The McGill Tribune Vol. 41 Issue 4

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021 | VOL. 41 | ISSUE 4

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

FEATURE

SPORTS

Quebec must answer for non-consensual sterilizations

The art of companionship

Know Your Athlete: Braden Tennill

PG. 5

PGs. 8-9

PG. 16

(Noah Vaton / The McGill Tribune)

Students march for climate justice and urge McGill to divest from fossil fuels

PG. 4

McGill to mandate vaccine passports for library access starting mid-October Library staff will not be included in the mandate Neel Hasan Contributor Deputy Provost Fabrice Labeau announced

Sept. 17 that McGill students and faculty will need to show their Quebec vaccine passports in order to access campus

libraries starting midOctober. Library staff will be exempt from this mandate.

PG. 3

‘Beautiful World, Where Are You?’ is a stirring love letter to us all End-of-time anxieties linger alongside flirty text messages in Sally Rooney’s third novel Signy Harnad Contributor Mastering the willthey-will-they-not tragicomedy is no enviable task in this day and age.

When the world is quite

literally on fire, we find ourselves confronted by questions of how cringey Tinder messages, firstdates-gone-wrong, and fleeting insecurities could possibly matter to us in the grand scheme of it all.

Well, Sally Rooney has a hunch. In her latest novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You?, the Irish author searches for beauty among all the chaos—and manages to find it.

PG. 10

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NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

Tribune Explains: What happens if your classmate gets COVID-19?

McGill alerts students to their exposure risk via email Lily Cason Contributor McGill’s COVID-19 management and prevention plan implemented during the return to in-person teaching includes COVID-19-related accommodations, a system of contact tracing, and email alerts to exposure risks. The McGill Tribune looked into what students can expect if they receive an email notice of a potential COVID-19 exposure.

Who handles COVID-19 outbreaks on campus?

In Quebec, public health authorities have tasked universities with handling contact tracing and internal followup. At McGill, this responsibility is handled by the COVID-19 Case Management Group (CMG). The body established an eight-step process for handling cases on campus, which includes reporting COVID-19 symptoms or positive tests, conducting confidential interviews with the CMG, and determining the risk level of reported contacts with COVID-19. This process is initiated when a student or faculty member reports that they have COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive, and culminates with the weekly publication of McGill’s COVID-19 statistics.

How does McGill identify those at high-risk for contact with COVID-19?

McGill uses the Santé Montreal and the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ) guidelines to define risk levels. A high-risk contact is someone who has been in unmasked, long-term physical contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. A moderate-risk contact is someone who has spent 15 minutes with someone who has tested positive without proper masking or being less than two metres away. A low-risk contact is someone who either spent

less than 15 minutes in contact with someone who has tested positive, remained two metres away, or maintained adequate masking.

What should I expect if a classmate tests positive for COVID-19?

If a student tests positive for COVID-19, McGill sends an email to all of the students in the class informing them of the potential of exposure and indicating the level of risk involved. If a student is classified as a low-risk contact, regardless of their vaccination status, they will simply be told to monitor for symptoms, but are not expected to get a test or self-isolate. Most classroom exposures will be deemed low-risk because of McGill’s masking requirement.

If a student is at high- or moderate-risk for contracting COVID-19, they will be directed to get tested and asked to report the results of the test to the Case Management Group. A high- or moderate-risk student’s vaccination status will determine whether they must self-isolate or not; those who are vaccinated are not required to self-isolate, but unvaccinated students are.

Brianna Faughnan, U2 Arts, received an email from the university informing her she had been exposed to COVID-19 in one of her classes just one week into the semester.

“I got an email that said if you were in this class on this day, you were in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19,” Faughnan said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “They did not tell me to get tested, they [only] said to monitor my symptoms, and they said that I was low-risk.”

Faughnan decided to get a test on her own accord, which came back with a negative result, but Faughnan worries others in her class were likely not as proactive.

“I’m sure that most people in my class did not proceed to get tested, or may not have even seen or read the email,” Faughnan said.

“I’m very pessimistic about classes continuing to be in person given the university is not being proactive about health measures and [is] barely being reactive either.”

Low-risk exposures will not result in any notification from the university unless the potential exposure occurred in the classroom, which McGill explains is in line with public health guidelines.

(Elissa Dresdner / The McGill Tribune) What COVID-19 management measures does the university have in place on campus?

The McGill administration emphasized that it has a plethora of health and safety measures in place.

“McGill’s plan for the Fall involves several layers of protection, including exclusion of symptomatic individuals, procedural mask requirements, distancing in non-classroom environments, contact tracing, optimizing ventilation, and other means,” McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle wrote in an email to the Tribune. “Accommodations are available for vulnerable students and employees with appropriate medical documentation. The University encourages people to follow the government of Quebec’s vaccination directives.”

McGill Senate approves motion to create COVID-19 advisory committee Senators also discussed plans for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Tasmin Chu Features Editor The McGill Senate held its first meeting of the 2021-2022 academic year on Sept.

22, where it passed several routine motions and approved the creation of an advisory committee that will counsel the university’s senior administration on COVID-19-related academic policies and planning.

During the meeting, the Senate considered a motion requesting the creation of an ad hoc COVID-19 advisory committee.

Principal Fortier announced the 2021 Beatty Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

(Jasmine Acharya / The McGill Tribune)

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) president Darshan Daryanani helped craft the motion with associate provost (Equity & Academic Policies) Angela Campbell, among others.

Samer Faraj, a professor in the Desautels Faculty of Management, expressed his support for the motion, noting that he no longer sees some colleagues around campus due to their refusal to return to McGill for health reasons.Daniel Weinstock, a professor in the Faculty of Law, echoed Faraj’s concerns, arguing that there was a serious lack of trust in the administration among staff and students.

“My sense is that there really is a lot of fear and a little bit of anger at the base,” Weinstock said. “The people who are going into classrooms feel that their concerns have not been adequately dealt with, and this has led to a crisis of trust.”

After some deliberation, the motion passed with a 94 per cent majority.

Principal and vice-chancellor Suzanne Fortier announced that the Fall 2021 convocation may be in person and that a final decision would be made at the end of September.

Fortier reminded senators that Sept.

30 is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. In past years, Sept. 30 was known as Orange Shirt Day, but thanks to legislation passed in June 2021, the day is now a federal statutory holiday. McGill has several events scheduled, including

the Every Child Matters March, which will honour the victims of residential schools and fundraise for the Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS).

Daryanani presented a short statement about the upcoming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, after which the Senate held a moment of silence.

“Taking part in this day symbolizes our commitment to remembering Canada’s violent colonial history,” Daryanani said.

“As we know, there is still a long way for all of us to go in order to achieve meaningful decolonization of our relationship with Indigenous Peoples.”

Afterwards, the Senate approved a motion to revise the structure of the Joint Board Senate Committee on Equity, which is tasked with recommending policy that encourages the employment and participation of all individuals in the McGill community, including those from marginalized groups.

Campbell presented the motion outlining the committee’s revised structure, noting this was the first time the terms and structure of the Joint Board Senate Committee on Equity had been reviewed since it was formed in 1994. The proposed revisions included renaming the committee to the “McGill Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.”

“There were some potential shortcomings, by virtue of the fact that the subcommittee’s structure might be overgeneral, under-inclusive,” Campbell said.

“Their work was not always well-known, and there might be a lack of intersectionality.”

MOMENT OF THE MEETING At the beginning of the meeting, vicepresident (Health Affairs) David Eidelman Eidelman paid tribute to the late neurophysiologist Dr. Krešimir Krnjević, who was previously the chairman of the Department of Physiology at McGill. He also presented a tribute to the late Dr. John Burgess, an emeritus professor of medicine and a tireless advocate for Indigenous health.

SOUND BITE “I think it’s going to be very important for this committee to treat us like adults, and say ‘okay, we have actually made some tough choices, and here are the choices, evaluate them as you will,’ rather than [...] the decision-making process [being] a black box you’re not allowed to look into. I think we need to get rid of that black box.”

- Professor Derek Nystrom, on his hopes for the ad hoc COVID-19 advisory committee.

NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

All nine faculty froshes receive gold-level sustainability rating from Office of Sustainability

McGill to mandate vaccine passports for library access starting mid-October

Frosh organizers calculated their offset to be 35.52 tonnes of CO2 emissions

Library staff will not be included in the mandate

Juliet Morrison Contributor

Neel Hasan Contributor

All nine of McGill’s faculty froshes, including Management, Arts & Science, Physical & Occupational Therapy, Education, Science, Music, Macdonald Campus, Engineering, and Arts, received gold-level certification from the Office of Sustainability for their late-August 2021 events. This was the second time all nine achieved the gold-level designation; they received the award in 2019 as well.

McGill’s Office of Sustainability developed the Sustainable Events Certification Program in 2017. The program examines the extent to which events held at McGill, such as conferences, fairs, and parties, are environmentally sustainable.

An event’s level of sustainability is determined according to factors ranging from using reusable dishware and working with socially responsible sponsors. All of the factors are included on the program’s Sustainable Events Certification checklist. In addition to following the office’s standards for environmental sustainability, frosh organizers say they took physical and financial accessibility concerns into account during their planning.

Froshes contacted the Office of Sustainability in early July to

Over 300 events held at McGill have received a Sustainable Events certification.(mcgill.ca) initiate the certification process.

The first step of certification was reviewing the Sustainable Events Certification checklist, which was newly adapted for Frosh 2021. Frosh organizers then met with the office’s events team to discuss areas for improvement regarding accessibility and sustainability.

Megan Toth, a sustainability officer with the Office of Sustainability, explained in an interview with The McGill Tribune that a long consultation process occurred between the frosh sustainability coordinators and the Office of Sustainability before the froshes were officially certified in mid-August.

“We were really pleased and impressed with the effort that [the faculty frosh coordinators] all put forth,” Toth said. “They did not have to do the level of effort that they did, but they really all came through and

met with us [....] There was a lot of work going into figuring out the types of actions that they could take and where they could improve.”

Froshes took various actions to achieve the certification, such as designating a specific Sustainability and Inclusivity Coordinator for each frosh, developing and delivering an Indigenous land acknowledgement and pronunciation guide, and calculating and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions related to travel.

Together, the nine froshes calculated a total of 35.52 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions during their events. Abiding by the McGill Offsetting Program, frosh organizers made payments to carbon offset projects selected through McGill’s Offset Selection Committee.

Froshes also made use of the Sustainability Project Fund’s Tiny Stream—an award fund that grants 300 dollars to small sustainability projects.

The award allowed Engineering Frosh to hire Compost Montreal to implement an effective waste disposal system and enabled Music Frosh to obtain waste sorting bins for their event at Jeanne Mance.

Toth underscored the importance of sustainability efforts and of limiting McGill’s carbon footprint. “[Frosh] is a lot of people,” Toth said. “These are big events. So, when events of those sizes are more sustainable, then there’s a potential for a big impact.”

Sarah McCourt, U2 Management and 2021 frosh leader, emphasized that frosh plays a role in instilling campus culture in first-year students.

“Frosh is significant because it introduces [incoming students] to the standards and values that we hold in the McGill community,” McCourt said. “It’s their introduction to it, and so the ideas we have on diversity, inclusion, [and] environmental sustainability are important.”

In an interview with the Tribune, Jeanna Oliver, U0 Arts and frosh participant, said they were largely unaware of the specific sustainability efforts frosh events made, but that they were impressed by the organizers’ efforts to be inclusive and environmentally conscious.

“To know the organizers were thinking about and putting efforts into being sustainable is really awesome to hear,” Oliver said. “These kinds of events are not easy to make sustainable or accessible, especially because of the nature of frosh [....]

