February 20, 2013

NEWS — UVIC CLUB SEEKS FRESH BLOODPAGE 4

FEATURE — A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEMPAGE 12

CULTURE — LOCAL FILM EXPLORES EMBRYO EMBROGLIOPAGE 14

SPORTS — VIKES ROWING COACH HEADS TO SUMMER OLYMPICSPAGE 20

THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER • FEbRUARY 20, 2014 • VOLUME 66 • ISSUE 23 • MARTLET.CA

Psychological casualtiespage 11

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News

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • NEWS 3

Tweet your photos of newsworthy events @theMartlet.

GRAYDON LEIGH

2013 was a banner year for organ donations within B.C., surpassing the previous year’s already impressive quantity by over 40 transplants. The 346 transplants within the calendar year saw organ waitlists shrink and patient satisfaction grow—a feat attrib-utable to many factors.

Most notably, transplant centres have recently been granted the capacity to fast track living donor assessments—a gift wrought by technological advance and greater overall public awareness of the options available to organ donors. Also, participation at national level, programs with Federal Canadian Blood

Services, enabled medical profession-als to connect matching donors with recipients on a national level.

Out of every one million Canadian residents, 28 donated an organ last year. But that only accounts for donors that are still alive, as 14.5 out of every one million deceased citizens also donated a functioning organ. While the latter statistic is on par with the national average, the former exceeds the median among all provinces by a substantial margin.

“The record numbers are great—and we have more work to do,” said Peggy John, communications manager for B.C. Transplant, in an email. “More than 85 per cent of British Columbians

support organ donation, but only 19 per cent have registered their decision.”

These numbers may appear low to some; after all, huge segments of the population donate blood on a regular basis. Those involved in organ dona-tion question why such a small fraction of the population each year (less than .00003 per cent) is able to donate. One answer speaks to the necessary sophis-tication of these operations, as doctors have less than 10 hours to preserve a lung, for example, before the organ begins to deteriorate due to a lack of blood containing nutrients and oxygen.

The number of kidney transplants, which was the most common procedure

last year, saw a considerable increase from 2012, as over 40 procedures were successfully executed. Following that was the frequency of heart transplants. At 23 operations, the risky proce-dure boasted a 31 per cent provincial increase in volume from 2012.

The institution responsible for administering the heaviest bulk of these synthetic blessings was Victoria General Hospital’s Transplant Centre. Performing over 199 transplants last year, Victoria General Hospital is one of only three locations registered in the B.C. Transplant Agency. The others—St. Paul’s Transplant Centre and the B.C. Children’s Hospital—performed 140 and 7 operations, respectively.

“Organ donation isn’t something people think about until it touches them in some way,” said John. “Stats show you are more likely to need a transplant in your lifetime than you are to become an organ donor. Register with your Care Card number at trans-plant.bc.ca—it takes only minutes, and can save a life.”

B.C. transplant success growth is a beacon of hope for the 495 individuals currently occupying the transplant wait-list in B.C. Helping to spur this hope is a B.C. Children’s Hospital plan to initiate a pediatric heart transplant program, as well as many people registered to become organ donors.

Despite the increase, 495 British Columbians remain on waitlist

Record number of B.C. transplants in 2013

ZDENKO ZIVKOVIC VIA FLICKR COMMONS (PHOTO)

4 NEWS • MARTLET February 20, 2014

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JANINE CROCKETT

UVic’s Canadian Blood Services Club held a blood drive on Feb. 18, in the Michèle Pujol Room of the Student Union Building. The campus blood drives are a collaborative effort between the Canadian Blood Services Club and Canadian Blood Services.

The club’s members are students who also volunteer with Canadian Blood Services. While the club doesn’t have an offi cial mandate, they do focus on getting younger people involved in the blood dona-tion process. Blood drives are familiar sight on campus, especially because of the need for blood donations from younger donors. The eligible age range for a person to donate is from 17 to 70 years of age. However, due to the aging population of Canada, there is a greater demand for dona-tions and fewer people with the ability to donate.

Club co-president Alyssa Hrenyk says, “Obviously younger people make better donors. The older you get, the more likely you are to be deferred for medical reasons, because you’re taking medications or those kinds of reasons. So it’s always better to have younger people. You’re more likely to be healthy, we have more energy, and I think just in general it’s better to engage young people.”

“We should really be focused on, especially in university, giving back to our community,” says Hrenyk, “and volunteering with the Canadian Blood Services has been a really great experience for me. I think that more people would enjoy volunteer experi-ences if they were exposed to them, so that’s why these clubs are really great.”

Student engagement has not been a problem for the club. UVic students have been receptive toward Canadian Blood Services and the Canadian Blood Services Club. The club has found that students have reacted positively to its activities. As well as students acting as volunteers, the appointments at on-campus blood clinics tend to fi ll up with student donors.

Due to popularity of on-campus blood donation, Hrenyk recommends

scheduling an appointment to donate as soon as possible. “So many young people are willing to donate that it fi lls up really quickly. We leave a couple openings for walk-ins, but, because there’s so many people donating, walk-ins typically have to wait longer than an hour, and we can’t even guar-antee them an appointment. So for campus particularly, we really encour-age appointments.”

Donating takes about an hour, but can take longer or shorter depend-ing on how many appointments are scheduled that day. The process to donate begins by signing in and com-pleting questionnaires that assess medical history and background. The clinic then checks hemoglobin in a donor’s blood, to ensure they have enough to donate. A nurse takes each donor’s blood pressure and temperature as well as reviewing the donor’s questionnaire answers, and determines if the donor is eligible to donate at the time. Hrenyk says, “If you pass all those tests, you move on. You go to the actual donation part, which takes about fi ve to 15 minutes depending on the person. And then you go get cookies and juice and hang out with the volunteers.”

While the campus clinics don’t have problems recruiting donors, some people may fi nd it diffi cult to donate due to personal reasons or fear of needles. However, there are other ways to participate in the club and donation process.

“We don’t want to pressure anyone to donate who isn’t comfortable or isn’t willing. That’s not at all what we’re trying to do. So if someone is right off the bat not interested, we’ll give them all the information they like. We try to inform them, and if they’re still not interested and their fear’s still too great, that’s fi ne. We just encourage them to maybe make a group dona-tion by encouraging their family and friends to go. Or volunteer, or maybe one day try to donate,” says Hrenyk. “If someone’s not interested in donat-ing, I don’t think it’s a good idea for them to go, because it’s going to be a negative experience, and we don’t really want that for people. We really want everyone to have a positive experience.”

UVic blood club encourages students to donate

KLARA WOLDENGA (GRAPHIC)


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ADAM HAYMAN

A group of colourful umbrellas cov-ered pathways surrounding the B.C. Legislature buildings on the after-noon of Feb. 15. The gathering came to speak out against trophy hunting of B.C. bears. The event lineup included Andrew Weaver, Green Party MLA; writers Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane; environmentalist Vicky Husband; and a duo of bear tour guides.

They want Premier Clark to take trophy hunting off the table as soon as possible. Eighty-eight per cent

of a representative B.C. population sample already expressed they don’t support trophy hunting. Ninety-five per cent of hunters in another poll don’t want to remove hunting in gen-eral, but would like to see an end to trophy hunting.

When hunting for sustenance, the whole of the animal is used. Trophy hunting usually results in removing the head, paws, and fur, and leaving the carcass. It is with this treatment of B.C. bears that the protesters and organizers took greatest issue.

The song “Have You Ever Seen

the Rain” played through the rain at the event, as folk duo The Wilds welcomed the protesters with their dulcimer (string instrument) and cajón (a percussion instrument). As people expressed their thoughts on trophy hunting with homemade signs—even a few dogs with “bears are my friends” scrawled on fitted t-shirts—Chelsea Turner took the stage.

Turner has been living around bears her whole life. Both of her parents worked as wildlife documentarians for CBC. She has seen grizzlies, black bears, and even spirit bears in B.C.’s

Great Bear Rainforest. She has fol-lowed in her parents’ footsteps and is now involved in wildlife filmmaking. Either on the screen or with a guide, Turner says, “Bear viewing is the way of the future . . . They are worth so much more to the province alive.”

Over 11 000 tourists came to visit the bears in 2012. This contributed $9.54-million to the GDP in 2012. Trophy hunting only generated $0.7-million. In the matter of the job market, an estimated 510 jobs are created thanks to the bear viewing industry, whereas the bear-hunting

sector was estimated at 11. Crozier and Lane both gave power-

ful readings that reflected the beauty of bears and what they felt was the senseless and vile act of trophy hunting.

The two bear guides talked of the joy they get from observing the awe in a tourist’s eyes when they first see on a bear in its natural habitat.

The speakers all said that it is up to the public to speak up against tro-phy hunting. They urged everyone to get involved and write a letter to their local MLA.

Protesters gather to speak against trophy hunting

SUSAN TURNER (PHOTO)Save B.C. Bears rally, Feb. 15, 2014, outside B.C. Legislature building

6 NEWS • MARTLET February 20, 2014

ADAM HAYMAN

While UVic conducted surveys to determine why people choose UVic, one parent and educator has ques-tioned UVic’s use of multiple-choice testing. UVic’s webpage states, “Instructors at UVic have become rec-ognized innovators in developing and identifying teaching practices which best support student engagement and success.” It is a statement that Michael Maser, educator and father of a UVic undergrad, may not always agree with. The question, “Why UVic?,” asked through the survey created by The UVic Difference project, has a different tone for Maser, now more than ever.

“It’s no longer appropriate to serve administrative needs over and above the learning interests of students,” said Maser. He has been questioning the university’s testing methods, spe-cifically in the faculty of sciences, for the past year. After getting in touch with the dean of sciences, Dr. Robert Lipson, and receiving what he felt was a “patronizing response,” Maser has tried contacting UVic’s presi-dent, Jamie Cassels, and aims to get UVic’s process of student evaluation changed.

Maser’s daughter, Robin, was enrolled in UVic’s theatre program during her first year, but tried out a few science courses at Camosun. “It was a smaller class and the teacher got to know their names,” said Maser. As welcoming as Camosun was, she looked through the UVic course cal-endar and Maser says it “was enticing to her. Ecology courses . . . she wasn’t going to get that at Camosun.”

