Close to the Edge: Part One

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September 23, 2013

The revolution will be no re-run, brothers. The revolution will be live.”

– Gil Scott-Heron

The Master Builder

Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, parting the waters so that they could traverse the dry ground and escape the enslavement of the pharaoh. Robert Moses, the city planner who almost single-handedly modernized New York City, had a similar aim when designing his Cross-Bronx Expressway.

Built as part of a plan to connect the financial centre of Manhattan directly to New York’s suburban communities, the expressway was one of a series of modernized highways designed to pass directly through New York’s outer boroughs. In 1945, Moses proposed a six-lane expressway that would cross through 113 streets, three railroads, one subway and seven other expressways, some of which were being simultaneously built by Moses himself.

The expressway was built over a 15-year span and was completed in 1963. Moses carved his way through the Bronx and in the path of over 60,000 Bronx residents. Many were left homeless, while others saw their property devalued and their communities infested with violence and drug abuse. In Robert Caro’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Moses, The Power Broker, he accuses him of intentionally directing the expressway through Tremont, a particularly poor South Bronx neighbourhood, rather than choosing a more viable option one block south.

Most of the Bronx’s white population fled to suburban picket fence communities, while racialized black and Latino populations were relocated to public housing projects designed on an idyllic “tower in a park” model first introduced by the modernist architect Le Corbusier. These concrete towers were bleak and isolated, and soon they became riddled with crime.

As marginalized populations moved into previously all-white neighbourhoods, many formed youth gangs as a means of defending themselves from previously existing militant white gangs. Manufacturing jobs were lost, and youth unemployment hit 60 per cent. Drug abuse and violence increased, and the South Bronx quickly drew attention from New Yorkers who felt the community was beyond help. New York Senator Patrick Moynihan famously suggested that the best approach to be taken towards poor black communities was “benign neglect.”

The South Bronx would eventually opt for creativity and advocacy over gang violence, spawning a historically unprecedented cultural revolution.

Like any good creation myth, the story of hip-hop has many different originators. The griots of Western Africa were storytellers who would recount historical events through rhythmic spoken word over drum beats and other instrumentation. These oral traditions were transported to the Western World via the Atlantic slave trade, and developed in the West Indies, particularly Jamaica.

Blues music, which developed from the work songs and spirituals of slaves in North America, occasionally included spoken word vocals, an early predecessor of rapping. Jazz, funk music, beat poetry, gospel music and reggae have all been cited as inspirations for hip-hop music. Most notable may be dub, a sub-genre of reggae in which artists remix previously existing reggae songs, remove the vocals and emphasize the bass and drums.

But perhaps the most unwitting — and unwilling — originator of hip-hop culture is Robert Moses himself. Despite his best efforts, the South Bronx would eventually opt for creativity and advocacy over gang violence, spawning a historically unprecedented cultural revolution. His gruff persona is echoed in that of the rappers who roses from the ashes of his expressway: “Those who can, build. Those who can’t, criticize.”

1520 Sedgewick Avenue

Twelve-year-old Clive Campbell moved to the Bronx in November 1967: it was the first time he had ever seen snow. He had grown up in Jamaica during a period of political instability, but also one of social evolution. The ghettos of Kingston had given birth to new genres of music such as ska, reggae and dub.

Campbell had been particularly inspired by Jamaican sound systems — musical collectives which included disc jockeys (DJs), masters of ceremonies (MCs or emcees), engineers and dancers who would throw block parties in the streets of the nation’s capital.

Campbell carried his love for music with him to the dilapidated Bronx housing projects he came to inhabit. Construction on Moses’ Expressway had begun four years previous, and the “white flight” that had resulted was underway: by the time Campbell reached his 14th birthday, white, black and Puerto Rican gangs had each occupied areas of the Bronx, and the areas in between were designated as no man’s land.

Campbell quickly became involved in the graffiti subculture that had taken the youth of the Bronx by storm: his chosen pseudonym was CLYDE AS KOOL, which he would spray on any empty concrete wall he could find. He also quickly gained recognition at his high school for his skill at track and field and basketball: his classmates took to calling him “Hercules,” which he shortened to Herc. Eventually, Campbell dropped the “Clyde” and combined the two names. Kool Herc was born.

After a fire forced the Campbells out of their Tremont apartment and into the building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Campbell began hosting house parties in the building’s rec centre. Inspired by fellow DJs in the area, who opted for James Brown records over the disco tunes on the radio, Herc’s parties quickly began to attract large crowds.

