What’s on the menu?

September 11, 2014September 8, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

… And other questions a person who can’t cook would ask

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. Sept. 4, 2014

Why are we so indecisive when it comes to food? Everyday, regardless of my workload, obligations, or responsibilities, I’m required to ask myself a key question: “What the fuck should I shove in my face to shut my stomach up?”

Sustenance, pleasure, and an inconvenience: food. I’m not super picky, but I do have my preferences, although sometimes my preferences change due to external influences. These influences include my vegetarian friends, the price of the meal, and of course, what people deem to be healthy. Needless to say, I eat most of my meals in front of the television, at my computer, or even lying in bed. I’m not a role model, I agree.

But the problem is that I choose not to consider what I want to eat until I am already too hungry to cook or even to drag my lazy ass to a restaurant. I just pop something into the microwave or oven and forget about it. Done. I’ll worry about that problem again in five hours or so.

Cooking is a skill that I simply never acquired and now I feel a bit ashamed, especially when I’m invited to potlucks or any social gatherings where I’m expected to craft some edible dish to impress my peers and friends. “I’ll bring the cups and napkins,” I’ll jest, dying a little on the inside.

Correct, I’m not Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen, and I’m not even Guy Fieri in someone else’s kitchen. I’m just a guy who aims to stay alive and not get a steam burn when peeling back the cellophane of my Hungry Man.

It’s a sad position I have found myself in. In life, every person should be able to lick their fingers after a satisfying meal they have made for themselves—and then, of course, clean up after themselves. Nevertheless, I’ll never be an exquisite cook because of my bland taste, just like I’ll never become a tenor in a choir because of my tone deafness. It’s a fact that I have accepted. So I try to make myself useful in other ways: by suggesting meals to those willing to cook for me and by stocking up on crap that I can halfheartedly make at a moment’s notice. I don’t care if you don’t mind.

I have scrolled through Urbanspoon enough times to know that options and variety are far from the solution. Someone at some point needs to make an executive decision. When it comes to food, I have always been hesitant to speak up because I feel as though I have no authority in the say due to my taste. I was wrong. If I’m not the driver, I should at least be the navigator. Yes, true, I don’t care what we eat today, but I should be able to suggest something.

When it comes to picking restaurants or ingredients for dinner, it’s not about caring or not. You’ll have to eat, that is the fact! So make suggestions or pick something for yourself. At least one meal out of your day doesn’t have to be an indecisive mess in your schedule. So when it comes to soup or salad: I always pick soup.

America’s most-watched

September 10, 2014September 10, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Why police officers on duty should be filmed

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published by The Other Press. Sept. 4, 2014

Security cameras are an integral part of many organizations, from low-level retail to big brand manufacturing. Whatever is recorded is rarely shown to the public or even kept for long periods of time, but when something occurs it’s always good to have video evidence, especially in this day and age when it’s essential to justice.

So if the barista at Starbucks has to be on camera all day long while serving coffee, why shouldn’t police officers be on camera all day long while serving and protecting citizens? Law enforcement is a tough job—I don’t deny that; however, I’m convinced that often the coercive measures taken to enforce the law might be overly drastic.

Recently, several police brutality videos have been shared on the Internet to ensure that the citizens being detained receive at the very least an apology for the forceful way in which they were apprehended. It’s sickening to see a police officer throw furious jabs at a man who has his arms behind his back, or worse, see a 200lb man wrestle down a woman and continue to pummel her while she’s on the ground. Whether the victim deserved the physical punishment or the police officer overstepped bounds is beyond me, but what I am sure you can agree on is that transparency is the key to establishing harmony between the law and the people the laws are meant to protect.

In the States—California specifically—there are initiatives for police to wear cameras when they are on duty. Instead of having spectators film police when a wrongdoing occurs, the police should just include that in their operations. If they have done nothing wrong in the course of action, then there is nothing to worry about.

