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produced by langara journalism students February 2, 2012 • Vol. 44 no. 13 • VancouVer, b.c.

Julius Ceasar opens at studio 58 .......................4Studio 58’s production of the Shakespearean tragedy opens to the public tonight

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This week look for special

features on the Winter

Farmer’s Market, a profile

on a Langara author and

theWorld Peace Forum

By MICHELLE GAMAGE

Eight new microwaves will be arriv-ing for the Langara cafeteria in a month’s time. The new machines

are to replace the five half-functioning older models.

From the $1.3 million budget for the cafeteria’s renovations, $50,000 remain. A portion of that amount will be used to purchase the new machines, which will help to ease the rush hour lineups.

“There are too many people in the line,” said psychology student Cristal Fan.

“We have to wait for half an hour. And some of the microwaves are bro-ken.”

The main focus of the renovations was to get new vendors into the school and replace the mess hall tables.

“We needed to maximize the comfort while still maximizing the number of seats available,” said Mark Adams, di-rector of ancillary services.

The cafeteria got a variety of new vendors, individual tables and flat-screen TVs but was left with only five used microwaves.

Lengthy lineups around noon, micro-waves without glass plates and tepid food are some of the aggravations stu-dents expressed.

Adams said that the renovation bills needed to be collected, analyzed, and assessed before Chartwells, the com-pany that operates the cafeteria, calcu-lated it was under its budget and could therefore afford new microwaves.

Money was saved by reusing older equipment and by over-esti-mating the number of chairs and tables required.

“They need to re-place all [the micro-waves] because they don’t work,” said Chun Ho Fang, an arts and scienc-es student.

Ali Sedighi, a third year computer sciences student, disagrees.

“Microwaves are just for warming up food,” Sedighi said. “They are working right now and they will work for an-other year or two. They don’t need to change them.”

With the average microwave costing around $79, The Voice calculated the total cost of the new microwaves to be around $632. This raises the question of what the rest of the $50,000 will be spent on.

The order for new microwaves was placed on Tuesday, January 24th.

The LSU hopes for better voter turnout during election this week

Students cast ballots for LSU

Auction earns only $1,000 for students

Cafeteria to get eight new nukes Langara cafeteria is set to recieve new microwaves to combat the long line-ups to re-heat food at peak hours

An art sale last December raised $10,000, but only a tenth of that remained for scholarships, bursaries

1 Mugurel Mic

Environemnetal

Issues Coordinator

2 Naoko Shiratori

Environemnetal

Issues Coordinator

3 Taomeizi Gao

International

Student’s Rep

4 Jianing Ma

Education Council

5 Augustina Coccaro

Education Council

6 Emma Munro

Seven month term

7 Haoran Ni

Seven month term

Source: Langara Student's Union

LSUCandidates

By DAnA BowEn

Artfully Yours, Langara’s first silent art auction, held on Dec. 1, 2011 raised $10,000 for students and

programs at Langara. Fifty per cent of the amount generat-

ed form each piece went to the student artist and the other half went to Langa-ra to be used to fund scholarships and bursaries.

However, after subtracting money for advertising, catering, and liquor, the event had approximately only $1,000 re-maining from the proceeds for scholar-ships.

To entice people to come, the event sold beer and wine for five dollars a glass and served free appetizers; the food was the largest expense put to-wards the event.

Despite the fact that the appetizers came through Langara’s existing con-tract with Chartwells, that expense item totaled over $3,000.

In addition, money was spent to ad-vertise the event, postcards were placed

around the school, pinned to boards and the school walls at the cost of $700.

The total cost to supply alcohol and a temporary liquor license for the day were not provided to the Voice.

Despite the money spent, event orga-nizers feel the event was a success.

“We had a goal of having an event on campus to highlight the amazing work students do in our own community and externally. I think we definitely achieved this,” said Deoborah So, event coordinator.

They did what they could to keep the costs as low as possible added So.

A total of 135 staff and students at-tended the event and 300 pieces were sold.

The minimum bid for each item was determined by each individual artist.A piece by Roy Daykin & Advancement was the item that generated the highest bid, going for $500.

According to So, the event garnered a lot of positive feedback from students, and some are already asking about 2012’s event.

By oMAR SHARIFF

The Langara Students’ Union elec-tion continues today. Students can place their votes until 5 p.m. in the main foyer of A Building.

The LSU is looking to fill the following vacant positions: Interna-tional Student Representative, Envi-ronmental Issues Coordinator and two representative spots on the Education Council.

The candidates running in the elec-tion are Mugurel Mic and Naoko Shira-tori for Environmental Issues Coordi-nator, Taomeizi Gao for International Student’s Representative, Jianing Ma and Agustina Coccaro for a year-long term on the Education Council and Emma Munro and Haoran Ni for the seven month term.

To qualify for these positions, each candidate had to submit a list of at least 15 signatures of support from current Langara students each considered to be in good standing with the college.

Naoko Shiratori, who is in the uni-versity transfer program, is one of two candidates running for Environmental Issues Coordinator. If elected, she hopes to continue with current envi-ronmental programs and possibly dis-cover areas of improvement at Langara as well.

“I will continue with the bicycle proj-ect, which the previous directors have worked on, and also taking care of the LSU garden. In addition, I’d like to find out the Campus’ energy consumption so that I can find possible solutions,” said Shiratori.

Eli Zbar, board member at large and media liaison for the LSU, hopes Lang-ara students will overcome voter apa-thy and come out to vote.

“If we can get people involved and knowledgeable about the issues... then we can come together and work the is-sues out,” said Zbar.

At the last election in early October, saw only 2 per cent of eligible voters came out to cast their ballots.

Candidate for the year-long female representative position on the Educa-tion Council, Agustina Coccaro of the

journalism program, will be trying to involve students more if she is elected.

“I’m trying more to talk to people at Langara and see what they want, and just make it more about what the stu-dents want,” said Coccaro.

The Voice attempted to contact all of the candidates for comment, but were only able to reach the two candidates above.

