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News

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Open pit mine funds McGill Donation linked to a small Quebec town’s displacement Kallee Lins The McGill Daily

ast month, McGill announced the largest contribution to date made to Campaign McGill, after Osisko mining company, and donated $4.1-million worth of Osisko shares to McGill’s endowment. The donation will be funneled into the department of earth and planetary sciences where it will support two new tenure-track positions, fellowships for graduate students, scholarships for propitious undergraduates in the department, and the Dawson Filed Study Support Fund. Robert Wares, Osisko’s chief operating officer, himself a McGill graduate from 1979, told the McGill Reporter last month that he wishes to give back to his industry by investing in earth sciences, where, he said, training is chronically underfunded. The announcement comes as the mining company proceeds with its plans to establish Quebec’s largest open-pit gold mine in the western Quebec community of Malartic. The billion-dollar gold mine, likely to commence next year, is one of four mining operations currently in the planning stages for the AbitibiTémiscamingue region. Many mining critics, including Randy Hart of Mining Watch Canada, believe the Malartic case signals a shift in the Quebec mining industry. “There is a growing trend toward open-pit mines with longer-term environmental liabilities,” he said. Malartic’s economy was largely built on local mining operations throughout the past century, but its population peaked at 6,000 in

the fifties when three nearby mines closed. Today the town’s residents, now less than 4,000, largely support the billion-dollar Osisko project, which will generate 800 new jobs for the region in its first four years of operation. According to Ugo Lapoionte, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec, the creation of new jobs could still come with strings attached. “A big company operating a big project in a small town with little economic or social ability to mobilize looks like a third world relationship in this way.” There has also been local opposition to the project, according to Hart. “A lot of people have had to do some rethinking about their position based on the behaviour of the company,” he said. Lapointe explained that resistance to the mine generally falls into one of two categories: criticism of the type of operation from an environmental perspective, or criticism of the company and its process of development in the region. Upon proposal, the dimesions of the mine were 800 metres by 2 kilometres with a depth of 400 metres, according to Action Boreale Abitbi Temiscamingue. Lapointe said the mine would be roughly equivalent to Mont-Royal, while only producing enough gold to fill the volume of one or one and a half Smart cars. Action Boreale Abitbi Temiscamingue has estimated that the mine, operating 24 hours a day and seven days a week, will use 25 million litres of water, 11 tonnes of cyanide, and extract 120,000 tonnes of rock daily. However, a meeting in Montreal last Monday saw the expansion of

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

Your McGill renovations could be funded by a gold mine. the original plan, with the length of the pit increasing from 2 kilometres to 2.5 kilometres. The expansion would create the need to relocate the highway Route 117, which travels through Malartic – costing an estimated $50 million of taxpayer dollars. Some in the Malartic community have expressed concern that the diversion of the highway would adversely affect business in the town. While speculating on the land in Malartic, Osisko relocated 200 homes and five public institutions – a process that began before the province’s environmental impact assessment had been completed. Even after the relocation, the

nearest Malartic home is only 100 metres from the mine site. Now that mine expansion plans are in the works, the impacts of the mine are likely to change. “As far as I know, they’re not planning to do any more assessments or public consultations,” stated Lapointe. Osisko has also received criticism for its use of up to a dozen independent lobbyists to get the green light from the Quebec government, including paid members of the Parti Québecois and Parti Libéral Québec. Some members of the community and the Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec have speculated that this political engagement allowed for the com-

pany to ignore the necessary environmental assessments. Although the company plans to begin digging in 2011, it has still not committed to either filling the pit after the 10-year operation is completed nor providing royalties to the town of Malartic to diversify the town’s economy after the company withdraws from the operation in 10 years. During initial public consultations, the company proposed donating up to $4 million dollars to a public fund over the 10-year operation. Their pure profit margin, however, will be in the ballpark of $850 million, and this was estimated when the price of gold was far lower than today’s rate.

and Quebec students, for whom the program [provides] high managerial skills that get applied in the nonprofit sector in Montreal.” He added that many Montreal non-profits have a high level of managerial skill thanks in part to the current accessibility of McGill’s MBA program. On Friday, the Montreal Gazette editorialized in favour of McGill, in which it accused Quebec of being “cowardly” and not having the courage to increase tuition in the face of student protests. The editorial mirrored comments articulated in an internal Board of Governors email obtained by The Daily, as well as those made by Todd during his interview. Responding to criticism that the

tuition increase for Quebec students would decrease the number of in-province students in the program, Todd noted that applications from Quebeckers are up 40 per cent this admission season as compared to last, from 15 to 21. The number of Quebec applicants cannot be independently verified until enrolment data is released later in the year. The Board of Governors internal memo indicated that Munroe-Blum met with the minister Friday, and that the principal’s office had been in communication with the office of Quebec premier Jean Charest. When asked about the outcome of Munroe-Blum’s meeting wih the Minister, the administration provided no comment.

McGill-Quebec imbroglio Minister of Education reopens MBA tuition hike debate Michael Lee-Murphy The McGill Daily

he McGill administration and the Quebec Ministry of Education, Leisure, and Sport (MELS) are feuding again over the drastic tuition hike announced this past fall for the university’s MBA program. Tuition for MBA students is set to increase by 1,663 per cent to $29,500 in September. In a letter obtained by Le Devoir and reported on January 21, Minister of Education Michelle Courchesne chastised McGill Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, writing that the University’s planned tuition increase “contravenes the

very principle of accessibility.” Since the letter was made public this past Thursday, McGill administrators have been coordinating a media blitz to counter the minister’s now-public remarks. In an interview with The Daily, Dean of Desautels Faculty of Management Peter Todd denied the minister’s accusations of a lack of accessibility. “We committed to the idea that we want to make the program more accessible, and the way to do that, we think, is to have people who truly can afford to pay for the program pay for it,” he said. Todd added that most MBA students have five or more years of employment in the private sector when they enter

the MBA program, and that their salaries tend to increase dramatically after graduation. He further noted that $4,000 per student of the new tuition would be set aside for student aid. Post-Graduate Students’ Society president Daniel Simeone pointed out the $4,000 earmark is consistent with an existing Universitywide policy mandating that 30 per cent of net tuition increases be allocated to student aid. While acknowledging that the MBA students’ association supported the tuition hike, Simeone said that he “did have significant discussions with MBA students who… expressed concern that the change would negatively impact Montreal

News

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Stock portfolio tied to natural resource exploration and military Erin Hale The McGill Daily

SMU VP Finance and Operations (FOPS) Jose Diaz announced Thursday evening in his report to SSMU Council that the Society has sold its shares in a company because of its ties to the Alberta tar sands. But according to a recent report of the Finance Committee, SSMU retains bonds worth $32,200 in Connacher Oil and Gas, which owns and refines 98,000 acres of tar sands in Fort McMurray. When questioned about the investment, Diaz said he was unaware of Connacher’s mining projects and indicated he would address the investment. “That is definitely going to be fixed on Monday,” he said, adding that he is currently investigating SSMU’s shares and bonds in Uranium One – a uranium holding company with investments in uranium mining and exploration in Kazakhstan, South Africa, China, and Canada. However, SSMU still owns shares and bonds worth $172,666 in eight companies that undertake the exploration or production of natural resources – including crude oil, natural, gas, and coal – in addition to $226,394 in bonds of the Royal Bank of Canada, which is heavily invested in the tar sands projects. Its stock portfolio also includes an additional $31,910 of shares in two companies with links to the Department of National Defence (DND). Diaz stated that SSMU has no policy on investment in mining exploration, or any policy on oil, natural minerals, and base metals. “We’ve gotten rid of [investment

in] the actual mining companies – companies whose activity is extracting the material to process. What you see in the portfolio is exploration, like looking for deposits,” Diaz explained. He added that there is an additional grey area in SSMU’s tar sands policy. “We have a policy in companies that are involved in tar sands development, but what about all the other companies that are related to tar sands?” Diaz said, pointing to SSMU’s investment of $21,258 in the Trans Canada Corporation, which owns a 59,000 pipeline through North America. “All kinds of oil goes through the pipeline. They don’t discriminate based on deep-sea oil, or tar sands oil. There are many ways companies can be involved in tar sands without being directly related to them, and we have to decide at what level we are going to have the restriction,” he said.