“I didn’t know much about the science faculty,” said Maser. “The website said ‘come for the best qual-ity education that you can get’ sort of thing, not that any of them don’t say that.” UVic’s reputation for its educa-tion may be one of the university’s many draws for new students. The UVic Difference project asked stu-dents, staff, faculty, and alumni why they came and what they think of UVic by online survey between Feb. 3 and

18. The questions ranged from, “How satisfied are you with the academic experience?” to, “How important is it for UVic to be a research-inspired learning environment?”

The last time a study like this was conducted was 10 years ago. “UVic has a great reputation generally,” said UVic Difference Project Manager Bruce Kilpatrick, by email, “but we’d like to understand more about how the university’s perceived with various audiences in order to sharpen it up.”

Maser, who is an educator himself, has some thoughts of his own on how UVic could sharpen up. He has been given the Prime Minister’s Award for teaching excellence, as well as an award of merit from the B.C. Ministry of Education. He is dissatisfied with multiple-choice testing that his daugh-ter encountered at UVic. “I think the university needs to offer more person-alized testing,” said Maser. Some of The UVic Difference survey questions pertained to personalized experi-ences. “I think they need to break down class sizes into smaller cells . . . They need to do whatever is necessary to make this a meaningful experience for learners . . . I don’t have all the answers, but they need to at least consider them.” Maser added, “They need to shove multiple choice ques-tions off the table.”

The dean of the Faculty of Science, Lipson, said how he felt about mul-tiple-choice questions over e-mail correspondence. “Multiple choice exams, when developed correctly (and that is every instructor’s goal), provide an effective mechanism to test a wide range of detailed material in a clear, comprehensive manner in a reason-able time frame (one-hour midterm, three-hour final exam).”

UVic has recently invested in soft-ware that Dean Lipson said will “allow instructors who use multiple choice testing to determine which questions do a good job of measuring what was intended to be measured; which items are too easy or too hard or don’t discriminate well; and items that are redundant.” The name of the software

is Remark Optical Mark Reader. It offers statistics on which questions were answered right and wrong, giv-ing feedback after a test is written, on which questions were fair and which weren’t.

Multiple-choice questions are a more cost effective way of evaluating students. The all-too-familiar Scantron sheet can be graded quicker than a written exam. But Maser said, “It’s indefensible that Dean Lipson told me, last spring, that they can’t afford more personalized experiences.” When asked if some money should be pulled from other areas, like research, Maser said, “Research universities, they confuse their priorities. When those priorities of offering learning services to the young people, to their students, gets muddled up with research priori-ties—an exclusive focus on research to the detriment of learning experiences for young people—then there is a problem . . . Considering what kids are shelling out for tuition.”

So what is the role of research at a university? The topic was brought up many times during The UVic Difference survey. It asked people how important research was, as well as comparing perceptions of UVic’s quality of research to those of other schools in Canada. “The competi-tion among the 100-plus universities in Canada for students, faculty, staff, donors, partners, and funders, etc., is

becoming increasingly fierce,” wrote Kilpatrick.

Dean Lipson writes, “Our faculty members compete at the national level for Federal funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). They also compete for funds from the Canadian Foundation of Innovation and from industry.”

Research, according to Dean Lipson, “is an absolutely critical thread in the fabric of a university. It is this integra-tion of teaching and research, which I think enhances the student experi-ence and provides unique contexts to the curriculum, and therefore, distin-guishes universities from other types of post-secondary institutions.”

Cutting research funding in order to provide more personalized learning experiences may not be a possibility. When asked if research should receive a cut in order to afford more compre-hensive testing methods, Dean Lipson said, “The bulk of the research fund-ing is obtained from external sources, which is in addition to the budget allo-cated for teaching, not at the expense of teaching . . ..” He also wrote, “Our current budget issues are driven entirely by other external factors (such as a cut to UVic’s funding by the B.C. government). Conflating research with

testing methods is, in my opinion, not meaningful.”

Maser and Lipson both feel that stu-dents should have the ability to review their tests after receiving a grade. Maser mentioned that his daughter, as a UVic Science student, wasn’t able to review a test after receiving her grade; although, he couldn’t recall the class in which this happened. Dean Lipson said that, “In my opinion no student should be denied, and, in my experi-ence and to the best of my knowledge as dean, I am not aware of any student ever being denied the opportunity to check their bubble sheet to check what they did or did not get wrong on a multiple choice exam.” In many cases, class time is given to review the exam, or students are offered the option to review their exams during office hours or with a teaching assistant.

According to the Times Higher Education ranking, UVic is 11th glob-ally and first in Canada for schools under 50 years old. UVic is making a name for itself on an international stage. “We’re not going to rest on our laurels,” said Kilpatrick. The question of “why UVic?” will continue to be asked for many years to come.

Tell us what you think about UVic or multiple-choice exams on the Martlet’s

Facebook page or by tweeting us, @TheMartlet.

Award-winning educator questions UVic’s testing techniques

BRANDON EVERELL (PHOTO)


KATLYN GOEUJON-MACKNESS

Since Sept. 2013, the B.C. govern-ment has been working to remodel the province’s liquor laws. The government released its final recom-mendations Jan. 31, which highlight things like allowing alcohol to be sold in grocery stores, removing the fences around beer gardens, and allowing establishments to offer happy hours. Though desire for added conveni-ence has influenced the proposal, those of the recommendations that involve reducing the negative health and social aspects may have been overlooked by many reviewers of the proposal.

“We know that alcohol is already responsible for thousands of deaths and hospitalizations, as well as involvement in many crimes,” says Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. (CARBC) representative and UVic research associate Kara Thompson, “and so the result of that is significant social costs in terms of loss of life, but also in terms of economic costs and huge healthcare-increasing costs as a

result of drinking in the province.”Attorney General for Liquor Policy

Reform John Yap released 72 rec-ommendations in the final report of the B.C. liquor review. Many have to do with increasing convenience and availability of alcohol to British Columbians, but the report also tries to find the right balance in terms of health and safety impacts. “In the report itself . . . the very first set of recommendations are all health recommendations,” Thompson says, emphasizing the ways that the province is trying to counteract the potential harmful effects.

“Having a realistic understanding of the inherent risk of alcohol abuse in British Columbia today is a key direc-tive for this review,” the report says, “to create a licensing system that responds to emerging marketplace realities and reflects current lifestyles and societal values, while minimizing health and social harms caused by liq-uor.” The proposed changes to B.C. liquor policy take into account posi-tive as well as negative results, but, as Thompson says, “I think whether or

not it’s effective at reducing the costs of alcohol will largely depend on how the changes are implemented.”

“Many of the more popular recom-mendations, such as putting liquor in grocery stores and allowing bev-erages to be sold in more places will, the evidence tells us, increase the number of injuries, deaths, and crimes from alcohol use,” she says. “If they go ahead and do those things prior to implementing some of the more health-cost-reducing initiatives, such as changing minimum prices, implanting some of the social respon-sibility campaigns . . ., then we’re going to see increase in harm, and not reduction.”

The provincial government has not announced when it will implement the changes, and only time will tell how they will impact health and safety in B.C.

“Overall, I think there is a good bal-ance, and it’s important to talk about the good things that the province is doing to protect people from the harmful consequences of alcohol,” says Thompson.

Changes to liquor laws not all about availabilityCARBC rep says health and social impacts of proposed laws shouldn’t be ignored


Since 2007, almost 80,000 former students have received a Common Experience Payment (“CEP”) as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. CEP recipients are now eligible to receive non-cash Personal Credits of up to $3,000, for either themselves or certain family members, for educational programs and services.

What are Personal Credits? Personal Credits may be used for a wide range of educational programs and services, including those provided by universities, colleges, trade or training schools, Indigenous Institutions of Higher Learning, or which relate to literacy or trades, as well as programs and services related to Aboriginal identities, histories, cultures or languages.

How much are Personal Credits? Adequate funds are available for each CEP recipient to receive up to $3,000 in Personal Credits, depending on your approved educational expenses.

Which educational entities and groups are included? A list of approved educational entities and groups has been jointly developed by Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit representatives. If an educational entity or group is not on the list, please consult the website for more information.

Will I receive a cheque? No. Cheques will be issued directly to the educational entity or group providing the service.

Who can use Personal Credits? CEP recipients can use the full amount themselves or give part or all of their Personal Credits to certain family members such as a spouse, child, grandchild or sibling, as defined in

the terms and conditions. Personal Credits of multiple CEP recipients can be combined to support a group learning activity.

How can I get Personal Credits? Each CEP recipient will be mailed an Acknowledgement Form. If you do not receive an Acknowledgement Form by the end of January 2014, please call 1-866-343-1858. Completed Acknowledgement Forms should be returned as soon as possible and must be postmarked no later than October 31, 2014.

How do I redeem my Personal Credits? Once approved, you will be sent a personalized Redemption Form for each individual using Personal Credits at each educational entity or group. Once the Form is received,

provide it to the educational entity or group listed. The educational entity or group must then complete and mail back the Redemption Form postmarked no later than December 1, 2014.

What happens to unused Personal Credits? The value of unused Personal Credits will be transferred to the National Indian Brotherhood Trust Fund and Inuvialuit Education Foundation for educational programs.

For more information, including how Personal Credits can be redeemed by certain family members of CEP recipients that are deceased, visit www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca or call 1-866-343-1858.

The IRS Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) provides immediate and culturally appropriate counselling support to former students who are experiencing distress.

Personal Credits Notice

If you received a Common Experience Payment, you could get $3,000 in Personal Credits for educational programs and services.

The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.The healing continues.

1-866-343-1858 • www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca

CEP recipients have the option of sharing their Personal Credits with certain family members, such as:

•Children •Grandchildren

•Spouses•Siblings

EDITORIAL

Editorial topics are decided on by staff at our editorial meetings, held weekly in the Martlet office (SUB B011). Editorials are written by one or more staff members and are not necessarily the opinion of all staff members.

Happy? Sad? Enraged? Tell us: [email protected]

The Martlet has an open letter policy and will endeavour to publish letters received from the university and local community. Letters must be submitted by email, include your real name and affiliation to UVic and have “Letter to the editor” in the subject line. Letters must be under 200 words and may be edited.

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • OPINIONS 9

Watch Martlet video streeters and other shorts at youtube.com/martletuvic.Opinions

In early June 2013, former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was collecting the telecommunications records of American citizens. The rev-elation shed light on the NSA’s global surveillance system, which expanded after 9-11. However, despite the protests and controversy that Snowden’s cache first ignited, Canada’s alleged involvement on domestic spying is failing to attract as much attention.

