Art and Humour performers Ese Atawo (above) and Courtenay Mayes (below). Image courtesy of the Vancouver Art Gallery
Despite isolation having been a thing for over a month now, the Art and Humour talk of Vancouver Art Gallery’s (VAG) weekly Art Connects series is the first virtual event I attended. If I could choose just one word to describe it, it would be raunchy. The event turned out to be less of a talk and more of a performance piece. I think the most often repeated phrase was “big vag, lil clitty” which should tell you all you need to know about the show.
The speakers were Ese Atawo and Courtenay Mayes performing as their respective alter egos, Lil Clitty and Thot Sauce.Atawo is a Nigerian-Canadian comedian and actor who is part of Vancouver’s Blind Tiger Comedy and improv troupes Your Moms and Nasty Women. Mayes is an artist who chairs the Board for Arts Assembly (Vancouver/Toronto) and is the founder of a clothing and textiles studio.
The event took place on Zoom and was 50 minutes long, including the Q&A period. When I entered the room, the organizers had the chat function enabled but video and audio turned off for attendees so watching was similar to watching an Instagram live. The difference came from knowing I was watching a more intimate show and not knowing how many other people were watching.
The show itself was thrilling. Atawo’s persona, Lil Clitty, was a 47-year-old aspiring rapper and former accountant who was being interviewed by Mayes’ Thot Sauce. Lil Clitty was performing from her therapist’s office and serving bumblebee eleganza with a yellow, white, and black fur coat and knee-high boots. In the background were two shirtless men (Atawo’s roommates) whose faces we didn’t see but who complemented her performance. Thot Sauce had on white claw nails, pink cateye sunglasses, and was surrounded by “friends” in the form of mannequins.
Lil Clitty performed songs such as “My Ass” and “CUM” while Thot Sauce joined in on the twerking. The shirtless dudes lifted weights or flipped through books (depending on the lyrics). Additionally, Lil Clitty gave Mayes’ second persona, Lucky Guy, a lapdance that’s apparently so legendary “people die of dehydration.” During the interview, Lil Clitty, who was trying to project a confident, sexy image, ends up breaking down about her unhappiness and mental health to Thot Sauce’s visible grimacing. Thot Sauce, though uncomfortable, offered up her own vulnerability and support with responses such as “being a 33-year-old sugar baby pretending to be a 22-year-old virgin all the time is exhausting,” and “the Junos are probably going to come back and I will probably vote for you . . . maybe!”
While it was comedic and I was definitely laughing out loud, Atawo and Mayes’ performance touched on how vulnerability and real emotion are often frowned upon and tend to make other people uncomfortable. Their performance also addressed age and desirability politics. During the Q&A, Atawo explained that the inspiration for Lil Clitty came through her love of hip-hop music and female artists. She does, however, have frustrations with portrayals that are “one note” when in reality female artists are more than that and can be “honest, real, and broken.” Despite the show’s raunch, its messaging was quite raw and vulnerable.
Atawo also spoke about creating this piece and performing it on Zoom. With such a high energy piece, she would usually get hyped up by the audience, but while she knew we were there, she couldn’t see us, making for a very surreal experience. Being able to perform with Mayes and bounce off her energy was ultimately what helped ground Atawo. I was thinking this was a strange experience for me as an audience member, but it opened my eyes up to how much stranger it must be for the actual performers.
This experience was one I was happy to have and I highly recommend watching the recording on VAG’s Vimeo page. Additionally, VAG will be putting on more free events as part of the Art Connects series — though maybe none quite so funny. All the events can be found on their website.
Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with another of my favourite Thot Sauce lines from the show: “If I don’t go to Sephora everyday, do I even exist?”
Amidst the virtual academia of COVID-19, beauty is a beast of burden. Nothing’s worse than knowing your classmates will never get to experience your glow in person and die of crippling inferiority complexes! Desperate to cling to widespread acknowledgement of how pretty you are, since you secretly lack the self-esteem to define more specific pluses about yourself? Worry not, as long as you remember these five critical tactics.
