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Album Reviews – April 2, 2013

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By Max Hill

Artist: Justin Timberlake
Album: The 20/20 Experience

Justin Timberlake makes it look easy. He oozes charisma and charm with what seems like little to no effort, and his appeal seems to stretch endlessly: It’s hard to think of anyone besides Timberlake whom out-of-touch sweater-knitting grandmothers and lattesipping Williamsburg bohemians can agree on.

At the heart of The 20/20 Experience — an album that substitutes the stark modernity of 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds for 70s-style rhythm and soul — is Timberlake, whose versatile vocals and irresistible conviction anchor even the most experimental and exploratory sections of the album. Whether he’s channeling Al Green on “Suit & Tie” or waxing poetic on album standout “Blue Ocean Floor”, Timberlake’s vocals never misstep.

The album marks the longawaited return of Timberlake, following a six-year hiatus wherein the singer pursued acting and internet entrepreneurship. It also marks a comeback for producer and pop music royalty Timbaland. The duo’s musical partnership has never been stronger: On “Tunnel Vision”, Timbaland flirts with electronica blips and vocal samples, whereas single “Mirrors” is a return to the lush, dramatic production which we’ve come to expect from the producer.

The 20/20 Experience will surely earn more than its fair share of detractors: song lengths average at about seven minutes, and tend towards slow, insistent grooves rather than sugary, immediate hooks. Timberlake’s lyrics haven’t improved, either; they don’t distract, but at best they amount to the creative equivalent of a

14-year-old’s Tumblr account. But as a whole, The 20/20 Experience is the perfect distillation of ever ything we love about Justin Timberlake. His enthusiasm is palpable and infectious, and it makes this expansive and potentially overstuffed album feel balanced and, at its best, ethereal.

Artist: The Strokes
Album: Comedown Machine

Dear The Strokes,

What happened? Your songs got me through high school. They mended my broken heart and helped me complete countless mixtapes. Sure, your angst-ridden faux-apathetic lyrics were never great, and lead singer Julian Casablancas’ bitter drawl verged on Rage Against the Machine levels of over-saturation on more than one occasion.

But it was real between us: The songs were honest and seemed to be able to tell me more about what being a teenager was really all about than any teacher or parent or afterschool special ever could. I even shelled out $50 so I could buy the UK pressing of Is This It, the one with the ass on the cover and the alternate track list.

Your music made me feel alive like nothing else did, and listening to it six years down the road — having substituted tee shirts for sweater vests and acne cream for shaving cream — it still holds up.

So where did it go wrong between us? Was it the second half of your third record, First Impressions of Earth, which somehow managed to sound both more bloated and more empty than anything that had come before? Was it Angles, whose songs sounded even more impersonal than the email correspondence through which the album was written? Or were the signs always there, even if I didn’t want to see them?

Comedown Machine is your weakest effort yet: those A-ha style synths and Duran Duran guitars were lame 30 years ago, and they’re lame now. Julian still can’t sing falsetto, and he spends most of the album sounding distant, tired and completely unenthusiastic. Maybe it’s not coincidence that this matches my reaction when listening to this record.
The songs are just plain bad, and the occasional half-hearted guitar solo or snicker-inducing lyric aren’t enough to save this train wreck.

I’m sorry, The Strokes, but I don’t think things can continue between us. It’s clear your hearts just aren’t in it anymore. You made one essential album and one great one, and that’s more than most bands can say. My advice would be to quit while you’re — well, not ahead — but at least before you manage to make another album as mind-numbingly boring and painfully disappointing as Comedown Machine.

With love.

Artist: Yo La Tango
Album: I can Hear the Heart Beating as One

There’s an interesting challenge when it comes to writing critically about something that you feel a deep, personal connection to.

“Damage” is the song I listened to after breaking up with my longterm girlfriend; “Autumn Sweater” was the first track on the best mixtape I ever made; songs like “Center of Gravity” and “Spec Bebop” helped get me into bossa nova and noise rock, which I might never have found otherwise.

The songs on this album are inextricable from my own personal experiences, and it feels unfair to review them under the guise of unbiased objectivity. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is, absolutely, one of my desert island albums.

