Category Archives: First Year

AMS Dramazz, again.

Are you aware of what is currently going down? UN Complaint? Dramazz? Resignations? Tuition increases? Emergency AMS Council meetings on a Saturday?

Check out the entire story here from the UBC Insiders so you are no longer going “wtf?”

Check out the most recent update from the Ubyssey about the newest dramazz of the President and VP External being asked to resign tomorrow. Read it here.

The Ubyssey is hosting a live blog during tomorrow’s emergency AMS Meeting at 5pm PST. Check it out here.

Check out the agenda for the Saturday AMS meeting here. Which, is full of dramazz asking Blake Frederick to resign.

Submit your thoughts as a student here on all the dramazz.

Today’s Modern Art Lesson

On Kawara is one awesome artist.

His on-going project of date paintings are a record of time and life but it uses nothing personal. One morning he wakes up and says, “today I will paint.” He proceeds to paint the date of the current day. If he doesn’t finish it by the end of the day then he throws the painting away. These paintings record his life without involving his life- it only has the date. There is no element of the day- just the date.

The paintings weren’t all the same either. Some were painted in red and if he was in a different country that wrote the date differently than what we are accustomed to, he would write the date in their form. Most of these were made in the late 60’s and early 70’s and show how art no longer depended on being visual. Which is like a “Woah, how can art not be visual?” kind-of-thing. It’s something simply about vision and you look at how something becomes visual. Deep stuff.

I’m Almost Done 1st Term!

I’m feeling like I really want to share some music.

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Cazals- Somebody Somewhere

I can’t believe next week is the last week of classes. No more 9ams all week long. I’m also bummed that the winter break marks the half way point for the year. That means I’m halfway through my stay in Totem and I never want to leave.

I’m enjoying Vancouver a lot. I’ve noticed that the city loves to have as many restaurants as possible and everyone wants to dine out all of the time. Vancouver is also really big on marshmallow brownies and very sugary cupcake stores. It’s true- all it does is rain. It’s almost December and whenever I step outside I never feel cold but I’m always a victim of buckets of rain. One of the weirdest things I don’t understand is the glowing green sky that I saw to the south of campus last night, it was super strange. I wish I still had a BlackBerry so I could of taken a photo to show you. Can anyone explain why the sky would be glowing green?

Music Monday

On Saturday night, after the SEE Conference, the Vancouver Me to We Mobilizers hosted their Break the Silence concert event. Break the Silence was held just as the Vow of Silence ended, to celebrate our achievements of being silent for 24 hours and to talk about our experiences from participating in the Vow. For more fabulous info on just why, click here or here.

The night was a huge success. Scott and Kelly, Mobilizers from the island, took the ferry over to be with us and others came from Surrey by SkyTrain. Steph and Angie from the Free the Children office came by and shared some FTC videos with everyone at the cafe. I also had a chance to see my Co-Mob Lead, Tes, once again! Tes lives in Surrey so we don’t have time to see each other often. Since I co-lead the west coast Mob, I had the opportunity to say “wicked-awesome” and “cool beans” into the microphone a lot while introducing speakers. Made my day.

We took over Our Town Cafe on E Broadway (btw the cafe is wicked-awesome, check it out for a cool study space) for Break the Silence and had a really awesome band called The Left play for us. They were absolutely hilarious and at one point they shouted out, “this will be our last song for the evening. Thank you for coming out and we’ll see you at the after party at Erica’s house. If you weren’t invited…  …we’re sorry.” Right away they began playing as loud as they could before I could even think about the joke I just heard. Funny and amazing guys. So here I am, sharing one of their songs with you. In this video I can’t help but laugh and understand why they were talking about coffee beer bongs before they played it on Saturday.

Here it is. The Left- Drinking About You. Oh yeah, Hi Meg!

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SEE Conference!

Yesterday I attended the Social Entrepreneurship Conference hosted by Enterprise Canada at the Museum of Vancouver. It was an awesome experience because I’ve never been to the museum, it was right by the water (like everything in Vancouver), and I got to learn about the history of White Spot! haha. I’m sure you’ll see photos from the event by Rabi, fellow Blog Squader, who was there too! I also developed a business plan for an “Art Hub” in Vancouver that would offset the major arts budget cuts that are currently happening in BC. Some speakers told me a few cool things like employee appraisals will not make an employee work better for you and that 22 people touch your coffee before you get it!

Did I mention I got a few compliments on my outfit? I stood out at this business casual event with my “90s” inspired colour palette. It helps a woman stand out from the black and grey of business clothing! Something you can’t see in the photos below are the awesome cream peek toe shoes complete with a wood heel. Very nicely done, H&M, on the shoes.

Dress up one

High wasted pink skirt, white pocket t shirt, and green/teal heathered cardigan.

Dress up two

My awesome necklace that is a real pocket watch!

Dress up three

Now I’ve got my trusty glasses on and I’m ready to go learn about the business world!

Update: Check out Rabi’s photos of SEE, they are now posted! Click here!

Hey Joshua Jackson,

Hey Joshua Jackson,

It’s good to know you are on campus filming Fringe. I’ve missed you since TBS disappeared and I haven’t watched Dawson’s Creek in a really long time. Besides getting to know that your pretty face is hanging around UBC for the next little while, all the TV show cop cars that are parked at Buchanan Tower really make my day. I didn’t know that there was a ‘555’ number that I could use to reach the local police. You learn something new everyday. Just like I didn’t even know vehicles were allowed to park next to Buchanan Tower in the middle of a walkway. I’m glad I didn’t accidently scratch your cars with all my text books. I’m pretty clumsy at times.

