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Reaching for our balls since 1918Friday, 27 October, 2006 VOL . LXXXVIII NO15
UTHE UBYSSEY
THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD...LONG LIVE DICK CHENEY... PAGE 3
GSS TALKS SEPARATION...STUDENT UNITY UNDER QUESTION... PAGE 12
QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH OUR HEARTS
CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT STYLE... PAGE 10
UBC’S POWERHOUSEBASKETBALL PROGRAMSSET TO TIP-OFF
WOMEN VYING FOR THIRDNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP INFOUR YEARS... PAGES 6-7
MEN LOOK TO PUT LAST YEAR’SPLAYOFF DISAPPOINTMENT BEHINDTHEM... PAGES 8-9
ERICA MCGUINNESS,4TH YEAR GUARD AND
ALEX MURPHY, 1ST YEAR GUARD
CULTURE2 FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 THE UBYSSEY
Canada Post Sales AgreementNumber 0040878022
FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006VOL . LXXXVIII NO15
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Eric Szeto, Colleen Tang, Carolynne Burkholder, and George Priorwere out shoe shopping at Oker Chen’s shoe palace where BorisKorby, Momoko Price, Jesse Ferreras, and Gayatri Bajpai were allworking that day. Champagne Choquer and Jesse Marchand wereboth eyeing the last pair of Manolo Blahnik Sarah-Nelle Jacksonsthat just happened to be half off. Cheata Nao and Eric Wallace-Deering promised Mary Leighton they would buy the Manolo’s forher for her birthday.They all ran frantically to grab the Manolo’s.Andrew MacRae, Matthew Jewkes, and Ross Howell tackled Sarahdown with help from Hannah Hardy and Vanessa Woznow. PaulBucci, Greg Ursic, Nick Black, and Reuban Heredia were shocked tosee what was going on. Elliott Chalmers enlisted the help ofMeghan Roberts, Leah Poulton, and Peter Holmes to blockChampagne and Jesse from grabbing the Manolo’s. JesseMarchand, battered and bruised, but determined to get theManolo’s, overpowered her opponents and grabbed the heels onlyto find they were a size too small.
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UTHE UBYSSEY
‘tweens
POLITICS AND THE PENVancouver InternationalWriters’ FestivalOctober 21
by Sarah-Nelle JacksonCULTURE WRITER
A motley foursome of writersmakes up the Saturday afternoonWriters Festival panel, “Politicsand the Pen,” moderated byVancouver Sun Managing Editorand UBC School of Journalismprofessor, Kirk LaPointe.
In attendance were independ-ent journalist JB MacKinnon, acontributing editor to Adbusters,Explore and Vancouver—his debutnovel is Dead Man in Paradise.Next up was Irishman-cum-American Colum McCann—winnerof a Hennessey Award and theRooney Prize—whose new bookZoli follows a French gypsy cast outof her clan for betrayal. Ontario’sRosemary Sullivan boasts suchaccolades as a Governor General’sAward nomination—her latestbook, Villa Air-Bel, recounts thepersecution of intellectuals andartists in France, and theAmericans who set out to rescuethem. In addition to the above writ-ers, Iraqi exile Saadi Yousef was
also in attendence to discuss hispoetry, published in English withthe title Without an Alphabet,Without a Face.
With each of their works takingan unabashed political stand, theauthors are faced with the chal-lenge of conveying their opinionswithout becoming polemical. Thatis, they must keep their stories sto-ries and not descend into an out-right attack on a person or ideolo-gy. “You can throw out a collectionof facts,” said MacKinnon, “but itdoesn’t affect people nearly asmuch as storytelling.”
McCann grimaced. “If webecome polemical, we becomefuckin’ politicians.”
And today, subtlety is all-important. According to Yousef,“Politics is a new taboo,” and peo-ple shrink from the unpleas-
antries of current events.“Africa is dying before our
eyes,” he said, “and nobodywants to think about it.”
Nevertheless, these writersbelieve that they have an obliga-tion to challenge the norm.
“The artistic role is to alwaysbe a witness,” said Sullivan. “Tocommunicate outrage.” In toomany circumstances, she argued,one makes the mistake of being
innocent.One such circumstance was
9/11. MacKinnon in particularwas disappointed that “all[artists] had the same thing to sayabout the falling towers,” andwondered whether it is too soonafter the fact for artists to “standback” and create anything of crit-ical worth. Thus far, creativeresponse has come mostly in theform of sentimental tribute.
Sullivan cited Paul Greengrass’sfilm, United 93, as an example: “Allthe passengers were middle-classwhite people. There were noJapanese, no poor people, no otherethnicity or class. The terroristshad no history, as if they’d justwoken up one morning and decid-ed to crash a couple of planes intoAmerica.”
Yousef added that the samepeople who are stunned by thenumber of deaths in New Yorkbecause of the terrorist attacks areunfazed by the death toll inAfghanistan and Iraq, which he said is on par with “sixHiroshimas.”
Of all the members of thepanel, Yousef is most familiar withtelling people what they do notwant to know—especially people ingovernment. The contrarian gist ofhis poetry exiled him from Iraq,but this did little to dampen hisrabble-rousing bent. When Beirutwas under siege in 1982, he said,“I had to go.” He wrote two booksthere before fleeing to Britain.
“I have to dispute the order of things,” said Yousef, a beliefthe others hold with equal ardor. “I am rewarded with keeping alive.” UU
Writers carry a political weapon
“IF WE BECOME
POLEMICAL WE
BECOME FUCKIN’POLITICIANS.”
–Colum McCannauthor, Rozi
“THE ARTISTIC ROLE
IS TO ALWAYS BE A
WITNESS...TO
COMMUNICATE
OUTRAGE.”–Rosemary Sullivanauthor, Villa Air-Bel
SPACE POP/ ExperimentalJazz ConcertOctober 28, 2pmMuseum of AnthropologyFond of Tigers is a dynamic andadventurous seven-piece banduniting some of Vancouver’sfinest young musicians. Freefor UBC staff, faculty, and stu-dents.
Haunted Halloween at theGardenOctober 29, 1-4pmUBC Botanical GardenJoin with children from aroundUBC for this free afternoonevent, featuring a scavengerhunt through the garden,games and prizes, storytellingand crafts. Costumes areencouraged and RSVPs arerequired. Contact Nadine:phone 604-827-4526 or [email protected].
9th Annual Wellness FairNovember 1, Noon-2pmSUB 212AThe fair will focus on caring foryourself, others and your per-sonal environment. Speakersfrom UBC will speak on “LivingHappy & Healthy,” “Routes &Roadblocks to FindingHappiness” and “Taking theBlues Seriously.”There will alsobe interactive displays, includ-ing a beer goggle obstaclecourse and study ergonomics.
Quiz Night #2November 1, 9pmThe Gallery Lounge, SUBHost Tim will test your SMRTsand give you the chance towin a Canon PIXMA printercourtesy of the good folksover at the Staples on campus.Come on out for a night oflaughs!
COLUM MCCANN AND JB MACKINNON Authors featured atVancouver Writer’s Fest commit their politics to the page.
THE UBYSSEY FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 CULTURE 3
by Greg Ursic CULTURE WRITER
I’m ushered into the room and directed to achair across from the accused. I sit down andtake stock of the subject, one Gabriel Range.Unassuming in his black suit, Range standsover a slim six feet tall, and when we begintalking he is polite and soft spoken. He doesn’texactly fit the image of a man accused ofkilling the president of the United States,something he freely admits to and is only toowilling to talk about.
Set in the near future (October 2007 to beprecise) Range’s dramockumentary Death of aPresident (DOAP) examines the effects that theassassination of President Bush has on theongoing response to the “war on terror” and theensuing rush to judgment. Not surprisingly, ithas generated a lot of controversy: three US the-atre chains have already said they won’t carrythe film, several newspapers and television out-lets won’t advertise it and there has been a gen-eral outcry from the political right in the US.
So how does a congenial fellow like Range goabout committing a capital crime on celluloid?
“I just didn’t wake up and say ‘Shit, I’mgoing to kill President Bush,’” he laughed. “Iwas in the States before and after 9/11 andwas struck by [the] era of post reflection.Presidential assassinations have a peculiarsignificance in the US given the history andthere are very emotive and striking ways oflooking at what’s happening today using the
lens of the future...[Bush’s assassination]seemed to be a good way to examine how thewar on terror has been handled.”
The film, originally written for Britain’sChannel 4, aired across the pond last week andwas very well received. Range was clearlypleased when he said it got great reviews. TheUS response, meanwhile, has been decidedlyless welcoming. He noted nonchalantly that,“there were some death threats and there wassome very clear anger...[when] the film wasannounced,” yet he’s still a bit confused aboutthe backlash.
