The McGill Tribune Vol. 40 Issue 23

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021 | VOL. 40 | ISSUE 23

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

THE JOKE ISSUE

SPORTS

McGill must chart a new course into its third century

Rat community ravaged

by Oreo epidemic

Know Your Athlete: Jade Downie-Landry

PG. 5

PG. 3

PG. 16

Lack of socialization and fear of global pandemic not affecting quality of education Students absolutely love online education one year into the pandemic

2

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

JOKE

Wine(ing) about McGill: Cocktails, mocktails, and more

Drinks to spice up your hundredth Zoom gathering Holly Wethey Contributor

Budd(le) Light is a source of comfort. Any Bud Light from your nearest depanneur can easily be transformed into a Budd(le) Light if enjoyed while wearing a classic Buddle Pageboy hat™.

With warmer weather coming our way, nostalgia for the McGill campus and the now-distant era of OAP is officially setting in. This week, The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of some signature McGill mixed drinks™ to help you reminisce about the good old days.

5. Department Wine and Cheese Cabernet Sauvignon

1. Big Suze Seltzer

You don’t have to break the bank to replicate this drink; simply drop by Provigo and pick up a $6 boxed wine. To further replicate the experience of the Classics Department Wine and cheese that your roommate took you to, try sipping it with a slice of vegan cheese—the only kind that’s ever left by the time you arrive.

Who doesn’t love a good seltzer? Since we have an even slimmer chance of running into our principal on campus than usual, we can instead enjoy this drink with her face on it to recreate the experience.

Bonus: Take a shot if you notice that Big Suze winks at you.

6. Molson (Stadium)

2. OAPale Ale

For students missing in-person exams, this nostalgic drink can be whipped up in a few quick steps. Begin by pouring about 150 ml of Red Bull into a glass and adding a few shots of Vitamin Water to taste. Top it off with some of the eraser dust and tears that can always be found on the exam table when you begin. Finally, consume your drink on a wobbly table for a more authentic exam experience.

Inspired by McGill University Poll Party, this drink replicates that anticipatory feeling of spending two hours in line for OAP only to find out that all they have left is Guinness beer.

3. Martletini If you’re missing the sweaty smell of McGill sporting events, we’ve got you covered with this easy alternative! Start with 200 mL of Blue Ribbon, and then add a few shots of sweat.

As a bonus, garnish with a couple of strands of fake grass from any nearby sports stadium. Extra points if you put your drink in a thermos and disguise it as tea to reproduce the thrill of sneaking it into the stadium.

Taking a break with a fun mixed drink can make studying for finals easier to bear. (Aidan Martin / The McGill Tribune)

4. Budd(le) Light Though it’s impossible to truly capture the warm comfort of Buddle’s Instagram series—our only link to McGill news in the early days of the pandemic—sipping a

7. Samosas and Mimosas This combo from the days of BdA will allow you to enjoy a classic drink while commemorating the glory days of our beloved samosas. To accurately match the event’s ambience, try spilling some beer on your kitchen floor and letting it dry to achieve maximum stickiness.

The ‘Tribune’ wins ‘Best Sports Section’ at McGill Journalism Awards

Editors and writers alike rejoice in receiving the prestigious accolade Zoe Babad-Palmer Staff Writer This weekend, The McGill Tribune was presented with the award for ‘Best Sports Section’ at the first annual McGill Journalism Awards ceremony. The awards, which are voted on by a committee of McGill students, administrators, and random bystanders plucked off the street by Roddick Gates, were held in a closed ceremony over Zoom. While all publications were welcome to enter the ceremony, the Tribune was the sole publication eligible for the award, as it had the only active sports section on campus.

Attendees reported that the night was a great success, and the commemorative red carpet Zoom background was appreciated by all.

Winners were awarded a golden Marty the Martlet bobblehead trophy and three expired OAP drink tickets.

The Tribune’s sports section was chosen based on its history of heavyhitting journalism and ground-breaking key McGill sports stories, such as a racy tell-all interview with Marty, an inside look at Fight Club, and a daring exposé on the monster in the labyrinthine halls of Tomlinson Hall. These three articles were unfortunately never published for fear that the public was not yet ready for such daring journalism.

Other notable stories include inquiries into whether students know that McGill has sports teams, regular predictions of why this season will finally be the Montreal Canadiens’ year, and frequent retrospectives on why the team collapsed halfway

The McGill Tribune has the last remaining active sports section on campus, and thought they deserved recognition for this incredible feat. (The Guardian)

through December.

The Tribune beat out stiff competition, such as the McGill Athletics department’s press releases.

Many were shocked that the section prospered through a year of virtually no sports content. Nonetheless, sheer, raw will powered the humble section, saving it from COVID-onset discontinuation.

“I really never would have guessed we would win such a prestigious award,” said famed Sports

Editor Farah Sarnand. “There were so many great candidates. I’d like to thank my parents, the McGill Hotdog Man, and the guy who sneezed on me in Leacock 132 for making me the proud McGillian I am today.”

Students were eager to discuss why they happily choose the Tribune for all their McGill sports needs.

“My roommate writes for it,” one student said during the Zoom afterparty that followed the ceremony. “She won’t do the dishes until I read her

articles every week.”

Many were quick to remark the sheer notoriety of the section. After all, celebrities like famed athlete Dick Pound have been flooding the section’s emails for an opportunity to be interviewed.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the only sports section on campus,” another student said on Zoom.

Some students recalled the excitement that arose when rooting for their home team.

CARTOON

Something you learn from your McGill grad application. (Xiaotian Wang / The McGill Tribune)

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

JOKE

3

Rat community ravaged by Oreo epidemic

Rates of Oreo overdoses among youth have skyrocketed Shafaq Nami & Madison Mclauchlan Rat Rights Activists This article was originally published in The Razette but The McGill Tribune was able to translate and report on this very important issue.

To many rodents, Oreo cookies filled with processed sugar and a satisfying ratio of cookie to creme have long been a sweet treat to nibble on. The Aristorat Academy of Science was recently made aware of a study conducted by humans that elucidated the addictive properties of Oreos. The study, which subjected brave lab rats to even more unethical testing, found that Oreo cookies were more addictive than cocaine.

This finding only confirms what many elderly rats have long believed: The processed food fad is the culprit behind the rising rates of vice in society.

“Back in my day, we used to eat cheese like good rats,” Mr. Ratburn chittered grumpily in a statement to The Razette while shaking his walking stick, almost tripping a young rat scuttling by.

News of the study quickly spread

among the rat community, with youth eagerly testing the limits of Oreo consumption to reach mind-altering states. The prices of Oreo cookie crumbs soared at the Rat Market— rich house rats lined their pockets while young, impressionable rats lost themselves to addiction.

At this time, one in five rat families has borne the loss of a family member to the Oreo craze. The latest victim was Ratt Damon, who rose to fame as a child actor for his role in Rat Alone: Lost in Paris.

This news caused many rats to gather in a protest against Oreo sales outside the council hall on Monday.

“Such a shame how the media is corrupting our youth, I wouldn’t be surprised if my pups are being indoctrinated to worship the devil,” Mrs. Whiskers was heard squeaking aloud at press time. “I don’t know how or why but that dratted Ratniss Everdeen is definitely behind this, probably encouraging them to get high.”

The Razette reached out to Ratzanne Collins’ PR team for a comment on the alleged promotion of drugs but was denied an interview.

According to the study, munching on Oreos activated more neurons in the rat brain’s pleasure

The most popular method of getting high is eating the middle of the Oreo first. (Science Vibe) centre than being administered cocaine or morphine. While these drugs are known for their potency and addiction risk, repeated exposure to sugar can also rewire key neural pathways, such as the release of dopamine, in the pleasure centre and cause debilitating dependence. As a result, young rats are struggling to wean themselves off of the cookie, often not admitting they

have an addiction until it is too late.

With few government rehabilitation programs and treatment centres, many rats with substance abuse problems are finding themselves isolated from the garbage heaps they call home.

In an interview with The Razette, Ratticus Finch, a recovered addict, spoke about his experience.

“It’s tough to see friends go down that road, too,” Finch squeaked.

“Once you taste the sweet thrill of an Oreo cookie, it’s hard not to chase that feeling.”

“It’s tough to see friends go down that road, too,” Finch squeaked. “Once you taste the sweet thrill of an Oreo cookie, it’s hard not to chase that feeling.”

Shrimp do not see a kaleidoscope of colours, they are just really stupid

Shrimp can recognize 12 individual colours, but not their combinations Daria Kiseleva Contributor This article was taken from The Seahorse Report, an undersea publication run by seahorses.

University of Queensland and National Cheng Kung University confirms, mantis shrimp do not have 12-dimensional vision. Shrimp have been playing 12-dimensional chess trying to suppress this knowledge from reaching the marine community. The Seahorse Report

difference between colours with a large gap in wavelengths. Basically, they could only see 12 colours and were unable to differentiate between shades 25 nanometres apart. That is all their puny invertebrate brains are capable of.

Members of the marine community were

The Seahorse Report Mantis shrimp have long claimed that their visual processing capabilities outshine those of all other sea creatures. They have had us sea dwellers and our human overlords wrapped around their claws for a while, but the light of science has at last exposed their dirty little secret.

Cone photoreceptors are molecules in the retina which respond to specific wavelengths of light and allow for colour vision. Since human scientists confirmed that shrimp have 12 colour cone photoreceptors, as opposed to humans who only have three, it has been accepted with reverence that shrimp see all combinations of these 12 colours—beholding the world on a higher vibration than the rest of us sea-dwellers.

Long-time readers of the Seahorse Report may remember many guest pieces written by shrimp bragging about how much acclaim they received in the human world—from pretentious Tumblr hipsters to opportunistic aquarium museum marketers. Shrimp’s big talk about novel colours they ostensibly saw, like ‘yellow 7’ and ‘purple 13,’ has also been widely publicized.

You may be wondering—aren’t 12 photoreceptors a bit over-krill? As a humiliating 2014 study by human researchers from the

The shrimp visual system demands little processing power, which may give them an advantage in fast colour recognition. (National Geographic Kids) finally brings you the truth: These simpletons can only see 12 colours. Total.

When shrimp were tested on their ability to tell two colours apart, they performed surprisingly poorly, only recognizing a

not impressed.

“I have long suspected that something was off when I was seeking an intellectually stimulating play-partner and invited a group of shrimp to race through some coral reef mazes

together,” Octopus Rex said. “The blank look in their eyes told me everything I needed to know.”

Sympathetic perspectives seemed to only come with ulterior motives.

“There are no limits to the possibilities of consciousness,” Orca said, cleaning her teeth with her tongue. “The fragmented vision of shrimp is surely a psychosomatic symptom of the fragmentation of their spiritual being. To evolve their vision they need to do some serious meditation, get in tune with their astrological charts, and perhaps try some essential oils. I offer my services for free and will personally guide each and every shrimp on their way to enlightenment, and fuller vision. They know where to find me, no appointment needed.”

Even on land, where they are turned into cooking stock for paellas and risottos, shrimp have become a laughing stock.

“Wow shrimp,” whistled Shiba Inu hysterically. “Such powerful brain, much ability!”

“After an all-nighter of painting my senior project, I think I can also only see 12 colours,” grumbled Owl, U2 Arts. “Maybe it should be a proper term – shrimped.”

We sent the shrimp a letter requesting comment, but they may have struggled to distinguish the colour of the paper from the colour of the ink.

Shrimp have shown that they are prawn to deceit. Your loyal servants at the Seahorse Report are gifted with the truly impressive ability to move our own eyes independently in all directions and use them to keep watch for any marine malarky.

