ubyssey 9/16/2010
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The Ubyssey's 9.16.2010TRANSCRIPT
the ubyssey SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
• volume 92, number v• room 24, student union building• published monday and thursday• [email protected]
Winners at achievement since 1918
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hAve you chosen yours yet?
pAGe 7
cluBs dAys Are cominG
couch surFinG: hoW sAFe is it?pAGe 5
reAd WhAt hAppened on pAGe 3
FrAternities, rcmp And uBc meet in the AFtermAth oF sAturdAy’s deBAcle
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september 16, 2010volume xcii, no v
editorial
coordinating editor Justin McElroy : [email protected] editor Arshy Mann : [email protected] news editorSally Crampton : [email protected] editorsJonny Wakefield & Bryce Warnes : [email protected] culture editorAnna Zoria : [email protected] editor Ian Turner : [email protected] editorTrevor Record : [email protected] editorGeoff Lister : [email protected] manager Virginie Ménard : [email protected] editor Kai Green : [email protected] editorTara Martellaro : [email protected] multimedia editorStephanie Warren : [email protected] editorMatt Wetzler : [email protected] Blake : [email protected]
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contributors
Kenji Hayakawa Andrew MacIssarJocelyn Lan Rhys EdwardsGinette Monaco Anna KouzovlevaDavid Chen Callum KingwellChris Borchert Andrew HoodNicole Nyaga Yooji CummingsBrendan Albano Joanna ChiuGinny Monaco Kait BolongaroJon Chiang Anne TastadMicki Cowan Karina PalmitestaJeremie Rodger
legal
The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publi-cations Society. We are an autonomous, democrat-ically run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate.
Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubys-sey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the Universi-ty of British Columbia. All editorial content appear-ing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.
The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press (CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guid-ing principles.
Letters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include your phone number, student number and signature (not for publication) as well as your year and faculty with all submissions. ID will be checked when submissions are dropped off at the editorial office of The Ubyssey; otherwise verifica-tion will be done by phone. “Perspectives” are opin-ion pieces over 300 words but under 750 words and are run according to space. “Freestyles” are opinion pieces written by Ubyssey staff members. Priority will be given to letters and perspectives over free-styles unless the latter is time sensitive. Opinion pieces will not be run until the identity of the writ-er has been verified. The Ubyssey reserves the right to edit submissions for length and clarity. All letters must be received by 12 noon the day before intend-ed publication. Letters received after this point will be published in the following issue unless there is an urgent time restriction or other matter deemed relevant by the Ubyssey staff.
It is agreed by all persons placing display or clas-sified advertising that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad. The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ad.
eventsthursdAy, sepT. 16
Arts internship inFormAtion session
Need career-related experience but still enrolled in classes? Want an experience more challenging than stuffing enve-lopes? Come and learn about the Arts In-ternship Program, internships designed with Arts students in mind, and open up a world of possibilities. This info session will cover the program requirements, available opportunities, and more. • 12:30pm–1:30pm, Buchanan B210.
creAtivity kills her
UBC BFA student Karen Tennant presents Creativity Kills Her: an exploration of death and the female body using large-scale in-stallations of paint, fabric and resin. • Sept 13–17, 10am–4pm, AMS Art Gallery.
FridAy, sepT. 17
men And Women’s soccer GAmes
Join the Blue Crew and get into every Thunderbird home game for only $10. Go cheer on the home team at men’s (UBC vs. University of the Fraser Valley Cascades) or women’s soccer (UBC vs Manitoba Bisons). • Women’s game at 5pm, men’s game at 7:15pm, Thunder-bird Park.
U theubyssey.ca
Send us your events so we’re not bored after class. Homework? What homework?
34th AnnuAl indoor plAnt sAle
Detoxify your home with hundreds of unusual indoor plants, herbs and flowers at student-friendly prices. All funds gen-erated from the plant sale support re-search and educational activities at UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. • 11am–6pm, UBC Botanical Garden (6084 SW Marine Drive).
uBc deBAte society meetinG
Meet fellow debaters: learn about up-coming events, socials and tournaments, get the occasional free meal and have the opportunity to practice debating with some of the country’s top competitive debaters. It is entirely free and anyone and everyone is welcome to show up. • 4pm–6pm, Buchanan B216, contact [email protected] for more info.
Accidents hAppen
you: Girl with short, black hair and a tattoo of an airplane on your arm. We were riding a crammed 99 B-line and you fell on me when the driver slammed on the brakes. Can’t get you out of my head! When: Monday, Sept. 13Where: 99 B-line bus heading to UBCyou: Woman me: Man
sleepinG BeAuty
You slept through our entire Eng-lish class on Tuesday. You’re skinny, scruffy looking, have dreads and wear baggy clothes. I was the redhead sitting two rows behind you. Maybe next time we can sit together? When: Tuesday, Sept 14Where: ENGL 110you: Man me: Woman
rouGh And dApper GentlemAn
I saw you on the basement of the SUB. You were wearing a three piece suit (pocket watch included) and had bandages across the side of your face. Buy me a martini? When: Sunday, Sept 12Where: Bus Loopyou: Man me: Man
lAissez-FAire
You were reading Ayn Rand and wearing Doc Martens. I was drinking a capuccino and wear-ing a lime green polo. Let’s get together and discuss rugged individualism. When: Monday, Sept. 13Where: The Boulevard you: Woman me: Woman
Visit ubyssey.ca/i-saw-u for the on-line I Saw UBC submission form.
i saW you...
correction: In the September 13, 2010 issue, the story written about the RCMP’s threat to cut funding to SFU’s criminology fund was wrongly credited to David Proctor instead of Kendra Wong. also, the letter written to us entitled “UBC should fully disclose information about animal research” was mistakenly cut off. The Ubyssey regrets these errors.
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News editor ARSHY MANN » [email protected] AssociAte SALLY CRAMPTON » [email protected]
neWs BRIeFs
Gender GAp Found BetWeen AsiAn students
A recent study by a UBC professor has revealed that Mandarin-speak-ing girls are four times more likely than other Asian students to get good grades in high school in Can-ada. Cantonese speaking boys are said to be four times more likely to struggle. The study, conducted by Prof. Lee Gunderson, examined the marks gained by immigrant students graduating from high school in 2009.
rcmp BAck doWn AFter threAt to cut FundinG (cup)
After threats to end their contribu-tion to Simon Fraser University’s criminology department, the RCMP have issued the university $4 mil-lion over the next five years.
Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass allegedly threatened to cut funding for the department after SFU’s crim-inology director Robert Gordon crit-icized the RCMP’s handling of the Robert Pickton case.
Gordon accused the RCMP of “arrogance” in the case, which he said slowed down the investiga-tion and allowed Pickton to contin-ue killing for a longer period of time.
On Aug. 22, Bass responded to Gordon’s allegations in a lengthy email. The email was copied to ap-proximately 25 high authority fig-ures, including top RCMP brass, mu-nicipal police chiefs and the presi-dent of SFU.
The RCMP contribution funds two research chairs at SFU. It costs ap-proximately $4 million to keep these positions in place for five years.
UBC rapid transit lowest priority for MetroVanDraft document of regional growth strategy places Surrey as top priority
Arshy [email protected]
Those waiting for a Skytrain to UBC will likely be kept waiting for a long time—a very long time.
Metro Vancouver has released a draft of its regional growth strategy that places a rapid tran-sit line to UBC at the bottom of its priority list, with transit up-grades in Surrey at the top of it.
The strategy, which outlines the region’s prospective plan for 2040, means that rapid transit to UBC is much less likely to ac-tually be built.
AMS President Bijan Ahmadi-an expressed surprise at the announcement.
“When you look at all the facts, the big one being that UBC is the second largest transit destina-tion after downtown, this strat-egy doesn’t reflect that,” he said. “I’m disappointed because this has been on our radar and this has been on Metro Van’s radar, and everybody has known about this for a really long time.”
He argued that the new Pro-vincial UPass program means that an even greater strain will be placed on Translink servic-es, and that rapid transit is nec-essary to combat that burden.
