McGill Tribune Vol. 33 Issue 16

Volume No. 33 Issue No. 16

TRIBUNE THE mcgill pX

Published by the Tribune Publication Society

CURIOSITY DELIVERS

gone fishing ice fishing in montreal's old port P9

A lesson from the students snapshots from cambodia p 10

@mcgilltribune ­ • www.mcgilltribune.com ­

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Uproarious and lavish, cast shines in The Drowsy Chaperone See inside for...

Story P 14

The Drowsy Chaperone hits all the right notes. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune)

SSMU to consider severing ties with Quebec student roundtable

TaCEQ faces uncertain future as fellow graduate student association at the Université de Sherbrooke votes to leave Cece Zhang Staff Writer The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) could seek to leave the Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ), after fellow member association at the Université de Sherbrooke (REMDUS) voted 73.2 per cent in favour of leaving the student federation Friday.

TaCEQ is a federation of student associations that represents approximately 60,000 students from three universities in Quebec, and aims to share resources in research and congregate to lobby the Quebec government, according to its website.

The REMDUS referendum to leave TaCEQ was consultative, as the results will need to be ratified in the association’s General Assembly (GA) on Feb. 6. However, according to REMDUS President Marie-

Pier Boisvert, it is likely that the results will be ratified. “[The referendum] is strictly a consultation, it’s not decisive, and it’s going to be up to the General Assembly to decide,” Boisvert said.

“But what I have in mind right now, is that they’re probably going to accept [...] the referendum’s results.”

SSMU Vice-President External Samuel Harris said it would be unlikely that REMDUS would not leave.

“I don’t think they could ever strongly contradict results that strong,” Harris said. “We’ll see what happens though.”

According to Boisvert, the referendum was prompted by an accumulation of frustrations by the members of REMDUS, the most recent of which was TaCEQ’s failure to hold a congressional meeting to reform the organization. “[We felt] it’s high time TaCEQ changed some of its oldest

practices,” Boisvert said. “There always seemed to be some sort of hold up from one association or another [.…] We’ve been trying very, very hard to have this congress for reform, and we felt like we were the only ones who really wanted it.”

If the results of the referendum are upheld, only three student associations from two universities would remain in TaCEQ: Université Laval’s postgraduate student association (AELIÉS), Université Laval’s undergraduate student association (CADEUL), and SSMU. In order to be a recognized student federation, an organization must have student association members from at least four different academic institutions.

According to Harris, who serves as SSMU’s representative to TaCEQ, SSMU now faces the uncertain future of its relationship with the federation.

“We’re reflecting right now,”

Harris said. “The question is, is it worth staying without [REMDUS]?

I think it’ll be extremely difficult to make it work.”

At Thursday’s SSMU Council meeting, Arts councillor Ben Reedijk argued that SSMU should leave TaCEQ, pointing to the $17,000 that SSMU contributed toward the federation this year.

“TaCEQ is very tenuous; we don’t really know what’s going on with it,” Reedijk said. “I’ve been very frustrated with it, and I don’t really feel like SSMU would be responsible to its constituents if we continued funding it past the point where we really have to, at this stage.”

Harris said the decision for SSMU to withdraw from TaCEQ could be made in several different ways, as early as this semester’s referendum period.

“I think it was a [SSMU] Council decision that created [TaCEQ] in

the first place, so arguably, some would say Council could [vote to leave],” Harris said. “The most transparent way would be by referendum [….] The referendum period will have higher turnout, and I’d be more willing to do that.”

TaCEQ will be holding a meeting on Feb. 9 to discuss the organization’s future, as it is currently engaged as an intervener in a court case regarding students’ right to free association with student societies.

These legal and financial obligations will continue to tie the student associations together over the next few months.

“We have other things we need to clear, financially,” Boisvert said.

“Even if we disaffiliate, we’re still going to be a part of [the TaCEQ court case]. We want to stay close to these other associations [….] There are no hard feelings; we want to have those links.”

NEWS STudent government

Council votes against taking stance on Leacock restructuring SSMU endorses application to fund two-year project to assess needs of student, faculty, and staff parents Jessica Fu News Editor

Members of the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) legislative Council voted against taking a stance on the People, Processes & Partnerships (PPP) plan last Thursday.

Introduced in November 2012, the PPP plans to consolidate the administrative staff of departments within the Faculty of Arts into six hubs, which would consist of many departments under shared staff. The plan was developed as a response to staff reduction through the voluntary retirement program.

“There is a worrying lack of evidence presented to stakeholders to suggest the viability of this plan, whether in terms of documented cost-savings, demonstrable efficiencies, or student, staff, and faculty satisfaction with such arrangements at universities comparable to McGill,” the motion reads.

The motion faced criticism from both councillors and noncouncillors. Justin Fletcher, president of the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS), argued that the PPP is an Arts-related matter, and therefore not a suitable subject for SSMU to discuss.

“This is a motion that is very specific to the Faculty of Arts, and I believe that the AUS has the most representative body to discuss such an issue,” Fletcher said. “So I do not believe that this really is SSMU’s place to take a stance [….] I ask that representatives of the SSMU legislative Council respect the AUS’s autonomy in making decisions specific to policies in our faculty.”

Councillors endorsed funding for new Family Resources Coordinator. (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune) However, Medicine councillor David Benrimoh argued all students of the AUS are still represented by SSMU. “Arts students are SSMU members, as well,” he said. “We have a responsibility to advocate for their interests [….] I think we do have a place to speak about it.”

Arts councillor Ben Reedijk responded that despite such arguments, many councillors of SSMU were not acquainted enough with the PPP to take a sound stance on it.

“The PPP has been drastically changed since last year,” Reedijk said. “If you had been to one of the many student consultations that have happened since, you would probably know that [….] So I think it’s really de-

pressing that we’re going to be passing a motion on an issue, but not actually show up to the consultation for it.”

The motion failed.

Council endorses creation of Family Resources Coordinator Council endorsed an application submitted by the Senate Subcommittee on Women that, if approved, would create a Family Resources Coordinator position funded by $88,000 over two years by the Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF).

The fund application, made up of fees from students and matched by the administration, will be reviewed by a working group in the Office of Sustain-

ability.

The project would aim to connect student parents with resources available to them and to advocate for greater support for student families.

Sara Deslisle spoke on the development and necessity of the project.

“At the moment, there is no dedicated resource for either students, faculty, or staff dealing with family-care issues,” she said. “What we’re basically looking at for the first year of the pilot project is to look at childcare issues in particular. At the moment, there is a shortage of childcare resources on campus. For instance, the McGill Childcare Centre currently has a 740-persons waiting list for 106 subsidized spots.”

Reedijk expressed concern regarding the usage of the fund to create a project, as opposed to funding more daycare spots.

“How many actual additional daycare spots can we create in lieu of hiring a coordinator revolving around the issue of daycare spots?” Reedijk said. “Why not actually just go directly to the source and fund more daycare spots for our students?”

Deslisle emphasized the importance of evaluating the situation before allotting funding.

“At the moment, there is no assessment as to what is needed,” Deslisle said. We’re doing a needs assessment, first of all, trying to figure out who needs [things and] what’s needed.”

The motion passed.

campus

McGill rescinds ATI appeal, will not pursue discretionary powers

University settles legal dispute with students, will provide responses to remaining ATI requests in upcoming weeks Eman Jeddy Staff Writer McGill has withdrawn from their pursuit of the jurisdiction to disregard Access-to-Information (ATI) requests, according to a statement released Jan. 24.

The settlement concludes a legal dispute that began in December 2012, when the university sought the right to ignore ATI requests at its discretion due to an increased volume of requests.

The Commission d’accès à

l’information du Québec rejected McGill’s initial motion to gain discretionary control at a preliminary hearing last October. The university then announced its intent to appeal the decision to the Québec Court of Appeal, before negotiations for a settlement officially began on Nov. 27.

The withdrawal of the motion is part of the settlement, in which McGill also agrees to set a timetable for responding to some of the contested ATI requests, with the first set of responses

due on Feb. 28.

“Under this agreement, McGill has undertaken to respond to a number of redrafted requests within a negotiated time-frame,” the joint statement reads. “On their part, the students and community members will withdraw certain requests [that were too vague] but keep their right to file requests for review before the Commission d’accès à l’information of McGill’s responses to the redrafted requests.”

Kevin Paul, one of the students who submitted ATI requests and was named in the settlement, said he believes McGill’s withdrawal came from a belief that courts would reject its appeal.

“We see the initial motion as a politically motivated effort to block ATI requests from an indeterminate group of people for an indeterminate period of time,’’ Paul said. “McGill has recognized that not only would it not win in courts on this, but

that its efforts are bad for public relations.”

Paul said the defendants would now look to McGill to disclose the information they requested over one year ago.

“While we’re happy that McGill has withdrawn its motion, ultimately what we want is an actual disclosure of information,” Paul said. “We want documents in our hands that are neither incomplete nor redacted in unacceptable ways.”

Curiosity delivers. |

NEWS

| Tuesday, January 28, 2014

3

campus

Wait times decrease at Mental Health and Counselling Services due to surge in funding A one-time $400,000 sum from contingency fund cuts waitlists and wait times Sam Pinto News Editor Wait times for students accessing McGill’s Mental Health Clinic and Counselling Clinic have been reduced dramatically due to an increased $400,000 of funding in the Fall of 2013.

In comparison to this time last year, the waitlist for Mental Health Services has decreased from 270 to 56 persons, while wait times for Counselling Services have decreased from seven weeks to one or two weeks.

The injected funds derive from a $5 million surplus within the Student Services Contingency Fund, which accumulated due to various factors including savings in wages from the 2012 MUNACA strike and conservative student enrolment numbers. According to Executive Director of Student Services Jana Luker, both services were given $200,000 each to address extreme situations.

“We recognized that counselling was a crisis, and that it was acute and it was wrong; it bothered everybody a lot,” Luker said. “The

only reason Student Services is here is to help students and support students and we weren’t able to do that in a timely manner.”

In order to reduce the wait times, both clinics hired the equivalent of two full-time therapists.

“We had the funds for two full time equivalents; it ended up being more than two people but parttime,” Vera Romano, director of Counselling Services, explained.

Luker said new technologybased applications are also expected to help keep wait times low.

“There’s a bunch of [online and mobile] apps we are trying to use to treat people with anxiety and depression,” Luker said. “Anxiety doesn’t always show itself conveniently between nine to five, Monday to Friday. We are trying to see if we can teach people simple methods of treating their own anxiety [….]

Then you won’t see people in an acute phase lining up later on.”

In addition, Romano attributes the reduction in wait times to initiatives by other members of the McGill community such as students and the administration.

“The response to the crisis I

think on some level was coming together and prioritizing the mental health issues, the psychological issues, the wellness issues by the students especially, by the professional service deliverers—which is us, and—I think by the admin,” Romano said.

While the additional funds are having an impact this semester, they are a one-time source of funding, which means the services will need to find alternative methods of funding to keep wait times low in future years.

Rather than redistribute student services fees and take away funds from other significant services, Luker suggested the option increasing of Student Services fees to hire new therapists permanently. Currently students pay $549 per year towards Students Services.

“We won’t do [it] this year; we would have to take it to referendum,” Luker said. “If students knew that an increase in Student Services fees—an extra $10 per person— would go directly to hiring two more therapists, then the students could decide for themselves.”

news analysis

Delving deeper: McGill’s research partnerships with corporations CAUT report criticizes McGill and other universities for failing to develop safeguards for academic freedom Shrinkhala Dawadi Contributor Last November, a report by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) criticized McGill’s collaboration with Bombardier Inc., a publicly traded aerospace corporation, and eight other partners. The report warned that a lack of protections for academic freedom in collaborative research agreements between universities and industries could affect universities’ integrity. This week, the McGill Tribune takes an in-depth look at McGill’s relationship with the corporation.

The CAUT is an organization that represents 68,000 university teachers, researchers, and general staff throughout Canada. According to Paul Jones, CAUT research and education officer, agreements that do not protect universities’ interests could increase the commercialization of research. “[Industries are] putting pressure on universities to crank out more commercializable products,” he said. “It means universities turn away from curiosity and vision-driven research [....]

Universities can play, or should play, the unique role in society as independent protectors or purveyors of infor-

mation for the public interest.”

McGill’s involvement with Bombardier comes from their membership in the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ), which is a collaborative organization of 14 universities, nine research centres, and 52 companies. The consortium was founded in 2002 as a non-profit organization with the goal of increasing competitiveness within the aerospace industry. “[CRIAQ aims] to develop international collaborative research projects by partnering with Canadian, U.S., European and other programs,” the CRIAQ website reads.

Other members of CRIAQ include Concordia, Université de Sherbrooke, and companies such as GE Aviation and Bell Helicopter.

As of 2012, CRIAQ had enabled 142 research projects, which received $124 million in funding. According to CAUT’s report, 25 per cent of project funding is a grant from CRIAQ, 25 per cent is from corporate participants in the project, and 50 per cent is from the Natural Sciences Engineering and Research Council of Canada (NSERC), a federal agency.

Clement Fortin, president and

CEO of CRIAQ, said project collaborations with industries give students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience working in the field.

“Collaborative research of this type allows students, researchers, and professors to get experience with the real thing, so the students can find better jobs, and it can be faster for them to enter the workforce,” he said. “Collaborative research also supports a greater number of research students.”

CRIAQ has supported 700 graduate students since its conception in 2012. The projects result in approximately 250 publications per year. In 2013, 253 graduate students were involved in CRIAQ projects.

In their report, CAUT specifically critiqued the collaborative agreement for CRIAQ’s PLM-2 project, which McGill manages with Bombardier Inc. The PLM-2 project is researching ways to improve information-sharing and information management for a product throughout its life-cycle.