But, also, I think there’s always room for improvement with sustainability and inclusivity [....] As a community, we can always do more.”

Continued from page 1.

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“The vaccine passport is required to access a wide range [activities], including sports [practice] in the framework of McGill’s varsity program and recreation program,

Several Canadian universities, including the University of Waterloo, are implementing a university-wide vaccine mandate. (Elissa Dresdner / The McGill Tribune) While conferences and classes will not bar unvaccinated students from attending in person, Labeau exhorted students to get vaccinated, stressing its importance for both students’ personal well-being and that of the community.

The administration will be implementing the policy by mid-October, and will provide a one-month grace period before the policy comes into full effect. The grace period will give students and faculty the chance to register their vaccines if they were received out-of-province, or to get vaccinated if they have yet to do so. The new policy will still allow unvaccinated students and non-library staff to borrow books or materials they may need via a pick-up service that is still in the works.

Vega Hitti, U3 Science, is in favour of the vaccine passport mandate for access to McGill’s libraries.

“It makes sense, [as] staff and students are there [at the library] as a benefit,” Hitti said. “It might be more discriminatory to keep people from their jobs , versus what students and staff have as a privilege.”

Hitti argued that the administration should focus on strategically opening other areas as well.

“I know in my department, the lounge was closed,” Hitti said. “The cafeteria, which can gather so many people, is open. There could have been better efforts made [by the university] to make sure [vaccinated] people have more places to go rather than pooling people in the library or cafeteria.”

Frédérique Mazerolle, McGill media relations officer, reminded the community that the vaccine passport is already required to access certain parts of the university, so asking community members to present a vaccine passport to enter the library is plausible.

[fitness] centers, sporting events, and or any non-curricular event,” Mazerolle wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “While the library was not part of the original list of places and activities requiring a vaccine passport at McGill, we have determined that it is possible to apply it, as long as students, faculty and staff can get access to materials needed for study or work through other means.”

Some students are apprehensive about the upcoming changes to accessing McGill’s libraries, including Inheon Choi, U1 Arts.

“That’s kind of forcing people to be vaccinated,” Choi said. “It violates the freedom of students, not only students, but everyone. I have friends who are not vaccinated due to religious reasons, so this does not respect religious or cultural issues. I agree we all should be vaccinated, but this is a little too much.”

Despite disagreeing with the vaccination requirement for library access, Choi is content with McGill’s overall approach to hybrid learning.

“I think that it is really good they are offering online classes, for the 150+ [enrollment] ones,” Choi said. “The fact that they are online gives us the opportunity to participate, even without the vaccine, in a safe environment.”

Maggie Allen, a senior library clerk, was pleased with the policy, but believes it should extend to library staff as well.

“I am 100 per cent for having everyone vaccinated and having to show proof before being allowed in the library,” Allen wrote in an email to the Tribune. “I do not agree at all with staff being exempt [from the vaccine passport requirement]. Unless there are underlying medical reasons that you cannot be vaccinated, there is no viable reason that you should not be. Universities should not be the place to breed ignorance.”

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NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

In absence of university-wide vaccine mandate, McGill law professors warn of liability risk

Professors urge McGill to mandate proof of vaccination to protect vulnerable groups Dima Kiwan Contributor Many Canadian universities, including the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia, have recently announced proof of vaccination requirements to access campus. Students and faculty began rallying for McGill to implement a university-wide vaccine mandate in early September, and McGill responded in a statement arguing that the policy is infeasible under Quebec law.

Following this, a group of 12 McGill law professors wrote an open letter that found fault in McGill’s statement.

Twelve McGill professors—later 36, as discussions continued—researched the legal case behind vaccine mandates and wrote to Rath Panda, chair of McGill’s Board of Directors, Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, and Christopher Manfredi, provost and vice-principal (Academic) urging McGill to reevaluate their stance.

Richard Janda, associate professor in the Faculty of Law and a member of the initial twelve who voiced these concerns, argued that the university may be liable for damages to vulnerable people disproportionately impacted by the pandemic—such as immunocompromised people, pregnant women, and those with

young families—should McGill not implement mandatory proof of vaccination.

“We were trying to signal that the university’s policy produced particular vulnerability for those people because

Although no claimants are currently filing a lawsuit against McGill seeking damages incurred as a result of the university’s failure to protect vulnerable groups via a vaccine mandate, law professors signal that the risk is real. (unsplash.com) they were not sure if they were safe in the classroom and some of them had to make very difficult choices between giving up their year in school versus coming to class,” Janda said in an interview with

The McGill Tribune. “I have seen the kinds of serious impacts that there can be, and people who would suffer impacts of that sort would certainly have a basis for making a claim if they could make out that the university had acted negligently.”

Janda refuted the legal standing McGill used to defend their position, referencing a recent decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, which involved students at University of Indiana making similar arguments.

“To argue that the people we should be protecting here are the people who, for no health or religious reason simply do not want to be vaccinated, is not really the protection of a vulnerable group of Canadians,” Janda asserted. “The president of the University of Ottawa, who has implemented such a proof of vaccination regime, is the former president of the Quebec Human Rights Commission and he’s a constitutional lawyer who knows this stuff inside out. So frankly, I trust Jacques Frémont’s analysis of this much more than I trust that of our general counsel.”

As per the federal government’s statement that education is an essential service, the McGill administration explains it will act, and implement COVID-19specific accommodations, to make sure that no students are excluded from the learning environment.

“The government considers higher education to be an essential service, [which imposes] a responsibility to ensure that no one enrolled in our university is excluded from essential learning activities without extraordinary justification,” wrote McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle. “McGill’s plan for the Fall involves several layers of protection, [and] accommodations are available for vulnerable students and employees with appropriate medical documentation.”

While Janda and the university state that accommodations are available for people unable to get vaccinated for certain reasons, 2L law student *Grace is concerned that the Faculty of Law, in particular, has not delivered on this promise.

“There is absolutely no accommodation at the Faculty of Law,” *Grace said. “There is no imposed hybrid learning, if you miss class you miss class. [The Faculty cannot] accommodate to the point of telling people to just not come to school, which is very ableist in my opinion. There is no way for them to ethically impose vaccine mandates on campus without offering an across-theboard hybrid option for people who can’t go.” *Grace’s name has been changed to preserve their anonymity.

Students march for climate justice and urge McGill to divest Divest McGill hosted a teach-in on campus before joining the main march Anoushka Oke Contributor Divest McGill hosted a teach-in on Sept. 24 to encourage McGill students to participate in the annual climate march that occurred downtown later that afternoon. Students gathered at the Y-intersection on campus to listen to several speakers, and then walked to Jeanne-Mance Park with posters and signs in hand.

The march was part of the larger Fridays for Future movement, and members of Divest McGill used the occasion as an opportunity to educate people about McGill’s investment in fossil fuel companies.

Following the news of Harvard University’s divestment from fossil fuel companies on Sept. 9, many students, including Lily Cason, U1 Arts student and Divest McGill member, took to the streets to urge McGill to do the same.

“Our institution is invested in many of the main fossil fuel companies that [...] are worsening the environment and the impending crisis that we are all going to have to face,” Cason said. “We think it’s irresponsible for McGill to stay invested in these companies knowing that it’s not the way of the future.”

In their speech, Lane McCrory, U2 Arts student and Divest McGill member, explained the depth of McGill’s fossil fuel investment portfolio.

“Above all, who is contributing the most to greenhouse emissions?

Who is burning fossil fuels and pumping 70 per cent of greenhouse gasses into the air?” McCrory started. “It is the top 100 fossil fuel companies that are producing 70 per

cent of our total greenhouse gasses, [many] of which McGill University actively supports. McGill has tens of millions of dollars in the energy sector. This means that the institution is actively supporting fossil fuels, oil, and the coal industry.”

After listening to activists’ speeches at Jeanne-Mance Park, students joined thousands of other climate activists and organizations

in marching down Parc Avenue and along Sherbrooke Street West.

While official numbers have yet to be released, multiple sources estimate the number of participants to be in the tens of thousands. The Montreal climate strike was one of approximately 1,500 occurring on Sept. 24 across the globe.

Many people, like El Bush, U1 Arts, joined the march after hearing about it by word-of-mouth.

The march was part of the larger Fridays for Future global strike, which was originally started by climate activist Greta Thunberg. (Noah Vaton / The McGill Tribune)

“My friend is a part of Divest McGill, and she has always prompted me to be aware of the political climate I am in,” Bush said. “I think it is very important, especially as a McGill student who comes from a place of privilege, to actively engage in activities and with communities that are helping to decolonize and create a sustainable campus.”

Prior to the march, Divest McGill held a meeting in Three Bares Park to discuss ideas and logistics. “[Divest] is non-hierarchical.

It is all incredibly collaborative, which is a really nice space to be in,” Cason said. “Everyone who has an idea is welcome to share their ideas. You get so much knowledge in one space when you have that kind of open-forum discussion.”

Divest members counted the meeting a success.

“Divest was thrilled by the number of McGill students who came out to strike for climate justice and to learn about how fighting the university’s steadfast refusal to take money out of the fossil fuel industry fits into a larger Just Transition Framework devised by Climate Justice Alliance.” said members of the club in a joint statement to the Tribune.

OPINION

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

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EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Sequoia Kim editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Ruobing Chen rchen@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Kennedy McKee-Braide kmckee-braide@mcgilltribune.com Madison Mclauchlan mmclauchlan@mcgilltribune.com Maya Abuali mabuali@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Ella Fitzhugh & Madison Edward-Wright news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Jonah Fried, Matthew Molinaro & Sepideh Afshar opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editors Shafaq Nami & Youssef Wahba scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Life Editors Holly Wethey & Wendy Zhao studentlife@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Tasmin Chu features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Lowell Wolfe & Michelle Siegel arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Adam Burton & Sarah Farnand sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Jinny Moon & Xiaotian Wang design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Kate Addison photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editors Alex Hinton & Noah Vaton multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Abby de Gala & Marwan Shiraz Khan webdev@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Jackie Lee copy@mcgilltribune.com

Quebec must answer for non-consensual sterilizations The McGill Tribune Editorial Board Content warning: This article discusses forced sterilization, racism Radio-Canada recently aired an interview with a 44-year-old Haitian woman, Maria*, who was sterilized without consent at a Montreal hospital in 2018.

She was asked if she wanted to undergo tubal ligation to prevent further pregnancies during her emergency C-section. Maria said that she refused the procedure, and there is no trace of written consent in her medical file Non-consensual sterilizations are not bioethical dilemmas; they are the result of longstanding colonial practices that inflict disproportionate, irreparable harm on Black and Indigenous women. In a province whose leadership denies systemic racism, the onus is on the Quebec healthcare system to eliminate racial, gender, or other biases—as well as to guarantee that medical consent is given affirmatively and unequivocally.

Some patients might want their tubes tied, and some may opt to undergo the procedure after a C-section. But professionals

OFF THE BOARD Tasmin Chu Features Editor

Social Media Editor Taneeshaa Pradhan socialmedia@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Marilie Pilon business@mcgilltribune.com

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Angelica Voutsinas, Marilie Pilon, Namrata Rana, Reem Abdul Majid, Sequoia Kim, Shreya Rastogi

CONTRIBUTORS Reza Ali, Avryl Bender, Valentina de la Borbolla, Léa Bourget, Lily Cason, Elissa Dresdner, Saumya Gogte, Suzanna Graham, Avery Haley-Lock, Signy Harnad, Neel Hasan, Cyril Kazan, Dima Kiwan, Louis Lussier-Piette, Erika Mackenzie, Abby McCormick, Juliet Morrison, Anoushka Oke, Brian Schatteman, Courtney Squires, Shirley Xu

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It took me until I was 12 to realize that my father’s English was accented. Before that, it was just my father’s voice: Familiar and melodic, a vestige of his first, tonal language. Like many mixed kids, I was hyper-aware of the racial categories I fit into from a young age. While I often wondered if I looked more white or Chinese, language did not play a part in my identity struggles. At home, we spoke English, and my highly educated father was always able to express himself in his second tongue.

must ensure that consent is unambiguous, especially when it is solicited from those whose first language is not French or English.

