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When art and books collide

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Photo - Hikaru Hayashi 1

Tracy Stefanucci is a powerhouse of creativity. Not only has she been publishing a magazine since 2006, but she also operates a local artist-run space, and is now producing an annual art book fair.

“A book fair is something that our organization has mused over for many years,” writes Stefanucci, catching spare moments between tasks to respond to my questions via email. “However, the idea for an art book fair began to take shape in 2010.

“We discovered that we were no longer creating a literary magazine and were actually creating an artist magazine.” Now called OCW Magazine, the former “vancouverlogue” of art and writing is a cornerstone of Vancouver’s artistic voice and creative community. However, since 2011, it has become an intermittently published platform for the curatorial interests of Stefanucci and her partner, Jaz Halloran. The magazine, published by the non-profit OCW Arts & Publishing Foundation, also runs Project Space, a bookshop, publisher, and alternative art space in Chinatown.

While Stefanucci credits local book fairs like Word Vancouver and Canzine West for enriching the local literary landscape, she could still see a “glaring gap for publishing grounded in a visual arts context.” In fact, when Stefanucci started planning the first Vancouver Art/Book Fair in 2011, there was no other international art book fair in Canada or on the West Coast, so she travelled to the New York Art Book Fair to research possibilities for a Vancouver fair.

“A book fair is something that our organization has mused over for many years.”

Tracy Stefanucci, Project Space

This past weekend, on Oct. 5 and 6, the second annual Vancouver Art/Book Fair (VA/BF) took over part of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The fair has expanded to a two-day festival of artists’ publishing featuring nearly 100 exhibitors, workshops and programs, performances and installations.

“There is artist publishing being produced by artist-run centres, individual artists and photographers, artist collectives, graphic designers and writers,” lists Stefanucci. “We try to capture this spectrum at VA / BF, and we also try to capture a range of the forms a ‘book’ can take: a traditional paper and ink booklet or piece of print ephemera, a magazine, a zine, an in-person engagement, multimedia, etc.”

The programming included diversity and variety, as Stefanucci managed to host speakers from as near as Victoria or San Francisco, to more distant places such as Manchester, Stockholm, and Istanbul. “We have presenters who centre their art practices on publishing and others who publish alongside graphic design studios or who identify primarily as writers . . . female, queer and aboriginal artists are represented. And the programs themselves vary from performances and artist talks to panels, workshops and installations.”

VA / BF featured three rooms full of exhibitors who are “local, national and international publishers of books, magazines, zines, printed ephemera and digital or other experimental forms of publication.”

Jason Vanderhill, creator of local blog Illustrated Vancouver, believes the vast array of exhibitors was one of the best parts of the weekend. “You don’t always get to see these art indie publications all in one place,” says Vanderhill. “So you might see a handful or a small sampling at Blim or Canzine West or the Art Gallery, but it’s a unique moment when they all converge.”

Running parallel with VA / BF was the Artists’ Books Weekend. Inspired by the London-based Arists’ Books Weekend, Stefanucci described ABW as an event series programmed by the community — any organizations, curators, publishers, artists, or artist-run centres can host an event in celebration of artist publishing and  post it to the ABW webpage. It’s one of the ways they are encouraging the local community to get involved.

As one of VA / BF’s goals is to foster greater visibility for artist publishing and artists working in this medium, the fair continues to remain free and open to the public. “There is always room for improvement,” admits Stefanucci, “but for our second year I am really pleased with our ability to create space for so many voices and practices.”

Professors are entitled to teach their preferences

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David Gilmour, an English professor at the University of Toronto, has been the recipient of negative attention recently for admitting that he elects not to teach women authors in his lectures. This confession is problematic, in that it judges and discredits an entire group of talented writers simply because they are women. While the way in which he defends his choice is poorly argued and riddled with sexism, there is nothing wrong with a professor opting not to cover female writers.

Personal preference is an important factor in decision making for any medium and Gilmour’s rationale for teaching books written by men is that he likes them better. If we suspend the implications attached to how he words his assertion, this is a fair point: everyone who takes an interest in literature has preferences when it comes to what they study. As a person, Gilmour is allowed to prefer male authors in the same way that I can prefer post-modern authors.

