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Your reactions to these daily student scenarios will determine which major you should be in

By
Peak Web
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Someone standing at a fork in the road. Ahead of them there are multiple paths that represent different SFU majors.
ILLUSTRATION: Andrea Choi / The Peak

By: Izzy Cheung, staff writer

Let’s start the day off properly! What time are you waking up at for a full day of classes? 

  1. Three hours before my first class. I like to get a morning run and a healthy breakfast in before getting started on the bulk of my day, and giving myself three hours leaves me with plenty of time to get to class. 
  2. One hour before my class. I need to make sure that I make it onto campus with enough time to grab my drink of choice. 
  3. Anywhere from an hour to 30 minutes before my class starts. Depends on a few things, like what kind of outfit I feel like wearing, whether I make my drink at home or buy one on campus, or if I want to head up a little early to get caught up on some reading.  
  4. Lol. 

What are you eating for breakfast this morning? 

  1. I’ll probably have a slice of avocado toast and a smoothie. I do meal prep, so everything’s in the fridge and ready for me to eat whenever I need it. 
  2. Usually something from the West Mall Tim’s. 
  3. Some sort of pastry from Renaissance or Blenz.  
  4. Maybe a granola bar? Idk, we’ll see what’s sitting at the bottom of my bag today.

Problem: you show up to your lecture only to find that there’s no one there! A last-minute Canvas announcement says that your prof cancelled class today — what are you doing now? 

  1. I’ll make the best possible use of my time. Since I’m already on campus, I’ll go find a quiet spot and get some work done. 
  2. This wouldn’t happen to me — I’m always checking my email to see if I scored that summer internship I applied to. 
  3. I might try to get caught up on some reading. If I’m caught up, I might take a bit of a walk and take some photos of whatever looks aesthetic.   
  4. That corner over there with the plant looks like a great place to take a nap. 

Your friend texts you and asks if you want to join their group study session later that day. How are you responding to them? 

  1. I’d love to! After a few hours of studying, we could probably all grab dinner or drinks after 🙂
  2. Sure, can I bring a few friends? 
  3. Of course! Where did you want to meet?  
  4. I’m not answering — we’re all already crying at the thought that we have to memorize three chapters of the textbook for tomorrow’s lecture. 

You’re sitting in class when someone asks if they can sit beside you. What do you say back to them? 

  1. Absolutely! 
  2. Of course. What’s your name? What major are you? Which other courses are you taking this semester? Let’s add each other on LinkedIn. 
  3. Sure! Is that ACOTAR? I love that series.  
  4. Inaudible grunt. 

Results: 

If you got mostly A’s . . . 

You are not a student at all. You can’t be. Truthfully, I can’t comprehend anyone being able to have this kind of energy while studying full-time. The time management, social battery, and willpower to get up when you don’t have to . . . no student has a healthy combination of all three. Hence, you can’t possibly be a student (and if you are, MAJOR PROPS. Honestly. I want what you’re having.) 

If you got mostly B’s . . . 

You most definitely belong in Beedie, SIAT, or the School of Communication, and I know that all of y’all were expecting this answer. I baited you with that LinkedIn answer and you guys took it so easily. No one else in any other major would be using LinkedIn on the same level that you are. But enough about that — what are you still doing here? The time for summer internships is coming up, you’ve got some networking to do! 

If you got mostly C’s . . . 

You should be an FASS kid. More specifically, you should be an English, humanities, or fine arts major. Your commitment to showing up and serving is second to none. You carry those massive books around with you to show off the fact that you’re reading it even though you have the digital copy on your laptop. That’s okay, because that’s who you are — sip that oat milk latte and enjoy taking aesthetic outfit photos among the cherry blossoms (once they start to bloom, of course).

If you got mostly D’s . . . 

With the way you run yourself into the wall with your habits, you should definitely be in Sciences. You live off of Red Bulls and twelve-hour study sessions on campus. When you do get the chance to sleep, it’s either for twenty minutes, or twenty hours. Honestly . . . I get it. 