4

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

NEWS

McGill partnership with University of the People establishes transfer program UoPeople transfer students will only pay assessment fees, no tuition fees Madison Edward-Wright Contributor On March 18, McGill announced that beginning in Fall 2021, it will partner with University of the People (UoPeople), an online, tuition-free university. The collaboration will allow academically outstanding students enrolled at UoPeople to transfer to McGill to complete their degrees.

Founded in January 2009 by its current president Shai Reshef, UoPeople strives to make higher education more accessible. In 2014, the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) officially recognized UoPeople as a legitimate university institution providing education online.

Currently, UoPeople offers bachelor’s, master’s, and associate’s degree programs in business administration, computer science, health science, and education. Any student completing an associate’s degree at UoPeople with high academic standing can apply to transfer into a McGill program of their choice.

According to Reshef, of the approximately 57,000 enrolled students, roughly 6,000 are refugees including undocumented immigrants in the United States, and survivors of events such as the Rwandan genocide and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Reshef believes UoPeople’s students will benefit from the partnership with a university like McGill.

“This partnership presents an incredible opportunity, especially for these students who

are historically underrepresented in higher education, to complete their degree at McGill and realize their full potential,” Reshef wrote.

The teaching and administrative staff at UoPeople consists of volunteers from universities across the world. The President’s Council, which acts as an advisory board to UoPeople, consists of current and former university principals and chancellors, including McGill’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier.

In a 2014 TED Talk, Reshef advocated for increasing the accessibility of higher education through the elimination of almost all tuition fees. There are now 57,771 students enrolled at UoPeople, and the school has formed partnerships with institutions such as NYU, University of California Berkeley, the University of Edinburgh, and Harvard Business School Online.

The only payments students make to the institution include a $60 USD application fee, a $120 USD course assessment fee—if they are completing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree— and a $240 USD fee if they are completing a master’s degree. UoPeople also grants scholarships to students who cannot pay these fees.

McGill University confirmed in an email to the Tribune that it would receive no financial compensation from UoPeople for accepting its students, and that UoPeople transfer students would only pay assessment fees, not McGill tuition fees.

The transfer process for students from

McGill is the first Canadian university to partner with UoPeople. (Leanne Young / The McGill Tribune) UoPeople to McGill has several steps, including numerous immigration documents and fees to cover travel and living accommodations. In addition to scholarships provided by UoPeople, McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle stated that UoPeople transfer students would be able to apply for McGill financial aid.

“Qualified applicants from University of the People will be able to apply to the full range of programs at McGill,” Mazerolle said. “McGill will also consider all UoPeople applicants for bursary support to ensure that financial barriers do not preclude accepted applicants from pursuing their education.”

The Office of International Student Services (ISS) at McGill has prepared a variety of programs

to make the transition to life in Montreal as easy as possible for UoPeople students. Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VicePresident (VP) Ayo Ogunremi stated that SSMU welcomes students from all backgrounds to the McGill community, noting that inclusion is a key tenet of the Society’s Policy on Accessible Education and Academics. “[We] explicitly recognize that Western academia is systematically inaccessible, especially to students from marginalized socioeconomic or sociocultural backgrounds,” Ogunremi wrote in an email to the Tribune. “[SSMU] sees it as a priority to affirm the belonging of these students at our university, where they may often feel unwelcome.”

McGill Senate presents annual report on sexual violence No new updates provided for the in-person Fall 2021 semester

Ella Milloy Staff Writer The McGill Senate convened on March 24 to vote on several motions and present annual reports from various branches of university governance, including the Senate Nominating Committee and the Board of Governors (BoG). Governors approved PGSS Academic Affairs Officer Sophie Osiecki’s appointment to the Senate’s Committee on Student Grievances and also discussed a report on sexual violence.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier provided an update on campus affairs, focussing heavily on planning for the Fall 2021 semester,

which reiterated much of the same information that the administration had shared previously with students and faculty. Fortier believes that the March 12 virtual town hall on planning the Fall 2021 semester, which drew almost 2,000 participants, was a success.

“Based on what the team is monitoring, it is probably to be expected that we will not see the very worst case scenario nor the most optimistic, but probably something in between,” Fortier said. “This is based on the rate of vaccination, the evolution of the virus in our community, [and] the effectiveness of the vaccine. All of these factors are being monitored in terms of trying to get a sense of what Fall 2021 could [look like].”

Inclusion and safety on campus were key themes of the March 24 meeting.

(Jasmine Acharya / The McGill Tribune)

The Senate was briefed on several topics including McGill University’s recent partnership with University of the People, a not for profit organization intended to provide affordable education to those in need.

They also discussed the progress of the McGill24 fundraising campaign, and the upcoming plans for McGill’s bicentennial launch.

The meeting continued with an update from the Associate Provost of Equity and Academic Policies Angela Campbell on McGill’s current Policy against Sexual Violence.

“There are four aspects to the report that cover the four main objectives of the policy,” Campbell said. “[They are] prevention through education of sexual violence, establishing and maintaining a climate and culture in which all members of the community enjoy a safe and respectful learning and working environment, survivor support, and effective and timely response to reports.”

Next, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau presented the university’s annual enrolment report, providing an overview of the university’s progress towards the goals set out in McGill’s Strategic Academic Plan (2017-2022).

The plan seeks to increase the number of applicants from Quebec CEGEPS and colleges, francophones, and Indigenous students, and maintain

current international student enrolment rates.

Senator Leela Riddle-Merritte questioned Labeau on the inclusion of Black students in McGill’s enrolment goals and reports. Labeau explained the challenges Enrolment Services face when obtaining McGill’s demographic statistics. He outlined what steps are being put in place to gain a better understanding of the composition of the student body.

“The question of including Black

students in these reports and numbers goes back to another complicated problem that we have when we are dealing with underrepresented groups in our students is the selfidentification or identification for the sake of statistics,” Labeau said.

“We are making progress here in terms of having a better sense of who is applying to McGill and who is at McGill through student surveys that we are now doing at the student [intake-level].”

MOMENT OF THE MEETING Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier started the meeting with memorial tributes to two McGill professors who recently passed away. The Senate honoured Emeritus Professor Mario Onyszchuk of the Department of Chemistry and Emeritus Professor Francisco Galiana of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

SOUND BITE “We are also running outreach programming that we are co-creating with Indigenous communities. We have had two Indigenous outreach associates help us build programming and launch it in collaboration with McGill students. We have recently hired a Black community outreach associate who will be building on that model and developing relationships in the Black community to deliver a similar kind of outreach programming directly there.”

- University Registrar and Executive Director of Enrolment Services Gillian Nycum on steps to improve outreach in under-represented communities.

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

NEWS

5

East Asian Studies department hosts town hall on anti-Asian racism

50 members of the McGill community attended to discuss discrimination against Asians Maya Mau Staff Writer The East Asian Studies department held a town hall session on March 23 to discuss the spike in anti-Asian racism in the United States and Canada. Over 50 participants, including faculty members and students, attended the town hall and engaged in discussions about their ongoing experiences.

The department also also released a statement standing with members of the community grieving from the shooting in Atlanta on March 19, where eight people—including six Asian women—were murdered.

The recent spike in anti-Asian racism involves acts ranging from microaggressions to physical violence, with many pointing to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-Chinese rhetoric.

The spike in incidents of antiAsian racism is not confined to the United States: A Chinese Canadian National Council report from Sept. 2020 showed that since the pandemic, there were more hate crimes per capita against people of Asian descent in Canada than in the United States.

Yuriko Furuhata, associate professor in the East Asian Studies

Victims of reported hate crimes against people of Asian descent are more likely to be women. (Liusia Voloshka / iStock) department who specializes in Japanese film and media, believes that the media of all sorts—including entertainment and news—plays a role in shaping public perception of minority communities. Furuhata explained that as an Asian American woman, she recognizes how deeply these tragedies can affect people, and emphasized that she wanted to provide a safe place for students.

“As someone who grew up in Japan and is now working and living in Canada, I recognize that I occupy multiple positionalities, and I would

like to acknowledge that we cannot flatten differences and privileges within Asian communities,” Furuhata wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “As an educator, I also believe that knowledge based on solidarity can be empowering and collective learning is important in order to counter and fight against the power of negative knowledge such as racial and gendered stereotypes.”

Monica Batac, a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work, attended the town hall because she felt disheartened by McGill’s

institutional silence on antiAsian racism, and hoped for an opportunity to discuss the next steps to confront anti-Asian racism. A member of Pan-Asian Collective (PAC)—a Montreal-based organization that aims to empower Asian communities—Batac has often felt that McGill fails to offer resources to students to learn about Asian Canadian history.

“PAC should be celebrated for doing [...] peer and popular education,” Batac wrote. “Many of the topics address pressing issues and untold histories, concerns, and movements we don’t even hear about in our university classrooms.”

During the Fall 2020 semester, Batac taught EAST 303—a Chinese studies topics class that focussed on “Unsettling Asian Migrations: Experimenting Pedagogies for Decolonization.” In her class, Batac integrated social work, feminism, and ethnic study pedagogies to discuss the impact of racism against people of Asian descent.

Batac is grateful that her class allowed students to understand the Asian immigrant experience and wished there were more spaces— like the town hall—in which underrepresented communities can have such discussions.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to teach this one-time course, because the students and I left knowing the class community we created was unique,” Batac wrote. “It is a shame on McGill that such spaces are rare.”

The McGill administration spoke to The McGill Tribune on how they plan to address anti-Asian racism on campus. On behalf of the university, Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle emphasized that McGill is working to take concrete action to implement more equitable hiring processes and increase student awareness on racism in general, but did not mention any specific plans to prevent anti-Asian racism.

“Though we are making progress, this work is ongoing and more remains to be done,” Mazerolle wrote. “The EDI Strategic Plan and Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism are two recent examples of McGill’s efforts in increasing the representation and success of equity-deserving groups on campus [....] We are committed to a respectful and inclusive environment for students, staff, and faculty. Our priority is to ensure the success, well-being and safety of all.”

Students petition McGill Board of Governors to support Dollarama workers

McGill students team up to advocate for frontline migrant workers Respina Rostamifar Staff Writer The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), and the McGill Corporate Accountability Project have created a petition calling on the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) to support Dollarama warehouse workers. Dollarama has been widely criticized for hiring their employees through temporary placement agencies—which prevent stable work status and workplace accountability—and for harbouring unsafe working conditions.

The petition urges the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) to demand that the Dollarama corporation produce a report on the company’s possible human rights violations resulting from its use of thirdparty staffing agencies. The petition also calls on the university’s Office of Investments to collaborate with the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) and the Association des Travailleurs et Travailleuses d’Agences de Placements (ATTAP) in the adoption of a new Dollarama corporate engagement strategy.

Samuel Helguero, 2L Law and member of McGill Corporate Accountability Project (MCAP), stated that Dollarama refuses to hire its staff through permanent placement.

According to Helguero, the company also subjects its employees to unsafe work conditions—which have only worsened since the onset of the pandemic, with mishandled outbreaks and a lack of safety equipment.

“The conditions documented, particularly in Dollarama warehouses, have been nothing short of reprehensible,” Helguero said. “There, one finds poor safety training, dangerously crowded workspaces, and relentless pushes for productivity. Temporary placement agencies act to ensure that migrant workers are not permanently working for any one company or warehouse, creating problems with training and work stability.”

As of December 2020, McGill holds a $3.3 million stock share in Dollarama Inc. The university’s investment was highlighted

by a presentation from the IWC on the poor working conditions of Dollarama employees during the Jan. 28 SSMU Legislative Council meeting. In accordance, the Council voted to approve a motion supporting student solidarity with Dollarama warehouse workers.

