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More than words: The Acorn’s understated fare

By
EIC
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0

The Acorn brings elegance to vegetarian dishes.

By Daryn Wright

There is a peculiar raising of stakes that occurs when waiting for a seat at a restaurant. It is hardly noticeable when the wait is short, or when the would-be diner is not very hungry. When the wait is long, however — and the diner is famished — the suspense increases exponentially with every added minute, a gastronomical Achilles-and-tortoise race that, as 15 minutes turn into 45, puts the metaphorical ball further and further into the restaurant’s court.  Can the restaurant live up to the stakes that were raised so high by the prolonged wait? At the end of the meal will the diner be impressed, or just no longer hungry?

This restaurant did much more than rid us of a negative stimulus. It caught us off guard.

It’s an overcast evening and we stand shivering outside of The Acorn, a vegetarian restaurant recently opened on Main Street and 24th. We’re told the wait will be half an hour, so we savour our sample of roasted cashews and mill about the street. The 30 minutes pass and we’re seated at the bar, still waiting for our table. Tall, narrow glasses of water are given to us as we sit and watch like hawks for a table opening. Nobody seems to want to leave. An hour passes, and we’re finally seated.

The outside is inconspicuous; a giant, roughly sketched acorn cues that you’re at the right place. The interior has the same minimalist quality: dark wood beams hem us in, white washed window frames are pushed open, and yarn-wrapped lanterns hang from the roof like the cocoons of butterflies.

The menu is simplistic and straightforward: the names of the dishes are dictated by prominent ingredients. We order the “Beet” appetizer, which is presented beautifully.  Bright beet medallions are arranged in a triangular shape, and thinly mandolin-shaved fennel adorns the center. The dish is a reimagining of ravioli: the centre of the “ravioli” is made from macadamia cheese, and the thin beet slices act as the encasement for the nutty paste.  The dish is garnished with pickled green strawberries, which are bright in flavour. We put down our forks and knives and make our detailed and eloquent judgments: “Wow.” “So good.” “Mm.”

Three entrees arrive: the Halloumi, the Harvest, and the Mushroom. The Halloumi consists of beer battered halloumi oblongs, flattened zucchini pancakes, and bright green smashed peas. The yogurt and lemon garnish cools down the whole dish, toning down the saltiness of the cheese. Everything is working in perfect harmony here, and it’s obvious that the flavours are meticulously thought out by the head chef, Brian Skinner.

The Harvest dish changes according to what produce is in season. Our version is like a splattering of paint on a white canvas: it is the most colourful dish I have ever seen. Bright red beet and goat cheese risotto acts as a bed for thinly shaved fennel and radishes, mandarin slices, basil leaves, with a poached egg sitting atop it all.

The Mushroom consists of creamed wild quinoa, seared King Oyster mushrooms, edible fuschia-coloured blooms, and pickled string beans. This dish is by far the heartiest, and is incredibly filling despite being not only completely vegetarian, but also gluten free and vegan.

Already we enter into the realm of rhetorical inflation — words like “gosh” and “dreamy” are tossed around to the point of meaninglessness. The food leaves us inarticulate; all intention of rigour is lost. What began as a meticulous readiness to review the restaurant with objectivity — with our arrangement of three people and three dishes — has turned into a primal and voracious appetite. And dessert hasn’t even come yet.

The Rhubarb demonstrates a mastery over sweet and savory combinations: black pepper strawberry sorbet sits among a short crust crumble and a rhubarb puree. The Basil is refreshing and unique; the bright green sweet basil creme brulee is accompanied by strawberry glaze, and the pairing is so perfect I wonder why I haven’t been eating this every day of my life.

What The Acorn does well is dressing up produce elegantly, without disguising it as something it is not. It is not trying to make up for its lack of meat; it is aware of being herbivorous. It is the most refined vegetarian restaurant I’ve ever experienced; presentation and experience are not threatened by constraints, rather they thrive on the vegan, gluten free, and raw alternatives.

In short: the stakes, raised high by our hunger and even higher by the wait, were more than satisfied. If only we were able to articulate it.