“I was surprised. I mean that initial knee-jerk reaction was very much based upon thenotion that the film is...some kind ofpolemic...that would be reveling in themoment of President Bush’s assassination.”
Anyone expecting a Zapruder-like spectaclewill be sadly disappointed: the shooting sceneis as brief as it is bloodless, which apparentlywas the initial intent.
“It was very important that the assassina-tion was a horrific event, but also that it wasn’tgratuitous in the way that it was shown,”Range said. “The more recent reviews in theAmerican press have been that it’s sensitive,compelling, thought-provoking, and not thisdisgusting rant.”
While the bulk of the film’s protest sceneswere culled from archival footage of protestsagainst the Iraq War in Chicago in 2003 and2006, key sequences with “battles” betweenpolice and demonstrators were staged. This of
course required obtaining the requisite filmpermits, and I inquired as to how Rangeapproached the challenge of walking into thecity offices and saying that he wanted to filmDeath of a President.
He assured me that he was forthcoming—sort of.
“Generally we would go by the name DOAPand very few people would ask what it stoodfor...[goes quiet].”
He clearly realised that a detailed synopsiswasn’t an option.
“It would have been very hard indeed tomake this film in Chicago if the world knew wewere making a film about the assassination ofPresident Bush.”
In light of the acronym—DOAP (pro-nounced “dope”)—I had to know whether itwas intended as a deliberate pun.
“A total fluke actually,” Range said withapparent glee. But it didn’t stop the crew fromhaving fun with passersby.
“A few people asked the crew in Chicagowhat it stood for...generally the answer wasit was a British movie—Ducks on a Pond —and they imagined it was some kind ofromantic comedy.”
Asked what the most challenging part ofthe shoot was, Range murmured “that’s a goodquestion actually,” and seemed at a loss forwords, then had an apparent epiphany.
“The second hardest I think was doingthe interviews,” he said. “It’s a very unfor-giving form of acting because we as an audi-
ence are used to seeing real people talkingto the camera, so our bullshit detectors areturned up really high when we watch anactor do it and we’re really looking for anycrack in the performance.”
Ensuring believability is crucial to thestory—if the audience doesn’t buy the inter-views, the premise is compromised. Rangeand his crew were keenly aware of this andsought out an “unknown” cast because “whenyou recognise a person as “that actor” I thinkthe illusion is shattered. [Consequently] cast-ing was very hard.” It also proved to be a chal-lenge for the actors as “it’s a very unforgivingkind of acting as you have none of the toolsnormally available to an actor.”
Actors were given a basic idea about theircharacter, and enrolled in workshops. Whenthey were finally given a script a short timebefore filming, they were instructed to “read ita couple of times but don’t learn it.” Nothinglike a little straightforward direction.
As the interview drew to a close, I askedRange what he wanted viewers to take awaywith them.
“I hope, first and foremost that it’s a goodstory and people are engaged by it. And I sup-pose I would like people to really question theway the war on terror is being handled...andhow 9/11 has been connected with the war inIraq. The jury in Toronto said...that the filmdistorted reality to reveal a greater truth. Ifthat’s what an audience feels when they walkout then I’m thrilled.” uu
Video killed the American President
by Reuben HerediaCULTURE STAFF
Who doesn’t like a good old scary story? Ifondly remember the nights I’d stay up latereading some “Terrifying Tales” collectionthat I’d rescued from the dusty library stacks,only to spend the rest of the night wide awake,afraid to move, covered in a cold sweat. Thenext night, without fail, I’d eagerly, and some-what masochistically, pick up the book again.This morbid fascination with the occult iswhat the Vancouver Museum is counting on,and from the number of people I saw on theHaunted Trolley last Friday, I’m not the onlyone with such an otherworldly fascination.
The Haunted Trolley is essentially a tourof Vancouver’s most infamous hauntedlocales and murder sites. Imagine an ethere-al tour guide spinning stories of restlessspirits and horrifying murders, while amaniacal trolley driver screams throughVancouver like a bat out of hell, and you’llget the general gist of the Haunted Trolley—it’s the history lesson that you would’vereceived if your social studies teacher wasthe crypt keeper.
The tour begins at the VancouverMuseum and runs for approximately twohours. Genny Krikorian, marketing assistant
for the Vancouver Museum, said thatdepending on the tour guide and crowdinteraction, the trolley will pass by approxi-mately 25 landmarks. Stops include theVancouver Centennial Museum, where trol-ley-riders can view a mock autopsy, andMountain View Cemetery where, accordingto Krikorian, “you actually get out of the trol-ley and walk through the cemetery.”
One of the homes on the corner ofCambie and King Edward that the tour pass-es by is supposedly Vancouver’s most haunt-ed house—it is apparently built on a FirstNations burial ground. Krikorian told me thestory of a couple who had moved in withtheir newborn child. A freak windstorm blewthrough the house one day, slamming thedoor to the nursery and trapping the infantin the room.
“The parents ran to the door [but] couldnot get it open. Finally when [they did], theyfound that their newborn had been liftedout of the crib and was on the window sill.”
While most of the stories are quiteunnerving, the tour maintains a light-heart-ed edge due in part to the playful banterbetween the tour guides and drivers, andpartly due to some genuinely funny stories.My favourite remains the story of SimonHershberg, a portly philanthropist who pio-
neered one of the first bars in Vancouver.When he died, he was supposed to be buriedin Mountain View Cemetary, but the cart inwhich they were carrying him broke down.Unable to move his body, they buried himwhere he lay. Today, thousands of cars passover his grave every day—he rests nowbeneath the intersection of Fraser and East33rd Avenue.
The tour guides and trolley drivers playvarious characters throughout the tour. Onmy tour, our guide was a devil named “HansSomedevil” and our driver was “Sister Maryof Magnesia.” The guides feed off the crowdand tailor the tour for them. Since we hadan older crowd, Mr. Somedevil crackedquite a few dirty jokes, much to our shockand amusement.
The Vancouver Museum has been run-ning the tour for 14 years now and has col-laborated with the Vancouver TrolleyCompany for the past six. Public interest isquite high and the clientele varies; forsome, the tour has become somewhat of aHalloween tradition.
“[We get a lot of repeats and] the daysclose to Halloween tend to fill up reallyfast,” said Krikorian. “A lot of people get abunch of friends and come out on the trolleyfor Halloween themed activities.” UU
Trolley takes you on trail of the dead
MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETARY A stop onthe Haunted Trolley tour. OKER CHEN PHOTO
4 FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 THE UBYSSEYCULTURE
GOMEZThe Centre in Vancouver for thePerforming ArtsOctober 21
by Nick BlackCULTURE WRITER
In order to understand the refer-ence in the headline, you must bewell-versed in Gomez’s musical cata-logue. For those of you who are not,the allusion is taken from a songtitled ‘Fill My Cup,’ arguably theband’s best, and one that is hardlyknown in popular music.
In fact, Gomez is almost com-pletely unknown in pop music,which may be why their most recentalbum reeks of radio friendly tunesthat would be more appropriate on aColdplay or Snow Patrol album.Despite the fact that Gomez hasbeen around now for a long timenow. Their first album, Bring it On,
was released in 1998—they havenever gained the audience andrespect they truly deserve. Their ear-lier releases were often called ‘soulrock.’ If I had to describe them, Iwould say they form a good middlepoint between The Beta Band andRadiohead, with more 60s rockinfluence than either of the afore-mentioned UK artists. Early on in
their career, they received muchcritical acclaim, but have neverappealed to the masses on the samelevel as Oasis.
The band began to move awayfrom the brilliance of their firstthree albums with their 2004release Split the Difference, whichwas good and even radio friendly,but definitely not the band I once
knew and loved. Their latest releaseHow We Operate is even more of anattempt to break the pop-musicscene, so much so that one of thesongs from the album is in anepisode of Grey’s Anatomy, I don’tthink it’s necessary to explain whythat is a bad thing as I’m sure mostof you have seen at least a minute ofthe overrated medical show.Regardless of my indifference totheir 2004 album, I went to seethem last time they came at theCommodore. I was blown away—they were simply phenomenal.
It is easy to see in their live showthat the band has played together forquite a while—they are so tight as agroup, with no ostensible communi-cation between them, but somehowthey all know how long to jam forand where to wrap everything upand end on cue. They are not likelyto be grouped by many with Phishand The Dave Matthews Band, but
as evidenced at their show at theCentre, they can jam with the best ofthem, extending songs at least twominutes longer than the album ver-sions.
