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Canada’s Human Rights Codes should address size-based discrimination

By
EIC
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2

Jon Gerrard, a Liberal MLA of Manitoba, recently introduced a private member’s bill aiming to “forbid discrimination based on a person’s ‘physical size and weight,’” according to The Huffington Post. But Gerrard doesn’t want to stop there. He wants Manitoba to pioneer an effort to get obesity covered under the Human Rights Codes of all Canadian provinces.

When we talk about human rights in our country, we’re thinking of freedom, access to food, education, and clean drinking water. Then there’s the laundry list of attributes that nobody should use to discriminate against others, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, and the like.

Essentially, we frame laws with the notion that while you can’t be faulted for being who you are, what you’ve become through the decisions you’ve made is fair game.

In other words, some might argue that while you have no control over the race or gender you are born with, obesity happens because of your choices. Should our laws really protect size and weight the same way they protect other traits?

While choice certainly plays a role in some cases, research partially ties obesity to genetics, as well as to medical conditions like thyroid disorders. Some actually have a higher propensity to put on weight later in life, beyond their control. This is reason enough to put it in the Human Rights Code.

The sheer number of people who are stigmatized for their weight makes doing so only practical. According to the Obesity in Canada report of 2016, roughly 25 percent of Canadians are obese and around 36 percent are overweight. Senators Art Eggleton and Kelvin Ogilvie, members of the committee that produced that report, stated in a special to The Globe and Mail that approximately two-thirds of adults and a third of the children in this country fall somewhere in that spectrum of obese to overweight.

These figures suggest that size-based prejudice just might affect more people than prejudice against anything else on the Human Rights Code does.

I concede that no legal action or symbolic act is likely to completely eradicate the name-calling, physical abuse, social exclusion, and the like that can come with one’s size. Tackling this requires the same earnestness and commitment from all stakeholders that fighting other social injustices does. But law can help fight the intolerance present in spheres of life such as employment, housing, or public institutions — spheres where cases of discrimination are numerous.

For instance, in 2010, a Quebec Human Rights Commission ruled in favour of a woman who alleged discrimination because she was denied a disabled parking spot by her condominium. More recently, Gerrard himself referred to cases of people “who should have had screening tests but didn’t, who should have had immunizations but didn’t, who didn’t get the kind of care they should have got,” reportedly due to their weight.

Several human rights commission rulings have sided with plaintiffs, due to those individuals’ obesity being considered a disability. While that might seem good enough, adding it to the Human Rights Code by itself (as opposed to a being a subsection of disability) might give current and future cases more legal gravitas.

Legally, obesity isn’t concretely classified under disability, which lengthens the process of seeking justice. Including obesity in the Human Rights Code would remove ambiguity as to who falls under it and what constitutes discrimination, while making judicial recourse quicker for victims.

Obesity exists worldwide, and policymakers need to take bold steps to help, but we must protect those struggling with it while we look for a solution. Their rights and their personalities aren’t defined by the tape measure or the weight scale, nor should they be.

ALBUM REVIEWS

By
Peak Web
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0

By: Tegan Gallilee-Lang, Courtney Miller, and Tessa Perkins

Remember Us to Life by Regina Spektor

You might know her as the voice behind Orange Is the New Black’s opening theme. I know her as my mom’s favourite singer-songwriter. Four years after What We Saw from the Cheap Seats, Regina Spektor has yet again cultivated an elegant and insightful gem.

While Spektor continues to rely on piano as her main instrument in her sixth studio album, she experiments with synth and peculiar percussive sounds. Fans of Spektor’s will continue to enjoy her signature quirky melodies and clear voice while getting to experience a new depth of sound.

The album artwork is representative of its theme: Spektor gazing back at the words and lives of old souls. Throughout the album a cinematic chorus of strings contribute to this nostalgic feeling. This album is the perfect soundtrack to the moment you look back and smile after a great adventure. – Tegan Gallilee-Lang

Revolution Radio by Green Day

The new Green Day album sounds like an old Green Day album. And that’s not a bad thing.

The band still has its knack for taking intelligent political commentary and making it palatable, pairing their thoughts with driving beats and urgent melodies. And Billie Joe Armstrong’s distinctive voice gives them away every time; it’s immediately obvious who you’re listening to.

