s Student Life October 10th 2012 - Over the Edge ARTIVISM LEILA MAHEIDDINIBONAB STUDENT LIFE EDITOR Last Thursday, the second in a series of ARTivism Expressions events put on by the Northern Women’s Centre (in conjunction with the UNBC School of Social Work and the UNBC Arts Council) was held in the Rotunda Gallery. The series spotlights different issues within the UNBC and Prince George communities through the use of art with a message. The most recent night of ARTivism focused on homelessness. The night began with a potluck at 6:00pm with the movies Men Against Violence and Meth, a short movie about a girl addicted to meth and her mental status. Later in the evening guest speaker Christal Capostinsky, a former resident of Vancouver's Downtown east side, brought insight to the struggles of First Nations women and the vulnerability of drug addicts to sex work. The main purpose of ARTivism Expressions is to help the healing and understanding of individuals through art. Many of the pieces on display throughout the six week interval have their beginnings in art therapy provided by the AWAC Women’s Shelter here in Prince George. Throughout the exhibition, canvases will be sold with LEILA MAHEIDDINIBONAB STUDENT LIFE EDITOR For a large percentage of us who are not from Prince George, Thanksgiving weekend is a time of road trips and family; emotional reunions, goodbyes, and a long drive back. It’s hard to say which part of the weekend wears most on a person, but the long hours spent on the road (home, and finally back to the university) can determine the mood of the whole weekend. This Thanksgiving, the boyfriend and | drove down to Vancouver from Prince George, and then back. Here we will tell you the best ways to avoid those little bumps in the road that can make even the best plans fall apart, and give you some helpful hints about how to make them succeed. 1. Leave at a reasonable hour. What does this mean? It means leave half the proceeds going to the Northern Women’s Centre while the other half is reinvested to purchase supplies for the art therapy sessions at AWAC. The next ARTivism Expressions evening will be on the 11th of October at the Rotunda Gallery and will focus on the sexualization of youth in the media. The night will feature guest speaker Chandra Scopie, a co-facilitator of a research project concerning youth in media here in Prince George, as well as the films America the Beautiful and Girls and Media. Be sure to check it out for a sneak TOP TIPS FOR BETTER PHOTO SOURCE LEILA MAHEIDDINIBONAB and be well on the road before 8:00 am! For us, | had lofty plans for this weekend, plans that would become much less lofty as we drove on. Had we had the option, we would have left around 6:00 am. Unfortunately | had an early morning shift at work until 11:00 am on Friday, our departure day. The lesson here: make sure your days are booked off WEEKS in advance. How we learned: we were still on the road by the time the sun set and we weren't even in Hope yet. 2. Time the pit stops Okay, so no one is saying “don’t have pit stops,” which would be unreasonable. People have to eat, stretch, use the washroom, and sometimes just take a break. What we're saying is when there's a half hour pit stop, it shouldn't PHOTO SOURCE SHELLEY TERMUENDE preview of some styles and looks coming to the Eco Fashion Show this semester. FIRESIDE WITH GEORGE LEILA MAHEIDDINIBONAB STUDENT LIFE EDITOR The monthly informal meeting with President Iwama started out with no agenda as an open conversation that quickly turned to the topic of the prov- incial cuts in funding of post-second- ary institutions. The proposed fund- ing would cut the BC post-secondary budget by $20 million, a deficit which the post-secondary institutions would be required to fill. Of the $20 million, $506,000 would be allocated to UNBC, with costs in IT and facilities getting the first look. Beginning with an update on the draft copy of UNBC’s cost-analysis assess- ments (assessments done across BC post-secondary institutions to project where cost savings can be instituted), the topic quickly changed to the feas- ibility of the projected government mandate of cuts. “We are seeing if the cuts are possible right now with the Savings On Procurement Practices as- sessments. If we can find $20 million elsewhere, such as group buying of supplies and equipment with other in- stitutions, then we won't have loss of jobs, salary services, etc.” the president said. ROAD TRIPS magically stretch into an hour and a half. | know this seems like it wouldn’t happen, but just imagine all those beautiful little shops you see along the way, not to mention fruit stands, creepy looking farmhouses, and random lakes that are just too beautiful to pass by without stopping. The lesson here: time your stops, when you say 15 minutes, it should be 15 minutes. How we learned: we started our trip at 11:00am, but got into Vancouver at midnight. That’s 13 hours, people! 3. Don’t get mad at drivers when doing homework. This goes mainly for whoever is the passenger. On this trip and many others, |, who cannot drive, usually do homework. What was different on this trip? The homework was on my laptop. When working on layout designs or in Photoshop one quickly learns that those little sways and nuanced movements that a car makes are terrifically annoying. So remember, if your boyfriend (or whoever is driving) could stop those movements they would, but they can’t, so there’s no point in yelling at them to. The lesson here: communicate frustrations calmly. How we learned: by NOT communicating frustrations calmly. So here it is three easy ways to make any road trip more enjoyable, and less of a hassle. Next time we're taking the dogs, all three of them... | think I'll need a new list for that. President Iwama stressed the idea of instituting savings without impacting students, services or the community. This means finding efficiency gaps in the system and working collectively with other institutions and the com- munity to fix them and save money. Discussions about how to generate revenue for the university without pushing the cost onto the students or depending on government funding were brought to the table, like those at Bangkok University where an adjacent shopping center has been set up by the university. With the review of budgets and up- coming decisions about the best methods to improve cost savings, the relationship between the manage- ment and workers, specifically the communication on where the potential savings could come from, needs to be improved. Continued conversation on what we can all do to get the university functioning better and physically be- ing together to converse is an aim that is being pursued with these informal meetings. PHOTO SOURCE LEILA MAHELDDINABONIME