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The Adventure Zone returns for another season of collaborative storytelling and gameplay

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The Adventure Zone is a biweekly podcast that focuses on role-playing games. Image courtesy of The McElroy Family / The Adventure Zone.

By: Gabrielle McLaren, Editor-in-Chief

It’s a little strange that my favourite podcast started off as filler content for another podcast’s paternity leave. I’m not sure why brothers Travis, Griffin, and Justin McElroy decided to teach each other and their dad (Clint) how to play Dungeons & Dragons . . . but since that first foray into tabletop role-playing games in 2014, the McElroys have developed a blend of storytelling and comedy unique to their family dynamic. 

Since The Adventure Zone’s 2014 debut with a simple pre-written story, the McElroys have created a high-fantasy epic campaign (TAZ: Balance), an Appalachian sci-fi arc using the Monster of the Week game system (TAZ: Amnesty), and fun one-shots playing with Lasers & Feelings and Oh Dang! Bigfoot Stole My Car With My Friend’s Birthday Present Inside. Now that the McElroys are circling back to D&D with The Adventure Zone: Graduation, which premiered October 31, it’s the perfect time to hop on the TAZ Train. 

I can promise you laughs; they’re all hilarious. They’re silly, crass, witty, pun-tastic, and their repertoire of references is wild. It’s the perfect blend of fart jokes and wordplay, in this economy. But this show is about more than trying to fuck plants.

Notably, the McElroys make genuine efforts to educate themselves and make their show diverse: they consulted their trans viewers on how to best incorporate a trans character into Balance, they normalize queer romances, and they admit their own shortcomings. It’s a breath of fresh air for this queer female fantasy fan, as is seeing the McElroys actively work against the myths that political correctness and inclusivity “hurt” comedy.

What I like about TAZ is not just the stories you get to listen to, but the collaborative nature of the storytelling behind it all. The McElroys’ characters grow with and thanks to each other as the stories go on — and those stories are as wild as they are entertaining, touching, and complex.

While Griffin usually lays the infrastructure and sets the scene, his family members live through it and affect it. Sharing your created worlds, characters, and plots like this takes trust, and this mutual growth and collage takes an openness and an attunement to one another that I haven’t gotten from other D&D podcasts. Their experiences as individuals and as a family — struggling with body image, chronic anxiety, fatherhood, masculinity, and the loss of their mother — build this closeness, and translate into the harmonious and holistic incorporation of themes like loss, grief, survivor’s guilt, creation, and hope in their stories. 

The McElroys both embrace the uncertainties of their game and revel in the ways they constantly surprise each other. Their pride as creators is heartwarming, and watching them take on new storytelling positions, create more and more interesting characters, explore new themes, and even delve into music production keeps me coming back for more. 

Political Corner: The withdrawal of US troops from Syria aids only ISIS

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The Kurds are caught between a rock and a hard place after US withdrawal. Photo: /AFP

By: Kelly Grounds, Peak Associate

Since the beginning of October, US troops have been pulled from the northeast area of Syria. They were in the area providing support to the Syrian Kurds who have been fighting as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Aside from helping push back the terrorist organization and defeating ISIS’s caliphate, the Kurds have also been guarding approximately 11,000 captured ISIS fighters and their families. This was critical in order to ensure that these fighters not regroup and reform ISIS.

Having the US as allies allowed the Kurds to be successful. The sudden withdrawal has left a gap in support that had been critical for the Kurds while they were acting in part for US interests in the region. The US has tried to close this gap in negotiations with Turkey in October. It was President Trump’s hope that Turkey would take over in the region.

The problem with this decision is that since 1984, the Turks have been fighting against a Kurdish autonomous state within their borders proposed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey, the European Union, and the United Nations have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization. The Turks believe that the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) — which was the group allied with the US against ISIS fighters in Syria — is an extension of the PKK. Because of this, since entering the region following the withdrawal of the US, the Turks have begun a bombing campaign targeting the northeastern area of Syria where the Kurds are located.

In anticipation of the arrival of the Turks, thousands of Syrian Kurds have fled towards Iraq. The main fear propelling this mass migration is the risk of an ethnic cleansing against the Kurds. 

In the wake of their exit, there is also a new fear: ISIS fighters escaping from the abandoned prisons. Approximately 1,000 reported ISIS-related prisoners have escaped since the US began their withdrawal.