This is not necessarily a judgment on the authors themselves, or their ability to write — it’s about who one is as a reader. When I say I dislike sci-fi written by those with a background in science, it centres on me as a reader who does not have the patience for technical terms. Professors are also allowed to have preferences when it comes to literature, and to claim otherwise would be a double standard.

The best professors are always those who have an interest in what they are teaching, and this passion noticeably carries over into the way in which they lecture. Taking this into consideration, it seems fitting that in a subject with content flexibility, professors should select texts with attention to their personal preferences. As a student, I would much rather get a passionate series of lectures about novels written by men than have a professor teaching me something that he dislikes out of mere obligation.

Moreover, it would be detrimental for an instructor to teach an author they dislike conveying their biases throughout the course, than to simply refrain from teaching them at all. Those of us who like books written by women are far better off without people like Gilmour attempting to teach us about them. In one of his comments, Gilmour states that students looking to study women’s contributions to literature can “go down the hall.” Essentially, Gilmour is doing the University of Toronto a favour by letting other instructors cover what he is ultimately less enthusiastic about.

The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of us who do enjoy literature written by women for many reasons, and there are professors who are not only willing, but excited, to teach their works. And, in all fairness, there are a considerable number of courses dedicated solely to women authorship. Gilmour choosing not to include women in his reading list is not going to change this fact. There is also a chance that some students might enjoy taking a course which focuses on male authors only.

So, at the end of the day, Gilmour is free to teach novels written by men if it makes him happy and students continue to enrol in his classes. Professors have the freedom to design their courses within the required parameters, and students have the freedom to choose what they want to take. While his public opinion on the matter is contentious, choosing books he likes is not.

Stop discriminating against bisexuals

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A huge rainbow flag is unfold during the

Like many people, I’m very good at hiding my prejudices, even from myself. For the longest time, I did not even realize how unfair my beliefs about bisexual people were. This discrimination — like other forms of it — is not only harmful to its victims, but to its perpetrators, too. I did not realize what I was missing out on until I dated a bisexual woman.

For years, I believed that bisexual women were fundamentally heterosexual. Some were undoubtedly hypersexual, I acknowledged, and found it necessary to branch out from their preferred male partners to satisfy themselves. Others were simply experimenting, confused. They did not identify as Questioning, because they were trying to find entrance into a community to which they knew they did not belong. For these reasons, I simply did not believe that bisexuals truly existed.

It’s not difficult to see how prejudiced these beliefs of mine were, but they were never challenged, and so I held onto them. As someone who is comfortable with the label “lesbian,” I have privilege over those with sexual orientations that are not as readily recognized by those within the heterosexual and homosexual worlds. I exercised this privilege without a second thought.

Perhaps more than others, I should have known better. I had identified as bisexual all my life, until I was able to accept that, despite living in a heteronormative world, I had no interest in men. I thought I was exceptional: a bisexual who loved women. My experience of dating outside of the homosexual/heterosexual binary was nothing like the one I had ascribed to bisexual women, yet I maintained it — until I met Cali.

She shattered my concept of bisexual women, and made me a happy person.

I met Cali on OKCupid, which I was using because it took a lot of the usual guesswork out of dating; I know a person is queer, and therefore a potential partner, because their profile tells me so outright. Cali was listed as “bisexual” on OKCupid. Despite this, I thought she was intelligent, beautiful and funny. I do not think Cali was ever aware of my prejudice because I hid it from her.

I generally try to be as authentic with potential partners as possible. However, I thought she was out of my league, despite her sexual orientation. Telling her that I suspected she was promiscuous, confused, and disingenuous was not a good move under those circumstances. Predictably, she shattered my concept of bisexual women, and made me a very happy person in the process.

I have been forced to completely revise my general beliefs about bisexual people and I have benefited from the change. I repeatedly remind my heterosexual male roommate about Cali. While looking at profiles on OKCupid, I often hear him say things like, “She’s cute . . . oh, she’s bisexual,” while scrolling along to other profiles. I believe this prejudice is less obvious to him than it was to me, because he has never been discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.

It was not only unfair, but hypocritical, for me to think poorly of bisexuals. It’s also unfair for other members of the queer community to do so. Perhaps it’s more detrimental to us in comparison to heterosexuals, because we have fewer possible partners available to us to begin with.