The AMS intends to protest the downgrade by lobbying Met-ro Vancouver through the VP
External’s office, as well as cir-culating a petition in order to gauge students’ opinions on the need for rapid transit to UBC.
Ahmadian, however, be -lieves that this new plan makes it doubtful that UBC will ever have a Skytrain.
“This is the 2040 plan. So if it’s third on the priority [list], it essentially means it will never happen,” he said.
Electoral Area A Director Ma-ria Harris also believes that a
rapid transit line to UBC is very unlikely.
“If you start looking at the needs of the broader region, anybody who’s crossed the Port Mann bridge knows that there are broader needs than just ours, so let’s start talking about what is immediately af-fordable,” she said.
Instead, Harris argued that the university needs to start looking at low-cost solutions to provide better transit in the short-term.
“To me what’s critical is that students, faculty or staff who work here or study here can be at their place of work or study quickly and reliably,” said Harris. “This does not follow in my mind that this means investment in rapid tran-sit of a Skytrain form or even a rapid railway form.
“Some of the choices are later [class] start times, dedicated bus-es, and efforts to work with the City of Vancouver to try to clear more and more of the parking lanes, or to have some prioritized signals for the B-lines.”
Ahmadian said that these fixes are only a stop-gap measure and do not address the broader problem.
“There are definitely lots of short term options that the uni-versity should explore,” said Ah-madian. “But at the end of the day we have to think about where we’re going as a province and where we’re going as a region. And none of those short term options are going to meet our demand.”
Metro Vancouver will receive comments on the draft strategy from now until October 15, 2010. Before it can become law, it must first be formally accepted by all of Metro Vancouver’s 22 mem-ber municipalities, the Tsawwas-sen First Nation, TransLink, and all adjacent regional districts. U
UBC Line shoved to bottom. dAvid chen photo illustrAtion/ THE UBYSSEY
Frats and UBC meet over officer assaultsArshy [email protected]
Representatives from UBC, the RCMP and the fraternities, as well as alumni and residents met on Monday to discuss last Saturday’s incident, where two officers were assaulted at the fraternity village.
In a statement released on Tuesday, InterFraternity Coun-cil President Matt Parson ex-pressed confidence in the po-tentia l effect iveness of the talks.
“These discussions will re-solve any issues stemming from that night and help in the imple-mentation of preventative mea-sures to eliminate any further incidents,” he said.
Parson claimed that Delta Kappa Epsilon (Deke) fraterni-ty, which hosted Saturday’s par-ty, called the RCMP initially in order to deal with non-UBC stu-dents who wouldn’t leave.
He alleged that the incident was a result of a small group of uninvited non-UBC students who intruded on a closed func-tion and caused a serious dis-turbance for all invited attend-ees, and that “no alcohol was distributed at any houses with-in the Greek Village.”
Pa rson went on to say that,“this behaviour by non-UBC students is deeply reprehensi-ble and requires the attention of not only fraternity organiza-tions, but also the broader cam-pus at large.” To date, the Deke fraternity has not issued a state-ment on the matter.
Janet Teasdale, senior direc-tor of student development and the university’s Greek liaison, said that fraternities need to take greater responsibility for the events that they throw.
“UBC has made it clear in nu-merous discussions with many alumni, international head-quarters for individual fra-ternity organizations and the members themselves that the
responsibility for hosting events and ensuring that they are safe and secure rests with the fra-ternities,” she said in an email.
“The fraternities are indepen-dent organizations renting land from UBC. UBC does not man-age the fraternity village and the fraternities are entirely re-sponsible for the activities that take place there.”
Teasdale argued that regard-less of whether or not the as-saulters were non-Greeks, fra-ternities are still responsible for whatever happens on their property.
“When the fraternity organi-zations negotiated the terms of agreement relating to the fra-ternity village, they insisted they should have their autono-my without UBC’s oversight of their activities. In return they agreed to be responsible for the actions of any people at the fra-ternities, regardless of wheth-er they were fraternity mem-bers, even whether they were not invited,” she said.
“It is foreseeable that given the number of houses in one lo-cation that the courtyard would be part of the problem and the fraternities are responsible for managing this.” U
uByssey File photo illustrAtion
This behaviour by non-UBC students is deeply reprehensible.mAtt pArsonI n T e R F R a T e R n I T y c o u n c I l pResIdenT
University: Fraternities are entirely responsible for activities that take place in the fraternity village
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Psychology is WEIRDUBC researchers argue too many studies are based on westerners
cAllum kinGWellContributor
A team of UBC psychologists is concerned that the overuse of ex-perimental subjects from West-ern, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) environments is causing behav-ioral researchers to make false claims about human nature. In a paper published in Behavior-al and Brain Sciences, psycholo-gists Joe Henrich, Steven Heine and Ara Norenzayan concluded that people in the WEIRD demo-graphic are behavioral ‘outli-ers’ and ‘one of the worst’ pop-ulations that could be used to study our species. A full 96 per cent of test subjects used for ex-periments are WEIRD.
“For most of human histo-ry we lived in relatively small groups…without internet, police or hospitals—and even things like numbering systems, watch-es and calendars,” said Henrich. He argued that living in an in-dustrial society like Canada can influence human psychology, which makes this group a poor representation of humans in general. The paper takes aim at a number of ‘human’ behav-ioral theories which may only be true for the WEIRD slice of humanity.
In the study, researchers com-pared westerners with non-west-erners. Westerners assigned more importance to person-al choice, and showed less de-sire to conform to social norms
than other groups. They also pos-sessed an inflated sense of self-worth. In one study, 94 per cent of American professors rated themselves as “better than the average American professor.”
Another group routinely used to explore ‘human’ psychology is undergraduates. In the US, home to two thirds of test sub-jects, 67 per cent of those stud-ied were in undergraduate psy-chology courses. College-aged Americans are typically found at the extreme end of the dis-tribution for WEIRD character-istics—tending to rationalize choices, reject conformity, favor transient relationships and be less trusting than other Amer-icans who already exhibit those tendencies.
Most psychology is done in WEIRD countries, on WEIRD people, by WEIRD people. Co-author Steven Heine said this is no coincidence.
“We live in a highly individu-alistic society, and so it is mean-ingful for people to try and fig-ure why they do the things they do,” he said. “In other cultures, people tend to do things because the community wants things done a certain way, so I think it’s less valuable for them to think introspectively.”
Henrich believes that outdat-ed traditions are partly to blame for the overuse of WEIRD pop-ulations in experiments. “The rules of the game have been that if you experiment on undergrads, you can write about what ‘people’
think.” He hopes that, in light of the group’s findings, other re-searchers will begin to break away from this convention.
Psychology graduate student Damian Murray is less optimis-tic that the paper will inspire the much-needed changes. He said that this is not the first time this issue has been raised and “psy-chology as a whole seems fair-ly slow in responding to crit-icisms.” However, he made it clear that the paper does not im-ply that all research on WEIRD people is worthless, simply that it means psychologists need to be more cautious when gener-alizing about groups. U
GeoFF lister photo/THE UBYSSEY
Bad weather confounds Twister record attempt
AndreW hoodContributor
Last Sunday, Vancouver Improv Anywhere failed to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest game of Twist-er. The current record was set by the University of Massachu-setts-Amherst in May of 1987. Around 50 people attended Sunday’s attempt, which failed to surpass the Cold War-era re-cord of 4160 people.
Heavy Vancouver rain pelted the array of twister maps that were spread out over MacInnes field, drenching the few people who attended the event.
In addition, space became an issue when a Vancouver park de-clined their request to host the event, which resulted in the choice of MacInnes Field as the venue.
Despite Sunday’s poor turnout at UBC, Piché is determined that after the Twister World Record is broken , which he intends to attempt again , Vancouver Im-prov Anywhere will attempt to break more world records—on a hopefully clearer day.
Having put on successful events, such as emulating the Grand Central Freeze in parts of Vancouver and doing random acts of kindness around the city, Piché yearned to host an even larger event.