“The agreement compromises the university’s institutional autonomy by allowing the industrial partner to compel the university to patent university-owned intellectual property,” the CAUT report read on the collabora-

tion.

Jones said patents can have a negative effect on academic research.

“The point [of academic tradition] is to make the world a better place by developing new knowledge and insuring that it’s disseminated as widely as possible,” Jones said. “The problem is when there is pressure, either implicit or explicit, indirect or direct, for faculties to turn their knowledge into patents.”

McGill’s Associate Director of Research Contracts and Agreements Nathan Currier stressed that, for instances where research is patented, the university can still own the intellectual property.

“It’s infrequent that [McGill] develops something which belongs to us by the nature of the agreement, and we decide not to pursue it, so we give it to the [industry],” Currier said. “We can give [industries] the option to try and acquire the intellectual property we’ve developed if we’re not interested in using it [….] In our agreements, we insist that researchers and students will always have the right to utilize intellectual property for academic and research purposes.”

The report reviewed 12 collabo-

rations between universities and industries throughout Canada. Seven out of the 12 agreements reviewed did not include specific protections for academic freedom; 10 out of the 12 agreements did not explicitly stipulate against university participants having a financial interest in the collaboration; and none of the agreements included a framework for the creation of a publicly accessible review of the collaboration.

The principles that the report outlined for improving the quality of the collaborative agreements included protecting academic freedom and institutional autonomy regarding teaching, research, hiring practices, and the publication of information; having protections against conflicts of interest; and encouraging transparency.

Jones added that increased public funding of universities by the provinces is key to protecting academic freedoms.

“I think that universities have to be refunded, that the cutbacks have to be ended and proper funding restored,” he said. “There has to be instead a focus on basic research—the kind of fundamental research that results in long term breakthroughs.”

4

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 |

NEWS

| Curiosity delivers.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Food for thought: exploring the limitations of your meal plan Natalie Wong Contributor Many McGill students are all too familiar with having their meal plan cards turned down at certain vendors on campus.

While accepting meal plans may seem like an obvious choice to the student, the system behind the service is much more complicated. This week, the McGill Tribune takes a look at the meal plan program and the factors that determine where you can use it on campus.

The meal plan program is managed by McGill Food and Dining Services (MFDS)—a subunit of Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS).

Students can use the meal plan to purchase food at both in-residence dining halls, as well as various other food vendors on campus, including Subway, Sinfully Asian, and Presse Café on the downtown campus, as well as Faberge Café and Vihn’s Café on Macdonald campus.

The main food service provider for McGill is Aramark, which manages numerous food service locations on campus on the behalf of MFDS, including two residential dining halls— Carrefour Sherbrooke and New Residence Hall, McConnell Engineering Caf, and Redpath Caf. Monique Lauzon, MFDS marketing and nutritional advisor, said different providers enter into different contractual agreements with the meal plan program.

“Aramark was selected as McGill’s main food service provider following a public bid process four years ago […] against major companies like Compass and Sodexo,” Lauzon said.

The process is different for third-party vendors, such as Subway, Second Cup, and Sinfully Asian. “[The companies] approach us and we look at how we could incorporate them into the meal plan, so that is more on a oneto-one basis,” Lauzon said. “[Then] a contractual agreement is negotiated [….] Costs are based on different criteria— [such as] your location and what you’re offering.”

Although vendors accepting the meal plan can be found around campus, some students express frustration with the lack of such vendors in the SSMU Building.

“I’ve worked in SSMU before as an executive and it’s one of the top comments that vendors get,” Josh Redel, manager of the Student-Run Café Le Nest in SSMU, said. “It’s the number one thing people ask for.”

Jonathan Taylor, a Liquid Nutrition franchisee and a tenant of the SSMU Building, said accepting meal plan at his business is “not feasible” because it is too expensive.

“The meal plan costs $10,000 to have a new point-ofsales device, so we had to run two separate inventories, two separate cash systems, two separate everything for the people who don’t use meal plans,” he

Vendors in the SSMU Building, such as La Prep, do not accept the McGill Meal Plan. (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune) said. “McGill also holds your funds for a month before giving back to you and as a small business, they can’t withhold a month worth of my sales.”

SHHS Senior Director Mathieu Laperle said that, since MFDS is a self-funded unit, the university does not subsidize its costs, which makes the meal plan costly to implement.

“We do have to generate a revenue to pay all the different costs,” he said.

According to Lauzon, these

costs arise from a variety of factors.

“We pay our employees, facility fees, rent, we have to be able to self-finance our operations,” Lauzon said. “If we didn’t charge vendors to accept the meal plan, we would have to assume the costs of operating [at] the location, which includes IT support and administrative support that we provide to run the [meal plan].”

Laperle said the choice to join the meal plan is ultimately

the decision of the tenants.

“Being a part of the meal plan is not mandatory, but of course, we believe it’s a potential of revenue—there are over 8,000 students on the meal plan,” Laperle said. “Should a vendor approach us and express interest in joining the meal plan, we certainly welcome that.

However, it is a contractual agreement and has to work for both parties.”

CAMPUS

First “Grad Frosh” aims to transition graduates into the real world Social events, alumni networking, and career workshops are all part of planned May programming Catherine Laure-Juste Contributor As convocation approaches, organizers of McGill’s first “Red and White Week”—otherwise known as “Grad Frosh”—have begun planning the social and professional events for graduating students, which aims to help graduates transition into their post-McGill life.

Scheduled to take place on the first week of May, Grad Frosh is not intended to replicate the first-year frosh experience, according to Mitchell Miller, student life Coordinator at Campus Life and Engagement Office (CL&E). “ ‘Frosh’ has more of a [so-

cial] connotation,” Miller said.

“We wanted to sell the idea that this is the mix of social recognition and professional and postgraduate development events, so the preferred name for the project is ‘Red and White.’ ” Events for the week include a brunch with notable alumni and a McGill Young Alumni speed networking session, as well as career boot camp sessions and various social celebratory events hosted by the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU).

“We are really looking into tapping into the university network and our colleagues in different departments,” Alumni Services Officer Temi Akinaina said.

The week is the product of collaboration between the SSMU, McGill’s Development and Alumni Relations Office (DAR), and the CL&E. “These three groups are essential to student life and engagement both at McGill and beyond McGill,” SSMU President Katie Larson said. “We have a student team that will be working on some of the programming, as well as reaching out to many McGill groups to participate in different events.”

According to Akinaina, DAR’s involvement will help connect recent McGill graduates to the alumni community.

“Our focus will be on […] partnering with CaPS (Careers

and Planning Service) because we want to bring alumni back to work on specific events during and basically just showcasing the alumni community,” she said.

DAR will run registration through an online system, while SSMU will promote the week to students online and through email.

According to Miller, while the it’s important to engage students in the events, the success of Red and White week is not dependent on how many graduating students participate.

“I don’t want to say […] if we didn’t have student participation, the event wouldn’t work,” Miller said. “If [students who attend] find it excellent, we

can scale it up in future years.

Engaged student participation would be the must-have.”

Although graduating U3 Arts student Emily Neufeld said it could be difficult to encourage students to attend due to its timing in May, she said the event could be an effective way to help students plan past graduation.

“As new graduates, we are transitioning from being students to being alumni,” she said. “I think it’s important for McGill to support its new graduates by providing opportunities like this for networking and to give us a taste of what is yet to come.”

Curiosity delivers. |

NEWS

| Tuesday, January 28, 2014

SPEAKER ON CAMPUS

5

Canadian UN ambassador speaks on role of the United Nations, reform Rishchynski discusses Canada’s place in the UN, the shifting balance of international relations Lauren Wildgoose Contributor The changing role of the United Nations (UN) was the topic of a speech by Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Guillermo Rishchynski on Jan. 23.

A McGill graduate, Rishchynski served as a trade commissioner in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development as an ambassador to Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico before becoming the representative of Canada to the United Nations in 2011.

Rishchynski’s address responded to commonly held criticisms of the UN at the opening ceremony of McGill’s 25th Model United Nations (McMUN) conference.

“The reality is that the United Nations is a consensus organi-

zation,” Rishchynski said. “It’s an indispensable institution that seeks to do the best that it can— the best humanity can—to address humanity’s problems.”

The ambassador also discussed potential reform of the UN. “The United Nations has remained static, in my personal judgment, for far too long,” Rishchynski said. “It needs to reform.

It takes catharsis at times to get the UN to change itself.”

According to Rishchynski, the UN needs to adapt due to factors such as urbanization, technology, changing demographics, and a shift in the nature of conflicts from erupting between states to within states.

He also commented on shifts in the dynamics of international relations.

“We are seeing a total rebalancing of political and economic power taking place as it shifts

from the west to east toward Asia, which will be the nexus of power over the course of the next 50 to 100 years,” Rishchynski said.

He emphasized the importance of the role Canada plays in the UN, explaining that the country’s financial contributions to the UN’s budget—$75 million per year— make it the eighth largest contributor in the world.

“For Canada, it’s important that, as a founding member of the UN, we try to play as active a role as we can to protect and promote our values and advance our interests in the context of consensus,” Rishchynski said. “What are those Canadian values that we seek to promote? Freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.”

Rishchynski’s speech was addressed to the delegates at the opening ceremony for McMUN 2014, which was attended by over 1,400 delegates from universities

Rishchynski spoke at McMUN 2014. (Tamim Sujat / McGill Tribune) around the world. Henry Duventhal, a delegate from Alfred University in New York, was one of the attendees. “[Rishchynski’s speech] was

really easy to get behind,” Duventhal said. “It really reinforced what I knew about the UN and what Canada’s role in it is.”

CAMPUS

Senate discusses investment, enrolment Provincial government to reinvest $20.3 million in McGill budget Aislinn Kalob Contributor Topics covered at McGill Senate’s meeting on Wednesday included increases in government funding for universities, McGill’s most recent enrolment numbers, and the launch of McGill’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

Reinvesting in McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier announced that Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Pierre Duchesne has confirmed that the provincial government would be reinvesting $20.3 million in the university for the 2014-2015 school year.

“In order to access these [funds], we have to have agreements made between the university and the ministry,” Fortier said.

Fortier noted that such a value is not an additional investment; rather that it is an increase from McGill’s previously-reduced budget, which faced approximately $38 million in budget cuts in December 2012.

“This is not the additional $20 million from where we were two years ago before the cuts; it’s 20 million after the cuts,” she emphasized. “It is certainly welcome.”

Growing Student Body Kathleen Massey, university

registrar and executive director of enrolment services, presented data on graduate and undergraduate enrolment, as well as a report that showed a steady increase in the amount of entrance bursaries and awards given to students.

The volume of financial aid awards currently totals $96.3 million—a 68 per cent increase over the past decade.

“We are ensuring academically excellent students remain enrolled,” Massey said on increasing entrance bursary aid.

However, some senators expressed logistical concerns with the report’s projected population growth. The Post Graduate Student Society (PGSS) Secretary-General Jonathan Mooney pointed out the projected growth rate was 0.7 per cent for undergraduates and 1.0 per cent for grads, whereas the actual growth rate was 1.4 per cent for undergraduates and 2.0 per cent for graduates.

“We’ve almost doubled […] our projected enrolment growth targets,” Mooney said. “Now often in the Senate, Board, other places, [the] issues of space, [and] class sizes come up. Can you give us some indication of why we’ve gone so far over what we were projecting? What’s being done to try to make sure we don’t see continued growth in excess of even what we were planning?”

Massey responded that conservative enrolment estimates allow for more responsible budget planning for the academic year.

“The numbers that are provided to the provost in the development of the budget each year for enrolment are always a conservative planning estimate, so that when revenue is projected for the upcoming year or years, it is fiscally responsible in terms of estimation of potential revenue,” Massey said. “That may account for part of the difference.”

Fortier comments on MOOC launch The principal also discussed the launch of McGill’s first MOOC, which began in January. She congratulated professors David Harpp, Joe Schwarcz, and Ariel Fenster on what she called a “great achievement.”

“Teaching and Learning Services are planning two additional MOOCs, one in 2014 and one in 2015,” she said. “Congratulations to our colleagues [on] a very successful launch.”

The free online course is named ‘“CHEM181x Food For Thought” and has attracted registration from close to 21,000 students from 115 countries since October 2013. Two upcoming MOOC’s will be additional courses: “Natural Disasters” and “Rebalancing Society: Social Learning for Social Impact.”

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opinion editorial Time to leave TaCEQ

Last week the Regroupement des étudiants de maîtrise, diplôme et doctorat (REMDUS), the postgraduate student association of the Université de Sherbrooke, took the initial step towards leaving the Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ), a provincial federation of student associations of which the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) is currently also a member.

SSMU has had a turbulent relationship with the organization for most of TaCEQ’s fiveyear existence, and there have been questions as to whether the organization is worth the $17,000 our student association is paying this year to the federation—questions that have intensified in the wake of a Tribune investigation into the organization this past October (See Oct. 29: “Is TaCEQ right for SSMU?”). In a editorial at the time (See Oct. 29: “TaCEQ a waste of SSMU funds”), we expressed some uncertainty as to the course of action that should be taken; recent events have brought clarity to the situation.

Our issues with TaCEQ have been previously documented, but there is value in summarizing them here. Since its founding

in 2009, TaCEQ has been only a marginal player in just about every student-related political issue in the province. A big part of this irrelevance has been the federation’s inability to achieve official provincial recognition, which requires having four different associations on four different campuses (two of TaCEQ’s organizations are from the University of Laval).

“While some evaluation needs to go into looking at alternative avenues for advocacy at the provincial and national level, it is clear that the status quo with TaCEQ is now untenable.”

