McGill Tribune Vol. 38 Issue 24

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019 | VOL. 38 | ISSUE 24

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

QUIZ

THE JOKE ISSUE

CONCERT REVIEW

Do you have imposter syndrome or are you an imposter?

The Tribune tries to be funny

Friend’s boyfriend’s Mile End band actually sort-of good

PG. 4

PGs. 2-4

PG. 7

2

TUESDAY, april 2 2019

Joke

McGill divests from fossil fuels, funds new Amazon rainforest campus

New McGill campus will cause deforestation and displacement of local indigenous community

fused,” Fortier wrote in an email to the student body. “Of course I couldn’t hear Divest McGill’s message, I had my AirPods in.”

According to Fortier, student groups had no influence on the decision to divest. The primary

goal is to re-allocate the funding to more socially responsible investments, which the administration takes to mean “most profitable for McGill.”

While the McGill administration would not disclose how the money would be invested, an anonymous source leaked their plans. She desired to be referred to only as “The Lunch Lady.”

“McGill recently purchased a chunk of land in the Amazon rainforest,” The Lunch Lady said. “I saw some blueprints for a huge new McGill campus there.”

The campus would require that 200 hectares of rainforest be clear-cut to install academic and sports facilities, as well as the “McDonald Farm” sponsored by the Golden Arches. According to local members of the community, building the new McGill campus will force an entire residing indigenous community to leave.

The administration sees the campus as an enticing opportunity that will hopefully bring in more applicants to McGill.

“Here at McGill, we strive to expand our students’ horizons and help them experience the world,” Fortier said. “That’s why, with a small extra tuition fee of $30,000, students will be able to enjoy the beauty that is deforestation and displacement of local communities.”

less awful to our constituents. But then we thought, ‘why not take this further?’ We could train an army of people to cover up our mistakes. This is a democracy, after all.”

When asked why SSMU had decided to open their own School of Public Relations with students’ money, the SSMU represen-

tative mumbled something about transparency. Or accountability.

SSMU’s School of Public Relations will be located in the SSMU building and is slated to open when the building is asbestosfree. Current estimates put this date at Apr. 1, 2080.

McEan Taylor Facebook troll Since 2012, Divest McGill has protested McGill’s investment in companies that profit from fossil fuels. The student group has led the charge for climate activism on campus, organizing protests, raising awareness, and gaining the support of the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU). Their calls for action largely fell on deaf ears, even after countless vocal protests and sit-ins.. Finally, their voices have been heard.

Over the weekend, Principal and ViceChancellor Suzanne Fortier announced that McGill would pull investments from all companies profiting from fossil fuels. According to Divest McGill activists, this comes as some surprise, as the administration is not known to listen to students.

“It’s nice knowing I don’t have to stand outside in the cold anymore to protest,” Muña Zaldrizoti, U6 Arts, said. “But I’m not sure why the administration chose to listen now. I guess anytime is better than no time.”

Fortier held a press conference in her office

The new campus will feature academic and athletic facilities as well as a farm. (abc.net.au) after announcing the divestment plan. However, the building security did not allow members of the press to enter the James Administration Building.

“I don’t understand why students are con-

SSMU World Order

Why SSMU needs more money Laura Oprescu capital-j journalist Just two months after McGill unveiled plans for the new Rossy Student Wellness Hub, advertising it as a one-stop shop for all McGill healthcare services, SSMU announced plans for a competing wellness hub. McGill will now have two one-stop shops for all students’ physical and mental health needs.

“The administration aren’t students, they don’t know what we need,” an embarrassed SSMU representative, who requested anonymity in case a future employer Googled them, said. “So instead of working with them and their $14 million budget, we decided to take matters into our own hands and put students first.”

The SSMU representatives was ‘really excited’ for plans to expand student drinking options.

“Initially we were planning to renovate Gerts into a sort of SuWu-style café/bar. A SSMUWu, if you will,” the SSMU repre-

sentative said, chuckling at their own joke.

“But then we decided it would be easier if we just bought SuWu instead. Our budget is overseen by a U2 Economics student [....]

He really believes that this is the best use of student money.”

SSMU plans to continue investing the gargantuan amount of money in other real estate projects.

“We’re thinking about buying up Café Campus next,” the SSMU representative said. “We know how integral Tuesday night drinking is to the McGill experience.”

The Master Plan also acknowledges SSMU’s concern for public relations. The SSMU representative said that they were one erroneous transcription of minutes away from students burning flags and breaking down their office doors. No student could be found to comment who knew where the new SSMU office was.

“Initially, we just wanted to use student money to hire a PR rep,” the SSMU representative said. “You know, a person that we could pay to make our failures look

Thw SSMU World Order aims to put students first. (Daria Kiseleva / The McGill Tribune)

Cartoon

Welcome to the McGill Region!

Sunny Kim Staff Illustrator

TUESDAY, april 2 2019

joke

Club gives students titles of their choosing Facebook engagement key to their success Calvin Trottier-Chi Regional Manager The new Title Club joins 501 other student clubs registered with the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). Students who attend one of their Executive Networking General Seminar meetings, which occur for 30 minutes on a daily basis, have the opportunity to come up with new titles to “DIY their own position.”

“We offer a tailored extracurricular experience that no other student club can provide,” Guiding Founder and Secretary General of Internal and External Managers Max Fischer said. “We believe in our members’ communication skills, leadership abilities, and results-driven, customer-centric synergy.”

When pressed on how the Title Club provides communication and leadership opportunities, members referred to the club’s 5,000 Facebook likes.

“Every member contributes to our readability by ‘liking’ posts, they are all our social media influencers and brand ambassadors,” Social Media Senior Strategist Victor Verbaler said. “We contribute as much to the average McGill student’s daily life as Building 21.”

The Title Club has faced organizational difficulties with new departments, but its members are confident they can still use the club to their advantage.

“I was only able to secure my internship because I had experience managing others,” Tommy Triharde, one of the club’s 30 vice-presidents, said. “I don’t get why people don’t spend five minutes of their day yelling out ideas and taking credit for them more often.”

3

I went to every single Montreal emergency room and this is a definitive list of them, ranked

St Mary’s and CHUM tie for lowest grade

Montreal Curling Club announces new sponsorship deal with Swiffer™ Canadian club looking for podium sweep at national championships Students may want to think twice before making the 35 minute commute to St. Mary’s Hospital Centre. (reddit.com/user/hurricaneoflies) Nicholas Raffoul What a lad

The commerical partnership will play an important role in Canada’s competitive edge at the 2020 Olympics. (thumbpress.com) Kaja Surborg Sweeping enthusiast On March 25, Canada’s most decorated curling club, The Montreal Curling Club, announced their new sponsorship deal with the iconic household brand Swiffer™. Club President Joey Moore and Swiffer™ CFO Howard Tallman signed a five-year contract worth $1,000 at the club’s office in Côte-des-Neiges.

“We here at Swiffer™ are just so proud to support a long-standing tradition of excellence in Canadian curling at the Montreal Curling Club,” Swiffer™ marketing representative Cindy Schmidt said at a press conference that only reporters from CBC Radio 4 attended. “We hope we can provide the tools necessary for the athletes here at the Montreal Curling Club to reach their highest potential.”

Moore echoed Schmidt’s enthusiasm.

“This is huge for us here at Montreal Curling Club,” Moore said. “We’ve never had a sponsor who has been so dedicated to providing us with quality equipment so that we can be the best athletes possible. ” The Canadian National Curling Championships are scheduled for Feb. 23 and 24, 2020 in Flin Flon, Manitoba. The Montreal Curling Club will be looking for a podium sweep in all events.

Several veterans will return to the sheet this year for the Montreal Curling Club at the national championships. Most notably, Michael Spiel, who looks like he definitely spends his summers fishing in Muskoka,

is slated to compete. Spiel is a celebrated skip for Team Canada at the past three Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Sochi, and Pyeongchang.

“I’ve been in the game a long time, you know,” Spiel said in an interview with the Waterloo Reporter.

“This will probably be my last national championships, so I just really want to go out with a bang. I just want to make my wife, Karen, and my kids, Davey and Georgie, proud.”

According to a report released by Swiffer™ corporate headquarters this week, the brand estimates no boost in sales from this partnership. Tallman is simply a huge curling fan, and it has been a lifelong dream of his to meet an Olympic curling champion like Spiel.

“I’m honestly freaking out a little right now,” Tallman said afterwards at press conference.“This was major, I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m just worried that I was so starstruck when I met him that I looked kind of dumb.”

With the partnership, the Montreal Curling Club hopes to reignite a culture for curling in Canada. The esteemed Canadian curling program has yet to recover from international humiliation at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics: A loss at the hands of the American team in the men’s curling event.

“We have an opportunity here to keep getting better so that, with the help of Swiffer™, we can become the best athletes in North America and crush the souls of the Americans at the next world championships,” Spiel said. “I just can’t wait to be really gracious in victory.”

According to the Health Ministry of Quebec, emergency room wait times in Montreal have increased from a median of 4.4 to 4.5 hours over the last year. With little hope that this number will decrease significantly over the next few years, The McGill Tribune has compiled a definitive list of the best and worst emergency rooms based on the following criteria: comfort of waiting area seats, availability of free snacks, free wifi, and waiting room aesthetics. Maximizing comfort and distractions from a horrible fall makes the excruciatingly long wait easier to bear. For the study, I visited each of the below emergency rooms and sat there for 48 hours.

Jewish General Hospital

4/5

With high gray ceilings and only a 15-minute drive from McGill’s downtown campus, the Jewish General Hospital is a great option for your l Blues-Pub-blackout-related needs.

The cool atmosphere and somewhat comfy chairs distract you from your throbbing headache so successfully that you’ll forget why you’re even there in the first place!

St. Mary’s Hospital Centre

2/5

St. Mary’s barely makes the cut—their waiting room is always cramped, does not have great refreshments, and has horrible carpeting. The subpar aesthetic makes for a strikingly painful wait when compounded with the pain of a protruding femur.

It definitely doesn’t help that you’re sitting shoulder to shoulder with other patients.

Montreal’s Children Hospital

4/5

Although the Children’s Hospital was the most colourful of the bunch, the emergency room nurses didn’t appreciate a full-grown manchild walking in and demanding cherry cough syrup to treat their mono. The festive seating and plush toys really made the rejection a lot easier, though.

CHUM

2/5

CHUM puts the CHUM in Chum bucket, due to its very long wait times and disappointing vending machine options. The nurses constantly deflected my concerns with a heavy Québécois accent, making it the most //authentic// Montreal emergency room experience. As the last emergency room I visited, they did not seem to care at all about the blood clot I had developed sitting on waiting room chairs for the last week.