At their latest show in Vancouver,Gomez succeeded in blowing meaway once again with their liveshow—I even warmed up to the songsthey played from their latest release.Unfortunately they played the Centreas opposed to the Commodore, butthe Centre’s acoustics are phenome-nal—all it would take to approximatethe Commodore was the ability todrink at your seat. Needless to say,the show was incredible.
If you are interested in getting toknow Gomez a little better, onemight suggest their 2005 liverelease, Out West, which is a liverecording at the Filmore, the albumis a perfect blend of the old Gomezand the direction in which they haveturned themselves. uu
TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE MOVIEnow playing
by Vanessa WoznowCULTURE WRITER
The strangest thing about TrailerPark Boys: The Movie is that for allintents and purposes, it is anythingbut. If anything, it should be classi-fied as merely an extended episode,as the plot is pretty much the same asthat of a regular episode, in both sizeand scope, and there are only twonew characters introduced inSunnyvale Trailer Park), availablenationwide on big screen TVs. ButSweet Jesus Murphy, is this length-ened episode ever funny!
The plot contains many of thesame conceits known and loved by allfaithful TPB fans. Ricky and Julianspend time in the slammer (whereRicky gains notoriety as both the guywho petitions successfully for theprivilege to play ball hockey duringoutdoor recreation and as theinmates’ kick-ass goaltender). Aftertheir release, we learn that Lucy (LucyDecoutere), Ricky’s off and on girl-friend has finally gotten her muchdesired breast enlargement, and isworking as a stripper down at the
aptly-named “Gentlemen’s Lounge.”With Ricky determined to win herback, we are treated to an arsenal oftried and true TPB favourites:botched robberies, gun fights, copi-ous amounts of drinking and conver-sations pertaining to the growing,smoking and selling of weed. And ofcourse, Bubbles’ heart-rending affec-tion for his incredibly adorable batchof ragtag “kitties,” who now smell likecigarettes from sleeping insideRicky’s car. This is a source of dis-tress to Bubbles because, “kittiesaren’t supposed to smell like ciga-rettes. They’re supposed to smell likekitties!”
It is moments like this that makethe movie so enjoyable. Althoughthese characters are all crude,moronic drunks with terrible drugaddictions, they are all inherentlygood people who want the best fortheir families and friends, except per-haps for Jim Lahey (John Dunsworth),the hilariously smarmy alcoholic ex-cop turned trailer park supervisor. Asan audience member, you find your-self constantly rooting for the Boys’schemes to pull through. It doesn’thurt that the hilarious, punchy banterexchanged between the “handsome”Julian (Jean Paul Tremblay, who actu-ally does have quite nice blue eyes),
the “linguistically challenged” Ricky(Robb Wells) and “he of the heart ofgold” Bubbles (Mike Smith) will leaveyou giggling in your seat.
Five years has given the cast a nat-ural fluidity in their performances—itwouldn’t surprise me if half of thedialogue had been improvised—
allowing for explorations beyond theperceived superficial surface facadeof cusswords and mixed drinks.There are many scenes with terrificdialogue, but Ricky’s brilliant courtscene (you will never think of a tourof the Halifax courts in the same wayagain) will leave you breathless. This
movie is in no way perfect—characterinconsistencies and long-windeddigression become tedious and over-worked. But the good highly out-weighs the mediocre.
In the words of J-Roc: “Ch-ch-checkit out! You know wha’ I’m sayin’,know wha’ I’m sayin’?” uu
Southport’s Gomez fills Vancouver’s cup
Worth a stolen shopping cart
THE UBYSSEY FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 CULTURE 5
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERSnow playing
by Hannah HardyCULTURE WRITER
Everyone is familiar with the pho-tograph of WWII soldiers raisingthe American flag over Iwo Jima. Itis one of the most famous photo-graphs ever taken.
Flags of our Fathers takes usbehind the picture and shows usthe faces of the men. It takes itsaudience through the lives anddeaths of each of the six soldiersand their comrades and throughthe war bond movement that theimage inspired.
Ryan Phillippe leads a full castas John “Doc” Bradley. It is throughhis character that we see the slowdestruction of the flag-raising pla-toon in the battles that took placeon the sulphur island. This film isfilled with other notable actorssuch as Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot).Adam Beach (Windtalkers), BarryPepper (Saving Private Ryan) andthe list goes on.
The film opens with a clenchingsequence that harnesses the emo-tions of the audience as a tear slow-ly traces the outline of Phillippe’scheek. It reveals James Bradley,(the writer of Flags of our Fathersand son of “Doc”) interviewing var-ious men on the story behind hisfather and the flag.
The film cleverly traces the bat-tle of Iwo Jima, and the cross-coun-try tour that the members of thephotograph are made to endure.Eastwood employs clever editingand uses a camera flash to moveback to the beaches of Iwo Jimawhere the light is really a bomb, ora scream of a crowd turns into onevoice screaming a soldier’s name.It is in this bouncy fashion that theaudience is kept on the edge of itsseats. It is also through this motifthat the climax and suspense arebuilt up. The film goes through bat-tles, tours and finally winds up withthe story after D-Day. It fills in thestory we don’t know and makes thepicture come to life with real peo-ple, not just generic WWII soldiers.
Not only is Paul Haggis’ scriptinspiring, the effects are stunning:from a scene with Japanese sol-diers who have blown themselvesup with grenades, to the recreationof the invasion of Iwo Jima. ClintEastwood’s direction in this movieis incredible, the actors’ perform-ances fantastic and the script isnear-perfect. It is not just a warmovie, it is not just a picture, andthey are not just heroes. That iswhat this film is all about.
If this film does not clean up atthe Oscars then the actors and pro-duction team will have been woe-fully cheated. The battle scenes areflawless, the story and acting isheart wrenching, making Flags ofOur Fathers one of the best films ofthe year. uu
by Hannah HardyCULTURE WRITER
BC Boy Barry Pepper prides himselfon his Vancouver heritage andthanks the experience of HollywoodNorth for introducing him to theworld of film.
“[It was during my time inVancouver] that I saw Johnny Depp,”he said in an interview with theUbyssey. “He was about the sameage as me at the time, filming 21Jump Street on my Vancouver col-lege campus and I thought, ‘Hey thisis interesting.’”
“I didn’t have a television in myhouse ‘til I was 12 years old so Iwas very much exposed to artsthrough books and the art of imagi-nation. At first I took [jobs as anextra] just to fill my jeans with cash,but when I started to take acting les-sons I realised this was what I want-ed to do.”
Barry Pepper was five years oldwhen his “Jack of all trades” fathertook his family on their homemadesailboat from their Campbell Riverhome and sailed them around theSouth Pacific.
“I was exposed to a lot of cultureand different types of people and sit-uations,” Pepper explained. “Andthat really set me up for what I do inmy job now.”
Pepper could not help but feelat home with Clint Eastwood onthe set of Flags of our Fathers, asthe two men bare a remarkableresemblance.
“Clint is a lot like my [own]father. They are men of similar gen-erations and come from the samearea of the world with the samebackgrounds. Being raised by a manwho was like him, I knew his sensi-bilities and I knew the personality. Ifyou want to learn something fromeither of them, you just listen andhear some tremendous stories.Their lives have been rich journeys.”
Barry Pepper can be seen in thismonth’s release Flags of ourFathers. Pepper plays Sergeant Mike
Strank, who led his troops into battleon the island of Iwo Jima duringWWII, and asked to take a flag up tothe top of a hill to place an Americanflag. A photograph was taken of theflag as it was being raised a secondtime, an image that found its wayinto American papers and soonbecame a symbol of the Americanwar effort in the Pacific and was des-tined to change the lives of the menin the photograph forever.
The role of a soldier is nostranger to Pepper, who also playeda bible quoting sniper in StevenSpielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.Flags, however, was a different expe-rience: without enrolling in bootcamp like in Private Ryan, the actorswere forced to take on the task ofresearch themselves.
“There is a tremendous amount ofresearch that goes into historicalcharacters,” he said. “Not only know-ing that the family of the man you areplaying will have an emotionalresponse to it. You have a genuineresponsibility to them. And you have
a desire to do well yourself. Therewas a lot of research that had to bedone before the cameras start to roll.”
Pepper is proud to play MikeStrank, a man who was known as aunique Sergeant.
“He was a 24-year-old young kidleading boys of 17, 19, into battle.Everyone looked up to him, and thisguy made naïve promises to hismen promising them life. He wasjust one of the guys.”
His proudest moment was whenhe received a letter from Strank’sdescended family, saying that hisportrayal was very similar to theman himself. But it wasn’t just thecharacter that intrigued Pepper totake on the role.