This album is a good mix of fast-paced rock anthems and slightly more laid-back rock ballads. The title of the first single, “Bang Bang” — a commentary on the senseless violence of war — could be referring to gunfire or to the head-banging beat that makes you want to turn it up and jump around your house screaming the lyrics like you did in high school.

Less high-concept rock opera, more political punk rock brilliance, and a classic Green Day sound make this album as strong or stronger than any of their previous work. – Tessa Perkins

idina by Idina Menzel

Idina Menzel’s vocal range has not suffered throughout her absolutely stellar career. The vocals on idina are big, sweeping, and you can tell — even if you somehow haven’t heard of Menzel — that she comes from Broadway.

While the album is somewhat of a mixed bag, featuring ballads (“I See You” and “Everybody Knows”), electronic beats (“Like Lightning”), upbeat danceable tempos (“Queen of Swords”), and even a slight country lilt (“Small World”), it all works together to create an album that has a strong sense of musicality.  

This album oozes talent — not only Menzel’s but also the production team’s — making it an album that is pleasant to listen to at any time. – Courtney Miller

Passive aggressive gift ideas

By
EIC
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0

Being passive aggressive isn’t just a behaviour, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a delicate mixture of being clever and vindictive, delivered in a delightfully snarky way. If you’re looking to add more drama into your life, let this not-so-friendly gift list be your guide.

A stationery set for the asshole who never sent a thank-you card

No, really, it’s fine that you never sent a thank-you card. Truly, I only spent hours trying to figure out the perfect gift, and then paid for it with my own hard-earned money. Don’t worry about it. The fact that the set’s letterhead says “Thank You” at the top means nothing — honestly.

A planner for the dickhead who forgot your dinner plans/birthday/anniversary/etc.

OK, so I’ve already written down every important event that has to do with me for the next month. Additionally, I’ve added weekly reminders — all you have to do is read, and then show up on time. Do you think you can manage that?

An unloaded Starbucks card for the regular customer who doesn’t tip you

Not so fun seeing zeros when you expected money, is it now? Let’s see how much you like it when you can’t afford to treat yo’ self.

A pack of diapers for the friend who just won’t grow up

What do you mean you’re in your 20s? With the amount of whining you do, I could have sworn you were a toddler. You’re really not going to like the food I brought, then: it’s baby formula. Annnnnd now you’re crying. Do you see why I thought you were a literal infant?

A swift kick to the nuts for the misogynist in your life

Fuck you, my dude.

SFU solves issue of overcrowded courses by hosting student battle royales

By
EIC
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0

As SFU tuition prices increase whilst course availability plummets to an all-time low, the school’s board of directors has decided that this year, in hopes of repairing a broken system, course enrolment will be done a little differently.

“This year we’re going to have a battle royale to see which students get first priority for enrolling in their desired courses,” said Gordon Myers, SFU’s associate VP academic.

“Now, we haven’t decided if this will be a battle royale like The Hunger Games, or an arena-style battle with a bit more of a Russell Crowe vibe, like Gladiator. The options are open to discussion. Tuition will go up regardless, though. That’s not really up for discussion.”

As for weapons, students are permitted to use whatever they can to “Engage the world,” including but not limited to:

  • Short sticks, knives, pencils, fireplace pokers etc.
  • Laser pointers
  • Textbooks as blunt objects
  • Net traps while riding horseback, a.k.a. Planet of the Apes (ape costume encouraged)

“Being that we don’t have a stadium like legitimate schools, this will take place in the AQ, guerrilla-style,” Myers stated. The BC Government announced that it will not permit funding for this event, stating that “We already have our own methodical ways of ruining people’s lives that don’t include fireplace pokers and ape-style combat.”

When asked about whether the event will continue without government backing, Myers responded that “I do believe that this will affect the event as they were our only suppliers of smoke bombs. However, we have received some private funding from companies with vested interest in promotion during the event.

“We are proud to announce that SFU’s Course Selection Battle Royale Extravaganza will be sponsored by Red Bull. This is a wonderful partnership considering the fact that Red Bull is key to the nutritious and balanced diet of the overworked and desperately exhausted SFU student population.”

In terms of how the Course Selection Battle Royale Extravaganza will look, Myers ran us through the layout. “First we’ll have the entire science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students battling it out, and we’ll provide them with lots of funding, but not much protection since they have the natural ability to protect themselves from injury through their own bloated sense of entitlement.