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Joke

QUIZ :

TUESDAY, april 2 2019

Do you have imposter syndrome or are you an imposter?

Ariella Garmaise. Sports Editor In recent months, “imposter syndrome” has made headlines as the newest millennial affliction:The term has been featured in Time, Forbes, an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interview, and even The McGill Tribune. Despite extensive news coverage, it can be difficult to decipher whether a lack of self-confidence is part of a wider psychological pandemic, or simply well-deserved doubt. To help those struggling, The McGill Tribune presents the definitive guide for distinguishing between having imposter syndrome and being an imposter.

1.

You’re preparing your resume for an interview. As you review your

2.

Congratulations! You got your dream job as a “Social Media and Con-

credentials, you are struck with panic because:

tent Vision Intern.” You pick up the phone and:

a.) There’s no way you have enough extra-curricular experience to

a.) Call your mom! She still wishes you had picked a different major and

work as an unpaid intern at a digital media agency.

also applied to law school, but is proud nonetheless.

b.) The company hires a lot of recent graduates, and someone might

b.) Speak to a Bell customer service representative because you need to

be able to verify that you were not, in fact, a McGill student between

change your number. You previously used 514-938-9999 to answer as “Pro-

2014 and 2018.

fessor Anita Roth,” your “advisor” last summer, so you need a new line.

3.

4.

It was a long week at work. While cleaning up your apartment, you

You’re out on a boat on the coast of San Remo with your similarly hot,

notice the trash is overflowing with:

blonde, and blue-blooded friend. When he rejects your advances, you:

a.) Empty coffee cups, tissues, 5-hour Energy® Shots, and KD instant

a.) Are disappointed, but never thought that you had a chance with Jude

cups.

Law anyway. This only confirms your deepest insecurities.

b.) Hair: Medium ash blonde, rich mahogany, jet black, even a Dollar

b.) Notice an oar sitting on the side of the boat, and, overcome with rage,

Store neon wig.

beat Jude Law to death. A talented impressionist with a gift for forgery, you proceed to steal his identity and live lavishly travelling across Europe, no matter how hard Gwyneth Paltrow and Philip Seymour Hoffman try to stop you.

Mostly A’s:

You are Matt Damon, after all.

Congrats! You have imposter syndrome, and while this might be psychologically and interpersonally inhibiting, all of your behav-

Mostly B’s:

iour is legal in the Province of Quebec. Cheer up, any Digital Media

Forget imposter “syndrome,” you are the real deal. Perhaps if you adopt a

Company / Start-up / Content Creation Platform would be lucky

baritone and stop conditioning your hair, HBO will one day make a documen-

to have you.

tary about you, too.

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019

T

editorial board Editor-in-Chief Marie Labrosse editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Elli Slavitch eslavitch@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Ariella Garmaise agarmaise@mcgilltribune.com Stephen Gill sgill@mcgilltribune.com Calvin Trottier-Chi ctrottier-chi@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Andras Nemeth, Caitlin Kindig & Laura Oprescu news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Keating K. Reid & Abeer Almahdi opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Katherine Lord scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Emma Carr studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Dylan Adamson features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Katia Innes & Sophie Brzozowski arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Gabe Nisker & Miya Keilin sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Arshaaq Jiffry & Erica Stefano design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Gabriel Helfant photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editor Tristan Surman multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Luya Ding webdev@mcgilltribune.com Tristan Sparks online@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Melissa Langley copy@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Falah Rajput business@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Executives Heela Achakzai, Maharshee Karia, Alessandra Moukarzel ads@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors Abeer Almahdi, Becca Hoff, Jeeventh Kaur, Marie Labrosse, Katherine Milazzo, Daniel Minuk, Falah Rajput.

Nina Russell, Kevin Vogel

staff Dan Aponte, Peter Ball, Hannibal de Pencier, Taja De Silva, Kyle Dewsnap, Owen Gibbs, Emma Gillies, Sabrina Girard-Lamas, Mary Keith, Sunny Kim, Sydney King, Winne Lin, Ronny, Litvack-Katzman, Ender McDuff, Gabriela McGuinty, Sofia Mikton, Nicholas Raffoul,, Nina Russell, Julia Spicer, Leo Stillinger, Bilal Virji, Kevin Vogel, Tony Wang, Helen Wu, Jacqueline Yao, Leanne Young

Contributors Kate Addison,Nicholas Belluk,Matthew Hawkins,Scott Kennedy,Simon Kidd,Alaana Kumar,Mo Rajji,McEan Taylor,Sophia White

Tribune Office 2075 Boulevard Robert Bourassa, Suite 505 Montreal, QC H3A 2L1 - T: 514.999.8953

The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune, and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to editor@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

5

CAMSR to present divestment report in December Divest McGill, Frosh, and OAP also outline plans for future Andras Nemeth News Editor

Representatives from groups, associations, and organizations across the McGill community presented their initiatives to the 2019 McGill Board of Governors (BoG) Board-Student Forum on Feb. 28. Moderated by BoG Senate Representative Edith Zorychta, the event included information sessions led by members of Divest McGill, the First Peoples’ House, the Black Students’ Network, various subsets of the BoG, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS).

McGill Frosh approval ratings on the rise Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) Vice-President (VP) Internal Affairs and Head Frosh Coordinator Laurent Chenet spoke on behalf of Frosh activities, highlighting their changing character at McGill.

He cited the increasing percentage of students who rated their Frosh experience as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ in annual Frosh exit surveys as evidence of an improved culture. “[Every year], we put out a survey after frosh to [ask] ‘how did we do?’”

Chenet said. “In 2011-2012, we were around 26 per cent. People were not having a good time because Frosh then was a very alcohol-centric event [....]

We have undergone a massive culture change since then [....] We’re now at 76 per cent [approval].”

According to Chenet, the rapid improvement in feedback is a result of coordinators working to improve the safety and inclusivity of Frosh-related events.

“In 2012, [the culture] was dismal, [...and] there were some pretty awful things being done at Frosh because it was just the fun party time,” Chenet said.

“In our training for leaders, staff, [and] coordinators, we’ve taken into account that there are those sensitive topics [like sexual assault], and equity is now at the forefront of every event [....] Again, [Frosh is] not perfect, and I don’t know if it will be in the next few years, but it is improving drastically.”

CAMSR to present divestment report in December Cynthia Price Verreault, chair of the BoG Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR), discussed the committee’s ongoing research into divestment

from fossil fuels following the McGill Senate’s endorsement of the idea in September. The final report, scheduled for a presentation to the BoG in Dec. 2019, will include consultations from a variety of stakeholders.

“We have heard from representatives of Senate, representatives of the investment committee, the office of investments, representatives of student associations, members of the Board who requested to speak to us, representatives of Divest McGill, and experts from external organizations,” Price Verreault said.

According to Price Verreault, CAMSR has made substantial changes to its procedures in the process of its investigation. In particular, the committee has implemented online feedback forms and published the names of individuals consulted in the present investigation. These modifications come after allegations that CAMSR’s previous reports on divestment were not transparent.

“When I joined this committee, it [...] had two meetings a year, and we’ve far surpassed that,” Price Verreault said.

“We’ve already set dates for further consultations and meetings in order to address [divestment] with the seriousness

it deserves [....] One of the things that was brought to our attention was the transparency and communications of the efforts being made by the committee, [and] we’re working [on] that.”

OAP seeks to improve sustainability track record McGill Open Air Pub (OAP) Head Managers Malcolm McClintlock and Lynn Hein delivered a presentation on the history and future of the event.

According to McClintlock and Hein, the organization’s priorities going forward include making the event more sustainable and inclusive while also expanding its scope.

“Because of the size of OAP, we have a huge impact in a number of ways,” McClintlock said. “Most notably, [in terms of] sustainability, we can improve in many, many ways. We are looking to partner up with the Sustainability and Planning Office because when you’re selling thousands of drinks and burgers, you really should try to focus on the [margins of improvement]. We’re also starting to work with the McGill Alumni Association. Most notably, they’ve been using our name for about four years now across different cities and areas to [attract] alumni.”

Student activists hang ‘Change the Name’ banner from the roof of Leacock

Security removed the sign after twenty minutes Nina Russell Staff Writer A group of approximately thirty McGill students gathered on the Leacock Pavillion on March 27 to watch an unknown individual unfurl a banner from the roof with the words ‘Change the Name.’ The banner hung for about 20 minutes, after which two members of McGill Security Services personnel removed it.

Students hung the banner weeks before Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier is expected to make a decision as to whether to change the McGill men’s varsity team name.

Fortier decided to delay her decision until April following a report from the Working Group on Principles on Renaming and Commemoration, which sought to provide steps for engaging in the renaming process.

Campus security cited the danger the banner might pose to those standing nearby as their reason for taking it down.

“Security Services personnel removed the banner from the Leacock Building on March 27 as a matter of standard practice; we did not receive a request to do so,” Associate Director of Campus Public Safety (Security Services) Christopher Carson wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Whenever our agents become aware of a banner hung from a campus building, gate, tree etc., they remove it. Banners can be a public safety issue. Sandbags used to hold banners in place, for example, can endanger the people below. The message displayed on a banner is not a factor in such decisions.”

Co-Chair of the Indigenous Students Alliance (ISA) Vanessa Racine described

Security’s removal of the banner as hypocritical due to their failure to take precautions while taking it down.

“What surprised me the most was how dangerously they took it down and seeing one of the pieces of the banner break on the floor as they carelessly dropped it,” Racine wrote in an email to the Tribune. “It was funny, really, to see security take it down in a somewhat unsafe manner.”

Racine also felt that, by removing the banner so quickly, security failed to show solidarity with Indigenous students.

“Change the Name is a movement brought forth by Indigenous students, and taking down Fortier is expected to make a final decision about the the banner so quickly kind of shows silencing men’s varsity team name in April. (Nina Russell / The of not just Indigenous voices, but also student McGill Tribune) voices,” Racine wrote. “I don’t believe that security thought that they were going up to [the banner] certainly brings it back to the the roof so they could silence voices, but they forefront in the minds of a lot of students,” should have thought of those implications Jirousek said. “It also shows that students are before taking it down so quickly. I don’t think still paying attention to the issue. It’s not as if it would have been a problem if it was up for a Indigenous students and our allies are meekly waiting for the decision, but we continue to little longer.”