Military connections According to the same Finance Committee report, SSMU currently owns $14,410 in shares of Discovery Air, whose subsidiaries provide assistance in arctic mining exploration as well as airborne training for the Canadian military – which includes air controllers in Afghanistan, CF18 Hornet pilots on air sovereignty patrol missions, and warship airborne defense personnel. SSMU also owns $17,500 in shares of Calian Technologies, a telecommunications company that specializes in satellites and outsourcing. In 2009, Calian signed two contracts worth $195 million and $70 million to provide simulation training and research for the DND and the Royal Military College, as well as a $65-mil-

lion contract more recently to provide “instructional training, support, and administrative services” for the DND, according to its web site. Diaz said that while SSMU does not invest in companies with apparent ties to the military, its policy toward military investment suffers from a similar lack of clarity as its tar sands and mining policies. There is currently no policy on what degree of separation SSMU’s investments must have from the military. “Calian Technologies [for instance] provides technology services for the government, and for a bunch of ministries: for labour, financial industries, aerospace,” Diaz said. “What they’re doing is not really focused on the military or the defence sector. They provide this tech service that happens to be used by the several industrials, and one of them happens to be the military sector.”

Down to that dolla’ bill SSMU’s nearly $2-million investment portfolio originates from a settlement made with McGill several years ago, when SSMU sold its shares in the McGill bookstore. The portfolio is managed by Penson Financial Services, and overseen by Diaz, the SSMU Comptroller, the Investment Advisory Committee, and the Investment Advisor Committee Coordinator. SSMU does have a Financial Ethics Research Committee (FERC), but according to Diaz, it primarily reviews spending over $15,000. While it can set guidelines and ethical policies for SSMU, the committee only meets on an ad hoc basis. “FERC has not met this year. Nobody’s called a meeting yet [because it is] contingent on someone introducing a motion to actively refer something to [the commit-

tee],” said FERC member, Daily columnist, and SSMU councillor Joël Pedneault. Diaz said that if students wanted to engage more actively in the management of SSMU’s portfolio, he would be open to suggestions. “[Ideally,] we’d set up very restrictive guidelines in terms of what is allowed, what is not, and specified limits, [like] when other companies might provide a tertiary service to those industries, where do they fall,” he said. “The investment manager needs to have very specific restrictions.” Pedneault and Diaz both said it was a possibility that SSMU could invest more heavily in “green” funds – though Diaz said it could be more financially beneficial for SSMU to explore additional green stocks that had not yet been included in an environmental stock index because they might have more potential for growth. Pedneault, though, questioned whether the entirety of SSMU’s settlement should be placed in investments. “A question [to be] raised is what do we do with this money? It’s been sitting here in stocks. It’s money SSMU could be putting to better use for student needs.”

FA C U LT Y O F A P P L I E D S C I E N C E

WHAT’S THE HAPS

SSMU invested in tar sands

International Law and Human Rights Tuesday, January 26, 6 p.m. Chancellor Day Hall The McGill Law Journal’s annual lecture invites the Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, who is considered one of Canada’s most prominent experts on human rights law, and has worked extensively on improving employment equity. Cinema Politica: When Silence is Golden Tuesday, January 26, 8 p.m. Leacock 219 The film focuses on the gold mining activities of a Canadian mining company near a small town in western Ghana. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Mary McLennan, president of the JHR McGill chapter. UFOs – The Evidence in Detail Friday, January 29, 5 p.m. Redpath Museum, Auditorium Freaky Friday presents Don C. Donderi, who will review evidence of the existence of UFOs and discuss the position of the UFO and close encounter phenomena in popular culture.

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6 Commentary

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Needed: identity, appearance safeguards Trans protections are important for more than just trans people

Binary is for computers Quinn Albaugh

he prorogation of Parliament has wiped all the government’s bills off the agenda. However, private member’s bills remain on the table. One such bill, C-389, introduced by member of Parliament Bill Siskay of the NDP, would add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of protected categories under the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada. Canada needs to pass this bill. The “gender identity” provision would provide non-discrimination protections in housing and employment, along with hate crimes protections, to anyone who knows that they are a certain gender, even if it does not match with their birth sex. This kind of provision usually applies to transsexuals. “Gender expression” is much broader, however, and includes dress, speech, and other behaviours that have associations with gender – this provision applies to a much larger group. Such protections are necessary at the federal level because out of Canada’s provinces and territories, only the Northwest Territories currently has “gender identity” protections. Right now, transsexuals may have coverage under “sex” or

“gender” classifications through court rulings. However, unfavourable judges could limit the extent of the protections that these rulings offer, since, at present, there is no explicit safeguard for transsexuals. Adding “gender identity” to these laws would provide them with that. Furthermore, other trans people, including some people who crossdress, those who don’t identify as male or female, and many others, lack even court rulings prohibiting discrimination against them. Adding “gender expression” would cover them as well. Some might say that in this political environment, it doesn’t make sense to try to address this issue because it affects only a small number of people. While I hold more that we should not let injustices persist for any group simply because of its size, this objection underestimates the number of people Bill C-389 will affect, both because of our demographic statistics on trans people and because the bill would also affect people who are not trans. We just don’t know how many people are trans. Often, people use estimates of how many people have had sex reassignment surgery (SRS), but this underestimates the transsexual population, for at least three reasons:

many people cannot afford SRS; others have travelled abroad, for example to Thailand, where the surgery is affordable; and others might not report the information. Furthermore, by looking only at SRS, these statistics ignore all of the trans people who have no interest, including some who cross-dress or identify with neither gender. As a result, the trans population is much higher than people think. But this bill wouldn’t just cover trans people. C-389 would also cover queer people who don’t identify as trans, who may think they’re protected by sexual orientation non-discrimination laws. However, without “gender expression” protections, it’s possible to argue that “sexual orientation” only includes a person’s attractions, not their behaviour or appearance – even though many people who aren’t straight are also gender-variant. This bill even covers people who wouldn’t identify as queer at all. Even some straight cis people could face discrimination in housing or employment – or even hate crimes – for behaving in some way that is not strictly in accordance with their gender, including “masculine” women and “feminine” men. For example, in June 2008, Stacey Fearnall, an Ontario woman who shaved her head to raise money for cancer research, was fired from her job as a waitress. This may not seem like a gender issue on the surface. However, since her appearance was the basis for her firing, it’s not hard to imagine that her boss fired her because she appeared too “masculine” and might turn away customers. This

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

Non-discrimination laws protect more than the marginalized. bill would prevent the unjust firing of people like Fearnall, too. Our society often thinks that trans issues don’t relate to cis people’s lives. However, a successful trans bill would not only aim to make a society where trans people can live their own lives, but also enable them to defend the freedom of others to express themselves. We need to realize that bias against gender-variance harms people regardless. It doesn’t matter whether a boy in elementary school is cis and straight; if he

doesn’t show an interest in “masculine” activities, others will ridicule him. As long as we allow any such stigmas to exist, narrow, sociallydelineated boundaries will limit the behaviour of all people. So, please – write your MP, the party leaders, and newspapers. We need to mobilize now to pass Bill C-389 when Parliament returns. Quinn Albaugh writes in this space every week. Tell ’em what you think: binaryforcomputers@mcgilldaily.com.

HYDE PARK

Town halls a sham unless backed by more than rhetoric Slawomir Poplawski

s part of a purported initiative to increase the McGill community’s involvement in university affairs, the Principal’s Task Force on Diversity, Excellence, and Community Engagement was announced in the spring of 2009. The group “aims to determine how McGill can, in the pursuit of excellence in the achievement of our academic mission, build strategically on some of McGill’s characteristic strengths to enhance the quality for which we are celebrated in our teaching programs, research and scholarship, and the collegiality and inclusive nature of our academic community.” It’s difficult then to understand how such an ambitious enterprise coming out of Heather MunroeBlum’s office wasn’t intensively promoted in the McGill Reporter, McGill News, and on the University’s web site before the deadline for written submissions to the task force (January 8, 2010). Similar deafening

silence was echoed by the absence of internal reminders or memos from higher-up offices. This task force may prove to be merely a public-relations exercise without substance unless there is audible and active support to establish a clear mandate for the group. A core provision for “the pursuit of excellence” is “the collegiality and inclusive nature of our academic community.” To the principal’s credit, the establishment of town hall meetings represents an outstanding effort toward activating people in the workplace by recognizing their opinions and encouraging their involvement. What we see here is a well-intentioned attempt to energize the community and awaken the natural human inclination toward full participation through self-motivation. Unfortunately, these open forums have not resulted in substantive changes in policy and practice; they have lost their initial momentum; very few people attend them anymore. This lack of attendance is a reminder that

although useful, town halls cannot be a substitute for an empowered task force geared toward identifying and rectifying existing problems. The concern here is that with an enfeebled task force and ineffective forums, the likely outcome will be a distracting public relations exercise that neither effects improvements nor consolidates our “characteristic strengths.” It would be somewhat disingenuous if the only result of these activities were a compilation of wishful projects and well-meaning advice to be passed on to the next administration in the final report issued in 2012. Having such a compilation might give the impression of a well-planned, well-coordinated transition from this administration to the next but, in effect, it will amount to a lost opportunity to make improvements in the way McGill works. The key elements for potential improvements are collegiality and inclusiveness. These attitudes need to be reestablished and consolidated in our community after