This lack of official status deprives TaCEQ of additional government subsidies and influence compared to other federations of student associations. Additionally, its highly decentralized structure—each member can veto initiatives—makes it harder for the federation to work towards common goals. Lastly, linguistic tensions—the other three student unions in TaCEQ are from francophone universities—have

off the board

hampered the efficiency of the federation. REMDUS, according to accounts from current and former SSMU VPs External Sam Harris and Robin Reid-Fraser, respectively, was the association with which SSMU had the most productive relationship. With its departure, SSMU risks being left in the lurch of a fast-sinking, expensive ship.

So what should SSMU do now? As a first step, and in light of the ongoing issues with TaCEQ, SSMU Council should take the time to reflect on the implications of leaving TaCEQ; while the organization right now adds little value, being completely unaffiliated may present its own set of problems. The clearest path would be to initiate a referendum to withdraw from the federation.

These referenda can be either student or Council initiated; student initiated referenda require 500 signatures to get on the ballot.

One of the many reasons why SSMU has had trouble staying in a single federation is because of the unique position McGill is in—that of an English-speaking university that draws a very high proportion of out-of-province students. This position places it at a disadvan-

THE Mcgill

Editor-in-Chief Carolina Millán Ronchetti editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Ben Carter-Whitney bcarterwhitney@mcgilltribune.com Erica Friesen efriesen@mcgilltribune.com Jacqueline Galbraith jgalbraith@mcgilltribune.com

tage in allying with other student groups; McGill has notably different needs and resources from its provincial brethren, and often has been ill-served by the other federations. In the past, SSMU has been an ‘on and off’ member of the larger Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ).

One of its more high-profile departures from the organization stemmed from a dispute over its stance on the 1995 referendum for Quebec to separate from Canada; SSMU abstained from supporting FEUQ’s resolution in support of separation, but was listed on FEUQ’s resolution anyway. However, the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) is currently part of the FEUQ, and seems to have had fewer issues.

The question of TaCEQ is one that demands immediate action from the SSMU executive.

While some evaluation needs to go into looking at alternative avenues for advocacy at the provincial and national level, it is clear that the status quo with TaCEQ is now untenable. SSMU’s membership is no longer to its own benefit, or to that of the student body it serves.

Max Berger

A&E Editor

I’ll admit it, I underestimated the Internet meme. Like most young adults of my generation, I’ve spent hours upon hours cheerfully observing the various online phenomena du jour. From Lolcats to the Harlem Shake and everything in between, I’ve watched meme culture—enabled by the rapid technological advancements of the last decade— blossom into a procrastinationinducing juggernaut that not even the creator of the Hampster Dance could have imagined in his wildest, pixelated dreams.

But until very recently, I wasn’t taking internet memes as seriously as I should have been. Let me explain.

Last week, I came across an article, “Dogecoin-Funded Efforts to Send the Jamaican Bobsled Team to Sochi.” As the article went on to explain, Dogecoin is an Internet cryptocur-

News Editors Jessica Fu and Samuel Pinto news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor Abraham Moussako opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Caity Hui scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Marlee Vinegar studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Jenny Shen features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editor Max Berger arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Mayaz Alam and Remi Lu sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Alexandra Allaire and Wendy Chen photo@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Alessandra Hechanova ahechanova@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Hayley Lim and Maryse Thomas design@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Adrien Hu copy@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Executives Spoon Jung and Daniel Kang ads@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors

Shadi Afana, Anand Bery, Jonathan Fielding, Abhishek Gupta, Adrien Hu, Steven Lampert, Chris Liu, Carolina Millán Ronchetti, and Simon Poitrimolt

Staff Writers

Prativa Baral, Max Bledstein, Wyatt Fine-Gagné, Osama Haque, Eman Jeddy, Alycia Noë, Kia Pouliot, Aaron Rose, Julie Vanderperre, Elie Waitzer, and Cece Zhang

Such doge, much wow rency similar to Bitcoin and inspired by the viral photo meme of a Shiba Inu dog—or “doge” as it’s intentionally misspelled— surrounded by short phrases in Comic Sans font meant to represent internal monologue. Its founder—and Cool Runnings lover—Liam Butler launched Dogesled, a crowdsourcing effort that put out Doge-bobsled hybrid images on the Internet in hopes of raising enough funds to get Jamaica’s two-man bobsled team to the Winter Olympic Games. As of Monday, Dogesled had reportedly raised over $34,000 of real money largely thanks to Dogecoin.

My mind was blown. You’re telling me that a silly dog picture trend led to the creation of a virtual currency—one that sounds less legitimate than a Neopoint— and is somehow on the verge of making a significant financial contribution to a cause? It didn’t make sense; but the more I thought about it, it did.

We now live in a time where

Production Manager Steven Lampert slampert@mcgilltribune.com

the Internet governs much of our activity on a day-to-day basis.

Whether we’re making transactions, receiving our news, or absorbing mindless entertainment, it had given us a forum for expression of media and other visual content that real-life interactions don’t always offer.

The meme is a model first introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976). Derived from the Greek term mimeme , it’s a term for describing how social behaviour and ideas spread through imitation.

Internet memes operate under the same principle: they refer to anything that transmits itself through the Internet and offers some kind of imitable concept.

A common misconception is that memes only refer to photos; classics like “Bad-Luck Brian,” “Scumbag Steve,” “Willy Wonka,” and even the “LowerField McGill Meme” come to mind at the mention of the word.

However, memes also encompass

Contributors

viral videos, GIFs, hashtags, and intentionally misspelled words like “pwn” and “teh.” Sometimes, a meme like “Tebowing, “which refers to Tim Tebow’s iconic stance where he kneels on one knee and rests his head on a single clenched fist, can function as both an Internet meme and a real-life action.

As the borders between cyberspace and reality become increasingly blurred, stories like the success of Dogesled should become less and less surprising. Even more subtle behaviour, such as the adoption of instant messaging phrases like “brb” and “ttyl” into conversation, show that people are adopting an internet consciousness. So this evening, when the President of the United States gives his State of the Union address, don’t be surprised if a “Barack Dogebama” meme goes viral afterwards, captioned with all of his key points scattered across the image in misspelled Comic Sans font.

Morgan Alexander, Tara Davis, Shrinkhala Dawadi, Michael Gord, Abhishek Gupta, Laura Hanrahan, Zoe Hoskin, Aislinn Kalob, Catherine Laure-Juste, Chris Liu, Tim Logan, Alexander Messina, Anina Ratjen, Cassandra Rogers, Zikomo Smith, Tamim Sujat, Lauren Wildgoose, Natalie Wong, Ruby Xia, Haviva Yesgat, Leyang Yu, Ruidi Zhu

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.

Commentary You say, we hear—words and why they matter

Tim Logan

Columnist

In 1967, economist Milton Friedman gave an address to the members of the American Economic Review. It laid the foundations for the resurgence of monetarism and the rise of neoliberalism, which would eventually replace Keynesianism, revolutionize macroeconomics, and win Friedman a Nobel Prize.

At that time, nearly every macroeconomist in the world was a staunch Keynesian, and Friedman was speaking to a room full of the brightest—yet he changed how they thought about the world, and made them question their most fundamental assumptions. His address, The Role of Monetary Policy, became required reading in universities everywhere and acclaimed by economists all over the political spectrum. What made that speech so brilliant and so successful?

Friedman spoke to them in their own language. Instead of “rational expectations,” he talked about something more familliar, the Phillips Curve—like all substantial changes in group thought, this revolution was driven by language familiar to its audience. Though I disagree with many of Friedman’s conclusions, I respect his rhetorical skill.

The words we choose are important because of the gap between speaker and audience. Listeners are not sponges, indiscriminately sopping up speech; rather, every spoken word triggers rapid chains of

association, imagery, and emotion.

These chains fundamentally impact how a message is understood. For example, contrast “the right to an abortion” with “the right to choose”: the latter is far friendlier to the ears of voters who positively associate with “choice.”

This is why conservative movements have been so successful in America and Canada; Republicans and Conservatives learned early on that subtle differences in word choice can make or break campaigns—a principle those of us not in politics are finally beginning to understand.

Speaking only to the people who agree with us is not enough. Change requires us to speak to many others.

Elections are decided by a relatively small group of people.

Moderates, swing-voters, fencesitters; whatever you choose to call them, recognize their importance.

These are the people we must convince. This makes it crucial to step back and hear what you say from the perspective of the audience. What matters is not what you say, but what we hear.

Reasonable arguments can be lamed by verbal slips just as silliness can be panelled with a rational veneer. In the mouth of a skilled speaker, taxes turn to theft and food stamps to waste; and typical voters, with their jobs and families and debts and hobbies, have little time to do more than take what they are given.

Arguments made in unfamiliar terms are filtered out and discarded.

In this light, it’s easy to see why social justice movements have such a hard time making inroads into politics. Take, for instance, the usage of the word “oppression.”

To many people, oppression means North Korea, Stalinist Russia,

or Chile under Pinochet. So, when they hear, “Group X is oppressed in Canada,” the word “oppression” pulls a lever in their brains and returns “North Korea.” Comparisons between Canada and North Korea are ridiculous, and so our moderate listener marks our speaker down in the “crazy wing-nut” category, right below the Tea Party, and files them away into the dusty drawer of irrelevance.

Substitute whatever group you like and the result will be identical, regardless of whatever truth that

statement holds. Using language this way is the ultimate act of selfsabotage - it thwarts both current and future efforts all at once.

Language is a democracy. Just like an independent legislator trying to ram through a bill, trying to change our social dictionary by one’s self will be fruitless. Effective communication relies upon using words in ways the audience understands. Railing against others for not understanding the truth and purity of your lexicon, as righteous as it feels, only makes you a bad communicator.

the ultimate goal for Tinder is “to overcome every single problem you have when it comes to making a new relationship.”

Sean Rad is 27. His idea was to simplify meeting people.

The examples are everywhere. Evan Spiegel is 23 and co-founded Snapchat with Robert Murphy, 24. Spiegel’s idea was to simplify image exchanges. Instagram is headed by co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger who are only 30 and 27, respectively. Their idea was to simplify sharing photos.

Tumblr’s CEO, David Karp, is 27, and, Mark Zuckerberg was 20 when he launched thefacebook (now Facebook). Both have simplified our digital lives.

Additionally, It’s university students who are making the most

useful tech innovations. We’re surrounded with opportunities, not the mundaneness of the same view at the same desk every day.

In 2011, Conor Clarke came up with the idea to create a social network for music and founded Wavo. His idea simplifies the demo submissions process for major record labels, as well as the process of finding new music for music lovers. Over the past two years, Wavo has carved out a niche in the music app market.

In fact, McGill and Effusion acappella alumni, Jordan Benjamin (who’s recording under the name Benj) began recording music in Los Angeles this semester after his music was discovered on Wavo by a music management agency.

Another innovative tech app

7

(Ruidi Zhu / McGill Tribune) While I agree with social justice movements on some issues and differ with them on others, it bothers me to see such passionate people dull their skates before they even step onto the ice. “Ideal change on our terms” is not an option: the choices are change with moderate support and no change at all. Getting that moderate support requires using the people’s dictionary. The perfect is often the enemy of the good, and nowhere is this truer than politics.

Rise of the apps

Michael Gord

Commentary Apps are transforming the world. If 10 years ago was the dotcom boom; today is the app boom. Being up to date with apps is especially important from a university perspective for two reasons. First, we need to find a job upon graduation. Apps can improve the processes of an industry, making it important to work somewhere that’s adapting effectively in the new technological environment.

Second, it’s our generation that’s doing the innovating. We’ve

grown up with technology that’s changing constantly and we see the world differently than our parents. Our generation has come to expect and embrace technological change, and has taken it upon itself to make that change.

It’s no surprise that the teams behind the most revolutionary apps today are young, innovative thinkers. Dating is a perfect example that resonates at McGill and universities across the world.

Filling out a detailed online profile to sign up for a dating site is a thing of the past. Sean Rad, the CEO of Tinder, redefined online dating after introducing a “hot or not” swipe that eliminates the need to agonize over writing a profile. As Rad explained in an interview with TechCrunch,

coming out of McGill that’s about to be released for iOS is Modde, branded as “the fashion app.”

It’s based in Montreal and is co-founded by McGill’s own AJ Ostrow and Artur Minacov, with a team of young entrepreneurs.

Modde connects fashion lovers and simplifies the designing process of clothes for fashion brands.

As students, let’s continue simplifying our lives with new apps. Let’s keep changing the world, one app at a time.

Full Disclosure: Michael Gord contributes to the music charts of Wavo, one of the apps discussed in this article.

f

Student living student

joey haar U3 english (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)

Despite not knowing any good jokes off-hand, U3 Arts student Joey Haar considers himself to be a budding comedic writer. When he’s not working on completing his English major, he’s writing, creating, and editing videos as the series producer for TVMcGill Student Television (TVM).

TVM, McGill’s channel for student-run television and film media, offers a wide variety of video content. Initially a movie-making club in the 1990’s, TVM became one of SSMU’s official media outlets in 2001 and now covers everything from current news events to prank videos.

Haar’s work with TVM is helping to further his aspirations for his future career.

“I like TV shows, and that’s what I’d like to create, more than I would [want to] write a film,” Haar said. “Right now what I’m looking at is trying to find a way to get into TV writing.“ Having first been introduced to TVM at the end of his second year through a friend who was producing a series at the time, Haar became involved

RECIPES

Keen for

QUINOA

Greek quinoa salad

Prep time: 20 minutes Serves 2 Everyone’s favourite Greek salad with a fresh twist.

Ingredients: 10-15 cherry tomatoes ¼ medium-sized cucumber ½ cup feta cheese ½ small onion 1 tbsp olive oil ¼ cup uncooked quinoa Instructions: 1. Cook quinoa as per package instructions.

