music out of [their] beautiful squiggly lines on a paper.” Jeffery was more confident that the instrumentalists would be able to read her score, though perhaps in a way she didn’t intend. The challenge and excitement for her was in relinquishing interpretation — neither she nor Adams were even informed which instruments they were writing their scores for.
“I control my music a lot,” Jeffery said. “A lot of what I write is very carefully planned out, and I think about all of the details. This was an exercise in letting go and letting other people have their way with [the score].”
Jeffery and Adams had input on the ensemble’s interpretation — Jeffery in particular wrote a one-sheet interpretative aid — but both took a step back once the musicians began rehearsing in earnest over the two-week period before the show. Due to the short rehearsal window and the free-form nature of graphic scores, both pieces rode the line between discipline and improvisation — Jeffery said that the event at the Hatch was the first time she had heard that version of her piece performed.
The exhibition itself — the centrepiece of this year’s ARTIVISM festival — is relatively sparse, with around a dozen pieces lining the walls. Most deal with bodily distortion, dysphoria or dysmorphia, and the collective effect is one of juxtaposed unease and catharsis. The Contemporary Players com-
plemented and elevated this sense with their performances.
Jeffery’s piece — played by a quartet of bass flute, oboe, clarinet and guitar — was mournful and meandering. The bass flute and guitar held down lumbering rhythms while the oboe and clarinet alternated melodic lines, as if conversing. Adams’s piece incorporated a soprano vocalist alongside a piano, violin and clarinet. After a slow instrumental prelude, the soprano began to sing what Adams said were real quotations from women on their experiences attempting to receive medical treatment. As the vocalist’s pitch and intensity rose, the instrumentalists followed — the pianist’s chords grew louder and more dissonant, the clarinet matched the vocalist’s keening cries of “liar, liar.”
Both composers enjoyed the new challenge that composing in graphic notation offered and hope to write more pieces in the mode. For now, though, their plans take them back to standard composition — Adams is working on a solo piano piece to be performed in February as well as their first large-scale orchestral composition. Jeffery is writing a choir piece for Musica Intima set to be performed in March. She’s also working on having some of her compositions recorded.
The Contemporary Players closed the event with the first, second and fourth movements of Lore by composer Taylor Brook, showing off the instrumentalists’ abilities to switch smoothly between loosely-structured improvisation and the tightly-drilled performance of a more traditional piece.
“A lot of instrumentalists are very uncomfortable with improvisation,” said Adams, “so I wasn’t totally sure going in, but I was honestly so impressed with [the ensemble] throughout the whole process. They were super on top of it and seemed very comfortable experimenting.”
The Contemporary Players Ensemble closed the event with Lore by composer Taylor Brook.
JULIAN COYLE FORST / THE UBYSSEY
Hatching / What Have You Done by Kelk Jeffery
COURTESY KELK JEFFERY
Hired Gun misses the mark with mystery
Natalie Vakulin Senior Culture Reporter
Editor’s Note: This article contains mention of sexual assault. Please read with care.
When someone is wronged, who gets to tell their story? Who will bring about justice when the ones who need to be brought before the law are more powerful than their victims? Do individuals have the responsibility to do what they think is right, even if they have to break the law to do so?
UBC Clinical Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry Bill Koch puts the mystery novel’s conception of justice under a microscope in Hired Gun: Uncovering Buried Secrets. The novel takes conventions of genre like the morally-grey detective with a strong sense of justice and the femme fatale who fights for power among men of authority, and adds a modern, clinical twist — our ‘detective’ is only a psychologist, and the novel’s women are unable to use their sexuality to achieve their goals.
A hired gun is an expert killer, but the term can also be used in a courtroom context to refer to an expert witness brought in by counsel to sway the verdict. In both cases, a hired gun juxtaposes professionalism and supposed authority with corruption.
Koch draws on his professional background in forensic psychology to craft David Lipman, a psychologist stumbling through life after his
VIFF 2025 //
death. David balances work, his concerned adult daughters and a budding workplace romance, all under the shadow of a professional crisis: one of his patients is dead and he’s not convinced the police are right in thinking it’s a suicide.
Before long, another of David’s patients dies. He is then asked to offer his professional opinion in what initially seems to be an unrelated sexual assault trial. Though the three women don’t display any obvious connection at first, the reader is able to connect the morbid dots to the man on trial early in the novel, and any potential twists are precluded by the straightforwardness of this
truth. The majority of the book is an uncomfortable meander through the court case — the writing mostly dry, sometimes adding to the plot but usually making for a wearisome read because of the distressing subject matter at hand.
Our perspective jumps primarily between three men; the first is David, on whose shoulders justice rests. The other two men are unnamed, horrible individuals who hate women and blame them for their sexual frustrations. One of these two men, the reader is led to think, must be the killer. We have to wait until the very end to see how it all pieces together, though the final truth offers no great
revelation.
David wants to do the right thing. He wants to help his patients and achieve justice when he hears about the sexual misconduct on trial. When he gets his hands on evidence he has no business seeing — which links the two murdered patients with the case that is central to the novel — he has to decide what he is willing to risk.
Koch lays the foundation for a gripping mystery story with Hired Gun. However, the novel’s sense of intrigue falls short for lack of suspense, from the largely unoriginal setup of abuse to the bland, ineffective grand reveal. Most of the action
A Welcome Distraction is a local delight
Claire Donnan Contributor
Vancouver is often described as Hollywood North, so named for its tendency to play other cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Tokyo. A Welcome Distraction, however, is not set in Seattle, or San Francisco. Instead, it takes place right here in Vancouver, BC.
First-time Director Brian Daniel Johnson, who also wrote the film, said that he set out to construct a film that represented the neighbourhood within Vancouver where he and much of the crew were living at the time.
“[We wanted to capture] the general duality of really breathtaking nature and these cramped, bizarre urban centres,” said Johnson. “It wasn’t so much, ‘We need to make this thing that is heavily representative of Vancouver,’ but I think we wanted to make something that was representative of our neighbourhood and our community.”
A Welcome Distraction, part of the Vancouver International Film Festival’s “Northern Lights” lineup, is the story of Ernest Prinze “doing whatever he can to avoid his family.” Recently single and spiralling, he begins experimenting with drugs, then finds himself falling in with a group who seem to have some cultish tendencies. The film mainly centres Ernest’s struggles, as well as his increasingly strained friendship with his dealer, Nolan. Throughout
the film we watch Ernest’s relationship with his family and friends strain more and more as he pushes away everybody except for those he meets through the group. As the movie progresses, the audience wonders: How far is this going to go?
The movie feels like a love letter to the city of Vancouver, and is indeed full of local references. The Cambie Bridge, Chinatown and Andy Livingston Park all do their part to set the film firmly in the city. These locations, and the film at large, worked in harmony to invoke a sense of unease with the viewer. In the cuts from wide-open spaces to extreme close-ups on actors’ eyes, and in the cramped house parties and apartments of the characters, a sense of claustrophobia permeates the work.
This is bolstered by the soundtrack, which balances uneasy audio effects like the ringing of a bell and sudden silence with the sounds of nature like wind and birds. These effects were often heard in combination or as part of the score. The film also features an extensive local production team. Besides Johnson, Executive Producer Mike Johnston, Producers Maddy Chang and Dide Su Bilgin, Editor Sam Mohseni and Production Designer Clara Salameh are all graduates from UBC’s department of theatre and film.
Bilgin said she was involved right from the beginning, when she first read the script. She was
working as a producer at a marketing agency and wanted to continue doing creative work outside of that.
“[Johnson] and I were constantly discussing, ‘How do we stay creatively motivated while in this kind of conveyor belt of work,’” said Bilgin. “My involvement started from the ground floor of seeing Brian’s script.”
Mohseni, who is now pursuing a master’s in cinema studies at York University, said he first approached Johnson about the project, not the other way around. Johnson described Mohseni’s interest in getting involved as “coming to [him] from the heavens.”
“I had heard that [Johnson] had finished shooting this film and they were looking for an editor, and I was always drawn to this project because it looked really interesting and was set in Vancouver …” said Mohseni. “I reached out to [Johnson] and said ‘Hey, we should grab drinks,’ and I told him that I would like to edit this film if you don’t have anyone.”
The whole team agreed that their time studying in the UBC film production program, whether together or in different years, offered them many opportunities that led to the building of the movie.
“UBC film was the catalyst for all of us meeting,” said Bilgin. “We all got to try and see how well we worked together, which was such a huge part of that film program.”
Johnson said A Welcome Distraction was initially intended
is implied, creating a disconnect from the reader. This is no pulp mystery novel with gunfights, priceless treasure or power-hungry gang leaders — all that happens to characters is the mundanity of the everyday and the particulars of the court case. This causes the novel to barely feel like a mystery.