Voting continues tomorrow, Feb. 3, in the main foyer of the LSU building from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Monday, Feb. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

OMAR SHARIFF photoCandidates (L-R) Mugurel Mic, Naoko Shiratori and Taomeizi Gao discuss-ing the issues in the Students Union Buuilding.

“They need to replace all the mi-crowaves

Chun Ho FangArts and science

student

theVoice

JEREMY LIM photoAttendees purused some ot the 300 items at Langara’s Artfully Yours art auction held on December 1, 2011.

Editor Lynda chappLEthE VoicE, thUrSday,FEbrUary 2, 2012 news & features2

By ROSS ARMOUR

Monthly breakfast lecture series Creative Mornings returns to Vancouver on February 3.

The event, sponsored by Langara’s Electronic Media Design, Digital Me-dia, and Communication Arts pro-grams, begins at 8.30 a.m. at W2 Media Café on 111 West Hastings Street.

Aimed at creative types, the event is free for anyone to attend, although tick-ets are limited.

“Registration for free tickets takes place on Monday, Jan. 30 for the Feb. 3 event. We send reminders out on Twit-ter and Facebook,” said Creative Morn-ings spokesperson Kathleen Mazzocco.

The lecture on Feb 3 features Gagan Diesh of DesignStamp.

“We stagger registrations to give as many people the chance for a ticket. We make 50 tickets available at 11am, then 4pm, then 9pm,” said Mazzocco.

The organization has chapters in cit-ies around the world including Los An-geles, Zurich, Berlin, Auckland and London.

“Creative Mornings was started by Tina Roth Eisenburg in September of 2008 with 21 chapters in the works around the world. The headquarters is in New York,” stated Vancouver orga-nizer Mark Busse.

“The format is the same in every city, for every event: 20-minute talk, 20-min-ute question and answer, 20-minute mingler with complimentary breakfast and coffee. The idea is to get everyone juiced up with creative inspiration,” said Mazzocco.

For more information go to cre-ativemornings.com

By BRANDON REID

University of British Columbia undergraduate applicants ap-plying for the Vancouver cam-pus in September will be evalu-

ated on both grades and personal experience as part of the new broad-based admissions procedure.

Applicants will be asked four to six personal profile questions to reflect on life experiences, lessons and goals.

“It’s kind of a wake-up call for a lot of students,” said Lulin Zheng, an instruc-tor with UBC’s Educational and Coun-

selling Psychology department. “Some use to only worry about their marks and academic performances.”

Zheng encourages students not to worry, but said participation outside school will help.

“I think students should start think-ing about volunteering and should de-velop some leadership skills,” she said, “In the long run, it’s going to be benefi-cial.”

In 2011, 25 per cent of over 5,900 UBC students on the Vancouver campus were admitted with broad-based ad-missions.

“We’re looking for people who’ve committed to something that has really shaped them,” said UBC Registrar James Ridge. According to Ridge, falsi-fying information will be easily no-ticed.

“They will be needed to provide up to three references to verify,” said Ridge. “We do check them.”

UBC is Canada’s largest university using non-academic criteria in applica-tions.

“We use an academically researched scoring rubric … looking for leader-ship, perseverance and engagement in

the community,” said Ridge. “Looking at Grade 12 marks tells you a very nar-row bit.”

The university posted a YouTube video to help students understand the process called “UBC Undergraduate Admissions: Your Personal Profile.”

“I just have grades,” said Langara business student Sabrina Siu. “I’ll have to get some volunteer work.”

“It doesn’t really matter … seems like a standard application,” said Lan-gara science and technology student Kevin Lee. “I did plan on volunteer-ing.”

By JACQUELINE RICHARDSON

Langara student Angel Lun will be one of several actors in a produc-tion premiering at Lord Byng Sec-

ondary this May, that aims to connect immigrant students and families to their communities.

“(It’s) just fantastic for (students) …most don’t have the confidence or chance to participate in the community and share our cultures with main-stream communities,” said Chung.

The production, known as Byng In-clusion Project 3B, held dance and dra-ma auditions in late December. The musical is composed of seven to ten short stories intertwined by main char-acters and a reoccurring theme that portray experiences of immigrant stu-dents and families throughout Canada.

Chung said that although immi-grants face a wide range of experiences unique to each individual, the issues Project 3B addresses resonate with a

lot of immigrant families. “Many find it challenging to find

good employment here,” said Chung, “not to mention living standards are higher [on the west coast] than in plac-es like China, where positions of em-ployment are sometimes just not com-parable to those in Canada. Consequently individuals must split their time between two countries, leav-ing their family void at times.”

Chung described the struggle of the single mother as a commonly shared experience amongst immigrant wom-en. Many females struggle with being separated from their husbands for long periods of time said Chung, and are left to raise their family on their own.

Of the challenges immigrants face, Chung says the language barrier may be the biggest.

“[There’s] a lot of extra tutoring to learn the skills and to learn the lan-guage,” said Chung. As for the male im-migrants who live and work in Canada,

Chung said they are often the most af-fected by the language barrier because they tend to hold a social circle of friends and stay in that particular cir-cle.

However Chung said the aim of Proj-ect 3B is to bridge these gaps through music, art and dance.

“There are two focus groups,” said Chung, “one parent and one student.” The groups share their feelings and struggles they’ve had since immigra-tion and the differences they’ve over-come.

The script is an original piece, writ-ten by Truman Chu, a well-known di-rector in the Chinese community.

“Up to this point I have over 120 stu-dents who have expressed interest and gone through auditions,” said Chung. Chung said she sees a lot of potential in Angel Lun, and sees her as being a leader in the group. Lun has been act-ing since she was a child and aspires to one day be a professional actress.

UBC wants more than just high marks

Project 3B a musical that tells the stories of immigrant students and families throughout Canada

Langara is sponsoring ‘Creative Mornings’ - a world wide monthly event for the creative side of you

New admissions criteria at UBC to look for life experience including volunteering

Creativityfor earlybirds in Vancouver

Jacqueline Richardson photoAndrana Yan performing in Project 3B playing at Lord Byng Secondary

Jacqueline Richardson photosAbove: Angel Lun, second year engineering student at Langara one of several in the production of Project 3BBelow: Betty LV (left) and Eva Shem two dancers por-traying an experiences of immigrants in Canada

LULin ZhengUBC Admissions Counsellor

one night only

May 24, 2012

showtime

7:30 p.m.