Aside from the fact that this troop withdrawal could lead to a resurgence of ISIS, it is fundamentally unfair to the US’s Kurdish allies. The Kurds have supported the US militarily countless times from WWII to the Gulf war. Syria is no different. Kurdish support meant that the US could keep its troops away from the fighting while the Kurds were in the line of fire. 

In the end, while the Kurds lost their support, the rest of the world was placed in a more dangerous place. Without the US presence in the region, ISIS may feel emboldened and attempt to restart their caliphate. There is also a greater fear that the frequency of terror attacks across the region and in Europe may increase as well. All in all, it appears that the US has left all of their allies in a more precarious position than they were in at the beginning of October.

Asking students to pay to volunteer is fundamentally unfair

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No good deed goes unpunished. Photo: Chris Ho/The Peak

By: Jessica Garcia, SFU Student

One of the benefits of being a university student is building relationships within the institution — especially for students with academic aspirations. However, as neoliberal austerity claws further into all facets of our lives, everyday living expenses, the rising costs of tuition, and the subsequent necessity to engage in the precarious labour necessary to even remain in university — much less attend its events and opportunities — are making it increasingly difficult for students to balance the books.

Which is why I was so dismayed by an email calling for student volunteers for the annual Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) conferences. The event, held in Vancouver this year jointly with the American Anthropological Association, is quite a big deal within the discipline, and purportedly a good opportunity for students. 

However, a detail in the call for volunteers struck me. Students wanting to volunteer were first asked to become CASCA members for the student rate of $25. They would then have to pay the student rate to attend the conference, an additional $80. For those keeping track: in order to volunteer for this conference, students had to pay $105 up front. Students who agreed to work two four-hour shifts (eight hours) would have the $80 conference fee reimbursed. This, however, effectively makes the position less of a volunteer gig, and more of a paid freelance opportunity — one that is notably paying less than the legal minimum wage, at $10 per hour.

When asked by The Peak why students were required to pay in order to volunteer at the event, one of the conference co-chairs, Dr. Pamela Downe, explained that CASCA “is a non-profit organization” that “invest[s] monies generated by [conferences] directly into . . . organizational activities that are overseen by a series of academic networks as well as an Executive Committee, all of which are run by volunteers who tend to hold university faculty or postdoctoral appointments.” Downe went on to say that CASCA also provides “generous provision of travel bursaries and . . . work[s] to facilitate ride- and accommodation-shares” to students who want an opportunity to attend.

While I understand the financial difficulties of running large-scale events as a non-profit organization, there are a few things that I would like to point out from a student’s perspective. 

First of all, being an unpaid volunteer as a university faculty member is arguably less of a financial burden than as a student. After all, faculty members integrated in the workforce already invest a great deal of time in paid employment, making it easier to donate time. However, students, particularly full-time students, devote much less of our time to paid employment. Instead, the bulk of our time is invested in activities that already require us to pay large sums of money. Students are arguably in greater need of being paid for the work that we do.

Secondly, if budgets do not allow an organization to pay students for their time, they should at least not ask students to pay to volunteer — especially not $105. Even if a significant amount of that money will be reimbursed based on  hours worked, many students do not have $105 of disposable income available at any given time. Even as a full-time student with a decent paying job, surprise expenses of even $100 can be the deciding factor in how many meals I can eat in a week.

Finally, anyone with any sort of economic ties to the art world is familiar with the phrase “I can’t eat exposure, Brenda.” This is a critique of labour being requested for the love of it. However, if one’s labour is valuable enough to request it, then it’s valuable enough to pay for. In the current economic system we live in, doing something “for experience” is beginning to take on the same connotations. 

Free labour is a particularly difficult situation for students, but it’s not unique to us. While I have suggested that it is easier for working adults to shoulder the costs of unpaid volunteer labour, the overall experience of selling one’s labour in the capitalist system doesn’t change just because one exists in a slightly higher income bracket. We are all being squeezed by the disparity between stagnant wages and the rising cost of living. This unfortunate reality means that fewer people are able to afford to give their time to unpaid labour — we can’t eat our exposure, and neither can we pay our rent in experience. Capitalism has essentially made volunteering untenable for many people.