As the nuances of the novel’s three leading men blur together, one begins to question why David is the one from whose perspective the story is told, and what gives him the right to enjoy primary focus in this narrative. Outside of David’s love life and family tensions, Hired Gun is about how Lian Yang has been abused by a patriarchal system, assaulted by a man in power and finds the support and resilience inside herself to fight back.
The story should have been conscious of the fact that the narrative voice is a privileged man of authority, a part of the very system that abuses women like Lian. Just because David disapproves of his co-worker’s crimes doesn’t mean that the character looks introspectively to his own position of authority. Koch does not acknowledge the power inherent in telling one’s own story, even with the few glimpses into Lian’s mind we get from her own perspective.
Koch explores using authority to fix the system from inside, but fails to consider the tradition of smothering women’s voices — especially in contexts of sexual assault — and how this has been used as a means of limiting women’s agency. U
to be a series of connected short films shot over the course of several weekends. However, by the second time the team got together to shoot, he knew they were building a larger project than the initial anthology.
“It was a year in production and a year in post[-production], so we shot from February 2023 to March 2024,” said Johnson. “I think it was 25 days within that year block just made up of weekends and long weekends, more or less … and it was the same process for editing.”
Of course, putting together a feature film while the crew also works 9–5 jobs is no easy feat. Johnson described struggles of falling asleep while writing scenes after returning from a full day of work, and Mohseni recalled the final push through some of the last of the editing.
“I asked Brian to come stay with me in Toronto for five days … It was just my bachelor flat at York University, it was a really cool almost ‘editing boot camp,’” said Mohseni.
As for the future of the film, Johnson would like to see it go to more film festivals going into the new year, and to potentially bring it back to Vancouver in a private screening. However, he said the feeling of watching it at their three sold-out VIFF showings was “right.”
“It felt like the right way to cap off the whole production … I’m not from Vancouver but I felt very embraced by Vancouver during the making of [the film],” said Johnson. “There’s no pretence, there’s no facade, it’s not playing something else. It’s just a movie about Vancouver and it’s not ashamed of it.” U
Hired Gun was released in May of 2025.
A sense of claustrophobia permeates the work.
SAUMYA KAMRA / THE UBYSSEY
COURTESY ANDRIY LYSKOV
wife’s
The Ukrainian Hall in Strathcona hosted VanAfrica: A Celebration of Africa in Vancouver featuring a wide range of African music from across Ghana, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Cuba.
Organized by the Time Will Tell Arts Society, a not-for-profit performing arts society run by UBC alum Dr. Curtis Andrews, the production featured specifically local artists, with one guest coming in from Seattle. Andrews organized an earlier iteration of VanAfrica in 2017 and said that he sees it as an opportunity to “bring together artists that rarely get the chance to perform together, … showcase diversity and support local artists.”
Representing Afro-Cuban music, percussionist and singer Israel “Toto” Berriel and dancer Yula opened their set with a performance depicting the ocean. Animated by Berriel’s drumming and vocals, Yula’s movements — emphasized by her ultramarine-blue dress — embodied the ripples of the open sea, conveying its unpredictability from subtle and quiet to powerful and raging. Taking up Toto’s chorus, Andrews and Shona artist Kurai Mubaiwa joined the pair, taking up claves and maracas as the audience joined in, clapping to the rhythm.
Mubaiwa’s set followed, highlighting music from Zimbabwe and featuring the mbira, a traditional Shona instrument which Mubaiwa said is nicknamed “the magic pumpkin.” Mubaiwa, who is descended from a long line of mbira players, explained to the audience how, growing up, he was encouraged to disown playing African instruments, but he always preferred playing the drum and singing to going to church.
He followed this story with a song whose title translates to “Walk With Pride,” a heartwarming polyphonic piece that included a vocal part for the audience. Joined throughout by his long-time friend, Andrews — who also played the mbira — and by Berriel on a drum, the set finished off with a unique Afro-Cuban-Zimbabwean fusion.
Kocassale
from Guinea
closed the first section of the event on the kora, a West African instrument with features of both the harp and the lute. Similarly to the performers before him, Dioubate accompanied his performances with stories to explain the significance of songs like “My Love.”
After these more intimate performances, the second part of the show moved on to drumming and dancing, featuring Adanu Habobo, Vancouver’s Ghanaian drum ensemble founded in 2012 by Andrews and Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo, director of UBC’s African Music and Dance Ensemble.
Ghanaian dancers Awal Alhassan and Sheimawu Abubakari started their performance with a vocal call from off-stage, building anticipation among the audience as they made their approach. The energy was electric as they appeared onstage, moved by the drums’ crescendo. Their clothing emphasized the dance, creating smaller movement as the dancers swayed their wrists, hips and feet. The beat was marked by the clangs of metal bells attached to their ankles. The dancers’ moves were impressive, defying gravity and becoming feats of acrobatics.
The dance segment was led in turns by Alhassan, Abubakari and Kesseke Yeo, a dancer from Côte d’Ivoire who showcased impressively quick footsteps and leg shuffles. His second performance saw him taking the stage with a mask covering his face for the dance of the panther or leopard, depending on the translation of the original title.
The last section of the event was animated by the complete lineup of artists coming to the stage to play collaboratively, shifting focus within songs to highlight a specific dancer or drum. This fusion was the true star of the show, giving each musician the opportunity to interact with the other musical styles and forms on display, as per Andrews’s vision.
Among the final songs, which increasingly pushed the audience to their feet or onstage, was “Fume Fume,” a neo-traditional Ghanaian piece which gained popularity in the 1960s. In these final collective moments, the complete coordination was stunning, with all musicians ending the songs on the same
traditional African music, Andrews has been visiting Ghana since the ‘90s, learning traditional Ghanaian and particularly Ewe music. He received a PhD in ethnomusicology from UBC in 2019.
Andrews also works alongside Gbolonyo in the African Chamber Music Ensemble, a unique initiative bringing together traditional African musicians — including some featured in VanAfrica — with strings players from across BC. The ensemble challenges the role of the Western string quartet by bringing in traditional African rhythms and dance-driven styles. For Gbonoloyo, this initiative is particularly important as it “educates people to know that Africans also have contemplative music” as well as the energetic dance-oriented music that non-Africans might already associate with the continent.
final hit of the drum or agogô.
With this event, Andrews wanted to show the Vancouver audience the “diversity of the musical, dance and expressive arts forms that exist” within “the traditional music of Africa [which], at times, people might have a monolithic view of.”
A percussionist, drummer and self-described long-time lover of
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Gbolonyo teaches ethnomusicology at UBC alongside his work directing the African Music and Dance Ensemble. He sees “performance, teaching [and] education in music as one and the same thing, because that is how it is conceptualized in [his] culture and training [as an ethnomusicologist].” To him, bringing in elements of education and scholarly knowledge is essential for the audience to understand the songs’ meanings.
“You are singing a song on stage in Vancouver to an audience [where] 95 per cent of them have never even stepped in Africa … you try to let them know [about] the music they are listening to. Yes, it’s for entertainment. But beyond the entertainment is often the byproduct of the piece.” This byproduct, Gbolonyo said, is the transmission of Indigenous knowledge through the medium of music.
Gbolonyo reflects on himself as a bridge, growing up with the dual influences of traditional music and Christianity, and ultimately being forced to embrace Western music at an early age. Beyond showing Ghanaian music to the world through his scholarly and musical work, Gbolonyo also founded Nunya Academy, a school in Dzodze, Ghana, to bring the music of the world to his local village through education and professional development. Nunya Academy has 333 local students who learn all kinds of music — Ghanaian and international. Through their musical and scholarly work, Gbolonyo and Andrews want to showcase the highly diverse musical traditions of Africa. VanAfrica was a showcase made to feature both unity, by bringing together these artists on one same stage, and diversity across the continent. U
Zoé Stojanovic Contributor
Dioubate
The second part of the show moved on to performances of drumming and dancing. RAUL DEL ROSARIO / THE UBYSSEY
Underdogs no more:
Words by Maia Cesario, photo by Sidney Shaw
Going into their semifinal match against the New Zealand Black Ferns in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, it would be easy to count out the Canadians.
After all, in facing New Zealand, Canada was going up against the two-time defending champions, the six-time World Cup winner and the team that, on their own website, proclaims themselves to be the “most dominant team in the history of the women’s game.” Since 1998, there has only been one time New Zealand didn’t win the World Cup, when Ireland upset them to knock them out early in 2014. If Canada faltered here, nobody would blame them.
They didn’t. In a spectacular team performance, Canada’s national women’s rugby team upset the Black Ferns, taking a commanding 24–7 lead at half before finishing it off with a 34–19 victory. While Canada would eventually earn silver, falling short after a tough battle against the host team, England, this was still an impressive run. By making it to the finals, Canada matched their best result in Rugby World Cup history, tying the 2014 national team, the first group of Canadians to make it to the final.
