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The link between beer and civilization

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WEB-beer-Mark Burnham

A new study out of SFU argues that beer was key to building society

By Alison Roach
Photos by Mark Burnham

The weekend before last, The New York Times ran an article entitled “How Beer Gave Us Civilization”, accompanied by a Far Side-esque cartoon of primitive humans having a kegger. Writing about the possible “social lubrication” effects of beer in ancient societies, the article cites work done by Dr. Brian Hayden, a recently retired SFU professor of archaeology. It was the most emailed piece on The New York Times website the weekend it ran.

In a recent interview with The Peak on the recent spotlight on his work, Hayden said with a laugh, “I was a little surprised, because it seemed like it was sort of a passing mention of some of our research and it sort of went off in a little bit of a different tangent than we were proposing. “It’s their take on things, so it’s fine.”

Hayden’s research was published in the Journal of Archeological Method and Theory this month, under the title “What was brewing in the Natufian? An Archeological Assessment of Brewing Technology in the Epipaleolithic”.

The paper builds upon Hayden’s 25-year interest in the importance of feasting in traditional societies, working up to the idea that these peoples first domesticated plants and animals to facilitate feasting. Specifically, it claims that people domesticated grains so they could have beer at these parties.

“That triumvirate is basically meat, starches, and beer or alcohol of some sort. Typically beer though,” explained Hayden. “The feasts in those societies have to have those three things, or people don’t come.”
The idea is that these feasts helped build up political societies by creating a forum for people to “wheel and deal,” as it were. In the archeological record, signs of feasting start popping up about 12,000 years ago in the near east, as well as signs of political centralization and hierarchy. That’s where beer came in.

“It attracts people, but it also makes them more open to suggestion, to enter into relationships, to create binding contracts for future commitments and things of that nature,” said Hayden.

“The argument is that people started domesticating grains in order to hold more feasts — to create more beer.” According to Hayden, the domestication for feasting theory is a controversial one, and has only been around for the last 10 to 15 years. The idea that grains might have been domesticated in the near east in order to produce beer, on the other hand, has been around since the 1950s. “It’s been in kind of speculative limbo all this time,” Hayden said.

Hayden worked with then SFU undergraduate students Neil Canuel and Jennifer Shanse, to try and give this theory some flesh. Though Hayden had been turning over the idea in his mind for the past 25 years or so, it really only got off the ground when Canuel expressed an interest in the topic.

The team pulled together a pre-existing understanding of the practical difficulties of cultivating grains, some experimental work on the production of beer from these wild grains, and the evidence for feasting in order to make this connection between beer and feasting that has not been made before.

“What we’ve done basically is drawn together a lot of different lines of evidence, including the genetic evidence of yeast, the technical requirement, evidence for social complexity and feasting, and pulled it all together and tried to make a better argument rather than just a speculative idea,” Hayden explained.

All the research done for the paper worked off recorded finds and previous archaeological theory. Hayden would like to study the physical objects behind the assertions at some point, although most of those are in the near east, and are part of closely guarded collections.

On the impact of the paper, Hayden said: “I think it really puts another strong support post in that whole argument and the whole approach, which is very controversial. A lot of people don’t agree with it — that feasting is the reason that animals and plants were domesticated. But I think we’re developing more and more strong arguments for supporting that case, and this is just one of the main pillars of support.”

Hayden hopes to keep working on the theory, and is currently corresponding with a colleague in Israel who is working on ground stone stools like the ones that would be used in brewing beer, but has no concrete plans now that he’s retired.

At the very end of our interview, I realised that I had actually taken an introductory archeology class with Hayden during his last semester of teaching, the highlight of which was when Hayden took a spear he’d brought to the class to examine, and threw into the wall of our AQ lecture room.

“That is fun,” Hayden chuckled when I mentioned this, “Always one of the high points.” When I asked whether putting holes in the school ever landed him in any hot water, he laughed it off. “No, no. It’s fine.”

Sensible BC calling for cannabis decriminalization

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the peak sensible bc

A panel was held at SFU to discuss goals and issues with legalizing the drug

By Sarah Campbell
Photos by April Alayon

Marijuana legalization has been a headlining issue this past year, with Colorado and Washington being the first North American regions to legalize the drug. On Mar. 14, Sensible BC held a panel at SFU Burnaby to discuss legislative goals to decriminalize and possibly legalize marijuana in BC.