“Clint had a very unique vision,”he said. “Right after Flags of ourFathers wrapped up, Clint went toJapan and hired all Japanese actorsand started on a movie that looks atthe perspective of the Japanese.After all they are just the same, justas young as the Americans, boys youwould just as easily have made
friends with.”“It was such a bold approach to
humanise the enemy. You reallycan’t judge Flags by itself as Clint’sfull vision is to include the Japaneseside in this other movie Letters fromIwo Jima.”
Although Pepper is ecstaticabout the buzz that Eastwood’snew film has created, he describesas anti-war.
“Ultimately, the message of thisfilm expresses the need to take astand against the rich and powerfulwho want to turn democracy to theirown will. It shows the truth behindthe archaic aspect of war. Stories ofwar are enticing and hold timelessthemes and that is what I love aboutbeing in war movies, it’s never justabout playing soldier.”
“As Clint said to me, ‘We are mostcreative when we are thinking ofways to destroy each other’ and this istrue, frighteningly so. I believe thistype of movie shows us this andshows us what happens when we letthis creativity take control of us.” uu
WWII familiar territory for BC actor
Anti-war drama isone of the bestfilms of 2006
Third-world experiences drive authorsFROM THE CAULDRON OFCONFLICTVancouver International Writers’FestivalOctober 19
by Sarah-Nelle Jackson CULTURE WRITER
The stage looks more like the set of aMartha Stewart show than a“Cauldron of Conflict,” the name ofthe panel held at Granville Island’sRevue Theatre. Pumpkins, ferns anda plant that looked like a very largehead of lettuce flanked a rug of sea-sonal reds, browns and oranges.
Kathryn Gretsinger, panel moder-ator and previously a host on CBCRadio’s The Current, emerged look-ing like Stewart’s own protégé—buther introduction informed us thattonight will be something very differ-ent: “What if we as journaliststhought about humanity over every-thing else?” she asked, adding thatthe evening’s discussion will encour-age everyone—not only journalists—to do just that.
The authors hailed from countriesoften lumped together under the“third-world” label. Anosh Irani, orig-inally from India and graduate ofUBC’s Creative Writing program, has
written The Song of Kahunsha, anovel that describes Bombay’sHindu-Muslim riots from anorphan’s point of view. Lebanon-bornRawi Hage, meanwhile, tells the storyof two teenagers pursuing polar goalsduring the first civil war.
Anita Rau, also from India, coversa period of 28 years in her novel CanYou Hear the Nightbird Call, touchingon India’s partition and the ensuingcrises up to Air India. Chimandra
Ngozi Adichie, who spends half of hertime in Nigeria, weaves a story of theBiafran war of independence, which“still affects [her],” although she wasborn years after its end.
The books boast heavy politicalmessages. Gretsinger asked theauthors whether they had to tonedown the politics of what they werewriting so as not to alienate theiraudience. Hage assumed an expres-sion of sleepy surprise from beneath
the brim of his green newsboy cap. “I didn’t realise my book was
political,” he said. Then he grew seri-ous: “My writing is always political.Fiction is an act of resistance.”
Irani agreed: “I don’t worry aboutpolitical balance. There isn’t any inreal-life conflicts.”
Luckily, none of the worksdescends into doom-and-gloomregalement of the world’s corruption.Through each ran a current ofhumour: ironic or innocent, subtle oroutright. Adichie argued that humouris essential: “If you can’t laugh,what’s the point of living?” he asked.Each work conveys a sense of hope,no matter how far out of reach.
Nevertheless, such heavy subjectmatter is difficult to tackle, especiallywhen it strikes a personal note. InBadami’s novel, her characters attimes have “nothing other thanhumour to sustain them.” Twentyyears lie between the Beirut war andHage’s decision to write a story aboutit, but he “[doesn’t] know how muchit’s acted as a buffer.”
When asked by an audience mem-ber how the writers deal with pain,Irani joked, “Tylenol.” For him, how-ever, writing itself is the painkiller.
“It takes the sickness away,” theauthor said. UU
ANOSH IRANI UBC graduate and author of The Song of Kahunshatreats writing as therapy. TUSHNA SHROFF PHOTO
6 7SPORTSTUESDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER, 2006 THE UBYSSEY THE UBYSSEY TUESDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER, 2006
by CheataNao
SPORTS STAFF
Leanne Evans is aname UBC basket-ball fans are goingto be hearing a lotthis season. Afterspending a year play-ing in the NCAA, the6’2” Port Moodynative and Canadianjunior national teammember is returninghome to push what isalready widely con-sidered to be thebest team in thecountry to anotherlevel.
Evans decided tospend her first sea-
son of eligibility inthe NCAA, playing for
South East MissouriState. While in theUnited States, sheexperienced a highlevel of competitionagainst other teams of
the Ohio Valley Conference and herown teammates, who she claimshelped to improve her skills. “Itwas good competition. I had a verygood post girl on my team who isnow playing overseas. It was goodto play against her everyday, but Iwouldn’t say [South East Missouri]better than here,” said Evans.
After a year in the US, she decid-ed she wanted to come and play forthe Thunderbirds. UBC’s succes, aswell as that of the junior nationalprogram’s—which she credits tohead coach Deb Huband’sapproach to coaching—was a majorinfluence on her decision. “Deb isjust very encouraging of the nation-al team program, which is a goal ofmine,” said Evans. She alsobelieves having full-time assistantcoaches who work with the girlsone-on-one will be a big advantage,to her and the team. “Not a lot ofCIS teams have that,” noted Evans.
While many people focus onEvans’s offensive talent, she main-tains that her strengths involvekeeping the ball out of the hoop.“My strengths have always beenmore defense and rebounding. Ifocus on that more than on how
many points I’m going to score.”With the ball, she’s no pushover,however.
While representing Canada atthe World Under 21 Campionshipsthis past summer, Evans was ableto score 13 points in a span of 20minutes in a 85-52 win over PuertoRico while capturing a team high11 rebounds.
But who is Leanne Evans asidefrom being a basketball power-house? First off, she’s in her thirdyear of university, hoping to trans-fer into the Human Kinetics pro-gram by the end of the year.
She lists two-time NBA MVP andfellow Canadian Steve Nash as herfavourite basketball player, and notjust for his obvious talent. “He’salways working hard and does a lotfor the community, not just basket-ball.”
Growing up she played volley-ball and soccer, participated incross country running and trackand field. Her father also playedbasketball as well as hockey. Hermom, according to Evans, “wasmore of a cheerleader type.”
As for pre-game routines, listen-ing to music is the norm.
“Generally our teamwill play music in ourlocker room to getpumped up,” thoughshe admits it doesn’tcome from her iPod.“My iPod isn’t verygood because I don’tknow how to work it,so I don’t have anygood songs.”
Evans’s ulti-mate goal, aswell as theteam’s, is towin anothern a t i o n a lc h a m p i -onship, butshe knowsthere’s a lot of workto be done beforethat can happen.“It’s a completely dif-ferent team so weneed to go through theprocess and work dayby day and hopefullywe can have a success-ful season. Ideally,we’d like to win anotherchampionship.” uu
by JessicaJiYoung Kim
SPORTS WRITER
This season markswomen’s basketball
captain Kelsey Blair’slast year as a
Thunderbird, but alsointroduces some highly tout-ed new faces to the roster,including rookie MeganPinske of Port Moody.
A 5’9” guard, Pinskejoins the T-Birds as one oftop high school recruits inCanada and brings withher plenty of internationalexperience.
Along with fellow rook-ie Devan Lisson, Pinskewas selected to Canada’sjunior national team overthe summer, travellingdown to Colorado for theInternational BasketballFederation (FIBA)Americas World
Championship Qualifier inColorado where Canadaplaced second, before join-ing the T-Birds.
“It was interesting get-ting the international expe-rience. It was helpful inshowing you what you needto improve on. The competi-tion gets stronger as youmove up, so it really exposesyour weaknesses,” Pinskesaid.
And learning experienceis one of the reasons whyMegan Pinske chose UBCover all the other interesteduniversities. “When I waswalking around the UBCcampus, I loved the atmos-phere of the campus. Andbasketball wise, this is thebest school in Canada, andacademically as well.”
And the fact that the T-Birds won the CIS champi-onship last year was just“icing on the cake” for therookie, who had alreadysigned with UBC in the
months before.Under the guidance of
her fellow senior teammatesand head coach DebHuband, Pinske is nothingbut hopeful about herupcoming season and hercareer as a Thunderbird.
“Deb reminds us [that]this is a process. We havefive years here. And noteverything is going to comeat once. You want every-thing to come together atonce but [you have toremember that] it will taketime.”
