McGill Tribune Vol. 38 Issue 4

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018 | VOL. 38 | ISSUE 4

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

EDITORIAL

FEATURE

ASK AINSLEY

Supporting survivors means supporting their allies, too

Separating self and struggle: The search for identity beyond tragedy

How do I balance my personal and academic life?

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PGs. 8-9

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(Raffles Zhu / The McGill Tribune)

Tribune Tries: The best of YUL EAT PG. 11

McGill celebrates first-ever Queer History Month Kyle Dewsnap Contributor The Office of the Provost, Queer McGill, and the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (IGSF) are a few of the many groups that have collaborated to plan McGill’s first Queer History Month. Officially known as

Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Two-Spirited, and Intersex (LGBTQ2I+) History Month, the planned celebrations are a first for any university in Canada.

Meryem Benslimane, equity education advisor to the Provost, has been planning the events for the past two months. In an email to The McGill Tribune, she summarized the breadth of

events included in the effort.

“The goal of LGBTQ2I+ History Month is to celebrate and highlight the history and achievements of LGBTQ+ communities at McGill University and, more broadly, in Montreal, Quebec, and Canada,” Benslimane wrote. “Through a series of screenings, panels, workshops, and community events, LGBTQ2I+ History Month aims

[to raise] awareness, [advance] education, and [increase] the visibility of LGBTQ+ communities [at McGill].”

Quebec’s queer history is particularly complicated when compared to the rest of Canada.

In July 1990, police conducted a raid of the Sex Garage, an LGBTQ2I+ party that was held in a warehouse in Old Montreal.

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EpiPen shortage leaves those with Qudditch for the ages life-threatening allergies scrambling McGill’s most magical sport opens its 2018 season Health Canada pursues alternatives in light of persistent EpiPen shortage Jiawen Wang Contributor

Earlier this year, Pfizer Canada, the pharmaceutical giant behind EpiPens, reported a shortage in both the 0.3 and 0.15-milligram versions of the drug. As the country’s only brand of life-saving epinephrine auto-injectors (EAIs), Pfizer’s

announcement sent Health Canada scrambling for solutions as the shortage is predicted to persist into next year.

EAIs are used to deliver a fast dose of epinephrine— also called adrenaline—to someone experiencing a severe allergic reaction. This includes anaphylaxis, the most severe allergic reaction, which can ultimately lead to death.

According to a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, allergic reactions make up one per cent of all emergency room visits every year.

Pfizer Canada issued a statement in April, attributing the shortage to “delays at the manufacturing facility and limited third-party quantities of a component for the product.”

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Oceane Marescal Contributor On Sept. 29, McGill and Université de Montreal co-hosted the annual season-opening Vive le Quidditch Libre tournament in Montreal’s Parc Villeray.

It was a less-than-ideal start to the year for McGill’s two quidditch teams: McA and Canada’s Finest Quidditch Club (CFQC) placed fifth

and seventh, respectively, in a pool of seven teams.

Nevertheless, the McGill teams remain optimistic about the rest of their seasons.

Quidditch, the brainchild of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, is a fictional sport that is popular within the wizarding world of her bestselling series. Each team fields a side of seven

players. They fly around the pitch on broomsticks, throwing a ball, or ‘quaffle’, through a set of giant rings to score points.

They also try to avoid being hit by smaller, rock-hard balls called ‘bludgers.’

One member on each team, known as a ‘seeker,’ chases a small, golden ball called a ‘snitch.’ The game ends immediately once the snitch has been caught.

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news

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Malala Yousafzai addresses Montreal crowd Pakistani activist renews call for gender equality Marie Labrosse Editor-in-Chief Malala Yousafzai addressed an enraptured crowd of fortunate Montrealers on Sept. 26 at the annual Influence MTL 2018 conference, stressing the importance of youth activism and gender equality. The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, took to the stage at Place Bonaventure to introduce Yousafzai and underline the importance of young people fighting for their beliefs.

“Why do so many initiatives come from the youth?” Plante asked. “Why do so many initiatives come from you? You can launch small, medium, and large scale initiatives because all victories and all fights are worthy.”* In a Q&A session led by Danièle Henkel, female entrepreneur and founder of Les Entreprises Danièle Henkel Inc., 21-year-old Yousafzai reiterated the power of youth-driven change. The Pakistani-born Nobel Peace Prize winner sees the 2012 assassination attempt on her life as a clear testimony to the potential for her advocacy work to enact change.

“I started speaking up and realised that some people tried to get rid of my voice,” Yousafzai said during the event. “Just my voice. They were afraid of it because it was so powerful [....] You do not need to be 45, or 60, or 70 to bring change.

You do not need to have qualifications. You can bring change at any age, [...] make this world a better place, and ensure that everyone [...] has education and everyone has health.”

The atmosphere was charged throughout

In her first visit to Montreal, Yousafzai addressed a breathless crowd at the Influence MTL 2018 conference. (Marie Labrosse / The McGill Tribune)

Yousafzai’s panel: The audience reacted to every word she said, cheering at her statements of support for female education and chuckling at her light mockery of her male classmates’ immaturity.

“Before, I was in a girls’ school so I had not really seen boys of my age,” Yousafzai said. “At university, I saw boys and I realized that most of them are boys [....] We expect them to be more mature but they’re not. I have two brothers and

they’re the same.”

Nonetheless, Yousafzai pointed out the pivotal role boys and men can play in reducing the gender gap. Yousafzai reminded the audience that gender inequality is not just a problem in her home country of Pakistan, but around the world, including the Western hemisphere.

“Men and boys need to join this fight for equality, it is not just on women,” Yousafzai said. “It’s about their daughters, it’s about their

sisters, it’s about their wives [....] When we educate women, when we give them equality, we are not just helping individually, we are helping the whole society.”

To close out the panel, The McGill Tribune asked Yousafzai about her current experience studying at Oxford University and whether she felt that higher education had enabled her to discover new passions and new facets of herself.

“I’m learning not just the content from the books, not just philosophy, politics, and economics, but also learning from my friends, learning from the professors,” Yousafzai said. “Everyone is doing amazing work, one of my friends has done coding and one of my other friends is raising awareness about feminism [....] You get to find your passion.”

The audience was left feeling invigorated

by Yousafzai’s messages of optimism and calls for gender inclusivity. Jason Carmichael, associate professor in McGill’s Department of Sociology, attended the event with a group of other professors who lauded Yousafzai’s compelling performance.

“Her courage is infectious,” Carmichael said. “I think that one of the things that she really brings to the table is her courage of conviction and courage of life. I think there are many people that care about a lot of things; there are very few people who are willing to put their lives on the line for what they believe in.” *Plante’s quote has been translated from its original French by the author.

McGill celebrates first-ever Queer History Month

Students, staff, and faculty reflect on Quebec’s challenging history with the queer community Kyle Dewsnap Contributor According to witness testimony, police blocked partygoers from exiting while yelling homophobic insults—some even removed their badges and started to beat participants.

According to Benslimane, events like the Sex Garage raid have left their mark on Quebec’s queer community. “[Quebec has] pioneered certain rights [...] for instance, they legalized same-sex civil partnership earlier than other provinces,” Benslimane wrote. “But they’ve also been late in regards to other things—Quebec is the only province that forbids non-citizens from changing their gender on their ID and documents, and citizenship may take five to ten years.”

Benslimane and her committee have planned a mix of academic and cultural events in hopes of attracting as many McGill community members as possible. This week, Black Students’ Network (BSN) will be screening Ouvrir La Voix [Speak Up], a film about the experiences of francophone European black women. The Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (ISGF) held a love poem workshop with Indigenous academic Smokii Sumac, who also spoke during McGill’s Indigenous Awareness Week. Sumac hopes to teach interested McGill community members about using love poems to express both romantic and aromantic forms of love. Interested students and staff can visit Queer History Month’s Face-

book page for a full schedule.

From the perspective of Alanna Thain, director of the IGSF and associate professor in the Department of English, knowing queer history can enhance the university’s ability to understand the present struggles of its LGBTQ+ members.

She believes it is important to recognize that Quebec’s queer community continues to face evolving struggles.

“The struggles that occupy a lot of activism today are not always the same ones that were fought in the past,” Thain said. “The Sex Garage riots of the ‘90s are really different from the fight for marriage equality, for example. If you don’t know your history, you might not understand why, for many queer people, marriage equality is not the be all and end all of what we want and dream about.”

While Queer History Month marks a significant milestone in McGill’s commitment to the queer community, students like Bei Evely, U5 Anthropology and Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, hope that McGill’s administration will continue to advocate for queer students and faculty beyond October. Evely hopes that this year’s event will have a lasting impact on McGill culture.

“I think it’s important for McGill to figure out what they want to stand for and then to stand strongly for it,” Evely said. “If we’re having a history month, which was mostly led by people who really feel passionate about having a history month around this community, I want this passion to be reflected in the stance that we take the entire year.”

October’s events are the first of their kind for any Canadian university. (www.facebook.com/LGBTQ2IHM)

news

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

McGill students run in Quebec elections

McGill undergraduate students represent NDPQ and Green Party in 2018 provincial elections Abeer Almahdi Opinion Editor McGill students who voted in the ridings of Robert-Baldwin or Gouin on Oct. 1 will have seen the names of fellow classmates on the ballot. Two current McGill undergraduate students, Luca Brown and Alice Sécheresse, are running for office in the 2018 Quebec provincial elections.

Brown, U2 Arts, is majoring in political science and minoring in sociology. He is currently a candidate for the New Democratic Party of Quebec (NDPQ) in his riding, Robert-Baldwin, on Montreal’s West Island.

Brown became involved with the federal NDP over the summer of 2017, working on Member of Parliament (MP) Niki Ashton’s leadership election campaign. This past summer, Brown worked on drawing attention to the stories of people who lack food security for the community organization Table de Quartier Sud de l’Ouest-de-l’Île. He presented his project and goals at a committee meeting at which current fellow NDPQ candidate France Séguin was in attendance. Séguin then asked Brown if he would run for the party.

For Brown, running for office was initially intimidating, but, ultimately, it was a valuable learning experience.

“I’m 21 years old, I’ve never done politics before,” Brown said. “I’ve never been a candidate, so I was super afraid and a bit nervous but also very excited to try this out [....]

I thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Brown is still a full-time student and is taking five classes on top of his campaign responsibilities.

“I don’t have a big budget,” Brown said.

“I have one volunteer so it’s very grassroots.”

Besides being a candidate for the NDPQ, Brown is an editor for the McGill International Review and has previously written for The McGill Tribune/, The Bull and Bear, and The McGill Daily.

Sécheresse, U3 Arts, is studying International Development Studies, Environment, and African Studies. She is currently a can-

didate for the Green Party of Quebec in the riding of Gouin. Sécheresse found the process of getting involved to be surprisingly straightforward.

“You apply to be a candidate and you have a bunch of interviews and meetings with the party where they can see where you stand [in] the political sphere,” Sécheresse said. “It was pretty simple, but it was a great experience.”

Sécheresse is also the president of Greenpeace McGill, an environmental activist organization which she described as a crucial motivation for her interest in politics.

“The environment, minority rights, and women’s rights are very close to my heart,” Sécheresse said. “That’s why I decided to get involved with Greenpeace when I first came to McGill.”

Other McGill students are involved in politics in less direct ways. Jean-Philippe Roch, U2 Management, is a member of Liberal McGill, sits on his local MP Frank Baylis’ Constituency Youth Council, and is Vice-President Politics of the Young Liberals of Canada Quebec (YLCQ). He is also involved in the Outremont by-election for Rachel Bendayan and Jonathan Plamondon for La-Pointe-de-l’Île.

