IMPEACHING, EDUCATION FUNDING, AND A SKUNK, TO BOOT Yes, stuff happened even though you were on vacation // Samantha Thompson

While many students may have spent the last several weeks pretending the world didn’t exist, the fascinating stories that occur around us continued on. Covering everything from student politics to animal tales, the winter months did not slow down just because we did.

CAPILANO UNIVERSITY TO GET FUNDING FOR SKILLS TRAINING

In December, it was announced by the Minister of Advanced Education Naomi Yamamoto that Capilano would receive additional funding for its tuition-free full-time Employment Skills Access programs. The programs focus on preparing students for “entry-level employment in industries, sectors, or occupations that are currently experiencing or are projected to experience labour or skills shortages,” stated the press release.

Capilano has numerous ESA programs, including Business and Culture for Foreign-Trained Professionals, Introduction to Trades, and Retail and Hospitality Customer Service program. In many of the programs, participants are granted certification. The participants must be unemployed, and have not claimed EI in the past three years. The ESA initiative is funded through the Canada- British Columbia Labour Market Agreement.

STATSCAN AVAILABLE FOR ALL

In November, it was announced that Statistics Canada’s data would soon be available to the public, for free. On Feb. 1, the data will be fully available, and the public can use the data for whatever means they choose. In a press release, StatsCan stated, “Licensing restrictions for the use of Statistics Canada data products will be removed.”

According to Peter Frayne, the data will be released under an open-license agreement, which will have very few restrictions regarding how users may utilize the data – so long as they represent the data accurately.

Although the potential for the data to be used negatively is present, it will also provide nonprofit organizations and small businesses with valuable data that they could not afford access to otherwise.

TWELVE KWANTLEN EXECUTIVES IMPEACHED

After a lengthy battle between some vocal members and the elected representatives, the Kwantlen Students’ Association saw significant changes to its organization. Students gathered on Nov. 30 for a special general meeting, and unanimously voted to impeach 12 board members.

Several board members had been accused of being in a conflict of interest. It was revealed by The Runner, Kwantlen's student newspaper, that some board members were related to the defendants in a civil lawsuit that the KSA had been pursuing against elected representatives from years past. The members in question were accused of misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars in student fees to commit mismanagement and breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuit had been settled between the two parties shortly prior to the general meeting.

The meeting was not without its own controversy, however. More than 400 students arrived to vote, and throughout the meeting duration had to deal with pepper spray and multiple fire alarms. Once voting commenced, more than 2 hours after the scheduled time, the assembly unanimously voted in favour of impeaching 12 board members, and a total of 26 people (executives and staff) were placed in bad standing in the organization, which prohibits them from voting or running in future KSA elections.

Until the elections are called, five transitional board members, who were appointed at the general meetings, will carry out the business of the organization.

THE ADVENTURES OF BUBBLES

Bubbles the skunk has become quite the legend around Vancouver. The skunk was first spotted back in August, with a beverage lid wedged around her neck. When she was seen again several months later, it was decided that the community members would come together to rescue the rodent.

The skunk was tracked by neighbours over several weeks and eventually the group had established where the skunk frequented, and set up a live trap in an empty lot to trap the skunk. Even though by this time Bubbles no longer had the plastic lid around her neck, her neck did have many cuts that required healing. She was taken to a shelter and six weeks later was rehabilitated into her neighbourhood.

SFSS LEAVES CFS FOR REAL

Late in December, it was announced that the Simon Fraser Students’ Society’s membership in the CFS had officially ended. This out of court resolution came after a long journey as the two bodies debated whether or not the SFSS was still a member of the CFS. The SFSS held a referendum on whether or not to continue membership in the CFS, but there was a dispute about the outcome of the referendum.

The SFSS, who believed their referendum had resulted in the cessation of membership, ended up filing a lawsuit against the CFS, demanding that they recognize that their membership in the national lobbying organization was no longer in effect.

The official press release stated that the decision to arrive at the out of court resolution was “motivated by a desire on the part of all parties to resolve all outstanding issues.” The CFS and the SFSS have agreed to not release any further statements other than what is stated in the short release.

// Samantha Thompson, Editor-in-Chief, with files from The Canadian University Press

WHO SAYS VIDEO GAMES CAN'T BE PRODUCTIVE Phylo uses video game format to assist in scientific research // Sarah Deshales

MONTREAL (CUP) – Imagine if all the hours you spent moving coloured blocks on Tetris or cultivating wheat on FarmVille actually led to something productive – terminal disease research, perhaps?

Two McGill University academics are tapping into the growing appetite for casual video games in order to further research into illnesses like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.

Jérôme Waldispuhl and Mathieu Blanchette launched Phylo in November 2010 and, since then, 17,000 registered users have played the game. Collectively, those users have produced information, released last December, which researchers can use to improve knowledge about genetic disorders.

Waldispuhl, whose personal gaming preferences involve the empire-building game Civilization, among others, came up with the idea when he would be playing games on his laptop as a break from work every few hours: “I was asking myself, how can I use this energy in these casual games to do something useful?”

“Basically, solving a puzzle [in a game] is solving a problem,” the computer scientist explains. “If you can find the equivalence between the problem you’re solving in your puzzle, and another problem, you can re-use the solution to do something.”

Phylo is a simple, Tetris-like game where players line up blocks in colours of orange, purple, blue, and green on either their computer or mobile or tablet device. Each block is human DNA, and all the genetic information is sourced from the University of California, Santa Cruz Genome Browser.

A line of DNA blocks represents a genetic sequence. Underneath is a sequence from another species, and the goal is to line up blocks that are the same colour. When this happens, players are forming a genetic sequence alignment; in other words, they’re finding similar genetic regions from different species.

“The thing is that the sequence by itself doesn’t tell us a lot. What we need to understand from this genome – this DNA that we are sequencing – is to compare the DNA from a lot of different species in order to reveal a similarity between the different DNAs,” said Waldispuhl. As Phylo’s website explains, alignments help scientists trace the evolution of some genetic diseases. Each sequence in the game is thought to be linked to a genetic disorder.

“The goal of Phylo is to produce the data to make the comparisons of DNA easier,” explained Waldispuhl. Once you complete an alignment, it’s stored and fed back to the “global alignment.”

Meanwhile, you’ll get a message on your screen that goes something like this: “We appreciate your contribution to science: Congratulations! You've completed the final stage, and we just submitted your alignment for this session. You played level 902. The DNA in this puzzle has been linked to: FAMILIAL ARRHYTHMOGENIC RIGHT VENTRICULAR DYSPLASIA.”

Since the game launched, players have produced over 350,000 different alignment solutions over about 500,000 games. With each game taking about one to two minutes to play, Waldispuhl estimates that a beginner can produce a solution in between 10 to 15 minutes.

The idea is that humans can do this sort of work better than computers. While the human genome itself is too large for a human to completely decode, a computer cannot be relied upon, either. Even completed algorithms designed to do this kind of work aren’t guaranteed to find all the alignments.

GalaxyZoo, he adds, is another example of human computing that is harnessing people power to improve science. Its 250,000 users help sort through a million images of galaxies produced by a robotic telescope. By answering visual questions about an image, users have produced endless classifications that help scientists shape understanding of the cosmos.

Most of Phylo’s thousands of players are located in North America, with others in Europe and Brazil. Media coverage has helped spread the word to India and Asia as well.

Waldispuhl said that the game is also diversifying into other languages, with recent launches in Spanish and Hebrew, and Russian and Chinese versions on the horizon.

But the goal is also to keep a game with a serious objective light-hearted: “We’re still trying to make it even more fun,” says Waldispuhl. “Fun and creative.”

// Sarah Deshales, CUP Quebec Bureau Chief

// Illustration by JJ Brewis

GLOBAL A.P.B. CALLED ON JOLLY RED GUY Claus missing after collapse of Arctic Circle Ben Spieler

T his past holiday season, the ongoing global warming saga appears to have taken its first major victim – the Arctic Circle. In a freak temperature spike, the entire ice-based landmass succumbed to increased water temperatures and became part of the ocean that caused its demise.

Though scarcely populated, the world felt the impact of the missing landmass in the form of increased sea levels, fluctuations in climate, and, worst of all, a catastrophic decrease in magical merriment in the final days of last December.

Santa Claus, celebrity resident of the Arctic Circle’s unofficial Capital, The North Pole, is still missing after the events of December. Though the black box from his sleigh was recovered, no information as to the whereabouts of the kindly old man could be found. His famous workshop, submerged with the rest of the terrain was found and photographed by submarines and appears to be almost completely intact. Speculation as to how this is possible left emergency crew and other experts around the world scratching their heads. “It has to be magic, there’s no other way,” says Chris Mystery, an architect from Alabama.

SIt has been speculated that Claus, believed to be immortal by some, decided to go down with the empire that he had spent an untold number of decades or centuries building, but not necessarily to his death.