Together with fellowrookie Lisson and NCAAtransfer Leanne Evans,andKatie Ward, Pinske is expect-ed to make a big impact onthe court this season.
“I’m very excited for theseason. I don’t really knowwhat to expect...but I’m look-ing forward to going in therewith an open mind andlearning a lot this year.” u
by Wilson WongSPORTS WRITER
It would be easy to just hand the2007 Canadian InteruniversitySport (CIS) championship to theUBC women’s basketball teambefore the season starts.
After winning the title last sea-son, the Thunderbirds return allfive starters. With the addition oftwo NCAA recruits and two rookieswho play on Canada’s juniornational squad, it looks to be thedeepest, most talented lineup yet,and on paper, it’s certainly one ofthe best teams in Canada andarguably one of the best theUniversity has ever seen.
But head coach DebHuband and her playersknow repeating won’t be aneasy task. Two seasons ago,UBC failed to make thenational championshipsafter winning it all the yearbefore with mostly the sameroster.
Graduating forwardand national tourna-ment MVP Kelsey
Blair said the UBC players learneda lot that season.
“Our biggest lesson was thatyou really have to work to winanother one. You have to leave thepast behind and focus individuallyand as a team on getting betterevery day so that you’ll be ready todo it again when the time comes,”said the North Vancouver native.
And UBC will try to do it againwith an even deeper roster thanlast season’s.
The front court was alreadystrong with Blair, Julie Little andKim Howe starting with CaitlynPankratz coming off the bench andMontanna Dunmore added to the
rotation after redshirtinglast year. Now, they’rejoined by two transfers
with NCAA experi-ence: 6’6” Katie
Ward from Calgary viaIllinois State and 6’2”
Leanne Evans, who isfrom Port Moody and last
played at SoutheastMissouri State.
Ward will be thetallest player to
ever suit up for UBC.“I hope that I can do some stuff
inside the paint but I also like tostep outside and shoot a little bit soI can to hope bring some varia-tion,” said Ward.
UBC is also deep at the guardpositions.
Starting point guard CaitHaggarty and shooting guard EricaMcGuinness enter their fourthyears with two national champi-onships under their belt.
They will mentor Devan Lissonand Megan Pinske, the two playersthat make up the best recruitingclass in the country.
Lisson is from Fredericton,New Brunswick while Pinskestarred for the Port Moody Blueshere in BC. Both were a part ofCanada’s junior national team thissummer, playing against some ofthe best in world at theInternational BasketballFederation (FIBA) Americas WorldChampionship Qualifier.
Sophomore Candice Morriset,who enjoyed lots of playing timelast season, will also be in the mix.
All this presents UBC with a
problem that occurs only with sucha deep roster: what role and howmuch playing time will each playerhave?
“I think that’s still in the works.It’s something that needs to beworked out on the floor in the con-text of their teammates and theiropponents and you know the juryis still out on what the roles will be,and roles can shift,” said Huband,who is entering her 12th season asUBC coach.
Blair thinks having two moretalented players playing her posi-tion will improve her game.
“I go into every game knowingthat my hardest matchups are inpractice. My teammates challengeme so much everyday and I knowthat no team can match that so itsreally good confidence wise goinginto games.”
And the added depth leavesHuband with more options on thecourt.
“We’d like to be able to run theball a little more. We’re deeper sowe don’t have to preserve our ener-gy and strength. We can go deepthrough the roster. Hopefully, we’ll
be a little more explosive on thefloor,” said Huband.
But she says defence is the start-ing point for her team and so far,she’s not been impressed.
“We’re not yet at the pointwhere we’re executing cleanly withall 12 people so our executionneeds to improve. Our defensiveintensity needs to improve.”
UBC had four pre-season gamesto work out their kinks. They fin-ished with a 3-1 record. Theironly loss came to McMaster,an Ontario team expected tochallenge for UBC’s title.
But the Thunderbirdswon’t have to look far for atough game in the CanadaWest Conference.
Arch-rivals Simon Fraserand Victoria have kept up withUBC recruiting-wise and haveimproved their rosters.
UBC will get to see the Clanon opening weekend. The twoteams play Saturday at WarMemorial Gym, a night afterthe Thunderbirds visitTrinity Western. uu
HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
Interested in covering awomen’s basketball game?Then join the sports team.
Future face of T-Birds hopes tohave immediate impact
NCAA TRANSFER EVANS EAGERTO BE PART OF THE T-BIRDS
PHOTOS BY OKER CHEN
MEGAN PINSKE:One of two juniornational programplayers set to hit thecourt for UBC thisseason.
LEANNE EVANS:Back from the US
DEB HUBAND
12TH YEAR - COACH
ERICA MCGUINNESS
5TH YEAR - GMEGAN PINSKE
1ST YEAR - GJULIE LITTLE
4TH YEAR - FCANDACE MORISSET
2ND YEAR - GCAITLYN PANKRATZ
4TH YEAR - FKELSEY BLAIR
5TH YEAR - FMONTANNA DUNMORE
1ST YEAR - CCAIT HAGGARTY
4TH YEAR - GLEANNE EVANS
2ND YEAR - FDEVAN LISSON
1ST YEAR - GKAITLIN WARD
3RD YEAR - CKIM HOWE
5TH YEAR - F
SPORTS8 FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 THE UBYSSEY
by Bryce McRaeSPORTS WRITER
With seven new players joining theUBC men’s basketball team for the2007 season, it’s easy to lose track ofwho’s who. But the team is in a retool-ing phase, rather than a rebuildingone, and they’ve picked up somemuch-needed experience with fifth-year guard Adam Friesen’s transferfrom Trinity Western.
With so many new players, theteam might not get off to a start likelast year’s, but they are starting thisseason with a focus on the end of theyear, a mindset that’s squarely fixedon winning a national championship.
“There have been a lot of newguys, so a lot of us are in the sameposition,” said Friesen. “We are abrand new team.”
Friesen played four seasons forthe Trinity Western Spartans beforeredshirting last year so he could jointhe Thunderbirds this season. In2002, he was named a second teamAll-Canadian. That year he was sec-ond in the Canada West with 22.1points per game, and ranked fifth inassists with 5.3 per game. Despitedrop-offs in point production the nexttwo years—17.4 points per game(ppg) in 2003, 15.5 ppg in 2004)—heremained one of the biggest scoringthreats in the Canada West.
This year, however, he hopesmatch his 2002 stats, and his scoringwill be a huge in trying to replaceguard Pasha Bains’ performance lastyear (22.1 ppg).
“My role will be more of a scorer
than of your traditional pointguard...Shooting, ball-handling, beinga smart player,” he said. These are allthings he will bring to the UBC team,which boasts one of the strongestguard contingents in the country.
But there is some room forimprovement in his game—an ever-present theme for the T-Birds, at leastat the beginning of the season.
“Improving on leadership skills,”“talking on the court” and “defenseand rebounding” were skills Friesenconsidered needing work during theseason. Coincidentally, these areexactly the skills the team needs toimprove upon if they plan to go deepin the CIS Championships.
Though Friesen was too modest tocompare himself to any NBA player,his friend stepped in and said hisgame is most like that of San AntonioSpurs guard Nick Van Exel.
Van Exel has a reputation as beinga lightning-quick, offensive guardwho’s a big game player (check theDallas Mavericks playoff run in 2003for evidence). If this comparisonrings true, then the Thunderbirds aregoing to have a player who can notonly help them during the regularseason, but knows how to step in thepost-season.
And that’s exactly why he gotpicked up. He will be a welcomedscoring presence for the regular sea-son, but his UBC career will bejudged by his—and the team’s—per-formance in the post-season, wherehis experience and leadership—inaddition to his scoring—will beinvaluable. UU
Former TWU star makes UBC debut
Last day...to win a ca$h prize!!!!!!
The Ubyssey Halloween StoryContest
Write us a spooky story(750-1000 words) Send it to [email protected] or [email protected] your name, year, and contact info
The top three winners will be printed in our October 31 Halloween Story Feature
Deadline: October 27
OKER CHEN HOTO
JEREMY ALEXANDER
3RD YEAR - GCASEY ARCHIBALD
5TH YEAR - GBALRAJ BAINS
1ST YEAR - G
JASON BIRRING
5TH YEAR - G
SPORTSTHE UBYSSEY FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 9
by Bryce McRaeSPORTS WRITER
The UBC Thunderbirds Men’s bas-ketball team did everything youcould have asked of them last sea-son. Coasting through the regularseason with a perfect 20-0 record,the only hiccup was a loss to theUniversity of Victoria Vikes in theCanada West Championship. Theyentered the CanadianInteruniversity Championships asone of the pre-tournamentfavorites. Then destiny reared itsugly head and the team wasknocked out in the quarterfinals,playing only one game. It just was-n’t their year.
