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skos:note """ Black Wedge lacks edge
t.
By
LAURA BUSHEIKIN
Tfwto by Oraf/Courtesy of
Ihe Georgia Straight
he Black Wedge, a group of performance poets who performed at
Graceland last Thursday night, are very bad. Bad enough to be
embarrassing. Bad enough so that the audience steadily diminished
as the night progressed. Too bad to be considered ^so bad they're
funny'. Too bad to excuse, since they undermine the power and
credibility of the two elements which they're attempting to unite: art
and radical politics;.
This is a shame, because the concept behind the Black
Wedge is exciting: 5 acts of poets and/or musicians join together to
tour. Their political stance is leftist with an anarchist leaning, and
supposedly they are angry. They're using their poetry and music as a
medium for their radical message, "dedicating language and music to
the oppressed", with the intent of "breaking down the barriers
between politics and culture, shattering the conventions of normal'
music and poetry."
Yes, the concept is promising: poetry liberated from the
dry classrooms of academia, from the dusty pages of the Norton
Anthology; poetry with purpose, not word play subject only to the
demands of form, but utterances from the heart, impassioned
statements about our lives and society. And couldn't this be an ideal
means to communicate political convictions in an engaging form, to
temper the alienating didacticism of political extremism? Ideally yes,
but with the Black Wedge, no.
....the evening plummeted downhill so fast it
would have made Steve Podborski jealous.
The evening opened with the most promising act. Rhythm
Activism, composed of guitarist Dem Stink and ranter Norman
Nawrocki, were by far the lesser of five evils—indeed, at times they
were good. They draw much of their material from "actual
events...weird things in the newspaper", said Nawrocki.
One of their pieces is an "Intelligence-Free" radio show
from the USA, complete with a weather report predicting "radioactive drizzle", a sports report covering war news and a station
identification type refrain: "Only in America-ca-ca!" This was
humorous while it made valid criticisms of both the media and the
goings-on of our southern neighbors.
Another highlight of this act was an audience participation
piece called "Condo-Fever", which inspired the evening's only
instance of audience activation: a collective "F-U-C-K...Fuck 'em!"
directed at "landlords and scumlords".
Later Nawrocki explained that the duo's roots go back to
15th Century Medieval roving ranters, and he performed an appealing
song derived from, or at least inspired by, that era. Clearly Nawrocki
and Stink have put some serious thought into their work.
Their greatest strength is their sense of humour which they
used to highlight the seriousness of the issues they addressed.
However, they flitted too quickly from issue to issue, resulting in a
style similar to those execrable "Stars on 45" records that came out
several years ago: 20 snippets of 20 different Beatles songs on one
single.
After Rhythm Activism, the evening plummeted downhill
so fast it would have made Steve Podborski jealous. The next act
consisted of Bryan James from Toronto and Carl The Bad Boy from
New Zealand. For the first 5-10 minutes they goofed around on
stage, falling over, partially undressing, and bantering with the
audience—behavior reminiscent of 15 year olds who have just
discovered that it's neat to smoke pot and act weird at parties.
Their material was hackneyed and more or less content-
free. One song played repetitively on the words "work force/work
for us", and expressed the far from earth shattering conviction that
working for a living is a drag.
James used lots of swear words and silly lyrics like,
"Molten plastic, it's curling in your lips, falling on the floor...HIGH
TECH PUKE!" Later Carl threw and bashed around his saxophone.
Sorry, Carl, but The Who fully explored and finally abandoned
instrument-smashing in the Sixties. Welcome to the eighties.
At the end of the act James admitted the inanity of his
work. "If everyone got up and did something like this there wouldn't
be...jerks like me on stages like this getting away with shit like this,"
hesaid. Uh-huh.
The stage was then taken by Califomian poet Peter Plate
who, unlike the previous act, actually took himself seriously—too
seriously. His poetry is prosy, preachy, and longwinded, full of
linguistic and political cliches.
Plate's first poem started off promisingly, addressing an
actual issue: a censorship trial in California involving five people,
one of them a 64 year old man. However the poem degenerated into
a story of how Peter, as a child, stole another child's toy gun at a
party, and wouldn't give it back. The child's parents, in an attempt to
teach common courtesy and cooperation, tried to get him to share the
toy. When he wouldn't respond, they locked him in the laundry
room.
Plate called this "the first trial", clearly attempting to create
a parallel between his childhood experience and the censorship trial.
But the attitude for which he was punished—the desire to steal other
people's guns rather than sharing and cooperating-is currently the
attitude that prevails, much to all sensible people's horror, among the
governments of the world. Surely his companion's parents, whom he
describes as hateful authority figures, were right to try to discourage
him.
Plate's next piece showed that unfortunately he hasn't
outgrown his childhood aggression. More than anything it was a
garrulous boast about having been arrested in San Francisco for
disturbing the peace, punctuated by the embarrassingly cliched
refrain of "Rich Pigs Go Home!"
Plate's politics are strange—they could perhaps be described
as anarcho-fascisL He spouts propaganda, oozes aggression, and
loses all credibility with assertions like "AIDS is manufactured by the
CIA."
Turn to page 2: Wedge
_»
THE JBYSSEY
Volume 6 No. 6
Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday, August 19, 1987
228-2301 Page 2
The Summer Ubyssey, August 19,1987
Audience shrinks to half size
From page 1
After Plate there was a
musical interlude with Vancouver's
own Mecca Normal, comprised of
guitarist David Lester and vocalist
Jean Smith. Smith's voice is nasal,*
monotonous and very annoying. Her
songs' 'melodies' all sound the same.