years of deterioration. Simply invoking these terms, though, does not influence the way things are. Inclusiveness is the cornerstone of democracy, which requires the kind of involvement that leads to empowerment, action, and change. The principal’s town hall meetings are a stepping stone in that direction. They should obligatorily be held two to three times a year for each faculty of the University and organized by local administrators. The highly centralized bureaucracy and power structures of McGill have too many networked but not necessarily competent administrators. A push toward greater democracy at basic levels and the devolution of this bureaucracy would be a move in the direction of greater inclusiveness. We need many platforms for the airing of grievances and other issues so that they can attract greater attention in both the affected and the broader McGill community. This may in turn force the deans, chairpersons, and directors of the separate administrative units to

address openly raised concerns in their areas. Not all administrators will feel enthusiastic about participating in these required interactions; and in fact, many of their subordinates will not dare share some of their own deeper reflections, for fear of possible retribution. If these forums are truly successful then we can transform the principal’s town halls into a forum for more general and even philosophical discussions about the future of our educational system, and similarly, essential deliberations about important details at the lower levels of the University structure. These forums, in addition to a task force that can formally report on and recommend solutions to the problems discussed at them, will provide the necessary dynamism for “the pursuit of excellence.” Slawomir Poplawski is a technician in the mining and materials engineering department. Interested in excellence? Contact him at slavekpop@yahoo.com.

Commentary

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

HYDE PARK

Where the TAs at? Funding dries up, students hung out to dry Melissa Herman

he first week of class after winter break brings undergraduates back to the world of lectures, libraries, and labs. Of course, as astute students, we’ve noticed several changes: snow has finally settled over Lower Field, promising to remain until finals; the construction by Milton Gates has finally resulted in stairs; the kid who needed a shave and haircut at the end of last term appears well-groomed once again. The biggest eye-opener this winter was the discovery that the need for cut-backs in the University, because of the financial crisis, is going to take a tangible toll on students this semester. The surprise wasn’t the hike up University for an 8:30 a.m. class or the discovery that I had entered by the patients’ door. It was the announcement from the course coordinator that due to cutbacks, the class, formerly supported by two teaching assistants, is for the first time down to one, who, due to budget constraints, would not be attending classes. To those unfamiliar with upper-level course offerings in the biological sciences, MIMM 314: Immunology has the reputation of a “toughie,” due to the complex material it covers regarding the intricacies of the human immune system. Throughout my university education so far, TAs have been an invaluable resource: answering questions, providing tutorials, occasionally serving as liaisons between students and professors. Some have been exceptional enough to provide study aids, reorganize course content into a format more easily understood by students, and go out of their way to reply to discussion board questions in the wee hours of the morning. So in a challenging course like Immunology, with 220 students, a single TA is what I would call “stretching resources.” Besides being essential for undergraduates, TAships serve as important teaching experience for graduate students who may have academic career plans. Furthermore, TAs make life easier for professors by helping with routine tasks –

answering questions, helping with the logistics of exams, and correcting assignments, for example. The announcement shouldn’t have surprised me because I had already read about this cost-cutting measure taken by McGill before the semester began. Nonetheless, as a university recently ranked eighteenth best in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds, McGill would, one should hope, make every effort to maintain quality education alongside excellent research. While the task of budgeting for an institution of this size is tremendous, teaching assistants should not be an asset that is overlooked. As the professor for one of my courses last fall noted, the midterm and final averages increased by approximately five to 10 per cent after TAs providing weekly tutorials were added to the course. The measurable benefits to students go beyond the grades – from TAs, we gain a deeper and more lasting understanding of course material and additional perspective on the subject besides textbooks or the lecturer. Tutorials give students the opportunity for more discussion, something professors would like to offer but cannot due to time constraints. The TA personalizes the educational process, balancing against large class sizes and the low rate of student/professor interaction. TA cuts have not been limited to science courses. TAs play equally important roles in most large undergraduate courses. An 11-week strike was needed to bring McGill up to the standard conditions offered to TAs elsewhere in Canada. It is in no one’s best interest to reduce the number of TAships or decrease the number of hours their contracts traditionally entail. It is my sincere hope that this trend will not be one to continue, and that, if by chance, I choose to venture up University next winter, I’ll walk in to notice two TAs actively preparing review notes in MIMM 314.

Melissa Herman is a U2 Immunology student. Tell her how much you love TAs: melissa.hermann@mail. mcgillc.ca

Errata The illustration for the article “PGSS to debate CFS referendum” (News, January 21) was credited to Jerry Wu. The article was in fact illustrated by Jerry Gu. The illustrations for the article "Lube without fear" (Mind & Body, January 21) were not credited. The illustrator was Olivia Messer. The Daily regrets the errors.

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

A moment of silence Pausing for remembrance is not a waste of time

Little bitter Riva Gold

wonderful sandwich I had recently eaten. Wiener Schnitzel! Some cheese. These were the things that passed through my mind between 4:53 and 4:54 p.m. last Tuesday, during our province-wide minute of silence for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I wasn’t proud of myself after that minute, and certainly didn’t consider my wandering mind a model of moral excellence. But when my professor subsequently decided to challenge the efficacy of that moment of silence, I was sympathetic to her cause. It started by questioning whether a moment of silence would really do anything for the people of Haiti. My professor suggested that perhaps we only really did it so that we would feel better, without actually having to do anything to help. The class came to agree that the minute did nothing more than breed complacency among us. Upon further reflection, I think this criticism is trivial. The minute of silence makes a unified, expressive statement about the gravity of the problem, while calling for solidarity and collective action. We use them sparingly, so they can draw attention to the most important things of national interest. As far as breeding complacency – I’m uncon-

vinced. We don’t stop caring for veterans because we observe silence on Remembrance Day. Even if a minute of silence were to achieve very little, it’s unclear that people really take it as an absolution of their guilt and responsibility. It’s a minute of silence, not a wafer. But at this point, I think the discussion was nonetheless a fruitful and reasonable one. Of course, this being a continental philosophy class, the discussion didn’t end there. By the end of the seminar, nearly the entire class had reached an agreement: donations to Haiti made through institutionalized aid organizations were merely a continuation of the “white man’s burden,” a neo-colonialist project of deculpabilization of the West – nothing more than a ploy to feed into our perpetual saviour complex and establish victimhood in the Other. The minute of silence and its accompanying email were yet another attempt by Satanworshipping Heather Munroe-Blum to poison our minds with thoughtless nationalism and utter contempt for humanity and all that is good. And it was on this clear January day that the failures of my liberal education became most apparent to me. Applying an antagonistic, Hegelian conception of subject

formation, where self is constructed in an antagonistic relation to the Other, is not an appropriate response to a natural disaster claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. While it’s great to critically analyze media motivations and re-examine our actions with sensitivity to postcolonial concerns and our intractable political commitments, it’s far more important just to send help. Deconstruction is good, but not when there isn’t time, not when its goal is merely critical, and not when it causes people to hesitate when the cost of hesitation is literally paid for by the blood of others. How incredibly self-absorbed to redirect attention toward “How are we portraying ourselves in light of our colonial past?” instead of asking “how can we best achieve concrete help for those dying right now?” Many people donate to make themselves feel better. I think that’s a powerful motivating force and we should exploit it. Is altruism ever really a prerequisite for charity? There are flaws with many aid channels, but those are reasons to reexamine their structures later and not to avoid helping now. Does criticizing our aid channels and motivations for giving aid make us more intellectually honest? Perhaps. But at what cost?

8 Commentary

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Malgré la froideur, l’hiver est le fun The French connection Joël Thibeault Every other week, Joël Thibeault writes a column for French learners, as a way of encouraging them to practice their French. i vous êtes comme moi, dès que vous mettez le pied à l’extérieur pendant l’hiver, vous employez des mots et des expressions que, malheureusement, je ne peux pas écrire dans cet article. La saison hivernale constitue une période de l’année qui peut être difficile, voire même insupportable. Pourtant, si on s’arme de vêtements appropriés, ce temps de l’année peut aussi être particulièrement plaisant. J’aimerais vous présenter quelques-unes des activités qui font de l’hiver une période agréable. Évidemment, nombreux sont les sports d’hiver qui peuvent être pratiqués au Québec. Toutefois, sachez que vous pouvez également en faire ici, à Montréal. Si vous êtes un adepte de ski de fond, vous ne devez pas nécessairement vous rendre dans le nord de la province afin de pratiquer ce sport; notre Mont-Royal offre un parcours de 20 kilomètres qui vaut la peine d’être fait au moins une fois. De plus, juste au nord de la métropole, à Laval, le Centre de la nature offre plusieurs pistes. Il est également possible

d’incorporer une activité hivernale à un rendez-vous galant. Nous avons tous vu ces films dans lesquels le mec canon propose à une jeune et jolie fille d’aller patiner. Après quelques minutes passées sur la glace, le garçon prendra la main de la fille dans la sienne et ensemble, ils patineront pendant des heures pour ensuite partager un bon chocolat chaud. Seulement dans une ville telle que Montréal ce cliché peut-il devenir une réalité. Pensez-y la prochaine fois que vous aurez un tête-à-tête. Notre ville offre plus de 160 patinoires, sans compter la patinoire réfrigérée du Vieux-Port. Si vous avez envie d’aventure, je vous suggère de faire une escapade d’un week-end dans les Laurentides, une région au nord de Montréal. Un grand nombre d’étudiants s’y louent d’ailleurs des chalets pendant la semaine de relâche afin de pouvoir aller faire du ski alpin. Des villes telles que St-Sauveur, St-Donat et Mont-Tremblant sont quelques-uns des endroits les plus populaires. Si vous n’êtes pas un fan de ski, il est aussi possible de faire de la raquette et de la glissade sur tube. Finalement, je dois mentionner que du 29 janvier au 14 février 2010, dans la capitale