In addition to the banner drop, Indigenous engage with the discussion and continue to student activists and their allies have enacted critically engage with the administration.”

Co-Chair of the ISA Ella Martindale a number of other campaigns to pressure the administration to change the name, such as the remains hopeful that the administration will ‘Vote No’ to Athletics Facility Improvement ensure that Fortier takes Indigenous voices Fee. The fee failed with 58 per cent of into consideration when she makes her final voters voting no. SSMU Indigenous Affairs decision.

“At this point I’m optimistic,” Martindale Commissioner and the founder of the ‘Change the Name’ campaign Tomas Jirousek spoke to said. “I like to think the best of people, and the importance of continuing to challenge the [now that] she’s had 3 months of her own time administration with respect to important issues to think about this decision, do her research, and think about Indigenous folks, [she will] comes like this one.

“The Principal will be releasing her to the right conclusion, which is to change the decision sometime in the coming weeks, and name.”

6

news

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019

5,244 donors raised $2.3 million in 24 hours for McGill 4th annual McGill24 raises record amounts of money Jacqueline Yao Staff Writer On March 13, McGill raised almost $2.3 million for its fourth McGill24, a day-long annual fundraiser. The university received a total of 5,244 donations were received, which will go toward various initiatives including funding for student-led non-profits and the creation of scholarships. Since its inception in 2016, McGill24 takes place every year on the first Wednesday after reading week and is the largest fundraiser for any Canadian university.

McGill24 is a primarily digital campaign organized by the University Advancement department which reaches potential donors through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To encourage fundraising, some donors, like the Macdonald Faculty Advisory Board, agreed to commit thousands of dollars once a certain number of donations were made. The Faculties of Medicine and Management each received over $200,000 in additional donations after reaching their respective donation targets.

Gabrielle Korn, managing director of the McGill Alumni Association, believes that donations with prerequisites and the concept of a 24-hour fundraiser are important strategies for seeking philanthropic support.

“The way things get funded [at McGill] is, in large part, by government funding,” Korn said. “Philanthropy is the added value that makes McGill really be able to go above and

beyond. McGill24 is a chance for McGillians to be proud of their own institution and [to] give back to McGill itself.”

McGill24 also matched funds to amplify donations. Donors like the Board of Governors and the McGill Alumni Association offered to match the donations of up to $1,000 for current students and recent graduates under the age of 35. Additionally, online donations made through Seeds of Change, a McGill crowdfunding platform that supports several athletic teams and other student initiatives, are also eligible for fund-matching. Funds are ideally matched dollar for dollar; however, since only some donors allow their support to go toward any McGill cause, there are limited matching funds.

“We would like for [donation matching] to be to a one to one as much as possible, but we didn’t quite anticipate the outpouring of student success this year, which is fantastic,” Korn said. “Our team is processing the over 5,000 donations so we don’t know fully how much money is eligible to be matched.”

Opportutoring, a student-led non-profit that provides online English lessons for refugees, is one of over 30 active Seeds of Change campaigns. Amir McGettrick, vicepresident sponsorship of Opportutoring, helped to raise $3,200 for their initiative. As a team member, McGettrick also led the McGill Men’s Baseball Seeds of Change campaign last year, raising over $50,000.

“We targeted the big donors who we knew were going to donate large sums on McGill24

The McGill24 campaign is modelled on similar one-day donation campaigns at Columbia, Cornell, and UC-Berkeley. (Sabrina Girard-Lamas / The McGill Tribune)

given the matching component, but we also reached out to family, friends, alumni [and] our previous co-directors,” McGettrick said.

“That’s the thing with crowdfunding. Everyone needs to be on board because if it is just one person [seeking out donations], it’s not really going to work out.”

McGill24 was inspired by successful oneday fundraising campaigns at many prominent American universities including Columbia Univesity, Cornell University, and University of California-Berkeley. Annual Giving Associate Katherine Hales manages Seeds of

Change campaigns and has seen greater student involvement in McGill fundraising events this year.

“With Seeds of Change, we had more than double the number of projects [this year] than we had last year,” Hales said. “The really exciting thing is that we didn’t have to go out [and advertise the Seeds of Change platform].

[Students] all came to us. There is a boost of publicity [for Seeds of Change campaigns] that comes from McGill24 and students now know that they can benefit from this [fundraising] platform.”

Climate March organizers reflect on the future of climate activism Organizers meet with Quebec Environment Minister to discuss climate change policy

Nina Russell Staff Writer In an attempt to utilize the momentum generated by the worldwide march for climate justice on March 15, the organizer of the Montreal contingent, La Planète s’invite à l’Université (LPSU), will hold two more marches in April and September.

Additionally, LPSU representatives met with Quebec Minister of Environment Benoit Charette on March 22 to discuss climate change policy.

“Essentially, the meeting today was a lot of empty promises as usual,” SSMU Sustainability Commissioner Alison Gu said. “We expected everything that they said, but they also told us that they were going to approve the Gazoduq pipeline [...] which is going to transport liquified natural gas (LNG). The fact is that if we set up more infrastructure to be burning fossil fuels, which is what natural gas is, it’s purported to be [a] cleaner alternative to coal or oil. But, at the end of the day, a lot of the processes that you have to extract and transport LNG are the same or worse than current oil processes.”

Montreal’s protest was one of the largest of the 2,000 marches that took place across the world that day, with 1500 McGill students in attendance. Organizers at McGill began preparing for the demonstration threeand-a-half weeks beforehand. According to

Christina Lau, who handled communications for the march, the demonstration was successful due to the dedication of its participants despite a tight time constraint.

“I definitely think [the march’s success was] because everyone in our group was so passionate and so hardworking,” Lau said. “Each of us was going to three or four meetings a week [...] for hours to make sure everything was exactly how we wanted it to turn out. Montreal had the biggest march in North America, and I feel like that really speaks to how far we’re willing to go to get [action on climate change], and I think that, especially with the next few [marches] coming up, we will be able to prove to McGill how much students want to protect our planet and [see] concrete action.”

Juan Pablo Arellano, U2 Science, who acted as a point of communication between McGill security, the SPVM, and McGill’s climate demonstration, hopes that the results of the upcoming federal election in October will reflect the momentum of the protests.

“I want to do the best that we can to elect representatives that are aligned with our views and who are pro-climate mitigation, pro-sustainability, and anti-climate change,” Arellano said. “[I want to elect] someone who will try to shift policy to make Quebec more sustainable, more self-reliant, and less fossil-fuel dependent. ” The impact of climate change on Indigenous communities was an important

The Montreal climate march was the largest in North America. (Cordelia Cho / The McGill Tribune) theme at the demonstration. Alex AllardGray, a McGill alumnus and member of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation, elaborated on how the government can mitigate the impact on Indigenous communities.

“I think the [government needs to make] policies that protect the environment and protect Indigenous lands from being the

site of environmental abuse,” Gray in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Our culture has already been assaulted in so many ways, as we can see in Canadian history, and this is just another way in which we are having our culture progressively taken away from us. We have to fight harder and harder to achieve what we [want].”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, APRIL 2 2019

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Lucy’s Mirror makes concert debut at L’escalier Music students explore their creativity beyond Schulich Leo Stillinger Staff Writer On March 21, Lucy’s Mirror took to the small stage at L’escalier, a local bar and vegetarian restaurant known for hosting live music events. Composed of five McGill students, the band performed two hour-long sets for friends and curious strangers. For those in the audience, the show was a musical spectacle, a warm social event, and a distraction from impending finals; for the band members themselves, it was a chance to practice their craft outside the dusty practice rooms of the Schulich School of Music.

Lucy’s Mirror was founded by Julia Larson, U1 Music, a second-year voice student at McGill. What began as a solo project took on new life after she joined forces with fellow music students Chris Ross, U1 Music, who plays bass, guitarist Stefan Anghel U1 Music, pianist Simon Brosseau, U2 Music, and drummer Rafa Aslan, U2 Music. While they began practicing together for fun, Lucy’s Mirror is now a fully-fledged act, and the band plays a variety of originals and covers.

Ross sat down with The McGill Tribune to discuss Lucy’s Mirror and the process of making music in and beyond the halls of McGill. Ross spoke about the excitement of playing their first non-academic show. “[The performance at L’escalier] was our first show as Lucy’s Mirror,” Ross said. “It was super fun [and] we all had a great time. It came together.”

Across the two sets, the band slid smoothly between genres and moods: A dreamy cover of Radiohead’s “Nude” preceded a funky, largely-improvised jam.

“Funk, pop, R&B […], I don’t know!” Ross laughed when asked to describe the band’s sound. “We’re figuring it out.”

The band matches their wide musical influences with an easy onstage dynamism. Ross noted that the live setting augmented the group’s freshness and spontaneity.

“When you’re playing in front of people, weirdly, it makes you want to try more things,” Ross said.

Lucy’s Mirror provides the musicians with a freedom in artistic direction that contrasts with the students’ classes at McGill, which are more tightly structured and disciplined.

“A lot of what we’re learning in school is more traditional stuff,” Ross said.

Yet, it is precisely the discipline of their practice, dayafter-day, that enables Lucy’s Mirror to express themselves so comfortably on stage.

“We’re applying what we’ve been learning in school to what we’re playing,” Ross added.

All the musicians bring in arrangements of songs to cover: For example, Rafa is responsible for the ethereal version of “Nude.” Larson writes the majority of the band’s original songs; her lyrics tend toward the personal.

“When we’re doing originals about a breakup or long distance, people know what we’re talking about,” Ross said.

“It’s fun.”

The next step for Lucy’s Mirror is another show on Apr. 3 at Maison2109. Looking past the immediate future, recording plans are on the band’s horizon for next semester.

In the meantime, they will keep writing new songs and

Lucy’s Mirror’s debut performance wowed the crowd at L’escalier. (Julia Larson) collecting new musical ideas, walking the electric tight-rope between careful songwriting and free improvisation.

“It’s the perfect mix between knowing how something should go and figuring it out while it’s happening,” Ross said.

As finals—and final recitals for music students—loom over McGill, Lucy’s Mirror offers an alternative to the pressures of undergraduate life. Their tunes draw musician and listener alike into a small, sonic realm, a shared space of creativity and camaraderie, where inventing as important as memorizing.

“It definitely feels like something different than what I’d be doing in my classes,” Ross said.

Friend’s boyfriend’s Mile End band actually sort of good They’re like Homeshake, but more authentic, y’know?