The argument is that if certain people see a police with a camera attached to them, then a certain level of fear is omitted, but I don’t believe that to be the case. After all, I sure as hell don’t want video evidence of me showing disrespect to a police officer. Nevertheless, I would want even less to have a video of me being assaulted by a police officer. Moreover, why the hell should citizens, who have done nothing wrong, fear cops anyways?

Well, that’s because 90 per cent of people are law-abiding, but 99.9 per cent of people are unnerved by the unpredictability of law enforcement officers. Simply put, people just aren’t educated in what the police can or cannot do to us. The RCMP, and other departments in charge of our safety, need to meet us halfway. Certain public places are constantly under surveillance. It seems to me that wherever a police officer happens to be, that is a good place for an extra eye.

Cops are people too, and they perform a tough role in our society. Wearing a camera on the job is not an expression of mistrust. Instead, it should be seen as how guns, Tasers, and other technological advantages are used to help them perform their job. It’s an affordable measure that can save a lot of people from injuries and stop officers from stepping over the thin blue line.

Ice fucket!

September 4, 2014September 4, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Why peer pressure is so effective on social media

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. Sept. 4, 2014

I, like so many people on social media, am a victim of peer pressure. Earlier this summer, the Ice Bucket Challenge to promote awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) seemed to be another Internet fad that would make an insignificant mark like the No Make-Up Challenge, Neknomination, and Harlem Shake. But that’s obviously not the case. The campaign has been instrumental in earning the ALS Association donations it wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Although some criticism has emerged suggesting the divergence of focus from disease to entertainment, and the ultimate water-wasting effect of the campaign is nothing to be proud of, I want to focus on the successful qualities: what peer pressure can do for us in the future.

The nomination-aspect of the Ice Bucket Challenge is most interesting. For some, being nominated may seem like an insulting gesture, a call-out. For others, it’s an invitation to participate. Initially, I watched the campaign from the perimeter, content. I’m not the most charitable individual, and if there was a cause for me to contribute to, ALS would not be the first—admit it, it probably wouldn’t be your first either. However, after I was nominated by a hockey teammate, it was no longer about the donation—even though it should’ve been. The point now was to continue the chain-letter effect, an idea gone viral.

Now I could have ignored the nomination, and I greatly considered it, as I’m sure many participants have. I hated the idea of someone pressuring me into an act in order to retain my “respect” within the community. Sure, some people might praise me for standing up against such peer pressure. After all, I’m not a conformist, am I?

Then I reconsidered. This social challenge isn’t a test of character. An ice bucket is not, say, bungee jumping. Especially during the hot summer we had, the icy water could actually be refreshing, no?

The Ice Bucket Challenge, like most social network challenges, is a demonstration of creativity. Let’s see how you can make pouring water on your head original. That was the real challenge, as lame and cheesy as they all end up being.

Seeing most of my Facebook friends and various celebrities participate is proof that there’s something about peer pressure that makes the Internet kind of scary. We could say, “No, the Internet can’t make us do stuff—it’s just a machine,” but when I consciously poured water on my own head and filmed it to prove to my friends and followers that I am just another brick in the wall, I knew that in the very near future I would be doing other irrational acts and filming it too. Why? Well, just so that I can continue belonging in the community and network I have worked so hard to include myself in.

This year it was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge—it’s unlikely to repeat itself next year; however, that paves the way for the next fad. The Burn Your Shoe Challenge for Legionnaires’ disease. The Parallel Park Your Car Challenge for Parkinson’s. The Mortgage Your House Challenge for MS. And Big Brother will see it all happen on YouTube. Luckily for us I’m no George Orwell, but I will try to grow a moustache this November. I mean, if everyone else is doing it, right?

Fresh Off The Boat or Cast Away

August 29, 2014August 29, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

How a third-culture kid tried to act the role

by Elliot Chan

Looking back, I realized it wasn’t just that I was Asian. I was a loud-mouth, brash, broken Asian who had no respect for authority in any form, whether it was a parent, teacher, or country. Not only was I not white, to many people I wasn’t Asian either. Eddie Huang, Fresh Off the Boat

There is much talk about cultural appropriation these days. People are trying to draw the line, but political correctness cannot be traced with a ruler; it’s jagged, squiggly, and all-round messy. Some are overly sensitive with the ineptitude of cultural exchange — or the misunderstanding of it — and will always be, while others are apathetic to the point of offensive.

