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What Grinds Our Gears: There’s no excuse for people who still don’t know how to recycle

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Peak Web
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Photo by: Gudrun Wai-Gunnarsson / The Peak

By: Mishaa Khan, Peak Associate

I’m a strong believer in taking steps to save the environment. Not everybody is so proactive and I get that — we all have different life circumstances and beliefs. However, I do believe that if there are easy things you can do to help out our planet, you should do them. This includes recycling properly.

The bins at SFU and many other locations have clear instructions on what sorts of things go where. Yet an incredibly large number of people still refuse to recycle properly, and this is evident from the sheer amount of incorrectly sorted trash.

People are being lazy and throwing their trash in just one bin instead of sorting it out. Coffee cups, for example are often thrown in the landfill bin without apparent regard for the fact that both the lid and the paper sleeve are often marked as recyclable, depending on the cup and brand. It literally takes less than 20 seconds to sort them. Why would anyone not take the time to recycle properly?

What’s worse are the people who have just one item and still can’t be bothered to put it in the right bin. On countless occasions, I’ve seen plastic bags in the compost bin or juice bottles in the garbage.

Do you care so little about the environment, your future, and the future of others that you can’t spare a few seconds to sort your trash? By not doing your part, you are contributing to the catastrophic effects of climate change, resulting in the endangerment and extinction of thousands of species — including us! Do your part to prevent the destruction of our planet and start recycling properly!

Need to Know, Need to Go: June 3–7

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Peak Web
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Still from the Because We Are Girls courtesy of Baljit Sangra.

By: Alison Wick, Arts Editor

Reel Causes: Because We Are Girls

Update: Check out our review of the film and evening here.

This week, Reel Causes — a film society dedicated to promoting and screening films for social justice and stimulating conversation — will be screening the 2018 documentary Because We Are Girls at the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema. Previously screened at DOXA Documentary Film Festival, the film is an emotional and nuanced documentary about the impacts of sexual abuse on an Indo-Canadian family in rural B.C.

Vancouver-based filmmaker Baljit Sangra follows three sisters as they come forward about the abuse they experienced as children in order to protect the next generation of young women. The film is an empathetic look at the complicated, and retraumatizing, process of coming forward about sexual abuse, the power of unconditional love, and the importance of healing together.

A post-film discussion will be had after the film with the filmmaker and the sisters with a counselor from Family Services of Greater Vancouver. The cause being specifically highlighted this evening is Family Services of Greater Vancouver, which seeks to support and strengthen families as well as fight violence against women and youth.

Because We Are Girls is screening Thursday, June 6, at the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema in SFU Woodwards. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Emerge Festival Showcase 2019

The Emerge Festival is an annual festival in the Downtown Eastside to celebrate and showcase DTES Small Arts Grant Recipients. The festival features group art exhibitions, readings, workshops, and screenings from artists whose work and selves are based in the community.

On Wednesday, the festival begins at the Vancouver Public Library’s nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Branch with “Writers Read,” an evening of new local literature of all genres. On Thursday, June 6 the multidisciplinary showcase “Screening, Songs, & Spoken Words” is being held at SFU Goldcorp Centre. “Filmmakers, Musicians, Singers, and Storytellers” will be performing and screening their films, free to the public.

Finally, from Friday through Sunday, the group art exhibition will be shown at the BC Artscape Sun Wah Centre. If you are looking for ways to support your local community or find new artists to put on your radar, look no further.

Writers Read is Wednesday, June 5, at 6:30 p.m. at nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Library. The showcase is Thursday, June 6, at 8 p.m. at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. The group exhibit opens June 7 at 6 p.m. at the BC Artscape Sun Wah Centre. Each event is free to the public, but you can see the schedule and donate at vancouverfoundationsmallarts.ca

A category of its own: Tanya Tagaq’s Split Tooth

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Peak Web
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Tagaq poses with her acclaimed new novel. Photo courtesy of Penguin Canada.