The irony in all of this is that an education within the department of sociology and anthropology gives students the tools with which to critique these practices. Students shouldn’t be asked to pay to volunteer at conferences, especially those that may provide valuable experiences for later employment opportunities. But more broadly, as a society we must all be more willing to challenge the economic system that demands people work for less, pay more, and donate their time in unpaid labour to have a slightly better opportunity to claw ahead of our peers.

The idiosyncrasies of sport: Part 1

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Sports
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Why are you fighting? Just play hockey. - Photo credit / Radio Canada International

By: Grant Simms, SFU Student

I love sports for a variety of reasons. The intensity of competition, the extraordinary range of athletic abilities on display, and the unpredictability are just some of the reasons sports are so popular. But, as fantastic as they are, there are bound to be some ugly patches. Like anything beautiful, sports has its imperfections. Some things that athletes and team managers partake in make no sense, yet, for whatever reason, these traditions and practices haven’t gone away (yet). Here’s a list of five annoying, pointless and/or irritating elements of sports. 

  1. Fighting in hockey

Why? Just, why? How this still happens in a league with such an otherwise high professional standard baffles me. Fighting adds absolutely nothing to the sport, and makes hockey players look like a bunch of immature idiots who need to go back to kindergarten. But, then again, it’s not just the players — it’s also the league that sanctions this behaviour. While many other sports move to decrease physicality and contact, preferring an increased emphasis on agility and athleticism, hockey continues to have refs stand in a circle around a couple of guys while they engage in a bare-knuckle fight for zero competitive advantage. If I wanted to see that, I’d be watching boxing. It’s not just the pointlessness of the fighting that grinds my gears either.  There’s also the arguably racist double standard that allows this to occur in hockey without a second thought, but once something similar happens in the NBA, suddenly, they’re a league of criminals.

  1. Throwing at hitters in baseball

If you want to teach little kids how to be sore losers, then have them watch baseball.  Why do pitchers intentionally throw at relatively defenseless batters, risking serious injury or death? What, because he hit a home run off of you? He flipped his bat? Made you feel embarrassed, and, because you have the emotional control of a petulant child, you decide you’re going to try to seriously injure or kill him? Many careers have ended due batters being hit by pitches. I firmly believe that any baseball player who engages in pegging should be banned for life. There’s simply no place for this in sports. It’s basically the equivalent of Cobra Kai sweeping Daniel Larusso’s leg in Karate Kid. 

  1. Paying running backs (a lot) in football

The league has changed. It’s a relatively simple development — the analytics show that passing more is generally beneficial and rushers are needed to supplement the pass. That’s going to hold true as long as teams keep winning Super Bowls without employing top running backs. All paying a running back big money does, at this point, is show that you don’t understand how team building works, and that you’re too lazy or ineffective to scout the nine viable backs that come out of college each year ready and able to play in the league.

  1. Giving league titles value in soccer

Are we done giving Manchester City plaudits because they beat lower tier teams like Huddersfield year after year? For a variety of reasons, such as budget and reputation, they’re supposed to, but it doesn’t mean that they’re any better than the other clubs around the world who do the same in their own leagues. Credit should be given for winning the biggest games against the best teams in the world, not for beating a bunch of teams whose transfer budget is a tenth of your own.

  1. The average team in NBA basketball

If you’re an NBA team that’s not in New York, Chicago, Boston, LA, Miami, or San Francisco, you’re not getting free agents without already having a star player. To teams like Indiana, San Antonio, and others: thanks for playing, but unless you’ve got a Zion that will help you attract free agents like moths to a flame, you’d be better off tanking with the aim of drafting a superstar that can attract other high level talent.

What Grinds Our Gears: Students who don’t understand the etiquette of a shared laundry room

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The real horror story is in the residence laundry rooms. Illustration: Sabrina Kedzior/The Peak

By: Paige Riding, News Writer

The shared laundry rooms in the Towers are graveyards for long-lost left socks and the hometown of bacteria colonies. The white-washed walls below fluorescent hospital ward lighting are unavoidable for those practicing basic hygiene — so a solid half of the residents.

With about six washing machines to accommodate an entire building, all those nasty clothing articles thrown in the wash have a tendency to leave a stench. What makes the creeping odour of mildew from these machines so additionally delightful is how easily it could be avoided. If users honoured the “LEAVE DOOR OPEN AFTER USE” sign displayed over each and every machine and on every wall, life doing laundry would be dandy.