Her lyrics are complaints about
people who don't like unions, who
are anti-abortionist, and, yet again,
about the really awful necessity of
having to work for a living.
Further comment is
-difficult because, quite frankly, after
the first few songs, Mecca Normal's
music is unlistenable. By this point
in the evening the audience had
thinned out to half of its original
size. Your faithful reviewer stayed
only out of loyalty to her job.
Mourning Sickness, the
last act (phew!), are a three-woman
band from Toronto, who claim to be
"devising a passage beyond the
limits of both music and anarcho-
feminism".
Initially they struck a blow
against feminism by displaying their
technical incompetence. Their
mikes weren't working, although
supposedly, "they were plugged in
earlier". The band members
meandered around the stage looking
for the plug and for the thing it plugs
into, and appealling to the sound
man for help.
Mourning Sickness' self-
described "violation of the norms of
music" is in itself an argument for
the existence of such norms. The
"band' consisted of one keyboardist,
a violinist (or to be more precise, a
violin-violator), and a woman
banging on a sheet of metal with a
gong.
They sang songs about
such things as the Pre-Murder-
Syndrome, which was "dedicated to
anyone with PMS and especially
anyone who's used it as an excuse
for murder".
Again, the show was
reminiscent of stoned kids at a party
playing with their friends'
instruments. Puerile, self-indulgent,
neither politically stimulating nor
artisticaly interesting. Your faithful
reviewer, her loyalty exhausted, fled
after the third song.
The Black Wedge, with the
exception of Rhythm Activism, are
doing a disservice to both art and
politics. Their behavior provides
support for the typical criticisms
levelled at left-wingers by the
righteous right. Often they seemed
like spoiled brats, complaining about
the need to work for a living, or to
cooperate with other members of
society.
Their anger was rarely
directed at specific issues, rather they
just seemed to want the chance to rail
against anyone with more power and
money than themselves. The
general tone of the evening was not
a bold manifesto, not a rousing
challenge, but a self-indulgent
whine.
It is easy to merely
criticise political institutions, and to
find fault with society, and this is all
the Black Wedge do. They offer no
alternative suggestions. They offer
no route to a way out. They offer no
strategies for change.
If you appeal to people's
anger, you must also motivate them
to fight back. Only once during the
evening did a performer do this.
Nawrocki, of Rhythm Activism,
appealled to the audience: "Who are
the big landlords and scumlords in
\\&ncouver? The people who are
evicting tenants, tearing down
apartment buildings to build condos?
Do you know their names? Do you
know where they live? Have you
spoken to them? Are you doing
anything?" The other performenrs
steered clear of such specifics.
It is not enough to bemoan
the oppression of being a worker and
having a boss. Why not explore and
celebrate some alternatives, such as
self-employment, or worker-run coops?
Tired old anger expressed
in tired old language is numbing, not
activating. Where is the fresh
vision? And where, oh where, is a
fresh language in which to express
it?
Certainly not at a Black Wedge
performance.
1
.1
poetry, m us/c
and politics
First - year
^Lmbc
students
jpp,v
need help
during
\\m
registration
week.
Call Tim Bird
at 228 - 3961
to get
involved in
the ASK - ME
ffi__B *
___HB____> %
program
Z\\)t -Hfar^sf p Cartoon -Spot
/crrv pesi<"
CHEER, UP rms eviroz-
joih th£ uevssa row//
The Uyssey needs:
Writers
Photographers
Reviewers
Cartoonists
Typists
Layout Artists
Experience
not necessary.
Come today to Sub
241 K& talk to
some of the friendly
staff or phone 228 -
2307.
;,#v
1
a
$
I
•*t
*S_
classifieds
PROFESSIONAL TYPIST, 30 years experience. Word processing, IBM typewriter. Student rates. Dorothy
Martinson, 228-8346.
TYPING, short notice service.Essays,
resumes, papers. Research and writing assistance available. Will pick
up and/or deliver. John, 327-0425.
WORD PROCESSING—essays, resumes,
theses, by experienced word processor. Reasonable rates. Quality work.
Phone 521-8055.
1 BRM BSMT suite for rent ar 9th and
Trimble. Heat, light and cable included.
$425. Call 228-9005 or 254-3922, ask for
Ron.
LARGE HOUSEKEEPING unit, self-contained,
ground lvl, Kerrisdale. $375/mo., including
utilities. Jeanette, 263-9204.
hot flash
THE ALMA MATER SOCIETY OF UBC,
Food and Beverage Department is now hiring returning UBC students. Experience an
asset but not necessary. Apply Rm. 266 in
the Student Union Building, 6138 SUB
BLVD, UBC. The Summer Ubyssey, August 19,1987
Page 3
Grad students
object violently to
greedy nepotists
[By DEANNE FISHER
The UBC graduate student society is determined not tol
[let the issue of tuition waivers for faculty dependents die J
(quietly.
Calling UBC faculty "greedy nepotists?' graduate soci-
[ety representative Kurt Preinsperg is asking for a public I
[debate on the issue. He said that by publicizing the is-J
■sue die graduate students hope to force the faculty to ad-
|mit their "moral lapse" and remove the clause.
A letter sent by Preinsperg to faculty association presi-l
[dent Joolz Blom says the clause is "discrimination on|
(the basis of family background."
But Blom said the agreement was "fair and good" and!
