polytechnicpress...polytechnicpress mar. 16, 2012 voice of sait journalism volume 12 issue 10 story:...

POLYTECHNICPRESSMar. 16, 2012 VOICE OF SAIT JOURNALISM Volume 12 Issue 10

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2 Friday, Mar. 16, 2012POLYTECHNICPRESS

Friday, Mar. 16, 2012 3POLYTECHNICPRESS


By Megan Kargard

Homelessness may finally be declining in Calgary.

A recent count done by the Calgary Homeless Founda-tion has shown that the num-ber of homeless Calgarians has decreased this year, for the first time in 20 years.

A census of homeless peo-ple done on Jan. 18, including an estimate of the number of those sleeping outside and in-formation gathered from 85 facilities, showed there were 3,190 people in the city who had no home of their own.

The number was 11.4 per cent less than recorded in 2008, according to a news release issued by the founda-tion.

“These results show that the 10-Year Plan is working,” said Tim Richter, president and CEO of the foundation.

“The hard work of front-line agencies, as well as gov-ernment and donor support has turned the tide of home-lessness in Calgary.”

The 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness was launched in January of 2008. It was fol-lowed by the 10 Year Plan to

End Youth Homelessness in July of last year.

But despite the declining number of homeless people in the city overall, many young people still find themselves without a place to sleep.

The “invisible homeless” are classified as those who couch surf, sleep in cars, and impose on friends to ensure they have a place to sleep. These are the hardest to count due to their transient lifestyle and seemingly average ap-pearance.

Kim Wirth, manager of prevention and outreach at the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary, offers solutions for youth who find themselves in seemingly dire situations.

Wirth encourages youth who are going through a cri-sis to access the SCRIPT pro-gram by calling its hotline, (403) 828-HOPE.

“The SCRIPT Program at the Boys & Girls Club of Cal-gary operates with a phone line. Once called, our opera-tors ask questions to deter-mine the resources and care needed for the caller,” Wirth explained.

“With every call, we try to

arrange a meeting with the youth within 24-48 hours to fully assess the situation.”

SCRIPT is designed to help youth aged 13-20 who are ex-periencing homelessness or street life. But the HOPE line can be accessed by anyone in need of help accessing the re-sources available for youth in Calgary.

“Navigating the systems and programs available for homeless and at risk youth can be challenging to those who work in the industry, let alone those who are not fa-miliar with the process,” she said.

The Haven’s Way program, which is also operated by the Boys and Girls Club of Cal-gary, provides young women aged 18-24, a safe place to stay while completing their education.

Women who access this program are put into a safe and supportive environment where self-reliance and posi-tive work practices are taught by staff.

The Boys and Girls Club of Calgary also offers volun-teer opportunities for students who want to help those af-

By Brad Quarin

Calgarians still have an op-portunity to see a variety of art by homeless and margin-alized communities at the This is My City art festival, which runs until May 3.

The new festival, which has been organized by the This is My City Art Society (TMC), began on Jan. 5 and includes photography, the-atre, poetry and paintings at different downtown loca-tions.

“The importance of the fes-tival... is to engage the public and communicate with the general public,” programmer Cat Schick said on Feb. 16.

Particularly, the art demon-strates the homeless are ordi-nary people.

“We’re not trying to turn people into professional art-ists,” Schick said. Rather, the festival encourages homeless people to be creative and to show their creative side to the community.

MC was launched as a pro-

gram of the City of Calgary in 2008, but the festival is new and grew out of a proposal by an artist’s daughter, Elizabeth Malyon. “This is our first year,” Schick said.

One of TMC’s part-ners is the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre, a shelter locat-ed downtown. The centre’s manager of external relations, Jordan Hamilton, described it as being “so much more” than a shelter.

In addition to satis-fying basic needs, the DI, as it has become known, attempts to foster joy in marginalized communities. Allowing the homeless to express them-selves through art has value for them, Hamilton said on Feb. 15.

“What’s wonderful about art is... it teaches all of us that if we can produce something of value, then we must be of value ourselves,” Hamilton said.

As part of the festival, the photography of former-Drop-In Centre resident James Ban-nerman is being featured at

the Epcor Centre + 15 until March 31.

Bannerman “found incredible joy in photogra-phy,” Hamilton said. Most of Bannerman’s photography was of the city before he died in 2009.

“He is missed,” Hamilton said.

Also, some Drop-In Centre clients performed in a radio play called The Eviction of the Stuart Block at the central library on Jan. 5.

Schick said she believed the radio play may be per-formed again at the festival’s closing event outside the li-brary on May 3.