Being yourself. Or being the idealized self a classmate fantasizes about becoming — it’s the same thing anyway. Be just attentive enough in class to take notes on the things that really matter, namely your classmates’ insecurities. Matt’s still planning on “transferring to Beedie next semester” after four years of schooling? Spend the next class jangling keys off of what he’ll know is an overpriced lanyard. Rinse and repeat.
Speaking into the mic from far away, as if you’re standing forlornly at your windowsill.Remember: nothing could be more Victorian sex appeal than waiting by the glass, unshed tears frosting your eyes as you gaze out upon the lush landscape beyond your driveway, all alone. The bad sound quality will transmit your adorable anguish to your classmates for sure!
Sudden reassurances that it’s been months since your latest spouse was assassinated. Really, who could be a better role model for prettiness than the historic First Ladies of America? Emulate them and you’ll really be killing it. Just like Jackie O’s man was killed in 1963.
Whispers of Shakespearean poetry mixed with watery gurgling noises. Just like you, fiction isn’t real. And there are just two fictional style icons worth taking notes from in this world: Hamlet’s Ophelia and The Call of Cthulhu’s Cthulhu! Your Zoommates’ll totally be silently bewitched, like siren’s prey, as you sprinkle the session with sweet nothings like “yaw nevar aitnemed ssen’krad ynobe,” all while seeming to fade into the waters of darkness.
Casual hints that you’ve revived from death countless times throughout human history. Honestly, the most beautifully tragic figures of all are those who linger on the boundary between life, death, and gifted-child burnout blues, never able to move on. Once you mention on the call that you feel kind of anemic and chained to this world or whatever, your new friends will finally understand you — whether that comes before or after you suck out all their life energy is their choice.
Editor’s note: This piece was written prior to all of the COVID-19 related changes but the stores below are still open for online orders and curbside pickup. We’ve done our best to update the piece but please double-check all details with the individual stores when you virtually visit them.
Urban Source is a charming little store located at 3126 Main Street in Vancouver.
They’re currently open from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays to fulfill your online and curbside pickup orders.
The store sells alternative art materials such as ceramic tiles, fabric pieces, gift bags, wooden shapes, wallpaper, gift boxes, and an assortment of paper-crafting goodies. I was especially intrigued by their assortment of vintage photos, postcards, and mailing envelopes. They also have a nice little collection of scrapbooking supplies like stamps, washi-tape, pens, and paint.
This wonderfully sustainable store collects over-stocked materials from over a hundred different local industries. You will have no problem finding very reasonably priced items for creative projects here. For example, I found some beautiful floral stamps, a set of paper doilies, and a small cotton drawstring bag that will be perfect for gifting jewelry.
Prior to the move to online, they had a fun bulk-bag policy where you could fill a paper bag with items like stickers, plexi letters, fabric pieces, mesh, and photos — hopefully something they’ll resume once the physical store reopens. Bag prices ranged from about $8 to $22 plus tax. I saw a lot of children eagerly browsing through the barrels to find unique trinkets. The staff were very friendly and I was really happy to watch them encourage the kids in the shop to make art. Urban Source is more than your average art store and browsing in-person was honestly a wholesome experience and a nice way to say hello to the inner child in you! It’s definitely a store worth supporting now so that we can look forward to having these wholesome experiences once again in the future.
Opus has eight stores around British Columbia, and their Harbour Centre location is great for SFU students especially. Unfortunately, this location is currently closed, but their other branches are open for online and curbside pickup orders.
They sell a good variety of paints, including watercolours, gouache, acrylic, oils, and dry pigments. You can also shop for ready-made or custom frames. Overall, they seem to be more catered towards painting supplies than novelty hobbies like paper-crafting. Opus stocks high-quality materials, so expect the merchandise to be a little on the pricier side.
Their website has a Community page where you can connect with the local art community — especially nice for the current circumstance. Here you can find places that are looking for art submissions, studio listings, and artsy workshops open to all.
Once the Harbour Centre location reopens, you can pop in to soothe your soul after classes if you get excited over art supplies like me. The welcoming staff will be glad to have you over. They’re very knowledgeable about the merchandise so I found them to be pretty helpful.
