6 THE DAILY VOICE, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2013 EDITOR GARIN FAHLMAN lewpoints Shared sugar Is sweeter By AMY JONES hat would you do if your neighbour knocked on your door and asked for a cup of sugar? Most of us would be surprised, to say the least - but why? When did it become strange to borrow or share with your neighbour? Part of the problem is that few of us know our neighbours anymore, which is really too bad considering how much we can help each other. In terms of sav- ing money and reducing waste, sharing with our neighbours is probably the most powerful thing we can do. People are starting to get aboard the share train with things like couchsurf- ing, car2go and free-stuff websites. And really, sharing shouldn’t be a big stretch for generation Y who grew up sharing music, photos, videos, contacts and all kinds of other information on- line. In terms of sustainability, sharing is invaluable. By donating and sharing our unwanted and unused stuff, we can stretch the lifetime of products to re- duce waste. What’s the point of 10 peo- ple on the same street owning the same DVD, or leaf- blower, or vehicle for that matter? There’s no need for us each to have our own copy of the same thing. And the environment can’t sustain our hyper-consumer- ism much longer. The global recession is forcing us to think about every item we buy. Instead of buying something new, you can bor- row the same thing from a neighbour. Instead of driving downtown, you can hitch a ride. And what about all that unused space in the yard - maybe some- one could plant a garden there? Imagine how much money we could save on hotels, gas, insurance, taxis, bus tickets, kitchen gadgets, lawn tools, and sports equipment if we just shared as a community. Websites for sharing all kinds of things are starting to pop up. Recently, book shares and tool shares have ap- peared in Vancouver - so it appears we're on our way. There are, of course, some draw- backs to this share economy - trust be- ing the most obvious. But like any new- fangled idea, positive experiences make all the difference. And once shar- ing initiatives start to garner a good reputation, the people and the sharing will follow. OPINION. AMY JONES We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Journalism instructor Ethan Baron oversees The Voice. Email him at ebaron@langara.be.ca Canucks can't clinch By JESSE LAM Ihe Vancouver Canucks are strug- gling to hit their stride, and scor- ing goals seems to be the prob- lem. Their out-of-the-blue win on Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets not- withstanding, the Canucks have only been able to score seven goals in six games since their impressive 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 7. The Canucks can’t score. It’s frus- trating for the players and it’s frustrat- ing for the fans. The line combinations don’t seem to work, to the point where last Thursday, head coach John Tor- torella admitted that he’s just “throw- ing it at the wall here a little bit and we'll see what sticks. ’'m being honest with you.” Hang on. Does Tortorella not know what he’s doing? Well, it seemed to work, since after that practice the Ca- nucks were able to score six goals against the Blue Jackets Friday. Too bad they followed it up with another disappointing game on _ Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Captain Henrik Sedin started the season on fire, scoring 20 points in 17 games. Since then, he has scored only four points over the course of eight games. His twin brother Daniel hasn’t been much help either, at one point going six games without a point, his longest drought in 10 years. The Canucks’ other star player, Ryan Kesler, was supposed to be the sniper of the team. For a while, Kesler was scoring goals at will, with five goals in four games during the end of the east- ern road-trip late October. Before Chi- cago’s game on Saturday, he hadn’t scored any goals in seven games. I'm gonna get the best deals! Get to the back of the line! Are we there yet? Are we there yet? There is a bright spot for the Ca- nucks - goaltender Roberto Luongo’s play in net is keeping the Canucks close each game. His statistics show he’s more than capable of winning games. Now if only the Ca- nucks could score more goals. With Novem- ber coming to an end, people may say it’s too early to talk about playoffs. But is it? If the playoffs were to start to- day, the Canucks wouldn’t be play- ing. If they continue to lose at this rate, it will translate into a disappointing season for your Vancouver Canucks. A~ LN OPINIO JESSE LAM oo a N Sorry, we're closed. Flease come again! Jesse Lam Black Friday deals no steals By GARIN FAHLMAN er to find, and that takes a lot of the fun out of the most popular shopping spree in North America. There are lots of legitimate com- plaints over Black Friday — it’s a day that glorifies commercialism, throws people into such a fervour that it often causes injury, and for Americans it comes so soon after Thanksgiving that the holiday seems to only exist under Black Friday’s looming shadow. But despite these legitimate griev- ances, Black Friday can still be a lot of fun if you can avoid getting trampled under a herd of shoppers on your way into Best Buy. Hunting for those once- a-year deals, comparing newspaper fly- ers and driving across town to find that one spot nobody else thought of can be a great way to snag usually expensive items. But over the last few years, Black Friday has been spreading out from Friday in both directions, giving retail- ers a chance to make a bigger produc- tion out of their sales. It used to be that B:: Friday sales are getting easi- retailers would print their fliers in newspapers the morning of Black Fri- day, and finding what you wanted meant collecting fliers, calling retail- ers, and haggling with salespeople. Now, sales are well known long before Friday. In an effort to get more people into their store retailers have been publiciz- ing their sales days before, and a shop- per can make a roadmap to quickly hit all their stops. The problem is, so has everyone else, meaning everyone comes out early, which ends up in long lines, and no surprises. The websites for any large re- tailer will have a list of all of their deals well before Black Friday, and shopping without having printed out a list of these is a hopeless endeavour. Because of this, competing retailers are all uu OPINION GARIN FAHLMAN aware of each other’s deals, and it ends up simply lowering prices across the board instead of providing any truly unique deals. The trend of Canadian stores being bought up by American corporations is only worsening this trend - Zellers across Canada have all but disappeared to make way for Targets, veterans of the big Black Friday productions. The dominance of online shopping is the final major threat to the Black Fri- day deal-hunter. Online shopping is, in general, quicker, cheaper and is a way to find more unique items, but it has meant that there are fewer shoppers interested in going to brick-and-mortar stores. Online Black Friday deals have popped up from most major retailers, meaning that the deal hunt has been reduced to tabbing through a dozen or so windows. With the increased transparency of retailers and their sales, a growing lack of smaller Canadian stores and the massive presence of online shopping, Black Friday is becoming less about hunting and more about line-ups. Fil fay ce) The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwlangara.bc.ca/voice EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Garin Fahlman PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Deanna Cheng PAGE 2 Angela Holubowich PAGE 3 Patrick Colvin PAGE 4 Marie Del-Cid PAGE 5 Puneet Dhami PAGE 7 Kristen Harpula PAGE 8 Ben Bulmer WEB EDITORS Jacqueline Langen James McLaughlin Quinn Mell-Cobb REPORTERS Andrea Anthony Nick Eagland Tammy English Bill Everitt Gavin Fisher Tyler Hooper Amy Jones Jesse Lam Tricia Lo Jenny Peng Nadim Roberts Vanessa Szpurko Glen Truax Kendra Wong Kelci Nicodemus Niall Shannon COPY EDITORS Kayla lsomura Brian Horstead Warren Jané Contact us: Our blog at www.langara- voice.com Twitter at @langaraVoice Youtube at VoiceLangara flickr at Langara Voice