Roch believes that, with cooperation, there is potential for youth to change the system.

“You have to work together as a team with the party you choose, and you do things behind the scenes that nobody will realize, but are necessary,” Roch said. “Sometimes, we feel like the system can’t really change, but, when you’re actually a part of the process, things [can] change [....] A good example of that is the legalization of cannabis [...which] happened [...] because of young people.”

Brown, Sécheresse, and Roch agreed that student engagement in politics is important.

Sécheresse highlighted the many opportunities youth have to become politically involved.

“Help out a party, help out a person or member of national assembly (MNA) that you are inspired by,” Sécheresse said. “You’re automatically entering a sphere where people support you [...] and who are going to help you achieve what you want to achieve.”

McGill student Luca Brown was invited to run for office after delivering a presentation on his humanitarian work.

(Abeer Almahdi / The McGill Tribune)

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SUS discusses annual budget and changes to grading policies SUS Council examines finance, events, and satisfactory/ unsatisfactory grading in 2nd meeting David Deng Contributor On Sept. 26, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) members convened for their second annual meeting. Among the actions taken were the approval of a budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year, details on new initiatives, and a brief discussion on desired changes to McGill’s satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading option. Members also discussed a Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) motion regarding member affiliation with far-right groups.

SUS Vice-President Finance Dylan Wong presented their 2018-19 fiscal year budget to the council. He explained that last year’s budget deficit hindered the planning of this year’s Science Frosh activities.

“We have enough rollover to run Frosh, but we have used up a lot of our funds in order to run Frosh to its full extent because we didn’t have as much rollover as we should have and as we have had in previous years,” Wong said.

The approved budget will generate more than $113,000 of surplus funds by cutting SUS spending and making use of revenue from this year’s Frosh, which exceeded expectations. According to Wong, this will allow for flexibility when planning Frosh next year.

SSMU representatives also presented their motions and expressed concern about the Motion to Adopt a Policy Against Affiliation with FarRight Groups, which the SSMU Legislative Council debated the next day. Ultimately though, the SSMU Council postponed making a decision on the matter.

“The definition [of ‘far-right’] laid out there […] is very vague and very broad,” Science Representative to SSMU Moses Milchberg said.

“Under the definition as it stands […], people could potentially make the case that [Conservative McGill] is a far-right organization because of an individual they associate with.”

The definition of ‘far-right’ in the motion is currently taken from RationalWiki, a volunteer-based nonprofit that claims to ‘fight pseudoscience.’ The motion seeks to deny SSMU membership to clubs associated with far-right groups, and to bar members of far-right groups from running for SSMU offices.

In addition, SUS executives sought input regarding the possibility of modifying the satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U), or ‘pass/fail,’ grading option. The S/U option allows students to obtain credit for a course if their grades are satisfactory without having a letter grade affecting their GPA or appearing on their transcripts. Under the current rules, the grading option for a course cannot be changed after the add-drop deadline has passed.

The primary proposed change is to extend the deadline to switch back from S/U to regular grading. Representatives were asked to present their suggestions at the next Council meeting.

“Nothing was set in stone yet,” Vice-President (Academic) Michael Ogundeji said. “[The faculty] just really wanted to know what we think about it and potential problems that can arise from it.”

SUS President Reem Mandil clarified that the faculty administration would not permit students to take more than one S/U course per semester or change regular courses to S/U after add-drop.

Finally, SUS executives announced a series of upcoming events such as an SUS pancake breakfast on Oct. 12 at 9 a.m. around the SUS office area at which Science students will have the opportunity to socialize and meet the SUS executive team.

In addition, Science students interested in attending graduate school were encouraged to register for the McGill Science Grad Fair at New Residence Hall on Nov. 6.

Vice-President Internal Zlata Plotnikova announced the creation of a ‘Department of the Year’ award. Each department under SUS will receive a point when one of its students attends an activity organized by the Science Internal Committee (SIC). The award will go to the mostinvolved department.

Following the resignation of former VP external Michelle Guo, the executives also announced a by-election to fill the position.

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news

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Special Investigator appointed to combat sexual violence Committee continues evaluation of student-teacher relationship policy Sydney King Contributor In an email addressed to members of the McGill community on Sept. 11, Provost Christopher Manfredi announced the appointment of Maître Caroline Lemay, an experienced lawyer, mediator, and ombudsperson, to the role of Special Investigator of sexual violence. In her role, Lemay will be responsible for investigating all reports of sexual violence on McGill’s campus and will be the single point of entry for all such reports. The appointment came in response to a student walkout and a Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) open letter in April 2018 that accused the McGill administration of mishandling sexual violence allegations.

Lemay will act independently of the McGill administration and any other disciplinary authority. The creation of her role is intended to alleviate student concerns that McGill’s internal review system is skewed against survivors.

Starting on Oct. 9, Lemay will lead investigations into reports of sexual violence against members of the McGill community. However, her mandate may not include reports filed before her term begins.

Connor Spencer, former vice-president external of SSMU, organizer of the April demon-

strations, and member of Our Turn, a national organization addressing sexual violence on college and university campuses, expressed doubt about the scope of the investigation.

“The special investigator was a win for us, even if the role isn’t fully defined,” Spencer said. “[But] we’ve still got absolutely nothing about claims in the past.”

The second prong of McGill’s response to allegations of mishandled sexual violence reports is the Ad Hoc Senate Committee on Teaching Staff-Student Intimate Relationships, that will review McGill’s policy regarding relations between teaching staff and student relationships. The administration hopes that the working groups will create a comprehensive policy that will reconcile differences between the 2017 Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law and the 2016 Policy against Sexual Violence while ensuring that the policy is in accordance with Quebec’s 2017 law regarding sexual violence on university campuses, Bill 151.

Manfredi emphasized that the ad hoc committee would have strong student representation in his May 10 email to the McGill community.

Lemay herself was appointed by recommendation from a committee containing representatives of SSMU and other members of the McGill com-

munity.

Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) Angela Campbell stated that students from various associations and the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) would be part of the working groups.

These students would represent the interests and input of their respective constituencies.

“We will also be looking at other ways to ensure wide and meaningful input and consultation from multiple stakeholders on campus,” Campbell said.

The ad hoc committee, held a town hall on Sept. 18 open to all McGill students. Participants were invited to provide suggestions for changes to McGill’s current policy on intimate relationships between staff and students.

In an opinion article published by The McGill Daily, David Collins, a PhD philosophy student, along with several anonymous members of the Philosophy Students’ Association and Philosophy Graduates’ Student Association, called on the administration to outright ban any relations between staff and students. This contrasts with the current policy, which only bans relations between teachers and their own students.

“By banning student-teacher relationships, McGill would join a number of universities with similar bans such as Harvard, Yale, and MIT, and

Special Investigator Caroline Lemay will act as the sole contact for complaints of sexual harassment. (Zoé Yalden / The McGill Tribune)

would bring itself in line with policies governing professionals in other fields, such as healthcare providers,” the authors wrote.

The review of McGill’s sexual violence policy is intended to last through the fall semester.

SSMU motion on far-right postponed

Legislative Council discusses student engagement and nominates Board of Directors Emma Carr Student Living Editor The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council convened on Sept. 27, during which councillors Bryan Buraga, Mu Rong Yang, Garima Karia, and Andrew Figueiredo were nominated to the Board of Directors (BoD). The Legislative Council also approved a motion to prohibit the Vice-President (VP) Internal from becoming intoxicated at events and event organizers from spending SSMU funds on personal drinks.

In more routine matters, the Council renewed the motion designating affiliated clubs as SSMU’s highest priority and confirmed the membership of the health and dental care review committee. It also discussed a policy defining SSMU’s stance toward far-right groups and a motion addressing the lack of student participation in SSMU politics.

Motion regarding far-right groups postponed indefinitely Council members voted to indefinitely postpone the Motion to Adopt a Policy Against Affiliation with Far Right Groups, which would forbid individuals or clubs affiliated with far-right groups from being directly involved with SSMU. During the discussion period, VP External Marina Cupido defended this move, stating that the policy in its current form was not yet ready to be submitted to the Legislative Council. Cupido will submit a revised motion in the near future.

“This is a very nuanced issue, and I think that there are a lot of concerns that need to be taken into account when trying to fight the far-right on our university campus, or anywhere really,” Cupido said. “I think that

the [...] draft that was brought up last year is a good start, but [...] I don’t think it is adequate, frankly [....] I would like to see something better and more thorough, and I would like to have the time to put that together.”

The vote was initially proposed by the outgoing 2017-18 SSMU Legislative Council at the Apr. 5 council meeting, during which councillors voted to postpone discussion to the second meeting of the 2018-19 council.

Despite this delay, Cupido expressed their commitment to preparing a policy in the coming months to address the presence of far-right groups on campus.

“I want to get this done by the end of October, so I really don’t want to drag [it] out,” Cupido said.

Council unanimously passes motion regarding student governance Council members unanimously voted in favour of the Motion for Special Emphasis to be Placed on Greater Engagement with Student Governance. The policy, which will establish an ad hoc committee to undertake a comprehensive governance review, is an attempt to address student apathy toward and subsequent distrust of SSMU. These feelings have resulted in low voter participation in SSMU elections, including in the 2018 Winter Election, where only 32.8 per cent of the student body voted. This was the highest voter turnout in 14 years.

“The terms of reference engage in a serious attempt to address a longstanding problem,” VP University Affairs Jacob Shapiro said. “It’s a problem that traditionally has been addressed in ad hoc manners. I hope that this indicates a more sustained effort.

Ultimately, we’ll be judged by the actions of this committee and not by words or bad raps.”

During the discussion period, Senate Caucus Representative Bryan Buraga expressed optimism that the policy would improve student perceptions of SSMU. “I think this is a fantastic step in the

right direction for reforming our society and making sure we re-engage our members, and [making] sure that they have faith in this institution that can do so much great work,” Buraga said.

opinion

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

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

News Editors Andras Nemeth, Caitlin Kindig & Laura Oprescu news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Keating K. Reid & Abeer Almahdi opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Katherine Lord scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Emma Carr studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Dylan Adamson features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Katia Innes & Sophie Brzozowski arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Gabe Nisker & Miya Keilin sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Arshaaq Jiffry & Erica Stefano design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Gabriel Helfant photo@mcgilltribune.com

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

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EDITORIAL

Supporting survivors means supporting their allies, too This past year has seen momentous changes in the way McGill handles sexual misconduct allegations: The university has hired a third-party special investigator and launched an ad hoc committee regarding student-teacher relationships. However, structural issues continue to persist. On Sept.

21, the World Islamic and Middle East Studies Student Association (WIMESSA) published a statement on their Facebook page announcing that the McGill administration had removed two faculty members in the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) from their administrative positions.

According to WIMESSA’s statement, the Provost and Dean of the Faculty of Arts claimed that only an outsider could serve as director without bias, and that Undergraduate Program Director (UPD) Pasha Khan was subject to a conflict of interest after being sued for defamation by colleague Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim.

The details are murky, but the message is clear: Two professors face professional retribution for speaking out, and, even as the university

Caitlin Kindig News Editor I found out that I was pregnant on the same night that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. The euphoria of my hometown’s victory was accompanied by a devastating plus-sign on a pee stick. I was 17-years-old. The morning after, I called Planned Parenthood and set up an appointment for an abortion the next week. Carrying the clump of cells growing inside of me to term was never an option, and it was by no means a tortured decision. While I have always been pro-choice, it’s one I never thought I’d have to make. Still, it was by no means a tortured decision.