Regardless of our own sexual orientations, we must work towards a uniform respect for all. In this instance, I did not extend my recognition of the prejudice I faced to people unlike me. The solution was to address my privilege over more marginalized orientations head-on. This approach is continual and difficult, but well worth it.

Sharing stories of mental health issues

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This fall, SFU Health and Counselling Services is launching its newest initiative with the hopes of eliminating the stigma attached to mental illness and mental health issues.

The Hi F.I.V.E. movement, which stands for Friendship, Invite Conversation, Value everyone’s gift, and Eliminate stigma‚ aims to increase on-campus dialogue of mental health issues through student-led outreaches, cross-campus partnerships, and various campaigns. The goal is to create a campus-wide safe space where students feel comfortable disclosing mental health issues without fear of judgement from peers, staff, and faculty.

Erika Horwitz, Associate Director of SFU Health and Counselling Services, has been developing this program over the past four years with the help of a small committee made up of professionals working in post-secondary institutions. The purpose of the committee was to look at the university and assess how it could support mental health and intervene better when students were struggling.

The group eventually developed a mental health pledge that embodies the values of the Hi F.I.V.E. initiative: embracing everyone; understanding the facts; not treating people as if all they are is their diagnosis; treating people with respect; and standing up to people who disrespect those with mental health problems.

 

quotes1Mental health includes all of us at different degrees.”

Erika Horwitz
– Associate Director of SFU Health and Counselling Services

 

For Horwitz, this is an issue that hits close to home. Horwitz’s daughter, now 24, began at age 14 to have very bad anxiety and depression. During her eight year struggle, Horwitz says her daughter did not receive much support from her peers or even some health professionals.

“Seeing her journey through the mental health system . . . I’ve become aware that many students don’t want to come and get help because they carry the stigma,” said Horwitz. “We need to become more compassionate and caring and informed so that we can make their life more successful and make them feel like they’re part of our community.”

Although Health and Career Counselling at SFU developed a mental health strategy six or seven years ago, this is the first three-campus-wide initiative that SFU has undertaken to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma attached to mental health issues. The initiative also marks a desire to involve student volunteers, who may be better able to engage their peers.

One of 30-plus volunteers, Vivien Low was initially hired by Health and Counselling Services through co-op in January and has continued to work with the program since then. Along with SFSS Health Sciences Representative, Dhylan Verzosa, these Hi FIVE’rs (as Horwitz affectionately refers to them) have created Hi F.I.V.E. travel diaries, which were inspired by Facebook sites like SFU Confessions and Overheard at SFU.

“My observation was that ,under this veil of anonymity, students were able to be very honest and open about their stories,” said Low. “We came up with this physical, tangible diary where students can actually pick it up around campus, write their story in it, and pass it on to other students.”

The goal, says Horwitz, is to get everyone talking and sharing their own experiences bringing awareness to the fact that having mental health issues does not mean you are “crazy” or “wonky.”

 

Hi F.I.V.E. travel diaries were inspired by Facebook sites like SFU Confessions and Overheard at SFU.

 

“Mental health includes all of us at different degrees,” explained Horwitz. “This initiative is really based on the values that the SFU community holds, and that is to embrace everybody. What is very important is that it will change attitudes and behaviours towards issues of mental health — not just mental illness.”

Horwitz herself will be featured in a video on the website as part of a series that invites “regular” individuals to share their own stories of struggles with mental health, from stress to schizophrenia.

Currently, Health and Counselling is inviting faculty or student groups, who hold space on campus, to read the pledge, commit to it, and advertise their facility as a Hi F.I.V.E. safe and respectful space. Students are also invited to take the pledge and put a Hi F.I.V.E. button on their bag, indicating themselves as “mobile safe spaces.”

The initiative will also be re-training staff and student volunteers to incorporate the elimination of stigma in their peer training sessions.

SFU Quidditch team torments “nerds” from SFU Wizard’s Chess Club

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quiditch

BURNABY— One of SFU’s newest clubs, the “Wizard’s Chess Club,” a club based on probably the most unimaginative activities of the Harry Potter world, is complaining that they have experienced significant bullying from members of the university’s popular Quidditch team.

According to the SFU Wizard’s Chess Club’s president, Geoff Malone, their group has been the target of a lot of ridicule since they formed but nothing compares to the way the Quidditch team has treated them.

