Coming out of the darkness

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September 30, 2013

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

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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

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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.

SFU receives $3.5 million in funding for social sciences and humanities

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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As far as Vice President Research Mario Pinto is concerned, “Social sciences and humanities rock at SFU.” The university recently received a total of $3.5 million in federal grants for both research areas.

In the two years since the launch of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC’s) Insight and Partnership grants, SFU has consistently ranked above the national average in almost every category in terms of application success. This year, 34 per cent of SFU applications were successful, compared with 21 per cent across Canada.

Pinto attributed this to the skills of several grant facilitators on board, positions which were created eight years ago as part of a strategic plan to increase SFU’s research prestige.

The $3.5 million will be distributed to 28 research projects who applied under the Insight and Insight Development categories. Grants are given to a project over the span of between three and five years. The research to be undertaken spans the gamut of the soft science disciplines, from language and learning in children, to persuasion in online environments, to the creation of an archive focused on lesbian knowledge.

Hoskyn received just under $500,000 for her research on the developmental differences in cognitive functions in bilingual children.

Kirsten McAllister, who will be receiving about $85,000 over a period of three years, said that her funding included the salaries of the three graduate students on her team. McAllister is researching the intersection of human rights violations between Asian countries, such as during times of war, in order to broaden the Asian-Canadian perspective on these topics.

Maureen Hoskyn received the largest grant, at just under $500,000, for her research on the developmental differences in cognitive functions in children who speak more than one language.

Total funding levels from the SSHRC, which includes types of grants other than the Insight categories, has remained steady over the last five years. In contrast, the natural and health sciences at SFU have seen total funding from their respective federal grant institutions steadily increase.

Earlier this year, the SSHRC also awarded SFU approximately $5.4 million in Partnership grants, which are given to joint research ventures between universities or with another institution. Two projects received just under $2.5 million each, one looking at the role of the arts in social change, and the other, a seven-year effort at preserving Aboriginal culture and language. Two more projects received about $200,000 each.

SFU’s reputation has seen marked advancement in the last decade, jumping from 28th to 12th place on the QS World Rankings list for Canadian universities. In Times Higher Education 2013 rankings for universities under 50 years old, the university came in second in Canada and 30th in the world. Sixty per cent of both lists’ criteria are based on research and research influence.

Hot Off the Presses

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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“The Peak: a university newspaper with a hard-hitting mix of inflammatory editorials, hastily thrown-together comics and reviews, and a news section run the only way self-taught student journalists know how — sloppily.”

So begins the tagline for Michael Hingston’s debut novel The Dilettantes, the latest take on the campus novel which takes place inside the offices of SFU’s very own student newspaper.

Hingston, a freelance journalist and weekly columnist for The Edmonton Journal, is a former Peak editor himself, and remembers his days at the paper with equal parts fondness and embarrassment. “I’m not able to distinguish my time at The Peak from my time at university,” he recalls. “It was really linked for me.”

The novel, which has received glowing reviews from such publications as Quill and Quire and The Winnipeg Review, centers around Alex and Tracy, two of The Peak’s editors who are forced to contend with a pesky daily, Metro, stealing their already dwindling readership. Hingston wrote the novel partly as a tribute to his experiences at the paper.

“I wanted to come up with some way to crystallise that experience, so I wouldn’t just forget it, because I knew it was a unique time in my life,” he says. “Pretty late into my degree, a couple of months from graduating, I had this realization that I’d subliminally been gathering this material, living out this really strong story.” He also cites the university as being central to the book’s appeal. “I think the campus and the culture at SFU is really interesting, and I find it more interesting the further I get away from it.”

Having graduated in 2008 with a degree in English Literature, Hingston began his career in journalism as a freelance writer for a variety of publications in Edmonton. His work has since appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, and even Vancouver’s own Georgia Straight. The Dilettantes is Hingston’s first foray into the world of fiction, and boasts a confident writing style that contrasts with his lack of formal experience. “I don’t think I’d ever finished a short story before this novel,” he laughs. “It was really the first thing I tried.” When I ask him if he has plans to continue writing novels, he responds, “Deciding to take that plunge again feels a little masochistic. But it’s pretty tempting.”