Holiday’ologist Mary Sugar-Socks says, “If the structures are intact, it’s entirely possible that there are survivors inside. Many have believed for years that he must go into space in order to circumvent the globe so quickly, there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t create a survivable atmosphere so deep in the ocean.”

Confirmation of this may be difficult, as current submersible technology cannot handle the pressures that one might encounter at the depth the workshop has sunk for long enough to attempt a rescue mission. Hope remains strong that Santa has survived the incident, and will return next December unscathed. The disappearance of the North Pole marks an important chapter for Claus, and for the ongoing issue of global warming. Once a desolate camp of stray elves, the Pole found its economy and standard of living rejuvenated by the arrival of European entrepreneur St. Niklaus, who built a toy workshop for a new endeavour – global toy delivery. A pioneer of toy development, St. Nicklaus changed his legal name to Santa Claus as the elves had trouble saying his birth name, and began the daunting task of providing the world’s children with toys that his work force would make and deliver once a year in one night.“Imagine a world in which every single child on the planet is given free toys in the darkest hours of the year: that’s what we’re doing. Some people told me it was impossible to deliver billions of toys in one night; I told them they were wrong,” said Claus in an interview with the Pole Weekly. S

urpassing all expectations while bringing smiles to the youth of the world, Claus harnessed never-before-seen magical forces to create jobs for the elven population of the North Pole, and turned his small workshop into a thriving industrial powerhouse.

“All my workshops produce zero carbon emissions and follow closely the old Atlantean Climate Standards in order to insure the health of my workers and the environment we share,” Claus explained in the same interview with the Pole.

However, controversy eventually found the North Pole in the form of equal rights protesters. Accusations came forward that Claus employed only elves and refused applications from other species, leading some to label him a speciesist.

A task force was formed by the League of Nations, predecessor of the UN, to investigate these accusations, but no proof was found. Claus was found to have a mixing pot of species under his umbrella including reindeer, elves, snowmen, yetis, and a human singer who narrated the lives of various North Pole inhabitants through song. (An extravagant quirk generally taken in good humour by those who knew him).

A neutral force through the course of World War I and II, German-born Claus provided presents for children regardless of nationality during that dark period of history. Shortly after the second of the great wars, he caught the ire of certain American politicians during the Mc- Carthy Era, as assessments of his nation revealed many socialist programs in place, and accusations of communist leanings began to surface. Throughout all of this, public opinion of his operations barely wavered, and allegations were eventually dropped.

As one can see, old Claus flourished through the good and bad times, rarely finding himself on the naughty list of the world’s people. The world holds its breath as the combined navies of the world search for Santa Claus, every jingling bell and glass of milk a reminder of what we once took for granted.

// Ben Spieler, Writer

// Illustration by Jullian Aquino

SMALLER CLASSES, BIGGER LOVE The importance of funding alternative schools // Claire Vulliamy

When I used to tell people that I went to an alternative school, major misconceptions would crop up: that I did something criminal, that I had an IQ in the genius levels, or that my parents were paying for it. In actuality, “alternative” can mean anything, and in the case of a student who is falling through the cracks of the educational system, it means a place to land.

I went to City School, an alternative school that exists within King George Secondary in Vancouver’s West End. Near the entrance is a map of Vancouver with all the major intersections, and the names of students and teachers pinned down wherever they live. The pins are almost equally spaced across the city, with commutes ranging from five minutes to two hours.

While currently a program for grades ten to 12, City School previously included elementary as well as high school. In the early days of its formation in 1971, the school was significantly different. The population, now numbering 30, sat somewhere around 75, “on paper maybe a 120,” according to Sal Robinson, the current longestrunning member of staff. Staff assistant, though de facto teacher, Sal began working at the school in 1977 – immediately after her own graduation from City School. T

he reason for the overarching name City School was a style of learning that used the city as a classroom. The original modus operandi was to “go out and learn anything and everything, everywhere,” describes Sal. In order to attain credits, she explains, the student had to make a case that they had “fulfilled the goals” of a course. While some elements of this approach remain, after the provincial exams were introduced, Sal explains, “the curriculum content became more important than the process.”

One longstanding rebellion against the curriculum is a credit course called Independently Directed Studies (IDS) which allows students to study any topic they like, design their own course structure, and then present evidence that they accomplished their goals by the end of the term. In City School, it functions the same way any elective would. Not all IDS projects work out: I remember proposing a deliberately antiacademic “pastry reviewing” IDS with two other classmates, which was not accepted.

The input of the students’ classes such as Physical Education, under the direction of the students, became one game of dodge ball after another. The City School students bonded with the King George cafeteria chef, as our extra classroom was essentially a closet behind the lunchroom. We arranged for the chef, who is also an archery instructor at Academie Duello, to come in to teach us archery, sword fighting, and the fine art of multiple push-ups. Afterwards we were taught practical lessons in nutrition, and, best of all, fed. This unlikely partnership taught me one of my most valuable life lessons: how to eat more than just cereal and cheese sandwiches.

That is what defines City School’s nature: it is an open school. In a classroom setting, the tone is conversational. Some classes see the entire school in one room, some are pared down to five people in a quiet corner. Questions are encouraged, and teachers are addressed by their first names. In City School’s 2010 yearbook, one student describes her impressions of the space: “The large communal desks in the main portion of the school formed an open circle, which I interpreted as an equality-based layout.” The school itself is primarily one room, which formerly served as a metal shop, with a glass-paneled garage door that rolls up onto a small, enclosed garden.

The philosophy of the school was influenced in part by what many consider to be one of the original “free” or democratic schools, England’s Summerhill School formed by Scottish author A.S. Neill in 1921. Summerhill essentially gave students freedom to choose their path to education. Neill wrote that “the function of the child is to live his own life – not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, nor a life according to the purpose of the educator who thinks he knows best. All this interference and guidance on the part of adults only produces a generation of robots."

From the start of its existence, City School, like Summerhill, has fostered democratic principles by hosting a general meeting once a week to share announcements about the school and to resolve issues. Anyone can put an item on the agenda to be subject for discussion, often at length. Unlike Summerhill, which is a private school, City School is part of the public school system: free and open to anyone who wishes to apply.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION UNDER THREAT

The funding of public education in British Columbia has been a heavily contested issue. Declining rates of student populations have resulted in budgets shrinking or stagnating. From 2000 to 2010, Vancouver’s student enrollment declined by about five per cent. In 2010, the provincial education budget for grades eight to 12 was $1.88 billion, the same as the year previous.

A news release from the provincial government from March 2010 said that “in education, per-pupil funding for students in the K-12 levels will rise from $8,200 in 2009-10 to an estimated $8,301 for 2010-11,” stressing that the amount of money spent on individual students is higher than ever. However, with rising operating costs of schools and the base rate of equipping classrooms with teachers, among other expenses, the Vancouver School Board was faced with a shortfall of approximately $16 million after receiving their provincial funding.

The average class size in BC is around 25 students, with around five per cent of classes having a total over 30. City School has two full-time teachers and one part-time staff assistant on board, which, for the 30-something population, is above the provincial average.

or that reason, when the Vancouver Board of Education released its revised preliminary operating budget proposals for 2010/2011, one of the positions at City School was on the chopping block. In the introduction of the document, it was stated that “… the impact of the reductions proposed in order to balance the proposed 2010/2011 operating budget will shake the very core of the [Vancouver school] system.”

Members of City School reacted against the cuts by attending public hearings and protests. Former COPE School Board Trustee Allen Blakey visited City School shortly after the budget proposals were released to speak with students.

“I liked the fact that there was no automatic agreement with my views, but rather questioning and stimulating comments. And everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves,” says Blakey of his visit. Blakey also returned to City School in 2011 to attend their 40 year reunion.

In regards to the proposed cuts, Blakey says that he is “not of the view that all school staffing should be the same. In particular, I believe that students growing up in poverty with two strikes against them from the start should have smaller classes and more resources to give them a more equal chance to have an equal outcome with other students … City School I perceive to be a program to enable students who find themselves unable to function effectively in regular programs to continue their education in a more open atmosphere. I support improved staffing for such a purpose.”

Another long-time alternative school in Vancouver, Ideal Mini, was also faced with the potential problem of losing a staff member. Leah Pacilla, a parent of an Ideal Mini student and a member of the Parent Advisory Committee, told the Vancouver Observer in 2010, "If we lost a teacher, that would be one of our pillars. It would hobble our core function."

Students at Lord Byng Secondary also rallied to save eight teachers who were to be laid off by creating a Facebook group and petition. Two of the teachers at Byng were later rehired. Similarly, after students, teachers, and parents made their voices heard, City School did not lose their staff member.

Sal says that this is nothing new: “Every time the budget comes up we’re on tenterhooks, in the last few years I think more so than ever.”

TODAY

The newest head teacher, Jay, previously worked as an environmental engineer before starting teaching at mainstream high schools and eventually hearing about the opening at City School. “I had the expectation that it would be a lot of work, because you’re teaching a lot of subjects,” Jay says, but he was pleased about the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers and that there “would be more opportunity to build relationships with students because you’re with them for more than a block on every second day.”