But what is my culture? What is authenticity? What is a stereotype? And what is my legitimate heritage? Before I can step up and defend myself, I must understand what — correction: who — I am.

My mother demanded that I speak Cantonese at home while growing up. I’m fluent, but I use primary school vocabulary and slur my words. It makes me feel — for lack of a better word — dumb. It’s the last thing my mom can hold over me. Cantonese. If I lose it, it’s gone. Should I have children, they will not learn a word of it from me. It’s sad, but it’s true.

CBC is an acronym used to describe me: Chinese born Canadian. Respect — even though us CBCs are perhaps the first generation of Chinese people to have never felt the wrath of poverty, the injustice of forced labour and head tax, and the hardship of immigration and a life of a refugee. Yes, we haven’t done much to garner respect, but we still deserve it; the glass ceiling above us is evident, but the platform of privilege we stand upon is quite sturdy as well.

But I was more than that whole CBC business. I didn’t know it at first, because people would just put a label on me as a kid, and I accepted it. Especially when I was growing up in a multicultural community like I did in Vancouver/Burnaby, Beautiful British Columbia. My mom and dad wanted me to be one way, the school system wanted me to behave in another, and of course, I had no idea what I wanted, except to be a star on film and television.

I was a kid grasping at influences in all directions. I admired famous white people, I admired famous Chinese people, I had friends of all hues, and I had dislikes from people of all culture; douchebags — I later found out — existed on every continent, and I don’t discriminate. I was a third-culture kid. My parents were yellow, the country was blue, and I was green, not ripe for pickin’.

Eddie Huang, owner of Baohous in New York and host of the popular Fresh Off the Boat segment on Vice Magazine, also found influences in an unconventional realm: hip-hop and rap.

Pac made sense to us. He wrote in his memoir. We lived in a world that treated us like deviants and we were outcast. There was always some counselor or administrator pulling us out of class to talk. We stayed in detention and we were surrounded by kids who had no idea what we were going through. We listened to hip-hop because there wasn’t anything else that welcomed us in, made us feel at home. I could see why Milli wanted to pull a pistol on Santa or why B.I.G. was ready to die. Our parents, Confucius, the model-minority bullshit, and kung fu-style discipline are what set us off. But Pac held us down.

As a Canadian, there isn’t much to go on, especially when it presents mashed potatoes and casserole content. Good try Canadian Broadcast Company, but CBC ain’t CBC enough for me. I was proud, but of what, someone else’s culture? I caught of glimpse of Corner Gas and Little Mosque on the Prairie and absolutely shuddered.

I wanted to change it, but I had to get my foot in the door without falling to my knees. My dad would walk into my room and see me being whitewashed by the television. I told him, I wanted to be an actor. Maybe in Hong Kong, he replied. He wanted me to flee, but I wanted to invade. I was watching television so I could know my enemy.

But when a man of colour asks a white man for anything, whether it be food, work, or acceptance, there is still this raw feeling, as if something between us, as human beings, is still unresolved. Equality is having chips to play, choosing the game is the privilege.

Huang describes the emotion of watching his cousin join a frat, but I believe it relates well to every thing else a minority group goes through in this new world. You can say “please” and “thank you,” but you know that they owe you nothing; the whole process brings you down:

Something about watching my older cousin walk around with PKA hat on his fat head being hazed by white “brothers” pissed me off. It must have been how our grandparents felt watching the British or Japanese herd their people around in water lines. OK, maybe I was imposing my own meaning on the image, but there was something wrong with it either way. White people making my cousin carry their shit, wear their colours, and walk with his head down. It took every ounce of self-control not to go apeshit on his brothers and, when I was done, beat the shit out of Phil, too! It made Allen and me so mad that it finally brought us back together. Like watching William Hung sink your entire race with each word of “She Bangs,” we died every time Phil walked through the towers surrounded by frat brothers.

