The McGill Tribune Vol. 36 Issue 10

STUDENT LIVING “Murals of Montreal: ‘Martine’ by Philippe Mastrocola” pg. 11

FEATURE “Out and about: A visual diary of St-Laurent’s nightlife” pg. 08-09

The McGill Tribune

EDITORIAL: QUEBEC MUST UPHOLD FREEDOM OF THE PRESS pg. 05

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

VOL. 36 ISSUE 10

PUBLISHED BY THE SPT, A STUDENT SOCIETY OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM

Filming at McGill A behind-thescenes look at McGill on the big screen Ariella Garmaise Staff Writer

Edward Snowden’s video call was projected in Leacock 132 on Nov. 3 after difficulty with crowd control. (Lauren Benson-Armer / The McGill Tribune)

Edward Snowden speaks at McGill University on privacy and surveillance

AMUSE draws a picket line for their cause, delaying lecture from the NSA whistleblower

Calvin Trottier-Chi Staff Writer Lecture delay and AMUSE picket A line of students stretched around the Leacock Building to the Milton Gates as Edward Snowden, former contractor for the U.S. National Security

Agency (NSA), held an exclusive video conference hosted by Media@McGill on the evening of Nov. 3. Snowden was streaming via Google Hangouts from Moscow, his place of residence since he revealed the extent of the NSA’s domestic surveillance operations in 2013; Snowden has been granted asylum by the Russian government. The famous

whistleblower shared his thoughts on the importance of privacy as a social issue and how these concerns are still relevant three years after his leak went public.

The video conference was delayed by an hour. Sources vary, with many staff and attendees of the opinion that the delay was caused by several

picketers from the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE)—a claim that AMUSE disputes. AMUSE was on strike from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 over their collective agreement negotiations with the McGill administration and were picketing the event because AMUSE members would have been working it.

PG. 02

Global Health Night showcases growing field at McGill

Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of MSF, presents keynote speech

Kate Lord Contributor “Global health at McGill is on a growth spurt,” Suzanne Fortier, McGill’s principal and vice-chancellor, said in her opening remarks at Tuesday’s Global Health

Night.

The annual event honours McGill’s involvement in global health arenas by celebrating students and faculty members who have made award-worthy contributions to the field in the past year. The evening began with a poster fair in which

students were given the opportunity to present their research, which ranged from projects on improved cook stoves in Tibet to evaluating health care in Rwanda.

Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and a McGill

pg. 11 - 13

alumna, presented the keynote lecture. As someone who has worked tirelessly at the front lines of many epidemic-ridden conflict zones, Dr. Liu provided meaningful insight to all aspiring global health workers as to what it really means to work in the field.

PG. 07

In the climactic scene of 2008’s Get Smart, Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) hastily scans his surroundings, desperate to escape a holding cell, where the fictional CONTROL intelligence agency is keeping him captive. In a crucial final moment, he notices the film’s iconic red convertible, and uses the automobile to crash out of the CONTROL facility. What most moviegoers do not know is that the interior of the holding cell is actually McGill’s Redpath Museum, and the doors that Carrell’s fiery red car furiously barge through belong to the university’s postcard-perfect Arts Building.

Get Smart is only one of the countless box office hits shot at McGill, which include X-Men: Days of Future Past, North Pole, and Warm Bodies.

Two weeks ago, students were thrilled to spot Ben Stiller wandering around campus, working on his next project.

Behind collaborations like these are people like Rosetta Vannelli, the associate director of Housing & Conferences, and Stephanie Miller, the administrative coordinator for Student Housing & Conference Services. Vannelli and Miller coordinate the process of arranging films to shoot at McGill. They filter requests, negotiate and arrange payments with campus stakeholders, help scout locations, and build and maintain relationships with film bureaus and location managers.

Vannelli shared a tidbit from her experience as a coordinator during the filming of Get Smart at McGill.

PG. 11

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

2 news

Edward Snowden speaks at McGill University on privacy and surveillance AMUSE draws a picket line for their cause, delaying lecture from the NSA whistleblower Calvin Trottier-Chi Staff Writer Continued from page 1.

AMUSE was on strike from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 over their collective agreement negotiations with the McGill administration and were picketing the event because AMUSE members would have been working it.

Media@McGill volunteers claimed that AMUSE was blocking the entrance to Leacock 132, the large lecture hall where the conference was held. McGill Security did not comment on the situation, simply asking attendees to remain in an orderly line.

One security guard, who spoke to The Tribune on the condition of anonymity, claimed that they hoped to remove everyone who was inside the building and then streamline the entrance process.

“We are trying to make order for the people waiting outside,” the McGill security guard said. “Not everyone can go inside, only 600 people. There are 5,000 outside.”

Most attendees were not informed about the cause of the delay and blamed the picketers. Carlo Mole, U3 Arts, was largely in support of AMUSE’s goals, but grew increasingly frustrated with the crushing crowd and the delay to enter Leacock 132.

“I understand that it’s a massive event and they want to showcase their issues, which is why I agree with what they are doing outside, but by blocking the door they’re probably getting students angry at the movement,” Mole said.

AMUSE members at the Leacock 132 entrance claimed that it was McGill security officers who were preventing people from entering. AMUSE Internal Affairs Officer Bradley Powell, who was picketing the event, explained that they were not trying to do a hard picket and only sought to inform attendees of their situation, but allow students to enter the lecture hall if they still chose to.

“We are not blocking this event,” Powell said. “We are trying to explain that if people cross our picket line they should acknowledge that they are crossing a picket line. The labour that was supposed to run this event was our workers, who were on strike. So they have replaced our labour with scab labour in order to make this event run, as you can see it was very poorly organized.”

Eventually, attendees who had been waiting outside marched into the building chanting, “Let us in!” Although they originally resisted the crowd, security soon started leading attendees into the classroom. AMUSE picketers called out to entering attendees, but did not physically interfere. Gabriella Coleman, McGill professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies and an organizer of the event, later claimed that the delay was the result of students skipping the line.

“I’m still not clear as to whether it was legal or illegal for [AMUSE] to picket in Leacock,” Coleman said. “I think [AMUSE was part of the blockage] but the bigger part was actually people who had come out of this classroom in a prior class who didn’t want to go to the back of the line.”

Edward Snowden discussed privacy issues, mass government surveillance, and recent events in Quebec. (Lauren Benson-Armer / The McGill Tribune) Lecture from Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower By 8 p.m., Leacock 132 had filled quickly and security barred the doors to the classroom, opening Leacock 26 as an overflow room. Video connection was established with Edward Snowden, who began by thanking attendees for their patience. In regards to AMUSE, he commended their spirit and reminded students of the importance of having the right to protest and share ideas.

“This is the kind of thing that happens in a democracy,” Snowden said. “We have uncertainties, we have difficulties, we have inconveniences. But, these are not weaknesses, these things are strengths.”

Snowden then began his lecture on privacy issues and mass governmental surveillance. He expressed worry over the fact that dangerous legislation–such as Canada’s Bill C-51 and the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Bill–continue to pass into law in democracies. He also argued that the failure of courts to provide oversight is a serious concern, as the best safeguard against intelligence agencies are guarantees that prosecutors will conduct case-by-case reviews of their operations.

“Governments have not asked for the permission of the public to engage in these kinds of operations,” Snowden said. “Instead, they deploy these kinds of capabilities in secret, even when they knew these programs were unlawful. Courts were unwilling to permit legal challenges against the activities of these spy agencies because they said there was speculation, because [intelligence agencies] can say, ‘You can’t prove you’re spying because it’s classified.’”

Snowden spoke of how a combination of fear-mongering and technological advances gave intelligence communities the ability to get away with remotely monitoring essentially any individual.

“Traditionally, the works of intelligence services, surveillance agencies, and police investigations, have always been particularly and specifically targeted towards individuals who had probable cause,” Snowden said. “Now, surveillance technologies have outpaced democratic controls [and] for the first time in human history, it is both technologically and financially feasible for governments to

track and survey complete records of all of our lives.”

Intelligence is usually split into ‘content,’ which are the actual messages sent, and ‘metadata,’ which are the characteristics of the messages, such as when or where they were sent. While it is feasible for members of the public to encrypt the content of their communications, they do not control the metadata that they produce. Metadata does not belong to an individual and Snowden expressed concern over social media and telecom corporations that control their users’ metadata.

“The government holds that you don’t actually own records of your activities, you only have a private interest in actually what you say,” Snowden said. “When you have enough metadata, you don’t need the content. Metadata is a proxy for content because machines can analyze it in a way content can’t. Metadata creates perfect records of private lives.”

In response to a question about what conditions could justify total surveillance, Snowden replied that invasion of privacy includes moral judgements, not just purely utilitarian considerations. He also reminded the audience that data gathered through mass surveillance has historically never made a concrete difference in investigations.

“This is very similar to arguing, ‘What if torture were effective, what if extra-judicial murder were effective, we’re talking about assassinations here, what if slavery was a wonderful economic program?’” Snowden said. “It wouldn’t make it right. It’s not the question of can this thing be justified in terms of efficacy, it’s, ‘Do we want to live in a world without human rights?’”

Snowden argued that the ability to behave as private individuals is analogous to the ability to own private possessions and that it is the foundation of other rights and freedoms.

“When somebody says, ‘I don’t care about privacy because I’ve got nothing to hide,’ that’s like saying ‘I don’t care about free speech because I have got nothing to say,’” Snowden said. “Privacy is about the ability to have something for yourself, whether it’s a home, whether it’s a car, whether it’s a pencil. Whether it is an idea, whether it is a belief.”

news 3

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

QPIRG-McGill runs Existence Referendum

SSMU Council creates Democratic Governance Review Committee

Results will determine if ISG will continue to receive student fees

Discusses restructuring of Senator elections

Cherry Ng Staff Writer From Nov. 3 to Nov. 8, the McGill branch of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG-McGill) is running an existence referendum to determine whether students will continue to fund QPIRG-McGill through an opt-outable student fee of $5.00 per semester.

QPIRG was established at McGill as a student club in 1980 and became an Independent Student Group (ISG) through a referendum in 1988. The organization is non-profit and studentrun group with a focus on environmental and social justice issues that connect McGill to Montreal communities.

According to Julie Skarha, chair of the “Yes” committee and member of the QPIRG-McGill Board of Directors, existence referendums began for all ISGs in 2007. McGill mandated that all independent fee-levy groups must run a poll every five years asking the student body if the organization should continue to exist. If the QPIRG-McGill referendum results in a majority “No” vote, the fee will be discontinued.

“We have to have a majority ‘Yes’ vote, which is 51 per cent of all undergraduate and graduate students and the quorum has to be 10 per cent,” Skarha said. “The fee is necessary for all the programs and staff we fund and for us to continue all that we do.

Coco Zhou, U4 Arts, and member of the “Yes” committee, said that QPIRG-McGill has played an important role in her political development.