Jerry Gu for The McGill Daily

provinciale, il y aura le Carnaval de Québec. Pendant deux semaines, la ville sera remplie de festivités et plusieurs concerts et défilés auront lieux. Si vous n’y êtes jamais allé, vous devez absolument l’expérimenter. Somme toute, il est vrai que

l’hiver québécois peut être pénible. Cependant, il faut apprendre à en voir les bons côtés. Ainsi, vous ne vous enfermerez pas chez vous pendant quatre mois avec votre costume de bain dans une main et vos lunettes de soleil dans l’autre à

attendre impatiemment que le soleil estival se montre le bout du nez.

minstrel show,” Culture, January 20), made for a good point and would make a great name for a smoothie, but it didn’t hold up as an article. Jake Sully might have been a white guy because most American guys are white guys, or because of a nationwide web of commercialized white guilt. Most regrettably, there is probably an element of truth to the latter, but by going all-in for the white-man-behind-the-curtain theory, the article overshot the crucial and undeniably marginal issue of white feelings about the colonial legacy. Mass culture is always relevant and should be read into. But pointing out awful things about mass culture is easy, and so to say something serious and insightful about the issue means the discussion needs to go deeper than stating a possible instance of a certain racial theory. Do white people – not James Cameron – feel guilty for the world? Ideally this should be done in Commentary, since Culture itself has tended to turn out as commentary. Though it can also suffer from an excess of politics, News has

been strong. Comments about web articles as well as blog reports from the COP15 Conference kept The Daily’s web site lively over break. The December 14 errata addressed reader comments about the presentation of facts in news articles; The Daily’s sources will be a topic of next week’s column. In the meantime authors should stop offering “history lessons” in articles, because that is an obnoxious thing to write. And “Fuck This!,” which you can thank for making you even less comfortable about doing anything anywhere on campus, needs to either get really funny or get the hell out. The Daily looks to be on a sex track, and, with breaking news on lubrication last Thursday, seems comfortable there. I hope we can look forward to more articles developing on The Daily’s new tack, fan mail from the newly sexually enlightened, and objections from anyone who worries The Daily’s gotten too horny. I’d say speak now or forever hold your peace.

You can write to Joël at thefrenchconnection@mcgilldaily.com. Like reading in French? Why not read Le Délit? Find it on stands tomorrow.

The public editor returns Controversies, race theory, and The horny Daily

Public editor Mike Prebil

n the web version of my first column, reader “LeftCoast” asked what qualities I thought were shared by The Daily’s exchanges over Engineering Frosh, IDS internships, and Choose Life. In that column I suggested that the cattiness of Daily authors resulted from a sense of obligation that the paper’s lofty ideological goals seem likely to instill in them. Our interest in those three topics also stems from our concern with the school’s politics and reputation, though I think we would deny this if so “accused.” But, in News and Commentary articles on each of the three stories, there were admonitions from all sides to do the right thing for the University’s sake. The Engineering Frosh uproar

ended by making feminism obscure and aggressive, without producing a full report on, for example, the effect of language in the formation of stereotypes. A few murmurs on the ripe issue of student expatriates were all that followed the ridiculing of the instigating author in the IDS internships thing. Articles about Choose Life and its demise didn’t change anybody’s mind about abortion, and took on the free speech issue too gingerly. By now the three stories have slunk away; luckily, the “University We Want” (November 30) issue is just young enough to save it from oblivion. Bah, “we.” Whoever “we” are, we are for a lot of things (equity, sustainability, integrity, democracy, minimal tuition, unions) and

against a lot of things (multiculturalism, dirty money, worrying workers, library disorganization.) Still, few of the issue’s articles spoke to how we get from what we have to what we want, which is all the more important since whatever we want to do at McGill we probably want to do with the world. The abovementioned web comment goes on to lament that The Daily’s global pieces and features (e.g., social justice at South American mines), can be difficult for readers to relate to, and concludes that it will be hard to achieve the paper’s global-scale aspirations with so apathetic a student body. The charge of “apathy” has been an ineffectual and insipid criticism of McGill students and The Daily, though it should not be discounted completely. It’s clear that this criticism – that other people can’t accomplish what we think up, and that if they could we’d be doing a lot better things – needs a student author’s fuller articulation. And we’ve seen that authors can provide that. “White guilt fantasy,” as purportedly evidenced in James Cameron’s Avatar (“The modern

Mike Prebil is The Daily’s public editor. He feeds off your comments: public.editor@mcgilldaily.com.

Transmissions Lukas Thienhaus

SUPPLEMENT

he ART

The Art Supplement

I gave my hand Amy Goh

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Study - Chicken Feet Flora Dunster

Yellow the Heavens Flora Dunster

The Art Supplement

Recreational Swimming Rebecca Chapman

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Griffin Whitney Mallett

Last Call Mamie Shum

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Shadows Jacqueline Riddle

Yaga Sasha Plotnikova

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City I Emilio Comay del Junco

City II Emilio Comay del Junco

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Sally Lin

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Untitled Aaron Vansintjan

Ziggurat David Paterson

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Jean-de-Dieu Hakizamana

The Art Supplement

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Owl Katie Lee

Science+Technology

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Grow your own building Developing living architecture to connect and heal the environment Charlotte Bhaskar Sci+Tech Writer

hat does it mean, exactly, to be “alive?” This isn’t necessarily a biological or even philosophical question. Instead, it is central to a new, aptlynamed technology: living architecture. Based on models of organismal metabolism and nature, living architecture is concerned with materials that could grow, self-organize, selfrepair, and react to changes in the external environment, meaning a drastic shift in our conception of what a building really is. Far from the static, meticulously-drafted structures humans have been constructing for millenia, living architecture is described by Rachel Armstrong, a prominent researcher in the field, as structural design possessing some of the properties of living systems – for example, the ability to grow. The idea is a bottom-up process, where the building growth is organic and self-propagating rather than confined by a strict blueprint. Aaron Sprecher, a professor at the McGill School of Architecture, also works with the fundamental concepts of living architecture and describes it as a shift from buildings with set, preconceived forms to dynamic structures with multiple potential morphologies. “[Such a] building would no longer be called an object, but an organism,” he said. In order to develop the buildings that Armstrong and Sprecher

describe, architects within the field of living architecture need to work closely with specialists from other fields: biologists, chemists, computer scientists – just to name a few. “The development of living materials absolutely has to be collaborative and interdisciplinary,” said Armstrong. “This is an opportunity for architects to work with cutting edge technologies and make demands of these systems rather than waiting for them to emerge and finding their design lacking.” Fascinated by the origin of life from inert matter, Armstrong works on something called “protocells.” These microscopic chemical machines use “olive oil, water, and a little soap to create a self-assembling crystal structure.” Lacking genetic information, protocells can’t technically be considered “alive,” but they react to their environment and catalyze certain chemical reactions, some of which are architecturally relevant. One particular “species” of protocell captures atmospheric carbon dioxide and converts it to limestone. Armstrong suggests that this metabolic ability lends itself well to solving a real architectural problem: saving the city of Venice from its slow collapse into the sea. She proposes that the protocells could be placed around the wooden foundations of Venice, where they would secrete limestone, forming a reef-like support structure around the wooden struts of buildings in the city and effectively petrifying them. Additionally, the protocells’ use of atmospheric carbon dioxide could potentially aid not only

Venice, but the entire planet by reducing greenhouse gases through metabolic reaction. Avi Friedman, a McGill architecture professor and expert in the design of sustainable communities and dwellings, does not work with living architecture specifically, but is similarly concerned with the future of structural design. “My definition of sustainability is places that relate to the environment in which they are constructed, to social issues, to economic aspects, and they also consider cultural issues,” he explained. Armstrong hopes her technology can be used to address communitybased concerns like Friedman’s. She conceives of living materials that will use local, readily-available building resources, employ a bottom-up approach for assembly, and even recycle energy back into the environment, in the form of biological materials like starch or oil. This is a far cry from the conception of sustainable architecture prevalent today, which, despite using zero-carbon and green roof technology, is still constructed on old, industrial building paradigms. The innate connection of living structures to their environment and the relatively basic components needed to produce them also mean that with some training and resources, living architecture could be relevant for developing nations. “[These] countries would definitely benefit from these new materials,” said Armstrong. “Most com-

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

Armstrong’s protocells use external energy to self-assemble. munities have local oils and could use these to make their own living technology if we are able to provide them with the recipe. It would be as simple as cooking.” As for when structures built on the new paradigm of living architecture will be realized, Armstrong

hopes that her new protocell design will be commercially available within five years. Sprecher, however, points out that the science is already here. “As soon as a product is being developed in a laboratory context, it is already part of reality,” he said. “It exists.”