Instead, the laundry room is the hotspot for apathetic students. Let’s talk about the ones who ignore built-up lint. This lint is more easily jettisoned than a student during the break of a four-hour lecture. “But Paige, is leaving lint in there really so detrimental to the performance of the dry cycle that costs $1.70?” Yes. It is a fire hazard that places the entire building at risk. But will that stop Brad from grabbing his four Hollister shirts and two pairs of straight jeans without batting an eye at the pound of lint left in the machine? No.

Half of these kids are so used to their moms cleaning their clothes for them that even the concept of buying laundry soap is utterly foriegn. Perhaps basic life skills like following directions and knowing how to keep themselves clean is too much to ask of the students at Canada’s engaged university.

 

The Politician is a star-spangled and pretentious show with nothing exciting to offer

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The Politician premiered on Netflix on September 27, 2019. Image courtesy of Netflix.

By: Lubaba Mahmud, Staff Writer

The Politician is a try-hard, muddled mess of a series that painfully falls short of its aim to be an enjoyable satire. Released last month, the Netflix comedy-drama centres around character Payton Hobart’s wildly ambitious dream to become president of the United States, the first step of which (he thinks) is to be elected student body president of Saint Sebastian High School. Although The Politician was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan — the same creators of successful teen series Glee — the show had me rolling my eyes at its insincere characters and flat attempts at humour.

Payton Hobart, played by Ben Platt, is constantly shown to be losing his identity in his ambition. The series’ first season revolves around his high school presidential campaign, in which he leaves no stone unturned on his path to victory. He is careful to uphold his public image as an empathetic guy who’s dedicated to improving the high school experience for everyone. But as he lets go of his sense of morality time and time again, it is evident that ambition is the frontrunner in his personal battle of ambition vs. identity. This trope has a lot of potential to be interesting and convincing, but the execution is ultimately disappointing.

For me, the utter lack of authenticity and emotional appeal was what made this show a pretentious mess. One reason for this failure is the acting performances that, for the most part, just don’t sell. Platt’s acting is akin to his character’s unsuccessful attempt at creating a genuine image. The creators’ decision to cast adults to play teenagers is a common mistake of misrepresentation, one that may have cost the show dearly. Personally, I felt that the only noteworthy performance was from actor Gwyneth Paltrow, whose delivery of subtle humour as Georgina Hobart really hit home.

The Politician could have been a fun satire, but frankly, it’s missing the beauty of absurdity. Its hyperbolic tone, clusterfuck of subplots, cheesy dialogues, and shallow characters are far from a good match. Not every character has to be likable, of course, but at the very least, protagonists need some depth to their characters to make viewers want to know their story. Instead, what we got was a couple of privileged and wealthy teenagers who are engrossed in their own little worlds. 

Further, the series deals with social issues in an inadequate and disturbing manner. It sparked a mental health controversy due to its wrongful depiction of suicide and insincere trigger warning for audiences. Throughout season one, suicide is constantly romanticized, which experts say may lead to imitative behaviour in viewers. Another troublesome issue is the hint of misogyny in some episodes, which show a teenager demeaning herself and downplaying her achievements to soothe her boyfriend’s ego. As a show catered towards a young audience, this is a dangerous precedent to set for them. Come on, man. It’s 2019 — why are we still showing such blatant misogyny on screen?

While a lot does happen in each episode of The Politician, I was never on the edge of my seat. Even cliff-hangers and moments of revelation weren’t enticing, as I could see them coming from a mile away. And although the show does feature well-chosen songs, strong singers, and a few examples of smart dialogue, these aren’t enough to compensate for its disastrous execution. The one other positive aspect of the show was the visually pleasing and highly colour-saturated sets, reminiscent of those by Wes Anderson.

Perhaps what best describes the show can be summed up by its own far-from-exceptional dialogue: “It’s a pandemic of overcommunication that’s led to an absence of intimacy.”

Accessibility, environmentalism, and safety are missing from SFU’s transit strike response

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By: Gabrielle McLaren, Editor-in-Chief

For a school that embraces its multi-campus nature and celebrates environmentalism, SFU’s reaction to the transit strike is remarkably hands-off. No matter how the strike proceeds, it’s important to remember that our university’s first stance was that, “operations at SFU will continue as usual with regards to normal hours of work and class schedules.” 