I said that though some concerns were expressed during |
[the negotiations, "the debate has taken place."
But the debate may have been influenced by faculty!
[apathy and deserves more attention, said Preinsperg.!
"Some faculty members are burned out, and out of touch |
|with the world around them," he said.
Though controversy surrounds the issue, the faculty association is now legally bound to its contract, saidj
[Blom. "The agreement must stand," he said. Nothing j
[can change until next year when the association "will]
[negotiate as our members instruct us to."
Some faculty members justify tuition waivers on the|
[basis that they are policy in 75 per cent of North]
I American universities.
Preinsperg said that is a dangerous argument.
"There was a time when slavery was common too," hei
[said. "Political corruption is rampant all over the world.[
[is that a good excuse for us to do the same?"
The practice originated in costly institutions such as [
[Harvard and Yale to encourage professors to join university staff and has led to "widespread social injustice,"}
[said Preinsperg.
Preinsperg said he expects responses to the graduate!
[society's letters and encourages any faculty member!
["who believes the faculty assocation has a right to askj
j for this particular perk" to come forward for public de-
fbate.
Both Preinsperg and Blom said if the tuition waiverl
[clause is dropped corresponding salary increases wouldf
[be considered a separate issue.
Blom said he is not in a position speak in a forum onf
[behalf of the faculty association.
* '-V
*v »
*■_
Dodo bird dropped
from official bird list
[By ROSS McLAREN
A serious political issue has dropped into B.C.'s lap. Thcl
[government wants to select an official bird and has askedg
§B .C. residents to vote.
Shortlisted are the varied Thrush, the Trumpeter Swan, the!
jStellar's Jay, the Rufous Hummingbird, the Peregrine Falcon,!
[the Harlequin Duck, and appropriately for B,C.'s branch plant|
[economy, the American Dipper.
Environment and Parks Minister Bruce Strachan's press release said, "this is not a popularity contest but an opportunity!
|to ... consider seriously what they (birds) mean to us."
Other choices that did not make the short list: the cuckoo, [
[the dodo and the ostrich.
To vote, drop a line to "Vote for your B.C. bird", c/ol
[Ministry of Environment and Parks, Parliament Buildings, [
[ Victoria, B.C., V8V 1X5
* *
j U
att_£__,'-j&* ^P
Student ponders climbing scaffold and jumping after receiving results of summer supplemental.
Dan Andrews photo I
ru
Full Metal Jacket explores "Jungian thing
By ROSS McLAREN
Stanely Kubrick's latest
movie is more an analysis of the military mentality than a Viet Nam horror story.
Movie
Full Metal Jacket
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Denman Place
The first half of the movie
Kubrick details the life of recruits in
a Marine boot camp. Kubrick's approach is important because boot
camp is where the most vital training
for war takes place. It is there that
neurotic boys are transformed into
killers.
Boot camp is an intense
period of psychological conditioning.
The civilian mentality is broken and
replaced by a soldier's brain. This is
the most important period in a soldier's life, and that is why Kubrick
spends half his movie detailing life
in boot camp.
First the hair is cut off and
the boys identity stripped; as part of
the same process, the boys are
abused, stripped of their pride.
Women are denigrated as "Suzi
v~y-ca*r^vr^:~Z; .;.T*T"
f?
Rottencrotch.es" to create a sense of
bonding among the boys. The boys
are taught to love their guns, pray to
them and sleep with ttierti.
What the Marines create is
a machine trained in the art of
killing. The soldier's mentality is
built in boot camp. Kubrick shows it
for what it is, the mentality of a machine, trained not to think, but only
to kill. Kubrick, ever the objective
reporter, does not say such mentality
is good or bad, only that it exists.
Kubrick explains the ability to kill as part of man's dual nature.
Joker, the movie's protagonist, stands
in front of an open grave in Hue.
Inside the grave are bodies of government officials, school teachers
and nuns, executed by North
■Vietnamese soldiers after they captured the city of Hue. On Joker's
helmet is printed Bom to Kill, on his
lapel a peace button. Questioned by
a stereotypical army colonel about
the two statements, Joker says "it is a
Jungian thing", the^dual nature of
man capable of good and evil.
The colonel does not understand Joker's words. The
colonel's perception of reality is
strictly whatever his superiors tell
him to believe. Sad to think that
such stereotypical characters could
exist, but they do and Kubrick liberally supplies his movie with them,
although often not effectively because of these characters two dimensional natures.
But Kubrick is not after
empathy with his characters.
Kubrick's movie is like a newspaper
story, impartial and factual. It is not
coincidental that the protagonist in
the movie, Joker, was a journalist in
high school and after boot camp is
assigned to Stars and Stripes.
Kubrick, like Joker, never lets, the
characters interfere with the story.
At times this objective attitude is not able to maintain the audience's ihterest because the movie's
direction is not clear. In Full Metal
Jacket, there is no innocent Charlie
Sheen to cheer for (from Platoon),
or a complex character like Martin
Sheen to analyze (from Apocalypse
Now). Instead the audience is given
several characters who are interesting and quickly understood but at
times ancillary to the plot.
The focus of the plot is on
soldiers cut loose from authority,
surviving on their own. When the
battle begins. Joker's officer is
quickly killed. The grunts are left to
fend for themselves, and soon they
find themselves lost in a demolished
city pinned down under enemy fire.
Kubrick's thesis is that war
is an anarchic exercise. Li war, he
says, authority breaks down and war
assumes a dynamic of its own. This
message was especially true in Viet
Nam. The grunts and non-commissioned soldiers were virtual kings in
the field.
