(¥ The ECOnomist: Blow your load (¥ Indie Fashion Feature: Redbubble (¥ And now for something completely different... Have an idea for a story? Mlifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca And more! The aliens were racist nits whole time > How privilege can keep us from seeing the obvious, and what we can do about it Rebecca Peterson Staff Writer W: were subjecting ourselves to the Star Wars prequels because The Force Awakens was about to come out, when I heard my friend groan next to me. The weird blue Trade Federation aliens had just showed up, and for a moment I thought just the overall fact that we were watching The Phantom Menace had finally sunk in, until she murmured, “The racist Asian aliens.” I blinked. The what now? And then the first alien opened his mouth, and the most offensive Japanese accent I'd ever heard in my life came pouring out. This was pretty cringe- worthy to begin with, but what creeped me out was that I'd seen this movie a hundred times growing up and not once did I pick up on the racist aliens. I like to think I make a solid effort of straddling the line between “hair- trigger offence alert” and “morally bankrupt,” but man, this one came out of nowhere, and I felt like ’d somehow been willfully blind for years. It’s not the end of the world, of course. A widely-panned movie from 1999 and a bunch of white voice actors committing verbal yellow-face is pretty awful, but ultimately 17 years is a little late to be protesting. It was almost physically painful to sit through, though—and the whole time all I could think of was all the other things I might be missing because I’m white. I remember working on set last summer and talking to one of my coworkers, a man, about sexism in the film industry, and to his credit he was incredibly receptive. He nodded, he listened, and he smiled and said, “That doesn’t happen on this set, though.” On that set, I'd been harassed for my phone number by older men, had my name replaced with “sweetheart,” and was told by a woman calling for help lifting something that she'd wanted “someone with testosterone” to help her. Never mind the fact that I'd spent my last job hauling furniture, and never mind that I could lift her equipment without help. When that unflattering spotlight is on you, it’s almost Going against the grain >A review of Wild Rice Jamal Al-Bayaa Staff Writer f you've ever taken a second to stop by Wild Rice, located in the River Market in New West, you may have seen a group of young chefs clearly invested in their craft chopping vegetables, prepping dumplings, or gutting and butchering chickens. Chef Andrew Wong, founder and owner of Wild Rice, says the reactions are mixed on that last part. “It’s not for everybody,” he said, “but generally, people are fascinated by it. “It’s important that people know where their food comes from,” he continued. “Up until recently, you couldn't go out and get whatever part of the chicken you wanted. You got the whole animal, you would use it all because that’s what was economical, and you knew how to gut it.” The less used parts of the animal, thigh meat for example, get tossed into the wontons and spring rolls. It would be a shame not using that meat to its fullest potential, because the only things it lacks is that purely aesthetic visual appeal. The chicken breast, on the other hand, gets used in the famous Kung Pow Chicken— which has some serious potential to be a new student favorite, considering complaints on Yelp include, “it was too big! I had to take three quarters of it home.” That “use it all” mentality has been a part of Wong’s food philosophy ever since he first learned how to cook a dumpling and plant a potato. “We're striving for a no-waste environment here. We use it, use it, use it, until there’s nothing left, and then we compost it. There’s no Styrofoam anywhere in the process.” Wong deals with small, local family farms, which is part of the goal of Wild Rice: getting everyone to recognize that their food comes from somewhere. It has a story and it has a history. You should ask, “Where did it come from? How was it grown? How far did it travel to get to your plate?” The dishes that come off the menu are creative, East-meets- West style dishes, and to top it all off, the number of vegan and gluten-free options is impressive. The one thing that might hit a little hard is the cost. Students tend to act (and look!) a little more like Scrooge with every midterm they find themselves impossible not to see it, but it can be blinding for others. And honestly, it’s good to be reminded of that sometimes, even if it is unsettling. Our best weapon against our own personal blind spots are our ears. Even if we can't see something, even if we don't agree, listening to those who do see something wrong never hurts. I’ve been very lucky in my friends, and lucky that a lot of people I’ve met over the years have been so willing to listen to me when I fall into rants about women’s issues, LGBTQ+ issues, and issues regarding mental health. In turn, I’ve got a responsibility to listen to others as well. It’s an essential part of basic courtesy, and it’s doubly important if someone has a perspective on things you might Screenshot from Starwars Episode 1 not be able to share. You never know what you might be missing. Sometimes it’s obvious—sometimes the aliens are really, really racist. But sometimes it’s subtler and takes time to process, and it’s important to listen then, too. So I'd like to thank my friend for ruining my childhood and pointing out the horrifically racist aliens. Lord knows I needed another reason to groan my way through the prequels like a kick in the head, but it was a good reminder, and one that I’m grateful for. Just like ’'m grateful for young Ewan MacGregor—the entirety of why I watched the prequels so many times growing up. What can I say? The guy is hot. TTR Te EIR taking. Walk in on any old day, and you'll most likely pay $20 for a meal—luckily, costs go down with some planning. Mondays and Tuesdays feature 25 per cent discounts on the Kung Pow Image via 30dayadventures.ca Chicken and Shanghai Beef Noodles respectively, and your Douglas Student ID or Douglas Staff Card get you 10 per cent off every day of the week!