Lord Byng

Secondary School

3939 W.16th Ave.

Vancouver

65 local students

to participate

Where and when

Student joins cast of local musical

Editor Emma crawford thE VoicE, thUrSdaY, fEbrUarY 2, 2012campus news 3

ALEX SKERDZHEV photoLangara’s Artist-in-Residence Samuel Roy-Bois working inside his installation, entitled Nothing blank forever

Installation causes stirArtist-in-Residence Samuel Roy-Bois discusses his latest art project

BC Cancer Society’s Nick Chng discusses career op-tions for science students

By JEREMY SALLY

The Careers in Science Speakers Series had Langara bubbling last week. Students considering ca-

reers in the sciences gleaned insights from half a dozen professionals and experts.

Nick Chng from the BC Cancer Soci-ety was the Physics invitee, sharing his knowledge of oncology with 20 pro-spective students. Injecting humour and insight, Chng’s first ever presenta-tion provided the history of the profes-sion, as well as the rigorous schooling required. But afterwards, he shared the rewards of his work.

“One of the nice things about medi-cal physics is that you can feel like you’re contributing,” he said.

In his lecture, Chng likened the dif-ferent roles practitioners play in can-cer treatment to an iceberg: only the patient sees the tip, with many people in the background working for the per-son’s health. The clinical environment, involving communication with the pa-tient, provides Chng with a “fulfilling job.”

Physics gradu-ates can expect their jobs to be lu-crative too. Start-ing salaries for those with a mas-ter’s degree are typically $60,000 annually in the pri-vate sector, accord-ing to the Ameri-can Physical Society’s website

“People are at-tracted to medical physics because you are well paid,” said Chng.

Engineering and computer sciences attract the largest number of grads ac-cording to the APS, but physics is com-plementary to other sciences.

Arts and sciences student Peter Toro found the presentation helpful. He wants to become an engineer, and aims to be involved in the design and manufacture of the radiological equip-ment Chng uses for treatment.

Scott Veal, also in arts and sciences, was interested in Chng’s career too.

“Medical physics mixes up my two interests in physics and biology,” said Veal. “I like technology and playing with machines which is essentially what physics is.”

Physics department head Don Hunt-er weighed in on popular perceptions of physics.

“I’ve always associated physics with fun,” said Hunter before the seminar, whose experiences in high school led to an interactive instruction style. “I try to give my students toys, whenever I can.”

Physics pioneers were highlighted at the beginning of Chng’s presenta-tion, including Marie Curie. Though physics is regarded as a male-dominat-ed field, a third of the seminar’s audi-ence were women.

Chng says that many women are in-volved in the field and entrants shouldn’t be discouraged.

“My PhD supervisor was a woman, my current head of my physics depart-ment is a woman and the head of the brachytherapy program, my specialty, is a woman.”

Science career for you?

By ALEX SKERDZHEV

Students wondering about the na-ture of the mysterious glass cube outside the LSU building have to look no further to get their curi-

osity satiated.The hand-designed art project, titled

Nothing blank forever, is the result of Langara’s latest Artist-in-Residence program, and is designed by Quebec City’s Samuel Roy-Bois.

“I really like modern architecture, and if you look at the way the structure is built here, it’s inspired by [it],” said Bois, sitting inside his self-constructed glass box.

Consisting of four plywood pillars holding up the see-through, Plexiglas walls, the structure is well-lit by sever-

al light sources and contains a work-bench, wooden trolley and several chairs.

“I like to build spaces where people can come in, and where it’s not so much about you just standing in front of an image and looking at it, but more like being a part [of] a system ... some sort of adventure,” he said.

The project will have many uses, in-cluding a gallery, recording studio, the-atre and movie set for a film Bois is cur-rently beginning to shoot.

The road movie will be contained to the structure and the main character will be played by a variety of Studio 58 students of different gender and ethnic backgrounds.

“[I’m controlling] most aspects, ex-cept for performing: writing the script,

shooting and holding the camera, ev-ery aspect of the movie production.”

The 38-year-old artist’s film is sched-uled to be shown inside the box in April.

Tomo Tanaka, the Creative Arts Di-vision Chair, says there are plans to put up signs explaining the project due to student confusion of its nature.

“No idea what the hell, it’s like my first thought was another smoke pit,” says 22-year-old business student Dom-inic Impelido.

“[My project] is pretty mysterious … that’s the most exciting part,” said Bois with a smile.

“People are wondering what this is.”Bois’s next exhibition is at Artspeak,

where he will host a gallery from Feb. 3 to Mar. 17.

Langara film instructors sell feature for broadcast on European televisionAlyson Dry-sdale and Garwin Sanford received funding from Tele-film Can-ada and can look forward to seeing their work on the small and large screens

By STACY THOMAS

Nestled between A244 and A241a, Langara film instructors Alyson Drysdale and Garwin Sanford

share an office and a creative partner-ship.

Their feature film, Rain Down, has been sold for television international-ly, and will soon be seen in living rooms across Europe.

The film, a drama set in the bad-lands outside Cache Creek, focuses on the relationship between a divorced woman and her troubled sister and niece.

In 2005, Drysdale brought Sanford a screenplay she’d started, and he says he loved it enough to agree to direct the film, his first feature project.

“The gift she gave me to do this, when I had one short film under my belt, is tremendous.”

Fast forward to 2009. During their second week of shooting, they were still waiting for federal funding from Telefilm Canada.

Drysdale was producing the film, and had put up most of the money, but there wasn’t much left.

“We didn’t know if it would be our last weekend (of shooting),” Sanford said. “We had a lot on the line, but thought, what the hell.”

They got the funding, and filming continued.

The cast and crew of the film in-cludes 24 Langara alumni, notably eight cast members, four of which are leads.

