Cross country continues early season success

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September 30, 2013

Already off to a blazing start, the women’s cross country team picked up the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Team of the Week award following their performance at the Erik Anderson Invitational in Spokane, WA. The men’s and women’s sides had excellent weekends at the meet, racing top competition from three divisions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Led by captain Lindsey Butterworth, the Clan women finished first among all Division II competition, besting teams from the West Region and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) over the 5km course. They also finished second overall, beating Division I schools, Gonzaga and Washington State, and losing to only one other Division I program, Lipscomb University.

Butterworth was SFU’s top finisher with a fifth-place overall run, while fellow senior Kirsten Allen followed closely behind in seventh. They finished one-two in Division II competition, and Allen picked up GNAC Athlete of the Week honours. It was Allen’s second consecutive seventh-place finish. Butterworth won the same award the weekend before for her performance at the Sundodger Invitational, and will be looking to continue her dominant season at the top of the GNAC.

The women’s three other point scorers at the Erik Anderson were Kansas Mackenzie, a 2012 All-Regional racer, freshman Rebecca Bassett in her second-ever collegiate race, and track and field All-American Sarah Sawatzky. The competitors finished in 12th, 23rd and 24th respectively.

The Clan men’s team is continuing to improve in 2013 as well as they had another excellent showing at their second competition of the season finishing fourth out of all Division II competition.

Captain James Young, coming off a red-shirt season in 2012, led the team over the 6km course finishing seventh out of the Division II competitors. It was his first finish atop the Clan leaderboard this season, with sophomore Cameron Proceviat following closely behind. Proceviat was the Clan’s top racer at the season opener, and rounded out the top-ten in Spokane.

Stuart MacDonald, Austin Trapp and Oliver Jorgenson rounded out SFU’s top-five finishers to nab the fourth place team spot, crossing the finish line in 17th, 19th and 20th in Division II competition respectively.

The Clan will be looking to continue their strong performances in the upcoming weekends starting with the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, CA and two more open meets before turning their attention to the championship season.

After the GNAC qualifying meet SFU will aim to return to Spokane where the West Region and NCAA Division II championships will be held in early November. The women are already ranked second in the West Region and sixth nationally and will be looking to improve on those rankings as the season progresses while the men will look to keep the speed coming when the Clan travel to California.

Word on the Street: Diversity

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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SFU football storms out of gates

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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It was a start that no statistician predicted, but one that Dave Johnson believes has been four years in the making. The head coach of the Clan football squad has led his team to a dominant 2-0 start to their season, besting conference powerhouses Humboldt State and Central Washington University on the road to begin 2013.

“We have seniors now who played here in 2010 and had a difficult first season getting beat by those teams by huge margins,” explained Johnson. “It became a personal challenge and they have dedicated themselves to training and competing even harder than ever.”

The Week 3 game against CWU started strong for the Clan as they opened the scoring on the first drive with an 18-yard field goal by kicker Chad Heerspink but the home team struck back at the end of the first quarter with a 65-yard touchdown following an SFU pass-interference penalty.

The score remained at a stalemate for the majority of the second quarter before a CWU drive late in the period got the home side within striking distance of the Clan endzone, but a strong defensive line led by linebackers Casey Chin and Mitchell Barnett was able to turn the momentum around and back down the field.

The turn of direction fuelled the Clan offence to another drive similar to their first of the game, resulting in Heerspink recording his second field-goal of the game, this time from 26-yards.

The score was 7–6 for the Wildcats heading into the third quarter and, after trading punts with the home team, the Clan fell further behind following another long touchdown strike—this one of 46-yards—late in the period. But the game was far from over as the best plays of the game were still to come for the Clan.

In the fourth quarter, runningback Chris Tolbert, in his first season with the Clan, was able to convert the Clan’s first touchdown of the game, and would move the score to within two points, prompting Johnson to go for a two-point conversion play. SFU was able to capitalize as Bobby Pospischil caught the pass from quarterback Ryan Stanford, another player in his first season at SFU, to tie the game at 14 apiece.

With the clock counting down safety Chandler Gayton forced a Wildcat fumble on the three-yard line giving the visitors the chance they needed to end the game. Moving down the field, SFU put themselves into position for a trick-play, and the Clan executed flawlessly as a screen pass to back-up quarter-back Ryan Blum went uncontested resulting in pass to Tolbert for a 27-yard touchdown and the extra point to follow. At 21-14 the Clan recorded their first victory in the Ellensburg stadium over the Wildcats since 1980.