Such a decision should never be allowed without the patient full and informed consent.

Despite no written consent, the Quebec College of Physicians is taking the doctor’s word for obtaining “verbal consent.”

Although this type of consent may be acceptable in extreme circumstances, even then, it only holds if the doctor makes certain that the patient comprehends the full extent of the procedure.

The government should require translators fluent not only in French and English but also in Indigenous languages to be onsite at all times. Even if this is infeasible in the short-term, there are potential translation technologies that could be harnessed if they can be medically verified.

It goes without saying that patients should not be asked to make such a life-altering decision under the already stressful, and at times traumatic, circumstances of childbirth. Nicole Awashish, an Atikamekw woman who is one of many Indigenous women who have experienced non-consensual

sterilization, felt that the pain and stress of her contractions made it impossible for her to fully grasp the details of the procedure.

To mitigate the risk of medical practitioners taking advantage of such stressors, patients must be given the time to think about whether the procedure is right for them far in advance and without any external pressure.

Human rights groups have every reason to be skeptical of physicians, and of medical racism more broadly. Canada has a long history of forcibly sterilizing racialized “Others,” including Indigenous women, Black women, immigrants, and other minorities––and these atrocities are not a thing of the past. In this context—a callous cacophony amplified by a premier who denounces “wokes” for protesting structural prejudices—the government would be abdicating justice if it did not investigate Maria’s case, along with all others like it.

Premier Legault’s opposition to “woke” activists is a form of rhetorical terrorism against people who criticize his politics, positioning them as enemies of the Quebec nation. Moreover, by fomenting bigotry, his

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EDITORIAL words and labels compound the racism already embedded in the health care system, reinforcing well-founded distrust between racialized women and medical professionals, and discouraging vulnerable populations from seeking care. The government must take accountability for the women whose lives their health care system has irreparably damaged and must also address their underlying causes, lest Quebec hospitals remain structures of indifference and factories of injustice.

Quebec’s health care system has robbed victims of their agency, and their trauma must not be forgotten. Women’s health continues to be taken for granted, their pain minimized and their concerns about racial inequities labeled as “woke” paranoia. In this way, healthcare has become a crossroads of intersecting daggers of discrimination. A radical shift in Quebec’s approach to health care is the only way to bridge the cavernous legacies of oppression that serve to dehumanize and ignore racialized women. *Maria’s name has been changed to preserve her anonymity.

Finding new words for my identity Things changed when my parents decided to move to Taichung for my mother’s sabbatical. While she researched Taiwan’s forests with my father as an ad hoc translator, my world turned upside down. At school, I fought through tears as teachers and classmates attempted to engage me in a language I had never learned. My only allies at school were two Taiwanese girls who knew some English. When I tried to speak Mandarin one time, my friends laughed at my accent. I realized that while I felt somewhat Chinese at home, in Taiwan, I was completely foreign—seen as white as it gets.

We returned to Canada less than half a year later, but my feelings of linguistic inadequacy stuck with me. In the eight years afterwards, I took Chinese lessons with my mother. My accent sounded more natural by high school, enough to be taken for a native speaker—as long as I managed to spit out a few confident sentences. When I was 16, I went to Shanghai with my dad, spending my days in his air-conditioned office wrestling through articles on Baidu, the Chinese equivalent of Wikipedia.

Although I was half-literate

by the end of summer, I was still unable to fully grasp the language; I had learned Pinyin, the standard romanization of Chinese, I had encountered a few thousand characters, I even occasionally dreamed in Mandarin. But nothing ever translated to spoken fluency— probably because I never had anyone to speak to. My father has refused to speak Chinese with me throughout my life, citing his own discomfort using the language, even though he uses it with others.

I began to wonder if I’d ever be good enough.

The fall after I returned home from Shanghai, I gave up learning Chinese. I spent my Fridays watching movies with my friends instead of studying grammar particles. There are times when my decaying comprehension of Chinese feels like a wound. But in truth, ending my studies was a huge relief. I stopped feeling that I had to prove my Chinese identity to myself, or make up for a childhood of linguistic immersion I never had. I also began to question the exclusionary paradigm that I implicitly accepted—that identity hinged on a certain grasp of language or a kind of invisible flexibility across cultural spheres.

It wasn’t just me who was excluded

by this linguistic absolutism, but others as well, like transracial adoptees raised by white families, or native speakers who experienced first language attrition.

In truth, cultural identities are transitive and expansive, shifting across geographical context. Some diasporic individuals who return home even experience “reverse culture shock,” where familiar elements of their native country seem alien. My father often confesses to me that he has issues understanding modern Mandarin, with its English loan words, Tiktok slang, and novel technological terms that did not exist in 1960s Taiwan. As for myself, to accept that I’m the product of my circumstances, to integrate poorly into one of my cultures is a tough thing to face. But it’s also what most new immigrants confront when they try to integrate into a new country.

My father once explained to me that he learned English by slowly reading books with the help of a Chinese-English dictionary, and I told him I couldn’t imagine learning another language without the internet. Only years later did I understand his response: “There was no other option. I had to survive.”

6

OPINION

COMMENTARY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

McGill’s library vaccine mandate is indicative of its patchwork approach to COVID-19

Valentina de la Borbolla Contributor On Sept. 17, McGill sent an email announcing that students will need to present their Quebec COVID-19 vaccine passport to enter any on-campus library—beginning in mid-October. The announcement came three weeks into the Fall semester, amidst demands from McGill students and faculty to implement stricter COVID-19 protections. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) drafted an open letter and staged a protest on campus demanding a vaccine mandate, online accommodation for all classes, the prohibition of mandatory attendance, and a commitment to

including student representatives in COVID19 related decisions. Although McGill’s new library policy is a step toward protecting students, it is also proof of a disorganized and backward approach to vaccine requirements.

McGill should instead enforce a universitywide vaccine mandate instead of haphazardly patching up the gaps in their own policies.

Whereas many Canadian and American universities have implemented a vaccine mandate, McGill has not. The university has argued that the Quebec government’s vaccine passport provides enough incentive for students to get vaccinated and that a university mandate is beyond their legal jurisdiction.

But despite McGill’s efforts, alongside the

Students will be required by mid-October to present a COVID-19 immunization record to enter McGill libraries. (Elissa Dresdner / The McGill Tribune)

COMMENTARY Courtney Squires Contributor After the August heatwave, September promised to bring fall weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and the ability to wear full-length pants outside of the house. And for a while, it did: Jeans walked the campus roads; cardigans thrived.

But then, the average temperature rose to around 20 degrees Celsius, bringing with it a fashion dilemma: What to wear when it is too hot for pants, yet too cold for shorts. This ambiguous, 20-degree mid-point between seasons mirrors McGill’s hybrid learning model. With the model threatening to freeze their personality development, students must make an effort to make the most of this fall’s ever-changing circumstances.

Whether it is sprinting to the library from the Stewart Biology Building to make it to an online Zoom lecture on time, or hiding in Starbucks from unexpected bouts of rain, students have adopted flexible mindsets and routines to adapt to this year’s unique challenges.

University is a transitional period, a time of newfound freedom where many students begin to discover themselves as individuals. However, remote learning last year interrupted that process, and McGill’s

province’s hefty lottery incentives, cases and hospitalizations have risen within and beyond campus. During the first week of class, McGill reported six COVID-19 cases on campus with no community transmission. Just one week later, that number tripled, rising to 18, and the week after that, the McGill community was alerted to 13 cases with possible community transmission in the McIntyre building.

This rise in cases is not surprising, given that students are returning to in-person classes and student life, parties, and large gatherings for the first time in almost two years. McGill should have predicted the spike in cases and should have mandated vaccinations for all students, faculty, and staff at the beginning of the term. An all-encompassing mandate would be less confusing, and it would have set clear rules and standards from the start. It would show that McGill is prepared to guarantee students’ safety during the return to in-person learning.

Although the vaccine requirement for accessing libraries is a welcome step, it does not protect students from transmission in their classes, especially considering the fact that masks are not mandatory for instructors.

McGill’s patchwork approach leaves students confused as to where they need to show proof of vaccination, and what the rules are—there is no established standard delineating which spaces and activities require proof of vaccination, and which do not. Not only are there ambiguities, but there are also logical incon-

sistencies: A passport is required to attend sporting events, but not to live in residence.

Similarly, the decision to require vaccine passports in libraries, but not in other spaces was not a matter of coherence for the administration; instead, it was a matter of pressing firmer COVID-19 protocols while avoiding implementing a school-wide vaccine requirement.

Furthermore, the university’s vaccine verification procedures have been inefficient, considering the long lines outside of dining halls, where students wait to get their vaccine QR codes scanned. Library lines, too, risk becoming very long because of the sheer number of students that go in and out every day.

Considering the amount of time McGill has taken to make this decision, the administration needs to present a plan for a more efficient system. Furthermore, as colder weather settles in, students will begin to migrate to indoor spaces, spending more time in higher-risk areas such as dining halls and libraries. Additionally, many speculate that library capacity limits will increase once access is restricted to those fully vaccinated, or that people will be allowed to take their masks off while studying.

If the capacity does not increase, how the university will deal with rising demand in study spaces remains unclear.

McGill still has some time to figure out the logistics of the new policy, but the administration should be prepared to answer questions and address the concerns of its students before they ask them to comply.

Embracing the uncertainties of hybrid learning hybrid model this year continues to present challenges, as most students have a mix of virtual and in-person lectures, tutorials, labs, and conferences. Although online learning may allow for flexible schedules and self-paced learning, a study published in PLOS ONE found that pandemic learning has disrupted many important neurological processes in college students, particularly personality development.

Now that in-person classes have recommenced, the social aspect of learning has returned, accompanied by a harsh mental distinction between online and inperson classes. Hybrid schedules make it difficult to experience either to the fullest extent. Furthermore, much like how sunshine can disguise a chilly day, this balancing act can cause dissonance between the desired, idyllic school experience and reality. While university is usually a place where students discover their own identities, yet when personality development is inhibited, they ​​ tend to mirror the traits of others in proximity, rather than cultivating unique personalities.

Isolation has been proven to exacerbate introverted tendencies and can make it difficult for students to switch between virtual Zoom classes and pre-recorded

Most students are taking a mix of remote and in-person classes. (McGill University) lectures, let alone contribute to participation marks at in-person classes. Pandemic fatigue and academic burnout further discourage participation. However, taking part in educational settings shapes students’ personality development and other non-cognitive skills.

In 2013, a study discovered that a positive sense of self in adolescents is often associated with psychological growth and personality development. This was also found to be correlated

with increased emotional stability and personal autonomy. The pandemic, and now hybrid learning, has forced students to surrender to life’s unpredictability, dismantling routines and even sense of belonging. These changes emphasize the uncertainty that is living through a pandemic; but just like flash rainstorms, sometimes the unexpected can lead to transformative and memorable experiences. Students should adopt a mindset of radical acceptance and understand that life

is unpredictable, but change, and its effect on the psyche, should be appreciated.

McGill is difficult to navigate without a pandemic, but luckily, personality and self-discovery are neurologically flexible traits that are only enriched by experiences.