Michaels is one of the biggest retailers of art supplies and it’s widely known for its huge collection. There are many Michaels stores in British Columbia, including in Burnaby, North Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, Richmond etc. All locations are still open for in-person shopping, with reduced hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. They’re also offering online and curbside pickup options.
Their categories include: scrapbooking materials, beads & jewelry, baking supplies, frames, knitting & crochet, home decor, and teaching supplies to name a few. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with choices here — I know I surely did when I began bullet-journaling this year and went to Michaels to shop for supplies.
If you’re just beginning to delve into art and don’t want to splurge on expensive supplies, I’d suggest looking into the Artist’s Loft brand that they stock. I got $5 gouache paints with a coupon, and it’s not half bad for a beginner.
Let’s face it, hobbies can be expensive, especially when we’re all on student budgets. I’d highly recommend using the coupon codes that they list on their website, which, in my experience, ranges from 30% to 50% off on regular-priced items.
SFU to offer both remote and in-person classes in the fall
Written by: Michelle Gomez, News Editor
SFU will be offering most classes remotely for the fall semester, with the potential to open some courses for in-person instruction.
SFU’s Vice-President Academic and Provost pro tem Dr. Jonathan Driver made the announcement via broadcast email on May 11.
Subject to governmental regulations, SFU will hold in-person classes “where the learning objectives cannot easily be replicated through remote instruction.” Although it is unclear what classes fall under this description, the announcement notes that it could include “laboratory-based classes, field trips, and graduate student classes where in-person participation is essential.”
President Andrew Petter said in an address to the SFU community that SFU will be easing some of the COVID-19 measures on campus, working with health authorities and the provincial government.
Petter went on to remark that co-curricular and extra-curricular programs “may proceed on an in-person basis.” Plans for residences have not yet been announced.
The announcement also noted that SFU will look to simplify academic requirements to “enable students to progress through their programs more easily,” although the nature of these changes has not been disclosed.
“Your health and safety is our priority. We’re working closely with public health authorities and the province to incorporate this priority in everything we do,” said President Petter in his video address.
“We will continue to communicate frequently, and to provide avenues for you to reach out for support.”
YWiB SFU’s International Women’s Day Gala 2019.
Photo via Facebook courtesy of the Simon Fraser Student Society
Written by: Madeleine Chan, Staff Writer
The eight winners of the 2020 SFSS Women of the Year award, from each of SFU’s faculties, were announced earlier in March via social media.
The awards would have been presented at the International Women’s Day Gala, organized by Young Women in Business (YWiB) SFU; however, the event was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Peak has reached out to the winners to discuss their accomplishments over the past year and their reactions to receiving the award.
According to the SFSS, these awards “honour self-identified women who set the bar high and drive positive change in their faculties.” The candidates were first chosen by an independent selection committee, and then the finalists were voted on by SFU students through a web survey. The recipients are as follows: Izyl Canonicato, Jessica Dela Cruz, Peyton Winslade, Marium Zaki, Tara Trang, Camelia Tavakoli, Aleisha Fernandes, and Eva Ang.
Camelia Tavakoli from the Faculty of Environment, along with being proud of becoming a more “powerful person” over the past year, has contributed to her department through research on public health and the environment. On winning the award she said: “I think more than anyone, I proved to myself that despite all the difficulties, I made it! I [would] like to dedicate this award to all the women who are doing their best in life. Ladies! Keep your chin up, and SHAKE IT OFF!”
Eva Ang from the Faculty of Science has earned multiple awards for her contributions to the SFU and BPK community. This year she took on the role of Assistant Director for the BPK Peer Mentorship program. On receiving the Women of the Year Award she commented, “As a young girl, I never would have thought I would be able to accomplish such [a] milestone [ . . . ] I feel humbled and honoured to have won this award, but I could not have done it without the support and care from my family, peers, and SFU community — thanks for inspiring me everyday!”