A Look into Black History: Hogan’s Alley in Downtown Vancouver

By
Peak Web
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PHOTO: Mike W. / WikiCommons

By: Hannah Fraser, SFU Student

Last semester I took ENGL 211, a truly eye-opening class of gripping literature and lectures with a focus on enslavement in America. During one lecture, my professor briefly mentioned the history behind Hogan’s Alley in Downtown Vancouver. Immediately drawn to its history, I soon found through my own research that I passed by the site of Hogan’s Alley countless times in the past but had no idea such a valued cultural hub for Black people once existed there. 

Black immigrants from California settled in BC during the mid-1800s, establishing in and around Strathcona by the early 1900s. They were soon joined in Vancouver by Black people from Alberta affected by housing discrimination. Hogan’s Alley was the vibrant cultural hub of the area, a place where Black Vancouverites could cultivate connections with each other through music, food, and the similarity of their backgrounds. Notably, this neighbourhood was home to Nora Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix’s grandmother, a cook at Vie’s Chicken and Steak House and a co-founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel. However, due to strong racial prejudice, Vancouver newspapers portrayed Hogan’s Alley as a centre of crime and mischief. As a result of these discriminatory works, the neighbourhood began to fall apart in the 1960s — homes and businesses were destroyed, and the Georgia Viaduct was built right through Hogan’s Alley. 

Unsurprisingly, the demolition of Black spaces was not a unique phenomenon in Vancouver. While Hogan’s Alley was being wiped off the map, US President Dwight Eisenhower deliberately constructed interstate highways through African-American neighbourhoods in the US as well. Though highway builders problematically argued the land was cheapest in these Black neighbourhoods, freeways were paved through them due to political power and discrimination. In the late ‘60s, white neighbourhoods successfully opposed highway constructions, while Black and Latin American communities didn’t have the power to. 

In 2017, the City of Vancouver proposed the Northeast False Creek Plan — a plan to demolish the Georgia Viaducts, redevelop the area with more housing, and reestablish Hogan’s Alley as a cultural centre. The plan claimed the proposed housing was structured around the recreation of Hogan’s Alley, where many restaurants and businesses would reopen. The architect claimed to have developed his architectural concept in hopes of creating a “sense of place necessary for its identity as a cultural precinct.” Hogan’s Alley Society, a non-profit organization “daylighting the presence of Black history in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia,” expressed their joy that Hogan’s Alley may once again become the cultural hub it once was. The City claimed it was working with Hogan’s Alley Society for the cultural hub aspects of the plan. 

All this was too good to be true, of course. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic plummeting revenue, part of the costs for the Northeast False Creek Plan were unable to be met. An estimated $400–500 million could still be needed in costs. With the uncertainty of the plan in 2024, the City has since recognized that further work is needed for the long-term success of the project in combating anti-Black racism.

More news about the Northeast False Creek Plan has been shared recently, but there is little focus on the actual cultural hub part of the plan. Unlike originally proposed, Hogan’s Alley does not appear to be the centre of the plan any longer, as this news report only details the construction of new homes and the removal of viaducts. While it seems the plan has not been fully neglected, we cannot be certain it will play out as originally promised. 

So, I guess, I, like many others, couldn’t have known Hogan’s Alley existed — I was never taught about it before my class last semester, as our education system and government do not emphasize its importance enough. Unfortunately, the legacy of Hogan’s Alley is rather minuscule in popular culture, which is reflected in the government’s lacklustre creation of a Hogan’s Alley stamp issued by Canada Post. Creating a stamp rather than offering proper education about Black History clearly reflects the government’s desire to conceal the history of oppression against Black people in Vancouver.

Obscuring the past by landscaping the Blackness out of a nation is a clear threat to the Black diaspora and does not help eliminate prejudices. Thus, rebuilding Hogan’s Alley to reemerge as a cultural centre is imperative. There are a multitude of benefits to its reconstruction, some of which may go rather unnoticed. This cultural centre could create a sense of cultural continuity through the proposed food planting projects and provide Black children with positive role models to grow up with.

