School rankings paint an incomplete picture of education

-

June 24, 2013

By Gloria Mellesmoen

Western society is captivated by “firsts,” because milestones are markers of healthy development and are celebrated as achievements. These accomplishments are the foundation for abilities to be later developed. For example, walking leads to mobility, and speaking leads to effective communication. If we recognize the importance of these “firsts,” why do we place such a stigma around the loss of one’s virginity?

Sex is an important part of being human. One’s first time is a step towards maturation and a foundation that will be built upon in future experiences. Sex plays a huge role in adult relationships and the furthering of the human race. For this reason, I disagree with the negative stigma surrounding it.

Sex, like one’s first words, leads to a refined ability in an area that is natural. There is nothing wrong with having sex; though there may be issues related to the safety, both physical and emotional, of those involved, the act itself is nothing to cast shame on.

Some of this shame results from our linguistic interpretation of virginity. We do not describe it as gaining something, or being a valuable or impactful experience. Instead, we term it as a “loss,” giving it the connotation of losing a part of ourselves in the process. Though the words themselves may not seem important, language influences how we see the world, and subsequently, how we perceive virginity.

By describing one’s first time as a loss, we leave room for stigma to sneak in. Loss is a transitive verb and requires two arguments: a subject and an object. In this case, it selects the person as a subject and the term “virginity” as the object. However, virginity is nothing more than a label, and this creates semantic ambiguity for varying interpretations. What do we lose when we lose our virginity? The answer becomes a fill-in-the-blank determined by societal norms.

We should prepare youth for intercourse by arming them with knowledge and resources of how to be safe. It makes more sense to guide adolescents in the right direction than to perpetuate the idea that having sex means losing something. I have never heard anyone describe a child’s first trip to the dentist as something to be ashamed of, and sex should be viewed the same way. Intercourse is something that happens to most people over the course of their life. It is not something bad or impure — it just is.

We accept the idea of a first legal drink as exciting and okay. This is a choice made in one’s ascent into adulthood. Sex should be the same. If a person is old enough to consciously make the decision and is past the age of sexual consent, why can we not respect this as a milestone free of stigma?

Parents sometimes allow younger teenagers a glass of wine at dinner to teach them moderation, hoping this will translate well in the future. If we recognize the value in opening dialogue as a proactive measure, we should also be able to see the value in educating about safe sex and consent before teenagers are put in situations that may lead to intercourse.

Partaking in healthy and rewarding sexual experiences is something every adult should experience. In losing the label of “virgin,” one gains valuable knowledge leading to future success in procreation =, enjoying oneself, and strengthening bonds with partners.

Virginity is not much of a loss, and is definitely not something that should be associated with shame. A first time, sexual or otherwise, is a step in the maturation progress and should be treated as such.

SFU’s debate clubs put rhetoric in its place

By

-

June 24, 2013

By Leah Bjornson
Photos by Ben Buckley

I think we all have that one friend we end up bickering with. These are the types of debates where no matter how logical you feel your argument to be, it’s usually the person with the loudest voice who wins, because you can’t stand to continue such a raucous and ignorant display.

This is what it seemed like in high school. I remember debating in my Grade 12 English class on whether sweatshops are bad or good (a ridiculous topic, in my opinion). A member of the opposition stood up and said in a rather blase tone: “I mean, we can all agree that sweatshops are the best alternative, can’t we guys?”

While I scoffed at the lack of any real meaning behind his words, I was shocked to see a sea of nodding heads and thoughtful glances. “Well, he sounded confident, so he must be right,” was how they seemed to be processing his position.

The reality is that our generation has lost the ability to debate logically and respectfully. When, in our education, are we ever taught how to craft an argument step-by-step? Where has rhetoric gone?

It’s disheartening to say we have lost this crucial part of our education, one which we use in our everyday lives. I’m not saying everyone has to be Plato, but we need to be able to debate and speak without championing whoever has the loudest voice.

Thankfully, SFU’s clubs provide an opportunity to reclaim these skills. First, we have the SFU Debate Society, which meets twice a week for three hours, either holding training seminars — in which members cover styles of debate and focus on academic topics — or practice debates on current events.