Viet Nam's anarchy was
compounded by poor leadership.
The American government never realized that its policy of containment
was doomed in Viet Nam's jungle atmosphere. Under attack on all sides
the goal of American soldiers shifted from saving democracy in South
East Asia to survival and also for
some to joy in mayhem and murder.
Leaderless, Kubrick says,
the American army reverted to its
true state, that of a machine trained
to kill. How appropriate then that
the final scene of Full Metal Jacket
has American soldiers march
through the razed city of Hue,
singing the Mickey Mouse Fan Club
theme song. Viet Nam had become
less an exercise in ideals and more
of a ridiculous dream.
NOVEL CELEBRATES
By RICK HIEBERT,
Tom Sukanen was
indeed different. This Finnish-
born Prairies farmer did not fit
in with the people around him in
the drought-stricken, Depression
hit town of Manybones
Saskatchewan. Especially when
he started building a full size
ocean-going cargo steamer in
the middle of his back 40...
Sukanen's story intrigued local
author Andreas Schroeder when
he drove by the boat, the
Sontianen, which today sits on a
fallow wheat field south of
Moose Jaw. Schroeder decided
to research Sukanen's life, but
found that there was many
conflicting accounts and much
legend about Sukanen's life.
\\C0
GENIUS
CATHY JONES IS A BIG FAT PLEASH
scathing
Cathy Jones... this lady has class!
By MICHAEL GROBERMAN
Cathy Jones' Wedding in
Texas is top rate stand-up comedy
with a refreshing twist: it is also
topical, insightful, and even slightly
moving.
The first half of this one-
woman show sees Jones perform a
series of sketches in the guises of
outrageously funny characters. Her
first is a Nana Mouskouri look-alike
"I'm from Sicily-Greece-Peru."
"And it is a pleasure to be here," she
says with her thick accent, "it's big
fatpleash."
She sings a number of
choruses of her hit, "number one in
Europe" called You're My Pajamas.
She mambas across the stage, thrusting her bum backwards to the beat.
She dedicated a song to her
boyfriend, who is kind of dumb
"he's a few sandwiches short of a
good picnic," she explains.
Next we have Cheryl and
Rod, played by Jones, in a serious
scene of domestic violence.
Cheryl's been waiting for Rod all
day. He comes home very late and
hits her when she asks too many
questions. The subsequent song, Rod
Don't Love Cheryl, is sombre and
Jones returns to the comic
bent of most of the evening with her
Cathy Jones... this guy has class!
Wedding in Texas
a one woman show
written and performed by Cathy
Jones
Vancouver East Cultural Centre
until August 30
flakey pop-psychology feminist,
hosting the T.V. program "Fudegeos
and Feminism." She has just written
a book on the chocolate box of life:
"Say you have a bordeaux, and you
want a Brazil: you might have to go
to the bottom layer. What of it?"
The timing and flakiness are bang on;
it is always funny. The first half ends
with Jones doing a slimey male
lounge singer telling dirty jokes and
singing bad songs.
Part two is the short play
Wedding in Texas about Lindy leaving small town Newfoundland to go
to her former female lover's wedding in, that's right, Texas. The play
begins cleverly, with Lindy admitting to her mother that she is "not
like the other girls," backed up by
Twilight Zone music.
There is a truly inspired,
hysterically funny video which
shows Jones, sweet and innocent,
working in an outport diner, being
cruised by five hard women from
the big city. The background song:
"I'm an outport lesbian with my
short, short lesbian hair."
But the story gets complicated, high tech, and boring. The
fake smoke and flashing lights turn
this into a self-indulgent rock video.
Wedding in Texas, however, is of a uniquely high quality, and
its problems are born of over-blown
creativity. These are problems more
Vancouver shows should have.
Cathy Jones' show is a refreshing
late summer treat.
So, Schroeder decided to
fictionalize Tom Sukanen's life
in his latest novel, Dustship
Glory.
Dustship Glory looks beyond
the life of Sukanen to the nature
of small insular farming
communities, to the nature of
-..go-nfas and insanity and is a
study of how a non-conformist
copes with a conforming
society. Schroeder mows down
the stifling attitudes of
S;!__nen's contemporaries like a
harvester mows down wheat.
Schroeder has used his
interviews and research to good
effect and his recreation of the
people and era of this novel is
very evocative. Schroeder has
. done a good job of creating these
composite characters from the
irony people involved in
Sukanen's life.
Schroeder is very good at
describing both the land and the
people involved in his novel. For
uook
Dustship Glory
By Andreas Schroeder
Ballantine
example, the first chapter, in
which the town rowdies and
Sukanen fight over the boat,
dhows both fie insolence and the
intolerance of the men so that
the deader will later come to
understand why Sukanen cannot
fit in with the society around
him.
Schroeder does an excellent job
in portraying Tom Sukanen, the
dreamy, iconoclastic genius at
odds with a world that often
made less sense than he did.
Schroeder's portrayal of Sukanen
seems very plausible, and adds a
new theme to the book-that of
the gifted rebel confronting a
society that refuses to
understand him.
Schroeder succeeds in turning
Sukanen into a sort of an anti-
hero. By the end of the book,
one is rooting for Sukanen to get
his boat into the South
Saskatchewan river, so he can
sail off through Hudson's Bay to
the world beyond.