The event was hosted by Dana Larsen, a Canadian author, politician, and cannabis decriminalization activist.

Panel members included Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan, former federal prosecutor and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) Randie Long, a University of Victoria professor, and drug researcher Susan Boyd, a former city councilor Joy Davies, and a leading member of the Safer

Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER, an initiative which helped lead the legalize marijuana movement in Colorado), Mason Tvert.
Each panelist came forward to give their support for the Sensible BC initiative with personal stories to share about the criminalization of marijuana smokers and growers they’d seen or experienced themselves.

Mayor Corrigan promised to work with Larsen and Sensible BC to put an end to a “outdated and outmoded” view. Corrigan explained his difficulty with finding “kids” in jail during his time as a prison guard, asserting that people put away for possession were simply not the same as the hardened criminals he had experienced in the prisons.
These people required extra effort in their protection on the inside, and risked becoming seriously injured by the real criminals and gang members around them. “[The law is] criminalizing an issue which has a minimal impact on everyone else. It is a victimless crime, with no logical reason to be illegal.” “Prohibition leads to corruption,” argued Long. He condemned prohibition as a needless drug war with hundreds of thousands of casualties, and wondered who this law benefits other than drug lords who sell it illegally, and corrupt officials. Long explained why he believes marijuana decriminalization and regulation can only be a good thing: “If profit can be made, its already being done.”

When asked about gangs redirecting their revenue streams, Long replied, “the drug war won’t end until prohibition does.” According to Susan Boyd, a scholar who has dedicated her time for years into understanding the origins of the drug prohibition said
that marijuana has been around for over 5,000 years. Used as a patented medicine dating back to the 1800s, Marijuana became illegal in 1923 without public debate.

It is a law she claimed “emerged out of race, class, and gender fears; not actual evidence.” Additionally she stated that “plant based drugs and users” were demonized through media campaigns and biased films of the time.

“They are taking away our dignity,” urged Davies, a medical marijuana user. She spoke of the negative effects (including death) of pharmaceutical drug use. Davies fights for the right to herbal medicines and calls them “harmless,” stating that it “has not killed a soul.”
“Conversation and discussion is what’s important,” entreated Tvert. “We need to talk about how society treats alcohol versus marijuana . . . [because] alcohol kills, not weed.”

Sensible BC has two main goals. Their first goal is to amend the BC Police Act, to direct police and judicial efforts away from
marijuana possession, which Sensible BC identifies as “wasted police resources which could be better spent dealing with real crime.” This would not affect the current trafficking, possession for trafficking, or cultivation laws.

Their second goal is to work towards the legalizing marijuana, removing cannabis from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. If this cannot be achieved nationwide, then Sensible BC proposes a Section 56 exemption for BC, allowing the province to hold a provincial referendum to form their own specific rules and regulations on this regard.

Legalization talk has been a long disputed issue in BC. In Nov. when two US states legalized marijuana, Prime Minister Steven Harper said, “I won’t speculate about what it means south of the border, but the government of Canada has no intention of opening the issue here.” Premier Christy Clark has also stated that she does not support legalization and believes it to be a federal matter.

Balding for Dollars at SFU

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web-Balding for dollars-Mark Burnham

Over 50 students donated their locks to BC Children’s Hospital

By Amara Janssens
Photos by Mark Burnham

On Mar. 20, SFU student group Club for the Cure hosted their seventh annual Balding for Dollars event in support of BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH). From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., dozens of volunteers braved the cold weather to coordinate the event that took place in Convocation Mall. The event attracted an estimated two thousand students, who listened to the live performances, ate the generous amount of food, and of course observed as fellow students donated their hair.

Club for the Cure was started nearly 10 years ago, and currently has 30 general executives and around 600 members. The Peak spoke to two of the club’s general executives, Ruphen Shaw and Vuitton Chan. Shaw joined the club three years ago because she wanted “to get involved.” Chan similarly joined because she wanted to join “a club that would give back.” The two say that Balding for Dollars is the largest event the club puts on, and that over the last three years over $50,000 has been raised for BCCH.