Smells Like Mediocrity: Yeasayer’s Fragrant World

By
EIC
-
0

After two years Yeasayer releases  a new album, miles from their folksy debut.

By Navneet Nagra

Yeasayer debuted in 2007 with All Hour Cymbals, an album of tribal drum beats and genre-shifting vocal rhythms. Next came Odd Blood; a shift from their groovy debut, Odd Blood mixed pop and electronica. A two-year break and the world became fragrant.

Fragrant World is a completely new direction for Yeasayer, straying from their folksy roots into rattling electronic beats. This jarring contrast from their previous albums leads the listener to double-take. The album single “Henrietta” starts with a cruising downbeat interspersed with an echoing, oceanic keyboard, ending in a slow crescendo. Inspired by the book Henrietta Lacks, “Henrietta” encapsulates what Yeasayer is known for with melodic lyrics and psychedelic flare matched with the dance-floor tempo Fragrant World has adopted. Though Fragrant World is not of the same caliber as All Hour Cymbals or Odd Blood, it does hint to the future we can expect from Yeasayer.

“Reagan’s Skeleton” is an unabashedly synthesizer-heavy track, calling to mind LCD Soundsystem. While All Hour Cymbals gave Yeasayer the label of psychedelic folk rock, Odd Blood refocused their sound into synth-laden dance; Fragrant World follows Odd Blood’s lead. “Folk Hero Schtick” seems to ironize the band’s past. The haunting track, while still keeping with the upbeat tempo running throughout the album, manages to demonstrate Yeasayer’s ambition. They have not attempted to savour the high of their first great single “Sunrise”; instead, they have descended into the world of mixed electronics and phantasmal percussion. Called wholly unremarkable by critics, it will probably only have a few runs on the turntable before it is put back on the shelf. Fragrant World is a good album in itself, though maybe not for the lover of

All Hour Cymbals or for the dance floor guru of Odd Blood. It meekly hits the sweet spot in between the two.

Quebec students prepare for back to school strikes

By
EIC
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0

By Erin Hudson

Quebec students respond to being ordered back to class

 

MONTREAL (CUP) — This year’s back to school season means back to the picket lines for Quebec students as efforts to mobilize against the province’s special legislation, Law 12 (formerly the controversial Bill 78), kick into high gear.

While many students are entering their last weeks of summer, Law 12 has mandated some Quebec students to head back to class tomorrow to finish the spring term that was affected by the student strike. For some, there have been no classes since February.

The mandated return to class is viewed as a make-or-break moment for the student movement, which has been mobilizing against Quebec’s scheduled tuition hikes since they were announced in March 2011. The hikes currently proposed by the government amount to $254 per year over seven years, for a cumulative hike of $1,778 per student.

“The week of August 13 to 17 in the Montreal-area [where most of the striking CEGEPs are located] is a crucial moment for the student strike. Either the strike will be crushed by Charest’s ‘special law’ or the strike will continue,” reads the call for students to re-block classes on the web platform of the action, Bloquons la Rentree.

Under Law 12, the resumption of classes is scheduled to occur in waves throughout August beginning tomorrow. For students to be on strike, the majority of a representative body within the CEGEP or university must vote to participate in the strike.

Law 12 was introduced in the National Assembly as legislation to provide for “when and how classes are to resume and includes measures to ensure the validity of the 2012 winter and fall terms and the 2013 winter term.” The law includes clauses mandating classes for the disrupted winter semesters to resume at the 15 CEGEPs and four universities on strike as of May 18 — the date the law came into effect.

The law also includes provisions to maintain “peace, order and public security.” Provisions include the submission of an itinerary eight hours to the presiding police force in advance of any demonstration with 50 or more people in attendance. The law gives the police force the right to alter the itinerary of the demonstration so as to uphold “peace, order and public security.”

After Law 12 was passed, between 500 and 700 lawyers and legal professionals marched in protest against it in Montreal. The law was criticized by the Quebec Human Rights Commission, while the Quebec Bar has questioned its constitutionality, and Amnesty International states the law violates Canada’s international human rights obligations.