Students in BIO150 learn a little bit of background information, and then dive into setting up and testing a hypothesis, as opposed to the traditional model where students typically complete research courses in their third or fourth year, already equipped with a solid knowledge of the field. “We teach [information] to the students with all of the awkwardness, the inaccuracies, the roughness that knowledge generally tends to have in its natural state,” says Lindgren. He adds that information in large lecture classes is “predigested.” Lindgren explains that having an introductory course at the beginning of the curriculum gives students a chance to see if they might truly enjoy a career in biology, or if scientific research is as appealing as they thought it would be from reading the textbook. But not all of the students in BIO150 are biology majors, or even in science – Lindgren says that about half of the class is usu-

ally composed of students taking it as an elective. This gives students who might go on to be teachers or writers or lawyers a view into how science works: not just what biology says about the world, but the actual process and approach, beyond the dry lecture slides. And it’s true. If someone is going to take just one university level biology course, isn’t it beneficial to at least provide the option of a course like BIO150 – four months of the raw, undigested truth? The prospect of hundreds of lecture slides and Scantron exams deterred me from ever setting foot in a McGill biology class; it seemed boring. Had I been given the opportunity to engage in the type of exploration and execution that happens in real biology labs, I think I would have taken it.

Rejecting a regurgitative science Plus or minus sigma Shannon Palus

have not braved a single course in biology since high school – I am terrible at memorization – but I remember the initial experiments in the first-year chemistry lab clearly: we got to pour water into beakers. A quick survey of my roommates reveals that the dissection of small animals in BIOL111 was “very interesting,” but the excitement of BIOL112 maxed out at “watching bubbles rise.” Each lab is no more than an exercise in following instructions, and the curriculum’s token nod to the importance

of experimentation in science. The labs do not delve into what Clark Lindgren, biology professor at Grinnell, a small, selective liberal arts university in Iowa, considers “actual scientific study,” which he defines as “an inquiry in which the answer is not known by anyone (including the instructor).” In the November 18 edition of ESkeptic, Skeptical Inquirer Magazine’s weekly online newsletter, Lindgren compares the traditional biology curriculum – light on lab work and heavy on lecture slide

memorization – to starting off music school with several semesters that focus on the history of music theory. Lindgren explains his solution, which he implemented at Grinnell in 2000: the “upside down curriculum.” Prospective biology majors start off university with BIO150: Introduction to Biological Inquiry, in which they work on a specific research question with a lab team of two peers. The graphic accompanying the article features suggestions of the types of research students can conduct and includes, in the largest and boldest font: “Sex Life of Plants.” Two months after reading Lindgren’s original article, I still couldn’t quite stop thinking about BIO150. I called him to discuss the subject further. “You have to be picking and choosing a lot anyway,” Lindgren says of deciding what to teach in any intro level biology survey course. “We said, let’s take this to the extreme and see what happens.”

Shannon Palus’s column appears every other week. Send emails with raw, undigested thoughts to plusorminussigma@mcgilldaily.com.

10 Features

Tr a p p e d i n t h e s p r a w l Justin Scherer revisits the big-box stores and clogged highways of southern Ontario’s suburbs

“E

verything he had known had become permeated by a hidden death, a solvent of unreality, a sense of belonging to the past. It had all become a makeshift, like worn-out clothing that no longer fitted…this slow outgrowing of a beloved and harmonious home town, this shedding of a way of life no longer right for him.…” –Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

oing Home – and I mean Home with a capital “H”; Home where your teenage fists beat holes in the drywall; Home where you cultivated an armature of acquaintances to blanket you in acceptance; Home that is dusty basement bedrooms and angsty posters; Home that is memory; Home that is family; Home that is rest – going Home is an experience nearly universal to student life, sometimes uncomfortable and sometimes surreal. This Home for me is Oshawa, Ontario (affectionately known as “the Shwa,” “the dirty Shwa,” or as the simple, unadorned syllable “Shwa”), a suburb of 150,000-odd upper-lower-middle class Canadians and the last gasp of the Golden Horseshoe heading east from Toronto. Stepping onto the platform from the train at the Oshawa station is always a shock in the winter. I brace myself against the cold and look down at the gritty concrete, bleached white by safety salt. I look out toward the city and thousands of car roofs reflect the afternoon’s dull light. They stretch nearly to the horizon where the dirty rush of the highway gives way to the bland sky. Sometimes in the winter, if you look lengthways along the platform, the pale white of the salt-cracked concrete is the same colour as the blank winter sky just before snowfall, and they blend into each other uninterrupted. About a kilometre to the east, I see the bulky signs of a big-box store, behind them the formless, steel, almost impossibly huge

buildings of the closed GM plant, with its smokeless chimneys, flanked for kilometres by parking lots with thousands of fresh cars squished bumper to bumper, so that one car can’t be moved without moving all of them. They are all the same model, utterly uniform. To me, the suburbs are like science fiction – strange and alien. I feel paralyzed by the inaccessibility of the city.

ou can’t function normally in suburbia without a car, especially in the winter when it’s frigid. The sidewalks aren’t shovelled, and I live 10 minutes from the closest bus, which only comes once an hour. I can’t go to the store, visit friends, or do any activity outside the house other than shovel the driveway and walk to the park down the street, which is always empty and sad. Sometimes I go for walks at night; kill some time, get some exercise, get out of the house. Walking through a purely residential area, it’s unlikely that I would see a single person. I feel like an archaeologist sometimes, trying to find traces of life in a dead landscape. Evidence of human beings surfaces – the lights in windows, the perpetual hum of cars, the brown flowerbeds – but an actual human form is nowhere to be seen except for the garish blow-up lawn decorations of Santa Claus or plastic children skating on inflatable ice in a giant balloon approximating a snow globe. On the odd occasion, when I cross the path of another person, the terse nods we exchange feel almost perfunc-

tory as if, even though we’re strangers, we must acknowledge each other because we’re the only two people to be seen.

between point A and B, there will always be rows and rows of monotonous and identical houses, streets, stores.”

ven with a car, the suburbs are no comfort. With a car you have to deal with highways like the 401 – simultaneously a congested anus of traffic and the main artery of southern Ontario. The region’s patient denizens ply that strip of cracked asphalt at a snail’s pace every day during rush hours. And I’ve seen the traffic do some nasty things. I’ve seen some of the nicest people I know reduced to snarling, swearing balls of rage, ready to smash and trample some other lessthan-considerate motorists. I cringe when I start to add up a rough estimate of the hours, days, and weeks that people waste trying to get to and from work along the 401 every year: one hour each way twice a day times five days a week times four weeks a month times twelve months a year equals 480 hours equals 20 days every year! Imagine what you could do if even half of that time was reclaimed. Thousands of people live this way throughout their adult lives. So much for seizing the moment. Then again, if your life rotates between the office where the boss breathes down your neck and home where family demands constant attention, an hour in traffic may be a welcome reprieve – some muchneeded alone time. I try to imagine why anyone would design a place like this, and think that an imaginary genius, when devising the layout of the suburbs that sprawl for hours to the north, west, and east of Toronto, must have had in mind some radically new human being of the distant future. I imagine them thinking, “At some point, from the fetid, frigid ooze of Lake Ontario, there will emerge a species of humanity that will somehow have in their biological arsenal the ability to fly. So, let’s spread everything out well beyond the scale of the contemporary human being. Low population density will make public transit ineffectual and expensive. Let’s go big. Let’s go uniform. Let’s design the suburbs so that,

n an effort to come to terms with my suburban hometown and the crippling ennui I feel whenever I return, I sat down with Professor Raphäel Fischler from McGill’s School of Urban Planning. There must be some justification for suburban living, right? He explained that the first suburbs emerged during the nineteenth century in Protestant countries like England and America. The English word suburb, just like the French banlieue and German Vorstadt, reveals that suburbia was born and developed in contradistinction to the city – as an alternative to urban living. Disgusted with the licentiousness and filth of rapidly expanding industrial cities like Manchester, the somewhat puritanical bourgeois elite sought to create havens of purity where their children could grow up free from the city’s influence. They planned these bedroom communities to ape the large estates of the landed gentry. As Fischler illustrated, “They placed single family homes well back from the roads, surrounded them with greenery, and gave each home its own driveway connecting them to the carriageway and to the city.” They laid out the suburbs’ curvilinear street patterns to suggest a luxurious pace, mimicking the opulent mountain estates with their fresh air, inspiring scenery, and roads that followed the curve of the slope. The Montreal neighbourhoods of Westmount and Outremont are attractive today for the same reasons. Their winding streets were designed to be safe for children, eliminate noisy and dangerous thru-traffic, and ensure that any unwelcome strangers will immediately become disoriented. Plus, the property was cheap enough that one could own and control the land surrounding the house. In the suburbs, one was free to bask in the comfort of domesticity and the nuclear family, free to control one’s own destiny. These ideas

