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GROWN-UP LEGO......................................... 4A Vancouver club is helping adults find their inner kid through playtime with a childhood favourite

theVoiceCheck us out online at

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This week look for special

features on what music

students are listening to,

and Langara salaries by

the numbers

march 27 , 2014 • Vol. 46 no. 20 • VancouVer, b.c.

Known thief on campus

Measles spreads to Kwantlen + BCIT

By BILL EVERITT

Langara College wants to increase tuition for new students by $390 over the next two or three years - a

15 per cent increase over current rates. In a statement released by Langara’s

new president Lane Trotter, Langara’s current tuition plus the two per cent annual increase already allowed means the “ability to provide high quality pro-gramming and services that lead to student success is diminished.”

The proposed increase asks for a “one-time exemption from the 2% tu-ition fee increase cap to allow us to raise our fees by $390 for 30 credits (in addition to the annual inflationary in-crease), lifting our tuition to the mid-point of our peer institutions.”

Thirty credits represents full-time studies over two semesters with five classes per semester.

The proposal needs to be approved by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Edu-cation.

The statement proposes to spread the increase over two or three years to reduce the impact on students.

Under the proposal, existing stu-dents would not be affected by the in-creases.

In an interview with The Voice last month, Trotter said, “What I’ve seen which is really cool, the good and the bad of it, is that we offer a really cost-effective, efficient model. The down-side to it is that because we have the second-lowest tuition in the province, that poses some challenges some-times.”

More to come in the April 1 issue of The Daily Voice.

Tuitionhikelooming

Tyson Berrow convicted of UBC theft and has been seen at Langara

Current increase capped at two per cent a year; Langara wants 15 per cent over two or three years

Children unvaccinated against disease over parental fears of harm, despite rarity of adverse reactions

By MEGAN BOBETSIS

A man known to police with a his-tory of thefts has been banned from Langara College.

Tyson Berrow, 28, is not a stu-dent at Langara and has not been charged with theft on the campus.

Langara security site supervisor Na-than Livingston said several people re-ported seeing a suspicious male inside campus classrooms and labs where items were stolen.

Berrow was most recently found guilty in March 2013 of theft under $5,000 at UBC, and his most recent court date was March 24 for another count of theft at UBC.

Livingston said Berrow has been given verbal notice that he is not al-

lowed at Langara under the B.C. Tres-pass Act, and a letter directing Berrow not to come on campus has been writ-ten, but not delivered to him yet.

Berrow will have committed an of-fence if he enters Langara after having been instructed not to.

“The campus is also working closely with the Vancouver Police Department in order to have Mr. Berrow quickly re-moved if he is seen on campus,” Liv-ingston said in an email.

Security gave the journalism depart-ment a poster decribing Berrow, but Livingston said facilities and security do not feel it is necessary to display the posters around the school.

The poster describes Berrow as “very brazen” and it says he “will enter occupied labs and classrooms and take

phones, wallets, and laptops.” On his Facebook page Berrow said

he worked at “being a baller” and was educated until “I think Grade 10.” He did not respond to a request for com-ment through Facebook.

Langara student Lilly Wass said she heard from her friends there had been thefts on campus, but didn’t know any-thing else about it.

“I definitely thought that . . . I was OK leaving my bag in a lecture hall,” she said.

Wass also said she thinks it would be beneficial to have posters about Ber-row displayed around the school for students’ knowledge.

Student Aaron Ballena didn’t know about Berrow, and said he thinks “se-curity is a bit lax.”

By ChRIS SLATER

An outbreak of measles in a largely unvaccinated Fraser Valley com-munity is linked to confirmed

cases at BCIT and the Kwantlen Lang-ley campus, and could affect Langara students.

A religious group in Chilliwack be-lieves vaccinations interfere with God’s care and don’t vaccinate their children against many common illnesses, in-cluding measles.

Other parents are concerned over potential heath dangers associated

with vaccinating their children. However, Dr. Meena Dawar of Van-

couver Coastal Health said adverse re-actions are quite rare.

The worst reactions in children are anaphylaxis (a serious allergic reaction occurring in about one in a million re-cipients) and febrile seizures (seizures brought on by fevers resulting from ei-ther a vaccination reaction or illness), which occur in about one in 2500 recipi-ents. However, Dawar said both of these reactions are treatable.

“The vast majority of parents actu-ally accept that vaccines protect their

children,” she said. Langara marketing student Juliana

Salvaterra doesn’t think people should receive vaccinations until adulthood and even then she is hesitant.

“Maybe 20 years old and up, but young children, no,” she said. “I don’t think their bodies are developed enough to deal with the disease.”

Student Carla Urquhart said vacci-nations in children are important to stop the spread of disease.

“If it spreads, it affects the health of everyone . . . I go to college, so obvious-ly if it spreads here it could impact me.”

Langara Health

Services asked stu-

dents with potential

measles symptons

to stay at home:

Fever, cough, runny

nose, inflamed eyes

and a face/neck

rash that spreads

to arms, legs and

chest

Measles vaccines

available @ campus

F.Y.I.

“Very brazen, will enter occupied labs and classrooms and take phones, wallets and laptops

Langara security

Tyson Berrow is shown in photos from his Facebook page (left and center) and on a Langara security services poster (right).

STUART MILES/freedigitalphotos.net photoStudents might be seeing their loans rise along with 15% of tuition.

News 2 Editor jEssE lamthE VoicE, thUrsdaY, march 27, 2014

Biking Friday night lightsThe wheels turn neon as BikeRave 2.0 races through the West End

THECALENDAR.ca photoBikeRave 2.0 participants gather around to decorate their bikes with neon lights and glow sticks on Friday, March 21.