Matthew Hawkins Contributor Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, friend from residence, Sarah Jensen’s boyfriend’s Mile End band played a gig on March 28 that didn’t totally suck. While they

seemed like any other tiny-hatsporting group of boys, Plunger actually played a pretty solid set; several audience members described it as “a little long winded, but, honestly, alright.”

The audience itself was mostly a crowd of turtlenecked twentysomethings with a diverse

range of Anglo-Saxon roots. One song in particular, “Hal(lelujah) ucinations,” a nine-minute ballad about a mystery girl the lead singer had met at TRH-Bar, was a crowd favourite, although the lyrics were sometimes inaudible over the sound of shuffling Blundstones.

Plunger’s three-person lineup consists of Nick Hewlett, the loud dude with bad takes from POLI 325, on bass; Josh Byman, who you met in the distant past of Sangria Wednesday at Gerts when you both tried to put ‘Drift Away’ into the jukebox, on drums; and Jensen’s boyfriend, Xander Dave, singing and playing his uncle’s electric guitar.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune Xander explained the origin of “Hal(lelujah) ucinations” and described his artistic process.

“Well, I don’t know. It was just sort of an uphill battle, you know?” Xander said. “Like, even if I hadn’t wanted to end up there I just kinda had to [....] I don’t know, it was just something I’d never experienced before, and, like, those things just leave an imprint on you.”

Another crowd-pleasing hit was “Puddle-Jump,” a track which Nick described as “a Peach Pit–Steely Dan fusion with

Student musicians cite psychedelics as an impoirtant part of the song writing process. (@gothshakira)

some Tank and the Bangas.” The duration of the five-minute song saw Xander and Josh shouting ‘Hop’ repeatedly over Nick’s bassline.

Plunger is not on any music streaming services, but they are playing a gig at Sala Rosa on June 3— so, in Xander’s own words: “Come through. It’ll be chill, or whatever.”

In 2024, Canadarm 3, an artificially-intelligent robotic arm designed and manufactured in Canada, will move autonomously over the surface of a space station orbiting the moon. Designed to operate without human supervision, the arm, and the operating system that controls it, will be trusted with the maintenance of the Lunar Gateway, a deep-space orbital outpost designed by NASA to facilitate the next wave of space exploration.

The Canadian government’s plans to construct Canadarm 3 comprise the majority of Canada’s latest space strategy document, entitled “Exploration, Imagination, Innovation.” Released on March 6, the strategy joins an ever-growing international effort to engage in space exploration: China’s lunar exploration initiative, the Chang’e Project, saw its second successful landing of a robotic rover on the moon in December 2018. China currently plans to send a probe to Mars later this year. In 2014, India became the first country to succeed in its first attempt to land a module on Mars, and Luxembourg’s 2016 space resources law has made the country a pioneer in developing the space mining industry.

Canada’s new space strategy represents the latest chapter in the country’s extensive history of space technology, which began in 1959 with NASA’s agreement to launch the Alouette 1 research satellite. In the half-century since, Montreal and its surrounding regions have played, and continue to play, a significant role in Canada’s space activities.

With the launch of Alouette 1 in September of 1962, Canada became the fourth country, after Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, to operate a satellite. Alouette 1, designed to study the properties of the outer ionosphere, proved immensely successful. Initially designed to be shut down after a year in orbit, the satellite operated for ten years and remains in orbit today as a ‘derelict’ space object. According to a 1966 article in LIFE magazine, Alouette 1 will continue to orbit the Earth for another 1000 years.

Montreal’s first major contact with the Canadian space industry occurred in 1974 when NASA awarded Canada the responsibility of designing and manufacturing a remote manipulator system for its space shuttle program. The contract, awarded to the Brampton, Ontario-based company Spar Aerospace, resulted in the construction of the iconic Canadarm, large portions of which were manufactured in Spar Aerospace’s Montreal factory.

The Canadian Space Program solidified its connection to Montreal and its surroundings with the completion of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters in Saint-Hubert in Longueuil in 1993. The building was officially designated as the John H. Chapman Space Centre in 1996 after the influential Canadian physicist. Chapman, who received a Master of Science and Ph.D in physics from McGill, served as the director of the Alouette 1 program and campaigned for the creation of the CSA. Spar Aerospace was later indirectly involved in the construction of Canadarm 2, currently located on the International Space Station. The company was forced to sell its robotics division, including its Montreal facility, to Macdonald, Dettwiler, and Associates (MDA), now a subsidiary of U.S.-based Maxar Technologies.

The Montreal facility, located on the West Island in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, remains the site of major developments in satellite technology.

In an interview with the Montreal Gazette in May 2018, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and Mike Greenley, group president of MDA, described the Montreal facility’s current activities.

“The Montreal site is primarily focused on satellite sub-systems, a lot of engineering and very impressive manufacturing, fourth-generation robotic-based manufacturing of super high quality satellite components that we sell to satellite manufacturers around the world,” Greenley said. “We’re talking about the antennas on the satellites, the electronics in the satellites and the payloads in the satellites that will allow it to communicate, or sense the earth or look at the earth. All those pieces come from here.”

MDA is currently developing three satellites, which, once in orbit, will provide services related to Earth Observation (EO) like maritime surveillance, crop information for agriculture, and ecosystem monitoring to assess the impacts of climate change. Collectively known as the RADARSAT Constellation, these satellites feature prominently in Canada’s new space strategy. Though they were set to launch on board SpaceX corporation’s stateof-the-art Falcon 9 rocket in February, they have now been delayed after a failed Falcon 9 landing in December. According to the CSA website, the RADARSAT Constellation is currently set to launch from Vandenberg, California between May 16 and 22.

According to a statement that Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Navdeep Singh Bains included in the strategy document, the activities of private-sector companies like MDA are crucial to Canada’s future in space. Where the ‘space race’ of the 1950s and 1960s occurred almost exclusively between nations, firms and corporations are playing a larger role in recent space exploration and technological development.

“It has been

estimated that the global space economy will triple in size over the next 20 years,” the statement reads.

“This growth will be driven by a radical shift in the sector, whereby commercial firms are investing heavily in and benefiting significantly from their own space activities. [...] This shift means that space will play a central role in the new digital economy and in developing and supporting emerging technologies.”

Furthermore, according to an article published by the CBC on March 6, MDA has been awarded the contract to design the Canadarm 3, which will launch as part of NASA’s Lunar Gateway.

According to the space strategy, Canada’s contribution to the Lunar Gateway project will provide security in the coming decades for its astronaut program, which currently relies on NASA’s facilities and programs for training. Three McGill alumni have been astronauts, including Julie Payette, the current Governor General of Canada.

In addition to Payette, two astronauts currently involved in the Canadian Space Program have connections to the university. Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons, who was recruited into the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) astronaut program in 2017, completed an engineering undergraduate degree at McGill University before pursuing combustion research at Cambridge University. David Saint-Jacques, who is currently carrying out NASA Mission 58 onboard the ISS, is an adjunct professor of Family Medicine at McGill. Saint-Jacques was flown to the ISS on Dec. 3, 2018 and is scheduled to return to Earth in June.

Expedition 58’s connections to Montreal extend beyond Saint-Jacques. Saint-Jacques’ space suit, known as Astroskin—composed of an experimental smart fabric capable of relaying live physiological monitoring to mission control—was designed by Montreal-based smart clothing startup Hexoskin.

As the Canadian government races into its next space age, the project it has committed to is not without its detractors. NASA has been criticized, most prominently by its former administrator Mike Griffin, at a Nov. 2018 meeting of the U.S. National Space Council Users' Advisory Group, for prioritizing the wrong projects in pursuing the Lunar Gateway international collaboration. In a statement quoted by Ars Technica, Griffin claimed that, in undertaking the project, NASA would be skipping crucial steps toward lunar exploration, namely, the development of its capacity to extract lunar resources.

"The architecture that has been put in play, putting a Gateway before boots on the Moon is, from a space-systems engineer's standpoint, a stupid architecture," Griffin said. "[The Lunar] Gateway is useful when, but not before, we are manufacturing propellant on the Moon and shipping it up to a depot in lunar orbit. We should be, with all deliberate speed, returning to the Moon and learning how to utilize the resources of our nearest Earth-orbit object."

Other concerns related to a proliferation of space-related activity are the subject of an ongoing, international investigation spearheaded by the McGill Centre for Research in Air and Space Law. The Manual for International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS) is a law manual project launched in 2016 with the goal of investigating how, and to what extent, current international laws apply to military activities in space. Consisting of over 30 researchers from seven institutions around the world, the MILAMOS project has held six workshops around the world, with the seventh scheduled for May 2019.

Space research thus extends beyond the boundaries of the McGill Space Institute (MSI), which held its official launch Oct. 28, 2015. Located at 3550 University Street, the Institute was launched as an initiative to overcome departmental barriers between McGill faculty whose research relates to space, including topics like the early universe, dark matter, exoplanets, and galaxy evolution. In the three years since, researchers at the MSI have attempted to detect the thermal radiation of Planet 9, the hypothetical ninth planet in the solar system, and conducted prevalent research into the phenomenon of ‘Fast Radio Bursts,’ mysterious bursts of radio waves emanating from deep space and believed to be linked to young neutron stars.

In a statement in the MSI’s first annual report, Victoria Kaspi, the Director of the institute, outlined the importance of overcoming traditional faculty barriers in the MSI’s vision.

“Universities are traditionally grouped into departmental constructs that, while efficiently categorizing people for administrative purposes, ultimately limit the potential intellectual vision of their inhabitants, forcing them and their ideas into artificial knowledge ‘silos,’” the statement reads. “Given the many responsibilities university faculty have, it is only natural that emergence from one’s silo is difficult. Yet the reality is that the natural world represents an amazing continuum of phenomena; progress in many of the most interesting scientific problems demands breadth of expertise unhindered by artificial, bureaucratic barriers.”

As the second space race gains velocity, Montreal and McGill continue to play a central role in defining Canada’s place in space.

Whether it is in the development of state-of-the-art satellite components or fabrics, in leading research in astrophysics, or in the legal implications of a militarized future in space, Montreal remains the source of some of Canada’s most prominent assets in the nation’s efforts to explore space.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, april 2 2019

March music madness

Spring releases from a rookie and a veteran The month of March saw no shortage of music releases. Both Hozier and Weezer made their comebacks—one triumphant, the other less so—and Solange’s When I Get Home awed Country and R&B fans alike. The final two weeks of this tepid, rainy month have provided us with two more treasures: One from midwest-emo heroes of yore, American Football, and another from seventeen-year-old sensation, Billie Eilish.