“I first interacted with QPIRG through their workshops, like Culture Shock,” Zhou said. “I found their workshops very useful and [they] spoke a lot to me as an immigrant. QPIRG has been key to a lot of student experiences at McGill, especially those who are marginalized. The group is the cornerstone for a lot of social justice work on campus.”

Some of the programming and projects QPIRG-McGill provides on campus include Rad Frosh–an alternative to faculty froshes that has a social justice and activism focus–and Social Justice Days, which is an annual week-long event of workshops and discussions about local and global issues held in the Winter semester.

According Igor Sadikov, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Arts Representative and member of the QPIRG-McGill Board of Directors, the ISG connects McGill to the wider Montreal community.

“In addition to the events [QPIRG-McGill] hosts and provides, the group also [creates] bridges between students and the Montreal community,” Sadikov said. “SSMU services doesn’t really have the ability to do this because SSMU is focused on providing service directly to its members, whereas QPIRG allows students to branch out and be involved in the Montreal community all while remaining a student-led organization.”

QPIRG-McGill offers a variety of programming, including the University Exchange Program, where students conduct research with community groups. Another project that brings McGill and Montreal communities together includes Convergence, a research journal that combines undergraduate research with community-based research.

David Aird, SSMU Vice-President External Affairs, said that QPIRG-McGill is important beyond the programs and projects the group offers.

“QPIRG delivers a service that is not typically delivered by [SSMU] and they offer space to students that, unfortunately, we don’t,” Aird said. “Their existence is important to a lot of people. In my opinion, the safest place on campus to be yourself is the QPIRG office. I can’t emphasize enough how important QPIRG is in a university setting.”

SSMU officially endorsed a “Yes” vote for the QPIRG existence referendum at its council meeting on Nov 3. A “No” committee was not formed.

Jenna Stanwood News Editor At the Nov. 3 meeting, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council voted in favour of supporting the Quebec Public Research Group (QPIRG) existence referendum, restructuring Senator elections for the Faculty of Engineering, and creating a Democratic Review Committee.

Engineering Senator Elections Council passed the Motion Regarding Electing Student Senators from the Faculty of Engineering, which proposes that the election period for engineering senator positions be moved. Formerly taking place during the SSMU election period, members of the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) will now vote on their Senate representative during the general EUS election period in Winter 2017. Engineering Senators will now be elected annually alongside EUS executives and representatives to SSMU, instead of alongside SSMU executives. According to Tre Mansdoerfer, SSMU Engineering Representative, the motion is intended to increase participation and competition in the election of Engineering Senators.

“I’m aware that [the Faculty of Management] runs [their] senator elections under their own faculty elections [as well],” Mansdoerfer said. “I think it’s going to help with voter turnout. That’s the purpose of this motion [... and it] is going to help make the engineering senator position more appealing and not have it be uncontested like it usually is.”

Some councillors expressed concern that the by laws for all senator elections should be revisited instead of addressing problems at the faculty level. In response, SSMU Vice-President (VP) University Affairs Erin Sobat stated that this was something that could be looked into, but that he might not be comfortable changing all SSMU election regulations.

“I think we’re happy to look at that if other faculty associations are interested [...],” Sobat said. “In terms of the election regulations themselves, we can revisit that, but SSMU is tasked by McGill for filling these seats [for Senate], and we do delegate them, to some extent, to the faculty associations [for] representation. But, [SSMU is] still responsible for putting forward the names, so there should be some sort of central mechanism still from SSMU [...] to make sure that those seats are getting filled.”

Creation of an Ad-Hoc Democratic Review Committee Council also voted to create an Ad Hoc Democratic Governance Review Committee to review and produce recommendations for reform to SSMU’s highest governing bodies, including the Board of Directors (BoD) and the General Assembly (GA).

According to Arts Representative Igor Sadikov, this motion was presented in response to changes in the role of the BoD last year.

“Basically the main purpose of this committee would be to review some of the procedures and limits on the power of the [BoD],” Sadikov said. “This is mostly just coming out of the changes that were made at the end of last year where the [BoD] got increased responsibilities [....] However, this was done, in my opinion, without the necessary oversight or transparency regulations for the Board [....] It’s expected that big governance changes will be reviewed once they’re implemented, so it’s good to have a committee even if there weren’t major issues [....]”

Sadikov clarified that the committee’s purpose was not to eliminate the BoD. “This motion is far from questioning the existence of the Board, I recognize that it’s legally required,” Sadikov said.

According to SSMU President Ben Ger, this committee will help to define what issues the BoD should and should not take responsibility for.

“The division is not properly outlined to some extent. There are times when the Board ends up dealing with something that could be seen as a political matter because it is tangled with something that is legal, so there definitely is room to further define [its role...],” Ger said.

Ger emphasized that this committee will play a different role than the Equitable Governance Committee.

“At least my envisioning of this is that they’re very different bodies,” Ger said. “Equitable governance reform is mainly focused on bringing more voices around the table, making sure this is an accessible space to those who maybe are [underrepresented…. The Democratic Review Committee] is more focused on making sure that there is consultative practices, that there is a strict outline for how [these bodies function] democratically.”

SSMU Council discusses engineering senator elections on Nov.3. (Noah Sutton / The McGill Tribune)

4 news

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Drop in appointments overhauled at McGill Counselling and Mental Health Services

Changes affect access to medical notes Domenic Casciato Contributor Starting this October, receiving medical notes for exam and assignment deferrals has been made substantially more difficult. With the ongoing integration of McGill Counselling and Mental Health Services (MCMHS), drop in appointments at the student mental health clinic have been overhauled. As a part of this change, students will no longer be able to receive medical notes during drop in hours unless they meet the criteria for the newly designed “Safety Appointments.”

Safety Appointments function the same as drop in appointments, but they are reserved for students who are considered urgent cases.

This includes those who are having thoughts of harming themselves or others, have had a recent drug overdose, have recently attempted suicide, or been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. It also includes those who have recently been physically assaulted, are feeling disconnected from reality, or are fearing for their physical safety. Drop in hours for students with psychological ailments that do not meet these criteria have been eliminated. For these students, medical notes will be available only if they have had past appointments at MCMHS. According to the Director of McGill Counselling Service Dr. Vera Romano, MCMHS was

faced with significant issues with wait times for both drop-ins and scheduled appointments.

“One of the key rationales for delineating the safety appointments [was] the fact that, when the intake process got bottlenecked, [...] it created situations where a lot of [the] urgent appointments [...] were filled,” Romano said.

“Those who actually were in danger or were in grave need did not have access.We did not implement a change in our [medical note] policy. We have implemented changes that have to do with access, and those have ramifications on how students access medical notes.”

According to Romano, the overhaul of MCMHS is a continuing process.

“It’s very important to communicate that we have not yet finished the launch,” Romano said. “That is, we’re still in design stage. We’re looking for feedback to see what’s working [and] what’s not.”

The availability of medical notes is one of many items that Student Services plans to address as they continue to tweak MCMHS following its integration. According to the Interim Senior Director of Student Services Cara Piperni, the administration is looking into a number of options to address the issue of medical notes.

“We’re looking at the possibility of having a case manager, like a nurse or a social worker, and they could have time carved out to deal with [medical notes],” Piperni said. “We

are looking at the possibility of defining ‘urgent appointments.’”

According to Piperni, it is unlikely that urgent appointments could be used to receive medical documentation for exam deferrals.

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) University Affairs Erin Sobat thinks that the policy change was shortsighted.

“I don’t think that [they are] considering the reality of how accommodation works,” Sobat said.

Sobat has reached out to Student Services in order to negotiate making medical notes more widely available within the new urgent care system.

“I don’t think Student Services fully understands the fact that [they] are basically hanging out to dry this category of students that doesn’t meet this threshold of urgent need,” Sobat said.

Caitlin Courchesne, U3 Science, feels conflicted about the changes. She understands the rationale, but, as a former drop in patient at MCMHS, she is simultaneously frustrated.

“You might not know exactly what a mental health disorder is until it presents itself under a situation of high stress,” Courchesne said. “In the context of [the] exam period, I can imagine that there is probably an influx of students who go [to drop in appointments]. If someone

is going who doesn’t need it, then that puts someone else who really does need to access the service at a disadvantage.”

However, Courchesne also feels it is difficult to define a person’s need for mental health services and is worried that without access to medical notes, many students will lack the time necessary to seek mental health support.

“What is the definition of who needs it and who doesn’t? That’s a spectrum,” Courchesne said. “I’ve used emergency drop in during exam time. I went through a loss during [an exam period]. I lost my grandmother. That, by definition, wouldn’t qualify for me to get exempt from an exam anymore [....] It’s just frustrating for me to look back on that.”

MCMHS will no longer give out medical notes from drop in hours. (Coralie Delettre / The McGill Tribune)

Construction forces relocation of Remembrance Day ceremony Ceremony to take place at Place du Canada instead of McGill’s Lower Field Nicholas D’Ascanio Contributor For the first time since 2009, the Royal Canadian Legion’s Remembrance Day ceremony will not be held on McGill’s Lower Field due to the construction on Sherbrooke. The ceremony will instead take place at the newly renovated Place du Canada on Rene-Levesque Boulevard.

Administrative Coordinator for the Office of the Principal and ViceChancellor Naomi Allsopp was in charge of organizing the event when it was held at McGill. According to Allsopp, the Legion was concerned about noise levels and obstruction of the Roddick Gates caused by construction this year.

“The ceremony first came to McGill in 2009 because of the construction at Place du Canada,” Allsopp said. “It was the Legion’s decision to move back there because of the construction on Sherbrooke, not McGill’s.”

Remembrance Day ceremonies across the Commonwealth are traditionally held before cenotaphs, monuments that honour those who died in all wars. When the ceremony was held at McGill, a temporary wooden cenotaph was erected. Now that the ceremony has be relocated to the Place du Canada, it will once again take place next to the Montreal

Remembrance Day ceremonies had been held on McGill’s Lower Field since 2009. (Natalie Vineberg / The McGill Tribune) Cenotaph.

According to Allsopp, Lower Field has its own historical and symbolic importance, despite not being in close proximity to Montreal’s official memorial.

“It was the place where many soldiers gathered before the First World War,” Allsopp said. “Many of

these soldiers were McGill students.

Many actually left for Europe from Lower Field.”

The decision to hold the ceremony at McGill has not been without controversy. Protests organized

by Demilitarize McGill have been a common occurrence at Remembrance Day ceremonies since 2014.

Demilitarize McGill is an activist group that opposes McGill’s involvement in defense research and has used Remembrance Day ceremonies as a platform to protest Canada’s military engagements abroad.

Adam Templer, U4 Arts, served in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve and has attended Remem-

brance Day ceremonies on Lower Field. He recalls when a spectator chastised Demilitarize McGill for protesting.

“Neither she nor anyone around me could believe they were protesting on Remembrance Day,” Templer said. “[Demilitarize McGill] didn’t earn any sympathy or support, and I don’t think they ever have by doing so.”

For Alice Rougeaux, U3 Arts and a member of Demilitarize McGill, moving the ceremony off-campus does not change her opinion that McGill is still complicit in military violence by continuing to hold a ceremony at MacDonald Campus.