Actually getting the abortion was rather simple. In the United States, abortion rights are decided state-by-state, and I was lucky

attempts to reorganize in the wake of student protests, it upholds a structure that seems detrimental to survivors and their allies.

In its statement, WIMESSA affirmed that it had no prior knowledge of the proposed administrative changes and that it was not consulted. Moreover, WIMESSA student representatives received the news of these decisions on the first day of classes; universities have a tendency to announce dramatic changes at busy times of the year in hopes that students simply won’t pay attention. While the substance of Khan’s purported conflict of interest is obvious, the depth of Hartman’s involvement is unclear.

In Apr. 2018, Hartman signed the faculty members’ letter of support for the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) Open Letter in her capacity as a professor in the IIS. The letters alleges a mishandling of complaints against faculty members in the IIS and other departments in the Faculty of Arts.

McGill’s lack of transparency regarding Hartman and Khan’s

departures is concerning. The only information currently available is WIMESSA’s statement on their Facebook page and website, as well as the absence of Khan and Hartman’s names on the IIS website’s list of administrative staff. McGill should have disclosed these events publicly—students’ associations cannot be solely responsible for announcing substantial departmental changes three weeks after the fact.

McGill has failed IIS students by leaving them in the dark about departmental changes that directly impact them. Major universitywide changes, like the appointment of a special investigator, are a step in the right direction, but those changes are only as powerful as the administration allows them to be. To see substantive reform, McGill must continue to work with individual faculties and departments to create policies tailored to their specific needs.

If the administration has students’ best interests at heart, they should have consulted WIMESSA student representatives while making

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the decision to replace Hartman and Khan, or at least notified them in advance that a decision was being made. The disregard for WIMESSA’s input is troubling, since student representatives understand their constituents’ concerns better than distant administrative bodies.

Moreover, Hartman and Khan’s replacement serves as a reminder that teaching assistants, professors, staff, and other faculty members are all a part of an academic hierarchy that is conducive to abuses of power.

Due to the lack of official communication on McGill’s behalf, the exact nature of the professors’ alleged conflicts of interest is unknown. Still, Hartman’s removal sets a precedent that supporting survivors is dangerous. Silencing Hartman and Khan will only make students in the department feel less safe and more reluctant to call out potential abuses in the future. Until the administration demonstrates, rather than just proclaims, its commitment to supporting survivors, its expressions of concern will ring hollow.

“Hey, so I did a thing...” to have been living in New York when I had mine. In Quebec, abortion is legal, free, and available at any time. However, despite its supposed inclusive and liberal campus environment, McGill offers few resources for those seeking an abortion and only recently formed a support group for those who ‘chose.’ My abortion was accessible, but what I didn’t account for was how lonely I’d feel.

So, three days after Donald Trump’s election, I went to the Planned Parenthood Centre in the Bronx borough of New York City and took a mifepristone pill to kill the fetus, followed by four misoprostol pills to evacuate my uterus. I have never felt more relieved.

The next month involved heavy bleeding, searing cramps, and violent nausea. While my doctor prescribed three weeks of rest and limited activity, I carried on with my life. I went to school, attended track practice and play rehearsals, and picked up more shifts at my movie theatre job.

Hearing back from universities, once a monumental phenomenon, seemed minimal compared to my new mental and physical state.

With the exception of a few close friends, I never spoke about the abortion to anyone. I was stunned into silence—I felt as though I had made an incredibly mature decision that I was banned from discussing.

I spent a lot of time reading articles and excerpts written by extraordinarily successful women with booming careers and blossoming families. They all said something like, “Hey, so, I did a thing when I was 20…”

They all seemed to give the same statistic: One in four women will have an abortion by age 45. They all expressed love and empathy for any woman in a position of reproductive vulnerability, especially young women. I noticed that rarely did anyone my own age talk about the choices they’ve made: Abortion seemed to be a topic reserved for middle-aged women already too successful to be hurt by such a confession.

There was no space for talking about the process of abortion, its lasting effects, or the simple fact that my body, which I had not yet grown into, was somehow capable of creating another one.

The space to talk about this minor medical procedure is swallowed by politics. Abortion, and the public’s willingness to address it, should not be a partisan issue. Moreover, public acceptance of abortion needs to continue past the procedure itself; one can hold liberal and accepting

views regarding abortion, but those views don’t necessarily translate to a willingness to discuss the topic. At 17, I was not remorseful. I did not mourn the loss of my ‘child,’ and, if faced with the same situation today, I would make the same decision immediately. If I could change anything, however, I would seek help ahead of the abortion.

Until this space is created, you can be someone’s support system. Hold their hair back when they’re suffering from morning sickness. Accompany them to their clinic appointment. Let them squeeze your hand when they’re experiencing contractions. Listen to what they have to say—just be there.

Nov. 11, 2016 will always hold meaning for me, but its significance has changed. I am not ashamed of what I did, nor do I feel I did anything extraordinary by choosing to terminate the pregnancy. For me, this date is one of empowerment, of speaking up, and, now, one of telling my story in the hope that someone will feel less alone. On that day, my personal victory felt much more remarkable than the Chicago Cubs’ win.

Erratum An article published in the Sept. 25 issue titled “Montreal’s ‘The Dropout Show’ series continues to impress” incorrectly stated that Kris Dulgar was the host of the event. In fact, the host was Alan Shane Lewis. The Tribune regrets this error.

6

opinion

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018

No, there is no “quest for monolingual domination” in Quebec Antoine Milette-Gagnon, Simon Tardif Editors at ‘Le Délit’ On Sept. 18, The McGill Tribune published an opinion piece titled “Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination makes healthcare less accessible.” In this article, the author made dubious and confusing links between Bill 10, font changes on information signs at Saint Mary’s hospital, and what he described as “Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination.” We, the Francophone newspaper Le Délit and the Organisation de la Francophonie à McGill, seek to react and set the record straight, lest such an ill-advised and anecdotal opinion piece cultivate confusion and intolerance among the McGill community.

In 2015, the Québec government passed Bill 10: An Act to modify the organization and governance of the health and social services network, in particular by abolishing the regional agencies. Bill 10 is part of a vast reform of the healthcare system

Christophe Savoie-Côté President of L’Organisation de la Francophonie à McGill

engineered by the Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ)—elected with stellar majorities in Anglophone ridings like Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG), in which the Saint-Mary’s hospital is located.

Ironically, the PLQ invoked closure, or bâillon, to pass Bill 10 and muffle the Parti québécois and Québec solidaire’s opposition to the dismantling of regional agencies. If anglophone communities are indeed worried about the loss of local agencies, this concern is shared by many Francophones. The removal of some local anglophone agencies and the ensuing disorganization of services are consequences of Bill 10, not its purpose.

The constituency of NDG, nonetheless, stands in good posture to voice its concern since Kathleen Weil, minister in charge of the relations with English-speaking Québécois, is currently running for reelection in this same riding.

It is also worth noting that

commentary

letter to the editor

anglophone communities were invited in parliamentary committee before Bill 10 was tabled.

Addressing the issue of access to services in English, Article 76 of the bill states that “Each public institution must, in the centres it specifies, develop a program of access to English-language health services and social services for the English-speaking population it serves.”

In fact, no one voiced the alleged determination to make French predominant during debates on the bill at the National Assembly. Purporting that Bill 10 was driven by Québec’s intent of monolinguistic domination is at best ridiculous, if not completely misleading.

Referring to changes in the font size of signs at Saint-Mary’s hospital, the author contends that “legislation like Bill 10 is not only detrimental to [students’] security but is attempting to address an imagined decline in the French

linguistic tradition.” We can but call this a misinformed and twisted reading of reality.

How can one pretend to understand the language question in Québec while grounding their analysis in a study that looks at it from a purely market-based perspective, where historical and cultural dimensions have been evacuated? A diagnosis of the state of the French language cannot rest solely on a supply and demand analysis. The question is, obviously, more complex than this.

Moreover, the author’s diagnosis of an ‘imagined’ French decline is problematic, as it relies on numbers about Québec residents’ self-assessed ability to sustain a conversation in French.

This is not very telling. Meanwhile, the proportion of Québécois whose first language is French and the number of Québécois speaking French at home are both declining. Another recent study designed by the Organization

for Economic Cooperation and Development suggests that almost half of Québécois are functional illiterates. “French is on the rise”—really?

If the author of this opinion piece truly feels concerned by the respect and dynamism of Québec’s linguistic culture, then the impact of his words should probably be weighed more carefully. Changing the signs’ font resulted from an administrative decision; to portray that change as a national “quest for monolingual domination” is dishonest and disrespectful toward Québécois. This sort of presumption can have dangerous consequences, as it fuels confusion and pits communities against each other.

By the way, Montréal is indeed a cosmopolitan city, but it is also part of Québec. And here, French is not just a mere ‘linguistic tradition’: It is our official language and the basis of our identity.

Where are you from?

OFF THE BOARD

Serina Cole Contributor Back at my international high school in Tokyo, I could answer this seemingly simple question with, “I was born in Canada, but I was raised in Japan,” and that would be that. Many of my friends answered with two or three countries and it seemed like a perfectly-appropriate reply.

However, my answer became complicated when I first arrived in Montreal this August. When friendly faces would ask me where I was from, I had to pause. Am I allowed to call myself a Canadian, even though I’ve never lived here? Despite having been born in Victoria, B.C and having a Canadian passport, I have spent my entire life in Tokyo. Identifying as just ‘Canadian’ or ‘Japanese’ seemed reductive—like I would be throwing away half of my identity. On the other hand, saying ‘Tokyo’ would be so much simpler

than giving a stranger my whole story.

McGill is an inclusive, diverse campus, with students from over 150 countries making up 30 per cent of our student body. Even though we may be a global community, we still categorize students as either ‘international’ or ‘Canadian,’ when there are so many of us who do not fit under either label. Even with the plethora of international clubs and associations that cater to foreign students, in-between Canadians are left out because we challenge their categorizations.

While I was in the same position as many of my international friends coming from Tokyo, I still felt a wave of uneasiness, for not completely fitting in. My friends talked about difficulties they faced getting their immigration documents and the culture shock of living in an English-speaking country, but I could not completely sympathize. I was in an entirely disparate situation—I did not have to acquire a Certificate of Acceptance to Quebec (CAQ), but I was ineligible for government insurance.

Although I can speak Japanese, English is my first language. Canadians who grew up in Canada already belong and are comfortable, while I was stuck right in the middle.

It is evident, however, that we are making attempts at normalizing mixedrace identity. An excellent example is Patricia Edmonds’ cover story on halfblack, half-white fraternal twins for National Geographic’s April 2018 Race Issue. While the article does, indeed, shed a positive light on biracial people, its focus is on the twins’ visible differences rather than their identities and experiences, demonstrating the need for progress in our

understanding of racial categorization.

When reflecting back on my own experience as a half-white, half-Japanese student in Tokyo, my appearance was the first thing that set me apart from others when I introduced myself. I still remember attending a Japanese cram school session when I was in grade school and getting called half, or hafu—a somewhatderogatory term used in Japan to refer to a biracial person—by both the students and teachers. While they would think of the term as a compliment, telling me how big my eyes were and how beautiful my skin was, it made me feel diminished to ‘half’ of a whole and left me feeling like a foreigner in my own country.