By Lukasz Jonca

The wheels rolled out as the second annual UBC BikeRave 2.0 took place at UBC’s Walter C. Koerner Library plaza on March 21.

The event kicked off with hundreds of students on bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards and anything on wheels thundering down a planned route. The riders were decked out in bright co-lours, neon lights, glow sticks and were blasting loud music.

The event had five stops mapped out along the route where the riders would dismount and take 20- to 30- minute breaks. During these breaks, a travel-

ling DJ played music the cyclists danced to. A cyclist pulled the DJ in a custom-ized wooden carriage, while volunteers dispensed Red Bull refreshments.

“It’s an incredible event; we started it last year,” said Brandon Parker, one of the organizers of UBC BikeRave 2.0. “It’s something different. It’s something fun and it sort of connects that sustainabili-ty with having a ton of fun on campus. Faster bikes, more lights.”

Josh Compagna, another organizer of the event, said the bike rave is meant to build campus spirit and bring students together while building a cycling cul-ture.

More than 400 people signed up for

the event on Facebook. The plan is to create a legacy for the event at UBC and to see it grow every year. It was not only open to UBC students, but also to any-one in the public.

Volunteers collected liability waivers and handed out stamps to the partici-pants at a check-in station.

There was also a decorating station for bicycles where neon glow sticks were handed out and taped onto the spokes.

“Hopefully [it] integrate[s] people into the cycling culture who at first might be a little off-put by the sort of rigours of cycling around Vancouver,” said Compagna.

“It’s some-thing dif-ferent. It’s something fun. Faster bikes, more lights

BRanDon PaRkERoRGanIzER

EDRICK DUDANG photoNew golf app is free for golfers who want a digital scorecard.

By EDRIck DuDanG

A new free smartphone app im-proves the golfing experience for Vancouver golfers.

VanGolf, created by the Vancouver Park Board, has accumulated more than 1,500 users since its launch on March 12.

The popular app has many conve-nient functions for golfers, including a built-in score card and GPS functional-ity to locate distances between differ-ent points on a game, said Alex Doucette, manager of the Langara Golf Course Pro Shop.

“One of the really cool features is that it has a booking engine attached to it so people can actually use [VanGolf] to book tee times,” he said. Doucette added that it’s a lot easier than booking times on a personal computer.

The app also helps golf courses effi-ciently broadcast their availability to their customers.

“On a quiet day, if there’s a block of open times, then [VanGolf would send a notice] to all the app users letting them know that there’s some availabil-ity that they otherwise wouldn’t have known about,” Doucette said.

VanGolf will be integrated to a pro-posed live leaderboard in the Langara Clubhouse this summer, he added. The board would broadcast the players who played the best in the week, but would only apply to VanGolf users, Doucette said.

The app is available on iPhone, An-droid, and BlackBerry phones, but it only works on the McCleery, Fraser-view and Langara golf courses.

VanGolf does suffer from technical issues, one golfer said.

Golfer Declan Sweeney said the app makes it difficult to transfer booking times from one course to another. He scheduled a booking time at McCleery Golf Course, but when he wanted to transfer to Langara’s course the app did not work as intended.

Despite this issue, Sweeney said this is his only complaint about the new app and said he would continue to use VanGolf.

New golf app to help Langara golfersVancouver Park Board produces a new app with built-in score cards and tee-time booking

College massage for college price

By MIkE HoDDER

Langara’s registered massage thera-py program is taking its hands-on learning approach and applying it to

the backs of cash-strapped, stressed-out students.

Starting in May, students in Langara’s registered massage therapy program will be offering discounted sessions ev-ery Thursday and Friday at their new campus on West Broadway.

An hour-long session with a regis-tered massage therapist, or RMT, can run upwards of $100, but Langara RMT students will be offering them at a far lower price starting May 8.

“We’re going to have the students working on the public. We’ll have about six rooms,” said RMT student Jeff Gabert.

Langara students and staff pay half of $40 general public rate.

The clinics could provide some relief for those on a fixed budget.

“I use a standing desk at home, but my back still feels the stress during exam periods. Unfortunately, as a stu-dent the regular cost of a massage is too expensive,” said science student Brean-na Messerschmidt. “A student discount would make it far more accessible.”

The RMT program is offering the dis-count sessions as part of an in-house practicum, which program instructor Dae Backus said is one of the ways its students get the best-possible profes-sional training.

“We’re making relationships with the hospitals and health care facilities,”

said Backus. “We’ve got an agreement with Vancouver Coastal Health and we’re hoping to get the students into VGH, GF Strong [Rehabilitation Centre] and some of the other long-term care and brain and spinal institutes.

“When Langara started offering this program, the massage therapy commu-nity was actually quite excited because they knew a quality program would be educating their future colleagues,” said Backus.

The students hope they can take all the technical skills they are learning in the program and put them to practical use.

“We’re all here because we want to help people. Some of us have a more ho-listic spiritual approach, some of us are more physiological, but the emphasis is on the physiology side and there’s real science behind what we’re doing,” Gabert said.

“We’re all here because we want to help people

JEFF GABERTLangara RMT Student

Registered massage therapy program gives discounted sessions

Campus news 3Editor tylEr hoopEr thE VoicE, thUrSdAy, mArch 27, 2014

ALISSA CRANE photoStudents and faculty were able to catch a live stream of the Ted Talks in the library and learning commons.

LOW TURNOUT FOR TEDDespite being streamed for free, little interest given to TED Talks By ALI CRANE

Despite TED Talks being streamed live at Langara last week, few students attended.

TED Talks is an annual con-ference where live speakers come to-gether to talk about innovative ideas and inspiring topics.

This year the 30th annual meeting of TED was held in Vancouver with tick-ets being sold at $7,500 and higher.

The talks were streamed for free for students and employees in the Langara library.