Through an in-depth surveillance program known as PRISM, the NSA supposedly gained direct access to the servers of leading technology firms including Google, Microsoft, and Apple. The program permits the NSA to track emails, search his-tory, file transfers, social networking, and so on. Without a warrant, PRISM may collect stored and live communication content from users living outside the U.S., and from those contacting people outside the U.S.

Service providers vehemently denied any knowledge of data collection activ-ity, or collusion with the NSA. However, service providers are required by law to never disclose any exchanges with the relevant intelligence agencies—so denial is the only response we could expect, regardless of the truth. Companies such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook have demanded sweeping changes to U.S. surveil-lance laws, and support an international ban on bulk data collection, perhaps to regain their shaken reputations.

PRISM and XKeyscore, a recently revealed Internet-surveillance tool, are likely still active, and are perhaps used to collect data on Canadians. Additionally, millions of text messages are collected daily by the NSA using a database named Dishfire. Orwell’s vision in 1984 is becoming a reality in North America.

Are all these unfiltered collections useful? Whistleblowers of the NSA commented that such invasive intrusions of privacy are unnecessary for national security. Many have asserted that the NSA’s programs are, in part, used for political and eco-nomic benefit by monitoring oil and energy firms in Latin America, and embassies across allied countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Monitoring of charitable organizations such as UNICEF and Doctors of the World may make the actions of the NSA seem penetrating and indiscriminate.

These activities are generally concerning, but they are also dispiriting when considered in relation to our own country. The Government Communications Headquarters in the U.K. and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) were discovered to have close ties to the NSA and even utilized its database. One of their joint activities included hacking mobile devices of foreign diplomats at the 2009 London G20 summit. Despite announcements from CSEC officials and the Conservative government that such activities are prohibited, records obtained by The Globe and Mail revealed that CSEC has been renewing and approving its own metadata surveillance program to monitor telecommunications traffic. Moreover, Canada’s membership in the “Five Eyes” community—a secretive and powerful espionage alliance that includes Canada, the U.S., Britain, Australia, and New Zealand—is alarming. Spying on your own citizens is concerning unto itself; sharing that information freely with intelligence agencies in other countries is con-siderably more questionable, especially when the courts and elected leaders of these countries seem to have little awareness, let alone influence over, the alliance.

Disappointingly few questions have been raised by the Parliament’s opposition parties. Is this because even they’re unclear on the details? Or, do they simply have no power or means to address the situation? Or, do they consider these actions reasonably justified?

Internet communication has always been slightly chaotic and insecure. By access-ing the Internet, you expose yourself in ways that are still not fully clear. We must demand reform and get more involved. On Feb. 11th, an online protest—The Day We Fight Back—against mass surveillance saw participation by more than 6000 websites and organizations including reddit, Greenpeace, and Amnesty International. Governments exploit our trust in the name of security and are oper-ating outside the bounds of civil liberty. Diminishing our freedoms and ignoring individual rights is dangerous for democracies everywhere.

Abandoning liberty for security

SOPHIE PINKOSKI

I’ve always been terrified of talking on the phone. Just the sinister thought of a disembodied voice on the other end makes my heart pound in my throat and my palms sweat. You would think putting a face to a voice would make matters easier, but somehow commu-nicating with other human beings is a perpetual struggle. This time last year, I sat in a Sociology class that told me my problem could easily be construed as social anxiety, a mental disorder. It’s a common misconception that introverts, who don’t thrive off interactions with other people, somehow have a piece missing; that extraversion is the norm. I enjoy spending time with other people. I really do. But, only on my terms. I’m the girl who eagerly makes plans with friends weeks in advance, yet hesitates when it comes to last-minute invites. Believe me, I want that invite. I like knowing people want me around, but I also have no interest in leaving my quiet solitude. This is something that absolutely baffles my extrovert friends. They’re loud, spontaneous, and incred-ibly physical, and as much as I adore them, I can only handle so much before I’m overwhelmed. I am one of many introverts who suffer from sensory overload; we need to take the time to recharge on our own after exhausting

social experiences. Extroverts, on the other hand, demand social interaction as their own personal way to recharge. Herein lies a feedback loop of give and take that could give any two people on opposite ends of the introvert-extrovert spectrum a headache. I like seeing my friends in very small doses. Seeing a close friend once a week may sound like isolating torture to an extrovert, but I see it as a healthy way to prevent anyone from overstaying their wel-come in my personal space. Adding romance into the equation only makes things messier. I have spent a great deal of my life uninterested in roman-tic attachment. Having someone in my life sounds really wonderful in theory, yes. Unfortunately, with a significant other comes the necessity of sharing your time, space, and energy, and part of me just wants to put all that toward something more productive in my life, such as school or work.

What’s more, I have absolutely no interest in spending time alone with a person I just met. I can’t just go out and chat with a guy I happen to find attractive. I lack the spontaneity of my more extroverted friends to come up with a smooth opener. The introvert curse that keeps my brain from running in sync with my mouth makes it difficult to hold a conversation. The best I can do in any situation is the simple “Yes,

no, mmhmm,” even though I’m prob-ably more interested in what you have to say than I sound. I do have plenty of brilliant, witty and insightful things I could be saying to you. The problem is, none of it will come out coherently until long after our conversation has ended. I find it takes an incredibly patient per-son willing to wait long enough for me to untangle the jumble of words on the tip of my tongue.

I’ve thought a great deal about how I and other introverts could solve this problem of communication, and the only solution I can come up with is to be brave. Take a deep breath and dive into a conversation without overthink-ing it. Say a little something more than just the usual “yes” or “it was good” in response to silly small talk, even if it’s awkward and uncomfortable. Even though I love my personal bubble and spending time on my own, lately I’m willing to take that leap and engage with people. If it means gaining a new friend, important networking connec-tion, or even potential love interest, it’s worth risking a few words.

I don’t need a total transformation into a full-fledged, motor-mouthed extrovert, just the courage to say the magic words to spark a connection with other human beings. Because I may want to be alone, but I don’t want to be lonely.

Leave me alone, I’m lonelyThe contradictory whims of an introvert

The Lens: Russian Olympics

KLARA WOLDENGA

STUART ARMSTRONG

The Enbridge pipeline proposal to transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from the Alberta tar sands to the B.C. Pacific Coast for shipping overseas by oil tankers is contro-versial to say the least. Numerous Aboriginal groups such as the Yinka-Dene Alliance have protested against the project. I will be the first to mark the day when biodiesel (an organic substitute for petroleum) can be pro-duced on an industrial scale to take the place of oil. But if we are to live in a world where fossil fuels are used to make everything from gasoline and jet fuel to ink and rubber, we are going to have to consider our best options for shipping our oil out, with an emphasis on safety and efficiency.

The need for oil goes beyond gas-sing up the clunker that you drive to school every day or the bus you run to catch; governments will support oil production until they find an easy replacement, regardless of warnings of oil shortages and environmental damage. The 2010 television pro-gram World Without Oil speculates about the massive effects of oil short-ages. The program depicts shortages of anything derived from petroleum products, including rubber, ink, plas-tic, asphalt, industrial lubricants, fertilizers, and fuel for vehicles rang-ing from scooters and trains to airplanes and rockets. International

and national commerce becomes impossible, making food distribution impossible as well, until agriculture and urban life becomes more local-ized. Although fictional, the program demonstrates the inescapable value of oil. Most politicians are going to walk away from the economic bene-fits of being a better global source of fossil fuels, as long as they can raise tax revenue from it.

For Canada to make the most of our oil and liquid natural gas reserves, we have to ship to the best markets. That means Asia, specifically China and Japan. Though the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disas-ter in 2011 hasn’t changed enough minds yet, the Japanese may even-tually look to non-nuclear sources of power, and liquefied natural gas from B.C. may be a good prospect. And although China’s economy is slowing down, the Chinese will still need mas-sive amounts of oil and natural gas; Canada is a good market for both. America is a net exporter of oil thanks to shale oil drilling. Their demand for Canadian oil may decline in coming years.

There have been concerns from the provincial government about the safety of the coastline from oil spills. However, that seems to have been dealt with quickly. While Premier Clark said in a CBC interview on Oct. 2, 2013 that, “We are woefully under-resourced [to deal with a Pacific Coast

oil spill]”, she seems to have changed her mind: she gave a joint press con-ference on Nov. 5, 2013 saying she was satisfied with the “framework agreement” with Alberta Premier Allison Redford. That must have been some fast work on the part of the Federal government, as it is in charge of international waterways.

Are there alternatives to pipelines if we want to ship oil to the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic

coasts for export? Other than pipe-lines, tanker trucks and trains are most common. The problem with these methods is that they are more likely to have oil spills than pipelines due to the extra hazards associated with moving vehicles on transport routes. In 2011 there were 45 truck spills with an average of 3620 litres spilled per accident; one train spilled 70 000 liters, and 259 pipelines spill an average 12 259 liters per accident.

The number of accidents makes you wonder how the amounts would compare if the Enbridge Pipeline either succeeded, or failed and oil was transported by trucks and train.

While I don’t like the idea of super-tankers on the Pacific Coast, as long as Canada is in the business of exporting oil, all options need to be considered on their merits—if any.

10 OPINIONS • MARTLET February 20, 2014

JON-PAUL ZACHARIAS

Many years ago, when I too was young, I went for a walk and met a stray kitten. He followed me home and I let him in, opened a desk drawer, and put in a blanket. Purring, he climbed in and slept. He and I dis-covered common traits, among them a shared predatory disposition. He’d attempt to stalk me from the night-time shadows of our apartment, and, in that winter’s thick blanket of snow, we’d both creep in silence, tracking the snaking trails of raccoons.

So I feel I identify somewhat with cats, and I admire many of their char-acteristics: their alertness, agility, and self-sufficiency.

Yet, it is the very aloofness of cats, their silence, that keeps much of their behaviour a mystery to me. I didn’t always know what he was think-ing, and he communicated it less clearly than a dog would. We had fun together, though, and I think we were friends.

Not once did I ever wish to give him a funny hat, film him falling off the table, or take pictures of him with a book and glasses, captioned “I READZ TEH BOOKS!” Because, you know, he couldn’t read, and he never did anything to make me think he liked hats. And while I might laugh if one of my friends fell over, I think if watching them fall down was my favourite thing, I’d be a crappy friend.