For eight years, I pursued acting as my Plan A career choice. I bought into the culture 100 per cent. I devoted myself to acting and film school. I printed myself a month’s salary of headshots, produced a demo reel, and even got myself a talent agent.

I knew I was heading down the wrong path when I saw myself waiting in an audition room, hoping to beat out my other brothers, third-culture kids like myself in every way, for a role as a minority in a half-baked television pilot. When your childhood dream was to be Hamlet, anything less than Horatio will not do. So Nerdy Guy #2 was as far as I would stretch.

Legitimate roles for Asians are so limited that the audition rooms become a tense place for those who get a call back. I remember looking around at all those familiar faces, and thinking, we should be partners not rivals. We should work together to make a new brand of entertainment for our own demographic. The industry believes they are offering a piece of the pie, but no, we are fighting each other for crumbs.

My parents believed in me, they wanted me to climb the ladder. They wanted me to land those bit parts and wait for my lucky break. In other words, they wanted me to follow orders, run with dynamite and build the CPR for little to nothing. My parents believed in me. But I was not going to misrepresent who I was in the world. Yes, I wanted to be an actor, but no, I would not be Nerdy Guy #2. If I wanted to be Nerdy Guy #2 I would have been an accountant, I would have been a doctor, I would have been an engineer. Being typecast was as bad as failing. Maybe it was me, or maybe I just didn’t understand the whole entertainment industry.

“When Gene Roddenberry gave me that role,” said George Takei, for PBS documentary Pioneers of Television, “it was a breakthrough role for me personally, as an actor as well as the image of Asians and Asian Americans on the television screen and also on the motion picture screen. And today, if you have a hospital series or a detective series, you always see an Asian as part of the diversity of that regular cast.”

And the token Asian role evolved since. Now, the succeeding Sulu has taken reign as a leading male in a romantic comedy. “Asians narratively in shows are insignificant. They’re the cop, or the waitress, or whatever it is. You see them in the background. So to be in this position . . . is a bit of a landmark,” said John Cho when interviewed for his television series on ABC, Selfie.

Hell, maybe I could be the best damn Nerdy Guy #2 in cinematic history, but no. Respect to Takei and Cho for continuing to inspire, but I’m taking a different route. I would not praise Asian actors for simply making it on screen. I’ll praise them if they dare to be vanguards. I’ll praise them if they can boldly go where no Orient actor in Hollywood has gone before. Some might find the “Me so sorry! Love you long time” bit entertaining, but I hate it. I cannot and will not influence people to do the same cheesy accent and stereotypical jokes.

Asian filmmakers need to take a stand for the actors. Filmmakers are the ones generating work, so it hurts to see Old Boy whitewashed, the same way The Departed took all the credit for Infernal Affairs. Can we Americanize something without changing the skin colour and the language? It appears not. But there was nothing wrong with The Godfather, was there?

Coincidently, my cousin is now pursuing acting. He’s found his style and is getting work here and there, finding far more success than I did half -a-decade ago. Yet he’s still rooted in the same third-culture I am, so I hope he represents us well; not my family necessarily, but other third-culture people. But no offense taken if he doesn’t. Paying the bills is important. We can’t all be activists. Some people just want to be “artists.”

My family would be happy to just see him sell out and live a happy life. My family is liberal like that; they’ve given up on trying to convert us. What may seem to be defeat for them appears to be respect for us. Free will. The respect to let your children create their own legacy, their own traditions, and still welcome them into the old ones.

Am I afraid of losing my heritage? I can lie to myself, but it’s already gone. So when I see a white person doing squinty eyes, when I hear mocking “Ching-Chong” dialect, and when I feel put-down by racial stereotypes, I don’t act the fool — I play the bigger man. Respect.