The skills learned in this club harken back to the days of Plato and Aristotle: public speaking, analytical skills, and introductory logic and philosophy. Outside of the classroom, the Debate Society competes in provincial, state and national conferences, even reaching the semi-finals of the British Parliamentary Nationals last year.

Of course, not everyone is the confrontational type, but don’t feel as though this hampers you from improving your speaking skills. Our second club, which “aims at improving members’ public speaking skills and expanding their social network,” is the Burnaby Mountain Toastmasters (BMTM).

You might ask, “what is a Toastmaster?” Traditionally, the term describes someone who introduces after-dinner speakers and announces toasts at public or formal dinners. Nevertheless, the position has evolved far beyond this definition.

There are thousands of Toastmaster Societies around the world, each offering “a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help people learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking,” according to Toastmasters International.

At Burnaby Mountain, the mandate does not differ. At its weekly meetings, the BMTM hosts Table Topics, where guests and members speak on a range of prepared topics, such as the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, with attention to such questions as: “Is time the wheel that turns, or the track it leaves behind?”

The BMTM is also competitive, participating in speech contests at the national and international level.

For those of you who become infuriated when idiots win arguments, either of these clubs could be for you. Their members learn how to debate and speak at an international level, and it doesn’t hurt to make some great friends along the way.

Obama has the credentials to be remembered as one of America’s presidents

By

-

June 24, 2013

By Brad McLeod
Photos by Flikr

As the Humour Editor of this paper, I try my hardest to keep my writing as fun and light-hearted as possible. Since day one of writing for The Peak, I’ve always insisted on never divulging any of my real opinions or political beliefs, and have been committed instead on simply providing objective, clean, and wholesome comedy for the nice people of this school.

With that said, I would like to sincerely apologize for breaking that vow and writing this scathing Editor’s Voice, but I honestly think that Barack Obama is going to be remembered as having been one of the Presidents of the United States.

I realize that this is a controversial opinion, and I completely understand if you’ll never be able to read any of my comics, or fake news articles, or hilarious musings about the difference between men and women in the same light ever again — but before you come down too hard on me, let me just make my case.

In 2008, Barack Hussein Obama was elected by the American people as their country’s president. He received over 50 per cent of the vote and beat out his opponent, Senator John McCain, who I believe will not go down in history as one of the US’s presidents.

Shortly after winning the election, Obama was sworn in and then proceeded to hold office for four years, before being re-elected in 2012. Again, he kept the position and will most likely continue to perform the duties of president until 2016.

It is because of this that I firmly believe that he’ll go down in history as one of the United States’s presidents. In fact, I consider him to be the 44th president, just ahead of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who both also served as president after being elected to do so.

Now, of course I understand that there are a lot of counter-arguments to these claims, but as far as I am concerned, you cannot have a presidency retroactively taken away based on suspicions of being a secret Muslim (in America, at least), nor do I believe that the last five years have in fact all just been a dream.

Although I feel uncomfortable revealing these political beliefs of mine, I feel that this is an important issue, even if it will never stop being argued. At the same time, though, I guess it’s just one of those classic debates for the ages like “Were the Beatles one of the 100 most popular bands of the 60s?” or “Was JFK really born in Brookline, Massachusetts?” No one will ever agree completely.

Anyways, I’m sorry to have gotten so political and expose myself as an “Obama is the President of the United States” supporter, and I hope you haven’t become too disillusioned to read my Humour section.

Hey, speaking of the Humour section, it’s only a couple of pages away from here! Why not go there now? It might be a nice break from such a bitingly contentious opinion piece.

More awareness of signs and preventative measures needed for heart disease

By

-

June 24, 2013

By Tara Nykyforiak
Photos by Vaikunthe Banerjee

When the discussion of women’s health comes up, breast cancer is the automatic go-to concern for most people. This makes sense, considering one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. However, this isn’t the greatest risk women face. Heart disease affects one out of every three women, according to Time magazine, and not enough education and awareness is being spread to inform of this.