This year, the club’s goal was to raise $17,000 for the oncology department at BCCH. As of Thursday afternoon, the club said they had already surpassed their goal, with the figure at $22,000.
“Everything that we make today goes to BC Children’s,” Shaw told The Peak. “The club doesn’t keep anything for itself.” All food, prizes, and entertainment were donated for the event.

In total, 54 SFU students decided to register as “shavees” for Balding for Dollars. Each shavee was required to donate at least eight inches of hair to turn into a wig. According to Club for the Cure, it takes three “harvests” of hair to make one wig.

Sharra Farivar is a fourthyear biology major and raised $1,700. Farivar said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she received from her friends and family. She decided to participate in Balding for Dollars for a number of reasons. “It’s been at the back of my mind for a while,” having lost her mom to cancer when she was 10.
However, she said the main reason she participated in the event was to just get rid of her hair. “My hair was annoying me,” she admitted. In all, Farivar donated 23 inches of hair.

At the time of print, Club for the Cure could not confirm who the top fundraiser was. According to the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation’s donation page, Clair Lam is the top fundraiser, having raised $2,045. The top fundraiser will receive a Canucks jersey signed by the Sedin twins, as well as two tickets to a Canucks game.

According to BCCH, “20 per cent of funds raised go to patient and family support.” This support includes providing medicine, feeding supplies and medical equipment that is not covered by health care plans. Another 15 per cent of the funds go to support the Survivor Bursary Program, “where adolescent cancer survivors that would like to attend university or college can apply for the bursary for up to
$1,000.”

Twenty per cent of donations goes towards research at the Child & Family Research Institute. “The research is critical for the improved survival rate of children today and in the future,” said Suzanne Dunbar, Balding for Dollars administrator assistant and coordinator of events. The remaining 45 per cent of donations goes to support the Teen Adventure Program, contingency funds, and miscellaneous requests, while 20 per cent goes to administrative, promotions and fundraising costs.

According to Dunbar, approximately 150 children are newly diagnosed with cancer each year. “One in Five kids don’t survive,” Dunbar stated. “Though quality of life is being improved, more must be done to change this stat.”

“Ethnic outreach” project ran out BC Ministry of Advanced Education: report

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Minister John Yap and two government staffers resign

By Laura Rodgers

VANCOUVER (CUP) — A BC Liberal project using taxpayer-funded resources to mount an election campaign targeting minority voters ran out of the BC Ministry of Advanced Education with the knowledge of former minister John Yap, according to a report issued by Liberal deputy minister John Dyble.

The report, at the centre of an ongoing BC Liberal scandal, found a “serious misuse” of government time and resources to conduct party business: crafting a strategy to promote the party among BC voters who are members of ethnic minority groups.

The report said the once-secret outreach project began in 2011 within the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation when Harry Bloy, also the minister of state for multiculturalism, held that post.
Bloy resigned from Cabinet in the spring of 2012, and John Yap took over as minister of state for Multiculturalism. Then in a summer 2012 cabinet shuffle, Yap was appointed as minister of advanced education, innovation and technology — and the ethnic outreach project followed him.

Yap had already resigned from Cabinet by the time the report’s results were made public. Two government staffers have resigned from their posts entirely in the wake of the scandal, and the Liberals
have pledged to pay back the $70,000 of taxpayer funds they spent on partisan activities.

The report notes that Yap was aware that former ministry staffer Brian Bonney frequently used his personal email address, rather than his government address, for communication about the project in order to circumvent freedom-ofinformation laws.

Yap and Premier Christy Clark have both apologized and expressed remorse over what occurred in the ethnic outreach project. However, they have both also said they had some degree of ignorance regarding the project’s activities.

The NDP expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the report, and they are calling for a broader investigation from an independent body.

