The McGill Daily Vol105Iss17

Volume 105, Issue 17 Monday, January 25, 2015

Women and Weightlifting

McGill THE

DAILY

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Table of Contents NEWS

Panel discusses “Who is God?” Not enough “minorities” in municipal politics Non-status women of Montreal demand regularization Students talk about the Office for Students with Disabilities Teachers’ union organizes rally

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18

SCI+TECH

Your genetics and vaccines

SSMU referendum endorsements

Omega-3s, mega-healthy

Fees for student groups are necessary

Solar panels, improved

20

COMMENTARY

COMPENDIUM!

Ice balloons in the style of Arthur C. Clarke

15 SPORTS Weightlifting against gender norms

Environmental activists deliver people’s injunction

08

EDITORIAL

16

Is your love for science stronger than a hydrogen bond?

CULTURE

Write for Sci+Tech!

#OscarsSoWhite (again)

FOFA Gallery echoes nostalgia and badminton

The census has a gender binary problem

The Daily Reviews

Make sure your donations count

Reviewing AUTS’s musical Rent

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January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Uncover McGill promotes interfaith dialogue on campus

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Students come together to discuss the question: “Who is God?”

Luca Loggia & Tiran Rahimian News Writers

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ver 100 students gathered at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) ballroom on January 20, where the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and a number of McGill Christian clubs (McGill Christian Fellowship, Newman Catholic Students’ Society, Power to Change, ICON, and International Student Ministries) organized an interfaith dialogue. The event was part of Uncover McGill, a week long initiative

by Christian groups at McGill to dicsuss spiritual questions. Mohamad Jebara, chief imam and resident scholar at the Cordova Spiritual Education Center, and Abdu Murray, the scholar in residence of Christian Thought and Apologetics at the Josh McDowell Institute of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, came together to discuss the question, “Who is God?” The interfaith dialogue focused

on the conception of God in Muslim and Christian traditions. Underscoring some of the similarities between the two faiths, Murray reiterated the importance of positive interbelief dialogue, saying, “We can agree to disagree without being disagreeable.”

The dialogue brought together students of differents faiths, providing them with a platform to ask questions and discuss the differences and similarities of their beliefs.

When asked about the importance of interfaith dialogue, Armanda Megne Ekoga, a U1 Political Science and African Studies student who attended the panel, told The Daily, “There are still so many conflicts over religion, so it’s important for us to share thoughts and to share love just to know what other people think and keep the dialogue going.”

Jebara, an advocate of social responsibility and universal values, underlined the loving nature of God and stressed the impor-

tance of being “accepting and tolerant of diversity and difference.”

Francis Guruma, a Kindergarten Education student, agreed. “[Diversity] is a good opportunity to learn from other people [... and] to eliminate preconceptions and stereotypes.

The more we learn from each other, the more we learn to accept [each other],” Guruma told The Daily.

Speaking to The Daily, Munema Moiz, a U3 Neuroscience student who is Muslim, said, “I think at McGill, we’re very lucky because there are a lot of events and they really try to create a sense of community.

And I also think we’re lucky because Montreal is such a diverse city. As a Muslim, you can easily find other Muslims and show your culture and your faith.”

Jordan Weeks, an organizer of Uncover McGill, underscored the fact that interfaith dialogue has to be initiated by students. “The university is secular; it can’t take an official position on any of these questions,” Weeks said.

“Who is God?” panel.

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily

“But what we can do is hold a dialogue between people who genuinely hold these positions and will argue on behalf of them in a respectful and kind way, that’s not polemic, that’s not argumentative. That’s interfaith dialogue.”

Similarly, Sandra Yogendran,

one of the co-organizers of the talk, believes such events “can unearth questions that people might not take the time to think about in the business of life and it’s an opportunity for people to find truth as well as find new friendships and learn about other perspectives.”

“Visible minorities” underrepresented in municipal politics Electoral process characterized by cycle of marginalization

Vincent Simboli The McGill Daily

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pproximately sixty people gathered on January 18, the 87th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, at the Ligue des Noirs du Québec in Côte-desNeiges to attend a press conference.

According to an English press release from Marvin Rotrand, City Councillor of Snowdon, the conference was to focus on the fact that “visible minorities remain severely underrepresented” in municipal councils across Canada and specifically in Montreal, as well as to announce an upcoming motion that will raise this issue in the 2017 municipal elections. Statistics Canada defines a “visible minority,” as a “category [that] includes persons who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour and who do not report being Aboriginal.”

The panel was chaired by Rotrand, who was joined by SudOuest borough mayor Benoit Dorais, Peter-McGill councillor and Vrai changement pour Montréalrepresentative Steve Shanahan, Vieux-Rosemont councillor Érika Duchesne, school board councillor of Côte-des-Neiges-Snowdon

Khokon Maniruzzaman, and Erik Hamon, who was a candidate in the municipal elections of 2013.