Jay explains that being part of the LGBT community has also influenced his motivation as a teacher. “I did volunteer work with [LGBT] youth before I got into teaching,” and as such, “[I] spent a lot of time connecting with young people who … didn’t feel safe in school, or they didn’t feel heard.”

Sal has many memories of what the small school has accomplished. Among them are Canadian exchange trips to PEI, Quebec, and the Arctic, and large-scale projects such as school plays. Overall, however, “that we’re still here after all this time is quite an accomplishment,” says Sal, and an important one at that. “The people that are here are pretty happy about being here and that there is a here to be at,” she says.

Former student Bunny Meugens says that if it hadn’t been for City School, she wouldn’t have graduated. “My one teacher Gary,” head teacher at the time, “went above and beyond the call of duty.”

“When I was in the psych ward, he came and visited me. I knew that he was there for me if I needed him. Actually, I knew that about all of my teachers at city school. They weren’t just authority figures that gave me boring assignments and told me to be quiet in class. I think they genuinely cared about all of us and wanted to help us learn as much as we could.”

In my own graduating year a select group of students decided to make a yearbook for the school: designing it, binding it, and working out costs of printing on their own. One of the creators, Chris Liberty, wrote his thoughts on his educational experience: “Here we all help each other, through work, or friendship or guidance. That is why I love this place, no one forces you to do something, they ask. That strengthens my belief [that] City School is a living, breathing entity, an amalgam of all the students’ and teachers’ personalities. And this had a profound effect on me, I like going to school now. I mean it. I love going to City School.”

// Claire Vulliamy, Arts Editor

// Photo by Claire Vulliamy

CONFLICTED INTERN-ALLY More students seeking internships are working under potentially illegal conditions // Jeff Lagerquist

TORONTO (CUP) – Internships can put some real world experience on your resumé and even land you a job, but some employers see them as an opportunity to get work done cheaply. With students desperate to build their portfolios, working for little or no money can seem like a viable option. The problem arises from the fact that the laws surrounding internships are vague and often unenforced, and, in the case of unpaid internships, many students end up working in illegal environments without realizing it.

Andrew Langille, a labour and employment lawyer in Toronto, says that internships have become a major part of the job market transition that young people go through: “Unpaid internships are being used as a proxy for entry-level positions, and they’re allowing companies to not hire people, but to use a revolving door of unpaid interns to sustain the business and the operations,” he explains.

The Employment Standards Act (ESA) has a six-point definition of a legal unpaid internship. Within that definition, it states that an unpaid internship should be the equivalent of a training program and should wholly benefit the intern. Langille says that internships fall under the title of “precarious employment”.

“Precarious employment is where you don’t have a lot of ties to the employer; it’s generally on a short-term basis on a contract with the employer. You may not get benefits,” he says. “If you’re making coffee, filing papers, photocopying, inputting data and so on and so forth, it’s probably not a training program, it’s probably illegal and it probably violates the ESA.”

Bruno Agincourt* is a senior journalism student who had a summer internship at a wellknown Toronto sports network. “That’s one of the reasons I moved to Toronto, I wanted to work for them,” he says. “Then, I found out it would be unpaid, which was okay. Most [internships] are, which sucks.”

Agincourt was working on search engine optimization content for the network two days per week. During his shifts he would write five to six 500-word stories on major sports while having to include phrases for optimization.

Agincourt says he received very little feedback on his work in the four months he was working for the network. He didn’t feel that he gained any benefit from his time there.

“Basically, I spent two days a week for four months cranking out 2,000 to 2,500 words of useless bullshit that no one saw, with no byline, no money, and not even something that I would put in my portfolio,” he explains. “I worked at a place that I always wanted to work at – and hated it and became completely disillusioned.”

Despite his negative experience, Agincourt can understand why companies would take advantage of free work from eager students: “It really does pay off for them. It’s just so hugely disappointing.”

Although the laws are vague and the risk of exploitation is always a factor, internships can be an extremely effective means of gaining real world experience before graduation.

“The thing that’s so good about intern programs is that it gives people a relatively simple way to find out if they want to do this stuff, whether they enjoy it, and whether they are good at it,” says Roger Gillespie, the man in charge of hiring student interns for the Toronto Star, which offers paid internships.

Gillespie explains that student internships also serve as a way for employers to see potential hires in action before offering a job. He makes it clear that interns should not expect full-time jobs: “Don’t rely on some notion that you are going to get hired here, because that’s a stupid thing to do,” said Gillespie.

Last year, the Star employed 22 interns for their three programs and none were hired fulltime. The interns themselves often set the pace of competition for scarce positions.

“Almost no one gets into our program who isn’t prepared to give up a chunk of their life,” said Gillespie.

Outworking your peers isn’t always the challenge, especially if you’re a business student. Sometimes staying focused on monotonous yet important tasks is the most difficult part.

Fourth-year business technology management student Paul Benton interned with CIBC World Markets for four months. After a rigorous three-part interview process, he found himself spending hours in front of an Excel spreadsheet filing reports for traders.

“I would say we were being exploited, but we were paid quite well; $22 per hour is at the higher end of the scale,” says Benton.

As boring as it was, the experience paid off: “Getting a job is a lot easier if you have an internship on your resumé. It’s a big part of landing a position after you finish school,” he says.

Practical work experience is an important part of a resumé, but arts industries are less likely to pay for your time: Louis Calabro is a manager of the Genie and Gemini awards for the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT). The ACCT hires unpaid interns, required to come in for 12 hours per week, for six-month internships.

“We’re a not-for-profit organization so we don’t have a lot of excess cash floating around,” says Calabro. “The internship is a way to provide experience for somebody who’s maybe just coming out of school or who may be in school at the same time. It’s not really meant to be a situation where you’re going to be making tons of money.”

The ACCT generally hires interns from arts and science programs. The interns’ responsibilities range from labeling, filing, and boxing things to putting together screener packages for nominating committee members and organizing information for the nominating committee.

“We function like any production company would on the office side of things. So I truly believe that does provide a lot of experience,” he said.

Langille says, “In the case of internships, whether you’re going to get the minimum wage is a big question. A lot of the internships aren’t paid.”

While internships provide real-world experience before graduation, there are other ways to build a resumé and break into your chosen profession.

“There are other ways to gain professional experience and I find that, increasingly, many students in the journalism program are working at a professional level almost from day one and keep on doing so even if it's as a freelancer, part-time, or contract, in their summers or spare time,” said Ivor Shapiro, chair of Ryerson’s journalism program.

Still, the job market’s demand for practical workplace experience is a reality for most Ryerson students.

“This has a wider impact on society because people are putting off life milestones, such as getting married, moving out of their parents' home, entering into relationships, having kids, buying a house, saving for retirement,” explains Langille. “This is a phenomenon that is affecting [current] generations and will affect the coming generations that are entering the labour market.”

// Jeff Lagerquist, The Eyeopener (Ryerson University)

// Illustration by Jason Jeon

A COLLABORATION OF ART AND ACTIVISM SFU's Audian gallery home to process-oriented exhibit //Brittney Kroiss

While the historic Woodward’s building was once a symbol of Vancouver’s prosperity, now its location and use has become an issue of contention. After being a popular shop from 1903 onwards, the iconic building ended up deteriorating after World War II.

In 2002, the “Woodward’s Squat” took place, with activists and residents of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood occupying the building, demanding low income social housing be developed in the then-abandoned multi-level department store. Today, the building is now home to a variety of uses, including mixed-income apartments, a number of shops, SFU’s contemporary arts campus, and the Audain gallery.

The Audain gallery is currently hosting an exhibit that is exploring the social and political issues of the DTES, often referred to as the “poorest postal code in Canada”. The collaborative process-orientated project, The Mapping the Everyday: Neighborhood Claims for the Future, has run since Nov. 17, 2011, and will continue to Feb. 25, 2012.

The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC), a feminist organization founded in 1978 which provides a safe space for the women of the DTES, has collaborated with Audain Gallery’s curator Sabine Bitter and visiting artist Elke Krasny. They have joined together in order to turn the Audain Gallery into a meeting ground to bring up and share various issues affecting the surrounding area.

Bitter is a Vancouver-based Austrian-born artist and a visual arts teacher at SFU. She is excited about the project as “it really shows what we can do as artists to work for different groups and have an exchange of different knowledges.”

In order to expand on the various types of knowledge, the project grew to include a number of different art collectives, SFU Contemporary Art students and members of the DTES Community.

Under Bitter’s guidance, SFU Contemporary Arts students ran Out of Bounds: Festival of Site- Specific Interventions, which took place over a two-week span and in the space that the students routinely travel: between the school and their 611 Alexander St. studios. The students took part in a number of ways, with individual actions, installations, and short performances on the street.

