In Review: the Vancouver Fringe Festival

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September 16, 2013

English majors are often at the heart of jokes culminating in the word “barista” and accompanied by smug laughter. Though I acknowledge the job market may be harder to navigate with a degree not funneling straight into a high paying profession, I will never give in to the belief that a degree in English is not worthwhile. While I might get some respect for my ability to write or edit with more ease than my peers in more “practical” fields, I did not pick my major for these skills. I declared a major in English because I really love — and see the value of — reading.

Sometimes I tell people I study English because I am an academic nomad. When you study something with a more concrete set of rules and figures (such as Chemistry or Statistics), there are fewer opportunities to truly interact with the curriculum. Literature allows one the freedom to walk among sights that have been seen and studied for hundreds of years while possessing an opinion that matters. I savour the ability to be able to move between eras, authors, and genres with only the weight of my own experiences to bear upon my adventure.

Along the way, there are many relics left in the form of critiques and responses from those who have previously explored each piece. Literature is a conversation that spans many years and is host to a variety of different voices from all walks of life.

With that said, reading texts from any era is not simply about engaging with a story and forming an opinion on it. The stories comprising fictional literature are only a small part of what an English major studies; books are vessels carrying information from different fields that beg analysis on many levels.

The roots of our modern academic fields can be found within literature.

Literature is written by people, for people, and is most often about people. Stepping away from the conventions of mere plot, there are many layers of economic, linguistic, historical, psychological, scientific, and social depth that are conveyed in a text. In order to provide a strong analysis of a literary work, one must consider all the contextual factors stemming from the time period and the author’s life. Reading literature is reading society and learning through the observation of the many interacting factors affecting human life.

Literature is relevant, regardless of the era in which it was written, because written expressions of fact and fiction are records. They detail everything from social movements to political and religious reformations, and therefore provide information about the world as it was at different periods of time.

The roots of all our modern academic fields can be found within the pages of literature. The way we do things is a product of our history, something documented through writings that describe the mundane activities along with the societal fears and dreams of a culture. Though a plot itself may not appear to serve anything other than enjoyment, it is actually riddled with facts and lessons. A degree in English is a thing for the curious, and for those who love learning. It is because I want to study everything that I study literature.

While I respect the work my peers do in the more employable fields, I stand by my choice to do an English major. Though I have learned to write and edit in the process, the real gain is in my knowledge of the world and the people who inhabit it.

A passion for punctuation

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September 16, 2013

In the seventh grade, I argued with a teacher for 20 minutes over the correct definition of “irony.” In kindergarten, I prided myself on my ability to differentiate “they’re,” “there” and “their.” I distinctly remember losing a friend at a birthday party over an argument concerning the pronunciation of the video game Super Smash Brothers Melee. (It’s may-lay, not muh-lee.)

My love affair with words has eclipsed all of my former, present and future passions: build a time machine and find me at any period in my life, and though you’re likely to meet a different person each time, all of my varied selves will share a warmth and fondness towards the grammatical and the syntactic. My room is littered with old journals and scraps of paper. Should a fire ever start in there, I don’t stand a chance.

Don’t get me wrong, because I realize English is among the most difficult languages to learn. I don’t envy ESL students who contend with subtle ordering, irregular verb conjugation, and diverse etymological origins. I take for granted my subconscious understanding of English’s myriad synonyms and esoteric turns of phrase.

But at the same time, I cringe every time the Oxford Dictionary allows a term like “food baby” or “selfie” to creep into its ranks. I’m protective of the vocabulary I so often take advantage of, and the ascension of a term like “derp” from silly South Park jokes to bonafide real word status irks me to no end; I’m not against neologisms, but come on.

Still, I can’t help but love the way that the English language — delicate yet cacophonous, simple yet idiosyncratic — helps me to form and better express my ideas. An introvert to the core, I’ve never been particularly good at conveying my thoughts and feelings through subtle gestures or body language. Though, to be fair, I often exaggerate my words with dramatic hand motions, if only to increase the impact of my most important phrases.

Language has helped me to define who I am, and it does to this day. I’m rarely to be found without a pen and pad on my person, in case a situation should arise that I feel would be better understood when written down. I salute my calloused middle finger which so often balances my pens, and the ink stains on so many of my cardigans.