According to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, one person dies of heart disease or stroke every seven minutes in Canada, accounting for 29 per cent of all deaths in our country (69, 703 deaths a year). Further, heart disease accounted for 29.7 per cent of all female deaths in Canada in 2008. And what is its financial toll? Altogether, heart disease costs the Canadian economy more than $20.9 billion annually.

In the past, it was common for people to approach heart disease dichotomously, teaching that men and women exhibit different symptoms. This is untrue, and causes confusion that hinders people from knowing what signs to look for.

The most common sign in both sexes is chest pain and discomfort. Other symptoms such as shortness of breath, light-headedness, nausea, sweating, and heaviness of limbs, vary between individuals, not sexes.

These warning signs should be ingrained in the minds of everyone, starting at the grade school level. I, for one, only ever learned what a heart attack and stroke are, but was never educated on what signs to look for in myself or others.

In terms of prevention education, there is also a lot of room for improvement. The list of risk factors a woman can control (obesity, the lack of physical activity, high blood cholesterol, smoking, excessive drinking, and more) outweigh those that she cannot (family history, ethnicity, sex, age) and of these, appropriate lifestyle choices can and should be adopted during childhood to best prevent heart disease as an adult.

Childhood obesity rates are higher now than ever before. The Childhood Obesity Foundation states that 30 per cent of Canadian children and youth are overweight or obese. This rate is double what it was in 1978, and demonstrates just how real the threat of heart disease really is.

The Participaction campaign is a step in the right direction, because it aims to get young people more active. Its slogan, “bring back play”, encourages parents and children to go outdoors and make physical activity a priority. I guess I’m not the only one who’s noticed the lack of children riding bikes and playing in the park.

However, with as much as 63 per cent of a child’s free time spent being sedentary, it’s obvious that this easy, fun, and cheap preventative measure of heart disease has failed to be properly promoted. Moreover, active lifestyles have been put on the back burner for far too long if obesity rates have risen to what they are today, and with heart disease claiming the number of lives that it is.

By targeting the youngest demographics, preventative measures can be most effectively instilled, because adopting healthy lifestyles — like learning a second language — is much easier when one is young.

Additionally, education of the signs to look for will create quicker response times in life-threatening situations, and can help get individuals to seek out medical intervention before a heart attack even strikes

Vinyl Countdown

By

-

June 24, 2013

In our modern era characterized by ten-second download times, microscopic MP3 players, and casually thrown-together workout mixes, it’s hard to think of a time where the act of buying and listening to music was one that required patience. Though the history of those who make music has, at its best, been one of people striving to find new and inventive ways to create art, the history of those who listen to music has a very clear, drawn-in-the-sand before and after period: the days of analog music and the days of digital music.

In essence, the way that people listen to music has changed in the last 30 years, and I’m willing to bet the way they think about music has changed, too. Though I’m surely painting a picture of myself as an incurably urban, too-hip-to-function elitist, I can’t help but prefer the subtle hiss of a vinyl record. I’m an analog man in a digital world, and proud of it.

I’ll concede that the digital era offers us an opportunity to listen to more music than ever before: with the click of a button and enough searching, I can find just about anything I’m even the least bit interested in hearing. Music nowadays is more convenient and portable, often with no tangible aspects. Arguably, there are more music collectors today than there were 30 years ago. After all, meticulously categorizing and labeling an iTunes collection is a lot easier than building a record collection. Believe me, I’ve been there.

There’s an elusive quality that we’ve lost with the forcible takeover of the digital format: music may be easier to acquire and easier to listen to than it was in the past, but it’s also harder to connect to. I find I have trouble connecting emotionally with a file on a computer, but the feeling of holding a record in my hands — the artwork, the fragility of the disc, the tactile experience of handling the music I’m about to listen to — is something that my iTunes library just can’t live up to.

The decline in analog popularity has also changed the way that people connect through music. Young people don’t trade records or painstakingly record mix tapes on cassettes one track at a time anymore; they download albums from people they’ve never met and drag files into columns and categories. Online stores have eclipsed record stores in sales and popularity, and the majority of music discussion takes place on the internet.