An attempt in early July to strike down provisions within the law was dismissed by the Quebec Superior Court. The presiding justice told The Montreal Gazette that Law 12 must be debated in its entirety, set to occur in September.

In anticipation of resistance to the resumption of classes, the Montreal police service, Service de police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM), released a set of guidelines on Friday outlining how the force would apply Law 12. The SPVM states officers will not intervene in relation to Law 12 unless requested to do so by “the executives of educational institutions.”

“As I mentioned last spring, Law 12, it’s a tool. It’s one of the tools that we have. If you remember correctly, last spring we never applied Law 12 [then Bill 78]. We never had to use it,” Lafreniere said.

Other “tools” used by the SPVM thus far in the student strike include the Criminal Code and municipal bylaw P-6 — voted into effect in Montreal the same day as Law 12 — which bans the wearing of masks at demonstrations and declares illegal any assemblies of 50 people or more that do not provide an itinerary.

Lafreniere noted that officers would intervene to apply the Criminal Code if criminal acts occur during the back-to-school/strike actions.

The call to re-block classes by forming picket lines outside classrooms or school buildings comes from the Back-to-Strike Convergence which, according to their website, is looking to mobilize supporters from surrounding provinces and the USA in addition to local students.

Bloquons la Rentree and the convergence are among several groups independent of the four major student federations and are calling for students to resist the application of Law 12 starting August 13.

“As a father of two kids I would love to tell you that it’s not going to happen — that everyone is going to be safe and sound next week and we won’t have to intervene at all . . . [but] I have no clue,” said Lafreniere.

“We’ll be there, we’ll get ready for the worst, but we’ll be expecting and hoping for the best.”

University Briefs

By
EIC
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0

Bill 78 used for the first time

 

Nineteen students at the University of Montreal are under investigation for not adhering to the controversial back-to-school law.  On the first day of school, masked protesters stormed the university causing a commotion, banging on pots and pulling fire alarms, in addition to ordering students to leave.  Macleans on Campus reported an incident in which an elderly teacher shoved back a group of demonstrators to keep them from entering his class.

 

UBC student attacked by grizzly bear

 

Julia Stafford, a 20-year-old UBC student from Seattle, Washington, was dragged six meters by a grizzly bear while she was collecting rock samples near Anchorage, Alaska.  Stafford told press that a mother bear and her two cubs surprised them while she and her team began to back away.  Before she was able to get a hold of her bear spray, the mother bear was on top of her.  She received scratches and a broken bone in her hand, which may require surgery.  

 

McGill makes history

 

 

Last Tuesday McGill’s 5,038-kg fruit salad claimed the prize of the largest in history during the orientation week at the university.  The feat beat out Fresno State University’s previous salad by around 700 pounds.  The salad was mainly comprised of 2,250 kg of watermelon, 1,012 kg of pineapple and 162 kg of strawberries.  It was fed to those there at the time, with portions sent to the school cafeteria, homeless shelters, and Meals on Wheels.

 

– Graham Cook

Quebec students prepare for back to school strikes

By
EIC
-
0

By Erin Hudson

 

Quebec students respond to being ordered back to class

 

MONTREAL (CUP) — This year’s back to school season means back to the picket lines for Quebec students as efforts to mobilize against the province’s special legislation, Law 12 (formerly the controversial Bill 78), kick into high gear.

While many students are entering their last weeks of summer, Law 12 has mandated some Quebec students to head back to class tomorrow to finish the spring term that was affected by the student strike. For some, there have been no classes since February.

The mandated return to class is viewed as a make-or-break moment for the student movement, which has been mobilizing against Quebec’s scheduled tuition hikes since they were announced in March 2011. The hikes currently proposed by the government amount to $254 per year over seven years, for a cumulative hike of $1,778 per student.

“The week of August 13—17 in the Montreal-area [where most of the striking CEGEPs are located] is a crucial moment for the student strike. Either the strike will be crushed by Charest’s ‘special law’ or the strike will continue,” reads the call for students to re-block classes on the web platform of the action, Bloquons la Rentree.