The strong start to the season has sparked increasing interest into the Clan’s program, and the team received their first ever vote in the American Football Coaches Association poll. The Clan also rank seventh nationally in passing average with 378 yards per game following their second victory of the season.

SFU also has two national category leaders on their roster as Chin is leading in interceptions, with two in his two games this season, and Barnett has two fumble recoveries in two games leading that category as well.

Chris Tolbert also received recognition following his team’s 2-0 start, winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Co-Offensive Athlete of the Week award. The junior transfer was key to the Clan’s second victory, catching four passes and rushing for 106-yards on the day, including two total touchdowns.

Moving forward the Clan will look to continue their 2013 success at home as they play at Terry Fox Field for the first time this year. The Clan host conference rivals Western Oregon, who they have yet to beat at home or on the road, at their 2013 home opener.

“They are easily the biggest team we will play this year, but we just need to take care of what we can take care of,” said Johnson of Western Oregon. When a team is unbeaten, scoring wins against the two top-ranked teams in its conference and still has much to improve on heading into its home opener, the only place to go is up. “It’s been nice to have such a great start,” said Johnson, “but . . . we need to execute on offence and fill gaps on defence and if we do what our system requires it will be successful.”

Health Atlas maps environmental dangers to health

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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A Canadian research team led by an SFU professor has launched the world’s first interactive website, which aims to help Canadians understand how critical environmental influences are on their health.

The Canadian Environmental Health Atlas’ main purpose is “to illustrate the myriad of ways the environment affects our health” via not only its physical characteristics — air pollution, industrial plants, or tobacco smoke — but also its social, cultural, and economic ones. Atlas does so by exposing the user to case studies that incorporate maps, graphics, videos, and infographics.

The lead scientist for the project, SFU Health Sciences Professor Bruce Lanphear, explains how a major problem in today’s understanding of diseases is that everything is treatment oriented — current studies seek to cure disease and reduce symptoms, rather than focusing on prevention. Lanphear believes the focus needs to shift to altering the environmental influences that the public is exposed to, as these are what trigger disease (in combination with genes).

“To help people understand if we want to prevent the chronic diseases that plague us, we have to understand and address the environmental influences that we’re surrounded by,” said Lanphear. “It’s not enough to create drugs or new medical technologies. We’ve got to understand how to deal with environmental hazards that we’re all exposed to on a regular basis.”

It’s not enough to create drugs or new medical technologies.”

– Bruce Lanphear, SFU Health Sciences Professor

The idea for a health atlas originated in 2008, when Lanphear and several other experts were asked to serve on a panel that discussed linking health and the environment for Health Canada and Statistics Canada. What came out of the conversation was the idea to create a database that was accessible to students and the educated public, so that experts and researchers could try to impact public discourse.

Lanphear feels that this site is distinguished from similar databases in three ways: it invites experts to share their research through case studies; it incorporates interactive graphics; and it operates with objective data.

Despite having launched the site, Lanphear feels the team still has a long way to go. “We’ve really just scratched the surface,” explained Lanphear. “If we’re going to do this right, we’ve easily got another five years.”

“We’ve put up 12 different topics and we hope to put up one or two topics for the next eight months,” said Lanphear. “Beyond that we’re going to continue to find funding, and we’d really like to expand it from a Canadian environmental health atlas to a world atlas, because so many of the studies and so much of the information is deeply relevant to other parts of the world.”

Album reviews: Justin Timberlake, Islands, and a throwback to Radiohead

By

Peak Web

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September 30, 2013

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Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2

Reviewed by Max Hill

The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2, Justin Timberlake’s follow-up to his triumphant comeback album earlier this year, begins in media res. In contrast to part one, which slowly sunk its teeth in with the groovy opener “Pusher Love Girl,” Timberlake’s new LP doesn’t mince words — from the animalistic autotune of “Gimme What I Don’t Know (I Want)” to the eight bit afrobeat of “True Blood,” 2 of 2 wastes no time immersing its audience.

The albums are undeniably similar, and a little repetition is to be expected. After all, they’re intended as two halves of a whole — even if Timberlake waited to clarify this point until after part one had been released. Like The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake’s newest leaves no stone unturned, exploring every nook and cranny of each song to the point where the average track length is around seven minutes. It’s a dubious feat for a mainstream pop album, but Timberlake, as charming and suave as ever, is the perfect artist to pull it off.

