BUSU Meeting PSA

The next BUSU Council meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday, January 18th, 2018 at 4:30PM. These meetings will be held every two weeks for the remainder of the term, as mandated by BUSU’s bylaws. Specific dates for the meetings are February 1st and 15th, March 1st, 15th, and 29th, and April 12th and 26th. 

As always, students are welcome at the meetings as long as they are held in open session. Students are part of the union, and your council represents you. If you have an issue or event you would like for BUSU to discuss at any of the meetings slated for Winter term, email the executive to inquire. You can reach President Nick Brown at pres@busu.ca, Vice-President Internal Emily Simon at vpi@busu.ca, and Vice-President External Mohammed Agavi at vpe@busu.ca.

You can find contact information for your BUSU council representative in the individual faculties, as well as the representatives for whatever group or subset you feel that you belong with at BUSU.ca under the Council page.

BUSU currently has two openings on Council for Women’s and Residence directors. If you are interested in learning more about those positions, contact BUSU President Nick Brown for more details.

Contact BUSU for more information about meetings, things around campus you wish to bring to their attention, and to find out more about your Council Directors! They’re friendly people who are here to help!

Faculties of Music and Education Raise Money in 50/50 Draw

Through the 50/50 draw and basket raffle put together by university employees in the Faculty of Education and Music, staff and faculty were able to raise $3,656 at this year’s Westman Christmas Cheer Luncheon. The event’s theme was “A Season of Giving” and saw a substantial increase in donations compared to last year. There were also donations of non-perishable food items made towards BUSU’s food bank. This event is among many holiday charities held in Brandon this year. 

Looking for New Web Content Coordinator

It is now second term, and we at The Quill have had to say goodbye to our Web Content Coordinator, Logan Praznik. We wish him the best of luck in all of his endeavours in the remainder of his education, and thank him for all of the amazing things he has done for The Quill in the last two and a half years that he’s been with us.

We will now be looking for Logan’s successor: the Web Content Coordinator is a senior position, which therefore means that it will be time consuming, and you’ll have a few more responsibilities, but you’ll be compensated monetarily — a monthly salary is involved.

The Web Content Coordinator is also a reporter with The Quill if he/she wishes to be. They are welcome to pick up articles at the weekly content meetings, although it is not strictly required. The Web Content Coordinator is responsible for one online exclusive article each week in addition to maintaining the website and uploading to social media platforms. 

If you are someone who enjoys technology and is looking to put a few extra dollars into your pocket each month, apply to be The Quill’s new Web Content Coordinator. 

Successful candidates will be in their second year or above, have a working knowledge or desire to attain a working knowledge of website maintenance, and be willing to join a fun crew of assorted personalities who hermit themselves into an office.

Benefits to working with The Quill include a great resume filler, a sense of purpose, and access to The Quill office, including a very comfortable couch for napping, a microwave, and a safe place to leave excess items like heavy winter coats or backpacks the approximate weight of a small elephant. While we do not have a mini-fridge, we do have an electric kettle with a variety of teas, and a coffee maker with grounds of dubious age and quality.

Apply to EIC@TheQuill.ca if you are interested in the position. Logan has kindly assembled a manual, and we can learn together how to keep The Quill’s online presence afloat.

Pop Culture of the Week: Star Wars The Last Jedi

T’was a few nights before Christmas when Star Wars arrived, and all the fans were out riding good vibes.

They crowded in theatres with joyful glee, expecting to see the normal George Lucas follies.

The theatre dimmed, and that fateful movie began, and then it was Disney’s turn to play in the sand.

The fans knew it was a movie like the ones they loved before, but this one was new and different with laughs galore.

Disney? Disney? Is that you? Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a good example of Mickey Mouse “kidifying” yet another genre. Filled with a lot of irrelevant comedic fluff that doesn’t advance the actual storyline, this movie was quite a change for a devote fan of the series to stomach. But by no means was it a completely bad change, it was still at its core and outline a Star Wars movie, Disney keeping the “George Lucas movie plot”. It progresses in a very linear fashion to the old stories, shadowing the original series with all the same major plot points, but being lighter and more kid friendly. 