Under Law 12, the resumption of classes is scheduled to occur in waves throughout August beginning tomorrow. For students to be on strike, the majority of a representative body within the CEGEP or university must vote to participate in the strike.

Law 12 was introduced in the National Assembly as legislation to provide for “when and how classes are to resume and includes measures to ensure the validity of the 2012 winter and fall terms and the 2013 winter term.” The law includes clauses mandating classes for the disrupted winter semesters to resume at the 15 CEGEPs and four universities on strike as of May 18 — the date the law came into effect.

The law also includes provisions to maintain “peace, order and public security.” Provisions include the submission of an itinerary eight hours to the presiding police force in advance of any demonstration with 50 or more people in attendance. The law gives the police force the right to alter the itinerary of the demonstration so as to uphold “peace, order and public security.”

After Law 12 was passed, between 500 and 700 lawyers and legal professionals marched in protest against it in Montreal. The law was criticized by the Quebec Human Rights Commission, while the Quebec Bar has questioned its constitutionality, and Amnesty International states the law violates Canada’s international human rights obligations.

An attempt in early July to strike down provisions within the law was dismissed by the Quebec Superior Court. The presiding justice told The Montreal Gazette that Law 12 must be debated in its entirety, set to occur in September.

In anticipation of resistance to the resumption of classes, the Montreal police service, Service de police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM), released a set of guidelines on Friday outlining how the force would apply Law 12. The SPVM states officers will not intervene in relation to Law 12 unless requested to do so by “the executives of educational institutions.”

“As I mentioned last spring, Law 12, it’s a tool. It’s one of the tools that we have. If you remember correctly, last spring we never applied Law 12 [then Bill 78]. We never had to use it,” Lafreniere said.

Other “tools” used by the SPVM thus far in the student strike include the Criminal Code and municipal bylaw P-6 — voted into effect in Montreal the same day as Law 12 — which bans the wearing of masks at demonstrations and declares illegal any assemblies of 50 people or more that do not provide an itinerary.

Lafreniere noted that officers would intervene to apply the Criminal Code if criminal acts occur during the back-to-school/strike actions.

The call to re-block classes by forming picket lines outside classrooms or school buildings comes from the Back-to-Strike Convergence which, according to their website, is looking to mobilize supporters from surrounding provinces and the USA in addition to local students.

Bloquons la Rentree and the convergence are among several groups independent of the four major student federations and are calling for students to resist the application of Law 12 starting August 13.

“As a father of two kids I would love to tell you that it’s not going to happen — that everyone is going to be safe and sound next week and we won’t have to intervene at all . . . [but] I have no clue,” said Lafreniere.

“We’ll be there, we’ll get ready for the worst, but we’ll be expecting and hoping for the best.”

Line in the sand: University of Saskatchewan students track path of Enbridge pipeline

By
EIC
-
0

By Anna-Lilja Dawson

Trip from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. involved capturing videos and interviewing residents

SASKATOON (CUP) — For 14 days in late July and early August, two University of Saskatchewan students travelled the 1772-kilometre route of Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. During this time they took photos, captured video and documented the personal stories of residents of the communities along the pipeline’s projected path.

Tomas Borsa, a political studies and psychology student, and Tristan Becker, a recent political studies graduate, made the trip from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. Teaming up with Skyler Flavelle from Whistler B.C. The group set out to create a multimedia project titled Line In The Sand.

Borsa blogged about their travels while Becker and Flavelle took care of the photography and videography, respectively. According to their website, the project will culminate with a published book “comprised of images, essays and commentary from those affected by the pipeline.”

The Northern Gateway pipeline is a project by Enbridge Inc., a Calgary-based energy company, that would carry an estimated 525,000 barrels of heavy crude oil a day from Alberta’s oilsands to Canada’s West Coast. The project is intended to open up access to emerging Asian markets, where demand for oil is at an all-time high.

Many communities nestled around the Northern Gateway’s planned pathway feel that the pipeline’s construction is beyond their control as efforts to protect their land have so far been futile, Borsa said.