“It was a wonderfully artistic, posi-tive environment,” Drysdale says.

“We tell students this is what a set is

like . . . for it to turn out exactly like you want it to be, there was magic in-volved,” agrees Sanford. “It’s what we teach here (at Langara) but we also practice it.”

Other than a possible screening at the Kamloops Film Festival in 2012, the movie won’t be seeing the big screen anytime soon.

However, the two are happy with the overseas success of the movie.

“You make a movie to be sold, and it’s doing it,” Sanford said.

Langara film instructors Aly-son Drysdale and Garwin Sanford

STACY THOMASphoto

“I like to build spac-es where people can come in.SAMUEL ROY-BOIS

Nick chNgSpeaker from BC Cancer Society

Editor jEnnifEr fongthE VoicE, thUrSdAY, fEbrUArY 2 , 20124 entertainment

By AGUSTINA COCCARO

Studio 58 is presenting its first pro-duction of the Risky Nights Series for 2012, Soul Resource, a story of

when need becomes greed.The play, which is written, acted and

staged by the students of Studio 58, is about two civilizations living side-by-side that discover one of the nations has a resource that the other needs to survive.

“The story of the play is the coming together of these two different peoples and then figuring out what they have in common,” said Rachel Peake, director of the play and former Studio 58 stu-dent.

“It’s how desperate the search for that resource can become.”

15 students have been working long days to put their vision on the stage.

“We rehearse six days a week,” said Peake.

“It’s long hours because the students still go to class during the day and then start rehearsals mid afternoon . . . and on the weekends it’s full days,” she add-ed.

The Risky Night Series, which is now in its 12th season, is a bridge between the classroom and the main stage.

The students have full control of ev-ery aspect of production.

“People are familiar with the Risky Nights Series,” said Peake, who is working on her fourth Risky Nights production.

“A lot of people like the idea of excit-ing new work from up and coming, emerging artists.”

The producers are collaborating with Langara College Artist-in-Resi-dence Samuel Roy-Bois by integrating his installation art piece into the play.

His piece Nothing Blank Forever can be seen in the quadrangle outside the student union building.

The play will run nightly at 8:15 from Feb. 6 to 11, with an afternoon matinee at 3:15 on Feb. 12 in the Student Union Building. Admission is by donation.

By HAyLEy DOCTOR

More than 35 films about environ-mental activism and social jus-tice will be screened at the

World Community Film Festival, the largest social justice film festival in B.C., at Langara College Feb. 10 to 12.

CoDevelopment Canada and World Community Development Education Society have teamed up with Langara’s Continuing Studies Department to bring this festival to the college for its eleventh year. The festival covers top-ics ranging from social and political is-sues to the oil industry and farming. Festival coordinator Erin Mullan wants people to be motivated by the films shown. She wants to “activate them to do something and to learn about how we can work together for social change.”

Saturday night’s feature film is Louder Than A Bomb, an award-win-ning film about the world’s biggest youth poetry slam in Chicago by the

same name. “It shows that poetry has the power to change,” said Mul-lan.

Leslie Kemp, program coordina-tor of the sustain-able communities program through Continuing Stud-ies is a strong ad-vocate for the festi-val.

“We’re committed to supporting im-portant work organizations are doing in the community,” said Kemp. The gala allows patrons to see what is go-ing on in their community that affects them. “We want people to feel that they can get involved and be active in these issues,” Kemp said.

Opening night will include a talk from Richard Heinberg, environmental activist and author, which is followed by two films – Love in Action, a five minute short, and the Vancouver pre-miere of Just Do It. Both these movies document the non-violent actions and tactics of the Occupy movement.

Richard Heinberg “highlights changes that we need to make,” said Mullan. His lecture will emphasize our society’s need to consume goods and fossil fuels.

There will also be a social justice ba-zaar that connects progressive activist organizations with festival patrons, and will include the sale of fair trade goods and snacks.

The films will be screened in five theatre rooms around the campus, and include three short films made by Lan-gara students. This is the eighth year the festival is being held at Langara College.

Admission to all three days is about $27 for students, $35 for the general public. The Friday night opening lec-ture has admission by donation and begins at 5 p.m.

World Film Festival comes to LangaraContinuing studies depart-ment presents the largest social justice film festival which is in its 11th year

Caesar takes a feminine slant

Soul Resource: When does need become greed?

DAVID COOPER photoCheyenne Maberley plays the soothsayer in the Studio 58 production of Julius Caesar, featuring an untraditionally large female cast.

Studio 58 switches up gender roles in their version of Julius CaesarBy TySON CORNFIELD

Call it Caesar, with a twist.

Theatre buffs have much to look forward to this month as Langara’s Studio 58 presents an

innovative take on the Shakespearean classic Julius Caesar.

In a deviation from convention, di-rector and Langara grad Scott Bellis has opted to put a unique spin on the play by casting female actors in the roles of traditionally male characters, opening the door for countless new in-terpretations.

“It’s not going to be a traditional pro-duction of ancient Rome, with a bunch of middle-aged senators in togas,” said Bellis. “The whole fabric of society is

much different.”The play, which details Shake-

speare’s version of the assassination of Caesar in 49 BC and the ensuing blood-shed, was written with only two female characters.

In Bellis’s version, he cast actors in whichever role he felt fit best, regard-less of gender.

The end result has 10 of the 16 char-acters played by females, including the lead roles of Brutus, Cassius, Octavi-ous, and Caesar.

“My approach was to let the stu-dents audition for whatever roles they were most interested in, and then just take it from there.”

As one of the founding members of the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare

Festival, Bellis is no stranger to classic works, but the task of redefining gen-der roles throughout the play posed an interesting challenge.

“We look at what it means for wom-en to step into these roles . . . where you might normally expect to see a man in this culture, this society,” he said.

“So as a woman, how do you have to behave and carry yourself? It changes a lot of the dynamic.”

However, Andrea Houssin, who plays Brutus, feels up to the task.

“Of course it’s challenging – it’s a huge part for any actor,” she said. “Brutus is a person, and I want to get into this person’s skin.”

