The mayor of Vancouver’s proposal to

end homelessness

Why we still have hundreds of homeless citizens

By Maria Asselin-Roy, Staff Reporter

ayor Gregor Robertson
proposed to end homelessness
on the streets of Vancouver by

the year 2015. This was stated while he
was running for office, however not much
action has been put into the statement.
Although Robertson along with the rest
of Vancouver wants to end homelessness,
the city’s projections show that even

by 2015 there will still be nearly five
hundred people who are in need of
protective housing and support.

Unless the city of Vancouver is
effective in persuading the provincial
politicians to continue their funding of
providing relatively low-cost housing to _
the homeless, the rate of homeless people
will reportedly rise to just under 1,500 by
the year 2020. The provincial politicians
have already invested millions of dollars
into constructing these houses for
people in need. According to statistics,
the government still needs a quarter of

a billion dollars from the province for
"construction materials and labour costs to
set up these homes.

In order for these numbers to come

to life, Robertson says that the city will
have to make extraordinary efforts to
do that. In the next three years or so, the
city is expecting to have 1,640 housing
units installed that the province has been
funding for the past two years. This will
hopefully bring the number of homeless
down to 150; however it is after 2012 that
the government is worried about.
Because there is always a steady
flow of people coming out of jails, foster

* homes, and mental health facilities with

no where to go, many of these people
unfortunately end up on the streets.

The city is already spending close
to 28 million dollars per year on the fight
to end homelessness. What Robertson
and other electives are currently doing is
trying to make affordable, precise plans
to prevent more waves of homelessness
arriving in the city, to ultimately create
a better future for all of Vancouver’s
citizens. If you would like to get involved
to help end homelessness, a great website
to check out is www.streettohome.com,
where you can find community projects
and how to give your time, thoughts, or
support.

 

Another idea to improve your test scores
Take your anxiety down by writing about it

y Karin Keefe

Are you already feeling stressed
out about your upcoming mid-term
exams? If you experience high test
anxiety that affects your performance on
exams, you can stop worrying. A recent
study published in the January 14 issue
of Science magazine found that doing
a short, expressive writing exercise
immediately before an exam can improve
your performance.

; Expressive writing has been used

to help depressed people deal with
anxiety by encouraging them to write
about a traumatic experience. This kind
of writing is usually used in long-term
therapy. But the authors of this study,
Gerardo Ramirez and Sian Beilock,
wondered if it would work to offset the
anxiety that interferes with “working
memory” and makes focusing on an
exam difficult.

Ramirez and Beilock conducted -
research on groups of students in two
lab studies and two field experiments. In
the lab study, students were given two
exams. Before the first exam they had no.
pressure; they were just told to do their
best. Before the second exam, students
were given the pressure of receiving

4

 

. money if they did well. To add further

pressure, the reward would be for a team
effort. They were told their partner had
already taken the test and had gotten a
better score. In addition, the students
were told the exam would be videotaped
for the teacher and classmates to watch
later.

Before the pressure-filled exam,
one half of the group was told to sit
quietly (the control group), while the
other was told to write their thoughts
and feelings about the exam. The results
were dramatic. The scores of the control
group dropped by 12% between the first
and second exams. However, the group
that did the expressive writing improved
by 5%.

Ramirez and Beilock found that just
writing about any topic did not have the
same effect. Expressive writing is the
key element. They tested this in a further
study in which the non-expressive writers
got the same results as the control group.
Thus, Ramirez and Beilock concluded.
that writing about the anxiety itself has
the effect of relieving the anxiety. These
experiments also showed that students

_ who already had low test anxiety did not

benefit from the expressive writing.

 

Exciting science lectures coming to Douglas

 

By Maria Asselin-Roy, Staff Reporter

his month, the Douglas College
‘Tests of Science and Technology

will be presenting four different
lectures in order to celebrate the Year of
Science. All of the lectures are free and
are open to.the public, and there is no
registration needed to attend. All of the
lectures will be held in the Laura C. Muir
Performing Arts Theatre, located on the
fourth floor of the New West campus.
Basically, it will be first come first serve.
So, if students want to get good seats it is
recommended that they arrive early.

The first of the lectures occurred this
past Friday on February 4. The lecture
consisted of Dr. Bernard Crespi discussing
his theory based on psychiatric disorders,
including autism and psychosis. Crespi
explained that autism and psychosis
express opposite patterns, and he went
into details as of why. The lecture was
successful and was very informative. —
However this was only one of the
upcoming lectures, and it is thought that
the other three will be just as interesting
and compelling as this one.

The second lecture is titled “Towards
a Healthy Environment using Coal,

Oil and Gas: What are the Long Term
Implications to Climate Change?” This
lecture will consist of Dr. Bill Gunter
discussing climate change that is caused
by the continuous build-up of greenhouse
gasses. It will be held on Friday, February
11 from 3:00-4:30pm, followed by
reception from 4:30-6:00pm. Dr. Gunter
is an international consultant on carbon
dioxide capture and geological storage,
and he is also the principal consultant for
the Alberta Research Council on carbon
dioxide geological storage. The lecture
that Dr. Gunter is presenting will cover
how the Carbon Capture and Geological
Storage (CCS) is a great option on
reducing emissions from various
industries. He will also be discussing the
various ways that we can create renewable

energy in order to help form a solution to
reduce climate change.

The third lecture is a great
opportunity for students majoring in
chemistry. This lecture is titled “The
Chemistry of Nanoscale Materials”,
presented by Byron Gates. This will
be held on Friday, February 18 from
1:00-2:30pm, and reception from 2:30-
4:00pm. Gates is a chair in surface
chemistry at SFU. He has built a research
program in order to explore surfaces
of nano-structured materials, as well
as the interface between the materials
and biological systems. The lecture will
answer what nano-scale materials are and
why they are so important in our everyday
lives. It will also discuss the nano-scale
materials that are naturally occurring
on Earth, and why these materials are
becoming progressively important for
new technological developments. All of
this will be followed by checking out the
science and engineering that occurs while
making nano-scale materials.

The fourth and final lecture is
expected to be both very interesting
as well as fun and entertaining. Titled
“Stinks and Bangs: The Scientacular
Show”, it will be hosted by SFU’s Science
in Action-‘team on Friday, February 25
from 1:00-3:00pm. The Science in Action
team is a program from the chemistry
department at SFU, and they are known
for covering several science topics in
one presentation. At this lecture, those
attending will see phenomenal things -
such as watching water turn into wine
and milk, watch a tennis cannon ball
demonstration, watching colours change
all on their own, and much more. This is a
great lecture if you have little exposure to
the science world, and if you are looking
for entertainment for a couple hours.

Remember, everyone is welcome and
encouraged to attend these lectures. For
more information check out the Faculty of
Science and Technology on the Douglas
website.