“We really want to put our-selves on the map, not only as an improv group but as a city too,” explained Vancouver Im-prov Anywhere co-founder Lar-ry Piché after the event. “I think that giving [Vancouver] anoth-er world record would be per-fect.” U
AndreW hood photo/THE UBYSSEY
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CouchSurfing: A safe way for students to travel?JoAnnA chiuContributor
Eleven years ago, Casey Fenton emailed University of Iceland students to ask for free accom-modation. He was eventually taken in and his gracious hosts took him on a thrilling insider tour of Reykjavik. When he got back home, Fenton launched a website, CouchSurfing.com, to help others find the same sort of accomodations.
Since then, the appeal of get-ting free accommodation, turn-ing strangers into friends and gaining cultural knowledge has attracted more than 2 million people from over 230 countries to join the online community. It has become especially popu-lar for university students trav-elling on a budget.
However, since the rape of a 29-year-old female CouchSurf-ing member by her host Abdelali Nachet, some travellers have be-come concerned about the safe-ty of using CouchSurfing.com.
On March 5, 2009, a female tourist from Hong Kong arrived in Leeds, England to meet Na-chet, who prepared dinner with her before raping her twice and threatening to kill her. The wom-an notified police the day after. A Leeds judge sentenced Nachet to ten years in prison.
CouchSurfing Media Rela-t ions Representative Rocky Sanguedolce described the
incident as “the worst case scenario.”
“Out of the approximately 6 million experiences that people have had through CouchSurfing.com, in which 99.6 per cent of those were good experiences, neg-ative things are bound to happen. The incident in England was the worst incident that CouchSurf-ing has had,” said Sanguedolce.
Most of the managers of the non-profit website, including Sanguedolce, are volunteers, which ultimately places the re-sponsibility of ensuring the safe-ty of the network onto Couch-Surfing users. Sanguedolce de-scribes CouchSurfing as a “self-policing” network.
“With our three point veri-fication and reference system,
you can check that the person is who they say they are and you can read about other travellers’ experiences with that person to determine whether you want to stay with that person.”
This verification system is not mandatory, but CouchSurf-ing members Adam Ward and Sally Kolenda believe that with adequate precautions, people
are more likely to have a safe experience with CouchSurfing.
Ward, a student at McGill Universit y, ma kes t he fol -lowing safety recommenda-tions: “Make sure you review the profiles and read the ref-erences by other surfers. Go with a friend (or more) if you feel uncomfortable and always have a backup plan [at a hos-tel, hotel etc].”
Kolenda, a recent graduate of Texas A&M University, has used CouchSurfing 13 times and hosted guests 12 times.
According to Kolenda, “Any time you stay with someone you don’t know, there is a po-tential for something unpleas-ant to occur. I believe that on the whole, people are good, and you have to believe that to use the site.” U
It’s impolite to leave your shoes on when taking a couch. Jon chiAnG photo illustrAtion/THE UBYSSEY
Open the gates and seize the day! Write for news!
arshy mann | [email protected] Utheubyssey.ca
The appeal of getting free accomodation [...] has attracted more than 2 million people from over 230 countries...
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2010.09.16/ubyssey.ca/clubs days/7
editor TREVOR RECORD » [email protected] Guest editor KENJI HAYAKAWA
clubs days
kenJi hAyAkAWAGuest Editor
So you think you know what Clubs Days is. Well, we’ll see about that.
From September 22 to 24, hun-dreds of clubs will crowd the SUB with booths. Those booths, filled with exciting opportunities, are the cornerstone of what makes Clubs Days a worthwhile festivi-ty. Cruise around, talk to the out-going club representatives and discover what they’re doing. It’s more than likely that out of all the booths filling the SUB, at least one will fit the bill for what you con-sider worth pursuing in univer-sity (besides academics).
They say that joining a club at UBC is an excellent way to ‘get involved.’ This, obviously, is an understatement. Sure, after becoming a club member, you may feel merely ‘involved’ for the first one or two weeks. What you will discover after a month, however, is that great feeling of finding people who share your passion on campus.
Maybe it is an athletic activity. Maybe it is an academic subject. Maybe it is a deep game. May-be it is a complex art. You meet the people and master the skills. You accomplish projects togeth-er with your fellow members. These experiences take you to a new level. What is more fas-cinating, you are likely to be with others when you reach that new terrain. By April, you won’t be able to imagine how life at
university could possibly be re-warding for those who did not join clubs.
The above narrative is not an exaggeration at all. My club ex-perience for the past two years can testify to this.
As a freshman, I entered UBC believing that other students would be disciplined like ani-mals, whipped and rewarded by the system called grading, and that nobody would have an au-thentic, autonomous hunger for learning. At the same time, as an international student, I lacked the confidence necessary to stay energetic and take on projects. The one thing I knew for sure was my passion for a particular academic subject area.
I joined the relevant club, not thinking too much of the conse-quences. The first Friday night club gathering blew my mind. There I met 20 or so senior and graduate students as well as oth-ers at my level. We exchanged life stories, research interests and other smaller anecdotes. It was a fantastic night, laid back and calm, yet a definite sense of excitement for the coming year was clearly felt in the at-mosphere as well.
That night’s gathering proved my negative assumptions about UBC wrong. Since then, I have become closer friends with many of the members. I took up the role of treasurer in my second year for the same club.
At present, I have a special bond with the club members and alum-ni, a bond that only forms with sharing an authentic passion for learning.
The t hree day period of Clubs Days is short, and there is much to explore. This sup-plement offers just a small sam-pling of the clubs that are out there. Maybe you have some spe-cific activity in mind, in which case you just need to head to the SUB and run to that spe-cific booth. Otherwise, why not take your time and spend the whole three days? Schedule your visits, and try and get the best out of this short yet rich festi-val. You are in for a wonderful surprise. U
Why check out cluBs dAys?
Clubs Days will be your best chance to check out the clubs at UBC. Hundreds of clubs and organizations will set up booths in the SUB from September 22 to 24. From depressing science-fair failing banners, to stupefying dance teams, all of these clubs will be out in full force hoping to get you to sign up.
Beyond the AMS clubs, re-source groups and even your humble campus paper The Ubys-sey will also be present at Clubs Days.
Justin [email protected]
There are hundreds of clubs on campus. They serve just about every niche, nook and cranny you would want at a universi-ty of 45,000 students. But one question remains: which is the oldest?
“This is a somewhat com-plicated question,” wrote AMS Archivist Sheldon Goldfarb in 2001. One reason for the lack of clarity is just how small UBC once was.
In 1915, when classes first started at UBC, there were only 379 students on campus, mak-ing it very difficult for any large and sustainable club to exist. In that time, social groups at UBC were primarily broken up by their graduating class and and faculty. Multiple Ubyssey front pages from the late 10’s and early 20’s involve detailed
(and often boring) recaps of par-ties and social events held by these classes.
Another reason for the lack of clarity is that before UBC was UBC, it was “McGill University College of British Columbia.” Operated by McGill from 1908–1915, it was a degree-granting institution which, according to UBC: The first 100 years, “es-tablished literary and debating clubs, a student society, an or-chestra, and various student tra-ditions that included songs and slogans built on those of McGill.”
While some of those clubs con-tinued to exist after McGill Col-lege became UBC, there is un-certainty as to when they tech-nically became clubs.
Despite the inevitable murk-iness of history, Goldfarb as-sures that the following clubs continued to exist at UBC from the 1915–16 year right up to the present:
- Men’s and Women’s Literary Societies (precursors to the De-bate Club)
- Players’ Club
- Glee Club (precursor to the Mu-sical Society)
- YMCA/YWCA
Back in the good old days of 1915–16, the university re -quired those student-run clubs to be “sponsored” and overseen by a faculty member. Students apparently saw potential in cre-ating and getting involved in clubs, and so in 1916–17, two additional clubs were found-ed: the Chemistry Society and the Varsity Outdoors Club (then known as the “Mountaineer-ing Club”).