“But Brutus is a fighter. I’m a fighter – I can identify with that.”

LeSLie keMpLangara pro-gram coordinator

“It’s not go-ing to be a traditional production . . .with a bunch of middle-aged senators in togas

SCOTT BELLIS

“It’s how desperate the search for that re-source can become

RACHEL PEAKE

Studio 58 presents their 12th season of The Risky Night Series, a production completely created by the-atre students

The Voice, ThURSDAY, FebRUARY 2, 2012 5eDiToR ShAwn Gilllifestyles

By Quinn Mell-CoBB

Feb-U-Hairy is officially underway. For the third straight year, let the growing begin.

Inspired in part by the popular Mo-vember movement, Feb-U-Hairy is a variation to raise money and aware-ness for cervical cancer. The catch? Feb-U-Hairy’s female participants must pledge to go an entire month without shaving their legs.

Feb-U-Hairy is the brainchild Kath-leen Callanan and Angelique Myles, both medical students at Memorial Uni-versity in Newfoundland and Labrador. As Feb-U-Hairy is set to begin its third annual go-around Callanan finds her-self very pleased by the progression from its humble beginnings in Febru-ary 2010.

“I’m always surprised when people beyond our circle of classmates, friends and family have heard about the event,” Callanan said. “I met a middle-aged woman last year who said she started a growing team at her office after seeing the event on the news. It’s cool to see the message is reaching a varied demo-graphic.”

Determining which worthy organiza-tion will receive their pledges earned during Feb-U-Hairy was an easy deci-sion, with Callanan and Myles ulti-mately deciding on Planned Parent-hood NL, a group whom Callanan referred to as “a great partner,” citing their providing of a pap clinic to help make cervical cancer testing more ac-cessible for women in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Though Feb-U-Hairy has yet to strike a chord with female students at Langa-ra College Callanan is hopeful for its future.

“I’d like to see [Feb-U-Hairy] keep growing and continue to have more participants and funds raised every year,” said Callanan, adding that she “would also hope to see the event take off in other provinces.”

To the women out there who support the cause, but are unwilling to go a full month without shaving, Callanan had some sound advice.

“Like you were really going to shave this month anyway. The men had Mo-vember, so now it’s our turn.”

By AuDReY MCKinnon

While some think that iBooks 2, Apple’s new publishing soft-ware, will dominate the text-

book industry, Langara faculty argue that going digital doesn’t necessarily mean going iDigital.

Launched in the U.S. last week, iBooks 2, promises to change what we know about textbooks: that they’re heavy and expensive.

The new tool allows access to text-books on Apple’s touchscreen devices at a significantly lower price than hard copy and lets users build their own textbooks.

But Langara faculty members have concerns about the new tool and say that they have other solutions to re-duce costs and backpack sizes without

joining the iClub.Paul Prosperi, a Langara political

science professor, has already begun changing from weighty books and high prices.

This semester he started posting the course reader material online for free.

He also ordered custom textbooks in hard copy composed of selected arti-cles from the publisher, reducing the pages from almost 700 to 200.

“One of my primary considerations is to try and help students with the cost of textbooks,” he said, adding that it’s good for the environment too.

Global Equities Research, a Dela-ware-based company that monitors Apple’s iBook sales by a proprietary tracking system, estimates that iBooks 2 will mean a 33 to 35 per cent drop in book prices.

This could benefit Langara students like 21-year-old transfer student An-nette Lee who spent nearly $300 on textbooks this semester.

But Prosperi said that he wouldn’t consider iBooks 2 a practical option since it is limited to the iPhone or the

iPad and not all students would have access.

“I wouldn’t even consider something like that,” said Prosperi.

Lee has another concern too. “If I look at a screen too long my eyes

will get tired,” she said although she would appreciate the savings.

Bookstore director Mark Adams knows that techy-textbooks are inevi-table even though he says digital ver-sions currently only account for about one per cent of the Langara bookstore’s sales.

“It’s those students that are in high school and in grade school that are be-ing brought up on laptops and digital materials that are going to grow up on that.

That’s all they’re going to know and it’s all they’re going to want,” he said.

Someday, products like it iBooks 2 may totally eliminate the need for bookstores.

“Depending on how the business model works itself out, potentially we could be cut right out of the picture,” said Adams.

By Dennis PAge

Matt Landels, a business ad-ministration student at Lan-gara, listens to his head-phones for a couple of hours

a day while he commutes to school, and really cranks the tunes while he’s skateboarding.

According to Sandra Baker, an audi-ologist at the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, students like Landels, may be putting them-selves at risk for long term hearing damage.

“In industry, if someone is working in noise at 85 decibels for eight hours, then hearing protection is required,” said Baker in a Voice interview last week.

How does one know if they are lis-tening to their music too loud and just

how loud is 85dB? Baker offered this guideline: “If

someone’s listening to [their] MP3 player and they can’t have a conversa-tion with a person standing nearby, who is speaking at a conversational level, then it’s too loud.”

That ringing in your ears when you’ve been at a party or a concert is most likely short-term hearing dam-age. The good news is, in most cases, your hearing later corrects itself.

According to Baker, the risk with headphones is prolonged excessive vol-ume causes damage that is not detect-able until it is too late.

In 2009, the European Union intro-duced regulation that limits the default volume settings of headphones to 85 decibels. But users are able to override the default settings, up to a maximum of 100 decibels.

This was put into effect based on studies a year earlier that estimated that over 10 million people in the EU could be at risk for permanent, long-term hearing damage.

Dr. Kapil Khatter, a family physician in Ottawa, is pushing for Canada to adopt similar regulations as the EU.

“It may be that in 30 years this may be one of the major causes of hearing loss, but nobody knows for sure, so the feeling is, let’s not wait 30 years to find out,” said Khatter.

Hanna Little, an arts and science stu-dent at Langara, admits to listening to her favorite hip-hop tunes pretty loud and states, “If they put a limit on the volume, I’d be pissed off.”

For the safest listening, both Khatter and Baker recommend using noise-cancelling headphones, so you don’t have to play music at dangerous levels.