“While I am obviously glad the event is removed from campus, therefore removing the oppressive presence of the military, weapons, and other glorifications of militarism, it doesn’t exactly strike me as a resounding victory,” Rougeaux said. “This might have been different if the removal was deliberate and in line with my objections to the performance of Remembrance Day.” During the annual ceremonies, McGill has hosted various dignitaries including the mayor of Montreal, members of federal and provincial parliament, diplomats, and representatives from veteran groups. In 2014, then Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec presided over the ceremony at McGill.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

OPINION 5

e d ito r i a l Editor-in-Chief Julia Dick editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Natalie Vineberg nvineberg@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors April Barrett abarrett@mcgilltribune.com Nicholas Jasinski njasinski@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Jenna Stanwood, Sara Cullen, William Pang news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Emma Avery & David Watson opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Lydia Kaprelian scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Audrey Carleton studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Albert Park features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Selin Altuntur & Evelyn Goessling arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Zikomo Smith & Aaron Rose sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Domitille Biehlmann & Daniel Freed design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor L-A Benoit photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editor Noah Sutton multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Clare Lyle webdev@mcgilltribune.com Daniel Lutes online@mcgilltribune.com

Quebec must uphold freedom of the press Last week, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM) revealed they had obtained a warrant to monitor the cell phone of La Presse journalist Patrick Lagacé in order to determine the identity of his sources for an investigation into police fabrication of evidence. Over the last several months, police obtained 24 warrants from provincial courts to monitor the numbers of Lagacé’s incoming and outgoing calls and the GPS location of his phone. Since then, both the SPVM and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) have admitted to monitoring the phones of at least nine other journalists and confiscated the laptop of another.

This behaviour on the part of Quebec police, as well as the courts responsible for issuing the warrants, is deeply troubling.

The scandal could have damaging consequences for provincial media outlets, as well as for Quebec citizens, who depend on the local press and are equal stakeholders in the right to freedom of the press.

For investigative journalists,

off the board

Copy Editor Areni Nicoghosian copy@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Mingye Chen business@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Executives Richard Blaser, Alexander Beaumont, Zain Hussain ads@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors

Mingye Chen, Julia Dick, Audrey Carleton, Shrinkhala Dawadi, Arman Bery, Clare Fogarty, Arden Li

Staff Writers

Christopher Li, Margaux Delalex, Morgan Davis, Julia Metraux, Arman Bery, Nicole Spadotto, Joe Khammar, Alexandra Harvey, Lauren Benson-Armer, Eric NobleMarks, Ariella Garmaise, Jackie Houston, Calvin Trottier-Chi, Cherry Ng, Holly Cabrera, Ava Zwolinski, Andy Wang, Izze Siemann, Justine Touchon, Ceci Steyn, Alissa Zilber, Cordelia Cho, Madeline Kinney

Contributors

Annabelle Schofield, Domenic Casciato, Ellen Owsowitz, Emma Hameau, Erin Dwyer, Hannah Taylor, Jordan Gowling, Josh Fichman-Goldberg,, Julia Briand, Kate Lord, Marie Labrosse, Nicholas D’Ascanio, Paige Mysliviec, Wasif Husain

Tribune Office

Shatner University Centre Suite 110, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 T: 514.398.6789 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.

Julia Dick Editor-in-Chief McGill is a large school teeming with spaces to get involved.

Finding your niche as a freshman is daunting, and, even then, being involved can come to feel like a burden. Students must often juggle their coursework with extracurricular activities, social commitments, volunteering, and athletics. Students who are incredibly engaged may feel lonely and disconnected. Those who are introverted, such as myself, often feel exhausted by the standards of involvement—these expectations are not written on paper, and are not part of the requirements for graduation. Instead, the expectation to be busy is gradually and imperceptibly ingrained in the behaviour and attitudes of McGill students.

Being busy is glorified at McGill. Resume builders abound.

Being busy is seen as the height

the anonymity of sources is sacrosanct. It is through this guarantee of anonymity that whistleblowers and other vulnerable sources can feel safe to come forward and share their information with journalists. This process is often crucial when it comes to exposing instances of government or private corruption, abuses of authority, or corporate malpractice—indispensable stories that help keep governments and corporations accountable to the citizenry. Investigative pieces, such as The Boston Globe’s famous exposée on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, often depend on confidential testimony from victims.

If sources no longer feel that they can talk to journalists without the risk of exposing identities to police and other figures of authority, they will be less likely to come forward. Fewer stories will be exposed, meaning both the press and the public will suffer.

A free and independent press has a vital role in democracies; this scandal risks jeopardizing that function. Because citizens can only hold their government

accountable if they are informed, the press performs an essential democratic service through its reporting. In Canada, this role is enshrined in the Constitution: Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees “freedom of the press and of other media of communication.” By invading the privacy of Lagacé and other journalists by monitoring their phones and seizing laptops, the police are impeding the media’s ability to provide this service.

The manner in which these warrants to monitor journalists were granted also has concerning implications. These journalists were not monitored because they were suspected of a crime: Their privacy was violated as a means to gather information on others.

Surveillance in the digital age opens a significant number of new possibilities for police agencies, but they must continue to operate in a way that allows for the protection of privacy rights—especially when anonymous sources are involved—by maintaining the same standards

of probable cause as other forms of police work.

If there is anything to be gained from this scandal, it may be the increased interest in protections for journalists in Canada.

According to Tom Henheffer of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Canada “doesn’t have anywhere near the kinds of protections [for journalists] that most Western democracies do.” This includes the lack of “shield law,” which would prevent journalists from being compelled to reveal anonymous sources in court.

The Montreal police’s behaviour should be troubling not only to members of the media, but to anyone concerned with the state of democracy in Quebec. The provincial government has announced the creation of a public inquiry to look into the affair. Needless to say, the police and the municipal and provincial governments must endeavour to regain the trust of the media and the people. This scandal should also serve as a sober reminder of the value of and need to protect freedom of the press in Quebec.

Don’t call me busy of accomplishment. It means that you are excelling at being an overachiever, and are somehow managing to do it all. But, doing it all, as author and COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg writes, is a myth: It just isn’t possible. When friends and family describe me as being busy, I often shy away from the word. I’ve been described as “busy” so frequently that I have come to subconsciously dissociate from it. Time is limited; attempting to fill time just for the sake of it is an easy way to lose motivation and sleep.

Often, my anxieties come not from being overwhelmed by all that I have to do, but from feeling that I have not struck a perfect balance between work, school, and life. Such a balance is not elusive—it is fictional. The impossibility of perfect balance causes personal insecurities to rise. I procrastinate too much. I don’t spend enough time with my friends. I spend either too much or too little time in the library. When my peers ask me how I manage to do it all, it brings this sense of imbalance into sharp relief.

It’s impossible to fill every hour of consciousness to the highest potential. There aren’t enough hours in the day. Without quiet moments of solitude, the prospect of burnout increases. Lack of sleep, high workloads, missing a few meals, or not eating healthy all contribute to burning out. Often, I find myself wrapped up in blankets with a cup

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The concept of “busy” is a sticking point. It attempts to define my life as an engaged student while eliding the variety of learning opportunities that I have had during my time at McGill.

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of tea watching mind-numbing videos online or re-reading a favourite novel. Taking moments like these shouldn’t feel illicit. But, the expectation to be in a constant state of doing causes many to put personal well-being on the backburner.

The concept of “busy” is a sticking point. It attempts to define my life as an engaged student while eliding the variety of learning opportunities that I have had during my time at McGill. When peers describe me as busy—or even, when I catch myself saying that I am “too busy” to do something—it reinforces the anxiety of trying to do it all.

The intent might be sincere, but the effect is self-doubt, bringing my insecurities into focus.

I do what I can to keep my head above water while juggling multiple expectations and responsibilities. I don’t always succeed. When I would have criticized myself as being lazy—for having failed to exercise a few times a week, for having bought dinner out rather than organizing my meal plan for the week, for not getting away from campus enough—I have learned to ease up.

The drive to be highly productive with one’s time is seemingly inescapable, but recognizing that no one manages their time perfectly helps to alleviate the stresses that come with being busy. The hope is that when we all look back on our time at McGill, we remember it as being fulfilling, rather than simply busy.

6 OPINION

C o m m e nt a r y

Jordan Gowling Contributor On Oct. 31, 1.4 million people checked in at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, North Dakota on Facebook, in an attempt to thwart alleged local police surveillance. This mass check-in was, for all intents and purposes, an act of online solidarity.

It was executed in the hopes of aiding protesters who were at the Standing Rock fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline by Energy Transfer Partners, a natural gas and propane company; however, the flood of check-ins represents the perfunctory nature of digital activism in the face of growing police suppression on the frontlines of grass-

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Protesting in the digital age: Online activism is not enough roots movements. Although activism conducted through social media and online forums is well intentioned and easily accessible to many, it is not enough on its own: Its participants must be informed and engaged with the issue at hand, and it must complement rather than obscure traditional activism on the ground.

In the case of Standing Rock, this is not to say that all those Facebook users should have grabbed a flight to North Dakota; however, digital activists need to supplement their online efforts by engaging their community or university about the importance of indigenous rights, or even organizing a local protest against Energy Transfer Partners’ involvement in the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. This is because digital activism demands less engagement, potentially resulting in less informed participants: An online activist need only reach for their laptop and click a button to feel as though they are contributing to a cause.

Furthermore, there is an underlying problem pervading much online activism: Misinformation.

Digitally-promoted grassroots movements can blur the facts behind an

issue because the person that is willing to click a button is often not on the ground nor invested enough to read more about it. Kony 2012 is a primary example of digital protest gone wrong, as many online users did not realize the source of the information was fraudulent. The Kony video, produced by the Invisible Children charity organization, took the internet by storm, calling for the capture of war criminal Joseph Kony in Uganda. The disturbing part of this online call to action was that no one questioned the charity—which was criticized for its lack of accountability—or the information on Kony, and blindly donated their money. Kony 2012 exposed the dangerous side of digital activism: It can suffer from a lack of knowledge among its followers and promote hysteria.

The number of physically engaged and present protesters is an important variable in a protest’s ability to achieve its goals. During the 2011 protests in Egypt calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, digital platforms were used for organizational purposes; however, the protests’ most prominent impact came out of the sheer size of crowds that convened

in Tahrir Square. The physical confrontations between thousands of protesters and police in Cairo streets garnered worldwide media coverage and led to the dismantling of the corrupt Mubarak government. This is what can be achieved when a group of citizens physically demonstrate, interact, and even commit civil disobedience in the society at large. If organizers and participants during the Egyptian demonstrations had limited themselves to digital platforms, the impact of their activism would have been significantly less.

While digital platforms can help reach a larger audience than would have been possible without social media, the rapid spread of awareness does not require users to be informed on and engaged with an issue. Like most trending online content, what a person clicks on one day in solidarity may be forgotten the very next. There is no requirement to follow through with online support for a cause.