“I’m not able to distinguish my time at The Peak from my time at university. It was really linked for me.” – Michael Hingston, author of The Dilettantes

It’s hard to blame him for being hesitant to start again: the publishing process can be unforgiving, especially for a debut novelist. “When the fiftieth agent says ‘no’ to you, there’s a part of your brain that says, ‘maybe this is nothing,’” he says. Luckily, the stars aligned, and The Dilettantes was picked up by Freehand Books, a publishing company based in Calgary. The novel was released on September 10 of this year, just in time for the fall semester. “Every step of the process has been a miracle . . . I learned stuff as I went and I made it better as I went along, but I really didn’t learn on a basic level what the book was about until the publisher had accepted it.”

Above all, Hingston says perseverance and a good work ethic are the keys to a successful career in writing. “The people I really respect and glob onto as a writer are not even necessarily novelists; it’s more the work ethic that I find that I respond to. It’s people like Louis CK: every year he renews his act, he forces himself to write something new. There’s something you learn from just finishing, standing back and looking at it, and then just jumping into the next thing.”

However, constant reinvention is central to the writing process: whether you’re working at The Peak or The Edmonton Journal, you need to be able to maintain a steady flow of ideas and creations in order to make a living. Thankfully, Hingston seems to enjoy it. “I really find myself just wanting to be constantly producing, and constantly throwing new ideas out there and just seeing what sticks,” he tells me.

Since its release, The Dilettantes has attracted attention from former Peak staff and contributors alike. Anyone who has ever written for our paper will surely recognize more than a few of the book’s references: the Spider-Man notebook, the inanity of covering Clubs Days, the difficulty of spotting our offices on the map.

On his blog, Books in the Kitchen, Hingston has photos from his time at The Peak, where he held positions as Opinions Editor, Copy Editor and Arts Editor. “It’s an amazing experience to be given that much freedom,” he says, “to have all of your weird 3:00 a.m. ideas put into a printing press that is gonna make ten thousand copies of this thing that you just thought up.”

Once the interview is done, he asks me how much the office has changed since he worked there. But after speaking to him and reading The Dilettantes, I struggle to think that it’s changed much at all.

Michael Hingston will be hosting a launch party for The Dilettantes on October 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Pulpfiction Books on Main Street.

TransLink to review public art policy

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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TransLink is currently reviewing its policy on public arts after the recent outcry drawn from the announcement that $615,000 is to be spent on three public art installations at Skytrain stations. TransLink approved the installation of pieces at Main Street-Science World, Metrotown, and Commercial-Broadway stations, as part of an upgrade to the Expo Line.

Nancy Olewiler, TransLink board of directors chair, defended the practice of paying for art at different points of the transit system, but said that the method of selecting pieces and the amounts spent are to be reviewed, according to Burnaby Newsleader.

Gordon Price, a former member of Vancouver City Council and the current director of SFU’s City Program also defended the concept of public art pieces at transit stops, saying, “For other cities like Vienna or Helsinki that are on the list of most livable cities [in the world], these questions wouldn’t even come up.”

He continued, “If the city didn’t consider high architectural design or pubic arts, the public probably would be, if not outraged, [saying] ‘What are you thinking?’”

For Price, who also served on TransLink’s board of directors in 1999, the issue is one of quality of life. “Infrastructure shouldn’t just be nuts and bolts,” he stated, “It should be about, how can we make city life better? What can we do to add to the quality of life, not the quantity of life, if everything is measured in dollars or even in cents?”

TransLink has recently announced the cancellation of several fare discount programs.

Price also pointed to the art pieces inside YVR airport, such as “The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, The Jade Canoe,” that give the airport its reputation for award-winning architecture and art collections.

“What we are saying to people is if you come by plane, you are someone we have enough [money] for and we’re going to make our airport an attractive place, but once you’re on transit, that’s for poor people,” stated Price. “We don’t want to say that. That’s why we have public art policies.”

Price believes that contributions should be put in from both the public and the private sector towards projects such as this, and pointed to the provincial government’s willingness to spend large sums of money on art galleries and projects around the province.

Bryan Kinney, an SFU criminology professor, pointed to the positive emotions that transit users could experience from the art installations, as a product of our evolution.

“From running around on the grass for thousands of years . . . we evolved to a point that we appreciate the ability to see open spaces as a defence mechanism and as a hunting advantage,” Kinney said. “People tend to feel better when they are in open spaces . . . Artwork has a similar effect. When there is artwork, I would feel it is a pretty safe area.”

The hefty $615,000 price tag is the main reason why people object to the project. Thesea re funds which critics say could be used for a practical transit project, such as adding another bus route or lowering transit ticket prices, which have steadily increased over the last few years.

