BAFA BAFA

Friday nights are History nights at Brentwood College. A typical evening consists of a movie, with questionable relevance, in the lecture theatre. Last Friday night, however, Bafa Bafa came to Brentwood.

Sponsored by Mr. Tim Zenker, Bafa Bafa is a culture simulation game designed to emulate the effect of entering a foreign culture. History 12 students gathered in the classroom and were divided into two entirely different cultures, Alpha and Beta. The evening was scheduled so that thirty minutes were spent learning the intricacies of the culture in either Alphaland or Betaland. The Alphas were transformed in a patriarchal, physically close community, while the Betas became traders with a primitive language made of single syllable noises and gestures. At the end of this culture immersion, a pair of students from each group were allowed to mix with the opposite culture. The results were startling. Every participant had become so absorbed in his/her new culture that it was often impossible to be accepted by the other culture.

The experience left many students questioning how culture shock works in the real world and grade twelve student Keely van Order was surprised at how thought-provoking the experience actually was.

Story and photos: Kelsey Norlund (Grade 12)

THE LAUNDRY VENDETTA

Brentwood’s laundry staff truly is essential to the school community. Aside from cleaning our clothes, they hand out student mail, alter clothing, and even help make grad dresses for the senior girls. Growing students can go down to the laundry and trade in their old shirts or pants for another set from a vast store of outgrown uniforms. Just this year, the “Laundry Ladies” fashioned the house banners that now hang in both the cafeteria and the gym. “They have a huge function,” commented Andy Rodford, the school’s Director of Admission. As he points out, their basic duty, on its own, is one of great importance, “Can you imagine a boarding school without clean clothes?”

The liveliness of the laundry staff comes in part from a

The laundry staff dining in their Christmas costumes

need to spice up the otherwise meticulous and unchanging job of cleaning clothes. The first tactic that one would notice upon entering the laundry is the high volume at which they blast out their favorite radio tunes. They love the radio, and participate in any and all on-air contests about which they hear. For each major holiday, they will decorate the windows of the laundry with special painted designs that capture the spirit of the season. Their favorite is Halloween. Every October, they decide on a theme and arrive at the school on the 30th in newly made costumes. The tradition is so looked forward to on campus that students have been known to get up early on Halloween morning just to see that year’s costumes. Passionate about sports, the Laundry Ladies often attend Brentwood athletic events to watch and provide support. Amidst all this other activity, they still dedicate a great deal of time to the planning and playing of practical jokes. Colorful as they are, the Laundry Ladies are bound to have a number of peculiar relationships around the school.

By far the most peculiar relationship that the Laundry Ladies have on campus is with Director of Admissions, Mr. Andy Rodford. It all started when he took his first load of dress shirts down to the laundry to be cleaned. Upon his arrival at the school he was amazed and pleased to learn that the laundry staff washed and pressed everyone’s shirts, but his new job was so consuming that he did not think to pick them up and admire the good work. He received a few notes from them reminding him to pick up his clothes, but he kept forgetting because he had plenty of shirts. Finally, they sent him a note that he describes as “scathing, but fun”. He decided to pick the shirts up after that, but retaliated by “letting himself into the laundry” and decorating Head of Laundry Christine Nelson’s office and the coffee room with steamers and balloons. Ms. Chris Nelson later commented that it was “very artfully done.”

As retaliation to the retaliation, the Laundry Ladies sewed the cuffs of all Mr. Rodford’s shirts shut. As it turns out, he was just on his way to speak with some families in San Francisco, and did not notice the basting stitches when he was packing. He arrived late in California, and decided that he had just enough time to run to the bathroom to change his shirt. When he tried to slip his arm through a sleeve found the motion impossible, and all of his shirts had sown cuffs. He ended up hastily cutting out the stitches in that bathroom, no doubt muttering to himself about the Laundry Ladies.

Since then, Mr. Rodford and the members of the laundry staff have been playing friendly pranks on each other. “Every time I leave the school,” Mr. Rodford said, “(they do) all kinds of crazy things to wreck my office.” Once, when he had to make a business trip to Ontario, Chris and the others got the help of Mr. Johnston and the maintenance crew to board up the windows in Mr. Rodford’s office. As Chris later said, “Andy bragged to everyone about the beautiful view from his office. We decided to help him out.” They secured several layers of plywood over the aperture, covered it with wallpaper, and even hung up framed pictures to make the alteration as subtle as possible. “Believe it or not it took Mr. Rodford most of the morning before he realized there was plywood in front of his windows.”