Alongside finishing her degree this Spring, Peyton Winslade from the Faculty of Business was a teaching assistant for BUS 361 which “runs as a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society.” She wrote to The Peak, “I am extremely lucky to have met and learned from many intelligent, badass, and authentic women at SFU [ . . . ] I am flattered to have been nominated and selected alongside other passionate and accomplished women from across our campus.”
Marium Zaki from the Faculty of Communication, Art, and Technology is proud of recently landing her “dream job” as a wedding planner with a top wedding planning company. “I am truly honoured to be winning this award. I come from a country where minority rights are nonexistent and I have spent my life doing social work for women, LGBT groups, etc. I just want to raise awareness for the issues minority groups tend to face every single day and how we can all help even a little bit in order to make this world equal for everyone.”
Jessica Dela Cruz from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) noted that the accomplishment she is most proud of this year was getting to be FASS’s Engagement Programming Assistant (EPA). Through this role, she has helped to plan events such as Clubs Days, Welcome Day, and FASS On a Boat. On receiving the award she said, “It has represented my growth in the past two years as an SFU student [ . . . ] to have my efforts recognized and appreciated [ . . . ] makes me passionate to continue to do more and do better.”
Aleisha Fernandes from the Faculty of Health Sciences is proud of completing all of her courses and her third co-op term. She has been a part of the Faculty of Health Sciences Peer Mentorship Program for four years, and has also worked on a number of initiatives with SFU Health and Counselling. On winning the award she commented, “I want to thank everyone for taking the effort to nominate some pretty amazing women [ . . . ] shoutout to all of the inspirational people in my life that have pushed me to keep pushing my limits.”
Izyl Canonicato from the Faculty of Applied Sciences did not respond in time for publication. Tara Trang from the Faculty of Education declined to respond.
Aries: How’s that “grass is greener on the other side” mindset going for you now? Take the time to forgive yourself for that compulsory Amazon purchase. Which one, you ask? Maybe the one that didn’t help you build your alternate reality. But you’re used to those.
Taurus: It’s your time to shine, Taurus. Utilize your season to explore new artistic endeavours. Try recording yourself banging your head against the window, since you can’t go out, and play that instead of the three albums you’ve had on a loop for weeks. And that to-do list you have? It needs you — you don’t need it.
Gemini: Never one to settle, this pandemic proves extra confusing for you, Gemini. Just continue festering in that one confusing or uncomfortable moment on which your mind never stops dwelling. It provides some stability for you — for once.
Cancer: Quarantine provides you more of what you want: time for introspection. Like repeating laps in a Mario Kart race, you will almost certainly run into a banana peel around the same place each time. But at least you would look mysterious and hot doing it.
Leo: You’ve been holding on to the memories of a situation you will never be able to revisit. But there’s no point ruminating on it; nothing will change. Whether you’re playing an old favourite video game nonstop or trying to remake that childhood meal that sends you back to the early 2000s, your memories will always show everyone liking you way more than they actually did.
Virgo: You may be considering a chaotic quarantine makeover of sorts, whether it be on your body or in your surroundings. With stick-and-pokes being too risky (or are they?) and cutting your hair being too cliché, you’re better off embracing your inner anarchist and making over your governmental system.
Libra: Whatever you do, don’t open Omegle like you did years ago. As you probably already know, the rare validation from strangers does not outweigh the amount of dicks you’ll see. Try The Sims instead. At least there you can have a person in your life who listens even after you set their kitchen on fire.
Scorpio: It’s just you, your water bottle, and the dust bunny collection on your windowsill against the world. For their sake and yours, keep working as hard as you always do: just enough to stay hydrated, but not enough to clean up your life.
Sagittarius: They don’t call you a mutable sign for nothing. You don’t listen to a thing your friends tell you. You can mute anyone at any time — except that voice in the back of your head telling you to listen to Twice, just this once.
Capricorn: You joke with your friends that you grew up to become Squidward — sarcastic, witty, and the best part of the show. In reality, you’re Mr. Krabs. No, not just for the money factor. You just have a weird laugh.
Aquarius: Some call you detached from many emotions, while others say you are obsessive once you become interested in someone or something that piques your short attention span. One thing is certain: quarantine is showing you that hiding your tears by crying in the shower doesn’t hit the same when there’s nowhere else you could really be instead.