This talented team — likely the strongest ever assembled in Canada — was made up of the best rugby players in Canada, from coast-to-coast. Among those players were two current Thunderbirds.
being so new, Smith did not think she would be able to get on the roster. But she wasn’t going to let that stop her from trying.
Soon after, Smith was selected for the South Africa tour — a set of exhibition matches to prepare the team for the World Cup — working hard throughout the tour to prove herself and solidify a spot on the senior team.
“It just seemed like everything was falling into place, and I really had nothing to lose at that point,” said Smith. “I was just giving it my all at those tournaments and hoping to make the team, because it was a dream of mine.”
That dream came true. In July, she found out she made the World Cup team, getting to travel to England to compete against some of the most elite women’s rugby players in the world.
“It was the best feeling ever,” said Smith. “Trying to make a World Cup [was] what I work[ed]
a whole — which monds is a part of.
“Coming into the 15s program after be ing away for so long, it was amazing, because all the players … they’re all so empowering,” said Symonds. “They just basically want you to come on the field and play rugby and they back whatever you want to do on the field.”
Over their twomonth run for glory, Canada played six games in total, with three pool play games, a quarterfinal, a semifinal and of course, the elusive finals match. It was a long journey — but having a tight-knit group that was working towards their goal of making it to the finals kept them going, enjoying every second.
“It was the best feeling ever. Trying to make a World Cup [was] what I work[ed] for every day.”
- Rachel Smith, Forward, Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team
Included on Canada’s final World Cup roster, back Florence Symonds and forward Rachel Smith took a leave from UBC for the first month of the year to play internationally. For these players, taking part in elite-level rugby on one of the biggest stages was a dream come true.
For Smith, her nomination to the national stage happened recently. After working hard to prove herself at senior camps for the past few years, she finally took the field for the Canadian national team in the Pacific Four series, starting the opening game against the United States in May.
While this was a huge achievement, for Smith, the World Cup still didn’t seem likely. After all, this first game took place only a few months before the tournament, and with her
for every day.”
And she wouldn’t be alone. Symonds, Smith’s UBC teammate, became her national teammate, also being selected to play in the World Cup. For Symonds, however, this isn’t her first international outing, having proven herself as a silver medalist with Canada’s sevens team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Yet, while she’s represented Canada before, this was her first time doing so on the 15s team. Symonds started as a sevens player, only recently starting to play 15s as well. Her transition between the two was facilitated by a new mentality developed by Rugby Canada — allowing sevens and 15s athletes play and compete in both programs. This allows them to have a strong core group representing Rugby Canada as
“You’re just traveling the world with your best friends for two months ... The off-field part is just so much fun,” said Rachel.
“On [the] field, we’re just train ing for a collec tive goal every day. It feels really cool to be a part of something that big.”
“Reflecting back at the experience as a whole, it’s really pos itive. I’m really lucky to have experienced that,” said Symonds. “I think most of that just comes from the positivity with the team and the team culture.”
That culture permeated throughout the entire team, not just the starters. Although Smith only played in one game — Canada’s first pool play game against Fiji — she continued
How two T-Birds are helping re-define rugby in Canada
to support the team in whatever way she could. In training and on the bench, Smith still had a big impact on the team, supporting the incredibly stacked roster. Symonds, on the other hand, played in every game at the World Cup — supporting the team directly on the field, even scoring a try in their semifinal match against New Zealand.
“That was really fun to be able to open the World Cup,” said Smith. “The excitement is the highest, and so much anticipation, and you can’t believe it finally started. That was a really cool game for me.”
Despite being ranked second in the world before coming into the tournament, Canada was somewhat counted out in the media — often viewed as an “underdog story.” Whether this was because of recent history, with Canada having not placed higher than fourth in the World Cup (other than 2014), or a simple assumption that they couldn’t compete with traditional rugby powerhouses, for those actually on the team, these narratives meant little.
“Maybe we were perceived from the outside as underdogs, but I think as a team, we really didn’t feel that way,” said Symonds. “We really knew that we had one option, and that was to just be us and to play our game. When we were able to do that, we were able to really
perform and come out at the top.”
“We took what we could from the narrative to make it a positive for us, and then we didn’t really worry about the rest,” said Smith.
Nowhere was this clearer than their statement win over New Zealand. While, for some, this outcome may have been shocking, the team did not share this surprise. They had one goal in this tournament — that was to win. No matter what, they knew they were more than capable of doing just that.
“From inside the team, and if you were in the team environment, you really saw that we expected nothing less than to win,” said Smith.
“We just wanted to prove ourselves so badly,” said Symonds. “We just wanted to do what we do every day, which is wake up and play rugby — play our style and play our Canadian way.”
the competition and at Canada West and Nationals, [I] really made a statement for myself and put my foot in the door more for the national team.
Smith and Symonds both joined the national team at an unprecedented moment for rugby in Canada. The sport as a whole has been growing immensely in the last few years, and the success of
vest in for Canada as a whole, and we can get so many amazing girls playing the sport,” said Smith.
“We have a huge opportunity to make more faces of women’s sports in Canada.”
Through the sport’s increasing popularity, it’s not just about gathering funds and building a financial system of support — for Symonds and Smith, they hope to inspire future generations of women’s rugby fans and players, fostering love for the sport nationwide.
“Maybe we were perceived from the outside as underdogs, but I think as a team, we really didn’t feel that way,”
- Florence Symonds, Back, Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team
While Symonds and Smith may have been unproven on the international level, for those who saw them play at UBC, they are anything but. Both players were a part of the 2024 T-Birds team that won the national championship — UBC’s first — with Smith also taking home additional hardware as the Canada West Player of the Year.
Their experience at UBC helped prepare them for what’s next, in terms of their time at the World Cup, but also through learning skills they can apply both in rugby and life.
“I think it all translates, and it definitely helps prepare you. I think that my experience at UBC also taught me a lot of organizational skills,” said Symonds. “Once you do get into the national program, it’s all very similar, apart from maybe the level of rugby.”
For Smith, having the ability to pursue her rugby dreams while also setting up a career for herself is something special, as she will be graduating at the end of this year, hoping to become an occupational therapist.
“I definitely would not be where I am today without UBC,” said Smith. “I think [with] the performance I had last year in
the women’s team at the National level — both with the World Cup and the Olympic silver medal in sevens — has highlighted this.
But while Canada has started to carve out a place in the Rugby world, the resources behind the program are still lagging behind. Going into the World Cup, the team had to crowdsource their funds to even compete. Because Rugby Canada is a smaller union, they could not provide the Canadian women with enough money to be able to play at the highest level of competition.
Fortunately for them, Canadians came through. Raising nearly one million dollars, the team was able to gather enough funds to support their overseas journey.
“We really did feel all the love and support from back home,” said Symonds.
“I think it just shows how amazing the group of girls and staff is that we were able to make what we did out of that,” said Smith.
As rugby in Canada continues to grow, both Symonds and Smith hope that their successful run at the World Cup helps to motivate and push the continued success of the sport.
“Because rugby is such a diverse sport and anyone can play, I think it’s a really good sport to in -
“We are seeing it as a growing sport, which is something that’s so special and amazing,” said Symonds. “I really hope that young girls, young boys, everyone watching in the stands or on their screens could see us on the field, and that they could feel themselves being represented in one way or another.”
Rugby isn’t just growing at the national level either — this support and growth of rugby in Canada can be seen at a lower level as well. Recently, UBC hosted the U Sports Women’s Rugby Championship, and across five days, many fans came out all week to watch some incredible rugby with the best university players across Canada, including those still at UBC.
Symonds, although not playing with the team, was there to cheer them on every step of the way.
“Being able to see all these younger girls and all these athletes kind of step up and play in a really high quality competition at nationals is really special for me,” she said.
Smith, on the other hand, rejoined the Thunderbirds after being away for most of the season to help compete for the title.
“I’ve been with UBC for like seven years now, so it definitely feels like coming back home and I’m just excited to have fun,” said Smith. “I’m trying to support the team as much as I can and provide the best performances that I can to benefit the team … whether it’s being a leader on the team or being a leader on the field.”
With this being her last year, Smith is looking to help her team cross the finish line and once again be the team to hold the trophy at the end — this time in their own backyard.
“Our goal is definitely to win nationals at home,” said Smith. “That would be an absolute dream come true, and a fairy tale ending to my career at UBC.” U
Last-second glory: UBC beats Victoria to become back-to-back champs
Sofia Campanholo Contributor
The Thunderbirds had less than one minute left to salvage their season. Hundreds of people in the crowd — UBC and Victoria Vikes fans alike — stood up, knowing that whatever happened, one of the two teams would be bringing home the trophy seconds later.
For most of the game, it looked like that team would be the T-Birds. After all, UBC women’s rugby had led almost the entire game, jumping in front after a try in the 20th minute. Yet, in the 66th minute, when the Vikes scored a try to bring the score to 13–10 over UBC, the T-Birds knew that, without a try, their dream of winning the championship in front of the home fans would be gone.