Langara vice-president Brad O’Hara said he was excited to have the college selected to serve as a screening venue, enabling students to view them with-out the high price.

“There has been quite a buzz around the city for weeks about TED,” O’Hara

said. “I’m happy that we can provide our students, faculty, and staff with op-portunities to participate without cost.”

However, the low student turn-out, said Langara criminology stu-dent Melissa Mala-no, could have been caused by lack of advertising on campus.

“There really isn’t an easy way to see who is going to be speaking,” Malano said. “I

don’t know what the schedule is, and I haven’t seen any posters about it.”

Coby Friesen, currently in the Studio 58 program at Langara, said students

did not get enough information on what the talks were about and that he was too busy with school to attend.

“I heard about it one time, but then it just slipped my mind,” he said. “I think TED Talks appeals to me, but I’m also so busy in my program.”

Lindsay Tripp, a copyright librarian at Langara, attributed the poor turnout to the time of year.

“It’s such a busy time for students, everyone is immersed in studying for exams and preparing final papers,” she said.

As for lack of advertising, Tripp said TED has restrictions on how widely you can advertise for the live stream and that Langara was confirmed to stream the talks only a few days before the conference started, giving the col-lege little time to spread the word.

“I think TED Talks appeals to me, but I’m also so busy in my program

Coby Friesen

LSU accepted into B.C. student organizationThe LSU joins seven other members as the largest student organization in B.C.: the Alliance of British Columbia Students

By ASH KELLY

The Langara Students’ Union is now positioned to help shape the direc-tion of B.C.’s largest student organi-

zation. Early in March, the LSU was accepted

into the Alliance of British Columbia Stu-dents (ABCS), joining seven other post-secondary student groups that collective-ly represent more than 140,000 students, according to the ABCS website.

“Ultimately the whole idea is that we believe and the student associations within us believe, that together we’re bet-ter able to advocate on behalf of our stu-dents as a unified voice,” said ABCS chairman Colùm Connolly.

The ABCS held its inaugural meeting in November. While they are actively lob-bying on issues, Connolly said they are in the developmental stage and the LSU will play an active role in developing the di-rection of the alliance.

The member-driven advocacy group currently focuses on long-term afford-ability and accessibility to education, but also advocates for a range of issues in-

cluding campus childcare, facility im-provements, and public transit.

Chairman of the LSU students’ issues action committee (SIAC), Ameer Moham-mad, is working with the ABCS to devel-op the organization’s focus. SIAC’s man-date is similar to that of the ABCS: to lobby for affordable and accessible educa-tion. Mohammad said the provincial gov-ernment should take the requests of the ABCS seriously because they represent the voices of many post-secondary stu-dents.

“ABCS right now is the only platform that brings so many colleges and univer-sities of this province together to have a common voice . . . we [students] are the guiding voice and this is the loudest voice we have in this province,” said Moham-mad.

Mohammad also wants to work with the ABCS to develop minimum standards for campus sports and recreation facili-ties to find a better balance between rec-reation, sports and academics.

ASH KELLY photoChildcare support for students is one of the many topics the ABCS lobbies for. Ameer Mohammad stands outside Langara’s child care facility.

Langara hosts first Pride Fair Langara Health Services organizes event to raise awareness of LGBTQ

By DAVID LA RIVIERE

Pride flags adorned the halls for the first Langara Pride Fair on March 20.

The fair was organized by Langara Health Services and nursing students as a way to raise LGBTQ awareness on campus. Twelve different organiza-tions from around Vancouver, such as Qmunity and Vancouver Pride Society, as well as some Langara departments, set up booths to provide students with information on subjects ranging from LGBTQ rights to safe-sex practices.

Eva Snyder, Langara’s sexual and gender diversity advisor, hopes that the momentum gained from the success of the fair will continue into the next school year. The fair has already helped Langara’s queer community make themselves known to LQBTQ commit-tees in other colleges. A future meeting between LGBTQ representatives from other college committees in the Lower Mainland is currently in the works.

The idea for the fair came from Lan-gara’s community health nurse, Susan Kensett. Kensett works with term-sev-en nursing students who hold health-themed events as part of their commu-nity health practicum. Kensett said she thought about ways to make Langara more LGBTQ friendly for quite some time and since nursing students need-ed to organize a community health event this semester, she figured a pride fair would be a good way to accomplish both.

“My hope is to increase awareness among the general Langara populace,” Kensett said.

Langara student Tehseen Ahmed, who is a representative of the Rainbow Refugee Committee, said it was pro-grams like Rainbow Refugee that helped him flee Pakistan where homo-sexuality is illegal.

Melissa MalanoCriminology student

l Alma Mater Society

of UBC

l Graduate Student

Society of UBC

l University of

Victoria Students’

Society

l Capilano Students’

Union

l University of the

Fraser Valley Stu-

dent Union Society

l Kwantlen Student

Association

l BCIT Student As-

sociation

l The Langara

Students’ Union

ABCSMEMBERS

ntertainment4 The DAILY VoIce, ThURSDAY, MARch 27, 2014 eDIToR TRIcIA Lo e

Big kids with little toysASHLEY LEGASSIC photo

Vancouver Lego Club member Paul Hetherington’s structure, titled “Firetruck Hotrod,” is displayed at Oakridge Centre’s Lego store.

By ASHLEY LEGASSIC

Lego isn’t just for kids, and the Vancouver Lego Club (VLC) has shown that a strong community can be built using tiny blocks.

The adults-only club has grown from a handful of friends in a basement to a team of 25 consistent members with an online base of 600 people in just 10 years, according to Oakridge resident and club publicist Pierre Chum.