Online, SFU recommends that anybody not already driving “consider alternative transportation in advance,” as if that wasn’t the first thing on everybody’s mind. The anxious energy around campus only increased as we waited to see what the strike’s first phase would look like. 

SFU has also offered to accommodate extra drivers’ parking and drop-off needs, but this really only helps those with licenses, cars, and the money to run them or use carshare services. In the SFU Carpooling Facebook group, folks seem generous about either loading up or helping each other pay for gas — which is great. But SFU could also pitch in by waiving parking fees for carpoolers or reaching out to ride-hailing and taxi companies to offer discounted rides to the mountain.  

The real kicker is SFU’s proposed alternative transportation page. Here, options are: carpooling, car sharing, ride hailing, cycling, and (my personal favourite) walking — which all come with built-in assumptions about physical or financial ability. It’s also a little ironic, given SFU’s environmentally conscious initiatives, that they support the striking bus operators so little. Where are the press releases acknowledging the importance of transit workers? 

Walking and cycling aren’t great transportation alternatives either, given the mountain’s safety record for cyclists and women. The “walking” subheader informs students that there are “no sidewalks leading to SFU” and that “trails are not on SFU property and we recommend you use caution. These trains [sic] are not lit and we do not recommend using them at night.” This obviously does not help students commuting during one of the darkest times of the year. I’m astounded by the hypocrisy of recommending a mode of transportation and simultaneously providing a disclaimer for it — presumably so my family can’t sue if I get abducted or mauled by a bear on my way up to a test I can’t miss. 

Because, after all, SFU also isn’t giving professors and TAs the obligation or resources to be accommodating to students. They recommend that “If you have concerns about your ability to get to campus in the event of strike activity please discuss options with your professor/instructor or supervisor.” This assumes that professors will, out of the goodness of their hearts, make accommodations for students — without SFU providing the obligation, incentive or even the support to facilitate this. How powerful does SFU think students are? We aren’t the ones who can support professors looking to live-stream or record their lectures, invigilate exams in more accessible locations, or incentivize professors to replace in-class exams and participation with digital options.

Striking is all about honouring workers’ rights in the face of institutional failure. Just as the Coast Mountain Bus Company failed its workers and their needs, SFU is poised to fail its students. Expecting financially insecure, differently abled, and/or non-driving students and staff to function normally when crucial infrastructure is yanked out from under our feet with little to no support is unreasonable, and maybe a little callous. Even striking union members were concerned about inconveniencing or incapacitating students and low-wage workers. 

Why can’t our university be more hands-on in providing us the infrastructural support we need and acknowledging just how important transit workers are to this institution?  While I understand that it was never SFU’s job to get me to school, I did not sign up to go here, pay my tuition, and build my schedule with the expectation to walk to class.

 

Peak Sports Mailbag: Week 10

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Photo credit / Amazon

By: Bhalinder Oberoi, SFU Student

Hello readers of The Peak sports section,

Our Peak Sports Mailbag topic this week is tennis and our host is SFU Tennis Club president Bhalinder Oberoi. 

Thanks so much to all of our readers for submitting their tennis-related questions, and my apologies if your question didn’t make it into this week’s edition. Usually, the Mailbag host will only answer three questions. Don’t worry though, as all questions submitted count for an entry into the raffle draw whether or not they are addressed in the Mailbag. Now, onto the questions!

Question 1: What are the different tennis skills that are emphasized in singles and doubles tennis? – Chris

Answer: Singles and doubles tennis both draw on a similar skill set, but they emphasize certain aspects of this skillset. In singles, players usually focus on their groundstroke, which are shots that are mainly hit from the baseline. These shots are more common in singles because the player has to cover the whole court by themselves and must therefore stay back more often. The key goal for single players is to keep the ball deeper and higher in the court. In doubles, players usually keep their groundstrokes short and lower. 

Players also focus a lot more on volleys, which are shots that are hit by the racquet before the ball bounces on the ground. Though the serve factors in both forms of gameplay, again, there are different elements to its usage. In singles, players tend to serve harder, which makes it difficult for the receiver to either attack or improvise on shot selection on the ball. In doubles, players don’t focus on a hard serve as much as they focus on switching between different strategies, depending on the strengths of the opponent.