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Whitney Mallett / The McGill Daily

have percolated down through generations and left us with the modern suburb, explained Fischler. Of course, the scale has changed. Instead of individual houses surrounded by large properties with long driveways winding down to the road, we have sprawling labyrinths filled with uniform houses with short driveways and tiny yards. But the ideology behind the modern suburb is more or less the same, albeit without its puritanical bent. The energy of developers and residents still focuses on controlling the intensely private sphere of the nuclear family. In this sense, the notorious isolation and social homogeneity of suburbia is a good thing according to Fischler. Parents have the power to choose the peers of their children and shelter them from the city’s influence. They can surround their families with communities of like-minded people with similar backgrounds. The suburbs of southern Ontario are far from culturally homogenous, though. The diversity of Toronto’s suburban satellites often approaches that of the city itself. Despite this, suburbia is still imagined and marketed as racially homogenous. In “Selling the Suburbs,” Katherine Perrott explains that cultural homogeneity is highlighted as a selling point – 81.7 per cent of the images advertising suburban developments contained only white models. These planned communities also tend to lack a diversity of age and socioeconomic status. Perrott notes that there are few opportunities to have a variety of incomes living in close proximity to each other. In this sense, suburban planning remains true to its roots, even if the homogenous ideal has retreated into the subconscious of most suburbanites.

wning your own home and property also creates an outlet for showing one’s wealth. This I can attest to personally. During an unfortunate summer as a painter in Oshawa, I witnessed the suburbanites’ mania for customization and home improvement. They pour themselves into their homes. How else could you explain the hours they happily spend choosing shades of off-white paint for the walls or the perfect brand of riding lawn mower? And the value is still there. Property

in the suburbs is much cheaper than in an urban core. There are, however, other indirect costs to suburban living. One is the feeling of helplessness and isolation I feel in Oshawa, where I lose the freedom of movement that I enjoy in Montreal. Then again, the suburbs weren’t designed for people like me. With no car and no permanent job, I don’t fit, and that purposeful isolation turns from boon to bane. Fischler explained that transport has always been a problem for suburban planners. He emphasized that “good roads were always a must.” The archetypal suburb had a conservative nuclear family in mind with one bread-winning (probably male) driver who had no problem getting to and from work via the highway. That stereotypical image we often have of the suburbs, where Valium-popping housewives go crazy with a kind of cabin fever, developed as a very gendered by-product of intentional suburban isolation. This image is fading today as people buy more and more cars. The average household in the outer suburbs of Toronto, like Oshawa, owns 1.9 vehicles, where their urban counterparts only own 1.1 vehicles per household. Of course car culture intensified with the suburbs’ new, huge proportions. This expansion continues into the present, and car dependency has embedded itself as a fundamental, almost subconscious fact in suburbia – so much so that cafés and banks are equipped with drive-thrus and malls are spread out so far that you can’t get between two stores without driving.

s commutes get longer and traffic more tangled, people are spending more and more time sitting in their cars, often to the detriment of their health – hardly a surprise when the only exercise you get is the walk to and from the parking lot or driveway. The Environment Health Committee of the Ontario College of Family Physicians’ “Report on Public Health and Urban Sprawl in Ontario” found frightening links between suburbia and physical and mental health. Authors Riina Bray, Catherine Vakil, and David Elliot affirm that “Evidence clearly shows that people who live in spread-out, car-

dependent neighbourhoods are likely to walk less, weigh more, and suffer from obesity and high blood pressure and consequent diabetes, cardio-vascular and other diseases.” They also establish that the lack of accessible green space in these areas negatively affects psychological well-being. In their study, Bray, Vakil, and Elliot also established that 60 per cent of residents in low-walkability neighbourhoods were overweight compared to 35 per cent in high-walkability neighbourhoods. The health of our environment also suffers massive damage at the hands of car dependency and urban sprawl. In “Comparing High and Low Resident Density,” Jonathan Norman, Heather L. Maclean, and Christopher A. Kennedy found that in the Toronto area per capita transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and energy use is 3.7 times higher for individuals living in low-density suburbia versus high-density urban settings. They linked this increase directly to high car dependency in the suburban fringe. Unless commuter behaviour changes, estimates predict that greenhouse gas emissions will increase 30 per cent for the greater Toronto area and 40 per cent for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Bray, Vakil, and Elliot). Car dependency brings with it the parking lots, malls, highways, and subdivisions that continue to swallow up fertile land to make room for more suburbanites and their cars. The number of big-box stores in the greater Toronto area almost tripled between 1998 and 2006 from 266 to 721. These are the ugly public spaces that I find so strange every time I revisit the Shwa. The suburbs of the future may not be so ugly, though. According to Fischler, this unsightliness has been duly noted, and efforts are being made to improve it. While suburban development continues as before, some planners are moving toward putting the “urb” back in the suburbs. By concentrating more on well-designed, attractive public spaces, the suburbs of the future may bring together the best of both suburban and urban worlds. The planners designing these communities establish the norms for generations who will call them home. Then again, today’s aging suburbs may

have a gloomier fate. The baby boomers for whom they were constructed are moving into their sunset years, and young families are not buying the houses they’re leaving behind. Can you blame them? If given the choice between an older bungalow complete with newspaper insulation in the walls and a constant rash of repairs, or a recently built, insured home, the choice seems easy. New arrivals to the suburbs usually favour new development, and as a result, the older suburbs decline in value and many of these aging communities may become the slums of tomorrow. This is already a reality in cities like Los Angeles, where some of the worst neighbourhoods are technically suburban. This may also be the fate of my hometown. Throughout its history, Oshawa developed as a bastion of southern Ontario’s oncethriving auto industry. It was the birthplace of the McLaughlin Carriage Company – later General Motors. It seems that Oshawa is doomed to endure the same slow death as GM, despite its efforts to the contrary. The General Motors plant in Oshawa cut nearly 2,000 jobs in 2008 alone. Unemployment has risen steadily in Oshawa and the surrounding towns. Right now, it stands at a staggering 9.8 per cent according to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Slums or not, I know that the suburbs are not for me, even if they do regain some of their “urb.” It’s not because the suburbs are an evil, alien, or cruel place to live, but because the ideology and history in which the suburbs are couched just don’t line up with this stage in my life. I’m young. The world is mine to discover and I want to be challenged by the dynamic environment the big city offers. I don’t love my friends or family any less because they live in the suburbs. At the end of the day, they are my Home more than Oshawa ever will be. And yet, this nagging apprehension tugs at the edges of my mind whenever someone responds to my complaints about the ‘burbs by insisting that I will want a suburban home “when I grow up.” Unlikely as that may be now, someday I might be choosing shades of off-white and trimming lawns with the best of them.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

A beach within reach Drift Lines exhibit invites viewers to take a vacation from the winter blues Dana Drori Culture Writer

uring these dark, wintry nights, escaping to the beach for an hour or two might seem like a fantasy. It wasn’t for me, however, when I walked into the artist-run gallery articule in Mile End, shed my heavy winter things, and dug my bare feet into the cool, dry sand that covered the concrete floor. In honour of its thirtieth anniversary, articule has converted its gallery space into a beach. The accompanying exhibition, entitled Drift Lines, runs from January 16 until February 6, and is divided into three segments: Private Beach, Members’ Beach, and Public Beach. The installments are independent and diverse, but the exhibit is nonetheless successful at unifying the gallery’s separate departments into a more collective curation. “Bringing sand into the gallery space was a starting point for larger programming, to open it up to reflect [articule’s] larger membership,” said the gallery’s outreach coordinator, Michelle Lacombe. “The beach became a context for all of articule’s initiatives to respond to in their own way, to create a bridge between committees that otherwise work individually.” By turning the gallery into a beach, articule sought to break down divides – not only within the artist-run centre, but for the public as well, by creating a “real public space” for the larger community. “January tends to be a dark, cold, depressing month. We wanted to change the environment of the gallery to respond to that, to create a really welcoming, warm, engaging environment,” Lacombe explained. For Private Beach, which took place the weekend before last, articule invited performance artists