The VLC exhibits its Lego art in many shows, which requires the efforts of each member, and sometimes more than a year of planning. In the past, their creative structures have been showcased at places such as the Oakridge Centre Lego store and the VanDusen Botanical Garden’s Festival of Lights.

Although these shows make up the largest chunk of the group’s activities, Chum said the club has also laid the building blocks for a young boy’s dream through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“We managed to help a little kid with his Make-A-Wish, which was to go down to Legoland. Since he relapsed we were able to bring him into our ex-hibit and have him [see] the show be-forehand, before anybody was there. Just watching the expression on his face was just priceless,” said Chum.

The Surrey Museum’s bi-annual Lego show requires some of the longest planning. The most recent one, Lego: Myths and Muses, clocked in at a year-and-a-half’s worth of work.

The collaborative effort from each member resulted in a landscape that highlighted goddesses, monsters and

heroes from across the ancient Medi-terranean.

“For me personally, I think the big-gest thing we’ve ever done . . . was the Surrey Museum. I think that stands as the biggest show we still do,” said VLC member Keith Reed. “I joined the club just when they started the planning for that so I was thrown right into the mix-ing pot.”

Anyone is welcome to join the VLC to get in touch with their inner child, Chum said.

“People are big kids at heart. That’s always what we’re saying.

“We’re always looking to re-connect with our youth . . . That’s what we aim to do with the [VLC], to show people that Lego is still cool and very relevant, and you can build amazing things with it.”

Collision grad show hits Langara

Adults unite to play with Lego and embrace their inner children

A final exhibit showcases 2D and 3D objects created by Langara students

By HANNAH MYRBERG

What does it look like when a 2D object meets a 3D one? You can find out at the Langara’s design

formation grad show, Collision, which will show at Langara starting April 3.

The title Collision hints at the multi-disciplinary format of the program, in which students create pieces that run the gamut from 2D prints to 3D sculp-tures.

Design formation program head Marcela Noriega said the show draws inspiration from the cube. “You can see [the cube] as a 2D form or you can see it in perspective, inside or out. The idea behind it is the collision of these two worlds, 2D and 3D.”

The show will be held in Langara’s Pop gallery, a temporary gallery that will be in the main foyer of Building A until the end of May.

These kinds of pop-up galleries are the industry standard for accommodat-ing travel and dwindling gallery spac-es, said Tomo Tanaka, chair of creative arts.

Collision is the final school exhibit

for these students before graduation.“The idea is that [it’s an opportunity

for] people from the industry get to know the grads, and some of them get contacts later and get to go for jobs,” Noriega said.

Mostly though, Collision bridges the gap between study and practice, Norie-ga said. Students show their work in a professional gallery setting that is stu-

dent-driven from concept to fruition. Everything from the theme of the

show to the works included – right down to the curtains and carpets used on opening night – is a culmination of planning and design by the students themselves, said Noriega.

“The exhibit is completely conceived and produced by them and that gives them the confidence that they can do it.”

On stage: Awkward familiesStudio 58 grad’s first work as a playwright explores sexuality and culture

By MEGAN BoBEtSIS

Being at Langara grad Minh Ly’s first-ever play was like being a fly on the wall at an awkward first

date. Ga Ting, which is Cantonese for fam-

ily, is Ly’s debut as a playwright. It ex-plores the story of a Chinese couple forced to accept their son’s death and true identity after a confrontational dinner with his Caucasian boyfriend.

The character trio grappled with is-sues of culture and sexuality in what was a strikingly realistic story.

But more real than that was the dialogue between the characters.

Throughout the play, the charac-ters’ verbal ex-changes artfully escalated the ten-sion between the traditional Asian father and his dead son’s young boy-friend. Observing

their interaction was an uncomfortable experience, but it was difficult to tear your eyes away from what was happen-ing on stage.

It was easy to identify with the fa-ther’s reluctance to accept his son, who was living in a world his father couldn’t understand.

At the same time, you can’t help but empathize with the boyfriend as he is forced to defend himself and his love with frustration.

Powerful flashback scenes gave in-sight into each character’s relationship with the deceased son as they spoke into the audience as if he were there.

The single dining room set made the play unique, as well as the English and Chinese subtitles displayed on projec-tion screens during the show, empha-sizing even more the theme of commu-nication.

“The core of the piece is about com-municating – communication among parents and their child, and children’s responsibilities in sharing themselves with their parents,” said Ly, who grad-uated from Studio 58 in 2006.

Ga Ting, which is co-presented by the Vancouver Asian Canadian The-atre and The Frank Theatre Company, is Ly’s first work as a playwright.

“I strive for diversity onstage, so when I had an opportunity to write a show, I thought it’d be interesting to have a . . . middle-aged Asian couple with a white dude sitting beside them.

“I’d like people in any family dynam-ic to walk away wanting to share them-selves more with their loved ones,” Ly said.

Ga Ting is playing at the Richmond Cultural Centre until March 30.

HANNAH MYRBERG photoA design formation student walks by works designed and created in the program.

Minh LyStudio 58 grad and playwright

SCIENCE woRLd AftER dARkBrick and drink mixer,

Feb. 21, 2014

MuSEuM of vANCouvERDIY Daniel: Lego build

day, Dec. 14, 2013

Source: www.vlc.ca

VLC LEGOPast events

“The exhibit is completely conceived and produced by [students], and that gives them the confidence that they can do it

MARCELA NoRIEGA

Submitted photoGa Ting, a play about culture, identity and family shows until March 30.

Lifestyles 5Editor nadim robErts thE VoicE, thUrsdaY, march 27, 2014

By MADELYN FORSYTH

A new “selfie” campaign that has women posting self-portraits of themselves wearing no makeup

has been flooding across social media. This new social media craze has

seen a rising number of women posting pictures of themselves wearing no makeup and then nominating their friends to do the same.