“The team wasn’t ready for theiropposition last year; it was anunlucky day, but it also exposedweaknesses...rebounding being oneof them,” said head coach KevinHanson.
That is why the team will be tak-ing a new approach this year,“beginning with the end in mind.”
The team is already starting to see itpay dividends after posting an unde-feated record during the preseason,which included the Memorial tour-nament in Halifax.
As fifth-year guard CaseyArchibald put it, “basically we justwant to have the nationals as ourNumber one priority. I think lastyear, we didn’t really get better asthe year went on and we were justsatisfied with winning games.” Withthe change in philosophy, they hopeto be playing their best basketballnext March.
“Compared to previous years, wehave one of our biggest lineups evercoming in,” said Hanson. “Last year,we lived and died by the three(pointer); this year we will try topound it inside more and establish apost game.”
Though the high tempo, perime-ter shooting style of last year maybe be a thing of the past, the T-Birdsstill plan on getting out and run-ning against teams this season, asshown when they out-shot Royal
Military College by 23 attempts in apreseason game.
In total, the team will be bring-ing in seven new players, includingfifth-year guard Adam Friesen(Trinity Western), third-year guardChris Dyck (Manitoba) and 6’9”forward Cody Berg (DouglasCollege). But of all the new players,only three are rookies and mosthave some kind of post-seasonexperience. Friesen was a secondteam All-Canadian in 2002-2003,and Dyck was one of the top scor-ers for the University of ManitobaBisons.
“We’ve put in a new system rightnow,” said Archibald. “So probablyeveryone’s new right now. But every-one’s been fitting in really well.”
Ultimately, if the new playerscan fit in well with the returningcore, the team should be able toadapt their style of play to takeadvantage of the teams they face onany given night.
One big test will come November7, when the team travels to
California to face the StanfordCardinal, one of the NCAA’s power-house programs and a perennial
top-25 team.“It is exciting, getting down there
will help us showcase the programand attract players,” said Hanson.
The real tests will come later inthe season however, when theThunderbirds will be looking towin their first men’s basketball
championship since 1972. TheCanada West division this year hasan incredible amount of parity,although the University of VictoriaVikes appear to be co-favoriteswith the T-Birds.
Much like the Detroit Pistons ofthe late 80s, the Chicago Bulls ofthe early-mid 90s, or the LosAngeles Lakers of the early 20thcentury, this team has been knock-ing on the door for the past twoseasons and is ready to establishan era of UBC basketball domi-nance. With a little luck, and a lotof hard work, the team should fin-ish off the season like it began;once again champions of a tourna-ment in Halifax, but this time aCIS title.
Their first games of the seasonwill come this weekend, herebydubbed Rivalry Weekend, whenthey travel to Langley to faceTrinity Western October 27, beforereturning home to face the teameveryone loves to hate, SimonFraser on October 28. UU
NEW FACES HOPE FOR NEW RESULTVERSION 2.0: Captain Casey Archibald hopes to accomplish what the T-Birds couldn’t last year, win the elusive national championship. YINAN MAX WANG FILE PHOTO
CODY BERG
4TH YEAR - F
CHRIS DYCK
3RD YEAR - G
BRYSON COOL
3RD YEAR - F
BRETT LEVERSAGE
2ND YEAR - G
BRENT LEWIS
2ND YEAR - G/FBRENT MALISH
1ST YEAR - G/F
ALEX MURPHY
1ST YEAR - GSEAN STEWART
5TH YEAR - F
MATT RACHAR
3RD YEAR - G
ADAM FRIESEN
5TH YEAR - G
“COMPARED TO
PREVIOUS YEARS, WE HAVE
ONE OF OUR BIGGEST
LINEUPS EVER COMING IN.LAST YEAR WE LIVED AND
DIED BY THE THREE; THIS
YEAR WE WILL TRY TO
POUND IT INSIDE...”'–Kevin Hanson
Head Coach
UBC recently put out an ad campaign thatwould have fit right in at a presidential cam-paign for Citizen Kane. The giant ads postedeverywhere have been inciting confusion onthe part of students, if not curiosity.Blanketing the sides of buildings and carpet-ing the ground beneath our feet, bannersask us in huge letters: WHAT’S THE PLAN?
Many students don’t know the answer tothis—why not? Because of the University’snotorious lack of student consultation in thepast regarding the Main Campus Plan, a mas-sive re-development campaign which hasbeen underway since its approval in 1992.
For the first time, the University hasmade an effort to rectify the matter by pro-moting awareness of the revised CampusPlan. Students now have an avenue toexpress their concerns and ideas directly tothe University. As a result, students havebeen posting to online forums in droves.
Though we applaud the intention ofUBC to give its students a voice in its rede-velopment, is there anything being donedifferently this time around? The impres-sion is being projected upon members ofthe campus community that they are beingincluded this time, and that their voicesare going to be heard. This time, everyunused suggestion will have an explana-tion for why it is not being entertained,thus presenting the University as anaccountable governing body.
By the same token, however, the seem-ingly contradictory nature of many actionsby the University in fulfilling its commit-ments to “sustainability and community” isquite baffling.
A prime example is Trek 2010, themandate governing the Campus Plan.What the plan is actually doing is glaringlyapparent from the manner by which it isbeing administrated. Unbeknownst tomany of us, UBC is actually home to aninternationally recognised urban planningschool termed the School of Communityand Regional Planning (SCARP). TheUniversity has at its fingertips one ofCanada’s largest planning schools, yetSCARP has not been actively solicited fromthe start of this project. The University has,in addition, gone out and hired an outsideconsultant for these purposes.
That’s like having a star goalie and hiringa backup to play in net.
According to the online forum, studentsalmost invariably love the forests, natureand scenic skyline that UBC offers, as well asPacific Spirit Park and the UBC Farm.
They dislike the lack of studentspaces, the ongoing construction andnoise, the growing presence of non-uni-versity-related businesses and resi-dences, and the lack of affordable stu-dent housing. Many students alsoexpress dissatisfaction with the incorpo-ration of corporate businesses such asShopper’s Drug Mart and Starbucks, asopposed to more independent, “ethical”businesses.
Suggestions also include the installa-tion of more working water fountains,affordable parking, increased late nighttransit and establishing a decent grocerystore on campus.
Generally speaking, aside from impracti-
cal demands to make roads more skate-board-friendly and to keep it from lookinglike SFU, most of the suggestions made bythe student community reflect the desire tomake UBC more sustainable, accessible andcommunity-oriented.
Considering the original Main CampusPlan mandate trumpeted these same goals14 years ago, only to find students still com-plaining about the same issues today, onecannot help but question if ‘sustainability,’‘community,’ and ‘academic excellence’ arereally at the heart of what UBC CampusPlanning is trying to create.
There is great potential with CampusPlans. The University has a great opportu-nity to reconcile its past mistakes andactually make the ‘community’ a priority.Providing a voice to the population andbeing heard, helps fulfill that potential.However, at press time those CitizenKane-like banners are basically advertise-ments for the UBC student population topost to a blog, and some of the “consulta-tion” has included comments like, “ILOOOOOOOOOOVE to add Skytrain orSubway to UBC and called it the UBC Line”or “Hi! Good luck world!” This is a greatway to give the impression that studentsare being consulted, but somehow itseems that UBC could be answering morequestions about the contradictory natureof its plans to improve the campus.
We hope that 14 years from now theUniversity won’t be asking us the samequestions, but for now we’ll have to waitsee if the University’s efforts will bearfruit. uu
10 FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 THE UBYSSEYOPINION & EDITORIAL
PERSPECTIVE
—Nicola EvangelistaForestry, 1
—Carmella Gray-CosgroveEnglish, 3
—Natalie FarssmanMath, 2
—Ryland JamesArts, 2
—Mark PhelpsArts, 3
“I guess some of itdoes…[however] theshape of a buildingdoesn’t always affecthow you learn.”
“No…They’re puttingup really expensivecondos. I don’t likehow they’re not put-ting up cheap studentaccommodation andhow I can’t get intostudent housing.”
“I like the Boulevardcoffee place, but apartfrom that it’s prettyridiculous.”
“Not really. I won’t beseeing any of it sinceit’ll finish after I gradu-ate. I don’t see anyresults from it, so itdoesn’t reflect myneeds.”
“Yeah, I guess it fits myneeds…I don’t knowabout that new bar;it’s kind of expensivefor my tastes.”
Do you support the new developments taking place on campus?
