Connection around campus from the perspective of film students
Elijah Alexander Chenoweth (he/him) // Contributor
Christina Willians // Illustrator
What is community? Is it your friends? Your family? The bus driver? It means many things to people. Somehow, we all share the experience of what a community is. In a general sense, it is a collective and a part of what it means to be human.
Our own country’s name is supposed to mean “community” in the Wendat language. But, some aunties on Facebook know it more to mean “they squat in our village,” which is closer to the truth of this country.
In this piece, we’re getting the truth of the matter on community building from the experience of our peers within Capilano University’s film programs. The overall sense of community seems to be in constant flux between different individuals. While some may feel that there is a complete lack of community due to declining engagement with campus events, others have found lifelong connections. The mixed bag of attitudes shows how varied our demographic is.
In the Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) program, the effort to make friends seems to be somewhat difficult, due to stress and competition. Cooperation and organization is what makes the difference: building a strong sense of determination and know-how attitude because we learn to combine skills towards a deliverable.
Some feel that the opportunities to open up creatively have led to significant personal development. A sense of self, strong work ethic and a studious nature are outcomes for many people attending.
One interviewee mentioned feeling disappointment towards the lack of engagement in school spirit, which in their opinion has been harmless but also uneventful. It wasn’t necessarily the culture of CapU that has attracted so many students, since we are a school known for quality education.
Another individual mentioned a lack of events altogether, especially ones that would bring the entire student body together.
The strive towards decolonization is felt within the Indigenous Digital Filmmaking (IDF) program as well as the effort to take space and rediscover old strength to find one’s voice is the consensus. Learning the art of storytelling can bring forth new perspectives on how we relate to other communities worldwide, and it starts with an open mind. Many of the interviewees I spoke with were open minded individuals, and that reflects a sense of conscientiousness within the BOSA building.
“I think Covid really made us reevaluate how we communicate with other people and made us more open to that connection. For me, community is being able to show up exactly as you are, know you have a place, and not feel the expectation to be a certain person. As much as the school can try to help with community building, it really comes down to the individuals to make the difference.” -Indigenous Student Liaison, Carson Pechawis
The inspiration that has spilled out of interviewees from the IDF shows a clear sign of empowerment that emanates among Indigenous students. We are entering an age of empowerment. Encouragement and contentment with oneself is a key aspect to connecting with those around you, and many circumstantial setbacks can make community seem like a far reach. But, like many ideas in the brain, it is an illusion.
In North Vancouver, our CapU campus offers teachings that are sought after internationally, reflected by the rich diversity of nations on our school grounds. However, that mass appeal makes it much more of a blank slate for others to draw upon and form communities within. We have an international front of the western hemisphere; we have influence that can reach globally.
The community that is present on campus is geared toward focus on school, and the efforts to build that connection between people are less so according to the many perspectives discussed. It makes for a collective of people who support each other, despite competition or animosity. This support is what lifts people up against the division that we may find within these institutions or even ourselves. The goal is to make us more solo-minded, because a group of people with one goal in mind is more dangerous than one plotting individual.
“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” -Napoleon Bonaparte
It’s the ideas that we generate together that make the world shift. We cannot change minds forcibly in a positive way. One cannot use their overt strength to nurture a tree when it grows. It takes attention and time to build something strong.
Communities are the ones who shift history, not necessarily the money that may or may not be in your pockets. We are the turtle on which our society rests. These ideas are formless and can vanish just as they appear, but we are the ones still here. So, what is it that we want? Lone royalty at the top of a hill, or a village in the valley? Think about it. It takes a community to raise up one child, and if that warmth isn’t felt, the child may burn the village down just to feel the heat. Could this be why we see a certain apathetic barbarity in our world?
When we begin to understand how to really communicate and understand each other, we stray from the new kind of silent desperation of loneliness in the modern age, which is designed for profiting from division.. But, it doesn’t need to be like this. Power to the people. People over profit.