Cancer Research UK, which did not start the campaign, said the #nomake-upselfie trend had resulted in an un-precedented increase in donations.

The spike in donations for cancer re-search has also been noticed in Cana-da. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, online donations to the charity have risen by over 240 per cent since no-makeup selfies started.

David Tindall, a UBC associate pro-fessor of sociology, recently published an essay regarding activism in relation to social media and says that human social networks have always instigated trends or fads.

“[The Internet] just speeds things up. So instead of taking days or weeks it takes minutes or hours, [for a trend to get rolling],” Tindall said. “The ju-ry’s still out in some ways, in regards to social media.”

Although the no-makup selfies have spread worldwide, not everyone is aware of the true message behind the campaign.

SFU student Jessica Pridmore, who posted a no makeup selfie on Facebook, said more should be done for breast cancer.

“It’s pretty pointless because not ev-eryone donates before or after they take and post the photo,” Pridmore said.

Langara student Carly Kaiser, who hasn’t taken part in the no-makeup challenge, said the challenge could be a good way to raise breast cancer aware-ness but posting a selfie isn’t enough.

Writing in the Independent, UK blog-ger Yomi Adegoke believes that the no-makeup selfie trend is simply “narcis-sism masked as charity” and that “de-spite good intentions it’s coming across as smug and self congratulatory.”

“You can’t help but wince at the fact uploading a picture of what you actual-ly look like is now being deemed ‘brave,’ especially when being held up against cancer,” Adegoke said.

“Why not raise genuine awareness through posting admittedly less-sexy cancer stats and symptoms, as opposed to a slightly blurred picture of your best au naturel benevolent pout?”

By EDMOND LU

Sweden-based clothing retailer H&M released a $129 wedding gown to little fanfare at their Pa-

cific Centre location on March 17. Van-couver is one of three Canadian cities to carry the dress.

There was little signage at the store indicating the dress was available for sale. It was displayed on a rack along with other dresses of a similar style, and nothing indicated that the dress was a wedding gown rather than just another white dress.

“Their dress is just a simple cotton dress that they wanted to make a mar-keting splash about,” said Patty Nayel, a wedding dress designer from North Vancouver. “It is not something that will be bought to be worn as a wedding dress any more than the other white dresses that they sell.”

This is not the first time H&M has participated in the bridal market, hav-ing released a US$349 gown back in 2006 with fashion design firm Viktor & Rolf.

Online wedding magazine TheKnot.com conducted a survey in 2012 of 18,000 brides and found the average cost of a dress in the United States was US$1,121.

Price, however, may not be the most important factor when brides-to-be are picking the wardrobe to say “I do” in.

“Another thing that came up, sur-prisingly, was if it was wedding-y enough” said Tammy Tsang, who is currently planning for her wedding in August. “My mom was very concerned about the fact that it looked just like a regular dress and not enough like a wedding dress.”

According to Tsang, other factors that were important when choosing her wedding dress were the fit, whether the dress suited her wedding venue, how representative it was of her per-sonality, and the price.

By RENEE SUTTON

The Just for Cats film festival, fea-turing famous cats from the In-ternet, will be pouncing into Van-couver this August.

The festival will be playing at the PNE this summer and will be included in the admission price. The reel will feature about 70 minutes of short films, six-second Vine clips, and well-known cats from the web including Grumpy Cat and Henri le Chat Noir.

The Just for Cats film reel was cre-ated by the Walker Art Centre in Min-neapolis, and has been the centre of fundraisers for cat health and shelter programs across North America.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) is presenting the film, which will tour across Canada after its premier at the Toronto International Film Festival on April 17.

Gisele Baxter, an expert in pop cul-ture and sessional lecturer at UBC, said part of the attraction of cat videos is that people anthropomorphize cats. “When you think of the sorts of cats who’ve become famous, it’s usually for . . . some sort of human characteristic in them,” she said.

Baxter said advancements in photo-graphic technology and social media have led to an increase in self-publish-ing and the popularity of cat videos.

This will be the first national tour for

the film reel. Kim Elmslie, communica-tions and advocacy manager for CFHS, said it’s an exciting way to spread an important message about the welfare of cats.

According to the BC SPCA website, three times more dogs than cats were reunited with their families in 2013. “We found that cats just weren’t doing so well in Canada… we wanted to do something in the public realm and we wanted to do something fun,” Elmslie said.

Langara student Patrick Bull said he didn’t know if he could sit through an hour of cat videos. “It’d be hard to pay for something that you pretty much get for free,” Bull said.

Feline film fest to hit VanThe internet’s most famous cats make it to the big screen

YOUTUBE photoHenri le Chat Noire, whose videos have been viewed online more than 15 million times, will be featured at the Just for Cats film festival.

A new kind of selfie intended to raise money for cancer research has met with widespread controversy

Cheapestgown in the town H&M’s newly released wedding gown is only $129

H&M photoH&M’s new $129 wedding dress.

TWITTER photoActress Michelle Keegan (photo flipped horizontally)

1 Nyan Cat

2 Grumpy Cat

3 Mom cat hugs

kitten

4 Keyboard cat

5 Surprised kitten

6 The OMG cat

7 Two talking cats

8 Standing cat

9 Maru

10 Stalking catSource: The Telegraph

Viral cats

No make-up selfie stirs debate

viewpoints6 The Voice, ThURSDAY, MARch 27, 2014 eDiToR Bill eVeRiTT

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Tell us.Got a different point of view?

Write to us.Problems with something we’ve said?

Let us know.

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The Voice. Email him at ebaron@langara.bc.ca

The Voice is published by Langara College’s journalism department.

Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration.