Once Herc — who had added the moniker “DJ” to his title — had built up a loyal following, he decided to play a block party in the Summer of 1974. “And after the block party,” says Herc in the hip-hop history Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, “we couldn’t come back to the rec room.”

Herc’s parties had only attracted high school students with little to no gang affiliation at first, but once he began playing outdoors, many gang members began to attend. Herc and his crew enforced a strict no violence policy at his parties, and people quickly took note: he would warn people in his booming Jamaican accent that the party would end as soon as anyone tried to cause trouble.

Despite noise complaints, the parties attracted little police attention: most seemed to think that they were a positive alternative to the violent gang confrontations that so often occurred in the Bronx at the time.

These block parties were distinguished from the disco sets Herc’s fellow DJs were playing by Herc’s Kingstonian influences: inspired by the sound systems he had seen as a child, Herc enlisted the help of his friend Coke La Rock, who adapted the Jamaican practice of “toasting.”

Dancers would wait for the instrumental breaks of songs to bust their strongest moves.

He would speak over Herc’s sets, spouting rhymed verses, dissing rival DJs and encouraging partygoers to dance and enjoy themselves. He’s generally regarded as the first rapper in history: even though they didn’t know it yet, Herc, La Rock and their crew were laying the foundation for a new musical genre.

But Herc had noticed something: many of the dancers who frequented the party had developed a style of their own. Inspired by kung fu, James Brown and gymnastics, dancers — dubbed “b-boys” and “b-girls” — would wait for the instrumental breaks in the songs Herc played to bust their strongest moves and impress their fellow partygoers. Noticing this trend, Herc developed a technique he called the Merry-Go-Round.

Using two identical records, Herc would cue up the two LPs so that he could endlessly loop a given song’s instrumental breaks. The crowd loved it: Herc would repeat instrumental sections endlessly, while La Rock spewed rhymed couplets and b-boys and girls showed off their best moves.

“I put all these breaks that I know (sic) I have in my collection together. When I did that, that experiment went out the window,” Herc said in an NPR interview. “Everybody used to come and wait for that particular format, for me to get into it.” Parties often lasted well into the early hours of the morning, and many members of rival gangs would set aside their differences and enjoy Herc’s perpetual breakbeats.

Historians and fans usually point the historic party where Herc introduced this technique as the genesis of hip-hop. In the years to come, Herc would enlist La Rock and another emcee, Clark Kent, to form Kool Herc & The Herculoids; be hired as a DJ at the legendary Helova Club in the Bronx at the age of 18; and, eventually, watch the empire he had created move on without him. Meanwhile, across the ethnically segregated neighbourhoods of the Bronx, competing DJs were beginning to take note.

The Mighty Zulu Nation

No one knows for sure Kevin Donovan’s real age; he refuses to divulge the information himself, and sources list his birthday as being anywhere from June 17, 1957 to April 10, 1960. Still, we can assume that he was still very young when the Hoe Avenue peace meeting of 1971 brought New York’s most dangerous gangs — the Savage Skulls, the Ghetto Brothers, the Young Sinners, the Liberated Panthers and the Black Spades, to name a few — together to discuss a truce.

At a Boys & Girls Club of America, gang warlords sat on folding chairs in the centre of a gymnasium to draw up a peace treaty. Though no lasting peace was established, the meeting did result in a significant decrease in gang warfare.

Then a Black Spade himself, Donovan was deeply moved by this attempt at peacemaking. Intelligent and resourceful, he quickly became one of the gang’s highest-ranking warlords, and developed a reputation throughout the Bronx for his willingness to enter enemy turfs. He established relationships with rival gangs and used his influence to promote peace across the ethnic divides of the Bronx.

When the Spades resisted his attempts at peacekeeping, he defected and formed his own group, which he named the Bronx River Organization. Inspired by the Zulu warriors who fought British imperialists in the 1964 film Zulu, Donovan changed his named to Afrika Bambaataa, which he told his followers meant “affectionate leader.”

He renamed his movement to the Universal Zulu Nation, whose beliefs included peace, equality and benevolence. “The mission was to bring peace and unity, and to pass knowledge on from one to the next,” Bambaataa told the Miami New Times.