I have my roots, sure, but more importantly, I have an open mind. I am able to look at each culture, cultures that simply present themselves to me on a daily bases and say: “This is not my life, this is yours and if you don’t get in my way and I don’t get into yours, then no hard feeling. Hell, maybe we’ll even learn something about each other.”

I’d like to believe that most third-culture kids have this forward thinking attitude, I mean, they sort of have to. It’s those who have a reserved, conservative mindset that are keeping future generations back from reaching a common ground. Just look around the world and see the strife; the cultures are diverse, but the attitude is similar.

If you are from a third-culture like me, you can have intelligent conversations about science and religion without feeling defensive. If you are from a third-culture like me, you can welcome people with different values, sexuality and lifestyles with almost zero hesitation. We have lost a bit of ourselves, but we have found something new.

Tradition, whether it be in the form of an industry that teases a minority or a closed-door ritual, we can’t just take it at face value, we need to analyze them, assess what they mean to us, and ask if it holds any value to the future generation and ourselves, then we must protect it like we protect a five-year-old’s belief in Santa or make the child face reality and grow up. If people forget about Chinese New Year, then there won’t be one. Simple as that. Traditions are sturdy anchors, holding us boat people together, but it might also be the shackles holding us back in this new culture.

When it comes down to it, it’s all about perception and every Asian actor understand one thing and that’s how the Western world perceived us, and Huang notes it in his memoir:

My cousin Allen was the first to point it out to me one day when we were still kids: “Yo, you notice Asian people never get any pussy in movies? Jet Li rescued Aliyah, no pussy! Chow Yun-Fat saves Mira Sorvino, no pussy. Chris Tucker gets mu-shu, but Jackie Chan? No pussy!”

So remember, if they are mocking us, they probably aren’t celebrating us.

I quit acting. I felt a bit of shame, but it faded. There were no roles for me. Because not only am I white washed, I’m also acid washed. I watch television today and I’m glad I’m not a part of the industry. I might not be the solution, but at least I’m not part of the problem.

I have assimilated with North American culture; there is no denying that. But I’m content. I can learn from my parents and I can defend their honour. But I cannot live a life trying to change ignorant SOBs, CBCs and FOBs. I accept that there will always be a polarizing opinion toward cultural appropriation and other BS. I cannot guarantee that I won’t offend another. None of us can. We all have our home team. It’s not about being born white, black, yellow, green, or anything anymore. We in Canada have the liberty to find our own identity, instead of having it branded on us at birth. For now, I’ve chosen my side.

My mother told me to speak Cantonese.

“Who would I be speaking to?”

See original piece on Medium.

Office hours: Tuesday to Thursday

August 11, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Would you rather have three-day workweeks or early retirement?

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor

Originally published in The Other Press. Aug 5, 2014

Go figure: a Mexican billionaire is suggesting that we should all convert to a three-day workweek—11 hours a day—in exchange for a later retirement at 70 or 75 years old. Business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, Carlos Slim, one of the richest people in the world, has gone on record in saying that people would live much happier lives if they were given four days to recover and relax.

I believe it! I know I would be much happier, spending four days lounging around not worrying about work, though granted I have never been employed in a nine-to-five kind of job. The hours add up, and working takes up a significant part of life. It would be a shame to waste it all, regardless of when your hours are and what your schedule is like.

Overall, I totally agree with him. I know personally that I am more productive after a long weekend than I am when my schedule is fully loaded and I’m rushing from one responsibility and obligation to the next. I like the idea of having an 11-hour workday, because I have a the-sooner-I-get-it-done-the-sooner-I-can-rest attitude. I also rarely ever consider retirement: I like what I’m doing and I hope I progress and pursue my career for as long as possible.

In North America, it’s not easy to get time off. We live in a work-first-rest-later society; a place where making money is the number one priority. Just look around and see how many people are sleep deprived. There is no doubt that a three-day workweek could change that workaholic mentality. I think we would all benefit from a little more time for socializing, a little more time for exercising, and a little more time for simple contemplation.

A 2008 survey conducted by the Families and Work Institute showed that 46 per cent of those given an option to have a condensed workweek chose to use it at one point or another, and 59 per cent of those who weren’t given such options, wished they had it.