Events in which the protester informs themselves, is physically present, and talks to people in person about the given issue, are more likely to have a lasting impact and encourage participants to fight for lasting changes. Digital activism is not the

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Although key for organizational purposes, digital activism does not demand that which is most important in any collective protest—an engaged individual.

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most impactful or knowledgeable means of creating lasting change on an issue, government, or society at large. Although key for organizational purposes, it does not demand that which is most important in any collective protest—an engaged individual. This engagement means being physically present in a public space; it means interacting with people who represent a variety of ideas, and it means being informed.

L a u g h in g M a tt e r s Planet McGill: The McLennan midterm migration

Jackie Houston Columnist As dawn breaks over McGill campus, still glistening with last night’s freezing rain, all seems quiet. The Yintersection is deserted and most doors won’t open for another couple of hours.

But, rest assured, there is one building that never sleeps: The McLennan-Redpath Library complex. Majestic, isolated, and open 24 hours seven days a week, it is perhaps the most delicate and dynamic ecosystem of the McGillian wilderness. This extraordinary habitat and its intricate topography house a range of species, and there is no better time to observe them than the midterm migration. This mass movement begins shortly after add/drop season, and will continue until the arrival of finals.

The inhabitants of McLennan at this time of year are as diverse as they are spectacular, and patterns of movement vary among species. None, however, are immune to the existential threat of an upcoming midterm. Re-

search suggests that the words “40 per cent of your grade” actually trigger a survival mechanism in the McGill student, pushing species of all varieties— from suited-up Bronfman dwellers to late-night Burnside outcasts—to the common haven of McLennan.

Among the earliest arrivals are the post morning-lecture migrants—that elite breed that maintains 8:30 a.m. class attendance even after the first week of the semester. They forage for sustenance at Snax or Dispatch, and, as a reward for their early rise and morning trek, get first pick of the highly coveted first floor window perches. Midterms may loom, but this group of regular inhabitants remains calm. McLennan is their home. It will not betray them at this critical moment.

The post-morning-lecture migrants share their habitat with a demographic that is, in many ways, the very opposite—the last-minute-paper-writers and afternoon-midterm-crammers.

These academic renegades rely on a diet of pure caffeine and evade extinction on an hour-to-hour basis. Interspecies mingling is rare. With the exception of the occasional printer conflict, the two groups coexist peacefully.

The peak of activity comes at noon, as a combination of motivation and pure panic drives hoards of students to McLennan’s doors. Herds of first-years set up camp on the first and second floors, seeking confidence and security in numbers. The subspecies of this young group can be usefully categorized in terms of emotional stabil-

ity—one half bears the crippling anxiety of facing midterms for the first time, while the other half still remains blissfully naïve to it. By finals, sadly, the latter group will be an endangered species.

The more hardened fourth-year specimen, meanwhile, is a solitary creature, but claims its territory through intimidation. It has two laptop chargers, an abused course pack, and a granola bar. The first-years accept these displays of superiority and steer clear.

As the day rolls on, the wide variation in the library’s terrain and function is revealed. The Première Moisson watering hole is a hub of interspecies interaction, attracting hungry students with its overpriced nourishment and early 2000s pop and soft rock music. Similarly, the adjoining Redpath Library serves as a noisy meeting place for group projects and review sessions.

As one travels upward, away from the camaraderie of group studying and further into the realm of Darwinian survival of the fittest, the topography becomes harsher. A desolate, silent wasteland of fluorescent lighting and empty coffee cups, the sixth floor is capable of sustaining only the most resilient forms of life: Grad students. Thanks to an adaptive mutation, however, the midterm-laden McGill undergraduate student can suppress all self-preservation instincts in order to venture onto this floor. It no longer actually needs to live.

It just needs to pass this semester.

Night falls, bringing with it the exodus of those lucky specimens who make it out alive, and the arrival

The McLennan Library ecosystem is delicate and dynamic. (Alissa Zilber / The McGill Tribune)

of those incredibly unlucky ones that have a midterm the next day that they have yet to study for. These nocturnal creatures strip both their coats and their morale to hunker down for the long,

lonely night ahead. But, as always, morning will come. And whether it brings victory or defeat or something in between, McLennan will still be there when they return.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

science & technology

7

Global Health Night showcases the growing presence of the field at McGill Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of MSF, on being a global health revolutionary Kate Lord Contributor Continued from page 1.

“It is important to stand for our principles, for what we believe,” Dr. Liu said. “It is important that at one point you draw a line. And you will have to draw your own line as you go around in this kind of world and […] see things that don’t make sense.”

Dr. Liu spoke about her time in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the middle of its 1999 civil war. She explained that the ‘humanitarian corridor’ she was working in quickly became known as the ‘humanitarian corridor of abuses.’

“That meant that every woman [in the corridor] got sexually abused,” Dr. Liu said.

“I remember back then, that something had to happen [.…

When] I presented [my solution to the MSF] board, their answer was, ‘This is war, Joanne; we’re [responsible for] life-saving and people don’t die from rape.’ But I did not accept that [.…] I would not accept the unacceptable.”

Despite resistance, Dr. Liu was

fact or fiction:

able to develop a comprehensive package for responding to sexual violence cases—including a full medical examination, emergency contraception, wound care, and STI vaccines or preventative measures—that today is used almost universally.

The 2014 Ebola epidemic was an unprecedented and hopeless challenge for MSF, Dr. Liu explained.

“It is important to remember how unprepared we were, even though we are in the 21st century,” she said. “We can send […] people into orbit, but we [could] not care for people with a disease that was diagnosed in 1976.”

Dr. Liu concluded her address with a simple request to McGill’s future global health practitioners.

“Fight for life,” Dr. Liu said.

“That’s the only rule I ask you to not break when you are going to do something in global health.”

For students interested in the future of global health at McGill, Dr. Madhukar Pai, director of McGill Global Health Programs, outlined the three goals of his strategic plan.

“First is [for] education and students,” Dr. Pai said. “The second is to support innovative

McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier addresses the audience at Global Health Night. (Noah Sutton / The McGill Tribune) global health research, and the third is [to] our international and national partnerships to further McGill’s presence, and actually become partners with other people [in the field of Global Health].”

The future for global health at McGill, according to Dr. Pai, is bright. “[There] is a whole slew of

opportunities for students to get involved in global health,” Dr. Pai said. “We have a journal called ‘Prognosis’, [about] global health, [which is] edited by our students.

We started a new blog, ‘Global Health Perspectives’ [....] Our students [have our support] for whatever conferences they want to organize or host. [We offered]

the first ever credited Global Health course.”

McGill is also working towards creating a School of Population and Global Health, which the Senate approved in October.

“We genuinely see that the future of Global Health Programs is within this school,” Dr. Pai said.

is the placebo effect real?

Erin Dwyer Contributor When you hear the word “placebo,” what comes to mind? A flashback to the 100 flashcards of Psych 100? Medical studies and controls?

People tend to think of this phenomenon detached from their own lives. But, in reality, the placebo effect can have concrete physiological consequences and is frequently used in medical treatment, hitting closer to home than we think.

A placebo is a mimic treatment, commonly in the form of a sugar pill.

Control group patients in medical studies or treatments are blind to the fact they actually aren’t consuming any medicine at all. The behaviour of this group serves as the standard used by conductors of experiments to judge the effectiveness non-placebo treatments. The ‘placebo effect’ occurs when patient control groups perceive relief of the symptoms the actual drug was intended to produce.

Professor Dr. Irving Kirsch of the Harvard Medical School and the associate director of the Program of Placebo Studies, says the placebo effect occurs thanks to a conditioned response to taking medicine: We take drugs and we anticipate the drug will have an effect.

“Just as Pavlov’s dogs had learned to associate the sound of a bell with food,” Kirsch told CNN. The ‘placebo effect’ isn’t exclusive to

Placebos are often used as controls in medical studies. (Cordelia Cho / The McGill Tribune) individuals who consume a placebo pill.

“The placebo effect also contributes to the people that are in the drug group in that trial,” McGill Professor of Psychology Dr. Jeffrey Mogil said. “[For example,] how much of the effect is ibuprofen and how much of it is the placebo?”

Considering this question, testing new drugs in clinical trials can be complicated.

Researchers, therefore, can’t take the results from non-placebo groups at face-value.

“If the drug does something, then the drug plus the placebo [effect] are responsible, which will be a bigger [response] than in the

placebo group, who only have the placebo response,” Mogil said. “And that’s how you would know that a drug is actually doing something.”

The placebo effect manifests itself in a variety of ways within the body, particularly psychologically.

“Sure, it’s all in your head, but psychological changes will influence your brain chemistry,” Kirsch told Forbes last year. “The placebo has a physiological effect in that it causes the brain to release its own endogenous opioids.”

Opioid release, in the case of pain relief,

suppresses the pain response. Whether pain relief comes as a result of the placebo or the drug of interest can be difficult to determine.

“If you give subjects a substance that block those natural opioids, the placebo effect stops working,” Kirsch told Forbes.

Despite the scientific dialogue of trials, studies, and controls, placebos are also used in the doctor’s office.

“Doctors have been using the placebo effect for thousands of years,” Mogil said.

Medical professionals have long known that no one wants to go home empty-handed.

Providing patients with some type of pill satisfies their expectations.

“The main reason for administering placebos in late 18th century medical practice was to satisfy the patient’s demand and his expectations,” Professor Robert Jutte of the Institute for the History of Medicine in Germany, explained in his study published in the 2013 issue of Complementary Therapies in Medicine.

The phenomenon has continued to the present day. According to a WedMD survey including three Chicago-area medical institutions, just under half of the 230 doctors reported using placebos in medical practice.

While the mechanism is still not entirely understood, placebos work for the vast majority of people.

“People have been looking for some personality variable that explains placebo responding for a long time and in general have been unable to do so,” Mogil said.

“Pain is entirely subjective.”

3.

Out and About A visual diary of St-Laurent’s nightlife

3. A man waits to cross St-Laurent on Laurie-Anne Benoit Photo Editor

its intersection with Avenue des Pins, hoping to sell tulips to people passing by. Bars such as Bifteck or Vol de Nuit are not off-limits to these street vendors. With a hopeful countenance, the vendor approaches potential customers, some of whom are happy to purchase a gift for a companion. The business exchange is short and simple, with the vendor ultimately providing his customer with a memento of their night out.

4.

A panhandler stands in an empty doorway as people pass by. Even though homelessness is not a rare sight in a metropolis such as Montreal, the juxtaposition of the lives that can be seen on St-Laurent is striking. Most nightgoers try to avoid meeting her eyes as they make their way through the street.

The bright hedonistic atmosphere of the street clashes with the realism and bleakness of the scene.

5. As the night winds down and people’s balance worsens and their vision blurs, many resort to greasy, unhealthy food as a form of remedy. Whether it’s from La Belle Province, le Main, or A&W, junk food is the fuel to power one’s walk home after a long night out.