Latest pontiff may signify change

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WEB-pope-Catholic church-flickr

SFU expert Dr. Hilmar Pabel speaks to the importance of the newly elected Pope Francis

By Leah Bjornson
Photo courtesy of Catholic Church / Flickr

The world was taken aback earlier this month when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was considered far from being a frontrunner in the papal race, greeted the Roman spectators at the Vatican as their new Pope. Despite being a “dark horse,” this humble cardinal from Argentina has already caused both Catholics and nonCatholics alike to speculate that his election might mark a shift in the Church’s future.
The need to elect a new Pope arose last month, when Benedict XVI resigned, citing a “lack of strength of mind and body.” Benedict’s marked the first papal resignation since Gregory the XII in 1415.

The initial shock felt by the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics at this news quickly gave way to speculation as to who Benedict’s successor might be: could it be Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan? Or Marc Ouellet, a Canadian and the Vatican’s top staff director?

This speculation proved fruitless when, preceded by a cloud of fumata bianca rising out of the Vatican chimney, Bergoglio’s election was announced.

“If one can speak of love at first sight with popes, this is one for whom you might have that feeling,” commented Hilmar M. Pabel, a professor and chair in SFU’s department of history. “The way in which he began his papacy is amazingly humble. He’s immediately created tremendous sympathy for himself, not intentionally, but his character seems so attractive.”

Bergoglio’s humility is reflected in his papal name, Francis. Some initially wondered if he had named himself after St. Francis of Assisi, a Jesuit missionary.

Though this name would have been somewhat fitting, as the Roman cardinals had gone to the ends of the world to find Bergoglio, the 226th pontiff has clarified that the connection he made was with poverty. St. Francis of Assisi, born to a well-to-do merchant family, gave up his wealth to follow Lady Poverty after hearing Jesus speak to him in a broken down chapel.

This is the first time a pope has chosen the name “Francis,” and he therefore won’t be called “Francis I” until another pontiff chooses to become “Francis II.” Pope Francis spoke about the election recently, and revealed that the decision to take the name was inspired by his friend, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

“When things became a bit dangerous, he comforted me, and when the vote for me reached the two-thirds majority, a moment in which the cardinals started applauding because they had chosen a pope, he hugged me, he kissed me and he said ‘don’t forget the poor,’ ” said Pope Francis, according to Christian Post.

Pope Francis’s accession to the Holy See has caused many to hope for the future of the Church, but many challenges still remain to be faced. There is the enduring problem of clerical sexual abuse, the nontransparency of the Roman curia, and the issue the role of women in the church. Questions have also been raised about the new pope’s complicity in abuses committed by the military junta in Argentina between 1976 and 1983, but the Vatican was quick to quash these rumours.

“It does look to some people as a hint of scandal, but it may be more of a fabrication than anything else,” commented Pabel. “But this happens to everyone. I’m sure you can dig up things on Andrew Petter. You don’t elevate priests to bishops if there are questionable things about their past.”

The importance of Pope Francis’s election should not be lost on Canadians, regardless of religious views.

“The fact that the pope stood up for the poor in his first press conference might make Canadians think about their involvement in the world, and reflect on their commitments to the developing world,” said Pabel. “It’s important for students, whether religious or not, to see that religion, faith, and spirituality remain powerful forces in the world, privately or publicly. The election of a pope, especially this pope, highlights that.”

“Religion is not dead. God is not dead. And Pope Francis wants this to be a power for good.”

I got 140 problems and they’re all characters

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EIC
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WEB-social media-Mark Burnham

Bemoaning the modern connection between social media and success

By Alison Roach
Photos by Mark Burnham

Guys, I’m realizing something about myself, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. My name is Alison, and I’m not very good at social media.

Sure, I’ve been using Facebook since I was 14, and goddammit do I love a good hash tag, but when it comes to web interconnectivity I sometimes just don’t have the fucks to give.

It first hit me when our entire paper headed off to Toronto for a big student newspaper conference. One of the first things I learned about getting a couple hundred twenty-something journalists into a room together: the tweeting is outrageous.

The official hash tag thread of the conference was like an explosion of in-jokes, kudos, live-tweeting, and Twitpics. And while most of my newspaper buddies were eagerly thumbing out 140-character pieces of gold, I realized that I hadn’t been on my twitter account for over a year.