These expert opinions on hearing loss may not be music to your ears

Political science teacher Paul Prosperi uses tech in his classroom, but doesn’t drink the Apple Kool-Aid

Maritime med students raise cash and awareness for cervical cancer by abstaining from shaving

DENNIS PAGE photoHannah Little, an arts and science student, isn’t concerned about blasting her old-school hip-hop tunes when she’s cruisin’ the Canada Line. “If they put a limit on the volume, I’d be pissed off,” said Little on Monday, January 30, 2012, while hangin’ outside of A-building.

“In industry, if someone is working in noise of 85 dB’s for eight hours hearing protection is required

sandra Baker, audiologist at

WiDH

AUDREY MCKINNON photoLangara transfer student Annette Lee, 21, is comfort-able with both paper and technology as she studies for a test outside the cafeteria on Friday, January 27, 2012.

Mo volume, mo problems

Langara instructor isn’t iCrazy about latest iBuzz

Growing leg hair for good

editor alexandra grantthe Voice, thUrSdaY, febrUarY 2, 2012 viewpoints6

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theVoice

I don’t know when or why fundrais-ers became fixated on hair growth. As if it wasn’t already off-putting

enough to have to swim in a sea of moustaches every November, a new fundraiser aimed at raising aware-ness about cervical cancer is now encouraging men and women to grow their leg hair out over the course of February.

Any effort to raise awareness for an important cause is admirable, but I’m not sure if the organizers of the aptly named “Feb-U-Hairy” thought their concept through. The sad truth is that while many men have no problem letting their moustaches grow freely for a month, a number of women would have an issue with not shaving their legs for the duration of an entire month.

“The men had MOvember, so now it’s our turn,” said Kathleen Callahan, one of the two medical students who organized Feb-U-Hairy.

True – the men did get MOvem-ber. But does that mean women need to replicate their fundraiser with a hair growth contest of their own?

The other issue with this fundrais-ing tactic is the fact that most women are not able to proudly display their leg hair in the depths of winter. Of course, their male counterparts were able to easily show their support during MOvem-ber since it’s relatively difficult to conceal something that was on their faces.

I suppose part of their strategy was to create a fundraiser with shock value in order to generate attention; however, is it really serving the purpose of their fund-raiser, which is to encourage early detection of cervical cancer? In my opinion, an awareness campaign should be as accessible as possible in order to encourage more involve-ment.

What happened to the days when wearing a coloured ribbon was a way of showing your solidarity against a disease? I commend the students behind Feb-U-Hairy for their charitable efforts but would urge them to look into campaign tactics that would appeal to more people.

Even with a $1.3-million budget for cafeteria

renovations, Langara waited too long to spring for a few working microwaves.

Only three of the seven microwaves in the cafeteria work, forcing students to go out of their way to the LSU building to heat their food.

An order was sent out on January 24 for new ones, but is it too little too late?

By the time new microwaves arrive, spring semester will be over halfway through and a majority of students will be gone for the summer.

Before the renovations, the cafeteria had rows of long tables and looked more like a basement than a place for college students to spend time and eat their lunch.

The cafeteria does look better than it did before. The large room has undergone several changes to

brighten it up aesthetically, includ-ing a new paint job and round tables that give the area a restaurant feel. However, it seems pointless to fix the cafeteria’s appearance if it doesn’t even meet the needs of students. It’s like painting a jalopy in a bright colour – it may look better, but it’s still broken.

“Perhaps it is a way of getting people to buy food rather than bring their food from home,” said crimi-nology student Frederike Buch-mann.

Buchmann said that apart from the working microwaves often being

dirty, she doesn’t use the ones in the cafeteria because there is usually a long lineup of students waiting to use them.

Students have been complaining about this since the fall semester and while the school has $50,000 left over in their budget for renovations, the issue has not been addressed until now.

There are microwaves in the LSU building for students to use, but it hardly makes sense that the cafeteria, which is made specifically for eating, lacks the proper devices to heat food.

News from January 23 that Tim Hortons changed its cup sizes for hot drinks has already

caused a stir for customers, more than just to dissolve sugar.

The new 24-ounce extra-large cup has prompted all the old sizes to move down one. In other words, what used to be a large is now a medium, an old medium is now a small, and so on and so forth. Though the cups are being rebranded, the new versions contain the same amount of liquid and cost the same price as their old counterparts.

So, are customers still getting value for money? Well, theoretically no.

Many customers that regularly order large coffees would reason-ably expect to pay less now that the size has been bumped down to a medium.

For example, a medium coffee

now costs $1.59, the same price as the old large. Customers who are unaware of this change and order their usual large must now pay more for the sake of six ounces.

Customers have the right to argue that since a large is now a medium, there should be an accompanying decrease in price.

Aside from coffee, these prices also relate to steeped tea and hot chocolates from Tim Hortons, while other hot drinks such as French Vanilla lattes are more expensive. New extra smalls, which used to be smalls, now cost $1.52 and the new 24-ounce extra-larges now cost $2.45.

This trend of offering colossal size cups to customers is not new. In fact, Starbucks recently launched a new “trenta” 31-ounce cup for some hot drinks in the United States.

While Tim Hortons headquarters might argue that the campaign was designed to offer customers more choice, it may actually confuse customers.

Microwaves a necessity for caf

OPINIONDaNa BOWEN

Fundraisers should be accessible

New sizes may cause confusion

OPINIONROss aRMOuR

OPINIONaLExaNDRa GRaNT

Editor ALANNA HArdiNGE-rooNEY tHE VoicE, tHUrSdAY, FEBrUArY 2, 2012community 7

By ASHLEY VIENS

In the world’s second most expensive city, 16.4 per cent of children live be-low the poverty line. In a panel on child poverty held at

Langara College on Wednesday night, eight panelists, from pediatricians to teachers, spoke of their experiences re-garding child poverty in Vancouver.

“These families are doing every-thing the government and society ex-pects them to do, yet they are still poor,” said Adrienne Montani, the pro-vincial coordinator for First Call: BC Child and Youth Coalition.