But isn’t there something magical in the timing and concentration required to record songs off an album, all in a specific order, to make the perfect mix tape? In putting on a record at a dinner party, and turning it over after 25 minutes? In placing that needle gently on the grooves of your record and just watching it spin?

Of course, there was a time where listening to music was only possible when it was being played in front of you. Until the invention of the phonograph, credited to Thomas Edison — although, as per usual with Edison, this is widely debated — music was either something written on a page that you’d play for yourself, or something that someone would play for you.

David Byrne, formerly the lead singer and guitarist of Talking Heads, sums up this concept perfectly in an article he wrote for Wired magazine: “In the past, music was something you heard and experienced — it was as much a social event as a purely musical one.” With the invention of the phonograph, music became a commodity: it could be bought and sold, preserved and shared in a way that had been impossible before.

Music had actually been recorded before the phonograph: The phonoautograph, invented by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, was able to record sounds by tracing lines on smoke-blackened paper with a vibrating stylus. But unlike the phonoautograph, the phonograph was able to play back the sounds it recorded. A large cone known as a diaphragm would amplify a sound, and a small metal needle would vibrate in the same way as the sound. The groove that it etched into a tinfoil cylinder would be able to be replayed through the diaphragm, recreating the music that the needle had recorded.

The phonograph was considered state-of-the-art when it was released in 1878, but it had its share of problems. Its fidelity, which is essentially a fancy term for the quality of its sound reproduction, was very low. The tinfoil records it created would eventually fade from repeated playings, and its recordings couldn’t be edited. Emile Berliner’s gramophone, released ten years after the phonograph, replaced Edison’s tinfoil cylinders with gramophone records — an early predecessor of vinyl records — which could be more easily stored and played on both sides.

Early records were made of wax instead of vinyl, and were played much faster. By 1925, 78 RPM was the industry standard, more than twice as fast as the 33 1⁄ 3 RPM records released today. Fidelity also improved in the twenties: whereas sound had up until that point been recorded acoustically — louder instruments were recorded from further away, whereas quieter ones were recorded in close-up — the invention of “electrical” recording introduced microphones, which gave artists greater opportunity to experiment with volume and sound quality.

Since 78 RPM records could only play a few minutes of music at a time, they were often sold together in bound collections referred to as “albums.” The name stuck, and modern records are often referred to as albums by artists and listeners. By 1950, records began to be released as plastic vinyl discs. These could be played at slower speeds, since it was possible to make smaller grooves, known as microgrooves, in the material.

The 12 inch 33 1 ⁄ 3 records became known as LPs, or Long Plays, due to the amount of music that could be stored on a single side (about 25 minutes). Since then, vinyl records have been the industry standard. Until the 1970s, when the sound quality of the cassette tape became comparable to that of the LP, records were the most popular format for music.

It wasn’t until 1983 that vinyl saw a significant dip in popularity. The Compact Disc, or CD, was smaller, able to store more music, less expensive to produce, and more difficult to scratch or damage. Being the first popular digital format of music, the CD marked the beginning of the end for the analog format: By 1986, CD players were outselling record players, and in 1988 CDs outsold vinyl records for the first time.

Although records were considered obsolete until very recently, the past few years have seen a resurgence in the format’s popularity. Whereas only about 300,000 records were sold in 1993, by 2008 sales were at 1.9 million, and last year the number was up to 3.2 million. Once considered the best place for music lovers to meet like-minded people and discover new bands, record stores across Canada and the United States are seeing this status beginning to be restored.

So what’s the difference between analog sound and digital sound? Whereas analog recordings are made through physical reproductions of sound waves which can be replayed by small metal needles, digital recordings are created by converting physical sound into a sequence of numbers that can be read by a computer and reproduced.

Even though it’s no vinyl, digitally recorded audio has its upsides, too. Firstly, it’s much smaller and easier to store, which is why you can keep more music on your iPod than you could ever possibly afford on vinyl — or fit in your house for that matter. Secondly, music files can be condensed to make them even smaller, although this often reduces the fidelity of the recording. And finally, digital recordings are exempt from the fragility of vinyl records; whereas the latter might hiss and pop after repeated uses, digital audio will play back the same no matter how many times you listen to that new single you can’t get out of your head.