Artruism III – Presented

by Photofund

Photofund presents a night of local art and great company. Live music performances for the evening include GLOWZI and Yasmine Gill.

Apr. 5, 8-10 pm.; 4324 St. Laurent; $10-20 tickets.

TX Presents: Morning Star

McGill A Cappella group Tonal Ecstasy will be performing arrangements from artists like The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson for what is sure to be a bright and upbeat evening.

Apr. 7, 7-10 pm.; Café Campus (57 Rue Prince Arthur Est); $10 pre-sale tickets, $12 at the door.

Two new albums to get you through finals season. (pitchfork.com)

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish Katia Innes, A&E Editor Star rating: 3 stars I approached Billie Eilish’s newest album with a degree of hesitance before I had even listened— I found myself irritated by the goth seriousness of the homeschooled seventeen-year-old California native, who rose through the ranks of sad-girl playlists via a collection of SoundCloud singles. So, it was with great reticence that I listened to her album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, an ambitious debut that lulls listeners into Eilish’s cough syrup-sweet vision of Los Angeles.

Produced by Eilish’s older brother Finneas, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP melds bass-heavy trap with light electro-pop; Eilish cackles and gasps between the opposing elements, grounding the album with her eerie vocals.

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP was inspired by Eilish’s recurring sleep paralysis and night terrors, a subject she references in the lead single “bury a friend.”

Eilish’s lilting soprano urges listeners to “Step on the glass, staple your tongue / Bury a friend, try to wake up.” The effect is an unsettling portrait of female youth that rejects Ariana Grande-style #girlbossery and embraces the violent angst that is traditionally reserved for male artists.

Eilish’s youth is apparent in many of the tracks, a characteristic which is simultaneously the album’s biggest strength and biggest detriment. It is hard not to crack a smile when Eilish peels off her Invisalign in the opening track “!!!!!!!,” but she counters this earnestness with cringe-worthy lyrics that betray her immaturity. In “wish you were gay” her assertion that “If three’s a crowd and two was us, one slipped away” is delivered with such self-assurance in her own wisdom, but is genuinely quite confusing. The exhausted ennui that plagues the track “xanny” and unexpected ephebophilic turn in “bad guy” seem out of place. Despite these missteps and the occasionally repetitive melodies, it is refreshing to see a young female artist experiment with her lyricism and style.

Following in the footsteps of Lorde’s Pure Heroine and Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP is a welcome debut that holds a great deal of promise for Eilish.

LP 3 American Football Kevin Vogel, Staff Writer Rating: 4 stars

The Tribune Publication Society’s Board is looking for undergraduate and graduate student representatives, as well as contributor representatives for 2019-2020.

Submit CV and letter of intent (250 words) to editor@mcgilltribune. com by Saturday, Apr. 6.

On March 22, the Illinoisbased emo-indie rock band American Football released their third self-titled album, LP 3. Breaking up only three years after their formation in 1997, American Football took a 14-year long hiatus, performing together again in 2014. Their latest album touches on familiar themes of longing and remorse, yet sets itself apart with a pleasant mix of soft guitar riffs and the smooth, airy voice of lead singer-guitarist Mike Kinsella flowing from track-to-track.

While all of LP 3’s tracks easily hold on their own, “Uncomfortably Numb” (feat. Hayley Williams) deserves special praise. The song tells the story of a broken love and the role of parenting and healing in the aftermath of separation. Kinsella opens with a melancholic assessment of his life: “I can’t feel anything inside / I blamed my father in my youth / now as a father I blame the booze.” Williams joins in the second verse, breaking from the faster tempo style of Paramore to provide a consoling contrast to Kinsella’s sad-dad vibes.

She echoes Kinsella’s lyrics, concluding by singing on her own, “I just want you home.” Treading unusual waters, Williams adds a beautiful layer to Kinsella’s sigh-singing.

In more classic American Football style, “Doom in Full Bloom” features a gentle opening trumpet solo by drummer Steve Lamos. Kinsella and backup singers then contribute a choir-like sound for the remaining seven minutes of the song, lamenting in a lonely contrition over lost love. While lyrically unremarkable, the song uses clever harmonies with vibraphones, vocals, and trumpets to produce a musically-rich but easy to listen to piece.

LP 3 has something for American Football fans and regular listeners alike.

Whether played for its moody ambiance or just for study music, American Football hasn’t lost its lustre after all these years.

Bring Your Own Juice Presents: Three Nights of Live Sketch Comedy

Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre and Bring Your Own Juice bring three nights of original sketch material for your viewing pleasure!

Apr. 4-6, 8 p.m; Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre (3485 McTavish Street); $6 for students, $10 general.

McSWAY Poetry Collective: Open Minds Open Mic pt. XI

McSWAY hosts their last open mic of the year as they launch their firstever zine, Stanza.

Apr. 8, 6-8 p.m.; Building 21 (651 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest); $4 or PWYC.

student living

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019

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A sm(ART) way to combat stress

Paint Party creates a mural to promote self-care Alaana Kumar Contributor In response to the overwhelming amount of stress students face in the final weeks of the semester, the McGill Students’ Chapter of Jack.org hosted a Paint Party on March 29. The organization, a Canada-wide charity that works to empower and train youth leaders to combat the stigma surrounding mental health, planned the event to create a space for students to relax and engage in a creative activity that stimulates the brain and promotes self care. By the event’s conclusion, participants had painted a mural which will be displayed in the Education Building.

Several students gathered in the McGill Art Hive, where facilitators distributed large pieces of paper for individuals to paint images they associated with positive mental health. Some depicted flowers and landscapes, while others wrote quotes or words that empower them. The facilitators hoped that, once displayed, the painting would encourage those who see the mural displayed on campus to reflect on their own self-care practice and find inspiration in the quotes on the wall.

“It isn’t just about getting the best grades,” Jennifer Ower, U3 Arts, said.

“It’s about making sure you are a happy and healthy person first, before you’re a

The collaborative mural currently hangs in the Education Building. (mcgill.ca) good student. The conversations that start today, as well as the ones that will come about after we hang the mural, will be important, because [at Jack.org we] are all about having those conversations, even if it’s hard to start.”

Julia Caddy, U1 Arts, and Ower are co-vice presidents outreach for McGill’s Jack.org chapter and were the organizers of the paint party. Their goal was to promote mental health awareness and introduce students to the McGill Art Hive, a free space in the Education Library that gives students access to a quiet space with a variety of art supplies.

“So many students don’t know about

this space,” Ower said. “People often think if they want to do art therapy they need to buy all the supplies and find a place where they can do it. This is here, it’s free [...] and such a great space.”

Research has found art therapy to be beneficial to most people, as it promotes self-expression, independence, and can allow for one to non-verbally convey emotions. Additionally, those who partake in art therapy often find that it helps build self-confidence and improves communication skills. With these benefits in mind, the staff encouraged participants who previously did not know one another to gather to share their ideas and create one collec-

tive mural by combining their smaller, individual works. The Jack.org team believes this practice is beneficial in more ways than one. “[Creating] art is such an easy way to practice self-care,” Caddy said. “If we can provide the supplies, it’s the kind of thing where you can just drop in, take your time, and express yourself both by talking to the people around you and by creating art. So, to us, it’s the perfect combination of self-care [and] thinking and talking about wellness but also relaxing and doing something fun.”

During the event, students painted while enjoying free snacks, listening to music, and getting to know their peers.

While creating their work, participants discussed plans after university and popular television stars. Caddy and Ower sat and painted alongside the attendees and spoke to the group about their work within Jack.org and their goals moving forward.

“Our hope is to create a space where students can come to take a break and also be productive because they’re focusing on their wellness which, arguably, is the most productive thing you can do this time of year,” Caddy said.

By the end of the night, organizers strung the colourful designs together to create a larger mural to be hung in the Art Hive, and, hopefully, spark conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

Where art and justice meet: A silent auction for Lawyers Without Borders Lawyers without Borders McGill joins art with legal awareness Scott Kennedy Contibutor On March 28, the McGill chapter of Lawyers Without Borders (LWB) hosted its fourth annual Art Sans Frontières silent auction. The event showcased pieces by local Montreal artists that had been donated to raise funds for LWB Canada, a non-governmental organization with a mandate to promote human rights, access to justice, and the protection of minorities in countries around the globe.

Caroline Parent-Harvey, VP Events for LWB McGill, explained that the profits from this event will go to LWB to support its mission of providing legal support to those in need and to finance the group’s international operations.

“This event […] is our main fundraiser, and all the funds go directly to help LWB and the lawyers that are working for them, […] helping out in countries that have […] less developed justice system[s], and, so, we’re really lucky to be able to participate in that,” Parent-Harvey said.

The work displayed at the auction centred around the theme of international activism. The organizers were appreciative of the participating artists and their contributions to the event.

“Without [the artists], there would be no event,” Parent-Harvey said. “We really make sure to put the artist at the middle of this event.”

Gabrielle Landry, VP Communications for LWB, described the importance of the event and its connection to the mission of LWB Canada.

“We want to promote something that’s local to help on the international level, so we want to have a kind of […] bridge between what we have going on here and LWB Cana-

LWB’s Art Sans Frontières silent auction combined art and activism. (Elli Slavitch / The McGill Tribune) da. Here [in Montreal], even anywhere around the world, access to justice can be an issue,” Landry said. “People should be more in touch with their rights and how the justice system works anywhere around the world.”

Participants joined local artists at the Conseil des arts de Montréal Atrium in the historic Gaston-Miron building to take part in the silent auction. The Conseil des arts de Montréal supports and recognizes excellence in the arts, contributing to many artistic companies and collectives in the city.

“We even chose this [hall] because it’s actually owned by the Conseil des Artistes Montreal,” Parent-Harvey said.

“All the profits related to this room are also going to help artists, so we’re really happy about this partnership.”

The LWB McGill team also partnered with Regroupement des Artistes en Arts Visuels du Quebec (RAAV), a professional association that represents visual artists and helped solicit donations for the event. RAAV General Director Bernard Guérin expressed that the organization was particularly enthusiastic to offer assistance to a student-run initiative. “[This event is an] interesting way [to] contribute to a very nice cause, ” Guérin said. “ [I am] very […] impressed by the idea [and] by the […] McGill students [who organized the event].”

Francesca Trop, whose work was on sale at the event, is a Montreal-based artist whose paintings often depict courtroom scenes. As a former lawyer who practiced for 15 years, Trop explained that her experience in the legal profession motivated her to donate her work to the event.

“It was very important for me to give a contribution,” Trop said. “[This event] is related to what I have to say, and I know I will reach out to the public that I am talking to.”