Question 2: Can you explain a little bit about the differences in tennis racquets, string tightness, etc.? How much does the quality of the racquet matter to a beginner and what do more advanced players look for in a racquet? – Connor 

Answer: Tennis racquets differ in many areas such as weight, length, head size, materials, and frame stiffness. Beginner players should look for a racquet that is long, relatively lighter, and has an oversized racquet head. This is because beginning players are likely still learning the technique and have not yet developed enough strength and power to take advantage of a stiffer, heavier or smaller racquet. The beginner type of racket helps players hit more aggressive shots with less effort. Because advanced players should have a better grasp on technique, they can leverage the power of a heavier racquet with a smaller head. While advanced players usually look for racquets tailored to their style of gameplay, most prefer a heavier racquet with a medium sized racquet head. 

String tightness refers to the amount of tension applied to the strings of a tennis racquet by the stringing machine. String tension is measured in pounds. Generally, low tension strings would be in the 45–50 pound range, whereas high tension is between 50–60 pounds. Low string tension means the racquet will have more power and less control, which is suitable for players that have accuracy but are struggling with power. High string tension will give more control and reduce the rebound effect of the ball. 

Question 3: Can you tell me a bit about all of the different surfaces tennis is played on, how they vary and impact the game, and which skills are emphasized on each surface? – Pat

Answer: There are three types of surfaces that tennis is played on: hardcourt, clay, and grass. Hardcourts are concrete courts with synthetic material on the top of the surface to give grip to the court. The ball bounces higher and the gameplay is fast. In general, well-rounded players tend to do well on hardcourts. Hardcourts also require the least maintenance cost. On the other hand, clay courts are made of crushed brick. The players have the opportunity to slide on shots instead of coming to a complete stop, as they need to do on hard courts. The ball bounces higher but slower on clay courts. Defensive players do well on clay because of the slower gameplay. Clay courts require basic regular maintenance. Grass courts have the lowest and the fastest bounce and the ball slides on contact with the ground, so these courts require high fitness levels. Players with a strong serve and volley tend to do well on grass courts. These are, by far, the most expensive to maintain.

If you would like to participate in future editions of the Peak Sports Mailbag and be entered in a raffle for an end-of-semester prize, here’s what you can send to [email protected]: 

  • Sports-related questions that our weekly host will answer
  • Weekly theme ideas to guide our questions

Or: sign up to host the Mailbag (and get paid)!

Thanks to all of you SFU sports fans for blowing up my inbox!

Next week’s theme is: Rowing

Next week’s host is: Katinka Neumann

Send in your questions to [email protected]. 

Audain Gallery’s latest exhibition is a powerful exploration of the performativity of identity

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Arts
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Gabi Dao’s Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema, Ch. 1 is one of the pieces showing in Relations of Responsibility. Image courtesy of Gabi Dao / SFU Galleries.

By: Kim Regala, Peak Associate

08/11/2019: This story has been corrected from an older version. The previous version stated that the Gitxsan Nation drum that Raven Chacon’s piece revolves around was resounded by Chacon. The drum was resounded by Shabnam Honarbakhsh, Collections Coordinator at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology.

22/11/2019: This story has been updated to reflect concerns raised to The Peak by the UBC Museum of Anthropology.      

Hoping to explore the relationship between performance and score, SFU’s Audain Gallery joins the work of three artists in their new exhibition, Relations of Responsibility. The title borrows from the ideas of feminist scholar Karen Barad who, in her essay “Nature’s Queer Performativity,” discusses the materializing effects that a performance has on its corresponding score.

We may think of the two as separate from each other: the score simply holds a set of instructions for executing the art piece, while the performance itself is the aftermath of said instructions. However, contemporary artists Raven Chacon, Gabi Dao, and Lou Sheppard have come together to challenge this very idea, implying that the relationship between the two is actually more dynamic than we think. Their work showcases how it is through interpretation and performativity that the score is brought to life and given new meaning.

Raven Chacon, SFU’s Visual Artist in Residence, gives a fitting introduction to this very complex idea. His sound art installation, Still Life No. 4, explores the performativity of identity as it operates against its given narrative or score. Chacon’s piece revolves around a Gitxsan Nation drum that had been unsounded since 1948. It wasn’t until Shabnam Honarbakhsh, Collections Coordinator at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, resounded the drum, at the artist’s request and with permission from the Gitxsan community, in August 2019 that it was brought back to life. His artist statement explains that “Still Life No. 4 lets the drum sing, operating against an imposed script of silence and enclosure, and aligning the cultural belonging with its object-lifeforce.” The banging of the drum can be heard in four separate sound stations: one in Burnaby at the SFU Gallery, at the Audain Gallery, in one of SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts’ main offices, and at Western Front. The further the station is from the location of the drum, the faster the oscillation pattern of the beat sounds within headphones. Chacon intends for this rapid succession to be symbolic of the heavier impact that this silence holds as measured through physical distance.