2. Chop vegetables into small cubes.

3. Mix quinoa, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, and cucumber with the olive oil.

4. Top with salt and pepper as desired.

5. Serve cold.

Apple, chicken, goat cheese quinoa salad

Prep time: 20 minutes Serves 2 Hints of orange juice and maple syrup make this dish perfect for those with a sweet tooth.

by Laura Hanrahan

in the club in his third year. He was initially attracted to the idea of being able to write his own video content.

“My interests were [in] writing more than anything else,” he said. “I’m a writer at heart all the way through, so the writing process is definitely my favourite part [....] It’s all very creative and interesting.”

As the series producer, Haar oversees the production of all video content within the “series” category, in addition to coming up with new ideas for projects.

“I’m in charge of my own personal series that I’m doing [called Bits], as well as making sure the other series of my associates get made,” he said. “So they’re checking in with me and making sure that everything runs smoothly.”

According to Haar, creating these videos requires dedication and planning from start to finish.

“I spent all of last semester doing my shooting, so I was taking out equipment all the time and getting my actors together,” he said. “This semester, I’m in post-production so I’m going to just be sitting in the office staring at a com-

puter for hours and hours at a time, but it’s fun!”

Haar’s talent isn’t restricted to the small screen; currently, he is also involved with the live comedy troupe, Bring Your own Juice, which puts out new sketch videos through the TVM website and also performs two live shows a year.

“Last semester I did writing for them and this semester I’m going to write and perform in the show,” he said.

Outside of TVM, Haar occasionally does stand-up comedy, which will be integrated into his series along with other short sketches.

He began doing stand-up after second year having watched a few live shows.

“After I saw it, I thought ‘How hard could that really be?’ Turns out it’s like, really, really insanely hard,” Haar said.

“It’s challenging, it keeps you on your toes, it keeps you interested...mentally [....] It’s like an addictive drug-type experience; you go up on stage and you make people laugh and adrenaline just runs.”

What is the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?

Probably a pizza. Realistically, it’s going to be something lowkey.

Who would play you in the movie of your life?

The old, big maid from Gone With the Wind.

Breakfast food or dinner food?

Dinner food because it’s pretty much any food except breakfast food, so you have more options.

If you had a theme song that played whenever you walked into a room, what would it be?

My bar mitzvah [torah reading], performed by me at 13 years old.

nominate a student of the week!

Email us at studentliving@ mcgilltribune.com

Already giving up on that New Year’s resolution of eating healthier? With school getting back into full-swing, it’s harder to find the time to cook, and soon our meals will consist of Kraft Dinner and frozen pizza. Luckily, there is a solution—quinoa. Quick, easy, gluten free, high in protein, and low in calories, quinoa has been called the new super-food.

With a preparation time of only approximately 15 minutes, what’s not to love? So before you throw in the towel on healthy eating, give these recipes a try.

Ingredients: ½ chicken breast 1 red apple, thinly sliced ¼ cup goat cheese ¼ cup uncooked quinoa 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp balsamic vinegar 1 tsp maple syrup 1 tsp orange juice Instructions: 1. Cook quinoa as per package instructions.

2. Cut chicken breast into one-inch cubes and sauté in olive oil on medium-low heat until cooked all the way through.

3. Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, orange juice, and maple syrup.

4. Crumble goat cheese into quinoa and add chicken, apple, and dressing.

5. Serve warm or cold.

High protein quinoa salad

Prep time: 20 minutes Serves 2 Rich in protein, this flavourful Mexi-

can-inspired salad is ideal for a postworkout meal.

Ingredients: 10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved 1 cup black beans 1 cup canned corn 1 medium sized avocado, cubed ½ cup uncooked quinoa 1 tbsp lime juice 2 tbsp olive oil Instructions: 1. Cook quinoa as per package instructions.

2. Mix avocado, tomatoes, corn, and beans into quinoa.

3. Gently mix in olive oil and lime juice.

4. Top with salt and pepper as desired.

5. Serve cold.

Grilled shrimp quinoa

Prep time: 20 minutes Serves 2 The combination of shrimp, lemon, and garlic is a long-time favourite. When added to some quinoa—voilà—the perfect warm winter meal!

Ingredients: 15-20 medium sized peeled shrimps 1 clove garlic, diced 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsp olive oil Fresh dill ¼ cup uncooked quinoa Instructions: 1. Cook quinoa as per package instructions.

2. Sauté shrimps in a pan with olive oil and garlic on medium heat until pink.

3. Add quinoa and fry for approximately 30 seconds.

4. Garnish with lemon and dill.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve warm.

Colourful quinoa oatmeal cookies

Adapted from Canadian Living Prep time: 50 minutes Makes 65 cookies Quinoa, with its nutty flavour, puts an exciting and healthy spin on traditional oatmeal cookies.

Anina Ratjen Contributor

Ingredients: 1 cup butter 1½ cups brown or white sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1½ cups all-purpose flour ½ tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1½ cups rolled oats 1 cup cooked quinoa 1 cup chocolate chips 1 cup M&M’s Instructions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 350º F. 2. Cook quinoa as per package instructions.

3. In a bowl, mix together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

4. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, oats, quinoa, chocolate chips, and M&M’s in a separate bowl and add into butter mixture.

5. Use a teaspoon to drop small balls of batter onto parchment paper.

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Photos courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod, Cupcake Muffin, Once Upon a Cutting Board, and Table for Two.

Curiosity delivers. |

STUDENT LIVING

| Tuesday, January 28, 2014

9

INSIDER INFO

Rental repairs, responsibility, and the Régie LICM explains tenant rights and obligations when dealing with dwelling fix-ups Rebecca Dawe and John Hutchings Legal Information Clinic at McGill If you’ve ever rented an apartment, you have likely dealt with a leaky faucet, burst pipes, busted heater—the list could surely go on. As students begin giving up and picking up leases, winter is a good time to discuss information on a tenant’s rights and obligations under Quebec law when dealing with pesky repairs in a rental apartment.

Who is responsible for repairs?

The law in Quebec states that lesser maintenance repairs of a dwelling are the responsibility of the tenant; however, the tenant is not responsible for repairs that result from the normal aging of the property. The tenant must also maintain the rental dwelling in clean condition and, at the end of the lease, the tenant must return the dwelling in the same condition in which it was received (notwithstanding changes that result from aging or fair wear and tear). This obligation may require the tenant to complete some work or repairs.

Anything other than lesser maintenance repairs are the responsibility of the landlord. The law also binds the landlord to

make all “necessary” repairs to the property during the term of the lease—not necessarily any and all repairs that the tenant requests.

The lease itself may outline other repairs the landlord has agreed to make.

The Régie du logement

When a landlord and tenant are unable to resolve a dispute, either side may file an application at the Régie du logement, the specialized tribunal that handles issues arising from residential leases. The Régie operates like a court in that a hearing is held before a commissioner who listens to all of the evidence, witnesses, and arguments of both parties before making a decision.

Notifying the landlord

The tenant is responsible for informing the landlord of any serious problems with the dwelling within a reasonable time. The Régie recommends that tenants deliver notices with proof of receipt, such as by registered mail or person-to-person with confirmation. The Régie also recommends that tenants keep a copy of any written notices they have sent and keep track of dates and times of phone calls.

Allowing the repairs to be carried out

The law requires that the landlord provides a notice of his or her intention to carry out work 24-hours ahead of time, and the tenant can deny the landlord access to do so between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. In the event that the work is urgent, these requirements do not apply.

When the landlord does not respond or does not act to carry out the repairs

When the landlord fails to carry out repairs while he or she legally required to do so, the tenant can apply to the Régie for authorization to go ahead and carry out the repairs. If the Régie agrees with the tenant, it will set conditions and maximum monetary amount that can be spent on repairs, which are later deducted from the rent.

ceptional measure” and urges tenants to exercise great caution in applying it. This recourse allows the tenant to undertake repairs or incur expenses without the Régie’s authorization. The tenant has to have informed—or attempted to inform—the landlord, but the landlord has not acted in due course. The landlord can intervene at any time to continue and complete the work, and the tenant can be reimbursed only for the reasonable expenses incurred.

What constitutes “urgent and necessary” is vague, since the law does not specify it, nor what are considered reasonable expenses.

It is possible that the tenant, the

landlord, and the Régie will not agree on what is “urgent and necessary,” but the Régie provides some useful examples on its website www.rdl.gouv.qc.ca.

The above information is of a general nature, and is not a legal opinion or legal advice. If you require legal advice, the Legal Information Clinic at McGill can assist you with referrals. To obtain free legal information on a specific question, you can call or come by the office to make an appointment, located on the main floor of the SSMU Building.

The “urgent and necessary repairs” standard

The law allows for an additional option where the repairs in question are considered “urgent and necessary,” and is only available where the repairs are required to “ensure the preservation or enjoyment of the leased property.” The Régie calls this an “ex-

Odds N’ Ends

Gone fishing

An urban afternoon ice fishing at the Old Port Marlee Vinegar Student Living Editor

What I expected to be a boring afternoon, freezing in a claustrophobic hut, turned out to be an anomalous but pleasant way to spend four hours on a Sunday.

The possibility of going ice fishing first came to my attention when I stumbled upon the organization Pêche Blanche, located in the Old Port. The notion of doing an activity I associated with a bunch of plaid-clad men and pristine lakes surrounded by snowcovered white pines, in the midst of bustling downtown Montreal caught me off guard. When a friend proposed the idea, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity.

The fishing village is located off the docks of the Montreal Yacht Club.

The setup was comfortable and convenient; the basic wood structure could easily seat about eight people and was equipped with two space heaters to keep us warm all afternoon. Openings cut into the floor exposed the holes in the ice below. The rods were placed so that we only had to check them occasionally.

An employee instructed us on how to fish—from attaching bait to reeling in—only to be interrupted by the jerking of one of the rods. We were giddy and eager to reel in the fish, but were more shocked that there were fish actually biting at our rods. Up until that moment, we had doubts that it would be possible to catch anything so close to home. The fish didn’t hook, but we were stricken with high hopes of an action-packed afternoon.

Within five minutes of settling in, we were questioning why we hadn’t brought a deck of cards, or at least downloaded the app Heads Up on one of our iPhones. We passed the time naming the minnows in our bait bucket, snacking, and talking about television. We waited impatiently like children on Christmas morning. Over the course of the afternoon, there was only a handful of nibbles; each time we immediately fell silent until the fish inevitably swam away.

Finally, after three and and half hours, a fish finally caught on the hook.

As we reeled in, the fish became visible in the hole; its bulging eyes and gaping mouth emerged from the water.

In a true reflection of our generation’s

attachment to social media, five of us whipped out our phones and huddled around the hole snapping photos of the floundering fish below. We may have been more excited to capture the perfect Kodak moment than to have caught the fish.

The line snagged and we couldn’t pull the fish any further. In a panic we reached for whatever long pole was available in the hut and tried to release whatever was caught. Like a fish out of water we were hopeless and required expert assistance; a deft employee unhooked the fish within the hole and then freed the hook from the ice.

His enthusiasm for our fish—a Sauger, the largest catch of the day— and for amateur photography matched our own; we were taken outside for a photo shoot with our fish, which was promptly uploaded to Pêche Blanche’s Facebook page.

Despite concerns about the contaminants in the fish from the shores of a polluted urban metropolis, the most surreal part of the experience was finally eating our catch. With live fish in hand, we hopped in a cab back home and used YouTube to guide the gutting process. As far as local food goes, this

This is not an accurate depiction. (Ruby Xia / McGill Tribune) was about as local as it could get; it’s rare to know where your food comes from, nevermind being the one to actually catch it.

With the whole afternoon costing around $40 each for fishing licenses

and rental fees, it was the freshest and most expensive fish I’ve ever eaten.

The once-in-a-lifetime, oddly commercialized, back-to-nature experience was nonetheless priceless.

10 | FEATURES

In the bleakest days of Montreal’s winter, it’s easy to feel weighed down with the stress of school, the grey skies, and the cold that keeps us indoors. This winter, I tried to forget the seasonal gloominess and instead remembered my experience this past summer—one that reminded me about finding a sense of joy in even the dreariest of days.

On my first day in Cambodia, I was greeted with an airport about the size of a typical campus building, 40 degree weather that made it tremendously hard to breathe, and a driver who didn’t speak a word of English.

From day one, the students I taught did not cease to amaze me with their clever games, their spontaneous gifts of flowers and pebbles, their yearning for knowledge, and their laughter. With each day that I spent with them, I couldn’t help but notice how they were so determined to look past any challenges in their day. Now back in Montreal, I realize that as university students, we lead such busy lives that we often ignore the possibility of taking a deep breath and slowing down a little. When they were playing ‘tag,’ I noticed that two little girls were playing it by a different rule: whenever one person became ‘it,’ the other would run remarkably slowly, even turning around and giggling, until she was finally tagged.

As they caught up to each other, they would laugh with delight. I think they simply liked playing with each other more than they cared about winning.

After I taught the kids how to play ‘duck, duck, goose,’ it quickly became one of their favourites. I always thought that being able to successfully tag the target was one of the most important parts of this game, but the kids seemed to enjoy the chase in itself so much more. Delight gleamed in their eyes as they got up and raced around the circle.

Witnessing those moments showed me how easy it is for us, as college students with big plans for the future, to focus so much on the goal and lose the joy of the process. Running, climbing, falling, stumbling, and reaching are all important stages of a journey that will bring us to our final destination. The children showed me that happiness is about the chase just as much as the ultimate goal.

Something else that struck me as I spent more and more time with the kids was how openly and freely they showed their love to one another. They would shower each other with affectionate hugs and kisses, and they did not hesitate to help each other when others were in need. The older kids would carry their younger siblings on their backs to school, or the girls would come to us bearing beautiful flower wreaths. I don’t tend to see these outward expressions of affection too often on campus, but the children I taught made me realize how valuable they can be.