The only problem I had with
this good book was that I
wanted to know whether
Sukanen had been really like
Schroeder's portrayal. The man
and his contemporaries were so
interesting that I felt cheated that
Schroeder had not tried to write
a standard non-fiction
biography. Although Dustship
Glory does make a good novel,
it could be better (and sell mere
copies) as a non-fiction work of
Canadiana.
All in all, however, Dustship
Glory is an evocative morsel of
Canadian history. Andreas
Schroeder uses Sukanen's story
to look at the relationship
between the outcast and society
in a fascinating fashion.
AIN'T AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', BUT CLOSE
By STEVEN CHESS
Though it seemed that Aint Misbehavin'
would be forever held over, it wasn't. But The Arts
Club, never wont to give up a good thing, is a strong
believer in bringing back the dead. Thus, the soul of
Aint Misbehavin' has been channelled into a new
body and the convergence, though truly harmonic,
can't escape coming across as a reincarnation.
THE BLACK AND GOLD REVUE
at the Arts Club Granville Island
The Black a'nd Gold Revue welcomes back
the dynamite cast of Aint Misbehavin': Lovie Eli,
Lovena Fox, Sibel Thrasher, Denis Simpson, Marcus
Mosely and boasts two new, younger additions:
Daya Faye and Chuck Perry. Together they croon,
hum and roar their way through a survey of black
music from the minstrel tunes of Al Jolson to the pop
hits of Marvin Gaye.
The show takes us on a musical tour of New
Orleans' Bourbon Street, where Lovie Eli sings a sizzling rendition of Dirty Dozens, sashaying and
writhing her way across the stage, and all the ladies,
plus one, band together for a hot little number called
Sisters. Miss Eli has style to spare. At New York's
Cotton Club Denis Simpson rouses the audience with
Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher. Hence, we become Lost in the Fifties, travel to New York's
Appollo Theatre and spend two hours listening to
real pros resurrect a wide variety of black music hits.
The singing is outstanding. When Marcus
Mosely croons Ol' Man River from Broadway's
Showboat you believe that he actually has 'toted that
barge and lifted that bale'. Lovie Eli, Sibel Thrasher
and Lovena Fox form a wicked trio. The three of
them together create the show's highlights; their rendition of White Boys are So Pretty from the musical
Hair is a show stopper. Also of note is Miss
Thrasher's And I'm Telling You, I'm Not Going from
Dreamgirls, Miss Fox's My Man's Gone Now from
Porgy and Bess, and the gospel song Maybe God is
Trying to Tell You Something performed by the entire cast.
Chuck Perry and Daya Faye are well able to
manage their material but lack the polish and poise
of the older cast members; though, Mr. Perry proves
himself an apt and graceful dancer. The show itself,
by no fault of the entertainers, lacks polish. Director
and choreographer Dean Reagan too frequently
leaves the cast members standing upon the stage,
looking uncomfortable and like they don't know
what to do with their hands. Despite this last problem, The Black and Gold Revue is a sure thing
amidst the lighter than air fare being offered in the
city this summer.
V
t
Lovena Fox, Sibel Thrasher and Lovie Eli.,
sing black music with solid gold voices
a
p Page 6
editorial
The Summer Ubyssey, August 19,1987
Time for
refugee reason
Canada is a huge country geographically. Our
resources, natural and human, are immense.
Canadians have always been tolerant people.
Canadian aid has helped and will help drought stricken Africans and poor Asians. The Canadian profile
around the world is admired for its generosity.
With so much in our favor why would we want to
deny others the plenty that surrounds us?
Of course not everyone should be let into the country.
Canada's refugee admission guidelines now admit
people who will be persecuted if they return home.
That seems fair. How can we return people to face
torture or execution.
But what should we do about people who take
advantage of Canada's justice and sense of fair play?
The boatload of Sikh immigrants who landed off
Nova Scotia have certainly pushed the limits of
Canadian tolerance. It is doubtful that they were
escaping persecution and now in Canada it is doubtful whether they will return to India. So some
changes to Canada's immigration laws are needed.
But the wholesale changes proposed by the federal
government in bill C-84 are outrageousness.
The thrust of an immigration law should be
towards fairness and away from intimidation. The
proposed changes that would let immigration officers
search homes without warrants and look through
lawyers' files without judicial approval are disturbing. Racism has reared its ugly head in the general
population and the federal government has overreacted dangerously. A calm appraisal of the situation is
needed. Canada must continue to provide a first
world beacon to third world people. Let us hope the
St. Louis incident does not repeat itself.
THE SUMMER UBYSSEY
August 19,1987
The Summer Ubyssey is published Wednesdays throughout
the summer session by the Alma Mater Society of the
University of British Columbia, with the additional funding
from the Walter H. Gage Memorial Fund, and the UBC
Alumni Association. Editorial opinions are those of the staff
and not necessarily those of the university administration,
or of the sponsor. The Ubyssey is a member of Canadian
University Press. The editorial office is Rm. 241K of the
Student Union Building. Editorial Department, phone 228-
2301/228-2305; advertising, 228-3977
It was a sorry sight The late Director of Finance, Don Isaak, lay dead beside
the Mac in the Ubyssey office. Above his prone form the Mac flashed the mes-
sage:"I can't take working for the loogans at the Ubyssey anymore! Ill have to
end it all!" Immediately, the World's Greatest Detective was sent for...
A purple surrey (okay, Laura Busheikin, with a fringe on top) pulled up outside SUB. Out stepped "Sherlock" Hiebert and his faithful companion, Dr. Ross
McLaren. Quoth McLaren, "Egads, Sherlock, this case appears to be quite a
poser, like the famous Hounds of the Basketballs case."