Martine Viale and Marilyn Arsem to exhibit works that responded to themes associated with the beach. So, for three afternoons, I escaped the chilly outdoors and, in the gallery’s warm light, took my place on the makeshift boardwalk and watched the women perform. Both Viale and Arsem worked with durational performance to reveal, as Viale calls it, an “ongoing reflection on the sense of time.” The beach was an ideal context for this theme, as both artists used the sand, in its shifting formations, as a metaphor for time and transience. Viale’s piece, “Résonance,” occurred in two-hour segments over two days, during which she explored the ephemeral quality of sand by forming it into mountains across the gallery floor. She then donned a mask and, with her eyes closed, navigated her new terrain. In feeling her way through the mountains, she expressed how the self responds to and is transformed by its environment, even one that it itself has created. By Monday, all traces of Viale’s performance had disappeared. When I arrived for Arsem’s piece, “Last Chance,” I saw an older woman, cloaked in black, sitting fixedly on a stool in the sand with an 18.5-litre water bottle (typical of office water coolers) in her lap. For her piece, Arsem created a loop performance, alternating between a sitting position and moving into the sand to build clusters of sandcastles. Arsem’s performance was so unique because there were no real theatrics or artifices involved. I felt transported, as though I was watching an

old woman playing in the sand on a real beach, without an audience. I even imagined her being dreadfully hot in the sun. Both Viale and Arsem used the materiality of sand to reveal its creative and ephemeral qualities. Sand arouses creation and play, but the constructions never last. The proverbial tide always comes, even in a makeshift beach in an art gallery, where Viale’s and Arsem’s creations have been smoothed away. In the coming weeks, the Members’ Beach and Public Beach segments of Drift Lines will broach similar themes, while at the same time reflecting articule’s polydisciplinary community. For Members’ Beach, “there will be more traditional works, as well as performance works, sound works, and public intervention. It’s quite large,” said Lacombe. “Some [works are] political, some festive, others a lot more organic, relating to ques-

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

tions on the materiality of sand.” Articule’s Writer’s Club also created a zine for the event, to exhibit creative pieces that are not rooted in a visual practice. During Public Beach, the public is invited to interact and engage with the space. There will also be a public screening on February 6 at 5 p.m., for people to showcase their own video works. As diverse as the three installments are, they nonetheless come together in the spatial intervention of the sand-filled gallery. “It’s the material that links them all together,”

noted Lacombe. “It’s a really rich context, but it’s not overwhelming.” By converting their space into a beach, articule has allowed viewers the chance to take in many individual responses to a theme, while never leaving the conventional space of the gallery.

The Drift Lines exhibit is on display at articule (262 Fairmont O.) through February 6. For more information about segment schedules and performance times, visit articule. org.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Notes from the underworld Theatrical reinterpretation of the Orpheus myth tells Eurydice’s story Frances Kim The McGill Daily

t is said that when Orpheus, the most admired musician in Greek mythology, lost his wife, Eurydice, on his wedding day, he played songs so sorrowful that even the gods and the nymphs wept. No longer able to bear the loneliness after his wife’s death, he ventured into the underworld to rescue her. There, he tragically loses Eurydice forever, having broken the condition that he not look back at her until they had reached the upper world. But what happened to Eurydice in the underworld during the time that Orpheus mourned for her? Sarah Ruhl’s retelling of Eurydice charmingly spins this ageold tale into something much more contemporary, detailed by themes of love, loss, and the importance of memories. It is told from Eurydice’s perspective (portrayed by Megan Stewart) as she enters the underworld having died so young on her wedding night. There she forgets all her memories from the living world. She cannot read and she cannot cry, as neither of these are permitted in the underworld. As Eurydice struggles to remember her husband, Orpheus (Marko Djurdjic), and their love together, she reunites with her father (Francois MacDonald) who helps her through the painful process of regaining her memories. Directed by Rachel Paul, Eurydice is charged with the complex discrepancies that can arise in life. Physically, the set’s impressive layout of painted tiles (designed by Paul herself), which cover the entire theatre floor in varying shades of blue, serves to draw the audience

CULTURE BRIEFS Lending a helping palm The unfortunate assumption behind all benefit concerts is that the hoi polloi won’t relinquish their hardearned cash unless they get something in return. Hence, after the recent earthquake in Haiti, Damon Albarn auctioning off a custom-written song and donating the money to disaster relief, and Quincy Jones and Lionel Ritchie getting set to rerecord “We Are The World.” My feeling, though, is that the above model of fund-raising leaves hordes of us feeling cold – specifically, those who’d rather see the money these art-

Read it. Write it. Live it.

in. The tiles, reaching to the second row of audience seating, sustain an aesthetic tone throughout the play, while simple yet effective lighting choices help to create the visual spaces of the living world and the underworld. The most personal element to the staging came through Paul’s choice to incorporate music, in particular a series of contemporary instrumental pieces evoking Orpheus’s heartbreak and Eurydice’s reunion with her father. “I really feel that music is the key to our emotions,” says Paul, describing her choices for the production. For a play that deals heavily with a range of emotions and confusion, music encourages the audience to have a better understanding of how they should or could feel when they interpret Ruhl’s messages of love, loss, and memory. While Eurydice mainly depicts the challenges Orpheus and Eurydice must overcome to be reunited, Eurydice’s relationship with her father is the more moving and relatable dynamic in the play. “We sort of figured out how he died, what age both of us were when he died,” said Stewart. “She was [probably in her] early teens and getting to that stage where you want be a friend of your parents but you don’t have that level of maturity to tell them everything that you’re thinking about. Then he died and they meet up in the underworld where they have an opportunity to have this sort of relationship.” Indeed, the scene where Eurydice meets her father in the underworld is one of the most touching in the play, her tragic failure to recognize him leading to one of its most lasting images: the room he builds her

out of string. While Macdonald and Stewart’s performances were strong enough for the emotions of the script to resonate with the audience, the most notable performances of the play came from the play’s antagonists. From a suave yet oily seducer to a wickedly mischievous child, Cory Lipman, playing the Lord of the Underworld, is able to inhabit a number of identities in a single role, making him one of the more slyly amusing actors in the play. Supporting him in this role, Amelia May Haskell, Ayla Lefkowitz, and Fiona Penny, acting as Lipman’s adoring underlings, deliver some fantastic scenes. Portraying the three Stones (characters that seem to parody the Fates) of the underworld, their jagged but rhythmically smooth movements and eerie facial expressions are consistently constructed down to the smallest detail, in every moment that they are on stage. Eurydice, when looked upon in its entirety, is very much a simple play, yet it manages to provoke questions about the most fundamental and important aspects of life. Though the acting does lag at times, the impressive staging and directing of the play allows it to remain appealing to any audience. The quality of the script also helps to bind the production together. As Paul put it, “[Eurydice is] not easy but very enjoyable because I think the writing is so good. It’s so simple and very applicable to every single person. There’s something very powerful about it.”

ists will spend on studio time (plus plane trips, broadcasting rights, and so on and so forth) go directly to Haiti. Such a tempting rarity, then, is the Montreal Pagan Resource Centre’s Divine Relief: a Haiti fund-raiser whose definition of “funds” includes spiritual energy, in addition to money. Taking place on February 7, Divine Relief will gather the talents of mediums, Tarot readers, palmists, and Reiki masters across Montreal, in an effort to catalyze Haiti’s spiritual healing and provide much-needed financial aid. While most readers should have no difficulty grasping the functions of palmists and Tarot readers – think every carnival scene in every horror movie, ever – I admit that mediums and Reiki masters are slightly more arcane. For the uninitiated square, mediums are the interme-

diaries between the open-minded and the spirits of their loved ones. Meanwhile, Reiki practitioners...well, your guess is as good as mine. Don’t let the obscurity hinder you, though. Divine Relief seems like a fine opportunity for skeptics to gain firsthand knowledge of cultures they’re often eager to dismiss. With the discounted rates going toward Haiti disaster relief, I recommend anyone with an interest in the New Age check it out.

Eurydice runs January 27-30 at Players’ Theatre (3480 McTavish, 3rd Floor).

Divine Relief will be held on February 7 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., on the third floor of 1928 Ste. Catherine O. —Nicolas Boisvert-Novak

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

Eurydice captures the surreal experience of living in hell.