What lead guitarist Ira Kaplan, drummer Georgia Hubley and bassist James McNew accomplish with this album is astonishing. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is one of the most varied albums in the history of rock music: the band experiment with Neil Young-style folk, shoegaze, ambience, noise pop and old fashioned rock ‘n roll across 16 tracks. The 70-minute runtime is more beneficial than bloated; there are few albums so expansive and multifaceted as this one that still leave me wanting more.

To me, the album’s best quality is its distinct and aching sense of intimacy. Songs like “Autumn Sweater” and “Damage” capture something sublime and intangible about being young, awkward and in love, whereas “Shadows” and “Green Arrow” are quiet, contemplative sanctuaries amidst the album’s louder, more dynamic tracks.

As capable as they are in their slower numbers, Yo La Tengo also make a fantastically noisy rock band, and it would be a mistake to presume that all of the album’s strongest points are in its quieter, more solitary moments. Tracks like “Sugarcube” and “Deeper Into Movies” are perfect songs to blast on a summery day with the car windows rolled down, and 10-minute jam session “Spec Bebop” is a perfect showcase for the trio’s talent as instrumentalists and for their creative chemistry. These three are always perfectly in sync, and it’s the reason their songs are so great.

But even though I love each song for completely different reasons, the album hits me the hardest when it turns the volume down and chooses composure over cacophony. Ira and Georgia’s tender, whispery vocals — especially when they sing together — along with the band’s talent for minimalistic song structures are what stand out to me, and ultimately make I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One one of maybe 10 albums that on any given day I might call my very favourite.

The eye of the storm

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EIC
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War.Requiem uses music, powerful imagery and brief storytelling to weave together an interdisciplinary performance

By Nicole Strutt

War.Requiem is a physically and emotionally demanding contemporary dance piece that focuses on the negative psychological transformation that evolves out of war. Taking a fresh approach to the spring dance performance, SFU’s School of Contemporary Arts uses dance, music and digital art to portray the harsh effects that war can have on the individual psyche.

This collaborative is composed by a myriad of choreographers (among them 605 Collective, Shawna Elton, Vanessa Goodman and Rob Kitsos) who have used their own experiences and perspectives of war to create individual dances that are shown as a whole.

Inspiration for War.Requiem first emerged from Rob Kitsos, whose stepfather worked as a journalist at the National Public Radio in the United States. During this time, Kitsos’ stepfather wrote many articles that focused on posttraumatic stress disorder — a disorder that greatly influenced Kitsos’ creation of War. Requiem.

The idea of the performance flourished even further with the contribution of music composer Gabriel Saloman, who recommended the book Trauma and Recovery to Kitsos. This book discusses how war distorts a soldier’s sense of reality, specifically how they are unable to differentiate between love and hate, right and wrong, resulting in a loss of a sense of reality.

War.Requiem uses music, powerful imagery and brief storytelling to weave together an interdependent movement of dancers who draw on their own personal emotional experience to create a moving masterpiece.

Throughout the show, a female dancer wrapped in paper walks at an easy pace across the stage. As the performance progresses, she slowly unwraps the paper around her body. By the end, all of the paper is gone and she stands there in a nude leotard.

There are multiple interpretations of this female dancer and the change she undergoes, contingent on the audience’s understanding of war and personal experiences. This, along with the interdisciplinary element, is what makes the piece so multi-faceted.

Kitsos hopes War.Requiem will inspire audiences, and that through this the psychological side-effects of war can be
broken. Through reintegration into society, victims of war can learn how to become human again.

War.Requiem is “For everyone who loves dance and everybody who isn’t quite sure,” says dancer Akeisha de Baat. Do not miss this moving and imaginative production by the SFU School of Contemporary Art. The effect it has is transformative.

War.Requiem will be on stage April 4 – 6 at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W. Hastings. Tickets are $10 for students and seniors, and $15 for general.

The Line Has Shattered explores landmark poetry conference

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the line has shattered

The documentary film about the 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference at UBC reunites renegade poets

By Monica Miller

George Bowering, now an award-winning poet, author, and professor emeritus in SFU’s English Department, was finishing his degree at UBC in 1963. ENG 410 — also known as the Vancouver Poetry Conference — was the last course he took in the summer of ’63 before leaving for a job in Calgary as a professor.

The 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference at UBC is referred to as a “defining moment in the history of North American poetry.” Five American radical poets were invited, as well as one Canadian, all of whom had been vilified or ignored by academics for the new open form they were writing in.