The press release revealed that while Montreal has a 32.3 per cent visible minority population, only 6 of 208 municipal elected officials on the island of Montreal are visible minorities. These six officials are Frantz Benjamin and Alan De Sousa, members of the Montreal City Council; Monica Rincourt and Nathalie Pierre-Antoine, members of various Montreal Borough Councils; and Errol Johnson and Minh Diem Li Thi, members of Dollard des Ormeaux council and Town of Mount Royal council, respectively.

Rotrand organized the conference to stimulate public debate in anticipation for his motion tabled for the January 25 session of the City Council. This motion will address lack of representation in the upcoming 2017 election. The Montreal Gazette reported that in the 2013 election, a record number of visible minorities ran for positions. According to Rotrand, however, several were last-minute additions in districts where they had no chance of winning.

Rotrand’s motion is support-

ed by Coalition Montréal, Vrai changement pour Montréal, and five independent councillors.

In an interview with The Daily, Rotrand explained that the goal of the motion is not to impose a minority quota for Montreal political parties.

“Montreal is unique in that it has a party system at a municipal level,” he said. “In a perfect world, we will use [the municipal party system] to change the complexion of City Hall.”

A repeated topic of the conference was that some political parties typically nominate a candidate based on “electability,” complicating the municipal electoral process. Visible minority candidates often do not perform as well as candidates who are not visible minorities because, in Shanahan’s words, “voters want people who they feel represent them, and often those are people who look like them.” As such, municipal parties may be tempted to nominate only non-visible minority candidates – fuelling a cycle of a lack of representation of visible minority candidates, Shanahan explained.

The Daily spoke with panel member Erik Hamon, a Coalition Montreal candidate of Filipino descent who lost the 2013 election by roughly 300 votes to Équipe Coderre’s Lionel Perez in the Darlington district.

“I would just like to see [visible minorities] in the party who make the decisions about who the candidates should be, or the [unaffiliated] people who are becoming candidates themselves,” explained Hamon. “I would like to see a slate of candidates across the board that is a lot more representative of this city.”

Canadian municipal governments are grossly underrepresentative of their racialized populations; even cities with ‘visible minority’ populations that are above 50 per cent. For example, in Brampton, Ontario, despite its 67.1 per cent ‘visible minority’ population, only one city councillor of ten (Gurpreet Dhillon) is a ‘visible minority.’ Similarly, Surrey, British Columbia has a ‘visible minority’ population of 55.5 per cent, but only one councillor of eight is a ‘visible minority’ (Tom Gill).

In an email to The Daily, Ro-

trand elaborated that “there are several persons of Chinese origin or heritage on some municipal councils such as in Vancouver. Indeed, most of the visible minority councillors are [of ] southeast, east or south Asian origin or heritage.

[However,] there are really very few Black elected councillors.”

The Daily spoke with Dan Philip, Director of the Ligue Des Noirs du Québec, after the event, who said that panels like these are important and necessary in the electoral process because they “awaken consciousness as to the necessity of everybody participating within the political system, so people can be adequately represented.”

Philip noted that while the seven-member panel had only three visible minority panelists sitting on it, “if you look at the political system, it’s white. It’s a reflection of the political system. [...] People will help us to move, but we have to move ourselves.

We have to create this type of desire for [representation] at all levels of the political system. Not just municipally, but provincially and federally as well.”

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January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Non-status women demand justice Collective condemns Trudeau’s lack of response to open letter

Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

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n January 18, the Non-Status Women’s Collective of Montreal organized a press conference at Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute. The speakers, who wore masks to protect their identities, talked about their experiences going through undocumented lives and reiterated their demand that they be “regularized.”

Speaking in French at the conference, one of the members of the collective said that the masks were not just practical. “We are all wearing these masks symbolically, to remind that non-status people are forced into anonymity and clandestinity, which we would like to denounce,” she said.

According to a 2004 report by community healthcare group Access Alliance, non-status individuals are “people who do not have the legal status that would allow them to live permanently in Canada. People can become ‘non-status’ when their refugee claim has been rejected, if they don’t have official identity documents, or because their student visa, visitor’s visa, or work permit has expired.”

While Canada does not collect official statistics on non-status individuals, it is estimated by various organizations, including Access Alliance, that between 50,000 and 200,000 people live in Canada with “less than full legal status.” Some estimates put the number as high as 500,000.

On November 27, the collective delivered a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office in Montreal, outlining the struggles of nonstatus women and asking the Prime Minister to “take a position on the regularization of non-status people in Canada.” According to a collective member present at the press conference, the letter was also emailed to Trudeau and the Ministry of Immigration on December 7.