Outside the festival, the Drop-In is the first and only homeless shelter in Canada to have a permanent art studio, Hamilton said.

“Every single piece that comes out of the art studio has incredible value,” he said.

He mentioned a gambling addict who was a DI client now has work displayed in the Alberta Legislature.

Other people’s works of art

may be worth no more than $5, but each is still a “price-less treasure,” Hamilton said.

Regarding pub-lic reception of the festival, Schick said, “It’s been over-whelmingly positive” and people have been impressed by the quality of the work. Other cities now seem in-terested in having similar programs.However, art can sometimes be attract negative attention too. Schick pointed to depictions of drugs as be-ing controversial, but said “that’s part of everyday life.”

Hamilton men-tioned a project in which Drop-In Centre clients were given disposable cameras as also uncovering a darker side of Calgary.

“They point to problems in society, and homelessness of course isn’t a problem in soci-ety. It’s a symptom of larger problems, and it takes enor-mous effort to change these systemic problems,” he said.

For more information, visit http://www.thisismycitycal-gary.ca/.

fected with homelessness and poverty.

The Beltline Youth Centre, Camp Adventure and various community clubs are always welcoming extra help, says Wirth.

Students on SAIT campus who are going through dif-ficulties are also encouraged

to access the campus coun-selling services in the Heart building.

All registered students are entitled to one free hour of counselling a week, and everything from personal is-sues to educational and ca-reer advice is available. More information can be accessed

Photography is displayed on the wall at the Central Library in downtown Calgary as part of the This is My City art festi-val. Photo by Brad Quarin, SAIT Polytechnic.

Michael Chiddy looks up the resources available at the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary. MEGAN KARGARD, SAIT POLY-TECHNIC


By Megan Mahoney

Despite the popularity of hoo-kah bars and sheesha smok-ing, two major hookah bars shut down in Calgary this winter.

Narah Hookah Bar and Cafe on 33 Avenue S.W. in Marda Loop closed down in December, as the owners left nothing behind but a for-lease sign in the window.

Another popular Calgary sheesha bar, Le Brava, which is located on 10th Avenue S.W., in the Beltline, also closed late last year.

Sheesha is flavoured to-bacco which comes in a large variety of flavours and is smoked through a pipe called a hookah.

The majority of the shee-sha bars in Calgary have an extensive food menu and because of the tobacco in the

sheesha, alcoholic beverages are rarely served.

Aaron Brogen was a fre-quent customer at Narah and smoked sheesha there on av-erage three times a week.

“I tried to go there in the winter and was devastated to find a for lease sign in the window. I loved that place be-cause they always had great food and awesome service,” said Brogen.

Although, the reasoning behind the bar closure is un-known, several of Narah’s regulars feel that the business began to struggle after new management took over.

“Once they got new man-agement in the fall, they starting making unnecessary changes,” said Brogen.

Tony Davis, the manager of a sheesha bar called Cafe Mediterranean on 10th Av-enue S.W., took note of the

closure of La Brava. “I’m pretty sure that Le

Brava closed because they were allowing too many un-derage kids in their bar. I know that our bar checks ID because we will often have undercover cops come in,” said Davis.

The plus side of these clo-sures for managers like Da-vis is that bars such as Cafe Mediterranean have gotten a lot more business.

“Our bar has gotten signifi-cantly busier since the other bars have closed, so I guess it’s good for us and bad for them. We are also the most cultural hookah bar in Cal-gary with a wide variety on our menu, and we really take pride in our service,” said Da-vis.

Cafe Mediterranean was the first sheesha bar in Calgary and has

certainly done well since it opened.

“We have a great team and we are fol-lowing the rules and I think that’s why we are profiting from these closures right now. Also we are only a few feet away from Le Brava so people

don’t need to walk far,” said Davis.

“Other bars will avoid checking ID in order to get more business, despite the fact that anyone who enters a sheesha bar must validate that they are 18 years or older,” he said.

This photograph was taken in front of Calgary’s oldest hoo-kah bar, Cafe Mediterranean. Cafe Mediterranean is located on 1009 1st Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta

By Jeff Clemens

After a dreary winter it’s time to leave our caves and try some new foods at Big Taste Calgary.

Big Taste, which is being held March 2-12, is described as “an 11-day fling of culinary temptations” and it certainly lives up to that title. With 74 restaurants participating, it’s one of the biggest food events in the city.

And this year’s edition is the largest ever. That has some exhibitors excited.

“This is our first year being open and it is a great oppor-tunity for us to showcase our menu to new guests,” says Alison Robertson, the mar-keting manager of Craft Beer Market in Calgary.