A very violent and insidious way to erase someone’s history is to merely not talk about it.

In the coming years, I hope that when I walk to the intersection of Main Street and East Georgia, I can more clearly recognize the site that was once home to many Black people in Vancouver. I hope that the initiatives to properly revitalize the area quickly become a reality, and that the history and cultures of Black Vancouverites are not only respected, but actively celebrated.

BDS as a moral duty

By
Peak Web
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PHOTO: Gudrun Wa-Gunnarsson / The Peak

By: Sude Guvendik, Peak Associate

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement stands as a beacon of hope in the face of the prolonged and deeply rooted injustices suffered by the Palestinian people. In July 2005, a coalition of Palestinian groups proposed a strategy to end the intensifying occupation of Palestinian land. Led by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the BDS movement is a global coalition advocating for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. Drawing inspiration from successful historical movements such as the South African anti-apartheid movement, BDS strategically targets companies and institutions complicit in Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people.

The Israeli occupation, dating back and beyond the unrecognized 1967 East Jerusalem territories occupation, maintains absolute segregation between Jewish settlers and Palestinians — a clear violation of international law. The absence of an actual, functional citizenship for Palestinians living in Israel, coupled with restricting certain rights and services like mobility, employment, and education, further perpetuates the injustices Palestinians living in occupied land face.

BDS is not only a strategy, but a form of foreign policy and diplomacy that starts from below — from the ordinary people. Boycotting involves withdrawing support for companies and institutions that are complicit, directly or indirectly, in the violation of Palestinian human rights. Divestment is the call to withdraw investments in the State of Israel and Israeli international companies that sustain apartheid. Sanctions is the call to pressure local and national governments to end Israeli apartheid, from military trade, to trade agreements, and sanctions in international forums. As BDS gains strength, it has the potential to compel governments to implement sanctions at an official level, similar to the approach taken against apartheid in South Africa. 

The grotesque situation in Gaza demands intervention, as two decades of diplomatic efforts have proven ineffective. The United States’ significant financial support to Israel, in the form of a $14.5 billion military aid package and continual assistance in their economy, requires grassroots interventions. A very similar story happened in South Africa, where racial segregation policies and political and economic discrimination governed the lives of non-white people. Years of internal and external resistance, as well as international pressure and sanctions — to which UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan opposed but were overruled by their governments — eventually repealed the legal basis for apartheid. BDS has modeled its policies, actions, and proposed interventions in the anti-apartheid movement. 

The moral imperative of BDS lies in its historical effectiveness as a nonviolent tool, from bus boycotts to fossil fuel divestment. Targeted boycotts involve focusing on a limited number of carefully selected companies and products that directly contribute to Israel’s crimes. Notable successes include Mcdonalds, Starbucks, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerry’s, and Pillsbury, which have been strategically targeted to send a forceful message to other complicit entities. Organized consumers can boycott companies involved in illegal settlements or distributing weapons to Israel, trade unions can push for divestment, and municipal governments can apply ethical criteria for selecting contractors. BDS encourages collective action to challenge organizations that fund or are indirectly complicit in war crimes.

It’s crucial to recognize BDS as a strategy that welcomes Jewish Israelis opposing their country’s violations of international law. Just as some white South Africans supported anti-apartheid campaigns, approximately 500 Israelis, including artists and scholars, endorsed BDS during Operation Cast Lead under the banner of “boycott from within.”

Over the past two decades, Israel has aggressively targeted BDS through legal measures. In the United States, numerous anti-BDS bills have been introduced and enacted, impacting university funding, contracts, and public blacklists. Germany, too, revokes awards and funding for any form of BDS support.

BDS aims to target Israel’s dependence on trade with Europe and North America, altering its economy and global perception. Companies like Google, Amazon, Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, Disney, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries are identified as targets for pressure campaigns, meaning boycott “when reasonable alternatives exist.” The BDS movement supports various forms of pressure, including boycotts, lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media campaigns.