Inspired by DJ Kool Herc, Bambaataa began hosting his own parties — and gangs began to attend in greater numbers. For him, hip-hop was a conduit through which he helped usher a new era of the Bronx. Ethnically diverse groups were united under the banner of Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation.

B-boying, which would eventually come to be known as breakdancing, had become more aggressive: instead of using violence to settle their differences, rival gangs would put their best dancers against each other.

A far cry from the slick choreography of the Step Up series, early b-boying was a dangerous hobby: dancers would throw themselves towards the concrete below, which was often littered with garbage and broken glass. The cuts and scrapes they inevitably received were worn proudly as battle scars.

The best dancers were able to reach the ground and back in a single, smooth motion, and the most talented b-boys, such as Richard “Crazy Legs” Colón, became as well known as the DJs whose parties they frequented.

Joseph Saddler, an aspiring DJ from the South Bronx, frequented Herc and Bambaataa’s parties. He admired their ability to attract a crowd and to inspire a legion of dedicated followers. But where Herc was inspired by his Jamaican roots and Bambaataa by the social activism of the black liberation movement, Saddler came at hip-hop from an intellectual angle. “I used to take apart electrical items in my mother’s house, including turntables, just to figure out how they work and why they work,” he recalled in an interview with Fresh Air.

He perfected Herc’s Merry-Go-Round into a seamless loop and added new techniques, including scratching; his friend Grand Wizzard Theodore had invented the practice accidentally by pausing a record with his hand to listen to his mother speak.

Saddler’s sophisticated style took a while to catch on. “The first time I did it, the crowd just stood there, just watched me,” he says in Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. “And I cried for a week.” Saddler — who had adopted the pseudonym Grandmaster Flash — was too preoccupied with his mixing techniques to be bothered with toasting.

His formula was missing a key ingredient: vocals. So he enlisted Robert “Cowboy” Wiggins, Melvin “Melle Mel” Glover, and Nathaniel “Kidd Creole” Glover. They named their group Grandmaster Flash and the Three MCs. Soon the Three MCs became the Furious Four and, eventually, the Furious Five. Flash’s crew would be one of the first to prepare their lyrics in advance, rather than improvising them on the spot.

Meanwhile, b-boying had exploded in popularity. The most famous crew of b-boys was formed in 1977 by four young inner city dancers: Jimmy D and JoJo in the Bronx, B-Boy Fresh and Crazy Legs in Manhattan. They called themselves the Rock Steady Crew. “We had the best show in the neighbourhood,” Crazy Legs told The New York Times in a retrospective of the group. “We had the moves.”

Hip-hop music’s influence was beginning to spread throughout New York City’s boroughs: partygoers would tape DJ sets and exchange them with their friends. Eventually, one of these tapes found its way into the hands of Sylvia Robinson, a blues songstress cum record producer who would go on to found the first hip-hop label, Sugar Hill Records, and release the game-changing single “Rapper’s Delight,” catapulting hip hop into the mainstream.

What had begun as a way for urban youth to express themselves and avoid the turbulence of gang warfare would soon become a cultural phenomenon, the likes of which no one could have expected.

What You Hear is Not a Test

It began just like any other night. Kool Herc, whose parties had become the stuff of legend, was in the midst of a party at a club just shy of the Cross Bronx Expressway called the Executive Playhouse. La Rock, who had been emceeing the event, stepped out for a moment. It was at this point that Herc noticed a young thug making trouble in the crowd. True to his policy of nonviolence, Herc swam into the crowd in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

That’s when the man pulled out a knife. Within seconds, Herc was being rushed to the hospital with multiple stab wounds; the perpetrator was never caught. “I got stabbed up physically and that backed me up,” Herc told Davey D in a 1989 interview. “It killed the juice in me.”

Herc spent the next few months in the hospital. By the time he was released, Bambaataa and Flash — both of whom had built up an impressive posse of emcees, b-boys and graffiti artists — were the biggest names in the Bronx. Hip-hop had gone on without him.

Meanwhile, John “Lucky the Magician” Rivas, an aspiring Brooklynian DJ, decided to enrol in the New York School of Announcing and Speech in an effort to improve his oratory abilities. It didn’t take long before he realized his passion wasn’t for performing; it was for radio. “I always kind of wanted to be a DJ on the radio,” Rivas said in an interview with WNYE. After a stint on community radio, he was approached by Frankie Crocker with an opportunity to move his radio show to WHBI-FM.