Much of Trop’s multimedia artwork highlights the theme of legal writing, and her pieces on display at the silent auction incorporated real legal documents. Trop explained that the intention behind her paintings is to reveal the creativity in mundane objects such as paperwork.

“I always try to show the hidden poetry [...] in everyday objects or everyday acts,” Trop said.

Through similar events, the organizers hope to contribute toward LWB Canada and promote its values and goals in Montreal and international settings. By the conclusion of the event, LWB hoped to have concurrently uplifted creative voices and attracted the McGill student body to join in their mission of equal access to legal support services.

12 student living

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019

In the Neighbourhood: Little Burgundy edition

What to eat, see, and do in the trendy Sud-Ouest borough Sophia White Contributor Little Burgundy is located in the SudOuest borough of Montreal bordered by Griffintown, Pointe-Saint-Charles, and SaintHenri. The area was once highly-industrial, and has since undergone several phases of gentrification. Little Burgundy now offers a mix of upscale restaurants and cafés, upscale antique stores, and boutiques. In the first installment of the “In the Neighbourhood” series, The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of suggestions for an excursion in Little Burgundy.

EAT

September Surf Café

Catch a break from Montreal’s winter weather and stop by September Surf Café, a minimalist, hip coffee shop that radiates coastal vibes. Founded by surf-enthusiasts eager to express their passion for the sport, the café is adjoined by a workshop dedicated to crafting boards. Diners can order from a selection of coffee, pastries, and light fare. With the recent edition of a bar, September Surf Café is also a great spot to unwind and grab a drink.

Patrice Pâtissier

This fresh, modern bakery serves gourmet pastries, coffee, and a variety of more substantial meal options for a sit-down late breakfast or lunch. Some of the locals’ favourites at Patrice Pâtissier include the banana bread, homemade scones, and the Breton cake kouign-amann. With such a widely-appealing selection, it is hard to go wrong at this toprated dessert spot.

Liverpool House

Sister restaurant to Joe Beef and, more famously, Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau’s date-night spot Liverpool House is located in the heart of Little Burgundy. The restaurant is known for its oyster bar as well as its flavourful and eclectic shareable dishes. Liverpool House is a top-notch destination for fine dining with fewer lines that you might find down the street at Joe Beef.

SEE

L’Arsenal

This open-concept art exhibition space was recently converted from a 19th-century shipyard. L’Arsenal hosts a permanent collection of contemporary art, temporary exhibits, and a program called TD Cultural Tuesdays — a series of experimental events designed to encourage a dialogue between artists and audience members. Véronique Duplain’s Selfie Project, which consists of a series of creative photos that the artist took every day throughout the month of February, is currently on display.

Lachine Canal

Lachine is a popular tourist attraction, offering a scenic getaway from the busy city lifestyle to the serene waters of the canal. It stretches 14.5 kilometres from Old Port to Lake Saint-Louis, and there are plenty of parks, architectural sites, and skyline views to explore along the way. This spot is perfect for a midday break to walk or take a bike ride along the canal, or, once the weather gets a little warmer, kayak or canoe along the waterway.

Take a walk down the picturesque streets of Little Burgundy. (Dan Aponte/ The McGill Tribune)

St-Irénée-de-Lyon Church

The historic church’s towering green domes are impossible to miss from the streets of Little Burgundy, and its interior architecture is equally stunning. Located a block away from the Lionel-Groulx metro station, St. Irenaeus is a must-see destination for architecture enthusiasts and history buffs alike.

DO

Stroll around Atwater Market

The year-round market buzzes with some of the best grocers, boulangeries, florists, and food stands in the city. Stop by Atwater to browse the selection of locally-produced food, people-watch, and chat with local shoppers.

Shop at Rowntree Antiques

Little Burgundy is known for its offbeat vintage stores, and Rowntree Antiques is one of the most popular. Rowntree sells unique European home decor and is a perfect stop for window shopping.

Catch a show at the Corona Theatre

The Corona Theatre has been a cultural hotspot in Little Burgundy since its opening, and it stands as one of the best concert venues in Montreal. The theatre was built in 1912 for silent films and has retained its vintage movie theatre ambiance. It is most popular for its concerts but also hosts occasional film screenings and burlesque performances.

A day in the life of a McGill samosa From kitchen to trash bin Caitlin Kindig & Nicholas Belluk News Editor & Contributor I am pulled to consciousness. My body is torn from the tender embrace of the hot oil from which I was imagined. I am a blank slate with neither thought nor feeling, but, soon, my purpose shall be revealed to me.

“Who am I?” I wonder as I am surrounded by hundreds of my compatriots.

“What is my purpose?” I query as my brethren and me are carelessly thrown into a box and covered by some hastilytorn foil.

As a bemused club executive takes us toward a building I know to be called Leacock, I see my surroundings: a gaggle of Toronto girls talking about their recently-failed midterm. A second-year airpodwearing poli sci bro, pontificating on the latest SSMU drama to a member of the AUS executive team. A lanky French boy in Adidas Stan Smiths about to slip on another patch of—oh, there he goes.

Our dwelling is slammed onto a rickety table, and, within seconds, exhausted students flood toward us, flinging toonies into a plastic tupperware. Three-by-three,

we are lifted out and wrapped up in a page of the Tribune News section that nobody will read because, let’s face it, everything is online these days. Why are they still printing these things?

My purpose, I now understand, is to fill the void left by poorly-scheduled midterms, overpriced Premiѐre Moisson coffee, and mercurial Montreal weather.

Yet, this purpose of mine—a band-aid to cover a fundamentally-broken system—is growing old. All I can offer is a one-lunch stand, but these students deserve so much more; they deserve an emotionally nourishing, balanced diet.

There is a fundamental problem to my existence: Much like neoliberalism, I look a lot better on paper than I actually am. I’m speaking, of course, of the threefor-a-toonie ‘bargain,’ which appears economically superior, since one’s extra dollar buys 33 per cent more samosa than the one-for-one option. However, there are externalities which neither the student nor the laissez-faire paradigm take into account.

What I’m trying to say is this: The three-samosa deal includes one samosa too many. Thus, while the other two samosas are devoured with chutney and

A lonely samosa ponders the meaning of life. (Sabrina GirardLamas / The McGill Tribune) desperation within moments, I, the third samosa, am left to fend for myself. Although it is only half-past noon, I feel the sun setting on my existence. Soon, dusk becomes midnight as I am tossed into a garbage bin.

Ergo, my story closes. I lay here, sandwiched between two of those cakey Timbits that nobody ever wants to eat and a flyer for exam tutoring—which that student really should have kept because the midterm he is about to sit will take him

for a ride. In my misery, I ponder the great theorists—Rousseau, Sartre, Nietzsche— and I come to a realization: There is no God, but there is the samosa creator. He lives within every meltdown, each failed exam, every lost love. He lurks behind every wall, in the asbestos in Schulich, under the counter in what was once Gerts.

God is dead, but he survives. Nay, he is thriving.

science & technology

tuesday, april 2 2019

13

Climate change consensus and denial at McGill

McGill professor argues 97 per cent consensus on climate change is fake

Nina Russell Staff Writer For many students, climate change is a daily consideration when making choices like bringing reusable bags to the store or using refillable coffee cups. Environmental awareness is as prevalent as its effects are terrifying, exemplified by the 150,000 people who walked at the Montreal March for Climate Justice on March 15. In the university context, it can be easy to forget that nearly one third of Canadians are unconvinced that climate change is caused by human activity.

The 97 per cent consensus is a widelycited statistic which states that 97.1 per cent of scientists agree that climate change is anthropogenic, or manmade. This statistic comes from a 2013 study which quantified the academic consensus by examining the abstracts of 11,944 climate science papers and classifying each one based on its position on global warming. The study also stated that the more expertise the author had on the subject, the more likely they were to believe in anthropogenic climate change.

The study has been criticized for only ex-

amining the abstracts that take a concrete position on climate change. Nonetheless, other studies have concluded that a consensus exists among somewhere between 90 and 100 per cent of climate scientists.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Theo Van de Ven, a professor in McGill’s Department of Chemistry, expressed scepticism that the 97 per cent consensus is absolute, citing a petition signed by 31,000 scientists who have called on the government of the United States to reject the United Nations-sponsored Kyoto Protocol. He also alleged that most people only believe in climate change because it comes from scientists who have expert authority.

“This 97 per cent is based, in my opinion, on very sloppy statistics,” Van de Ven said. “I got this email about this [climate march], and it’s good that people are concerned about the climate, but I think that much of our youth is indoctrinated at schools. Why do most high school teachers believe in climate change? Because of the authority. That’s the 97 per cent. If you don’t believe in the 97 per cent, that falls apart. But they indoctrinate kids at primary school and secondary school with it.”

While Van de Ven believes that pollution is

a problem, he remains unconvinced that human activity is causing climate change. He argues that there are many other unstudied factors that could also be attributed to global warming, and, as a result, he finds it preemptive to propose certain solutions such as a tax on carbon.

“There are many fluctuations in the climate, and they correlate very strongly with solar cycles,” Van de Ven said. “It’s very well established. There’s a plausible explanation, but people don’t seem to be seriously willing to investigate it [....] I’m just saying there’s basically no knowledge. This consensus is, in my opinion, just pushed for political reasons.”

Van de Ven remains in the minority of scientists who are suspicious of anthropogenic climate change. In Oct. 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a widely-read report which states that, if global warming is not limited to 1.5 degrees celsius, the consequences for our planet could be catastrophic. The continued refusal to acknowledge the ramifications, despite a widespread consensus among climate scientists has the potential to affect generations to come. The discrepancy between the high percentage of scientists who believe in anthropogenic climate change versus

IPCC report states that 1.5 degrees celsius in global warming could have catastrophic consequences.

(Taja de Silva / The McGill Tribune) . the third of Canadians who do not is alarming, but students can continue to make themselves aware of the consequences of global warming and educate their peers.

An obituary for ‘Oppy,’ humanity’s long-lost Space Prince Remembering NASA’s awe-inspiring robot pioneer of Mars Ronny Litvack-Katzman Staff Writer Opportunity, the Mars robotic rover that stunned humanity by remaining operational for over ten years past it’s original mission date, powered off for the last time on Feb. 13, 2019; a final goodbye at the end of a 225-million kilometer journey.

Affectionately nicknamed ‘Oppy,’ the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) first-generation Mars rover spent 14 years and 46 days on the surface of the red planet.