"Quite," replied Sherlock, as they entered SUB 241k.
Deanne Fisher, having bought the farm, lay on the floor under the victorious
computer. Andrew Hicks, Steve Chan, David Ferman, John Richmond and
Malcolm Pearson lay by the layout flats in a similar demised condition.
"Oh, Sherlock," piped Corinne Bjorge, "How good of you to come. Ubyssey
staffers are dropping like flies, and that son of thing plays havoc with recruitment"
"Elementary, my dear Corinne, I have already solved the case. The killer, to
judge by the modus operandi, is someone familiar with a newspaper office. It
must be Michael "Get" Smart!"
"He's dead too."
"George Oliver!"
"Had his drafting table smashed over his head."
"Kurt Preinsperg!"
"Unwrapped too many sandwiches."
"Victor Wong?"
"Sunk Barb Waldern's zodiac and fled east.."
"Steven Chess or Ian McLaren?"
"One entertainment review too many..."
"Dan Andrews? Steven Wisenthal? Alar Olljum?"
"In the old hacks home in the sky..."
"Egads, Sherlock, is looks as if your vaunted record is shot to hell..." said
McLaren...
"Aaargh, it can't be Kathy Chung, Bryson Young or Celia Henslowe!" cried
Sherlock,"They're too new!"
Finally, as Jennifer Lyall's dead body, a copy of the White Paper on Defense
sticking out of her back, fell at their feet, McLaren realized that he and
Sherlock were alone in the room...
"Egads, Sherlock, that must mean..."
'Yes, it does...certainly a master detective must think like a criminal and
thanks to too much 'seven percent solution', IVe become one myself (Hee Hee
Ha). Please be so good as to not run, McLaren. I don't aim so well with my 12
guage and Rebecca will go into conniptions if I mark up her wall..."
after feoWu? "Jb#Jf
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Walk down The Ubyssey's memory lane
By VICTOR WONG
So this is it. The last summer
issue. Appropriate, because it's also
the last, the very last, absolutely final
issue to which this contributor will
make some sort of contribution.
For five long, crazy, temptuous
years I have been associated with
The Ubyssey as cartoonist, book and
movie reviewer, and reporter. During
that time I have interviewed people
like Jean Chretien, John Turner, arid
Doug Collins, I've been threatened
was typeset and pasted up. When I
told one of the staffers about a
movie I'd seen over the weekend, he
suggested I write a film review for
the paper. This led to my becoming
a reviewer and getting my first byline.
It wasn't until my second year
that I wound up becoming a serious
reporter. Someone had turned in a
story about Bill 32 that needed more
research and re-writing. As one of
the first returning staffers, I was
with divine condemnation by mutant
Maranathans, I've observed the
biweekly bickerings of those
airheaded idealists laughingly
referred to as the AMS executive.
I've found myself at more demonstrations and picket lines than any
self respecting conservative would
care to admit. And, at least once a
week, I've done something to justify
the appearance of my name on the
masthead of this fine example of student journalism.
And now ... it's all over.
I remember full well the first time
I showed up at SUB 241k. I'd come
up with an idea for a comic strip
which dealt with student life. The
person handling city desk was a dark
chap named Shaffin Shariff. He took
a look at the drawing I'd handed him
and started laughing. And thus did I
join what the staff members then lovingly called "the vilest rag west of
Blanca."
At first I thought I'd limit myself
to cartooning, but as I stayed with
the paper, I found myself doing other
things. Like writing headlines, down
at College Printers where the paper
asked to take the job. My by-line
made the top of page 3 this time,
and I was hooked on journalism.
My memory of my time here is,
for the most part, pleasant. I
remember going to Victoria for a
meeting of B.C. student papers, running like a wild dog (as did the
other staffers) to catch the ferry
minutes before it left the dock.
Laughing along with the other
staffers over dinner at the Candia
Tavern, or whatever restaurant we
had meal tickets for, prior to arriving at College Printers for the
night's work. Driving through the
Rocky Mountains in a rickety
Datsun station wagon to get to
Lethbridge, Alberta for a Western
regional conference of student
papers* Strolling along the West
End beach, in the wee hours of the
morning, after putting a summer
issue to bed, watching the editors
frolic. Teasing a couple of the old
hacks—feminists with very strong
senses of dignity— by drawing pictures of them with Bob Hope noses.
Did I get something out of my
association with The Ubyssey? I
suppose I did. I'm certainly less
right-wing now than I was when I
first joined. And I definitely picked;:.
up an awareness of journalism and-
the publishing field which has influ-;
eneed my choice of career goals. Of
course there may be some who'd say
I haven't picked up enough, since I'm
still proud to call myself a chauvinist, but hey, nobody's perfect ;.
Has the paper changed during my
stay here? Yes, and mostly for the
better, though I can't claim credit.
The closed-minded political animals
that ruled the editorial collective
when I first joined have been
replaced by more moderate, more .
open-minded, more relaxed, and'
more weirder folk. There is much
more laughter heard around the
office than before. And finally, after
years of begging, we have modern
equipment to work with. Of course
there are still some problems, such
as lack of autonomy, but the paper f
got further along the path to attain- J
ing that this year than before, which ?-
means this rag will eventually
become independent—I'd say probably before the decade is out.