So, much like the ambiguity of 20-degree weather, hybrid learning will leave students sweaty, confused, and wishing they had checked the weather app one more time.

STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

7

Ask Ainsley: How do I live harmoniously with my roommates?

Getting the most out of communal living Erika Mackenzie Contributor Dear Ainsley, I’m in my second year at McGill, and I just moved into my first apartment with four of my friends. Although I’m very excited for this new chapter of adulthood, I’ve never had roommates before, and I’m worried that a five-person apartment is bound to breed conflict. What advice do you have for maintaining positive relationships with your roommates?

Sincerely, Anxious Disorganized Roomie (ADR) Dear ADR, Congratulations on moving into your first apartment! Living independently for the first time can be exciting, but also overwhelming. This is especially true when you’re sharing an apartment with four people you’ve never lived with before. Luckily, there are many ways to develop and preserve an environment where everyone can feel at home.

Since many roommate conflicts are the result of miscommunication, it’s important to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Consider forming group chats on Facebook, Discord, or iMessage—whichever platform

works best for everyone. You can use this group chat to send out reminders about things like chores and rent.

It’s equally important to establish ground rules and personal boundaries. You may wish to set up a meeting early on to acquaint yourself with your roommates’ living habits: Are they early birds or night owls? Do they cook elaborate meals or mostly order takeout? All of this information will not only give you a sense of what to expect on a daily basis, but will also help you accommodate everyone’s needs. After becoming familiar with each other’s preferences, you might set up monthly meetings to address any issues that arise—especially since there are five of you living under the same roof.

Another priority for when you first move in should be to create a roommate agreement that outlines each roommate’s duties and expectations. This agreement can be an opportunity to establish household management and bill-paying plans. Going forward, consider using a chore chart to accommodate each roommate’s unique schedule and time constraints. You can make things even easier by using a roommate chore app, such as Tody, ChoreBuster, OurGroceries, Cozi, or OurHome.

Even with preventative measures in place, problems may still arise, and you will need a good strategy in place for managing them. While it can be daunting to directly address issues with your roommates, it will

Communicating about chores and responsibilities with a bit of humour can lessen the tension when relaying important messages. (walrus.ca) save you a headache later down the road.

First off, ensure that you approach your roommates level-headed and willing to hear them out. Aside from blurring your own judgment, any anger is bound to put them in defensive mode. Rather than throwing accusations, try to use “I” statements, like “I feel I am frequently taking out the trash and would appreciate a little more help.” By framing it in these terms, you’re expressing to your roommate how you feel, thereby encouraging collaboration rather than conflict.

The LARA method can also help you foster successful dialogue with your roommates. The L stands for listen: Try and be an active listener by providing them with thoughtful responses, open body language, and eye contact. The A stands for affirm or acknowledge, meaning that you recognize the feelings and needs behind what is being said. The R stands for respond, giving you the floor to express your thoughts and feelings about the problems your roommate brought up, and the second A stands for Add, finishing off with a chance to voice any of your additional opinions or solutions. If you follow LARA, your roommates are more likely to recognize that you are invested in resolving the issue in a way that works for you both.

Using these tactics is a sure-fire way to cultivate a harmonious relationship with your roommates. But if all else fails and you’re still struggling to get them to wash their dishes, you can always leave them passive aggressive messages.

In all seriousness, living with roommates is an incredible way to build friendships, have fun, and make the most out of your college experience. Don’t forget to enjoy the process and let loose!

Good luck with your semester.

Sincerely, Ainsley

Nights at Jeanne-Mance

Taking of tour of nocturnal park gatherings Holly Wethey and Wendy Zhao Student Life Editors By the time 8:00 p.m. rolls around, Jean By the time 8:00 p.m. rolls around on a nice night, Jeanne-Mance Park is crowded with people. As the sun sets, people form small circles, huddle around picnic tables, and can sometimes be spotted dancing on the grass.

In an effort to better understand the diversity of these park gatherings, The McGill Tribune talked to a range of park-goers one evening, many of whom were McGill students.

Isabel Heard, U3 Arts, joined friends for a picnic to break their fast following Yom

Kippur. Stepping aside from her circle of friends, Heard shared her thoughts on JeanneMance park gatherings.

“This is a very McGill space for me,” Heard said. “You can tell that there’s a lot of McGill students that hang out here [....] I usually spend time talking to everyone and [...] I like it because it’s kind of chaotic.”

Though some associate the park with McGill student life, others like Elyssa Khoury, a first-year master’s student studying political science, have memories that date further back.

“I grew up in Montreal, so [...] I have a lot of memories here,” Khoury said. “I planned a surprise party for my boyfriend [here].”

This past Friday, thousands gathered at Jeanne-Mance Park to commence the route of this year’s Climate March. (Avery Haley-Lock / The McGill Tribune)

Khoury has been coming back to the park more often than she did before the pandemic.

That night, she and other master’s students chatted over a few beers.

“I think it’s different at a bar,” Khoury explained. “In a restaurant, you can’t really stay six hours, and then that shortens your social activity because you have to [ask] ‘what are we doing now? Is the night over?’”

The night certainly wasn’t over for another group who came to Jeanne-Mance to play volleyball but decided to hang out on the bleachers when they realized the nets were no longer up.

Vivienne Orrell, a student at Dawson college, and her sister Ingrid, were among the group. As amateur volleyball players, they planned to play with their friends later that night, appreciating the absence of the more skilled volleyball teams that populate the court during the day.

Gazing up at the Mount-Royal cross, visible from the park’s fields, the sisters looked back on a night they spent out with friends roaming around the mountain, no specific destination in sight.

“One time we spent all night on the mountain walking,” Orrell said. “We were saying it was going to be an all-nighter, but then everyone went home around five.”

Spanning 14 hectares of greenery, Orrell feels Jeanne-Mance Park is an essential part of the city.

“At night, [...] people are drinking,” Orrell said. “I suppose the sentiment of downtown is present in the park tonight.”

While some park meet-ups are planned casually between friends, others are run by student organizations.

Sophia Howard, U2 Science, was at an event with AM McGill, also celebrating Yom Kippur.

“It kind of reminds me of Washington Square Park,” Howard said of the park’s liveliness, reminiscent of a hometown spot for her.

Others, like Ismael Sefiane, U1 Management, and his friend Simo Bouayad, U2 Management, came to the park on a whim. The park’s central location, bordering on neighbourhoods densely populated by students, makes it a convenient meeting place.

“Some friends [from management] called me, so here we are,” Sefiane said. “They just told me five minutes ago.”

In comparison to typical house parties, Sefiane noted the different atmosphere meetups in the park offer.

“It’s more chill [in the park],” Sefiane said. “The house is smaller and [...] it’s going to be more crazy.”

As we spoke, a growing crowd gathering behind us began to dance, chanting “hotel, motel, Desautels.”

With dancing and singing currently prohibited in Montreal bars and clubs, JeanneMance has quickly become the venue for an adapted version of traditional student nightlife activities over the pandemic. Where there is an open space, you will almost undoubtedly find students taking the opportunity to party there.

The art of companionship Lessons learned from living with animals Xiaotian Wang, Design Editor As the ending of the 1994 award-winning novel Snow Falling on Cedars reads, “accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.” While I have come to accept that life is unpredictable, I have realized that at the very least, we can choose how we face the accidents. I’ve found that enduring hardship becomes easier with companionship—both human and animal. Pets themselves also have their own complexities that parallel the complexities of human life.

Before the pandemic started, I never considered myself someone who needed a lot of company.

But after half a year of staying at home every day, I got to know loneliness in a more intimate way. After the emptiness brought on by the long-term isolation, I decided to officially move in with my girlfriend of a year. At the very least, living with her definitely helped me deal with a stagnant quarantine.

I’ve never had the desire to own pets, because I dislike taking care of things. Having pets seemed akin to raising a baby— and taking care of myself was already a hard enough task during the pandemic.

I began to change my mind about pets over time, however. Before I met my girlfriend, I had no interest in “cute” things––I never liked Barbie dolls or plush toys, even when I was little. My girl-

friend is exactly the opposite of me : Her apartment is full of plush toys, and she has always wanted to have both a dog and a cat.

After sending me countless Instagram videos of cats and dogs over quarantine, I was convinced, little by little, that a life with pets wouldn’t be as exhausting as I had initially thought.

We started casually browsing

sis, both of us gained a deeper understanding of the uncertainty of life. We decided that there

My girlfriend was hospitalized for two months.

through the pets on Kijiji and SPCA, though we had not made any official decisions yet. It was the summer of 2020 when we finally decided to adopt a cat. It was around the time that something unfortunate happened to my girlfriend.

Life changed overnight. Without any warning, my girlfriend was suddenly struck by an unknown disease. After rushing to the emergency room, she was hospitalized for two months. During that period, she was sent to the ICU once and almost lost her life. In July 2020 she finally returned home, but still had to go to the hospital every other day for medical treatment. Although her day-to-day health improved, the shadow of sickness constantly hung above us. I was consumed by anxiety, as was she.

A few months later, her situation stabilized, and she only needed to visit the hospital every month. After her health cri-

would be no more hesitation in our lives: If we wanted to do something, we would go for it.

In November 2020 we got our first pet on Kijiji, a male Scottish Straight kitten named Burger. We also joined the waiting list of a breeder to get a Shiba Inu puppy.

Burger’s health hadn’t been in perfect condition from the first day he came to our home—and no-

What Burger looked like when we first met him.

body knew why because of his mysterious origins. He came from an unknown cattery in Kyiv, Ukraine, after which he was purchased by a girl in Montreal and flown into the city by airplane.

Burger didn’t appear to have testicles, so we assumed that he was already neutered. Over the summer, however, he started behaving like a very horny cat. It turned out that he had cryptorchidism, a condition where testicles do not descend from the abdomen as they should have. After his diagnosis, we had to wait a month for the castration surgery. During that time, having a cat was as miserable as I had originally feared: Burger peed everywhere in the home and ruined at least five carpets with his smelly urine, and we barely slept because Burger screamed every night. But surprisingly, I never felt any hatred toward Burger through this difficult time.

Instead, I felt genuinely sad for him, for all the suffering he was enduring. Luckily, after the surgery, he returned to being our sweet cat of before.

Despite its ups and downs, I

Over these last two years, I have become better equipped to deal with the troubles my pets

Kirby chilling and smiling; part of her daily routine.

Princess Burger sitting elegantly atop a cushion.

purchased a dog, a female Shiba Inu. We named her Kirby after obsessively playing Kirby Star Allies during summer vacation. I quickly discovered that raising a dog requires far more effort than a cat, since we had to train her from the ground up, and walk her every day. Kirby is naturally dominant, and she doesn’t like to be trained. Her breed is known

bring me, and I have learned an important quality that I didn’t have before: Patience.

Living with pets can have its negative aspects—it requires a lifetime’s worth of responsibility and caring, and it brings with it a lot of frustration and ex-

Kirby waits at the door for us to come home.

Kirby was only two months old when we adopted her.

Burger sleeps in our bed every night.

began to enjoy living with a cat.

Regardless of the painful moments he had brought to us, Burger is affectionate and very friendly.

Every night he will come upstairs and quietly sleep on the end of our bed, or on the nightstand.

Sometimes, he climbs on us and asks to be pet. We call him “little princess” because he is so spoiled.

After adjusting to living with Burger, we took the plunge and

for being independent and selfwilled. She never follows me when I walk her, and she refuses to listen to my instructions. After dealing with a cat that peed everywhere in the house, a stubborn dog was nothing. My loneliness started fading away living with Kirby, and I began to appreciate dogs’ happiness and joy.