Originally designed to roam the Martian landscape for only 90 Earth days, Opportunity managed to extend its operational lifespan by using solar energy. In total, Oppy travelled a total of 45.16 kilometres on Mars, farther than any space exploration vehicle, robot or human, has walked on any celestial body.

Scientists and fans of Opportunity will remember it for verifying some of NASA’s most prominent discoveries of the last decade. It was Oppy that, in 2004, confirmed the ancient presence of hematite rocks on the surface of Mars, indicating, for the first time, that liquid water once covered the plant.

Before Opportunity’s descent upon Mars, the closest mankind had come to uncovering its secrets was through satellite images and stationary ‘landers.’ Opportunity, and its sister rover Spirit which got caught in a sand dune in 2009, enabled scientists to traverse the surface of Mars, collecting invaluable samples and data along the way.

Twenty-one months into its journey, Oppy circumvented the Victoria Crater, a massive 750-metre-wide hole in the Martian surface.

“The scientific allure is the chance to examine and investigate the compositions and textures of exposed materials in the crater’s depths for clues about ancient, wet environments,” NASA wrote in a 2007 press release. “As the rover travels farther down the slope, it will be able to examine increasingly older rocks in the exposed walls of the crater.”

After months of travel, the rover descended into the crater itself and recorded images of the comet Sliding Spring on its flight path over Mars.

From the depths of the crater, Oppy examined new rocks unlike any of those ever observed on Mars. Using x-ray spectroscopy, a data collection tool which analyzes the interactions of radiation and matter, the rover was able to verify the presence of aluminum and silicon in the rock samples.

NASA last made contact with Oppy in June 2018 after a severe dust storm swept large amounts of sand across the rover’s solar panels. Reliant on the ability to remain in direct sunlight to charge its solar-powered batteries, Oppy’s energy stores were quickly depleted.

Scientists lost full contact with the rover in Jan. 2019, and declared its mission was over two weeks later on Feb. 13. Both Opportunity and Spirit were part of NASA’s broader Mars rover missions, which include a total of four rovers with two additional robotic vehicles planned for launch in 2020.

Opportunity is survived by the Curiosity rover, which landed in Aug. 2016. According to NASA’s official website, Curiosity is the first of three planned missions that will continue the

Opportunity travelled a total of 45.16 kilometres, farther than any other space exploration vehicle on any celestial body. (Chloe Gordon-Chow / The McGill Tribune) search for geological clues for the presence of liquid water. Another objective of equal, if not greater, value to NASA, is to determine whether those water-holding environments were ever conducive to life on Mars.

As Oppy’s robotic brothers and sisters continue their quest to better understand the red planet and the nature of life in the near solar system, the multitude of discoveries will only increase.

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science & technology

tuesday, april 2 2019

Absurd science names and where they come from The best names in science Morgan Sweeney Staff Writer The naming of scientific discoveries can seem, at times, both absurd and random. For example, shmoos, the mating protrusions of yeast, are so named because they look like a 1970s cartoon character.

Meanwhile, dominant male elephant seals are called beachmasters and Somniosus microcephalus, the Latin name for the Greenland Shark, literally translates to ‘sleepy small brain.’ Biology is also responsible for some of science’s most excessively dull names like ‘levator palpebrae superioris alaeque nasi,’ which means lifter of both the upper lip and of the wing of the nose.

Most of the time when someone discovers something new, they are free to choose any name so long as it fits within the structure of naming in the field. Some fields, like chemistry, have an official organization (such as the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, or IUPAC) that has final say on the formal names of discoveries. Other fields, like ecology, use a more systematic system. The binomial nomenclature, created by the botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the 1700s, gives each organism a distinct two-part name consisting of a genus and a species; which, for the less creative scientist, can be the same as in the case of Gorilla gorilla. Typically, the organism’s formal name is writ-

ten in Latin. Some scientists use this rule to humourous effect.

In 2010, the ecologist Dennis Desjardin and his team called their newly-discovered fungus Spongiforma squarepantsii, in homage to the beloved cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants. In 1977, Arnold Menke named a newfound species of wasp Aha ha. The Australian ecologist David McAlpine named a type of fly This and hung up a poster on his office door with an illustration of the fly that said “Look at This!”

Sometimes, the same phenomena are given different names, illustrating how subjective the naming process is. In the late 1990s, a University of Texas Southwestern research team studying obesity discovered a new neurotransmitter and named it orexin, after the Greek word for appetite. At the same time, a team at Harvard found the same neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus and named it hypocretin because it resembled secretin, another hormone. Since they found it at the same time, there is no clear consensus over who deserves naming rights, and it is still referred to as orexin/hypocretin.

While scientists often use Latin in biology, Greek serves as inspiration for some chemists. Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist in the late 1800s, used Greek words to name the noble gases he discovered. Xenon comes from ξένος (‘strang-

er’), or krypton from κρυπτός (‘hidden’), and neon from νέος (‘new’).

Physicists have also been known to partake in whimsical naming with terms like ‘spaghettification,’ which refers to the phenomenon wherein matter elongates as it draws near to a black hole. Plenty of marketing went into naming physics discoveries in the late 20th century. The God Particle, the Big Bang, and even dark matter were all re-namings of previous discoveries, marketed to keep funding flowing and members of the field on their toes.

Sometimes, the birth of creative scientific terms can be unintentional: A simple misspelling of ‘shift’ led to the creation of the

‘chemical shit’ scale in chemistry.

In every field, proposed names must first be peer reviewed by the scientific community before being published. Nonetheless, there is plenty of room for creativity, and scientists have even approved names that draw on popular culture like Han solo, a trilobite, and Dracorex hogwartsia, a dinosaur. Knowing that these amusing names exist makes studying Transcription Factor II A that much more bland.

But, to all the bored biochemistry students staring out of the window of Schulich, just remember: When you discover a molecule, you can name it something fun.

Scientists often have the opportunity to come up with creative names for their discoveries. (vectorstock.com)

You aren’t right-brained, you’re just wrong

The origins and perseverance of the left versus right brain myth Keating Reid Opinion Editor For much of history, Western theories of what makes people different from each other, such as phrenology, or the pseudoscience linking head shape to mental traits, have been based on the observable, physical differences in our brains. Such theories are unsubstantiated. However, the myth that people tend to be more left or right brained and that this affects their personality persists in pop culture.

A 2013 study conducted at the University of Utah analyzed over 1,000 brain scans of individuals aged 7 to 29 to determine whether the hemispheric dominance theory had any substance.

The answer was a resounding no: Variations in lateralization, or how lopsided one’s brain activity is, only exist within individual brain structures, such as the hypothalamus or the cortex, and not in the brain as a whole. Even then, the impact that lateralization has on cognition is unclear.

“Lateralization of brain connections appears to be a local, rather than global, property of brain networks,” the study’s

abstract reads. “Our data [is] not consistent with a wholebrain phenotype of greater ‘left-brained’ or greater ‘rightbrained’ network strength across individuals.”

Further, contrary to the notion that the right brain is responsible for creativity and artistic talent while the left brain is more analytical, most tasks—even purely logical ones like solving a math equation—involve structures throughout the whole brain.

The myth’s origin, according to McGill’s Office for Science and Society (OSS), can be traced back to the 19th century.

Paul Broca, a French physician, discovered that language processing occurred in an area on the brain’s left side after observing that patients with damage to the area had difficulty understanding speech. These findings proved useful in validating widespread racist and sexist views, contributing to the myth’s longevity.

“When a higher intellectual ability, like language, was found to be localized to the left hemisphere, people interpreted these findings as an explanation for why white men were intellectually superior, because they had a

Lateralization of brain function is real, but it’s not the reason you’re bad at drawing. (alleywatch.com) dominant left brain, of course!”

OSS Intern Cassandra Lee wrote in an article for the OSS. In recent years, the right and left brain myth has had a much more benign effect. It was repopularized in Betty Edward’s 1979 book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, a collection of drawing exercises for adults which advised readers to get into ‘R-mode,’ a euphemism for

‘right-mode,’ to enhance their creativity. Despite its lack of scientific substance, the book was a bestseller: Three million copies sold worldwide, and the book remains in print to this day.

Debunking theories of hemispheric dominance is relatively easy; providing an alternate explanation for why some people seem more innately creative than others is harder. Logical thinking

as a component of intelligence is determined by a combination of genes and one’s environment.

However, scientists are only just beginning to understand the neurological basis of creativity.

A 2018 neuroimaging study from the University of Pennsylvania may point to the answer.

The study found that participants who excelled in ‘divergent thinking’—measured by how many different uses they could think of for a simple object such as a sock—had stronger connections between the neural networks responsible for spontaneous thinking and goal-setting. Creativity, then, is not just the ability to generate new ideas but to discern which are useful.

Despite the popular myth, brains are far too complex to divide into two neat and independent halves. Rather, they are complex networks of highly-specialized areas. While we might be a long way from fully understanding the physical basis for our mental proclivities, new research suggests that creativity is not determined by which parts of the brain are stronger, but by how well they can connect.

sports

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019

15

The 2018-19 ‘Tribune’ end-of-year athletic awards posted the second-highest slugging percentage and third-highest on-base-plus-slugging on the team. In the team’s five games at the Canadian Collegiate Baseball Association tournament in October, Lagarde went seven-for-15, scored 11 runs, and drove in nine. He earned all-tournament team status and the tournament MVP award after McGill’s fifth—and Lagarde’s third—consecutive Canadian University World Series title.

Miya Keilin Sports Editor

Team of the year: Martlet Hockey

On March 17, the McGill Martlets (14-6), fifth in U Sports’ national rankings, claimed silver at the National Championships after falling 1-0 to the Guelph Gryphons (19-3-3). The loss came after an upset victory over the top ranked Alberta Pandas (23-5) in the semifinals and a 10-2 quarterfinal win against St. Thomas (22-5-1) in the quarterfinals. The team also finished second in the RSEQ playoffs behind the Université de Montréal (UdeM) Carabins (15-4-1). Four Martlets earned all-star honours for their individual performances: Third-year forward Jade DownieLandry and third-year goalie Tricia Deguire earned first-team all-league and second-team all-Canadian status, while secondyear forward Kellyane Lecours and fourth-year defenceman Emilia Cotter were named to the RSEQ second team all-league.

Coach of the year: Rachele Beliveau (Martlet Volleyball) Martlet volleyball dropped only three regular season games this year and finished atop the RSEQ standings. Unfortunately, in the RSEQ championship series, they fell to the numbertwo seed UdeM Carabins two games to one. Despite the disappointing loss, Martlet volleyball Head Coach—and RSEQ 2018-19 Coach of the Year—Rachèle Béliveau can still count this as a successful season. With over 600 victories in her 28 years of coaching the Martlets, Béliveau is the has the most wins of any coach in McGill Athletics history, and she has inspired generations of McGill volleyball players.