By: Alison Wick, Arts Editor

Before it was even officially released, Tanya Tagaq’s debut novel Split Tooth was already on the longlist for one of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards, the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Inuk musician had already made a name for herself as an accomplished experimental vocalist and throat singer over the last two decades, and her first book was highly anticipated.

The story itself is an enthralling, though often difficult, narrative. The prose beautifully weaves together the stories, imagery, and emotions of life as a young Inuk girl in the North. The book is a complex and sensitive narrative that calls into question what love, pain, and purpose really mean. However, I would give a content warning for the story because this sensory writing can become quite graphic as the narrative describes abuse and trauma.

To describe Split Tooth using the terminology of the Western literary canon is impossible, and wouldn’t really make sense. The book is neither a memoir nor fiction, neither fantasy nor realism. It’s something entirely different that can’t be approached, explained, or understood like traditional English forms of storytelling.

This does not make the book daunting, but rather exciting. I listened to the book on Audible and the moment I finished it, I went searching to find and read the printed version for a new experience of the same story. One of the very first things I noticed about this book was the way that Tagaq uses and pays attention to the opportunities and strengths offered by these different mediums of storytelling, written and oral. You almost need to read the book twice to fully appreciate Tagaq’s talent as a storyteller.

The audiobook is read by Tagaq herself and her training as a singer is clear as she performs each section — not reading a book but telling a story. She changes and morphs her voice and breath as she reads, even incorporating vocalization and throat singing at the end of each chapter — something entirely exclusive to the audio version.

In the printed book, it’s clear that visual aesthetics and tactility have been deeply considered. Jaime Hernandez’s illustrations picture the chapters, the page edges are red, and the hardcover is softly textured — making the reading a more visceral experience.

Overall, Split Tooth is a stunning book of prose that explores the depths of human experience and beyond. Penguin Randomhouse, the publisher of Split Tooth, describes it best: “Haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once, Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir, myth and reality, poetry and prose, and conjures a world and a heroine readers will never forget.”

Among its other nominations and wins, Split Tooth is nominated in the category of Published Prose at the Indigenous Voices Awards this year. You can also purchase a hardcover copy on Burnaby campus at Iron Dog Books (which will return to UniverCity on June 12).

Distance education classes deliver subpar instruction for additional fees

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Peak Web
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There’s no reason why an online class should cost more than an in-person one Photo courtesy of helloquence via Unsplash

By: Mishaa Khan, Peak Associate

I have taken two classes through the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE) over the course of my degree, and I don’t intend on taking any more. The quality of instruction was poor, there was little help available, and overall they did not justify the additional costs associated with the courses. All told, the CODE classes did not meet my expectations.

In my first CODE class, we ended up having to figure out the material ourselves. Each week, we covered two very detailed chapters of the textbook and the only “teaching” we were provided were 20–30 minute lecture videos on Canvas which consisted of diagrams from the textbook. On top of that, we could only purchase the latest edition of the book because the page ranges we were told to read were based on the latest edition. There was no way to even save money buying used books.

During my second experience with CODE, my tutor marker was unavailable to meet in person (claiming it wouldn’t be fair to other students) and the class recordings were out of date. Additionally, the class required the mandatory purchase of an online access code in order to pass, which cost about $50 USD. Without it, I would have failed the course as it was a requirement to take the quizzes. All of these things made the class not worth the price I had to pay.

According to the SFU website, CODE charges a $40 supplementary fee for each course offered. When asked what this fee covered, Kanthi Jayasundera, CODE’s acting director, cited online course development, software licenses, copyright fees, and technical support.

CODE classes should not cost more than regular classes. Instead, they should cost the same because of the lack of support available from instructors/TMs who “teach” CODE courses. With all the extra expenses in mandatory textbooks and online access codes, as well as how outdated the material is, having to pay basic administrative costs as well is irritating.  

If I am going to be teaching myself without any support from the tutor marker or instructor, I don’t want to be paying more than I would for a regular class where these services are provided. I want to be taught just as well as in-person classes by being provided more lecture material, resources, and up-to-date information. I want free optional videos and readings for complex topics. I want my instructor or TM to actually be available at some point in the week if we need extra help. In short, I want my money’s worth!