Since then, clubs became a tradition, and you know the rest of the story. U
Clubs Days are a-comin’
The history of clubs at UBC some oF our FAvourite deFunct old cluBs
- The Mamook Club, which ran student promotions on campus.
- The Technocracy Club, which advocated using sci-ence to solve political and economic problems.
- The Scottish Country Dance Club, which goes “yeah!”
- The Fish and Game Club, which supported hunt-ing, fishing and shooting activities.
- The Jokers Club, which per-formed “outrageous antics such as gold fish swallow-ing, Frog Derby, and roller skating marathons.” Sadly, the club only survived from 1945–1948.
- The Brian Sullivan Appreci-ation Society, which appre-ciated our bowtie-wielding VP Students.
Clubs Days 101
“This used to be all orange groves!”
hoW do i Find the cluB thAt is riGht For me?
There are over 300 clubs, most of which will be at Club Days. So chances are that you’ll find the one that fits best for you, even though it may take a while to find what you’re looking for. Luckily, club booths are gen-erally placed by category. This year, the categories they were asking Clubs Days applicants to file themselves under were:
- Academics/Management
- Community Service
- Cultural/Identity
- Media/Arts/Performance
- Political/Social Action
- Recreational/Athletic
- Science
- Social
- Spiritual
- Leisure/Hobby/Special Inter-est (other)
This means that you should be able to find your interests more easily, even if the Young Liber-als have to sit in the same area as the Spartacus Youth Club.
WhAt iF i miss cluBs dAys?
The AMS has a list of clubs on-line at www.ams.ubc.ca/cam-pus-life/clubs/ which includes emails and web sites for their clubs as they become available.
WhAt iF i don’t like Any oF the cluBs At cluBs dAys?
Your first option is to find anoth-er club or organization that fits you. Get involved with student politics in the AMS or in your faculty constituency, or join a fraternity or sorority.
Your other option is to start your own club. For more in-formation on this, go to page 10 or check out the AMS’s web site.
A veritable cornucopia of Clubs Days in years past. GeoFF lister photo collAGe/THE UBYSSEY
8/ubyssey.ca/clubs days/2010.09.16
Ginette monAcoContributor
Stephanie Chiu joined the UBC Fencing club in 2002 for sim-ple reasons.
“I get to poke people with swords and get a workout?” she jokes. “I’ll try that.”
Like many who join the club, Stephanie was completely new to the sport—she had never picked up a sword in her life. Today, she ranks among the top female fencers in the country.
The UBC Fencing Club is ideal for those who’d like to learn the sport. A Canadian Fencing Federation (CFF) cer-tified coach is on hand to train all beginners and those estab-lished fencers interested in improving their form. Mem-bership fees are the lowest in the province—$5 if you join this month—and a l l equip -ment and protective gear is provided.
The club hosts and partici-pates in various CFF sanctioned
tournaments for a l l levels. Competitors are scored and ranked among their peers all over Canada. Part icipation in these tournaments is not required.
The Fencing Club also hosts an assortment of social events throughout the year: dinners, movie nights and an end of the year holiday social.
Fencing, as a sport, is a lit-t le unusual, but Stephanie points to Hollywood’s pirate trend as an explanation for
the club’s popularity. “I had a girl come up to me at Imag-ine Day and sign up because she’s wanted to fence since Pirates of the Caribbean.”
If you still need to be con-vinced that fencing is the sport for you, the club is offering a free first lesson to prospective members. The promotion will run throughout the month of September. It is a great, com-mitment-free opportunity to try your hand at this swash-buckling sport. U
kenJi [email protected]
Publishing the only student-run English/Chinese magazine at UBC is perhaps the most im-pressive accomplishment of Lit-erature Etc.
The magazine, leMook, is a freestyle collection of photo-graphic and literary artistic ex-pression. Club members partic-ipate in all aspects of leMook’s publication, from voting for its annual theme to compiling and editing submissions. Four elected core members lead this project with the assistance of other members.
The themes of past editions, such as Dreamism, Colorism, and Urbanism, reflect on the magazine’s serious aim to pre-serve and communicate be-tween multiple cultures au-thentically. However, the se-riousness of this task does
not prevent the editing pro-cess from being fun. Quite the contrary: weekly club member meetings provide opportuni-ties not only for exciting new ideas to be brought to the table, but also for laid-back socializ-ing between students who care deeply for cultural exchange.
On top of this already unique opportunity to gain experience in editing, Literature Etc. of-fers other compelling activi-ties that speak to its members’ desire to express. October and November are “photograph months,” where students orga-nize professional photo shoots.
Based on themes decided dur-ing earlier discussions, pho-tographers, costume design-ers and location hunters put their best foot forward in or-der to produce high-quality, creative photographs.
Another exciting event host-ed by Literature Etc. is the Tai-wanese Film Festival, held at the Vancouver International Film Centre. Over only three days last year, thousands of viewers filled the seats, instantly leav-ing a big “sold out” sign hang-ing at the box office.
Perhaps the most bizarre of the events they host around town is Literature Etc.’s leBi-zarre party—a social event fea-turing live music, art exhibi-tions, and popular culture. One highlight of this event is the live painting demo done by Emily Carr students—a great oppor-tunity to see how a work of art is created. U
Ginette monAcoContributor
What’s your favourite movie? Whether it’s an action flick about a multimillionaire superhero or an obscure, introspective French comedy, the Film Society will probably screen it sometime this year at the Norm Theatre.
Screenings are $2.50 with a membership ($10 for the year) and $5 without. Membership has its perks, too. The Film So-ciety runs events such as ski trips, dinners and an Oscar Par-ty. Furthermore, members are guaranteed entrance to special advance screenings and receive a ten per cent discount on rent-als at Limelight Video.
The Film Society also has a production branch. Work-shops are offered in pre-pro-duction, writing, directing, camera/lighting and post-pro-duction. Everything you need
Jocelyn lAuContributor
“1... 2... 3... Smile!” It takes more than 3 “clicks” to get a terrific photo.
The truth is, self-help books are not that engaging. To im-prove or build on your skills, it might be time to recycle the dummy-guide text and explore with like-minded people. For a start, try the PhotoSociety.
If you have seen or heard of the PhotoSociety, you no doubt know about their daunting $75 membership fee. First things first, do not compare it with oth-er clubs where the membership fee average is only $5. PhotoSoc may be costly, but what it of-fers may be worthwhile to note.
In addition to full equipment coverage, essential tutorials on
uBc FencinG cluB uBc photoGrAphy society
uBc literAture etc.
uBc Film societyFencing is great for the calves, but hard on the knees. And surprisingly practiced in the SUB. chris Borchert photo/THE UBYSSEY
The Photo Society studio. GeoFF lister photo/THE UBYSSEY
No quills required at Literature Etc.
The FilmSoc runs the Norm Theatre. nicole nyAGA photo/THE UBYSSEY
They’re full of cool people and live in the SUB, these are a few of our favorite clubs....
2010.09.16/ubyssey.ca/clubs days/9
Ginette monAcoContributor
Have you ever been to Japan? Would you like to go?
The UBC Japan Association ( JA) began as UBC’s social ex-change program with Japanese universities. Partnered with the universities of Keio, Doshi-sha, and Dokkyo, Canadian stu-dents are given the opportuni-ty to spend two months touring the country on a summer cultur-al exchange.
The program, now going into it’s 47th year, eventually had the
JA formed around it, which also hosts Japanese students for two weeks in August. President Shu-dan Liu says that although she has never been to Japan, she hopes that she will be able to take part in the JA’s exchange after graduating this year .
Lui says that Japanese ex-change students make up about half of the club’s members, and use the club to find unique op-portunities to experience Ca-nadian culture. But you do not have to be Japanese to join the club. Canadians can also learn about Japan through the JA.
Shudan describes the JA’s ac-tivities as “cultural exchange within the club,” and whenev-er she makes it to Japan, she believes that her involvement with the JA will have prepared her for the stay.