Especially during the pandemic, her happiness became a kind of sunshine that punctured my life, and reassured my girlfriend and I that maybe everything would be okay.

haustion. However, I also learned how to be patient when dealing with those struggles. In a time of global and personal hardship, my two animals brought colour to my life. After having Burger and Kirby, I feel like my life has two more witnesses.

10

STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

‘Lettuce eat’: McGill’s first lettuce-eating competition a success

Students comp-eat-ed for coveted ‘Head of Lettuce’ title Jackie Lee Copy Editor Despite the stress of adjusting to a hybrid semester, McGill students ‘romaine’ committed to cultivating a vibrant campus culture. Case in point: The unbe-leaf-able turnout for McGill’s first-ever lettuce-eating competition, which took place at the lower field on Sept. 24.

Upwards of 150 people, ranging from enthusiastic participants to bemused onlookers, attended. The event

was BYOL, or “bring your own lettuce”—specifically, a head of iceberg lettuce weighing over 600g.

Arielle Lok, U2 Management and founder of Lettuce Club McGill, hosted the event with the help of Bjørn Christensen, U2 Arts, and Joel Conway, U2 Management.

While lettuce clubs have existed in universities across Canada and the U.S. with the first appearing in Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1865, Lok thought the “fun and meme-y” concept would be a

The only other Lettuce Club in a Canadian campus is hosted by Waterloo University’s Engineering society. (Noah Vaton / The McGill Tribune)

hit among McGill students.

“I was going to throw this online last year, but I thought it’d be silly to have a lot of people on a Zoom call eating heads of lettuce,” Lok said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “There had been a huge lack of student life [back then], so I’m glad this was able to make people happy.”

Just before noon, organizers ushered the lettuceeaters into the rough outline of a circle. Brandishing an air horn and megaphone at its centre stood Lok, who first gave a shout-out to the climate march happening later that day.

“We have to make sure we can grow the lettuce we’re eating!” Lok reminded the crowd.

Lok then blared her horn, the church bells ringing in agreement, and the race began.

Lettuce littered the grass as competitors frantically chowed down. Some shredded their heads into manageable handfuls before downing mouthfuls; others bit into them like an apple. The act itself was unwieldy—and sort of

gross—but the crowd’s energy was palpable.

Three minutes passed with boisterous fanfare. Soon after, some lettuce-eaters began to slow. The crowd eagerly pressed forward: Two competitors had almost finished their heads to the core, neck-in-neck. With a few resolute chugs of water, Aslan Lacouvee, U2 Arts and Science, emerged victorious.

“I’m feeling on top of the world,” Lacouvee said to the Tribune after his win, which clocked in at three minutes and 45 seconds.

Is winning just the tip of the iceberg for the freshly appointed Head of Lettuce?

Clout is the only prize, according to Lok. As the new leader of the Lettuce Club, however, Lacouvee will be tasked with organizing the next meeting if the competition is to continue.

Maria Haddad, a secondyear master’s student studying neuroscience, and Thomas Allen, U3 Engineering, participated in the contest together.

“I thought, life is short,

might as well eat a whole head of lettuce for fun,” Haddad said.

Allen’s motives skewed more to longevity.

“I saw this [event], and I realized I hadn’t eaten any vegetables since before the semester started,” Allen laughed. “I thought it’d be a good idea to come here and make up for lost time.”

Both Allen and Haddad agreed that the event’s turnout was a pleasant surprise.

“I expected it to be maybe 10 people in a semicircle, [so] seeing all these people turn up is amazing,” Allen said.

“I was down at Provigo today and they were having a bit of a lettuce shortage. I got three heads of lettuce and there were only two left on the shelf after that.”

With luck, there will be more creative events to engage the student community this year. “[If] you have a stupid idea, you should just go ahead with it,” Lok advised. “It turns out a lot of us like stupid ideas.”

Investigating McGill’s mysterious Mafia Club The inner workings of one of McGill’s group game clubs Abby McCormick Contributor If you want to improve your poker face, teamwork skills, and strategic thinking, look no further than McGill’s Mafia Club. Known for its long nights of intense gameplay filled with lies and deception, this student club offers a unique sense of community centred on the beloved game of social deduction.

Founded in 2013, McGill’s Mafia Club drew traction in the McGill community due to its niche premise and rumours of intense meetings. Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is among the most popular social psychology games, and with its simple set of rules, the game is easy to learn and enjoy. The game, at its core, is a battle of wits between two teams: The informed majority—the mafia— are tasked with killing off members of the uninformed majority—the townspeople— without being detected.

In addition to hosting Mafia games, the club also plays other social psychology games, such as Secret Hitler and The Resistance.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Mafia Club even played a variety of games virtually, such as Enigma. However, with in-person meetings allowed again, the club will return to its focus on Mafia, as it is better suited to a large, in-person group.

Daniella Serrador, U3 Science and copresident of Mafia Club, initially joined in 2019. As someone who enjoyed playing Mafia in high school, Serrador seized the opportunity to make new friends while

continuing to play a game she loved.

Serrador said she hopes to foster a laidback atmosphere, considering that many McGill spaces and clubs are often very focussed on academics.

“Mafia Club is accepting and welcoming to people of all backgrounds, [including] beginners,” Serrador said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “It is a relaxed place to come and unwind.”

Serrador believes the game has a unique ability to foster multiple social and personal skills. “[The club offers] the opportunity to improve your public speaking skills, because the game involves defending your point of view to others in the group in order to stay in,” Serrador said.

Mafia Club intrigued Emily Bidder, U3 Arts and general club member, when she visited Activities Night as a first-year student. Although she had played similar games in the past, Bidder was impressed by participants’ teamwork and deception during the beginner’s night.

Bidder was motivated to continue playing to improve her own strategic thinking skills applicable to her personal and academic life. However, the biggest takeaway for Bidder has been the close friends that she made, thanks in part to the club’s positive and social ambience.

“Because it’s such a social game, everybody gets involved [in] debating [to defend their side’s point of view],” Bidder said. “We do get a bit heated during the

While known for playing Mafia, the McGill Mafia club also partakes in a variety of other hidden identity games, such as Secret Hitler, The Resistance, and Enigma. (Saumya Gogte / The McGill Tribune) games, but it’s all in fun.”

With meetings drawing groups ranging from 15 to 40 participants, the club has proven to be an easy way to find people to connect with.

“I’ve never made so many friends in one place,” Abdel-Rahman Sadaqa, U4 Engineering and general member, said in an interview with the Tribune. “It’s one of the most comfortable [...] environments I’ve ever been in.”

Members are dedicated to the game, despite the club veering from typical CVboosting extracurricular activities. Proof

of this passion are its several-hour-long meetings, with each round lasting up to 90 minutes.

“It’s some of the most genuine frustration I’ve seen,” Jonathan Mayrhofer, U3 Arts and executive member, said.

This year, McGill’s Mafia Club meets on Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in room 201 of the SSMU building. They will also be hosting beginners’ nights for those that are new to the game and want to get involved.

Those interested in joining are encouraged to email mcgillmafiaclub@gmail.com to join the mailing list.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

11

Neuroinflammation found to drive Alzheimer’s disease progression New study explores how harmful tau proteins spread to crucial brain areas Cyril Kazan Contributor Over a century ago, Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, spotted strange plaques and tangles in the brain slides of a patient with dementia. Ever since, scientists have been trying to better understand the mechanisms behind what is now known as Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a brain disorder that progressively deteriorates cognitive and memory skills, eventually taking away the ability to perform even the most basic tasks, such as walking and eating. It is the most common cause of dementia among older adults and affects an estimated one in 10 people aged 65 or older.

From a biological standpoint, the disease is characterized by the accumulation of misfolded proteins, called amyloid beta, in the brain.

They aggregate and form plaques that eventually trigger an inflammatory response. Microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, activate and release molecules that cause further damage to the neurons. Another class of proteins, known as tau proteins, also get modified and clump together, forming tau tangles. The misfolded proteins then propagate

according to hierarchical stages known as Braak stages. They originate from lower brain areas and make their way up to higher areas that control thinking and memory. The combination of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, along with the inflammatory response in the brain, is what scientists believe to be the physical basis of AD. The role of brain tissue inflammation in Alzheimer’s, however, is still disputed among scientists.

“Some scientists believe that neuroinflammation can protect the brain because it would attack the amyloid plaques,” Dr. Pedro RosaNeto, director of the McGill Research Centre for Studies in Aging and professor of neurology and neurosurgery, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

Nevertheless, a recent McGill study has proven the alternative theory to be true: Neuroinflammation was found to drive the progression of the disease. The research team, led by Rosa-Neto, used an imaging technique called positronemission tomography to quantify microglial activation, amyloid beta deposits, and tau propagation across the brain.

Their findings suggest that neuroinflammation is a precursor

that allows tau proteins to spread to higher brain areas.

“Microglial activation paves the way for tau to invade the brain,” Rosa-Neto said.

The researchers also found that amyloid beta enhances the effect of microglial activation on tau proteins spreading through the brain. Their model shows that the combination of amyloid beta and microglial activation is what determines tau pathology.

This study clearly has considerable clinical applications; for instance, treating patients with antiinflammatory drugs could prevent further progression of the disease.

However, the clinical trials have been unsuccessful so far. There are many reasons for this failure, but an important one is that patients receiving the drugs are already in the late stages of the disease.

“The results that we found suggest that there is a right timing to give this medication, which is right at the beginning of the disease,” Rosa-Neto said.

Indeed, neuroinflammation creates a path for the progression of misfolded tau proteins from lower to higher brain areas. Turning off neuroinflammation when misfolded tau are still confined within lower

More than half the people with the disease may not know they have it.

(Saumya Gogte / The McGill Tribune) structures could prevent them from spreading further. Stopping neuroinflammation only when tau has already reached higher structures would likely be futile.

As is the case for most complex diseases like Alzheimer’s, a lot of work needs to be done before scientists can reach a complete and accurate understanding of the disease mechanism. A clearer picture of how AD progresses is a promis-

ing start in ensuring better outcomes for patients.

Last Tuesday, on World Alzheimer’s Day, Alzheimer’s Disease International released the World Alzheimer’s Report 2021—a comprehensive report of recent advances in the field. The 2021 report was entirely written by four McGill researchers, including Rosa-Neto, underscoring their standing as global leaders in Alzheimer’s research.

McGill researchers find link between chronotype and sleep behaviour Being a night owl or an early bird affects sleep patterns in shift workers Shirley Xu Contributor Irregular sleep schedules are common among university students: From late night exam cramming to binge-watching favourite TV shows, most students have firsthand experience with sleep deprivation.

Since proper rest is essential for optimal functioning and health, disrupted sleep is associated with many health-adverse effects including cardiovascular diseases. As such, studying sleep and exploring ways to improve daily rest are central to improving human health and wellbeing.

When analyzing rest patterns, shift workers are an important group to focus on as their sleep-wake schedules often misalign with their bodies’ circadian rhythms.

Because of this, they are thought to experience shorter and poorer quality sleep. In a recent article published in the journal Sleep, a group of McGill researchers set out to investigate how chronotype—an individual’s preference for going to sleep early or late—can influence sleep behaviour and quality.

By conducting a field study on rotating shift workers, the researchers discovered that the effect of an individual’s chronotype on sleep quantity depends on whether their shift is in the morning, evening, or night.