Most students take distance education courses to make their lives easier, but CODE classes make our lives harder with the additional expenses and lack of resource support.  

The university recently voted to increase tuition, adding to the financial burden of students. If SFU is going to raise the price of our education, they need to be conscientious of whether they are delivering the education we are paying for.

As it stands, CODE classes are way too overpriced for the services we’re actually getting.

SFSS presidents should be focused on their presidencies

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Peak Web
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I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed Photo courtesy of Joshua Davis via Unsplash

By: Nicole Magas, Opinions Editor

Giovanni HoSang’s decision to take a summer co-op at Microsoft’s Seattle office fresh into his first term as the president of the SFSS is a disappointment, sure, but at this point it’s hardly a surprise. After last fall’s presidential impeachment, and the lack of functionality in the SFSS in general, I have more or less stopped being shocked when something goes wrong within the society.

With all due respect to HoSang and the good works he has done with activism on campus, let me say this: he should not have run for president after accepting the co-op. There’s such a thing as having one’s fingers in too many pies. A co-op out of the country and the presidency of the SFSS would seem to be two mutually exclusive roles. Taking on both at the same time was unnecessary and overambitious.

Think about it: these are two very big achievements to have landed at the same time. Now think about who else could have potentially taken one of those positions: someone who might have benefitted from the experience, or someone who could have devoted their full attention to the demands of the job.

Do I blame HoSang for applying for and accepting the Microsoft co-op? No, not at all. It’s a tremendous opportunity and I wish him all success with it. What I do take issue with is him running for president knowing that he would be absent, then making what feels like last-minute contingencies to have his fellow board members pick up the slack.

The situation we have now feels like a betrayal. Still shaken by the controversies of last year’s board, having someone dedicated to student issues take the helm felt like a refreshing new start for the SFSS. HoSang’s remote work feels like more of the same sort of political maneuvering that makes voters so jaded with their leaders that apathy consumes passion.

For the next three months, it seems that the SFSS will be without its president. No one can predict how HoSang’s hopeful arrangement will work out, although it seems likely that, in line with some well-reasoned arguments made at the board table, his conflicting schedules will create undue headaches for his fellow board members. At the very least, we know that the SFSS is capable of functioning without a formal president in emergencies.

If we learned nothing else from last year’s board, it’s that a chicken with its head cut off can run pretty far without crashing into a wall.

Construction on Campus Update

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Peak Web
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Join the Club: SFU Knitting Club

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Peak Web
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Image designed by Joshua Sun

By: Mishaa Khan, Peak Associate

The SFU Knitting Club is a place for all types of knitters, from beginners to advanced crafters, and a frequent collaborator with the Women’s Centre, Health and Counselling and Out on Campus. SFU’s Knitting Club aims to give students a chance to de-stress, knit, and meet new people.  

The Peak conducted an email interview with Jennifer Chou, the founder and president of the club and SFSS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences representative, to find out more about what SFU’s Knitting Club has to offer.

Chou said she created the club after doing her co-op with SFU Health and Counselling, where she noticed a lot of people were interested in learning how to knit at a table offered in the Creative Collective program. “I thought it’d be a long process, but it was actually pretty easy,” she recounts of her experience getting the club started. She writes “ I also didn’t know that there would be such a huge interest in knitting. I had always wanted to start a knitting club but it wasn’t until I got my co-op position at Health & Counselling that I got that push to.”

Her experience serves as an example to anyone who is interested in starting a club about something that they enjoy or are passionate about instead of waiting around for someone else to do it.

“Knitting was always a hobby of mine so I was really excited to share that and teach other people how to knit too,” Chou says. “I want to give others the opportunity to learn something they’ve always wanted to and to make something they can be proud of.” Chou also cites knitting as her way to de-stress and pass the time (for example, while taking transit) and it gives her a sense of pride.