The real question is, how do you value your public transit?”

– Gordon Price, SFU City Program director

TransLink has recently announced the cancellation of several fare discount programs, such as FareSaver tickets and the Employee Pass Program, to come into effect in 2014. Spokesman Bob Paddon said the programs were found to be unfair during an internal review, according to CTV News.

For Price, the question boils down to value. “The real question is, how do you value your public transit? Does it have dignity, respect, or is it valued the same way as we value other things?” he posited.

“Think about the amount of money government spends on an election campaign,” said Kinney, “Millions of dollars to get ad spaces to tell us one group is better than the other. What good does that do? But that’s the cost of modern society.”

*Correction: This article mentions that TransLink is reacting to public opinion with their decision to review the policy. However, according to Derek Zabel, TransLink media relations, TransLink had undertaken this initiative prior to any public interest.

Give up the fight

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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Tough and physical play has always been a great leveler, irrespective of the sport. While it doesn’t abrogate skill or finesse as factors separating victory from defeat, controlled and systemic physicality elevates competition from a mental and physical perspective.

Enshrining violence within the rules however, as it is in hockey, simply encourages a destructive spiral that reduces the game from its true form. Violence escalates from an aggressive mindset to a mindset of aggression, and we as fans are simply treated to a spectacle of barbarism that undermines the true qualities of the game. Simply put, it’s a waste of time, it’s dangerous and we should get rid of it.

An article in The Peak two weeks ago addressed fighting in hockey, advocating its continuance and importance to the game’s fidelity as a deterrent to ‘illegal’ violence. Let’s disregard this NRA-esque ‘fight guns with more guns’ mentality momentarily and talk about the game.

Hockey is unique in that the boundaries of acceptable physicality are extremely relaxed — it is often unclear exactly where the line lands. As a player stepping onto the ice, it’s impossible given the NHL’s case-by-case subjectivity to know what constitutes acceptable versus unacceptable; this is a massive failure on the part of the league to draw bright-lines.

Coming from a Canucks fan, it’s easy to write off the following as sour grapes, but the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals was the worst officiated series I’d ever watched. It was impossible to tell what a foul was and what wasn’t — the officials themselves appeared unsure as to when to blow their whistles. The most surreal moment of indecisiveness was the ejection of Aaron Rome (never before labeled as a “dirty player”) in Game 3.

The lasting memory for me was the zebra leading him to the penalty box, before realizing Nathan Horton was seriously injured. The official then promptly sent Rome to the dressing room and issued a ten minute major and game misconduct. I blew a gasket – why did he change his mind? What elevated the offense to that extreme?

This is the NHL’s idiocy: the intent to injure is irrelevant to the degree of discipline. Instead, the injury resulting from the action is the dominating factor. Aaron Rome copped a four game suspension in those finals for a borderline late hit while Brad Marchand rained punches with no repercussions as no injury resulted.

This inconsistency is why goonism and fighting thrives in the NHL. That reckless and dangerous hits may be ignored if the victim is fortunate enough to get up and skate away simply feeds into a mindset of violence and aggression and demands that players take the proverbial law into their own literal hands.

But fighting demeans the sport. Hockey can still be the physical and violent game for which purists salivate, but fighting is bush league tomfoolery that adds nothing substantive. In the moment fights may excite and raise energy levels, but so do goals, big (and legal) hits, and stunning saves.

The international game, for instance, bans fighting and uses much stricter officiating standards, and often produces thrilling, memorable hockey games such as the 2010 Olympic gold medal game. The thrill of sport, pure and unadulterated, is what I as a paying fan, want to see. I can pay five dollars for a beer league game to watch halfwit self-proclaimed ‘enforcers’ chase each other around the ice to throw punches.

American Express CEO vows to attract more customers with bad credit

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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NEW YORK — In a brief moment of honesty, American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault announced to reporters that the company’s recent financial difficulties had to do with attracting “the wrong kind of customer.”

The majority of American Express’s customers were well-to-do, successful young adults with a good sense of financial stability — people Chenault described as the “leaching, filthy, undesirables” of the credit card industry.

“What we need more of are irresponsible, impulsive spenders who don’t know where their next paycheck is coming from,” Chenault explained to reporters, moments before announcing that he would be pulling all American Express advertisements from Public Radio, the History Channel, and the NY Times to shift their focus to the Fox News network, TLC, and Pop music radio stations.