Pisces: Desiring the satisfaction of feeling accomplished, you may begin feeling burnt out due to limited opportunities being presented to you. Just keep pursuing that quarantine hobby. You swore you would, even though posting about your Etch A Sketch masterpieces on social media doesn’t feel as rewarding as talking about them in the AQ.
PORT COQUITLAM, BC — On Tuesday morning, local quarantiner Angelica Velasquez reported that her neighbour’s plants were looking hot as fuck, especially the maidenhair fern growing in their window.
“She [the fern] has always been a real cutie, but today she’s really serving a look. Just check out that hydration, that chlorophyll,” said Velasquez. “I just really admire her vibrancy in these tough times. She’s so strong.”
Green and glamorous, the maidenhair fern moved into the neighbourhood about five months ago, says Velasquez, though she has led a fulfilling career so far. To date, the fern has made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30, ran for the presidential nomination in the US 2020 Democratic primary, and killed Albus Dumbledore.
“Of course, it’s all such a sad reminder of how much of a shut-in I’ve been these days. But at least someone’s getting the spotlight,” says Velasquez, the “spotlight” in question being the rays of the sun.
Now, Velasquez says, her neighbour’s maidenhair has inspired her to take initiative and drop the “dead weight” in her life, to focus on the future. Amongst other things, the fern has inspired Velasquez to finally dump her deadbeat boyfriend, whose only response was a texted “sorry I cant fuckin be her :/ [sic].”
Velasquez was unable to provide her neighbour’s name or contact information, though she notes that this may have to do with their refusal to communicate through any medium other than speech bubbles in Animal Crossing.
Aside from their general beauty, maidenhair ferns, or adiantum, are known for their ability to shed water without getting wet themselves. It is rumoured that pop icon Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” was actually ghostwritten by a maidenhair fern, though this might just be another piece of gossip circulated by Swift’s evil ex-manager.
Photo: RADIUS
"We have a tagline: a home away from the neighbourhood."
By: Meera Eragoda, Arts Editor
Photo: RADIUS
Editor’s Note: This interview was done prior to COVID-19 quarantine measures.
Name: Leo Dittmer
Pronouns: He/him/his
Department Affiliation: Faculty of Environment: Human Geography
Hometown: Clavet, Saskatchewan
Favourite bird: “Chickadee. My grandparents had them at their farm and they had a really big window in their living room so I would just sit in the window and look at the birds.”
I sat down with Leo Dittmer to learn more about his experience being enrolled in the RADIUS SFU program this semester. The first thing I noticed was that he was wearing a great shirt with small printed roses all over it. He had just gotten Veggie Lunch in MBC and had come to the realization that perhaps he should have heeded the warning of the person serving him that the spicy sauce was quite hot. His laugh was exuberant, which was delightful to hear.
Dittmer is an undergrad in human geography, though he switched majors from interactive art and technology (IAT). He was at Langara College when he took an urban geography course that really set off his passion for it.
“It was really cool to understand why humans have made cities and why we live the way we do, and how sometimes the way we live doesn’t work for us but we still live like that [ . . . ] It’s also an interesting topic because more and more people are living in cities.”
I recently learned about RADIUS and got curious. According to their website, RADIUS is a “social innovation hub based out of the Beedie School of Business, SFU, and located in the heart of Vancouver at the Charles Chang Innovation Centre.” Their mission is to run “programs to collaboratively develop, test, and accelerate innovative responses to tough social problems.”
The specific program that RADIUS runs which Dittmer is in is called the Civic Innovation Change Lab (CICL). The ideal applicants from SFU are third or fourth year students in any department. This semester they included people studying a range of subjects from health science to gender studies, and even one who wasn’t previously an SFU student. The CICL is meant to help students develop and implement real solutions to existing problems.
Every semester’s CICL has a different theme. Just last semester, that theme was Neighbourhood Resilience. Along with Dittmer, there were 13 others who were accepted into the cohort.
When asked about his experience, Dittmer states: “Coming from what is literally classified as a village, it’s really interesting to learn about cities. It’s so cool.” He adds with a laugh, “Stars in my eyes.”