He said the passing of Bill C-38, a 425-page omnibus budget bill that, along with several other new laws, allows the government to exempt federal projects from environmental assessment, greatly limited those who could speak at public hearings regarding the pipeline. In addition, Enbridge has provided strict mediation that has reduced the topics open for discussion and limited a speaker’s time to 10 minutes.

Borsa said the project was necessary to help share the opinions of those who are most concerned with the proposed pipeline.

What he found surprising was the clear-cut difference in public opinion between B.C. and Alberta. In B.C., where a vast amount of the pipeline will cut through First Nations territory, some communities oppose the pipeline so strongly that they have rallied together for a ban on oil pipelines and tanker projects within their territories. The majority of these communities depend heavily on already fragile ecosystems for their livelihoods and cannot afford the risk of an oil spill endangering the environment.

The militancy shown in communities facing serious risks was shocking to Borsa, who said that people will go as far as lying down in front of bulldozers to protect their land. The greater the risk to a community, the more open and willing the community members were to share their stories, he said.

Enbridge has offered communities along the projected path a 10 per cent equity stake in the project in an attempt to increase support for the pipeline. The company recommends that this money be used to fund cultural centres and build schools in their communities.

Borsa said that many communities have refused the offer and remain opposed to the pipeline.

He said that there is no middle ground to be found for communities that support the pipeline but still harbour concerns for the environment.

The few people that the group found who are in favour of the Northern Gateway project in B.C. were Shari Green, mayor of Prince George, and Joanne Monaghan, mayor of Kitimat. Both were unavailable for comment when they requested an interview.

Borsa found that Albertan communities were generally accepting of the pipeline, due to what he believes is simply more familiarity with the mining and oil industries. Economically speaking, Alberta has more to gain than B.C., with more job creation and much more money going directly to the province — Alberta will receive $30 billion over a period of 30 years while B.C. will receive $6 billion.

Borsa said that Albertans were more concerned with whether or not Canada should wait for the price of oil to rise before opening up to international markets or if the Asian markets are the best place for Canadian resources to be exported to.

He added that if the project does move on to the construction phase, Line In The Sand must return.

“It ramps up the urgency of us going back.”

The dangers of drunkorexia

By
EIC
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0

By Natalia Kubiak

SFU researcher first to examine long-term effects of saving calories for binge drinking

The two “D”s of young adulthood: dieting and drinking. Although they appear to be unrelated, in reality, they combine in a dangerous way. SFU researcher Daniella Sieukaran is the first to look into the long- term effects of “drunkorexia,” a term used to describe the practice of restricting meals in order to “save” calories for future binge drinking. Sieukaran followed 227 York University students aged 17–21 over a four-month period and found that students engaging in this practice were more likely to partake in risky activities such as unprotected sex and to overdose on alcohol. The rate of hospitalization was also higher for this group. Although, emotional eating and non-hunger-motivated eating are also forms of disordered eating, only dieting through caloric restriction positively correlated with an increase in risky behaviours.
Earlier American studies showed that 40 per cent of all students engaged in this pattern of behaviour. However, the lower legal Canadian drinking age needs to be taken into consideration when applying these numbers to the Canadian student population. Sieukaran emphasized the importance of realizing that this behaviour is observed in both females and males. While women are generally thought to be at risk from societal pressures, Sieukaran said that “we must remember that males are also receiving messages from family, friends, media, and society that they need to have a certain body: high in muscle and low in fat.” Both genders are plagued by information telling them to be healthy, active and to remain within their daily caloric needs. Thus, whereas women are motivated by the desire for thinness, men strive to avoid beer-bellies and to achieve muscularity. Regardless of gender, the drive for an ideal body image could be the primary motivation behind drunkorexia, although further research needs to be conducted on the matter.
Calorie counting at meal times is a common practice in a culture where disordered eating is increasing in prevalence. This caloric concern is now spreading into the area of alcohol. Despite not being a diagnosable eating disorder, like dieting, drunkorexia is often a gateway for more serious problems and has the potential of morphing into an eating disorder. The ease with which this transition can occur makes it crucial for universities to not only acknowledge the problem, but to implement strategies that can bring about change.
Sieukaran believes that “more awareness and education is key to minimizing risk. Young adults know that dieting can be dangerous, and on the other hand, they know that drinking can be dangerous. But they aren’t thinking about what the combined risks can be.” Therefore, students need to be educated and made more aware of the dangers at hand. Schools need to be “connecting the dots for these two behaviours,” as students often fail to recognize that the risks of certain actions, such as drinking, can be related to other behaviours such as poor dieting or unsafe sex. This discrepancy is why Sieukaran is focusing her research on the weighing of short-term gains against long-term risks by students in the context of drinking and dieting.
Prevention is the key method of minimizing the risks associated with drunkorexia. This is a growing phenomenon that requires more research in order to delve further into the causes and possible forms of treatment. For the time being, students need to be aware that this issue exists and not stigmatize those who admit having a problem. Openness is key and support is often much appreciated. When the new school year brings keggers, pub nights and beer pong, remember that a full stomach will help the hangover.