“It’s typical jock behaviour,” Malone explained during a rare moment of peace, “Just because they were blessed with the athletic ability to pretend to fly around on broomsticks they think they can do whatever they want, it sucks.”

Members of the WCC have told The Peak that they are hardly able to pretend a single piece is moving on its own across the board before they’re interrupted by some Quidditch meathead insulting them or knocking over their board.

“It’s really disappointing for us,” Malone told The Peak on behalf of all four of the club’s members, “most people would assume that we would get along because of the Harry Potter connection but that’s ludacris, it’s like saying detectives would be best pals with people who play ‘Clue,’ no way, just like them we’re classic rivals.”

According to Malone, the Quidditch team has tormented the Wizard’s Chess Players in a number of ways.

From whipping them with towels, to stealing their clothes from their lockers, to hiding their equipment in the showers, the Quidditchers are ruthless, although even Malone admits most of it could be avoided simply by not sharing a locker room with them.

“They’re such cocky assholes” complained one WCC member who preferred not to be named, “I just want to play chess, while pretending I’m a wizard, is that really so weird?”

The unnamed student went on to say that their brutal harassment was having devastating effects on his life and that he had already missed two football practices out of fear that some Quidditch players would find him and tease him.

Malone said that this sort of treatment didn’t even cross his mind when he decided to form a club based on a series of children’s fantasy novels and really wishes there was a place at SFU where students could enjoy the wizard-version of intellectual pursuits instead of just macho wizard sports.

“They act like they own the school, it’s ridiculous,” complained Malone. “I thought university would be different when it comes to these stupid cliques but no, just like in high school, the Quidditch team is allowed to do whatever they want and everyone just turns a blind eye because they’re so goddamn popular.”

Malone went on to say that even though he wishes they would just leave him be, he’s still comforted knowing that being on the Quidditch team is going to be the highlight of these peoples’ lives while he and his friends will surely go on to bigger and better things.

“People just don’t give Wizard’s Chess enough credit” Malone complained in a disappointed tone, “even J.K. Rowling gave up on it after the first book and theer were plenty of moments that it could’ve come up . . . instead of the Tri-wizard tournament in the fourth book it could’ve been the ‘Wizard’s Chess Championship’ and instead of battling Voldemort in the seventh book why couldn’t Harry and Ron just have played Wizard’s Chess instead? That would’ve been a lot more fun . . .”

“We’ll show them though,” Malone continued trying not to think about how Wizard’s Chess is pretty much just regular chess, “today’s Wizard Chess players will be the people running the world tomorrow, meanwhile these Quidditch jocks will be working at some gas station, limping around from a bludger injury thinking of what could’ve been.”

At this point Malone whispered “it’s still barbaric though” referring to the Quidditch bullies’ harassment, “but I guess . . . that’s Wizard’s Chess.”

Home opener heartbreak

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Things started out well enough for the SFU football team in their home opener on Sept. 28. The Clan jumped out to an early lead, had a couple of long drives deep into Western Oregon territory, and for a long while stymied the WOU Wolves offence.

Then, like the weather the game was played in, things got messy.

The Clan would twice drive into the red zone, before being forced to kick field goals. On a third offensive opportunity from inside the Wolves’ 20-yard line, quarterback Ryan Stanford threw an interception. In horizontal rain and droves of fog, the Clan struggled to put points on the board when they had the chance — mistakes that would cost the team later in their home opener when their opposition found ways to score touchdowns.

Granted, the Wolves had lots of help from the Clan: SFU took 11 penalties for a whopping 117 yards in the game (by comparison, Clan running back Chris Tolbert ran for 112 yards in the contest). Big penalties — pass interference calls, personal fouls, and a roughing the kicker penalty — gave WOU plenty of second chances on third- and even fourth-downs. No matter who the opponent, give a team that many chances and they will capitalize.

“The penalties we took and the response to some guys having to miss plays wasn’t the image of Clan Football,” said head coach Dave Johnson. “Western Oregon is a good enough team that if we make mistakes we’re going to get a result like we did today.”

The result was the Clan’s offense being kept on the sidelines while the Wolves were handed extra plays. The Clan scored only three points in the second half, while WOU scored three touchdowns. The result was a 30–9 loss, the Clan’s first defeat of the season.