Alexis Vanderveen, one of Simon Fraser’s Contemporary Arts’ students, refers to the project as a “move to make Woodward’s [into an] ‘open’ space for the Downtown Eastside.” The Audain gallery, whose doors are usually locked and put under heavy surveillance, often makes members of the community feel as though they are “being watched.” Unlocking the doors during the duration of the exhibit is an attempt to make a place for those in the community to meet, bring about a comfortable sense of community, and inevitably assist the community in reclaiming “their space.”

Vanderveen took part in the Out of Bounds festival, documenting trips between her studio and the Audain Gallery by three methods: by foot, by bus, and by car, in order to contrast them. Recording the experience with a video camera around her neck, she explored the concept of space by taking in the sounds and sights of the neighbourhood. She found that her experiences, sense of time, and connection to the neighbourhood varied greatly depending on her method of travel. While she will most likely not make the videos public due both to the poor quality and out of respect of privacy of the others in the footage, she will join with the other students who took part in the festival on Jan. 19 at 7pm in the Audain Gallery to discuss the varied socially-engaged art practices and experiments that took place.

Art collective Downtown Eastside Media, or desmedia, engages artists and members of the community in collaborative art projects. It considers itself a “living archive” of the neighbourhood. As part of the collaboration, they hosted the “Collective Futures in the Downtown Eastside”, a public forum between artists and residents to discuss successes, challenges, history, and potential futures of the area. Desmedia’s workstation and archive of videotaped interviews is currently on display in the gallery, as it is without a home. Similar to Vanderveen, the archive is not available to the public eye for viewing out of respect to those who have taken part.

Playwright and performer Marie Clemens, who has worked with the DEWC in the past, teamed up with Michelle St. John, creating a collaboration called red diva projects. They intend to produce a new performance that “explores the potential of fiction to express critical truth.”

Artist collective Coupe was invited to the Audain Gallery to host “Wednesday Night School”, which facilitates a bi-weekly reading group that is open to the public during the duration of the exhibit. Coupe aims to “address the acute condition of art of our time, identify the current aesthetic mode corresponding to Vancouver's regime of monopoly-capitalist development, and attempt to articulate the aesthetic and political practice proper to undermine it.”

The project’s main installation, located in the Audain Gallery, consists of an open white room wrapped with headlines and demands from the DEWC newsletter over the past couple of decades.

The excerpts range from the late 1970s to 2011, and include: “Stop the War of the Poor!” (1996); “Stop Police Violence!” (2003); “We’ve Survived the Long Winter” (1990); “DTES is Not for Developers!” (2011); “Gentrifu*kation!” (2011); “People are Dying!” (2008); “You are not forgotten” (1989); “Rise Up!” (2005); “We demand an inquiry into the missing woman!” (2008); and “Take back your power!” (1987).

The bold, black statements covering the walls make a strong impact, describing the various causes that have been fought for in the DTES over the last three decades.

Other Mapping the Everyday events include art workshops such as cedar weaving, discussions, reading groups, live performances, presentations, a short-film screening, and the annual Feb. 14 Women’s Memorial March.

While the exhibit is free, the Audain Gallery is accepting donations of books to build a library for the DEWC, which recently had all of their books stolen.

// Brittney Kroiss, Writer

// Illustration by Sarah Vitet

GARY OLDMAN IS MAYBE HE ONLY ACTOR THAT'S BETTER THAN I AM A chat with the Internet comedy sensation Jon Lajoie // Blake Morneau

VICTORIA (CUP) – I dial the number I’ve been given. Instead of the usual ring of a telephone line, I’m treated to the sounds of an orchestra in full flight. There is no answer, just a disaffected voice on the other end simply telling me, “Jon’s not here, leave a message.”

I call back. The same orchestra, only this time, an answer: it’s Internet comedy sensation and star of FX’s sitcom The League (now in its third season in the US, first in Canada), Montreal’s Jon Lajoie. He’s on a prep day for a live show in Saskatoon and has no problem killing some time talking to me: “What the hell else am I gonna do in Saskatoon, right? Not a lot to do except freeze my ass off and eat horribly.”

Between live touring, releasing comedy albums through iTunes, his work on The League, and, of course, his Internet videos with view counts in the millions, Lajoie has built a strong, loyal cult following. The Internet videos were what launched him, but Lajoie says that wasn’t the plan when he started putting them up on the web.

“Go ahead, look up my first video, which is ‘Saturday Night Webcam Party’, and you tell me if that looks like a guy with a plan,” says Lajoie. “It looked like a drunk guy in an apartment who is messing around in front of a camera, and that’s exactly what it is.” Despite the rough edges and lack of technical skill in that first video, it got Lajoie started on a quest to hone his craft and get better with subsequent videos.

“It was really exciting to start doing it and to kind of explore shooting videos and editing them and seeing what I could do with them,” he says. “I really did invest a lot of time, once I started: reading about editing, reading about shooting and different camera lenses, and blah, blah, blah. Not to say I have any production value in my videos, but I just kind of know a bit more about it and I’ve gotten better – regardless of whether I’ve gotten good or not, I got better.”

The effort more than paid off as the videos, including “High as Fuck”, “Everyday Normal Guy (1 & 2)”, and “2 Girls 1 Cup” began to go viral. “People started watching. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna try to ride this wave a little bit,’” says Lajoie.

The absurdist humor of Lajoie’s songs and commercials for fake products caught the eye of Jeff and Jackie Schaeffer, creators and producers of The League, as they scoured the Internet looking for someone to cast as the aloof but wellintentioned stoner character Taco. “

They had seen my videos and were like, ‘Oh, Taco already exists. It’s him and he’s making Internet videos.’ So they came to get me, knowing what I do and liking my sensibilities and all that stuff. They’ve kind of allowed me to do a lot of what I do on the show.” T

he semi-improvised, laid-back humor of The League seems to be the perfect fit for the absurd, often sick humor Lajoie has become known for.

“It’s really the perfect situation for me, because I would not do well on a straight-up sitcom or anything like that; I’m not the best actor in the world,” he says – but quickly reconsiders. “Gary Oldman [is] maybe the only actor that’s better than I am. Him, Daniel-Day Lewis, and then it’s me. It’s like those guys could do those roles, but I gotta stick to having some kind of say in what’s coming out of my mouth and how it’s coming out of my mouth.”

Even with his star rising as a cast member of The League and his continued release of hilarious Internet videos, Lajoie finds time to tour and bring his unique brand of humor to the live audiences all over North America.

As an Internet sensation, he understands people might be skeptical towards paying for a ticket to see someone they could see for free online. To those people, Lajoie offers a very simple answer: “Tell them to go fuck themselves!”

But he adds that he knows where the skeptics are coming from: “I get it. At first, I hesitated to do a live show because I have no interest in reproducing my videos live on stage. I think that’s boring for everyone. What I do, it’s basically just my comedic sensibilities thrown together in a variety show. Yes, I will do a few of the songs that people wanna hear and there’s a bunch of new songs, a bunch of stand up and new videos that people are gonna get to see. I do a PowerPoint presentation as well.”

Covering all the bases of his many talents, Lajoie promises something extra for even his most devout fans.

“If you knew all my stuff inside and out, still 60 per cent of the show is new. You won’t have seen or heard it in any of my videos. And I masturbate on stage. If you want to see that. I don’t know many people who do wanna see that, but if you do wanna see it, I’ll be doing it.”

// Blake Morneau, The Martlet (University of Victoria)

// Illustration by Britta Bachus

RADIO CAN MAKE YOU A VIDEO STAR Radio Canada International demonstrates how // Leah Scheitel

It is common knowledge that Canada is a massive country with many diverse cultures. Montreal-based radio station Radio Canada International (RCI) wants to know what Canadian university and college students have to say about their own culture, and are extending the opportunity by inviting students to make short films for the World Filmmakers Project.

RCI is part of CBC, and has been offering radio programming to Canada and beyond since 1945, when it broadcast in English, French, and German to select parts of Europe. RCI now broadcasts internationally in seven languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, and Portuguese.

Boris Chassagne is an executive producer at RCI and has been working on the World Filmmakers project since 2009. He launched the RCI Vision website in June 2011 to function as an archive of other Canadian and international short films, as well as those produced by RCI. This year, they are inviting university and college students, and professors to participate and upload their own films to the website. The RCI Vision platform is dedicated to expressions of culture from Canada and around the globe, produced by both amateur and professional filmmakers. All of the films submitted will be showcased on the website.

The project is open to various types of submissions: “You can use animation, you can have fiction, you can do a documentary, and you can have portraits. Whatever style works,” Chassagne says.

The producers wanted to reach out to postsecondary students in particular because “there is so much talent at universities and colleges,” Chassagne says. “We know this because we see their work at film festivals around the world.”

Chassagne thinks that a match between state radio and television and the schools is long-awaited. “I feel like this project is filling a gap, making a connection between the two,” he explains.

RCI aims to reach a wide audience with this initiative because of the theme of Cultural Crossroads is very broad, and relates to RCI’s work on a larger scope. “[Cultural Crossroads] is the theme that has been emanating throughout what we did in the past five years,” says Chassagne.