New Indigenous OLC website created

By
EIC
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0

By Graham Cook

 

Indigenous student researcher introduces the new site

 

The Online Learning Community at SFU has a new addition this fall.  The OLC website, which currently houses information pertaining to work integrated learning and career development, has added an Indigenous section to their site.

The Indigenous Online Learning Community website will feature programs, student services, traditional events, and other support for self-identified and non self-identified First Nations, Inuit, and Metis students.  It allows students to share their stories as well as employers of indigenous people to advertise positions in areas such as finance and government, among others.

Laura Forsythe, the indigenous student researcher, spoke with The Peak about the new website. Forsythe said, “The indigenous program researcher before me . . . had written a proposal for career services . . . to build partnerships with organizations outside of SFU for indigenous opportunities for employment.” She said that she “started on the website this summer and went into the community . . . from there I realized that we needed to build more of a sense of community and have one place to go for the students to find out everything they needed to know.”

She went on to explain that this is superior to having, for example, individual places for careers, support, and advising.  The students can come to this one place and “find out about events happening on campus, and find different, inspiring journey stories from all over BC and Canada.”

“One of the biggest bonuses we have with this is that it’s student run, those who curate the website are students, those who did the actual website design are students, and those who continue to add new information will be students, because every student can add to this website,” said Forsythe of student involvement with the project.  As well as Forsythe, other students involved in the co-op education program, such as Alice Chan, helped lead the project.

Another major aspect of the website is the Indigenous Stories section. It includes postings such as the one made by the president of the Metis Nation BC, Bruce DuMont, titled “How to Become a Metis Politician.” He advises that one “must always remember how you help your Community and Metis Peoples to enhance their lives.” Also present is an interview with a 17-year-old Squamish Nation member working with the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre.  When asked what advice she had for other aboriginal youth seeking employment, she replied, “Don’t underestimate yourself and your abilities.”

Forsythe added that she hopes the articles on this website will be able to inspire other indigenous students who may or may not go to Simon Fraser “to come here and achieve great things and build their capacity.” In the future, she said that phase two will be rolled out. It will include an aboriginal network where aboriginal students will be able to sign in and create profiles, and meet other aboriginal students on campus. This new feature will also help keep students updated on new information being added to the site and allow students to make an online resume to help with finding employment by allowing employers to contact them through career services.

SFU Continuing Studies adds new program

By
EIC
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0

By Graham Cook

SFU continuing studies, which provides courses at night and on the weekend to people who are older than the typical university student, has added a new program.  The Certificate in Professional Coaching is the only program of its kind in the Lower Mainland to have an affiliation with the International Coaching Federation—which found in a 2012 study that the demand for such services has increased.

Kon Li of Career and Life Planning engineered the new program and spoke about it with The Peak. He mirrored the ICF’s assertion, saying, “This profession has been growing drastically in the last ten years.” Li said, “We’ve been thinking of developing this since 2009 . . . we are excited that the program is up after almost four years of preparation.” He added, “There is a need for this sort of training . . . this program will appeal participants in the Lower Mainland, who are looking for coach training in a face to face setting.”