For BDS to succeed, it requires sustained and mainstream support comparable to the anti-apartheid campaign. The current atrocities in Gaza strengthen the case for BDS, with grassroots boycotts already affecting companies like Starbucks and Puma. Although the movement has grown, reaching a critical moment similar to South Africa’s remains a challenge. As momentum builds, it is essential to distinguish legitimate activism from antisemitism and to acknowledge BDS as a serious, nonviolent movement with established principles. Take a moment to reflect on your actions and their ultimate goal; criticizing the actions of Israel as a governmental entity is not anti-semitic, but the harassment and attack on Jewish people is. 

BDS represents a moral imperative in challenging Israel’s policies, drawing parallels with the successful anti-apartheid movement. As global support for BDS intensifies, it could usher in a transformative moment, economically compelling peace for the land of Palestine. 

World Chase Tag

By
Peak Web
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photo of two women tag competitors in action, one running away and the other going past an obstacle to chase her.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Ultimate Tag AU’s Instagram

By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer

Picture this: you’re in your room at some chain hotel near Pearson International Airport, waiting for your flight home from Toronto. You turn on the sports channel, watching the Vancouver Canucks lose 5–2 to the Boston Bruins. Then, as the third period winds down, the program moves to a new sport you had never seen before.

World Chase Tag (WCT) — a televised competitive parkour tag tournament. You’re amused and confused at the same time as the fast-moving athletes cross what is essentially a playground skeleton, turning elementary school games into competitive adult athletics.

This was my experience when I first watched WCT, the event staying ingrained in my mind even after the sports channel had shifted to a Dallas Stars–Philadelphia Flyers rerun. At first, I couldn’t believe this was real, but as the program went on, I understood the basics of how the event seemed so competitive compared to the preconceived notion I had of tag.

WCT is the first and only competitive tag league in the world, and operates national, continental, and international competitions. There are multiple teams in four separate continental divisions — Europe, Middle-East & Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas. WCT consists of an open league — with no strict gender requirements — and a separate women’s league. 

The tournaments are held in a structure called the “Quad” — a 12×12 metre square featuring various obstacles for climbing and parkour — where each “Chase-Off” takes place. 

The Chase-Off is the usual format for main WCT competitions. Each match is a best-of-16 format between two teams, both consisting of up to six athletes. In each 20-second chase, there is a chaser and an evader. If the evader lasts 20 seconds without being caught, their team earns a point and that athlete stays as the evader for the next chase. If the chaser tags the evader within 20 seconds, neither team gains a point, and the chaser takes over as the evader for the next round.

Tags must be made with the hand only, and if either athlete steps outside the Quad’s boundaries, they immediately lose that chase, resulting in either a successful tag or evasion for the opposing side. There is also a 25-second break between chases for athletes to rest and move into position for the next contest.

If a Chase-Off ends in a draw, the two teams move onto sudden death. The sudden death format is similar to the original Chase-Off, but it only consists of two 20-second chases, and doesn’t include the 25-second rest period. Whichever team has the longest evasion time in those 20 seconds wins the match. If both teams have an equal evasion time, this sudden death process is repeated.

WCT is growing rapidly in popularity, boasting over one million subscribers on their YouTube channel, with over 300 million video views. The sport has earned many exclusive televised distribution contracts such as NBC in the US, and has even collaborated with popular American content creator MrBeast. This is also a paid professional venture, as athletes earn $1,000–$5,000 a month, depending on their skill level. 

There have been various re-creations trying to capitalize on Chase Tag’s popularity, such as the American reality TV show Ultimate Tag, which featured a similar competition, yet lacked the professionalism and true athleticism of WCT. This show was short-lived, only airing ten episodes in 2020, with the majority of reviews being negative. Many of these reviews even mentioned that FOX, the show’s creators, had ripped off WCT while adding unappealing WWE-esque theatrics into the mix.

The next WCT event is the WCT 6 World Championship, being held in Évry, France from April 26–28. If you’re interested in a high-stakes, quick-moving, surprisingly entertaining sport, I highly suggest you check out WCT competitions. Their aforementioned YouTube channel has hundreds of videos showing various competitions, which is a great introduction to this rapidly growing spectacle.