“We started talking and he asked me if I was interested in going to a commercial show with a commercial radio station. I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’” Lucky became Mr. Magic; the show was named Rap Attack. Featuring hip-hop pioneers such as Melle Mel and the Disco Brothers, Magic’s show spread the word of rap music to every corner of New York.

But hip-hop’s biggest step forward yet took place in a dilapidated New York pizza place. Henry Jackson, better known as “Big Bank Hank”, was an aspiring emcee and producer for Caz and the Mighty Forces, led by Casanova Fly, one of the most revered DJs in the Bronx.

Sylvia Robinson, who had frequented hip-hop clubs and realized its market potential, came upon Hank, who had taken up a day job as a pizza chef. While he kneaded the dough and spread the tomato sauce, Hank recited his favourite Casanova Fly raps to himself. Robinson received more than just a slice when she stopped into Hank’s pizza place — she had found her emcee.

Partygoers would tape DJ sets and exchange them with their friends, spreading hip-hop throughout New York’s boroughs.

Sampling Chic’s disco hit “Good Times,” Hank, along with fellow recruits Wonder Mike and Master Gee, recorded the single “Rapper’s Delight” under the name The Sugarhill Gang. The trio was named after Robinson’s label, Sugar Hill Records. Though not the first hip-hop song to be recorded in studio — a distinction that belongs to the Flatback Band’s “King Tim III” — it immediately eclipsed the latter in popularity, and became the first song of the genre to reach the Top 40 charts.

But Hank’s rapped verses, which dominate the track, are not his own. “I’m the C-A-S-A, the N-O-V-A / And the rest is F-L-Y,” begins Hank’s second verse — the calling card of his managee, Casanova Fly.

Casanova had lent Hank his lyric book a few days before the song was recorded, an action he came to regret. “I didn’t know about lawyers, or that I could do anything about that,” Vanity Fair quotes Casanova, who now goes by the pseudonym Grandmaster Caz. “I just took it as a loss. Over the years, it became monstrous.”

“Rapper’s Delight” became a sensation, but it also marked an important shift in hip-hop’s trajectory: by using a sample from a previously existing song rather than a DJ switching records, the song took the focus away from the DJ, and gave it to the emcee. The Sugarhill Gang would go on to record several full-length albums, but they would never match the popularity of their debut single.

Still, the damage had been done: “Rapper’s Delight” reached number one in Canada, the Netherlands, and Argentina (where it had entered the charts illegally), and climbed to number 34 in the US. The era of recorded hip-hop — rechristened as “rap” by the music industry — had begun.

Chuck D, the incendiary emcee who would rise to fame as the leader of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, told the author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: “I did not think it was conceivable that there would be such a thing as a hip-hop record. I’m like, record? Fuck, how you gon’ put hip-hop onto a record?”

Many lamented the death of hip-hop; mainstream attention had led to parties without dancing, emcees and DJs rushed to cash in on a suddenly profitable art form, large groups were whittled down to duos and solo acts, and the benevolent philosophies of the Zulu Nation fell on increasingly deaf ears. But the story of hip-hop had only just begun — and no one could have predicted just how far it would go.

Hatman and Falcon: Introducing Jira

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EIC

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September 23, 2013

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Men and women open cross-country season strong

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EIC

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September 23, 2013

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Already with one meet under their belts, the Clan cross-country squads are back in action for their 2013 campaign. After a second and fourth place finish respectively at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, WA, the women’s and men’s programs are prepared to run away with the season and hopefully pick up some hardware along the way.

Following the squad’s season-opening meet at the Sundodger on Sept. 14, the women’s side has picked up several mid-season rankings, coming in near the top of both the regional and national rankings. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) coaches poll ranks the ladies second in the West Region and sixth in the NCAA Division II.

These rankings put the Clan in a similar position to 2012 when the highly ranked team missed qualifying for the national championship by only a few points. If the first race of the season is any indication however, both teams should have excellent fall campaigns, with the men making great strides over previous years.

In that first meet, the women were led by senior captain Lindsey Butterworth who clocked in at 21:29.63 in the 6-km race, for third place overall. She was followed by Kirstin Allen who crossed in seventh position and sophomore Kansas Mackenzie who came in 13th overall. Rebecca Bassett and Tanya Humeniuk were the final point scorers for the ladies, who finished only behind National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) powerhouse UBC, and ahead of all of their Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) competitors.