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t’s a cold Friday night in November, yet the street is busier than ever. People are crowded on the sidewalks, waiting in disorderly lines and eager to get into the coolest bars and clubs. Cigarette smoke mixes with the cold air as enthusiastic chatter rings over the noise of the traffic. People lean on window ledges, posing for the perfect selfie or Snapchat, while others devour steamies from La Belle Province or 2Chow noodles.

Every so often, fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances race through the scene of revelry.

Undoubtedly, boulevard StLaurent is a staple of Montreal’s nightlife scene. It is a familiar location that holds countless memories for many students.

1. People are in high spirit to celebrate Halloween. It is early for a night out—just shy of 10 p.m.— yet a line is already forming to get into Club École Privée, a nightclub on the intersection with Rue Milton. The lineups for clubs and

bars make it difficult to navigate the narrow sidewalks of St-Laurent. It becomes an exercise, with people bumping into one another and shoulders brushing as partygoers make their way to their next destination. On one hand, this invokes a feeling of chaos, but on the other, it only enhances the feeling of closeness and camaraderie.

2. A trio of friends are indulging

in the modern practice of taking group selfies. Despite the bustle of the street, some people still find themselves drawn into the virtual world of their phones. Some take photos to create memories, while others use social media to document their whereabouts to others.

The way people share events with friends has evolved with the emergence of new technologies and apps, such as Snapchat and Instagram. Taking photos and sharing it online is one way for people to feel as though they are together with all their friends in enjoying the festivities that St-Laurent has to offer.

People often line up at one a.m. to get their hands on some 2Chow noodles.

With a bit of luck, the waiting time will be very short; however, during peak hours, it is normal for someone to wait around 20 minutes to get their hands on the popular snack. Perhaps it’s the affordable price of $2 that makes this establishment so popular. Or maybe it’s the delicious peanut butter or teriyaki sauces noodles that makes it so desirable.

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10 science & technology

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

How far away is the male contraceptive?

Initial trials on male birth control show promise but side effects halt progress

Annabelle Schofield Contributor A recent clinical trial published in the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism produced promising results for a male contraceptive injection, but was halted early due to reports of side effects.

The study, which followed 320 men and their partners, found that administering testosterone and progestogen hormones effectively prevented pregnancy in 96 per cent of users. The few pregnancies reported occurred within the first weeks of the treatment—suggesting that greater success could be achieved with an extended “suppression” phase of treatment, in which the injected hormones reduce sperm count.

The trial stopped enrolling new participants sooner than planned after many reported a number of adverse side effects, including mood disorders and acne. Professor Bernard Robaire of the McGill Departments of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Obstetrics & Gynecology, who has carried out extensive research into male fertility, however, warns against jumping to conclusions about a trial with no placebo.

“You have to have a control group,” Robaire said. “Those men, I can guarantee you, would report a whole series of side effects. Every study that has had placebo groups has had placebo effects, anywhere between 30 and 70 per cent.

So, in this way, this study design is conceptually flawed.”

He highlighted that the side effects described

A clinical trial on male birth control was stopped sooner than planned due to the reported side effects. (ibtimes.com) are difficult to quantify objectively.

“The higher libido, for example, that is a really subjective point,” Robaire said. “How do you assess whether the treatment actually caused it? Unless you did this in a double-blind manner, where neither the patient nor the investigator knew whether they were getting the drug, then to me these data have very little meaning.”

Despite the reported side effects, at the end of the study, 75 per cent of participants reported being willing to use the contraceptive, which bodes well for the future of male birth control.

Although the biological principle of the study has proved effective, Robaire points out that logistical improvements must be made before the contraceptive becomes available.

“I think the concept of testosterone enhanced with something else will work as a male contraceptive,” Robaire said. “What you need is a better method of administration. What we propose, and have used, actually, are subdermal implants.

In fact, they were the basis for the development of Norplant as a female contraceptive.”

A subdermal implant, like Norplant, would

side-step the inconvenience of the biweekly injection used in the study.

“It’s been shown that you can put a crystalline steroid in plastic tube and it melts out of the membrane, goes into the circulation, and can last for a long time,” Robaire said. “That works very well rabbits, mice, and monkeys—the size of the tube used is about three millimeters in diameter and four centimeters in length. [For males, the subdermal implant] would have to be the size of a pencil.”

It is clear, therefore, that the realistic viability for a contraceptive implant for men depends on much needed biosynthetic advances. Development of a more bioactive analog of testosterone, for example, could make a smaller implant viable—as could improving its release rate.

Research into non-hormonal methods of birth control is also promising. Sperm cells rely on calcium for fertilization. Reduced fertility has been seen in men taking calcium channel blocking medication—sparking research into its use as a contraceptive, with encouraging results.

Another current line of research investigates the role of retinoic acid (vitamin A) in sperm cell production. Multiple studies suggest that manipulation of the breakdown and synthesis of the compound in the testis could be engineered to prevent conception, an approach currently in the animal trials stage.

So, will we see a male birth control pill in pharmacies in the next few years? Most likely not.

But, for the generation conceived in its absence, it looks promising.

Montreal team designs net-zero energy dwelling Joint McGill-Concordia team to compete in China Julia Briand Contributor Students and faculty from McGill and Concordia have teamed up to construct a sustainable dwelling to enter the 2017 Solar Decathlon China. This year the competition will be held in Dezhou, China’s ‘Solar Valley’–so named because of the region’s focus on solar power generation. The design theme of this year’s competition is the construction of a twostory solar-powered house for a single family in Dezhou.

Team Montreal is comprised of students and faculty from several different departments at Concordia and McGill. The diverse group of faculty support have experience in team management, research, and sustainable building practices.

An international extension to a U.S. Department of Energy program which has been held biennially since 2002, the Solar Decathlon China was started in 2011, in partnership with China’s National Energy Administration, as a contest where university teams from four different continents compete to construct the greenest dwelling. These contestants must design a functional, comfortable, and sustainable home by connecting clean energy technology, energy conservation, and environmental stewardship with creative architectural design.

Their successful designs have been used to model the future of sustainable living and to stimulate future development and ecological awareness. The Solar Decathlon China requires that the residence be equipped with the necessary appliances for occupancy by a real family. The

designs are evaluated by a panel of experts on the bases of cost, efficiency, power capacity, and architectural quality.

Team Montreal developed a DeepPerformance Dwelling (DPD) design that is applicable to both the living context in Dezhou and in Montreal. The team plans to construct a permanent home in both cities. The DPD is meant for an urban setting and is inspired by iconic designs like the Montreal Rowhouse and the Siheyuan Courtyard house, taking a culturally integrative approach. “‘Deep-Performance’ implies a socially, culturally, and technologically advanced architecture that embodies qualitative and quantitative notions of performance in addressing energy efficiency, comfort, well-being, affordability, environmental sustainability, and ecological awareness,” Team Montreal writes on its website.

Through typological architecture, the dwelling is innovatively designed as a net-zero energy and low-to-zero carbon system housing unit.

“Our approach to net-zero energy is through Passive House design and construction principles,” Ben Wareing, architecture lead for the team, said. ”This methodology allows us to reduce the energy demand by 70 to 80 per cent, [while] the remaining demand met by the [solar] photovoltaic system on the roof.”

The house design promotes an interplay between technological advancement and sustainable living. For example, inhabitants are made aware of solar power usage, among other data, from sensors within the house, encouraging an ecologically-minded lifestyle through

Team Montreal’s Deep Performance Dwelling design for Solar Decathalon China. (Julia Briand / The McGill Tribune) visualization. The core of the DPD design is flexibility and adaptability through time.

Team Montreal’s innovative design draws from multiple disciplines to encourage learning and research in a variety of fields.

“It’s a great pedagogical opportunity for our students because the project itself is based on innovation and collaboration,” Carmela Cucuzella, associate professor from the Department of Design and Computation Art at Concordia and one of the main faculty members involved, explained. “It’s hard to get such an opportunity at an undergraduate level, so we are very excited.”

The team is supported by distinguished

research labs, such as the Facility for Architectural Research in Media and Mediation (FARMM) at McGill, the Centre for ZeroEnergy Building Studies (CZEBS) at Concordia, and the Topological Media Lab (TML) at Concordia.

“We would like to create awareness and prove that if students can provide affordable net-zero energy housing, then the industry should be able to apply these design principles and techniques [as well],” Wareing said.

“We are trying to propagate an approach that encompasses socio-cultural, economic, and environmental aspects [… towards] a holistic approach to sustainability.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 11

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Filming at McGill

A behind-the-scenes look at McGill on the big screen

Ariella Garmaise Staff Writer Continued from page 1.

“In the filming of the Get Smart movie, when the car exits through the Arts Building front doors onto the steps, the crew realized at the last minute that the width of the door would not permit the car to pass through due to the side mirrors, so they had to remove them for the scene […] and then you see the car again on the campus grounds and the mirrors are on!” Vanelli said.

Montreal has long been a cinematic hub, a key location for major motion pictures like White House Down, Brooklyn, and Stephen Spielberg’s The Terminal.

Montreal’s appeal as a location is its malleability, and at the centre of that appeal is McGill. A historic institution within a busy city, McGill had doubled as everything from the Pentagon to Harvard.

“We have a variety of buildings with a variety of styles allowing us to appeal to a broad range of films or televisions series, etc […]” Vannelli explained.

“As location managers say, they can shoot anything at McGill from a period piece, to an 90s series scene to a contemporary scene to a futuristic science fiction scene all in one day in one location!”

Montreal’s fusion of historic European architecture, artistic culture, and modern urban life makes it unique for its inhabitants as well as for film viewers. On film, however, this distinct combination can be easily manipulated to portray virtually any other city in the world.

“Montreal was the only city in North America that gave us the flexibility to double [for] Paris, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia,” said Jim Young, producer of The Words, in an interview with the Quebec Film and Television Council (QFTC).

The relationship between McGill and film production is symbiotic.

“Certainly, there is financial gain for the university with such a program in this form of an alternate revenue,” said Miller.

Generally, access fees range between $2,000 and $4,000 a day, but this fee is location-dependent; buildings like Redpath Museum and the Faculty Club are more expensive. Access fees are only part of the economic implications. The university also charges building service staff, parking, and security service fees.

This profit benefits the university in a multitude of ways.

“I always try to provide at least 25 per cent [of the fees paid by the filmmakers] directly to the faculty [where the project is being filmed]. As well, a percentage of the overall access fee is returned to the university as part of the Student Housing and Hospitality Services

Warm Bodies (2013) used McGill as the setting for a zombie apocalypse. (creativecow.net)

commitment,” Vannelli said in an interview for McGill’s alumni magazine, McGill News.

However, McGill focuses on more than profit, and is well aware of the cultural impact their historic setting holds. McGill makes a concerted effort to help Quebec and Montreal based artists by giving subsidies to projects with low production budgets.

“We feel it is important to support the local filmmakers and encourage this industry,” Miller explained.

McGill is one of many Canadian universities that uses their campus as locations for film. Many universities, especially schools near cities with thriving film industries like the University of Toronto and Simon Frasier University, have media relations departments dedicated to work with film production companies.