Just what is it with people who gush over cute animals? On one hand, it seems quite benign. Animals are cute and fuzzy and seem almost like people, except they’re not. People

also gush over cute kids, these being pretty close to actual people except that they’re small and cute. The trou-ble is that the people gushing don’t seem to have a real interest in what they’re gushing over. They’re only interested in what they enjoy imagin-ing their objects of affection to be.

Some adults genuinely like kids. They have conversations with kids, listen to their opinions and ideas, and spend quality time with them. Other adults profess that they love kids, but they don’t treat them as people so much as animated entertainment. They enjoy watching them but have no interest in finding out what they think.

Not only do such adults have no interest in finding out what kids think, but they are actually uncomfortablewhen kids tell them what they think. At best, these adults don’t know how to deal with the concept that kids have autonomous minds. At worst, if the kids object to being patronized, it ruins the adults’ fun.

Cats present no such problem. Cats can’t speak our language, and we’re pretty bad at picking up their cues, if we pay attention, which we often don’t. And, as the true thoughts of cats remain mysterious, we are free to enjoy dressing up our cats in memes and laundry hampers and imagining funny human voices written in funny spelling.

Does this hurt the cats? I don’t know. I never did it to my own cat, and I can’t read the expression of the cat in the gif. But even if the cat is unharmed, is there a point? If we supposedly like someone, I think it

behooves us to take an interest in what they are actually experiencing, and not just lol at what we imagine they are saying as they dangle from a rope. And if we don’t care about what they actually think and just like to watch them for our own amusement . . . well, then we’re assholes, quite frankly, and patronizing assholes besides.

Almost a century ago a film was made about an Inuit man and his fam-ily. The film showed him hunting and kayaking and travelling around with his family. One scene has him watch-ing a gramophone and clamouring about it all bewildered. He keeps peering into it, trying to see where the voice is coming from, but he just can’t figure it out! Finally, he puts the record in his mouth! LOL! Jolly music plays.

This is pretty harmless. The happy fellow wasn’t hurt, we all got a good laugh, and the loveable native people weren’t going to see it anyway.

It all breaks down when kids get bigger and learn to speak eloquently, minority peoples learn majority lan-guages, and new voices of the quiet people we liked to watch drown out the comfortable narratives we chose to imagine for them.

I hated it then, hated it, and spent much time wandering outdoors, sick of the behaviour of adults, grateful for the company of a cat who shared my interests.

If and when cats learn to speak human languages, many pro-fessed cat lovers are going to find it uncomfortable.

And I can’t wait.

The Enbridge Pipeline: a necessary evil?

Letting the cat out of the bag


BRIANC VIA FLICKR COMMONS (PHOTO)Trans-Alaska Pipeline, privately owned by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • OPINIONS 11

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NEWLY RENOVATED RENTALS

HELEN KENNEDY

Late last year, Canadians were sad-dened to learn that four soldiers committed suicide in less than a week as a result of struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Earlier this month, Lieutenant-Colonel Stéphane Beauchemin died at home and became the eighth soldier in just two months to take his own life. In response, the Department of National Defense (DND) has finally begun the process of hiring more mental health professionals to support our military personnel. While I applaud the DND for dealing with staffing deficiencies, it is shocking that even though the need for mental health services in the Forces was identified, literally, decades ago,

deficiencies remain. As aid organizations such as Doctors

Without Borders assert, a person’s ability to manage his or her psycho-logical wellbeing is directly affected by support systems for that person. And, because PTSD has no defined timeline, support systems should be in place early to help soldiers process traumatic experiences in constructive ways. While we do not know exactly what prompts one person to ultimately suffer from PTSD and another not, strong evidence suggests early inter-vention plays a key role in forestalling the onset of PTSD.

Why budgetary constraints have been allowed to prevent the Forces from hiring the professionals they need eludes understanding—particularly

since a strong case can be made that mental health professionals are as necessary in war as ammunition. Just in case that metaphor wasn’t clear, what I’m saying is that guns don’t work without bullets and people don’t work without brains. If we’re know-ingly subjecting soldiers and civilians to stressful, life-threatening situations, it’s our responsibility to provide the services they require to overcome that stress. Why is it still even a debate?

The need for PTSD support is still debated because of how we write about, perceive, and understand psy-chological trauma. To use the recent rash of soldier suicides as an example, society does not become alerted to psychological trauma until there is vio-lence towards oneself or others. I posit

that violence needs to be understood as /one of many/ symptoms of psy-chological trauma, rather than as the most prominent symptom. We need to educate ourselves on the myriad manifestations of PTSD to effectively combat it. Moreover, journalists need to take responsibility to include more in-depth discussions in their articles covering PTSD.

The fact that so many Canadian sol-diers feel they cannot cope with the stress of combat and have no recourse for assistance is indicative of a need for education about the warning signs of psychological trauma and to ensure access to care is available. Merely instructing severely injured soldiers to seek help clearly is inadequate; soci-ety needs to understand what to look

for in terms of psychological trauma. Historical evidence suggests that

societal understanding leads to more engagement. In this case, we can see that articles about psychologically injured soldiers rarely contain any kind of in-depth discussion of the symptoms or factors that may precipitate PTSD. As such, PTSD makes headlines, while the nature of the disease—beyond the fact that it may lead to suicide—is largely unknown to readers. And with-out understanding a disease, how can we effectively advocate for victims? How can we truly engage in a discus-sion about the importance of mental health support for returning soldiers if we don’t understand what they are facing?

Soldiers need Canada to take responsibility with PTSD education and support

MARY ROBERTSON (GRAPHIC)

12 FEATURE • MARTLET February 20, 2014

Loss of choice:the mental

health system

AUTHOR’S NAME WITHHELD

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • FEATURE 13

Iam a returning University of Victoria student, currently studying Psychology. I am in my late 40s, rea-sonably intelligent and well read. I have many interests: I love to learn, I love music, I love children, I am crazy about animals, I love to make people

laugh, I love the great outdoors, I love to travel, and I love to cook and eat well. I exercise regularly, I work part-time, I volunteer, and I have an active social life. By all standards, I live a decent life.

I am also certifi ably insane. That’s not hyperbole: my inde-pendent lifestyle has been contingent upon my adhering to psychiatric treatment. This arrangement carries the force of law, so if I don’t show up for a doctor’s appointment or refuse my care team access to my home, I can be arrested under British Columbia’s Mental Health Act. Consequently, I am, as they say, “known to the police.”

THE BEGINNINGHow did this strange set of circumstances come to be? It started in the late ’80s at the University of British Columbia. I was 21 or so, and as I was fi nishing my pre-veterinary studies, I became overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety. Eventually, the feelings became so intolerable that I had to drop out of school and move back in with my parents. I then went to visit my family doctor, who referred me to a psychiatrist. First mistake. The psychiatrist encouraged me to say exactly what I was thinking, so I did. Second mistake. I was admitted to the Eric Martin Pavilion at Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital with a diagnosis of suicidal ideation. I was only there for about a month, but the experience trauma-tized me. When I got out, I suffered from nightmares and even more extreme anxiety that I would be arrested and locked up again. I was sequestered in my parent’s base-ment, convinced I was an absolute failure. From time to time, when the anxiety overwhelmed me, I would make a feeble suicide attempt and end up back at the hospital for a week or so.

After a more serious suicide attempt, I was hospitalized for a long time. My medical records show that at this point I was given Stelazine (an antipsychotic) in addition to my various antidepressants and tranquilizers. Excerpts from my records during this time include “asking repeatedly to go home . . . frightened of hospital . . . says food is disgust-ing . . . meds increased . . . judged an elopement risk . . . not convinced prescriptions will help . . . ” At this point, my refusal to agree that I had a bona fi de illness was termed “lack of insight,” which brought the further and much more serious diagnosis of schizophrenia that required—often via force—Surmontil, Kemadrin, Haldol, and Chlorpromazine, among other drugs. This massive and extended psychiatric assault upon my brain didn’t agree with me, and I fell into a three-year cycle of madness.

Eventually, the schizophrenia diagnosis was abandoned and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder took its place. This was a marginal improvement, I suppose, as schizophrenia is considered to be the epitome of mental illness, and those affl icted are generally feared and reviled. My medical records indicate that I was now: “grandiose . . . loud . . . demand-ing . . . sarcastic . . . euphoric . . . fl ippant . . . provocative . . . not cooperating with voluntary transfer to Psychiatric Intensive Care, carried by security staff . . . smiling inappropri-ately . . .” So the doctors added Lithium, Cogentin, Serax, Tegretol, Ativan and, eventually, electroshock “therapy” to my treatment regimen. Subsequent medical records include “uncooperative...security called . . . writing incoher-ent essays . . . looks physically unwell . . . [electroshock] next week . . . fearful and tremulous . . . self-infl icted knife wound, sutured . . . gait shuffl ing and stiff . . .”

At some point, I realized that the only way out of this night-mare was to agree with my captors that I was neurologically

defective, that I needed medication for life, and that the best I could hope for was to fi nd an inexpensive apartment somewhere and collect welfare. My co-operation was duly noted and I was released.

But, in fact, I secretly disputed their dismal predictions and got quite a good job as a legal assistant. Over time, I worked for various fi rms in town and, if reference letters are any indication, I was a talented and valued employee. Things were good: I had relatively well-paying work, owned my own home, travelled, and had horses. This bliss lasted for over a decade, all without psychiatric interference.

RELAPSEUnfortunately, madness reared its ugly head again in my mid-30s. I became obsessed with some kind of a perceived link between my wedding and the September 11 attacks that happened three days later. I should have been look-ing forward to an extended European honeymoon, but I could already feel that dark cloud coming down. When we returned home, crippling anxiety struck once again. I did everything I could, trying to will it away. I told no one. Eventually it became unbearable, and once again, it seemed to me that the only solution was death.

I suppose I must have the constitution of an ox, because I survived my suicide attempt through kidney dialysis and other treatments. It was close, though. My husband and par-ents were told to “expect the worst,” as my liver transplant was arranged. When the doctors asked why I had done it, I replied, “Because I couldn’t think of anything left to do.”

This was the beginning of my second tangle with British Columbia’s psychiatric system. This one lasted far longer (about 10 years), but it was otherwise very much the same: many MHA (Mental Health Act) arrests, hospitalizations, suicide attempts, psychiatric labels, medications, criminal convictions, the loss of many friendships, poverty, homeless-ness, street drug use, isolation, and overwhelming despair. I protested that my intervening healthy decade would indi-cate that my troubles were not neurological, but rather I was dealing with situational (and thus relatively treatable) anxi-ety that was being exacerbated by psychiatric treatment to the point of disaster—but my words fell on deaf ears.