The club hosts weekly drop-in sessions in the summer semester, where volunteers will be available to teach beginners how to knit as well as provide the materials required. The drop-in sessions alternate between the Surrey and Burnaby campuses. If you’re interested in attending, the confirmed drop-in dates this semester so far are May 23, May 30, June 6, and June 13. To find out more about the timing and location, you can check out their Facebook page.

You can bring your own projects to knit during these drop-in sessions, start a new project, or just practice. If you haven’t completed your project, you can either take it home with you and return the materials on another day or leave your project with the SFU Knitting Club and continue where you left off during the next drop-in session. A few examples of items knitted and crocheted during the drop-in sessions are shawls, stuffed animals, scarves, roses, mats, and rectangles.

Currently, the SFU Knitting Club is working on an exciting project where they will be partnering with The Door Is Open, provides a range of services and referrals in the Downtown Eastside, to distribute blankets. The club encourages anyone interested to stop by their drop-in sessions and knit a 5-by-5 inch square. These squares will then be sewn together to create blankets. If you can’t make it to any of the drop-in sessions, you can still contribute by making the square and passing it on to one of the club’s executives.

“I would like to also give students the option of donating $2 to have a knit square made in their name (with their initials embroidered on) so that the people who the finished blanket is donated to can see that a lot of people care,” Chou says.  According to the club’s Facebook page,

Over the past year, the club has put on events such as a Semester End Celebration event and a Valentine’s Day fundraiser. At the Semester End Celebration, SFU students, staff, and faculty are given the chance to knit and enjoy some great company and delicious food. For Valentine’s Day, the club sold knitted roses to fundraise for supplies for their club, such as yarn. The roses sold out extremely fast.

Chou expresses the need to recruit more volunteers to make more knitted/crocheted items for fundraisers, so they have adequate amounts of knitted items. She also hopes to expand the number of fundraisers the club holds. Their fundraising table is usually in the AQ.

“I’d love to sell more things like crochet bunnies, whales, bubble teas, carrots, cat hats (hats with cat ears), and so on,” she says. Chou also wants to expand the fundraisers to cover more areas, such as setting up an award or scholarship to highlight how the arts have positively impacted student’s lives.

Chou has many positive experiences volunteering in the club. She shares how one of the volunteers taught her to crochet, something she had always wanted to learn.

“I’ve found that when everyone is focused on a task, there’s less pressure somehow . . . like nobody is looking at you, and everyone’s comfortable in silence because everyone’s focused on knitting,” Chou recounts.

In spite of stereotypes, Chou emphasizes that the Knitting Club is a place for everyone. She expresses happiness that the club helps break stereotypes and proves that knitting is not just a feminine art for old ladies, but a fun hobby that anyone can enjoy.

“It’s also really easy to start a conversation, especially one centred around SFU (‘what’s your major?’) or knitting (‘what do you want to learn how to make?’)” Chou writes, commenting on the social aspect of the club, which presents a great opportunity to meet people from all different majors and areas of study. “It’s really heartwarming to see students who don’t know each other start talking like old friends.” she states.

If you are interested in joining the club, you can reach out to them through their Facebook page “SFU Knitting Club”, Instagram page, or by messaging Jennifer Chou directly.

RATE MY STUDENT

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Peak Web
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Photo curtesy pexels

Written by: Trevor Roberts, Peak Associate

Armin Sidhu – CMPT 371 Ability: 5.0   Teachability: 1.0

EXTREMELY frustrating to deal with, practically skipped EVERY lecture, only attended the midterm and final exam,,, like WTF?! Even after I made SEVERAL posts on Canvas stressing the importance of attendance. Certainly not the attitude I look for in a student!!!

The worst part was that he scored PERFECTLY on every assignment and test. I confronted him after the final to try to explain that his study habits would not get him far, but he seemed to be more concerned with some start-up he was in the process of selling. Would be a better student to have in a smaller class, it’s a shame most kids just don’t have what it takes to be successful.