Tori Coon, BA ‘19 and the internal affairs officer at AMUSE, believes that it is crucial for the university to recognize its connection to the Dollarama corporation, especially considering Dollarama’s apparent lack of accountability regarding employee safety.

“It is vital for campus unions to recognize

SSMU is also found to be a minor investor in Dollarama. (Defne Gurcay / The McGill Tribune)

the way McGill is implicated in workers’ struggles beyond those of their direct employees,” Coon said. “The university’s silence on the treatment of warehouse workers in companies they invest in is a reflection of their disregard for casual staff, many of whom are paid under a living wage and have worked throughout the pandemic without hazard pay.”

Ayo Ogunremi, SSMU Vice-President (VP) External Affairs, spoke to the Tribune about SSMU’s recent advocacy on Dollarama workers’ rights.

“Through the VP External office, SSMU is working with MCAP to bring awareness about Dollarama’s exploitative labour practices to the McGill community and administration,” Ogunremi said. “The campaign will direct its advocacy towards McGill’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility, which reviews the university’s investment portfolio for socially harmful investments, though only at the request of the McGill community.”

Ogunremi was disappointed to discover that SSMU currently invests in the Dollarama franchise, and stated that the Society will take measures to divest from the company.

“I discovered that SSMU is also invested in Dollarama,” Ogunremi said. “It is just 0.38 per cent of our investment portfolio, but the market value of the shares is just over $13,000. This was a bit sickening to discover, but it is going to be included in the Finance Committee’s annual report on our investment portfolio, so the good news is that we are heading towards divestment.”

OPINION

6

T

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Helen Wu editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Aidan Martin amartin@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Katia Lo Innes kinnes@mcgilltribune.com Kennedy McKee-Braide kmckee-braide@mcgilltribune.com Sophia Gorbounov sgorbounov@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Maya Abuali, Kate Addison & Sequoia Kim news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Jonah Fried & Sepideh Afshar opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editors Madison Mclauchlan & Shafaq Nami scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Life Editors Alaana Kumar & Leyla Moy studentlife@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Kevin Vogel features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Vanessa Barron & Jonathan Giammaria arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Adam Burton & Sarah Farnand sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Ruobing Chen & Chloe Rodriguez design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Jasmine Acharya photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editors Sarah Ford & Alexandre Hinton multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developer Benjamin Alexandor & Marwan Khan webdev@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

On March 31, McGill will celebrate its bicentennial anniversary.

The occasion, dedicated to commemorating the university’s 200 years of “impact,” will feature virtual conferences showcasing research, a digital time capsule containing professors’ visions for the future of their fields, and a massive fundraising drive. Although it is important at this critical juncture to acknowledge the institution’s growth and recognize the achievements of its research and graduates, these facets are only one part of McGill’s story. From the Black and Indigenous persons whom James McGill enslaved to the individuals subjected to 20th-century MK Ultra experiments, survivors of violence and oppression form much of McGill’s complex history.

Moreover, chronic underfunding in key areas such as student services continue to undermine students’ experiences, overshadowing its rising rankings. This year’s bicentennial must not devolve into a pageant of institutional conceit: As McGill enters its third century, it is imperative that the administration reckon with the university’s failings and set a course toward inward reflection and change.

OFF THE BOARD

Copy Editor Jackie Lee copy@mcgilltribune.com Social Media Editor Marie Saadeh socialmedia@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Marilie Pilon business@mcgilltribune.com

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Helen Wu, Caitlin Kindig, Ezra-Jean Taylor, Tara Alami, Yara Shaheen-Abuelreish, Deana Korsunsky, Sequoia Kim, Kennedy McKee-Braide, Shreya Rastogi, Marilie Pilon, Heela Achakzai

STAFF Reza Ali, Margaret Askey, Zoe Babad-Palmer, Rory Daly, Ella Fitzhugh, Justin Galouzi, Defne Gurcay, Signy Harnad, Zoe Karkossa, Lucy Keller, Deana Korsunsky, Erika MacKenzie, Maya Mau, Adam Menikefs, Ella Milloy, Naomi Mirny, Matthew Molinaro, Jinny Moon, Respina Rostamifar, Brian Schatteman, Noah Vaton, Josephine Wang, Xiaotian Wang,Youssef Wahba, Margaret Wdowiak, Lowell Wolfe, Wendy Zhao

CONTRIBUTORS Elissa Dresdner, Madison Edward-Wright, Atsushi Ikeda, Daria Kiseleva, Lilly Lecanu-Fayet, Namrata Rana

TRIBUNE OFFICE

680 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, suite 723 Montreal, QC H3A 0B8 - T: 773.680.8919

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.

EDITORIAL

McGill must chart a new course into its third century

Katia Lo Innes Managing Editor During my undergraduate degree, I became a night-owl: The day was occupied by class or work, and I allotted my most academically and socially productive moments to the witching hours. Although I could never predict where I would sleep each night, I always found a place to rest if I did not return to my own apartment. Where I slept—and who I slept beside, in the literal sense—was often haphazard, but always created a cherished memory.

Over the course of my degree, I have slept in four of my own beds—including one rock-hard single bed in RVC—those of my friends, roommates, as well as a

Over the course of its two centuries of existence, McGill has expanded and evolved into a major public research institution with an international student body.

Nevertheless, it has always been an artifact of white settler colonialism: Established on land stolen from the Kanien’kehà:ka people, the university’s bicentennial also marks two hundred years of anti-Indigenous violence. It bears James McGill’s name because he used wealth from the fur and slave trade—as well as the money he accumulated by exploiting and enslaving Black and Indigenous people—to found the institution as his legacy. Although these facts have been brought to the surface through archival research, administrators have long resisted calls to confront them.

Worse, they have cast James McGill’s merchant success as an archetype for the modern McGill student, even commissioning a statue of him in 1996. Administrators have resisted student campaigns to take down the statue memorializing McGill’s racist founder, either effacing history or implicitly worshipping the white supremacy that produced his success.

McGill’s modern research history has been similarly polished

free of historical wrongdoings.

Consider the 1957-1964 Project MK-Ultra experiments, where McGill psychiatrists supported the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s efforts to devise mind control methods—subjecting hundreds of nursing students to inhumane forms of sensory deprivation in the process. McGill faculties have also been involved in weapons research at the behest of the U.S. and Canadian governments, rendering the institution complicit in geopolitical violence.

McGill must honor the victims of its role in past and ongoing oppression even as it highlights the acclaim of its graduates.

Students, however, have long challenged McGill to do better. From 2019 valedictorian Tomas Jirousek’s successful campaign that changed the racist men’s varsity team name to the “McGill RedBirds,” to the Summer 2020 “Take Down James” movement led by Black Students, courageous student activists have been at the forefront of tangible improvement at the university.

Still, although administrators have eulogized students as “resilient”—not least for surviving

remote learning during the pandemic—such rhetoric threatens to justify dysfunctional student services and unreasonable academic harshness. Just because students are determined enough to endure McGill’s many shortcomings, from an understaffed Wellness Hub to inaccessible academic advisors, does not mean that these issues should be ignored. In its next century, McGill must enshrine compassion and respect into its ethos, prioritizing its educational mission. It must also stop seeing students as a product to be “made.” McGill is not merely a factory of prestige; it is an institution that has benefited from the contribution of its faculty, staff, and students, but most importantly exploited labour.

It would be unreasonable to mindlessly praise the institution as though it has played no part in historical atrocities or present-day inequities. McGill’s faculty are still overwhelmingly white, and BIPOC professors battle discrimination and obstacles to advancement. McGill’s bicentennial is a moment to reflect on how far it has come, but it must also orient itself toward long overdue change.

I could sleep wherever I lay my head couple of courteous exes. I have slept in the metro after concerts, nodded off in the reclining Cinema du Parc seats, and fallen asleep face down on picnic blankets in the summer, burning my entire back. Starting birth control in my first semester of university induced a bout of chronic fatigue, causing me to fall asleep five minutes into lectures. Even though it was not the best for my sleep schedule— or my back—I loved sleeping in weird places; I even maintained an Instagram account to document the spontaneous naps that my fellow student journalist friends and I would take in our cramped, triangular office.

As somebody with hyperactive tendencies, McGill offered me the opportunities to keep my agenda packed full with places to be and things to do, fueled solely by Snax Coffee and depanneur Red Bulls.

Unfortunately, McGill’s “work hard, play hard” culture conditions students to believe that overexhaustion should be the norm.

Because of Montreal’s current curfew and my general senioritis, I romanticize the freedom I had to stay up all night doing whatever I wanted, even if it came at the expense of my mental and physical wellbeing.

For the first three years of my degree, several campus spots

became extensions of my bedroom.

Amidst the stress of deadlines and papers, I was grateful to be able to close my eyes and catch a few moments of undisturbed rest.

During this remote semester, I have missed basking in the Lower Field sun and impromptu sleepovers after a night out with my friends.

I miss the solidarity that existed in the library during finals season when I could trust the person I waved at to watch over me and my belongings as I slept—a common bond between undergrads.

I think fondly of my moments of rest, not because of the circumstances that made my sleep schedule irregular to an unbearable point, but because it showed how much students care to look out for one another. I am unsure if my university degree has taught me anything besides what the “Anthropocene” is; however, my unofficial education has taught me that in cutthroat, faux- e l i t e settings such as McGill, the most impactful thing you can do is care

for your peers, and look out for them when they sleep.

My nights are now more predictable—gone are mascarasmeared pillowcases and dozing off on public transit. Rather than staying up for days on end, I sleep often and for long periods at a time. I relish in the ominous light that emanates from the Olympic Stadium and pours into my room.

Though my nostalgia for library all-nighters and sketchy afterparties may be self-destructively misplaced, there was always a thrill in waking up in some alien place—whether it be a friends’ or a strangers’ house—and then the walk home that followed, where every block took me toward both greater lucidity and my front steps.

Better yet was letting friends crash at my place, then waking up to share breakfast and laugh about whatever nonsense ensued the night before. I am sure that one day, I will wake up somewhere new again, but this time, without the rings of my notebook imprinted onto my face.

ERRATUM An article published in the March 23 issue titled “Tiny plastics pose immense threat to human life” incorrectly stated that Zi Wang was the lead author of the study. In fact, Wang was the first author. The Tribune regrets this error.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 7

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

Escapism, identity, and the evolution of TikTok aesthetics How visual subcultures allow Gen Z to reimagine life during lockdown

Naomi Mirny Staff Writer Tweed peacoats, plaid dresses, corsets, and cutlasses found discarded in antique store basements have attracted a new group of buyers in 2021: Teenagers.

“Aesthetics,” a branch of philosophy that studies the nature and qualifications of beauty, taste, and art, has been given a whole new meaning in the last decade by Gen Z social media users. The contemporary understanding of the term has completely changed to now align with a collection of visuals that represent a broad array of concepts ranging from historical eras, locations, genres of fiction, music, and even pre-existing subcultures. The most prevalent of 2021 aesthetics can be narrowed down to two categories: Cottagecore, an aesthetic that romanticizes cottage life, and Dark Academia, a style that engages in the eerie visuals of early 20th-century academia.

As these two aesthetics—along with many other similar aesthetics—gain popularity in the online lives of young people, it becomes important to understand how they arose, what they are, and what their modern-day implications may be.

For starters, Tumblr might have a few

answers. Created in 2007, Tumblr was the first image-oriented social media platform to go mainstream. Pinterest and Instagram, both launched in 2010, followed soon after.

Unlike its other social media predecessors, the platform centered around users’ ability to create a distinct visual identity by curating their blog with an individualized colour scheme and font palette, along with the reblogging of content. Zoe Karkossa, U4 Science, has avidly tracked the development of Tumblr aesthetics since she started her blog in 2013.