McGill has promoted its successes in the film industry to other universities in Montreal.

“We are quite proud of the reputation we have with the location managers and with the City of Montreal Film and TV Commission,” explained Vannelli. “We have been asked in the past to speak to other Montreal universities about the processes.”

Get Smart (2008), starring Steve Carrell, was filmed in various locations on campus. (mcgill.ca)

Filming on campus poses many benefits to universities; however, big productions may also disrupt student life.

“Film crews have a habit of taking over an assigned space in [a] bold fashion, and tend to forget that they are in a university setting,” explained Vannelli, “We learned very quickly to put safeguards in place that minimize the inconvenience that may be caused.”

“We generally permit shoots mainly in summer when there is a smaller student population on campus,” explained Miller. “Proper communication is key!’

Beyond the McGill campus, Montreal is a desirable destination for filmmakers. From a financial perspective, Montreal is attractive because it offers tax incentives. The QFTC advertises that, “Quebec offers some of the most advantageous cash rebates available in North America,” with, “20 per cent cash-back on all expenses.” Larry Franco, a line producer of White House Down, told QFTC that Montreal was $25 million cheaper than elsewhere.

Montreal also offers superior technological support.

The QFTC explains that Montreal has over 40 visual effect companies, making it one of the best cities for post-production work in the world.

Juan Diego Solanas, director of 2012’s Upside Down, told QFTC, “I was so impressed by the professionalism of the technicians here, and the DOP’s [Director of Photography], they are unbelievable.”

Beyond the technical components, the filming process also places Montreal—and more specifically, McGill—at the centre of an illuminating artistic experience. Vannelli explained that it’s particularly interesting to have insight into the artistic development of a film. She and Miller have witnessed all aspects of this creative process; Vannelli was in awe of acclaimed 27-year-old director Xavier Dolan and his work on the film Mommy, which he filmed at the Arts Building.

“As he explained the scene to his crew during a technical visit, it was easy to envision the scene as he likely saw it in his own mind [...] a masterful director!”

Vannelli remembered.

Filming at McGill gives students an exciting opportunity to recognize their alma mater on the big screen. More than that, it is a chance to watch talented actors and directors work to produce a creative vision, and a source of inspiration for students with the hopes of one day putting their Hollywood dreams into action.

12 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

In virtual reality: Entertainment and enlightenment at Björk Digital exhibit Josh Fichman-Goldberg Contributor Drifting off to sleep after attending Björk Digital, I found myself in an ontological panic.

I was falling into a strange half-dream-state that had me questioning the true nature of reality.

Montrealers have one week left to enter the mouth of Björk, the iconic Icelandic singer. After the Björk Digital exhibit at Centre Phi Gallery closes, museum-goers will no longer have the privilege of staring into her epiglottis as her voice lifts them into a space beyond reality. The Björk Digital virtual reality (VR) experience is, as one would imagine, a surreal trip. It is moving, disturbing, bizarre, and enlightening. It is undoubtedly the future of experiential media.

After making stops in London, New York, Sydney, and Tokyo, the multimedia exhibit has come to Montreal as part of this year’s Red Bull Music Academy, a travelling culture festival featuring music, talks, and installations.

Throughout her career, Björk has consistently pushed boundaries— and not only with her music.

Her artistic persona explores our primal instincts and our role in the natural world. In crafting content for VR, she has created art that challenges our perceptions and extends our sensory experience to new landscapes.

For many exhibit attendees,

P o p R h et o ri c

this will be the first time putting on a virtual reality (VR) headset.

The exhibit consists of five VR music videos from her most recent album, Vulnicura. A second gallery displays Björk’s new Biophilia app and a reel of her latest videos.

From the outset, viewers might be skeptical about the emotional impact of a VR music video. The first video for “Black Lake” confirms these suspicions: It’s gimmicky and doesn’t take full advantage of VR as an interactive medium. Thankfully, the exhibit gets progressively better. A highlight is the somewhat claustrophobic experience of being inside Björk’s mouth as she sings “Mouth Mantra”. The video for “Quicksand” is mesmerizing, involving animated grains of sand that dance around the viewer’s head, forming abstract images.

The final video for “Family” is the most exciting use of the technology. The viewer is standing upright with the VR headset, holding two controllers that allow for interaction with a virtual environment. With the headset on, viewers see the movement of their own hands and arms, allowing them to reach out and touch their environment.

An animated version of Björk sings and takes viewers flying through a sea of animated vulvae.

The experience feels oddly emotional, as one experiences a degree of intimacy with the artist

that would not be possible in any other medium. The fourth wall is broken, and the barrier between technology and reality is blurred.

Despite this success, there is no doubt that the technology is still primitive. VR is a young yet rapidly expanding industry, with the market expected to grow to $120 billion USD by 2020. At times, this exhibit feels like a prototype experiment in an emerging media platform.

The display is pixelated and the clunky Samsung Galaxy headset risks causing neck pain after an hour. The medium is clearly still in its early stages, but when the technology advances, the possibilities for storytelling are endless. But, despite the technological downfalls, the exhibit is still undoubtedly worth attending. This is an exciting opportunity to partake in the emergence of a platform that is sure to become hugely popular in a number of years.

As our media landscape shifts into uncharted territory, this multimedia exhibition is an example of how interactive technology can revolutionize our perception of the world around us, causing us to question the nature of reality.

Björk Digital is an ongoing exhibition at the Centre Phi at 407 Rue Saint-Pierre in Old Montreal. It will end on November 12th. Book your appointment at phi-centre.com/

t h e times t h e y are a c h an g in ’ : b o b d y l an , n o b e l l a u reate

an esteemed artist needs the award at all. In an astoundingly complex display of mental and verbal acrobatics, a Telegraph By now, you probably op-ed even dared to compare already know that Bob Dylan’s Dylan’s victory to the rise of Nobel prize win is either a Donald Trump. triumph of lyrics as The cultural legacy of Bob literature or Dylan is undeniable. Biographies the harbinger of the man (including those of the written by Anthony Scaduto and Howard Sounes) border on portraying him as a saint. Bob Dylan had his finger on the pulse of 1960s America. Whether skewering well-meaning elitism in “Like a Rolling Stone,” attacking entrenched racism in “Hurricane,” or simply, beautifully pointing out that “The Times They are A-Changin’”, Dylan had something insightful to say on almost every subject in the most turbulent decade of the post-war era. Lyrically, he was the best of them all. If any musician were to be considered a literary force, it’s him. Leonard Cohen put it best when he said Bob Dylan continues to stir controversy today. (Alejandra Morales / The McGill Tribune) that giving Bob Dylan the Nobel

Eric Noble-Marks Staff Writer

Björk Digital is a unique VR experience. (dhc-art.org)

decline of Western civilization.

Over the past few weeks, the announcement has led to an all-consuming blaze of Internet think pieces. There’s been an explosion of responses that few artists (other than Kanye), let alone septuagenarian folk icons, are capable of starting.

Intrepid writers both affirm and condemn the notion of lyrics as poetry, deftly expose the Nobel committee’s bias towards white, male writers, and question why such

Prize was like “pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the tallest mountain.” To say he doesn’t need the Nobel Prize is an understatement. It’s an honour but an afterthought, considering the cultural colossus that Dylan has become in past decades.

With this in mind, the controversy isn’t really whether Bob Dylan deserves the Nobel prize. In terms of cultural impact, of course he does. It’s more a dispute of the prize’s purpose. Some may question the committee’s decision to recognize a pop culture icon like Dylan, who played to thousands of adoring baby boomers for outrageous prices at last week’s Desert Trip Festival in Indio, California instead of choosing a more unheralded literary figure (as was the case with last year’s winner Alice Munro). Others may argue that the Nobel Prize should seek to recognize and advance traditional literature—a field already under siege by a plethora of new media.

Addressing these concerns involves doing more than

talking about Bob Dylan or the Nobel Prize; it means talking about literature. Just as Mother Theresa and Barack Obama’s Peace Prize wins got us talking about the complexities of peace in modern society, Bob Dylan’s triumph behooves us to do the same for literature. Even the staunchest Dylan fan would admit that his Nobel Prize win is controversial, but if it takes controversy to have meaningful conversations about what’s culturally important in 2016, that’s a good thing. Accepting “Bob Dylan, Nobel Laureate” for many involves a relaxing of intellectual standards or even a suspension of disbelief. Cultural awards remain as subjective as they are contentious. But, if these critics remain skeptical of Bob Dylan’s value as an author, they can find a silver lining in the bounty of valuable discussion going on in personal conversations, interviews and yes, online think-pieces. As we approach the end of a turbulent 2016, this open communication is just what we need.

14 STUDENT LIVING

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Coffee shops that are actually conducive to studying Off-campus cafés for every work method

Tribune Rating: 4/5 stars Price: $$ Anticafé: 294 rue Sainte-Catherine O.

Not all cafes make for productive work environments; Café Nocturne is one that does. (Ellen Owsowitz / The McGill Tribune) Flaminia Cooper Formerly called Café Kitsune, this study Staff Writer spot isn’t the biggest of places, but still feels very With midterm season coming to an end, spacious with the large amount of natural light, many McGill students have finally left the in part beacause of its floor-to-ceiling windows. library and emerged into the daylight again. The high communal tables inside are wide Unfortunately, these few exam-free weeks are enough to fit all of your study materials, though short lived. Finals are slowly creeping up and, this is not preferable for someone who tends to personally, I am not ready to set up camp in feel claustrophobic, or needs their own personal McLennan again. This is where Montreal’s well- space when studying. The Wi-fi works well, known café culture becomes enticing. There is an the lighting is good, and most of the customers endless number of places where you can find a are students, which can be motivating, since change of scenery, get your daily coffee fix, and everyone else is also working on schoolwork. retain your last shred of sanity until exams are The music is on the alternative side and can be over. Cafés can be a hit or miss when it comes to loud at times, and there are often people walking their potential as a study space, with their varying in and out of the shop. I would recommend noise levels and sometimes unreliable Wi-fi. bringing earplugs or headphones if you are easily Fortunately, I have tried and tested several in the distracted. As a study space, Café Nocturne is downtown area surrounding campus for their still high up on my list with its fun atmosphere and convenient location; however, I have given it potential as a study space. a lower rating than Yelp because of the noisy and heavily-trafficked environment can be.

Café Nocturne: Yelp Rating: 4.5/5 stars 19 rue Prince Arthur O.

Probably the quirkiest place on the list, the Anticafé is a place for those who get too distracted when they study at home, but can’t stand working in the library or more commercial cafés. Open until 11 p.m. every night, Anticafé is an apartment in Place des Arts that has been converted into a public space with mismatched tables and couches in every room. Instead of buying your coffee and snacks, you pay for the amount of time you stay here, starting at $3 up to a maximum of $9. This provides you with unlimited coffee, tea, and cookies, and you can heat up any food you bring in the microwave or toaster. The second floor is reasonably quiet, and has a great view of Place des Arts; however, the overall atmosphere was a little too relaxed for me, with a lot of people walking around or having casual conversations instead of working.