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theVoiceKeep your eyes peeled for the ‘laptop bandit’

Cat film fest: One small paw for cat-kindCats have finally succeeded in world

domination.After storming the web with

their cute videos, you would think cats would be satisfied with just establish-ing complete con-trol over the Inter-net. But now, they are coming to a theatre near you.

The Just for Cats: Internet Cat Video Festival is heading to selected Canadian cities - including Vancou-ver - starting in April, and it plans to screen popular online cat videos to live audiences.

Yes, it does sound totally ab-surd. Just the idea of a festival where cat lovers can come together to watch videos easily ac-cessible online would make our ancestors roll over in their graves, but it’s all for charity.

The festival teamed up with The Ca-nadian Federation of Humane Societies and proceeds will go to improving cat welfare in Canada.

While I hold mixed feelings for cats because they are probably evil, I can’t oppose a good cause. It is crazy to think charging people to watch homemade videos on a larger screen could actual-ly help real cats.

I can’t really imagine it myself, but this group has found a way to harness the power of the Internet for a good cause. I grew up as part of the genera-tion that has fully embraced the Inter-net and can’t imagine life without it.

I can’t speak for everyone, but many of us have found an online community that we belong to and support both on-line and in real life.

Heed this warning: cat videos may seem like harmless fun, but before you know it, it’s three in the morning, your eyes are bloodshot, and the word docu-ment you opened four hours ago re-mains blank. Just be careful.

Tyson Lamar Berrow, Langara’s “laptop bandit” according to Lan-gara security posters, is a comi-cally terrible crook.

I don’t mean to say that crooks are bad and that he is a bad person.

Although I’m not denying that, what I’m getting at is that he is really bad at being a crook.

He must not have gone to crook school, or, if he did, failed out.

In reality, his Facebook profile said he worked at “being a baller” and was educated to “i think grade 10.”

Whatever that means. Berrows, who turned 28 on March 24,

has a long criminal record that started in 2006 and continues today.

Through this career of thievery, he has been charged more than 30 times with offences including impersonation, being in possession of break-in tools, multiple counts of possession of stolen property, theft under $5,000, mischief under $5,000 and possession and use of stolen credit cards.

2011 seems to have been a particu-larly unsuccessful year for Berrow, with more than 10 charges and four

convictions in that year alone.He has appeared in court all over the

Lower Mainland, with offences logged in Surrey, New Westminster, in Van-couver and at UBC.

It’s unclear how much time he has spent in jail, if any.

As I read through his court docu-ments, I kept wondering to myself, “How has this guy not learned? How, after eight years and 30 charges, has he never gotten better at stealing other people’s stuff?”

One would think that after getting caught the first 10 times with stolen property, he would at least dream up a new hiding spot for all this loot.

When something goes missing, is there a trail of expensive bread crumbs leading from the poor student who lost all their work – not to mention possibly the most expensive item they own - to the foolish guy who doesn’t seem to un-derstand that if you’re going to steal something, you need to get rid of it, quick.

His next court appearance is sched-uled for April 15 and you can guess what the charge is - possession of sto-

len property under $5,000, at UBC, late last year.

In response to this, Langara secu-rity has banned Berrow from the campus, sent out warning posters and is trying to catch him hanging around.

But after 30-plus charges in crimi-nal court, I’m not sure that a stern lecture from a se-curity guard, or a judge, is going to carry much weight with Berrow.

A further complication: it’s com-pletely possible that if he were sent to jail, it would be the crook school he al-ways needed, and he might come out better at his chosen craft, and perhaps having learned new ones.

So, pack up your gear and bring ev-erything with you.

It’s unclear what will stop this guy; obviously the justice system hasn’t.

$99 dress: high style, low grade H&M, the affordable high-fashion

retailer, is known for its designer collaborations, but don’t expect

great quality because you get what you pay for.

Not everything in the store is horri-ble, though.

Last fall, H&M and French designer Isabel Marant released an affordable clothing line, but H&M’s website shut down before the release because of shoppers’ excitement.

Recently, H&M released an inexpen-sive wedding dress. It’s called the ‘$99 wedding dress,’ but in Canada, it’s actu-ally the ‘$129 wedding dress.’

Although the gowns on ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ are enviable, a dress from a high-end brand such as Kleinfeld is un-necessary. So, if you’re on a budget or you’d rather put the money toward a down payment, then this could be the dress for you; but there are better op-

tions.In pictures, it looks like a delicate

and flowy Grecian-style dress, but up close the detailing is poorly done and the material is cheap.

It’s too busy, with the beading along the neckline, the sheer top and the gathering of fabric on the upper half of the dress.

H&M managed to get the media’s at-tention, despite the dress not being on their website.

In the Pacific Centre store, the dress is hidden from view and covered in wrinkles.

It’s hard to say if people will go out of their way to look for the dress, and it’s even harder to tell if they will buy it if it’s badly presented.

The store’s first attempt with wed-ding dresses was back in 2006 when Viktor & Rolf designed a US$349 gown for H&M. Not quite as cheap as H&M’s

newest venture, but it’s still significant-ly cheaper than most wedding gowns out there.

It’s no secret wedding costs are rising. Last year, W e d d i n g b e l l s Magazine said the average wedding cost about $30,000.

If you want to save money, there are plenty of other places to look, such as BCBG or the Bay. They may not be as afford-able, but they do sell better-quality dresses for under $500.

And one day if you do end up spend-ing more than you bargained for, you can always just shorten it and wear it again.

OPINIONLaurEN cOLLINs

OPINIONBILL EVErITT

“I hold mixed feelings for cats, because they’re probably evil

OPINIONLEsLIE Kam

Issues & ideas 7The Voice, ThURSDAY, MARch 27, 2014eDiToR GAVin FiSheR

Langara prepares for summerTravel, summer jobs and co-op on the table for students after school comes to an end

Summer offers time to travel

Benefits of co-op appealing

Jobs and money on the minds of students as summer approaches

CHRIS SLATER and SUBMITTED photosClockwise from above: Science student Lesley Miller is considering traveling this summer; Langara students on exchange in Italy (photo courtesy of Bruce Hanbury); Bruce Hanbury, coordinator for Langara’s Europe, Italy and London study abroad programs.