Tags: Who’s That?, School≠Life, Zero Communication, Perfect Scores, Start-up Prick

Sandra Gomez – ECON 251 Ability: 3.0 -_- Teachability: 4.0  

Where to start…. Sandra is a good student but SO much work. Crazy high energy, will answer every question and ask twice as many. My Week 1 review of the previous course’s material lasted until the midterm because of her constant interruptions. Her final paper was supposed to be 3000 words, and ended up being 47 pages! There is no way to stop her enthusiasm, you can only control it and try to exploit it. In Week 8 I asked a discussion question to the class, walked to Renaissance for a coffee, and came back to her still talking. From Week 9 onwards she brought me a coffee first thing in the morning every class.

Tags: Gift of Gab, Perfect Scores, Get Ready to Read, Teacher’s Pet,

 

Vicky Zhang – CRIM 409 Ability 5.0 Teachability: 2.0

Interesting to say the least. Extremely knowledgeable, especially on forensic history and murder cases. Had trouble getting along with others in the class, generally very closed off. Wrote a 12-page paper on the Occult, which while extremely well written had little to do with the content of the class. When I asked what she was planning on doing with her degree she just laughed maniacally. However, she was one of the few students who was seemingly unaffected by several accidental deaths in the class. In fact her work got better over the course of the semester, so that’s something I guess?

Tags: Should I Be Concerned?, Zero Communication, School≠Life

Andrew Dickerson – BUS 244 Ability: 1.0 Teachability: 1.0  

Absolute nightmare. Attended less than half of the tutorials and lectures, then

tried cheating on the final exam by using a drone to check other students’

answers ????? Was already going to fail, however, as he plagiarized more than half of

his final paper (about 850 of 1500 words), which was copied directly from

Wikipedia with the links still in it. When I met with him to address it, he said

that I could just mark him on the parts that weren’t plagiarized. If by some administrative error you find him in your class, tell your department head to get him out and don’t take no for an answer.

Tags: CHEATER CHEATER PUMPKIN EATER, Who’s That?, Keep Away from Others, Doesn’t Get How School Works

SFU Burnaby’s first honest tour script

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Peak Web
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Photo curtesy of Alis

Written by: Nathaniel Tok, Peak Associate

Remember when you were in your first year staring in wonder at the trash in the reflecting pond as a cheerful tour guide made an obligatory canned joke about illicit activities in the avocado?  Well, now you’re in your sixth year, and the magic is gone, just like the guy you bought your faulty online Mastering Economics password from.

Meanwhile, your parents’ neighbour’s niece’s dog walker is entering SFU to do pre-med/business law with a concentration in Big Data Bioinformatics. Now he wants you to show him around because he missed his official I Am SFU orientation tour.

If you’re ever forced into the position of impromptu tour guide, remember to tell the good and the bad. For example, though SFU has no human nightlife, we do have a telescope to see nightlife in the sky. And the biggest thing to keep in mind? It’s not your job to make these kids depressed; that’s what grade releases are for.

At Student Central:

Welcome to the unofficial SFU tour, kiddo! This is actually the same place that the real SFU tour begins, so you know I am semi-legit.

So, this is Student Central.  In complete honesty, I have no clue what happens in this building. I just come here for microwaves on the second floor, aside from the one time I went to beg the SFU doctor on the floor below for a doctor’s note. I had missed my final because I went to the wrong room. Oops!

Speed-walking past WAC:

Opposite Student Central is SFU’s largest library! W.A.C. Bennett Library—what does it stand for? Fuck, I don’t know, who do you think I am?

Look, after six years at SFU, I still have yet to experience one hour of genuine studying at that place. But if you ever want the rush of the illusion of productivity, pack up every single highlighter and notebook you own and sit at a desk on the 6th floor.

 

Distasteful gesture towards the SUB

Here is the incomplete Student Union Building. My friends have a bet to see who will be finished here first, me or the SUB!

That was a joke. You’ll understand soon enough. Oh, what’s that? You’re finishing your double major in three years? Yes, great, good for you.