Simple questions don’t always have simple answers. (Abeer Almahdi / The McGill Tribune) As to where I’m from, I still don’t have a clear answer. Both countries are a part of who I am, and yet, I don’t fit nicely into any category. I am in-between, I’m half, or hafu, but never a whole. While I still think that this provides me with my own individuality, a difference that I find exciting, it also leaves me with an eerie feeling of not belonging to a community.

It’s nice being different, but social expectations still have to catch up with the realities of global diversity and multinationalism.

science & technology

Tuesday, october 2, 2018

7

EpiPen shortage leaves those with life-threatening allergies scrambling Health Canada pursues alternatives in light of persistent EpiPen shortage

Jiawen Wang Contributor (Continued from page 1.)

When The McGill Tribune reached out for comment, Pfizer Canada’s media relations team could not provide further details about the delay or the parties responsible.

This is not the first time Pfizer’s EpiPen monopoly has come under fire. One of Pfizer’s companies, Meridian Medical Technologies (MMT), received a warning letter from the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2017. The letter outlined MMT’s poor quality control and its failure to thoroughly investigate customer complaints and product defects.

“Your [...] data shows that you received hundreds of complaints that your EpiPen products failed to operate during life-threatening emergencies, including some situations in which patients subsequently died,” the letter from the FDA read.

In the same correspondence with the Tribune, Pfizer Canada admitted that it had seen “some impact on manufacturing capacity” as a result of the FDA warning.

A shortage of EpiPens doesn’t just mean a manufacturing hassle for Pfizer; this crisis has extreme

consequences for many people. A mother in rural Ontario, for example, was reluctant to use her son’s EpiPen during her own severe allergic reaction for fear that it would leave her son—who also suffers from lifethreatening allergies—vulnerable during the shortage.

According to a country-wide study conducted by allergy and immunology specialist Moshe BenShoshan and his colleagues at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), less than half of patients actually use their EpiPens during anaphylaxis before arriving at the emergency room, often because they are unaware of the severity of their reaction. Even more surprisingly, these statistics were taken before the shortage was announced.

In response to the crisis, Health Canada made an announcement that those who are vulnerable should keep their old EpiPens if they can’t get a new one. However, hoarding EpiPens is only a temporary solution, as they have a relatively short shelflife of approximately 18 months. “[An] expired EpiPen will also be effective, although less potent,” Ben-Shoshan said.

As well as encouraging the use of expired EpiPens to meet the demand, the Minister of Health has recently signed a temporary agreement to allow the distribution

With a critical shortage of EpiPens, Canada has introduced an alternative auto-injector, the AUVI-Q (thestar..com) of AUVI-Q, an EpiPen alternative.

Produced by the drug company Kaléo, AUVI-Q is another adrenaline auto-injector now sold for around $170 in pharmacies across the country; they are significantly more expensive than the typical $100 price of an EpiPen. Moreover, the eggs-in-onebasket model isn’t doing Canada any favours.

“Having different types of manufactures for an epinephrine auto-injector will help reduce the risk of such shortage,” Ben-Shoshan said.

EAIs aren’t the only drugs in low supply. Drugshortagescanada.ca, a third-party website under contract with Health Canada, provides daily updates on drug shortages and discontinuations. According to a document published on the website,

drug shortages in Canada have become increasingly common in the last decade.

Drug manufacturers have both a legal and a public responsibility to prevent drug shortages, which means ensuring adequate quality assurance, risk management, and contracting back-up suppliers to guarantee the entire drug supply chain runs smoothly.

A new smile in the face of defeat

Canada’s first facial transplant surgery, and the McGill graduate behind it Sophia Gorbounov Contributor Seven years ago, a hunting accident left Maurice Desjardins severely scarred and unable to eat, drink, speak, or breathe on his own. His former life ruined, Desjardins saw no way for things to return to how they had once been. But, given modern medicine, new hope has arisen.

Earlier this September, Montreal’s MaisonneuveRosemont Hospital announced that, at the age of 65, Desjardins became the first successful recipient of a facial transplant in Canadian history.

The process began in 2013, with a doctor and a dream. Before he became a superstar in the medical world, Daniel Borsuk was a student at McGill. From 1997 to 2006, he studied Physiology as an undergraduate and then pursued a joint MBA-Medical program as a graduate student.

Borsuk feels that the management aspect of his education still applies to his practice as a plastic surgeon. “[It’s] beyond medicine, beyond science,” Borsuk said. “It’s teamwork. It’s skillsets management that we focus on during management training that clearly played [a role].”

In the complex process of Desjardins’s face transplant, teamwork was key. The procedure required the collaboration of more than 100 other medical, nursing, support, and technical staff including nine surgeons.

Among the medical staff were several psychiatric teams. For a surgery of this magnitude,

After five years of research and practice, Dr. Borsuk was able to give Maurice Desjardins a new face and a new life. (nationalpost.com) Desjardins had to receive psychological preparation for several years.

“It’s symbolic in a lot of ways, people are worried about their identity [and he needed] the ability, the understanding to reconcile having someone else’s face transplanted on him,” Borsuk said. “The patient has to be able to take his antirejection medication for the rest of his life. This is a potentially fatal procedure.”

After seeing a limb reattachment surgery as a graduate student and reflecting on his lifelong fascination with the face, Borsuk knew that he wanted to undertake a facial transplant.

In the beginning, Borsuk and his team

operated on cadavers to understand the mechanisms of the surgery and determine how to best find a donor. As time progressed, Borsuk began to see there were certain criteria his future patient had to meet. “[We needed] someone who doesn’t have any other options, who’s suffering, who could benefit from this type of procedure,” Borsuk said.

Desjardins met the necessary standards.

When asked what he wanted most, Desjardins replied that he just wanted a normal life: To go outside with his granddaughter without having to wear a mask and to sleep peacefully next to his wife.

After the final preparations were complete— including acquiring a donor face, securing funding, and satisfying both legal and ethical concerns— the procedure began.

Borsuk started with the 12-hour-long removal of the donor face and the 17-hour-long preparation of Desjardins’s face. By the end, most of his old face was removed, save for the upper eyelids, eyes and forehead. He was ready for the transplant.

Time was a key factor. The risk of failure increases the longer the donor face spends without blood. When cutting through bone, skin, scar tissue, and arteries, blood loss must also be minimised.

After the donor’s face was brought in, it was placed onto Desjardins’ skull. Borsuk and his team adjusted the plates and screws, fitting the new and the old together. The medical team worked their way down Desjardins’ face; first working on the nose and then the cheekbones. By the time they had reattached the arteries, they could slow down.

Everything went according to plan. The face was transferred successfully.

The recovery process continues to be slow.

“We can’t rush these things,” Borsuk said to The National Post. “But does he like his face? Oh my God, he loves it. Yeah, he’s enjoying his face right now.”

Desjardins’s breathing tube has been removed and he is slowly learning to eat and drink.

Borsuk says his nerve endings will reconnect at his lips within six months and he will be able to smile.

Separating self and struggle The search for identity beyond tragedy

A

fter two and a half years of surgeries, chemotherapy, and dwindling odds, my mother died early on a Monday morning in November. My dad broke the news to my brother and me, and we went on a hike to the stream a few blocks from home while someone came to take away her body. The song of the ice-laced brook was the same as it had been for all of my 10 years, and the leaves ranged from umber, to scarlet, to sunflower yellow just as they did every autumn. When I returned to school on Wednesday, my desk in my fifth-grade classroom was still there, and all of my classmates looked the same as they had on Friday. My life, however, was irreparably changed, and I did not know where to focus all of the energy that had been spent before on hoping that my mom would get better. Almost 11 years later, my curly hair and dark eyes still mirror hers, but her influence as my mother and best friend runs much deeper.

After personal trauma or tragedy, forming a conception of oneself that is separate from the loss can be an arduous process. The dramatic shift in focus, goals, hopes, and relationships is jarring. The hours previously spent worrying, helping, or just living a normal life beg to be filled. More often than not, it isn’t as simple as rerouting this energy toward new outlets.

A letter by Chicago-based writer Amy Krouse Rosenthal published in The New York Times in March 2017 highlights another aspect of the relationship between trauma and identity: For many, post-traumatic identity is affected in part by feelings of guilt and responsibility to a deceased loved one. In her letter, Rosenthal addressed her husband’s hypothetical future wife. Diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer, Rosenthal hoped that her husband Jason would find meaning and joy after her death, even if that meant meeting someone new with whom to share his life. In June 2018, more than a year after Rosenthal’s death, her former husband responded to this letter with his own article in the Times, thanking his wife for her letter and her encouragement for his life after hers. The end of her letter featured an empty column, meant to symbolize his fresh start.

“Her edict to fill my own empty space with a new story has given me permission to make the most out of my remaining time on this planet,” Jason Rosenthal wrote.

The concept of posthumous loyalty and needing ‘permission’ to live freely often contribute to difficulties in establishing a new identity, especially when the deceased person occupied a singular role in the survivor’s life. A normative implication of words such as ‘wife’ or ‘mother’ is that only one person can fill that role.

In addition to experiencing guilt, many struggle with the need to continue sharing their lives with those they have lost. Marlee Nisenboim, U3 Arts, wrote a message to The McGill Tribune about the loss of her mother to colon cancer when she was 12 years old.

“The way I see my trauma shaping my identity most [is] that I feel things extremely deeply,” Nisenboim wrote. “When I am happy, I [am] extremely happy because of a desire to share my positive experiences with my mother, but [I am unable] to place these feelings anywhere since she is gone. And, when I am sad, I [am] extremely down because, again, I seek the support and assurance from my mother that everything will be okay. Since I cannot receive her support, it can be hard to pull myself out from the powerful feelings

Melissa Langley Copy Editor

and respond to them in a way that will allow them to pass, as all feelings pass eventually.”

Though Nisenboim maintains faith in the fluid nature of these feelings, for her, the larger trauma is always present.

“I think that finding meaning and making sense of my trauma will always be a part of me and will never truly get resolved,” Nisenboim wrote.

Despite her bleak honesty regarding the unending effects of her loss, Nisenboim believes those effects extend further than sadness. While she could never see her mother’s death as something positive, it has made her more compassionate and understanding of others and has encouraged her to pursue a career working with children struggling with mental health. In this way, loss can shape identity beyond just leaving a gap: It can inspire personal growth and the desire to help others who have had similar experiences.

In an interview with the Tribune, Israel Liquornik, a retired social worker living in Toronto, discussed trauma in the context of Christine Blasey Ford, who testified about her alleged sexual assault by United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh this past Thursday, Sept. 27. Liquornik explained that trauma victims experience healing by working through their trauma. As he watched the testimony, he felt that this process was potentially at work while Blasey Ford was on the stand.

“She only very partially dealt with her trauma, but, at the end, I think she is going to become much stronger with [having testified],” Liquornik said. “I think it’s going to help her to get much better. And then, one way that she tried to help in her self-identity [... is] that she selected to make it a profession and her life’s work as a psychologist.”

Abeer Almahdi, U2 Arts, shared Nisenboim’s sentiments regarding the permanence of trauma in an email to the Tribune. She continues to experience trauma from her assaults, which began at the age of 13.

“I’m constantly afraid of being taken advantage of,” wrote Almahdi.

“Because these events affect me so much in my day to day life, they have become a part of me. I grew up with this trauma, so I can’t remember the feeling of anything else.”

Liquornik, too, commented on the reality of experiencing trauma at a young age and growing up with its impact. For much of his 45-year-long career, he worked in Child Protective Services and encountered some cases in which growing up as an adopted child involved a struggle to pinpoint self-identity.