ON MENTAL HEALTHI have experienced things many in our society wouldn’t infl ict on convicted murderers. And yet, the mental health system places mental patients in a special category of their own, one where our most basic charter rights (including the right to security of the person and the right to not be arbitrarily detained) are routinely denied. Ten years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada (in Starson v. Swayze) declared that a patient’s competence is a separate issue from their ultimate treatment decision. In other words, merely rejecting treatment does not in itself indicate incompetence. Today, this ruling is still being ignored. As it stands now, one can be considered competent to consent while incompetent to refuse. Either way, you are going to take the prescribed drugs, whether you consent or whether the director of a facility provides your “deemed consent.” This creates an insidious grey category, in which patients are “consenting,” but only under threat of involuntary treatment.

I remember, as a voluntary patient, telling a doctor that I didn’t like him and I wouldn’t be coming to my next appoint-ment. He told me I could come back or else he would “send the police out to bring [me] to the hospital in handcuffs.” Despite the outcome in the Starson case, there is simply no mechanism available for a patient to say, “Yes, I understand the consequences of my decision. Nevertheless, I choose to decline.”

If, as my doctors claimed, all mental illnesses (mine included) are neurological disorders, they’re certainly very unusual ones. Try to name one other neurological condi-tion that can (and often does) go into complete remission

without treatment. Indeed, although psychiatry is a right fi t for some, many of the people I have known who have made the most spectacular recoveries are those who have rejected psychiatry altogether. But the mental health sector continues to reject the idea of more humane and effective treatments, and removes any agency from those they deem to be disturbed. For me, and for many others, “for your own good” proved to be the scariest phrase in the English language.

And even if we frame mental illness as genuine disease, where does that leave us? Heart conditions and various metabolic problems related to obesity are certainly dis-eases, yet we’re not rounding up obese people and forcing bariatric surgery upon them. We allow people to smoke. We allow people to gamble. We allow people to drink alcohol in excess. We allow people to do all kinds of irresponsible and dangerous things. Except, we do not allow people to think strange thoughts; that’s prohibited.

REACHING OUTYou wouldn’t guess any of this by looking at me, because I put a lot of effort into passing for sane. Despite my facade, I acknowledge that I am not normal, in the sense that I often think and act in ways that other people don’t. It is not nor-mal to think that the tree outside my window is an exact and planned replica of the Falling Man photo from 9-11. Nor is it normal to think that people would like me better if I killed myself. Nor is it normal to get out of bed six times a night to check just one more time that my front door is locked. Yet, I see these and many other quirks as dysfunctional thoughts and behaviours, distinct from pathology. And apart from my present exam anxiety, now at alarming levels, and my inces-sant need for reassurance, I am quite happy. Although, I lost my job, home, husband, horses, and self-esteem years ago.

Going back to school after all this time is a glorious adventure, and I fi nd it energizing to be surrounded by such enthusiasm; however, sometimes I fi nd it diffi cult to relate to the other students. Not only are they younger than me, but my life has been very different from theirs. As well, in my psychology program, my professors often approach mental health issues in a way that my personal experiences contra-dict. I struggle to balance my quest for good grades against my obligation to give informed answers, not what is being sought by my professors. My rule is that on multiple-choice exams that will be marked by computer, I shall be content to say whatever the text tells me (e.g. that schizophrenia is a valid construct or that electroshock is only done with informed consent). But if it’s in my own handwriting, and will be read by an actual human being, it gets trickier. I have already lost marks for my non-conformist but nevertheless reasonable views.

And then there are the smaller things. I don’t, for instance, know how many more times I can hear the word “like” in the middle of a sentence, but these are minor obstacles, more to do with advanced age than mental status.

What I fi nd myself currently missing is friendship with other people like me within the UVic community. The Mad Students Society is a peer support and advocacy group that I am actively involved in for students who have lived experi-ence within our mental health system. The society is based in the Toronto area but welcomes members from all over. In the group, we discuss any and all pertinent issues, including our constant fi ght against “sanism” (mentalism), defi ned as the mainstream’s marginalization and rejection of those of us with psychiatric labels. To anyone out there dealing with these issues, I would like to extend an invitation to check out our website, madstudentsociety.com. And, if anyone is interested in starting a UVic chapter of the Mad Students Society, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Culture Thomas Beatie of the U.S. is one of several transmen who have borne babies.

14 CULTURE • MARTLET February 20, 2014

Full pass$40 students / $50 regular folkIncludes a one-year subscription to The Malahat Review

Words on Ice Reading on February 21 only$5 students / $10 regular folk at the doorIncludes the Winter 2013 issue

Full Schedule: malahatreview.ca/wordsthaw

Queries: [email protected] by: Coastal Spectator • CFUV • Focus Lansdowne Lectures • Planet Earth Poetry

February 20–22 at the University of Victoria

Lectures, readings, panels on the writing life

Thursday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.Liquid (i) city: Vancouver TransitionalA Lansdowne Lecture by Daphne MarlattRm. A120, David Turpin BuildingAdmission is free; no pass required

Friday, February 21, 7:30 p.m.Words on Ice: Evolution of the AuthorEight writers read from current workRm. A240 Human & Social Development Building

Saturday, February 22, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Human & Social Development Building

Four Panel Discussions aboutWriting Local HistoryWriting and SpiritualityWriting and Social ConscienceWriting and Social Media

Brief EncountersSign up for a 15-minute critique of your writing

The Malahat Review’s Second Annual SymposiumWordsThaw

An intellectual icebreaker at the cusp of spring

#2014

JANINE CROCKETT

Two 4 One, a unique romantic comedy, began pro-duction this month in Victoria. UVic Writing Professor Maureen Bradley will helm the film, which she has also written.

Two 4 One is billed as the first breakout feature film with a transgender character as its romantic lead. Adam, who is transitioning from female to male, has a one-night stand with his ex Miriam. Miriam had received sperm for self-insemination and, during their one-night stand, both Miriam and Adam end up pregnant from the same sperm. Bradley says, “I’m calling it a romantic comedy, but I don’t see it in the same vein as the traditional Hollywood romcom. It’s more of a comedic drama, but there’s romance in it.”

The idea for the film came from a book about home insemination. Bradley says, “My partner was trying to get pregnant five or six years ago, and we were reading this book about home insemination, written by a midwife. She just, in passing, mentioned this anecdote: If you’re doing this at home, be careful, don’t share your toys. She had a client that did that, a transgender man who helped out his partner a bit too much and got pregnant, and I read that and basically dropped the book and said, ‘Oh my god that’s a movie.’”

Two 4 One has a goal budget of $250000 which is the cap that Telefilm Canada sets on the projects it funds under its Micro-Budget Production Program. Telefilm Canada has donated half the budget through the program. Two 4 One is further funded by the British Columbia Arts Council and the Jim Murphy Filmmakers Scholarship. Bradley also turned to indiegogo, an online crowdsourcing fundraising website, and raised $20355 of the remaining $107000 needed for the full budget. The amount of the budget that Two 4 One has raised will allow the production to stay in Victoria and not have to move to Vancouver or be scaled down. Bradley is not only filming in Victoria but also basing the film in Victoria and plans to have it finished in the spring.

While Two 4 One may seem like a film trying to make a statement, Bradley says, “It isn’t an overtly political film, but I am starting to see how comedy and drama can reach people maybe a little more than activism can, unfortunately. I’m a lapsed activist. I started making films through that, not seeing the images that I wanted to see. Not seeing representation that really reflected the whole world. So that’s why I started making movies myself. Just broadening people’s notion of humanity and the human experience.”

Ultimately, Bradley says, “It’s a human story. All those struggles are very familiar to so many people. Love lost, love re-found, the desire to make a family, to connect and then losing that, and acceptance from your parents, from your circle.”

UVic professor films transgender comedic drama in Victoria

Above: Maureen Bradley on set. Below: Behind-the-scenes of Two 4 One. ARNOLD LIM (PHOTOS)

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • CULTURE 15

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GABE LUNN

It’s no secret that mainstream music award shows tend to be narrow-minded in their nominations and are not known for giving out awards based on artistic innovation and variety. What’s played off as an all-out celebra-tion of the fi nest and most talented heads in the music industry new and old has often been ridiculed for being more like a select club for those who are able to pull off a double-platinum and decide to pat each other on the back while sipping champagne. Look at any Internet thread concerning the Grammys or, in the case of Canadian music, the Junos, and you’re likely to catch the derogatory term “circle jerk” once or twice. However, looking back at this year’s 56th Grammy awards, there has been progress made in recogniz-ing independent music. Independent hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took home the award for Best New Artist, and Vampire Weekend won Best Alternative Music Album for their third LP, Modern Vampires of the City.

Now, with the nominations list released for the 43rd annual Juno awards, while there are a good number of independent artists, 80 fi rst-time Juno nominees in fact, being

recognized by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), it’s already apparent that some of the nominated artists are not exactly innovative nor wide reaching in the Canadian music community. Understandably, we couldn’t nominate all those involved in Canadian music, from the stadium headliners to the cover bands playing at your corner street bar; there must be a degree of selection. But when the choices in art-ist recognition become so limited that we’re only celebrating a small assort-ment of musicians and not the current breadth of Canadian music, we’re at a loss for noticing those who still pro-duce admirable work but don’t have the means of promoting it.

Montreal’s indie powerhouse Arcade Fire lead the Juno nominees this year, with a total of six nominations for their album Refl ektor, contend-ing for Juno Fan Choice, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, Group of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Alternative Album of the Year. Other multiple nominees include Michael Bublé and Serena Ryder, both with fi ve nominations (Ryder oddly won last year for adult alternative album of the year and is now nominated for album of the year), as well as artists Drake,

Tegan and Sara, Hedley, and Celine Dion, who each have received four nominations.

Discrepancies seem to be fl oat-ing around like fl ies this year, though. Celine Dion, mentioned above as hav-ing four nominations for her album, Loved Me Back to Life, already has 20, that’s right, 20 Juno wins under her belt. Robin Thicke, a longtime Los Angeles resident who only has Canadian citizen-ship by way of his father, Alan Thicke, is booked to perform and nominated for three categories, including Artist of the Year. Thicke’s track “Blurred Lines” was a billboard smash hit, despite being widely criticized for promoting misog-yny and rape culture.

