ampus hews EDITOR LENA ALSAYEGH THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 2015 3 Photo scholarships awarded Jodie Ponto and Vanessa Perrodou are 2015’s Steve Jackson winners By ALEX HOEGLER angara College has recognized two photographers for their up- coming photo documentary proj- ects. Vanessa Perrodou and Jodie Ponto are this year’s recipients of the Steve Jackson Scholarship, awarded to con- tinuing studies photography students at Langara. The scholarship is named in honour of the late Steve Jackson, a former Lan- gara instructor who passed away after a battle with lung cancer in 2012. Perrodou is working in partnership with Fresh Roots urban farm, an orga- nization that farms on school property. Her project is called ‘A Year in the Life of a Schoolyard Farm.’ She will focus on the learning and work the students will be doing out in the garden. “The project will spend two years covering the connections [Fresh Roots] has with the school and with the stu- dents,” Perrodou said. After the project is complete they will put together a book which Fresh Roots will sell as a fundraiser, she said. “TThe book] will be a visual story- By BRYAN MC GOVERN have to be able to deliver the punch- line. “Every joke has a set up, it’s not enough to be funny, you have to work for your laughs,” comedian and in- structor David Granirer told his stu- dents during their first class at the comedy standup clinic in Langara Col- lege’s continuing studies department. The evening clinic, which has been running for 17 years, is back for a new semester of jokes, bits and gags. During the eight-week class, 11 stu- dents will develop their comedic skills by writing a weekly five-joke set. During the sixth and seventh weeks they’ll build their performance skills. The final project consists of a live per- formance by the students at Yuk Yuk’s Vancouver comedy club. |: not enough to know the joke, you telling of their work. It will be primari- ly my photos,” Perrodou said. “T would like to use my photography to help impact social change in the fu- ture, [to] help advocate for future causes,” Perrodou said. Ponto, now finished part of the pro- gram, was born in Taylor, B.C. and is focusing her documentary project on a controversial dam that will affect com- munities on the Peace River. “T want to go home and photograph the people and families that will be im- pacted by the building of the BC Hydro Site C dam along the Peace River,” Ponto said. The project is expected to cost bil- lions, and will affect towns such as Tay- lor and Fort St. John, Ponto said. She is hoping to document everyday lives while raising awareness of people’s concerns about the project. “Huge amounts of land [are] going to be destroyed, that people work on,” she said. “[People will be] forced off their homes.” Ponto said she is happy the program has changed her focus from music to photography. “It’s cool for me to do something a little closer to home,” she said. ries (right). VANESSA PERRODOU photo Granirer told his class he expects a lot of failure in the coming weeks. “T love the process of seeing them go from knowing nothing, to all of a sud- den they’re standup comics. I think that’s really cool,” said Granirer, who performs through his company Stand Up For Mental Health He reminds his new students that the audiences they’ll find are strangers who don’t know or care about them as comedians until they earn their laughs. “Standup works a part of your brain nothing else does,” said past student Christian Thompson, who performs with Granirer for a comedy show on Wednesdays at La Fontana Caffe. Thompson has taken the clinic twice already because “it would force [him] to write.” When writing, he recom- mends sticking to one topic and being concise. “Take a 10-word joke and turn it Photograph submitted as part of Ponto’s scholarship JODIE PONTO photo BRYAN MC GOVERN photo Ashlee Ferguson introduces herself to her classmates as she gets some laughs during the comedy standup clinic at Langara College. Comedy clinic helps boost confidence Langara’s long-running standup comedy clinic is a fun and popular way to polish performance skills down to seven,” Thompson _ said. “Iv’ll be funnier be- cause it’s shorter.” Granirer — rein- forced this point; “comedy is way funnier when it’s specific.” DAVID GRANIRER Shyloe Bryant is Comedian and instructor a student of the clinic who said comedy brings his personal insecuri- ties to the forefront. “My life is kind of a joke right now,” said Bryant, who joined the class to be- come a better storyteller and to create a character for his comedy. “You want to win the people over,” said Justin Ho, who is still nervous about the live aspect of standup and is also going through the course for a sec- ond time. 66 Every joke has a set up, it’s not enough to be funny, you have to work for your laughs DAVID GRANIRER COMEDY INSTRUCTOR LSU election turnout low once again Fewer than 200 votes were cast per candidate in this year’s by-election By SARA RABEY its by-election last week with many students unaware. With approximately only 300 stu- dents voting in last fall’s election, turn- out at LSU elections has been histori- cally low. Preliminary results indicate a drop, with less than 300 of Langara’s over 9,000 enrolled students coming out to vote in this year’s by-election. One reason may be that many stu- dents know little about the LSU and what it does. Langara student John Lam didn’t know the elections were taking place until he walked past the voting booth to Ti: Langara Students’ Union held get some water. He said he de- cided to vote be- cause he thinks it’s important. “It’s part of my rights and freedoms,” Lam said. Rajbir Singh Khangura, a first year Langa- ra student, did not know about the elections un- ELECTION Results JANUARY BY-ELECTION PRELIM RESULTS VOTES BY POSITION Secretary to Council 231 Councillor 150 Councillor 154 Councillor 164 Councillor 161 til his friend told him. “T will not vote today, I will vote to- morrow,” Khangura said. Parker Vaughan, also a student of Langara, just happened to be hanging around the student centre when the election speeches took place. Vaughan said he had heard about the elections before that but didn’t know much about them. “T heard that there are positions that are vacant,” he said, but he added that he didn’t understand the different can- didate platforms. Fatima Issa, a student at Langara and volunteer for the voting booth, said she would like to see more acknowl- edgement of what the student union does. “T don’t think there is enough aware- ness for students that there even are elections,” Issa said. However, Benjamin Friesen, the Lan- gara Students’ Union spokesperson, said he doesn’t think there is a lack of involvement on campus. “Every event that LSU has is always packed with volunteers and happy members,” Friesen said. Friesen said that students might be hesitant to get involved because a ma- jority of them only attend Langara for one or two years. “The nature of Langara College is a stepping stone; most students are only here for two or three semesters as they await acceptance elsewhere. With such a short time on campus, LSU does its best,” Friesen said. Final results from the by-election will be available Feb. 13.