“Tumblr was the first platform to really capitalize on the use of visual images as symbols,” Karkossa said. “You had Flickr [before], but that was [...] meant to be photos that you took. [On] Tumblr, you had the option of curating […] images that other people have taken.”

Karkossa argues that Tumblr provided access to a huge database of pictures and GIFs, which made certain recurring images, products, and color schemes popular among users. Before the white, upper-middle class VSCO blogger aesthetic, there were “basic” bloggers who drank Starbucks, wore Uggs, and posted highly stylized inspirational quotes on Instagram. While older millennials were evolving from the Scene kids of

(Isabella Vella / The McGill Tribune)

Cottagecore, which started on Tumblr in 2017, presents a romanticized version of living in the woods and rural green-coated fields. (aclotheshorse.co.uk)

MySpace into early 2010s Hipsters, younger millennials and Gen Z-er’s were building off of the styles on these online platforms to curate their own visual identities.

Beyond curating moodboard blogs, Tumblr was ultimately a fan-centric space.

Teens on 2012-2014 era Tumblr created fandoms surrounding YouTubers, bands, shows, and even authors. With so many people discussing the same content— whether it was the Arctic Monkeys AM, Troye Sivan and Tyler Oakley’s “Boyfriend Tag” video, or the unforgettable Mishapocalypse—certain fashion styles also gained popularity on the website, like galaxy leggings and flower crowns. In turn, the mainstream “basic” aesthetic contended with a newer, though no less homogenous, fandom aesthetic.

Carrie Rentschler, an associate professor at McGill’s Department of Art History & Communication Studies who studies aesthetics through the lens of social media activism, noted that social media users must be aware of how different websites provide different avenues of expression for their creators. An aesthetic develops when certain visuals can move between different platforms, adapting in accordance to the new websites.

“There is a kind of [...] revision process that aesthetics are going through as part of the creative process,” Rentschler said.

“You have this corpus of material on social media and cross-platform movement of […] emerging aesthetics and [...] conventions.

[Content creators have] a way of doing things that is not directly agreed upon [but rather, they] have chosen to make similar decisions.”

Whereas Tumblr provided anonymity through its reblogging function—allowing the creation of a visual identity to be developed sans ownership—Instagram shifted visual communication toward a form of individualized social signalling.

Instagram users do not simply curate content, they create it. The images an individual posts on Instagram—like the Helvetica-filtered early 2010’s circle of shoes photo—signified, to some extent, the fashion that they subscribed to and the internet subculture they were a part of.

Simultaneously, Pinterest users can curate their style by searching up images and creating boards. Not long after, Instagram pages with moodboards followed.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the aesthetics that originated on Tumblr and were popularized through Instagram have taken TikTok by storm. The significance of aesthetics, however, lies not in their existence, but in their unexpected mainstream appeal, global influence, and escapist nature.

No aesthetic is perhaps as escapist as Cottagecore, a theme that originated on Tumblr in 2017—although arguably popularized by Marie Antoinette—and presents a romanticized version of rural life, complete with green-coated fields, airy dresses, flowers, woven baskets, selfsubsistence, and frolics through mystical fields. While it is an undeniably beautiful and otherworldly aesthetic that has sprouted many offshoots of its own, Cottagecore also has complicated socio-political undertones.

It upholds a conservatively traditional lifestyle, yet at the same time is championed by queer women who find sapphic appeal in a sustainable, unpreturbed, romantic pastoral life. Furthermore, it idolizes anticapitalism in its pursuit of self-subsistence, but is inherently consumerist in its pursuit of a certain lifestyle—it takes money to be able to buy an array of vintage dresses, curate a charcuterie board, and to even have the time to frolic in a field.

Even so, the Cottagecore aesthetic holds no malicious intent, and provides the viewer a flower-spotted escape from a complicated and stressful world. Taylor Swift’s release of two Cottagecore-themed albums in 2020 has pushed the aesthetic into the mainstream.

On the other end of the optical and atmospheric spectrum is Dark Academia, a neoclassicist subset of the larger “Academia” aesthetic which focusses on a certain macabre, academically rigorous, elite university lifestyle, reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. Think studying in a coffee-stained sweater vest, hidden in the nook of a snowed-in library, while you pore over an ancient Greek text to the sound of Vivaldi far off in the distance.

Jesse Smith, U1 Arts and TikTok content creator, delves into the details of their preferred aesthetic: Dark Academia.

“Whereas Cottagecore is Midsommar without the horror […], Dark Academia is very Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, [and] to an extent, Harry Potter,” Smith said. “A lot of the aesthetic has the undertones of nefariousness. You want to create a secret society with your friends and hide murder. That is not actually something you want to do, but that’s the vibe you’re going for.”

What both of these aesthetics have in common is that they provide young people a form of unique self-expression and a way to elude a world filled with death, disease, racialized violence, and political turmoil.

Smith argues that Dark Academia ultimately boils down to self-expression and a growing opposition to the conventions and practices of the fashion industry.

“We have a lot more of an opportunity, and a willingness to not conform,” Smith said. “A lot of the movement towards aesthetics is against the fashion industry [because] aesthetics can’t be mass produced in the quality people are looking for.

Fashion aesthetics have moved the younger generations more towards thrifting and higher quality clothing [….] People care a lot more about how they feel in their clothing rather than how that clothing presents them to the world.”

Maybe the emergence of these strange subcultures is for the best: Pushing against fast fashion, pursuing a unique sense of self-expression in lockdown, and looking for a fantastical form of escape are arguably some of the best things young people can be doing right now. When the world feels like it is on fire, there is nothing wrong with putting on a flowy dress, closing your eyes, and thinking of a life where a trickling stream, a bloom of lily flowers, and a homemade meal await you by a cottage on a hill. Maybe you will even find yourself along the way.

Solitary studies The unique remote experiences of McGill’s international students Sarah Farnand Sports Editor This school year has presented unique challenges to McGill students around the world. With remote classes, fluctuations of public health measures, and ongoing travel restrictions, many students have had to adjust their academic plans. Now, students attend class from all over the world, often making it difficult for these individuals to keep up with their courses and stay connected to the McGill community.

As someone who is currently attending their second year of university from their childhood bedroom, far away from the McGill community, I can attest to the simultaneous joys and challenges of online learning. One major struggle I have faced is the loneliness of being isolated from McGill and from Montreal.

Studies have shown that attending classes remotely has had disastrous impacts on students’ mental health. Natalie Schwarz, U1 Kinesiology, spent the Winter semester studying from her home in San Antonio, Texas. In an interview with the McGill Tribune , she described feeling detached from her friends in Montreal.

“Especially with asynchronous lectures, I don’t talk to a lot of people in my classes,” Schwarz said. “I am not as close with [my friends] because they are so far away, so I definitely feel isolated.”

Hamza Chikhaoui, U2 Engineering, who stayed in his hometown of Casablanca, Morocco this semester, emphasized that studying alone was the hardest thing about being home.

“I personally think the hardest [part] of studying from home is not having peers to

study with,” Chikhaoui said. “So you are kind of responsible for a lot more stuff with regard to course material.”

This feeling of loneliness is especially present among first-year students who haven’t had the chance to make real friendships with their peers. Having only visited McGill once last year, Ella Vanderkop-Girard, U0 Arts and Science, explained that making friends remotely has been difficult.

“I have started talking to a few people,” Vanderkop-Girard said. “I have a study group for my linguistics class, but I definitely think it has been a lot harder with everything online.”

Time zone differences have made it particularly difficult for some students to stay on top of lectures and assignments.

The inability to attend class can hinder one’s learning experience, with work piling up quickly due to the lack of synchronous lectures. Chikhaoui has also found these new circumstances to be especially challenging during exam periods.

“Time difference is a big [issue],” Chikhaoui said. “I have been having exams at 1:00 [or] 2:00 in the morning sometimes.”

Eleanor Davis, U2 Arts, also struggled with the time difference, especially after clocks moved forward an hour for daylight savings. After spending the Summer and Fall semesters at home in Hampshire, England, she found the change to be incredibly jarring.

“When the clocks changed in Canada nobody told me, and so I missed class for like a week straight because I had no idea what was going on,” Davis said in an interview with the Tribune .

Davis added that while she was home, assignment deadlines and office hours for her classes were catered toward those in Eastern Standard Time.

“Deadlines are always at really [bad] times and office hours were always at midnight,” Davis said.

Davis also faced internet connection difficulties studying from rural England, adding further obstacles to finishing her assignments or attending live lectures.

“I live in the country and our wifi [is really horrible],” Davis said. “Sometimes I’d be logging into a class and if it rains the wifi would just stop and I’d have to email my [professor] and they would get really [mad] about it.”

Just over half of the world has access to the internet—yet even among those with access to wifi, maintaining a stable connection is still an issue. Certain situations, like storms and natural disasters, can cause unexpected connectivity issues and other complications, such as food and

water shortages.

In late February, a winter storm in Texas caused major power outages across the state, resulting in shortages of electricity, heat, and water. Schwarz recalled going without water or stable power for an entire week.

“During the storm, I did not have water the entire week and my power was not great,” Schwarz said. “I was having midterms, so I had to email my teachers to tell them ‘hey, I don’t know if I will be able to take the midterm because of this storm.’”

H e m r a j a n i also spoke about storm-related wifi issues, noting that a l t h o u g h the internet connection at her home in Panama has been fairly stable, a hurricane in early November nearby caused a temporary outage. “[The] wifi here is okay, [but] there was one time that there was a hurricane close to here and the wifi was out for a couple of days,” Hemrajani said. “Sometimes weird things happen just in your country and you have to email your professors like, ‘hey there’s a hurricane and I don’t have wifi.’”

McGill is one of the most international

universities in the world, yet most professors do not prioritize the needs of international students, especially during the pandemic. By making attendance compulsory, and sometimes being inflexible toward unexpected disruptions—whether internet connection issues or natural disasters—students are not set up to succeed. This can force students to make repeated requests for accommodations from a hard-to-navigate and underfunded university bureaucracy.

On top of connectivity issues, students living in different parts of the world are faced with a variety of health and safety measures that affect their daily lives. In some countries, the situation is worse than in others. In the United States, despite warnings from health officials, Texas governor Greg Abbott recently lifted the mask mandate and permitted businesses and restaurants to open fully.

“It’s just kind of crazy here with the anti-maskers,” Schwarz said. “It’s pretty much like COVID does not exist, which is just bizarre.

It doesn’t make me feel super safe.

Honestly, I would prefer to be in Montreal r i g h t now.”

For others, however, the remote circumstances have offered some opportunities that would not be possible with in-person classes in Montreal.

Vanderkop-Girard has enjoyed spending time with family, friends, and pets at home.

During the pandemic, their relationship with their parents has strengthened.

“I love spending time with my family and I think during the pandemic we have gotten a lot closer,” Vanderkop-Girard said. “I have my animals here and my friends, so that is also nice.”

Serena Rita Hardan, U1 Science, who has stayed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this semester has also taken time to enjoy time spent at home.

Hardan told the Tribune that many public health restrictions in Abu Dhabi have been lifted, which has allowed her to engage in activities that improve her mental health, such as going outside regularly.

“The situation here concerning COVID is much better than Montreal,” Hardan said. “Going out is easier, [...] there is no snow, [and] I found myself back with my friends and family, in my comfort zone.

I am way better now than I was back in December.”

Hardan also enjoys the consistently warm weather in Abu Dhabi, which allows her to engage in more outdoor activities.

“I can go to the beach whenever I want,” Hardan said.

“Even in January most days, you can go to the beach if you want to.”

Warm weather seemed to be a common positive about studying remotely from home.