However, digital audio also has its shortcomings. Since numbers on computers can only represent a finite range of values, the amplitude of some digital recordings is sometimes rounded, resulting in a distortion known as quantization. Errors in digital clocks can also distort digital recordings, as the periods between signals can become inconsistent: these deviations are known as jitters.

Some vinyl lovers also cite the “warmth” of analog recordings versus digital, a reference to the emotional disconnect of CD players and computers. The jury’s out on the objective proof of those claims, although I’m inclined to agree: the pops and hisses on old records seem to remind of the glow and comfort of a crackling fireplace.

So, now that I’ve convinced you, what’s the next step?

Record players and vinyl records are reasonably easy to find and, and if you’re smart, won’t break the bank. Modern record players, or turntables, are more inexpensive than their bulky seventies counterparts, and vary in price and quality. A decently reliable record player can go anywhere from $100 to several thousands. Do your research, and find a record player that works for you. Some modern record players have ports for USB drives, which allow you to turn the tracks on your LPs into digital files.

Once you’ve got something to play your records on, there are several places to start building your collection. Several websites have great selections of vinyl records that will usually cost you anywhere from $15 to $35. Insound and Discogs are two of my favourite sites. The former is good for new vinyl, whereas the latter is the perfect place to find rarer, out-of-print albums.

Also, most modern record labels have websites where you can purchase vinyl for the bands they represent, usually at a lower price than you’ll find offline. But, at the end of the day, nothing beats visiting a record store. Vancouver has a very respectable selection of record stores. Although there are about ten notable shops around town, the three best record stores to start with are Zulu Records, Audiopile CDs and Records, and Red Cat Records.

Zulu Records is on 1972 West 4th Avenue in the Kitsilano Area. The biggest of the three, Zulu sells CDs, tickets for local shows, music magazines and, of course, vinyl. This isn’t the place to go for new vinyl: they don’t often stock new records, and when they do, they sell fast. This is the kind of record store where you dig around for hours for a good deal. If you’ve got the patience to flip through their vast array of records, you’re sure to find something you didn’t even know you wanted in the first place.

The staff sometimes include hand-written descriptions of their albums and CDs with purchase, and they’re always happy to answer any questions you might have. There’s also a small DVD and Blu-Ray store located inside Zulu Records called Videomatica. If you’ve got money left over after finding some dusty old soul LPs, check out this funky video store for their impressive collection of art house flicks.

Audiopile CDs and Records is located on 2016 Commercial Drive, surrounded by some of the best cafes and bookstores in the area. The staff here are incredibly nice and accommodating, and although this store is the smallest of the three, they’re always well-stocked with a healthy mix of new and old LPs and 45s. Make sure to check the till for records they haven’t priced yet, and, if you sweet talk the cashier, they’ll sometimes even give you a better price than they otherwise would.

Red Cat Records is my favourite record store in the city. Located in the incredibly cool Mount Pleasant neighbourhood on 4332 Main Street, this store has some of the best prices for used vinyl in Vancouver, and certainly the most comprehensive selection. It’s owned by Dave Gowans and Lasse Lutick, former members of the Vancouver indie band Buttless Chaps. These guys know music.

Check out their impressive collection of electronic and soul records, and make sure to search through the new arrivals for a good deal. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a well-priced Neil Young record or a Flaming Lips reissue. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for, just ask the people at the counter to order it for you; they’ll be happy to search the dark recesses of the Internet for whatever you have in mind.

Analog music might never regain its former glory. For every new vinyl convert, there’s hundreds of people downloading the new Katy Perry single off iTunes. But where records used to be the standard for music listeners of all kinds, nowadays it’s reserved for those of us who are really passionate about it. We meet at record stores, go to shows and post photos of our collections on online forums. We make social connections through music, and we connect to artists through the music they make.

So if you’re looking for a new way to listen to the music you love, or to discover your next favourite band, stop by your local record store. There will always be people there who are just as excited about music as you are.