“These were the people I already read, and I imagine it was a fairly similar situation for others,” explains Bowering of the guest instructors. Listing poets such as Charles Olsen, Robert Creeley, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Duncan, and Gregory Corso, Bowering says that they were already on their radar, but “not mentioned in the classroom.”

Organized by UBC professor Warren Tallman and American poet Robert Creeley as a threeweek summer intensive, the ENG 410 syllabus included discussions, workshops, lectures, and readings. The influential guest instructors were Charles Olsen, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Duncan, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov, and Margaret Avison.

Filmmaker Robert McTavish said the conference was an “intense incubator.” He was inspired to create a documentary about it after becoming friends with Phyllis Webb when he lived on Salt Spring Island. Webb had attended UBC and was a radio broadcaster in 1963, preparing a program for CBC about the Vancouver Poetry Conference. McTavish learned that Webb’s program never aired, and the project gained momentum after digging up her old recordings.

In 2009, as McTavish was becoming immersed in the documentary, Stephen Collis of the SFU English Department organized a reunion symposium for a dozen writers who were attendees at the 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference. These nowinfluential and award-winning authors were Bernice Lever, Maria Hindmarch, George Bowering, Daphne Marlatt, Robert Hogg, Michael Palmer, Jamie Reid, Judith Copithorne, Fred Wah, Clark Coolidge, Pauline Butling, and Lionel Kearns. The reunion symposium, also called “The Line Has Shattered”, took place on Aug. 14, 2009 — 46 years after the original conference.

Now, 50 years after that landmark event, McTavish has begun screening his documentary film, The Line Has Shattered, featuring interviews with attendees, or iginal mater ial from the unaired CBC program, and even original audio recordings of the lectures and readings. The audio recordings were created due to a request from Warren Tallman, who instructed one of the students in 1963 to record lectures and readings.

That student, running around with a Wollensak 4-track, is now an award-winning author and the current Poet Laureate of Canada, Fred Wah. He donated his reel-toreel tapes to the Slought Foundation and they were digitized and remastered in 2002.

Listening to these original recordings was awe-inspiring, as the poetry washed over the film’s audience at the Vancouver premiere on March 21, But unfortunately, I was left confused as to who was reading whom, as the screen only showed a poet’s headshot and some fragmentary words. A simple lower third on the screen denoting the speaker and what they were reading from would have sufficed.
Knowing only the bare bones, I felt the film required a bit more set-up and identification of individuals. Its narrative, although eloquently delivered by Phyllis Webb, catered to those who played a previous role in the pivotal event.
As McTavish explained in a telephone interview after the screening, “The whole idea behind the film is to show how the five poets inspired a generation of young poets . . . my whole goal was to get to the bottom of the conference, and share it, and let [the audience] take it however they wanted.”

Bowering expressed that as students, they were “enamoured with these poets” and “star struck.” All five poets were fr iends and contemporar ies who had exchanged letters with each other, but had never been all in the same room together.
“They were knocking us out of our socks,” reeled Bowering. In the film, poet Michael Palmer states it eloquently and simply: “these tiny events have a resonance.”

Peak Week – April 2, 2013

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Eats
Let me preface this by saying I love cheese. I mean, I really, really love cheese. If I could eat cheese as a meal, I would, but I realize that would probably not be very nutritious. Despite this, I eat cheese as often as I can, so when I found out about Benton Brothers Fine Cheese, I was more than excited.

This place carries a wide array of handmade cheeses, ranging from rustic sheep’s milk cheeses from the Basque, tart nutty goat cheeses from France, to some of the best varieties from across Canada. They also offer various accompaniments like olives, cornichons, dried figs and cherries, as well as a selection of cured meats to complete the most perfect charcuterie plate you could ever imagine.

With three locations — West 41st, Cambie Village, and Granville Island — you will never be left without cheese again. Thank goodness for that.

Beats
If you’re a jazz fan, consider this weekend planned. George Coleman will be performing April 5–7 at the Cellar Jazz club in the memory of Ross Taggart, whom Coleman taught in the early 90s.

Tenor saxophonist Coleman has played with some of the biggest names in jazz: for a couple of years, he was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet alongside Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, and later recording Maiden Voyage with Herbie Hancock.

This is a great opportunity to hear a legend play outside of New York City, whether you’re a fan or have neglected to listen to jazz before, in which case you should start now.