For around a month, 74 Quebec police officers wore an actigraph, a device

that functions as a watch, to measure their sleeping and napping behaviour while they worked their regular shifts. The researchers used watch data to determine sleep duration, questionnaires to deduce chronotype, and statistical models to study whether chronotype and shift type affect sleep duration. Between the most extreme chronotypes of the group, the early risers slept 1.1 hours longer on average during a series of morning shifts, while night owls slept two hours longer on average during a series of evening shifts. No ​​ significant effect of chronotype on sleep duration was observed during the night shifts. Dr. Diane Boivin,

professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill and director of the Centre for Study and Treatment of Circadian Rhythms at the Douglas Research Centre, explained that naps were the most efficient countermeasures against shortened night sleep for early chronotypes completing night shifts—making up for the lost night rest.

“The early chronotype has a more difficult time adjusting to working night [shifts], in that their main sleep period is shorter,” Boivin said. “But they catch up on the sleep restriction by napping more, to a point that the association between chronotype and sleep duration is no more signifi-

Preventive napping is taking a nap prior to working night shifts, while recuperative napping is napping during one’s break on the job. (mynextmattressco.uk)

cant [than] with night [chronotypes].”

Running counter to the theory that napping leads to sleep inertia, Boivin insists that napping is something to encourage, arguing that its benefits outweigh its downsides.

As for coffee-lovers, the study found little interaction between chronotype or shift type and the daily intake of caffeinated beverages. Although it was not directly explored in this static study, Boivin noted that chronotype is not a fixed concept and that it can evolve throughout one’s lifetime.

“In our teens and early 20s, there is a period of delayed sleep schedule [where] we tend to be more evening chronotypes,” Boivin explained. “As we grow older, we tend to be more morning types, [although sometimes the original pattern persists].”

While previous studies examined the effect of chronotype and shift type on sleep quantity using between-subject comparison and self-reported sleep duration, this study employed more objective assessment methods, such as actigraphy-measured sleep and intra-subject changes.

“This [study] shows that individual differences in internal biological timing, which is regulated by the endogenous circadian clock, impact the amount of sleep that shift workers are able to get,” Boivin said. “Our findings show that chronotype should be considered in the design of strategies or recommendations [to optimize sleep in shift workers].”

12

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

Science Rewind: Innovators from the last 67 years of Beatty Lectures McGill has hosted a suite of scientific pioneers, from Jane Goodall to Richard Dawkins Shafaq Nami & Madison McLauchlan Sciience & Technology Editor & Managing Editor As McGill prepares for the 2021 edition of the annual Beatty Lecture with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe

Glasgow, Peter Ritchie-Calder got his start as a court journalist, but made a lasting impact through his work documenting the daily lives of Londoners living through the Blitz—the bombing of London by German forces.

After the war, Ritchie-Calder became more involved in science reporting and was the first to break the story

out earning any previous degrees. In addition to being the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzee society, Goodall has dedicated her life to promoting conservation efforts and animal wellbeing.

“I have seen so much suffering and destruction,” Goodall said in her 2019 lecture. “But my reasons for hope, the main one, is the young people. As you know, they can, and are, changing the world.”

Richard Feynman

(Dan Aponte / The McGilll Tribune) Biden, The McGill Tribune takes a look back at the most memorable scientists and innovators who have been invited to speak since the lecture’s inception 67 years ago.

The lecture series was created in honour of Sir Edward Beatty after his brother, Dr. Henry Beatty, left a $100,000 gift in his name in 1952.

Beatty studied political science at the University of Toronto, pursued a law degree, and rose in the ranks of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), eventually assuming the top role of

about Watson, Crick, and Franklin’s discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953.

Ritchie-Calder devoted much of his career to campaigning for nuclear disarmament, and delivered his 1971 Beatty lecture, “Science and Social Change,” on that very topic. Wary of the dangers rampant nuclear advancement might bring, he warned that scientific ambition should never take precedence over moral and social consequence.

Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who made astonishing advances in the field, including pioneering a space-time approach to quantum electrodynamics and introducing the notion of a quantum computer. After completing a PhD at Princeton, Feynman was recruited to assisted with the Manhattan Project—the development of nuclear weapons during the Second World War—a part of his career he would later regret. He was known for his great ability to distill complex scientific concepts into simpler terms, and was referred to as “The Great Explainer” by colleagues and students. A collection of his talks, titled The Feynman Lectures on Physics, later became a bestseller within the scientific community.

In his Beatty lecture, Feynman spoke about the quantum behaviour of light and matter with his characteristic engaging humour.

“I’m supposed to be known as an expert in this field,” Feynman joked. “I think it’s true that if I don’t understand it, nobody understands it.”

Sandra Steingraber

(McGill Reporter) president in 1918. Beatty got involved at McGill around the same time, serving as its chancellor from 1920 to 1943.

Since their establishment, the Beatty lectures have welcomed researchers, humanitarians, artists, and other remarkable individuals from around the world, to inspire the next generation of academics.

Peter Ritchie-Calder Born in 1906 and hailing from

Jane Goodall Jane Goodall, one of the bestknown scientists on this list, delivered a Beatty lecture not once, but twice: First in 1979, to present her research from 20 years’ worth of observing primates, and again in 2019, where she shared a lifetime’s worth of environmental knowledge. After travelling to Gombe, Tanzania and discovering that chimpanzees are capable of using tools, Goodall was allowed to pursue a PhD at Cambridge University with-

Sandra Steingraber is an ecologist and writer who turned a personal tragedy into a lifelong career in activism. After going into remission from a cancer diagnosis in her twenties, Steingraber earned graduate degrees in biology and English and started studying the relationship between environmental pollution and growing rates of cancer. Her first book situates cancer within the realm of human rights, citing toxic releases and environmental pollution as direct causes, and her second book examines the impact of contaminants on infant health.

Steingraber delivered a Beatty lecture in 2002 titled “Protecting the First Environment: The Ecology of Pregnancy and Childbirth,” to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s landmark book about environmental pollution, Silent Spring.

Richard Dawkins Born in Kenya in 1941, Richard Dawkins obtained his master’s and

PhD degrees in zoology at Oxford University. Dawkins is best known for his book The Selfish Gene, published in 1976. The book has been likened to a modern-day version of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, both in terms of reaching a large audience and being a gamechanger in scientific advancement.

Dawkins popularized the view that genes act as the principal unit of selection in evolution.

In October 2006, Dawkins delivered a Beatty Lecture titled “Queerer Than We Suppose: The Strangeness of Science,” which focussed on humans’ inability to grasp reality beyond their immediate perceptions.

“All science is a form of violence against common sense,” Dawkins said in his lecture. “Although the scientific method is grounded in a trained and informed common sense,

Physics,” explaining this complex discovery.

Carl Djerassi Carl Djerassi, an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American chemist, novelist, and playwright is best known for advancing hormone synthesis methods—specifically ones that led to the development of an oral contraceptive pill known as the birth-control pill.

In January 1999, Djerassi delivered a Beatty lecture titled “Sciencein-fiction is not science fiction.”

Djerassi purchased 500 copies of his own novels with his honorarium, and handed them out free of charge to the audience.

“Everything in my books dealing with science is accurate, obsessively so,” Dejrassi said in his lecture. “It’s a way to smuggle something into reluctant minds. When people read my

Dawkins coined the term ‘meme’ in 1976 and characterized the phenomenon as a cultural equivalent of genes. (mcgill.ca) greater scientists deploy a wildness of imagination, which, in the case of an Einstein or Heisenberg, outclasses the best science fiction.”

books, they will have learned something.”

Yang Chen-Ning

Steven Pinker, a McGill alumnus, received his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1976. While he has conducted groundbreaking research in the field of visual cognition and psychology, Pinker’s books have also been wildly popular, earning him two Pulitzer Prize nominations.

Pinker’s 2020 Beatty lecture, titled “Progress and Enlightenment in the 21st Century,” discussed concepts from his latest book published in 2018, where he argues that human society is improving, rather than worsening, as a direct result of 17th century Enlightenment ideals. This idea has been met with criticism and has sparked a great deal of controversy, especially among those who believe that a serious restructuring of the economic system is needed to solve the current climate crisis.

Yang Chen-Ning, a Chineseborn American theoretical physicist, made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and physics, particularly statistical mechanics, gauge theory and particle physics. Yang’s doctoral thesis on angular distribution in nucleon reactions landed him a research position at Princeton University, where he later became a professor in 1955.

In 1957, Yang was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery that when certain chemicals decay, parity—the symmetry between physical phenomena occurring in right-handed and lefthanded coordinate systems—is violated. Yang spent his 1991 Beatty Lecture, titled “Symmetry and

Steven Pinker

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

13

Film trailers with spoilers rob us of the joy of surprise

Including spoilers in movie trailers is often used as a marketing technique Suzanna Graham Contributor In an era of empty movie theatres and increasingly popular streaming services, movie marketers are desperate to entice viewers back to cinemas. According to the Motion Pictures Association’s annual theme report, Canada and the United States’ box office market decreased by 81 per cent between 2019 and 2020. At the same time, subscriptions to home entertainment in the United States, including streaming services, rose by 33 per cent. Although the popularization of streaming services may seem encouraging to the film industry, most of this subscription money goes to the streaming service company, rather than the filmmakers and actors. To put the importance of physical cinemas into perspective: Without movie theatres, the cast and production crew of Avengers: Endgame (2019) would have missed out on nearly $2.8 billion dollars of box office revenue.

In order to compete with the rise of streaming services like Netflix, HBO, and Disney+, some movie marketers have opted to grab potential viewers’ attention by packing in as much plot information as possible into their film trailers. This strategy has worked in the past—in an interview with Insider, Jason Blum, the pro-

ducer of Get Out (2017) and The Invisible Man (2020), revealed that it is typical practice for movie producers to market trailers toward those who are on the fence about watching a particular film. By revealing plot points and spoilers, the marketers hope to give the audience a better idea of what to expect and thus be encouraged to go see the film.

The debate about whether a movie trailer should include spoilers or not was reignited this September with the release of British psychological horror film Last Night in Soho’s trailer. The trailer is essentially a three-minute summary of the film—director Edgar Wright even made sure to warn his Twitter audience about the spoilers. He tweeted, “If you are already sold and would prefer to know NOTHING more of the secrets within, avert your eyes now.” Although it was thoughtful of Edgar Wright to caution his Twitter audience, the lack of warning in the trailer destroys the potential surprises that await the viewer.

Many infamous movie trailers have opted to use spoilers as advertising in the past. Tom Hanks’ film Cast Away (2000) follows Hanks’ character as he attempts to survive on a deserted island. However, the trailer reveals that he ultimately survives, much to some viewers’ disappointment. Similarly, the trailer for Kingsman:

Last Night in Soho’s director kindly warned his audience of a spoiler-filled trailer. (theringer.com) The Golden Circle (2017), the sequel to the wildly popular Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), exposes that a character presumed dead in the first film is still alive, divulging information solely for the purpose of a shock reveal.

Though movie marketing teams may believe that any press is good press, spoiling the movies without warning removes the novelty of seeing the film for the first

time. If someone wants to read spoilers before going to the theatre, there are plenty of blogs and websites that can help. Revealing important information within a trailer completely eradicates any agency over how and when an excited viewer learns the plot. However, as Edgar Wright proves, at least Twitter is a surefire way to discover trailer spoilers—unless it spoils the movie itself.

PHI’s newest exhibit imagines post-pandemic human connection The exhibit is inspired by sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin Avryl Bender Contributor Five artists, each with their own unique artistic methods, mediums, and backgrounds unite in the exhibition …And Room in the Bag of Stars currently on display at the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art. Curated by Daniel Fiset and inspired by science-fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1986 short essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, the art builds upon Le Guin’s ideas about prioritizing human community and unity over secession and violence.