“We’ve definitely had a lot of interest so far.”

Craft Beer Market opened in 2011 in Calgary and uses local products in their food whenever possible.

This includes their selec-tions for Big Taste which can be seen in both the food and beer choices.

“The recommended beer pairings are based on what type of beer will cut or com-pliment the flavour of the food as well as the brew,” says Robertson.

“We chose to recommend local beers that pair well with

our food items (two of the brewers are from Calgary and one from Edmonton) as part of our philosophy is to eat and drink local whenever possible.”

This local feeling can be seen in many of the other res-taurants taking part in the Big Taste event.

Wildrose Brewery based out of Calgary builds its menu around their its with the first course being one of its own beers, or a locally made soda from the Grizzly Paw in Canmore.

The Wildrose set menu even includes a delicious des-sert brownie made from their Alberta Crude Oatmeal Stout to give it a rich and deep fla-vour when mixed with the chocolate.

As Calgary becomes more important on the food scene, it’s easy to see how a “foodie” could come to love what is available and what is to come in the city.

All the information about Big Taste can be found at http://www.downtowncal-gary.com/the-big-taste .

Further upcoming events happening at Craft Beer Market can be found at http://www.craftbeermarket.ca/events, including their monthly Brewmaster’s Din-ners featuring beer and food pairings.

The Big Taste menu at Craft Beer Market in Calgary Alberta By Jeff Clemens, Polytechnic Press


cally successful trilogy of animal-themed EP’s, The Nix Dickson’s are scheduled to release their debut album online as a series of singles. The tracks will be out starting this April in the iTunes mar-ketplace.

The Nix Dicksons EP’s have traditionally sold out quickly. Only a handful of their sophomore effort, The Giraffe, remain, while The Panda, has long since been extinct.

The first EP, The Red Fox, was named X92.9’s ‘Top Lo-cal Releases of 2011’ second place winner. It also sold quickly.

Their band’s first full length collection may not be what a lot of fans have come to expect. It features a new sound, along with the loss of a long-time band member.

“It’s a lot more indie rock and a lot less indie pop. It’s also sounds dirtier and more soulful,” says Keating. Since the band’s inception in

2007, Rob Wikstrom was the bassist and co-writing, cre-ative counterpart to lead vo-calist and songwriter, Tanner Holthe.

“This is the first (recording) we’ve done since Rob left. Everyone has more of a hand in it and there’s more collabo-ration,” Keating explained.

During a show in 2009, Wikstrom became ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He underwent surgery and subsequently returned to the stage but left the band follow-ing its first official tour in the summer of 2011.

Sean Hamilton, who fronts the band Jenny, has since stepped in to fill Wikstrom’s spot.

“We weren’t sure how he would fit in,” says Keating.

“But once we started jam-ming and even just hanging out with him, we were really surprised how natural it was.”

Since joining the band in January, Hamilton has ap-

plied his honed audio engi-neering skills and musician-ship, contributing to new melodies and dynamics.

But Hamilton will be leav-ing the band by the end of March to pursue his new solo effort.

“I only have so much en-ergy,” says Hamilton. “And you need to do what’s right for you.”

The Nix Dicksons will be working with Music Centre Canada’s Josh Gwilliam, who has worked with ‘Elevator Music’ and ‘The Rocky For-tune’, to produce their debut full-length album, which is planned for full release this summer.

‘The Red Fox’ is avail-able digitally on iTunes. To hear The Nix Dicksons for free and learn more about them, visit http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/artists/The-Nix-Dicksons .

By Evan Body

Calgary’s indie rock contend-ers The Nix Dicksons are fi-nally breaking out.

On March 1, they made their TV debut performing on CTV Morning Live, celebrat-ing the Cultural District’s monthly ‘First Thursday’ fes-tival.

Only hours earlier, they played the Cantos Music Foundation’s all ages show as the opening act for another group of up-and-comers, The Collective.

Apart from supporting in-stitutions like Cantos, which

encourage musical growth in our community, The Nix Dicksons have also been hosting the Thursday night open mic shows at The Blind Beggar Pub since early Feb-ruary 2012.

The Blind Beggar is known to help emerging independent artists get exposure, gigs and even financial aid for record-ing.

“It’s really good for us to see younger bands play where we were at just a few years ago,” says N.D.’s lead guitar-ist, Dylan Keating.

As a follow-up to its commercially and criti-

By Amanda Lee

After applying for the Ca-nadian Music Week (CMW) five years in a row and strik-ing out, the Calgary band, Candelora will finally be hit-ting the stage this March in Toronto.