But it wasn’t the football team’s only loss of the day. Adding injury to insult, Stanford, who had been a star for the Clan early in his first season with the team, was forced out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury. After rolling to his right on a play, he was belted by a defender for a sack — but when the defender got up off the ground, Stanford didn’t.

Clutching his shoulder, he was eventually helped to the sidelines before having his arm put in a sling. It’s unknown how long the injury will keep him out — he didn’t play this past weekend at Dixie State — but after already losing superstar wideout Lemar Durant to an ankle injury in Week 1, the Clan can ill-afford to lose their starting quarterback.

That said, head coach Dave Johnson is no stranger to injuries and adversity and steps were made this offseason to help ensure the team’s success. Of course, only time will tell whether Johnson and company can cope with the losses of players, but if the Clan can’t stop beating themselves, it will be tough to keep the losses off the score sheet.

SFSS comes to resolution on Wings Wednesdays

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BW-pub-mark burnham

Following the debate between SFSS board members and Food and Beverage Services general manager, John Flipse, over whether or not the Highland Pub should charge cover on Wings Wednesday, the SFSS board of directors has come to a resolution.

The board has decided to allow event bookings with the stipulation that cover not be charged before 9:00 p.m. and that those who enter the pub before the cut off will not have to pay to stay. The pub had just recently starting booking events regularly on Wednesday nights, which allows clubs and DSUs to play host and charge cover at the door in exchange for paying half of the pub’s security fees for the night.

In order to allow this and still cover some of the security fees that clubs and DSUs pay when they book events, the SFSS will be offering a pub sponsorship package to clubs who demonstrate a need for financial assistance with throwing their event. The financing will come from an existing fund that has already been budgeted.

 

A stipulation with the sponsorship package requires clubs to attract a certain number of people to their event in order to gain funding.

 

The funds from the SFSS will cover half of the security costs for events, approximately $575, as well as $50 for advertising. The decision to contribute the funding to clubs hosting events comes after the SFSS Commercial Services Committee passed a motion recommending to Flipse to not charge cover before 9:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. Events on different nights will not be subject to the cut-off rule.

Formerly, when patrons wished to remain inside the pub on Wednesdays when clubs were hosting events, they were required to pay half of the cover being charged at the door. The SFSS subsidy will alleviate the need for this charge.

Moe Kopahi, SFSS member services officer, pointed to an event two weeks ago, hosted by the the fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi where the group fundraised $1,300 in four hours, as an example that student groups will still be able to fundraise large amounts under the system.

There is a stipulation with the sponsorship package that requires clubs and DSUs to attract a certain number of people to their event in order to gain funding from the SFSS, in order to incentivize them to promote heavily. Kopahi indicated that they are currently working on a table to account for different attendance possibilities.

Kopahi sees the arrangement as a good compromise between Flipse’s attempts to lessen the pub’s deficit, and the SFSS’s aim to meet student needs.

Ex-Grammar Nazi discovered living in Argentina

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grammernazi

BUENOS AIRES — Despite being believed by many to be long dead, a former “grammar nazi” has been found to be living in a remote town in Argentina and, according to the man who caught him, he “will be brought to justice for his annoyingness.”

Hal Lee, a 37 year-old man who graduated with an English degree from the University of Colorado, was once one of the most notorious correctors of minute grammatic details on his friends Facebook posts before disappearing almost four years ago.

In 2010, when the term “grammar nazi”found its way into the popular lexicon and had already effectively destroyed all people like Lee, he was nowhere to be found and since no one really bothered to inquire what happened to him, he was assumed to be dead.

But now, thanks to Grammar Nazi-Hunter, Dave Simpson, a man who has dedicated his weekends to tracking down grammar-nazis who didn’t pay their debt to society, Lee will finally be brought to justice.

According to reports, Lee didn’t seem all too remorseful when he was confronted by Simpson saying only that he “missed conversing with his friends online in America ever since he left to teach English to underprivileged children.”

While Lee has not participated in any grammar-nazi like behavior since he arrived in Argentina and has supposedly turned over a new leaf, Simpson has said he will still punish him severely and is busy working on a peeved e-mail to send him.

Cross-country teams shine under the sun

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It was a nice change of scenery for the SFU cross-country teams, getting out of the Vancouver rain and racing under the California sun. But for both the men’s and women’s sides, the results of their races at the Stanford Invitational were quite familiar.