Beyond exchange activities, the club hosts social, cultural and sports events. JA Vice Pres-ident Sally Wong says that it’s these activities that drew her to the club. Without those set-t ings, Wong would not have had the opportunity to share her enjoyment of Japanese mu-sic with others. Past activities
include sushi making, karaoke contests, band shows, Amaz-ing Race-style campus scav-enger hunts, annual ski trips and annual sports nights. Shu-dan says that the JA is looking to host new events this year such as sake tastings and tea ceremonies.
The UBC Japan Association is a friendly place to bond over J-Rock, takoyaki and karaoke. Even if you think gyoza sounds more like a sneeze than a deli-cious Japanese side dish, come out to a JA meeting. Your taste buds will certainly thank you. U
uBc JApAn AssociAtion
kenJi [email protected]
The notorious International Relations Students Association (IRSA) is a megaclub. Combin-ing approximately 300 official members with hundreds of non-member-participants, IRSA is so huge that each of its activi-ties constitutes a kind of pseu-do-club in itself.
The Model United Nations (MUN), IRSA’s signature activ-ity, competes in a world-wide contest with other MUNs from top universities. Twelve elect-ed MUN members each form a separate sector‚ Arms Con-trol, Resources, etc. within the UBC MUN. IRSA hosts an annu-al MUN conference with over 300 delegates. Organized in ex-actly the same form as the real UN, each university at the MUN conference represents a country and negotiates real, contempo-rary international issues with other universities who repre-sent other countries. UBC MUN was one of the six top competi-tors in the last MUN conference among other universities, in-cluding Harvard. Intimidating
and overwhelming though this may sound, the members in-volved enjoy the challenges and develop a close friendship that only comes with being commit-ted to this exciting project.
As if the MUN alone was not enough to make IRSA outstand-ing, they hosts over ten other events. Most notable is perhaps
the “Night of a Thousand Din-ners,” where more than 400 stu-dents dress up and socialize to-gether with leading speakers and activists from around the world. As part of the world-wide gala movement that takes place on the same day, IRSA has the largest “Night” among the many other hosts across the globe.
IRSA also puts on conferenc-es on pressing global issues. In the past, IRSA has held a global health conference, a sustainabil-ity conference and many more. Again, prominent speakers in-teract with students, where fresh and energetic interchanges of ideas take place.
And check out their academ-ics. IRSA collaborates with 20 other universities to publish the Journal of International Affairs, a peer- and faculty-reviewed aca-demic journal.
Yes, you read it correctly: fac-ulty-reviewed. Professors who lead the field read the submitted articles and provide feedback, just as they would do for a for-mal academic journal.
On top of those academic, so-cial and political events that each have a tradition of more than 20 years, IRSA also is pen-etrating into artistic realms. For the last two years, the club has also run a fashion show. Be warned though, as tickets sold out quickly for both years: they’re popular, and it’s com-ing up this year again. Past cos-tumes include a dress made of Starbucks paper cups. U
for film production is gath-ered there, and members are free to create their own films all year round. These entirely member-created movies are then screened at an annual student film festival hosted by the Film Society.
If you’d like to get more in-volved with the Film Society, there are many opportunities to volunteer at the Norm. People are always needed to run the concession stand, but if you’re feeling a little more ambitious, the Film Society also offers the training to become certified as a projectionist.
It’s a place for movie enthu-siasts. If you curse that you weren’t born with the last name Coppola, or would just like to spend some time with The Dude at the annual Big Lebowski bev-erage garden, the UBC Film So-ciety is worth the price of ad-mission. U
utilization of the lights, manipu-lation in Photoshop, film devel-opment in the dark room and more are taught by the Photo-Soc. Occasionally, professionals in the city are also invited to give inspiring tutorials to members. And since it is necessary to re-ceive criticism to advance, pho-tos from members are also dis-played in galleries around cam-pus throughout the year.
Whether you are a digital pho-tographer or a film photographer, are into modern or vintage style, and know a thing or two or noth-ing at all, all are welcome at the PhotoSociety. If you don’t own a camera of any type, there are free rentals available for mem-bers. And of course, don’t forget their studio, where lighting and drop backgrounds are open to unlimited use for members. U
Spot the cultural references/stereotypes! The UBC Japan Association makes abundantly clear who they are. courtesy shudAn lui
uBc photoGrAphy society
uBc Film society
The Photo Society studio. GeoFF lister photo/THE UBYSSEY
internAtionAl relAtions students AssociAtion
Sadly, due to copyright issues, the UN does not allow us to use their flag.
The FilmSoc runs the Norm Theatre. nicole nyAGA photo/THE UBYSSEY
They’re full of cool people and live in the SUB, these are a few of our favorite clubs....
10/ubyssey.ca/clubs days/2010.09.16
C L U B Sthe GAme oF
stArtinG A Group At uBc
step
1: c
ReaT
Ing
youR
clu
Btrevor [email protected]
Interested in creating a club at UBC? It seems confusing at first, but it’s easier than you would think. The Alma Mater Society (AMS), your stu-dent government, has an organization called the Student Administration Commission (SAC) which, in addition to constituencies and re-source groups, funds and oversees over 300 clubs on campus.
8. GettinG cluB spAce
You may also want a space for your club. Currently, the AMS does not have enough room to support all of its clubs. However, you may be able to find space for your club in other buildings depending on the nature of your club. For instance, a science-based club may be able to get space from their faculty or the Science Undergraduate Society.
11d. Field trips
Be it a ski trip or a conference, field trips are a powerful way of making your club give back to its members.
step
2: y
ouR
cluB
exI
sTs!
step
3: R
unn
Ing
youR
clu
B
15. holdinG your AGm
At the end of the year, you’ll be holding an Annual General Meet-ing (AGM). Your opportunity to elect new members, it’s also where the fate of your club will be decided. Add new executive positions based on the weaknesses of your last year, and vote for whoever you think will best keep your club alive next year.
1. pickinG A cluB
Have an idea for a club? Good! Now check to see if it already exists. There are over 300 clubs at UBC, so there is a chance that the club you want to cre-ate has already been made. The AMS has a list of constituted clubs which can be found at www.amsclubs.ca.
2. consult With the sAc
Get in contact with the clubs commissioner at [email protected]. You’ll need to have a 15-minute information ses-sion with the SAC. They will provide you with information, and advise you on the next steps you should take to con-stitute your club.
4. prepAre your documentAtion
In order to get constituted as a club with the AMS, you’ll need to prepare the following documents: a constitu-tion, a plan for the year, a budget and a letter of intent.
4A. constitution
This is the document that will outline the core principles of your club, the price of membership and the number of execu-tives and their responsibilities, among other things. Note that you will need to have the names and student numbers of at least ten founding non-executive members, as well as the contact infor-mation for all of the club’s executives.
A template constitution can be found here: www.ams.ubc.ca/wp-content/up-loads/2010/08/Club_Constitution_updat-ed_June_2008.doc.
3. executives
Every club should have a president and a treasurer. One acts as liaison to the SAC, the other is in charge of the club’s financ-es. Beyond that, you should choose exec-utives’ seats based on your club’s specific needs. What sort of functions do you want your club to have? It’s a good idea to have an executive position set up to oversee each of these functions of your club.
4B. BudGet
You need to have an outline of the amount of money that you expect to take in, and what you will be spending it on. It’s really that easy, despite the GSS and AUS’s assertions to the contrary.
A template budget can be found at www.ams.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/New_Club_Budget_Template.xls.
6. yes
Congratulations, your club exists. Hold on there, ami-go. You still need members, money and space in order to start doing things with your club.
did you Get constituted?
4c. one yeAr plAn
You’ll need to submit a one year plan that outlines all of the activities, events and meet-ings you plan on having in the coming year.
4d. letter oF intent
You need to write a letter which explains the goals of your group, and why it is needed at UBC. Address it to the SAC Vice Chair, and then...