Theats
The Arts Club presents 2 Pianos 4 Hands, an autobiographical production written, directed, and starred by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt. The play has become one of Canada’s most successful theatrical productions, and in this farewell performance, creators and stars will lead the audience through a comical narrative of their childhood of piano lessons.

The two of them are self-professed “extraordinar ily good failed musicians,” demonstrating their virtuoso displays of technique on stage. If you can relate to the tortures — or joys — of learning piano as a child, or if you just really enjoy humour coupled with piano music, this one is probably worth catching. It runs until April 14.

Elites
The Audain Gallery presents Syllogisms, an SFU School for Contemporary Arts MFA Spring Exhibition. The idiosyncratic display features work from MFA students, ranging from visual art, live performances, and contemporary dance works. The syllogism is a formal system of logic, containing three categorical propositions: two premises and one conclusion. In the context of the exhibition, the syllogism symbolizes the interdisciplinary group of artists exploring several different “premises” and meanings through their practice. The exhibit will be running until April 6, so if you’re on the downtown campus and have some time to spare, why not pay a visit and support your fellow SFU students.

Treats
If you’re itching to bust out those high-waisted floral silks and cateye sunglasses, you’re not alone. With spring visibly among us, now is the best time to update your wardrobe a bit.

Stop in at Burcu’s Angels, located at East 16th, just off of Main St. for some of the most unique vintage finds in the city. The glass display case in the front is filled with jewels and pendants, whether you’re looking for something a little art deco, or some fun 80s-style baubles.
The shelves are filled with row upon row of 50s florals, fringed shawls, one of a kind summer dresses, as well as light tweed blazers for men. Don’t forget to stop in the back room when you visit: this is where the really old stuff is, including gorgeous Edwardian floorlength dresses, brocade-laden velvet jackets, and little beaded clutches. It is on the pricier side, but the owner is usually willing to make a deal, and if you still can’t afford anything, Burcu’s will at least provide a little sartorial inspiration for those sunny days we’re all looking forward to.

SFU football gives back

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football

Going above and beyond the call of duty, Clan football raises 1,600 dollars for charity

By Jade Richardson
Photo courtesy of Ben Hodge

The Clan football team is well into the spring training season, but they still set aside time in their busy student-athlete schedules to give back. The team recently created the Clan Football Team-Up Community Outreach Program, and is becoming more involved in the community that supports them.

They started the program in hopes of being able to support the community and give back in the Burnaby and Greater Vancouver area. The first project the team took on was organizing a charitable concert to raise funds for the Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver.
The event proved to be a success. Last weekend at their annual inter-squad match, following the completion of their Spring Training Camp, the team presented a 1,600 dollar cheque to the organization.

The team reached out to Big Brothers as several team members were already involved with the organization individually, including offensive lineman Jeremy Pearce.

“We are really happy with the success of our event which allowed us to donate 1,600 dollars to the program,” Pearce said. “Big Brothers is a very deserving organization, presenting the cheque last weekend was a very exciting first step for us.”

The team is also beginning to collect used electronics from now until April 24 to raise money for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics BC. Through the Think Recycles fundraising program they will cash in used electronics to earn money to donate to the charity.

Abolishing the “jock” stereotype is not the goal of the program, but the players hope that their community work will influence people to see their potential as leaders in the community and the school.
“We have a lot planned for the future,” continued Pearce. “The community fuels our program, so being as involved as we can is extremely important.”

Fans can learn more about the team’s endeavours by liking the Clan Football Team-Up Community Outreach Program on Facebook.

Winning streak snaps for Clan Softball

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SFU prepares for big games against NNU

By Mehdi Rahnama

Following a dominating 7–0 run into the season, the Clan’s first defeat of the season in conference games came at their first away match up.
They beat opposing teams game after game at home in their opening seven games to form an impressive seven-game winning streak before the Clan fell to a 8–0 defeat at the hands of Western Oregon University. It was the Clan’s first away game in the conference this season, and it proved to be too big of a change for a team seemingly in top form and well-focused.

Kelsey Hawkins was named Red Lion Co Pitcher of the Week which brought some good news to a team that had seemingly lost a lot of the confidence it had built over the first few games.
Following seven noteworthy performances, the Clan has only managed to get one win out of a possible four, which included dismal 8–0 and 9–0 defeats.