Fred Zenker (Grade 10)

MESMERISING...

Reality is always available to manipulation; it is only a slight degree of concentration that keeps us from the realm of hypnosis. Or so a hypnotist would lead you to believe.
Mesmer, world-famous, self-proclaimed hypnotist, visited us Saturday night and gave Brentwood a look into a world of suggestion. Twenty students from an assortment of houses gave themselves up for speculation and intrigue as they fell into Mesmer’s wordy spell.

hypnotized into believing she had many others. Best of all was the prolonged true love” of Grade 10's Lisa Small and Tom Dickens. They were entranced into believing each other to be the greatest love of their lives. Bound to their seats by the words of Mesmer, Tom kicked with jitters and Lisa bit her lip as she watched her love alone across the stage. Released from the spell, their passionate hug was awarded with endless audience applause.

Hypnotising or not, Mesmer was a delight of entertainment and magic to light up the doldrums of second term.

Story: Mara Cowan (Grade 12)
Photos: Wil Pickles (Grade 12)

GIRLS IN SPORTS

The twentieth century marked a new attitude, particularly in the Western World, towards the treatment of women. Females began to be seen as equals to the male sex. The stereotypical 'Leave It To Beaver' image of the woman as solely a stay-at-home mom and wife evolved into one of an ambitious, on-the-go female who can easily juggle a successful career and a family. This shift in ways of thinking was caused in part by World War I; females needed to work because so much of the male population was in Europe, fighting.

Though realistically smaller, which can sometimes be a disadvantage, Coach Mike Flynn says the girls “work hard, and are becoming really good players. Some of the junior girls will be a fantastic addition to the senior team when they are old enough.”

Another example is Melissa Upjohn, a student in grade twelve. In the first term at Brentwood, girls have a choice of playing field hockey or volley-ball or tennis; there is a boys soccer team, but girls soccer does not start until second term. Melissa, who has played soccer for several years, wanted to join the team, and approached the coach about it. She happily played soccer for the entire Fall term on the 2nd XI boys soccer team.

There tend to be negative connotations around the word 'feminist', yet one would be hard-pressed to find a woman these days who is not, in some sense, an advocate of the equality of the sexes, especially through the establishment of social, political, and economic rights of women.

Story and photos: Gillian Gregory (Grade 12)

THE MEMORY BLANK COMPETITION

Thank you to all the hopeful entries for last week's competition, but there were no entries with the correct answer. Mystery Picture # 3 was the front door of the BC Hydro power cabinet near Alex House (picture below left). This means that the winner of this week's competition earns four chocolate bars!

The picture at the right was taken somewhere on campus this week. The first person (determined by e-mail time) to give both the location of the picture and a clear description of what appears in the blacked out portion wins!

Email your answers to tx@brentwood.bc.ca

EARLY UNIVERSITY PLACES

Continuing last week's theme, students with recent positive early admission news are highlighted below.

Bo Zulonas 
The boy who few know as Kevin has accomplished a feat that few have done before: gained unconditional acceptance to the University of British Columbia (UBC) (there is actually one condition; Kevin must graduate). Known to all as Bo, Kevin Zulonas achieved an average in excess of 92% in English and three other subjects. Furthermore, Bo is much more than a scholar — albeit a dominant one; he is a member of the Senior Mens Lightweight Eight, and a renowned photographer — some of his work has been sent to commercial magazines.
Affectionately called Sweet Pea by his roommate, Tom Martin, Bo is a gentleman in all respects; he harbours a jovial character that is exceeded by none; though this character may cause him to laugh more times than listen (much to the dismay of Mr. Gerry Pennells, Bo's Biology 12 teacher). Despite

Meshach Heenatigala (Grade 12)

PIANO MASTER CLASS

Musicians, like athletes, occasionally find themselves reaching a plateau in their development. Last Tuesday, seven Brentwood pianists were given the opportunity to extend their development by tapping into the experience of one of British Columbia's finest music teachers, Professor Bruce Vogt from the University of Victoria. In a three-hour master class, Professor Vogt listened to each student play one selection from his/her repertoire. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of music history, Professor Vogt led each student down different teaching paths to improve one section of the piece. Warm and enthusiastic, Professor Vogt encouraged students to try different techniques, such as playing on the piano lid instead of the keys to improve articulation. Throughout the afternoon, students learned a different appreciation for their music from a true master of the craft.