Candelora consists of brothers Cory and Lucas Klapper, who play lead guitar and drums respectively, their cousin Mike Ferraro, who is the lead vocalist and plays backup guitar, and lifelong friend and bass player, Kris-tian (Kit) Shepetys.

The four band members, who have been making mu-sic together since November, 2006, are flying to Toronto with high hopes, new songs and a few nerves.

Shepetys has been waiting a long time for the band’s big break, and he’s excited this could finally be it.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing in front of label reps, manag-ers, talent scouts, and show-casing ourselves to the Cana-dian music industry,” he said prior to the group’s departure.

“I feel like we have had some bad luck on our side

in the last couple years and hopefully we’re due.”

Before Candelora, the four guys were in a band named Constant Season.

In 2009, Constant Season found moderate success play-ing gigs such as the Grey Cup Festival, Toronto Indie Week, and Virgin Festival, perform-ing as an opening act for Pearl Jam.

However, Constant Season ended in early 2010, and the guys also had to make the tough decision to part com-pany with a fifth member.

Since then, the four have recorded an album with Toronto producer Douglas Romanow, and they have re-named themselves Candelora.

“Our name is actually the middle name of Cory and Lu-cas’ grandmother, who passed away while we were record-ing the album,” Shepetys said.

“From what I understand, the guys discovered their grandmother’s birth cer-tificate or travelling papers while cleaning out some old things from her house, and we all immediately fell in love with the name.”

Even though the mem-

bers of Candelora are stoked for their chance to shine, Shepetys acknowledges there is some pressure, as well.

“Worst case scenarios play over and over in my head when I have time to actually think about it,” he said.

“Will there even be anyone at our showcase? What hap-pens if I break a string? What if our lead singer is sick?”

The last time the band played live in Toronto, one of those situations did occur, and a guitar string was snapped during their first song.

“We have one chance to show what we can actually do, and that makes me pretty nervous,” said Shepetys.

“But nervous energy is good though for being on stage, because I usually play my best when I’m nervous.”

And the best is what these guys are striving for.

With late night practices up to five nights a week to per-fect their new songs and de-velop a solid set list, Shepetys feels confident Candelora will show the East Coast what Calgary bands are made of.

“There are stereotypes as-sociated with being a band from Calgary unfortunately,

so hopefully people see us and realize that this city has a lot to offer musically.”

Shepetys and Cory Klap-per, the younger of the two brothers, have been friends since age six. But while Shepetys may be nervous about CMW, Klapper is the exact opposite.

“It’s exciting,” he said.“Travelling to play is cool,

and Toronto is very different than Calgary with regard to the music scene.”

Klapper, who is eager to be in what he considers the music hub of Canada, can’t wait to be playing in a festi-val alongside other bands he idolizes, all the while proving Candelora has what it takes to go all the way.

“It is challenging for an in-

dependent band in Canada to gain recognition, so the fact that we have been invited out is a big privilege.”

As of right now, Candelora has been scheduled for two gigs in Toronto.

The first set lands on the first night of the festival, March 21, at the Gladstone Hotel, and the second, on the festival’s last night, on March 25 at the live music venue, The Hideout.

“All that I have to do per-sonally is be well rehearsed, be confident in our music, and be confident in the rest of the band,” Klapper said.

“That goes for all of us. If we can all collectively do that, we’ll have a good set.”


Lights! Camera! Action!By Amy Fehr

It’s almost time for the an-nual end-of-semester public screening of Film and Video Production (FVP) students’ video projects.

The show, which is the capstone performance for students in the SAIT film pro-gram, will take place April 18, at a venue which has yet to be determined.

Phillip Letourneau, one of SAIT’s film-video instructors describes the event as “an opportunity to showcase the high quality films produced

by the students throughout the year and to meet or net-work with people from the industry.”

Kerrianne Sproule, is ex-cited about having their work screened in a public environ-ment.

“There are so many tal-ented people in my class and we’ve kind of been working in the incubator that is film school.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to say, ‘Look at the pretty things we can make! Hire us!’” said Sproule.

The event is donation

based and the money raised this year will go toward the projects the second year film studies students make next year.

“It’s a good opportunity to make next year an amazing year for them as well,” said Sproule.

This year’s screening will include a variety of projects.

There will be four short dramas, “Robot Heart,” “Honourable Game,” “Home for Dinner” and “Jarred;” two commercials, entitled “The New Vintage Car” and “Hol-low Book;” two dramas, “Say

Love” and “Max;” a docu-mentary on the making of “Max,” a documentary called “So You’re a Quarter Dead” and a music video.

Each project is written and produced by the second year students as a group.