So far, the site has over 650 short films in various collections. A past theme of ‘Roots’ showcases stories that range from hockey tales in Quebec, to a series of photos of friends at a party in Ontario, to a Chinese-born Canadian returning to Beijing in 2008, before the Olympics.

“The most interesting stories are those from different angles. There was someone who sent me a story about her grandfather who was dying, and how she accompanied him throughout his dying days,” Chassagne says. Other stories that stood out to Chassagne were about a sister’s suicide and one entitled My Motherland Korea, which was an animated slideshow about Korea. “People have different ways of thinking about any subject,” Chassagne explains, which is why the project is open to any type of creative medium.

The rules are few: the films have to be no longer than eight minutes excluding credits, can be produced in any language as long as it is subtitled in either French of English, must follow the Cultural Crossroads theme, and are to be submitted by May 31, 2012. The films can be an old project from a high school multi-media course or a project for a class this year.

The project is open to any student, not just film students: “It is important to say that this is open to all university students, whatever they’re studying. It can be business administration or anthropology or whatever they’re doing,” says Chassagne. “Everyone can produce something. Everyone has something to say about culture, and everyone has at least access to a smart phone that they can film with.”

The World Filmmaker Project is new and aims to grow quickly in the future.

“We hope that this project can grow in the next semesters and next years that will be closer to the interest of the students and the needs to the students, but this is the first step,” Chassagne says. “You have to start somewhere, and we hope to grow.”

If they get enough submissions, RCI producers are already imagining other ways to launch the films to a broader audience, giving a second life to the project. “Maybe we will do a national project of some kind, something more than just putting them on the website,” says Chassagne. Because of the connection to RCI, the works have the possibility of being shown on their affiliate TV stations, museums, universities, and film festivals, among other outlets.

A challenge has been extended to all students across the country to make their voices heard. With the ever-changing culture that we live in, the RCI producers are sure that there is a lot to say.

// Leah Scheitel, Writer

// Illustration by Thea Brulotte

KEEPIN' IT REEL 2011 Film Retrospective // Jonty Davies

Though the characters portrayed in cinema live in worlds of manufactured illusion, the ideas they present to us are an integral reflection of who we are as humans. There is a world of fabulous cinema that is very much alive, and it’s important to consider how the overarching themes and tropes are influenced by our contemporary reality.

These are thoughts I’d like to expand on, but with 2012 just upon us, I’ll use this introductory column to go over some of last year’s cinematic highlights and provide a look at the year ahead.

Jonty’s Top 3 Films of 2011

3. The Tree Of Life – A galaxy explodes and life is created. In the eternity that follows, a life passes in an instant but will forever remain a piece of the giant puzzle. It’s a film that tries to visualize and speculate on the very nature of existence almost entirely without story or conventional dialogue.

Clocking in at 139 minutes, The Tree Of Life features an overwhelming operatic score, dinosaurs, the creation of the Universe, and Pitt’s amazing hair. The film is a poetic masterpiece but almost collapses under the weight of its own ambition. Directed by the ultra-reclusive Terrence Malick, a man who’s had an almost 40-year career yet released just five films, each one a mind-blowing masterpiece, Tree Of Life is a beautiful meditation on our place in the universe.

2. Incendies – Though technically released in 2010, the success of this film (if only limited – $6 million total gross) was entirely due to its impressions on the 2011 festival circuit.

Incendies is a brutally affecting film that is layered two-fold: it tells a woman’s story of survival in the violent religious disparity of the Middle East, while simultaneously following her two young-adult children as they try to find the father they’d never met and the brother they didn’t know they had.

Incendies is delicate, yet it holds truths and secrets that are simply devastating. The film is Canadian, and though small in scale (compared to, say, The Tree of Life), it’s a beautiful and harrowing masterpiece that deserves acclaim for its tasteful and varied treatment of Middle Eastern horrors and for its powerful discourse on family.

1. Drive – Under mega-pastiche directing by Nicholas Winding Refn, Ryan Gosling kills it in one of the coolest roles ever. With clear nods to Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Clint Eastwood, Gosling plays a nameless getaway driver with a silent, brooding intensity. He has a tender heart but can instantly reveal dangerous depth. Drive also features a fantastic use of music that, while electronic and modern, serves to exemplify the classic homage nature of the film.

Action box office is always big (Transformers 3 made $1.123 billion this year), but Drive was not as successful as it deserved to be, grossing $67 million total. The low success can be attributed to a failure in marketing: the trailers tried to sell it as a typical Fast and the Furious-type formula despite the fact that it’s actually a hyper-intelligent and very sensitive piece of cinema (in a fully nonsappy and still totally violent way).

It’s brave, cool and features easily the most romantic scene ever that also happens to involve a head being crushed in an elevator. Maybe it seemed too brainy for the action crowd and too action-y for the brainy crowd, but the critical consensus was almost unanimously positive, and it’s absolutely a beautiful film.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2012...

The Hobbit – Bringing in $3 billion worldwide, the Lord Of The Rings trilogy is the sixth-highest grossing film franchise of all time. Beyond dollars and cents, it claimed 17 Oscars and was universally applauded by audiences and critics alike; it is the unequaled master of grand fantasy cinema. The Hobbit is where it all began, and we can expect this film rendition to be just as successful.

The Dark Knight Rises – The final installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, which has upped the very ante of what a superhero flick can be.

Prometheus – It’s the Ridley Scott-directed prequel to Alien, starring Michael Fassenbender and Charlize Theron. Need I say more?

The Amazing Spiderman – Don't call it a comeback, because Tobey Maguire shall not be coming back for this web slinging reboot. Though the Maguire franchise was highly lucrative and well received, The Amazing Spiderman is looking to rebuild the canon from scratch. Sounds sticky.

The Avengers – Considering that every single superhero movie of the past few years (with the exception of the superlative Batman series) has been building up to The Avengers, expectations are dazzlingly high. Expect the star-studded super-romp to aim for the bleachers. 2012: Year of the superhero?

The Hunger Games – If you're up on young adult fiction you'll surely be aware of this mega- seller about teens being forced into armed combat by a malevolent government decree. If you're also into Japanese film/manga/fiction you might notice the glaring similarities to the fabulous Battle Royale. 2012: Year of the remake? (Also, Battle Royale is being remade for Hollywood sometime in the future. 2015: Year of the remade remake?)

Overall, 2011 was a decent year for film, and 2012 is a nutcase hotbed of hype, so there is a lot to look forward to. It’s a good thing, after all, since this might be our last year ever.

// Jonty Davies, Columnist

// Illustration by Tyler Hughes

LOVE, AWKWARDLY Episode 1: Rebirth // JJ Brewis

“It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me, and I’m feeling good.” —Nina Simone W ith each new calendar year, we see an opportunity to revitalize and reinvent ourselves. The idea of a fresh start brings with it an onslaught of personal goals, or “resolutions” as we’ve come to call them. We compile lists of itemized benchmarks we’d like to make, in order to improve our lives in terms of growth, ease, and comfort.

As with any year, I’ve noticed a majority of people’s resolutions centred around one common goal: to attract a mate. It’s our primal instinct, so it makes sense that we as a human race would use this time of rejuvenation to pretty ourselves up and reel someone in: “I want to eat healthier, go to the gym, and dedicate more ‘me’ time.” The irony of all of these seemingly personal endeavours is that they are often simply a façade, and cover up the true reason, which is genuinely about making ourselves more desirable to possible partners. Physical relations and partnerships are aspects most of us seem to be looking for, and having New Year’s resolutions integrated within the search, even if it’s a subconscious choice, is a great gateway into giving in to our physical and romantic instincts.

Two years ago, I wrapped up a column for the Courier divulging intimate details of my love life. I have never had such an overwhelming response to my writing, and I was always surprised when people told me they’d never tell personal details like the ones I’d shared. Yet, the stories are all part of what makes me who I am today. With a colourful, sometimes hilarious, and often surprising cornucopia of dating experiences in my midst, I am an entirely different person now than I was even two years ago. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not removed from the New Year’s resolutions I’m speaking of. I’ve hit up the gym and munched on salad every January for past countless years. But in reality, I’ve likely been more focused on hooking up with someone than actually becoming healthier. In speaking of New Year’s and the shifts that come in terms of love, I come to think of a New Year’s Eve past and how it would ultimately change me forever. I was seeing a man by the name of Stephan whom I met through an acquaintance. From our first date, I had quite high hopes. Most of the guys I had seen at that point had somehow let me down or given me a bleak perspective on the archetypes of men: shallow business class, apathetic artists, too-busy-for-you academia devotees. This one seemed different though; even from our first date when he rented a car to drive me out to an abandoned barn in Langley to drink $8 wine, I was charmed in the naïve way all my friends had grown to worry about.