Chikhaoui also prefers the warm weather in Morocco to Montreal’s cold winters.

“One of the good things in Morocco right now is probably the sun,” Chikhaoui said.

“Morocco is one of the sunniest countries in the world, so it’s definitely better than the [weather] in Canada.”

While my mental health has suffered as a result of being away from my friends and the McGill community, I enjoy the freedom of being home in New York, without a curfew and with milder weather. However, there are a lot of great things about Montreal that cannot be experienced at home, and some, like Hemrajani, are excited to experience the city’s different seasons and finally set foot on McGill’s campus for the first time. “[In Panama], it is really warm all the time, so I feel like it will be really nice to have all

four seasons,” Hemrajani said. “[I am] also [looking forward to] being on a campus and meeting a lot of new people.”

Hardan is looking forward to making new friends at McGill when the pandemic begins to subside.

“Hopefully when things get back to normal I can meet all types of people,” Hardan said. “I want to actually be able to see the diversity there [....] I find that amazing because growing up, I was mainly with Arab

people and Lebanese people [....] Other than that, I was in a little bubble, and I chose McGill because it is so international.”

Many international firstyear students have never visited McGill’s campus, and while the university provides virtual tours, they are limited in what is shown, focussing only on the highlights of the campus.

Where university resources are lacking, other McGill students, such as Inara Qamar, step in to help, sharing more thorough McGill campus tour videos on YouTube to give viewers a better feel for the campus. With some international students paying up to $55,000 in tuition just for virtual courses, the university should allocate greater resources to help these students feel better integrated within the community.

With in-person learning set to take place in the Fall, international students will hopefully have a return to some normalcy. Despite the lack of support and services, McGill’s international students have shown resilience, persevering through these unfavorable circumstances and helping to shape McGill into the diverse university it strives to be.

Design by Ruobing Chen, Design Editor

10 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

Actors shine through screens in ‘Inaccurate Conceptions’

Players’ Theatre’s latest explores romance, gossip, and breakups in an online world Erika MacKenzie Staff Writer Players’ Theatre’s production of Inaccurate Conceptions, written by Sharon Reichert and directed by Kiara Pollice, U2 Education, ran from March 25-27. The 30-minute play, cleverly adapted to be performed live on Zoom, explored romance, gossip, and breakups. During the brief and intimate runtime, the audience glimpsed a relationship between four friends all trying to resolve the tensions underlying their dynamic.

Inaccurate Conceptions revolves around Owen (William Marc Smyth, U1 Arts & Science) as he navigates how to break up with his current girlfriend, Angela (Alexa Marston, U1 Arts), to begin a relationship with their friend Lisa (Bailey Bird, U1 Arts). A meta solution for a stageless production, the three of them and their friend Joanne (Mia Berthier, U2 Arts & Science) are on a virtual call together gossiping about a couple, Larry and Dana from aThe Young and the Restless. When Angela briefly leaves Zoom for a snack, their fictive gossip turns into a discussion about how Owen should end his relationship with Angela.

Despite Zoom’s limits on personal interactions, the actors’ natural chemistry made Inaccurate Conceptions a captivating play. Members of the cast complimented each other’s energy, which helped to convey the authenticity of

Director Kiara Pollice staged Inaccurate Conceptions in a way that used Zoom to its advantage. (The Players’ Theatre)

their “onstage” friendships.

Smyth successfully captured Owen’s awkwardness: His long pauses, wandering eyes, and nervous laughter brought to life his character’s precarious standing. In contrast, Bird played Lisa with self-assured confidence. In juxtaposition to Smyth’s sheepishness, Bird maintained eye contact with the camera and delivered her lines with steady speed and volume.

On the other hand, Marston and Bethier, who portrayed Owen’s current girlfriend Angela and their other friend Joanne, respectively, accurately embodied their roles looking in from the outside to figure out Owen and Lisa’s burgeoning relationship. Marston conveyed Angela’s aloofness through subtle characterizations, such as delivering her lines while twirling her hair, chewing with her mouth open, and appearing oblivious to the conversation’s serious undertones. Berthier portrayed Joanne’s frustration over her inability to understand Owen and Lisa’s secret by bringing herself closer to the camera every time she demanded answers from Owen and Lisa. Berthier’s performance offered a nice comedic relief to the dramatic—and albeit frustrating—situation.

Inaccurate Conceptions ends without a firm resolution, as Reichart decided to leave unresolved tension between Owen and Lisa at the end of the play. During their discussion about Larry and Dana from The Young and the Restless, Owen and Lisa engage in a debate about abortion politics. Owen felt that the father has a right to know about his child, whereas Lisa believed that the mother should be able to make decisions without telling the father. By the end of the play, Lisa and Owen’s conflicting perspectives on parenthood are never fully resolved, but the audience is left believing that they will have a happy relationship together. This unresolved argument highlights the complexity of their romantic relationship and leaves the audience wanting more.

As the show’s director, Pollice made excellent use of Zoom by giving her actors a unique mobility that would be impossible to carry out on stage.

Throughout the show, Angela weaved in and out of frame at random, giving the other actors an opportunity to react to her unexpected presence on screen.

Angela’s presence and absence acts as a literal elephant in the room, emphasizing the awkwardness of the conversation.

Despite failing to issue a content warning for its discussions of heavy material, Inaccurate Conception was overall a creative and intimate play that explored the intricacy of romantic relationships and offered its actors an opportunity to showcase their talents on the screen. Players’ McGill has once again demonstrated its resilience in shifting to an online format.

A Feminist’s Guide to Botany: Online Botanical Painting Session

Thurs April 1, 6:30 p.m.

Draw on your plants to make some art Free Online

A conversation with Sir David Attenborough and Earth Optimism Sun April 4, 9 a.m.

Learn about his hope for the planet Free Online

Opening of the Super Panorama exhibit

Thurs April 1, 5:00 p.m.

Check out this exhibit inspired by environmental crises Free La Cenne, 7755 St Laurent Blvd

FouKi in concert

Fri April 2, 9 p.m.

One of Quebec’s rising rappers performs live Starting from $25 MTELUS

‘CARNE y ARENA’ fuses uncanny simulation and intimate portraiture Following an unsettling year, Iñárritu’s project is unintentionally salient

Atsushi Ikeda Contributor Content warning: Graphic violence Dubbed a semi-fictionalized ethnography by director Alejandro Iñárritu, CARNE y ARENA, or Flesh and Sand, is a VR exhibition that immerses participants into the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States. For 15 harrowing minutes, CARNE y ARENA takes participants across the U.S.-Mexico border, hounded by sirens, searchlights, and the desert wind.

But the exhibition—on display at Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal, a gallery housed in a former Lachine Canal shipyard—is not so much about border crossings as it is about what is left behind: Families that could not make it, shoes piled in detention rooms, and footprints in the sand.

The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first is an immersive sevenminute film experience where participants don headphones, a loaded backpack, and a VR headset. Accompanied by a group of 10 virtual immigrants, participants walk barefoot through a room filled with sand to simulate a desert. The threat of being caught by U.S. authorities is ever-present as one crosses the desert: At one point I ran—trying to find virtual cover from border patrol—into a notso-virtual wall. All the gestures, dialogue, and character models are based on real stories with

‘CARNE y ARENA’ takes participants across a VR-simulated US-Mexico border, hounded by sirens, searchlights, and the desert wind. (variety.com) details cultivated from hundreds of interviews with immigrants. As Iñárritu says, the film is a slice of their nightmare.

The second part of the exhibit begins once participants exit the “desert,” sans headset, into a dark hallway filled with 10 private viewing boxes, each containing a screen situated in a private alcove. Each screen plays a video profile of an immigrant as their stories unfold in text—from the trauma of being thrown into a freezing cell at the border, to the disorientation of a life in America marked by hope, fear, and sacrifice. During each video vignette, the camera shots widen almost imperceptibly to give a fuller picture of the people that risk being forgotten: Luis,

who crossed the border at age nine, and years later was the first undocumented immigrant to graduate from UCLA Law School under the DACA policy; Lina, a maid from Guatemala, who had to work, wait, and pray for 20 years before seeing her daughter again. These may very well be the people you encounter in everyday life.

Once flung from the 360° immersion of a simulated desert trek, walking through the exhibit and engaging with each virtual person face-to-face feels like a personal encounter with each of their stories, down to the last haunting detail. From the helpless sounds of someone dying of heat exhaustion, to refugees packed like sardines into train

cars or trailers with barely enough space to breathe, the exhibit invites participants to view each vignette individually. Together, they evoke a sense of compassion that is much more complex because it is cumulative. If the screens were displayed regularly—say, in horizontal Zoom grid fashion—participants would be liable to walking by them without absorbing their content. Through frantic immersion and slow intensity—the dizzying technical experiment and the intimate portrait that follows—Iñárritu’s project succeeds in turning the numbing statistics of immigration into real, human stories.

“VR is all that cinema is not, and vice versa; the frame is gone and the twodimensional limits are dissolved,” reads Iñárritu’s artist statement, which touches on other binaries like spectator and participant, U.S. and T.H.E.M. Formal innovations aside, there is something uncanny about taking part in this VR exhibit when the entire world has been coated in an unreal sheen.

“Virtually present, physically invisible” has been CARNE y ARENA’s tagline since its 2017 Cannes premiere. Four years later, the phrase still sticks with you for many reasons, as you walk through Griffintown—with shoes on—after the exhibit.

CARNE y ARENA is running at Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal. Tickets are sold out until June 20, but extra dates have been added up to July 11.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

11

Interstellar travel: Sending tiny spacecrafts to the stars The chance to travel beyond our solar system is within reach

Youssef Wahba Staff Writer Exploring what lies in the expanse of our universe has always been a topic of interest for scientists and engineers. This curiosity has shaped the field of space exploration and propelled nations to send astronauts to explore the cosmos.

Experiments enacted beyond the confines of our planet have yielded a plethora of scientific theories, including Galileo’s law of free fall—which was eventually proven correct by the famed hammer and feather experiment on the moon.

Although all crewed and uncrewed space expeditions were interplanetary missions that have taken place within the bounds of the solar system, the recent exponential surge in technological developments will allow scientists to explore other stars and planetary systems.

One such mission could bring us to Proxima Centauri—the third-nearest star to Earth after the sun and one of three stars in the Alpha Centauri stellar system—located around 4.24 light-years, or 9.5 trillion kilometres, away from Earth.

“Proxima Centauri is only 12 [per cent] the mass of the sun, and much more dense,” Dr. Kirsten Dage, a postdoctoral fellow at the McGill Space Institute, wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune.

“It’s also more magnetically active and so even though it is a lot smaller, it can have increased X-ray flaring activity that gets as bright in X-rays as the Sun. The good news is that even though it is smaller than the Sun, it uses up less of its fuel and will have a longer lifetime.”

In 2015, cosmologist Philip Lubin proposed the idea of using a powerful laser to accelerate a tiny spacecraft, weighing only a few grams, to 20 per cent of the speed of light. A few months later, IsraeliRussian billionaire Yuri Milner donated 100 million USD to fund Lubin’s project, and Stephen Hawking endorsed the idea as well. The project, called Breakthrough Starshot, aims to send a nanocraft to Alpha Centauri.

Just as boats need a sail for cruising, the proposed nanocraft will be equipped with a lightsail just a few atoms thick. It will also carry a SpaceChip the size of a postage stamp that will bear cameras, photon laser thrusters to propel the craft, communication equipment, and a power supply. Due to the wave-particle duality of light, photons possess the energy and momentum to power the spacecraft’s journey to Alpha Centauri.

Lubin, a professor in the Department of Physics at UC Santa Barbara and director of the UCSB Experimental Cosmology Laboratory, explained how the nanocraft travels.

