November 30, 1993 ' The Other Press 9 Management has done it again! They have found yet another way to screw around the stu- dents at this college, last semester it was tele- phone registration, and this time it comes in the way of major parking price increases. Management has proposed a parking rate increase for this semes- ter at their-last monthly meeting. If the rate in- crease goes through it will affect students, staff and faculty. The hardest hit, of course being the Other Editorial— ‘by you. So sign them and students, a lot of whom are on student loans or working part time jobs and already barely get- ting by. The Douglas Col- lege Student Society is fighting this increase by sending out petitions to instructors to be signed spread the word around for everyone tosignthem! Any comments? Drop them into the box in the Student Society of- fice or send us a letter at the Other Press, Room 1020. Raffi bombs with grownups by Drew Edwards OTTAWA (CUP) — Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, you swim so wild and you swim so free... . In the early part of 1990 re- nowned children’s musician Raffi an- nounced he was no longer going to perform for kids. He was going to become a “serious” musician, doing songs with an environmental message. Raffi was giving up the kids to become a tree-hugger. Everyonethought he had lost his marbles. Heaven above and the sea be- low and the little white whale on the go. He was not very successful. 1990's Evergreen Everblue sold only 150,000 copies. Raffi went for radio airplay, Raffi made videos and as he says, “the crossover into other mediums didn’t work too well.” Hugging trees, itwould seem, is notacareer-enhancing experience if you're a kids’ musician. Baby beluga, baby beluga, is the water warm, is your mama home with you so happy. So now he’s back with the kids. He’s just released his 1 1thalbum, alive offering called Raffi on Broadway. It contains all the old favorites like “Brush Your Teeth” and “Baby Beluga” as well as new stuff that is more environmental in its message. And Raffi, though his last al- bum didn’ tset sales records, isa definite success as an environmentalist. He re- ceived. the United Nations’ Environmental Achievement Award in 1992 and attended the Earth Summit in Rio last year. Way down yonder where the dolphins play, where you dive and splash all day. The waves roll in and the waves roll out, see the water squirting out of your spout. Raffi’s message in his concerts is simple: “Why we love the earth and how we can preserve it,” he says. But to university students his message is a little less festive. “Students should ask why there is so much denial about the environ- ment,” he says. “There is a federal election less than a year after the conference in Rio, yet nobody is saying anything about the environment.” Baby beluga, baby beluga, sing your little song, we like to hear you. Raffi left children’s music to educate himself and others. “The baby beluga whales that I sang about are now an endangered species. When they die the toxins in their body are at the level of a toxic waste site,” he says. “Tcouldn’t know about things like that and not do something about it.” And so he did. Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, swim so wild and you swim so free. When examined from that per- spective, Raffi’s tree-hugging no longer seems so strange. While it may not have garnered him the MuchMusic audience he was looking for, he made a good personal decision to do something about an issue which troubled him. That's further than most of us get. Barney bombs with toddlers by Robert Penland BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) — The first time I saw the children’s show Barney and Friends on PBS, I was repulsed, nauseated, and filled with a deep panic. The two girls I was raising to be intelligent and independent people were thoroughly entranced at the sight of a purple dinosaur and four children (all with obviously drugged smiles) singing, dancing, and speaking in the most disturbingly saccharine way pos- sible. Anyway, I took home the dinosaur’s latest cassette, Barney's Favourites Vol. 1 (EMI, 1993), toreview Are you looking for volunteer opportuni- ties? Are you looking for experience working with youth?? Yes, you say? Then we can help. Who are we? (The Burnaby Boys’ and Girls’ Club) The Club works to provide a place of friendship, information, guidance and activities for youth 6 to 18 years of age. The purpose of the club is fo encourage the positive physical, educational, vo- cational, and character development of each member through the use of various recreational activities. fESOUrCces. meaningful What we believe about volunteers: ¢ Volunteers are valued beyond all other ¢The volunteers experience has to be ¢ Volunteers help our club members grow and develop positively by role- modelling healthy, positive behaviour. eEveryone must have fun! If this opportunity to give something back to your community appeals to you, then please contact: The North Burnaby Boys’ and Girls’ Club 516 Howard Avenue Burnaby, B.C. V5B 3R1 Phone 299-7040, and ask for Sandy. for the newspaper. I handed it to my kids. I explained that my friend needed to know what they thought about it. I left the room. I closed the door. I waited. When I came out, there was silence. They had listened to it once and turned it off. This, in itself, was odd. I asked them both what they thought. Without looking up from her sketch pad, my six year old, Rachel, replied “It was good.” Holly, my four-year-old,.was in the process of running from one end of the house across and back again, over and over. She was not interested in reflecting upon her aesthetic experience. Over the next few days they did not ask to hear the tape again. My suggestions that we play it were met with statements like “I wanna listen to Raffi,” or, “Lets go to the park instead.” I put iton one evening as I was doing the dishes and they were playing. As Rachel painted she would randomly break into song and just as quickly return to her painting. Holly was in the kitchen dancing around my legs and singing along to as much of each song as she could catch onto. It is close to impossible to remain cynical when being serenaded by a small child singing “I love you, you love me. We're a Zappy Hamily. With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you, blah lah joo.” While I sort of understand why thousands of parents have joined the national anti-Barney group in the U.S., I think my kids showed the sanest reaction to this music. Good dance rhythms, easy to sing along to, yet somehow not as much fun as someone like Raffi or Sharon, Lois, and Bram.