Streeters
—Coordinated by George Prior and Paul Bucci
by Alison Bodine and Nita Palmer
In response to the letter written by MaayanKreitzman and Marc Grimm (Ubyssey, “PoliticalDiscussion on Campus” [October 17]):
Israel’s invasion of Lebanon took the lives ofover 1,300 Lebanese civilians and displaced 1 mil-lion. The bombing destroyed roads, hospitals andmilk factories, in an attempt to disable the infra-structure of Lebanon and the struggle of theLebanese people. This invasion was on the heels ofthe Israeli siege on Gaza. During this time Israelsent tanks and over 5,000 troops into the Gaza Stripdestroying homes and lives. Furthering their stran-gle hold on the Palestinian people and their right tomovement, sovereignty and dignity.
At the UBC Social Justice Centre forum“Palestine, Lebanon, and the Israeli Occupation,” onSeptember 27 there were three scheduled speakers:Shannon Bundock, co-chair of Mobilisation AgainstWar and Occupation, Dr Warif Leila, a long timepeace activist, and Jon Elmer, a photo journalistwith fromoccupiedpalestine.org. The forum wasborn out of the frustration and desire for activists atUBC to see a voice for Palestine and a voice forLebanon on campus after the war and devastationinflicted over the summer. The panel consisted notof academics, but of dedicated and dynamicactivists and journalists speaking from their ownexperience and understanding.
As some of the organisers of this forum, you crit-icised us for failing to provide a space for “civildebate and dialogue.” We must make clear that thisforum was not billed as a space for “civil debate anddialogue”—it was a forum meant to reflect andexplain the Palestinian and Lebanese perspective.Of course, it would be possible to organise a debateon this issue—but that would be a forum of a differ-ent colour. So let’s criticise things for what they are,not for what you wish they would be.
Every forum must have its own civility, that mustbe a given. Why, then, do you make civility such anissue of this particular forum? We have seen, at thisforum and through history, how “civil debate anddialogue” is used as a cover for the suppression ofthe interests of Palestinians in particular. Followingthe roadmap of “civil dialogue”, support has beensiphoned from the Palestinian liberation struggle to“Peace it all Together”—to hold Palestinians in theirplace under the brutal Zionist status quo. It is inter-esting that those who beat the drum of “civil dia-logue” the hardest are the ones who came to thisforum to disrupt it and divert attention from theforum’s issues of the occupation of Palestine, theapartheid state of Israel, and Israel’s expansionistand colonialist policies. It is even more interestingthat the method of distraction and disruption youhave taken is to try to silence the voices of those whospeak for Palestine with your cries and demands for“civil debate and discussion”. Are you meaning toinsinuate that the real problem facing oppressedpeople in Palestine is a lack of “civility?” Thesewords lose their meaning in your mouth.
Forums specifically dedicated to the Palestinian‘side of the story’ are important because in themedia, and even in university classrooms, there islittle space for the pro-Palestine perspective. AtUBC alone, more than 100 professors are mem-bers of the BC Campus Action Coalition, an organ-isation dedicated “To provide expertise andresources...for combating anti-Israel propagandaand anti-Semitism.” Being anti-Israel is not to beanti-Semitic. Being anti-Israel is to fight for the lib-erty, dignity and sovereignty of the Palestinianpeople who had their land and lives stolen fromthem 58 years ago.
We can all remember the response of theCanadian government to the war on Lebanon,calling it a “measured response.” There is nospace for the racism inherent in such a state-ment. There are not two sides to the story of an8m high Apartheid Wall being built in Palestineto further cut the movement of people andresources. There are no two sides to the lackRight of Return for displaced Palestinians. Theseare just facts.
The UBC Social Justice Centre does not claim tobe a representative of the opinions of all students atUBC. It is an organisation with the direct constitu-tional mandate to organise and educate for socialjustice at UBC. There is a space for the PalestineSolidarity and antiwar movement at UBC. uu
—Alison Bodine is a fourth-year physics students Nita Palmer is a second-year arts student
A measured response?
Forget the plan, what are those banners?
THE UBYSSEY FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 NEWS 11
by Paul BucciNEWS WRITER
The Normand Bouchard MemorialAMS Theatre was officially re-opened on Tuesday after a periodof renovations.
“[The event] feels like being at afilm opening...I was looking for thered carpet,” quipped Vice-PresidentStudents, Brian Sullivan.
The ceremony included theunveiling of a new plaque, as well as speeches praising the proj-ect and remembering NormandBouchard as an integral part of theUBC Film Society.
“He had a tremendous sensitivity.He understood art, that it could liventhe spirit of people,” said LorenzoBouchard, Normand’s father. “Hisreal passion was cinema.”
The theatre was named afterBouchard following his suddendeath as a result of a brainaneurysm in the mid-1990s.
Bouchard graduated with a
degree in Engineering Physics butcontinued to work with the FilmSociety well after his graduation,facilitating the introduction of 32millimetre film to the theatre.
Bouchard’s father described thetheatre as an “oasis” to come toafter a particularly hard exam, sug-gesting that inspiration comesoften during times of relaxation.
The renovation was funded byan unusual collaboration betweenthe Alma Mater Society (AMS) andthe Film Society, who have had arocky history. The AMS used totake 50 per cent of the revenuefrom ticket sales at the Norm,which was fought and reduced tothree per cent.
AMS President Kevin Keystoneremembered the “Restore theNorm” project as the first time theAMS and the Film Society had everworked together for a commongoal. Attendants remembered the theatre as being somewhatdecrepit, noting that the seats wereinfamously spilling orange stuffing.The theatre has been completelyrepainted, and all of the seats arenow in pristine condition. One canstill purchase commemorativebronze plaques to be fixed to theseats.
The official ceremony endedwith an emotional speech fromBouchard’s father.
“There was an undercurrent ofmysticism in [Bouchard]...at fouryears old he came to me and said,‘Father, I know who I am.’ Heunderstood the inner light of ahuman being.”
Currently donations are beingtaken for the Norm Theatre as it isstill $30,000 short. uu
Norm Theatre officially reopens
Controversial journalistcoming to Vancouver
by Leah PoultonNEWS STAFF
Amy Goodman, one of NorthAmerica’s most renowned andcontroversial independent jour-nalists, will speak in Vancouverthis weekend in support of com-munity and campus radio stations,including UBC’s CiTR.
Goodman currently hosts theaward-winning daily news radioshow Democracy Now!, based outof New York City and aired on over500 community stations acrossthe continent.
“For true democracy to work,people need easy access to inde-pendent, diverse sources of newsand information,” according to theDemocracy Now! website. The sta-tion offers itself as an alternativeto the “unprecedented corporatemedia consolidation” of the lasttwo decades.
Goodman is well-known for herstrong anti-war stance. She has fre-quently voiced her views againstthe US occupation of Iraq, and thelack of unbiased media coverageof the conflicts in the Middle East.
“War is not the answer,” shesaid on a recent MSNBC appear-ance. “Negotiation. Settlement.Cease-fire. That’s what is going tosave the lives of hundreds of people.”
“If [Americans] saw the imageson the ground, if they saw people,kids dead on the ground...theywould say no, this is not theanswer. We need a media in thiscountry that is open,” she said.
Her ability to find and tell the
stories that the mainstream mediawon’t has earned her the respectof many of her colleagues.
Peter Klein, a UBC journalismprofessor and producer of NBC’s60 Minutes, worked withGoodman at WBAI radio in NewYork, where she produced thenews.
“She’s incredibly intense,” hesaid. “When the World TradeCenter was hit the first time, it wasjust her and me in the news-room...watching her work wasamazing.”
“We’re always having to steparound things...Amy has none ofthat,” he added. “I’ve heard peoplesay that she’s one of the only twojournalists in America.”
Goodman recently published hersecond book Static: GovernmentLiars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People who Fight Back. Her first release The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing OilyPoliticians, War Profiteers, and the Media that Love Them, was a US national best-seller andchosen as the number one politi-cal title of 2004 by independentbookstores.
According to the DemocracyNow! website, the last 50 years hasseen the ownership of the USmedia drop from over 50 con-glomerates to just six corpora-tions.
Amy Goodman will speak onSaturday at the Vancouver CentralPublic Library. Tickets are avail-able at Banyen Books and Sound,Spartacus Books, Co-op Books,Sophia Books and CiTR Radio. uu
Amy Goodman shows support for independent radio
by Meghan RobertsNEWS WRITER
Margaret Somerville, who came tothe Chan Centre for the 2006Massey Lectures to discuss repro-duction ethics, garnered supportand opposition last week.
Somerville, an ethicist and lawprofessor of McGill University,offered her expertise in situationswhere ethics may come into ques-tion. She displayed her strong viewson many divisive issues that havestirred up controversy in the past,particularly with her opinion aboutgay marriage.