But with no time left, Adia Pye — UBC’s leader in points this season — found space down the sideline. Mustering all the energy she had left, she outran the Vikes defence and dove into the try zone for a game-winning score. Thunderbird Stadium erupted. What felt impossible had happened.
Despite UBC heading into the game as defending national champions, they were pretty clear underdogs in this final contest.
The Vikes had a perfect 9-0 record going in, and had a clear goal this season: to get revenge for losing the national championship game the previous year against UBC. And so far, they were doing a great job.
The T-Birds had not won a single game against the Vikes this season, losing all three games they played, including the Canada West final, breaking UBC’s streak of five consecutive Canada West championships. Because of this, the Vikes went into the U Sports Women’s Rugby Championship as the number one seed, with UBC being demoted to sixth. This meant the ‘Birds had a much tougher draw in the tournament, having to beat Laval and Queens to get to the final — the top two teams in the most recent U Sports rankings.
But on Sunday evening, at Thunderbird Stadium, none of that mattered. The UBC women’s rugby team were crowned U Sports champions, finishing with a 15–13 win and crushing Victoria’s dreams. This was UBC’s second time in a row (and ever) winning the U Sports title, and they now join Laval as one of two teams to win back-to-back titles in the last
15 years.
“We’ve lost it to UVic three times this year … we didn’t play to our best … we’ve made some errors,” said UBC head coach Dean Murten. “We’ve felt that the three losses didn’t matter. This was the one that really mattered.”
That belief permeated the whole team. Three-time Olympian, ‘Birds wing Charity Williams, has watched the team grow immensely since their losses to UVic, even over the past few days.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. We knew that throughout this entire season, they hadn’t played us. They hadn’t played the real version of us,” she said. “We’ve played leaps and bounds during this national tournament. I knew, going into this game, this is really the first time they’ve played us — and we beat them.”
Yet, while the T-Birds felt like they had not shown their best to the Vikes, they had to first demonstrate that on the field. As the first half started, they weren’t quite where they wanted to be. Despite playing at home, there was a very vocal contingent of UVic fans — who had travelled out to Vancouver — hoping to bring the trophy home to BC’s capital city.
So, maybe it was the loud UVic audience, or maybe it was because of the strength of their attack, but at the seven minute mark, Olivia Newsome — who would be named a tournament all-star after the game — scored the first points for the visitors on a penalty kick, bringing some stress to the Thunderbirds and bringing the score 3–0 for the Vikes less than ten minutes in.
While a three-point deficit may not seem like much, between these two teams, it could be the difference between winning and losing. After all, the three games they played against each other were decided by a combined nine points, with no team scoring more than 19 points in a game. Every score mattered.
Overall, in the first few minutes of the game, there was not much of a chance to see UBC’s attack, but despite most of the game happening in UBC’s zone at this point, the ‘Birds defense was able to control the Vikes to stop them from scoring a try.
However, when UBC’s Olivia Sarabura saw an opportunity, things changed fast. Corralling a loose ball after a missed pass in the
Victoria zone, she took it fast up the middle, not allowing the Vikes to stop her. Not only was she able to outrun all of her opponents, but she had time to spare, running to the middle of the try zone, easily allowing for a smooth conversion made by Brooklyn Roddham, taking the lead, 7–3.
After that, it felt like the T-Birds started to find balance, with all their set pieces working better. In the beginning, UBC was not getting much luck with their lineouts, but after Sarabura’s try, things started to click. On top of that, Newsome was handed a yellow card at the 28 minute mark for an illegal tackle against T-Birds scrum-back Piper Logan, leaving the Vikes shorthanded for 10 minutes. It seemed like the Thunderbirds were starting to roll.
And they did, at least for a while. Even though the Vikes were down a player, they continued to control the ball, preventing UBC from taking advantage of the yellow card.
The ‘Birds didn’t let that missed opportunity faze them. Throughout the beginning of the second half, UBC’s attack was much stronger, coming close to a try at numerous points. While they couldn’t get a try right at the 41-minute mark, Roddham scored a penalty goal for UBC with an effortless, high, and controlled kick, raising the UBC lead to 10–3.
It didn’t last. Unfortunately, rugby is a very fast and unpredictable game in many ways. After the Roddham score, UVic’s attack pushed down the field, getting extremely close for a try. Their initial attempts were not good enough, as UBC’s strong defense stopped them — although an amazing single effort in the 47th by Victoria’s Carissa Norsten almost gave their first try, outrunning nearly half the team before Logan came up with a try-saving tackle.
But, just a few moments later, Victoria’s Ella O’Regan was able to convert off Norsten’s chance, scor-
ing and turning the score to 10-8 with a little over 20 minutes left. In rugby, that is an eternity.
The T-Birds were not able answer on the attacks after O’Regan’s score and while their set pieces remained better than the Vikes, they couldn’t get anything on their mauls and rucks, thanks to UVic’s stout defense. As time ticked down, the game became more and more physical, with many tackles causing reactions from the entire crowd.
Feeling inspired by their score, the Vikes believed they had seized the lead when their substitute, Ivy Poetker, burst through the middle for a try in the 62nd minute. Fortunately for UBC, the referee determined that the pass had gone forward, and the play was disallowed.
In a moment of weakness from the Thunderbirds — potentially because of the near-score — O’Regan scored another try for her team, giving UVic a 13–10 lead with only five minutes remaining.
After having led for 45 minutes, it seemed like all hope was lost for UBC. The T-Birds needed to score a try, and fast. If not, the Vikes were going to avenge last year’s game.
For Murten, when he saw O’Regan break the goal line in the final moments, he thought everything was over.
“I thought … [with] 13 minutes to go, when we’re on their goal line and we’re patient, I thought, this is it. We score now, we win the game,” he said. “But no … the ball gets kicked back from the field and we end up under pressure at their [end]. I thought the game was gone then. So that was a massive momentum changer.”
But while her coach was stressed, Williams had another point of view.
“I think as a team, we had hope that we would win in the end because of how we worked and how good of a tournament we had,” she said. “But honestly, when they scored on us, I knew it wasn’t over. When I saw that we had three
minutes left on the clock, I knew we would give everything we got, and the girls came through.”
The stage was ready for the thrilling conclusion, and with Murten looking extremely tense and nervous, he and his team offered everything they had until the last second. It was all worth it. The UBC defence held strong in the closing minutes, including a crucial moment when they withstood Victoria’s attack.
In order to have a chance, the T-Birds first needed to make a wonderful turnover in the 69th minute, before launching one more desperate attack — the definition of an all-or-nothing moment.
Then, in the 70th minute of a phenomenal and electrifying game, the home crowd went into a frenzy as Pye bee-lined down the left flank towards the corner flag as time ran out.
After a very emotional game, with the victory secure, the T-Birds were finally able to let their guard down and enjoy the moment.
The Thunderbird fans were cheering for every single player from both teams, but when UBC was finally crowned as national champions — the cheers had never been so loud.
Not only did the team win, but Teya Ashworth, Kiki Idowu, Tia Jordo, Roddham and Williams were chosen for the tournament all-star team, with Williams also receiving the championship MVP award.
While Murten and the team will celebrate the win for now, it’s easy to look ahead — at a potential three-peat.
“We’ll actually be a better team next year, I think,” said Murten. “We’ve got some fantastic players to come back from injury. You know, going for a three-peat is something that we’ll start looking at pretty soon. So I don’t think you’ve just seen it there. I’m the guy that’s got the nerves. They seem to be quite relaxed now there. So all credit to them.” U
The T-Birds celebrate their second straight national championship. NAVYA CHADHA / THE UBYSSEY
UBC’s Brooklyn Roddham runs with the ball. NAVYA CHADHA / THE UBYSSEY
Queens wins battle of OUA foes to take bronze
Maia Cesario Senior Sports Reporter
Redeeming themselves after a heartbreaking semifinal loss to UBC, the Queens University Gaels became the third-best women’s rugby team in the country after another nail-biting match to win bronze over their in-conference rival, the University of Guelph Gryphons, 28–26.
“They gave us a really good game, and that’s what we want at U Sports. We don’t want these blowout games like we have in regular season,” said sixth-year back row Lizzie Gibson. “Good on Guelph for coming out and giving us a really good game, but I’m just really proud of how we reacted and dug deep and found that drive.”
The Gaels and the Gryphons put up quite the battle, which was to be expected of two teams who know each other very well — coming from the same conference. It was a rematch of the OUA conference championship, where Queens came out on top with a commanding 61–21 win. This time, there was much more on the line.
“Anytime you get a Queens/ Guelph match, you throw conventional wisdom out the window a little bit,” said Queens head coach Dan Valley. “It’s just going to be a heavyweight match for the entire time, and that’s the mindset that we have to have.”