Punctuation, in particular, may be my favourite facet of language. It gives the written word a leg up over the spoken. After all, an implied ellipsis is never as good as the real thing. The period, the comma, the semicolon and even the oft-maligned em dash — each of these tools are like old friends, always there for me when I need them, and rarely asking anything in return.

My Copy Editor will laugh when she reads this, because she’s all too familiar with my syntactic preoccupation. It’s likely the final version of this article you’re reading has significantly fewer punctuation marks than my first draft — believe me, she’s done you a favour. I’ve read countless arguments for simple, clean prose, and I’m inclined to agree. But I just can’t help myself; there are too many wonderful words out there, and I’ve never been very good at keeping things short and to the point.

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. My addiction is the written word — the best and worst tool you’ll ever have, capable of breaking hearts and mending wounds in equal measure. Ask me again in 10 years, and I suspect the answer will be the same.

We are living in a post-post 9/11 world

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September 16, 2013

The image of the burning towers was the first thing on television when I woke up on September 11, 2001. Being nine years old at the time, I didn’t fully understand the significance of the event; I knew it was an attack on a famous building, and I knew that it was bad, but I also knew that a lot of bad things happened on the news. What made this event so special? It seemed to my naive nine year old self that all the adults around me were overreacting.

I remember my parents telling me that people would still be talking about the September 11 attacks for years to come. I was skeptical, but of course they turned out to be right, to the point where people often say we are living in the “post 9/11 world” — a world of increased government surveillance and fear of terrorism.

I’m 21 now, so I’ve been living in this “world” for more than half my life. As such, I’ve never known any other kind of world, at least not from an adult perspective. What media pundits have called the “post 9/11 world,” everyone roughly my age and younger has had to accept as just “the world.”

Less than a decade from now, people who weren’t old enough to remember the 9/11 attacks will be old enough to vote. These are people whose beliefs and values have been shaped by the fear prevalent in Western culture over the last 12 years.

Young people are taking for granted levels of surveillance that would have been considered shocking not long ago. There was a time when, upon hearing reports of government agencies spying on private phone data, the typical response would have been to dismiss it as ridiculous and as a conspiracy theory.

People are treating 9/11 as a cultural fixture.

Nowadays, the response is considerably more blasé; people recognize they are being spied on, and respond, “so?” My purpose here is not to collapse into an anti-NSA diatribe, but merely to point out the change that has occurred in our behaviour.

What interests me about the idea of the post 9/11 world, is that it places the repercussions of the attacks at a higher level of historical importance than the attacks themselves. As time goes on, people are treating 9/11, not as a tragic event, but as a cultural fixture of the era in which we live.

I don’t have an objective view of the situation, and it’s possible that I never will, given that I have spent more than half my life in this post 9/11 world. For this reason, we need to give appropriate time to reflect on 9/11’s full implications.

There’s a (mis)quote from Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai who, when asked about the implications of the French Revolution, said “it’s too soon to say” (he was actually talking about the 1968 civil unrest in France, not the 1789 revolution).

Misquote or not, if you were to ask me what the implications of 9/11 were, my answer would have to be the same, the naivete of my 9-year-old self notwithstanding: it’s still too soon to say.

Outstanding students shouldn’t be ashamed of their success

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September 16, 2013

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As a student who strives for excellence, I have continually struggled with the shame and ridicule that comes from succeeding at university. Whether it was feeling the need to hide my scholarship offer, keeping quiet while fellow students rant about how a “TA is such a hard marker,” or getting harassed for deciding to take a night to study rather than always going out, I have been met with opposition by my peers every time I strive to succeed.

I recognize the university tries to create a safe, encouraging space for students who excel. However, I can’t help but notice that student support and networking groups almost exclusively offer resources to those in need of academic help, or those whose passions lie outside academia.

SFU Golden Key is the only group I have found in my four years at SFU that celebrates excellence. For once, there is no shame in receiving high grades or wanting to be involved as a leader in the academic community.

Don’t use Reddit quotes and uninformed statements in place of facts.

