ews & features EDITOR KEVIN UNDERHILL THE VOICE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016 7 From self-harm to self-heal Artist says primarily women are seeking self-help through tattoo art By ANNA TILLEY ecording to Auberon Wolf, women are more likely to visit her tattoo parlour seeking to convert their in- juries into art than men are. Wolf, a Vancouver-based tattoo artist, has been transforming physical and emotional scars into personal pieces of tattoo art to help herself and others move on from past challenges. She said clients are choosing to cover their scars and are then able to escape past perceptions and just see their ink. Over the past two and a half years, she said it’s more common for women to come to her for this type of tattoo as opposed to men. The reason, Wolf said, is because women and men process traumatic experi- ences differently. “I definitely know the numbers are skewed by the way men maintain emotional virginity in order to maintain masculinity,” Wolf said. She added that having scars covered was personally empowering and now helping others become more confident makes the past worth it. “Everything difficult and challenging that I’ve experienced that has left me with my own physical and emotional scars was for something really worthwhile,” said Wolf. Barbara Partridge, a clinical counsellor with Arbutus Counselling Services, has never treated a male client for self-harm is- sues. “Tt does tend to be more women than men. Usually [self harm] seems to be a re- sponse to ways of dealing with stress and anxiety,” said Partridge. “Traditionally men have been more likely to drink alcohol or something.” Melissa Grimes, a Victoria resident has tattoos of her own and said she thinks there’s a lot of pressure to have a perfect narrative behind tattoos. “T felt [that pressure] with my first piece when I was 20, but with each subsequent piece, those feelings diminished,” Grimes said. “I think tattoos mean very different things to different people. They can be em- powering, rebellious, fun or symbolic.” AUBERON WOLF provided photos Auberon Wolf uses her tattoo skills to cover up injuries and scars with art. Curtains close on Limelight Video Limelight Video is the lat- est victim of the rapidly changing movie and tele- vision industry JORDAN MACDONALD photo Owner Don Newton enjoyed his vid- eo rental business while it lasted. By JORDAN MACDONALD when Limelight Video officially closes its doors on March 31. Like many other movie rental stores in Vancouver, Limelight has been un- able to keep up with the changes in rental services available to customers. Limelight owner Don Newton cited increased costs of operation and the rise of video streaming services such as Netflix as the primary reasons for the store’s closure. “It’s a very enjoyable business,” Newton said. “We sort of peaked in about 2008, and then business has been steadily declining since then.” Videomatica, another Vancouver video store, has sold off sections of its archive to UBC and SFU in order to keep afloat. As a result, according to store manager, B.J. Summers, they no longer do rentals. Newton said that movie rental stores such as his could have a positive impact on the movie watching experience for customers. “It’s just changing times,” Newton said. “Many people would rather sit at home and click play on their remote than drive to a video store.” Bjorn Olson, from Black Dog Video, said that streaming services provides a more convenient way for people to watch movies, but ultimately custom- ers are missing out on the experience of visiting a movie rental store. “Sometimes you just don’t want to T" credits will roll for the last time put on your pants and go outside, but for a lot of people that doesn’t cut the mustard,” Olson said. “Being able to go into a store and have a tactile experi- ence, that makes a huge difference.” Olson has an optimistic view of Black Dog Video’s future prospects, de- spite the overall decline of the movie rental business. “We're not going to close any time soon,” Olson said. “I think [Black Dog] is vibrant and healthy. As long as peo- ple are still interested in our experi- ence I think we'll be OK.” Putin Mii, si |)||| Fa Ushi JORDAN MACDONALD photo 66 It’s just changing times. Many people would rather sit at home and click play on their remote than drive to the video store DON NEWTON OWNER LIMELIGHT VIDEO Wada: J The dwindling shelves at Limelight Video in its final days. Driving campaign criticized Advocate calls out ICBC’s crackdown on distracted driving for omitting im- portant statistics. By CHAHIRA MERARSI motorists, considers B.C.’s new anti-distracted driving campaign a misuse of resources. Lewers said the campaign is mislead- ing, and that distracted driving due to cell phones only makes up 1.5 per cent of distracted driving fatalities. “When ICBC says that 81 people die each year from distracted driving, that’s exactly the information I get,” Lewers said. “But when you drill down and get the FOI request and what that break down is, only one to two of those 81 deaths is attributed to the use of a communications [or] electronic de- vice.” Earlier this month, ICBC and B.C. po- lice launched a campaign against dis- tracted driving by cracking down on drivers using their phones. ICBC’s website says distracted driv- ing is the second leading cause of car crash fatalities. Distracted driving consists of any- thing that diverts attention from the road, including outside distractions. However, Lewers said he feels that the campaign exaggerates some of the sta- tistics. “When ICBC says that distracted driving is the number two cause of fa- talities on B.C. roads, what they’re leav- ing out is that there’s only three top causes they use and they’re also not breaking down the cell phone compo- nent,” Lewers said. Mark Milner, the program manager at ICBC, said that although distracted driving isn’t limited to cell phone use, it’s still an important issue. “The problem with distracted driv- ing goes beyond mobile devices, but it is the most common form of distraction on our roads,” Milner said. “Our moti- vation is to try to reduce the number of deaths and injuries that result from dis- tracted driving each year, which causes far too much trauma for British Colum- bians.” The Vancouver Police Department’s media liaison officer, Randy Fincham, said the push to penalize distracted driving is fully in the interest of public safety. “To me, one death as a result of a dis- tracted driver per year is too many. Eighty-one deaths per year are far too many deaths,” he said. D: Lewers, an advocate for B.C. die CHAHIRA MERARSI photo illustration ICBC and B.C. police will be crack- ing down on distracted driving.