Students waving rainbow flagswere present outside the ChanCentre to show their support for gayrights and marriage in a demonstra-tion before the lecture.
Chris Walsh, a member of UBCPride, was one of those students.
“Our main message was...to edu-cate people that Miss Somerville isin fact against same sex marriage.So some people had no idea andvery gladly took our informationwhile others were in complete sup-port of that,” he said. “I’m againsther definition of marriage...whatshe calls the essence for naturalnorm of marriage, is for reproduc-tive potential.”
Somerville is currently in theprocess of writing a discourse aboutthe child which Walsh views as verycontroversial.
“She’s...imposing her ideas onthis sort of knowledge based on a
child that has no grounds in fact. It’spurely her point of view and sheclaims she’s done a lot of researchon it,” he said.
It’s completely discriminatoryagainst queer couples who decide tohave children, he added.
Walsh believes that what she saidimplied that “we’re not adequate toraise children within her really real-ly narrow view of what marriage is.”
Somerville, however, stated thatshe is an advocate for gay rights;she simply does not believe in gaymarriage.
She also raised questions about InVitro Fertilisation (IVF). According toSomerville, children need a connec-tion with their parents, preferably abiological one, in order to establish asense of belonging.
Somerville reported that IVFchildren she interviewed expressedfeelings of discontent. She relayedstories in which those individualsfelt as if there was something miss-ing from them; almost as if theywere not whole. Somerville attrib-uted this to the lack of biologicalroots.
According to Somerville, it is theright of a child to know and beraised by their biological parents. Agay marriage would create a newsocial norm disrupting the previousnotion, she said.
Somerville carried on with herlecture explaining a deep respect forhuman life is necessary in creatingwhat she termed a “shared ethics”—a core set of values that is the basis
of humanity. These “shared ethics”should employ elements from bio-logical and cultural fields so thatboth nature and technology are rep-resented, she said.
Nothing natural can be dehu-manising, added Somerville, usingthe changes in reproductive technol-ogy to further her case.
In the past 50 years, reproduc-
tion has undergone a drastic trans-formation. Access to contraceptivesis easy and the types of contracep-tives are numerous and increasinglyadvanced, she said. Genetic materialcan now be detected and, in thefuture, altered.
Humans are losing sight ofhumanity, said Somerville, addingthat as we delve deeper into science
we lose our respect for the magic ofhuman life.
“These new techno-science pos-sibilities bring us face to face withunprecedented questions about whowe are, how we find meaning in lifeand what respect the human liferequires,” said Somerville.
Humanity must not lose focus onthe essence of humanity, she said. uu
Demonstration over Somerville lecture
OKER CHEN PHOTO
EDUCATE YOURSELF: Members of UBC Pride handed out flyers before Somerville’s lecture at theChan Centre October 17. PETER HOLMES PHOTO
“HIS [NORMAND
BOUCHARD’S] REAL
PASSION WAS CINEMA.”–Lorenzo Bouchard
Normand Bouchard’s father
NEWS12 FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER, 2006 THE UBYSSEY
by Colleen Tang NEWS EDITOR
BC Premier and Point Grey MLAGordon Campbell visited UBC onOctober 18 to announce a new initia-tive on post-secondary education.
This was Campbell’s first inter-active event with UBC students.According to Chris Sandve, vice-president of BC Young Liberals,Campbell has been looking for-ward to this visit.
“He’s always wanted to come [toUBC]...ever since I’ve become vice-president he’s been asking,” saidSandve. “He had particular interestcoming out here.”
Although he discussed everythingfrom coal plants to the economy ofChina, one of Campbell’s main focus-es was post-secondary education. Inhis speech, Campbell presented aninitiative called Campus 2020, anopportunity for a group of students,experts and members of the public toput forward recommendations onimproving post-secondary educationby spring 2007.
“I actually said to the Campus2020 folks...I want them to be real-ly provocative, I want them todrive different agendas, I want
them to look at different frame-works and I want them to comeback with some really bold recom-mendations,” said Campbell.
One of the reasons they are try-ing this method is because institu-tional methods don’t provide solu-tions, according to Campbell.
“We can’t quite do it this waybecause we’re really locked intothe data. We can’t coordinate this,”said Campbell. “The problem isthat it doesn’t get you anywhere. Itreally is a way of stopping usinstead of moving ahead.”
A goal of Campus 2020 is toexpand a culture of learningacross the entire province.
“The education system doesn’tallow [universities] to change,doesn’t allow them to take advan-tage of the world...you know helpus get out there, show us what wecan do, show us the opportunities,ask us to be brave, ask us to go outand do something,” Campbell said.
Ian Pattillo, Alma Mater Society(AMS) VP External, was initallyreceptive to the Campus 2020 proj-ect but as the project progresses anumber of flags have been raised.
The appointment of Geoff Plant,former Liberal BC Cabinet
Minister, according to Patillo, is alittle unsettling because this com-mittee may be existing as a meansto gather evidence for “predeter-mined outcomes.”
Pattillo is also concerned thatCampus 2020 will mimic pastreports by other provinces. But heacknowledges that this is an organ-ised process.
Currently, Pattillo is “cautiouslyoptimistic” about Campus 2020, butthinks this is an opportunity for theAMS to make a document to expresstheir own recommendations. uu
by Jesse Ferreras NEWS STAFF
Due to concerns over the lack of serv-ices for graduate students, theGraduate Student Society (GSS) hasexpressed interest in separating fromthe Alma Mater Society (AMS).
GSS VP Academic Lauren HunterEberle and GSS VP Finance AliKhalili introduced a number ofoptions that the GSS council wasconsidering at a recent AMS coun-cil meeting, citing concerns thatgraduate students require servicesthat are not sufficiently offered bythe AMS.
The option of secession wasone of four choices. Other optionsincluded having the AMS adapt itsservices to make them more acces-sible for graduate students ortransfer a portion of AMS fees to
the GSS.“There had been a services gap
that we’ve been trying to closewith the AMS and not having anysuccess with it,” said HunterEberle. “There was a rather unfor-tunate council meeting inMay...and the discussion came upabout where were the advocacydollars we had verbally request-ed...or what was the likelihood ofthat coming forward.”
“Council was upset to hear thatthere wasn’t more enthusiasm inthe AMS in support of that idea.”
At an August GSS councilretreat, discussion arose amongmembers present about whetheror not to stay with the AMS.Hunter Eberle said that those pres-ent were split 50/50, and citedconcerns that graduate studentscannot use AMS services such as
Tutoring and Advocacy. A GSS survey showing that
graduate students found no AMSAdvocacy services that were appro-priate to their needs, said HunterEberle. The GSS has since estab-lished its own advocacy programto accommodate cases that couldnot be addressed by the AMS.
“As a graduate student there’s anumber of things that are of keyimportance,” she said. “There isobviously the supervisory relation-ship...there are funding grants andproposals, and then there wouldbe the thesis proposal or the deci-sion in a master’s degree to do athesis or a major paper.”
“Without having the specialtraining to deal with somethinglike a supervisory relationship or acomprehensive exam, those thingsfall through the cracks.”
AMS President Kevin Keystonecited different results from the soci-ety’s own survey of the student body.
“One of the things we found isthat graduate students do accessmany AMS services,” he said.“Graduate students participate inMinischool; there are graduatestudents that access Safewalk.”
Keystone noted the possibilitythat services such as the U-Passand the current health and dentalplan would no longer be extendedto graduate students in the eventof a separation. He testified to theimportance of a unified studentbody at UBC.
“I think it’s less about what theGSS would lose, and I think thelargest conversation would beabout what all students would lose,”he said. “Uniting around causes ofpost-secondary education and the
benefit of all UBC students is some-thing that has always been funda-mental to this campus.”
Board of Governors representa-tive Omar Sirri said he is opposedto separation. He compared theproblems faced by the GSS withrelation to AMS services to thosefaced by numerous constituencies.
“I think every student will feellike they use some services anddon’t use others,” he said. “TheAMS needs to strive to improve,always looking at services in orderto improve and evolve the servicesto best attune to all students.”
A straw poll at the September 17 AMS council meeting voted in favour of establishing aMemorandum of Understandingbetween the AMS and the GSS. Theagreement has yet to be announcedat an AMS council meeting. uu
Premier speaks to new initiative at UBC
Graduate students consider secession from AMS
Extreme [email protected]
News MeetingsTuesdays, 11:30Be there or be www.ubyssey.bc.ca
NEW INITIATIVE: Gordon Campbell speaks to a group of students at Sage Bistro. KELLAN HIGGINS PHOTO
AMS VP External cautiously optimistic about Campus 2020 project