“Afterwards, we will have humanities students battling, but SFU will not be funding the humanities skirmish seeing as their many prospective employers will likely provide the students with the necessary equipment. Besides, SFU funding is stretched as far as it can go.”

When asked for some examples of job prospects for humanities students, Myers held his head under water in the admin hot tub for an awkward amount of time until our reporter left the room.

       With the new Course Selection Battle Royale Extravaganza in place, students of SFU can rest easy knowing that they’ll either get into the course they desperately need to graduate, or die a horribly gruesome death by mechanical pencil.  

 

How to have sex as an SFU student

By
EIC
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0

How can I incorporate more SFU school spirit into my sex life? It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another during our university careers. Statistics show that students’ sexual engagement with SFU is at the all-time low of never having existed.

To ensure that students are able to support their university in all facets of their lives, The Peak  has provided an official guide to fornicating, the Simon Fraser way.


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The Stadium

Is your partner athletic? Start by amping up the mood and excitement for them, promising all kinds of awesome stuff like shelter from the rain and room for a large audience, only to realize at the last second that you’re not prepared and can’t go through with it due to a lack of financial planning and foresight. This will help you empathize and stand in solidarity with the Simon Fraser Student Society on how tough it is to let people down.

 

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The Bell Curve

This roleplay is BDSM-friendly, just be sure to discuss personal boundaries with your partner beforehand. The setting is your average classroom. One participant will be acting as the professor, the other as your GPA. Start with the professor stating that they will be implementing Gaussian Probability Distribution in their grading. Next, have them come forward and start roughly ramming your GPA up the butthole. That’s about all there is to it.

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The Commuter

Enact the average SFU commuter’s peak sexual experience with a partner. First, board a busy bus together, finding standing space directly next to one another. Second, let the sexual tension amplify as you descend the mountain, determinedly avoiding eye contact for fear of letting loose and going at it in the tight public space. Third, get off the bus at your respective stops, go home, and never see each other again.

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The Professor/Student Relation

In an age where teacher/student pornos litter every adult website, who wouldn’t want an authentic, sexy classroom experience? Start out with one partner coming to the other’s class each week, staying late to ask questions and get “extra credit.” Continue in this manner until the sexual advances culminate to a climactic breaking point, resulting in the professor shutting the student down in a curt and professional manner — as any responsible authority figure should.

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The Petter

SFU president Andrew Petter is an icon for sexual inspiration — his last name alone says it all. Pay homage to the prez by putting some Petter in your heavy petting. Cuddle up to your partner nice and close, and lovingly stroke them like a cute animal from head to butt. While you’re at it, whisper “engage the world” huskily in their ear. The more ways you can incorporate the terms “engage”/”engaging”/”engagement”/”engager” into your pillow talk, the better you’re doing. You might even be set for marriage by the end.

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The Avocado

Is an SFU sex article an SFU sex article if it doesn’t mention the avocado? I doubt it. Perform interpretive sex with a partner, with one person curling up into a ball to symbolize the pit of our glorious sculpture, and the other taking on a soft mushy consistency as they curl around them. Perform sexual acts this way, or add a third person on the other side of the pit to form a whole avocado.

 

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The McFogg

Do SFU’s mascot proud by doing it doggy style — with some important additions, of course. Prior to copulation, both partners must abstain from shaving any body hair for at least a month to properly channel their inner dog. While performing the sex act, either one or both participants must wear a traditional Scottish tam o’ shanter cap. Bow-wow, SFU.

Student union warns one in 2,000 chance of fire at tank farm

By
EIC
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2
The decision to expand the tank farm (which is less than a kilometer from Convocation Mall) will come on or before December 19.

“We celebrated our 50th anniversary last year, of SFU, and I feel that if this expansion goes ahead, SFU’s not going to be around, or at least it won’t be the same place, when they go to celebrate their 100th year anniversary.”

These are the words of Grayson Barke, council representative for the Environmental Resource Student Union and Burnaby Mountain resident, who expressed his concern over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion project. He was explaining the potential expansion of the tank farm on Burnaby Mountain if the project is approved, and the dangers it could pose to SFU and the safety of students, staff, and faculty.

The Kinder Morgan expansion approval process has been an ongoing controversy throughout Burnaby and the province. A decision as to its approval will be made on or before December 19.