An evening in Taksim Square

By

-

June 24, 2013

When I came to Istanbul, I really believed I was an educated person who had a general idea of what culture and life was going to be like here. After all, I’d taken several undergraduate courses on Middle Eastern, Ottoman and Turkish history. I was going to dress conservatively, so as not to offend anyone, and I was completely prepared to give up my university alcoholism. It was a Muslim country, right?

Wrong. So wrong. Imagine my confusion when I was severely underdressed for my first day of university in my typical attire of jeans, a t-shirt and Toms. And then the first night we went out for drinks? I was the loser for wanting to be home by 4:00 a.m. This country surprised me in so many ways within that first week. Even in my last week, I was still being shocked by the people of this city, but in a much bolder way.

When it occurred to me that I couldn’t even get the whole dressing and drinking thing right, I decided to probe a little bit more about culture and values in Turkey. My new friends must have hated me as I grilled them about things I perceived to be prominent issues in the country: Kurdish people, Ataturk, and the role of the military and the government.

Some of what I was told didn’t surprise me, some of it blew me out of the water. I started to get a sense of the suppression in Turkey. I was told how the government was becoming increasingly authoritarian, playing on the beliefs of the religious population — although my friends never believed the government was Islamist at heart. The people I had met were disgruntled with their government for one reason or another, but no one would ever directly stand up to them, even when we were just talking.

However, on May 31, hundreds, and then thousands of protesters stood up and refused to back down. What started as a protest to protect Gezi Park, near Taksim Square, soon became a protest for all of Turkey.

I had just finished dinner with my parents on their first night in Istanbul, and was heading out to meet some friends for a few ‘end of exchange’ drinks. My friends had been dodging through the side streets of Taksim, attempting to get a few visiting friends to their hostel. After realizing that they weren’t getting anywhere near it, they tried to catch a cab and head back to the university. It only worsened once I was able to join them, and after futile attempts to get a cab, we realized we were stranded.

We all decided we’d hunker down for a few hours, wait for things to settle, and then be on our way. They had already been up to the Taksim area, and said the southern part was fine, so we went to a chill little bar we knew and settled in for some drinks. We were relaxed, catching up with friends, one of whom had just come from Chile to surprise his girlfriend — the beginnings of a perfect night, or so we thought.

We hadn’t even finished our first round when one of the employees started talking to us about smoking and going up stairs. Confused, we told him we weren’t going to smoke, but wanted to stay at the street level. He persisted, so we hesitantly took our beers and moved upstairs.

By then, people started rushing in from the street, so we moved quickly, still very confused. I headed to the window to see what was going on. A few of us gathered, and watched the cloud of smoke move through the empty street.

At first, our group had one of those inevitable douchey exchange kid moments. We’re at a bar in Taksim, and there’s tear gas outside. THIS IS CRAZY! And then it started to set in. The tingling in our eyes and cheeks turned to burning. Our faces were leaking fluid out of every hole. The burning I felt in my throat made me struggle to breathe.

As I stood there, struggling with the effects of being tear gassed, a complete stranger, who had clearly been through much more than I had that night, insisted I take his surgical mask. I knew he was in rough shape, so I insisted he keep it to no avail. He almost put it on for me. That was my first impression of who the people of this protest really were.

We spent the next few hours talking the protesters. One guy told us how he had been hit in the abdomen with a tear gas canister, next to his friend who began to suffer from an asthma attack. Luckily, someone in the crowd shared their inhaler with him. Although the news had not confirmed anything, we heard that others hadn’t been so lucky.

Our new friend started to tell us about himself. He was studying culinary arts, and working in a high-class French restaurant. He was just like us: an educated, twentysomething who believed in the potential and power of peaceful protest.

These were the faces of Taksim Square: a man who handed me his mask without a question, people who were warning us of the dangers out there, and a man and his friend — battered by the police — who just wanted democracy.

The next day, after leaving my parents again, I was making my way home. I passed through Besiktas, an area which stayed peaceful in the previous night’s chaos. It was hectic, cars were constantly honking, and passersby clapped back to them, creating a metaphorical handshake of support. Hundreds of people were walking through the street, waving Turkish flags.

