November 16, 1993

 

A New
Student’s
Opinion

 

 

by Trent Ernst

Something strange hap-
pened to me on the way to class the
other day.

Actually, it wasn't the getting
to class that was weird, it was get-
ting to class. You see, after a month
of attending this here institution, this

» was the first time I got to a class with-
out the aid of my daytimer.This may
not seem a big thing to you, but it
was to me.

You see, I come from Small-
town, Saskatchewan (all right, I
heard that snickering, Stop it. Sas-
katchewan is a perfectly fine place
to grow up. No, really.) I spent all
my school years in the same build-
ing (Not in the same classroom. It
wasn't that small a town.) It was a
familiar place. Each room had its
own atmosphere. Its own flavor. Per-
haps it was the peanut-butter and ba-
nana sandwiches left in the desks,
but I don't think so. No, it was more
the character of the rooms. Each one
spoke out about the people who at-
tended the class. If you were to walk
into a room, and see the finger paint-
ings hung proudly on the walls, you
knew that you were in the grade 12
room.

Here, though. I don't know
about this place. The rooms have
about as much character as Al Gore.
How am I supposed to differentiate
between rooms?There are no finger
paintings hanging to proclaim "Yes,
you are in the right room." There is
no teacher's desk covered with toi-
let paper telling me that this is the
place to be.

Ihave never been in the high
school of a large city, but I suspect it
is the same. At high school, you are
(supposedly) in the same building
6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Things
start to develop character. Personal-
ity. Not like this place. Here you walk
in, do your 2 (or 4, or 6) hours and
go, leaving no trace of life in the
room vacated.

And it bugs me, you know.
They're sanitizing education. That
isn't the way it was meant to be.
Knowledge is not something to be
institutionalized, it's something to be
proclaimed. To be experienced. It
isn't clean. It's dirty, grubby, get-
your-fingers-in-and-dig. And they
wonder why people don't really

| seem to care to learn. They've taken
what is interesting, and made it bor-
ing. And they've built a building
around it and called it a place of
learning. Learning isn't about tests
and assignments. It's about life. And
life isn't sanitized by any means. Yet
by taking and sanitizing education,
are we not establishing a trend? Are
we not saying that "this is
important...this is boring" and by
equating the two, teaching that life
is boring?

As an island in this sea of
mundanity, stands the Other Press of-
fice. Noble. Proud. Different. If you
ever get sick of walking into card-
board-cutout rooms, if you ever
need some relief from the sanitized,
neutered environment of the class-
room, stop by sometime. Of course,
when you get here, you'll need a vi-
able excuse. Let's see... well, you
could start writing for the OP That's
a good reason to be in a newspaper
office. Then you can complain about
anything you want to. Like,
"Dwight, where the hell are you?"
or "I think they should hang a full
scale replica of a B-52 bomber in the
concourse." Join the Other Press.
Rebel a little. Rebel a lot. Be a non-
conforming conformist. Join the OP
and make a statement. Catch ya in a
couple.

 

 

CLASSIFIEDS

 

EMPLOYMENT

 

Person with advanced Cobol
needed. Salary $8.25/hr. 2-15 hrs/
week. Contact Connie in Student
Placement, room 2710 tell her you
are applying as a DSS access aide.
ECE Center Endowment Fund As-
sistant. Early Childhood Education
Department. Salary $8.25/hr. 5-15
hrs/week. Contact Student Place-
ment Office, room 2710.

 

Health Sciences Learning Re-
source Center Aide. Health Sci-
ences Department. Salary $8.25/hr.
5-15 hrs/week. Contact Student
Placement Office, room 2710.
Career & Employment Preparation
ForAdults With a Disability Student
Services Salary $8.25/hr. 5-15 hrs/
wk Contact the Student Placement
Office, room 2710

 

Student Nurse Evaluation
Project. General Nursing Depart-
ment Salary $8.25/hr. 5-15 hrs/wk
Contact the Student Placement
Office, room 2710.

The Other Press

23

 

DO YOU LIVE IN MAPLE RIDGE?
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR
WORK? We are looking for a relief
‘nanny’ to cover Saturday nights
through to Monday mornings. If you
are an energetic, reliable, non-
smoking driver who likes kids and
likes to do things with kids, we'll
make sure our mom and dad pay
you well. We are 3 well behaved
boys and ages 6, 8 & 10 who like
to keep busy. Please call 463-3333
and ask for Mary or Deedee.

 

The Burnaby Volunteer Centre
has numerous volunteer opportu-
nities available. If interested please
call 294-5533.

PERSONAL

 

 

Need mutual respecting trust-
worthy supporting best friend? Pos-
sibly sharing/ devotion to god/
higher consciousness/ Quaker-like
meditation/ non-fundamentalist/
non-showy/ unworldly-materialistic/
warm witty male 30/ genuine
vegetartian seeks SF 30 under for
monogamy. PO box 50110/ South
Slope/ RPO-Bby/ V5J 5G3.

 

Lost: a half-eaten candy bar. Last
seen heading north up 8th ave. If
encountered do not make any sud-
den moves. Trained to attack on the
command word "Huh?" Responds
to the name "Ick." Ick is missed
dearly by her family. If seen please
call 555-3505.

 

Pathologically lying single man
looking for woman to shower gifts
upon, massage 8 hours ata stretch,
and clean up after. If gullible, please
call. 555-3505

PUBLIC SERVICE
ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

 

The Women's Center is always
seeking updated information on the
status of women for its resource
files. Information in the form of rec-
ommended readings, papers pub-
lished, magazine and newspaper
articles (indicate date and source),
legal issues, events and new re-
source/services available to
women. Drop off information at the
Women's Center or send through
the office mail. Thanks for your
help.