“Light (directed energy) carries energy and momentum,” Lubin wrote in an email to the Tribune. “The light from a large laser array is directed at a reflector that reflects light and thus is pushed forward.

It is like using water from a hose to push a ‘beach ball’ forward. The directed energy system is not on the spacecraft but is back

Astronomers estimate that approximately one hundred billion trillion stars exist in our universe. (Xiaotian Wang / The McGill Tribune) home (Earth, Orbit-based or lunar-based, for example).”

Designing a spacecraft that will travel 4.24 light-years during our lifetime is a daunting task, but Lubin explains that new technologies are in the works.

“If we want to get to the nearest star systems in the span of a human lifetime, we have to achieve speeds vastly higher than are currently possible with chemical propulsion,” Lubin wrote. “This requires new propulsion technologies. There are only two technologies capable of achieving the speed required. These are matterantimatter propulsion [and] directed energy (light) propulsion. Our NASA and Breakthrough programs are focussed on the second approach, namely using large-scale directed energy or light itself to propel spacecrafts at speeds that are above 10 per cent [of] the speed of light.”

Since the nanocraft requires immense energy to travel between stars, an array of lasers on Earth is needed to propel it. The various beams from the Earth-based array will merge to form one highly energetic laser beam that has enough power to accelerate the spacecraft to between 10 and 20 per cent of the speed of light, allowing it to reach Proxima Centauri in under three decades. If a spacecraft travelled at these speeds to Mars, it would arrive in a mere three days.

In 1977, NASA launched two space probes—Voyagers 1 and 2—to study Jupiter, Saturn, and the largest moons of both planets. After taking photographs of these planets, the probes continued past the boundaries of the heliosphere and became the first two probes to enter interstellar space.

Avi Loeb, who serves as the chair of the Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee, is also a New York Times bestselling author of Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth and the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University.

“It would take conventional rockets (like Voyager 1 and 2 and New Horizons) about 50,000 years to reach the nearest star, Proxima Centauri,” Loeb wrote in an email to the Tribune. “It should have been sent around the time when humans left Africa in order to get there today.”’

According to Dr. Andrew Higgins, a professor in McGill’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and the principal investigator of the experimental research group ‘McGill Interstellar Flight,’ the nanocraft’s lightsail must be made from durable materials capable of travelling light-years to reach Alpha Centauri.

“A promising material is dielectrics: An example of a dielectric is glass, and the glass used in fiber optics is a very promising candidate,” Higgins wrote in an email to the Tribune. “You don’t normally think of glass as reflective but layers of glass of different types can be combined together to make a very reflective mirror.

The sail should have a very low absorption of the laser light. This is even more important than high reflectivity. If the sail were to absorb even a fraction of a percent of the laser light incident upon it, it would vaporize!”

In the 1970s, American astronomer Carl Sagan talked about the prospect of developing a spacecraft known as a Solar Sail that would use energy from sunlight to propel itself. Decades later, in 2010,

IKAROS became the first spacecraft to employ this technology.

“Solar sails use the photons—particles of light—from the sun to propel a spacecraft without using propellant or onboard energy,” Higgins wrote. “An extreme solar sail that starts very near the sun might be able to get to one per cent of the speed of light, but at that speed, it would take 400 years to reach Proxima Centauri.”

In Christopher Nolan’s science fiction movie Interstellar (2014), Earth has undergone a climate crisis, leaving humanity on the brink of extinction. The main characters embark on a quest in search of a habitable planet outside of the solar system. With the Breakthrough Starshot, such expeditions may soon become a reality.

The exoplanet, Proxima Centauri b, takes 11 Earth days to orbit the dwarf star Proxima Centauri. Future interstellar missions will provide scientists with more information on the geographical composition of such planets and allow them to conduct tests to figure out if they could sustain human life.

Jim Peebles, a Canadian-American astrophysicist and the recipient of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics, gave insight into this planet’s conditions. “[Proxima Centauri b] is closer to [its] star than the Earth is to the sun, but [Proxima Centauri] is fainter,” Peebles wrote in an email to the Tribune. “So, the temperature on the planet is about the same as ours, water neither boils nor freezes.”

Without a doubt, interstellar travel will decode the enigmas beyond the realm of our solar system and revolutionize the meaning of space exploration.

12

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

Exploring the microbiota of human breast milk

Study find that bacterial species in breast milk changes over time

Namrata Rana Contributor Until recently, scientists presumed that breast milk— the primary source of infant nutrition— was microbefree. However, recent studies have found that breast milk contains a healthy dose of good bacteria. These microbes originate from the mother’s gut microbiota—the harmless micro-organisms that colonize the human digestive system.

The microbiome performs diverse functions like warning the immune system of pathogens, strengthening intestine walls, and regulating metabolism.

Infants, however, are not exposed to bacteria in the womb and only begin to establish their gut microbiota after birth. Breastfeeding is one way infants develop their immune systems.

A new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology by researchers at McGill and the Center for Studies of Sensory Impairment, Aging and Metabolism (CeSSIAM) reported significant differences in the bacterial composition of breast milk when comparing the initial and later months of infant development.

“We observed several common bacteria over both samples of breast milk, but found some more aggressive bacteria in late-stage milk [breast milk at six months],” Dr. Emmanuel Gonzalez, co-author and metagenomic specialist with the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4), said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

Using high-resolution imaging technology, the researchers characterized distinct bacterial colonies found in breast milk. The most common commensal bacterial species found in early milk were Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, which are known to inhabit nasal passages and skin in

adults. Sphingobium yanoikuyae, a bacterial species found in late milk stages, is also critical to soil bioremediation and can degrade hydrocarbons like oil and caffeine in the environment.

In their study, the researchers recruited Guatemalan mothers who breastfed for at least six months and evaluated the long-term changes in the bacteria present in their breast milk. They also identified breastfeeding patterns common among low-income countries that are underrepresented in

The instructions to developing a stronger immune system in infants can be provided through breast milk. (Nature Microbiology)

research. Cultural and economic disparities among countries also influence breastfeeding habits: Only four per cent of babies in low- to middle-income countries are never breastfed, compared to 21 per cent of babies in North America.

“When we consistently pick participants from the same environment, we create biases in our results that can prevent us from understanding how much our own ecosystem is having an effect,” Gonzalez said.

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for six months after birth. However, the organization reported that globally, only 41 per cent of mothers adhere to these guidelines, whereas in North America, only 26 per cent of mothers breastfeed long term. This disparity is primarily due to increased maternal employment in North America, where only 10 per cent of full-time working mothers breastfeed for a full six months.

“Our next steps to understand the complexity of breast milk is to look for other types of microbes like fungi, worms, and viruses, which can provide insight into the stability of the microbiome,” Gonzalez said. “In previous studies on pain and its relationship with microbiota, we know that bacteria can sense and react to human hormones, which could be a potential factor that influences these changes.”

While the benefits of breastfeeding are fiercely debated, breast milk does provide high nutritional value for babies, as it contains easily digestible vitamins, proteins, and fats, in addition to healthy bacteria. Immediately after birth, breast milk provides a source of microbial antigens that cause the immune system to produce defensive antibodies.

A recent study on maternal microbiota reported that Lactobacillus reuteri, a common probiotic, can prime the most abundant antibody, Immunoglobulin A (IgA), for defence in infant mice. These results suggest that IgA is critical in preventing infections.

Future directions for this research include developing artificial breast milk alternatives supplemented with probiotics to improve infant health.

“Just as billions of humans inhabit this planet, there are several millions of organisms inhabiting their own world [inside of] a human,” Gonzalez said. “A small portion of this world exists within human milk as well, which is shared from one human to another.”

PCR: The unlikely hero of the COVID-19 pandemic

The DNA amplification technique has made COVID-19 detection possible

Justin Galouzi Staff Writer Since the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique by Kary Mullis in 1985, scientists have taken for granted the ability to make millions of DNA copies. Despite being hailed as a groundbreaking technology at the time, its spotlight was stolen in 2013 by CRISPR, a precise gene editing tool. Over the past year, however, PCR has regained attention as a COVID-19 diagnostic tool.

PCR exploits the cell’s natural process of division to amplify DNA sequences.

When cells divide, they replicate their genetic material, passing one complete set of genetic material to each daughter cell.

In human cells, the genetic material mainly consists of DNA. To copy DNA, the cell separates the two strands and replicates the genetic code base by base. Polymerases, a family of proteins, serve as catalysts in this process: Without them, cells would be unable to replicate.

In PCR, DNA strands are separated by heating to a temperature between 4872 degrees Celsius. However, the naturally occurring human DNA polymerase denatures in these high temperatures. To address this problem, scientists often use another member of the polymerase family: The thermostable Taq polymerase.

“Taq polymerase is capable of resisting the high temperatures needed to separate the two DNA chains,” Dr. Rodrigo Reyes,

an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at McGill, wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “This is because it was originally isolated from a thermophilic bacteria, Thermus aquaticus, that grows at temperatures of about 70 degrees Celsius.”

The PCR replication cycle is done 30 to 40 times to yield as many DNA copies as necessary, with each cycle doubling the quantity of genetic material. Since PCR is the first step in certain DNA sequencing techniques such as the Sanger method, its ability to produce up to 1 billion copies allows for the analysis of large genetic datasets.

“Our capacity to amplify DNA is like a superpower,” Reyes wrote. “PCR is an essential tool in many biomedical research applications. But it is also widely used outside of research labs.”

In addition to detecting COVID-19, PCR can also detect several other diseases.

Moreover, it is essential in DNA profiling, a process that compares genetic information between different people. Certain regions of DNA are similar for every person while other regions vary between individuals. PCR amplifies one or more of these variable regions so scientists can compare DNA samples. This is particularly useful in forensics, where genetic material found at a crime scene can be amplified and cross-correlated with databases to identify an individual. Scientists can also match DNA samples to a descendant by observing similarities in the DNA sequences to determine if two people are related.

PCR has also been used to detect HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. (ScienceIng) PCR’s other uses range from testing for antibiotic resistance to studying biodiversity in aquatic environments.

“Taq polymerase is used to amplify the few molecules of DNA that can be found in water samples, helping to detect the presence of particular organisms in these environments,” Reyes wrote.

According to Reyes, Taq polymerase also has its flaws: It can only synthesize short sequences of DNA at a time. This is particularly limiting when researchers want to analyze large amounts of genetic data.

Furthermore, PCR must be performed in a special instrument called a thermocycler that generates excessive heat, limiting access to

these tests to well-equipped laboratories.

Reyes’ lab hopes to produce humanengineered polymerases that can extend the genetic code in bacteria and allow them to make DNA by using other types of building blocks in addition to the four nitrogenous bases currently found in nature. “[These engineered polymerases] would help to extend the chemistry that cells can use,” Reyes wrote. “Such advancement would eventually help in our goal of using bacteria as small factories for the synthesis of a diverse range of useful chemical compounds used in our daily lives, and help to decrease our dependence on oil-based products.”

STUDENT LIFE 13

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

The mission to rediscover a love for Montreal

Five easy activities you can do to remember why you enjoy the city Lilly Lecanu-Fayet Contributor

Take yourself for an architectural tour of your favorite neighborhood

As winter draws to a close and ushers in the first teases of warmer weather, it is the perfect time to emerge from hibernation and experience all that Montreal has to offer.

During the colder months, it is easy for the once-vibrant city to feel stagnant––icy sidewalks, leafless trees, and gloomy days can cause anyone to slip into a seasonal funk.

The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of things to do around Montreal that will help you rediscover your love for the city.