Given his passion for cities, the CICL, and specifically this semester’s topic of Neighbourhood Resilience, appealed to him. He heard about it from a friend and since he was interested in business, decided to apply.
“I thought that [experiential] learning would be cool. I’d also contemplated taking some business courses [ . . . ] It’s not super business focused but [ . . . ] you do want to create a project that could fund itself.”
He expands, “The topic [ . . . ] is something that comes up in geography a lot. I had just taken GEOG 312 Geography of Natural Hazards and we talked a lot about resiliency and how people can recover from natural disasters [ . . . ] I thought it would be cool to do something [with] this.”
Dittmer explains what neighbourhood resilience means by explaining that the City of Vancouver’s neighbourhood resilience plan is intended to help “neighbourhoods to recover or bounce back from long-term shocks and things like that. Also [ . . . ] short-term shocks and everyday stressor type things, like affordability, racism, loneliness.”
The idea that Dittmer’s group (one of four groups in his cohort) is working on is called the Neighbourhood Clubhouse. “We have a tagline: a home away from home for the whole neighbourhood.” The idea is to have a kind of semi-open, semi-private space in a neighbourhood where people can drop by, hang out, and meet each other.
Their inspiration came from doing “a really big survey that got a lot of attention. Over 200 people filled it out. And we did a bunch of in-person interviews and research.”
Dittmer was concerned about a survey conducted on the people in Vancouver. “We found that [ . . . ] over 80% [of people in Vancouver weren’t] close with a neighbour of theirs.”
Dittmer believes this is important because “neighbourhood resiliency is really important for disaster recovery. And also just makes your life better. That’s one of the hard things about the Lower Mainland. People are so spread out and so far that [ . . . ] if you can know people in your neighbourhood and be like, ‘This is somewhere I belong and I know these people and I can talk to them,’ — that’s something that really helps.”
And Dittmer can relate. I ask what his thoughts are on his own hometown of Clavet in light of all the geography courses he’s taken and he jokes, “I don’t know why anybody lives in a village.”
Following this, Dittmer then gets serious and admits one of the things he misses is being physically close to the people he cares about. “There are people I care about in the Lower Mainland, but everybody lives all over.”
On how the Neighbourhood Clubhouse would be different from a community centre or a library he explains, “We’re envisioning a space for the people and probably run by the people as well.” People would be able to bring in food, board games, books, and be as social as they like. The goal is to have it be very accessible, but Dittmer acknowledges they still have to iron out some kinks.
“Do we want people to pay some kind of membership to upkeep the space? Do we want it to be locked up at night? Those are the kinds of things we’re still trying to figure out.”
There are also other types of barriers that come from people being hesitant to take advantage of collective and communal resources. As Dittmer explains, “Something that I heard a lot when I was doing interviews with people in Vancouver is that there’s a lot of social anxiety or there’s an assumption that you’re not welcome in whatever spaces.” He says people seem to think, “Oh that space is not for me. It’s for whoever or it’s for these very cool hipster people.”
Relating this feeling to the project, “I think that’s something we’ve been thinking about from the beginning: how do we advertise the space as being for everybody, and [that] everybody is completely welcome here, and we want everybody to come in and give it a try? And that’s something we’re still figuring out a little bit.”
Dittmer, however, seems heartened by the abilities of everyone in his group to achieve this. “I love doing interdisciplinary projects. I love working with people from other disciplines.” He explains that it’s the different perspectives he appreciates the most.
In addition, he’s hopeful in the project because of the ability CICL has to be “working adjacent” to the City of Vancouver. “Every Tuesday, we’re at City Studios, which is run by the City of Vancouver, so we use their space but the employees have been very helpful [ . . . ] One of them has been working to get us in contact with the person who runs the Thingery [which are lending libraries that the community contributes to].”
“We are talking to someone from the VIVA Vancouver team; [the team] focuses on activating public space in Vancouver. He was giving us some insight as well [ . . . ] So there’s definitely been lots of City people involved.”