“For a significant number of children that have been adopted, the question of who they are [is serious and difficult],” Liquornik said. “Very often, the child is of a different colour, a different ethnic background, a different culture than the adoptive parents. So, a lot of questions arise for the child that has been adopted, like ‘Who am I, really?’”

Furthermore, Liquornik explains that the way in which a child learns about their adoption can play a crucial and upending role in self-identity. “[Adopted children] react to the way that the adopted parents deal, or refrain from dealing, with the question of the adoption,” Liquornik said. “So, all kinds of questions emerge that could make the child very anxious, and sometimes disturbed, about the whole question, [...] sometimes in ways that [slow] them down mentally and emotionally [while they] do the work

of growing up. So, in that sense, it could be a trauma.”

The long-lasting effects of childhood or adolescent trauma are common to most survivor accounts. Almahdi’s experiences have made her fearful of scenarios in which she is vulnerable, particularly those in which she is alone or with someone she doesn’t know. While she struggles with emotional openness in the wake of her trauma, Almahdi explained that everyone reacts differently, even if they endure similar scenarios.

or their growth or their achievements that they can make in life.”

Similarly, Almahdi reflected on the way in which some good has come of her experiences.

“I have such an amazing relationship with my mom, now, because of everything that we’ve both gone through,” Almahdi wrote.

“We were able to bond so much more deeply after we both opened up to each other.

There’s so much forgiveness that happens when you understand each other’s perspectives.”

Almahdi’s account is a testament to the bonds that can

reactions, experiences, and coping " While mechanisms differ greatly, the fallout of trauma

“For some, trauma can become empowering, [but], for others, it still cripples them to think about it,” Almahdi wrote.

Similarly, Liquornik acknowledged the potential upsides of a well-handled case of adoption.

“So, the way that [adoption] could become an asset in the long run is if [the adopted child doesn’t] suppress it or repress it, and problems and questions that come up are dealt with in a positive framework,” Liquornik said. “Let’s say, through counselling both of the child and the adoptive parents [and] education about the subject.”

The importance of constructively and positively handling cases of adoption, which have the potential to be traumatic, cannot be minimized.

Regardless of the type or level of trauma, appropriate response is critical. After discussing how families can best handle adoption-related trauma, Liquornik elaborated on what this process looks like for the adopted child.

"If the child deals with the trauma [...], they’re able to accept and tolerate the fact that they might not have an answer to all of their questions,” Liquornik said. “They might not be able to get more information [...] about their natural parents [....] They learn to cope and accept the fact that we can’t always answer very fully the questions, but it doesn’t take away from their personality

is never simple nor short-lived."

form between survivors and the way in which survivors create communities of love, support, and understanding. The #MeToo movement and reactions to Kavanaugh’s Senate hearing tell a similar story. Among many others, protestors holding signs in support of Blasey Ford and Anita Hill exemplify the importance of solidarity and community in victims’ recoveries and stories. In this case, believing and understanding others’ trauma can help survivors to heal.

While reactions, experiences, and coping mechanisms differ greatly, the fallout of trauma, be it negative or positive, is never simple nor short-lived.

Often times, those who have lost loved ones cite their loss as the catalyst for finding a deeper appreciation for life, family, and friends. They learn to savour every moment and live in the present. But, when I consider how my own identity has changed in light of my mom’s death, I don’t think about how much I love those who are still here. Nobody else is my mother, and nobody ever will be. My mother supported and understood me in a way that nobody else has, and I have missed her, wanted to talk to her, and wanted to remember her voice every day for the past 10 and a half years.

That does not mean, however, that I haven’t learned anything from the experience: I trust myself because of the independence and self-reliance I have gained, I am more empathetic than I was, and I know myself and my feelings more than I did when she was alive. When I stop and consider it, I recognize that these facets of myself are different than they once were and that losing her has a multitude of effects and implications—some of which are positive—on who I am. Still, I can’t yet shake the belief that a huge piece of my identity will always be not what I am nor what I have, but what I do not.

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science & technology

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Behind the invisible brain-print of obesity

How genetics influences obesity and its manifestation in the brain

Farida Rahman Contributor Most obesity interventions focus on restricting calorie intake through diet or increasing energy expenditure through exercise. For this reason, obesity is often perceived as an individual’s lack of self-control to eat a healthy, well-portioned diet and follow exercise regimes. However, there may be some invisible factors pressing the scale.

According to a recent study conducted by Uku Vainik from McGill’s Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, the brain changes associated with obesity might have genetic roots.

In a comparative study of cognition and body mass index (BMI), Vainik’s team saw individuals with higher BMIs rank lower in cognitive ability when challenged with delayed gratification and visual deduction tasks. Additionally, Vainik’s study determined that brain tissue in subjects with higher BMIs was found in higher quantities in regions associated with emotional responses to food cues and decreased in areas used in understanding context and episodic memory. Taken together, a brain profile emerges in which obesity arises from a cycle of being hypersensitive to food stimuli and then being unable to adequately inhibit an emotional or appetitive response.

With a deeper understanding of how underlying cognitive differences may affect

an individual’s BMI, Vainik asked whether these observable differences were a result of environmental or genetic factors. Distinguishing between the environmental and genetic influences of a particular characteristic like obesity is important when designing models to improve health outcomes.

“We were interested in the behavioural and neurological correlates of obesity [and how they overlap],” Vainik wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune.

By examining the brain structures and cognitive profiles of twins and siblings no longer sharing the same living environment, Vainik was able to test genetic heritability.

Given their different living conditions, any similarity in the siblings’ neurological impulses would be due to their shared genetics and not environmental factors. Based on this presumption, Vainik found evidence for the genetic heritability of obesity, with similarities of 77 to 89 per cent in obesity-associated brain areas between pairs of siblings or twins.

The growing body of research connecting irregularities in brain structure and functioning to obesity means that current interventions should not focus solely on calorie restriction. Oftentimes, diet-focused weight loss schemes only result in an increased craving for food and a resurgence of any weight lost. A better strategy to reduce overeating is

Obesity may be more significantly related to brain functioning than originally thought. (Kathryn Leci / The McGill Tribune) to stock up on healthy foods and to eat fewer calorie dense foods.

“The obesity epidemic of the last few decades has been enabled by the oversupply of cheap and nutrient-dense food,” Vainik wrote. “This creates multiple opportunities for people to overeat [...] because, ultimately, [obesity] is acquired through behaviour, [or] by eating too much food.”

Calorie-dense foods tend to be items containing refined sugars and carbohydrates,

while healthier options are usually vegetables or other natural foods. Eating more natural and nutritional foods often gives the feeling of satiety faster since the brain thinks it ate a lot, when in fact the true number of calories is quite low.

While the world may be filled with the tempting aromas of samosas and churros, these food cues can be removed in the controlled environments of the home where one spends a significant portion of their day.

What is divestment?

The science behind McGill’s latest controversial topic

Celia Hameury Contributor On Sept. 12, the McGill Senate voted to support divestment from fossil fuels. While the term ‘divestment’ is ubiquitous on McGill’s campus, its meaning and implications remain foggy to many.

To maintain financial stability, McGill invests part of its $1.6 billion endowment into fossil fuel firms. Divestment, as it pertains to fossil fuels at McGill, is the act of selling stocks in companies that make profit off of fossil fuels to convey the institutions social and environmental responsibility.

Scientists almost unanimously agree that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Fossil fuels are burned for energy, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide molecules trap heat from the sun in Earth’s atmosphere much like the walls of a greenhouse retain heat. As a result of an increased consumption of fossil fuels to power everyday life, the Earth has become almost 1ºC warmer since the last century.

Nature Magazine predicts that increases in temperature could lead to environmental catastrophes, such as the extinction of 15-37 per cent of species by 2050 if no action is taken. One-hundred ninety-five countries signed the 2015 Paris Agreement—with the United States as a notable exception—agreeing to undertake ambitious efforts to prevent further rises in global temperatures; this requires keeping CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2050 under 886 billion tons.

Divestment proponents argue that since fossil fuel companies have not agreed to meet the necessary emission cap, supporting them through investment is socially irresponsible.

“McGill has an ethical obligation to not only reduce our own role as consumers of fossil fuel[s] by implementing and improving upon our commitment to carbon neutrality, but also end our role as producers of such fuel by divesting,” Associate Professor Gregory Mikkelson in the McGill School of Environment and the Department of Philosophy, said.

Yet, in the debate on divestment, one

While McGill’s divestment would undoubtedly hold symbolic significance, the financial effect remains unclear.

(Jane Canuel / The McGill Tribune) counterargument is that divesting alone does not harm the make it more difficult to maintain financial stability. Still, targeted firms unless it is implemented on a massive scale. there exist alternative, greener investments, which may even Fossil fuel companies are worth hundreds of billions of be more profitable than fossil fuels.

According to Dror Etzion, associate professor in the dollars; for them, McGill’s small investment is a negligible sum. If McGill were to divest, the sold shares could simply be Faculty of Management, fossil fuels cost McGill $40 million acquired by someone else. Moreover, the value of fossil fuel between 2012 and 2015. This is not too abnormal, as the companies does not actually depend on the amount of money value of fossil fuel commodities fluctuate cyclically between periods of high and low growth throughout the year. It is, invested by shareholders.

“Those companies, their market value comes from the therefore, hard to predict the future potential of fossil fuel fact that there is an underlying global demand for what it shares and judge the full financial effect divestment may have is they do,” Christopher Ragan, associate professor in the on McGill.

While the environmental and financial effects of Department of Economics, said. “As long as the world is interested in buying oil, then […] there is a value to what divestment remain hazy, one thing is certain: McGill’s divestment would hold great symbolic significance. those companies are doing.”

“When the alma mater of the Canadian prime minister While divestment might not affect fossil fuel firms, it certainly would influence McGill’s own financial standing. divests from fossil fuel[s], it will send a powerful signal”, Adding a restriction to McGill’s financial portfolio would Mikkelson said.

student living

Tuesday, October 2 , 2018

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Tribune Tries: The best of YUL EAT

Taste-testing food and drinks at the annual festival

Tali Zuckerman and Emma Carr Contributor and Student Living Editor Every year, Montreal’s YUL EAT food festival, which ran from Sept. 10 to 16 this year, imports restaurateurs and culinary talent from all around Quebec. Place YUL EAT served as the main hub for the festival, where visitors could sample local products and attend culinary presentations. The McGill Tribune tasted the best of what this year’s pavilion had to offer; these were some of our favourites.

Savoury The festival showcased a wide variety of small, savoury bites for visitors to sample. One stand-out station was Super Dips, a company that specializes in dehydrated dip powders which can be blended with traditional bases, like mayonnaise and sour cream, to create quick, delicious dips. At the stand, a vendor handed each taster a packet of pretzel sticks, to be dipped into as many of the thirty-plus savoury dips as desired. Unique flavours like asparagus, maple garlic, and curry cocoa were a few of the most noteworthy selections. Each and every dip was delicious, creamy, and perfectly salted. At the stand, Super Dips sold packages for five dollars apiece—which is not cheap for only a small appetizer, but still suitable for special occasions.

Equally popular were the tacos from the

from YUMi Organics, and ice cream from Les Givrés. Among these tasty options, Les Givrés’ ice cream stood out above the rest. Maybe it was the unusual September heat that made their generous samples especially delicious. The flavours on offer ranged from classics like chocolate and maple, to more original combinations, such as a cinnamon-apple sorbet and a vegan, coconut-based chai ice cream. Every bite tasted like a perfectly-sweet, creamy cloud.