This introduced comedic fluff might be less appealing to an adult crowd, but it can be understood as Disney’s attempts to pull in a larger crowd and more profits. But this movie is still greatly recommendable however to fans of the original series and other theatre goers. The movie filled with nostalgic heart throbbing moments surrounding the trilogy’s original cast and even props. The present mystery surrounding Rey, Daisey Ridley’s character, parents has a bit of light shed on it (Editor’s Note: I think the info given is a crock of lies), and follows her character’s development as an entity within the greater force. Part of this progression is her conflict with the dark side of the force. This is mainly depicted through “Force” engineered encounters with Adam Driver’s character, Kylo Ren. 

But enough about that! No spoilers! May the Force be with you in this new year.

Q-Mail: Quinitilius vs. New Year's Resolutions

Dear Quintilius,
This is my year, I can just feel it. I’m going to totally change and just be this super healthy and positive person, I would just like some advice on how to follow through on a New Years resolution?
Sincerely The Pursuit of Happiness

#MyYear

Dear Sycophant,

Ah, I see you are a resolutioner, someone who changes something about themselves by using the New Year as a justification. May I ask why, if there was something you were unhappy with, did you not change your habits until now? Does having to absent-mindedly fill out cheques dated with the wrong year for three months somehow remind you to be a better person?

You do not need the New Year to change who you are. You don’t need anyone or anything to make a firm change in your life other than will power and discipline. Literally nothing will change in your day-to-day life unless you start actually working on it. I think the New Year should be a time to reflect on our year while also reevaluating our purposes and goals.

If you want to be super healthy, reflect on what you did last year that was so abysmal that it hurt your body or made you unhealthy. If you want to be super positive, look at what made you cynical or negative. I believe it’s also important to fill out your why, defining your reasoning behind your goals and actions.

Take your holidays to really define yourself and sort out who you are. If you want to follow through on some sort of resolution in your life, look first for the reason, then reflect on the past shortcomings and finally take action.

All Salute The Eternal City,

Qunitilius of Rome

#Everyone’sYear

Rocket Game Corner: New Year, New Goals

I don’t make resolutions any more. I never follow through with them and then I feel bad. Instead, I set myself loose goals. These are things that I use to motivate myself towards getting shit done. This year’s goals include finishing a game for each system that my Nerdboy and I own.

Guys. I didn’t realize how many systems we own. There are 17 of them. I think I done goofed. Here’s a look at what the first half of my year will be like:

January: I hope to knock out my games for the 3DS and the SNES Classic. For the 3DS, I’m going to be playing Pokemon Ultra Moon and also Pokemon X, because it’s Pokemon. It won’t take a super long time. For the SNES, I’ll be playing Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the recommendation of Nerdboy.

February: For the shortest month of the year, I’m going to finish Pokemon Colloseum for the Nintendo GameCube, and replay Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak for the GameBoy Advance (don’t judge me. It’s cute and fun). 

March: I’m going to be working on my N64 contribution to this goal, which is most likely going to be yet another playthrough of Mario Party 3. If I have time, I’ll also be playing Pokemon Red for the GameBoy Colour.

April: For the PlayStation, I’ll be taking on Tekken 3, and most likely continuing The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD on the WiiU.

May: I’ll be celebrating my 27th birthday by playing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the PlayStation2.

June: I think I’ll round out the first half of the year by playing Life Is Strange: Before the Storm for the PS4.

In the first six months of 2018, I plan on playing eleven games on ten different systems. Will I be able to actually finish them all in the amount of time I’ve given myself? I hope so. Will I increase my goal if I make it? Not a chance.

Over the summer, you’ll be able to find me taking on Assassin’s Creed 2 on the XBox 360 and Ni no Kuni: The Wrath of the White Witch for PS3, most likely.