The Peak spoke with Barke, who explained that “The bottom line is that there is a petrochemical storage facility next to the campus,” and if the expansion is to take place, “it means some of the storage tanks are going to be closer to the campus and closer to the access roads.

“One of the most comprehensive reports has said that the risk of something terrible happening will go from one in one million to one in 2,000 after this expansion is done.”

Barke’s research consults a report prepared on behalf of the City of Burnaby by Dr. Ivan Vince, an expert on tank farm-related hazards. Barke stressed, from this report, “that in [Dr. Vince’s] expert opinion, this project would not be approved in the UK or in the EU because it does not meet their safety standard, we have different standards in Canada obviously, but maybe they are not where they need to be.”

Barke approached the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) on September 30 at their Annual General Meeting asking for the support of the SFSS in highlighting the potential safety risk that Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus will be exposed to if the expansion is approved.

He then presented a formal presentation at the SFSS Board Meeting on October 7, showcasing the extensive research that expresses the increased risk posed to Simon Fraser University and Burnaby Mountain residents following the tripled capacity of the tank farm located on the south slope of Burnaby Mountain.

“My goal is to number one, make sure everyone is informed. Number two, collectively decide on a course of action to prevent these risks from occurring, or at least be involved at every step of the way to ensure that student safety needs are met.”

Barke presented this information to the SFSS because he believes that more students should be aware of the tank farm and its connection to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion.

Christine Dyson, VP external for the SFSS, said that they were concerned with the safety risks the project poses. She said that the SFSS could potentially end up hosting an event to help raise awareness of what is going on.

“In terms of making sure that students know about the risk, I would agree that students should know,” she said. “At this point in time, I have been talking with Grayson and I am going to follow up with him, but one of the things we are talking about is having a forum for students to come voice their concerns about the risks.”

Since the news was brought to the SFSS so recently, there are no set plans on when or where this forum could take place, but it is something they are looking into.

Dyson, who was the environment representative on the Board of Directors last year, said that she believes the project will pass.

“Personally, I have my doubts that it wouldn’t pass. I think it will pass. Trudeau did make it a mandate when he ran that this would be something that wouldn’t happen and they would look into it, and I think having the consultation process this summer was a step in the right direction. I would be really excited if that did have an impact and the project wouldn’t go through,” she said.

“But at the same point in time, with how the current government has been functioning and the fact that the [National Energy Board] did approve it, it has me a little bit hesitant that it will be stopped.”

The Peak reached out to chief safety and risk officer Mark LaLonde for comment. He said that, “SFU’s position remains that we view [this] as unacceptable, any expansion that would result in an increased risk to the health and safety of the SFU community.”

For Barke, the risk is too great if the project is approved. “I am going to be leaving Simon Fraser University,” he said. “I am going to be moving away and I am going to be staying away from North Burnaby.”

SFSS meetings will now be held in open and closed sessions

By
EIC
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0
By not specifying they were closing the "open" section of their board meeting, the SFSS inadvertently had two meetings in one day.

A mix-up at the end of the last Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) meeting highlighted the board’s alleged transparency issues.

At the end of the October 14 meeting, the board adjourned, implying that all business for the day had wrapped up. However, the board stayed in Forum Chambers, and told The Peak that there was a closed portion of the meeting.

This turned out to be a new strategy that the SFSS is trying to implement with a meeting that consists of both an open and closed agenda, though this was not originally made clear to attendees. The inspiration comes from the SFU Senate, which also uses open and closed agendas as part of its meetings.

“We keep getting told that we’re not very transparent, we’re having too many in-camera meetings. Sometimes people ask what are going to be the topics of discussion for in-camera. So the idea is to have a regular board meeting with a regular agenda and all the attachments as one and then a closed meeting or in-camera, with all the attachments and the agenda that would be visible to the public, unless it is a redacted document,” said Arr Farah, VP university relations for the SFSS.

On October 11, The Peak reported that the SFSS had held an extended in-camera portion at their board meeting, moving from the original meeting space in MBC 2294 to the Build SFU think tank. Farah said that at the end of the three-hour limit to meetings specified by the society’s bylaws, the board still had information to discuss, including in-camera work.

This may have been an inspiration for the change, as Farah noted that he and other board members had struggled with balancing the public and private sections of their meetings.