5. meetinG With the sAc
Once you have all your docu-mentation in order, submit it to SAC. You will be asked to give a five-minute presenta-tion, which will be followed by a question and answer period. After this meeting, SAC will make a decision on whether or not to constitute your club.
no
?R
etur
n to
1.
7. recruitinG
The two best places to find students interested in your club are Imagine Day and Clubs Days. Imagine Day is held during the first week of classes, and is the best opportunity to take in first-year students looking for something to do. Clubs Days takes place at the end of Septem-ber, and lasts for three days. Note that clubs are not allowed to solicit students for member-ship fees on Imagine Day. New members must sign a waiver provided by the AMS.
9. prepArinG to Get money
Get the tedious work done quickly and get your club ac-tivities funded! Contact the AMS and sign up for a trea-surer’s orientation. The trea-surer will sign documents and submit their signature, then be briefly informed on how to make transactions at the AMS bank, located in SUB 238A.
10. GettinG money
Now that you’re constituted, you’re going to need to look for ways to pay for your op-erations. You should already be getting some money from membership fees, but there are a few more sources of funding.
10B. cluB Funds
There are a number of funding options that exist for orga-nizations on campus. Some possibilities include the Club Benefit Fund, Innovative Project Funds, and the Walter Gage Memorial Fund, among others. If you’re unsure of where your club might be able to find financing, speak with the finance commission: you can speak with the as-sociate vice-president finance at [email protected].
10c. FundrAisers
Fundraisers are a good option for stu-dents looking to fund a specific initiative. Move forward to “holding events” for more information.
10A. GettinG sponsors
Although less common, there are a number of clubs that have sponsors. Depending on the na-ture of your club, interested spon-sors could come in any form, from sports equipment manufacturers to beer companies.
Finish: KeepIng youR cluB acTIve
11. holdinG events
Now that your club is up and running, you’ll probably want to do things with it. Recurring, annual or one-time events will invariably be what you use to further entice interested stu-dents into joining your club. Discuss your plans with oth-er members, book your loca-tions beforehand, keep your receipts securely, get your li-censes safely and enjoy the fruits of your labour!
11B. sports
Have your club create a team at UBC Rec in one of their many leagues, or try to chal-lenge faculty members to a game of soccer.
14. puBlishinG
A number of clubs, particularly the academic ones, also publish journals throughout the year. Depending on what kind of club you are running, you may want to consider this as well. Finally....
12. BookinG spAce
Depending on where you want to hold events, you will have to get in contact with the authorities in charge of the space. For instance, events held in the SUB must be booked through [email protected].
13. WAnt liquor At your event?
If you want to have an event in a licensed establishment, it is as simple as coming to an agreement with the manager; they will handle serving the liquor. If not, it’s up to you to make sure everything you do is on the up and up.
13A. servinG liquor
In order to serve liquor, you will need to hold a special occasion licence, and people who have been certified by Serving it Right.
13c. servinG it riGht
If you want to sell liquor at your event, you’ll also need Serving it Right certifications for anyone serving. It costs money, but the exam can be done online and is open-book: www.servingitright.com. The great news is that this licence is permanent, so you only have to get it once, and it will al-low you to work in permanent li-censed establishments.
13B. speciAl occAsion licences
These can be bought at any BC Li-quor store. Get a private SOL only if you do not plan on letting outsid-ers come to your event; you can get in trouble if anyone shows up who was not a planned guest. If you plan on making your on-cam-pus event open to the public, you will need to get authorization from the RCMP.
11e. FundrAisers
Have a cause you want to champion, or just need cash to send your club on a trip to Turkey? Hold an event to raise funds for it!
11A. sociAl events
Since you have an organi-zation with a collection of individuals with common interests, why not get them together and see if some friendships form?
11c. AcAdemic events
Hosting a conference, or have some guest speakers!
2010.09.16/ubyssey.ca /cu ltu r e/11
culture editors BRYCE WARNES & JONNY WAKEFIELD » [email protected] ANNA ZORIA » [email protected]
Food WITh KaIT BolongaRo
it’s not eAsy BeinG veGAn
Being vegan at UBC is chal-lenging. For an inst itut ion that prides itself on its sus-tainability policy in one of, if not the healthiest cities in Can-ada, the lack of meal options available for those who strive to maintain a lifestyle of no animal products or by-prod-ucts is quite appalling. One afternoon, I went in search of these rare delicacies, and while my options were dismal, there are a few excellent vegan op-t ions avai lable from select businesses in the SUB.
The Pendulum should be at the top of every vegan’s ‘where to eat’ list. This hide-away has the widest range of options, from salads and soups to banana bread, all of which f it the student budget. The vegan salads taste fresh, and are filling due to their high plant protein content. My per-sonal favourite, however, is the vegan banana bread. The Pendulum’s version of this classic vegan loaf tastes ex-actly like its non-vegan cous-in, without the oily consisten-cy sometimes found in veg-an baked goods. It is even popular with customers who would usually eschew any veg-an option.
A nother a lte r n a t i v e i s Sprouts, in the basement of the SUB. While lacking a large menu in general, Sprouts en-deavours to serve both its veg-an and non-vegan custom-ers alike. Most of its savoury soups are vegan, and as their soup special changes daily, Sprouts is home to one of the broadest vegan soup options on campus. If you are looking for a vegan treat, Sprouts also makes the best vegan brown-ies in the SUB.
My third pick is Blue Chip Cookies. While they serve only baked goods, due to their size, on any given day there are be-tween two and three vegan op-tions available. My favourite is the vegan apple muffin, which is just as smooth and delicious as other Blue Chip muffins. Also, the chocolate zucchini loaf is sweet and the choco-late bits don’t have the chalk-iness often encountered with vegan chocolate. My least fa-vourite is the vegan walnut brownie. The mint icing is a nice surprise. However, the brownie itself is dry and too dense. A decent effort, but not something I will eat twice. U
Can you dig it? Shindig at 26Ginette monAcoContributor
UBC alumnus Ben Lai’s first night hosting CiTR’s Shindig is not one he’ll easily forget. It was September 11, 2001 and the band that won that night had the alarmingly apt name of 3 Inch-es of Blood.
It was an ominous introduc-tion, but Lai has been the coor-dinator and emcee of the event ever since.
Shindig is a thirteen-week bat-tle of the bands, beginning Sep-tember 14. The 27 finalists were narrowed from 100 applicants and every Tuesday night, three groups take the stage in the hopes of winning over the judges: fel-low musicians, members of the radio station and music journal-ists. The top three bands are re-warded with studio time and the winning band gets an informal “date” with Mint Records. Last year’s winners, The Hidden Tow-ers, went curling.
Shindig is going into its 26th year and has produced some success for contestants. In June the Hidden Tow-ers played the North by North East festival in Toronto.
Other winners have included the aforementioned 3 Inches of Blood, VanCougar, and the Salteens, who appeared on the hipster-friendly
children’s show Yo Gabba Gabba this summer.
The event also has some nota-ble losers. Japandroids, You Say Party, the Pack A.D. and the Mo-hawk Lodge all played Shindig at some point. The contest is second-ary to the experience. For Ben, it’s a way to discover new music, to “get people to come out, to play and have a good time.”
It’s important for the audi-ence to understand that this is
not a genre night. The shows are diverse, to say the least. On a single Tuesday night, the line up can include anything from acoustic and folk to met-al, punk or ska. It makes it dif-ficult for the judges to compare the bands against each other, but they always manage to achieve a consensus, even if the audi-ence doesn’t. It’s a competition that rewards artistic merit rath-er than preference.
Ben says that Shindig is kept run-ning because of the opportunities it offers for bands who want to break into the Vancouver music scene. “I think it’s important. In the begin-ning, it was very important to get bands out, a lot of them can’t just play the Railway Club. We try to help them get a foot in the door.” U
Shows are held at the Railway Club and start at 9 PM. CiTR’s Shindig runs every Tuesday until December 7th.