I can openly talk of the struggles I have with my school and work-life balance, shamelessly express fear over losing scholarships by failing to attain a high CGPA, and find friends to study with during exams who don’t encourage me to cast aside my goals in exchange for a hangover. This is precisely why I wanted to write in response to the article published on Sept. 9 regarding supposed skepticism and the Golden Key society.

Even as I write this letter, I worry over the judgment I may receive in response. But I ask you: why is it that students can laugh and bond over the fact that they “completely bombed that exam,” while I have to hide a paper from my peers that deservedly got an excellent grade after hours of hard work? Call it anti-social or elitist if you’d like, but I believe I should be able to take pride in my hard work and academic success rather than sneaking it in at the bottom of my LinkedIn profile.

So please don’t use Reddit quotes and vague, uninformed statements in place of the facts you were given by informed people to tear down an organization concretely and internationally proven to help students succeed, find friends, get financial support, study and network abroad, and give back to their communities. “Student skepticism” arises from a lack of factual and objective information, not from the organization being shady, illegitimate or exclusive.

It’s an honour to be part of SFU Golden Key, and becoming a member should feel and be celebrated as such. Membership fees are not a scam — they are used to support events, travel opportunities, and scholarships of the Golden Key International Honour Society’s thousands of members worldwide.

Clan football kicks off 2013 with a win

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September 16, 2013

On September 7, in the opening game of the 2013 season, the SFU football team defeated the Humboldt State University Lumberjacks 41-27, on the road. It was only one game, and the team still has a long way to go this season, but oh how far the Clan has come.

During the Clan’s winless inaugural season in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), not too long ago, the team journeyed to HSU’s California campus only to be blown out 66–20. That was 2010. Now, in 2013, head coach Dave Johnson and his team returned home victors over the team projected to finish first in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) — by comparison, SFU was projected to rank second-last in the conference’s six-team field.

It’s not quite a David-and-Goliath-type upset, despite the ranking disparity. “There’s so much parity in the GNAC,” said Johnson. “Every week you’ve got to go out and play well, and it’s going to be a dogfight. I think that’s a good thing, our guys prefer it that way.”

He pointed to other NCAA conferences where games end up with 80+ point differentials. “Neither team gets anything out of that,” he says. “Week in, week out, it’s a high level of football [in the GNAC] and anybody can beat anybody.”

Still, no matter how small the upset, there are plenty of reasons for optimism up on Terry Fox Field. The Clan, who lost its starting quarterback, running back, and its offensive coordinator over the summer, had questions going into their week one showdown — and for the most part, they were answered.

Johnson said new starting quarterback Ryan Stanford won the job just before the team’s first game, but hit it out of the park in the first game, “The QB spot, I know we had the GNAC QB of the Year last year, but we really felt we needed an upgrade at that position.” He continued, “And not just in terms of arm strength or athletic ability, but leadership; someone who is a team guy. That has certainly happened with Ryan. And he also happened to throw for 300-something yards.”

Four-hundred and forty-six, actually.

“To see what this offense is capable of . . . It was a good way for us to get started,” smiled Johnson. “But the run game,” he admitted, “was a little bit behind [compared to the passing game]. But we’re becoming more balanced than we’ve ever been.”

But perhaps the biggest question was on defense, where there was plenty of room for improvement from a year ago. “Last year we sucked on defense,” confessed Johnson. So surely there’s nowhere to go but up?

“We have a lot of work to do, but I was encouraged. Did you know [HSU] only had the ball for nine minutes in the entire second half?” he asked, proudly. He admitted part of that was due to a soaring offense that scored 27 second-half points (aided by a 164-yard, three-touchdown performance by receiver Lemar Durant, who is looking more and more like a legitimate NFL prospect). But the progress he’s seen is promising.

“We’re far from where we can be, but it’s nice to start with a win.” One game in and he’s seen plenty of improvements in areas he believes really needed them. Now, Johnson gets a bye week before his team faces Central Washington on the road, a team ranked right behind HSU in the GNAC, on Sept. 21.

“We spent a lot of training camp prepping for Humboldt,” he said. “Now, we get a chance to rest, heal, prepare and plan for another big test. I love it.”