SFU partners with Canadian Blood Services for 1,000 stem cell swabs campaign

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Peak Web
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This is a photo of the Canadian Blood Services Sign at their location on Oak Street Vancouver. The sign includes the company’s logo, and the message, “Make All the Difference, Join Canada’s Lifeline, Book today at Blood.ca.”
PHOTO: Puneet Aulakh / The Peak

By: Eden Chipperfield, News Writer

SFU students were invited to an opportunity to change lives on February 8. Canadian Blood Services set up shop in the Student Union Building and outside the Mackenzie Cafe, encouraging individuals to register for stem cell donations. 

Stem cell transplants aid in blood restoration for those who have undergone chemotherapy treatments due to prolonged illness, including blood disorders, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and over 80 other conditions. A stem cell transplant increases blood cell turnover to help the body create more white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. These cells clot the blood to prevent bleeding within the body. 

Canadian Blood Services came to SFU with two goals: to recruit more students aged 17–35 and encourage those with ethnically diverse or mixed-race backgrounds to register. 

“People who need a stem cell transplant are more likely to find a match in a donor with a similar ancestral or ethnic background,” Canadian Blood Services community development manager Anika McDonald said in an interview with The Peak. Currently, Canadian Blood Services only has a third of registrants who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC). “Having a stem cell registry that is as diverse as Canada can help ensure that people who need a stem cell transplant can find a suitable match,” explained McDonald. 

Canadian Blood Services has been recruiting at universities and other academic institutions such as the University of British Columbia throughout February to encourage young people to register for stem cell donations. The SFU Blood, Organ, and Stem Cell Club assisted with the event held at SFU. Their campaign had a goal to reach over 1,000 student swabs. 

Students who register to participate in stem cell donation will have the inside of their cheek swabbed to collect a sample that will be examined and tested by Canadian Blood Services. Once a match has been found, students will be contacted to find a time to proceed with the donation. Canadian Blood Services notes that it may be weeks, months, or years for an eventual match to register, but the act of registering is already a positive start to saving someone’s life. 

Health barriers for BIPOC occur frequently in Canada. Systemic barriers are present in healthcare environments due to racial bias, lack of information, and misdiagnosis. Canadian Blood Services is determined to address these obstacles by organizing stem cell registration events to encourage students of different backgrounds to sign up. 

“Contrary to common misconceptions, most stem cell donations do not involve surgery; instead, the method for collecting your stem cells will most likely involve a process similar to donating blood,” said McDonald. Blood is collected through a needle from an arm and filtered through a machine that selects stem cells from the blood. A second needle in another arm will return the remaining blood to your body. 

Students interested in registering are encouraged to visit www.blood.ca/swabatschool to register for a stem cell donation. The SFU Blood, Organ, and Stem Cell Club also seeks volunteers and do not require prior experience. Training will be offered on-site. 

A Not-So Glamorous Day-in-the-Life of an SFU Student

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Peak Web
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BREAKING NEWS: SFU introduces geese therapy to make up for students quitting from SFSS

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Peak Web
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An illustration of a baby goose, wearing a SFU shirt
ILLUSTRATION: Alyssa Umbal / The Peak

By: Kelly Chia, Editor-in-Chief

A stunning new report brings a quack of a time to the student body at SFU. Hundreds of geese were seen flapping onto the tall Burnaby campus, an unusual sight for the student population. It’s also election time, and everyone is trying to figure out which representative does what. It’s no secret here at the university of Mr. Simon Fraser that SFSS elections bring a mixture of confusion, dread, and even hope. Yes, we hope this year’s administration might: 1. listen and follow the agenda they set out for the year, and 2. stay for their entire term. The bar is on the floor, folks! If they don’t casually decide they’re not a political body again, we’re probably okay, right?