Even some details concerning nomi-nations for independent artists seem suspect. Toronto-based indie-rock

outfi t Born Ruffi ans have pulled in a nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year; however, the Ruffi ans have been playing together for nearly 11 years now, releasing their third LP this past year, Birthmarks. A likely cause of this is the Juno’s sales requirements for major categories like Breakthrough Group and Album of the Year.

There is something to be said though for smaller artists getting major recog-nition by CARAS. First Nations DJ trio A Tribe Called Red have been nomi-nated in both the Breakthrough Group of the Year and Electronic Album of the Year categories. Other independent artists nominated include indie-rock band July Talk, electronic artist Ryan Hemsworth, and art-rock collective Yamantaka // Sonic Titan.

The winners will ultimately be

revealed come March 30 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Man. Arcade Fire is sure to be a strong participant, as are Drake and Robin Thicke. At the end of the day, though, on a technical level, none of these artists is any bit superior over another. Neither the innovative independents nor the top-40 giants deserve more of your attention, because neither of them is technically more impressive than the other. If you disagree with the current nominees and who Canada’s best current artists are, it’s important that you voice your opinion and share new music rather than being passive. Instead of basing our ideas on the best musicians and artists in Canada as judged by a select panel, why don’t we explore what Canada’s music scene has to offer and decide for ourselves?

Nominations show little in way of relevance . . . again

This year’s Juno nominations are in



February 24thquarter finals

$1 cover

Aztec [8:30-9:15pm]& Downtown Mischief [9:30-10:15pm]

& Forcast [10:30-11:15pm]

Monday Nights!

www.felicitas.ca

ANGIE REAMER

If you are looking for a funky place to hang out that has trendy music and delicious food at reasonable prices, then you need to try out the Tapa Bar, located in the heart of downtown Victoria, in historic Trounce Alley. The unique, Hispanic-inspired menu and interior design have kept this local restaurant in business for over 15 years.

The decor is a unique blend of Hispanic meeting abstract design. Sitting down with the manager, Emily Henderson, I learned that Dano Lee, the owner, had a specific vision for this restaurant. Fifteen years ago, the idea of small dishes called “tapas” was a unique concept for Victoria. According to the website, the defi-nition is, “Tapas are small, flavourful dishes that can be served as an appe-tizer or together as a meal.” Tapas are meant to encourage sharing between people, which then leads to more conversation.

I browsed through the menu and noticed that there are a variety of tapas to choose from. For instance,

there is a traditional “Latin Tortilla Soup”; salads such as “Chickpea and Chorizo” with artichokes and pars-ley; seafood tapas such as “Gambas con Coco,” prawns in coconut milk curry with cucumber and tomato; and “Mussels de cha cha cha,” Salt Spring Island mussels in a fiery pepper sauce. In addition, there are vegetarian choices such as “Grilled Eggplant” with tomato basil and goat cheese, or for those who prefer a gluten-free menu, you could enjoy “Grilled Kale” marinated in coconut milk, cayenne, and lemon. The selection of tapas is impressive, but the artistic ambi-ence is also part of the allure of the restaurant.

The influence of Hispanic culture is clearly apparent in the interior design and in the choice of music played in the restaurant. The artwork on display is by Mexican artist and mural painter Luis Merino, and music from various parts of Spain and Latin America bring an energetic feeling into the space. I asked Henderson what her vision for the Tapa Bar was for the future, and her reply was, “I really love it as it is. I like the fact that

people feel comfortable. People feel like this could be their place for a vari-ety of different social activities.”

I decided to stay and have a quick bite in this Hispanic paradise before I returned to the reality of my doc-toral studies at UVic. I had the “Latin Tortilla Soup” and the “Mussels de cha cha cha.” I ordered the mus-sels partly because Henderson

recommended them, but mostly so I could say the name. Both dishes were superb. While I was ahaving my lunch, with my husband as my surprise date, I looked around the room and took in my surroundings. The bright colours in contrast with the dim lighting cre-ated a certain warmth. The Spanish music playing in the background com-pleted the nostalgic ambience. I had a

temporary flashback of the movie Like Water for Chocolate (1992), directed by Alfonso Arau, which was based on the book Como agua para chocolate (1989) by the Mexican author Laura Esquivel. The sensual scenes of cook-ing Mexican dishes danced in my mind and were only interrupted with the not-so-sensual arrival of the bill.

The Tapa Bar: a local success story

ANGIE REAMER (PHOTOS)


JORDAN KOVACS

Gluten-free eating is a concept that has exploded in popularity since seminal text Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, revealed the apparent myriad of health complexities behind North Americans’ staple grain. The book has sold mil-lions of copies and sat comfortably on the New York Times Bestseller list for three years running. Davis will be one of the speakers present on Feb. 22 at the fi rst Victoria Gluten-Free Health and Wellness Festival.

The Victoria Conference Centre will play host to the variety of health-themed vendors, talks, and activities—not all exclusively about gluten-free lifestyle, but part of a larger picture intending to build better body through a holistic approach.

Celiac disease is a genetic predis-position preventing the lower intestine from digesting gluten—from wheat and other glutinous grains. “Celiacs” become very ill after ingesting gluten, however many people are learning that

even without celiac disease, they may still benefi t from a gluten-free diet.

“Victoria is a food-centric city,” observed one of the event’s organizers, Ari Hershberg. A cursory glance around the Cornerstone Café in Fernwood confi rmed this—”superfood power-balls” and probiotic Kombucha sodas stock the food display and patrons sip soup-bowl sized mugs of frothy espresso drinks.

Hershberg gave me a rundown of some of the talks happening during the day at the festival, which will include talks by three doctors from Pacifi c Rim College and food demos by Tara Black and Marion Neuhauser, the owners and founders of Origin Bakery, and Chef Michael Williams of Country Grocer.

The event’s emphasis on build-ing a health and wellness community in Victoria is refl ected through the local sponsorship of the event. Origin Bakery, Red Barn Market, and the Pacifi c Rim College are familiar names that are sponsors for the event.

“About 80 per cent of the vendors

are local,” says Hershberg. “There will be acupuncturists and chiroprac-tors, there will be gyms. A room of yoga teachers will be instructing yoga for things like digestion problems and stress, and there will be a theatre room with talks on gluten-free diet, Chinese medicine, and talks for kids.”

The event is divided, with vendors and speakers running from 12–5 p.m., then a separate event in the even-ing, featuring Davis, that will run from 7–9:30 p.m. Davis will share his theories and thoughts, then afterward, a round-table discussion will give doctors from the city the opportunity to ask him common questions they’ve heard from their patients and on social media.

Gluten-Free Health and Wellness Festival @ Victoria Conference Centre

(720 Douglas St.)$5 at glutenfreefestival.com ($7 at the

door) for the day portion$25 in advance for Davis’s talk ($30 at the

door)

Bestselling author kicks off Victoria’s fi rst gluten-free festival



VIPIRG Spring 2014 Refund Period

Refunds: Every UVic student is a member of VIPIRG and pays a member ship due through their student fees. Undergrads pay $3 per full time semes ter or $1.50 per part time semester. Grad students pay $2 per semester. This fee is refundable by cheque to students during a refund period each semester. Students who receive a refund lose access to the VIPIRG library and programming, and are no longer eligible to vote in VIPIRG elections or stand for election to the VIPIRG Coordinating Collective.

The Spring 2014 Refund Period will be held Monday, March 3, 2014, through Friday, March 14, 2014.

Refund forms can be picked up at the VIPIRG office in Student Union Build ing B120. To collect your refund, please attach a print-out of your Spring 2014 class timetable or class list (e.g. from http://www.uvic.ca/current-students/index.php -- select a print-out from the summer semester) to your form, in order to confirm that you are currently a registered student. For more information: [email protected].

Forms will be posted on the office door (SUB B120) for the convenience of students coming outside office hours.

The Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG) is a non profit organization dedicated to research, education, advocacy, and other action in the public interest. Located in the Student Union Building of the University of Victoria, VIPIRG is a place where students and community members connect to work together on social and environmental justice issues. The organization’s current focus is on decolonization, student engagement, and local poverty. VIPIRG has been operating since 1983, when UVic students voted to join BC PIRG. For publications and information on our working groups, resource library, campaigns and events see www.vipirg.ca

VIPIRG’s achievements include: • spring 2014 Toolbox Workshop Series for student activists• ongoing collaboration and programming with Indigenous communities in

resistance to pipelines and fracking• Dis/Orientation days programming in collaboration with other campus and

community groups in fall 2013• ongoing collaboration with community groups addressing local poverty issues • research that was the basis for the establishment of a community dental clinic • successfully lobbying UVic to create a recycling program on campus • putting cruise ships on the map as a local environmental issue • establishing a native plant garden and supporting a community garden at UVic

Lovely Things Vintage

768 Yates(down the stairs)

mention this ad for 10% off all vintage

The Martlet is an independent weekly student newspaper at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is a non-profi t society governed by a board of directors and operates according to a statement of purpose.

Every full-time UVic student pays a fee to the Martlet each semester through a levy collected by the UVSS.

Undergrads pay $3.75 per full-time semester or $1.88 per part-time semester. This fee is refundable by cheque to students during a refund period each semester. Students who wish to receive a refund must sign a declaration, can-not participate in Society events or use copies of society publications.

The Winter 2014 Refund Period will be heldFriday, February 14, 2014 – Friday, February 21, 2014

Refund forms can be picked up in the Martlet offi ce, Student Union Building B011, between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.

FEBRUARY 20 – 26

ARTS

Saturday, Feb. 22

PICNIC AT THE PHOENIX THEATRE UVic’s Phoenix Theatre presents the fi nal day of the play “Picnic,” a 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama which depicts life in post-war, pre-feminism America. Tickets are $24 and showings begin at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Phoenix Theatre at the University of Victoria. Please note there will be a sign language interpreter for those who may require it.

COMMUNITY

Friday, Feb. 21

VICTORIA’S FOOD FOREST RESTORATION WALK The city of Victoria was a major producer of fruit in the 1800s, and remnants of this history exist in orchards across the city and in the yards of many local homes. This walk through the streets of Fernwood and Spring Ridge Commons aims to encourage the restoration of this “food forest” and promote food security on Vancouver Island. The free walk is not strenuous, but good footwear, water, and rain gear are suggested. Walks begin at the Administrative Services Building at UVic at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and last two hours.