SFU fundraises for 50th

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September 16, 2013

Last Monday, SFU launched it’s 50th-anniversary fundraising campaign amid a colourful crowd of energetic spectators. The university is hoping to raise $250 million by its 50th birthday in September, 2015.

Dubbed The Power of Engagement, this campaign marks the largest fundraiser initiative ever undertaken by SFU. Currently, the university raises five per cent of its annual $500-million-plus budget every year, but SFU President Andrew Petter hopes that this campaign will represent “a down payment on another half century of excellence.”

SFU is looking to use this campaign to raise money to support everything from student scholarships to building greater community engagement. In a letter to the Vancouver Sun that was published on Sept. 6, Petter outlined how the $250 million target would be spent, should it be achieved.

Cathy Daminato, SFU’s VP Advancement and Alumni Engagement, spearheaded the campaign, and has been planning for the launch for the past two years. Daminato said she saw the anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate the university, and to set the institutions up financially for the years to come.

“When you think that 48 years ago we had 2,500 students, today we’ve got over 30,000 students,” said Daminato, “We’ve got 120,000 alumni in 130 countries around the world . . . It just seemed like a great opportunity to celebrate and a great opportunity to build a campaign around something that was very meaningful.”

Petter hopes that this campaign will represent “a down payment on another half century of excellence.”

The campaign will involve asking SFU alumni, community partners, individuals, organizations, corporations, friends of the university, and even those who don’t have associations with the university to donate to the SFU cause. Daminato points out that some substantial gifts to the university in the past have come from individuals with no previous association with SFU, such as the $12 million given by Marilyn and Stewart Blusson towards the building named after the philanthropic couple.

“I’ll be knocking on quite a few doors,” Daminato said with a laugh. “Meeting as many people as we can, telling the SFU story.” Over the next two years, Daminato and a team of approximately 50 people will be working on building those relationships with donors and convincing them to put money towards various projects and causes.

Another key part of Daminato’s job in fundraising is matching prospective donors to SFU projects that interest them. “They usually have pretty specific goals,” Daminato said. “They have their own philanthropic objectives, so what we look to do is try to find a match between what they would like to accomplish with their funding and what the university needs.”

The $250 million goal was a result of an analysis done by the administration of what SFU currently is able to raise per year, and then stretched a bit beyond that. “But also the number 50,” Daminato laughed. “I cannot tell a lie, it did factor into this. Because it’s the 50th anniversary campaign, we’re thinking in multiples of 50.”

Of the fundraising goal, $100 million will be dedicated to engaging students; this means funding scholarships, bursaries, and awards, and supporting programs such as SFU’s Semester in Dialogue “that go beyond the everyday commitment to provide knowledge,” according to President Petter.

I’ll be knocking on quite a few doors.”

– Cathy Daminato, SFU’s VP Advancement and Alumni Engagement

Daminato also mentioned plans for projects to improve the Bennett Library, a $10 million cultural program investment for the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, and building a stadium, if that does not end up being part of the BuildSFU project.

Another $100 million will be put towards engaging research, teaching, and professorships, and the final $50 million will support SFU’s community engagement initiatives.

The launch party in Convocation Mall last Monday included speeches from President Petter and notable alumni such as Angus Reid and Ryan Beedie, as well as a dancing flash-mob made up of a sea of SFU community members in red shirts, meant to drum up excitement in the SFU and the larger community for the anniversary.

As Petter wrote in his op-ed for the Vancouver Sun, he sees the campaign revolving around engaging students both on-campus and off.

“What we mean by (an engaged university) is that is a university that not only provides students with an education in the classroom,” wrote Petter. “It also gives them the opportunity, through co-op and experiential learning, to engage in communities.”

Beedie disappointed by reprehensible behavior at their frosh’s failure to receive national attention

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September 16, 2013

BURNABY — With the recent shocking revelations that university frosh activities include idiotic and mindless mob mentality making headlines across the country, SFU’s business school is extremely frustrated and regretful that none of their stupidity has been picked up by any major news publications.