The general public is split on that matter, because so many people are working for retirement. That is the ultimate goal in life, and I think that is the wrong mentality. Waiting for retirement to me is a scary gamble, because who knows if one will ever reach that finish line. Regardless of retirement, I think one needs to focus more on finding a work/life balance, regardless of the workweek.

We live our first 25 years without the fear of labour—if we are lucky—as we have our parents taking care of us while we get an education. Then we live the next 40-45 years working. After that, if we are really lucky, we get to retire and live for maybe another 15 years. That is a common reality to many.

Yes, I like Slim’s idea of a three-day workweek, but I prefer the Stefan Sagmeister’s way of thinking. Sagmeister, a graphic designer, spoke about taking five years out of those 15 retirement years and interspersing them in the 40 years or so of work life. He too believed that people needed breaks from working, but they shouldn’t be force to work well into their seniority either. Rather, people should be able to enjoy the world while they still have some semblance of youth. By having a yearlong sabbatical every seven years to relax, travel, pursue personal projects, rediscover career callings, and reassess life’s values, we can become healthier citizens and happier workers.

Time Traveller Magazine

August 7, 2014August 7, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

It’s time to get away!

In a fantastical world where time travel is a reality, Time Traveller Magazine is the go-to source for the best non-linear time travelling and vacationing content.

The Time Traveller Magazine was conceived as a school project for my professional writing program at Douglas College in 2013. It was arguably the assignment I was most passionate about. Time Traveller Magazine offered me an opportunity to stretch my imagination and experiment with publishing and design tasks that I would have otherwise removed myself from in normal settings. Coming from a hands-on filmmaking background, working on this magazine brought me back to my hankering for visual editing. I worried less about vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structures and focused more on the layout, the images, and the storytelling techniques that didn’t involve words necessarily. It was a rewarding experience and I am happy to share it with you all today.

Click Here to View the Time Traveller Magazine!

– Elliot Chan

Smartphones and dumb phobia

July 17, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Sooner or later, you’ll have a smartphone

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. July 3, 2014

One in five people currently owns a smartphone on planet Earth. That is quite remarkable, since five years ago I was convinced that I might never get one. I personally didn’t want to be a slave to my phone. But once I felt the sleek design of the iPhone 4 and engaged with the user-friendly interface, I knew that I wasn’t going back. I’m not sure if I’ve gone to the dark side or not, but my life has gotten significantly easier with a smartphone in my life.

Embrace technology. Believe it or not, we’re already slaves to it. We rely on technology for every little thing in our lives, from making a cup of coffee to saving people from traumatic injuries. Technology is the hammer and nails that built our houses, as well as the app that tells us how to get to our friends’ houses. It’s true that hammers can be used maliciously just as the Internet can be, but as long as the number of good uses is greater than the number of bad, we can’t really argue with it.

As mobile devices and wearables get more advanced in our society, it’s important for us to utilize it and learn as much as we can. The sooner we know how to operate it, the better off we’ll be. Technology does not have to be an addiction. Technology can also be a good habit to help you live a better, healthier life.

Have you ever seen a child operate an iPad more proficiently than their parents or grandparents? It’s cute, but that bar is also being raised every day. Soon we’ll be the inept parents and grandparents, unable to update to the next version of iTunes on our Google Glass. We’ll be asking our kids and grandkids to help. While that might seem like the inevitable passing of the torch, I don’t believe our generation will suffer that fate if we continue to progressively learn and use new technology as it comes along.

Sure, it doesn’t make sense for software and Facebook to change every few months for no real immediate purpose, but we shouldn’t judge technological leaps upon their inception. While many designers, engineers, and manufacturers are still working out the kinks for wearables, such as smartwatches and Google Glass, we should be excited for these new innovations—disruptive as they are.

Everyone will have a smartphone one day, because it will become the standard as innovations continue to make strides. If you’ve been resistant to new technology for so long now, you probably won’t be convinced by me, but I’m just saying that the longer you go without it the more handicapped you’ll be should smartphones be imposed on you one day.