Sunday, Feb. 23

VICTORIA COMIC BOOK EXPOExplore thousands of comic books from throughout the ages, as well as toys and other interesting collectibles. Admission is free, and there may even be the chance to pick up some free comics, so make sure to drop by the Comfort Inn & Suites Conference Centre, located at 3020 Blanshard St., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 26

VICTORIA DOWNTOWN FARMERS’ MARKET

Drop by the Victoria Public Market this Wednesday to pick up some tasty food to eat right away or cook up later. The market features the Island’s best produce, fresh from local farms. In case you miss a week, don’t worry—the market runs weekly from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hudson, which is located at 1701 Douglas St. Entry into the market is free.

FOOD & DRINK

Tuesday, Feb. 25

DINNER AND A SHOW

Enjoy a movie in style courtesy of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, located at 1175 Beach Dr. Wash down a decadent and fun menu of mini sliders or fi sh ‘n’ chips, buttered popcorn, and ice cream sandwiches with a micro-brew or glass of fi ne wine, while watching the fi lm Gravity starring Sandra Bullock. Tickets are $24 and include movie and food, although drinks are at an additional cost. The show starts at 6:15 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m.

LECTURES

Thursday, Feb. 20

FREE TALKS

Back-to-back public lectures tackling important, debate-heavy questions are taking place at UVic, starting with “From Reactive to Proactive Counterterrorism.” The talk will be given by UVic Centre for Global Studies Associate Fellow Ron Crelinsten and will take place 1:30–3:30 p.m in Sedgewick Building, room C168. Please RSVP to [email protected], as seating is limited. The second lecture offered is “Religious Laws: Do We Need ‘You Shall’?” by University of Toronto Philosophy Professor Robert Gibbs, beginning at 4:30 p.m. and ending at 5:30 p.m. in the David Strong Building room C122. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

MUSIC

Monday, Feb. 24

BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2014

Felicita’s Campus Pub at UVic presents the weekly Battle of the Bands showdown, taking place every Monday from Jan. 13 to March 24. This week will feature reggae band Forecast and funk/jazz band Downtown Mischief. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show goes until 11 p.m. Admission is $1.

BRONTË RENWICK-SHIELDS

CHORONG KIM (GRAPHIC)


CHOOSE YOURCERTIFICATEADVERTISING – MEDIA MANAGEMENT

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FASHION MANAGEMENT & PROMOTIONS

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APPLY NOW!

POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATESbusiness.humber.ca/postgrad

AT ITS VERY BEST

We will host an “ask-the-editor” session,

as well as offering tea and goodies.

12 – 2 p.m.February 26th in Clearihue

with a Martlet editorHAVE TEA

Missing the Business|Tech section? Find it online now, and in print next week.Sports | Lifestyle

20 Sports | Lifestyle • MARTLET February 20, 2014

TYLER BENNETT

If you’re looking for an impressive coaching resumé at UVic, look no further than UVic’s former men’s row-ing head coach Howard Campbell. He’s won five national champion-ships in his 23-year tenure at UVic, he’s coached 17 student athletes to the Olympics, and he’s been a coach for Canada’s National Rowing Team. There isn’t much that Campbell hasn’t done in terms of coaching, but he’s hoping to help Team Canada take the lead on the Olympic podium in the near future, something Campbell has yet to attempt.

Campbell has been at the helm of the men’s rowing program at UVic for over 20 years, and he’s shaped the program to strive for success and hard work. Campbell has found the profes-sion of coaching to be “just constant renewal, both personally and with any group you’re with.” Year after year, Campbell has mentored UVic row-ers and led them to success. With the program in good standing and in good hands, Campbell has decided to step down and move on to the Canadian national team. Although, there’s no doubt that Campbell has been the face of the UVic men’s row-ing program for decades and his legacy at UVic will be remembered.

Campbell has mentored veteran rower Will O’Connell for the past four and a half years, and O’Connell has nothing but positive things to say about his head coach.

“He’s great,” O’Connell says. “He’s a pretty dominant personal-ity.” Campbell’s passion for rowing seems unmatched among his peers, and his rowers feed off that passion. “His energy is what sets him apart from other coaches,” says O’Connell. “He’s so emotional and it really takes over the team.” O’Connell remembers his first encounter with Campbell. “We all sat in a room for the first meeting of the year, and he addressed us and basically told all of the freshmen ‘Most of you are going to leave,’ and basically, ‘I’m going to breathe fire and if you can’t take it, get out.’” O’Connell, who had been a rookie at the time, says that he’s really improved as a rower under Campbell and credits a lot of his changes and success to his head coach.

Although Campbell has been known to have a tough-love streak, many rowers also say that he has a soft spot.

“I’ve been called demanding,” Campbell says, “but I’ve also been called inspirational.”

O’Connell recalls a time, two years ago in Shawnigan Lake, when

Campbell sat for an hour and told a long story about his passion for row-ing that sparked the team and really inspired the students. “Without him ever formally saying it, he was proud of us,” O’Connell says. “It was inspiring.”

Although Campbell does have a hard-nosed style of coaching, Campbell is still able to connect with his rowers and motivate them to win. “I still love [coaching] as much as I did the day I started doing it,” Campbell says. “I’ve been fortunate to be able

to do something I love doing for my whole life.” Campbell will continue to mentor and teach rowers across the nation, something he’s always loved to do.

Campbel l ’s determinat ion to achieve success has led his teams to five Canadian University Championship Titles and has also landed him a spot on the Canadian national team. “My ambition will always be to see UVic do very well,” Campbell says. “[The program] is in a very good state and there is a solid

group of athletes.”Campbell’s style of coaching, mixed

in with his determination to succeed, has helped form some of Canada’s greatest rowers; Campbell seems to breed success, for his rowers and his team. Campbell’s legacy will last here at UVic, and the renowned coach says he’ll never forget his time at UVic either. Campbell now heads into the next chapter of his coaching career, hoping to continue his success at the national level.

ALEX KURIAL

UVic’s international sailing tour brought the team to the beautiful shores of Hawaii this past month, where they put on an amazing display over the two-day Rainbow Cup, on Jan. 18 and 19, to place second in the event, stunning some of the Pacific sailing powerhouses in the process.

UVic’s senior “A” boat, sailed by David Berry and Adele Horbulyk, took home the initial win of day one in the third race and was followed by three wins from “B” team’s Sarah Berry and Reid Cannon later in the day. The strong racing saw UVic leading the regatta after the day’s 16 races, holding a narrow 56–57 lead over host-side Hawaii.

It was no surprise that Cannon and Sarah Berry carried UVic, as they had

displayed the same poise to lead UVic in the Pacific Coast Championship in November, which served as the quali-fier for this event. Their four wins over the course of the weekend propelled them to an amazing regatta-best score of 38, solidifying the duo’s place as sailing powerhouse teammates.

The first race of day two saw the senior team fall off track however, as Horbulyk and David Berry came a disappointing 10th, to fall behind Hawaii. Despite Sarah Berry and Cannon responding with a win in the next race, UVic was never able to regain the lead, and Hawaii’s senior squad posted 10 strong results on Sunday to capture the title.

Altogether, UVic won five of the regatta’s 26 races to finish with 108 points. They were only edged out by hosts Hawaii, who reigned victorious

in eight races and finished with a score of 92.

UVic’s junior squad also competed in the regatta. The junior “A” boat was manned by Manuel Gomez and Heather Lee. They enjoyed a third-place result in their seventh race, a high finish shared by “B” boat’s Emma Dayton and Jordan Pow in their final race of the tournament.

Together, the junior boats com-bined for a score of 221, good for 11th out of the 13-team tournament. While well off the mark of the con-tenders, the regatta provided the relatively young sailors with some valuable experience for when they become veterans of the UVic sailing team.

The second-place result from the senior team marked another interna-tional success for UVic, who may now

be seen as a perennial contender on the West Coast sailing scene.

The weekend of Feb. 8–9 saw the team compete closer to home for a change, taking on a trio of Pacific Northwest teams in the Sea to Sky Regatta in Vancouver. This time, UVic battled to victory in the 12-race event to keep their red-hot 2014 season rolling.

With neither Sarah Berry nor Cannon competing in this event, it would be left to the rest of the team to step up. Geoff Abel and Horbulyk did just that, their “B” boat win-ning an astounding five of six races for a near perfect regatta score of seven. The “A” boat of David Berry and Dayton won three of their races, allowing the senior team to easily take top spot with a total score of 25.

UVic’s second team of Ted Alley

and Lee, in the “A” boat, were the strong side on the day. They won their fourth race and combined with Lara Gemmrich and Pow in the “B” boat for a fourth-place finish.

A third team, of Brianna Cerkiewicz and Liam Quinlan in the “A” boat and Jacqui Martindale and Nicholas Whyte in the “B” boat, rounded out UVic’s entry in the tournament. Cerkiewicz and Quinlan looked set to shock the competition by winning the first two races on the day, but would later trail off, settling for a sixth-place finish with their “B” boat teammates.

The win will provide UVic with plenty of confidence going into their next regatta.

UVic team sails Hawaii

Former men’s rowing head coach headed to national team

PROVIDEDHoward Campbell (left) and Aalbert Van Schothorst (right) at last week’s new rowing head coach announcement.

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • Sports | Lifestyle 21

SHANNON K. AURINGER

Textbooks are stacked around the legs of your chair, research information and scholarly papers cover every inch of the kitchen table, while your laptop sits open to a blank Word document. You have two midterms to do in the next week, a research paper, and too many essays that make it impossible to think about doing anything else. So where are you, if not in your seat working hard at the game of getting ‘er done?

Well, currently you’re doing the dishes, while Netflix plays your favourite movie in the background. After all, it’s almost impossible to concentrate on homework with a messy kitchen. Right? Then you have to call your mom and check to see if the cat got over that nasty cold last week and remind her to remind your dad that it’s garbage day. You may even call your brother to let him know that you’re swamped with homework today and probably won’t have any time to talk on the phone with him. By the end of the day, the only thing you have completed to its fullest is procrastination.

Procrastination isn’t exactly a disease, although it does seem as if many of us do suffer from it on a regular basis. Something always seems to come up that prevents the things that really need to get done from actually being accom-plished. The result is finishing tasks late or maybe even not at all. Which usually leaves us feeling bad about ourselves and swimming in a thick swamp of regret. So if we know this about our tendencies, then why do we still do it?