Renney had pointed to a long fight ahead with “many games and many practices” to come. Now it seems, that’s exactly the reality for the Clan. It’s going to be a long run to the finish line, as players will need to be fully focused and in their best form week-in, week-out to achieve their goals and fans’ expectations.
The Clan has used their non-conference game well, to regain some energy and to rejuvenate before continuing conference games again. With two good performances by a rather inexperienced group of players against Concordia University Cavaliers.

Hawkins was stellar once again in the second game of two against the Cavaliers, going six innings, striking out seven, and allowing only one run.

The Clan is well readied for two big games against the Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University, which may prove crucial in the team’s mindset for the latter stages of the season.

The Clan’s winning streak was snapped, but the team has its future in its own hands and is well capable of achieving what is expected of them. With group of veteran players and a strong leader in coach Renney, things seem to be in place for a return to top form by this team in the coming games. It seemed like the Clan were going to run over every opponent, but it’s certain now that there are some big opponents in this conference, and that there’s a big fight ahead for Clan Softball.
As Renney had warned throughout the dominating start to the conference games, there is “still lots of work to do […] we’re not where we want to be.”

Beyond the arc

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WEB-Nayo-Mark Burnham

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe was a force in all aspects of the game this year

By Jade Richardson
Photos by Mark Burnham

Growing up in Toronto, a young Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe was always the tallest kid in her classes at school. It was her height that led to her picking up basketball in third grade, and her passion and love of the sport has grown ever since.

Now as a senior at Simon Fraser University, the first International school to become a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Raincock-Ekunwe has made a name for herself and her team in the United States and in the basketball world.

In her final season with the SFU Clan, the 6’2” forward has broken two Great Northwest Athletic Conference records and led the Clan women to season-high sixth-place national ranking. At the end of 2012 she broke the conference record for most rebounds in a game with
24 against Trinity Western University and in early 2013 she broke the conference record for career double-doubles with 49, despite only having been in the conference for three years.

With the senior leading her squad, the SFU women advanced to a historic sweet-16 finish in the NCAA National tournament, earning GNAC and West Region runner-up spots along the way.

Raincock-Ekunwe, who averaged 16.8 points per game in her final season, topped the NCAA Div. II field goal percentage rankings for most of 2013, with a 65.1 shooting percentage in her final year. She was also the GNAC leader in rebounds, averaging 12.4 each game, and was fourth in the nation in that category.

The success she had in her senior season seems natural to many people, but the soft-spoken athlete confessed that she has put in a lot of work to get this far. “In my first year at SFU it was a big change. Going from the best player on your high school team to a more secondary position was hard for me. I was able to take it a little bit easy.”

After her freshman year, however, the Clan lost their core group of seniors to NCAA eligibility rules — the CIS allowed athletes five years of competition, but the NCAA only allowed four — so in her sophomore year her role changed again. “I knew that I had to step up my game and put a lot more work in during my second season. I didn’t do as much as I should have as a freshman because I knew I wouldn’t play much, but I became a starter a year later so I had to push myself to improve my game.”

The Clan’s head coach Bruce Langford agrees that her progress has been outstanding, and that the work she put in over the years has truly paid off. “When she came in as a rookie she was an amazing athlete, that is certainly true, but she lacked focus and was not motivated to reach higher. Since that time she has become more and more committed and much more skilled on the court. She is always looking to maximize her potential.”

And the natural-born athlete is looking to be her best in all facets of her collegiate experience, including in the classroom, though that has been a journey as well.

“School came ver y easy to me in high school, and I thought it would be the same at university,” she explained. “I was wrong and my grades suffered as a freshman, so I have been working ever since to improve my GPA and step up my academics. SFU has very high academic standards, so while it can be difficult at times, I never want anything to come too easily to me. I’m glad I’ve had those challenges.”

Teammate Carla Wyman, who has played with RaincockEkunwe since the age of 17, says that watching her friend grow as a player and a person has been extremely special. “She has all this raw athleticism, and now that she is really focusing on becoming a better technical player, her talent is unreal. She works extremely hard in practice, and cares so much about the game and the team that the rest of us can’t help but care.”

At the end of her collegiate career Raincock-Ekunwe holds
12 GNAC records, an outstanding feat, but one that does not define her. “Nayo is a great example and leader for the younger players,” continued Langford. “She leads by example and demonstrates her commitment through her actions.”