Of course I won't be there to see s
it. I'll be too busy back east, in -
Montreal, to worry about the for- '}
tunes of The Ubyssey. But the stu- /
dents of UBC, and especially those ■ *
just joining fresh out of high school,
will be there. And when some of
them come into the graffiti-decorated office of SUB 241k and offer to
draw cartoons or write news stories,
I hope they get as much out of the
experience as I did.
"Bye now.
Victor Wong, Ubyssey cartoonist
and reporter, leaves us to go tho
McGill to take Library and
i Archival studies.
i The Summer Ubyssey, August 19,1987
Page 7
Science undergrad society finally
given office space in CPAX
By RICK HIEBERT
"*••*■* The Science Undergraduate Society
was finally assured of space for their
offices yesterday, preempting the
plan of some science students to
occupy the Chemistry and Physics
' •*•**' Annex when the demolition of the
building began in September.
* it The SUS has been having problems
with space for the past few years.
Two years ago, the SUS had an
office beside the Dean of Science,
which was turned into a lounge. The
••_■: SUS moved into 3 rooms in CPAX,
which has been slated for demolition
,f for seven years.
When the Board of Governors
announced the construction of a new
science building 2 months ago the
SUS was asked to vacate its office
. on August 20 without being assured
of new space.
Although the Dean's office was
sympathetic and tried to find space
for the society, the SUS was worried
about being left without space, said
SUS president Todd Ablett
"We were even thinking of bringing
in a portable and plunking it down
in an s appropriate' place, if worst
came to worst," he said.
Ablett is pleased about the room
offered in Scarfe, as it is close to the
Chemistry and Biology buildings
and convenient for science students.
"We're not put out on the edge of B
Lot in a shed or something," he said.
"It's still only one room but we
could get more space when they gut
organized."
Ablett said the SUS, like moist
undergrad societies, could use more
space. "The successful undergraduate societies seem to have the needed space to organize activities, intramural sports, and society sales. The
struggling ones don't, and perhaps
they are struggling simply because
of lack of space," he said. " Without
space you can't do much of anything."
The room allocation heads off the
plan of the Black Hand, the "clandestine operations group" of the
SUS, to have Science students occupy the building when demolition
began at the beginning of
September.
The group had tentative plans to
"fortify the building and place it
under our occupation, until the SUS
is given office space," a representative of the Black Hand told The
Ubyssey before the SUS was given
new space. "We'll make the bulldozers sit and wait,"
"We're thinking of emplacing
barbed wire and sandbags around
the building, so we can't be flushed
out," he added.
Ablett said that the Black Hand did
not officially exist and that he hadn't
heard of and couldn't endorse such
an action.
"However," he said, "I can understand their frustration."
Defence propaganda
escalates arms race
s
By JENNIFER LYALL
The federal government is
selling its new defence policy to the
public in a slick piece of propagan-
da, entitled Challenge and
Committment, which should appeal
to Marvel comic book fans. It is
based on a dangerously simplistic,
us-them world view that will escalate the arms race before it increases
anyone's security.
Abandoning the understanding that the arms race is a
destabilising force and a threat to
world peace, the white paper on
defence commits Canada to participation in the race, rather than looking for ways to defuse the situation.
The basic premise of the
white paper is that East and West are
irreconcilably opposed on every
philosophical, cultural and political
issue and therefore the West must
regard the U.S.S.R. as an implacable
enemy. The Soviets wear the black
hats: portrayed as intent on scuttling
NATO and overwhelming the free
world, they are sneaky opponents
"whose explicit long-term aim is to
mould the world in its own image."
The concept of an enemy
is a convenient ghost for a government bent on convincing the public
to support a large increase in defence
spending. The public understands
this simplified vision: it has beer,
defined for them in countless superhero movies and cartoons. And the
same movies have taught them how
to react: kill the buggers with the
biggest thing you got. It is a very
freestyle
clever piece of propaganda and a
very irresponsible way to present
such a dangerous and sensitive policy to the public.
Having established the
inherent evil of the Soviet Union,
the paper attempts to prove that the
evil poses a real danger. The scare
tactics continue with accounts of
Soviet trigger-happiness, quoting a
"proven willingness to use force,
both at home and abroad, to achieve
political objectives."
There is no mention, of
course, of the proven American
willingness to use force to achieve
political objectives, in Central
America, the middle East, and Asia.
NATO allies wear the white hats.
Confident of the uprightness and
nobility of NATO countries the
white paper self-righteously asserts
that "the West would resort to
armed force only in its own
defence." Even if that statement
was not blatantly contradicted by
past U.S. activities in the third
world, placing such trust in a country where lieutenant-colonels determine foreign policy is naive indeed.
Li keeping with the threatening comic-book tone and lack of
vision of the entire document, the
paper asserts that "the principal
direct threat to Canada continues to
be a nuclear attack on North
America by the Soviet Union."
Here again we witness the need of
the government to present a tangible
enemy as a focus for public fear. In
reality, the possibility of a Soviet
nuclear attack is no more of a threat
than the possibility of an American
attack, or a third world attack, or
even an accidental attack, any of
which would destroy the world
equally effectively.
This error in determining
the nature of the threat Canada faces
led to the error in addressing it;
instead of a policy dedicated to ending the arms race and reducing
nuclear stockpiles we have a policy
which considers participation in the
arms race an integral part of the
country's defence. Canada now has
a defence policy that can only perpetuate the international instability
created by the arms race.