Well, SFU has a different strategy in mind. To boost morale and confidence in our student body government, the university has sent whole flocks of geese to chase students around! We reached out to a representative to find out more about this unique strategy. First, we asked why SFU thought this would make students not quit from the SFSS. “We’re in a nice little area where any time a student is angry at student services, they can be mad at the SFSS, not us. We always make sure to remind them!” Vague Ans Wers, the SFU representative, told us.  

“We imagine that this makes things a bit spicy for the SFSS sometimes, and they get sad, so . . . Geese!” They raised their hands up triumphantly. “The geese will encourage athleticism by making students actively flee from them. It’s important to fight back against that new-fangled semester depression.” We didn’t have the heart to correct this to seasonal depression. “We really think this will give SFSS and the SFU body the opportunity to get engaged with one another, interact, and honk it out.” Wers then told us that any further inquiries could be answered by looking at the SFSS website. How helpful! 

Reportedly, SFU is considering offering geese admission to the university so they can be present and ready to offer their services when students inevitably discover another “problem” at the campus they can’t redirect. “What do you mean we need to focus our efforts on ‘freezing’ tuition costs? Climate change, baby!”

As campaign posters decorate this campus, just remember the wild concept that your vote and voice affects what the SFSS does. Otherwise, we fear that SFU will not stop at waterfowl to solve their systemic issues! 

Traitors vs. Faithfuls: The Quiz

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Peak Web
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A group of work colleagues gathered over their coworker, who looks distressed starting at their laptop.
PHOTO: Pexels

By: Saije Rusimovici, Staff Writer

Are you a Traitor or a Faithful? The campus is divided. A select few are chosen as Traitors, tasked with getting rid of the Faithfuls while staying undetected. The Faithfuls? It’s your job to identify the Traitors and get them out of the game to save the group. No, you can’t be both, and you can’t choose. The cards have already been drawn for you. You might be thinking, “I’m all in it for the success of the team,” dedicated to identifying the Traitors at the dramatic King Arthur-esque eviction ceremony — AKA snitching to your professor that you did all the work. We’re looking at you, English majors (because come on, crim kids would never get someone else to look at their essay). On the other hand, you’d think it would be impossible to trust the Beedie kids (yes, we know you’re on the way to becoming some econ-lawyer-finance person or whatever and “change the world” but come on, y’all are the Slytherins of the bunch). Do we fear you? No. Do we respect you? Absolutely.

And what about our faculty? Joy Johnson, our esteemed host, has made it clear that the Traitors can be found within our faculty members and alumni as well. Could it be your favourite publishing instructor? The quiet yet deadly psychology prof you underestimated? Most of you won’t find out who the real Traitors are before it’s too late. But right now, it’s your chance to determine which you are. 

  1. You find an answer key to an exam in the bathroom stall a few days before the test. What do you do?
  1. Flush it!!! I am not a cheater!
  2. Publish it online (anonymously, of course).
  3. Share it with my closest friends because you deserve the best grades.
  4. Keep it for yourself — regardless of what you keep telling yourself, getting the top grade MATTERS.
  1. Your best friend tells you a secret about a professor that NO ONE is supposed to know. What do you do? 
  1. Keep it to yourself (everyone’s business is their own).
  2. Do nothing . . . yet — the information might come in handy in the future.
  3. Tell a few classmates because a little gossip never hurt anyone . . . right?
  4. Post it on Reddit (this will teach them a lesson for assigning the bad group assignment). 
  1. An unclaimed mobile order has been sitting on the counter at the campus cafe for several minutes. What do you do?
  1. Ask the people around you if that’s their order.
  2. Discreetly take the coffee — but leave the muffin; taking both would be in bad taste.
  3. Leave the order there, but scope out what they got (not worth taking it if it isn’t good right?)
  4. Grab it and run. If they wanted it so bad, they would’ve been here already.
  1. A classmate asks to borrow your flashcards for the final, knowing that they’re in full detail and that they never show up to class and haven’t studied at all. What do you do?
  1. Let them use the cards — of course you want to help!
  2. Give them the flashcards (they don’t know you swapped out the names of some of the key terms).
  3. Politely decline. They should have been doing the work if they wanted to do well.
  4. Give them the flashcards (they don’t know you left a few key concepts out).
  1. Your TA assigns a group project. Who do you work with?
  1. The friends you met in lecture you always sit with.
  2. A friend or two, and the smart person you’ve been purposefully sitting next to in tutorial. 
  3. A friend from high school you recently connected with in class (that you also know has a 4.0 GPA . . . )
  4. Partners? You approach the TA and ask to work by yourself. If you want something done right . . .