Montreal is renowned for its street murals, but if you’re sick of touring the same art every other week, try going to a new neighbourhood to experience its unique architecture. Take a stroll through Outremont and look at the old houses, or walk up Côte St. Catherine at sunset to see a side of the skyline that is markedly different from the typical lookout spot on the mountain. As spring begins and the sun shines for longer, exploring these neighbourhoods is a nice way to take a break from the McGill bubble.

As the weather warms up, try people-watching in one of Montreal’s many parks.

(Aidan Martin / The McGill Tribune)

Browse an independent bookstore Montreal has an amazing assortment of independently owned bookstores, particularly in the Mile-End and Plateau neighbourhoods. Some of the more popular stores include The Word on Rue Milton and S.W. Welch on Rue St. Viateur, but a walk down streets like Mont Royal or Duluth will lead passersby past numerous bookstores with specialties varying from children’s books to graphic novels. Even if you are not looking to buy anything, there is something very relaxing about browsing a bookshop.

In the age of Amazon and one-click online shopping, flipping through books can bring a nice sense of nostalgia.

Montreal’s picnic law and bring a bottle of wine to make it a classy affair.

Walk around an open air market Jean-Talon and Atwater markets are two of Montreal’s most visited sites. Not only are they great places to buy fresh produce, but they also provide a great opportunity to spend time outside. At the end of April, they become open-air markets with vendors selling pastries, produce, and artisanal products like teas and maple syrup. The energy at these spots is infectious, and will help with overcoming the winter blues and kicking off a summer spent outdoors.

People-watch in a neighborhood park

Take a bike ride along La Petite Voie du Fleuve

Picnic season is almost upon us. Take yourself––and maybe someone in your bubble––to relax in a park while peoplewatching. Montreal has an abundance of parks, and Montrealers love to use them for picnicking and recreation. Some lesserknown ones are Parc Outremont and Parc Palomino-Brind’Amour, but a quick stroll in any direction will surely lead to a hidden gem. As the weather warms up, everyone will soon flock to parks, making them great people-watching spots––you may even spot some cute dogs. Take advantage of

La Petite Voie du Fleuve is a 30-kilometre bike path starting in Parc Jean Drapeau and winding along the St Lawrence River. The path is well maintained, and can be reached by cutting through Nun’s Island and crossing the Champlain Bridge. BIXI bikes will be available soon enough, and there are stations situated toward the beginning of the path so riders can easily switch them out when their time expires. Leaving the island once in a while can be cathartic, and this path offers a great view of the city as well as the majestic river Montreal is situated on.

Graduating in the age of COVID-19

How to celebrate graduation during a pandemic

Josephine Wang Staff Writer For graduating students, the opportunity to don a cap and gown and stand on a podium while family cheers you on is an important rite of passage. For the class of 2021, commencement ceremonies will look different than they did pre-pandemic. Instead of celebrating graduation with friends and family, this spring’s graduates will be watching their names flash across the computer screen at home. But COVID-19 does not mean students cannot celebrate––for this year’s graduating class, here are a few tips to have the perfect celebration from the comfort of home.

Celebrate your last final It’s officially over. After doing nothing but cramming for finals, presentations, and research papers, you deserve a celebration. While all the bars, clubs, restaurants, and basically anything fun are closed, there are still ways to have fun: Instead of drinking alone indoors, move the party with family outdoors to enjoy the warmer weather.

Pick an outfit Wearing your favorite outfit, doing your hair, and putting on

makeup can make graduation feel more authentic. But let’s be real— doing all that would take too much effort, and the daily uniform of sweats and unbrushed hair is much more comfortable. So feel free to change up the graduation traditions this year, and do what you’ve been doing all semester and keep your camera off.

Host a virtual graduation party The parties and celebrations leading up to convocation are perhaps the rosiest part of graduation, allowing students to reflect on their experience at McGill through rosecoloured glasses and forget about all the tears shed in McLennan. Of course, COVID-19 means no more Grad Balls, but who needs them when you can coordinate your own virtual graduation party. Nothing screams party like seeing your friends’ faces crowded into your computer screen.

Show up on time On graduation day, make sure to arrive on time to hear the commencement address. Unfortunately, if you live anywhere outside of the Eastern Time Zone, it may mean waking up at 4 a.m. to watch speakers try to figure out how to unmute

Dressing for the occasion can help the experience feel more tangible. (Leanne Young / The McGill Tribune) themselves. If you find yourself busy on graduation day, you can always watch the recording later, just like how you’ve been doing for all of your classes.

Have a photoshoot Photos are undoubtedly the most important part of the graduation experience: Without a graduation picture on Instagram, did you even really graduate? But with no in-person ceremony this year, students will need to be creative with their pictures. If you’re a whiz at Photoshop, just insert yourself and your friends into some iconic Mc-

Gill landmarks. Alternatively, you can take a more realistic grad photo.

While you’re catching up on “Love is Blind,” throw on your cap and gown and take some portrait shots on your living room couch. After all, that is basically where you’ve attended school the past year.

Post-ceremony After the ceremony, grads typically go out to dinner with friends or family, where toasts are made, tears are shed, and drunken moments are shared on social media. There’s no reason why this year has to be any different. Make a toast to yourself in

front of your bathroom mirror, cry at the thought of entering the workforce for the next 40 years of your life, and drink that wine, because you survived McGill.

To say that this year did not go according to plan would be a gross understatement. Having missed out on many hallmark events and memories, it is only natural to feel a sense of sadness. Try and think about all of the things we gained from this unique experience, and share them with your friends, who might also be struggling to find the bright side.

Congratulations to the class of 2021! We finally did it.

14 STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

The intimacies of internet language Exploring the expressive powers of textspeak Wendy Zhao Staff Writer Physically distanced from each other, our conversations with friends, family, and strangers are taking place predominantly in the cadences of text messages. While common sentiments warn that constant texting can harm relationships and make us ineloquent writers, frequent internet users know that online socialization is not a cause for despair. Although it breaks the rules of formal writing, the complexities of internet language can communicate an emotional precision that rivals even the most sophisticated writing. Particularly at this juncture of isolation, internet language helps to connect people across the distance.

In her book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, internet linguist and MA ‘13 Gretchen McCulloch explores the evolving internet language and celebrates it as a valuable human project. According to McCulloch, the rules of informal online communication are uniquely capable of accurately connoting the subtleties of tone.

“We no longer accept that writing must be lifeless, that it can only convey our tone of voice roughly and imprecisely, or that nuanced writing is the exclusive domain of professionals,” McCulloch writes in Because Internet.

The rules of internet language are shaped by the social spaces they are concocted in: Twitter limits users to 280 characters, TikTok only allows videos under 60 seconds, and the handheld sizes of phone screens can make anything over a few sentences appear excessive.

Digital platforms prevent lengthy explanations, forcing us to write precisely in order to avoid miscommunication. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Kasia Van Schaik, writer and doctoral candidate in the Department of English, discussed how the constraints of online platforms are akin to the structures of poetic forms, helping spur the creative use of language. “[Social media] platforms reflect the ephemerality of our experience on earth, measuring out the days in moments and short reflections,” Van Schaik said. “[They] perform the formal duties of poetic forms like the villanelle, haiku, or the ghazal, which require a certain number of lines and/or stanzas and adhere to strict rhyme or syllabic schemes. As poets and artists know, constraints can actually be liberating. They can provide a structure that demands more ingenuity from the poet.”

Inventive digital jargons spread in private rooms of conversation as well, making each virtual citizen capable of expanding the catalogues of internet language. Faith Ruetas, U1 Arts, recognized the evolution in the way she conveys shock through text after picking up expressions from friends: First “I-”, then “eye-”, and finally the eye emoji itself.

“If I hear something that sounds interesting or that sounds funny then I’ll slip that into my online vocabulary and integrate [it] into the things I send other people,” Ruetas said. “I think the way I text online is always evolving.”

With tight word limits, internet users often break the formal rules of writing to better express their emotions. In the landscapes of digital conversation, minute al-

In the COVID context, emotions ranging from loss to anger are being expressed through text.

(Irene Rinaldi / The New York Times)

terations make for a big difference. Tildes convey irony, periods have a passive-aggressive reputation, and expressions with “u” rather than “you” tend to contain more emotive content.

The expressive powers of internet language are especially important in the COVID context: An even wider spectrum of feelings are now shared through text rather than verbally.

On McGill’s subreddit, a space for news and discussion, students can find small moments of catharsis. Every Friday, a post surfaces allowing users to vent feelings that require all-caps expression. Messages on the weekly post express a range of emotions including stress, rejection, and personal loss, producing a shared tone of accepted calamity.

Yu Xuan Zhao, U3 Arts, finds that sharing difficult emotions can feel less daunting through the screen.

“I feel like there’s something special about seeing a person’s face when you tell them any kind of news and can hear their voice,” Zhao said. “But, I find I’m more willing to be vulnerable with my emotions through text because it’s a lot easier to manage yourself. I can feel more in control of the situation.”

As a U1 representative for the McGill English Department Student Association, Ruetas has ventured onto digital platforms like Discord to lessen the sense of isolation in new students. For her, the different ways people communicate through text provides an avenue to deepen familiarity in virtual friendships.

“I think I’ve gotten to know people just through texting [....] I think when you look at the way people text, you can definitely get a bit of their personality.”

In vast arenas of online voices, attunement to the nuances of digital communication can cultivate feelings of community.

Ruetas described how memes, multimedia creations layered with references to inter-

net culture, feel especially like shared secrets bridging people in exclusive understanding.

“Memes are like big inside jokes shared across cultures and languages, often forming internet cultures and languages of their own,” Ruetas said. “Anyone can see a meme and laugh, but there’s really a feeling of community—of being in on the joke— when you can recognize the layers of irony and references that others baked in.”

Internet language can help maintain intimacy in existing relationships as well.

The private group chat is widely celebrated as a space of collaboration for creative communities and a haven of solace for BIPOC in face of hostile boundaries in the real world.

When time allows individuals to gain a shared understanding of one another’s virtual languages, digital communication can feel less like a substitute for in-person connections. John Smith, U2 Arts, and his partner learned to adapt to a long-distance relationship at the onset of the pandemic.

Smith explained how their attunement to each other’s forms of digital expression helps them feel understood while texting.

“I think we still have our little miscommunications every now and then, but we’ve been together for a little over five years now, so we’ve really gotten to know each other’s ways of texting and adapted to the other’s expectations,” Smith said.

“We know what emojis to use, how much expression to show with caps and exclamation.”

While physical interactions are halted, digital spaces will continue to hold emotions both mundane and melodramatic, celebratory and tragic.

Like with any form of communication, misunderstandings are unavoidable. However, the complexities of internet language help us to declare these feelings with confidence even through the screen, assured we will be understood.

SPORTS 15

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

Female athletes deserve equal treatment

Women’s NCAA athletes ignite discussion about sexism in sports Sarah Farnand & Sophia Gorbounov Sports Editor, Managing Editor At the start of the NCAA March Madness tournaments on March 18, Stanford sport performance coach Ali Kerschner released photos comparing the training facilities for the men’s and women’s tournaments. Fans and athletes alike called out the NCAA for the vast differences between the men’s and women’s training facilities and merchandise. This inequity, unfortunately, is not a new problem: For as long as women have played sports, equal representation, as well as the salary and funding gap between men’s and women’s sports has been an issue. These disparities are caused by sexism and the stigma around women’s sports. Male athletes earn more in almost every professional sport, which is a discrepancy that must be rectified.

Rikki Bowles, B.Ed. ‘10, is the interim head coach for the McGill Women’s Basketball team. In an email to The McGill Tribune, Bowles explained that she believed lack of publicity to be one of the main barriers women face in professional and collegiate basketball.