On my last day, the kids pleaded to end class early so they could take us around the old stone ruins of a former temple. They manoeuvred up and over the stones nimbly and laughed as I stumbled before managing to catch up. “Teacher, teacher,” they called, beckoning for me to follow. I could only climb a few levels above the ground, while they were way up high on top of the rocks. The older kids carried the younger ones, the stronger kids pulled the smaller ones along, and they were all able to reach the top. They all wanted to climb to the peak and by holding on to and supporting each other; they arrived at that goal. And that was one of the most prominent observations I made during my time in Cambodia—that even though we each have our own individual aspirations here at McGill, happiness will often come when we help others reach their happiness, too.

My time in Cambodia made me think about the way we perceive happiness in our lives and how we could find it in certain forgotten places. Now that I am back on campus, I make an effort to remember the little lessons I had learned from my experience with these children. After all, they always seemed to know exactly how to unearth happiness wherever they went.

11 | FEATURES

During one particular recess, I asked the kids what their favourite game to play was. They pulled out a long rope made of rubber bands, and set it up in one corner of the room to play.

Thirty minutes later, this game showed no signs of ending.

With so many tasks on my to-do list here at McGill, I often give excuses for not doing certain things because I don’t have the ‘proper resources’, or that the timing is not right, but I know that I might ultimately lose out if I am not willing to grasp those opportunities. These kids could have complained that they didn’t have a real jump rope, or that it hurt when the rubber bands slapped against their bare feet—but they didn’t.

Science & technology Science from

SCIENCE FICTION : Researchers render objects invisible through antennas blocking light emission Alexander Messina Contributor Whether it’s used as a plot device or simply as a cool effect to amuse spectators, invisibility is and has been part of science fiction for almost as long as the genre has existed. One early example is H.G.Wells’ The Invisible Man—a novella about a former medical student who invents a serum to render himself invisible. Today, scientists all around the world have been developing different experimental techniques in attempt to make objects invisible.

H.G. Wells’ idea of achieving invisibility was to change the body’s refractive index to that of air so that you would become invisible to the naked eye. The refractive index is the property of a substance that determines how light is bent when entering a material. While this index can be modified for a substance given the right conditions, altering the index of the human body directly is a much bigger project involving more challenges.

Most research in this area focuses on different materials that bend light away in a manner that could then be used to cover

a body, similar to the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter.

These materials range from carbon nanotubes, which simulate mirages, to optical camouflage, which—in simple terms—consists of projecting what’s behind you to create the impression that nothing is there.

The mirage effect is the same that causes shimmering on roads on hot sunny days. The temperature difference in between the asphalt and air causes the light to bend, or refract, away from the road. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas NanoTech Institute took advantage of this phenomenon through the use of carbon nanotube rig in 2011.

Carbon nanotubes are, as their name suggests, sheets of carbon wrapped up into cylindrical tubes. They are extremely strong and have many other interesting qualities, one of which is an extraordinary capacity to conduct heat. This makes them excellent producers of mirages. To achieve this, sheets of the tubes were submerged in a petri dish of water and electrically heated.

This method has its limitations, as a large-scale model is difficult to reproduce and the great discharge of heat would make for a

poor invisibility cloak.

The optical camouflage is a simple enough idea that is relatively hard to produce. It involves using technology to create a garment that will adapt to the wearer’s surroundings, turning him or her invisible. Yet, in 2012, Susumu Tachi, the principal investigator of the research team at the University of Tokyo’s Tachi Lab, managed to do just that. Essentially, a computer scans background imagery and projects the picture onto a cloak made of very reflective material, similar to what’s used for stop signs.

The most recent attempt at invisibility is an interesting approach pioneered by professor George Eleftheriades and PhD candidate Michael Selvanayagam from the University of Toronto. Their idea is to surround an object with antennas that would cancel outgoing radiation from an object, rendering it invisible to whichever light spectrum is being targeted.

Light is not simply constrained to what we can see—it has a wide variety of spectrums including microwaves, radio, infrared, and ultraviolet. Our visible spectrum is a minute fraction

to the possible wavelengths of light. When light strikes an object, it reflects back and our eyes capture that outgoing wave. It is these types of light spectrums that the antennas would target.

The antennas covering an object can emit their own electromagnetic fields—another word for light. Therefore, when these antennas are attached to an object, the fields emitted cancel out the light that is usually reflected from the object. As a result, there is no light Researchers have recently bouncing off of the attempted to design cloaks object for our eyes to through optical camouflage and perceive—rendering antenna coverage. it invisible. (harrypotterforum.com) The theory is that this method could cloak an object from the visible spectrum; howm e n t ever, doing this would require new developantennas tens of hundreds of shows great potential for addinanometres in size. Eleftheria- tional research on the topic. Furdes’ and Selvanayagam’s method ther efforts may, in the future, only works for microwave and result in the development of an active invisibility cloak. radiowave detectors so far.

Although actual cloaking has yet to be perfected, this click.si.edu

SCIENCE

Gene therapy shows promise in combatting blindness Surgeon develops technique to treat eye disease caused by genetic defect Abhishek Gupta Contributor In her novel Light in my darkness Hellen Keller wrote, “There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.”

Robert MacLaren, a surgeon and professor at the University of Oxford, has set out to do just that by using gene therapy to treat certain types of blindness with hopes that, in the future, the technique could be used to effectively combat this impairment.

The results for the patients of this experimental gene therapy were published in The Lancet medical journal and have the potential to encourage further research in this area. The trials focused on nine patients who suffered

from a particular type of blindness called choroideremia, an inherited disease resulting in progressive blindness.

Choroideremia is due to a genetic defect that causes the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye to degenerate.

As these cells die, the retina begins to shrink, leading to the gradual loss of vision.

The therapy involved surgery to inject the missing gene responsible for the choroidermia disease. The gene piggybacked on a virus that acted as a vehicle of delivery, helping the gene navigate right to the retina. Since the initial surgery, the results have been very inspiring—every one of the patients showed an improvement in vision, ranging from higher perception in dim light, to being able to read more lines on the eye chart.

“This [treatment] has huge implications for anyone with a genetic retinal disease such as age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa, because it has for the first time shown that gene therapy can be applied safely before the onset of vision loss,” MacLaren said in an interview with the University of Oxford News.

One of the first trials was conducted with a 63-year-old man, Jonathan Wyatt, who at the time of the surgery had very minimal vision. Since undergoing treatment, he has experienced a significant improvement in sight.

“Now when I watch football on TV, if I look at the screen with my left eye alone, it is as if someone has switched on the floodlights,” Wyatt said in an interview with the University of Oxford News. “The green of the

pitch is brighter, and the numbers on the shirts are much clearer.”

Another patient, Wayne Thomson, had a similar experience.

“I’ve lived the last 25 years with the certainty that I am going to go blind; and now, [after the operation] there is the possibility that I will hang on to my sight,” he said.

Since choroidermia is a degenerative disease, it may be premature to have very high hopes for the treatment.

MacLaren’s paper consists of data for only six months past the surgeries.

Therefore, it is still uncertain if the efficacy of the treatment is permanent or transient.

Regardless, MacLaren’s study has sparked optimism among other researchers. Jean Bennett from the University of Pennsylvania applauded

these efforts, saying that the technique could be helpful in fighting against other causes of blindness like macular degeneration. However, Bennett is cautious to jump to conclusions.

“We can do as much work as we can in the laboratory and try to sort out all the variables, but there are always surprises,” she said in an interview with ABC News.

The researchers remain optimistic and look forward to the future results of the study.

“I am incredibly excited to see what will happen,” MacLaren said.

“The difficult bits are done. We know the virus carrying the gene therapy gets into the cells and the retina recovers after the surgery. Now it’s just waiting to see how the patients progress.”

Curiosity delivers. |

science & technology

SCIENCE

Researchers discover new way to induce event-specific amnesia

| Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) used to shock unwanted memories away Prativa Baral Staff Writer With the simple charm “obliviate,” Gilderoy Lockhart attempted to wipe the memories of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The release of a publication in Nature Neuroscience suggests a similar spell may soon serve as a treatment for disturbing memories.

This September, researchers at the Radboud University Nijmegen (RUN) in the Netherlands discovered the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to provide a type of event-specific amnesia— the loss of memory. ECT is a treatment where seizures are electrically induced in patients. In the past, this therapy has been used to treat psychiatric patients for major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and mania. In this new study, ECT was used to intercept the electrical current in the human brain, leading to ‘erased’ or ‘disrupted’ memories.

Marijn Kores, the lead author

of the study, and his team used the idea of memory reconsolidation to fuel the experiment. This theory suggests that memories must be re-written onto the brain’s circuits each time they are accessed. In other words, when we remember an event from the past, our memory is removed from its initial storage place in the brain, and is rewritten somewhere else over time.

Using ECT, the researchers tried to disrupt the reconsolidation process. They targeted the memory when it is at its most vulnerable—the point in time when it is rewritten onto another location in the brain—in order to block the reformation of disturbing or unwanted memories.

To test this process, participants were exposed to two distressing stories via slide shows: one consisting of a car accident and the other an assault. A week later, researchers reminded the participants of only one of the stories by replaying that section of the slide show.

ECT was then immediately

administered to a section of the participants as they were revisiting that one memory. Further testing one day later showed that patients who received ECT after revisiting one of the memories recalled less details compared to the other non-revisited story. This provides evidence to support memory reconsolidation in humans.

The potential to erase bad memories raises of series of ethical questions.

“What if we wiped out all of the memories of the Holocaust?

That would be terrible.” said Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University, in an interview with Time. “On the other hand, suffering caused by some memories is really powerful, and I would want to prioritize [relieving] suffering.”

Kores and his team hope to use these results for the benefit of patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, among others.

The Tribune is looking to hire a

News Editor

Send a CV, letter of intent, and three writing samples by Feb. 11 to editor@mcgilltribune.com

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Hilarity and meta-narrative rule in The Drowsy Chaperone AUTS’ latest rousing production will leave you feeling anything but sleepy Chris Liu Contributor “The spit takes are lame and the monkey motif is laboured.” That’s not to be taken as a particularly aggressive start to this review, rather, it’s the judgment of a character in The Drowsy Chaperone—about the show itself. The self-deprecation is just one of the many charming aspects of this year’s Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society (AUTS) production—one that, in the words of Artistic Director Fiona Ross, allows the audience to “both revel in and critique the constructs that define musical theatre.” As noted already, it even comes with its own theatre critic. That leaves yours truly in an awkward position indeed. You, dear reader, don’t need me.

You just need to see this show.

The Drowsy Chaperone may even be a bit too hard on itself. Both spit takes and monkey motif—running the gauntlet of humour extremes from slapstick to plain weird—were downright hilarious, much like the show is. The story of The Drowsy Chaperone takes place in the imagination of the Woman-in-Chair (Jami Price), the occasional interruption for commentary or by power outage notwithstanding. This setup not only excuses, but essentially demands an all-guns-blazing approach to the perfor-

mances, and AUTS’ cast and crew delivers. The result is an uproarious spoof on musical theatre tropes, the logic of Broadway taken ad absurdium (though not ad nauseam).

The show-within-a-show centres on starlet Janet Van der Graaff (Colby Koecher) and her impending marriage to oil tycoon Robert Martin (Natalie Aspinall). The maelstrom of aggrandized personalities that make up the wedding guests include a malevolent producer (Kimberley Drapack), a dutiful butler (Cara Krisman), a ridiculous Don Juan (Chelsea Wellman), and of course, the titular chaperone herself (Vanessa Hutinec)—for whom ‘drowsy’ is really just a synonym for drunk.

Koecher’s Janet possesses all the instruments with which a starlet works her magic. Radiant and poised, Koecher also works hard to bring performance range to a book that emphasizes the stereotypicality of its characters.

Aspinall, in addition to being one of the show’s strongest vocalists, delightfully captures Robert’s physicality, whether teetering on roller skates or delightfully tapping away his cold feet.

While most of the cast display well-tuned senses of comedic timing, Hutinec as the Chaperone is nothing less than a master of the craft. With well-developed characterizations and

Theatrew

arts & entertainment Bride-to-be Janet Van der Graaff (Colby Koecher) takes centre stage. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune)

outlandish-yet-controlled physicality, Hutinec singlehandedly elevates “As We Stumble Along”—a “rousing anthem” to that almighty patron deity of McGill: alcohol—to be the best number of this production.

No less hilarious is Chelsea Wellman’s Aldolpho, the ‘can’t-quite-placehis-accent’ womanizer who swoops in to sweep the Chaperone—and the audience—off their feet. Wellman’s earnest and charming delivery transforms what otherwise could be a morally-discomforting character into one of the most memorable aspects of the show.

The Wes Anderson-inspired set design by Fiona Ross—commendably working overtime—fits well with the

demands of book and stage, while also holding a trick or two up its sleeves.

Sound difficulties, including microphone cues and volume issues vis-à-vis the orchestra, persisted throughout the performance, but with further ironing out, this shouldn’t trouble future runs.

A stickier issue may lie in what is also one of the defining characteristics of the show: the frequent interventions from ‘the real world.’ Some of these moments work well, such as the spit take sequence. Most have had an unfortunately lethal effect to the show’s momentum, and the potential humour of these situations is not fully developed. Further adjustments to pacing and delivery may be warranted.

Despite these difficulties, The Drowsy Chaperone remains a show not to be missed. Never before have I been paralyzed by laughter induced by—of all things—a torrent of food puns. Nor has the soft “ting!” of a character, now dressed as a cymbal-banging monkey, been more unexpected and more hilarious. A vivid and feverish celebration of the best and worst excesses of musical theatre, The Drowsy Chaperone is simply pure, unadulterated fun.

The Drowsy Chaperone starts at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at Moyse Hall. Student tickets are $15.