The men also had a strong showing in their first competition of 2013 coming in fourth overall led by junior Cameron Proceviat, who finished 30th in a time of 25:41.08 in the 8-km event. Freshman Oliver Jorgensen wasn’t far behind, crossing the line next for the Clan in 34th place followed only two spots later by team captain James Young. Austin Trapp and Brendan Wong were also point scorers for the Clan, coming in 46th and 47th respectively.

The cross-country season is a short, action-filled season, and the Clan will be racing throughout the fall to prepare for the GNAC, West Regional and National championships, and will have raced in Spokane, WA this past weeken. Though results were not available at the time of press, if the early going is any indication, 2013 could be a very successful season for both the men and the women.

Student consultations begin for SUB

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EIC

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September 23, 2013

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Last week, Build SFU consultations started, allowing students to give feedback on the proposed Student Union Building. Students were encouraged to give their opinions, via an online survey and in-person focus groups on what they want to see in the building in terms of programming and amenities, as well as the three proposed locations.

The three locations under consideration are “Main Street,” located above the central bus stop, “Crossroads,” which is between the Maggie Benston Centre and the AQ, and “Treehouse,” across University Dr. from West Mall Complex.

Students were asked which location or locations they liked, as well as why, in order to give the Build SFU team and the building’s architects, Perkins+Will, a better idea of what students wanted from the building’s location.

“The survey isn’t a voting survey,” Marc Fontaine, Build SFU general manager, stated. “It’s not to say, please select site one, two, or three. Instead it’s to get students to tell the architects why their experience at SFU isn’t as good as it could be, and what could be changed to make it better.”

Surprisingly, 40 per cent of responses so far have come from new students, many of whom were just hearing of the project for the first time. The focus group specifically for new students also had the best attendance. “New students will be paying for [the building] for a longer period of time than students who are further along in their university career,” Fontaine pointed out, “I think they see the benefit of it because they’re likely to see the building when it’s open.”

The number one thing the building needs to be, is student focused.”

– Jana Foit, Perkins+Will architect

“The number one thing the building needs to be, is student focused,” said Jana Foit, one of the architects from Perkins+Will involved in the project . Through the consultation process, Foit said that they found students were interested in a building that created a community outside the classroom, incorporated design, including study and lounge spaces, and connected them with nature.

One theme that has emerged already from student consultations is the complaint that many students don’t feel connected to nature on the Burnaby campus, despite the vast amounts of parkland and sprawling trails that meander across Burnaby Mountain.

“We’re wondering why that is the case,” said Fontaine; “we’re wondering if it’s because there’s a lot of dirty concrete, and you have to look up from your phone to see nature all around us. There is a lot of nature around SFU.”

“Students really value the location of the SFU Burnaby campus,” said Foit, “and I think with all the grey and concrete, there’s a sense that you’re not experiencing nature. We want to exploit the fact that we’re on a mountain.

The focus groups allowed students from various clubs, DSUs, and student groups, to voice their opinions as well, as many of them will be looking to acquire space in the new building once it is completed. “We are approaching all the campus groups to determine what types of spaces they need,” said Fontaine. “Do you need office spaces, or do you need a large meeting room, or do you need anything else?”

Concerns were also voiced that if the “Main Street” location is selected, SFU’s various rotunda groups that occupy that space currently will need to relocate during construction. The rotunda groups that have space above the Transportation Centre include Out on Campus, SFPIRG, FNSA, and the Women’s Centre.

Another challenge of the “Main Street” site is how it necessitates demolishing a pre-existing building, which would ultimately extend the deadline of the project.

Foit was on campus last week for two and half days for student consultations. “In general, I thought the feedback was quite positive,” she said, citing the large number of responses that have been received from the online survey.

There will be more focus groups in the coming weeks, in Burnaby as well as at the Surrey and Vancouver campuses. By the end of consultation, Foit hopes to have a full vision statement for the building to use as a “measuring stick,” when the project moves into the design phase.

The Charter of Values is an omnibus bill

By

Peak Web

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September 23, 2013

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Religious and ethnic diversity is something to be cherished in Canada. Unfortunately, there have been attempts lately to undermine this principle. In Québec, the Parti Québécois (PQ) under the leadership of Pauline Marois have recently unveiled a “Charter of Values” purportedly aimed at solidifying the secularization of Québec.