When I asked Dittmer what he thought was one of the most memorable parts of CICL had been so far, he didn’t have to think long.
“Our midpoint presentations. It was all of our classmates, all of our instructors, all of the people from City Studio, and we also had four guest panelists that came. There was somebody from RADIUS, a person from Vancity who does their community projects, a planner from the City of Vancouver, and someone from Beedie. Getting to do our midpoint presentation in front of them was one of the scariest things I’ve done in my undergrad, but it was also really cool and interesting [ . . . ] At that time, we hadn’t selected an idea. We had kinda come up with three ones that we would be interested in doing. They gave us feedback on everything, and it was very scary but very cool.”
The business exposure he’s had through CICL has met his initial interest. “I was just thinking it would be interesting to explore how our economy works, and maybe some ways we can function outside of a typical capitalist paradigm. And that’s one kind of interesting thing that has come up a lot in our course: the sustainable innovation of it. And social innovation. Creating something for good. Something that can hopefully fund itself and keep operating so you don’t have to rely on money from the City or from grants.”
So does this mean Dittmer is hoping this project will actually be implemented after the program? Definitely!
“It’s not any kind of guarantee but that’s the mindset that we’re in. We would actually like to be able to do it [ . . . ] There are quite a few grants and things [ . . . ] so we’re really hoping we can keep pushing it forward when [CICL] is done.”
As for the future, Dittmer believes, “It would be really cool to work in community planning, like planning cities. I think that’s some of why this topic and this project have been so exciting for me. I would love to run with this all the way to the end.”
He’s also entertaining the idea of doing something in the arts or with writing. Dittmer’s passion, energy, and drive shone through to me and I was left with the feeling that whatever he goes into, I’m sure we can expect some very interesting things to come out of it.
As well, I’m struck by how innovative and socially-conscious SFU’s CICL program is and I would encourage everyone reading to take a look at their website for more information.
SFU was ranked first in the world by the Times Higher Education’s (THE) 2020 University Impact Rankings for its contribution to sustainable cities and communities.
Times Higher Education is an independent data-providing organization that ranks universities globally. THE’s University Impact Rankings specifically assess universities’ efforts in maintaining the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all of which are found on their website.
President Andrew Petter explained in a phone interview with The Peak that this ranking is a result of both SFU’s internal sustainability initiatives as well as a number of community engagement projects.
“This ranking is really reflective of not individual effort, but of collective effort. A lot of the research we’ve done on sustainability has been done by faculty members; a lot of the advocacy on sustainability around our investment strategy, for example, has come out of student groups like SFU 350.”
The Director of SFU’s Sustainability Office Candace Le Roy highlighted a few of SFU’s sustainability initiatives in a phone interview with The Peak.
Amongst them was the Sustainability Mobility Advisory Committee (SMAC), a committee made up of faculty, staff, and students who collaborate on implementing environmentally sustainable practices in the university. She also highlighted the art and heritage work SFU has done, including work done by the SFU Office for Aboriginal Peoples and both SFU Woodward’s Cultural and Community Programs. Le Roy explained that such initiatives aim to focus not only on the environment as a form of sustainability, but also the focus on the social and cultural life of communities served by SFU.
“Our work on sustainability at SFU is a University-wide initiative [ . . . ] that’s what makes our work on sustainability so effective,” Le Roy stated to The Peak.
Le Roy also emphasized SFU’s research in sustainability. Along with receiving a gold rating for its sustainability research in 2018, SFU has recently opened a school of Sustainability Energy Engineering (SEE), which welcomed its first cohort in Fall 2019. The SEE program is housed in SFU Surrey’s new sustainable building.
Even SFU’s choice of incorporating a multi-campus system contributes to sustainability, explained Le Roy, as the lack of commuters reduces transportation emissions and lowers the school’s carbon footprint.
Le Roy also noted that thanks to the SFU’s energy management team, the school has been able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to surpass the provincial target. “It’s not sexy work,” Le Roy said. “It’s flogging away and trying to find things like, how do we change a doorway in a building so that we can shave off a little bit more GHG.”