Warning signs ignored

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Lacklustre earthquake should alert us, not relieve us

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. July 3, 2014

I didn’t crawl under my table during the 6.7-magnitude earthquake near Vancouver Island on April 24. In fact, I didn’t even notice until my social media erupted with comments concerning the swaying of homes and buildings.

I walked away from the situation slightly relieved that the worst that had happened was the reminder that I was spending too much time on the Internet and that I was so unprepared for natural disasters.

But give me a break, it’s hard to think about the collapse of my city when I’ve got so many other immediate things to worry about—that’s right, I’m saying that I’m not the only one who didn’t go under a table or quickly locate the emergency kit. If you did feel the shake, you were probably too busy enjoying the novelty to notice what it was. Preparing for an earthquake is just not a human instinct.

Still I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t anticipating “the Big One,” the name of the megathrust earthquake that was prophesied to hit the Pacific Coast of Canada and the United States in the (very) near future. Images of Japan, Indonesia, and Chile remind me that earthquakes are nothing to joke about. Should it hit with the force predicted, my life would shift, like if I was diagnosed with a terminal illness. At this current state of preparedness, I just hope to survive if the Big One hits.

The earthquake earlier this year was a reminder that our government, our emergency teams, and we citizens are never going to be ready for an earthquake. There is just no such thing as “ready.” There is no saying when it would hit and where you would be. Sure, there are protocols to follow after the incident and there are measures to be taken to mitigate damage, but aside from that it’s a crapshoot. I believe natural disasters occur with the consistency of lottery tickets—you might be lucky enough to survive or you might be less lucky.

Individually, we cannot do much after an earthquake, but together we can pump money into funding that will help us survive in the aftermath. Emergency Management BC currently supplies $6.2 million of funding to “emergency services.” There is no plan to increase the figure since no one can really assess the damage before it occurs. Money is one thing, but having experienced teams prepared is another.

Civilians need to know what to do after the earthquake. What would people downtown do? What would people on the coast of Vancouver Island do? What would people sleeping at home do? What about the people commuting on a highway? The government should go into some length explaining the proper procedures following the quake and the aftershocks.

We need a plan we can all follow, because cluelessness will surely lead to chaos. I am often clueless without my social media—and lord knows I won’t have that after the Big One knocks out my Wi-Fi.

Hiding under the table is one thing, but we need to know what to do once we emerge.

Dialogue of irrationality

July 10, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Spiritual conversations should not be taboo

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Previously published in The Other Press. July 3, 2014

I’m getting older in a secular society—or at least one that acts that way. I’m not sure if I’m simply surrounded by intellectuals who deem themselves unreligious, or if those who do have faith don’t wish to speak critically with me about it. I fear that the polarizing attitudes towards religion are causing a lot of built-up tension between us, and that the don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to our spirituality is causing more prejudice than we would care to admit. While we have become more open-minded with scientific discovery, cultural differences, and sexuality, we are still placing unfair judgement on those who have religious faith.

“I’ve felt it,” is a common reply I receive when I question someone’s religious belief out of curiosity, “you haven’t.” I feel a bit of shame when I get such a response, as if I’ve done something wrong, or I’m simply undeserving of the specifics. Perhaps both are true. Yet more often than not, the response seems to come from a defensive place, as if I doubt their values by questioning their faith. Which also might be true.

If I continue to probe for more details, the conversation becomes more heated and contentious. It becomes an argument. Why is that? Why can’t we have an honest debate about religion today? Why do we still have our feelings hurt?

When I ask questions about religion or about one’s spirituality, it’s not my goal to disprove them. I understand that it’s not a science experiment. It’s pretty clear now that nobody can disprove God.

What I want to find out is why my dear religious friends and families, who I share so many similarities and interest with, cannot see eye-to-eye in this one particular area of life. I want to know why the concept of heaven can bring comfort to one group of people, while the concept of reincarnation can bring comfort to another. I want to know why some religions demand celibacy, while others nurture freewill. Yet when I ask these questions, I’m often met with contempt.