Family matters spiral out of control in All My Sons Max Bledstein Staff Writer

The ‘dystopian suburban soap opera’ has become somewhat of a cliché in recent years. Between Alan Ball’s film American Beauty, Tracy Letts’s play August: Osage County, and David Chase’s television series The Sopranos, writers have managed to wring an impressive amount of drama out of debunking the American Dream. Legendary playwright Arthur Miller provided them a marvelous template to work from with his play All My Sons, currently being performed by the McGill Players’ Theatre.

Director Matthieu Labaudinière emphasizes the American setting of the play immediately with the Tin Pan Alley-era jazz that plays as the house lights dim. As the stage lights come up, we are exposed to American suburbia through the set’s white picket fence, bright red door, and lone rocking chair. Set designer Patrick Higdon also places dead rose petals around the stage and strewn tree branches at its centre to hint at the dark side of the seemingly idyllic world Miller will soon reveal.

The tree branches represent a central motif in the drama. The Kellers plant the tree to which the branches belong in honour of their son Larry, an air force pilot who has been missing in action for

three years. As the play opens, Joe Keller (Oren Lefkowitz) and his neighbours Jim Bayliss (Ben Mayer-Goodman) and Frank Lubey (John Hanchar) discuss the fallen tree and the effect it will have on Joe’s wife Kate (Julianna Astorino), who clings to the notion that Larry still might be alive.

The Kellers’ other son, Chris (Matt Smith), is introduced shortly, and here we begin to see Miller wrestle with issues of class and education. As Joe peruses a copy of the local paper, Chris asks to read the book review section. Joe scoffs at Chris’s desire to be educated, and Chris shows an equal disdain towards his father’s philistinism.

Miller continues to probe the depths of these issues as we learn more about the characters. Joe owns a local factory that produces aircraft machinery.

Chris, on the other hand, aspires to use his education to escape blue-collar life.

The tension between these two philosophies forms a central pillar of the drama.

Much of the play’s interest derives from the relationships between these men and the two most prominent female characters, Kate, and their former nextdoor-neighbour, Ann Deever (Noush Kadian). Ann comes to visit for the first time since Larry, her former lover, went missing. We soon understand her motivations, as she and Chris are revealed to be romantically attached and intent

Theatre

Players’ Theatre stages strong revival of the patriarch of the suburban family saga

A moment between neighbours in suburbia. (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)

upon getting married. Though Joe accepts their marriage, Kate’s attachment to Larry and her refusal to acknowledge his death prevent her from coming to terms with the relationship.

Although Miller initially presents Kate as the character who is most removed from reality, the delusions which cloud the judgements of both Chris and Joe rise to the surface as the play progresses. Both Chris’s idolization of Joe, and Joe’s refusal to admit the precariousness of the situation involving him and his ex-business partner Steve (Ann’s father) seem more and more absurd as Miller provides more information about

each of the characters. By the end, we see the extent of the denial under which the three of them live under.

The complexity of these roles require the actors to embody a wide range of personas throughout the drama, and they manage (for the most part) to convey the tolls which the strife takes upon their characters. Astorino’s portrayal particularly stands out. She depicts both Kate’s initial plucky aplomb and the devastation of her self-realization to deliver a wrenching performance.

All My Sons is a deceptively complex take on the American suburban melodrama, and the Players’ Theatre

has delivered a strong interpretation that deftly navigates the play’s many intricacies. Miller’s play probes issues of class, family, and war; this production makes a strong case for the continued relevance of its takes on those topics in the present day.

Though urban Montreal might sometimes feel far-removed from smalltown American life, All My Sons shows the universality of the emotions it depicts.

All My Sons starts at 8 p.m. on Jan. 29—Feb. 1 at Players’ Theatre. Student tickets are $6.

Curiosity delivers. |

arts & entertainment

| Tuesday, January 28, 2014

concerts

Braving the cold for J. Cole

An unforgettable evening with a hip-hop prodigy still on the rise Haviva Yesgat Contributor

Just months after the release of his sophomore album Born Sinner , Roc Nation artist J. Cole hit the stage at Montreal’s Metropolis on Jan. 23. With his work held in high regard by many rap legends, Cole backed up the hype with his performance, and made every minute of waiting outside in Montreal’s dreadfully cold weather well worth it.

When he stepped into the limelight after Dreamville label mates and rappers Bas and OMEN warmed up the crowd, one thing was clear: two years without a live performance from J. Cole was definitely too long for Montrealers to bear. The band played some mid-tempo music, J. Cole took centre stage, and the crowd went wild.

“I go to some cities, look around, and think I’m almost Jay Z. But then I go to other places and think I’m almost J-Kwon.

No offence, but remember him?

Tonight definitely feels a lot like

Jay Z,” he said responding to the roaring ‘fandemonium’ within the crowd.

J. Cole’s talent has been evident since the drop of his first mix tape, The Come Up , back in in 2007; however, his first studio album, The Side Line Story (2011), was the one to shoot him to ‘superstardom.’ With his reputation now solidified as one of hip-hop’s leading men, J. Cole has created a long list accolades for himself—most notably, having his highly acclaimed sophomore album Born Sinner , outsell Kanye West’s Yeezus by an approximate 30,000 copies. Both albums were released on the same day.

“We’re all friends in here, more like a family,” he told the audience as he thanked his fans for joining him on his journey to success.

With a cult-like following, it was no surprise that most fans in the jam-packed venue knew all the words to every song. The rapper opened up with bangers such as “Blow Up,” “Forbidden Fruit,”

and “Trouble”; but once he started reciting the bars to “Nobody’s Perfect,” it was obvious J. Cole had every intention of delivering an unforgettable performance from beginning to encore.

He also made sure to give the audience a taste of mainstream hits such as “Work Out” and selfesteem anthem “Crooked Smile.”

However, the crowd was surprisingly more interested in some of the artist’s more obscure tracks.

Scouring the audience for special requests, he decided to perform a few of the peoples’ choices.

While my favorite, the lyrically enchanting “Let Nas Down,” was not played, he catered to fan favorites such as the emotionally fuelled “Lost Ones,” “Dollar and a Dream 2,” and “Lights Please.”

Behind Cole stood his backing band, who were instrumental to the show. Making sure each member had their moments to shine, he introduced his drummer, pianist, and backup singers one by one. While all were very talented, the spotlight seemed to shine naturally on the ex-

15

J. Cole under the Metropolis spotlight. (www.tonpetitlook.com)

tremely skilled electric guitarist, and master of the turntables, DJ Dummy. It was obvious J. Cole was in good company.

After an approximate two hours on stage, and the occasional sip of Hennessey, J. Cole ended the show with chart-topping single “Power Trip.” Featuring Miguel, the track was nominated for Best Sung/Rap Collaboration at this year’s Grammy Awards.

In a room filled with an audience singing to Miguel’s dazing chorus, and rapping along with J. Cole, he left the venue with ev-

eryone wanting more.

“Until next time, Montreal,” he said while waving goodbye.

Long gone are the days where he walked on the streets of New York wearing a shirt that read “Produce for Jay Z or die tryin’.”

A protégé of the aforementioned hip-hop legend and the first signee to his Roc Nation label, one thing is certain: Yes, this guy is, in fact, almost Jay Z.

Flowers in the Attic comes out wilted Zoe Hoskin Contributor

Flowers in the Attic, the made-for-TV movie adaptation of the eponymously titled novel that premiered on Lifetime Network last weekend, resembles a mash-up of A Series of Unfortunate Events and the most disturbing rendition of The Little Red Riding Hood you can imagine. The plot, originally penned by V.C. Andrews and published in 1979, is relentlessly sad because of themes such as disturbed families, destructive cycles, and damaging childhoods—and the movie was just as difficult to get through as the book.

For better or for worse, the movie is very true to Andrews’ novel. It has a jumpy, fast-paced quality, likely the result of translating the 600-page cube of a novel into film. Similarly, the writing of the book is simple, bare, and plot-based; both the book and film place more emphasis on story than style.

The movie’s lack of artistry shows up in many elements; the acting is poor, the cinematography ordinary, and the characters are all stock stereotypes. There is the disapproving mother and the unforgiving daughter, the young man who falls victim to his sexual

desires, and the complaining twin toddlers. Nor is the soundtrack redeeming—every musical accompaniment is an eerie piano song that sounds like a carbon copy of the previous one.

The filmmakers had to grapple with translating a highly controversial book into the sensitive environment of present-day media.

After its publication, Andrews’ novel was banned unanimously across North American schools for its depiction of incest. Today, most of these bans have been lifted.

In re-creating the story, the filmmakers make some interesting choices with regard to theme and plot. For example, the book’s protagonist Cathy (Kiernan Shipka) often shames her mother for going out and getting a career—typing of course, as it was one of the first accepted careers for women in North America—instead of taking care of her children. In the movie, Cathy’s mother (Heather Graham) doesn’t have a job at all, and instead seduces her father’s rich attorney as an attempt to come into even more money than her father’s will would give her.

The movie includes the novel’s frequent mention of the inherent goodness in a family name, which relates to the idea of being born into privilege and the ‘natu-

MOVIES

Made-for-TV adaptation of V.C. Andrews’ controversial novel doesn’t deserve the big-screen treatment

The grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) might have some bats in her attic. (www.o.canada.com)

ral’ superiority of some people over others. Christopher (Mason Dye), the older brother, is known to say—in both print and on film— “We’re Dollangangers, we’ll be happy forever.” His comment, along with the frequent cinematic focus on the family’s blond hair, beauty, and wealth, may strike the audience as being classist and racist. In the movie uniquely, Christopher adds “We’ll be fine, we’re the Foxworths,” after he learns that his mother has been lying about his family name and history. This added comment showcases and mocks Christopher’s blind faith in

his slew of privileges by birthright.

The creators of the film would like to remind us that there is no basis for Christopher’s feelings of superiority; rather he carries them to whichever family line to which he thinks he belongs.

The filmmaker unabashedly brings out the Christian overtones of the book. In both film and text, the grandmother’s rules for her grandchildren’s conduct remind us of the Ten Commandments in their rigidity. They all centre around not engaging in incest, yet she forces her grandchildren closer and closer to it by constantly accusing them

of being dirty, and locking them up together so that the act seems almost inevitable when do they commit it. In both renditions of this story, Christianity is put under a doubtful lens, its members portrayed as cruel and destructive.

This movie seems to be a collage of literary, cinematic, religious, and cultural traditions, with an off-the-wall plot portrayed in a plain style very similar to that of Andrews’ novel. If there is a message to this movie, it seems lost among the agglomeration of heavy themes and racing plot lines.

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014 |

arts & entertainment

ALBUM REVIEWS Young the Giant-mind over matter

FUELED BY RAMEN

Following the very successful release of their self-titled debut album in 2010, southern California quintet Young the Giant has a lot to live up to with their second full-length release, Mind Over Matter. Purveyors of a radio-friendly brand of indie rock, the band has become known for catchy pop hooks, soaring vocals, and skittering percussion fills. Mind Over Matter partially retains these familiar elements, but takes on a slightly darker edge and gets more experimental with instrumental layering and electronic sounds. Unfortunately, the overall product doesn’t surpass its predecessor; and while it’s hardly a flop, the album fails to deliver high-quality songs from start to finish.

“Teachers” perfectly exemplifies the slightly overdone feeling that accompanies many tracks on the album. The song starts off strong with a driving drum beat, upbeat guitar lines, and some very forceful vocals on the part of lead singer Sameer Gadhia as he shouts through the chorus. However, the song occasionally drifts into strange glitchy electronic moments that don’t suit its tone, or frankly, the sound of the band.

On the other hand, “Mind Over Matter,” “Daydreamer,” and “Firelight” are standouts—perhaps because they are most reminiscent of the band’s older work. “Firelight” is by far the record’s most sparsely produced track, but this is what makes it so appealing; it allows you to properly absorb the content instead of being distracted by all the sonic action.

Though Young the Giant has avoided the dreaded sophomore slump with Mind Over Matter, it doesn’t quite live up to their previous work. Most of the tracks stand well on their own; but as a whole, the album feels slightly claustrophobic, with too much layering and synth noise. Growth in a band is always good, but perhaps Young the Giant should stick a little closer to their roots in their next endeavour.

— Kia Pouliot

WARPAINT-warpaint rough trade There is more space on Warpaint’s latest, self-titled album than on their previous release, The Fool and Exquisite Corpse. Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante—who mixed and mastered Warpaint’s debut EP—is replaced by Flood and Nigel Godrich, who handle most of the technical duties this time.

There is also less angst, which is replaced by ambiance. All songs roll in with hypnotic syncopation; haunting vocal harmonies weave in and out as washed guitar sounds come loose, like velvety ribbons untied from a corset. Indicative of Warpaint’s piecemeal song-writing approach, each song on the album surprises with multiple unique, unexpected arrangements. In typical style, each part flows seamlessly as drummer Stella Mozgawa and bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg sustain tight, swelling rhythms.

New synth layers bring continuity to tracks like “Tease,” “Drive,” and “Biggy.” “Feeling Alright” is reminiscent of Warpaint’s original vibe as its vocal and guitar melodies play off one another. The pre-album single “Love Is to Die” blends these old and new sounds with a chorus that hangs in the air with question.

Warpaint’s intriguing dynamic and innate ability to control the flow of tension and release in their music are intact on The Fool and Exquisite Corpse. The album creates a sonic atmosphere that is only magnified in their live shows, in which the band is known to bring presence, attitude, and even hugs for their fans.

—Tara Davis

MOGWAI-Rave Tapes

ROCK ACTION

One of the lesser-known bands under the post-rock genre, Mogwai has recently released their eighth LP, Rave Tapes. Perhaps unlikely to garner many new fans unfamiliar with their experimental tastes, the album is a testament to the band’s evolution into a progressively more electronic sound—and the synths serve them well.