 

Enter the Academic Quadrangle

Our famous AQ. No, it is not a prison, it only looks like one.

Now if you’ll look to your right, you’ll see one of our biggest lecture halls, C9001. In a marvel of architectural engineering, SFU has managed to cramp the equivalent occupational capacity of a jumbo jet into a room the size of two single-family homes. Also like a jumbo jet, space is at a premium, and you’ll have to trip over everyone when leaving your seat to get out to find a washroom.

At least the AQ has sheltered walkways to every other building in SFU! Be sure to tell your UBC friends that when they talk about how good UBC is.

 

Take a left to RCB Hall:

Welcome to the home of all the disciplines that SFU didn’t know where to place. If you cannot see any further than one metre ahead of you, there is a reason. The RCB Hall is a visual representation of your second and third year at SFU when you feel lost. Your way forward is dark, and every so often you end up walking into a different major.

Did you like that? Did you enjoy that joke? It was pretty clever… OK.

 

Here is also where I leave you, as the doors at the end of this hallway leads to the bus loop. That’s literally the brightest part of my day, even though  it’s dark outside for half the year and HOLY SHIT GOD DAMN IT!

It’s snowing again.

Cold Case Files: Where Did the Fucks I Gave Go?

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Peak Web
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Photo curtesy of Wikipedia

Written by: Kelly Chia, Staff Writer

I sighed, placing a stick of scholastic burnout between my teeth and taking a long drag.

I had come a long way from the academic ingenue I used to be. She would scoff at my numbness. I may be the best detective in my field, but as an academic, I find myself unable to process anything longer than 200 words at a time. And yet, some small part of her must be beating in me, urging me to pick up this report again.

The case was the definition of hopeless; it was only a few months old, yet it had already been deemed unsolvable. I scrutinized the profile: the girl on the file was me. Her picture showed a smile so bright that it seared. I held the report and read the familiar bold text: #500, “The Fucks I Gave.”

I cursed under my breath in my cold, concrete crime-solving room. Where indeed my Fucks went, I only wish I knew.

I paced, nervous and insistent. My designated crime-solving room, the fifth floor of the Bennett Library, was quiet, perfect for my moods. Equally broody students leaning over textbooks judged my pacing as I clutched the report. I told myself that they just could not comprehend how one girl could lose all of her Fucks.

The case report stated that my will to live went missing at 4 a.m, on a cold Sunday morning. The location it was last spotted in? My own bedroom.

I’ve played over the memory a thousand times. I had burst into the room that evening in a cold sweat, but I was too late. The Fucks were gone. The scene of the crime was a disarray of strewn sweaters and empty teacups. I feverishly tossed book after book onto the floor, searching in my closet, under my bed, anywhere.

Nothing.

No Fucks.

I couldn’t even bring myself to care about the midterm I had the next morning.

I remember how it used to be when I was in possession of Fucks to give — I was a somewhat mentally stable student in their first semester. I fondly recalled how I colour-coded my notes, and planned out my outfits… But it was no use. Those Fucks were gone.

Right before they went missing, my Fucks were what kept me going during hard times where I thought I couldn’t write another page in my paper. My Fucks were with me when I tore through those first 20 pages of my readings, only to realize I had 40 more to read. Even then, it wasn’t until I calculated my GPA after the mark I was hoping to get that it completely ghosted me. I felt the emptiness bore in me now as it did then: how on earth would I possibly give a Fuck ever again?

I tried to talk to people about it while we lamented our lack of motivation, but they were ultimately too invested in their Fucks to care about mine. Some said that my Fucks had drifted off down the mountain, melting with the February snow. Others speculated that the self-deprecating language I had seen my fellow students adopt as a coping mechanism had scared my Fucks into accepting mediocrity.

I gulp down another London Fog, the bergamot burned. I held the file tightly because for the first time in months, I had received a promising tip that could clue me to my Fucks’ location: the reality check of the Fall term. I had heard from the anonymous tipper that there was a particularly stern TA that would brush me up to shape. I can only hope that it will be there that I find my Fucks.

 

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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