“I was absolutely shocked when I saw the SMU and UBC frosh ‘rape-chant’ stories” explained one upset Beedie frosh-leader. “I just thought it was terrible . . . how does such an idiotic chant make every major newspaper in Canada and no one even says a word about any of the disgraceful activities that went on at our frosh?”

According to organizers of the Beedie Frosh, there were plenty of things being said during their events that could be considered quite derogatory and behavior that was just plain reckless but once again UBC got all the attention.

“We acted like fucking idiots at our frosh, I swear to god” reasoned Bill Paxton, a first-year Beedie commerce student. “I heard a lot of racist, sexist and just moronic banter all over the place but do we get any media attention? No. Meanwhile UBC copies one rape-y chant and gets on front pages everywhere . . . that’s not fair!”

Believing the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Beedie is appalled by the media’s lack of interest in their students’ disgraceful frosh activities.

“Just because we aren’t so obvious about our lack of morals and common decency at SFU doesn’t mean we’re better people who don’t deserve at least some local news time.” Paxton continued, distraught about the declining interest in ‘subtlety’ of offensive college behavior, “UBC’s rape chant was just so uninspired . . . it’s nowhere near as creative as our Pipe Band’s orientation rape chanters.”

Although Beedie has stated that the lack of anger towards their students is “in no way consistent with what the students are like as people,” the school has decided to move forward and leave the lack-of drama behind and instead focus on continuing to develop the students as “the assholes of the future.”

IOC vote puts wrestling back in Olympics

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September 16, 2013

After seven months of uncertainty, the wrestling community around the world finally has closure, after a member vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sept. 8 re-instated the sport for the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

In February of this year, IOC confirmed the elimination of wrestling from the core-sports of the Olympic Games, and removed it from the 2020 Olympics onward. Other sports such as baseball and softball were also affected. For both Clan athletes and wrestlers across the globe, the past seven months — since the IOC released the shocking statement that threatened to change the face of their sport — have been difficult and unprecedented.

Wrestlers were undeterred however, as the decision led to a six month-long campaign from the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) to create a bid for possible reinstatement, and to save the future of one of the world’s oldest sports.

FILA’s campaign included changes to their structure, and featured the adding of several additional women’s events, as well as increasing the point scoring to make it more exciting for viewers.

Clan men’s wrestling coach Justin Abdou, a former Canadian Olympian in the 2000 Games in Sydney, says that the decision to save wrestling was the best possible outcome for the sport. “This is huge news, not just for high performance and collegiate athletes, but for any and every person involved in the sport,” he said. “The Olympics are our flagship event, and not being associated with the Games would be devastating.”

Abdou explained that the Clan has a rich history in the Olympic Games, with over 40 SFU alumni Olympic appearances and a combined six podium performances, including two gold medal efforts. Those two gold medalists and two of the Clan’s most prominent wrestling alumni, Carol Huynh and Daniel Igali, had pivotal roles in the reversal of the elimination, acting as two of five panelists from around the world that made up the sport’s delegation at the Sept. 8 vote.

The panelists shared personal and emotional speeches about the importance of the sport in their lives and the importance it will have for young athletes growing up worldwide.

Abdou agrees on the impact of the sport on the world, and explained that without the Olympic dream, numerous young athletes would be training without the goal of qualifying for one of the world’s more premier events. “Watching those athletes on the Olympic stage is extremely inspiring for any young athletes, and it is so important for those possibilities to exist,” he said.

Clan athletes compete at a high collegiate level, with the men competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, while the women compete in the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association. SFU has historically had great success in their collegiate competitions, including an NCAA All-American in Skylor Davis, and a WCWA championship and numerous individual titles all in 2013.

Looking forward now, the athletes can continue to focus on improving, and striving to earn those coveted Olympic appearances. Following the decision, wrestlers across the world will once again have the opportunity to represent their countries in the Olympic Games, at least through 2024. The six months of resilience and uncertainty have come to a successful end.

“Wrestling is about the Olympics,” said Clan wrestler Ryan Yewchin. “Everyone who has ever stepped on a mat has envisioned themselves winning an Olympic gold medal, and that vision is secure for three more Olympic Games.”

Clan kickoff season with pair of road victories

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September 16, 2013