Looks good on paper On Friday, Red Bird Studios presents the second part of its Works On Paper project – a show featuring a variety of paper-based art works all from emerging artists in the Montreal area. Curators and contributors Rebecca Rosen and Naomi Cook promise a dynamic show better than the previous edition of Works On Paper, which took place last June. “The definition of paper has been taken in a new direction,” Cook explained. Among the work shown will be cutouts, a mobile, and even oil paint on paper. While promoting the artists, the project also aims to make collecting art more accessible. “All of the work is affordable,” Cook says. According to Cook, the gallery hopes to show art-

work in a new light and redefine the sterile gallery experience. Red Bird’s curators routinely push gallery conventions, installing art in creative ways and incorporating viewers’ input and opinions into their shows. This reflects Red Bird’s mandate, “to provide opportunities for fringe artists to connect with curators and the public.” After the exhibition, all of the works will be collected into a book and displayed at Red Bird Gallery shows for the next six months. In addition, they will be available online at the Red Bird Studios web site. Works on Paper runs from January 29-31 at Red Bird Gallery (135 Van Horne). For more information, visit redbirdstudios.org. —Madeleine Cummings

culture @mcgilldaily.com

14Culture

The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

The Satanic choruses Opera McGill to stage 20th century classic, The Rake’s Progress Bridget Sprouls Culture Writer

ellow students, catch your breath. Next week’s staging of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress may well lend Opera McGill prominence on the campus cultural map. Stravinsky’s name should be a familiar one. He composed the music for The Rite of Spring, that ballet in which a young girl dances herself to death. The demise of Tom Rakewell from The Rake’s Progress is not brought about by dancing, but it is choreographed by Satan incognito. The plot alone should secure interest in the production. Rakewell, Anne Trulove’s restless suitor, declines a job offered to him by Anne’s father, privately wishing that money would simply fall into his lap. At this moment, a mysterious Nick Shadow introduces himself (note the inauspicious name), and it’s all downhill from there – for Rakewell’s character, that is. Meanwhile, the entertainment value for the audience escalates with the introduction of personae such as a prostitute named Mother

Goose and a surprisingly seductive bearded woman, Baba the Turk. David Lefkowich, the production’s stage director, has worked on three previous productions of The Rake’s Progress, and considers the opera a “twentieth century masterpiece.” Lefkowich took the time to point out part of what makes this opera so unique. “The music is constructed in such a way that it references back to this baroque period,” he explained. “We have all the tropes that we use in early music, and yet it’s done in a twentieth century style. It has this traditional feeling mixed with a more modern sensibilty. [The Rake’s Progress] truly mixes two worlds together, et voila! We are left with a kind of beautiful aftertaste.” Master’s student Frank Mutya plays the role of Tom Rakewell, whose presence graces almost every scene. Stravinsky’s music is not known for its simplicity, so not only has Mutya had quite a number of notes to memorize, but their recital poses a significant challenge to any vocal artist. Appearing as Nick Shadow is undergraduate Philippe Sly. Having studied voice privately since the age of seven, Sly described the

pursuit of a music career as “all I’ve ever known I wanted to do.” Sly is glad that both undergrad and graduate voice students can participate in Opera McGill’s productions. “Getting used to the process is really important. I’ve been in the chorus for operas for the last three years, and that gives you a good sense of how it works.” He describes the role of Nick Shadow as “very much like the Mephisto character of Faust.... I always arrive at the scene when [Rakewell] makes wishes. The thing is, I’m not the one who’s creating everything. I let him make a choice, but I let him make the one I think he should make. It’s his doing, because I am just the dark side of [what was] already there.” Though it would seem that the moral of the story is the time-honoured “be careful what you wish for,” the epilogue reveals it to be that “the Devil finds work for idle hands” (readers of the Daily clearly excluded). The force of goodness in the opera, Anne Trulove, is played by Master’s student Veronique Coutu. She too has aspired to the stage from an early age, and is excited about her part in the production.

Jerry Gu for The McGill Daily

“It’s the best role ever. [Trulove] is such a real person,” she said. After the vocalists’ last curtain call, don’t forget to show some love for the musicians, whose bow will not be visible from the depth of the orchestra pit. It’s the conjoined effort of all the per-

formers that exhilarates you, the audience. The Rake’s Progress will be performed in Pollack Hall at 7:30 on January 27, 29, and 30. Tickets ($22 with a student card) are available at the Schulich School of Music box office (555 Sherbrooke O).

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The McGill Daily, Monday, January 25, 2010

Lies, half-truths, and sexy, magical love

Bistable figures

Love, Sex, and Magic

What Lally Sin learnt in psych class

The second part of a two-part series to, what I think, is the centre of the issue – the government,” said George George Peabody-George, head of a very smart and very intimidating think tank called Prior Solutions. “Those fellows at the Ministry are great and all, but Love, Sex, and Magic are things that can only truly flow from contact points to access points in a private environment – and when I say private, I’m talking mostly about a market – one infused with creativity and creative solutions – what I am not talking about is my private parts,” PeabodyGeorge said. Pete Thompson-von Pooopfaaht is a man that has been in a jail for several days after a misunderstanding stemming from Love, Sex, and Magic. “I can’t make any calls, I can’t get out of here, and my court case isn’t for weeks,” said Thompson-von Pooopfaaht. “I just wanted some Love, Sex, and Magic, but in the scurry of things, the movement of people to and fro, the police decided that I was in the wrong place – maybe even at the wrong time,” he said.

Cutter Deuce The McGill Daily

“W

hat we are really concerned with here is the safety and wellbeing of anybody that wants so to take part in Love, Sex, and Magic, and we are obviously open to consultations from the Love, Sex, and Magic community, but our concerns, and the funding we have secured, is more geared toward the continuation and energy of the Love and Magic realms.” These are the words of District Manager Poopwalrus, a district manager with the Ministry of Love and Magic. He is commenting on the recent phenomenon of Love, Sex, and Magic, that has been sweeping many areas, and that was mentioned at the beginning of this wonderful article. While the Department of Sex had not returned calls by the time The Daily had gone to press. While there are those who aren’t critics, there are also those who are critics. “Here’s the problem, and I’m going to get right down to it – right

The other prisoners in the cell nodded in possible disapproval and possible world-weariness, but their opinions were unimportant. “I heard about this incident – people shouldn’t pay attention,” said Poopwalrus. “Listen, if he wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time, nothing would have happened – this is just common sense, people. Listen to the next few words I am going to say, alright – he was in the wrong place, Love, Sex, and Magic are things that people want, and he could have blocked them – but I don’t really know because I wasn’t there,” Peabody-George said in response to the incident with the man in jail that was mentioned earlier. “What is essential here – and I say essential because I think it is important – is a sense of synergy – networked Love, Sex, and Magic in a multivarious context of vertical integration and economies of scale – in other words – Thompson-von Pooopfaaht should shut the fuck up,” Peabody-George added. “Love, Sex, and Magic – there’s something about it,” said Annabelle.

Have Gold Blooms of hilarity? Consider Possibly Jamming to fine tunes? Live life to da’ Max? Have a Will of your own? Write for Compendium! compendium@mcgilldaily.com

Global warming is real Dorothy and Toto

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Across 1. Traditional Latin American grain 9. Rock of ___ 13. “Melt” in genetics 14. Songwriter Bacharach 15. Damp and unpleasant, possibly foul-smelling 16. Cadge 17. Highlands hillside 18. Prepare, as tea 20. Marry 22. Insult acronym 24. Tit for ___ 25. Increase 26. Common foxglove genus 30. Bard’s “before” 31. So be it 32. Diminutive suffix 33. Decorative pitcher 34. Record speed 35. Noir-itude? 37. Nein 38. “A Boy Named ___” 39. Best seller 40. Letter arithmetic 43. Hydrated 47. Telegram 48. Driver's lic. and others 50. On the briny 51. Above 52. Pertaining to the subject of 50 across

54. Longbow woods of choice 55. Prehistoric shell fossil

Down

you (down the aisle) 35. Cuz I’m up in the club and I’m sipping that ___ 36. Baby goat 38. Oozes 41. Cultivate 42. Eve's man 44. Fungal spore sacs 45. Sans ice 46. Cabbagelike vegetable 49. Total 53. We’re off __ see the wizard.

1. Uses an abacus 2. Cold cuts, e.g. 3. “Green Gables” girl 4. Amasses 5. Attorney __ law 6. A knob or protuberance 7. Align 8. What one uses to take up a skirt 9. Brothers’ keeper? 10. Wise one Solution to “Happy New Year!” 11. Rub-outs 12. Tea-balls S C H L O C K M A 19. Calls the A G C H E A P I E kettle black, C O H E A R S A Y sometimes I M A G M A R K 21. Father N E W O P T I C figures 23. Tutu wearer N U D G E 26. Keep sewD E B E M I G R E ing! (4,5) A I S L E S A N 27. Rude P U T E L M F E 28. Rare find 29. Grassy area O D O N A T A L 30. Dolly, G E T I U L N A R for one E N S N S I E V E 33. To drag R E P E E N D E D behind

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