The reality of procrastination is that it’s all about making decisions and prioritiz-ing what we should do first. Sometimes it is as simple as the fact that what we should be doing isn’t as fun as what we want to being doing, so we put it off to a later date. Going out for drinks and appies with friends is far more exciting than staying home and doing laundry.

But at the end of the day, that laundry needs to get done. So when we are all out of clean socks and underwear, it usu-ally hits the top of the priority list pretty fast and gets accomplished. Let’s face it: no one likes recycled unmentionables.

Then there are the other times, and you know which ones I’m talking about. The times you have the big research paper due, student loan forms to fill out, or some other task that has a non-nego-tiable deadline. At first, you tell yourself that you have plenty of time, but as every day goes by, you begin to feel more and more overwhelmed at your impend-ing deadline. Pretty soon, you’re more focused on crafting an amazing excuse while staying in the realm of believability than you are about just getting your stuff done. You keep telling yourself, “If only I had more time”, while knowing in real-ity that it probably wouldn’t even make a difference.

There are no quick fixes or 10-step programs out there for procrastinators, whether you’re a chronic offender or just casual one. The only way to really combat this make-believe disease is to acknowledge why you’re putting it off to begin with. The old excuse ‘that’s just the way I am’ does not apply here.

Procrastination is a behaviour, not a personality type—therefore it can be changed. Be kind to yourself, and don’t be afraid to admit your insecurities. Many times, the fear of failure will actually make us self-sabotage and cause procrastina-tion. This is usually followed up with shifting the blame and finding some-thing or someone else to scapegoat our behaviour. Accept the task that needs to get done and tell yourself that everything else can wait. Then set out working on it, a little bit a day or all at once. Wouldn’t you rather the euphoric high of accom-plishment over the walk of shame of being late? There is no other way to get it done than to just do it.

Kickin’ it old school

Just do it!Admit procrastination is not a disease

Explore over 50 ideas worth celebrating at the University of Victoria’s third annual IdeaFest.

This year’s festival shines a spotlight on the diverse research, creativity and passion for knowledge found in every corner of campus, with topics ranging from renewable energy

technology and global peace-making to innovations in music composition and human health.

New and emerging research will be brought to life in a wide range of panels, workshops, exhibits, lectures, performances, screenings and tours.

IdEAFEST2014MARCH 3 – 8

Ideas that can change everything.

www.uvic.ca/ideafestCome be inspired and engage with ideas that really can change everything.


22 Sports | Lifestyle • MARTLET February 20, 2014

JENNA BRIGHT

Parm Gill is a fourth-year Biology and Environmental Studies student, vice president of UVic Scuba Club, and Vikes Nation member.

MARTLET: When did you fi rst seek to try scuba diving? What prompted it?

PARM GILL: During fi rst year, the UVic Scuba Club came around to our class saying, “Hey—scuba diving—join—there is a dive club on campus.” But fi rst year, obviously, it’s really hard to get all your fi nances in order. So I didn’t join fi rst year. I did join second year though. I saved up for it and took the Open Water course [in Victoria]—I’ve been hooked ever since!

M: Have you had the opportunity to explore diving outside of Victoria?

PG: I have! I’ve been diving in Squamish, Whitecliff Park, and around the Island. I’ve gone [diving] in Nanaimo, Campbell River, and Tasis.

M: What attracted you to Scuba diving?

PG: So, there is a funny story to this, I saw [scuba diving] in a movie and thought some people were really cool because they were diving, and I wanted to be cool too, so . . . haha . . . But, at the same time, I’ve always been capti-vated by the natural beauty that is the environment that surrounds us. I grew up in Squamish, which as you [may] know is one of the recreational capitals

of Canada, so I was very well attuned with my natural surroundings. When I came to Victoria though, although it does have greenery and shrubbery, it is a bit of a city. So I started exploring dif-ferent avenues to get in touch with the environment, and one of the ways that I found that was through scuba diving.

M: What is your current favourite dive site, locally? a

PG: Ten mile point—by far! It’s a pretty accessible dive location [being] only a 10-minute drive from the university. It’s amazing. It’s a huge wall dive; you can go down to about 80 feet and [the wall] is absolutely covered in life—it’s so vibrant and full of energy. Other than the attractiveness of life, because it’s so accessible, if I know I have two

hours free, I will throw my kit in the car, park on campus, go to my class, jump in my car, go for a dive, jump back out. And although I may not have time to take off my onesie, I will still be able to make it to my next class!

M: What is the coolest thing you’ve seen underwater?

PG: You can see this above-water too, but, bioluminescence. The coolest thing is to be swimming and just have bits of light streaming past you—it’s fascinating. And seeing creatures that illuminate themselves [on night dives] is absolutely breathtaking.

M: If you can sum it up, what does the ability to breathe underwater mean to you?

PG: The ability to breathe underwa-ter for me is a privilege. You’re going into an environment that we have an effect on but we never really have the privilege to visit and see those effects. That’s what breathing underwater gives you, the ability to go down there, take a look around and see the effects that we’re having on the environment. One thing that I also fi nd underwater is that I can meditate, which, under normal circumstances, I’m not going to sit there for 45 minutes to medi-tate. It’s not my personality. But if I’m underwater and I just tune out and get in synch with my environment, I fi nd that it’s very relaxing and it keeps me grounded. Grounded while maintain-ing neutral buoyancy!

Under water with Parm GillQ&A with the UVic scuba club

BRANDON EVERELL (PHOTO)Divers Phillip Selbee (right) and Bob Brown (left) after a dive near Ogden Point

Humour What’s invisible and smells of worms?

February 20, 2014 MARTLET • HUMOUR 23

ARIES MARCH 21–APRIL 20

B.C. liquor laws just changed, making your access to alcohol easier. I thought that information would be less likely to make you drink than your horoscope. You’re welcome.

TAURUS APRIL 21–MAY 21People will try your temper this week, Taurus. I mean, experi-mental psychology is totally a way to investigate whether rational emotive therapy is an effective treatment for depres-sion; you should have at least got half marks!

GEMINI MAY 22–JUNE 22You are pretty much twice as good as any human the rest of year, but lately the moon gets a little freaky with Scorpio and Neptune. You know what that means. Oh, you don’t? I had to look it up too. You might dream about arthropod fondue in a sea of Velveeta—which is awesome, right?!

CANCER JUNE 22–JULY 23If your affinity for water and emotion leads to tears, daub on some mascara and turn yourself into an art installation outside the Phoenix. Your avant-garde juxtaposition is sure to evoke impressionistic mellifluousness.

LEO JULY 24–AUG. 23You may be used to biting your tongue, holding your breath, scared to rock the boat and make a mess. With the trigon of fire in play this month though, suck it up and listen to some Katy Perry.

VIRGO AUG. 24–SEPT. 23Look, Virgo, I know you’re still tore up over the tragic closure of your favourite department store chain, but Zeddy is with that major ursa in the sky now.

LIBRA SEPT. 24–OCT. 23

In the campus of star signs, you’re the Fraser Building. You’re particularly good at weighing pros and cons. When friends seek you out for advice, you’re usually the one to tip the scales. So what do you need lousy astrology for?

SCORPIO OCT. 24–NOV. 23Watch out for cheese. And Gemini.

SAGITTARIUS NOV. 23–DEC. 22Mars’s trajectory through your celestial sphere predicts a destiny that may include pondering whatever really befell Dolores Umbridge in the Forbidden Forest when she was carried away by centaurs.

CAPRICORN DEC. 23–JAN. 20

You’re horny.

AQUARIUS JAN. 21–FEB. 19You are so yesterday’s Zodiac. Hang on to that glow from your birthday having been within the last 30ish days, because astrology is totally over you for the next 11 months. One might say you’re all wet.

PISCES FEB. 20–MARCH 20Time for those scales to shine! The ball is in your court—or the bubble in your bowl, as it were. Seriously, right now is the time of year that your sign falls under, so that probably means something.

SHANDI SHIACH

This week’s horoscopes

RYAN ZIEGLER

A new ground-breaking study from the Canadian Research Alliance Project shows that those who smell gas in a social setting are, in fact, responsible for its onset. The study reports that in 94 per cent of cases, whoever smelled it dealt it, while whoever did the rhyme did the crime only 74 per cent of the time.

Head of research, Dr. Ben Dover, said that in all observed cases, individuals sought to avoid respon-sibility for their actions, with some even claiming that they had “forgot-ten” that they had done it, and that it wasn’t “a big deal, bro.” Dr. Dover commented: “We found this to be the case irrespective of gender, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic background. In nearly every instance, accountabil-ity was consistently shifted to other entities—real or imagined, animate or inanimate.”

He further stated: “We often observed that in mid-sized groups, gas-release was acceptable—even encouraged. Individuals were gener-ally unwilling to admit to wind-related

bodily functions until rewarded with high-fives.”

Some critics have claimed that the study’s parameters are too broad and, ultimately, not verifiable. Elmo Nedson of the Saskatchewan High Institute of Technology stated: “It’s ultimately impossible to derive a meaningful and falsifiable connection between the one speaking the next verse and making the atmosphere worse.” Nedson cited the infamous “Bruckheimer Disaster,” which sought to determine why pants burst while sliding into first.

Overall, the scientific community has lauded the findings; although, insiders claim that senior research-ers expressed disappointment over failing to find out whether who-ever denied it, in fact, supplied it. Communications Liaison Boomer, stated: “We were really hoping to establish an association between individual truthfulness and the accu-mulation of gas in the alimentary tract. This may help us determine whether certain individuals are, liter-ally, full of shit.”

Scientific breakthrough on fart-blame transferral methods

UCL MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES VIA FLICKR (PHOTO)


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VOLUME 66 ISSUE 23

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SATURDAY, MARCH 8THTHE 4TH ANNUAL

ISLAND BEERFESTIVAL

Restaurant & Lounge

768 Yates

Exibiting local artwork / live DJs / menu available all night / gluten free & vegan dining options / comedy & open mic nights / free wi-fi / original house cocktails / unique urban underground in downtown Victoria

cenoteloungevictoria.ca facebook.com/cenoterestaurantandlounge facebook.com/cenoterestaurantandlounge

We’re holding talks all month

Come hear from great local journalists about their careers and the business.

Danielle Pope — Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.

John Threlfall — Feb. 28 at 2 p.m.

The Martlet Speaker Series offers free events open to all students and the public. Talks will take place in the Martlet Offi ce, Student Union Building (SUB) B011.

February 20, 2013

Documents

Transcript of February 20, 2013