“Let’s face it, we make our money from people who can’t pay their bills on time. The kind of people who buy high-heels or basketball jerseys without thinking about the consequences. Why would we advertise in a newspaper? That just does not make sense,” Chenault noted before confirming that he didn’t care whether or not his customers could read, what mattered was that they bought stuff they couldn’t afford. “People who pay their bills on time are not the kind of people our company wants to be associated with.”

American Express’s new ad campaign “Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out,” launches later this month.

Lupus thrilled by advances in cancer research

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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VANCOUVER — Thanks to the seemingly endless events and promotions designed to bring awareness to and research cancers, the disease is becoming more and more treatable, a development which has thrilled not only those fighting cancer and their families, but also the collection of autoimmune diseases known as Lupus erythematosus.

Lupus, a disease that has always been left in the shadow of even the most obscure forms of cancer, is apparently very excited at the possibility of becoming tomorrow’s “it” illness after scientists crack this whole cancer thing once and for all.

While Lupus is aware that even if somehow all cancers are cured, it’s going to have a tough road ahead of itself with many diseases in a position to challenge it’s ascent to superstar illness fame.

According to scientists researching it, however, Lupus isn’t too concerned about any of its challengers especially the once popular AIDS epidemic which, despite continuing to affect a considerable number of lives, has kept a low media profile of late.

Even though Lupus is confident that cancer research will progress to the point where they become the top-dog of “Runs to conquer . . . ” it has been reported that they have donated millions of dollars to cancer researchers under the name “Anonymous” just in case.

Pre-conference success for SFU volleyball

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EIC

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September 30, 2013

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It took a grand total of six games for the new SFU volleyball regime to top its win total from a year ago. After dropping their season opener, the Clan have rattled off five straight victories, including two last Saturday against other BC-based teams, en route to a 5–1 early-season record.

The Clan swept the Capilano University Blues three sets to none, before doing the same to the Douglas College Royals that evening.

The Clan were actually forced to play catch-up early on. Down 5–1 early in the first set, the Clan won eight of the next 12 points to take a lead they would never relinquish. They took the first set 25–17, never trailed in the second set (a 25–13 victory) and overcame an 11-all tie in the third to take the set 25–18, and the match 3–0.

Against the Blues, captain Kelsey Robinson scored 12 kills, easily a team high (Madeline Hait, second on the team, had six); junior Alanna Chan led the way in digs with 15, though sophomore Helen Yan also hit double digit digs with 10.

In the late game against Douglas, Robinson would again lead the offense, recording 11 kills in the victory, though she had help — fellow captains Amanda Renkema and Brooklyn Gould-Bradbury had 10 kills and 38 assists in the
game, respectively.

“They’ve been fantastic,” said head coach Gina Schmidt of her captains. “They were voted captains after just four days, and they’ve done their best to live up to that honour. They’re amazing in the locker room, but their play on the court is proving they can be leaders by example too.”

The Clan trailed only once in their straight-set victory over the Royals: in the third set where Douglas scored the first point. Other than that, it was smooth sailing for the Clan, taking the three sets 25–17, 25–18, 25–20.

“I thought we had a great team effort consistently throughout the weekend,” she said after the match. “We used several different lineups but whoever was out there played their role and played it well.”

But her players were quick to turn the praise around to their first-year head coach, “Coach Schmidt has done an amazing job,” said Gould-Bradbury. “I think all of the new players along with the coaching staff have brought a whole new attitude and a new aggressiveness to the court.”

The new attitude has paid off early in 2013: in their five-game win streak, the team has lost only one set.

However, competition will only get tougher from here on out. The Clan’s non-conference portion of the schedule is officially in the books, and conference play will be the true test of how the team stacks up.

“These past few games have been good trial runs for what’s coming,” said Schmidt of the upcoming GNAC schedule. “You can prepare and practice all you want, but there’s no real way to simulate that level of competition. We’ve been able to play different lineups and see what works best, and hopefully this early success will translate into more along the way.”

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

Exemption needed to fund Build SFU

Financial Aid and Awards to grant SUB bursary

Hoskyn received just under $500,000 for her research on the developmental differences in cognitive functions in bilingual children.

“I’m not able to distinguish my time at The Peak from my time at university. It was really linked for me.” – Michael Hingston, author of The Dilettantes

TransLink has recently announced the cancellation of several fare discount programs.

The real question is, how do you value your public transit?”

– Gordon Price, SFU City Program director