Still, as the dust has begun to settle on Timberlake’s return to FM radio, 2 of 2 feels like a rehash that never convincingly argues for its own necessity. Sure, early single “Take Back the Night” is classic JT, and Drake’s featured verse on “Cabaret” is electrifying enough to blow Jay-Z’s phoned-in “Murder” guest spot out of the water, but the album retains all the issues of its predecessor — weak lyrics, unnecessary bloat, and a cheesy production.

Even though each song is impeccably performed, and the inevitable radio edits will be as easily digestible as anything in Timberlake’s catalogue, the album still fails to introduce anything new to the mix. For all of its shortcomings, part one could defend itself on the basis of years of Timberlake withdrawal; however 2 of 2 has no excuse.

Islands – Ski Mask

Reviewed by Morgan Berna

Nick Thorburn has always been a talented lyricist and musician — from his early days with The Unicorns, to his solo projects, and now his current band Islands — Thorburn’s ability to write catchy, imaginative songs has been a constant.

While the release of Islands’ previous album A Sleep & A Forgetting received underwhelming reviews, it was praised for its simple, heartfelt feel; the album was something different and that was appreciated. Having seen this album performed live, I can personally vouch for the incredible musical talent of all members in the band.

While it can be said that Islands is a great band with a creative lyricist, such talent was, unfortunately, not translated into their new album Ski Mask. Opener, “Wave Forms,” is the best track on the album but, being the first track one listens to, sets listeners up for a disappointment for the rest of the album. The songs that follow are no more than decent.

“Becoming the Gunship” begins with a cool drum beat, but dissolves into an overly simplistic melody. Other songs such as “Nill,” fall short under a weird Broadway-style tune. Overall the album has some interesting beats and decent lyrics, but ultimately nothing new.

If this had been Islands’ first album, the reviews would read better. However, because we’ve become used to a certain standard of excellence, it’s an overall disappointment to get an album that doesn’t feel like it had much thought put into it. Regardless of the overall letdown, Ski Mask is an easy listen for new fans, and old fans can just be happy Thorburn didn’t join another band, as he claimed he had on Twitter earlier this year.

Throwback: Radiohead – Kid A

Reviewed by Max Hill

With the release of Kid A, Radiohead tore themselves apart and rebuilt. As the dust settled on Y2K and the phrase “twenty-first century” started to lose its lustre, the Oxfordian quintet’s highly anticipated follow-up to OK Computer gave a world of new centurians a post-modern vocabulary through which they could express their thoughts, fears and predictions for the future that lay ahead of them.

Teeming with the tension of old world versus new — not unlike its predecessor — Kid A broke every rule in the book and came out unscathed on the other side. Thom Yorke’s extraterrestrial vocal modulations became as much of an instrument as Johnny Greenwood’s encrypted electric guitar or Phil Selway’s tin can drums. Impressionistic ambience shared the spotlight with acoustic balladry and pitch shifted electronica, and somehow it all came together as one cohesive whole.

Considering how gleefully Kid A stuck a wrench in the band’s own hype machine, its placement on Best Albums of the Decade lists — where, more often than not, it sits comfortably at the number one spot — surely has Yorke and company cracking a smile. The fact that it was released only three years after OK Computer, an album that garnered its own shared of hyperbolic accolades, has done wonders to solidify the Myth of Radiohead.

Kid A is ultimately an LP that couldn’t have happened were it not so eagerly anticipated. Radiohead reinvented themselves to the point of unrecognizability, and the result was not only their best and most fully realized work, but one that set the tone for the decade to come.

From its opening moments to the heartbreaking final notes of “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” Kid A is the sound of a future we’re currently in, an album that might be even more necessary now than the day it was released.

A suspension of all logic

By

EIC

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September 30, 2013

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The 2013-14 National Hockey League season has not even begun, yet the NHL’s inconsistent discipline is already in mid-season form. Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s Director of Player Safety, has a tendency of handing out erratic suspensions and this has never been more evident than during the 2013 preseason.

Two stick-swinging incidents from the past week are at the forefront of this discussion, specifically Vancouver’s Zach Kassian breaking Edmonton’s Sam Gagner’s jaw by wildly swinging his stick after a missed hit, and Toronto’s Phil Kessel’s violent, deliberate slashing at Buffalo’s John Scott. The difference between each incident however, is the intent to injure.