Kelsey Norlund (Grade 12)

MARIMBA MADNESS

As we bustle about our daily lives, noses to the proverbial grindstones, we are often unaware of the hidden talents that lie within our very midst. As Brentwood students, we are often stunned to discover that our roommate has been juggling chainsaws for 3 years, or that one of our neighbours across the hall cultivates wild snozberries in his spare time.

One such talent nestling among us is Jay Park, master of the marimba. Jay has been playing the marimba for 7 years. While living in Korea he did not compete formally but played "more seriously," than he does currently. Jay was able to play with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra and played numerous exhibition recitals, along with his sister Sarah Park (grade 10).

Since moving to Canada four years ago, he has kept up his playing, competing in the BC music festival (where he was awarded first place), the Victoria Music Festival (in which he won a $1000 dollar scholarship award), and in the Cowichan Music Festival. Jay has also played in the BC honour band.

In addition to his Marimba work, Jay is skilled in all things percussion. He plays drums for the Brentwood Jazz Ensemble, auxiliary percussion for the Senior Concert Band, and played percussion in the orchestra in the last school musical.

Despite a broken collarbone earlier this year and the fact that he currently plays with a partially fractured right pointer finger, Jay has continued his playing as well as he could during the recovery periods and his playing is still in top form.

Zander Mackie (Grade 12)

INTERHOUSE DEBATING COMPETITION

On Friday, all students in the school participated in the annual Interhouse debating tournament. The question — "Be it resolved that fast food culture has a positive effect on the world" — generated some lively exchanges and addresses were obviously based on considerable research. Speakers explored much more than the like/dislike position, expounding at length on the economics and cultural changes involving in many countries.

There were 12 simultaneous debates involving student speakers, moderators and timekeepers. Each debate was assessed by three judges drawn from the current staff and local community. The results of the day were as follows:

1st. Rogers    2nd. Ellis    3rd. Whittall    4th. Privett

The event was organised by Mr. Rob MacLean and Mr. Gordon Eby, who were rewarded for their efforts by a large number of students wishing to 'have another go' and enter the Vancouver Island Regional Finals which will be held in Oak Bay on 15th February. Even more encouraging is the fact that the majority of keen new faces are junior students, thus ensuring a nucleus of experience in the club over the years to come.

ICE HOCKEY

The Junior and Senior teams were very busy last week.

On Tuesday, The Juniors hosted Frances Kelsey and, although tied well into the last period, they came up short. On Saturday they hosted a team from Chemainus High School and although they were once again unsuccessful, they would like to thank all of the students and staff that came to the game.

The seniors on the other hand were very successful. On Tuesday they traveled to Chemainus and won 3-0. Goal scorers were Marcus Woernle, Doug Sorensen and Jim Lang. This win avenged a loss the previous week to this same team. On Friday, the seniors took to the ice against Shawnigan and through disciplined play beat them for the second time this season by a score of 5 to 3. Goal scorers were Jack Allpress, Kyle Smaaslet, Jamie Lynch, and leading all scorers was Marika Wiggan with 2.

The captain of the Senior Hockey Team for this year
will be Kyle Smaaslet.

Mike Flynn

INDOOR FIELD HOCKEY

The Brentwood indoor field hockey team plays games every Sunday morning in Duncan. The team competes in the Cowichan Ladies League and is very successful, currently ranking near the top of the league. Last weekend the team defeated the Cowichan Lions 8-1. Indoor is a fast-paced game that works fitness and stick skills. Any girl, no experience required, is welcome to play on any Sunday. Currently, three Brentwood students, Alison Fraser, Katherine Higginson and Kelsey Norlund, play on the Under-18 mid-island indoor representative team.

BASKETBALL

Junior Boys
The junior boys team have been very active in the last two weeks. In the last four league games, they lost in overtime against Quamichan, won 39-36 against Shawnigan, defeated Gulf Islands 53-39, and lost against Cowichan (which made their overall record four wins and three losses). In the recent ISA competition, the team finished with a bronze medal after one loss (to Southridge School) and two wins over West Point Grey and Mulgrave.

Senior Boys