“My entire class has been working hard on a number of different projects this year and this screening is a cul-mination of the hours we’ve invested into these shorts,” said Sproule, who is a gradu-ate of the Photo journalism program.

The screening is usually at-

tended by students and their guests, faculty, cast, location providers, member of the film and video production indus-try, and the general public.

Depending on how many seats are available in the venue they have averaged be-tween 350 to 400 people for this once a year event.

“The event is going to be lots of fun and it will be great to show our work to friends and family,” said Sproule.

PlayStation launches Vita handheldBy Daniyel Mohammed

Need a break from midterms and final projects?

Students in need of some-thing to distract them hit paydirt Feb. 22, as Sony in-troduced the brand new Play-station Vita.

This is Sony’s next genera-tion of hand-held gaming, a successor to the Playstation Portable (PSP) which made its debut in 2004.

The new system boasts graphical powers nearing that of the PS3, two analog sticks, a front and rear camera and two touch screens.

Gamers also have the op-tion to purchase 3G enabled Vitas so they can play wher-

ever they happen to be.

In the two weeks after the Vita was launched, it sold an eye-popping 1.2 million units.

“Many of our stores sold out of the first edition bundle that launched last week,” said Larine Nixon, a media representative for GameStop Canada.

“It’s a great illustration that people just can’t wait to get their hands on this new tech-nology,” she said.

Despite the power of the hardware the Vita still has a long road to climb to estab-lish itself.

The world of mobile gam-

ing is a far different one than in 2004.

Gaming on cell phones and tablets has now evolved to the point where it can firmly compete against high-pow-ered devices like the Vita.

To counter this, the Vita has included a number of smart phone-esque features, such as the ability to Tweet, Facebook and instant mes-sage.

Web browsing, a feature that the original PSP brought to mobile gaming, also makes a return.

“The Vita is more a social app handheld then a gaming handheld, as if it were a cell

phone,” says Andrew Simon, director of YouTube channel Nerd Gamer News.

Sony is also fighting back against mobile gaming by of-fering a wide range of titles, including first-party titles not available on any mobile plat-form.

“Uncharted has been our bestseller so far, with most people picking it up with their systems,” says Nixon.

The Uncharted franchise is a highly acclaimed series ex-clusive to PlayStation.

So far those that have shelled out the $249.99 for a Vita seem to be happy.

Lei Yang, 17, bought the Vita on release day.

As far as a handheld goes, I

am more than impressed with its capabilities,” says Yang.

She rates the screen resolu-tion, graphical power and the dual analog sticks as her fa-vorite features.

“I’m able to play regu-lar PSP shooters and use the second analog to control the camera view, which makes the gaming experience by far much better, simpler, and more accessible.

“I think with a little bit of creativity and a marketing push it could end up being an amazing handheld console.”

Going to the movies becoming less popular By Jared Udsen

A night at the movies may not be as popular an entertain-ment option as it used to be.

As ticket revenue is surely increasing with ticket price hikes, the website Business Insider has reported that 61 per cent of Americans don’t go to the movies anymore.

The cause might be the ev-er-increasing price of tickets.

According to The Num-bers, a U.S.-based movie the-atre statistics website, an av-erage movie ticket cost $4.35 in 1995. In 2012, that price has shot up to $7.93.

Twenty-year-old Shane Mitchinson says his movie-

going habits have changed.“I think it’s something to

do if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend to be honest,” says the third-year civil engineer-ing student at U of C.

“I don’t think I would go with just friends because we’d go to a bar or some-thing.”

The Motion Picture Asso-ciation of America (MPAA) said in its 2010 market report that revenue for North Ameri-can theatres has remained steady at $10.6 billion.

The real change has been internationally, with a 13-per-cent increase in revenue in comparison to 2009.

About 20 per cent ($2.2

billion) of theatre revenue in 2010 came from 3D movies.

The average number of times moviegoers attended a film dropped to six times per year compared to 6.5 the year before.

Mitchinson relates the movie theatre with Block-buster, the bankrupt movie rental business.

“I feel like it’s a dying thing,” Michinson said of cinemas.

“I don’t think it will die as Blockbuster did, but I feel like people are using it less and less now, however that just might be because of my age.

“I view trailers for mov-

ies I’d really like to see, but I’m not going to spend more than $10 to see a movie that I can see for free in a couple months,” he said.

Mitchinson says piracy is

also affecting the theatre in-dustry.

“Even when the movie is in theatres, there seems to be a version that pops up online after a couple days.”

Some people are exploring other entertainment options like Netflix. Photo taken in Calgary, Alberta. Photo by Jared Udsen, Polytechnic Press.

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