Continuing this exploration of a score’s relationship to performance, Vancouver artist Gabi Dao transforms written text into a cinematic art form with Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema, Ch. 1 (2018) and Ch. 2 (2019). Having been gifted her father’s autobiography that recounts his experiences at the time of the Vietnam War, Dao’s work addresses the notions of cultural supremacy faced especially by refugees. The narration tosses back and forth between father and daughter, further emphasizing the collaborative yet nurturing nature of the piece. The video is not so much a literal translation of the text; instead, it is fuelled with abstract imagery that paints a delicate portrait of domestic life. This pairs well with the overall design of the gallery space, as the comfortable seating arrangement of couches and pillows evokes feelings of home. 

Bringing the exhibition to a powerful conclusion is Lou Sheppard’s performance piece, A Strong Desire. As a trans person, Sheppard draws from the diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria to create a piece that allows them to exert their agency over a text that is meant to discriminate on their identity. At the gallery, the diagnostic criteria is printed onto the left-hand side of the wall, in opposition to Sheppard’s text-based performance score displayed on the right-hand side. The choreography itself is a bodily performance meant to replicate movements of looming over and within the gaps of the written text. Sheppard’s performance occurred on October 9, where the public witnessed the laborious series of movements take place. To execute the choreography, Sheppard covered their hands with charcoal and dragged them all over the walls in various shapes, leaving marks on the spaces that were touched. Additionally, they dragged around a riser and climbed up and down these steps, furthering the physical labour that is inherent to the piece. The overall performance lasted for half an hour, leaving Sheppard exhausted and covered in sweat. However, it is the piece’s work-intensive nature that is resonant of the equally burdening experiences that trans people undergo on a daily basis from the institutionalized discrimination of their identity.

Relations of Responsibility is located at the Audain Gallery and is open to the public until December 7. Gabi Dao and her father, Duc Kim Dao, will be holding a workshop for Storytelling in the Domestic Cinema on November 6 at the Audain Gallery.

The week ahead in SFU Sports: November 4–10

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Sports
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Photo credit / SFU athletics

By: Dylan Webb, Sports Editor

While SFU’s volleyball, hockey, basketball, and soccer teams are all in action this week, only the men’s and women’s soccer teams have home games scheduled from November 4–10. Here’s a brief breakdown of the SFU sports action lined up for the week. 

Hockey:

SFU Hockey embarks on its first Vancouver Island road trip of the season to visit the Vancouver Island University Mariners and the University of Victoria Vikes. On Friday November 8, after arriving by ferry in Nanaimo, the team will ride the bus down to Victoria to take on the Vikes at 7:30 p.m. The Clan will then travel back up to Nanaimo to take on the Mariners at 8 p.m. the following night.  

Volleyball:

A two-game road trip has SFU Volleyball travelling to Lacey, Washington to take on St. Martins University on November 7 at 7 p.m. Two days later, the team moves to Seattle to take on Seattle Pacific University at 1 p.m. 

Men’s Soccer: 

The SFU Men’s Soccer team will host two games at Terry Fox Field this week. First, Montana State University Billings visits on November 7 at 6:30 p.m. Then, on November 9, Northwest Nazarene University will make the climb up Burnaby Mountain for a 7 p.m. kickoff. 

Women’s Soccer:

After hosting Montana State University Billings at Terry Fox Field on November 7 at 6 p.m., the Clan will head to Portland, Oregon to take on Concordia University on November 9 at 2 p.m. 

Men’s Basketball:

The SFU Men’s Basketball team continues its 2019 season this week with two road games. The Clan will take on the University of California, San Diego on November 8 and California State University, Dominguez Hills on November 9. Both games are in Bellingham, Washington at 5:30 p.m. 

Women’s Basketball:

A light schedule in the early weeks of the season has the SFU Women’s Basketball team visiting Cal State San Marcos on November 8 for a 1 p.m. tip off.  

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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