She also picked up numerous honours in her final season, being voted a Daktronics second-team All-American; the first basketball All-American by an athlete from a non-American school. She was also the 2013 GNAC Player of the Year, and was named a first-team All-star in both the GNAC and the West Region.

Despite all the success, Raincock-Ekunwe has also had to overcome some adversity in her career, missing out on competing for the Pan American and FISU teams that she made because of appendicitis. “She handled her return following that disappointment very well,” Langford explained.

Now on her way out of collegiate athletics, the two-time Basketball British Columbia University Player of the Year has high hopes for her future, but knows that like her honours so far, future success will not come easily.

“I would love to play professionally in the future,” she confessed. “Maybe in Europe or South America. Lots of Clan alumni have done so and I might wish to follow in their footsteps, if I am able to push myself to that level one day.”

Either way, Raincock-Ekunwe knows, that basketball is a part of who she is, and will always be a part of her life.

Vegging out

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WEB-veggie lunch-Mark Burnham

By Ljudmila Petrovic
Photos by Mark Burnham

At 4:30 am, Kalarupini and her one prep assistant arrive at the Commercial community kitchen at their temple, and begin to cook that day’s veggie lunch. They usually finish several hours later, after which Kalarupini takes her kids to school, and then comes up to SFU with her assistant Laura.

Veggie lunch has been around for many years, serving completely vegetarian and vegan plates of food Mondays through Thursdays 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. It was originally started by then-student Dan, who was concer ned about the lack of vegetarian
options on campus and began a vegetarian club.

Since then, veggie lunch has changed owners twice, and it is now Kalarupini and Laura that are a regular sight in Forum Chambers, often greeting their regulars by name. “We always have regulars,” says Kalarupini as she waves to a young man passing by. “Most people that come by are regulars, and they come every day they have classes.”
At SFU, the plates are a suggested donation of $5 and always come with rice, some sort of vegetarian meal, dessert, and a drink. The pair rarely has leftovers from the popular lunch, but when they do, they are given out at their temple or to homeless and hungry individuals.

“It is our dharma to spread consciousness of not hurting other living beings,” explains Kalarupini over the sounds of spiritual music.
The proceeds cover the cost of ingredients, many of which are bought at an Indian food store on Fraser St, with whom they have a friendly relationship. Any additional revenue is donated to charities and used to run their other programs.

The two women are with Hare Krishna Food For Life (HKFFL), the largest vegetarian and vegan food relief organization with independent branches all over the world. HKFFL also ser ves 500 hot meals per week in local organizations such as the Downtown Eastside Women’s Center and First United Church. They also send funds to an orphanage and school in India, and are responsible for various programs in the community.

They are trying to go beyond what they are already doing and are planning Love and Beyond, a community outreach event in the Downtown Eastside’s Oppenheimer Park on July 27. The event will last from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and will include spiritual music, a free yoga tent and, of course, free veggie lunch. “Everybody, the whole community, is welcome to come,” says Kalarupini. “ We need many volunteers.”

The veggie lunch crew is very small, says Kalarupini, but the women are also looking to get involved with other groups do more programs at SFU, including things like chanting and a movie screening.

Want updates? Friend “New Veggie Lunch” on Facebook.

Rom-rants novels

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WEB-romance novel-Mark Burnham

Don’t be so quick to stigmatize an entire literary genre

By Denise Wong
Photos by Mark Burnham

When I told my friends that had purchased a ticket to a Nicholas Sparks book discussion and signing, the reactions ranged from “You like that crap?” to “Who’s Nicholas Sparks again? Oh, him?” But as soon as I mentioned a) the entire thing was a ploy to earn a profit by reselling my signed book on eBay; b) free cocktails were provided; and c) I wanted to see Josh Duhamel in the flesh, all was well again.

It struck me then that women who like Nicholas Sparks novels — or any type of contemporary romance novel — are typecast as some sort of inferior simpleton. If I am seen reading a Jane Austen novel for class, people tend to assume for some reason that I must love her books and I’m one of “those girls:” the girl with her head up in the clouds dreaming about some Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet. The point is, once people see me this way, no matter what I say afterwards, I’ll usually be met with skepticism.