On some occasions, I am welcomed into churches and temples to partake in rituals I know nothing about. I ask those around me what the process is all about, and the answer is usually “just because…” It’s a tradition. And that seems like a valid reason for religions to continue existing. It binds those with faith to a comfortable constant. The real world might be changing, but there is at least this one—albeit irrational—thing that’ll keep them grounded. It’s comforting.

It makes me smile when I see someone truly believe in something. I surely don’t have the same discipline. I’m easily swayed with logic and evidence, with lust and jealousy. That doesn’t mean I’m a bad person. That just mean I’m not religious… or even spiritual.

Here is an example: I want to ask those who have withheld their virginity until marriage how they do it. How do they defy temptation? How do they even exist in this live-for-the-moment society? I want to ask these questions so that I can understand myself. I want to understand my own belief system. I want to be convinced. Yet, all I am at the moment is intrusive.

The Impact of Smartphones and Social Media on Our Ability to Make and Keep Plans

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 / Elliot Chan / Leave a comment

Initial planning or planning ahead means nothing anymore. Scheduling events and then adjusting them as the date approaches have always been common, but it has become so convenient that all the communication leading up to the big date does not even really matter. With a click of a button—without an excuse or a doctor’s note—we can bail thanks to the flexibility liberated by technology and the flakiness of the new generation.

My expectations, when I make plans, have changed significantly since I started using Facebook. I was a latecomer to the social networking platform; I was going through this phase where I didn’t want to “conform” with those simply interested in a new fad. Who knew at the time that Facebook would become such a significant part of my life?

What finally got me to sign up was the fact that I felt forgotten. People weren’t inviting me to events because I wasn’t on Facebook. I was left feeling rejected because it was such an inconvenience for others to pick up the phone and tell me the time and place of the event. My friends would be out having fun, while I would be alone, doing whatever I did before Facebook. It was high school all over again.

I gave in. I got Facebook and rejoice. I got invites again.

Flash forward seven years later, now I’m bombarded with invites monthly: My musician friends inviting me to their shows, my semi-close friends inviting me to their birthday parties and even Facebook itself is suggesting events for me to attend. The thrill of receiving an invitation is lost—it feels a bit like spam—and technology began to foster the flakiness of the new generation.

We now live in a world where “Yes” means “Maybe,” “Maybe” means “No” and “No” means “The Hell With You! I’m Way Too Important!” So how can we over come this problem? How do we get people out to our events without sounding like a party-Nazi?

Make Plans For Yourself First, Then Invite People

Just because other people are flaky doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time doing what you want.

Example: You really want to see a band. Well, buy your ticket to the concert first and then let your friends know. Odds are, seeing your commitment will convince them that the event is worth going to and therefore they will purchase their own ticket and meet you there. If not, well, this might just be a great opportunity to meet new people that share the same interest or you can sell your ticket for a fair price.

Flexibility Won’t Please Everybody, So Be Firm

No matter how many times you adjust the schedule, there will always be problems. You cannot please everybody and you’ll be doomed if you try. Give a few options that work for you, and if a few people are left stranded—so be it—there will be other events in the future.

The more you reschedule the more you’ll test people’s already limited patience and the less likely anybody will show up at all. Be firm!

Assign Responsibility So Attendees Feel Needed

Whether it’s with friends, families or colleagues, getting together for an event should be teamwork. You can instantly weed out the flakers from those who are reliable by assigning certain tasks to people.

Generally speaking, people like lending a hand, and they’re more likely to show up when they are feeling needed and their presence really matters.

Avoid Breaking Plans You’ve Made Yourself

Events are something people look forward to, so if you need to cancel for whatever reason, do so as soon as possible. The least you can do is allow your friends to salvage their day. But know that every time you cancel or bail on a plan you made yourself, you become less credible in the eyes of your guests.

They will see your flakiness and mirror it, and that might be the root of all the problems.