Female athlete of the year: Jade Downie-Landry

Female rookie of the year: Maria Gheta (Artistic Swimming)

Third-year forward Jade Downie-Landry is 12th on the all-time Martlet hockey points list. (Can Unal / McGill Athletics)

(Martlet Hockey) Third-year Downie-Landry had another outstanding season for the Martlets: She was named to the RSEQ first-team all-league and the Canadian second-team all-league and won the RSEQ scoring title. At the U Sports National Championship, she earned all-tournament team status and tournament MVP honours. She was also awarded Martlet hockey team MVP as well as the Most Outstanding Scorer award. Downie-Landry— who scored or assisted on nearly half of McGill’s goals this season—has the 12th-most points of any player in Martlet history, sitting on an impressive list of Martlet hockey alumnae including Ann-Sophie Bettez and Katia Clement-Heydra.

Male athlete of the year: Sasha Lagarde (Baseball) With 31 hits and 27 RBIs, the third-year outfielder from Pierrefonds, QC led McGill baseball in those categories and also

In February, Gheta earned the top overall athlete award at the National Championship artistic swimming meet. She won two gold medals and one silver medal en route to McGill’s fifth national title in the last six years. She won her gold medals in the duet event, where she competed alongside her older sister Iona, and the team event. She placed second with her solo routine.

Previously, Gheta picked up three gold medals at the McGill Invitational in November; she added two golds and a silver at the Eastern Divisionals in January.

Male rookie of the year: Clement Secchi (Men’s Swimming)

At the U Sports Swim Championships on Feb. 21-23, Secchi came away with one gold in the 50m backstroke and two bronze medals in the 100m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay. He set new McGill and RSEQ short course records in the 100m and 200m backstroke. He also put together a teambest 24.94 second 50m backstroke which third-year teammate Samuel Wang beat in the subsequent heat. Secchi, who earned RSEQ first-team all-star status, was just as impressive at the conference championship meet: He won three gold and three silver medals to help the McGill men’s swim team to a second-

Bay Area sports usher in new wave of fandom

One gets cheaper, one gets pricier, and almost everyone is better for the experiment Gabe Nisker Sports Editor This season, the Oakland Athletics will change baseball. It isn’t the first time they have done so, and, if all goes according to plan, it certainly won’t be the last. However, unlike Moneyball, their first innovation that spawned a Michael Lewis book and subsequent Brad Pitt movie, this development will take place entirely off the field: The 2019 Oakland Athletics are offering a new kind of season ticket.

On July 30, 2018, the Athletics issued a press release announcing the end of their traditional ticketing system—fans paying for the rights to a reserved seat—and introducing a creative new one: A’s Access. The new plan allows members general-admission access to every game as well as an allotment of games in which the member is assigned to a seat. As members pay more, they earn more assigned-seat games. The A’s will also offer other perks, like cheaper concessions and merchandise.

Given the sparse crowds that attend their games, an additional flexibility in their seasonticket plan is the team’s latest effort to boost attendance. The Athletics averaged 19,427 fans in attendance at their home games during the 2018 season, fourth-worst in all of baseball.

As a result, they decided to draw from a rising interest in entertainment subscription models like MoviePass and alter their season ticket plan.

“Obviously, this is a trend in ticketing even outside of sports,” Daniel Rascher, director of academic programs for the sports management program at the University of San Francisco, said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Customers and fans want flexibility, and, if the teams can absorb the fluctuations in demand, they can take on that risk and offer that to fans.”

With the change, fans, who could not afford a traditional plan, have already purchased multiple A’s Access memberships.

“We’re very moderately middle class,” Roberto Santiago, a Bay Area teacher with three children, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “So, something as luxurious as season tickets wasn’t going to be in the cards for us without something like this.”

Across the Oakland Coliseum parking lot lies Oracle Arena, the current home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. When the Warriors move to their new home in San Francisco later in 2019, they, too, will experiment with a new season ticket plan. In their new Chase Center, the Warriors will become the second NBA team to sell personal seat licenses. However, they are the first to use it as the predominant model for season ticketing. A personal seat license is a paid license that then gives the owner the right to purchase traditional season tickets for that particular seat in the stadium. The model is already popular in both American football and European soccer.

That plan is not cheap. The median cost for the 12,000 personal seat licenses to be put

longtime diehard fans out of the basketball

The Oakland Athletics have struggled to fill their seats in the last few years. (Taiyo Keilin / The McGill Tribune) on sale will be $15,000. And, with the Warriors franchise planning to self-finance the new arena, the license will act as an interest-free, tax-free loan from the consumer to the owners since the Warriors will return the license money after 30 years.

Unlike the Athletics, the two-time defending champion Warriors do not struggle with attendance. Instead, by fixing their supplyand-demand issue, Golden State is pricing

experience. While baseball fans like Santiago are now afforded the opportunity to join the seasonticket-holding fanbase, the Warriors’ endeavour does not to cater to their working- and middleclass fans.

Ultimately, teams are looking to maximize their attendance and the revenue that comes with it, and their experiments with season ticket plans are worth tracking. As sports fans look for new ways to engage with their favourite franchises,

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sports

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 2019

Montreal baseball fans want the Expos back Blue Jays Spring Training comes to a close at Olympic Stadium

Gabe Nisker, Miya Keilin, and Gabriel Helfant Sports Editors and Photo Editor Photography by Gabriel Helfant

THE PACKED HOUSE Thomas Pannone

On March 25 and 26, over 47,000 fans packed into the Olympic Stadium to watch the Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers finish up their Spring Training schedules. This series marked the sixth straight season that the Toronto Blue Jays played a set of games in Montreal. And, now, for the sixth straight season, baseball fans who dearly miss their beloved Montreal Expos came to cheer on Canada’s sole baseball franchise in Montreal.

In a pre-game ceremony celebrating the Expos’ 50th anniversary, team legends paraded out from centre field, and, in an annual tradition, former star pitcher Steve Rogers made an appearance to express support for bringing baseball back to Montreal.

“It’s not like you have to manufacture some belief in it,” Rogers said. “It’s been demonstrated certainly. The question will be, ‘Is this sustainable for [a] 162 game season, 81 at home?’ I think it’s been demonstrated that, [for] over six years, the interest is here, and I’m excited for the possibilities.”

Charlie Montoyo had been to Montreal before, but in a different capacity. The Blue

CHARLIE MONTOYO Jays manager earned his first big-league hit in his brief playing career at Olympic Stadium. In an interview with MLB.com’s Alexis Brudnicki, Montoyo recalled his time in the city.

“I’m never going to forget,” Montoyo said. “I had my first hit of two here in the big leagues.

So, that’s a memory I’m always going to have [....] This place has been great to me. It was a fun time for me here, and, now, it’s a fun time to come back as a big league manager, so it’s great.”

Rogers threw his support behind Montoyo.

“He’s one of those good guys out there,” Rogers said. “He’s proven himself in the industry, and somebody might say ‘Well, that Charlie, he’s lucky.’ Well, no, he’s worked his rear end off, and he’s a great baseball man. And, also, he’s a great guy. Always has a good time, always got a smile on his face [....] I understand it’s a new group, the players that are going out on the field [.... I hope] that everything starts to gel and that [that] smile stays on his face all year long.”

As Montoyo built familiarity with his new role and his young team, he handled one tough matter on March 26: Sending players who had not made the Opening Day roster down to the minor leagues.

“You can see it in their faces that guys are disappointed, and guys [who made it] are happy.” Montoyo said. “[This past half-hour after the game] was just like that, disappointment and happiness. But, that’s part of the game.”

Left-handed pitcher Thomas Pannone was one such player looking to earn his spot on the

roster. He started the final game and pitched two scoreless innings.

Post-game, Montoyo gave him the good news. Speaking to reporters, Pannone discussed his mindset throughout the game.

“I had a lot on my mind,” Pannone said. “I wanted to make this team so bad. I was obviously under a little bit of pressure. I just wanted to come out and continue to perform and continue to get better and show them that I’m ready to play in the big leagues.”

While Pannone is used to starting, he made the final Blue Jays roster as a reliever.

“He can give us length, and he could also come and get left-handers out,” Montoyo said. “He’ll give me more matchups, [and] it’ll be easier to manage with another left-hander in the lineup.”

Valerie Plante & the future of Montreal baseball

Part-way through the Tuesday game, Mayor Valérie Plante spoke to reporters, responding to questions about the future of baseball in Montreal. Every year the Blue Jays play Spring Training games in the city, the possibility for a franchise grows stronger. This event is not about the Blue Jays, and it is not about the Brewers. It is—and has always been—about the Expos.

“The idea of having a baseball team here in Montreal is great news,” Plante said.* “Some might ask whether it’s a good use of money, […but], seeing as the promoters have not asked us for a cent, we’re going to support them in this project using the tools already available to the city without asking Montrealers for more money. That’s why I can go into this project with a smile on my face.”

Stephen Bronfman—the son of former Expos owner Charles Bronfman—is making strides toward securing land for a new, privately-financed stadium located at the Peel Basin. Plante, who visited the site with the mayor of Sud-Ouest, on which the land is located, explained her role in the team’s development to reporters.

“As an administration, we’ve invested a lot in developing neighbourhoods,” Plante said.* “Where we can best support a project like a stadium is at the infrastructural level. [The Peel Basin area] has minimal infrastructure [...] and at the level of planning public transport [.…] It’s something in which we have expertise, and it’s something that we support enormously as an administration.”

Former Expos, like pitcher Tim Burke, value the Bronfman family’s role in Montreal baseball.

“I talked to Stephen [Bronfman] this morning, and I just told him I really appreciated what he was doing, but I also told him to tell his dad how much I appreciated him when he owned our team back in the day,” Burke said.

At the end of the day, the message came back around to the viability of baseball’s return to the city. With other teams failing to fill the stands, former Expos outfielder Larry Walker echoed the sentiment that Nos Amours should return.

“You never know,” Walker said. “I’ve been saying it the whole time here, the team was here some 35 odd years, and you don’t keep a team around that long because they were not succeeding or not performing. There [are] other teams in the major leagues right now that don’t draw fans and, in my eyes, shouldn’t have a team. Why not bring back one that was here for over three decades? It would be a nice thing.” *This quote has been translated from its original French.