Receiving no response, the collective sent the letter again on January 3, which has also gone unanswered.

“We who sign this letter are among tens or even hundreds of

Speakers from the Non-Status Women’s Collective of Montreal. thousands of non-status people in Canada. Mr. Trudeau was elected in a Montreal riding where thousands of non-status people live.

But, officially, we don’t exist,” the letter reads.

Addressing the audience, another member of the collective said in French, “We have called you here after having sent a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, who has declared himself to be in favour of the rights of women, children, immigrants, and refugees – which is very positive and encouraging.

However, he has never said anything about us, the non-status.”

“We [...] however, exist. We already live in Canada. We raise our kids here. We work, we contribute to the wealth of this country. Sadly, our lives still remain unbearable and very, very arduous,” she continued.

While non-status individuals pay taxes, work, and contribute to society in other ways, they do not have access to most social rights, including public education and healthcare.

For instance, Quebec law requires that all children have a permanent code (PC) to register for school, but a PC can only be obtained if the child has official documentation. If an exception is made for the child of a non-status parent to go to primary school, parents will often be billed upwards of $5,000 per year, per child. Even so, without a PC the child may still be denied their credentials upon finishing their primary education.

“They are all children. [...] Yet, still, it’s as if a child with a health insurance card is a human being, and the other is not.”

Member of the Non-Status Women’s Collective of Montreal

Cem Ertekin | The McGill Daily One of the members at the press conference explained in French, “Imagine a child who goes to school for five or six years. The moment he starts secondary school, his studies will not be recognized, because he did not have a permanent code.”

Another problem for non-status individuals and their children is that they are not eligible for public health insurance.

“We are well-integrated into society, and you see us every day.

We take the bus, we serve you at restaurants, [...] we do volunteering. [...] Maybe we’re even your friends. But you do not know that, on the inside, we’re afraid of falling sick. Not because we do not like illnesses, but because we cannot go to the hospital,” the member continued.

Another collective member talked about an accident that occurred at her son’s school, which resulted in her son being hospitalized. The member was forced to pay $7,000 in cash for his lifesaving operation.

“Blood was flowing everywhere,

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and there were fractures, really terrible,” she explained in French.

“First, at school, they told me, ‘All right, we’re washing our hands of this, because you do not have a health insurance card.’ I took my son to [the] hospital, with the small amount of money I had with me.”

“They are all children. [...] Yet, still, it’s as if a child with a health insurance card is a human being, and the other is not.”

The speakers also appealed to the Trudeau government’s pledge to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, arguing that the government should not ignore those nonstatus people already in the country.

“With the Syrian refugees, to us that’s a really, really important door that’s opened,” the member said. “It is possible to receive more people [... but in our case] you already have citizens, who are already integrated, who know the country, who are here, who work, who want to live, and who want to stay.”

An earler version of this article was published online.

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January 25, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Students recall experiences with Office for Students with Disabilities

Students at McGill required to divulge diagnoses, despite York case Ellen Cools The McGill Daily

I

n early January Navi Dhanota, a student at York University, won a settlement against the university regarding the need to name and diagnose a specific mental illness in order to receive academic accommodations, among other issues. As a result, York students are no longer required to divulge a diagnosis to receive accommodations. At McGill, however, disclosing a medical diagnosis is still a requirement for such services.

Teri Phillips, Director of the McGill Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), told The Daily in an email that “students are required by the Quebec government to provide documentation that confirms their eligibility for services,” which includes a medical diagnosis.

Dhanota filed a human rights complaint on the basis that denying students accommodations based on their lack of a psychiatric label was not suitable. However, York students will still require an assessment by a licensed doctor to confirm an existing condition before receiving accommodations.

According to the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, mental illnesses have become increasingly common among university students, rising by nearly 70 per cent from 2006 to 2011 at Ontario colleges. In an interview with The Daily, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP University Affairs Chloe Rourke said that the OSD has “seen an enormous increase of students registering at their office, and a large part of that is mental health or mental illness.”

“Students’ rights are violated because often students are [asked] to disclose diagnoses [to professors] in order to get those kind of accommodations.”

Chloe Rourke, SSMU VP University Affairs When it comes to accommodations for mental illness, Rourke said that accommodations decided between individual students and

The entrance of the Office for Students with Disabilities. professors are a large problem.

Some students do not identify mental health issues as a disability and therefore don’t register with the OSD, so “there is a lot of discretion given to the professor and I would argue that is not good practice at all,” she explained.

Some professors may ask students to provide a note from a medical professional with a diagnosis, even though the students are not required to do so by any law or regulation.

“Students’ rights are violated because often students are [asked] to disclose diagnoses [to professors] in order to get those kind of accommodations,” said Rourke, calling the practice “unfair and inappropriate.”