Coming into the news editor position this semester made social media seem a lot more important. I’d go to tweet from the @PeakSFU account and I’d realize that I didn’t really know what was appropriate to tweet about. I feel weird about posting every single news story onto our Facebook page and clogging up people’s feeds.

A lot of this is just lack of practice, but I think that some of it may be a deep-seated tendency to not want to shove myself into people’s faces. Maybe it’s shyness, or maybe it’s because when I was young I spent more time reading by myself than telling those long-winded, pointless kid-stories. If I don’t have anything interesting or relevant to say, I’m the type to not say anything at all.

But that doesn’t seem to work now, in an age where “web presence” reigns supreme. Several people lately have asked me why I don’t have a blog. A blog? I thought blogging was a fad that pretty much went extinct save from a bunch of 15-yearolds blogging pictures of attractive people in toques on Tumblr. What am I going to blog about?
I am not against social media. Far from it, I admire anyone who is savvy enough to attract an audience to witness their passing thoughts and fancies.

Maybe it’s because I’m not the greatest at it, but a little part of me resents the fact that to work in media, I have to have
that attractive, on-message profile picture. I have to create a cult of capital-P personality. And this applies to so many fields now; it seems like any sort of successful or innovative career is linked to your Twitter handle.

Notoriety that was formerly reserved for world leaders, innovators, and artists is now available to the people who write about them. A news anchor isn’t just a trusted older gentleman you see on your TV at 6 p.m. every night anymore, he’s Anderson Cooper staring up at you foxily from his pillow in his Twitter profile picture. Not that I have a problem with that — the man is good looking.

Suddenly the question is: how can you be a journalist in this day and age if you’re not live-blogging the same event that you’re planning to write about for your next issue? It all seems a little superfluous to me.

I’ve always thought of news reporting as divorced from personality. News is objective, and it shouldn’t matter where the person you’re hearing it from buys their nice soaps. Maybe this is a dated outlook. I don’t understand The View as a “news source,” and maybe I never will. That isn’t to say that I’m not trying. I try to tweet at least once a day, even if it’s just about buying soap from London Drugs.

Speech for sale

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WEB-stupid duct tape-Mark Burnham

Cheap isn’t good enough, speech has to be free

By David Dyck
Photos by Mark Burnham

Last week’s issue of The Peak featured “Hate Talk: How much freedom of speech do we deserve?” The article warned that too much freedom of speech can be a bad thing.

The author, Mohamed Sheriffdeen, compared two different cases in recent Canadian memory. The first was that of Bill Whatcott, noted anti-gay minister from Saskatchewan. He was brought to the Supreme Court of Canada and tried for the crime of hate speech.

The second case was the more recent incident involving Tom Flanagan. The former political strategist and political science professor at the University of Calgary made some comments about child pornography that received a predictably negative reaction.

The point made by Sheriffdeen is that while Whatcott’s free speech rights were removed, many in the media jumped to his aid. Meanwhile Flanagan was nearly universally crucified for his remarks. To him, this is a discrepancy, when in fact it is the principle of free speech being debated here, not the actual issues under contention.

Sheriffdeen misses this important distinction. Regardless of what you think of either of the issues under prosecution, the former was carried out by the state, where the latter was executed in the court of public opinion.

Flanagan made the remarks that he made, but he will not answer to the Supreme Court of Canada for them, whereas Whatcott already has. Certainly there were consequences for Flanagan’s actions. He publicly apologized, the CBC cut off ties with him, and he tendered his resignation from the University of Calgary.

The reason why the Whatcott case is offensive to so many people is that it is an instance of the state regulating and prosecuting speech rights. Historically, this kind of action has not ended well, and contradicts the logic behind our societal understanding of free speech.

It is the court of public opinion that ought to try cases such as these, and in Flanagan’s case, it has done an exceptional job. Where it fails, the government is not responsible, nor should it be made responsible for picking up the slack.

Perhaps Canada has decided that speech is not free, after all. What we have to ask ourselves next is a daunting question: what price are we willing to pay for it?

COLUMN: Time to trade in degrees

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Your degree is useless unless you can use it in a meaningful way

By Eric Onderwater

It doesn’t matter where you received your education, or what it says on your university diploma. It also doesn’t always matter what you know, or what you look like. These things do not lead to a job, and companies advertising for jobs do not usually look for these things.