Yelp Rating: 4.5/5 stars Tribune Rating: 3/5 stars Price: $ Café Parvis: 433 rue Mayor More of a restaurant than a coffee house, Café Parvis provides the perfect motivation to get up in the morning and treat yourself to a good brunch while studying. The space is practically made for Instagram, with plenty of natural light, aesthetically-pleasing decor of soft tones, and plants hanging from the ceiling. It has a bar where you can sit with a coffee or tea and work for a couple of hours without too much disruption from those eating lunch at the tables. It’s not ideal for group studying, but provides a nice atmosphere

to finish that assignment on which you’ve been putting off for a while. There might be too much going on in the background to concentrate for extended periods of time; therefore, the space works better for smaller tasks that don’t require extended focus, such as answering emails. It can get extremely busy during lunch and dinner as well, and the number of people studying at Café Parvis is quickly replaced by parties eating meals rather than studying. For this reason, I would highly recommend going as early in the morning as possible—7 a.m. on week days and 10 a.m. on week nights.

Yelp Rating: 4.3/5 Tribune Rating: 3.5/5 Price: $$ Cafe OSMO: 51 rue Sherbrooke O. Café OSMO was specifically created as a social workspace geared towards students and entrepreneurs. It is furnished with modern decor and plenty of space where you can spread out your work and get comfortable. The room itself is quite spacious, with large windows and skylights that let in plenty of natural light, despite being a basement property. The WiFi is extremely fast, and there are plenty of electrical sockets dotting the walls, ensuring that you can always charge your laptop, phone, or tablet when you need to.

The space is optimal for both group projects and individual studying. Unfortunately, the café closes at 6 p.m. every day, and is closed on the weekends, which isn’t very practical when your next midterm is on a Monday. Even so, when Café OSMO is open, I always get plenty of work done.

Yelp Rating: 4.2/5 Tribune Rating: 4/5 Price: $$$

The Tribune Tries: Reflexology

Testing the stress-relieving power of massage Paige Mysliviec Contributor I spent the last week prodding and poking my hands for the sake of anxiety relief, mostly due to midterms and projects that had been thrown at me. Of course, the poking and prodding has a more eloquent name: Reflexology. Reflexology is the systematic application of pressure directly to the hands, feet, and ears, with the goal of reducing anxiety and stress. I tried reflexology in order to destress and calm my anxiety.

It wouldn’t have helped my stress to take my time to search for a professional and shell out a portion of my limited funds, so I decided to become my own reflexologist. Using a how-to article on healing.about.com titled, “Ten Step Hand Reflexology Treatment,” as my guide, I began my own do-ityourself reflexology session.

A 2011 study published in the Journal of Korean Academy

of Nursing on the effects of reflexology explored various bodily processes, including stress, in female undergraduate students.

After student subjects participated in three one-hour reflexology treatment sessions per week, author Young-Mee Lee found a decrease in their feelings of stress and cortisol levels—also known as the “stress hormone”—levels.

Another study published in 2007 in Complentary Pratices in Clinical Practices charted the correlation between reflexology and anxiety, cardiovascular parameters, cortisol, and melatonin levels.

The authors’ findings showed that reflexology helped those who were in a temporarily anxious state, yet did little to help those who dealt with chronic anxiety disorders.

I timed my reflexology session strategically as a study break in the middle of a long day at the library. As per the how-to guide, I first pinched the tips of my fingers and then tugged each finger gently.

Next, I massaged the inside of my wrists and palms. I made sure to knead firmly into my palm, to relieve the tension in my hand.

Reflexology, the practice of applying pressure to various points in the body, is said to relieve anxiety. (Sabri Conde-Yassin / The McGill Tribune) Finally, I pressed right into the centre of my palm to centre myself.

After about ten minutes, I realized I had stopped thinking about school work and was instead focused on how I felt.

My normally cold hands felt warm as blood rushed to them. I found it easy to ignore the sounds and sights around me, focused in a moment of relief. This only lasted for a second, though. Almost too quickly, I turned back to my task at hand. My mind slipped back into its normal progression of stressful thoughts.

I repeated this activity every day for a week thereafter. The hardest part was not the massage itself, but simply stopping at any point of the day and giving myself 10 minutes to do this simple exercise.

It was hard to remember that the whole purpose of reflexology was to feel more relaxed. It’s almost counterintuitive how easy it is to ignore self-care, especially when stressed.

After five days of daily self-

reflexology sessions, I genuinely felt better. But, could I really say that the less than an hour of my time that I put into this was really the cause of my happier mind?

Unfortunately, I found the 2007 study’s conclusion to be more relevant than the 2011 study.

The stress and anxiety relief I felt from self-reflexology treatments were fleeting, and I knew that these negative feelings would return within the hour.

Overall, I found that reflexology is ideal for situations where I’m overwhelmed by long lists of tasks and impending due dates. This technique forces one to stop and focus on something other than schoolwork for 10 minutes.

Essentially, it gives my mind a break, as if all the energy that’s been constantly rushing to my frantic brain is redirecting itself through my arms, to my palms, and finally to my fingertips. It doesn’t cure chronic stress, but sometimes 10 minutes of relief is all one needs.

STUDENT LIVING 13

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Murals of Montreal: “Martine” by Philippe Mastrocola Rue St-Denis mural brings the art world to the streets

Marie Labrosse Contributor Anyone who has spent enough time in Montreal—especially strolling through the peaceful tree-lined streets of the Plateau MontRoyal, or past the busy storefronts on Blvd. StLaurent—is bound to have seen their fair share of murals. Murals are so abundant in Montreal that after living in the city for some time, they may even fade into the background. But, there’s simply no way of missing Philippe Mastrocola’s mural on Rue St-Denis. Over 10 feet high and painted in vibrant shades of pink, red, and purple, the abstract mural on the corner of Rue St-Denis and Avenue Duluth immediately catches the eye.

For the past seven years, Montreal-based artist Mastrocola has experimented with different forms and mediums of street art. Starting with graffiti, he has since gravitated towards mural painting, and more recently, pinhole photography.

Mastrocola describes his artistic progression as an entirely organic process in which he is constantly attempting to find new mediums through which to experiment with the world of street art.

Mastrocola’s creative process in painting murals follows a path of spontaneity. In the case of the Avenue Duluth mural, titled Martine after his late cousin, the wall had been recently vacated and the bricks painted red before he contacted its owners asking for permission to create a work of art on its surface. It took him seven days to paint the mural on a ladder, using a striking palette inspired by his surroundings.

“The positivity that comes from putting colour on the wall is far too often overlooked and the simplicity of it is unbelievable,” Mastrocola said. “I’ve often seen it that people are in complete awe of the transformation of a place with the simple addition of colour.”

The vibrant colours of the mural, along with its size and traffic-heavy location, have garnered recognition for Mastrocola in the Montreal community. “[The mural on Rue St-Denis] gets the most visibility out of any of the murals that I’ve painted,” Mastrocola explained. “And [it] has definitely helped me get my foot in the door [and get recognition as an] up-and-coming Montreal artist.”

The accessibility of his murals is not only key to the evolution of the Mastracola’s career, but is also central to his vision of art as something that should not be regulated. Mastracola is motivated to create murals by his desire to interact with a larger public and to contribute to the accessibility of art.

“There’s such a disconnect between the types of people who go to [museums] and those who don’t,” Mastrocola said. “Art doesn’t really belong in galleries and museums. It shouldn’t be contained, but rather, out in the real world.”

Street art’s inherent visibility does, however, have its pitfalls. In being completely accessible and visible to anyone, murals are often a target for vandalism. The wall on Avenue Duluth was made available to Mastrocola because three large chrome graffitis had been painted over the mural that was previously there. In the four years since

Mastrocola aims to bring art to the public with his murals. (Marie Labrosse / The McGill Tribune) Mastrocola painted Martine, it has been tagged with the initials of other, unfamiliar graffiti artists 45 times, requiring him to touch up his work on each occasion that it is vandalized. Mastrocola sees a profound tension between muralists—or street artists—and graffiti artists. This tension is rooted in the issue of publicity and artistic recognition.

“Graffiti automatically involves writing your name and trying to spread that name across the city on any surface available to you,” Mastrocola explained. “Graffiti artists interact among themselves and often you can’t read those interactions. Street artists, however, try to touch everybody—all ages, all genders, all races. You’re speaking with colour on a wall. It’s a universal language.”

This rivalry between graffiti artists and street artists has shaped the evolution of Mastrocola’s

career, especially in the four years since the creation of his mural on Avenue Duluth. The antagonism between the two groups influences the Montreal street art scene, especially in its relation to the public nature of mural art. Street art’s basis in visibility is therefore both its founding concept and perhaps also its largest obstacle.

Ultimately Mastrocola feels that street art and its highly visible nature have a duty to fulfill.

Its place in the scenery of Montreal modifies the cityscape in a way he hopes is positive.

“Street art [revolves around] the fact that you’re painting art on a façade that would otherwise remain gray,” Mastrocola said. “We live in a city, where you’re forced to see obstructions and bland surfaces. Doing something creative on those surfaces offers a break from city life and its concrete jungle.”

Super Sandwich: The backstory

A look into the history of local lunch haven with owner Matt Lo

Daniel Freed & Noah Sutton Design Editor & Multimedia Editor Tucked in the basement of the Le Cartier building, neatly between a Korean restaurant and a men’s hair salon, is a neon sign boasting the nickname of a McGill student favourite: Super Sandwich. From an outsider’s perspective, this hush-hush location might seem incompatible with high traffic and heavy business, but many students find that it adds to the shop’s undeniable charm. This hidden cove has found a home in the hearts of McGill students. Thanks to its setup, as well as its lightning-fast preparation and unbeatable prices, Super Sandwich has become known as one of the McGill bubble’s bestkept secrets.

Founded in 1988 under the name Charcuterie Le Cartier, the shop was originally run by the mother and father of its current owner, Matt Lo. Although its official name remains the same today, the store’s luminous sign—which Lo’s father added some 20 years ago—has given the shop the popular nickname it now holds. While Lo didn’t officially take over his parents’ business until his father fell ill 15 years later, the sandwich shop and depanneur has nonetheless been a big part of his life since childhood. “[My sister and I] always helped out since the very beginning,” Lo

“I think, when you have a friend and he knows about a place and he likes it, you’ll probably trust him more than [an advertisement],” Lo said.

After decades of working behind the same basement counter, Lo still speaks fondly of his work and the students who keep his shop afloat.

“I find working with students is the

said. “[At first] on weekends, and then when we went to school we helped out during the summer.”

Over the course of his life, Lo has witnessed the evolution of Super Sandwich. What started as a regular depanneur now holds its own, not only as a delicatessen, but as a staple food supplier for McGill students. The

to an influx of students who started living in the building years ago.