The last U Sports ranking before the tournament had the Gaels ranked first, mostly on the strength of their attack, being the top offensive team in the country. Case in point, to start off nationals, they beat Acadia 90–10 in a complete blowout, setting a new record for the most points in a U Sports Women’s Rugby Championship game. Driving this offensive momentum was Gibson, who scored 157 points in the season. Not only did this make her the leading scorer in U Sports — she also had more than double the amount of points of the second-place scorer.
The Gryphons, although not quite as high-flying on offence, are still a solid team, and were ranked fourth in the last U Sports ranking before Nationals. Facing off against their rivals — who they had yet to beat this season — they had to turn up their game. But with a medal on the line, Guelph came out with a fire lit under them.
“We know Guelph is a very strong team, and they also know us,” said Queens player of the game Liv Dibua. “So we understood that game plan — that we need to work from the very beginning and that we had to adjust a few things.”
“We know what Guelph is, what Guelph does,” said Gibson. “We came out a bit on top today. So I’m proud of us.”
In the tournament, both teams were victorious in their quarterfinal games. Guelph — although they played in a closer matchup than Queens’ complete blowout — still had a solid win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Women. It started off as a close game, but when the X-Women got a yellow card in the first half, the Gryphons took advantage of them being down a player to push the offensive attack, going on a 19–0 run, which helped them solidify
the win down the stretch for a final score of 45–21.
Both teams went on to lose their respective semifinals, both playing tough teams from the west coast, with the Gryphons playing the top seeded University of Victoria Vikes. Their inability to break past UVic’s defence had them fall 42–0.
The Gaels played the host team and defending champs — the UBC Thunderbirds — in another close battle, but fell just short of the gold medal match after getting stuffed at the goal line on the final play, losing 20–14.
“We obviously lost a heartbreaker on Friday, and those really close ones are arguably the toughest ones to come back from, especially in such a short turnaround,” said Valley. “So [I’m] super proud of the group for turning it around the way that they did, showing up today and competing for 70 minutes the way that we needed to.”
“I’m in awe,” said Dibua. “Our team grinds so much, and I know the last game was hard for us and not making it to the final, but we knew we had to work for this.”
“It wasn’t the medal game that we wanted to be in, but I think coming out of the loss of semifinals, it was really big to just regroup,” said Gibson. “We knew that we could feel these emotions all next week.”
Right out of the gate, both teams brought a ton of offensive energy, as they looked to leave it all on the field. The Gryphons got on the board first — with a quick offensive push early, they had an incredible read on a Queens pass, stepping in to intercept the ball, then raced down the field all the way to the 10-metre line before offloading the ball to keep possession.
After flipping the field, the Gryphons could not quite get over the line, but with that early burst of power, they kept the ball in Queens’ end. With Guelph about five metres from the try-line, using ruck after
ruck to keep trying to rush into the try zone, Tausani Lavale finally surged over the try-line to score. While the conversion was not good, in the first 10 minutes of the game, the Gryphons took the first lead, up 5–0.
Almost immediately after the first points of the game, as they have done all tournament, the Gaels quickly responded with a try of their own. Gibson — who kicked all the conversions in this game — made her first off this Gaels try, earning Queens the lead 7–5. This two-point lead kicked off a back-and-forth for the rest of the game, with Guelph continuing to stay in the game, only trailing by two every time Queens tried to take back the lead.
With the score at 14–12 for Queens and only five minutes left in the first half, Guelph locked down on defence. Off a lineout for the Gaels at centre line, the Gryphons held strong, barely giving them an inch to move.
Queens got the ball out and went for a kick to quickly push up the field, but Guelph — showing their smarts on defence once again — read the ball and were there to block it.
As the Gryphons continued this forceful defensive play — and with a few calls that went Guelph’s way — they limited the high-scoring Queens offence and kept the game close, going into halftime only down by two, with the score holding at 14–12.
In the second half, the drive from both teams was intense, as they knew they had to make these last 35 minutes count. The second half started similarly to the first, as the Gaels and Gryphons found themselves in a tug-of-war for possession. While the ball changed hands multiple times, both teams stood strong on defence, and neither one was able to break through for the first 15 minutes.
Finally, Queens was the team to
get the scoring going again with an incredible offensive display. Kennedi Stevenson was the one to break the deadlock, going on an almost 60-metre run, dodging Gryphon after Gryphon as she sailed right into the try-zone, putting the ball down right behind the uprights. Gibson could not miss this one, making another conversion to give the Gaels a strong 21–12 lead.
The tide seemed to be turning in favour of Queens, as they looked like their usual dominant selves the second half. But Guelph would not roll over. They fought tooth and nail to stay in the game until the very end, and soon after, the Gryphons broke through again, as their strong defence helped them find success on the other end of the field.
After a kick gave the ball to Queens, Guelph was immediately on them, giving them no room with some great tackles. With another steal — this time by Colleen Wade for the Gryphons — a try was in their sights. She ran down the field — taken down just about at the try-line — but Taylor McKnight was able to get it over and down in time to score before she was fully tackled. This put the Gryphons back in it at 28–19.
Once again, trading try after try, the Gaels looked to respond. Near the five-metre line, when given a quick-tap play, Queens wasted no time, seeming to catch the Gryphons off guard enough for Stephanie Douglas to quickly get over the try-line and reinstate their nine-point lead.
With less than 10 minutes left, down multiple tries, Guelph could have easily counted themselves out of the game.
But they kept fighting. Off an offload, Addy Holmes got the ball and dodged the Queens defence, diving right into the try-zone for a phenomenal offensive play.
With a tough angle on the conversion, Amanda Sarabura was able
to make it, bringing the Gryphons back to only a two-point deficit at 28–26.
That missed conversion by the Gryphons early in the first half loomed large. Because Gibson had a perfect game for Queens, making all four of her conversions, the Gryphons were constantly stuck down two, and in the end, that would be the reason they fell just short of the win.
Although known for their offence, it was the Gaels’ defence in the end that stood strong. As the Gryphons pushed up the field, Queens held strong, just holding on until a call went their way. With that, they were able to kick it out to end the game, winning the game 28–26, and with it, the bronze medal.
“We needed to tighten things up there defensively. Pressure was good, and we just needed to take advantage of a few opportunities that they were giving us on the attacking side of things,” said Valley. “[I] thought we did a pretty good job of that in the second half.”
It was a well-deserved win for the Queens team, and although not the medal they wanted to play for, they were overjoyed to still get bronze in the end.
“At some point, you’ve just got to get out of the way and let the players play,” said Valley. “And I thought they did a good job managing the game and bringing that one home.”
“I played for some of our teammates who are injured, for our teammates back home as well. So that’s going through my mind. [I’m] just amazed and grateful,” said Dibua.
“I’m really proud of the whole team and I’m really proud that we came out with the win today and that we ended on a high note,” said Gibson. “There’s like 14 graduating players, so it’s good for all of them, and passing off the torch to the next generation. It’s left in very good hands.” U
A Queens player runs away from multiple Gryphons defenders. While Guelph hung with the Gaels, an early missed conversion doomed them. ZOE WAGNER / THE UBYSSEY
Point of Inquiry: The AMS’s rally for a Skytrain was effective, weird and misleading
Point of Inquiry is a reported column written about our student union’s governance and policies. It seeks to analyze the AMS with a critical — but constructive — eye. It occasionally contains novel reporting, but Point of Inquiry is written independently of The Ubyssey ’s news team — which has no editorial involvement in the column and covers the AMS impartially.
Quyen Schroeder (they/she) is a fourth-year student studying English language and computer science, and they’ve been a committed observer of almost all AMS Council meetings since February 2023. She also ran as “Barry ‘Bee’ Buzzword” in the 2025 AMS Presidential election. They can be reached at q.schroeder@ubyssey.ca.
Quyen Schroeder
AMS Columnist
At the start of the last month, students gathered around a stage beside the Nest. Some held “Build UBC SkyTrain Now” signs. Some held umbrellas. Many held hot dogs. Behind the roughly 100 of us who stood before the stage grew a line of students awaiting hot dogs hastily assembled by volunteers. Beside the gathered students, reporters and camera crews trained their lenses on the stage. VP External Solomon Yi-Kieran had just given up on fixing the podium’s microphones, opting instead for a megaphone.
This was the Rally for SkyTrain.
“My friends, over 15,000 of you signed the SkyTrain petition … Thanks to you, we got the SkyTrain in the news … Thanks to you, we generated so much attention that [BC Premier David Eby] released a statement about the importance of the SkyTrain,” Yi-Kieran said. “This is what happens when the community comes together. When tens of thousands of people decide that we can’t wait anymore and make our voices heard.”
As the afternoon continued, we heard speeches from UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Vancouver City Councillors Sean Orr and Lucy Maloney and Movement organizer Michelle Scarr.