“Best practice — we didn’t do it today — would be to hand [all agendas] out at the beginning of the meeting,” he said. “I think the way it probably sounded when [interim president Larissa Chen] explained it was that we called a separate meeting so that we just could go in-camera, which is absolutely not the case.”

On when the board made the decision to adopt the new model, Farah said, “I guess it was kind of made last week.”

Farah said that the old system wasn’t working, and brought forward the open/closed agenda proposition.

“We definitely could have communicated better, but we didn’t get the opportunity,” he said. Further clarifying on the process of including guests at board meetings, he added, “We’re not always conscious of that. And I guess we should be, but we’re really not.”

Now that the open and closed agendas are going to be part of the meetings going forward, the board hopes this will improve its transparency issues.

Stories from last night

By
EIC
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0

The Nightmare Before the Hangover

Last Halloween, I had my final bad blackout drunk night. I alternated between spooky punch, beer, and wine, tossing back Solo cups like I hadn’t a care in the world. Very soon, I did have a care in the world, and vomit down the front of my shirt. My boyfriend walked me home and put me to bed, but not before we tossed my clothes into a sink full of water. I woke the next morning, grasping for my phone and regretting my choices from the night before.

My phone wasn’t where I’d expected it, though. It wasn’t happily charging by my bed. My phone was in the pocket of my skirt, where it had been marinating overnight in a sink full of water. Unsurprisingly, my drowned phone was not fixed by 48 hours in a bowlful of rice. Even the geniuses at Apple couldn’t fix it, and they stared at me aghast when I explained what had happened. I no longer mix spooky punch with other bevs — there’s no need for that kind of fright on Halloween.

Friends who drink together stay together

When I first moved into my old place last year, my friend and new roommate bought me a 1.5L bottle of wine as a housewarming gift. We decided to have a glass around 4:30 before we started making dinner. Fast forward seven hours: bottle is empty, we still haven’t had dinner, and we decide a spoonful of peanut butter is a good meal substitute. It was not. Moral of the story: you’re not truly roommates ‘til you finish a keg together (so to speak).

Princess pukey pants

The city is so beautiful at night. Well, most of the time, unless you’re watching some ridiculous drunk girl hurling out a window 12 storeys up. One particularly brisk August evening, I went drinking with my boyfriend at the time and his very attractive older brother. I was excited to go out drinking since I rarely did, and perhaps that contributed to the fact that I may have drank a little too eagerly, and too much at the first pub we went to.  

On our way out of the first pub, I was already quite sufficiently tipsy (easy to identify by my attempts to kiss everyone), and we ended up going to three pubs in total. We walked home, and when I say we, I mean my boyfriend carried me while I drunkenly told his brother that I thought he was hot. Arriving home, I realized that the cheese-covered potato I had eaten earlier was coming up and that his brother wasn’t going to come out of the bathroom in time.

I still feel bad for all of those poor souls who woke up to the dried puke on their windows. On the other hand, I realized that I can puke into the dumpster from my window, which is pretty neat.

Not a mellow jello fellow

When I was 19, I learned the hard way that jello shots are not as fun as they look. While it might sound like a good idea to mix so much sugar with vodka, it most certainly is not. The bright colours might have you believing that jello shots are your friends, and that is exactly why they are not a good idea.

While waiting for the party to start, my friend and I consumed over 15 jello shots. We became obsessed with “tasting the rainbow,” by having one of each colour of shot each time we drank. There were five colours. Apparently lots of people showed up to this party, but neither myself nor my friend remember any of the details except that I woke up in the laundry room and my friend woke up shoved in the closet.

The party was quite far from my house yet somehow my friend ran the distance home (over 15km) with a hangover, leaving me to stumble home on transit. Jello shots are not your friends.

Attention on the dance floor

Back in first year, when the vodka went down like water, I could honestly take shots with no chase. Upon celebrating my friend’s 19th birthday on Friday, we decided to have a pre-celebration on our residence floor. Six of us sang songs of our childhood, took awful photos, and reminded ourselves that we had no school the next day.

During my second semester of first year, I asked for a mickey of vodka from the liquor store from a friend. Presumably, this would last me weeks. Instead, they returned with a 40 of Finlandia vodka. Let me tell you, this beats Smirnoff hands down — this was going to last me months! I’d like to say that I don’t get peer pressured when drinking, but this one night I decided that I really needed to crack into this 40 of vodka, and my friends didn’t discourage me.