Super Sandwich’s connection to McGill runs deep. According to Lo, the store’s transition into a student hotspot was largely an intentional process. Once the family noticed student interest in their sandwiches, they began to advertise in McGill

famed sandwiches, which were an early addition to the family’s business model, now account for 70 per cent of the store’s sales. Lo attributes the late boom in business to his mother’s decision to start heating the sandwiches before serving them and

Super Sandwich has garnered a cult following over the years for its low prices and speedy service.

(Noah Sutton / The McGill Tribune) publications and got involved with best,” Lo said. “Usually, they’re all very easy-going.” events on campus, such as Frosh.

Perhaps Super Sandwich’s Yet, this kind of advertising isn’t the one Lo attributes to his success. popularity on campus is more Rather, what has been the most personal than that of other traditional beneficial for his business is word-of- food vendors. The shop has garnered a cult following of sorts among the mouth.

McGill student body—the lesserknown cousin to the samosa craze.

The sacred knowledge of its location and delicious deals is a matter of knowing the right people. Because of this, a lunch order at Super Sandwich feels less like a typical lunch stop and more like an experience unique to McGill students.

When asked about what gives Super Sandwich this magical property, Lo points back to the core of the operation—the sandwiches.

“The speed that we do make the sandwiches, the price, and the quality is a good combination,” Lo said. “I know a lot of students are in a hurry, and they know if they come here they can have a good sandwich in a couple of minutes.”

Super Sandwich’s proximity to McGill’s downtown campus has given Lo more than just loyal customers. Over a decade ago, a McGill student ordered an egg salad sandwich from Lo. Today, that student is Lo’s wife.

“One thing led to another,” Lo recounts. “I asked her out and we’ve been together for the past 12 years.”

Ultimately, Lo’s wife was just one of many happy Super Sandwich customers. The store’s low prices, fast preparation time, and signature sandwich style have garnered it a wide following among students, which shows no signs of dying down any time soon.

SPORTS 15

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

These aren’t your grandpa’s

Wasif Husain Contributor

Cubs

From the Curse of the Billy Goat to World Series champions (cbslocal.com)

The magic of Orval Overall and

Mordecai “Threefinger” BrowN

On October 14, 1908, leading the Detroit Tigers 3-1 in the World Series after a pair of dominant pitching performances from Mordecai “three-finger” Brown in games one and four, Orval Overall threw the final out of the World Series for the Chicago Cubs. After back-to-back championships in 1907 and 1908, the future would be bleak for the Cubs.

(history.com)

The Curse of

As third baseman Kris Bryant fired the final out to first base, Chicago rejoiced. After 108 years, the Cubs shed the “Curse of the Billy Goat” and won the World Series. For generations, they were the loveable losers—and they nearly let this one get away, too. But now, the Cubs look poised to compete for the World Series in coming years. Before Chicago fans start looking ahead, let’s look back at those 108 years of tribulation.

19 08 19 45

(sportingnews.com)

The Curse

breakers

All former bad luck was erased on Wednesday Nov. 2.

Down 3-1 in the series, the Cubs came storming back, winning games five and six to force game seven. After squandering two three-run leads, Chicago pulled ahead in the tenth inning to claim the World Series, and the lovable losers quickly turned into America’s sweetheart. With five starters under the age of twenty-five, the Cubs look poised to continue their dominance.

The Curse of

the Billy Goat

It all started in 1945, when a smelly goat wasn’t allowed into game four of the World Series at Wrigley Field. The owner of the goat famously proclaimed, “You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again.” They would of course squander a 2-1 series lead and lose the World Series to the Tigers. This would mark their final World Series for seventy years.

19 69 20 03

the black cat

In 1969, the Cubs started the final month of the regular season with a five game lead on the second-place New York Mets. In a crucial game at Shae Stadium against the Mets on September 9, 1969, a black cat wandered across the field. The Cubs would go on to lose the game and 12 of their next 20 games, falling behind the Mets in the division standings and missing the playoffs—one of the biggest season collapses ever seen.

(redeyechicago.com.com)

20 16

...

(foxsports.com)

The Steve Bartman

foul ball

Who can forget the famous Steve Bartman incident? In game six of the National League Championship series, a fly ball was heading into foul territory when a dorky-looking, headphone-wearing fan reached out over the railing and interfered with a potential foul ball catch by Cubs outfielder Moisés Alou. The catch would have been the second out in the eighth inning of a potentially series clinching game. The Cubs would go on to give up eight runs in the horrific inning, and lose 8-3. They then lost game seven and a chance to go to the World Series.

(fivethirtyeight.com)

AND

The future

Theo Epstein, Cubs-President and de-facto general manager—and certified curse breaker—deserves the bulk of the credit for the 2016 victory. Using Chicago’s big budget, he brought in big names to complement a number of shrewd trades and high-level draft picks. He shored up the batting lineup and added high-quality pitchers, quickly turning these perennial losers into a World Series contender. Now, after a century of misfortune, the Cubs are back on top. With the talent already in place, a pair of championships—like in 1907 and 1908—and a dynasty could be on the horizon for those lovable former-loser Chicago Cubs.

16 sports

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Redmen rugby advance to RSEQ finals in nailbiter McGill’s defence stands tall on the goal line

The Redmen now progress to their tenth consecutive RSEQ finals against Montreal on Nov 11.

“It is a great accomplishment, all the hard work out on the field and off the field is finally paying off,” said Nimat. “Being the captain is just a title, we have 15 players on the pitch, which all individually contribute as leaders and this is what brings us all together.”

Arman Bery Staff Writer The McGill Redmen (6-1) rugby squad battled through the opposing crowds’ banter, overcame a case of dropped catches, and made a heroic goal line stand to defeat the Bishop’s Gaiters (3-3-1) 27-20 and advance to the RSEQ finals.

Bishop’s scored the first try of the game in the tenth minute on the back of a sloppy McGill play–the Redmen were already dealing with a number of dropped catches that would trouble them throughout the game.

“We definitely did not expect to drop balls like that, we can’t blame the weather because that was great weather for playoff rugby,” centre Sayf Al Omaishi said. “Usually we would see three degrees and rain. So, it was probably more a matter of [lack of] focus and of technical mistakes.”

After an early Bishop’s try, McGill responded in the 16th minute when flanker Kaleb Nimat received a pass from front row Nicholas Bent to tie the game at 7-7. The Gaiters punched in another try before fly-half Andrew

The Redmen prevailed in a physical matchup. (Lauren Benson-Armer / The McGill Tribune)

Manson hit a penalty kick to round out the first half at 14-10.

The second half opened with the Gaiters extending their lead to 17-10 after a quick place kick.

McGill responded with a try and unconverted place kick—Manson ended up missing two more place kicks. Nonetheless, his kicking in open play was crucial to the Redmen’s second half success. He

frequently pinned the Gaiters in their own twenty-two, pressuring their back line.

This fluctuating game saw one last twist—in the 80th minute, Bishop’s relentlessly attacked the McGill try-line. The final play seemed to go on forever, and the crowd grew animated by the second. Nonetheless, McGill held strong, eventually forcing a

penalty that sealed the game for the Redmen.

“I knew they were a strong team and were capable of scoring a try in the last minutes, so I was trying to do everything I [could] to prevent that from happening,” Al Omaishi said. “At the end, our defence proved strong and we were able to avoid an OT, coming out with the win.”

Quotable: “We have to come out with fire and play the whole 80 minutes like the Redmen rugby can, improve our discipline, and stick to our game plan. If we can do that, I am confident we will bring the banner back for the second year in a row.”—Captain Kaleb Nimat on what the team must do to retain the RSEQ championship.

Play of the game: A total team effort by McGill, pushing back over four waves of attacks in the 80th minute, forcing the key penalty to secure their victory Stat of the game: Neither team led by more than seven points the entire match.

Former Montreal Expo Bill “Spaceman” Lee is ready to revive his political career The retired MLB pitcher is running in the Vermont Gubernatorial race Zikomo Smith Sports Editor Bill “Spaceman” Lee knows a thing or two about extending his career in an unconventional way.

The former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher for the Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox—at 69 years old—pitches every weekend in Vermont and Florida senior baseball leagues.

“I won the Vermont [Senior Baseball] state championship this year, and I am going to go to Florida to play this winter,” Lee said.

“I love baseball. When you play, it puts your brain over the pain of slight arthritis and pulled muscles, and it allows you to breathe better, and makes you look forward to each day.”

Now, the eccentric southpaw pitcher is running in the 2016 Vermont gubernatorial race—his latest foray into politics since campaigning in the 1988 U.S. election under the satirical Rhinoceros Party of Canada. While some of Lee’s more ‘out there’ policies from his political past—such as destroying the Rocky Mountains to increase sunlight in Alberta and banning chairs to help combat back pain and obesity—must be taken tongue in cheek, he does display genuine concern for social

and environmental justice. “[In 1988, I ran on a platform of] no guns, no butter. They will both kill you,” Lee explained. “Basically, small is better. I believed in limits to growth, I believed in harnessing the tidal force, I was always pro-fish, pro-water, proecology [….] We have to go small, or we are going to basically pollute our country to death.”

Unsurprisingly, Spaceman has strong opinions on the charged 2016 U.S. election.

“It is terrible,” Lee said.

“It is a polarization. You know, Donald Trump’s music is right— we should throw out the incumbents—but his spirits are wrong and he is the wrong person for the presidency. [Trump] leads to fascism. As much as Hillary is the consummate politician, she is not the answer either.”

Lee still believes that the United States missed a trick by not voting for him in 1988, or Bernie Sanders in 2016.

“I believe that if I had been elected in ‘88 the world would be a kinder, gentler place, with Canadian-style politics,” Lee said.

“We would have total health care, a civilized society with less guns, less violence, with less Black Lives Matter things—because Black Lives do matter because

Bill Lee has continued playing baseball through his sixties. (thestar.com)

they are the ones getting lynched and the Trump people are against [Black Lives Matter]. It is a sad state of affairs.”

Despite his strong sense of justice, it is tough to know when to take Lee seriously. A University of Southern California graduate, he is intelligent and funny— he appeared on the cover of High Times after he was indicted by the MLB for marijuana consumption. He is also perceptive—at a recent film screening of his biopic Spaceman, Lee implored ques-

tioners not to be caught on the wrong side of history, like a “dinosaur with his stubby arms close to his chest.” It was a comically apt image and message.

Perhaps Lee provides his best wisdom when he is rhapsodizing about baseball: He graciously recalls losing game seven of the World Series as Red Sox’s starting pitcher against the Cincinnati Reds. “[The game seven loss] just shows you that winning and losing is not what [baseball] is all

about,” Lee said. “[Rather], it is the fact of the game. It is like the day I got to hear Vin Scully broadcast Dennis Martinez’s ‘el perfecto’ game. It was poetry.

That is what baseball is all about.

It is the constant playing and reliving summer and spring again.”

It’s unlikely Spaceman will become the governor of Vermont.

But, in the year that the Cubs won their first World Series since 1908 and a reality TV show host is the Republican presidential nominee, anything seems possible.