Racing against some of the top competition in both the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I and II programs, the Clan men finished seventh and the women second at the Invitational.

Lindsey Butterworth, a senior on the squad and the women’s captain, led the way for the Clan finishing 35th in the 5km race, with a time of 22:40. Kirsten Allen finished second for the Clan, with a time of 22:54, and teammate Kansas Mackenzie was right behind her, finishing 46th in 22:55.

Nanaimo native Rebecca Bassett, a freshman, and sophomore Emma Chadsey filled out the top five for the Clan women, finishing 61st and 74th respectively.

After three strong finishes to start the cross-country season, the Clan will get a week off from competition before heading to Bellingham, WA for the Western Washington Tune-up next week.

“We’ve been very consistent through the first three races and it will be good to get a week off from racing and have a hard week of training,” said Butterworth. “We are excited to see what we can accomplish at our conference meet and regionals after that.”

The week off will be used as a chance for improvement.

“I know the women can be better,” said head coach Bit Townsend. “The women were only 10 points behind first-place Chico State. With a week off and a hard week of training, they will be motivated to get things
going.”

Meanwhile, it was a freshman leading the Clan men in their seventh-place finish. Chilliwack’s Oliver Jorgensen, finishing the 6km race in 26:28, placed 76th. Finishing only four seconds behind him was senior team captain James Young, who finished 87th with 26:32.

“Overall we ran well considering we have raced three weeks in a row,” said Young, as his men’s side prepares for their first 10km race of the season in Bellingham. “Moving forward we are excited to do a 10km and are hoping to close the gap between our top five runners.”

Austin Trapp, Cameron Proceviat, and Ephraim Tadesse rounded out that top-five.

“I’m very happy with how our men competed. This was a really tough race. We have had some sickness and nagging injuries that we hope will sort itself out with a week off,” said Townsend. “The Stanford Invitational is one of the top meets in the nation and by racing here, it makes us mentally tougher.”

That, with a week off to prepare for their next race, points to improvement on an already successful start to the 2013 season.

US government shutdown could mean global crisis

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Oct 7 2013 copy

By the time this article is in your hands, I sincerely hope the impending US crisis will be over. It will have been almost a week since the Government of the United States shut down over Republican refusal to allow the implementation of “Obamacare” or the Affordable Care Act.

While this seems ridiculous — especially to Canadians who have had subsidized healthcare for decades — it isn’t actually unusual for a US governmental shutdown to occur. The US federal government has shut down on 18 occasions since 1976; during a shutdown, essential services continue to operate until the two parties can figure out what to do next. This time, however, the shutdown hides a potentially world changing threat.

On October 17, the United States government will breach its debt ceiling. In layman’s terms, this means that the Treasury Department will no longer be able to borrow money to make up the deficit between government spending and tax revenue. This, in turn, means that the American government will no longer be able pay its bills, which is clearly not a good thing.

This is not the first time the US government’s debt ceiling has made the news. In fact, it’s only been a couple of years since the last time the United States was going to breach its debt ceiling. In that instance, last minute maneuvering by Congress led to the debt ceiling being raised, and a crisis situation was averted. What makes this instance different is that Congress is not in session because of the shutdown, and, if they don’t get back together soon, a world of financial trouble will brew over.

All of a sudden, a ridiculous political debate filled with equally insane rhetoric — US Senator Ted Cruz compared the threat of Obamacare to Nazi Germany — becomes an issue that could have global ramifications. What are these ramifications, exactly? No one can truly know.

In the history of the nation, the United States has never breached its debt ceiling. Furthermore, it’s not even an event that has been planned for — unlike a shutdown, there is no contingency plan in place.

Many economists have started to speculate what it would look like if the American government were to breach its debt ceiling. The general consensus is that if the United States is unable to pay its bills, this would provoke a global financial crisis, as it would cause the safest asset in the financial system — US treasury bonds — to default. If this happens, it could very well lead to a global economic crisis due to the number of world economies reliant on America and the power of its economy.

For the sake of the world, I am begging America to come to some sort of an agreement. Republicans, we get that you don’t like Obamacare, but it was signed into law three years ago and is merely awaiting proper implementation. You lost, so get over it. And Democrats, figure out some way to compromise with the Republicans before you drag the entire world down around you.

Do the jobs you were elected to do, and figure out how to make the government run. The clock is ticking.