One shot, two shot, three shot, floor! Well, in this case it was about four more shots, and dance! Jason Derulo was playing and I was swaying on my own and then full-on “wiggling” in my lovely Roots sweatpants and Old Navy flip-flops in front of my friends. They all say they have never seen me so drunk.

Let me remind you, this was my friend’s pre-birthday get-together, and at 12 she would be turning 19, but instead of saying happy birthday when the clock struck midnight, you could hear me in the corner of the room yelling “Why is nobody paying any attention to me?” Oh, what a sad statement. After that I don’t remember much; I had eight shots of vodka, I tried to pour water all over myself, and I am told that I was dragged by my friends from one room to my own room and I wouldn’t let them leave until I fell asleep.

I am very thankful that my friends put me in the recovery position, as I woke up puking all over my residence floor and arm the next morning. Needless to say, vodka has not been my friend since.

Romeo and Hurl-iet

It was Thanksgiving. I held a house party. Shortly after our one questionably dedicated friend made an entire Thanksgiving dinner (complete with stuffed turkey), our gang of friends got piss drunk. I remember just enough to tell the tale of what happened, but let’s do some short context first.

I was madly crushing on my current boyfriend. I liked his sorry ass for more than a year at that point, and if anyone was going to have him, it was gonna be me.

After a few hours, I was too many shots in and he was too. We’d also taken turns finishing off a bowl, so we weren’t coherent in the slightest. I made many a move that night: I pet his hair for a few minutes, called him a “Chia Pet” because of it, and sang an all too real version of “On My Own” from Les Misérables while he was passed out on the floor. Soon after, I passed out next to him and our hands conveniently found each other’s.

Delicately and romantically, they rested on top of each other in a yearning embrace. Until his phone buzzed, and he woke up and moved his hand to check it. I, still very drunk and not totally awake yet, was distraught. How could he move his hand!?

He didn’t love me, I thought, he hated me!

I dashed to the bathroom, my heart torn apart. Matthew, my valiant and forever best friend, raced in after me. “What’s wrong!?” He screamed through my spluttering gasps.

I threw up, then sobbed sadly into the toilet, “He hates me! He moved his hand, he hates me! I’m disgusting!” Although Matthew was exasperated with my blind frenzy of emotions, he stayed with me the whole time. We missed what was left of a great party because I cried in the bathroom for hours.

How could the future love of my life answer his phone? How could he move. His. Hand!

Reassuring me that I was beautiful and that by moving his hand, it meant nothing, Matthew cleaned the vomit off the toilet and my face, guided me downstairs, and saw my current boyfriend, Chris, peacefully snoring on an already overcrowded bed.

Our friend Raymond was next to him, but Matthew wingmanned me so hard that night that he told Raymond to leave so I could take his spot. I woke up the next day with said current boyfriend’s leg wrapped around my body a little too close. Later on, he told me that he thought I was cute that night.

The Fireball canoe

I have one rule when I drink: be the first one drunk and the first one sober. I’m the mom friend in the group, but I’m also a mess of a person. Sometimes my one golden rule works well for me, and sometimes it bites me in the ass.  

A few years ago, this one unbreakable pledge landed me in a pretty embarrassing situation. I was throwing a surprise birthday for my then-boyfriend, he was running a little late, and since I was hosting I wanted to have a clear head by the end of the night. So I started knocking back shots of Fireball as the guests started to arrive. The guest of honour was still 30 minutes away, but all the guests had arrived. I decided this was a great time to polish off the bottle.

I was on the floor before the birthday boy arrived. I was so completely smashed that I was convinced I was in a canoe. I was butt scootching around the room using my empty Fireball bottle as a paddle. Shortly after the butt scootching started, I began to sing French Catholic canoe songs.

By the time my then-boyfriend arrived, I was stone cold sober, and face-first in a toilet.

Have your cake and make money too

By
EIC
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0

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s soon as you’re old enough to be asked what you want to do with your life, you get caught in the never ending tug-of war: should I study what I love, or study what will help me make bank?

We make our lives more difficult by always framing it as a mutually exclusive proposition. “You can do what you love, or you can make money.” Even if that’s how it feels, that’s generally not at all how this scenario needs to play out. It’s all about that shitty, yet necessary, word: compromise.