Since the rally, I’ve been left with three thoughts. First, the rally was effective and should be the model for future advocacy. Second, the structure of the event was weird and its goals unclear. Finally, the portrayal of the event since has been misleading — especially in respect to crowd size.
THE EFFECTIVE
I’m going to risk becoming a bit meta and explain newsworthiness and how us journalists tend to cover stories.
We lean towards focusing on discrete events, rather than ongoing, long-term issues. Take this column, for example. I first
heard of the Rally for SkyTrain months ago. Back then, she went by a different name: the Trek for Transit. Since the first time Yi-Kieran brought it up, I knew there would be a column about it. It addressed my first column’s calls for the AMS to lead student advocacy. It was a significant part of Yi-Kieran’s mandate. And yet, I delayed writing this column until the event itself. I didn’t mention in this column that the rally had been discussed in council because I regularly assessed the other business to be more newsworthy
“Despite my criticisms of the event, I think it has the potential to be the beginning of a much larger moment for our union and our campus community. That is, if the AMS continues to use this new tool in its toolbox.
than updates on the rally-to-be. By creating a discrete event focused around the SkyTrain to UBC, the AMS was able to make SkyTrain advocacy newsworthy. In doing so, they generated significant press coverage. Beyond Yi-Kieran’s opinion piece, The Ubyssey also published a news report on the rally, a humour article on why the multi-decade delays are good and the essay you’re reading now. Outside of our humble community-centred publication, CBC, CTV and CityNews all ran stories on the Rally for SkyTrain and its associated petition. Even Ubyssey alumnus and bracket/ranking enthusiast Justin McElroy wrote a story on the feasibility of the SkyTrain to UBC. (As far back as 2008, McElroy wrote articles for The Ubyssey reporting on the project.)
From a media perspective, the Rally for SkyTrain was an incredible success.
Beyond news coverage, the Rally for SkyTrain brought students together, calling on all of us to take tangible action rather than wait for our campus to improve. Rallies like this break the AMS out of its routine of rote reports, budget proposals and annual recommendations that only glacially produce change — if at all. Mobilizing students and other community members is the way forward for AMS advocacy.
Despite my criticisms of the event, I think it has the potential to be the beginning of a much larger moment for our union and our campus community. That is,
if the AMS continues to use this new tool in its toolbox.
THE
WEIRD
The format of this rally was perplexing, to say the least.
After the speeches concluded, the stage was held for three hours by bands, which, frankly, had nothing to do with public transit advocacy. One band mentioned having to bring their instruments on the bus, rather than on a hypothetical SkyTrain. There was little connection to the afternoon’s theme beyond that. With the SkyTrain podium and banners removed after the speeches, passersby could be forgiven for thinking it was just a live music event. The signal-to-noise ratio was exceptionally poor. The four-hour event featured only 30 minutes of speeches. What followed was three hours of live music. I left the event confused. I still am.
The form of the rally only briefly matched its purpose. It seemed like the reflection of a strange view of advocacy. When Yi-Kieran appeared on the Who Is with Ross Oteri podcast, they described how and why students should participate at the Rally for SkyTrain.
“By going [to the rally] and by showing the media, by showing politicians that you care enough to take some time out of your day to get a free hot dog and chant for SkyTrain, that is how we show that people care … That’s how we make our voices heard to the government.”
Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong, but I’m not convinced that eating a free hot dog is necessary or sufficient to make one’s voice heard, nor is listening to three hours of music. While it may be necessary to incentivize students to engage in advocacy campaigns through entertainment and food, students should also have an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the campaign, rather than passively experience a rally.
When the Rally for SkyTrain was first introduced in council as the Trek for Transit, it had many similar components, but with a key twist: there would be a trek from the Nest to UBC Farm after the speeches but before the free hot dogs.
The proposal harkened back to the earliest days of university advocacy. In 1922, shortly after UBC was founded, its student body of just over 1,000 called on the province to fund the continued construction of the Point Grey campus we use today. (Construction had been halted during World War I, so classes were being held in a much smaller facility.) In an event later called the Great Trek, at least 1,000 marched through downtown Vancouver out to the now-Point Grey campus. Not only that, but after months of students canvassing their hometowns and Vancouver, the AMS amassed a
petition of 56,000 signatures and presented to the provincial government. The population of the province at the time was 541,000, meaning the AMS signed up a tenth of the province. A week after the Great Trek, the provincial government approved funding for the university’s construction. The Great Trek’s goal and audience
“Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong, but I’m not convinced that eating a free hot dog is necessary or sufficient to make one’s voice heard.
was clear. The Rally for SkyTrain’s was murky. To whom was it advocating? Solely the media, it seems. Holding the rally outside the Nest restricted its reach to UBC community members. A few hundred passionate students alone do not make a SkyTrain. I submit that this rally could have tried to convince Vancouverites that the SkyTrain extension is necessary — especially targeted at those who live between Arbutus and campus, whose homes might be affected by the construction.
Follow-up question: for what was the rally advocating? Funding from all levels of government and the province’s release of a $40 million business case and detailed technical plan which includes geotechnical analyses along the train’s proposed route. Don’t feel bad if you missed the second one — to be honest, I did too, until I started working on this essay.
The rally should have placed a stronger focus on educating attendees on the roadblocks to the extension. Those at the rally should have been given techniques to dismantle those roadblocks, and charged to do so.
The message I took away was not one of empowerment. It was one of complacency. I’ve done all I can by signing a petition and eating my hot dog. The people on the stage will handle things from here.
THE MISLEADING
In June, Yi-Kieran presented the SkyTrain Advocacy Plan where they said the office would be “aiming for 1,000 person turnout” at the Rally for SkyTrain. In their updates to council after the rally, Yi-Kieran reported that over a thousand people turned out.
I believe that a thousand people lined up for the free hot dogs. The number who ate their hot dog while listening to the speeches — or even the music — I believe was much lower.
Throughout the event, I counted attendees who were visibly paying attention to the stage — not those who were just walking by or waiting in line for a hot dog or cosmetic product from an unrelated popup nearby.
While speeches were being given, I counted close to 100 people. During the three hours the bands played, the crowd averaged between 30 and 50 people. Now, I think the AMS could verifiably say that 1,000 people interacted with the Rally for SkyTrain purely based on the number of hot dogs distributed. I do not doubt the literal truth of that number. But it is misleading. When I hear that a 1,000 people were at a rally, I assume that’s a roughly concurrent measurement and that all of those people are meaningfully participating in the rally.
Yet, as I said before, this was still an effective rally. It drew media attention towards the university and SkyTrain advocacy.
But a rally/outdoor concert of a dubious 1,000 and a petition of 15,000 isn’t enough to create immediate change — something Yi-Kieran would agree with me on. Asked at the AMS’ Annual General Meeting when the SkyTrain would be complete, their optimistic prediction was a decade from now. Their pessimistic prediction was 25 years from now.
In researching this essay, I found a piece of portentous wisdom in UBC’s 1923 yearbook, reflecting on the Great Trek: “We had obtained about 15,000 signatures, which total, although impressive, was not sufficient to induce the government to take definite steps in the matter.”
Led by the AMS, students “threw themselves heart and soul into the work,” canvassing houseto-house until they got 56,000 signatures. Even then, they didn’t stop. They marched through the city on custom-made floats, occu -
“But a rally/ outdoor concert of a dubious 1,000 and a petition of 15,000 isn’t enough to create immediate change — something Yi-Kieran would agree with me on.
pied the half-complete construction of the Point Grey campus and directly lobbied the provincial government. And they won. It wasn’t just AMS executives doing the work: it was each and every student.
Fifteen thousand signatures won’t be enough. If the AMS seeks to force the government’s hand, they’ll need a sustained and focused campaign with even more support.
And us students? If we want a SkyTrain to UBC, tenants’ rights in university housing, fair working conditions for graduate researchers or anything else, our advocacy must be more than eating hot dogs and listening to music. U
Opinion: There is no fairness if we cannot cheat
Farid Laroussi Guest Contributor
Farid Laroussi is professor of French in the department of French, Hispanic and Italian studies.
I wish this title were tongue-incheek, yet we, in the academic world, know all too well that it is too close to reality for profes sional comfort. We are not talking about audiences addicted to social media, but about media that corrupt — by design — the minds and social principles that bind us together, including in homes of knowledge. We are way past the spine-chilling reality that people have been wasting their lives online, hours a day, literally doing nothing except buying into feedback loops and algorithm diktats. These same mass behaviour models want to make us believe that nowadays, what we are witnessing is a new, soft democratic evolution, just like what I dub the Taylor Swift Syn drome: nonthreatening to men and “feminist” enough for women. The pop singer creates relevance about herself when everything else comes up fragmented and antagonistic. This is the reason why, despite what algorithms feed us, we need to be reminded that there is no such thing as democracy without accountability, regulations and intelligible commitment.
