Radioactive ploughshares: War, peace, and Goya
Goya, the current exhibit at The Reach claims, was one of the first artists to exchange the glorification of warfare for a portrayal of its destructive realities. His prints have ambiguous titles such as “I saw it (Yo Lo Vi)” or “This is bad (Esto es malo),” and depict hulking soldiers and weeping, diminutive civilians. The prints themselves are two centuries old, but the message is timeless. The Symposium, by contrast, addressed the complicated modern war, and its influence on our pursuit of an increasingly tangible peace.
A² + B² = Snowflake ?
It’s amazing how simple events, in our case, a dump of snow, can spin such profound consequences through our lives.
Kulturkampf: What I didn’t learn in Sunday School
It’s 10:30 on a Thursday night, and the waters of Victoria harbor are a black, cold reflection of a stark sky. The icy streets are rife with chilly homeless persons and bespectacled student journalists, an unlikely juxtaposition explained by BC politics and an ink-stained pilgrimage from across the nation. The Canadian University Press (CUP) conference has engulfed one of the downtown hotels, and the harbor core is positively seething with wispy hipsters in tight jeans.
Eleven days into the future
I realize New Years is a distant memory, but I doubt many of you out there have fully adjusted to the fact that we now live in a year which requires a two at the beginning and end of its cardinal notation.
Eighteen days
It was always coming. You knew it, we knew it, and we were both holding our breath. It’s been in the back of our minds since the beginning of November, and now, finally, it’s here.
Art Attack
I am writing this week about something that’s going to get me in trouble. I know it and I suspect you know it too, just not quite yet… so read on and let’s get this circus on the road.
Water wars
The project is dead, dead, dead – stake through the heart dead. I just doubt that Peary would have had to vacate the throne if he hadn’t linked his campaign to a controversial 291 million-dollar project, and instead pushed the P3 to the back burner and ran on a more conventional platform. In Abbotsford, the debate over Stave Lake tended to usurp the actual campaign, and Peary, being the only mayoral candidate in favour of the project, was just too closely associated.
Busier than thou
It’s “that time of the semester” again, that legendary space between the exuberance of September and the euphoria of mid-December. It’s that time when you’re trying to balance two book reviews, an ethics presentation, and that dreaded second mid-term, knowing you have to clean your kitchen, work two shifts and then fly out to Minnesota for your sister’s wedding over the weekend. It’s “that time of the semester” as the professors call it, and (at least for me) the temptation to hide under the blankets and pray for a velociraptor apocalypse is growing by the hour.
A question of balance
This Friday will be the first Remembrance Day ever to occur on 11/11/11, a notational quirk which will not be repeated for another century. Coincidentally, the year 2011 also marks the end of the first decade of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan, and the beginning of new non-combat role for the Canadian forces in Kabul.
Calling out the whistleblowers
In all my years watching and playing ball I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quarter as poorly officiated as the second ten minutes of our Friday game against Guelph University.
Slouching towards Edmonton
We here at The Cascade work hard to follow leads, scoop stories, drink rum, and generally follow the example of the great journalists who’ve gone before, yet we also continually strive to improve our craft in whatever way possible. It was in pursuit of this noble purpose that myself and three of my colleagues journeyed to Edmonton last weekend for the illustrious WPNCUP (Western, Prairies, and Northern Regions of the Canadian University Press) conference, searching (obviously) for better and more effective ways to serve the UFV student body.*
All power, no purpose
I’m sure you’ve all heard of Occupy Wall Street by now, whether on the news, online or through Facebook babble. You’ve probably also formed your own opinions about its potential influence, credibility and motivation. I’m not going to try to change those opinions, only highlight a couple issues that I find a little troubling about the movement.
No offence, but…
The quest for a successful joke can be dangerous to everyone involved, yet it must be remembered that humour should be closer to a rap on the knuckles than a burst of machine gun fire. Also, for those of you who are part of watchdog activist groups (many of which I whole-heartedly support) remember that every once in a while it’s healthy to laugh at yourself.