This was at a point in my life when, despite how much I told myself I was comfortable being alone, I was still desperately clinging to the idealized concept of “having a man” – and it didn’t matter under what circumstances or opportunities it came about. I had come to overlook even the most obvious of faults, and began to blow off other valuable components of my life just to make more time for this new “romance.” The entire arc of my relationship with Stephan shows just how much I gave up of myself, and how every action I made was pivotal around this one aspect of my life. I’d spend time getting really dressed up on days I knew I’d see him, and rush my morning routine on other days because I thought it didn’t matter. I would forfeit my own interests, and, given that we were quite fundamentally different, I’d often end up at socialist documentary screenings rather than the indie art-house films I’m more in favour of.

I began to overlook everything that I was compromising in myself because I had a man in my life. It’s a toxic scenario in retrospect, but many of us have been there. Why is that? Are we really able to accept partnership over personal satisfaction? Clearly I was, for this period in time.

For New Year’s Eve, he told me that he had bought us two tickets to the Biltmore. Despite having pre-arranged plans with friends, I predictably bailed to spend the time with my relatively new beau. Horrible move.

In a cinematic turn of events, the warm, generous man I thought I knew instantly became a satanic monster over the course of what was supposed to be my first “not shitty” New Year’s Eve. He drank more than his share, and the mean (or “honest”) drunk came out, and he started to badger me with insults throughout the night. Luckily some of my friends had ended up at the same party, but as I went to introduce him to one of my best friends, he raised his eyebrows and turned around, darting away. “What the fuck?” I thought. The pity party began long before midnight. For someone who, despite his faults, had a reliable charm, this was a very dark side I hadn’t seen a glimmer of before.

As the countdown to the New Year began, he slumped back over to me to stick his tongue down my throat before throwing up moments after, on my new shoes. Then he disappeared, and as the club started clearing out an hour later, I realized I had been left, intoxicated, miles from home on New Year’s Eve. To top it all off, I had left my bag at his house, with pre-arranged plans to stay over. My options limited, I trudged through the snow, cussing into my gloves to keep warm. When I finally arrived at his house, there he was, sprawled out fully naked on the couch; smoking the most poorly-rolled joint I’ve seen in my life. “Oh, sorry man,” he said, responding to the furious look on my face. “I forgot about ya.”

And as I cabbed back to my home in New West, crying to my poor driver about my terrible night, in that moment, I sobered up. Not to alcohol, no; I’d go on to have one of the biggest binge years of my life. But in terms of sacrificing myself, and losing myself in the process, I realized that he had picked the most opportune moment to completely and utterly embarrass me and fuck me over. When I woke up the next day, I never made any official resolutions. But subconsciously, I realized exactly what part of me had changed, and it was long overdue. In the words of Drake, “I’m doin’ me.” And most of the time, that is quite literal.

But being okay with that is a huge step.

// JJ Brewis, Columnist

// Illustration by Lydia Fu

BUSINESS TIME The profits of student franchises // Jeff Maertz

W ith the promise of hefty profits and valuable experience, university students across North America have been flocking to manage student-run painting businesses for the past three decades. In theory, it’s a great business model where everybody wins: the home owner gets their house painted by charming young people, university students get above-average-paying jobs, and student business owners gain managerial experience. However, there’s more to the story than that.

For two years, I worked as a painter for one of the large student-run painting businesses in North Vancouver. Hence I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into when, in the third year, I signed up to run my own painting business. At the end of the summer, though exhausted, I was satisfied with what I had learned, as it was the experience of running my own business that I’d done it for. Unfortunately, I only earned around $5,000 for eight months of hard work, which was well below what I’d anticipated.

I had two options for placing my blame – I could either claim responsibility for not making as much money as I had hoped for, or blame the system that I was working within (the painting business). In the end, I decided that both I and the painting franchise company were responsible. No question, if I had put in more 12 hour days instead of ten, or had been more skilled at selling painting jobs to prospects, I would have earned more. Having to pay out a quarter of my revenues to the franchise company certainly put me at a disadvantage, though.

Similar to other franchises – like Dairy Queen or 7-Eleven – the painting parent company grants licenses to individuals to use their brand name and products in return for a cut of the revenues or profits. They also provide training and operate a nationwide call centre, which books painting estimates for franchisees. The franchise owner, however, does everything else. You’re responsible for advertising, selling, hiring, painting, and accounting – the same tasks that any other small business owner has to do. To put it simply – the franchise company provides the franchisee the framework to work within and then it’s really up to you to run your own business.

Everything sounds good up to this point, but here’s the catch: the franchise company takes up to a quarter of your revenue. It’s important to point out that this is revenue, not profit. So even if you break even on a job and have priced a job to cover your labor, paint and overhead costs, you are still on the hook to pay 25 per cent of your revenue to the franchise company. In effect, you have to charge every customer 25 per cent more than your competitors just to break even. Nobody wants to just break even on a job, though; you of course want to earn profit for yourself. Add to this the fact that the painters you hired are unskilled students, usually with no previous painting experience, and it’s a hard question to answer when customers ask why they should pay more for lower-skilled workers.

With that said, though, the work experience is great. The training they provide is hands-on, and I feel like I learned more in my eight months running the painting business than I did in three years of university. For those of you who are thinking of opening a small business in the future, running a student painting business is a great introduction to entrepreneurship.

Also, it is possible to make some good money doing it; you just have to be a little more skilled and determined than I was. However, if you’re only looking to create profit, you would better off just starting your own painting business without the help of a franchise. This is particularly true if you already have painting experience and have friends or family that need their house painted (a great place to start building up your reputation and references).

The bottom line is that while student-run painting businesses are not scams or pyramid schemes, they do take a lot of money from their franchisees. If you just want to make heaps of cash in the summer, there are easier ways than this to make money. If work experience and small-business training are more important to you, then running a small painting franchise might be a perfect match. If you are considering running one of these businesses, however, make sure you do your research first and thoughtfully weigh the pros and cons.

// Jeff Maertz, Columnist

BEYOND CRUELTY An overlooked argument for a meatless diet // Brittney Kroiss

The occurrence of food shortages and malnutrition are increasing rapidly in our growing world, even more so with climate change. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that roughly 925 million people, 13.6 per cent of the world population, were “undernourished” in 2010. Out of the world’s population of 6.8 billion, only an estimated 2 billion people live predominantly on a meat-based diet.

A United Nations report, put together by the UN Environment Program’s International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management, states that “eating less meat and dairy is necessary to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change, global hunger and energy shortages.”

In our world facing overpopulation and overconsumption, food is at the top of our list of priorities when addressing sustainability. With all the talk out there as to what is really sustainable and what isn’t, it can be hard to determine what our best alternative is. Could a vegetarian or vegan diet be the answer?

In a 2002 study, Cornell University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology compared the amount of energy, land and water required to produce meat-based and plant-based diets. While neither diet is truly “sustainable” due to the food industry’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels, the plant-based diet was indeed much more sustainable. According to the study, for every 1 kg of good-quality animal protein produced, the livestock are fed on average about 6 kg of plant protein and required 100 times more water.

“Environmental vegetarianism” is based on the indication that animal production, particularly by intensive agriculture, is environmentally unsustainable as it increases pollution and uses a large amount of natural resources. Industrial monoculture, the harvesting of a large crop of a single food species, contributes to soil erosion, air pollution, excessive energy use, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s report “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, the meat industry makes up about 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Methane, which is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, makes up a large portion of these emissions. Cows produce a comparable amount of methane as an average car per day.

So given the state of our current meat industry, is the answer to stop eating meat altogether? Perhaps the answer lies in finding a balance between the two extremes by reducing our consumption of meat-based protein to a few times a week instead of every day and making more informed decisions when grocery shopping.

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to the sustainability of plant-protein based diets is whether processed, soy-based “fake meat” products, such as “tofurky” or “vegan sausages”, are much better than meat.

In an interview with foodandwine.com, Ashley Koff, a registered dietician in Los Angeles, said, “What we know about soy is that as you process it, you lose a lot of the benefits. Any soy-based fake meat product is incredibly processed, and you have to use chemicals to get the mock flavor.”

The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology found in a 2009 study that “while producing a plate of peas requires a fraction of the energy needed to produce the same number of calories of pork, the energy costs of a pea-burger and a pork chop are about equal.” Whether excluding meat or not, whole food diets are usually, if not always, a healthier and more sustainable option than processed products.

Our individual decisions as to what we eat on a daily basis, when looked at from a larger scale, make a huge impact on our planet. In the end, what one chooses as the best alternative, whether eating a vegetarian diet, or conscious shopping for free-range, naturally-fed meat from local farms, is up to the individual. Regardless of which route one decides to take, some action is better than none at all.

// Brittney Kroiss, Writer

// Illustration by Kailey Patton

CALL OCCUPIED LAND WHAT IT IS Postal decolonization proves there's power in a name // Adam Gaudry

VICTORIA (CUP) – Upon their arrival to Canada, the first thing most “explorers” did was start naming things. While many of these men simply named things after themselves or places back home, it did occur to some that these places already were named, so they attempted to anglicize these foreign place names.

In the 19th century, the symbolic power of renaming the landscape was not lost on these new arrivals; the naming of the city of Victoria after the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria, implied laying claim to that land for the British Crown. Naming – or, more appropriately, renaming – was part of the process of colonization.