Langara’s co-op program offers students paid work in their field of study

Langara instructors and students agree traveling gives life experience and benefits one’s education

Many students planning to work this summer to gain experience, pay back debt, and pay for tuition

By EDRICK DUDANG

Langara’s co-operative education de-partment held an open house during National Co-op Week March 17 to 19, giving students the opportunity to learn about co-op.

Co-op is a program in which students enter the profession in their field of study while still enrolled in their cur-riculum. Students who participate in co-op work full-time in a company or institution and are paid. Laura Mc-Naught, who is doing a co-op with Lan-gara’s human resource department, said the purpose of the co-op program is to equip students with job experi-ence in their field so they can easily transition from post-secondary to the labour market. Co-op also helps em-ployers scout for potential employees.

Co-op is currently only available to business, computer science and bioin-formatics students.

McNaught said she loves working for the college because it gives her rele-vant experience for her future.

“I want to be involved in human re-sources and a lot of projects they in-volved me [in] are working with peo-ple.”

She also said Langara made her the volunteer coordinator for Student Em-ployment Day and the Ready, Set, Hire! Business Career Expo.

Marketing student Eyren Uggenti is planning to do co-op this summer. He said he has never done co-op before and has already applied to five indus-tries for this summer. He also appreci-ates that co-op is paid.

“I really don’t have that many forms of income,” Uggenti said. “I think get-ting a co-op is the right thing to do be-cause I need a stable income for a cou-ple of months so I could start paying my school [fees].

Uggenti praised Langara’s co-op pro-gram for its wide range of industries he can apply to.

By CHRIS SLATER

Despite the weaker Canadian dol-lar, Langara students are mak-ing plans to travel this summer, gaining life and cultural experi-

ences that can be hard to replicate in the classroom.

Whether it is independently or through one of the college’s many study abroad programs, Langara staff and students agree that traveling pre-sents learning benefits that can’t be found at home.

Bruce Hanbury, program coordin-ator for Langara’s Europe, Italy and London study abroad programs, said there are many benefits for students who partake in study abroad programs.

Hanbury has been involved with such programs at Langara since 1974, and also runs art tours to New York

and Europe. He believes that through travel students are able to experience history and culture which a young city like Vancouver simply cannot offer.

“For example, (a student) studying theatre. We have a minimal amount of theatre here. But we have theatre in London. We have theatre in New York. To take a student and immerse them in that theatre environment is spectacu-lar . . . it is much more impressive than it is to study it by a reduced image in a classroom space.”

As for the weakened Canadian dol-lar, Hanbury believes it will have a small impact on the study abroad pro-grams.

“Some subtle changes may be made, but that’s based on the administration of the program. I don’t think it’ll affect the students as much.”

English instructor Debra Scott, who

coordinates Langara’s gothic field stud-ies trip to the U.K., believes traveling is beneficial to student learning.

“I think travel is a great education . . . it’s a really great life experience and learning experience.”

Science student Lesley Miller has thought about visiting New York this summer. She recommends that stu-dents take advantage of their time off and experience a new place.

“It’s something everybody should do, especially if you’ve been in one place a while. You should just get up and go. I think it makes your education a full package.”

Student Esinu Gbolonyo is planning to spend two weeks studying African music and dance in Ghana.

“You get to learn about other people’s culture. It’s life experience.” she said.

By LUKASZ JONCA

As summertime approaches, some students are trying to make mon-ey for next year’s tuition while

others are trying to get back above the debt line.

Whatever the reasons may be, many students are updating their resumes and preparing for interviews with pos-sible employers.

Scott Peters, a geography student at Langara is hoping to transfer to SFU

next January. He is planning on taking three courses at Langara during the summer semester. During his time off he wants to find a part-time job to help pay the bills and keep everything in check.

“I’m going to try and get something . . . in the tourist industry,” Peters said.

“I’ve had some money saved aside from my last job, but it’s never nice to go close to zero in the bank account.”

Student Aidan Royea is planning on taking a few courses this summer to have a head start for the fall semester. His advice to other students is to con-sider tree planting as a summer job.

“Tree planting is a really good sum-mer job for students because there’s a few [companies] that are really open to hiring new employees and you can

make about 10 grand in the summer,” Royea said.

Royea said he had previously ap-plied for tree-planting work through Heritage Reforestation Inc. According to Royea, they give great feedback on resumes and tips about getting hired. He also received a list of websites that review resumes and send them to dif-ferent tree-planting companies looking for seasonal workers.

Jamie Noakes, instructor at Langara in the department of co-operative edu-cation said getting a summer job gives students several benefits.

“Work experience is a great opportu-nity to connect with employers in the community during the summer time, have some fun, because there’s a lot of fun summer jobs that are out there.”

REyKJAvIK, ICELANDWaterfalls, natural

geysers, volcanoes and

glaciers are all on offer.

ISTANBUL, TURKEyEnjoy the city’s warm,

sunny weather, rich

history and culture

SACSAyHUAmAN, CUZCO, pERUVisit these stone ruins on

June 24 for a celebration

marking a day devoted to

the Peruvian sun god.

Source: Huffington post Canada

JUNEtravel destinations

GAVIN FISHER photoStudents are looking to fill empty pockets this summer.

8 portssThe Voice, ThURSDAY, MARch 27, 2014 eDiToR AMY joneS

KARLY BLATS photo (LEFT) Photo courtesy of DEEPCOVERAGE.COM (RIGHT)Third year nursing student Caitlin Sanford is focusing solely on her studies now after two years on the BC Lions Felions Dance Team.