Perspectives on the OSD Jean,* a U2 Mathematics student, told The Daily, “[The] OSD has been more than supportive when it came to accommodating me.” He receives an extra twenty minutes for each hour spent on written assignments because of his sleep disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and writes exams in the OSD offices.

The only issue he encountered “was when a professor gave advice about a specific question to the class during an exam, but failed to notify [the] OSD of what he had said.”

“This lack of communication between professors and OSD staff is alarming, as a student’s grade on an exam can easily be changed by a few letter grades without the

necessary information to write the assessment properly,” he continued.

U2 student Alex* told The Daily that she didn’t feel that the OSD always acted fairly.

“It seems as though I have to advocate for myself and I don’t have a support team with me,” she said. “The OSD itself will not tell professors to grant me spelling forgiveness or grammatical help. [… I have to] explain to each professor why I want it, and they have the right to tell me whether or not they can give it to me.”

Consequently, she said, some professors have not wanted to grant her these accommodations because they thought she was receiving “special treatment.”

Rourke also noted that there is “resistance in a minority of cases of professors […] almost to the point of being prejudiced against [people with] disabilities.”

Despite the accommodations provided to Alex, she said that this does not always put her on an equal level with other students. For instance, in one course with pop quizzes, she “wasn’t given extra time, nor a computer to type on, nor spelling forgiveness.” Additionally, if an in-class test only takes half the class time, the extra time the OSD provides her forces her to miss the rest of her lecture.

Jean agreed, adding, “it becomes harder [to accommodate students] once the needs become specific.

[The] OSD is set in their ways.”

For example, because his sleep

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily disorder means he can’t function as well in the morning, Jean sought an accommodation that would allow him to write exams later in the day, but he was unable to receive it “due to the way [the OSD] structures exam writing.”

Moving forward Rourke emphasized that in the wake of the York settlement, she wants to see McGill have “an interim period where students can receive accommodations without having a medical note because they acknowledge there are lot of access barriers toward getting that documentation.”

She further added that there is a considerable waitlist for students registering at the OSD, and that out-of-province and international students face added difficulties in receiving a diagnosis, such as concerns regarding whether or not their insurance covers the doctor’s visit.

Rourke noted that the OSD was struggling with the increased demand. “I know that the advisors are very overextended and they’ve had to readjust their priorities accordingly,” she said.

Still, Rourke said that “most students [...] are pleased with most of the services the [OSD] offers.”

However, Phillips said that wait times at the OSD typically do not exceed two weeks. She also added that while students work to obtain the necessary documents, “in most cases […] a temporary accommodation plan will be put in place.”

“The restrictive and prescrip-

tive processes that might exist at some post-secondary institutions are not the reality at McGill,” Phillips continued.

“Telling students to go to a writing centre puts a blanket over the whole issue, when in reality there’s a lot of holes.”

Alex,* U2 student

Moving forward, Alex believes OSD advisors should work on keeping up relations with students who do register with the OSD. In her experience, the first advisor she met never followed up with her.

“You might meet with a million students, but you’re still supposed to be that [supporting] person, so you should follow up,” she said.

“If that student feels that they’re not getting the support they need you should make sure to help them. Because telling students to go to a writing centre puts a blanket over the whole issue, when in reality there’s a lot of holes.” *Names have been changed.

News

January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Climate activists demand suspension of pipeline reviews Activists hold Trudeau to his promise of National Energy Board reform Marina Cupido The McGill Daily

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n the morning of January 18, a group of roughly twenty climate activists – including several members of Divest McGill – assembled at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Montreal office to deliver a “people’s injunction.”

The people’s injunction called on the National Energy Board (NEB) to “immediately suspend the ongoing reviews of the TransCanada Energy East and Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipelines [...] until the NEB’s environmental review process is reformed, as promised by Justin Trudeau during his campaign.” The injunction stipulated that this reform would have to include “consideration of climate impacts in alignment with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” improved public consultation, and respect for Indigenous rights and treaties.

The activists were part of the People’s Injunction movement organized by the non-profit organization 350.org. Despite behaving peacefully, they were prevented from approaching Trudeau’s office by two police officers. The group remained in the stairwell of the building for several minutes, while Axtli Viau, vice president of the environment committee of the Conseil central du

Montréal metropolitain, negotiated with the officers. Eventually, as the police remained uncompromising, the activists decided to withdraw to the sidewalk outside.

Speaking in French to those assembled in front of the building, an organizer articulated the activists’ main grievance: “The [Trudeau] government claimed to be resolutely engaged in profound changes to the environmental evaluation process regarding the transport of fossil fuels in Canada, and that includes a reform of the National Energy Board. [...] Why haven’t they taken action?