At first glance, the rationale surely seems reasonable. However, a further look uncovers its disturbing intentions. While advocates claim state secularism will be promoted, the proposal fails to meet the supposed goals of its proponents by ensuring loopholes in its provisions. Instead, it’s a furtive attempt to undermine religious diversity.

Therefore, contrary to the officially stated goals of the PQ, its provisions are actually the manifestation of hate-based politics. Perhaps more disturbing is the PQ’s adept strategy of creating an “us vs. them” mentality in an attempt to secure the bill’s passage.

While overt religious symbols from the kippah to the crucifix are no longer permitted to be worn by public employees, this falls short of actually ensuring a “secular” Québec; the bill contains a provision excluding religious symbols considered an integral part of the province’s history. As Québec has a decidedly Catholic past and continues to have a Catholic majority, this means Catholic names and symbols are here to stay.

Not only will thousands of geographic names not be renamed, but the crucifix in Québec’s National Assembly building will also not be removed. With this taken into account, the true intentions of the separatist PQ become much clearer. Rather than seeing a law which applies secularism fairly across Québec for all religious communities, the bill aims to solidify the Catholic nature of Québec, thus imposing a set of double standards throughout the entire province.

These inequities can also be seen in the proposal to remove tax exempt status of all houses of worship. While this applies equally to churches, mosques, synagogues, etc., the reality is that religious minorities — unlike the Catholic majority — would not benefit from the clause recognizing religious symbols that are deemed a part of Québec’s past.

Therefore, while increased financial burden will put pressure on smaller congregations of all religions (whereby diminishing their presence), Catholics will fare better in their ability to offset this effect.

This inequity is also made worse by its failure to officially recognize the past influences of other religions. Québec, for example, has had Jewish and Protestant communities — among others — for more than two centuries. Thus, such a discriminatory bill aims to marginalize religious minorities by seeking to minimize their public presence and recognition in mainstream society.

In an effort to implement a twisted vision of religious inequality under the guise of secularism, the PQ has turned to double standards formally enshrined in the bill. In fact, it has actually been fanning the flames for some time already; a dig of derogatory remarks made not long ago further underscore their true intentions.

In a 2012 Globe and Mail article, PQ politician André Simard (then the PQ’s Agriculture Critic) was quoted making disparaging comments toward the practice of slaughtering livestock in accordance to halal dietary codes, labelling it “inhumane” and incompatible with Québec values.

Such methods actually serve to minimize pain, meaning there is little evidence the comment was made out of sincere concern for the animals involved. Rather, it was a poorly disguised attempt at fostering bigotry and intolerance and — more importantly — stirring up tensions to win support for the PQ’s twisted proposals.

While we sometimes take the notions of diversity and tolerance for granted, the recent happenings in Québec serve as a reminder that we shouldn’t, in fact, do so. Rather, we should be proactive in our attempts to uphold such values in our society.

Discussion series examines brain diseases

By

EIC

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September 23, 2013

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Café Scientifique kicked off the first instalment of its discussion series last Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the Surrey City Centre Library, where Dr. Gordon Rintoul spoke on the relationship between mitochondrial deterioration and age-related brain diseases.

The series, sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, features leading Science experts from SFU on topics related to health and popular science. Meant to be a more informal than a lecture, the evenings include discussions with the audience, supporting SFU’s goal to be an engaged university.

Rintoul spoke on Wednesday about his work on mitochondrial dynamics. Mitochondria are tiny structures within the cells that have traditionally been known as the “powerhouses” of the cell. Their job is essentially to produce energy in a form that the cells can use to do all sorts of things.

Nevertheless, these organelles may be responsible for age-related brain diseases, such as stroke and Parkinson’s, if they are not fulfilling their proper functions. Rintoul compared their volatility to that of a power plant:

“If a nuclear power plant is functioning fine and producing energy that’s great, but things can go wrong with a nuclear power plant that can have really disastrous consequences,” explained Rintoul. “Nasty things can actually leak out of them, and that’s exactly what happens with mitochondria. They can release things that are very harmful to the cells.”

During a stroke, a blocked blood vessel results in a lack of energy delivered to cells in a small region of the brain. The mitochondria respond by malfunctioning, and producing things that are harmful to the cells.

Mitochondria are structures within cells that have traditionally been known as the “powerhouses” of the cell.