Avocados from Mexico setup. At the counter, festival-goers had two options: A vegetarian taco topped with roasted butternut squash, sliced avocado, and crumbled cheese, and a seafood taco with spicy salmon poke, a seaweed shell, and avocado. Simple and easy to replicate at home, these tacos packed a punch and made for a filling meal.

There was plenty of food for visitors to sample at YUL EAT. (Raffles Zhu / The McGill Tribune)

Sweet Among the neatly-placed tents in Quartier des Spectacles, only a handful contained the best kind of food—sweets.

There were offerings of fresh, traditional madeleine cookies prepared by festival staff, samplings of raw honey from Le Miel de Bonneau, tastings of fun overnight oats flavoured with chocolate and matcha

Refreshing At the centre of the festival ground stood the Creemore Springs’ Biergarten, where several Canadian beers, wines, and whiskeys were available on tap and for purchase. Additionally, grocery-store giant Gold Peak Beverages gave out samples of its new, refreshing, low-sugar fruit teas. The most unique offerings were the non-alcoholic cocktails concocted by La Ferme d’Achille, a small farm in St. Ubalde, Quebec dedicated to small batches of Argouille, a beverage made from sea buckthorn berries. “Cocktail Momentum,” an Argouille-based cocktail infused with mango nectar, cucumber, and picante sauce, harnessed the berries’ tart flavour.

The result was a thirst-quenching and dynamic way to refuel after an afternoon of sampling new food.

Underrated restaurants in and around the McGill Hidden treasures to try out near campus Emma Paulus Contributor Ask any McGill student living in or near the Milton-Parc community about the best places to eat around the neighbourhood, and they’ll most likely respond with the staples: Chef on Call, Lola Rosa, or Alto’s. There are, however, many hidden gems around campus which also offer great meals at student-friendly prices. Here are five alternatives worth checking out for students too busy to cook during midterm season.

Basha 666 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest In the realm of Lebanese food in Montreal, Restaurant Boustan is usually mentioned as a goto spot. While it is a fan favourite, it is not located very close to the Milton-Parc area, and delivery can take a while, too. Basha is an economical, local alternative for hearty plates of shawarma, pitas, garlic potatoes, falafel, vegetable dishes, and poutine. For the hungry student on a budget, Basha offers a ‘trio’ of a pita, potatoes, and a fountain drink for under 12 dollars. Basha has several locations throughout Montreal, two of which are easily accessible to residents of the McGill ghetto: One that recently opened on Avenue du Parc and the other on Sherbrooke Ouest.

Amelia’s Pizza 201 Rue Milton Situated right on the corner of Rue Ste. Famille and Milton, Amelia’s Pizza is a small, charming, family-run Italian restaurant. There is a diverse selection of pizzas on the menu, including BBQ chicken, reuben, and Hawaiian. Customers can also customize pizzas to their liking, and plenty of vegetarian options are available. The shop also serves a variety of pasta dishes all under 15 dollars as well as scrumptious signature submarine sandwiches. The cozy interior, with its wall-to-wall brick aesthetic, spacious seating area, and potted plants makes this neighbourhood joint the perfect spot for a chill night out with friends. For busy students looking to stay in, Amelia’s delivers. Be aware that it is not open past 9 p.m. every day, so, it’s more of a first dinner option.

Super Sandwich 1115 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest If you know, you know. It is understandable that many people aren’t aware this cult favourite even exists; Super Sandwich is located in a depanneur under La Cartier apartment complex on the corner of Peel and Sherbrooke Ouest. Local customers rave about the shop’s rapid-fire service and fresh, affordable sandwiches. Inexpensive is an understatement—almost every sandwich is under five dollars, including tax. Within walking distance from campus, this is a great place to grab a tasty meal between classes or during a study break. After students’ first Super Sandwich experience, they will wonder how they ever lived without it.

With midterms on the horizon, more students are ordering take-out and delivery.

(Athena Ko / The McGill Tribune)

La Crêpe 2 Go 2150 Rue de Bleury This crêperie is on the border of the Milton-Parc community. As the name suggests, La Crêpe 2 Go has quick service, pushing people in and out of the door within minutes with a warm crêpe in hand. Those craving a sweet treat after a long day of classes can come here for a nutella crêpe topped with fresh fruit, a warm Belgian waffle, or homemade gelato. Alternatively, students looking for a more substantial meal can choose from a variety of savoury crêpes. Patrons can order off the menu or build their own crêpe from the many toppings, spreads, meats, cheeses, fruits, and vegetables available. Gluten-free alternatives are also offered.

Club Soya 225 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest It seems that Japanese cuisine around campus is mediocre at best. However, one doesn’t have to venture far to find better: Club Soya, an innovative Japanese eatery, is located on Rue Sherbrooke Ouest. This venue will exceed even a Japanese food enthusiast’s expectations with its creative twists on sushi and poke bowls. Their maki burritos are a customer favorite and achieve the perfect balance between spicy and sweet. For customers feeling adventurous, the Club Soya sandwich (a tempura rice cake topped with cream cheese, honey curry mayo, salmon, and prosciutto) is an excellent choice. The restaurant does deliver, but its charming ambience makes for a relaxing and fun in-person dining experience, too.

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student living

Tuesday, October 2 , 2018

The radical history of Milton-Parc

Photography exhibition tells the story of activism in Milton-Parc Leyla Moy Contributor Fifty years ago, real estate developers Concordia Estates Ltd. purchased the majority of the historic buildings that make up the Milton-Parc neighbourhood with the intention of clearing them out to make way for new shopping, hotel, and apartment developments.

Angered by this encroachment, a group of local activists protested the construction, claiming it would destroy the character of the community and leave long-time residents without homes. The Canadian Centre for Architecture’s exhibition, “Milton-Parc: How we did it” runs until Feb. 17 and spotlights the neighbourhood’s rich history. On Sept. 27, a panel also titled “Milton-Parc: How we did it” featuring the movement’s organizers accompanied the display.

The Milton-Parc neighbourhood, known by students as the ‘McGill ghetto,’ spans six square blocks, bounded by Hutchison, Ste. Famille, Milton, and Pine Ave. Dimitri Roussopoulos, a curator and the first speaker at the Sept. 27 event, emphasized activism in the neighbourhood as an example of citizen involvement. He also participated in the planning stages of the Milton-Parc protests.

Roussopoulos’ presentation centred around the Committee’s landmark demonstration in May 1972, which protested Concordia Estates Ltd.’s plan to build high-rise, high-rent housing in the neighbourhood.

Students can recognize LaCité, the first step in this project of urban ‘renewal’ and the only part of the plan that was actually completed, as the antithesis to the charming, low-rise feel of its surrounding area.

Addressing the audience, Roussopoulos paid homage to the historic protest while rallying the audience around the Committee’s ongoing advocacy.

“Milton-Parc is on a land trust, and it is radical [in

itself] to have a land trust,” Roussopoulos said. “[It is] contrary to market capitalism [...] that [to this day] there is no buying and selling of property in the six block radius. [...] We won, and we’re still fighting.”

Activists took to the microphone to recount their roles in the movement. Among them was Henry Milner, who was one of the first to be arrested after the 1972 demonstration. Milner recounted that, during the protest, activists occupied the Concordia Estates Ltd. offices and were jailed for ‘public mischief,’ before the charges were dropped. Milner emphasized the Milton-Parc protest as a catalyst for municipal change movements across Montreal: The ‘70s activism in Milton-Parc was, as many of the speakers point out, part of an international movement. “[The activism in Milton-Parc] represented the idea of thinking globally and acting locally,” Milner said. “Our generation had a mission to keep neighbourhoods going.”

The accompanying photography exposition reflected a sense of reverence for the activism of years past in a slideshow of black-and-white images of protests and the neighbourhood’s history. McGill alumni Clara Gutsche and David Miller took photos of the MiltonParc community for the Citizens’ Committee, which served as background entertainment during the event.

These photographs, many of which are also displayed in the hallway cases, both kept visual records of the movement and showed the neighbourhood’s charm in contrast with the stark, modernist aesthetic of the proposed new developments.

This year, on the 35th anniversary of Communauté Milton-Parc (CMP) and the 50th anniversary of the Milton-Parc Citizens’ Committee (MPCC), the legacy of this historic neighbourhood and the activists who fought to preserve it are more important than ever.

Still devoted to preserving the community, MPCC

The exhibition showcases history of activism in Milton-Parc.

(Gabriel Helfant/ The McGill Tribune)

seeks to take possession of the defunct Hôtel-Dieu Hospital for social housing, community, and cultural spaces. Alanna Dow, current president of CMP, also mentioned that the community was looking at vacant parking lots as possible co-ops for aging Milton-Parc residents. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Roussopoulos again emphasized that through this work, the group continues to preserve Milton-Parc’s unique character.

Ask Ainsley: How can I balance my academic and personal life?

Advice on juggling your responsibilities at university Dear Ainsley, I am new to McGill and trying to find time to keep up with my studies, but it is hard because there are so many activities and extracurriculars to take part in. How do I balance life at university so that I can join clubs, hang out with my new friends, and still stay on top of my school work?

Is this all even possible?

Sincerely, Trying to Survive (TTS) Dear TTS, This is a question so many students struggle with during their time at university. Students often lament that they only have enough time in the day to pick two of three options: Getting enough sleep, achieving good grades, or enjoying a full social life. While this scarcity of time is understandably difficult to handle, there are ways in which students can, in fact, “have it all.”

Though finding a balance between so many priorities can be exhausting, staying organized can help in achieving this balance.

Make schedules and to-do lists your best friends. Schedules are great for keeping track of upcoming deadlines and what daily free time you might have, so you can see when and where to squeeze in some homework or friend time. If you don’t know what your obligations are, keep an updated list of the tasks you would like to accomplish with you at all times, whether it be in

a notebook or on your phone. Careful planning makes filling in those schedule gaps a bit easier throughout the day. While you may think that you can keep all of those nitty-gritty reminders in your head, it’s helpful to free up that brain space and leave them on a calendar. Visualizing those details can also uncover time for some well-deserved social time or sleep.

You can also create more space in the day by making your study time count. Often, students will try to enjoy the best of both worlds by taking company to the library, but this can distract you from hitting the books. In this case, it could be beneficial to compartmentalize, either focusing on school during the day and friends at night, or school during the week and friends on the weekend. Talk it over with your friends in order to sync your academic and social schedules.

While studying, there are also plenty of tricks to reduce procrastination and finish work more quickly and effectively. For example, having a “power hour” would allow you to study free of social media for one hour, and afterward allot yourself some time for a real break.

Lastly, when trying to manage university life, don’t underestimate the power of a good night’s rest. Many students will prioritize their academic and social lives and, consequently, neglect their health through sleep deprivation. If this is the case for you, find a night where you can free up time and go to bed early. Otherwise, utilize the power of a nap. While a nap may not give you the extra two hours of sleep you’ve

Multitasking at McGill can be difficult. (Florence Min / The McGill Tribune)

been searching for, it can give you an extra boost to power through the remainder of your day.

Studies have shown that even a 10-minute nap can be sufficient to overcome a poor night’s rest.

Of course, this is not a long-term solution for lack of sleep. Be sure to schedule in appropriate amounts of time for sleep so that your health is

not compromised.

By practicing good habits and making use of helpful tools, balancing time for school, friends, and health becomes much more manageable.

Good luck!