Nursing student and FelionBC Lions dancer gives advice on how to balance hobbies with schoolBy KARLY BLATS

For the last two years, nursing stu-dent Caitlin Sanford balanced a full-time class schedule with be-ing a Felion for the BC Lions.

Sanford, 24, is in her third year of nursing at Langara and said being on the Felions Dance Team kept her sane and gave her a hobby away from the classroom.

“I honestly have no idea how I man-aged to schedule everything in but I did it,” she said.

“The Felions was sort of a distrac-tion, just having that time to socialize too was almost helpful in a way.”

The Felions Dance Team consists of 35 women who practice every Sunday

during the football season. Alexandra Severyn, Felions coordinator, said in an email she advises Felions on how to juggle an academic timetable while be-ing on the team.

“Every young women is different and priorities differ,” she said.

Before trying out for the Felions, Sanford said she never thought seri-ously about being on the team and was “baffled” when a co-worker of hers sug-gested she audition.

Sanford let the idea of being a Felion linger for a year while she worked out and practiced her dance moves. The death of her father in the winter of 2011 got Sanford serious about becoming a Felion.

“I just needed a distraction and to

have something positive in my life,” she said.

Severyn said Sanford was a dedicat-ed Felion with an easygoing attitude who always seemed to enjoy herself. Unfortunately this year’s tryouts didn’t go in Sanford’s favour but she said not making the team is a relief in a way.

“It’s nice to be able to focus on my future more, on nursing and family,” she said.

Sanford’s guidance to anyone bal-ancing a packed schedule is not to let stress manage their life and try to re-main positive.

“The biggest thing is not to be too hard on yourself. You can’t impress ev-eryone and it’s just important to do what you love.”

“I just needed a distrac-tion and to have something positive in my lifeCAITLIN SANFORD

Rizzardo v. UBC Langara’s men’s soccer coach files human rights complaint of gender dis-crimination against UBC

By GRAHAM MCFIE

Coach Mark Rizzardo is pushing his sex discrimination claim against UBC through to a second

hearing.Rizzardo says in his BC Human

Rights Tribunal complaint that UBC passed him over as women’s soccer coach in favour of a female applicant.

“It is a clear case of gender discrimi-nation,” Rizzardo, a UBC alumnus, said in an email.

Rizzardo was offered and accepted the position of head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s soccer team on Dec. 4, 2012. 0Three days later, UBC no-tified Rizzardo that the hiring process had been deemed unfair and rescinded the job offer. A second interview pro-cess was scheduled for January and Rizzardo was guaranteed an interview. Andrea Neil was then hired for the job.

Rizzardo noted that he had seen let-ters on blogs complaining of his ap-pointment as head coach of the wom-en’s team, saying it was a missed opportunity to hire a female coach.

“In one of the letters, the writer ex-plicitly named Andrea Neil as the per-son that should have been given the job,” Rizzardo said.

UBC added that there was contro-versy around how they offered the job to Rizzardo, on Dec. 4, 2012, before the job posting was closed to applicants. UBC received complaints that this de-prived some candidates of the opportu-nity to apply.

“I was disappointed to see how un-professional they were in dealing with it,” Rizzardo said.

In the first hearing, UBC moved to dismiss Rizzardo’s complaint but was denied. A second hearing is scheduled for October 2014.

Randy Schmidt, a spokesman from UBC, said the university would not pro-vide further comment on the matter, aside from a press release issued Feb. 28, because the case will be going be-fore the tribunal in October.

“UBC denies that sex was a factor in the hiring process for the women’s soc-cer head coach position,” the UBC statement said.

Tribunal member Enid Marion said the tribunal needs more information on the case.

Wheelchair curlers head to Nationals Provincial champions Team Neighbour practice at the Marpole and Richmond curling clubs in preparation for the Canadian championships coming next month in Quebec

By BEN ZUTTER

After bringing home their fourth provincial championship title in January, a local curling team is

looking to add to their national medal count at the 2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Quebec next month.

Vancouver- and Richmond-based Team Neighbour, including skip Dar-ryl Neighbour, second Vince Miele, third Frank LaBounty, alternate Gary Cormack and lead Alison Duddy, have been playing together for nearly a de-cade.

Their chemistry has earned them championships at both the provincial and national levels.

Neighbour, the founder of the team, has a 2010 Paralympic gold to his name,

as well as a number of World Wheel-chair Curling Championship titles.

After suffering a blood infection in 2012, he said he is ready to get back to competing on the Canadian and world stages.

“It’s hard to describe,” he said about competing in the 2010 Paralympics. “It’s a once in a lifetime thing, especial-ly playing at home.”

Vince Miele said he is excited about the nationals in Quebec, where they will be facing off against nine other teams competing for Canadian domi-nance.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Miele said. “We ended up with a silver medal last year and the team is just a little bit different this year.”

LaBounty and Duddy live outside of Metro Vancouver. According to Miele,

that can make getting together for practices both time-consuming and costly.

It’s alleviated in part by sponsor-ships and the generosity of local busi-nesses.

“We’ve been very lucky because one of the local hotel managers has given us some room nights,” Miele said. “So that’s helped a lot.”

Cormack also has Paralympic expe-rience, having won gold with Team Canada in 2006.

Cormack, Neighbour and Miele all play in local Vancouver and Richmond leagues, quite often against able-bod-ied opponents or on mixed teams.

The 2014 Canadian Wheelchair Curl-ing Championship takes place in Que-bec from April 28 to May 4 and will be available to stream online.

BEN ZUTTER photoSkip Darryl Neighbour practices for upcoming Nationals.