You need to show your future employer that you have a trade. By “trade” I mean a practical, useful set of skills and knowledge that can be used to further the competitive advantage of your future employer. Such skills could include writing, accounting, applied statistics, human relations skills and more. You need to know what kind of “trade” you can offer your future employer, whether that employer be business, government or a non-profit.

Many students (and professors) foolishly believe that university is all about learning. Unfortunately, this assumption is misguided.
Yes, university is a place of learning. But it is also so much more. Universities are where
future leaders are trained and prepared for the challenges of tomorrow. More, it is a place where future leaders can build relationships with other students in their particular field. Finally, and most importantly, university is about building a foundation for successful careers, in stable, rewarding occupations (I exclude university research because it rarely has anything to do with teaching students.)

Let me repeat: learning is a positive force in our society. Every Canadian citizen should be given every opportunity to learn. But let’s remember that there are vast amounts of information available at the local public library, or even on the internet. Learning can happen anywhere. You do not need to attend university to learn, or to expand your mind.

So why attend university? Obviously, individuals attend university partly because of a desire to learn. But the vast majority of students don’t attend University to learn; they attend university to get ahead, to increase their position in society or their personal income. Frankly, that’s why I’m here. Well,
that and a strong desire to avoid a lifetime of manual labour.

If that is true, then most BA programs (among others) begin to look like a waste of time. Programs such as psychology, political science, history or even biology completely fail to teach students a marketable trade or skill. That is not to say that those programs teach nothing; it is to say that those programs have no connection to the real working world.

Worse, if students actually do find a job, they quickly realize that their BA education has no connection. I would know: I graduated with a political science degree, and I actually found a job. But nothing in my BA prepared me for what I had to face in that job, and my degree wasn’t what got me the job.

Unsurprisingly, few of my fellow students found a job. The fact is that we didn’t possess marketable, useful skills. We didn’t have a trade. University did nothing to prepare us for the real world.

My advice to students in programs with low employment prospects: understand your situation and be honest with what you want. If you’re in university simply to learn, then fine; but be ready to live with the consequences of that. If you’re in university to get a leg up in society, then you better find a way to learn a trade and market yourself into a job. Do whatever it takes, even if it means switching to a different program.

“The Pub Guy”

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WEB-Daryl Pub-Mark Burnham

By Ljudmila Petrovic
Photo by Mark Burnham

If you’ve spent any time at the Highland Pub, you’ve probably met Darryl, the man who makes a visit to the campus pub like an episode of Cheers. “I like to get to know people,” he says. “You should be able to go to a place where you’re not just another sale, not just another tip.”

Darryl started working at the pub in 1996 as a line cook after his friend got into an altercation with another employee, and Darryl was asked to step in for a shift. He was told that he’d be paid for his work at the end of the day, but that he wasn’t hired.

The next day, he got called back to work again, and again was paid, but told he was not hired. After a week of this, Darryl gave an ultimatum: call him back on Monday and hire him, or find somebody else. He’s been a presence at the Highland ever since.

He became an SFU student himself by 2000, where he changed majors several times before discovering archaeology, which he says he intuitively understood and pursued into graduate school.

“If one is observant, [the pub] can be a very anthropological setting,” he says. “My knowledge of basic primate psychology serves me right.

Like most of us, Darryl has had a wide array of jobs, including hauling scrap metal, washing cars in a car auction, and a childhood gig mowing Bill Vander Zalm’s lawn. “But I just keep coming back to the service industry for some reason,” he shrugs.

People always ask him why he’s been around for so long, and Darryl credits it to his love for working with people, the diversity of the campus pub’s staff and clientele, and the flexibility the schedule provides.

“The only continent I haven’t met somebody from is Antarctica,” he say. “But there’s no people from there.” Having such a diverse environment on campus provides tthe opportunity to interact with people you normally wouldn’t interact with and learn things you would never think to research, something that Darryl appreciates about his staff and clientele.

“For a long time, most people didn’t even know my name, I was just ‘the pub guy,’” he tells me. He recalls an instance around five years ago when he was on the 135, on a second or third date with his now fiance, and he noticed a few people pointing at him. “Look, it’s the pub guy! He’s on a date!” Darryl reenacts, laughing.