Ainsley

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, OCTOBER 2, 2018

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NYRB publishes ‘Moderan,’ a delight of poetic science fiction Revisiting the original master of dystopian storytelling Charlie Mascia Contributor In the far-future conceptual world of Moderan, master of literary science fiction David R. Bunch forces readers to consider what it would be like to leave mortality behind. Originally published in 1971, and recently reissued

by New York Review Books with 11 previously unread tales, Moderan is a refreshing departure from stylistically-dull science fiction. Bunch writes with a strange poetic momentum, based on a choppy rhythm that pulls the reader into clinical descriptions of gory trauma and emptiness.

His science fiction combines the creativity of Philip K. Dick and the stylistic grotesqueness of Nabokov.

Moderan depicts a twisted society. On the eponymous planet, pollution has reached apocalyptical proportions and the oceans have frozen over. The elite have replaced their bodies with ‘new-metal’ exteriors and occupy themselves with constant war. There are state-sponsored meanness competitions. Affection is shown only for made-toorder robots delivered in ships by eunuchs.

Bunch crafts his stories with none of the world-building or sci-fi exposition to which fans of the genre might be accustomed. Instead, Moderan is more of a concept for the reader to visualize. An ersatz utopia that is almost wholly metaphorical, Moderan draws from the literary tradition of the Beats, thematically exploring the horrors of the Vietnam War and the consumer culture of post-war America.

Despite their publication date, the stories are prescient. The parallels to today are as plentiful as they are

disturbing: The immortal warrior men of metal are recognizable as the objects of a pervasive toxic masculinity. The ravages of nuclear war could easily be substituted with climate change and pollution. The characters’ addiction to augmenting their metal image read as a cautionary tale of the danger of our social media-fuelled image obsession.

Of all of the stories, exploring how to find meaning in eternity, “One False Step” stands out. Tunneled beneath the planet’s plastic crust, a crew repairs flower petals so that they will be ready to bloom at the push of a button. The leader is the former the captain of a mysterious kill squad which slaughtered unproductive individuals.

He tells his comrades about his demotion from captain to worker—the consequence of waiting too long before killing the unprofitable citizens. The story ends with the former captain brutally beating his own crew, as if to prove to himself that he is no less merciless than he was when he still held the title.

“He wrote […] on each man’s proper form, the reason due for punishment at Central Whip—careless and excessive bleeding on uniform without cause,” Bunch writes.

“He had the hang of it again!...if only he could get them to believe him up there!”

The captain in “One False Step” may be a critique of the aggressive male ego, or perhaps of arbitrary power. Regardless, the story is as haunting as the eeriest of Black Mirror episodes.

In “One False Step,” and many of the other stories in the collection, the characters fear that their lives of battle and prestige are empty. Many of them, including the captain, enjoy comical moments of self-doubt and reflection. In Bunch’s hypothesis of immortality, people are so

Originally published nearly 50 years ago, ‘Moderan’ is more pertinent now than ever. (Kaylina Kodlick / The McGill Tribune)

shackled to things, like fortresses and armour, that they themselves have lost their identities outside of material possessions.

“I’m not in this business primarily to describe or explain or entertain,” Bunch said in a 1965 interview with Amazing Stories. “I’m here to make the reader think, even if I have to bash his teeth out, break his legs, grind him up, beat him down, and totally chastise him for the terrible and tinsel and almost wholly bad world we allow.”

Science fiction forces its reader to take stock of their surroundings. In a time of unhindered fossil fuel emissions, populism, and social media domination, our world is beginning to seem more and more dystopian. Moderan’s timely reissue might just be the wake up call we need.

Cher’s ‘Dancing Queen’ divides fans Here she goes again!

As if her lacklustre performance in this summer’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, wasn’t enough, Cher has released an album of ABBA covers. The A&E team is here to deliver the verdict: Does Dancing Queen redeem the Goddess of Pop? Does the diva do justice to her ‘70s-disco Swedish counterparts? Take a chance on us and read on.

Katia Innes Arts & Entertainment Editor After watching “Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical” episode of Season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I assumed that it would be the one and only time Cher would cross my mind this year. Boy, was I wrong. Her dubious appearance in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the premiere of biographical musical The Cher Show in Chicago, and the release of Dancing Queen have further solidified my theory that we have reached peak Cher.Dancing Queen is the cherry on top of this Cher-shaped sundae. Give this woman a Kennedy Center Honours Prize—oh wait! They already have!

Kevin Vogel Contributor When I first started to listen, Dancing Queen seemed like an album with some fun bops that I could really get into, even if the original ABBA vocals were missing. But, the longer I listened, the wackier the album got. From robot autotuning in “Mama Mia” to weepy opera-like singing in “Fernando,” I just couldn’t support the album’s creative decisions. Not only were the songs missing ABBA’s classic harmonies, but they failed to properly showcase Cher’s powerful voice. Sorry, Cher.

You’re awesome, but I’m not impressed.

Ariella Garmaise Managing Editor Unlike most fans, I discovered Cher neither through her music, nor from her prolific stint as a variety show host. Rather, I stumbled across the Goddess of Pop on Twitter, where her experimental work with emojis, capitalization, and punctuation far outshines any movie or album she’s ever made. I enjoyed Dancing Queen just fine, but not nearly as much as I liked her promotional tweeting for the occasion. In less than 280 characters, she says more than “Waterloo” ever could.

Matthew Hawkins Contributor Cher’s Dancing Queen is everything that Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again should have been. Despite being a diehard Cher fan, I found myself extremely disappointed by her performance in the summer sequel. Cher singing ABBA seemed like a dream come true, but Here We Go Again does both Cher and ABBA an injustice. With Dancing Queen, however, Cher makes up for it. She takes the classic ABBA tracks, “Waterloo,” “Mamma Mia,” and of course, the titular anthem, “Dancing Queen,” and pays homage to their legacy, all while adding her own electrifying energy, iconic auto-tune, and synth beats. While the introduction to the Cher/ABBA fusion was disappointing, this album showcases the best of the hybrid.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, october 2, 2018

ELECTRONICA OBSCURA The very best of the music you were too afraid to listen to For some, electronic music is a seasonal interest that begins and ends with Montreal’s annual Piknic Électronik festival. It takes a keen ear and an open mind to truly appreciate the genre in all of its noisy magnificence.

For those indoctrinated into the world of ambient, dance and experimental music, however, the beauty lies in the strangeness and the unfamiliarity. Here are some of our favourite electronic releases from the month of September.

‘Konoyo’ Tim Hecker

Kevin Reynolds Contributor For the past decade, Tim Hecker has been the closest thing the world of contemporary ambient music has to an idol. With his ninth album Konoyo, released on Sept. 28, the Montreal-based electronic musician continues to deliver the tightly-crafted sound that has previously garnered him such acclaim.

Hecker’s past albums have varied in style, from the modulated choral music of Love Streams, to the multi-textured, cacophonous percussion collages he showcased on Virgins. Konoyo, on the other hand, delves into long and droning sounds with little in the way of rhythm to anchor the albums tracks as they bleed into each other. Konoyo sees Hecker continuing his experimental trajectory. Past listeners will recognize similarities between his latest effort and albums like Harmony in Ultraviolet. Both feature long, droning tracks that move deeper and deeper within themselves rather than towards any sort of climax.

Still, Koyono has its own sound entirely.

For Konoyo, Hecker collaborated with Tokyo Gakuso, a group of musicians who play gagaku—music from the traditional courts of Japan.

Often hidden behind layers of reverberating noise, the instruments, mostly flutes and mouth organs, occasionally peek through. Usually, though, it’s Hecker’s manipulated sound, and layers of hazy noise that come forth to the front of the record.

While certainly enjoyable, Konoyo is not an easy listen.

With no vocals and minimal sonic variation, Hecker’s sounds are often jarring, if not unnerving.

Despite the lack of conventional structure, Konoyo remains evocative. The album’s second track, “In Death Valley,” for example, opens with lush instrumentation before sinking back into the atonal noise that is characteristic of Hecker’s music. All of this is to say that, what Koyono lacks in the terms of rhythm and melody, it makes up for with captivatingly barren soundscapes and dark emotion.

Konoyo might not be an album you want to play in front of strangers or music to listen to on a sunny day. It might, however, be the perfect album to put on while walking in the dark of night. For fans of Hecker, or anyone who just wants to put something on to make themselves uncomfortable, Konoyo is a must-listen.

‘Collapse’ Aphex Twin

Alyssa Nazmi Contributor In the latest release of his post-hiatus career, prolific electronic artist Richard D. James, under the moniker Aphex Twin, taps into an even quirkier sound while revisiting the intricate electro characteristic of his early discography.

Since his first release in 1991, the Cornish recluse has become synonymous with the ambient techno and electro that characterized the ‘90s electronic scene, establishing him as one of the most honored and influential figures in his industry The iconic disfigured Aphex Twin logo cropped up in London, New York, Turin, Los Angeles, and Tokyo a couple of months ago, discreetly announcing the release of Collapse. It wasn’t long before an internet frenzy erupted, culminating in the EP’s release on Sept. 14.

With an abundance of releases under multiple monikers, James’ work covers a vast stylistic spectrum, ranging from organic and emotive cuts like “Avril 14th,” to purelymanic, disturbing noise (James once performed a live set in which he played the sound of a blender for over five minutes).

As its title suggests, Collapse

is an intricately-designed apocalyptic soundscape, departing from the languid electro of his previous release, Cheetah (2016).

“T69 Collapse” throttles listeners into the bustling future with its glitchy clattering of drums, only to abruptly dissolve into cacophony. James’ ability to humanize heady electronic composition shines through on “1st 44”: He deconstructs a typical footwork jam, splicing the familiar sounds of claps, snares, and bass into echoing samples resulting in an uncanny, abstracted cut that retains a palpable eeriness.

Collapse reshapes elements within James’ stylistic comfort zone, offering a glimpse into the musician’s reflection on his own creative processes. The EP’s rich sound parallels the work of contemporary producer, Jlin, whom James has collaborated with before. It is refreshing to see an artist as acclaimed as James let inspiration flow from his surroundings. Although Collapse does not stand out as one of the best releases in James’ accomplished career, it is a solid addition to his work.

‘Safe in the Hands of Love’

descends into madness during its second half and becomes more abstract, like in “Hope In Suffering.” But, in many ways, these songs resemble pop with their adherence to familiar ideas—“Noid” is a straight-forward social commentary with a catchy and memorable hook. Tumor takes existing, mainstream elements and bends them as much as as he can, invoking the spirit of experimental tradition.

Some songs end abruptly, sometimes mid-verse, such as the opener “Faith in Nothing Except Salvation,” while others unfold unconventionally with odd pacing. “Licking an Orchid” and “Recognizing the Enemy” feature guitar loops that sound like a broken record that never gets fixed, invoking a circular chaos.

It feels fitting, then, that the final track ends as a seeming continuation of the opener, while still ending midthought, further complicating when exactly this broken album starts and finishes. All you can do is start it all over again and try to put it together.

The Sweetest Swing in Baseball

TNC’s first production of the year tells the bittersweet tale of struggling artist Dana Fielding.

Tuesday Night Café Theatre, Oct. 11-20.

Directed by Emily Sheeran.

Don’t Read the Comments

Consent McGill meets the Fringe Festival in this new play.

Mainline Theatre, Oct. 5.

Directed by Sarah Segal-Lazar.

Cinema du Musee

The MMFA’s newest addition features the best of Québécois, Canadian and International cinema.