One wonders why generative AI corporations won’t delve into creativity outside language mod els that alienate users: alternate models should lead the way. Instead, it appears that AI tech companies have willingly lost the plot for common good. In a perfect world, the choice for relevant data under the rule of democratic law would be called algorithmic pluralism, where decision-points do not determine opportunities to interact and contribute mostly against social media and AI obsession with monoculture. See, for instance, Joseph Fishkin’s Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity, a study in political science, which applies to tech companies and the new legal horizons. What is being squandered by our student audiences in this technological and neo-liberal economic status quo is not simply stand-in solutions, or imaginative powers, but the howto-think (savoir penser), the tools of critical thinking for one’s own sake and for our communities. The days of COVID-19 (what I call the Wild West of higher education), when the bets were off with faculty members turning a blind eye and students working from their bedrooms with their smartphones, are behind us. Cheating has morphed from a perceived opportunity to industry-like (“exam helpers” have multiplied; AI actually writes papers for you) with little room to figure out the very meaning of
being a student.
How many times have we realized with disenchantment that students are scared or unable to pen some creative assignment on their own (“Imagine a passage from Madame Bovary written from the narrative point of view of Emma”), without claiming the online prosthetics of stale, dubious narratives? This is a sign that the more we surrender our critical, intellectual competences to algorithmic forces, the more we will become incapable of transforming anything and actually increasing knowledge. Our response in the face of generative AI is indeed a self-defeating proposition in our academic universe. How so?
The learning process is compromised, the critical tools are far from mastered, the work ethics get muddled, what was perceived as a “convenience” (cheating) creates an artificial transactional sense that contaminates future credentials.
The stark reality is that AI (especially when it reaches singularity in 2027 or 2029) is about to
invent a new class: the intellectual proletariat. Not the tech writers from the Global South who struggle in their neocolonial straitjackets, but our disempowered human selves. One striking example has been the shrinking of a pluralistic media environment, with algorithms that affect news content, and yet, in a more insidious way, the discoverability of news as well. We continue to believe that our brains work nicely because of their plastic prowess. However, we might be heading for a new human stage of unlearning, with dire consequences for both mental life and social fabrics.
No one is advocating for the days when intelligence and information were squeezed out of endless, privileged research, then disseminated in exclusive scholarly outlets. Today, privacy and freedom are the genuine wealth we can no longer afford to relinquish. They won’t return once we start worshiping at the feet of AI. The machine only appears to be neutral; moods and emotional patterns are derived from linguis-
Cheating epitomizes the combined loss of critical thinking and memory. Once again, though, everyone does it, because cheating has become an economic functionality in itself.
Cheating is the norm; we see it in broad daylight with corporations that understand intellectual property laws in their own, one-sided fashion. On the other hand, work ethics and education have become weak, almost predictable casualties. Cultural analysis and intellectual innovation are slowly migrating outside academic institutions, in decentralized digital spaces where everything becomes possible — the good and the ugly. As for those of us still committed to academic work and pedagogical dedication, we witness first-hand that sometimes, cheating starts at the level of the academic application, with a whole industry dedicated to producing polished resumes, aced essays and stunning portfolios cultivated in the rich topsoil of parental anxiety. What was opaque at the onset of academic life becomes standard and predictable.
tic software. It is like tennis: if you play long enough with a beginner, your advanced level will sink. Only here we’re talking about civilizational disaster. News feeds are not science-based or thoughts; as for data, they nicely impersonate us, with tech giants such as Facebook, Google or TikTok tinkering ever more deeply with our hopes, needs or depressive states.
No need to think back to Plato’s idea of a pharmakon (simultaneously a poison and a medicine) to grasp fully the ambivalence of knowledge production and hermeneutics in our days. When I suggest that, “There is no fairness if we cannot cheat,” I underscore one truth, albeit an uncomfortable one: everyone does it. You may as well look up academic dishonesty using AI. In a weird fashion, students have come to terms with the potential power of the mechanical repetition of knowledge, with zero ethical guardrails. Technology does not “improve” or “increase” our own beings, contrary to the transhumanist mantra that the Silicon Valley pundits try to sell us.
Once you get caught in that fraught industry of academic top marks and “outstanding” graduate theses, your education has virtually no value. This is just another instance of how technology in the digital age slowly crushes consciences and individual performance alongside the economic future. Basically, cheaters fail to see that they are caught in a vicious arms race: How smart is it to churn out generations of poorly educated students when they will prove incapable of generating, say, more science and technology? When generative AI dominates, our experience of the world and life itself will be severely transformed. For instance, the psycho-power of former mainstream media (being passive in front of the television six o’clock news) has morphed into a neuro-power with AI, altering behaviour, memory, cognitive responses and attention levels. We won’t need to know the weighting of variables or how to deconstruct software. It is irrelevant to lament the pros and cons of AI (tremendous medical leaps versus surveillance society, for example) if we do not understand the industrial politics behind it. Cheating showcases what these policies can do to us individually (erasing moral qualms) and collectively (embracing willful servitude). The cheating paradigm conceals an ideology for a new world that manufactures mimetic and competitive expectations for its own sake. Obsolescence shall be us, unless. U
This is an opinion essay. It reflects the columnist’s views and may not reflect the views of The Ubyssey as a whole. Contribute to the conversation by visiting ubyssey.ca/pages/submit-an-opinion.
It is like tennis: if you play long enough with a beginner, your advanced level will sink.”
Slow walkers detriment to UBC pedestrian traffic flow, exhibit zero sense of urgency
Selena Sallay Contributor
The only thing slower than people walking around campus is my professor marking my essay that I handed in weeks ago. What’s my grade in that class? I don’t know, but I have another essay due in a week and no feedback yet, so we’re just flying blind at this point.
This year, there has been an astronomical increase in slow walkers at UBC. I am determined to get to the rationale behind this sudden onslaught of slow walkers. The only way to deal with evil is to face it directly, just like the R4 line, which meant interviewing slow walkers I came across on Main Mall during the glorious and not-at-all crowded time of 12 p.m.–2 p.m. I want to preface this investigation by saying I am not an asshole: if you have a reason that you need to walk slowly, I am not talking about you. I wish you well on your slow-walking journey. I am, however, talking about the dilly-dalliers who think life is all sunshine and rainbows and smelling roses, when in fact life at UBC is about smelling the faint scent of trash and cannabis, along with a hint of salt water, and getting through each day with an unparalleled sense of urgency.
The first slow walker I encountered was making every step I was making, like some twisted version of ballroom dancing except I wanted to place my hand on his shoulder to yank him into the fountain. I fought the urge and simply tapped him on the shoulder. I asked if I could interview him for The Ubyssey on his sickening inability
CHAT, IS THIS RIZZ? //
to pick up the pace. He turned to me and lifted one side of his headphones. “The Ubussy?” I tried correcting him, but he was insistent that it was ‘the Ubussy.’ Things were already off to a great start. When I asked about his walking pace, he seemed unbothered and told me to go around him. Now why didn’t I think of that?
When I tried to emphasize how people are urgently running along Main Mall to their classes, he shrugged his shoulders. “The lion doesn’t concern himself with issues that don’t affect him.” This lion should concern himself with walking faster or I’ll summon an army of electric scooters to run him over.
I thanked him for his time and asked for his name. “Chad.” Of course.
Next, I found myself faceto-face with evil in the form of people positioned in a line walking side-by-side slowly, like they were in some boy band. This is not the position that Sabrina Carpenter asked if you’ve tried. The group then laughed about nothing funny, which I know because I was forced to listen to their whole conversation as I trailed them for many painful minutes.
When forced to face the slow walker allegations, the entire group looked at me in amazement that someone finally called them out. (I would describe this as akin to the gaze on people’s faces when Robert Irwin ripped his shirt off on Dancing with the Stars.) Weren’t expecting that, huh?
They wanted to remain anonymous, but for the purposes of accurate journalism, I will be making up
their names. PSA to slow walkers everywhere: you cannot hide in plain sight when you stop in the middle of the walking path on your freaking phone.
With no compassion or empathy for my standpoint, one slow walker revealed to The Ubyssey, “I don’t see the big deal of rushing to class.” Of course you don’t, Brad, because you haven’t been to any of your lectures since the first week. When you grace the campus with your presence, you walk around like you are taking a nice stroll in the park, while other people have three minutes left to get to class — and that’s including their time to go up two flights of stairs where everyone suddenly forgets how to move their feet up a single step.
A sixth-year kinesiology student named Sloanne Steady quickly stepped in — so it is possible — to provide her thoughts on this matter. “When I put on my headphones, I’m trying to live my main character moment. You know the vibe: watching the trees and letting the wind blow through my hair as I look longingly off into the distance. I’m also auditioning to be the back-up background character in the show filming on campus.”