Two middle-aged women walked together with masks around their necks, just in case. Despite the number of the people, the group remained peaceful, even singing together. An hour later, when I finally reached my dorm, I came home to the news on our lobby television. That same neighborhood was now filled with tear gas. And there I was, in my room, drafting this article to the sound of cars honking, banging on pots, and people shouting in support of these demonstrations.

I’m now back in my quiet neighborhood of North Vancouver, relaxing in my apartment, thousands of kilometers away. Still, there is something wildly inspiring about witnessing the beginnings of this movement — to have seen not only how sudden, but also how strongly people’s passions can be ignited.

I witnessed a country was falling further and further backwards into authoritarianism, only to see its people stand up and fight for what they believe in. And best of all, I got a glimpse of who these people really are. They are kind-hearted and supportive people who will go out of their way to help one another, even me, the foreign-looking, blonde, white girl.

These protestors aren’t just hooligans who just want to stir shit up, they are people who are fighting in solidarity for the liberty and love of their country. And I think the faces and actions of all these protestors and supporters is something we can all be inspired by.

The Doctor is in

By

-

June 24, 2013

Sometimes the most interesting pieces of writing are inspired by the most unassuming things. This is certainly true for Dr. Benjamin Woo, a recent graduate of the School of Communication, whose doctoral thesis was inspired by an NES belt buckle and the responses he got to wearing it.

On top of writing what his thesis supervisor, Dr. Gary McCarron, deemed “the best-written dissertation [he has] seen,” Dr. Woo also received the Governor General’s Gold Medal Award, officially recognizing him as the most outstanding graduate student in his area of research.

A self-described “meta-nerd,” Woo’s work focuses on nerd culture more broadly. When I asked him to define his thesis in five words (I’m a cruel interviewer), he whittled it down to “geeks already have a life.” Focusing on one unnamed city, Woo’s thesis, “Nerds!: Cultural Practices and Community-Making in a Subcultural Scene,” is almost an ethnography of nerd-dom. “I was trying to understand how people use consumption, culture, fandom . . . these sorts of things to carve out meaningful space in their life with other people.”

After graduating in October, he’s been doing the “Inde-pen-dent Scholar Shuf-fle, try-ing to keep body, soul, and research agenda together,” which means he’s been talking at a number of conferences and working on his own to get published as much as possible. When I met up with him, he was just returning from the Congress of the Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities in Victoria, where he presented two papers: one focusing on the consumption aspect covered in his thesis, the other a collaboration with a friend and colleague, Jamie Rennie, focusing on scenes (like a punk scene, not a movie scene) and using them as a means of organizing sociological-type research.

Dr. Woo is also the recipient of the 2013 John A. Lent Schol-ar-ship in Comics Stud-ies, sponsored by the Inter-na-tional Comic Arts Forum (ICAF). Beyond securing him major nerd-scene street cred, it also meant he gave the Lent Award lecture at the ICAF in Portland, titled “How to Think About Comics as Social Objects.”

Despite such an impressive rap sheet, Woo hasn’t let any of it go to his head. He shrugs off his achievements and awards, acknowledging how many other talented people there are. For himself: “I played RPG’s in high school, read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy novels, and generally I was the kind of kid that thought school was interesting, and that pretty much explains how I got where I am today.”

Woo’s humility transcends his accomplishments, manifesting as an approach to all things geek that’s definitely anti-elitist. He’s like a Leonard Hofstadter that works with culture instead of subatomic particles. “The more people who have a chance to enjoy comic books the better,” he quips, before explaining the positive benefits Dungeons & Dragons has on a variety of mental muscles.

An interest in the actual act of drawing comic books is the “biographical core” of his next project, a SSHRC-funded post-doc at the University of Calgary focusing on labour in the comic book industry.

It’s no surprise that Woo’s research took the direction it has though.“There was a time as a child when I entertained great hopes of someday becoming a comic book artist,” he explains. If the whole academic thing doesn’t pan out — although I’m sure it will — there’s still hope yet. When I suggested I might have our layout assistant Eleanor illustrate his grad photo, he offered to draw it himself.