That’s what we’d like to know.”

Speaking to The Daily, Emma, a student in McGill’s Environment and Development program, said, “We’re here because we live in a so-called democracy, and the Liberal government promised to consult communities about pipelines. The people do not want them. [...] We cannot deal with more increases in temperature because of [fossil fuels], so we’re here to tell Trudeau’s office that he has to keep his promises.”

Viau explained that delivering the people’s injunction was particularly timely, because the NEB would begin reviewing the new TransMountain pipeline the following day, on January 19. “They haven’t [reformed] the process yet, even though they promised that they would, and

Protesters outside Justin Trudeau’s Montreal office. that all ongoing reviews would be [reformed] as well,” he said.

Eventually, an employee of Trudeau’s office came downstairs to speak to those gathered outside and to receive their injunction. Police officers allowed only three activists inside the building’s lobby in order to speak to the employee.

No media representatives were permitted to enter, but Divest McGill member Kristen Perry described what happened inside. “Three of us went in to deliver the actual documents to the staff member that was there. [The staff member] really didn’t make any comments – [they]

Marina Cupido | The McGill Daily

just said ‘interesting, interesting’ as we continued to explain why we were there,” Perry said.

“I was disappointed that they wouldn’t let us speak to them in the actual office,” Perry continued.

“Justin Trudeau always says ‘open government,’ right? And so the fact that they made us go stand outside to do what we wanted to do was not so great, but we had a very clear message, and I think it’s really important that he gets this document.

It’s going to be delivered to him now, and people across the country will be doing similar actions for the People’s Injunction.”

Despite the underwhelming response from Trudeau’s office, Perry explained that she felt positively about the action. “I think it was really inspiring to see a group of community members who were so diverse coming together, because often, especially at McGill, when you organize actions, it’s just […] students. [...] It’s really great to see this network kind of building, and people-power building, to address the issues of climate change and Indigenous rights, and make sure that communities’ voices are really heard at the governmental level.”

Teachers decry budget cuts to public schools at rally

No end in sight to teacher union collective agreement negotiations Xavier Richer Vis News Writer

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he Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) – a Quebec-wide teachers union representing more than 34,000 French-language teachers in Quebec – held a rally on January 16 to protest recent budget cuts to Quebec’s public school system, which have forced some schools to close due to lack of maintenance or funding.

At least a hundred teachers, parents of students, and other supporters gathered in front of the historic Maisonneuve market, and subsequently marched through the streets of the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, stopping by several schools in disrepair, emphasizing what they

claimed were the repercussions of the government’s actions.

Rallying cries from protest leaders could be heard before the march began.

“The failure of the provincial government to protect public schools by not providing for funding is a threat to social progress,” said one speaker in French to the crowd.

Despite a January 15 announcement from Quebec’s Minister of Education François Blais of a new $500 million investment in funding for Quebec’s schools, many teachers at the demonstration agreed that it was not enough.

Several demonstrators carried signs that caricatured various Quebec ministers and the premier.

In addition, the members of the FAE are also dissatisfied with

the collective agreement negotiations happening with the provincial government.

The FAE, which represents one third of Quebec’s teachers, has yet to reach an agreement. Despite this, public sector unions including the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE) and the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT) have been able to reach tentative agreements with the government.

Orlando, an affiliate of the Trotskyist League, one of the many far-left groups that attended the demonstration in solidarity, criticized the current government for its actions.

“We are here to support the teachers who are not happy with the settlement the government has recommended to them because it

doesn’t meet their basic demands,” Orlando told The Daily. “The austerity attacks are not just confined to Quebec; Greece, Britain, South Africa also see a lot of attacks.

There are a lot of lessons to be drawn from here.”

The FAE has accused the Quebec government of neglecting public school teachers, claiming that the government’s austerity measures leave teachers with little support and not enough funding to properly teach their students.

Among the demonstrators was a contingent from McGill, organized by the campus group McGill Against Austerity.

In an interview with The Daily, Adam Mac Kenzie, a member of McGill Against Austerity, explained that the group focuses on “spreading information about aus-

terity and how it affects greater Quebec society.”

“We went to the demonstration to stand in solidarity with the teachers and their continuing struggle against [...] cuts to their salaries, increasing class sizes, decreasing help to special needs students [and] school closures,” Mac Kenzie continued. “This is an issue that affects everyone. Austerity is being felt all over the globe […] and without more pressure tactics, I don’t expect the Quebec government to give in much.”

Speaking to what he thinks the outcome of the negotiations will be, Mac Kenzie said, “I can’t accurately predict what their next move will be, but I think they’re going to continue to play hardball [...] at least until the spring, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Commentary

January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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The 88 annual White Academy Awards th

The biggest awards show in Hollywood has done it again

Inori Roy-Khan Minority Report

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s awards season rolls around once again, this year’s lineup of nominees seems to be suffering from the same issue as last year’s: a significant lack of melanin.