Le Guin’s essay proposes that humanity’s first tool was a receptacle rather than a spear, suggesting that humans were collectors and artists before they were hunters. ...And Room in the Bag of Stars is a simulacrum of Le Guin’s ideas, imagining a world where people connect and share with each other, rather than engage in violence. kimura byolnathalie lemoine, Salima Punjani, Dominique Sirois, Santiago Tamayo Soler, and Karen Trask all contributed their individually distinctive artworks to this cohesive exhibition. Exploring themes of social isolation, sexism, cultural diversity, and technological advancements, ...And Room in a

Bag of Stars brings to light Le Guin’s ideas and leaves behind the narrative of glorified—typically male—heroic archetypes.

Applying the same technique used to tie knots in fishing nets, Trask’s sculpture Hanging by a Thread intricately weaves together pages torn from encyclopedias and dictionaries. In the room’s centre stands a masculine humanoid effigy, his cape trailing

behind him and a single thread connecting him to the ceiling.

This phantom figure’s fragility is dissimilar to the unstoppable hero to which myth and story are so accustomed; instead, its ghostly form symbolizes the fading of patriarchal ideals and the flaws in society’s consistent search for epic heroes.

Will you pass the salt by Salima Punjani draws viewers

into a multi-sensory experience.

The project invites the spectator to sit at a dining room table set with dishes and cutlery, immersing them in the familiar sounds of friendly chatter, laughter, and clattering dishware. The audio’s noises come from 10 different Montreal households, recreating a snapshot of life before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Saekdong색동Diaspora,

From a paper man to an empty table, ...And Room in the Bag of Stars captures what it means to be human.

(Avryl Bender / The McGill Tribune)

kimura byol-nathalie lemoine incorporates Le Guin’s theme of humans-as-collectors by using natural materials, such as bamboo, iris, and lotus, amassed from places the artist has lived. From here, the artist creates an assortment of multifaceted representations of containers, ranging from mason jars to pouches. The title refers to saekdongot, a type of vibrantly striped traditional Korean cloth that lemoine incorporates into the piece. lemoine’s precise placement and symbolic use of materials present create a strong sense of zer communal identity, mediated through art.

Along with Dominique Sirois’ Alliance #14 and Santiago Tamayo Soler’s Retornar, these five artists gather a meticulous and intriguing understanding of the human condition. …And Room in the Bag of Stars reimagines a world where humans can reconnect through art, drawing one’s attention away from the individual and toward a collective experience of healing. ‘…And Room in the Bag of Stars’ exhibition continues until January 9, 2022, at the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art (451 & 465 Saint-Jean Street, Montréal). Book in advance. Free admission.

14 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

‘Beautiful World, Where Are You?’ is a stirring love letter to us all End-of-time anxieties linger alongside flirty text messages in Sally Rooney’s third novel Signy Harnad Contributor Continued from page 1.

The novel follows publicity-loathing novelist Alice—who bears a striking resemblance to Rooney herself—and her best pal from college, Eileen, an editorial assistant at a Dublin literary journal. Faced by the spectre of wealth inequality, environmental collapse, and the meaning—or meaninglessness—of life, Alice and Eileen, both pushing 30, begin to feel the weight of the world on their shoulders.

The two fret about the state of the world via long, sometimes tedious, email exchanges, which nevertheless capture Rooney at her best:

Sally Rooney’s latest banger finds meaning in the quotidien. (thecut.com)

Elevating the voices of her generation and bringing their deepest fears to life. “Aren’t we unfortunate babies to be born when the world ended?” Alice at one point writes to Eileen.

Doomed as they might be, the pair are able to carve out room for romance in their lives: Alice with the cynical Felix, Eileen with Simon, her older friend whom she has loved since childhood. Rooney fleshes these romantic entanglements out with her trademark wit and soul-baring prose.

Whether it’s the luck of the Irish or the charm of her all-too-relatable characters, Rooney has a way of making even the most microscopic interactions among us feel earth-shattering. Like brushstrokes, each sentence builds upon the previous, complete with wounded squabbles and broken glasses. There are pining glances and words left unsaid. There is bantering dialogue with freakishly articulate characters. There are Rooney’s infamous sex scenes, some of the most moving you will find in contemporary literature.

Rooney has become ordained as the voice of millennial angst. Her debut, Conversations With Friends, was a smashing hit, and her second novel, the Booker-Prize shortlisted Normal People, went on to be adapted into a quarantine favourite Hulu series. In a way, we might see Beautiful World as just another privileged, upper–middle-class declaration of existential dread. Maybe that’s what ticks off Rooney’s detractors, who typically dismiss her work as frivolous, normcore chick lit. Granted, her plots

can be fairly Austenian: Her characters do their utmost to connect but, more often than not, fail miserably from the outset.

But Beautiful World presents Rooney at her most nuanced. Her Irish youths are simultaneously tone-deaf and self-aware; Alice, a reluctant millionaire, reflects, “but why should anyone be rich and famous while other people live in desperate poverty?” On the same page they wax poetic about Marxist revolution, Alice and Eileen also immerse themselves in dysfunctional relationships.

With bull’s-eye precision, Rooney captures exactly what it feels like to be 20-something: To be able to recognize structural realities, while simultaneously remaining hung up on debates of whether one can—or should—text him first. Oh, the joy of being a millennial.

You might be asking where all that beauty Rooney promised in her title is. Why, it’s splashed all over these pages in tender celebrations of relationships and love. Even as the world collapses around us, we can always count on our basest selves to carry on: We who long to fall in love and delude ourselves and make catastrophic decisions about our crushes. We who stumble across the minefields of intimacy.

“So of course in the midst of everything,” Alice writes to Eileen, “the state of the world being what it is, humanity on the cusp of extinction, here I am writing another email about sex and friendship. What else is there to live for?” What else, indeed.

Korean Film Festival Canada Opening Reception

Hear from the directors, partners, and sponsors who are bringing the east to the west.

Sept. 30, 7–8 p.m.

Virtual Free, reservation required

Photo Exhibition

Experience powerful lighting and photogenic shots at international photography platform GuruShots’ first ever Montreal exhibition.

Sept. 30–Oct. 2 (Hours vary) Gallery Gora Montreal

Mythological Sculpture Exhibit Auriea Harvey’s works interweave personal narratives with ancient legends and emerging technologies.

Sept. 11–Oct. 23 Art Mûr

McGill Piano Intermezzos

See Martin Karlicek, Bedřeve Smetana, and Dmitry Kabalevsky perform for the Schulich School of Music.

Sept. 29, 12 p.m.

Pollack Hall Free (Tickets Required)

Festival Stop-Motion Montréal explores the cultural significance of Indigenous filmmaking Indigenous artists display and celebrate the art of stop-motion Louis Lussier-Piette Contributor Festival Stop Motion Montréal, which took place from Sept.

10 to 19, is dedicated to highlighting the beauty and uniqueness of stopmotion film. For its 13th edition, the festival showcased both local and international talent and focussed on amplifying the work of Indigenous stop-motion artists.

As part of the festival, Wapikoni, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting First Nations cinema, hosted a round table on Indigenous stop-motion productions, featuring Métis/Anishinaabeg producer and filmmaker Melanie Jackson, Métis filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Terril Calder, producer Neil Christopher, Inuit filmmaker and producer Zacharias Kunuk, and moderator and Innu filmmaker Jani BellefleurKaltush. The five artists—some having met at the panel, some having been long-time friends and colleagues—discussed their personal experiences as filmmakers and producers.

“I’m fascinated by my culture, [and] fascinated by the knowledge and land,” Kunuk said. “[In the North], there are no trees, so no paper to write on. I am fascinated by [everything] thought orally.”

Kunuk’s stop-motion film Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice won the festival’s award for Best Independent Film at the festival this year.

The panellists agreed that stop-motion as an art form is an interesting way to tell the stories they grew up hearing from their elders. Director Melanie Jackson used hoop dancing to underline the importance of movement in Indigenous cultures, as shown in her 2009 short stop-motion film Vistas: Dancers of the Grass.

“When it comes to stop-motion, it’s the artistry of the movements [that are important],” Jackson said. “It’s a different way to share those stories that we have been told.”

Another unique aspect of the stop-motion format is its ability to use textures as a narrative tool.

Kunuk used the texture of fur,

Festival Stop-Motion Montreal’s round table explores Indigenous stop-motion cinema and the importance of cultural representation in the arts. (filmfestivals.com) snow, and leathered garments to highlight distinct aspects of Inuit culture. Christopher explained that the authenticity of these textures would have been impossible to recreate in classical or 3D animation.

“When Zacharias Kunuk approached us with a traditional story, stop-motion just felt like the right decision,” Christopher said. “We wanted to see the texture of the fur.

It didn’t feel like we should bring

it to the computer, and stop-motion would allow us to do animation in a very tactile way.”

Despite the patience required to shoot a stop-motion film, there is an accessibility to the medium that is otherwise rare in cinema.

Without a crew to feed and actors to pay on set, the cost of shooting a stop-motion film is often drastically lower than shooting live action.

There are opportunities to explore

creative liberties that would otherwise be impossible, like shooting a movie in one’s native language.

“With stop-motion, all that is unimaginable becomes imaginable,” Kunuk said.

The round table closed on a discussion on the importance of uplifting Indigenous creators, something Festival Stop Motion Montréal aimed to do during this year’s edition.

“The next challenge for Indigenous creators is to break channels other than APTN,” Jackson said.

“Teletoon or Cartoon Network, for example.”

Jackson explained that Canada, in comparison to New Zealand, lags behind when it comes to giving Indigenous creators the opportunity to share their work on country-wide television.

“In New Zealand, TV broadcasters take pride in showing animated shows by Indigenous people,” Jackson said. “By seeing brown skin on screen, it encourages our youth [to see that] there is another way for them to get their stories out there.”

SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

15

Quebec University All-Stars face off against Habs rookies, losing 5-3 Eight McGill players among those selected for all-star squad Madison McLauchlan & Sarah Farnand Managing Editor & Sports Editor Closing out the 2021 Montreal Canadiens rookie camp, the top Habs prospects played an exhibition game against the Quebec University AllStars (QUAS)—a team made up of players from McGill, Concordia, and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). Despite a strong showing from the all-stars, eight of whom play for the McGill Redbirds, the game finished off with a 5-3 win for the Habs rookies.

The QUAS squad struck first late in the first period, with a goal by Alexandre Katerinakis, a Concordia Stingers forward. The momentum quickly swung toward the Habs and remained that way until well into

the second period, as the rookies managed four consecutive goals— one on Université du Québec à TroisRivières (UQTR) goaltender Tristan Cole-Cazenave and the three others on McGill first-year Alexis Shank.

The current Redbirds captain, Samuel Tremblay, broke the team’s streak off a backhand pass from fifth-year forward Keanu Yamamoto, burying the puck left as goaltender Joe Vrbetic went right.

“I got a beautiful pass from Yamamoto and I went on a breakaway and put it in,” Tremblay wrote in a message to The McGill Tribune. “[It] felt awesome to be a difference maker in that game and be a step closer to win it, but we ended up coming short.”

The QUAS stepped it up in the third period, with Concordia Stinger Tyler Hylland cutting the deficit to

The QUAS last played the Habs rookie squad in 2019, losing 7-3. (McGill Athletics)

4-3. Unfortunately, there just was not enough time on the clock to recover; Shank was pulled and Habs rookie Kaiden Guhle sealed the deal with an empty-netter.

The exhibition game took place on Sept. 21 at the Bell Sports Complex— the Canadiens’ practice arena— but was closed to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions. The match was not streamed but the game stats were updated live, to be viewed by McGill students, die-hard Habs fans, and those intrigued by a matchup between hockey’s most promising athletes.