Having been around the pub for so long, Darryl has an arsenal of stories. Some he keeps to himself, waving his hand and saying he doesn’t want to embarrass anyone; others, he recollects with a chuckle, like the Saturday that Ernie Coombs (better known as Mr. Dressup) came to talk to the pub for a Q and A session.

“It was really cool to see Mr. Dressup drink a beer,” Darryl recollects. Other times, he’s found himself mitigating some interesting situations including, but by no means limited to, dealing with inappropriate happenings in the pub bathroom.

“I take the safety of the people that come here very seriously, making sure that people have a way home and doing more than just doing our due diligence,” Darryl summarizes. Over the years, his approach has been met with several instances when people have gotten angry and lashed out at him, but Darryl says that in 99 per cent of those cases, the student came back the next day to apologize. “It’s not my job to judge people. I treat everyone with respect until they act otherwise.“

Darryl is full of reminiscence, but he also looks to the future of the pub, chatting about the patio opening, plans for more live music, and how much the staff looks forward to working with the new management.

Darryl may be the friendly “pub guy,” but he’s also a fiance, a father of two, and the kind of man you would want to have your back.

Queer Quilt: A Patchwork of Stories from the LGBTQ+ Community

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queeries

Ever said or heard someone use the phrase “that’s so gay”? Ever felt trapped in a body that doesn’t feel like it should be yours? Ever been told to “man up” or “act like a lady”? Felt like people had certain expectations because of your perceived gender or orientation? Last week, Out on Campus hosted Queer Awareness Week as a way to address and educate SFU about gender and sexuality, and to open dialogue about the misconceptions and barriers that we all face by being compartmentalized into certain roles.

As part of the initiative, The Peak and Out on Campus joined forces to find out what SFU students thought about related topics.

This is a lesser-explored format of feature for The Peak, where we compile a bunch of comments and stories into one big collaborative feature. Think it’s messy? Think it’s great? We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions! Email [email protected]

 

   What do you think of the word “Gay” as a put down?

“I have friends that use it ironically, saying “that’s so gay,” but in a tongue-in-cheek way. Like any irony, it’s supposed to show that you’re embracing the contradiction between your values (i.e. supporting the queer community) and the existence of people that don’t believe in the same values. But, no, I think it’s offensive.”

“It’s inappropriate as it is offensive to some. It makes being gay sound like a bad thing, whether or not the person using the word actually means it as a judgement on gay people. One of my friends in high school was challenged to say “that’s so straight” instead of “that’s so gay.” I think that brought her attention to how ridiculous the statement was.”

“While it could be an element of language changes, to allow it to become such means that we think so little of the people who choose it for themselves that we think it is out word to use.”

“My flatmate does, and I DON’T GET IT because she’s queer too, so WTF.”

“I’ve used it once or twice to try it out, and I have had friends who use it very rarely. Honestly, I feel like context plays a huge part in language, so it is hard for me to support a blanket statement about one word being morally bad, rather than just culturally impolite, especially given that language grows and changes. Simplistically, I agree that the use of “gay” as a synonym for something negative is a bad context to be placed in when it comes to power dynamics of the majority and the queer community.”

“A lot of my friends still say it, as well as family members. It is a put down due to the way it is used — usually in place of a word like “stupid,” or “lame.” ”

“I’ve never used it. I’ve heard friends use it in high school, but at SFU, not so much. I don’t know if that’s because university students are more mature, or because society itself is changing how they view the word. Whenever I see someone on the internet say “That’s so gay,” I reply, “Yeah, I like it too!” ”