That’s right, for the second year in a row there are no black actors – or any actors of colour for that matter – nominated for the Academy Awards, despite there having been a notable number of films released in the past year starring people of colour. Performances by prominent black actors Idris Elba, Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, and John Boyega have been snubbed this year.

The Oscars have again lived up to the expectations of racism and narrow-mindedness they’ve earned from wary audiences, who are growing increasingly tired of the Academy’s neglect of black actors. In 87 years of Academy awards, less than 4 per cent of acting Oscars have been awarded to black actors; of that number, only one black actress has ever won in the Best Actress category, along with six black actors in the Best Actor category. 98 per cent of producers and writers in the Academy are white, along with 94 per cent of the Academy voters (who decide who’s going to win). In the last ten years, no winners of acting Oscars have been of Latino, Asian, or Indigenous heritage. The Oscars continue to be dominated by whiteness, as does the movie industry as a whole.

Many black actors have become so frustrated with this process of lather, rinse, repeat racism that they have chosen to boycott the Oscars.

Jada Pinkett Smith was the first to advocate for the initiative. “Is it time that people of colour recognize how much power and influence we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?” she said in a video posted on Facebook. “Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are a dignified people, and we are powerful – let’s not forget it.”

Director Spike Lee voiced his disapproval of the Academy on Instagram, captioning a photo of a young Martin Luther King, Jr. with, “How Is It Possible For The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let’s Not Even Get Into The Other Branches. 40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can’t Act?! WTF!!”

David Oyelowo who himself is an Academy member and was a prominent figure in the same discussion on race at last year’s awards

Young Jin Cho | The McGill Daily after his performance in Selma was snubbed said a few days ago, “For twenty opportunities to celebrate actors of colour, actresses of colour, to be missed last year is one thing; for that to happen again this year is unforgivable.”

Oscar nominations are just the tip of the iceberg. As abysmal as representation in front of the camera is, the situation is worse behind the scenes. As of 2013, directors of colour made up only 17 per cent of all Hollywood directors, and writers of colour made up a measly 11 per cent of Hollywood writers – all of this despite people of colour making up about 40 per cent of the U.S. general population. Those numbers, though atrocious to begin with, have been steadily decreasing since then. The problem black actors are up against in Hollywood is twofold: first, it seems that, for the most part, black creators are the only ones willing to create worthwhile opportuni-

ties for black actors; and second, the mainstream opportunities for these black creators are quickly drying up. As many incredibly talented and willing performers of colour as there are in Hollywood, there are almost no opportunities provided by mainstream Hollywood for them to pursue worthwhile roles. Viola Davis, in her acceptance speech at the Emmys last September, said, “The only thing that separates women of colour from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win [...] for roles that are simply not there.”

Indeed, the roles that are offered to black actors by mainstream white directors are most often characterized by their subjugation: roles of slaves, servants, criminals, and other poor, suffering characters, most often frozen in historical narratives that set up black characters as victims, subservient to dominant white characters. These narratives are by far the most lauded among white

Hollywood elites. While these narratives do reflect aspects of American history, they are not the only narratives to which black people can relate or by which they should be represented. Stories of triumph, power, and autonomy of black characters go unrecognized by institutions like the Academy in favour of violent narratives of subjugation. The case of 12 Years a Slave being awarded with an Oscar while Selma was neglected is a perfect example of this perpetuation of marginalizing narratives. Even outside the genre of drama, black actors are often relegated to the role of sidekick. When is the last time mainstream white Hollywood made a romantic comedy or science fiction movie starring black leads?

The root of this refusal to incorporate people of colour into mainstream movies lies in the association of whiteness with the default. When directors and writers come up with movie pitches, their character de-

scriptions do not necessarily call for white actors explicitly – however, during the process of casting, it seems to never register with filmmakers that they could cast an Asian or Latino actor and have the story play out exactly as it would have with a white lead. Because of the socialization of the Western world to view whiteness as the norm, and people of colour as the ‘other,’ diversity continues to be neglected in Hollywood. Further still, when a film does include black actors, it then becomes labeled (and often dismissed) as a ‘black movie’; the same goes for other racial groups.

On the flipside, audiences comprising people of colour do not have the luxury of dismissing movies which lack representation, because right now in Hollywood, every movie is a ‘white movie.’

Hollywood’s racism is becoming increasingly stark in the face of changing audience demographics – people of colour are overtaking white audiences as being the largest consumers of Hollywood media, and it only makes sense that what’s on screen should shift to mirror this change.

In the face of this building criticism, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a black woman herself, released an official statement about the issue. “I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes.”