“In my opinion, two of the main inequities are the promotion of the WNBA and their players’ salaries in comparison to those in the NBA,” Bowles wrote. “This is not unique to professional basketball but is a trend across many professional sports [....] With less investment, this affects ticket and merchandise sales, broadcasting deals, and in turn affects the [...] ability to increase salaries.”

Men’s conferences in the March Madness tournaments receive over $1.6 million in funding from the NCAA, while the women’s conferences receive nothing.

The NCAA, which governs both the women’s and men’s programs, decides where to allocate funds. In the women’s “swag bags,” which are given to all teams who make the NCAA tournament, there is no mention of March Madness or even “2021,” while the men’s gifts had all been labelled with the year and location of “the big dance.”

Aside from the merch, however, it is the women’s training facilities that are receiving the most backlash. The women’s workout area consisted of a single dumbbell rack with six sets of weights all under 30 pounds, yoga mats, and one stationary bike for all 64 teams to share. The NCAA cited a lack of space as the reason for the lacklustre setup, but Oregon Ducks star Sedona Prince exposed the NCAA by releasing a video of large conference rooms filled with nothing but air. The NCAA is a nonprofit designed to help all of its athletes succeed, yet by treating women’s basketball as inferior, the NCAA has hindered the ability of female basketball players to develop and sharpen their skills. Even though the women’s tournament generates significantly less revenue than the men’s, primarily due to lack of promotion, the women players still deserve equitable treatment.

The differences in support for men and women are also apparent in professional basketball, where WNBA players make an average yearly income of $80,000, compared to the NBA player’s average of $7.4 million.

After players like Skylar Diggins-Smith called out the disparity, the NBA pointed to revenues as the reason for these vast differences, stat-

(Carmen Mandato / Getty Images) ing that the NBA draws larger audiences and secures more profitable broadcasting deals.

Regardless of the amount of revenue, WNBA players receive only an estimated 20 per cent of their league’s revenue, whereas NBA

themselves into a higher revenue organization.

There is a general stigma that women’s sports are less exciting and generate fewer ticket and merchandise sales.

(McGill Athletics) players receive 50 per cent. If women were also paid 50 per cent of league revenue, they would make an average of around $200,000.

The age difference between the NBA and WNBA is another excuse used to explain

The systemic misogyny in athletics must be dismantled, and this process can start by adding structural and monetary support to women’s programs. Education and awareness at all levels of sport is also required to remove

The NCAA women’s March Madness basketball tournament hosts 64 teams from across the United States. (Steve Flink / US Open) these discrepancies. Men’s professional basketball, which has been around for 50 more years than women’s basketball, has had more time to build a fan base. A larger fan base can generate more revenue which can be used to attract talent and more resources. If we choose to invest in the WNBA, they can also build

the stigma around the validity of women’s sports.

Evelyn Silverson-Tokatlidis, U3 Arts, is a wing for the McGill Rugby Team and the president of the McGill Varsity Council. She explained the disrespect she feels when compared to her male counterparts.

“This lack of respect trickles through to the everyday life of a female athlete,” Silverson-Tokatlidis wrote to the Tribune. “We see it on social media, where nasty comments from people disrespect and hate female athletes.”

Silverson-Tokatlidis said she faced criticism for choosing a historically male-dominated sport. She recalled a friend telling her that she should stop playing rugby to avoid looking too masculine.

“Through[out] my whole rugby playing career, I was constantly met with comments from people questioning why I play such an aggressive sport if I was a woman,” Silverson-Tokatlidis wrote. “Meeting strangers and telling them that I play rugby, I was always met with shock and surprise, as if others cannot comprehend that a woman can play a ‘men’s sport.’”

Silverson-Tokatlidis believes that advocacy for equity must extend beyond the world of athletes and toward all women.

“I believe it is incredibly important to speak out about these issues so others can understand what we go through,” SilversonTokatlidis wrote. “We can ignite these conversations with non-avid sports fans by relating some of our aspects to barriers that [women] face in a non-sport context.”

Colette Beauvais, U1 Engineering and a member of the McGill Tennis Team, recalled feeling alienated by underrepresentation in her sport.

“When I was growing up, I tried to join some club that was predominantly male,” Beauvais said in an interview with the Tribune. “It’s difficult going into that environment and feeling equal or represented.”

Julia Moskal, U2 Science, who also plays for the McGill Tennis Team, agreed with Beauvais that these feelings stem, in part, from the lack of funding and representation at professional levels of tennis.

“The opportunity and the funding for professional sports once you reach [a high] level is a lot lower in women’s sports,” Moskal said in an interview with the Tribune.

“When [young women are] picking out what they want to spend their time on, put energy into, it is a lot harder to get motivated.”

Women’s professional tennis also lacks funding and female tennis players are underpaid. In 1973 for example, Billie Jean King, a world-renowned tennis player with 39 Grand Slam titles, threatened to boycott the U.S. Open until men and women received equal pay for their wins. Along with eight other players and promoter Gladys Heldman, King started her own tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, which later became the basis for the Women’s Tennis Association Tour.

The journey to end misogyny and oppression in sports, both at local and professional levels, is far from over. Nonetheless, athletes like Makena Moore, U3 Science and a captain of the McGill Tennis Team, are prepared to uplift the next generation of young women athletes and help break down the barriers they may face.

“My hope is that I can inspire the [next] group of young girls,” Moore said in an interview with the Tribune. “I really do think that getting to a grassroots level of sport [...] is really where you can start the inspiration, and let young girls know that they do belong in sport just as much as anybody else.”

16 SPORTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 2021

Know Your Athlete: Jade Downie-Landry

The Martlets Hockey team captain speaks on fostering friendships off the ice Adam Menikefs Staff Writer The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on McGill varsity athletes, with nearly all competition and training brought to a complete stand-still the past year.

Jade Downie-Landry, BA ‘20, U1 Education, was prepared for her fifth and final year of eligibility competing on the Martlets Hockey team, but the season was halted on Sept. 14 when the RSEQ announced the cancellation of all university sports. With many public health restrictions in place, Downie-Landry and her teammates found different ways to remain active and prepare for the 2021-2022 season.

“With reason, our facilities have been closed for quite some time, and this has required us to adapt to the situation,” Downie-Landry said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

“Thankfully, the girls have been great at it, with some [players] outside of Quebec able to access ice and gyms. For those in Quebec, we With 162 career points, Downie-Landry is currently ranked eighth for the McGill Martlets all-time scorutilized resources such as the outdoor rinks and ing record. (McGill Athletics) the provided three home workouts per week.”

As co-captain of the team, Downie- a lot of credit considering the challenges that as well. It is great having a group of four to Landry has found creative ways to foster team presented themselves.” five girls leading a team, but having 25 girls bonding under these difficult circumstances.

Downie-Landry appreciates having the better themselves everyday as people, athletes, She is thankful the team has remained close support of fellow co-captains to help lead their students, and leaders is even more essential despite the long period of isolation. tight-knit squad. when looking at our team as a whole.”

“Although it has been challenging, I think “The beauty of having a group of captains Juggling the responsibilities of team it has been a great opportunity to be creative on the team is that we all share similar beliefs leadership, the rigorous varsity hockey and it has served as an opportunity for us about our roles as leaders,” Downie-Landry training schedule, and McGill’s high academic to grow as a team in the face of adversity,” said. “What is most important for the leadership requirements would prove challenging for Downie-Landry said. “I think the girls deserve group is to make those around us better leaders anyone. Over the past five years, however,

Downie-Landry said that she has grown as both a player and a student with encouragement from her teammates.

“Learning how to manage my time meant learning some things about myself that I did not necessarily know before,” Downie-Landry said. “Throughout the years I have definitely noticed that I am very routine-oriented [....]

Being surrounded [by] teammates who had struggled and experienced a heavy schedule was also nice because I got to experience what worked and did not work for me.”

Off the ice, Downie-Landry has been working diligently to complete her second degree at McGill after graduating with a degree in psychology in 2020. She is now completing a B.Ed in physical education. After she graduates, Downie-Landry hopes to stay involved with hockey.

“My plans are still up in the air,” DownieLandry said. “One thing I am certain of is that I would love to continue within the hockey community, whether that is being involved with coaching or other opportunities that might present themselves.”

For now, Downie-Landry is looking forward to the possibility of playing hockey games next year.

“I am fortunate enough to be coming back next year, but some players, regardless of university, are concluding their final years as a student-athlete,” Downie-Landry said. “I tip my hat off to them. I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult this year must have been for them.”

Outdoor activities to beat the end-of-semester blues Warmer weather in Montreal opens up a wide range of lawn sports Adam Burton & Sophia Gorbounov Sports Editor, Managing Editor Winter is never an easy time for students in Montreal. With indoor gatherings banned and limited outdoor activities, these past few months have been especially challenging. Yet, the start of daylight savings, the extension of curfew, and the improvement of the weather are excellent reasons to leave the house, be active, and catch some rays in a COVID-safe fashion.

Spikeball Spikeball is not just for shirtless fraternity brothers: Its portability, fast setup time, and low skill required make it the ideal lawn game.

Spikeball is essentially volleyball on the ground. Two teams of two gather around the circular net on the grass, one player serves, then the opposing team has three chances to return the ball. Spikeball can be enjoyed by players at all skill levels, ranging from casual first-timers to hardened athletes looking to jump, dive, and put their body on the line.

Finlay Douglas, U4 Science, has played the game for several years and thinks it has a lot to offer in the way of fast-paced fun.

“Spikeball is great because everybody can play it,” Douglas said. “It’s easy to learn, but it also has a high skill cap, so you can always work to get better.”

Breaking out the spikeball net on a

During the Great Depression, kick the can was a popular activity because it did not require any sporting equipment. (Spikeball.com) sunny spring afternoon is sure to make one the centre of attention in any friend group.

Kick the can A childhood favourite to many, Kick the can is still fun for fully grown adults. A dyA childhood favourite to many, Kick the Can is still fun for fully grown adults. A dynamic combination of tag, capture the flag, and hide and seek, Kick the Can involves one person designated as “it” who must capture hidden players, and trap them all before another player frees those already caught.

Understandably, most McGill students have not played tag since their pre-teens and have forgotten how exhausting full-

out sprinting to escape their friends can be.

Kick the Can is a great adrenaline-inducing way to bond with friends and relive the joyful nostalgia of childhood hide-and-seek.

Water balloon fights Although it may sound preposterous, water balloon fights actually require a fair amount of tactical athletic skill. Hand-eye coordination is needed to aim and throw water balloons with high precision at moving targets. Endurance and cardio are key components as well: Running away from one friend while simultaneously running towards another requires agility for long periods of time. A package of balloons is

available for purchase almost anywhere, and avid ballooners may even consider purchasing a water balloon nozzle for efficient balloon filling.

While not a professional sport, or even an official recreational one, water balloon fights may be just the thing to bring out the childhood joy needed after a long winter of little sun and few opportunities for outdoor fun.

“Growing up in Florida, honestly [water balloon fights] were just a way to get out and have a good time,” Rachel Kalmanovich, U3 Arts, said to The McGill Tribune. “It’s running around and hitting your friends with sacks of water. What’s not to love?”

Mini golf As the last piles of snow melt, many students are bringing back their favourite pastime: Mini golf. Although it cannot be played on any old lawn, Montreal offers a number of locations for mini-putting.

Putting Edge Centre-Ville has reservation slots for groups of up to 12 miniature golfers, and their website details the COVID-19 procedures in place to keep visitors safe. Further north, Parc d’Amusement Anjou is a half-hour drive away from downtown Montreal and boasts two 18-hole mini golf courses. For those willing to ditch grassy golf for a more adrenaline-filled activity, the park also offers go-karting.