But this is not surprising,
for our defence policy originates in
the same kind of thinking that is
responsible for the continuing escalation of the arms race, namely, that
the world can be divided into two
camps, and that it is somehow possible to guarantee the security of one
side without considering the security
of the other. In a nuclear armed
world such a position is clearly
obsolete, since a threat to the security of any one side is ultimately a
threat to the very existence of the
planet Faced with the prospect of a
nuclear holocaust, it is time we
addressed the need for global security; thinking in terms of vus' and
"them' has become too dangerous a
game.
By defining a complex
world situation in simple black and
white terms the defence paper successfully enforces rifts between East
and West when it should be looking
for ways to heal them.
Jennifer Lyall is a Ubyssey editor
whose fear of global destabilization
is surpassed only by our fear of
hers.
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The Summer Ubyssey, August 19,1987
Students balk on pay to play tennis
First free love. Then free tennis.
Both are things of the past now that
UBC students have to pay to use
outdoor courts on campus.
Revenue from the courts is being
used to pay maintenance and capital
costs for the tennis bubble, the grass
courts, the armouries and the outdoor courts.
"At one point every court on campus was there to use for students'
purposes," said university athletics
council member Martin Cocking.
"It's utterly ridiculous that now
there's only the Totem and Vanier
courts you can use for free."
He added he hopes the university
can get out of its 1983 agreement to
build a concrete base for and share
the costs of maintaining the tennis
bubble located at the south end of
campus.
Physical education and recreation
director Robert Morford said
Tuesday that maintenance costs on
the tennis bubble have turned out to
be "more than was bargained for"
when the university first acquired
the bubble in a 1983 deal with
Tennis Canada.
And the grass courts (next to the
bubble) alone cost $100,000 to
install in 1984 and were abandoned
this year because revenue from them
wasn't covering upkeep costs, he
said.
These costs combined with the university's new "pay as you go" policy
Scientists to move to new
cancer research facility
Six UBC scientists will be moving into a new research facility next
month to open a multi-million dollar
pharmaceutical industry, where they
will continue their work towards a
cure for cancer.
The group, headed by biochemist
Pieter Cullis, is working to develop
pharmaceuticals that will eliminate
cancerous tumors without causing
serious side effects to undiseased
areas of the body.
Vancouver peace flame lit
By CELIA HENSLOWE
Vancouver's new peace flame, lit
Thursday, "will remind us day in
and day out that we have to maintain that commitment to peace," said
mayor Gordon Campbell.
Campbell and Hiroshima survivor Kinuko Laskey lit Vancouver's
Flame of Peace at a public ceremony in Seaforth Park.
"May the flame remind us of our
responsibility to future generations,"
Laskey said.
The monument, inspired by the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial's vigil
flame in Japan, symbolizes
Vancouver's efforts toward peace
and nuclear disarmament.
Campbell praised Vancouver's
annual peace march, adding
"each man and each woman shares a
contribution to peace, each has a
small commitment."
Laskey presented Campbell with
a wreath of oragami cranes, explaining that "in Japan cranes are a symbol of happiness and long life."
Volunteers later handed out
oragami cranes to the public.
The treatment they are developing relies on liposomes, tiny sacs
composed of the same fatty acids
that make up the membrane of any
normal cell, to carry drugs through
the body, bypassing healthy areas.
Eventually, developers hope to be
able to target liposomes to specific
sites, but at present they are simply
encapsulating drugs before releasing
them into the bloodstream. "That
by itself appears to reduce some of
the toxic side effects," said Cullis.
The team is working with the
world's largest selling anticancer
drug, doxorubicin, which can cause
congestive heart failure when injected freely into the bloodstream in
doses high enough to kill the cancer.
'We want to extend the same sort
of protocol to other anticancer
drugs," said Cullis.
The new business, called the
Canadian Liposome Company,
sprung from contract research by
UBC for New Jersey's Liposome
Company Inc. during the last three
years. The parent company is funding the research to the tune of over
$1 million annually for the next
three years.
which made tennis operations an
ancillary service have "created an
increased burden which is hard to
offset," said Morford.
He said the armouries are the major
area used by students for tennis during the winter and "use has boomed"
since P.E. started maintaining those
courts in good condition and encouraged creation of a tennis club with a
membership fee to use the court
"What we are trying to do is have a
package (of fees for students and the
public) so we can have the courts
and keep them in good shape," he
said.
Morford added all the outdoor
courts are deteriorating and the fee
revenue will be used to resurface at
least half of them before next summer.
Alma Mater Society president
Rebecca Nevraumont said the university athletic council is addressing
the issue of the new fees for student
use of the tennis courts.
"The tennis centre is a prime example of what can happen when there is
no addressing by the administration
of the operating costs of a facility,"
she said. "Someone has got to commit to coming up with the operating
costs of the bubble for as long as the
agreement with Tennis Canada
lasts."
.*•■
UBC biochemist Dr. Pieter Cullis bids farewell to his old office
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Stereo Specialists"""@en ;
edm:hasType "Newspapers"@en ;
dcterms:spatial "Vancouver (B.C.)"@en ;
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edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0125862"@en ;
dcterms:language "English"@en ;
edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ;
dcterms:publisher "Vancouver : Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia"@en ;
dcterms:rights "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from The Ubyssey: http://ubyssey.ca/"@en ;
dcterms:source "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Archives"@en ;
dcterms:subject "University of British Columbia"@en ;
dcterms:title "The Summer Ubyssey"@en ;
dcterms:type "Text"@en ;
dcterms:description ""@en .