 

Greenpeace demands a halt of radioactive
waste shipments and reprocessing

HELSINKI (GP) -- Greenpeace con-
tinues to campaign against the Finn-
ish nuclear company Imatran Voima
Oy’s (IVO) nuclear waste trade. Ac-
tivists from Finland and Sweden to-
day blocked two entrances of the IVO
Helsinki headquarters demanding
that the state-owned company halt all
shipments of high-level radioactive
waste to Chelyabinsk, Russia.

In spite of Russia's accumu-
lating radioactive waste problem, un-
stable political situation and a history
of accidents in Russian reprocessing
facilities, IVO is transporting spent
nuclear fuel to Mayak military reproc-
essing facility in Chelyabinsk. The

most recent shipment left last night
from Loviisa where IVO's two nuclear
reactors are situated. In total there have
been 11 similar transports since 1981.

According to information given
to Greenpeace by Russian authorities,
the Mayak reprocessing facility does not
have an operating licence. This is due to
inadequate information as to the tech-
nical standards of the facility.

The former operating licence
expired at the beginning of July 1993,
and so far it has not been renewed. In

- practise this means that the facility is

operating illegally. The International
Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) is not
responsible for the surveillance of Mayak

 

as it is not a civil nuclear facility.

“Finland is sending more
waste to Russia, a country that ‘is un-
able to deal with the accumulating
problems caused by its own radioac-
tive wastes” , Greenpeace campaigner
lida Simes said in a press conference
in Helsinki today. “The nuclear indus-
try in any country has to take care of
its own wastes locally and in the saf-
est possible way”, she continued.
“Western funds have to be channelled
to close down reprocessing facilities
like Mayak and to provide help to
people who suffer from,radiation”,
Simes concluded.

URGENTLY NEEDED for home-
less street kids:

-blankets

-food

-clothing
Three kids died on the street last
winter. Please call Carolyn at
522-7206 or drop items off in the
women's center.

 

The Disabled Women's Network
of Vancouver, DAWN - Vancouver
is holding monthly meetiongs for all
disabled women intersested in
meeting other disabled women for
support and information sharing.
Meetings are held on the second
Sunday of each month from 2pm
until 4pm at the Vancouver Hous-
ing Registry, 501 East Broadway.
For more information please call
253-6620. Note: the next meeting
will be on Sunday, November 21.
Meeting to organize commemora-
tive event for the 14 women mur-
dered on Dec 6th, 1989 at L'école
Polytechnique in Montréal. Time:
Thursday, Nov. 18th, 1993, noon
Woman's Centre Room 2720.

ACCOMODATION

 

 

Shared accommodation in Maple
Ridge. Male seeks N/S roommate.
2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, bright
new condo. Fully loaded. $350
+utilities. Available immediately.
Call Edward or Aladar 255-5254

FOR SALE

For Sale: 1992 Honda Civic DX
Hatchback. 5 spd. 4 spkr CD,
Alarm, Ext. Warr. 45,000 Km mint
condition $11,995. 436-5602

 

 

 

BUSINESS SERVICES

 

TYPING Term papers, Resumés, ©
etc. Copy-Editing. Laser Printing.

Fast turn around. Reasonable
prices. Photocopies, Fax, Mail Box
Rentals. MAIL & TYPE, 9632
Cameron (Lougheed Mall) 420-
6245.

 

WANTED: We pay cash for tools,
furnature, antiques, stereos and
miscellaneous items. Call Jeff at
942-4057 or Derek at 526-4818.

 

 

 

Douglas College profile:

In 30 years as a biologist,
teacher and feminist, Mary H
Vickers has inspired hundreds of
young women to explore and par-
ticipate in the fascinating world of
science and technology. Her en-
thusiasm, love of nature and nur-
turing spirit give young women
the confidence to pursue their in-
terest in science and to investigate
science- related careers.

Mary's own interest in sci-
ence beganduring high school in
Ontario. A lecture by a visiting bi-
ologist had a profound effect and
proved to be a pivotal event in
establising her career path. She
completed a Bachelor 's degree in
biology at the University of To-
ronto, Master 's in zoology at the
University of British
Columbia(UBC). Mary then

Mary Vickers

honed her communication and or-
ganizational skills by lecturing part
time at UBC- later teaching high
school biology - while raising three
children.

In 1981,a group of women,
led by Maggie Benston, founded the
Society for Canadian Women in Sci-
ence and Technology (SCWIST).
Mary became SCWIST's first presi-
dent. During her two-year term,
SCWIST hosted the first national
conference for women in science
and technology at UBC in 1983.

Under Mary's dedicated
stewardship, SCWIST has developed
an impressive series of programs for
young women:

Girls in Science:
Hands-on workshops with
activities designed to show girls

aged 9 to 12 that science is inter-
esting and entirely appropriate for
women.

Ms Infinity:

Math + Science = infinite
career choices. One-day conferences
in smaller communities throughout
BC and the Yukon. Young women
(14 to 16) meet women pursuing
interesting and dynamic careers in
science and technology and partici-
pating in math/science workshops.

Quantum Leaps:

A half-day conference to in-
troduce grade 11 students to
women who love their work in sci-
ence, technology and related feilds.

These programs convey the
message that science is exciting, fun,

relevant and accessable. Mary and
SCWIST believe that role models
and mentors are very mportant in
encouraging young women to
choose careers in science and tech-
nology.

Professionally, Mary con-
tinues teaching and communicat-
ing as a biology instructor at Doug-
las College. Soon she hopes to see
more women in science and tech-
nology and improved access to re-
warding careers in these fields.

Congratulations, Mary, on
your achievements.

by Holly Keyes