Even though both players were suspended, the severity of each shows the NHL’s inability to levee down appropriate discipline. Kassian was suspended the rest of the preseason, plus an additional five regular season games, while Kessel was only suspended for the remainder of the preseason.

Kassian’s play was dangerous, reckless and even moronic, but he did not mean to hurt Gagner; he just lost control of his stick. Kassian’s teammate Dale Weise was also suspended for the rest of the preseason for an elbow to Taylor Hall’s head, which occurred in the same game. Weise’s hit, a deliberate one to Hall’s head, is the type of play the NHL vehemently decries and wants out of the game, and yet they gave Weise a lesser penalty compared to Kassian’s freak accident.

The intent to injure in Kessel’s two-handed slashes at John Scott’s leg is quite apparent. One slash in self-defense is understandable, because Scott — a 6’8”, 270-pound behemoth — was unnecessarily trying to come after the much smaller Kessel. But the second attempt was obviously to harm Scott: at this point, Scott was already subdued by Kessel’s teammates before he wound up for the second strike. An attempt to injure another player should result in a heftier suspension than an accident.

In the video where Shanahan explains Kassian’s suspension, and describes the hit: “Kassian comes to a spinning stop, recklessly swinging his stick and striking Gagner in the face and breaking his jaw.” Shanahan cites Gagner’s injury, which was revealed after the game, and the injury had no consequence on the play itself, which should make it irrelevant, contrary to what Shanahan seems to be suggesting in the video. Kassian’s suspension was based on the injury and not the action.

In the Kessel suspension video however, Shanahan notes that Kessel engaged in similar stick swinging incidents previously in the same game, yet Shanahan says Kessel has “no history” of supplemental discipline. While the no supplemental discipline fact is true, Shanahan has showed that Kessel has a very recent history of attempts to injure, although no suspensions. Shanahan also states that Scott was not hurt, thus the lighter penalty.

These two ideas seem backwards to me. An attempt to injure with no injury merits a lesser suspension, while an accident with an injury deserves more? The attempts to harm other players are the dirty plays the NHL is trying to get rid of, yet Kessel walks away from trying to harm Scott and others without missing a single regular season game. Meanwhile, Kassian misses meaningful games for an errant stick. It should be the other way around. The NHL’s inconsistent discipline simply comes down to incompetence and hypocritical ideals.

New Miss America signals a triumph for acceptance of attractive diversity

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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ATLANTIC CITY — The recent crowning of a new Miss America pageant winner made history as, for once, the honour was not given to a white, thin, able-bodied, stereotypically gorgeous woman but to someone who is all those things except white.

Nina Davuluri, a 23-year old Indian-American woman, took home the crown and according to many observers demonstrated the amazing increase in tolerance of Americans towards minorities who look good in bikinis.

After years of feeling discriminated against and underrepresented in activities that only rely on looks and don’t require any intelligence or the ability to memorize the spelling of words, many Indian-americans say nowthanks to Davuluri’s win they now feel truly accepted in their nation.

“It’s a huge moment for us” explained Harry Chima, a young, perfectly chiseled Indian-American man, “My whole life I’ve felt like people only looked at me as an equal, but now it finally looks like people are going to take me seriously as being a superior specimen.”

Davuluri’s historic accomplishment has apparently inspired people beyond her own community, with even the most neglected minorities now believing that they can do anything they set their mind to as long as its attached to an attractive body.

Coming out of the darkness

By

Peak Web

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September 30, 2013

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September brings with it a host of novel adventures, each more interesting than the last. And so it goes with the recent onslaught of Swarm openings, the two-day festival of artist-run exhibitions, though one of these stood out from the rest.

Found on Granville Island, Malaspina Printmakers Society is usually the place to go for the finest in contemporary printmaking. But during the month of September, avant-garde silkscreens and woodcuts gave way to a flurry of responsive works by First Nations artists.

NET-ETH: Going out of the Darkness, co-curated by Rose M. Spahan and Tarah Hogue, coincided with the National Conference hosted by the Truth and Reconciliation Council of Canada, which ran from Sept. 18 to 21.

In some cases, the work that was presented brought to light the government’s assimilation policies inherent in the boarding school system that was put into place in the 1870s, with the help from then-existing missionary schools.

Chris Bose is a multi-disciplinary artist — and member of the Nlaka’pamux / Secwepemc Nation — who presented three digital images that combined historic photographs with symbolic references to the abuses that took place within this mandatory institutional framework.

Two mounties are shown with religious iconography, raging flames, skulls and the ever present Canadian dollar.