If you answered mostly A’s or C’s, you’re a Faithful.

You always try to do what’s best for the collective group causing little friction (other than what’s necessary of course.) You don’t consider yourself ruthless, but at the end of the day you’re here to get out the Traitors. Anyone stopping you from achieving that goal needs to get with the program. Even as a faithful, you’ve got to have a strategy. Who knows, if you’re doing well the Traitors may even recruit you . . .

If you answered mostly B’s or D’s you’re a Traitor. 

Congratulations, you were chosen as one of the more ruthless and cunning of the bunch. You do a good job of convincing people you’re a Faithful on the outside, when on the inside you’ve been plotting against everyone the entire time. You won’t hesitate to vote someone out . . . even if it’s another traitor. 

The large and entertaining world of medieval martial arts

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Peak Web
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Photo of two people dressed up in medieval armour outside spearing with dull swords.
PHOTO: Tengyart / Unsplash

By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer

For those of you who’ve ever wanted to see modern-day people fighting in medieval armour — swords, shields, and all — the dream exists, and in lots of different ways. 

M-1 Medieval

One association conducting this medieval combat event has been M-1 Global, a Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. The first “knight fight” was initially used as a filler spectacle in between matches at the 2015 M-1 Challenge 50, but due to the fan reaction, M-1 founder Vadim Finkelchtein made medieval MMA its own division. Videos on YouTube of these events have garnered hundreds of thousands of views internationally, with M-1 Global uploading these highlights since the medieval division’s creation in 2016. 

The M-1 circuit mixes modern infrastructure with the medieval aesthetic. The fights take place in the M-1’s “rages” — a hexagonal structure that’s a mix between a traditional ring and an MMA cage. Fighters carry blunt swords and are allowed to wrestle and strike their opponent with their shield, minus any head or neck shots. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that M-1 Global is running these events, or any events at all, for that matter. There have been no updates from the company since 2021, with their last official MMA event taking place in late 2020. This came only two years after the company collaborated with the UFC to bring more Russian fighters into the larger international MMA circuit. While this deal likely wouldn’t have included the medieval division, COVID-19 could contribute to why the company hasn’t been able to host the competition since.

Battle of the Nations

Battle of the Nations looks more like you’d expect a medieval MMA competition to be. The annual tournament has a large array of medieval-era weapons available and is held in aged fortresses — very different from the modern-day MMA cages used in M-1 Medieval.

This tournament began in 2010 with over 100 fighters from four countries battling in 1v1, 5v5, and 21v21 events. The following year’s tournament included the first overseas team — from Canada’s province of Quebec — and took place in the same Khoyton Fortress in Ukraine as the inaugural competition. 

The event continued to grow over the years, with the 2019 installment bringing in combatants from 40 different countries, and including an eye-popping 150v150 match. Unfortunately, this would be the 10th and final Battle of the Nations event held for the foreseeable future. 

The 2020 tournament did not go ahead due to COVID-19, and the 2021 tournament was postponed to 2022 for the same reason. The 2022 Battle of the Nations was officially cancelled on March 1, 2022, with the tournament’s governing body — the Historical Medieval Battle International Association (HMBIA) — suspending all events only weeks later, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then, there have been no updates for the future of the event or the organization. 

International Medieval Combat Federation

The International Medieval Combat Federation (IMCF) was created in 2014 after some members of the Battle of the Nations circuit were dissatisfied with the HMBIA. The first tournament was held in Spain with 20 countries competing in both group and duel categories.