Steady then handed me her resume. “Give this to [the film crew] when you see them. Could you also take some photos to show them?” I informed her that The Ubyssey is a newspaper, not a delivery service or free headshot studio, and that I am not a photographer.
“So what do you do? Oh. Humour?” Don’t sound too enthused “So you like, make up stories?” Steady asked. I have to be, because
there is no way this conversation can possibly be real. In short, what the hell.
Finally, I caught up with second-year zoology student Mu Fasta, who finally turned around when I tapped her shoulder (for the 17th time) and she showed me her phone, unprompted. “Oh, I’m listening to 10 hours of Slow Walking. Thank you, have a good day.”
During exam season, everyone is stressed enough, so let’s all pick up the pace and develop useful tools
like “social courtesy” and “spatial awareness” and “not taking up the entire sidewalk with your meandering.” When you do come into contact with a slow walker, I say let your instincts take over — even if that means “borrowing” someone’s electric scooter and crashing into them as you continue to drive to class.
The Ubyssey is not liable for the consequences resulting from these actions, and neither is ‘The Ubussy.’ U
Costume ideas to get you a boo this Halloweekend
Mason Carter Contributor
Are you tired of dating within your major, but when you talk to someone outside of it, they feel like they’re from a totally different planet? Still don’t have a Halloween costume for that upcoming party? Look no further. I have compiled a comprehensive list to tell you exactly which costumes will lead to some much-needed cross-major mingling this Halloween.
FORESTRY
Does trying out the new MycoToilet sound like a total trip? Then you’re in need of a forestry partner to describe the root systems of pumpkins this fall. Dressing up as a tree is a guaranteed way to attract any forestry student and secure you coveted late-night access to the Forestry Building this spooky season. Oak, maple, evergreen — the options to spruce up your costume are endless.
Dressing as a tree will have every hacky sacker in sight explaining to you that your bark would be a simple V3 climb. Tree walk?!! Say less, sign me up and walk with me, you environmentally-aware baddie.
Remember there is nothing hotter than being respectful.
SAUDER
Did you engage in some frivolous spending this summer? Did you forget where you put your T4 letter? It’s important to remember it’s never too early to get started on your taxes. Secure yourself a Sauder partner this fall with a costume they can’t resist: an Excel Workbook. In the past, Sauder students have struggled with communication — no more — by dressing as a thing they spend so much time on, it’s burnt into their laptop screens, you’ll be speaking their language. They will be trying to SEARCH, AND, FIND a way to take you on a date all night.
ARTS
Are you trying to figure out who this Sigmund Freud guy is? Do you need someone who can properly format your MLA 9th edition citations? Securing yourself an arts girlfriend is a guaranteed way to ensure that you’re both well-read and -dressed this autumn season. Dressing as a Labubu will have every arts student who sees you saying “awwww.” Before you know it, you’ll be clipped to their side, chauffeured around as their prized possession.
But wait — is there a super special someone who’s worth making a big statement for? Take this
costume to the next level by hiding within a giant PopMart THE MONSTERS Big into Energy Series-Vinyl Plush Pendant Blind Box.
IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to add a QR code to your costume unless you want to be called a lafufu and have people laughing at la-youyou.
MATH
Are you struggling with MATH 100? Have things just not been adding up lately? Who better to add to the plot than someone who studies it, by finding yourself a graphically-aware king this fall. What better way to
win over a math major than being the thing they need most: a Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition Graphing Calculator. With this costume, every math major will know that this is a *sin* — a sin that true love has come their way, a sin to ditch their current drunken conversation to go explore some new *tan*gents with you.
SCIENCE
Are you trying to understand how gravity keeps getting you down? Are you tired of going on dates with no chemistry? Then you need yourself a lab partner to experiment with this Halloween. There is no better way to attract a science major than an incredibly literal costume — dressing as a magnet is a guaranteed way to create a strong bond this Halloween. Even if you hate all things science (you probably do, if you’re reading this), dressing as a magnet is a great way to get even the most opposite people to attract.
There are endless ways to attract your cross-campus lover this year. However, it is important that you remember to stay conscientious and considerate when picking your Halloween costume. Remember there is nothing hotter than being respectful. U
This year, there has been an astronomical increase in slow walkers at UBC.
EFFIE HUANG / THE UBYSSEY
SIDNEY SHAW / THE UBYSSEY
UBC research allows for first in-human blood typeconverted kidney transplantation
Elita Menezes Research Editor
Not your type? Perhaps not a problem.
A kidney that had been converted from blood type A to type O was transplanted into a human body for the first time, with help from UBC research.
Transplantation is the best treatment for those with latestage kidney disease, but if the donated organ isn’t compatible with the recipient’s blood type, their immune system may reject the new organ. Waiting for compatible organs can take years, especially for type O recipients;
type O organs can be given to type A or B recipients, but type O recipients can only receive type O organs, making their pool of compatible organs even smaller.
ABO-incompatible transplantation is a way of widening access to the supply — organs less dense in antigens (sugars on blood cells that indicate ABO type) can be transplanted if the recipient’s blood type antibodies are removed through an external machine, a process called plasmapheresis. However, the preparation required for the recipient can take days, and is only practical with a living donor because there’s less time to prepare the
recipient when transplanting organs from deceased donors.
Transplants using blood type-converted kidneys, as explored in the recently-published Nature Biomedical Engineering study, don’t rely on time in the same way. “Our approach opens it up completely because it’s donor-centric,” said Dr. Stephen Withers, professor emeritus in the department of chemistry and corresponding author on the study. “[The] treatment can be done in an hour, and you don’t need to have any treatment of the recipient ahead of time.”
Withers and his team identified an enzyme pair in 2019
that could remove antigens from blood cells, allowing them to convert A-type cells into O-type cells.
For blood cells, once the antigens are removed, the ABO type is permanently changed. However, with organs, the antigens regenerate.
“
This is part of why Withers initially thought the enzyme discovery wouldn’t be useful to organ transplantation. However, transplant surgeons had shed some light on the situation: even if the antigens came back, the initial lack of antigens could help avoid hyperacute rejection. This type of rejection happens in the first hour or so, when antibodies in the blood bind to the surface of the transplanted organ and initiate the process of organ-death.
ed kidneys.
Some damage to the kidney could be related to the physical process of monitoring it — 40 biopsies were performed over the monitoring period. “In an actual [transplant], you wouldn’t be doing any of that stuff, and you [would] be using all the immunosuppressives,” said Withers.
“Our approach opens it up completely because it’s donor-centric ... [The] treatment can be done in an hour.”
— Dr. Stephen Withers, professor emeritus in the department of chemistry
“If you can avoid that early phase by removing those antigens, then when these antigens really reappear … we should be able to control that,” Withers
In this study, the donor kidney was pretreated with these enzymes. The researchers ensured that the converted organs could be viable in two different temperatures — 37°C, a temperature used to maximize enzyme production, and 4°C, a temperature organs are generally kept at before transplantation. They first modelled incompatible kidney transplants with a machine that simulates body conditions, which showed that enzyme-treated kidneys held up better in antibody-rich blood than non-treated kidneys. With ethical approval from the recipient’s family and from ethics committees, the researchers transplanted an enzyme-treated kidney into a braindead recipient in China who hadn’t received antibody preparation. They monitored the recipient for several days afterward. No hyperacute rejection took place. Antigen regeneration then began, and antibody-mediated rejection was diagnosed on day four post-operation. This became more severe in the days after, but fared better than non-enzyme-treated, hyperacutely-reject-
Nevertheless, the experiment is the first demonstration of immune compatibility for enzyme-converted donor organs in a human recipient, making it a step toward more effective incompatible transplantation. Before clinical trials, more decedent experiments — studies using brain-dead recipients — will likely take place to further this process, according to Withers, but with immunosuppression methods.
One barrier to getting this donor-centric model through regulatory approval is money. “It’s expensive and not easily fundable. You’re not going to be able to write a grant to do that sort of thing, typically,” said Withers. This kind of work is also not suited to graduate students because it’s tedious and repetitive.
“The only real solution to move this forward … was to form a company so that we could raise money to do the work and to hire technical people who could perform the experiments.”
This was how Avivo Biomedical came to be. Based at UBC, the company is dedicated to reducing barriers caused by blood type incompatibility. Withers is a co-founder and serves on the board of directors.
The enzyme conversion process also lends itself to other organs like hearts and lungs, which require the donor to be deceased before transplantation. Withers said preparations are already underway for transplantation of other organs in brain-dead recipients.
“Our colleagues in Toronto have permission to go ahead and do decedent studies … We’re just basically waiting for the right situation to arrive.”
Withers emphasized that developing this study was a long process, full of reassessing what they were doing to get where they wanted to go. He explained the key to this work was not only collaboration and patience, but years of building up the fundamental knowledge.
“[It’s] being prepared to learn the basics, because it came out of the basics.” U
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