What people never told you about adulthood is that it’s all about balance. That’s it. Balancing work with play, balancing your budget, balancing friends and romance, studies and sleep — everything requires balance. So the study for love or study for money binary is more of a teeter-totter, and the right balance depends on what you want to do.

Raise your hand if “Artists don’t make any money,” “You’ll never be published,” or “Broadway is really, really competitive, I mean, you’re no Lin-Manuel Miranda” sound eerily familiar to you.

The binary is enforced by the prevailing economic view of creative works and the “artsy” subjects and careers, which is to say that for the average creator, there is no economic enticement to create your art, whatever it may be. To put it bluntly, our Western economy doesn’t know how to assign proper value to writers, artists, performers, etc. Because of that oversight, people who want to pursue the arts are met with derision.

OK, so let’s get onto the part where I tell you that you can do what you love and be paid for it. It just might not be your first love, or your second. The thing is that, for any skill set, there are ways to apply those skills outside of whatever role you automatically associate with those assets.

You don’t have to choose between money and happiness, you can study and have both.

For instance, are you a novelist, but no publishing company takes an interest in you? You can self-publish, but self-published stories rarely reach the same heights of traditionally published books. Instead, you can take those writing skills, that desire to create a world that’s different (and possibly better) than your own, and apply them to other roles.

Have you ever considered learning to code? Developers spend hours writing code to create virtual pockets of reality, whether that’s in video games, for a website, or to create the latest app. You’d still be writing and creating, and developers make some decent bank.

Artists also have massively transferable skills. While it may be hard to move your fan art, or sell your canvases via Etsy, there are other options. Take some designer fields, for example: graphic or interior designer, art or design director. They all require a sense of how the viewer responds to details, the impact of negative space, and what will look good.

Actors, dancers, musicians, and performers can all make bank doing similar things, if not exactly what they love. Maybe it’s not attending Juilliard and becoming the best in the world. Maybe it’s using those crowd-pleasing talents to be in charge of social media and communication or marketing. After all, to sell something, you need to be able to sell yourself, and who would be better at that than a performer?

So maybe the economy hasn’t clued in to how much art improves and enhances our lives. Money can still be made if you’re open to a little compromise and balance. You can make all that dough doing something adjacent to what you love. Your money-ridden career may be your new number one love, and it may be waiting for you right around the corner. 

Researcher turns neuroscience into artwork

By
EIC
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This graphic, made in collaboration between Baker and Saetgareeva, expresses a human's perceptions of stereotypes.

As a PhD student in neuroscience, Adam Baker has to deal with explaining his research to others all the time. Baker is hoping to make his work more digestible for the general public: he aims to build a bridge between the hard sciences and people. Using graphic artwork, Baker is able to creatively present his discoveries on the human brain.

Baker explained how, one day at a family dinner, he tried to explain to his family and friends what he was working on: the increasing cognitive engagement of bias-related memories. They told him that he sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher — impossible to understand. As a response to that, he decided to draw a picture on a napkin to explain what he meant.

“All of a sudden, the others got my point!” Baker said.

This brought him to the idea of actually visualizing his research, since most people tend to respond well to visualizations (as his family dinner and scientific evidence have proven).

Since he is not much of an artist himself, he decided to contact art student at SFU, Saida Saetgareeva, and ask if she could help him design a graphic illustration that captured all the elements of a specific research paper. “I enjoy working with Adam,” Saetgareeva said. “He gives me creative freedom.” They are now working together on translating all of Baker’s projects into a single graphic illustration.

“This way, someone can look at the illustration and see a ‘research story’ that can make someone actually understand what the research is about without having to read through endless jargon and statistics,” Baker said.

Baker hopes that his efforts to translate complex technical research into simple language for the general audience will not only get more people to understand it, but also help encourage partnerships within and outside of academia to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.

He pointed out that it is important for him to build a bridge between neuroscience and people through art. “Looking at the amazing research done at SFU in psychology and neuroscience, I see many opportunities for researchers to spread the word on their work to the general public through art,” he said.

Baker stressed that this vision is not just limited to the scientific community. Translating research into art allows scientists and researchers to express more of their artistic creativity in different ways, which may not always get noticed in their scientific work.

For his future projects, Baker hopes that by using art to express his research, he will be able to spread the word on important research: “I do not believe science should ever be in the dark, and art allows us to bring science further into the light of the general population.”

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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