1380 Rue Sherbrooke O, Open now.

Otman’s Basement: Comedy on Campus Stand-up from the folks who bring you “The Plumber’s Faucet.”

McConnell Engineering building, Oct. 25.

Royal Canoe / Begonia

The best music to come out of Winnipeg since the Guess Who! Bar le Ritz PDB, Oct. 6, 8:30-11:00.

Tickets $16.50-20.00.

Yves Tumor

Noah Simon Contributor Every so often, an album comes along that digs into your consciousness and festers there. After one listen, it is impossible not to immediately listen again. And again, and again, and again. Yves Tumor’s Safe in the Hands of Love (SITHOL), with its genre-bending, mind- altering collage of sound, is one such album.

Tumor released SITHOL on Sept. 5 to near-unanimous praise.

Though labelled experimental by critics and fans alike, SITHOL also dabbles in mainstream genres of alternative rock, punk, R&B, house, and Intelligent Dance Music. It is rife with catchy melodies, earworm beats, and cathartic breakdowns.

None of this is to say that the album doesn’t include strange and challenging moments, particularly as it

To the untrained ear, experimental music might seem like a confusing jumble of sounds.

(Sunny Kim / The McGill Tribune)

sports

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Quidditch for the ages

15

Martlets badminton goes 1-4 in season opener

McGill’s most magical sport opens its 2018 season McGill women’s badminton hosts first tournament of the there, members of the community can play with the university.”

Owen Gibbs season In fact, the game has grown (Continued from page 1.)

Within the past decade, this fictional hobby has become a reality: Groups across the globe have organized quidditch leagues, and the real-world game has adopted its own unique charm.

This version, however, does not involve any flying. Instead, players run with narrow pipes between their legs, and the golden snitch is a specially-trained person dressed in gold with a tennis ball hanging from their pants, paid $10 per game to avoid getting caught by seekers. The players known as ‘beaters’ run around and pelt their opponents with dodgeballs instead of bludgers.

“I think people take it as a joke sport and just kind of laugh,” McGill Quidditch Team Captain Caitlin Belz said. “I consider quidditch to be just as much of a strategic and athletic sport as any other.”

This season is a special one for McGill Quidditch, as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. As far as university quidditch is concerned, McGill is a pioneer. Ever since Canada’s first official club was first formed on campus, the sport’s popularity has spiked.

“We started by playing in the U.S., and then there was a Canadian league,” McGill Quidditch Vice-President Internal Brooklynn Carey said. “From

beyond the university level; two of the teams participating in this tournament were made up entirely of alumni who wanted to continue practicing the sport.

Participants don’t have to be fans of Harry Potter to get into the sport.

“Not as many people as you would think are fans,” Belz said. “The ratio of fans to non-fans is about 65-35, but we always have a few people on the team that have never read the books or seen the movies, and that number is increasing.”

Around 150 people participated in tryouts this season. Two big pulls for the sport are that quidditch is genderinclusive, one of very few played at the university level, and that it provides exercise without requiring much athleticism. Often, varsity athletes will play quidditch in the offseason to stay in shape. One such athlete is Ashley Blackburn Ouellette, a former hockey player who got into quidditch after finding the club on campus.

“For an athlete, it [is] a really great sport,” Ouellette said. “I actually fell in love with the sport really fast.”

Though the opening tournament was a bit of a disappointment for McGill Quidditch fans, the season is still young.

With such an important anniversary to honour, hopefully McGill Quidditch can make this season a magical one.

Chiso Ufondu Contributor

On Sept. 28 and 29, the McGill women’s badminton team kicked off its season at Currie Gymnasium, hosting the first RSEQ competition of the year. The Martlets’ doubles and singles teams won one matchup and lost four against the five visiting Quebec universities: Université Laval, Université de Montréal (UdeM), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Université de Sherbrooke, and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR).

Matches ran simultaneously throughout the two-day competition, with six courts set up across the gym to handle all of the action. Every school played each other team once, selecting three doubles pairs and two singles to represent them. The singles and pairs then played one match each.

Total scores were decided by the number of matches each team won out of five.

During their games, McGill focused on where they placed the birdie on the court and their general shot quality. “[We wanted to] drive [our opponents] down the court, so they [would have to] both reach to their left then cross to the other side,” first-year doubles player Linda Zhu said.

“They’re both on their left side [of the court], so they can’t reach their right [….] You aim for the corners, and [then] you drive [the birdie] down hard and fast.”

On Friday night, Sept. 28, McGill fell to Laval and UQAM, both by a 5-0 score. They found more success on Saturday, however, with their first victory, taking down UQTR by a score of 3-2. Unfortunately, the win was bookended by two more losses: The Martlets dropped matchups against Sherbrooke and UdeM and finished in fifth place out of six teams with a 1-4 record. Still, second-year Team Captain Julia Tian remained optimistic for the rest of

The Martlet badminton team went 1-4 over the two-day tournament. (Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune) their season.

“I feel like we’re doing pretty well,” Tian said between matches on Sept. 29. “This is our first tournament of the year, so it’s always really tough starting out.”

One Martlet who made her mark on the tournament was Angcy Xiao. After Xiao sat out during Friday’s matchups, Tian put her in for Saturday’s singles games. Xiao had to transfer her support and energy from the bench to the court, and it was clear that she stepped up to the opportunity. “[Xiao was] able to fill in her role as [the third singles player], and she’s doing a really good job,” Tian said. “I’m proud of her. She came in, she was prepared to play, and [she] was still able to do her best.”

Meanwhile, the McGill men’s badminton team also competed this weekend, Sept. 28-29, at École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal. They went 3-3 and finished fourth out of seven teams.

With the season’s first tournament now concluded, the Martlets will head back into the gym in preparation for their next tournament, hosted by UQTR on Oct. 27 and 28.

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sports

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Four teams to watch in Women’s World Cup qualifiers Kaja Surborg Contributor

CONCACAF qualifying tournament kicks off Oct. 4 in North Carolina

Starting this week, the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) will host its qualifying tournament for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup that is to take place in France. Looking ahead, The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of four teams to keep an eye on as the tournament begins on Oct. 4 in Cary, North Carolina.

Trinidad and tobago

Mexico

jamaica

One of the best women’s soccer teams in the Caribbean region, Trinidad and Tobago is looking to qualify for its first-ever Women’s World Cup. Ahead of the qualifying tournament for the 2015 World Cup, the team arrived in Dallas, Texas for its opening match with $500 and no transportation, practice equipment, or food, prompting Head Coach Randy Waldrum to call for support via Twitter.

These tweets momentarily drew attention to the unreasonable expectations heaped upon many women’s soccer teams around the world. Namely, they perform at the highest level without the sufficient resources to do so.

Trinidad and Tobago received some support from businesses in the Dallas area, individuals, and even the Clinton Foundation, but ultimately failed to qualify for the World Cup that year.

If they qualify, the Mexican women’s national team, or El Tri, would secure its fourth appearance at the Women’s World Cup, although they have yet to move beyond the group stage. Mexico, currently ranked 24th in the world, is led by midfielder and captain Nayeli Rangel of Monterrey. Last year, Rangel returned to play professional club soccer in her hometown for Tigres UANL in the new Mexican women’s professional soccer league, Liga MX Femenil. By establishing a platform to showcase elite, homegrown talent like Rangel, the league provides an opportunity for the further development of women’s soccer in Mexico.

canada

The Jamaican women’s national team, also known as the Reggae Girlz, finished first in the Caribbean zone’s preliminary qualifying round on home soil, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.

This success came after the team disbanded between 2008 and 2014 after failing to make it out of the qualifying group stages for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Funding from the Bob Marley Foundation has allowed the Reggae Girlz to return to the world stage, and they currently rank 64th in the FIFA World Rankings. While Marley’s backing provided them with financial support, an appearance at the Women’s World Cup would help raise the team’s profile on the pitch and bring in even more resources to improve their training and development programs.

Canada, currently ranked fifth in the FIFA World Rankings, has appeared in every FIFA Women’s World Cup—even hosting it in 2015— except the inaugural tournament in 1991. They have brought home two Olympic bronze medals (2012, 2016), two CONCACAF championships (1998, 2010), and one Pan American Games gold medal (2011). This time around, a strong mix of veterans and young talent will take the field. Among the veterans is captain and star forward Christine Sinclair. The Burnaby, BC native is the secondhighest international goal-scorer in women’s history, with 173 goals in 268 national team appearances over her 18-year career. She has also been named the Canada Soccer Player of the Year 13 times.

France 2019 could be Sinclair’s final chance to win the World Cup and also a chance at redemption for the entire Canadian team, who were eliminated by eventual bronze medalists England in the last World Cup.

McGill baseball defeats Concordia in extra innings on Fan Night Three-run rally in fifth inning sparks late victory Alden Tabac Contributor McGill fans left Gary Carter Field in high spirits on Sept. 27 at Redmen Baseball Fan Night after the Redmen (10-3) defeated the visiting Concordia Stingers (6-6) in extra innings with a 4-3 final score.

The game began on a positive note for the Redmen: Third-year outfielder Sasha Lagarde made a spectacular sliding catch facing the fence to register the third out of the first inning. The outstanding play saved two runs and proved to be the start of a fantastic night for Lagarde.

The second and third innings flew by, but the Stingers opened the scoring in the top of the fourth. First-year Redmen starting pitcher Zach Finkelstein opened the inning with a strikeout but subsequently allowed three unearned runs and was replaced. First-year reliever Cole Millinger then took over on the mound and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.

“It wasn’t our first time being down late in the game,” Redmen Hitting Coach Kendel McKenna said. “We have the bats to come back, always. We were getting guys on base every inning, so it was only a matter of time before we [made a comeback].”

The Redmen got their offence moving in the bottom of the fifth, stringing key hits together to score three runs which tied the game. First-year third baseman Michael O’Toole redeemed himself from an error in the inning prior, driving in Emerson Dohm and Jonathan DuForest with a clutch single.

McGill kept the game tied at three in the top of the sixth thanks to a heads-up play. After a sacrifice fly that should have scored the fourth run for the Stingers, the

The Redmen baseball team looks on from the dugout.

(Gabe Nisker / The McGill Tribune) Redmen successfully appealed that the runner left third base early, and the run was negated.

Third-year left-handed pitcher Andre Lagarde threw 2.2 hitless innings to keep the Redmen in the game heading into extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitter Camden Lawhead walked, followed by a single from Dominic DeFelice. Sasha Lagarde then smacked a double into the left centre, scoring Lawhead as the game-winning run.

“We had been struggling offensively for a small part of the season,” Lagarde said. “I just looked for something I could handle and shoot something in the gap. I knew that if I could get good wood on it, the runner from second would score, so I just cut down my swing and I got a pitch over the plate to hit.

The Redmen then extended their in-conference winning streak to seven in a double-header against the last-place University of Ottawa Gee-Gees (3-12) at Gary Carter Field on Sept. 29.

Moment of the game

With two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth inning, Sasha Lagarde won the game for the Redmen with a walk-off double. Lagarde’s teammates celebrated by mobbing him at second base.

Quotable

“We are [a] very superstitious [team]. When we have a rally going, [we watch from] the same spot, and try to do the same thing, and wear a rally cap.”

- Redmen pitcher Thomas Mienkowski on the fifth-inning rally.

Stat corner

Twins Sasha and Andre Lagarde made their parents proud: Sasha went two-for-four and recorded the game-winning hit, while Andre pitched 2.2 hitless innings and was the winning pitcher.