The scene at last year’s Shindig. The weekly battle of the bands has bred some big names. uByssey File
this WeekendFridAy, sept. 17
thAt BAristA thinG Vancouver Public Library Central Branch (350 West Georgia St) 11am-4pm
A café au lait battle royale fea-turing coffee gladiators from all over Vancouver, as well as inter-national contestants. Tea leaf readings, free beverages and music by the Reverberators will also be part of the deal.
sAturdAy, sept. 18
sundAy, sept. 19
eArthdAnce 2010 FestivAl Prospect Point picnic area, Stanley Park,10am-8pm
Shambhala and Burning Man weren’t enough for you? Come sweat out the rest of your sum-mer fever with the world this Saturday at a synchronized, all-day, all-night global festival of peaceful creative expression featuring DJs and more. Tick-ets are $25. Visit earthdance.ca for more information.
here todAy, Gone todAyBelkin Art Gallery (1825 Main Mall)12pm - 5pm
Sunday marks the last day of the art exhibition Here Today, Gone Today. It’s held at Belkin Art Gal-lery on campus and features fun stuff, morbid humour and mod-ern art made by our Masters of Fine Arts students. Ken Lum, a “distinguished visiting artist,” will be there talking about art and stuff from 12 - 5pm.
Unsure of what to do this week-end? Ubyssey Culture humbly of-fers up our recommendations for cool goings-on around campus and Vancouver.
8th AnnuAl FArmAde
UBC Farm (6182 South Campus Rd) 3pm-8pm
Two years since the farm controversy, in which 16,000 peo-ple signed a petition and 2000 marched against rezoning the 24- acre research farm for additional housing , the issue seems to have dropped off the political and cultural radar. Last year’s FarmAde had less than 500 people in attendance—a relative flop compared to 2008, FarmAde’s most successful year. Will this year’s event see renewed support for the farm? Stop by and find out, and enjoy BBQ, a beer garden and the old-timey stylings of the Agora String Band.
12/ubyssey.ca/cu ltur e/2010.09.16
Bingeing on Vancouver FringeWeird and wonderful annual festival finishes its 2010 run this SundayThere are only four days left to Vancouver International Fringe Festival—the biggest theatre fest in BC. With over 600 per-formances to choose from, it really is an all-you-can-eat buf-fet. Here is our tasting menu.
Wicked shorts
Staged by Vancouver Fringe “Bring Your Own Venue” veter-ans the Alley Theatre Company, Wicked Shorts is a collection of four short plays showing at Wick-ed Café, on the corner of 7th and Hemlock. Directed by local the-atre favourite Marisa Smith and starring Guy Christie and Eliz-abeth Kirkland, Wicked Shorts’ vignettes are a mixed bag.
In some instances, the shorts don’t quite fit. The work opens with an over-the-top blind date comedy involving a matador and a librarian that, while fun-ny, doesn’t really mesh with the venue.
The problem with such an in-timate environment as a café is that grandiose slapstick humour that may look fine on a stage is a little awkward from centimetres away. The exaggerated expres-sions come off as grotesque and something just doesn’t sit right.
While this was an underly-ing issue throughout, the actors quickly moved on to better things, improving upon their use of the café theatre environment.
The next piece was a sim-ple one involving a waiter, fol-lowed by a darker scene por-traying an angst-filled reunion. The show concludes on a strong note with an absurdist sketch involving the spawn of a cy-clops and plenty of laughs.
Wicked Shorts, whi le not perfect, provides a great op-portunity to see some local talent and enjoy a freshly made cappuccino at the same time.
—Andrew MacIsaac
thinGs thAt never hAppen
Don’t let the ambiguous de-scription mislead you; Things That Never Happen is a simple magic show—no more, no less. It is certainly not the equiv-alent of a TED presentation.
That being said, it is a very good magic show. Schmaltzy il-lusionist Travis Bernhardt of-fers viewers an hour of what can only be described as a fun, entertaining spectacle. Bern-hardt is a highly skilled per-former, and, despite the mod-esty of the venue (Granville Is-land’s Origins Café) he is ful-ly able to create a funny, cor-dial atmosphere.
Though he makes them seem simple, the tricks themselves are particularly outstanding. The profundity of the illusions
is exacerbated by the fact that the venue is so intimate—there are no dramatic stage effects at play here, just a man and some props. Yet you will almost cer-tainly be left scratching your head, asking yourself, “Just how did he do that?” Perhaps my only complaint is the lim-ited space in the café; those at the back definitely had to crane their necks to watch. But if you have some spare time and want to feel like a child again, check out Things That Never Happen.
— Rhys Edwards
52 pick up
Each performance of 52 Pick Up is a different representation of the same relationship from
beginning to end. The catch is that the order is determined at random, as the actors pick up cards indicating different scenes. The two-person play, di-rected by Elizabeth Baron, is performed by Gemma Wilcox and Sam Elmore.
The play starts off with the two actors separating a deck of 52 cards and throwing it in the air. The cards are then turned face-down and picked up throughout the play. The ac-tors perform the scenes corre-sponding to the cards in the or-der which they are picked up, hence creating a completely different show from each pre-vious one. The lack of order creates an interesting puzzle, as the audience attempts to place the scenes in the prop-er story line.
The plot is the familiar topic of a love story, encompassing the meeting, the relationship, the break up and finally the post-relationship encounter. No rev-elation there, but the structur-al experimentation manages to make this banal subject at least a little more compelling.
—Anna Kouzovleva
poison the Well
In the process of negotiating a hostage crisis, childhood friends are reunited. Jim, a lawyer for a Russian oil com-pany, is sent into a meeting with polit ical activist/jour-nalist Maya in the hopes that their history will allow for le-verage. Simply put, the situa-tion is unlikely.
Ultimately, though, the mat-ter of probability is not a real issue; the script concerns it-self more with the reunion of the two characters and less with the situation that brings them back together. However, instead of exploring the unex-pected paths life can take, the play falls flat and never quite manages to achieve the intima-cy for which it strives.
As the negotiations progress, the demands become more personal, but the play never does. Much as they try, the ac-tors do not consistently con-nect to the dialogue and there is little chemistry between the two, which is certainly a prob-lem in a play that hinges on the idea of unresolved issues and past relationships.
The climax is tense, but the ambiguous ending offers lit-t le closure for the audience. Poison the Well fails to connect its characters to one another and, in the end, fails to con-nect to the audience. U
—Ginette Monaco
Fringe Festival delivers full frontal theatre. photo courtesy oF vAncouver FrinGe FestivAl
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14 / u b y s s e y. c a /g a m e s / 2 010 . 0 9.16
games & comicsAcross 1. Sheet of stamps5. Egyptian goddess of fertility9. Sir Newton was an English mathematician14. Iowa city15. Potato preparation16. Electromagnetic telecommunication17. Tranquil19. Exclude, remove20. Unsnarl21. Roofing stone22. Person with new parents23. Counterfeit24. Apr. addressee25. Plant of the buttercup family28. Call31. Made a mistake32. Manipulate34. Circular band35. Spanish river36. Calamitous37. Are we there?38. Small tree39. Conical native American tent40. Cassock
42. Pouch43. Soprano Lily44. Detained48. Clothe50. Link together51. Pay for52. Mammary gland fluid53. Speed54. Nights before55. Corn of the taro56. Ruhr city57. ___ majeste58. Deli breads
doWn 1. New Guinea2. Change for the better3. Cool!4. Fleeing5. Likenesses6. Fine fur7. Land in water8. “___ loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah”9. Erin10. Italian sausage11. Mine entrance12. Adjutant
13. Cedar Rapids college18. Nous21. Clogs, e.g.23. Rub vigorously25. Dispute26. Journey27. Green land28. Ask invasive questions29. Hastens30. Aware of31. Merits33. “Fancy that!”35. Baron36. Wine flask38. Become more muscular39. Stories41. Bring up to current moment42. Bristly44. Bundles45. Behind time46. Chopin composition47. Band’s sample tapes48. Ages49. Capone’s nemesis50. Bay51. Common article52. Animation unit
crossWord
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letters
editoriAl
expAnd the dedicAted Bike lAnes
Have you read any of the local papers about dedi-cated bike lanes lately? If so, you’re no doubt un-der the impression that the new dedicated bike lanes are a vile concept spawned by Beelzebub himself. They are a bane to innocent motorists and business owners alike, aiding only a hand-ful of car-loathing anarchists, right?