In the days after Boone’s statement was released, the Academy underwent some changes in policy in an attempt to increase diversity.

Most notably, membership rules have changed to offer more opportunities to younger members of the Hollywood community. The changes made do not guarantee an increase in race and gender diversity – they do not even explicitly address the issue of diversity. That being said, there is the potential for these changes to improve the state of representation in the Academy.

However, as many times as the Academy promises to make amends for its blatant neglect of black actors and other actors of colour, actors and activists alike will only be convinced when the results of diversity measures become visible. It’s about time for filmmakers to realize that even though Hollywood may have started off as a white man’s game, it certainly isn’t anymore.

Minority Report is a column that deconstructs racism through an intersectional lens. Inori RoyKhan can be reached at minorityreport@mcgilldaily.com.

Commentary

January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Gender is not an outlier

How the census erases Canada’s trans and non-binary population Ashley Yu Commentary Writer

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ne of newly elected prime minister Justin Trudeau’s many promises during the election campaign was to reinstate the mandatory long-form census, allowing Statistics Canada to collect more accurate demographic data for policies that better reflect the needs of Canadian people. While this promise was indeed implemented, one of the census’s shortcomings is that it institutionalizes the marginalization of non-binary individuals by prescribing the intersexist and cissexist binary framework of gender, with female and male as the only possible options for people to select on the form.

Non-binary individuals – people whose gender is neither male nor female – already face social discrimination, and the format of the census ratifies their subordinate status by neglecting the importance of data in providing them specific social services.

Human rights groups and research organizations have demonstrated the socioeconomic marginalization of trans and non-binary Canadians, and specific services for them are negatively impacted if there is no federal data. Helen Kennedy, the executive director of the LGBT rights advocacy group Egale Canada, [and] notes in an interview with Radio Canada International that, due to the limited census form, “there could be effects in terms of allocation of health funding, housing, work around education.” Greta Bauer, an associate professor in biostatistics at Western University

who studies LGBT health, puts it more broadly, telling the Montreal Gazette that “we can’t accurately assess inequality for trans people if they’re not actually counted” in the census. Without official numbers, the marginalization of trans people can be swept under the rug that much more easily.

Quinn Nelson, a non-binary student at the University of Calgary, came forward to protest this exclusionary census by writing a letter to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. The chief statistician at Statistics Canada responded to Nelson requesting that they leave the question blank and give reason for omission in the comment section. However, not everyone knows how to respond effectively to inadequate options that the census gender question provides; moreover, leaving it blank is actually an offence under the Statistics Act. This is a confusing and threatening question to people who don’t conform to the gender binary or who are questioning their identities.

A solution to the exclusion of a historically subjugated population is not something for which we should have to wait until the next census, which won’t be conducted until 2021. Crucial information will be lost in these five years, which will have a direct impact on the livelihoods of non-binary and trans Canadians.

For example, LGBTQ youth are more than twice as likely as other Canadian youth to be homeless.

Yet, 1 in 3 trans youth will be turned away from a homeless shelter on the basis of their gender. Further, trans people, particularly trans

Marc Cataford | The McGill Daily youth, are also among the most vulnerable to mental health issues like social anxiety, depression, and suicide. Data on issues like these and other socioeconomic discrepancies largely comes from the hard work of advocacy groups. As the census fails to accurately account for nonbinary and trans Canadians, it also fails to provide data that could help the government implement more meaningful, effective services to improve the situation of trans and non-binary people in Canada.

When the census is sent to 2.9 million Canadian households in May, the message that trans and non-binary individuals are outliers in a population will serve to reinforce their marginalization with respect to access to homeless shelters, jobs, and mental health services. The othering of this population serves as a reminder that its well-being is not a priority for the government.

It’s too late for us to lobby Trudeau’s government to count

in non-binary and trans Canadians, so we are condemned to wait five more years to be able to most effectively seek justice for a marginalized citizenry. We are losing valuable information about how non-binary and trans people fare as a population, which is information we need in order to understand how far we have to go as a society.

Ashley Yu is a U0 Arts and Science student. To contact her, email ashly.yu@mail.mcgill.ca

Letters

Submit your own: letters@mcgilldaily.com

Librarians and faculty urge divestment On January 19, McGill Faculty and Librarians for Divestment submitted a longer version of this open letter to McGill’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR).

McGill Faculty and Librarians for Divestment strongly encourages CAMSR to issue preliminary findings on Divest McGill’s petition concerning divestment of McGill’s endowment fund from the fossil fuel industry prior to completing its final report on the matter.

A preliminary report indicating CAMSR’s provisional findings would allow interested parties and McGill experts on divestment, fossil fuels, and climate justice to make a substantial contribution to the outcome of

CAMSR’s deliberations. This would both strengthen CAMSR’s final report and lend greater transparency and accountability to the determination of this important matter.