Carrie Gelson, one of the panelists, spoke of the letter she wrote in Septem-ber asking Vancouverites to help chil-dren in their city struggling with pov-erty.

“Don’t assume that these kids are like anything you’ve experienced,” she said.

The letter quickly became popular, prompting the Vancouver Sun series about child poverty in the schools.

“These are children where you live, how does that makes you feel?” asked Gelson.

Gelson, mother of two, has been a teacher at Sey-mour elementary school for 16 years.

“Why do some children deserve to survive, while my children deserve to thrive?”

In her class-room, Gelson sees firsthand that chil-dren living in pov-erty also struggle with illiteracy, es-

pecially kids whose parents are living with mental illness.

“If social and emotional needs are not met, it’s all a mess,” she said.

Having a sense of humour and ac-cepting the kids for who they are helps, said Gelson, especially when dealing with the intense relationships that de-velop between teacher and student, and with their parents.

“The face of poverty has changed overtly, but below the surface, the is-sues are still the same,” said Darrell Cavanagh, the principal at John Hen-derson Elementary School.

Henderson, just six blocks east of Langara, has been a designated inner-city school for the past three years.

“It really does start with the commu-nity . . . our community is really gener-ous,” said Pawan Sumra, a Grade 1 teacher at Henderson.

“Parents are doing the best they can with what they have . . . but sometimes kids fall under the radar,” she said.

So how can communities help? People can volunteer to read with

students in one-on-one reading pro-grams, and mentoring programs like Big Brothers provide kids frienship, fun, and a much needed support struc-ture.

Advocacy and social media are also effective, bringing awareness to a so-cial problem which is otherwise not discussed.

“Awareness is key,” said Gumra, stat-ing that people want to help if they know what’s going on in their own com-munity.

“One child in one family in one com-munity has a ripple effect,” said Gel-son.

Speaker says the face of poverty has changed, but issues remain the same

Average price of a

one-bedroom apart-

ment: $934

2-bedroom: $1,181

Vacancy rate:

2.8 per cent

Out of 104, 494

rental units in

Vancouver, 2,968

are available

Source: 2011 Canadian Mortgage

and Housing Corporation report

Rent in Vancouver

Newspaper distributor shares his story of overcoming life’s obstacles

By CARISSA THORPE

As renting in Vancouver gets more difficult, city council hopes a new rental database will help ease the

pressure. The proposed database will enable

prospective renters to see information such as who owns what buildings and whether there are any property viola-tions or work orders pending.

Council voted unanimously Jan. 17 to have city staff report on the resourc-es and costs associated with streamlin-ing the information the city currently keeps on rental housing buildings into a searchable online database.

“The idea is to give renters as much transparency as possible,” said coun-cillor Tim Stevenson, who put the mo-tion for the database forward.

Stevenson said there are about 5,000 buildings built for rental purposes in

of S

outh

Van

couv

er

FACES

MICHELLE GAMAGE photoBruce Wallace, the 24 Hours distributor at the Langara – 49th Avenue Canada Line Station, says he loves making someone’s day.

This is the first in a weekly series of profiles of people who live and work in South Vancouver.

By MICHELLE GAMAGE

‘I made the wrong mistake of drink-ing and driving and it has affect-ed me every day, for the rest of my life,” said Bruce Wallace, re-

calling June 7, 1981.He was 21 then. After a night of

drinking in Point Roberts he rolled his jeep and changed his life forever.

Langara students know Wallace as the friendly, orange-vested 24 Hours distributor at the Langara – 49th Ave-nue Canada Line Station.

Sipping coffee with cream and wear-ing a Vancouver Canucks T-shirt, the 52-year-old recalled his life before the crash.

He had been an avid hockey player at the University of Wisconsin, playing right defenseman with his eye on the

European Hockey League. That all changed for Wallace when

he drove drunk and crashed, irrevers-ibly damaging his brain stem. He was in a coma for a week and then spent a year relearning how to walk. He would never play for the EHL.

“My employment picture darkened, my relationships were under pressure. It was really bad,” he said.

But Wallace refused to let his injury dictate his future.

He returned to the University of Wis-consin and set up a disabled students recreation club. He graduated in 1985 with a bachelor of science in education degree.

“It’s how you face [obstacles] that shows what you’re made of,” said Wal-lace.

He started working at 24 Hours last year. He applied for the job and then ap-plied seven more times till he got an interview.

He now works mornings, 6:30 to 9:30,

rain or shine.“I’m not curing cancer or anything

but I’m making workers’ commutes more pleasant,” said Wallace. “I’m on the front lines. It’s rough but someone has to do it.”

Wallace also volunteers with the Ca-nadian Disabled Individuals Associa-tion and is a road safety speaker for ICBC. He speaks at high schools and universities.

“People think they’re indestructible. What they don’t realize is that people are very fragile. If you’re talking about a 2,000 pound vehicle and you crash; then you can be hurt very badly, if not killed,” said Wallace. “It’s good to learn by experience. But it’s even better to learn from someone else’s experience so you don’t have to go through it your-self.”

Wallace says he is not crazy about handing out papers, but he loves mak-ing someone’s day in his woolen orange toque that his mother-in-law crocheted.

On the front lines of friendly

New site could ease stress of renting

Forum sparks discussion about child poverty

City council is looking into creating a database of rental units in the city, but some say it’s not enough

Justin Glaboff and Samantha Clifford are general studies students who rent in the Kerrisdale-Dunbar area.

CARISSA THORPEphoto

Vancouver that will be listed. But Ellen Wordsworth of the Coali-

tion of Progressive Electors said the database doesn’t go far enough.

Woodsworth said it would exclude private rental suites or homes and sin-gle-room occupancy units, meaning “thousands of the most vulnerable renters will be excluded from partici-pating. The most urgent need is to pro-tect the lowest income renters,” who live in such units.

“It would be useful, [but] I don’t

know if I’d use it,” Justin Glaboff, who rents in Kerrisdale-Dunbar.

Computer Science student Sean Bro-phy thinks the city could go further and “make it a bylaw if you rent [out a suite] in Vancouver, you have to be part of the rental database.”