I feel like no one has formally welcomed you to UBC. Well, welcome Joshy. Come by Totem Park sometime and I’ll feed you Lychee juice boxes and fill your pockets with Pocky. It’s only the right way to welcome you to campus. If you have some free time tonight, I’d appreciate some term paper help as well. I don’t know, you just look like that swell kind of guy who wants to help and you seem to enjoy Buchanan just as much as any other Arts student. Oh and if you happen to know whoever the guy is who chose Buchanan Tower as the place for the bad guys to hang out in for the X-Men Origins Wolverine movie, let me know. I wanna talk to him because that’s just wild.

And since you are in town, I was wondering if you knew that the Cullens were selling their home in West Van. Wanna buy it for me?

k thanks Pacey for the $3.3 million for the house, Erica. 🙂

Music Monday

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Meiko- Boys with Girlfriends

This song is so simple and has been stuck in my head all weekend. Like most simple, sweet and cute songs it makes you want to pick up a guitar and learn a few things. I really feel free and innocent when I watch this, and then enjoy trying to figure out why the giant bear is there. Enjoy.

I’ve been working on my 2500 word paper for Modern Art History 227, and here is a little first draft from a part of it that can relate to how we are as people socializing and connecting with one another. I’ve really been thinking about focusing time on myself, like trying to go to the gym or reading some of the non-academic required books in my room or trying my hand in some print making. I really want to invest in me, you know? And up until now I’ve been sinking in my pool of work, school, boyfriend and trying to find time to sleep. I’ve pulled my first few homework-based all nighters this year and I’ve missed out on events like Halloween. Yes, I skipped out on Halloween. So here I am, in November, working on myself as a person. I want to glow from the inside out.

“It is interesting that people try to cover up the bad product that they are selling with labels and advertising. The product that is themselves is awful, absolutely terrible and repulsive as well as probably destructive. Yet, they look for other means than working on changing the product and go straight for false advertising and a creative campaign. Why is covering up the first step to solving our problems? Whether it be mistakes we’ve made or realizing we have gone too far, instead of trying to take a step back; we look to putting a new gold label on the situation.

We never want to work on the product. We never want to find out what will make us happier or what will make us a better and well-rounded individual. In the end, we cheat ourselves and forget about the nuitrients label that goes with our false claims. We look to other sources to back up our cover, our front, our disbelief, to make others believe what we so dearly want to be true. Wouldn’t it just be easier to work on ourselves, truthfully?

This is a lesson that we get out of the painting that raises so many questions. Gauguin wrote letters back to France that he deliberately wanted others to read. He wanted people to learn the legend of his masterpiece. [insert quotes from letters and discussion which is something I don’t want to bore you with.]”

PS, the paper is all on Guaguin’s painting- Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? A really interesting thing my prof told me is that I should think more about the questions then trying to answer them or trying to find the one answer. That is so true to life. The Painting can be seen below and over-sized for this blog post. Ta-da!

An open letter to the Coordinating Editor of The Ubyssey

Dear Paul Bucci,

I wanted to express my adoration for the newspaper that is filled with juicy UBC goodness like a jelly filled doughnut. Every Monday I pick it up in Lasserre before I go to my scary modern art lecture and every Thursday I grab it in Totem on my way to the dining hall. Yes, I am one of those people who ask themselves, “what day is today?” only to figure out if there is a new issue printed and ready for my little hands to flip through. Thank you for being printed twice a week. Others should follow in your example like Christmas or birthdays. Wouldn’t it be magical- Christmas twice a week?

Thank you for keeping me company when I stand in long lines on campus like the sandwich bar in the dining hall or when I’m at Starbucks in the SUB. Paul, can I call you Paul? I will. Paul, thank you for working so hard on such an important piece of.. dare I say?  Literature. I can picture you now, working away in your office in the SUB, spending those long Sunday and Wednesday nights putting together the final pieces of the paper. If I wasn’t just some random UBC Blog Squad girl, Paul, I’d bring you some bubble tea or some yam sushi from the Honour Roll and I’d make your day a little less stressful.

I do have one question for you, Paulie. Who chooses the advertisements for The Ubyssey and where they are placed in the layouts? A few weeks ago, these “MULTI ORGASMIC SEX” advertisements started appearing next to other ads like “PROFESSIONAL EDITING.” I don’t know what the reader demographic is for the campus paper but, maybe if I was a lonely student or more adventurous, I would appreciate the photo of the girl with the sex toy in her hands. Even better is the line that states “15% Off with UBC Student Card.” Yippy.

I can only imagine the kind of person you are. Probably brown hair, maybe glasses, and you eat a lot of Subway. Those are my guesses. My biggest wonder is if you are an iPhone or a BlackBerry kind of guy. If you are a BlackBerry kind of guy, I think we could get along mighty fine and even search for my BlackBerry thief together.

In the end, words cannot describe my burning passion that I have for The Ubyssey and such a hard working editor. So much so that I write this over-dramatized letter publicly on my blog. If you ever need someone to bring you lots of Asian food or write articles like “Going drag for Cantonese opera” then surely you know that I’m your girl. Keep up your good work, Paulie.

Sincerly your dearest reader,

Erica