SFU was also ranked ninth in the world for its contribution to climate action. Recently, SFU committed to a five-year strategic Sustainability Plan which focuses on combating climate change, and consists of 16 sustainability targets. Before COVID-19, the Sustainability Office held community dialogue sessions with students and faculty about whether or not SFU should declare a climate emergency.
“It’s really hard to introduce an emergency declaration in the middle of another emergency,” Le Roy said. “So what we’re working on now until this settles down is to develop some climate action principles for the institution for our recovery plan.”
“Climate change is an existential threat to society and to the world,” said Petter. “The fact that we’re in the top 10 in the world in leading university responses to climate change is really encouraging but it’s no reason to rest on our laurels.”
As for the future of SFU’s Sustainability Office, Le Roy reported an oncoming collaboration with SFU Embark. Le Roy hopes to integrate students into SFU’s climate action and sustainability initiatives through consultation.
SFU also ranked highly in the Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions goal (fourth). Petter noted that programs like SFU Public Square and the Centre for Dialogue were major contributors to this goal, particularly with regard to raising public awareness on justice issues and public policy.
Petter concluded his interview by expressing his appreciation for faculty, staff, and students for the sustainable cities and communities goal amidst the pandemic.
“As much as COVID-19 is a dominant issue right now, there are other issues that we are contributing to that are also important and that we’re very much a leader,” he said.
“I’m confident SFU will continue to lead in the future.”
Newly elected Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) President Osob Mohamed may have started her term in the midst of a pandemic, but that has not dampened her excitement for the upcoming year.
The previous Health Sciences Representative spoke with The Peak about why she decided to run for president and what she hopes to see the Board achieve during her term. From advocacy endeavours to accommodations for all SFU students, Mohamed has big plans for the coming year.
“I served on the Board this past year as the Health Sciences rep, and it was a good experience. It was very much my introduction into the student society and into student unions in general,” began Mohamed. This experience introduced her to the capabilities and responsibilities of the Board, including membership engagement and establishing solidarity with student groups.
“But, on the flip side, I also as a Board member started to see a lot of the gaps in our governance practices [ . . . ] when you’re on the Board, you quickly realize that one year is not a lot of time. And it’s not easy to get much done in one year.” She hopes to push initiatives forward and focus on organizational restructuring during her term.
“During my time as president, I want students to feel seen and supported by the SFSS. I want to ensure that we are consulting with students on a regular basis before making decisions that impact them,” said Mohamed.
Mohamed also noted that the Board is in the process of developing a student advocacy office.
“I anticipate that students are going to need help now more than ever, as we are not sure what’s going to be going on with grade appeals in the coming semester and course delivery.”
The incoming president hopes the Board will “ensure that the quality of the services we offer are intact, and that we’re addressing important student concerns such as finances, housing, food security, academic accommodations, and more. It will take work, but we will do everything we can to make it happen.”
So far, the Board has moved the food bank service online and continues to lobby for the inclusion of international students in the Canadian Emergency Student Benefit (CESB).
Furthermore, Mohamed wants to ensure that course delivery for the Summer, Intersession, and potentially Fall semesters run smoothly.
“We learned a lot over the last couple of weeks about what to do and what not to do over the coming semesters — so for Summer and Fall — and that’s going to be us making sure that we’re pushing the university to make the right decisions.”
The issue of tuition prices for an exclusively online semester is also being discussed by the Board and staff at the university, according to Mohamed.
Mohamed explained some goals she has for the SFU community in the months to come. From both a university and government level, Mohamed wants the SFSS to be more active in supporting student movements; this includes supporting Tuition Freeze Now and pushing for a freeze on tuition increases for the 2020/21 year. Additionally, Mohamed wants to ensure that the SFSS is fighting for students’ rights and well-being with every initiative pushed forward.
She also noted that she hopes to work on smaller projects such as Open Educational Resources and free menstrual products on campus.
“The students have elected a strong Board, and I anticipate that the SFSS will be going through some big changes this year. Student advocacy and activism should be at the forefront of any student society or student union, and we are no different. I want to help foster this spirit into the SFSS for the upcoming year and years ahead. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