Potential SUB locations revealed

By

-

June 24, 2013

The Build SFU project has officially narrowed down possible sites for the future Student Union Building (SUB) to three choices: the Transportation Centre, the space between the Maggie Benston Centre (MBC) and the AQ, and just to the north of the West Mall Complex (WMC) where there once used to be a gas station.

The three sites were approved by the university’s Vice Presidents and taken to the SFSS board of directors’ last Thursday, where they gave the go-ahead to continue investigation on the chosen sites by the architectural firm for the SUB project: Perkins+Will.

Build SFU started the site selection process during the spring semester. With consultation from Perkins+Will and the campus master plan — which dictates what is planned for spaces on campus in the future — eight possible sites were identified. The architects then created numerical ranking criteria for the sites which considered site limitations and positive attributes.

The top ranking sites were sites two, four, and five, as labeled on the map above. Sites four and five are already identified as the homes of future projects in the campus plan, leading the VPs to land on sites two, three, and six, which were also highly ranked.

Surprisingly, the Lorne Davies Complex, site one, was deemed unfit to be the home of the new SUB due to issues with the quality of the building, and the huge disruption construction would create to student programming. “Many students use the recreation programs, such as the fitness centre, the pool, the change room, etcetera,” explained Build SFU General Manager Marc Fontaine, “To have a large renovation project there would impact those students for several years.”

Tim Rahilly, SFU Associate VP Students, said that the university’s VPs’ decision was informed in the same way. “The discussion focused on the proposed size of the building in relation to the capacity of the sites, what is known today about the future of transit hubs . . . We also were informed by what is known about the LDC and the limited options available to run Recreation and Athletics should the building be under renovation for a few years.”

Fontaine said that each of the proposed sites has its own unique advantages and challenges, but that the transportation centre is ideal for a number of reasons, including its capacity for space, views, and its prime location.

“The Transportation Centre is located right at a bus stop that is convenient for students and it’s very prominent on campus as you arrive,” Fontaine said. “So even as a first year student on your first day on campus, you can get off the bus here and travel up glass escalators into the student union building, into the hub of campus. You know you’ve arrived in student space.”

While the Transportation Centre would cause some disruption to students during construction, Fontaine expressed a belief that any inconvenience would be far outweighed by the long-term benefits of a SUB in that location. He also spoke of the potential for improvement there: “That entire area of campus is rundown and could really use a facelift. It could be an exciting central hub for student activities on campus.”

While the other two sites also have their advantages, crucial factors such as location and space make them less desirable for the SUB location. The site across from the WMC is more removed and would be more of a destination building, not providing the pass-through opportunity that Fontaine and the architects are hoping for. The site between the MBC and the AQ, while central to campus, is restricted by size and its neighbours.

“A challenge we will need to overcome if [between the MBC and the AQ] is the site that is chosen, is how to make it as prominent as it can be so that it doesn’t turn into the SFU Theatre for instance, which is a very nice space inside but you don’t know it exists unless you’re right in front of the doors,” said Fontaine. He also mentioned that the Shrum Science Centre Chemistry is planned to extend farther westward in the future, further closing in the site.

In the immediate future, the architect will spend the summer evaluating the three sites and the fall in consultation with students, and will submit a report to the university and the SFSS based on that. The ultimate SUB location is set to be finalized officially by January. Fontaine expressed that the student consultation process will factor hugely into the final decision.

“A prime consideration for us in the Build SFU project is the average undergraduate student, who comes to class, does not stay afterwards, goes home right away . . . we’re trying to create a building not only for students who are involved in clubs or departmental student unions or other activities on campus, but those who are not involved.”

Rahilly and Fontaine both mentioned that although the sites have been narrowed down, they aren’t set in stone. Rahilly said, “While we believe all three sites are viable options . . . if those sites are not acceptable to students there remains an openness for further discussion.”

Fontaine echoed the same sentiment, saying “It’s good that the university hasn’t closed all doors to the ideas of sites if these ones don’t work out.”

Man walks mile in another’s shoes before being detained by police

By

-

June 24, 2013