Rintoul’s lab is investigating mitochondrial dynamics: the basic mechanisms that are regulating mitochondrial trafficking and mitochondrial fission and fusion. Mitochondria are able to change their shapes through fission and fusion, and while the purpose of that change is not clear, fragmented mitochondria have been associated with a lot of different disease states, and potentially the aging process as well.

“Our guiding hypothesis is that in some of these neurodegenerative diseases, we’re having malfunctions of mitochondrial dynamics, and that may be a contributing or may be a causative factor in these diseases,” said Rintoul.

In pursuit of this hypothesis, Rintoul and his lab are hoping to decipher how mitochondria are participating in the injury mechanisms that harm cells in Parkinson’s and stroke. Said Rintoul, “If we can find out the mechanisms that control these things and find out how they’re being affected in the diseases, that gives us targets for therapeutic intervention.”

This is Rintoul’s first time speaking at the Café Scientifique series, but he believes by reaching out to the community, scientists are fulfilling their duty to the public.

“I really feel it’s the responsibility of scientists to promote science,” said Rintoul. “We are a publicly funded institution, so I think its our duty to get across to the public what we’re doing with their money and show them that we’re using it to work toward worthwhile causes.”

Time lapse video of a cortical astrocyte with mitochondria illuminated with Yellow Fluorescent protein (shot in grey-scale) Total time: 10 Minutes.

Food Bank begins pilot phase

By

EIC

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September 23, 2013

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As of October 1, SFU’s Food Bank will be launching a pilot program aimed at increasing awareness of the options available to undergraduate students who may need extra assistance in making ends meet.

After considering several logistical models including a voucher program and a food hamper system, the Food Bank working group has decided to offer food certificates for Nesters’ market, the grocery store on Burnaby campus, to students in need.

Students will be able to receive $25 gift certificates to Nesters’ three times per semester during the pilot phase. However, the gift certificates are not conventional; they can only be used for sundries — tobacco, lottery tickets, bus passes, and pharmaceuticals are restricted.

Chardaye Bueckert, SFSS External Relations Officer, expressed the SFSS’s desire to elicit feedback from the SFU population while providing a food service on campus during this transitional period.

The food certificate system was chose for its flexibility and anonymity.

The overhaul of SFU’s Food Bank began this July, when Student Services told the SFSS that they were withdrawing their food distribution services. Student Services cited issues of waste, inadequate cold storage, and a lack of knowledge of best practices when making this decision.

Bueckert explained that Student Services will still play a role in the SFSS Food Bank Program, but as an educator instead of a distributor. Their contributions will include producing educational materials with information about cooking on a budget and resources in the community, as well as creating outreach and volunteer coordination elements and a free food location on campus.

In addition to allowing students to purchase fresh produce and ingredients, the food certificate system was chosen for its flexibility and anonymity. The SFSS general office will now be handling a majority of the administrative work, which includes organizing the food certificates so that students can pick them up anonymously after filling out a simple web survey.

The SFSS will be continuing the Food Bank Program pilot phase for the duration of the fall 2013 semester, with intent to continue it in the Spring based on feedback from Food Bank users.

“We really hope that this [program] will ensure that the students in need are able to access it,” concluded Chardaye.

Breakfast with the Pres

By

EIC

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September 23, 2013

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Last Friday, Sept. 20, marked the first Breakfast with the President of the new school year, where SFU President Andrew Petter offered faculty, staff and students, the opportunity to share perspectives about university issues over coffee and a muffin.

The first Breakfast with the President was held in October, 2011, with the intent “to hear first-hand from members of the university community about issues and ideas on their minds,” wrote Petter in Petter’s Perspective: Notes from the President.

This year’s breakfast was held at SFU’s Surrey Campus, attracting a mix of students and staff alike who were eager for the opportunity to connect with SFU’s higher administration and share ideas in an informal setting. The group of 20 discussed issues that included concerns over inter-disciplinary cooperation, how to better engage students, and a lack of resources for different programs and student initiatives.

I want to try to stay as connected as I can to [our] community while being out there representing it,”

Andrew Petter, SFU President

For chemistry graduate student Austin Lee, the session offered an otherwise unattainable opportunity to speak with Petter in an intimate environment. “I thought it was a really nice opportunity to actually meet the President and know what’s going on in the community in general,” said Lee. “Right now I’m a graduate student at SFU Surrey; it’s very isolated . . . I think I lack the chance of meeting people and knowing what’s going on.”