The battles are held in conditions similar to those of the historical medieval knight fights — typically on a giant sand pit surrounded by grandstands, regardless of the event being a 1v1 duel or a larger group match. The tournaments were suspended during COVID-19, but have returned in recent years with the 2023 tournament being held in Belmonte, Spain.

This year’s IMCF World Championship in Teotihuacan, Mexico, in May, will be the first held in the Americas.

Armored Combat Sports

Armored Combat Sports is an amateur medieval combat fighting organization where prospective fighters can register for membership. The events related to the organization follow the IMCF rules, with the additional requirement of a strap connecting a knight’s helmet to their body armour.  

The ACS consists of multiple medieval combat clubs across North America, with many in Canada from the Yukon Territory to Nova Scotia. You can even hire their knights for events and social gatherings. 

Buhurt International

Buhurt International is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that is seeking to continue the sport of medieval combat on a club level across the world. The term “buhurt” has many definitions but can refer to both group combat and duel combat, which can include various weapons such as longswords, shields, and polearms (long staffs with weapons attached at the end, such as a spear). 

This organization includes multiple teams across the globe, as well as national organizations that compete in continental competitions. Medieval Combat Canada is the Canadian contingent of armoured combat enthusiasts.

Buhurt International continues to operate tournaments worldwide, with the only upcoming North American event being the Pacific Cup in Oregon on June 14. 

Nutritious Nibbles: Easy chocolatey oat bars

By
Peak Web
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0
Close up of a clear plastic container filled with oats.
PHOTO: Andrea Tummons / Unsplash

By: Izzy Cheung, Staff Writer

I love getting a sweet treat from coffee shops on campus like Blenz or Renaissance, but after a few trips, I know my bank account starts to grumble. Keep your stomach and wallet happy by making your own sweet treats! These no-bake oat bars are quick to make, only take six ingredients, and taste great while you’re trying to decide whether to get an assignment done or take a nap after class. You can whip up a quick batch on a Sunday night to be ready for the week ahead. I use a recipe modified from one posted by a user on the collaborative recipe network allrecipes.com to include vegan alternatives, but it’s yummy either way!

Prep time: 20 minutes 
Additional time: 2–3 hours to chill in the fridge

Ingredients 

For the oat crust:  

1 cup butter or 1 cup coconut oil (vegan option)  

½ cup brown sugar or ½ cup turbinado sugar (vegan option) 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

3 cups quick cooking oats 

For the chocolate layer: 

1 tablespoon of butter or 1 tablespoon of coconut oil 

1 ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1 ½ cup carob chips 

½ cup peanut butter or ½ cup almond butter (for those with peanut allergies) 

Directions 

  1. Line a baking pan with parchment paper — the pan’s measurements aren’t overly important, just as long as it’s at least 5 inches deep. Make sure you leave a little bit of a parchment paper wing at the top of the pan. 
  2. Melt your butter or coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar or turbinado sugar, as well as the vanilla and oats. Turn the heat down to low and mix the ingredients until well-incorporated. 
  3. Press two-thirds of the oat mixture into the pan and set aside the rest of it. Make sure there are no holes in the mix and that you can’t see through to the bottom of the pan. 
  4. Put the chocolate or carob chips and the tablespoon of butter or coconut oil in a bowl and microwave it until the butter/oil is melted. Mix it until combined, then add the nut butter and mix. If the chocolate and nut butter aren’t mixing smoothly, add some more butter or coconut oil and microwave it again in 20-second increments. 
  5. Pour the chocolate mixture over the oat crust and into the pan. Using the back of a spoon, spread the chocolate evenly over the oat crust. Pour the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate layer. 
  6. Refrigerate the combined mixtures for 2–3 hours or overnight. After retrieving them, leave them out until they reach room temperature, then take it out by pulling on the wings of the parchment paper. 
  7. Cut the bars into however many sections you’d like and store them in containers or saran wrapped sections. Keep them in the fridge and take one out whenever you need a nice pick-me-up! 
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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