This program will allow its graduates to achieve ICF coaching certification and covers various parts of the field. Li said, “The program covers three levels of coaching:  individual, team, and organizational system coaching. . . . Graduates of the program can work as an internal coach for an organization or as an external coach providing services for a fee. This program also can be a professional development program for work performance enhancement.”

The courses will cover topics including individual and team coaching, organizational systems coaching, narrative coaching, working with feedback, resistance to change, and leadership.  The program takes seven months to complete and will be held on a part-time basis.  Li described that “The program is filling up quickly,” and classes begin at the Harbour Centre campus on October 6.  They will be holding an information session at the same campus on September 12 at 5:30 pm.

SFU student wins bronze medal at Olympic Games

By
EIC
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0

By Alison Roach

Jasmin Glaesser, a third-year computing science student at SFU, had the opportunity to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer, and won a bronze medal for her race in women’s team pursuit cycling.

When Glaesser, a Coquitlam native, started cycling at the age of 17, she never imagined she would make it to the biggest competitive stage in the world. A former runner, she had several injuries and turned to cycling as a sport that would be kinder on her body. After borrowing an old mountain bike in the summer of 2008 from her father, SFU computing scientist Uwe Glaesser, Jasmin bought herself a road bike as a high school graduation present and started to get involved.

Of her beginnings in the sport, Glaesser says, “When I started, I never even considered making it to London.  It wasn’t even really a goal, because it didn’t seem realistic.” However, after she started cycling, Glaesser quickly found support from Cycling BC, the provincial governing body for the sport of cycling in British Columbia. Later on, and closer to the Olympic games, Glaesser says, “The [Canadian Cycling Association] National Team and all its associated coaches and staff provided a program for us athletes to really be able to excel, with the help this year of Own the Podium and the Road to Excellence program.” Fast forward to this year, and Glaesser has already won medals at the world track cycling championships in Melbourne, Australia, and at the World Cup in London, with her teammates Tara Whitten and Gillian Carleton.

Glaesser spent the year prior to the Games training with the National Track Team in Los Angeles, where they had access to an international-caliber velodrome and were surrounded by support staff. Says Glaesser of the experience, “While it was sometimes a challenge to be away from home for so long, I think it really allowed us to focus on the job at hand and to become a really cohesive and close knit team.” Trials for an Olympic spot were held in June, and Glaesser was named to the team.

The only significant bump in the road on her journey to the Olympics was qualifying to compete for Canada. Glaesser has lived in Canada for most of her life, but was born in Paderborn, Germany. A year ago, Glaesser still did not have Canadian citizenship, and so was ineligible to compete for Canada. “It was definitely an agonizing wait for my application to get processed . . . I finally became a citizen last September, and looking back I think the experience just gave that much more of an appreciation for what an honour it is to represent the maple leaf.”

Along with Whitten and Carleton, Glaesser travelled to London to compete. Their event, team pursuit cycling, is a 12-lap race between teams of three. In the first round, the Canadian team lost to Britain, but were fast enough to qualify for the race for bronze. Glaesser describes herself as being on autopilot just before the final round, but admits that “I remember being really excited and motivated.  It was at that moment that it kind of sunk in that we were in the Olympics and fighting for a medal!” In the final race, the Canadian team beat out Australia with a time of 3 minutes and 17.915 seconds to win the bronze medal.

The response back home has been huge. Glaesser says that the outpour of support and congratulations came as a bit of a shock after the extreme focus of London.  For Glaesser, “The best part though is having been able to give more exposure to track cycling so hopefully more young athletes become motivated and involved.”

For now, Glaesser is heading back to school this semester, where she hopes to major in computing science and minor in mathematics.  As for competitive cycling, she says, “Although I’m excited about what we’ve achieved so far, I think we have so much potential to still grow and improve. For myself, I am also looking to concentrate on road racing for a bit, so Rio is for sure on my mind.”

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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