Eight of the McGill Redbirds players were selected for the QUAS, including Scott Walford, secondyear defenceman and 2017 Montreal Canadiens third-round draft pick. For Walford, getting the chance to compete with such talented players made the experience worthwhile.

“It is always great getting the chance to challenge yourself against great players. I was happy to get that opportunity to not only challenge myself, but also have the opportunity to represent McGill,” Walford said in an interview with the Tribune. “I think the whole experience was special and what made it so special was being able to share it with my teammates.”

Among the others representing the Redbirds were Will Warm, Caiden Daley, Eric Uba, and Jacob Golden.

The players will confront their QUAS teammates this season as rivals when

McGill plays Concordia on Oct. 22, and UQTR on Oct. 29.

Walford is looking forward to returning back to the rink for the season after COVID-19 cancellations.

“I am really looking forward to just being able to play again,” Walford said. “After a year and a half off, you forget all the little things about everyday life at the rink, which is what makes playing on a team so enjoyable. It will be fun getting to play hockey again

with my teammates and to compete for a championship.”

The Redbirds hockey season officially kicks off Oct. 13 with the home opener against the Queens Golden Gaels at McConnell Arena.

On the other side of the ice, the Montreal Canadiens have already started their NHL pre-season exhibition games with a 4-1 loss, then a 5-2 win against their archrivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

MOMENT OF THE GAME Samuel Tremblay’s second period snipe snuck past Canadiens rookie goaltender, Joe Vrebtic, making the score 4-2 and attempting to spur on a comeback.

QUOTABLE “I thought the game went well for us, especially for me personally. The first period was pretty chaotic, but we got better as the game went on. The second period we were all over them and in the third I thought they were pretty tired.” — Captain Samuel Tremblay on his team’s performance against the Habs rookies.

STAT CORNER First-year goaltender Alexis Shank saved 29 out of 32 shots against over 40 minutes of play.

Behind the Bench: Montreal Canadiens must repent for their draft pick The hockey world must not forget about Logan Mailloux Sarah Farnand Sports Editor Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence.

On July 23, the Montreal Canadiens organization made the controversial decision to draft Logan Mailloux as the team’s first round pick. Mailloux was charged and fined in November 2020 for taking and sharing sexually explicit photos of a woman without her consent. As public scrutiny mounted in the days before the draft, Mailloux posted on Twitter asking teams not to draft him until he felt he had gained the maturity, character, and trust to be worthy of playing in the NHL. Many fans, especially women and survivors of sexual violence, were appalled by this decision. Zoe Babad-Palmer, BA ‘20, was disappointed, but not surprised, by both the pick itself and the way the organization carried itself in the days that followed. “[The Habs’] backtracking and responses after the draft have made it even worse,” Babad-Palmer said in an interview with // The McGill Tribune//. “It makes me seriously consider why I should give them my time, money, and attention when they can’t give their fans, especially fans who are survivors of sexual violence, care or respect.”

Rachel Jaworski, U2 Arts, shared Babad-Palmer’s sentiments, arguing that the organization should be ashamed for going through with this draft pick.

“It just proves how little progress we have made in teaching about sexual assault and consent,” Jaworski said. “By drafting Mailloux, the Canadiens have shown how little they truly care about their female fans, with athletic talent being valued over real human lives.”

While many fans understandably feel betrayed and disgusted

by Habs management for making this move, others believe that Mailloux deserves a second chance.

An argument often invoked by excusers of this behaviour is that men should not be punished for poor choices made in their teenage years. Unfortunately, this rhetoric is common in the sports community, with terms like “locker room talk” originating in these spaces and being used to justify vulgar harassment. This line of thinking, however, discounts the lives and experiences of people whose lives are forever altered by violence and assault.

In 2016, the NHL adopted a domestic violence and sexual assault training program aimed at preventing sexual abuse by its players. Despite this program, scandals continue to surface and players rarely face retribution or take accountability after they are accused.

Selecting Mailloux is a serious misstep for the Canadiens, and especially for general manager Marc Bergevin, who was the director of personnel for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 at the time when two players were reportedly sexually assaulted by video coach Brad Aldrich.

Although the Habs management made feeble attempts to remedy the situation, such as announcing a plan to raise awareness around sexual violence, many fans are not ready to forgive the organization. Babad-Palmer noted that the Canadiens’ lack of accountability for their actions may lead some fans to cease their support entirely.

“The announcements they have made on raising awareness and education on sexual cyberviolence are a step in the right direction, but at this point I’m not sure if I trust them to follow through,” Babad-Palmer said. “If they make good on their word, it will help, but it will not erase the draft, and I would not blame any fans [or] former fans who have abandoned the team for good.”

This decision to pick Mailloux was extraordinarily

misguided, not to mention a complete waste, as he was barred from participating in the Habs’ rookie and training camps, and was suspended from the entire OHL season this year.

In Jaworski’s opinion, Mailloux should be dropped from the organization if the Canadiens want to prove that they value justice and accountability.

“Mailloux has caused great harm from his actions and he has just proven how pervasive toxic masculinity still is in sports environments,” Jaworski explained. “The Canadiens need to do better, and this starts with revoking their draft of Mailloux.”

As for right now, Canadiens owner Geoff Molson continues to sit on his pedestal of wealth, facing some public backlash, but no material consequences for the deeply troubling message he has sent to the NHL community. The Montreal Canadiens must take concrete action to show those affected by sexual violence that they are supported within the world of hockey.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his disappointment in the Canadiens organization for their ill-advised draft selection.

(La Presse)

16

SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 2021

The future of sports broadcasting is at our fingertips

As young people turn away from cable, sports media will change in unimaginable ways Adam Burton Sports Editor It’s a Friday night, and all you want to do is order pizza and watch an NFL game live with some close friends. As a student on a tight budget, however, finding access to the

find themselves out of luck on game night, likely spending the rest of the evening trying to access a low-resolution, stuttery, illegal stream.

Live sports are as popular as ever, but as our media consumption gradually migrates from the family TV to our own personal devices, watching sports through cable television is

As viewers spend more time online, platforms like Twitch have started to broadcast sports for audiences around the world. (Reuters) games you want to watch can prove difficult— and sometimes even impossible—without a cable plan. Some students have access to their families’ cable information, but many more

becoming more and more antiquated.

In the United States this year, only 56 per cent of households have a cable plan, down from 76 per cent in 2015. This dramatic cable-

cutting wave is even more pronounced among young adults, with only 34 per cent of people aged 18-29 shelling out cash on a monthly plan. As this younger generation ages into their prime spending years, cable television will likely die out, and with it the large media companies that broadcast our favourite sports.

The decline of younger viewership is already apparent in nearly every major North American sport; the average NHL viewer’s age is 49, up from 42 in 2006, and the average baseball viewer is 57, up from 52. This trend reflects the generational lag in sports viewership: Younger viewers are just as engaged in sports, but have instead turned to digital sports media commentary to satisfy their craving. Platforms such as Youtube, TikTok, and podcasts, have seen tremendous growth in the past decade.

The mode of delivery won’t be the only thing that changes. Because live sports have such high viewership, broadcasts are meant to appeal to as many people as possible.

But content creators on online platforms are gaining followers thanks to their unique approaches to sports analysis, challenging the generalized commentary inherent to larger networks. While this broad strokes approach is engaging for those who are already invested, it fails to draw in new viewership. Now that most people own a device, the potential for more niche, individualized live sports broadcasting is virtually untapped. Exclusive broadcasting contracts still held by companies like ESPN, TNT, and Fox Sports are the only barriers preventing this new wave of sportscasting

from dominating the industry.

Nearly every major sports-casting contract is ending in the next decade. While it is possible that companies like ESPN will retain some of their contracts, it is just as possible that huge tech corporations like Google or Amazon, who have already dipped their toes in the streaming pool, will spend a small fortune to acquire exclusive rights to stream games how they please.

If one of these tech giants manages to secure streaming rights, the way we consume live sports will undoubtedly change forever.

Streaming services like Youtube Live and Twitch have the capability to individualize content for millions of people. Audience segmentation is something that Spanish Football league La Liga has experimented with, bringing various influencers to commentate on soccer games—to great success. Allowing already established streamers, such as xQcOW or HasanAbi, to cast sporting events could draw in an entirely different demographic to the sports ecosystem and could make viewing games—many that would be otherwise uninteresting, such as blowouts or regularseason games—engaging in an entirely new way.

As we all gradually move further into the digital world, it is only natural that things will change. Watching sports games on our laptops is just the beginning—segmented monetization and new commentating styles will foster unique, small communities in these digital spaces.

Know Your Athlete: Braden Tennill

First-year pitcher Tennill creates magic on the mound and in the lab

Reza Ali Contributor A disclaimer to our usual “Know Your Athlete” series: Braden Tennill, U1 Engineering, is not technically a McGill-affiliated athlete. His baseball team, along with eight other sports teams, were cut for the 2021-2022 school year due to a lack of medical staffing.

As a pitcher and dedicated student, Tennill is an ace on the mound and in the books. It was the combination of these two hobbies that led the athlete to McGill.

“I had a couple of criteria for schools,” Tennill said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “I wanted to go to a big school that had a good engineering program, [and] a baseball program I could play at.”

Tennill remembers coming up with an initial list of universities in the U.S. based on these requirements, which didn’t include McGill.

“I was mainly looking at schools in Chicago and New York,” Tennill said. “McGill was not really on that list until they contacted me. But once I looked into Montreal and McGill, it ticked all my boxes. I visited Montreal my senior year [of high school] and fell in love with the city.”

Although Tennill has pursued baseball at the collegiate level, it was not always in the cards for him. In fact, baseball was not the sport his parents wanted him to play.

“Originally my parents wanted me to be a hockey player, which was weird growing up in Texas,” said Tennill. “But, I would not ice skate. I hated falling. So, hockey was out of the picture [...] I switched to baseball when I was nine and I was a little bit

late to the game [...] It was not until high school when I realized I wanted to play at the college level and made [baseball] an active part of my life.”

Tennill also chose McGill for its high-calibre engineering program. His mechanical engineering prowess has led him to develop a growing passion for 3D printing. Over the summer, Tennill took part in an internship that opened his mind to the possibility of turning this passion into a career.

“I’m really into 3D modelling and designing my own products,” Tennill said. “Most of my stuff at home is self-made. I had an internship over the summer where I made antenna mounts for warehouses. I had a 3D-printed baseplate for this mount that hatched to very different types of antennas.”

Tennill also noted that his team, coach, and teammates alike have encouraged his interests outside of the diamond.

Braden Tennill, second from left, and his teammates getting ready to take the diamond for The North travel baseball team.

(Braden Tennill)

“Our coach [Casey Auerbach] is really understanding and gives us academic days,” Tennill said.

“Chatting [with] the older guys between innings has been awesome.

I’ve learned a lot of career and McGill tips. I’m glad I have access to that resource through athletics.”

Despite the team not being an official McGill varsity sport this year, the baseball team is still competing in a travel league for The North. Thanks to this opportunity, the team still gets the training and practical know-how that they would in a normal season— experiences that Tennill views as a hallmark of the program.

“Half the appeal of the baseball team is that not only is it an athletic team, but it is also 30 or so close guys of different backgrounds that have been there and done that, meaning they can give you advice,” Tennill said. “It’s almost like an instant friend group.”

If there is someone on campus fiddling with mechanical parts like a mad scientist, do not judge too quickly—there is a decent chance they can throw a hell of a baseball.

Additionally, if they have a thigh tattoo in Japanese Kanji that means “trusting the chance,” it is most certainly McGill baseball’s very own Braden Tennill.