The statement “what we read reflects who we are” is true to a certain degree; it’s a representation of the types of things we are interested in. If I want to read beautiful ornate sentences that are five lines long, I might read Dickens. If I want to read depressing novels about how a regressive society punishes modern personalities, I might read some Thomas Hardy. And if I want to read about social class and young women falling in love — I’d read Jane Austen? It somehow doesn’t sound quite as respectable.

Those watered down descriptions; there’s a difference between one person’s unfair summary and an existing stereotype. The problem is that we don’t get to choose the stereotypes that come with our interests.

So the question is: are romance novels as worthless as our society deems them to be? And should they be deemed as unintellectual books for women?

Any English literature student will know the difference between the early eighteenth and nineteenth century romance novel and the contemporary definition of a romance novel, but the “romance novel” didn’t always mean a sappy love story that ends with an almost guaranteed happily ever after. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, the romance novel was characterized by “improbable adventures of idealized characters in some remote or enchanted setting.”
The very definition of a romance novel requires it to oppose realism.

The common critique that romance novels are “unrealistic” is a bit of a cheap shot if the genre isn’t suppose to be realistic — which many of great novels aren’t.

The assumption that romance novels have no merit and only attract foolish and impressionable young women is an age-old belief. Initially the stigma applied to all novels. In fact, it irritated Jane Austen so much that she incorporated the issue in her novel Northanger Abbey.

“I never read novels; I have something else to do,” she wrote. “Novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff.” These words are uttered by one of Austen’s most irksome dimwitted characters, John Thrope, but if we add the word “romance,” then the above sentence sounds like something we’d hear today.

I went into Sparks’s book signing event for the promotion of his latest movie adaption of Safe Haven as someone who scoffed at his redundant and poorly written stories. I firmly believed (and still do) that he was milking the former success of The Notebook for all that it was worth.

It really doesn’t help that each and every single poster advertisement for a Sparks novel-adapted film features the same image of Caucasian romance. If the posters are all the same, advertisers are also suggesting that the novel-based films are the same — and for the most part, I suppose they are: someone dies, someone cries, and two white people fall in love somewhere in North Carolina.

But the truth is, his new novel Safe Haven isn’t awful. I won’t venture so far as to say it was original or even well written, but Sparks writes in a third person limited narrative throughout and switches between three characters. His exploration of an OCD sociopathic husband’s psychology was interesting, and his heroine’s escape was well plotted.

It was almost a book about a strong independent woman who took a stand and ran away from her abusive husband — until she ran right into the arms of the next available and attractive man, after which it became a fullfledged romance novel. The point is, it wasn’t just a silly Nicholas Sparks romance novel; I left the book signing focusing less on his limited range of adjectives and more on things worth focusing on, like how a normal writer might sit down and write from the point of view of a sociopathic police officer.

Sparks explained that he wanted to write a novel with an element of danger, and given the choice between a dangerous person or a dangerous place, he decided a person was more interesting to explore. In fact, the passages that explore the character’s psychology are chilling.
It reminded me that domestic abuse occurs in a variety of ways and sometimes goes completely undetected, but that doesn’t make the problem any less urgent. Certainly, if a romance novel is able to bring these issues up, it can’t be completely worthless, simple, nor exclusively for women.

Maya Rodale is a proud romance reader and author of Novels, Explained, which was based off of research she conducted for her MA at NYU. But she hadn’t always endorsed the genre, and had been reluctant to even begin. “When my mom suggested I read romance novels, I laughed and said ‘Maybe when I’m finished reading Ulysses and other serious literature,’ ” Rodale has said.

She knew how to mock romance novels well before she had even read one — and that poses an interesting question about the stigmatization of romance novels. We’ve all done it at some point: scoffed at the mention of Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, or any Nicholas Sparks novel, often mocking the books before we’ve even read them.

The scorn and shame surrounding romance novels that began in the
18th century has since been passed down the generations despite transformations within the genre. But what is so particularly dangerous, so awful, and so nonsensical about romance novels? Rodale believes it is in part because romance novels depict female characters in scenarios where they are ultimately rewarded for living and loving to a higher standard despite all odds.

There are a million differences between canonical works of literature and contemporary romance novels, but one interesting fact to note is that the former often feature women who choose love and passion in life, and end with her death — usually in suicide, as exemplified in Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary. They are also written by men, as if to condemn and warn women about what could happen if they aren’t dutiful wives.