“When talking with a friend, I casually mentioned that I thought something was “retarded. My friend stopped walking. She politely asked me to not use that term, and explained why. I’m not going to say that I immediately changed my habit and apologized — I didn’t. I belligerently questioned her about the offence she was taking. I accused her of being too sensitive. I stated that “she knew I wasn’t like that.” She listened to my arguments, remained firm, stated that I was being inappropriate, and that I was intelligent enough to know better. She wasn’t wrong. I stopped using the phrase in front of her, mostly so that I wouldn’t catch shit again. When I needed to say something was “ridiculous and of a stupid nature” in front of her, I exercised my vocabulary and found synonyms to get my point across. In so doing, I discovered words that didn’t negatively stigmatize others. Amazing. My faux-pas was very similar to someone else saying “that’s so gay.” These phrases represent an insidious systemic belittling of those with less power. These phrases find their way into our vocabulary, and we don’t notice because of the social allowances they’re given through complacency. The answer for allies is to not be complacent. I don’t feel I’m ablest, and many of the people who use the phrase “that’s so gay” aren’t homophobic. We’re not always aware of why we use the words we use, but once given the gift of awareness there are no more excuses. I learned: we can all learn. My hope is that people will think about the effect that occurs when a term for a group, and the use of that term as a negative, are confounded. If you’ve read this, you’re now aware.”

 

What’s a time you felt pressure to behave, think, or look a certain way based on your gender? How did it make you feel?

“When I’m around straight people I feel awkward looking as generically “feminine” as I do. There’s always an anxiety around new people because I know at some point, unless someone else has already informed them, I’m going to have to come out
to them because no one assumes I’m gay. While that generally goes pretty well, there’s always that chance it won’t. Conversely, when I go out to a gay bar, I feel like most people assume I’m straight because I don’t have part of my head shaved, nor am I wearing men’s clothes. I still feel like I have to come out in these situations, except now I have to wonder if people are judging me because I’m “adhering to patriarchy’s strict and gendered codes for how women should look,” or some bullshit like that. Look, I got the awkward haircut and attempted to wear dude’s clothes shortly after I came out. While I do like men’s T-shirts and I am partial to vests, everything else made me feel like I was in a weird costume. People complain about not being able to find a date in Vancouver. Try finding a date in Vancouver where the people you want assume you want the ones you don’t. Everywhere I go I feel like I’m interloping, but at least I’m doing it in skirts if I damn well please now.”

“I never officially came out of the closet. I learned the meaning of the word “lesbian” when I received it as a label in grade four. My teacher explained to me that it was a bad word and made my bullies apologize for implying such a terrible thing. When two of my best friends started dating in grade nine, my mom expressed that she had no problem with two girls being together but she was really glad that I wasn’t “like that.” Around the same time, one of my high school boyfriends explicitly gave me permission to kiss girls because it would “mean nothing.” It did mean something though. My sexuality has never been a secret, but I never showed it off. There was a boy at my high school who was openly gay and wore a tutu to class. I hated him for flaunting his pride and triggering the cruel homophobic comments of those I was trying to blend in with. I realize now that I didn’t really hate him. I hated myself because I felt like I could never be proud of what I am. If you don’t acknowledge what you are, then it is impossible to be proud of it. I am pansexual. This is me officially coming out.”

“All my life. Folks see boobs, they think lady. I am not a lady: I am myself, being told to be one way instead of what makes you feel right is wrong for everyone. It sucks.”

“It’s only at times where I am hyper conscious of how I am presenting myself that I realize how much I am censoring myself to ensure I am “acting like a woman.” Most notably, this happens in dating. I catch myself not speaking up when I know that I should, or putting up with certain behaviours lest I come off as seeming “clingy” (which is more often attributed as a negative trait in women). I rarely communicate emotions that are perfectly natural when you care about somebody: jealousy, desire, insecurity, fear about the future. Women are often criticized for being “too emotional.” Well, guess what? Yes, we are. No matter how you identify, or how you look, or how others perceive you, underneath it all, we are all brimming with emotion. Stop pretending to “be a man,” or trying to not act “like such a woman;” stop attributing each others’ emotional reactions to their gender roles, because we’ve all got them. Embrace it.”

“Any time I am out in public, I can feel eyes and questioning glances. Usually it turns out people are just curious, and sometimes want to get to know me because I am different, but there has been the occasional negative experience. I do suffer from some public anxiety; I am not sure if it is because of this or if my anxiety is only heightened by my awareness of nonconformity, but I can say that my experience has given me some distinct advantages. It is not always comfortable, but I am not unequipped to deal with it.”

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024