A quick jaunt around Victoria reveals an abundance of colonial names intended to glorify the presence of early British settlers as well as British leaders and heroes who would never come here: Captain Cook was here briefly; thus, we have Cook Street; Douglas Street was named after Vancouver Island Governor James Douglas.

What is absent from all of these names is any acknowledgment that there was a history on Vancouver Island that goes back further than 200 years. While the odd plaque may make mention of something existing earlier than this, it always seems to historicize the presence of indigenous peoples and confine indigenous naming to the past.

This geographical reordering has removed an indigenous presence from the landscape. It has rendered invisible the ancient and permanent relationship between indigenous peoples and their lands.

One way to make that relationship visible again is through postal decolonization. Postal decolonization is the use of traditional indigenous place names on mail instead of the more recent names imported and invented by the new arrivals to this continent. Given that the postal system is the most everyday form of organizing space in Canada, re-imagining space in the postal system can also serve to decolonize space.

The goal is to get people using the Canadian postal system to think about where they are and whose land they live on. Instead of Victoria, one can list the mailing address as “Occupied Coast Salish Territories” or just “Coast Salish Territories”. Instead of Edmonton, one can write “Cree Territory”; in place of Thunder Bay, “Anishinaabe Territory”. Doing this does not actually prevent your letter from arriving at its intended destination because the postal code is coded to identify a specific block in a city.

By returning to traditional place names, we can take the power to name out of the hands of those who claimed this land as theirs alone. Returning to the original names shows proper respect for the people on whose land we live. It can also serve as an educational tool.

I would encourage you to research where you live: start thinking of it as an ancient place with names that go back more than a few generations.

// Adam Gaudry, The Martlet (University of Victoria)

// Illustration by Marco Ferreira

RELAX, IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL The faster you live, the sooner you die // Marco Ferreira

High-stress shouldn't be an accepted mental state for students. It shouldn't be acceptable for anyone, as it comes with a myriad of health implications, some of them dangerous with long-term implications. As the Canadian unemployment rate rises and the job market gets shittier, most young people are guaranteed a hard climb to success, if success ever comes. So why do we keep at it? Is it worth it to juggle so many obligations at the expense of our personal lives? No, it isn't.

To take advantage of an easier living situation, students still living with their parents are encouraged to take as many courses as possible, usually four or five. Because of high tuition fees, many students living at home also work a parttime job. For those who have moved out and are still attending college, the high cost of living in Vancouver makes financial assistance necessary. To receive a student loan you must be a full-time student. Being a full-time student constitutes taking a minimum of three classes. A student loan will cover tuition and some living expenses but not all, so a part-time job is still a must. Teachers normally assign about an hour of homework for every hour of class time, so succeeding at school becomes a test of time management, one that affords little leeway for taking the night off to relax, let alone tending to other human needs.

No matter how diligent a student you are, it's a natural progression for most of us to begin the term organized, slip-up, procrastinate, and end up having to flash-write essays or cram study in the early hours of the morning. This stress will be, for many of us, the reality of the rest of our lives. S

upposedly if you work hard enough in school, you'll get a good job that you like, affording you a comfortable, rewarding life as a young adult. However, if you like your job, odds are that you will want to hold on to it. A study released by the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health last year reported that those who were more invested in their work, especially those in managerial or professional positions, experienced higher levels of work stress. Adversely, the study showed that if you were under the age of 25, were a single male and worked in a small business, your stress levels were lower. There are few university degree programs that promise an illustrious career as a retail clerk at a mom and pop shop, however this seems to be a healthier way to live.

The less we do, the more time we are afforded to find out who we really are. If time is not set aside to discover yourself, your life is simply toiled away doing what other people want you to do, rather than what is right for you and makes you happy. This isn't as much a rally against the confines of society, but more a criticism of the pace at which we encourage each other to live away what little time we have.

PROVEN HEALTH SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH STRESS

➽ Physical symptoms include headaches; muscle tension or other physical pain or discomfort; stomach problems or nausea, diarrhea or vomiting; loss of sex drive; rapid heart rate; high blood pressure; and fatigue.

➽ Cognitive symptoms include difficulty concentrating or thinking, memory problems, negativity or lack of self-confidence, constant worry and difficulty making decisions.

➽ Emotional symptoms include moodiness; low morale; irritability; feeling hopeless or helpless; feeling apprehensive, anxious or nervous; feeling depressed, unhappy or guilty; and feeling agitated and unable to relax. Stress can also trigger manic depression and other mental illness.

➽ Behavioural symptoms include changes in eating or sleeping patterns; social withdrawal; nervous habits such as nail biting, teeth grinding or foot tapping; increased use of caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol or other drugs; and neglecting family or work responsibilities, or experiencing a decline in performance or productivity.

Source: the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

// Marco Ferreira, Opinions Editor

// Illustration by JJ Brewis

Featured Fiction POLITICS // Mohammad Reza Ahmari

Is the boundary of politics reverend? Just the question of government.

Just the protract of heretics within an encompassed union of infidel preference.

As due representation of we as people by MPs, MLAs.

Preferred the anelope of confederate society.

Equal representation of all.

This preferred as the request for a joint union of people within a collaborative.

Do we as people have a say.

Empower us.

SHOT GUN REVIEWS Must-See Films

STAR WARS // JJ Brewis

I saw this for the first time last week. Everyone made such a big deal over the fact that I had not seen this so I ponied up the big bucks and headed over to my bff Giles’ place to see the original unfucked- with masterpiece. You know, the version only available on dusty old VHS tapes, because any DVD version includes shit George Lucas added during the 90s, such as the robo-bride attempting at hetero-ing the ultra gay C3P0 from R2D2’s homo frenzy. Dumb. Anyway, I didn’t like this. I LOVED it. Why didn’t anyone tell me how HOT Harrison Ford was before he got wrinkles and married Ally McBeal? Shit! I wanted to rip off his sassy little vest and unleash his light sabre! The movie, however, seemed to have major continuity problems. Such as why the fuck Princess Leia didn’t use her wizard powers to escape back to Planet Half Attractive. Or why people pretend Yoda is in this movie when he was actually just the grandfather from Gremlins 2. Whatever. May the force be with me!

THE LORD OF THE RINGS // Samantha Thompson

This movie is so popular. People dress up all the time as these little hobbits, which are really unattractive, hairy little men. I’ve heard that these books/movies invented the fantasy genre, but I definitely don’t believe that shit. Everyone knows that Harry Potter is where it’s at – it has romance, wand fights, and the ultimate battle between good and evil. Lord of the Rings, I assume, is about a bunch of little people wandering around a very large piece of land for three hours, trying to find the Lord. Of the Rings? Wtf? I AM THE LORD OF JEWELLERY! BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! The day I decided to watch LOTR was a very sad day indeed. I laughed, and I cried. Then I accidentally called Dumbledore Gandalf, and my life was over.

SCARFACE // Mike Bastien

This movie is a classic tale of tragedy, acceptance, and betrayal. Our protagonist is Tony Montana, portrayed by Michael Bolton. At a young age, Tony's face was terribly scarred after a hockey incident, causing his team to lose. Physically disfigured and in emotional ruin, he leaves his native land of oppressed Cuba for the wild city of Miami. In this zany fish out of water epic, Tony has to find a new job while dealing with everyone judging him because his face is different. My favourite scene is when Tony's little friend, Elvira, played by Dakota Fanning, teaches him that he is beautiful on the inside. The soundtrack by Phil Collins really gives you a sense of wonder and triumph when Tony first discovers Coke. In the end, Tony buys a really nice suit to distract people from his face. He then becomes the president of Coke and is enjoying his hard earned life until Pepsi sends in a swat team to kill Tony and his new friends.

FREAKY FRIDAY // Jonty Davies

First there was Friday, then there was Next Friday and there was even Friday After Next, but this summer things take a chilling twist. You thought it was all good in the ‘hood. You thought it was safe to spark it up. You thought wrong. Today’s Not Gonna Be a Good Day as Ice Cube fights for his life in the face of unspeakable horror, as the very foundations of South Central LA are challenged by a force so purely evil that one dare not speak its name. Also starring Rebecca Black, it just might be the last Friday of all. Straight Outta Compton? Straight Outta Hell!

CSU GENERAL MEETING DISSOLVES IN QUESTIONS OF QUORUM //Samantha Thompson

The CSU’s Special General Meeting (SGM) saw plenty of debate, though not on the motions that were meant to be discussed. The meeting, which occurred on Nov. 24, had been called as a result of unfinished business at the Annual General Meeting that took place in October. However, the SGM still only made it through part of its agenda before losing quorum and adjourning.

The first motion to be discussed was related to the dollar value of contracts that the executive committee has the power to enter into without additional approval from the student membership. The amount was increased from $1,000 to $25,000.