Man or monkey: the struggle within
I’d like to inform you all that I made a speling mistake in last week’s paper. To some of you this doesn’t really come as a surprise, as you’ve been writing papers long enough to realize that errors are essentially a fact of life. Others are perhaps more troubled by the implication that I only made “one” error, when, in their opinion, this publication is a joke tabloid being produced by glorified orangutans.
Mass marketing the student body
Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by advertisements. Even those determined to live a cloistered life find they are not completely immune. The library, the recreation centre, the town square: our most treasured public spaces are being overrun by new marketing strategies.
Addressing the Dissenters…
Every year we get complaints. Some are insightful, articulate criticisms of The Cascade’s policy and content, and some remind me of stray Youtube comments, hurled indiscriminately our way by people I hope I never meet in person. Par for the course I guess, when running a publication that is considered controversial by some, and not controversial enough by others, yet every year myself and my predecessors have felt the need to explain what The Cascade is, in the hope that a minority of you will stop complaining about what it isn’t.
Greetings fellow Academics
My name is Paul Esau and I’m the Editor-in-Chief. For those of you who are returning to UFV, welcome back! For those of you who are new, welcome to the good life!
It was fun while it lasted
Welcome to the last issue of The Cascade for the 2010/2011 school year (if I may still call it that). It’s been a long year, a tough year, a challenging yet utterly fantastic run for those of us here at your student newspaper, and we’d like to thank all of you out there for your support and your readership. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Cry Havoc and let slip the fans of Vancouver
I’ve always been a closet fan of riots. I find the idea of arson, civil disobedience, and general hell-raising fairly attractive, even romantic, in the right context. I’d give my left arm to be able to whip my shirt off, set a vehicle on fire, and shout “Freedom or death!” and really mean it.
Facing the Stegasaurus
The Cascade has several articles this week about the changing nature of media in our modern world. Whether in chronicling the swift decline of the soap opera (Nick Ubels 12), or discussing the changing roles of libraries (Ami Van Veen 6), it is easy to see the ways in which human modes of communication are evolving, adapting, and improving (hopefully). What is perhaps harder to recognize is the relentless acceleration of change in our culture, a process driven by ever more fickle consumers armed with infinite options, and the irritating knowledge that true entertainment is only one more click away.
Elevating the discussion
Linus Van Pelt once said that there are three things you should never discuss: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin. While this editorial may be The Cascade’s only mention of that benevolent, yet frustratingly absent Halloween spirit, there are five articles about two of these contentious topics in this week’s issue.
Editorial: UFV Theatre – A closer look
The opinion article “UFV Theatre Department Steals From Students” in last week’s publication raised some questions about the casting practices of the UFV Theatre, and particularly in the casting of this year’s production of The Tempest. Although certain elements of the article were, unfortunately, inaccurate, the central query concerning the participation of non-students in university productions is both relevant and valid. Why are members of the larger community given opportunity to compete against tuition-paying students for roles in UFV plays? Why was Glen Pinchin, allegedly a non-student, awarded the leading role of Prospero in The Tempest? Is UFV indeed unique in this practice, or do other university theatre programs cast from outside their student body as well?
Editorial: Nobody knows the trouble men see
The recent economic downturn has seen a rise in male depression. This is primarily the result of men losing their jobs and being unable to support themselves or their families. Although male depression due to the loss of jobs is certainly understandable, this latest downturn in male purchasing power is part of a larger trend. The real wage of the North American worker, or the ability of the average worker to buy the necessities of life, has decreased steadily since the late 1970’s. The traditional nuclear family, where a wage-earning male supported his wife and children singlehandedly, is an archetype that developed after WWII, and was based on the fact that men were actually able to support a family on the wage of a low-level factory or office worker. In times past, many working-class families had to have two incomes in order to survive, and in the traditional agrarian model the entire family would work long hours on the farm in order to support themselves.