The truth is, we need to expand every non-mo-torist transportation option we can.
Vancouver isn’t going to get any major new roads, but will continue to grow. Besides that, the cost of owning a car is not viable for many young people today. That’s just a difficulty that city planners have to get around. These bike lanes are just one way to plan for a much more crowd-ed Vancouver in the future.
The main criticisms about bike lanes are that they increase traffic and harm businesses. In fact, just mentioning bikes to certain people will make them angry. But this anger will never make the price of gasoline go down, nor the available space for roads in Vancouver go up.
The only criticism we have is that we’re not sure the system is extensive enough to encour-age anyone new to take up cycling. The city has been doing this piecemeal in a way that makes for good photo-ops but won’t actually encourage more biking. So we say, why not expand the sys-tem outside of downtown? People that oppose bike lanes are not going to get angrier if new lanes are created. When it comes to making this a bike-friendly city, Vision Vancouver should ei-ther go big or go home.
FrAternities should stop turtlinG
In our dreams, this paper is a titan of strength, the most-read newspaper in British Columbia. But it isn’t. The Province is. And yesterday, in the most-read paper in BC, the headline of the only editorial said “UBC frat brawlers should be expelled.”
Of course, the “brawlers” weren’t UBC students, but thugs from the city looking for a good place to act like idiots on a Saturday night. The sto-ry lacked context—just like a lot of stories about the incident. But it took 36 hours after the inci-dent broke for the fraternities to release a for-mal statement. The IFC president looked fool-ish—and yes, hungover—when he told CTV News he “didn’t know” what happened on Saturday. And DKE is refusing to issue any statements. So you can understand why media that don’t live on this campus are a little hazy on all the facts. What we can’t understand is why the fra-ternities aren’t being more proactive in combat-ing a dated stereotype.
The close-knit, communal—and yes, somewhat secretive—brotherhoods that make fraternities such a force become a flaw the moment they’re criticized. They’re told by alumni and their supe-riors not to talk. They become immediately defen-sive. We’ve had frat members claim that they’re the real victims, because people “take advan-tage” of them, and that this is UBC’s fault for not having gates to stop non-students and staff from entering the university late at night. No, really.
What fraternity members should realize, and fast, is that when you already have a negative stereotype and you’re in a 24/7 news cycle, the only way to combat bad news is to be proactive, truthful and aggressive in defending your side of the story. Otherwise perception becomes re-ality really quickly.
In this situation, though, outside of UBC, the die has been cast. People think fraternities had a 500-person party on the weekend where offi-cers were beat up, and that’s that. But within the university, they can still change opinions. In the coming weeks, fraternity members should tell the good stories about their community (and there are a lot). They should work proactively with the administration. Finally, they should find a way to have better security for the entire village on big party weekends.
Fraternities do add a great deal of value to UBC, but their performance on Saturday night has hurt their—and this university’s—public im-age. They would do well to recognize as such, and act accordingly. U
Dear GSS and Koerner’s Management Staff,
I understand you have had a difficult time with your recent closure. I tru-ly feel for you—Koerner’s was my fa-vourite pub on campus.
This evening I was turned away at the door around 9:00pm with the ar-gument that Koerner’s was “at capac-ity”... It was obvious there could not have been many more than 50 people inside, and empty chairs were visible. On any night, to be turning away loy-al patrons that you are clearly able to accommodate is not simply bad busi-ness—it is bad manners. To make mat-ters worse, I was attempting to attend a birthday party. My newly older friend came to the door to say goodbye, since I had politely accepted that I was not going to get in to the establishment and still wanted to wish him a happy birthday. I was shocked when one of your doormen, fully aware that he was speaking to the person celebrating his birthday, offered to let me in on the condition that my friend (a graduate student) leave. That was simply rude, as was his accompanying suggestion that we shake hands through the door as I left. Long-term, well-behaved and loyal patrons should not be treated in such a way, and it is quite disgusting
to imply that someone who chose to celebrate his birthday at your estab-lishment leave.
I have been to Koerner’s Pub many times in previous years, and every sin-gle time was there within the law. I found being turned away this evening and my friend’s treatment by your doorman completely unacceptable and I wish you to know that you need not expect my business in the future.
— Sean Cregten
I was forwarded your email this morn-ing for investigation and wanted to respond quickly, lest you fear that we were disinterested in your comments.
I certainly apologize for you and your friend’s brusque treatment at the front door by our security staff.
They are a recently hired firm, and obviously need some instruction in the correct handling of patrons, especially in problematic situations such as the one you encountered last night. High-ly regrettable, and I certainly apolo-gize for that.
As to your comments about there be-ing empty seats in the establishment when you were told that we were in ca-pacity, I’m sure that was the case. Our establishment is licensed for 150 pa-trons, including the patio when it is in use. We have looked at the licence
quite carefully in this regard since we were all hoping that the capacity of the patio was in addition to the in-side licence. Unfortunately, that is not the case. That means, if there are 150 people sitting on the patio that literal-ly, according to the licence, the entire room inside would have to be empty.
We try to run the business in a more sensible fashion than that, but it does mean that occasionally we will have room for more people than we are al-lowed to serve. This is unfortunate but we also can’t run roughshod over the rules or we will have no licence to op-erate at all...
Again, I apologize for the situation with security and I will be following up with the company to ensure there is no repetition of this behaviour.
Otherwise, please identify your-self to me or the assistant manager, Zsuzsanna, when you are in next and we would be happy to buy you a beer.
I hope this explanation does go some way to explaining the incident last night, and will leave you inclined to continue to use Koerner’s as a pub you frequent. Your business is valued and appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to let us know your concerns. — Gerald Cole, GSS Food & Beverage
Manager
hey too sexy,
I’m into big chicks. Not big as in tall‚ big as in chubby, voluptuous, etc. And while this on its own isn’t a problem, I do have trouble finding potential dating partners who are large enough to satisfy my tastes. I meet lots of nice girls, but they’re all either trim and toned already, or are trying to get that way as fast as pos-sible and complain about their extra poundage constantly.
What’s a guy to do? Why can’t they see themselves as beautiful, the way I do? I just want a real woman! Help!
—CHASE
hi chAse, Let’s get right to it.
While self-accepting chubby girls do exist, they can be difficult to find. That’s because of overwhelm-ing pop culture stereotypes of what
“real women” are supposed to look like. Since physical ideals are tied so strongly to themes of success in cul-tural narratives, most people get the impression that since they are not successful all the time, there must be something wrong with their ap-pearance. This is especially true of narratives involving romantic suc-cess. The beautiful, thin princess and handsome, buff prince are very rare-ly replaced by the more-woman-than-most diva or the pleasantly paunched princeling.
The problem, CHASE, is not that thinness is emphasized as the ideal for girls—it’s that an ideal exists at all. The shapes and sizes of people’s bodies are poor criteria for self-acceptance, no matter the standard they are supposed to conform to.
All that said, it’s totally okay to be attracted to specific traits. We give you the same advice we’d give to any-one trying to meet prospective part-
ners on campus: do stuff. Join clubs, go out to restaurants and bars, and hang out in high traffic places where you can strike up conversations with anyone who strikes your fancy. If conventional methods fail to reveal enough cushion for your pushin’, Craigslist might not be a bad place to try. You can set your bar wherever you like and I bet you’ll get at least one or two ladies who are looking for a man who loves the large.
And if you do find what you’re chasing, let her know she’s beauti-ful, and not just big. All too often, people who live outside our cultural beauty norms can feel objectified, es-pecially when something they might not always like about themselves becomes a big objectified draw for their partner. If you’re dating some-one just because she’s heavy, then you’re not much better than the guys who ignored her because she was “voluptuous.” U
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