Council expects a report from city staff including findings and recommen-dations within the next two months, so students and citizens are encouraged to contact city council to offer input on the project.

CARRIE GELSONSeymour Elementary teacher

EDITOR MATT HYNDMAN THE VOIcE, THURSDAY, FEbRUARY 2, 2012sports 8

Falcons split games at home

Coaches challenge players to improve in new year

Small rookie is producing big results

By CARA MCKENNA

If it wasn’t for her Falcons jersey, you might mistake Denise Busayong for a girl on her way to cheerleading

practice. Not only does the five-foot-five athlete shine with a positive atti-tude and contagious energy, but she doesn’t have a hair out of place.

But don’t let this guard fool you with her friendly demeanor and polished appearance. On the basketball court

she will take you down.

“She’s got a lot of strengths,” said her coach, Mike Ev-ans.

“She’s extremely energetic, positive, fast, [and] she’s a good scorer. She works really hard.”

Busayong ad-mits being a rook-

ie in a college league can be challeng-ing, but Evans said she has proven herself as a star on the team despite her inexperience. In fact, she was named conference player of the week in December.

“She’s playing against kids that are three and four years older than her ev-ery night,” said Evans. “She’s a better player than I thought she was when I watched her in high school.”

Before playing with the Falcons, Bu-sayong was awarded as a Richmond League All-Star as well as being a ma-jor player on her previous team, the Richmond Colts.

“Everyone’s a lot better [in the col-lege league],” Busayong said. But she uses her small size to her advantage, dodging her competitors with swift grace.

Clearly this human kinetics student stands out on the court for reasons other than her bright Falcons-orange shoelaces. Fittingly, her studies are helping improve her basketball skills even further.

“I’m taking Active Health so we ac-tually have to go for runs and stuff,” said Busayong. The course examines the role of physical fitness on day-to-day life.

“That helps keep me fit [outside of] practice.”

Off the court, she helps out in the Langara sports department and is tak-ing courses to help her improve her basketball skills.

Both basketball teams are looking to work towards old goals after a pair of uneven starts in 2012

The men and women endure different fates in weekend gamesBy LEV JACKSON

Langara’s men’s basketball team won both their home games last weekend while the women fell short in both of theirs.

Before a packed crowd both teams came out focused and ready. The two teams squared off against the Capilano University Blues Friday night.

For the men’s team the game could not have gone any better as our Falcons dismantled the Blues 94-65.

Head coach Jake McCallum credited the victory to his team’s relentless de-fense.

“I thought they played very well de-fensively, which was what we were fo-cusing on,” McCallum said after the game.

“We really limited them, worked hard, rebounded well, forced them to do things they didn’t want to do.”

Gurjote Jhaj and Jeff Chu led the way for the Falcons, both scoring a team high 21 points.

Point guard Brody Greig also had a solid game, netting seven points and a team high 11 assists.

On the defensive end of the court, Devin McMurtry hustled hard to lead the team in rebounds.

The team continued their winning ways Saturday defeating the Quest Uni-versity Kermodes 99-81. This rein-forced coach McCallum’s statement that, “If we want to play defense, we can.”

The women’s team kicked things off Friday with a spirited effort falling to the Blues 83-63. The Falcons kept things competitive, trailing only three points at the half.

Despite the loss, head coach Mike Evans was happy with his team’s per-formance against the league’s third-placed team.

“I liked everything about the way we played except one aspect: we got beat by one player,” Evans said of Capilano’s Jenna Ralston. “In ten years in this league I have never seen a kid hit that many threes.”

The five-foot-10 power forward scored 42 points, more than half her team’s total.

She shot 10 for 15 on three-pointers and logged over 38 minutes for the Blues.

Falcons’ veteran Carling Muir had a team high of 17 points. Rhea Silvestri added 13 points and 7 assists, while Hailey Hebron played a team high 38 minutes and netted 14 points.

The women lost Saturday’s game against Quest University 39-48.

The first-year guard is impressing her coach as she continues her all-star ways from high school

DENISE BUSAYONGRookie Falcons guard

By CARLY RHIANNA SMITH

Opportunities abound for new years resolutions and the Falcons’ coaches plan to focus on challeng-

ing their players to improve after a rough start to the term.

“[This year’s practices] have been a little tough … you have your ups and your downs,” said Jake McCallum, coach of the men’s basketball team.

“We’re still growing and getting to

know each other. I think we’re continu-ing to get better, so that’s a positive,” he added.

The men’s team is currently missing four injured play-ers. “It’s a tough path when you don’t have all the pieces you’d like,” said McCallum.

The women’s team has faced in-jury and illness problems of its own.

“We haven’t had a lot of practices with all 10 [play-

ers] on the floor,” said head coach Mike

Evans. Evans also faces the challenge of

having many rook-ie players on his team this year. He looks for the posi-tives in what could be a problem.

“It has created a lot of opportunity for our younger players to play more than they normally would.”

Both of the coaches are recy-cling New Year’s resolutions from the past.

“[Our goals] haven’t changed since

Christmas – one is to make provincials, and then make the nationals,” said Mc-Callum.

“Right now our biggest focus is on trying to get better defensively.”

“Our goals are the same every year: to play to our potential and hope we overachieve whatever our potential is,” Evans said.

“But I don’t think we’ve quite done that yet.”

Both coaches display optimism and believe in their teams despite the tough starts.

“We’re still in control of our own des-tiny,” said Evans.

When he was asked to describe his team in one word, McCallum said, “Growing would be a good one.”

LEV JACKSON photoFrom top to bottom: Hailey Hebron, Brody Greig and Jitinder Lohcham face off against the Capilano University Blues Friday, January 27 at Langara College.

MIkE EvANSWomen’s basket-ball coachJAkE MccALLUM

Men’s basketball coach

Friday Feb. 3:

at Columbia Bible

College

Saturday Feb. 4:

hosting Douglas

College

Thursday Feb. 9:

at Kwantlen

University

Friday Feb. 17:

hosting UNBC

Source: Langara Athletics

FALCONSschedule