The opening track, “Heard About You Last Night,” gradually eases listeners into the album with chimey synths dotted over more familiar guitar riffs. The real standouts from the album are “Remurdered” and “No Medicine for Regret,” each heavily adorned with catchy motifs. Easily the most memorable song on the album, “Remurdered” would make the perfect backing to a 1980s sci-fi film, with the real action coming into play halfway through this lengthy six-minute track.

While the spoken-word track “Repelish” might not be music to all ears, it features a dialogue on the Satanic implications behind Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” backed by instrumentation that drones along with the speaker.

Although Mogwai is known for their slow-burning progressions, they’ve evidently also burned out by their last song, “The Lord is Out of Control.” At times, vocoded vocals fade in and out of the electronic backing, making it unremarkable and yet too robotic and unnatural to be ignored.

It’s clear that even after 19 years, Mogwai is still true to its experimental roots, incorporating new elements and reinventing older material, with Rave Tapes happening to strike a balance between the two.

— Leyang Yu

| Curiosity delivers.

TRANSGENDER TOTAL TREBLE MUSIC DYSPHORIA BLUES- Against Me!

The Florida-based punk rock band Against Me! formed in 1997 and firmly established itself in the punk world with the release of five albums between 2002 and 2012. In 2012, lead singer of the band, Laura Jane Grace—formerly Tom Gabel—announced that she was a transgender woman. Following this admission, the band began work on their sixth album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, a concept album following the life of a

transgender prostitute.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues has already set itself up to be one of this year’s most iconic albums in the punk rock scene. Intensely personal, heartfelt, and relentlessly unapologetic, this album incorporates classic punk concepts with a new type of awareness not typically associated with a genre that has been largely limited to white, heterosexual males.

The album is musically and lyrically well rounded; from the anti-authoritarian “Osama Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ,” to the longing lone-song “Two Coffins,” to the metaphor-filled upbeat anthem “Paralytic States.”

While Grace’s personal anguish fuels the lyrical fire of this album, the compilaion is made even more stirring by the fact that—having just begun her transition—Grace still has a very deep voice, the same one that’s defined her career from the beginning. The impact is particularly felt in the title track when Grace belts out “You want them to see you/ like they see any other girl/ they just see a faggot.”

Laden in punk beats, lyrically heavy, and overwhelmingly inspiring, Transgender Dysphoria Blues is an incredible album with an even more incredible message.

— Morgan Alexander

SPORTS

Ice Hockey— McGill 2, ottawa 0

Martlets stand up to aggressive Gee-Gees McGill improves to 14-0; shuts out Ottawa 2-0 Zikomo Smith Contributor With nine minutes left in the second period, McGill forward Pamela Psihogios lost her balance with the puck at hand. Undeterred, she passed to an open teammate and then sprung to her feet to support her fellow Martlets as the aggressive Ottawa Gee-Gees initiated a small scuffle. Despite the combative nature of their opponents, the Martlets managed to win against Ottawa 2-0 on Friday evening, maintaining their composure in the face of the GeeGees’ aggressive play.

“At Ottawa it’s always a tough game; they play a very physical kind of game,” Head Coach Peter Smith said. “I wouldn’t say that we are the most physical team but they play a physical game, and I thought we did a really good job.”

Shortly after the scuffle, senior forward Katia Clement-Heydra converted Chelsea Saunder’s assist to finally break the deadlock. The Martlets were clearly the dominant team thanks to a disciplined defence and an excellent shutout performance from netminder Andrea Weckman.

Junior forward Stefanie Pohlod chases the puck into the corner. (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune) Third-year chemical engineering major Stefanie Pohlod topped off the Martlets’ play in the third period with McGill’s second goal of the night.

The Martlets’ ability to dictate the pace and generate pressure against a physically larger opponent is a true testament to their adaptability and excellence over the course of the season. The lopsided shot count of 35-22 was further indica-

tive of their control of the rink. Smith voiced his pleasure with his team’s execution over the course of the season and the game.

“I think that we’ve done a good job,” Smith said. “We spend a lot of time doing what we do, practicing hard and a big part of what we do is focusing on our game and not worrying about our opponent.”

Clement-Heydra, who had three

of her shots hit the post, echoed this sentiment.

“We did well; we had a good shooting mentality; we were opportunistic,” she said. “You know, sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t, and today it didn’t want to go in as much as we wanted it to, but we managed to get the win.”

This victory showed the confidence the Martlets had in their game

plans and their ability to execute.

“I think our fitness is a high point of our team,” Clement-Heydra explained. “Our practices are high tempo, and we work a lot on cardio so we are able to have a good forecheck and then back check.”

There are now six games remaining before the playoffs and the Martlets are both physically and mentally prepared for the challenges ahead. They have enjoyed their position at the top of the RSEQ standings, and will be looking to take this momentum into the post-season.

“We are confident, but after last year and losing in the finals, we are really hungry and looking for redemption,” Clement-Heydra said. “[We] are looking to go all the way, but we don’t want to be too confident.”

The Martlets will face off against Ottawa once more this Sunday, Feb. 2 at McConnell Arena at 3:00 p.m., where they will play the Gee-Gees for the fifth time this season.

track and field

Setting the silver standard McGill claims two silvers, Guelph and York dominate podium at McGill Team Challenge Wyatt Fine-Gagné Staff Writer This weekend, McGill played host to the 19th annual McGill Team Challenge—a two-day track and field meet.

With around 900 athletes taking part, it was advertised as the largest competition of its kind in Canada. The meet saw a number of records fall and featured eight Olympians.Although the event was a success, both the Redmen and the Martlets had been hoping for more on their home turf.

It was the York Lions and the Guelph Gryphons who took home the men’s and women’s titles respectively.

York also placed second in the women’s division, as did Guelph on the men’s side of things. McGill, however, finished 11th in the men’s and 12th in the women’s, and earned just two podium finishes—both of which were silver medals.

“It wasn’t our greatest performance collectively at the team challenge,” McGill Head Coach Dennis Barrett remarked. “We want to at least be in the top 10 with our team talent.

That would be the goal going forward.”

The first of the two medals came

from sophomore Caroline Tanguay.

Tanguay earned a silver medal in the high jump, leaping 1.72m. This came a week after she tallied a gold in the same event at the Laval Rouge et Or Invitational. Though first place was surely her aim again this weekend, Tanguay’s silver medal jump is actually an improvement on the one that brought her the first place finish in Laval—a jump that measured 1.68m.

The drop on the podium despite an improved score was a common theme for McGill athletes, as the large field provided stiff competition. Luguelin Santos, a silver medalist in the 2012 London Olympics—who competed as an independent athlete with Club Puma—won both the men’s 300m and 600m races, and broke a Tomlinson Fieldhouse record for the latter. Injuries were also partially to blame for the difficulties McGill ran into during the competition.

“We had a lot of athletes on the sidelines and some that competed [who] weren’t 100 per cent,” Barrett said. “We were kind of bitten by the injury bug there.”

McGill’s other silver medal came in the Pentathalon, where third-year

neuroscience student Dylan Golow scored 3495 points—206 points behind the winner. The silver medal marks a seven spot jump from last year’s team challenge, where Golow placed ninth in the Pentathalon. Although Tanguay and Golow were the only medalists on the team, Barrett saw other strong performances by McGill athletes at the event.

“I thought our 4x200m men and our 4x400m men also performed very well,” Barrett said. “Those were some pretty standout performances in terms of McGill’s [standards].”

Although the 4x200m team of ElHadj N’Doye, Eric Ellemo, Alexander Steinbrenner, and Benjamin Wyman finished sixth, their time of 1:30.33 was barely two seconds away from medal territory. The 4x400m group also finished sixth, about six seconds behind third place.

Though McGill may have wished for a better outcome, the end result still marked a solid weekend for the team.

As exciting as it must be for athletes to compete at home, the meet is ultimately just another day with limited national championship implications.

“You hope that your athletes are more pumped up since it’s a home meet,

York claimed first on the men’s side. (Cassandra Rogers / McGill Tribune) but the preparation remains the same going towards the national championships,” Barrett said. “It’s one [of] the steps along the way—you know, a testing ground to see where our athletes are at.”

Those on the team who qualified will travel next to the Big Apple for the New York Collegiate Invitational, which begins on Feb. 6.

Curiosity delivers. |

sports

| Tuesday, January 28, 2014

18

BASKETBALL— McGill 47, CONCORDIA 49

Martlets marred by early mistakes Last-minute comeback falls short; McGill drops two in a row without Ros and Charest Remi Lu Sports Editor Injuries can hamstring even the best of teams. Just ask the McGill Martlets (6-2), who dropped two straight games against the Concordia Stingers (7-3) this past week. The Martlets entered the two contests without starting guards Dianna Ros and Francoise Charest, both of whom were sidelined with lower body injuries. Without the steadying presence of their starting backcourt, the Martlets dropped their game at Concordia on Thursday, losing 63-53.

Two days later, McGill hosted the Stingers for McGill Athletics’ annual Shoot for the Cure game. Despite a thrilling comeback sequence, the Martlets could not close out the game for the victory, recording a narrow loss of 49-47.

The absence of Ros and Charest was notable from the opening tip Saturday evening, as the Martlets committed seven turnovers in the first quarter.

Starting in place for the injured Charest was rookie guard Carolann Cloutier, who finished with two points and three assists in 34 minutes. While Cloutier appeared capable of directing the offence, the Martlets had trouble penetrating the paint, shooting a paltry 25 per cent from the field by the end of the second quarter. McGill’s sloppy play continued to close out the half, and the home team headed into the locker room with a four-

point deficit, 21-17.

“I thought we were undisciplined,” Head Coach Ryan Thorne said. “We had 15 turnovers in the first half. We had 30 last game. You can’t beat a team when you have that many turnovers. Our lack of discipline really hurt us down the stretch.”

The Martlets looked like a different team as they hustled out of halftime, diving for loose balls and forcing Concordia turnovers. However, the energy was short-lived as McGill slipped back into its careless habits, with haphazard passes punctuated by travelling violations. Mirroring the stop-and-go play of the Martlets was the minutes-total of sophomore star Mariam Sylla. Despite being the best player on the floor, Sylla played only 24 minutes—just the fourthhighest on the team. “[Sylla] wasn’t in the game for most of it because she was in foul trouble,” Thorne said. “She was being undisciplined—she was reaching, and doing things that we talked about not doing.”

In contrast to the disappointing effort by McGill in the first three quarters, the Stingers played tenacious basketball—it was clear that Concordia’s half-court defence was key in limiting the Martlets’ ball movement. Concordia managed to continue its momentum late into the game, leading the Martlets by 14 points with two-and-a-half min-

utes to go in the fourth-quarter. After a time-out by Thorne, however, McGill roared back with veteran Helene Bibeau netting a three-pointer and Sylla finally looking like her usual self. With less than two minutes left in the game, Sylla staggered the Stingers in consecutive plays, scoring 11 points in a minute and a half to bring McGill within one-point. With six seconds left on the clock, sophomore guard Marie-Pier Bastrash was fouled, netting a free-throw to tie the game at 47. However, on the next possession, Sylla fouled Concordia guard Kaylah Barrett, who made two free throws to ice the game at 49-47.

Thorne was visibly upset with his team after the game, citing a lack of effort and consistency despite the nearcomeback.

“That hustle came way too late,” he said. “Why do we [only] have effort at the end? It doesn’t make sense to me.

We’re undisciplined the whole game, and now we want to fight the enemy.

And I’m not going to pat anyone on the back because we got it close. We didn’t do that at the beginning [.... It was] too late, and the result shows.”

The Martlets will look to bounce back against Bishop’s University on Thursday, Jan. 30. The game will take place at Love Competition Hall at 6:00 p.m.

Marie-Pier Bastrash looks for an opening. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune)

BASKETBALL— McGill 70, CONCORDIA 49

Ogundokun puts up career numbers as Redmen cruise Resounding win over Concordia pushes McGill to top of RSEQ standings Aaron Rose Staff Writer After back-to-back road losses, the stumbling McGill Redmen (6-2) regained their moxie as they coasted to a 70-49 win over the Concordia Stingers (6-4) on Saturday night. The team continued its perfect record at home and jumped from third to first in the division thanks to a Laval win over Bishop’s.

Concordia’s offence had no answer for McGill’s dominant man-to-man defence as the Stingers shot a pitiful 32 per cent from the field.

With over 400 fans in attendance on Saturday, Love Competition Hall had no shortage of energy. Prior to the game, Redmen Head Coach David DeAveiro stressed the importance of protecting home court and turning McGill into a place no team wants to play.

“I think our guys understand that we always have to defend our home court,” DeAveiro said. “We know we’re good at home, now we [just] have to win

some tough games on the road.”

After a heartbreaking loss at Concordia last Thursday, DeAveiro refocused the team while emphasizing hustle and controlling the boards.

“We watched the video [of the] Concordia [game] and I thought that as well as Concordia played, we really beat ourselves,” DeAveiro said. “We talked about fixing two things, […] not letting anyone out-hustle us today, [and] we got out-rebounded last game, and I think we [out-rebounded] them 50-31 tonight.

So we addressed the things we thought Vincent Dufort attacks the paint. (Wendy Chen / McGill Tribune) needed to be addressed, and the kids rejust doing what I needed to do for the Simon Bibeau’s return didn’t make a sponded really well.”

The host’s response came early team,” Ogundokun said. “Tonight’s win huge difference in the game, his 15 minutes on the floor gave third-year guard as the Redmen snatched the game’s was [just] a whole team effort.”

McGill forward Francois Ave Bross some much needed rest after first eight points. After a poor showing at Concordia in the team’s previous Bourque’s rookie season has been noth- being the team’s primary facilitator in matchup, freshman guard Dele Ogun- ing short of spectacular, as he recorded the Redmen’s previous three outings.