In one of these, The Only Good Indian… (2012), two mounties are shown with religious iconography, raging flames, skulls and the ever present Canadian dollar. This work attested to the complexity of the issues being addressed, while stating outright the resentment that is still felt amongst many modern-day First Nations communities.

Other artists took a more personal approach to the healing process. The series of works by Jada-Gabrielle Pape, for example, displayed a palpable sensitivity toward the community leaders that emerged from the Residential School system.

Here, the mixed media works on handmade paper combined similar imagery to that found in Bose’s work: old school photographs and Coast Salish symbolism, though the treatment and intent was quite different. Pape’s expressive pieces exuded a sense of vulnerability, paying tribute to the resilience of family and the Saanish and Snuneymuxw Nations.

The variety of approaches taken by the more than 20 contemporary and traditional First Nations artists were presented at three venues, including the concourse gallery of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and the Urban Aboriginal Fair Trade Gallery at Skwachàys Healing Lodge, located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

NET-ETH, which ran through Sept. 29, brought together a congregation of art-lovers and visiting students, and was an integral part of a process of healing taking place this bustling fall season.

Council Chambers

By

EIC

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September 30, 2013

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A SPICE-y proposal

A new scholarship program was announced, to be granted by the GSS and the Office of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Fellows. Student Proposals for Intellectual Community & Engaged Scholarship (SPICES) is to be awarded to graduate student-led projects.

The SPICES program is meant to encourage grad students to collaborate through interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and multidisciplinary work. Funding for each project will be up to $5,000; proposals for the first scholarships are due on Nov. 1 of this year. Currently, there are $10,000 secured for the grant program for this semester.

Emergency Grocery fund increase

Eleonora Joensuu, GSS Member and Community Relations Officer, announced that SFU Student Services has agreed to match the budget for the GSS’s Emergency Grocery Card program to the tune of $2,000 for the next fiscal year. There has been a significant increase in use of the program, which council is anticipating will continue to grow with the closure of the SFU Food Bank in Dec. 2013.

Missions, Visions, Values, and Priorities passed

A motion passed to approved a draft written by the executive committee of the mission, vision, core values, and key priorities of the GSS. The statement will be revised and officially approved at the AGM in February, but for now it reads: “To be an exemplary student organization led by a passionate community dedicated to the well-being and success of its members.”

The document includes a list of core values and key priorities, some of which are still being reviewed by executive.

Benefit Plan Bursary Fund

Council also passed a motion to use $3,490.95 from the unrestricted net assets to provide benefit plan bursaries. The society gives out bursaries each year to students in financial need, funded from the interest gathered from an RBC Monthly Income Bond Fund. This year, the bond lost approximately $1,344 of the principal $274,272, leaving no interest for the bursaries. The funding from the contingency fund will provide 10-12 bursaries to students.

A motion was also proposed to move the funds in the RBC bond to a risk-free 13-month GIC from Canadian Western Bank, but the motion was tabled until next month’s meeting.

Board Shorts

By

EIC

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September 30, 2013

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Exemption needed to fund Build SFU

Board voted to send a letter to the Ministry of Advanced Education requesting special consideration for the funding of the $65 million Build SFU project. The project needs to be financed in order to be completed on time, and the SFSS currently doesn’t have the capital to secure funding. In order to receive a lower interest loan, the university has agreed to back Build SFU by providing an income guarantee, but are unable to hold that much debt on their books as a government reporting entity.

The letter, which has been vetted by university administration and is to be sent out on Monday, requests that the Ministry considers supporting SFU’s request to income guarantee the Build SFU loan. The object of the effort is to ensure that the student-financed project, which will climb to a cap of $90 levees per semester, incurs as little interest as possible.

Financial Aid and Awards to grant SUB bursary

Board passed a motion to facilitate the Build SFU bursaries, which is the option for students with high financial need to receive their levee fees towards the project back, through SFU Financial Aid and Awards. The office processes applications and gives out awards for scholarships and bursaries through the SFU Student Information System.

By going through the Financial Aid and Awards system currently in place, Build SFU will be able to put the refund money for students who are in financial distress into an account with Student Services to dispense, of which the remainder can then be rolled over from year to year. The Build SFU levy will go into effect Jan. 2014, and will start at $10 per semester. The cap for the Build SFU bursary is set at three per cent of the project’s budget, which works out to $2 million over the lifetime of the project, though board indicated that percentage will be discussed in the future.