Jane Austen, for example, writes romance novels in the sense that they are about the great man hunt and are also unrealistic. Not only do her heroines live after the last page is written, but they also marry charming rich men who love them back. While Austen is a canonical author, many students would never read her books unless they are required by a course — and even then, they are hard pressed to say the novel was enjoyable.

Last semester I took a course on Jane Austen that required reading every single Austen novel, be it finished or not. Every single person in my seminar was a female. Whether the assumption is spoken or sidestepped in some subtle manner, there exists the idea that even Austen’s novels are not as worthy as those of Charles Dickens or other male canonical authors.

I’ve read a few contemporary romance novels and they all seem to be about a woman figuring out her feelings about who she loves, and then pursuing that. Based on my perhaps limited experience with romance novels, they are all pro-choice, proself-discovery, and pro-love.
When a male author writes from a male perspective and begins a journey of self-discovery in order to sort through his feelings about a girl, the novel is often written for teenagers, read again by a predominantly female audience, and the object of the hero’s affection is usually some complex unhappy girl. We can look to examples such as Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Must we be unhappy in order to be complex? And must all women be unhappy in great works of literature?

Traditionally, this approach was born out of a fear that women would now have free choice. They couldn’t own property, divorce, or fight for custody, but romance novels presented them with the choice of perhaps being able to choose who they married at the very least.
“[M]an has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal,” says Northanger Abbey’s Henry Tilney. Women can choose whose marriage proposal they want to accept, which is not to say they won’t be faced with the threat of dying poor and alone if they refuse, only that they have the basic choice.

But how does this translate to our contemporary Western culture, where women can vote, own property, marry, divorce and fight for custody? Why do romance novels still carry such stigma? It could be that many of them are poorly written, but surely not all. Comic books don’t usually qualify as intellectually stimulating pieces of text either, and yet they aren’t met with the same flames of fury that romance novels receive. As with many nuances and double standards in our society, this may be one that will continue to be explored by feminist scholars for decades.

It’s simply not fair to assume someone is an idiot because they read romance novels once in awhile, and it does not mean the characters will inspire the exact same mistakes. Not all romance novels are worthless pieces of writing that are only meant for female readers, and not all romance novels deserve our scorn. While romance novels are certainly capable of being superficial and sappy, they are nonetheless a genre like any other and at the very least deserve to be looked at critically before being written off completely.

Say what you will, but I don’t believe in free speech

By
EIC
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0

Feel free to disagree with me on this, but I don’t think that people should be allowed to express themselves freely on any topic. This isn’t to say that I believe that no one has a right to speak their mind; it’s just my personal feeling that any idiot shouldn’t be automatically given the right to spew their ignorant and ill-conceived thoughts just because it’s their “opinion.”

Now, I may not be the most informed or intelligent person in the world, and my views may not be very well “conceived,” but I strongly believe that freedom of speech is total bullshit. Again, say whatever you want, this is simply what I believe and I think I should be allowed to express it without fear of being chastised.

Of course, I understand that this may not be the most popular stance to take on this issue but after listening to many different viewpoints it just seemed, to me at least, that disallowing free speech is the most logical conclusion.

Everyone on the pro-free speech side of the argument always just says “that’s the way it is,” or that it’s an “inalienable right,” and refuse to allow people like me to have a chance to have their voices heard. All I’m trying to do is open up a dialogue about removing our free speech laws. Truthfully, I just want there to be a conversation about this topic so that those of us against free speech finally have a chance to safely express our opinions.

People like me, who don’t believe in free expression, have been overlooked in our country for far too long. You’d never see this kind of mistreatment in societies with limited freedoms. In North Korea the voice of every single person is accounted for, and they are all saying, “don’t let me speak,” which I think is the way things should be.

Honestly, why should I be ignored just because I’m against free speaking rights? So, just because I think that only the most powerful members of society should have a right to express their thoughts, somehow I’m not worthy to speak out for my cause?

Quite simply, free speech has never done anything good for anyone, at any time, throughout the entire course of human history. But hey, that’s just my two cents! By all means I invite anyone who disagrees to definitely let me know what they think. I don’t want to force my views on anyone; I just don’t believe that people should have the right to give their opinion. Tell me, is that really so hard to understand?

So, please let your voices be heard, because the only way that we will ever eliminate free speech is if we are all given a chance to express our thoughts.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

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© The Peak Publications Society

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society