The next item for discussion was a series of budget amendments. In error, the CSU had
budgeted twice for one of their items, and in fixing that mistake, they had additional funds
to reallocate. All of the budget amendments passed, which included money allocated to
purchasing a new games table, more money to send delegates to meetings of the Canadian Federation of Students, and an increase in legal fees from $2,000 to $22,000. All of the budget
amendments passed without discussion. The third item was in mainly regard to remuneration
of the executives for portfolio positions such as policy and finance. The monthly remuneration would be increased from $100 to $250. In addition, the remuneration for Staff Relations Officer would be increased from $100 to $400.

However, there were concerns raised about members of the executive voting on a resolution
that would increase how much they were paid, because there was a conflict of interest bylaw that was recently amended at a general meeting. It was determined that the conflict of interest bylaw policy only has an effect on executives at executive meetings. A motion was moved requesting that the executives did not vote on the remuneration resolution; however, the motion failed.

At this time, quorum was called, and the chair ruled that the necessary quorum of forty people had been lost. It was pointed out that several members had stepped outside for a smoke break, and there was extensive debate over whether or not the meeting could continue, and whether or not the students outside were part of quorum. After much discussion, the meeting resumed with quorum and the motion regarding remuneration passed, with executives also voting on the motion.

Quorum was called again and this time could not be regained, and thus the meeting was adjourned. What will happen with the remaining agenda items remains to be determined, although unless they are resubmitted to a future general meeting, their existence will have died upon conclusion of the CSU’s Special General Meeting.

By Samantha Thompson
// Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL Hear no evil // Sarah Vitet

“Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen.”
—Douglas Adams

W hat would you like to be reading about right now? Do you want to learn, or read about something you already know about? Would you prefer to read about a topic that’s more removed from your reality, like pop culture, or would you rather read about current events or politics?

According to the American Psychological Association, “The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed,” as reported by Science Daily.

They found that people avoided information that questioned the government’s ability to handle things like the economy, though they did not avoid positive news. The more complex the issue, the more people relied on the government to take care of it, rather than understanding it themselves, thereby emphasizing their dependence on the government. The more serious the issue, the less likely participants in the study wanted to understand it.

According to the authors, “Educators may want to consider explaining issues in ways that make them easily digestible and understandable, with a clear emphasis on local, individual-level causes.” Otherwise the topics seem too scary, and we don’t want to know about them at all.

A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research in 2008 showed that before buying a product, people want to know all the information they can about it. After purchasing, however, they want to feel positive about their purchase, therefore vague product information is more reassuring in the long-run. To avoid buyer’s remorse, we keep ourselves unaware of any potential drawbacks to our purchases; once we’ve eaten the french fries, we really don’t want to know the nutritional information.

Another study of over 400,000 students in 2009 showed that those least-informed about the environment were the most optimistic in regards to future environmental improvements, whereas the better informed students had a more realistic view. While “ignorance is bliss” may be cliche, it’s becoming the increasingly alarming mantra for Western society.

The biggest step in becoming an aware member of society is recognizing our individual responsibility for ourselves and our world. As children, we are taught to believe that adults have everything under control, and any example of instability impacts and terrifies us deeply. As we age, we begin to realize that we are the adults, that society is based entirely on abstract concepts, and not everything turns out OK in the end – it’s scary, and often easier to block out than process and confront. With the cost of living in Vancouver being so high, wages so low and tuition getting higher and higher every year, it’s especially difficult to grow up and face reality as an adult. Life is busy and stressful even on a micro, day-to-day level.

Although our lives are extremely structured and regimented, the APA study underlines our ever-present fear of the unknown. We are so busy pretending that our lives are “under control” that any information that could potentially threaten our illusion of security is simply avoided. Yes, staying ignorant is easy, but it’s also safer.

Of course, the only way to overcome the fear of the unknown is to eliminate the unknown: to learn. Ignoring news articles because we don’t feel confident that we know enough about the issue is backwards. Avoiding negative information about products we’ve bought is self-detrimental. Believing that everything is OK when it isn’t is deluded. We know all this.

What we have to do is take an active role in our own lives: get over our collective inferiority complex and embrace the negative along with the positive. Nothing is one-sided, even your new pair of headphones or your favourite politician. Once we accept a more realistic view of life, we can take a more active role in how things are run. While it may not be blissful, it’s a lot more empowered and dignified than blindly doing what we’re told.

// Sarah Vitet, Editor-in-Chief

PIPE DREAMS Keystone XL pipeline causes political tension, could put pressure on BC // Luke Warkentin

The cowboy capitals of both Canada and the U.S. could be inseparably linked – by crude. If completed, Calgary-based TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion would have the capacity to transport 1.1 million barrels of dilbit from Alberta to Texas every day.

Dilbit (from “diluted bitumen”) is formed by mixing bitumen, mined from Alberta's Tar Sands, and natural gas liquid condensate. It can be transported like conventional crude, but must be further processed for final use.

TransCanada experienced a setback with the US Department of State's Nov. 10 press release: “Since 2008, the Department has been conducting a … review of TransCanada's application for the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline project. As a result of this process, particularly given the concentration of concerns regarding the environmental sensitivities of the current proposed route through the Sand Hills area of Nebraska, the Department has determined it needs to undertake an in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes in Nebraska.” The final decision “could be completed as early as the first quarter of 2013.”

In an interview with the Calgary Herald, Alberta Premier Alison Redford expressed concern over the delay. “Our position has always been clear that we respect and understand that approval of the pipeline is a US domestic matter, but the fact remains that Keystone XL is a key piece of infrastructure for our province. I sincerely hope that the State Department made this decision based on science and evidence and not rhetoric and hyperbole from very well-organized interest groups.”

Ben West, the Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee, comments, “What seems pretty clear to me is that Obama doesn't want to deal with it during the election. Ultimately he has to sign off on it. I think that we're going to be looking at a decision on it sometime just after the election.” The Wilderness Committee is a non-governmental organization working to protect Canadian wilderness and educate the public.

From their website: “TransCanada believes Keystone XL will ultimately be approved, as it is too important to the US economy and its national interest.”

On Nov. 22, the Nebraska Legislature gave final approval to legislation that provides a framework to site pipelines through the state and study the potential effects of proposed pipelines. The Major Oil Pipeline Siting Act provides a means for rerouting the Keystone XL around the Sand Hills region of Nebraska.

This area contains 1.3 million acres of wetland, from which water flows into the approximately 450,000 square kilometre Ogallala aquifer. Included in the latest revision of the bill is the commitment from Nebraska to pay for the Environmental Impact Study, which will assess the risks posed by the pipeline.

“TransCanada's made it pretty clear that if the pipeline was delayed that long then a lot of the contracts that people were looking to buy up from them would probably end up going somewhere else,” said West. “So just the economics of it alone, I think, could kill the Keystone pipeline expansion.”

The Perryman Group, an economic and financial analysis firm, published a business impact assessment of the Keystone XL project. The report (commissioned by Trans- Canada according to the Huffington Post and other news sources) states that the project will directly create 20,000 manufacturing and construction jobs.

However, these benefits are disputed by others. A Cornell University Global Labour Institute document says that the conclusion of the Perryman report “is not substantiated” and that “the project will create no more than 2,500 – 4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years, according to TransCanada's own data supplied to the State Department.”

West laments that “with almost every environmental campaign, there's always this sort of framing that it's jobs versus the environment. I think it's pretty disingenuous really, because for the companies, they're in it to make money, they're not in it to employ people. If they can do it employing less people they'd be happy too … That's definitely been a big part of the Keystone campaign.”

The delay of approval means that Albertan firms may need to find more sources for their bitumen if they want to expand production. Alternatives include several other local pipeline projects, some of which have also aroused controversy.

Enbridge Inc. is seeking approval for the Northern Gateway pipeline which goes from Edmonton, AB to Kitimat, BC, and Kinder Morgan operates the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline System, which moves 300,000 barrels of crude from Edmonton to various locations on the West coast, including a Burnaby Chevron refinery and a tanker dock in Burrard Inlet. Kinder Morgan is pursuing the expansion of this pipeline, and West thinks that they have a better chance of success than Enbridge does with their proposed project.

“They've got an existing pipeline and an existing tanker traffic route. [The pipeline] burst in '07 in Burnaby, [but] little did most people know they actually expanded the pipeline by about 50,000 barrels … six months after the pipeline burst. And now they want to go up to 700,000 barrels a day through that pipeline. In 2005, twenty tankers took crude out of the inlet … If they get the expansion through that they want to do they could get up to … 300 tankers [per year],” explains West.

Keystone's delay will help Enbridge and Kinder Morgan make stronger cases for their projects as alternative shipping routes out of Alberta. West explains, “They can say … ‘We're the only game in town.’ … The flip side of it is that seeing the success in stopping or massively delaying a pipeline I think also emboldens the activists and the First Nations.”

West says that limiting the supply of oil is only half of the equation. “What I'd really like to see Obama do, and what really would make the biggest difference in it, is really talking about what needs to be done to decrease our demand for oil.”

// Luke Warkentin, Writer

// Illustration by Caitlyn Neufeld