Lee continued, “As a Surrey resident I’d like to get the chance to meet with the President, who’s interested in talking about how SFU is trying to grow and what sort of programs they’re trying to [implement].”

Carlie Nishi, a 3rd-year communications student, echoed Lee’s sentiments. “This is kind of a rare opportunity for a student if you’re not employed at SFU or go to campus often, so I really wanted to leverage the fact that I am a student, a current athlete, and a very prominent club member as well as just a regular student wanting to know more.”

SFU President Andrew Petter feels that the breakfast sessions have servced to not only engage the SFU population, but assist in solving the issues presented.

“I want to try to stay as connected as I can to [our] community while being out there representing it,” said Petter. “This seemed to me one of the number of ways that I could both gain feedback from what’s on peoples minds, encourage some conversation amongst the students, faculty, and staff, which doesn’t always take place by itself, and also be able to answer people’s concerns and questions.”

“I must say, from my point of view, [the events have] been really really helpful,” concluded Petter.

Harper pushes pipeline in Kelowna

By

EIC

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September 23, 2013

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VANCOUVER (CUP) — Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Kelowna, BC, the weekend of Sept. 14 for a national caucus meeting, as well as to meet with residents opposed to the proposed pipeline projects in the western-most province.

Although details of Harper’s agenda while in the province have not been disclosed, there is a broad consensus that the trip to Canada’s West Coast is to make a big push in support of building the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines, as well as expanding the existing Kinder Morgan Pipeline.

The Keystone Pipeline, which has been the focus of intense media attention and scrutiny over the last year, will take bitumen products from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries in Texas. While none of the components of the proposed Keystone Pipeline are to be built in BC, Aboriginal leaders across the country have been vocal in their opposition to it, citing negative environmental impacts.

The Northern Gateway Pipeline project proposes a 1,170km twin pipeline from the oil sands to the port of Kitimat, in northern BC Opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline is focused on the company Enbridge, which has a relatively poor record on pipeline safety and security. The proposed flow of oil makes pristine areas of the province potentially vulnerable to oil spills. The oil would be carried onto tankers destined for Asia.

Environmentalists and First Nations leaders opposed to the pipeline say that the government is meeting with them purely as a formality

The proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline, however, strikes at the heart of those living in the province’s Lower Mainland. The current pipeline, which was designed to transport crude oil but now carries refined product from the oil sands, ends at the Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby.

The expansion, which proposes to twin the pipeline, is meant to accommodate more than double the amount of oil, from 300,000 barrels to almost 900,000 barrels per day, to oil tankers in the Burrard Inlet. The oil is then exported to markets in Asia.

In the summer of 2007, the Kinder Morgan pipeline was ruptured accidentally by sewer contractors working for the City of Burnaby, causing an oil spill that forced evacuations and damaged homes and marine wildlife, as well as resulting in traffic disruptions for months after the spill was contained.

Environmentalists and First Nations leaders opposed to the pipeline say that the government is meeting with them purely as a formality, while the Harper government contends it is consulting with all interested parties.

The debate, especially with regards to the Northern Gateway pipeline, has also led to somewhat frosty relations between BC Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford — relations which have warmed significantly since their respective election victories.

The Prime Minister’s office has directed senior cabinet officials to travel to BC, starting on Sept. 23, to engage in a public opinion campaign which they hope will win them greater support for the building of the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines and the expansion of the existing Kinder Morgan Pipeline.

Thousands feared dead in plane crash by imaginative, pessimistic man

By

EIC

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September 23, 2013

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PHOENIX, AZ — Although no casualties, injuries, or even plane crashes have been reported in the state of Arizona recently, according to the imagination of one incredibly frightful pessimist thousands could been dying right now.

John Kirkpatrick, a 54-year-old man with a lot of time on his hands, is apparently afraid that thousands of people could’ve died in a plane crash during most hours of the day. In the past Kirkpatrick has feared significant death tolls from imagined hurricanes, mass shootings and distinctly remembers waking up on September 11, 2001 with the chilling feeling that hundreds of people had died in a shark-related tragedy.

While Kirkpatrick’s fears are often misplaced, he is always in a constant state of fearing some sort of massive scale tragedy but, somewhat surprisingly, is not afraid of his own death in the slightest.

“When it happens, it happens, there’s no point in worrying or even thinking about it really” Kirkpatrick told The Peak before drifting off in terror thinking about dozens of people who could have died in a freak tobogganing accident somewhere in the world this week.