Defensively, the team played well, dokun was scorching hot, registering a his fourth double-double this season career-high 21 points along with seven with 12 points and 11 boards. Veteran as it held the Stingers to a season-low forward Vincent Dufort just missed 49 points. The Redmen held Conboards and a pair of steals.

“My teammates were giving me the double-double mark with 11 points cordia stars Mukiya Post and Adam the ball, [I was] attacking the glass, and and nine rebounds. While point-guard Chmielewski to just 11 and nine points

respectively after the tandem combined for 45 points in the previous game.

“We tried some different things with [Chmielewski] this game; we tried to play different guys on him, [we] put a fresh guy on him, [then] a taller guy on him,” DeAveiro said. “We just changed it up so that he didn’t get the same look over and over again.”

The Redmen have regained their composure just in time for a crucial home-and-home series with the Bishop’s Gaiters on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. In the teams’ first matchup on Nov. 28, the Gaiters choked up a 10-point halftime lead in a resounding 81-63 Redmen win.

After Bishop’s fell to Laval on Saturday, the Redmen and Gaiters are now deadlocked at the top of the conference at the halfway mark of the season. The team that comes out ahead next weekend will establish a tight grip on the race to win the RSEQ.

19

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 |

POINT

sports

COUNTERPOINT

| Curiosity delivers.

The Super Bowl XLVIII is set to take place this coming Sunday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m., with the Peyton Manning-led Denver Broncos facing off against the dominant defence of the Seattle Seahawks. In a preview of the championship game, a current sports editor writes against a past sports editor in defence of their respective picks for the Super Bowl.

Seattle

Denver Offence —Greatest of all time. When future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning steps onto the field in the Meadowlands he will be leading the highest-scoring offensive unit to ever play in the NFL. Manning has a plethora of receivers that will pose a myriad of problems for the Seahawks’ vaunted secondary.

The “legion of boom” will have to pick their poison as Demaryius Thomas and crew can win with speed deep or in the short passing game. The passing attack may get all the headlines, but the Broncos have had success running the ball behind an offensive line doing yeoman’s work as a unit. Running back Knowshon Moreno had 10 touchdowns and upwards of 1000 yards during the regular season, and rookie Montee Ball offers a change of pace and has played well in limited action so far. One statistic sums up just how unstoppable this offence is: the Broncos have punted just once in the playoffs so far.

Defence —The less hyped matchup is when the Broncos defence comes into the game to face quarterback Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. The key to stopping Seattle’s offence will be to shut down its running game. Defensive tackle Terrence ‘Pot Roast’ Knighton has been a revelation in the post-season for a patchwork defensive line and completely neutralized the Patriots’ run game in their matchup. If Knighton is able to anchor the defence and mitigate Marshawn Lynch’s impact, Seattle’s ability to use the play-action pass will be severely diminished. The linebacking corps will miss Von Miller’s ability to generate pressure, but Shaun Phillips has had a renaissance this season. On the back end, Denver’s corners will have no trouble shutting down Seattle’s mediocre receivers. No pass-catcher projects as a game-changer—with the exception of recently medically cleared Percy Harvin, but he has only caught four passes in the regular

season and post-season combined.

Coaching —John Fox mans the helm for the Broncos’ coaching staff and has helped guide the team to 26 regular season wins in the past two seasons. Fox has played a crucial role in creating a culture of winning, and has guided the team with a steady hand. On the offensive side, Coordinator Adam Gase has taken the league by storm in his first season on the job. Gase’s ability to cultivate a strong relationship with Manning and his creative play-calling have played a key role in the record breaking success. On the other side of the ball, Jack Del Rio has taken a roster riddled with injuries and created a lineup that ranks second in both scoring defence and defence by total yards in the post-season.

X-Factor — The environment will have an enormous impact on the outcome of this game for two reasons: cold weather and the absence of a 12th man. Forecasts are projecting near freezing temperatures with a chance of precipitation, two factors that have hampered Manning’s ability to be successful in the past. However, in his past eight games played in similar conditions, he had a 72.8 per cent completion rating, 2129 yards, and 17 touchdowns—not in line with his career averages but still very good, and likely enough to make the difference. As for the crowd: the team is no longer in Seattle, so the Seahawks won’t be able to recreate the tremendous home field advantage that they have enjoyed in the friendly confines of Century Link Stadium. With this much at stake, all the small factors that result from a raucous crowd could be the difference for which team hoists the Lombardi Trophy.

Score — Denver 31, Seattle 24 — Mayaz Alam

VS

Offence — The Seahawks’ offence is often overlooked because of their dominant defensive unit—but it shouldn’t be.

Second-year quarterback Russell Wilson has proven to be one of the most dynamic talents in football in just two short seasons.

He is incredibly proficient outside of the pocket, making use of his speed to evade the rush and extend plays to find receivers down the field. Though the Seahawks don’t possess many game-breakers on the outside, Wilson undoubtedly elevates their level of play. However, Seattle’s offensive success starts and ends with running back Marshawn Lynch. Expect ‘the Beast’ to receive close to 25 carries to wear down the Denver front line and help set up the playaction passing game.

Defence — Where do you want to start? The defensive line does a great job stopping the run and has a wealth of speed rushers on the edge like Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, and Chris Clemons that pressure opposing quarterbacks. The linebacker core—led by Bobby Wagner—is a bit more unheralded, but they are all solid tacklers and can close quickly on ball carriers. But the backbone of the Seahawks’ top-ranked defence is their secondary or self-nicknamed “legion of boom.” Richard Sherman is one of the league’s top shutdown corners—a fact he will make sure to let you know—and all-pro safety Earl Thomas is a top-flight ball-hawk. For all they have accomplished this season, however, they have yet to face a passing attack like the one the Broncos boast. There is no doubt that Peyton Manning and his wealth of talented wideouts pose a difficult task, but if there’s one team that can stop them, it’s this Seattle defence.

Coaching — There were a few

question marks surrounding the Seattle Seahawks when they named Pete Carroll their new head coach three years ago.

Could Carroll—who led the University of Southern California to two national championships—translate his coaching strategy and style back to the NFL? Well, he’s been pretty successful so far. Carroll has reinvigorated a Seattle franchise that was battling mediocrity after reaching the Super Bowl in 2006. The Seahawks have adopted the mantra of their energetic and cocky head coach, and it seems to translate well to the field. Carroll might be the best in the league at getting the most out his players and elevating their play. His staff—led by Offensive Coordinator Darrell bevel and Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn—also did a great job this season devising game plans to exploit mismatches. Expect them to carry that momentum into the Super Bowl.

X-Factor — We couldn’t have asked for a better matchup. The best offence against the best defence. Most pundits will point to the battle between Denver’s wide receivers and Seattle’s secondary as the key to the game. But the Seahawks’ defensive success will depend on their play up-front, and whether they can generate a pass rush against Manning. We’ve seen the future Hall-of-Famer struggle when his line collapses and is forced to move outside the pocket. If Seattle can frustrate Manning’s timing, they will hoist the Lombardi Trophy when the clock runs out.

Score — Seattle 23, Denver 20 — Steven Lampert

Editors’ pick: Denver Broncos Most football pundits predicted this matchup before the season began: one of the best offences in the NFL against an unparalleled defensive lineup. While the Seahawks’ “legion of boom” will no doubt push the Broncos to the brink, this is Denver’s game to lose. Manning is quarterbacking the best offence in the league, and with the talented coaching staff behind the Broncos orchestrating plays on both sides of the ball, this will be the year Manning wins his second Super Bowl ring.

LUMBERJACKING

Sharp axes and cold loggers

Spirits high as wood chips fly at 54th Annual Macdonald Campus Woodsmen Competition Ben Carter-Whitney Managing Editor For the McGill Woodsmen, the preparations began weeks ago. A tremendous amount of wood has been chopped, stripped, and measured— every piece conforming to its event’s particular specifications. Equipment has been meticulously inspected, ensuring that the saws’ teeth are perfectly straight and the axes are sharp enough to shave with. When the morning of Jan. 25 finally arrives, everything is in order. Two U-Haul trucks packed with wood are unloaded onto Watson Field at McGill’s Macdonald campus. Visiting teams spill out of buses, and spectators begin to pull into the parking lot. At 8:45 a.m., the ceremonial first cut is made and with that, the 54th Annual Macdonald Campus Woodsmen Competition officially begins.

The Woodsmen are McGill’s least heralded varsity team, yet historically its most successful. The only McGill squad based on Macdonald campus, they compete in the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association (CILA), and have collected over 100 titles in various meets and competitions since their inception in 1959. In 1961, Macdonald campus held its first Woodsmen Competition, a tradition that has been upheld ever since. Today, McGill fields two men’s teams and one women’s team, all of which are extremely competitive within CILA. However, it is with slightly less confidence than usual that all three host teams begin the competition. The past week has seen frigid weather in Montreal, often remaining below -30°C when the Woodsmen hold their 6:00 a.m. outdoor practices. At such temperatures, practice is impossible. “[The cold]’s not good because [the equipment] shatters, and it’s very expensive,” explains Jessica Logan, a bioresources engineering student and member of the McGill women’s team.

“It’s more dangerous for us because we don’t feel our extremities, and a lot more accidents happen when it’s really cold.”

Fortunately, the weather is more forgiving today, and with temperatures hovering around -9°C amidst a light snowfall, athletes are ready to begin their events. The Macdonald tournament is unique in that, due to a shortage of equipment, only one team can compete at a time in each event. There is no real schedule—teams may take on events when and in the order that they please so long as all is finished by 3:00 p.m. This results in a fairly relaxed atmosphere; spectators move from area to area as teams take their turn at different events.

“I like it this way; you’re not so stressed,” comments Jesse RogantiniGamble, captain of the Men’s 2 team.

“[Although] it’s [also] nice the other way with the racing, because it’s more competitive—you can kind of tell if you’ve won or not. If you’re the first one cheering you know you’ve won.”

Competitive lumberjacking has its roots in logging camps, where lumberjacks would hold challenges to see who was the best at any given aspect of their trade: chopping, sawing, climbing, log rolling, and more. As with all sports, what started out as recreation eventually evolved into formal competition. Lumberjacking meets today—aside from the addition of a chainsaw event—have hardly deviated from their origins. There are events using axes and various sorts of saws in which the objective is to cut all the way through a log; the pulp throw involves accurately tossing logs back and forth; log decking is a relay in which two team members at a time roll a log down and back up a slope to a platform 45 inches high.

Some of the most compelling, however, are the singles events. The axe throw is much what it sounds like, with a target about half the size of those used for archery. The pole climb, in which a competitor fitted with foot spurs must ring a bell 28 feet up a telephone pole, often takes as few as five seconds to complete. In the water boil, one must bring to a boil a tin of water, using only three matches, a hatchet, and a block of cedar.

Logan is tasked with the latter of these for the McGill women’s team’s final event of the day. As she has done so many times in training, she chops her cedar into several smaller pieces, and with the blade of her hatchet begins to scrape the inside of one of these. Collecting these shavings into a pile, she strikes first one match, and then a second, to no avail—the wind is working against her today. Huddling a little closer, she finally ignites the shavings with her third and final match and turns her attention back to the wood, chopping it into smaller pieces and arranging them into a surface over her fire upon which she rests the can. As the fire begins to grow, she buttresses her can with what remains of the wood, and lies down on her side to blow on the fire.

With her lungs acting as bellows, the fire soon reaches a healthy roar.

Logan continues to blow at it, urging it to burn a little hotter. With each gasp for air, she turns her head away to avoid inhaling smoke from the blaze. As this continues, the excitement in the crowd grows until finally the soapy water boils over dramatically. She scrambles to her feet, her breath ragged, and releases an adrenaline-fueled shout. The fire has melted twin holes in her pants, right above the knees, but she just beams as her teammates surround her.

It is easy to dismiss the Woodsmen

McGill Woodsman Tommy Lauzon competes in the Standing Block Chop. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune) as a mere oddity—a welcome glimpse into a bygone era of Canadiana. For those who spent the day watching them pour themselves into their sport, however, the Woodsmen are clearly much more than that. In their mental and physical strength, the level of technical skill they bring to each event, and the commitment that they show to their team, they are athletes through and through.

As the competition draws to a close, it is clear to the McGill teams that their interrupted practice schedule has impacted their results today. Although the offset format of the Macdonald competition makes it almost impossible to properly track one’s progress throughout the day, the Woodsmen still have a sense of their performance.

“Average day,” Rogantini-Gamble predicts. “I don’t think that we’re first for too many events, but we’re definitely not last.”

Logan is slightly less optimistic.

“We had a rough day today,” she says. “A lot of things went wrong; we have a lot of pressure right now. We don’t know who wins right now—and it probably won’t be as bad as we think— but it was a rough day today.”

In the end both the men’s 1 and women’s teams finish fourth in their respective divisions—not an ideal result, but certainly not a catastrophe. All they can do now is look to their next competition, to be held at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia in only two weeks time. Colin Murphy, captain of the Men’s 1 team, is already contemplating improvements they can make.

“The biggest thing for a team is communication,” Murphy says. “On a lot of team events, you have to know how your team works.”

Before returning to life, school, and 6:00 a.m. practices, however, there is one final lumberjacking tradition to be upheld. The post-competition celebrations, to be held in the Macdonald campus’ Ceilidh bar, are just as much a part of the sport as the axes and saws. For the victors, it is a chance to celebrate; for the rest, an opportunity to put a day of frustrations behind them. As she walks off the field, Logan is ready to do the latter.

“We’re done now—time to party,” she laughs.

— With additional reporting from Mayaz Alam and Remi Lu

Visit us online for an extended photo gallery, and to hear our podcast with members of the Woodsmen team.