A preliminary report aimed at facilitating informed, widespread consultation would be consistent with the approach taken recently by other Canadian universities. On December 14, 2015, the Ad hoc Committee of Senate on Fossil Fuel Divestment at Dalhousie University issued a preliminary report, noting that “the committee is circulating this preliminary version in order to stimulate further discussion and feedback from the university community before preparing its final report.”

Similarly, on December 15, 2015, the President’s Advisory Committee on Divestment from Fossil Fuels at the University of Toron-

to issued its report, noting that it had been preceded by a process of open consultation, which included a “call for submissions to the entire University community” and in which “197 members of the University of Toronto community, including representatives from eight student groups and the Faculty Association, contributed to the process and informed the Committee’s deliberations.”

The extent of CAMSR’s consultations on the Divest McGill petition is unknown to the campus community, as these have been selective and conducted on camera. The McGill community is replete with expertise on issues related to the petition, and has demonstrated growing concern over this matter, as evidenced by the broad and growing base of student and alumni support for Divest

McGill’s petition and recent votes of overwhelming support by the Faculty of Arts and the McGill School for the Environment.

The campus community is engaged in this issue, prepared to contribute its expertise, and expectant of an opportunity to express its interests. A preliminary report setting out CAMSR’s provisional findings in a concrete manner, and inviting the campus community to share its views, would facilitate this. It would also make for a level of transparency and accountability that would lend credibility to the decision it has fallen to CAMSR to make on behalf of the entire campus community.

—McGill Faculty and Librarians for Divestment

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Commentary

January 25, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Evaluating philanthropy at McGill The importance of choosing the right cause

Johnstuart Winchell Commentary Writer

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he Make-A-Wish Foundation estimates that as of 2012, the average cost of making a dying child’s wish come true runs somewhere around $7,500. At the same time, it is estimated that the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF) saves a human life for every $2,840 donated. Based on these numbers, choosing between these two charities is akin to having to choose between making one terminally ill child’s wish come true and saving the lives of two children. I think the right choice is somewhat clear.

For the most part, philanthropic efforts at McGill currently do not reflect the reality that charities differ vastly in their impact.

As such, McGill organizations that give to charity could use a revamp in the way that they assess their work. Most often, giving on campus is evaluated based on the number of dollars donated. This approach is flawed, because what matters in philanthropy is not the amount of money you contribute, but the amount of good you accomplish with your donation.

The most important reason that we should evaluate our donations in terms of their impact is also the most obvious one: not doing so prevents us from doing our best.

Sadly, very few social programs have been rigorously evaluated for effectiveness, and the results of the evaluations that have taken place have not been promising. David Anderson, vice president of the former Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, estimates that of those rigorously evaluated programs that the organization has reviewed, around three-quarters have negligible or even negative effects on their beneficiaries.

By neglecting to evaluate the impacts of our contributions, we do not have the ability to maximize or even improve the outcomes of our work. Given the amount of time and energy that goes into philanthropic fundraising on campus, it is frankly wasteful not to take the final step of thoughtfully selecting a cause.

If McGill groups want others to get the most out of their fundraising, which can reach $40,000 per event, they should consider focusing on vetted causes. If you are part of an organization that gives to charity, or you know someone who is, taking ten minutes to tell them about the world’s most effective causes could

Saima Desai | The McGill Daily affect thousands of lives. That is what, for example, McGill student Valentine Granet did for the Global Food Security Club, who ended up protecting 880 children from intestinal parasites with the

One common response to this sort of analysis is that we ought not to treat people as statistics, that we ought not to do math to save lives. While I can sympathize with this sentiment, I

Given the amount of time and energy that goes into philanthropic fundraising on campus, it is frankly wasteful not to take the final step of thoughtfully selecting a cause. $440 it raised for the Deworm the World charity from its Colour Run in October.

One way to find such effective causes is through GiveWell, a nonprofit charity evaluator that is part of the global community of people who share this philosophy, known as “effective altruism.” It has four recommended charities, each of which is evidence-backed, cost-effective, and capable of using more funding effectively. These charities work toward causes such as providing insecticide-treated bed nets to protect people from malaria or treating parasitic infections in school children.

also think that those whose lives are at risk would rather we do the math and save more lives as opposed to foregoing the math and choosing what feels good to us.

Another potential critique of GiveWell charities is that they are active in poorer countries, where Western aid often does more harm than good. While this is true, this critique is difficult to apply to these charities, due to the simplicity and direct benefits of the interventions they perform. Furthermore, GiveWell engages in an intensive review and follow-up process with its recommended charities, and

evaluates potential negative consequences of their actions.

This is not to say that charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation or Right to Play, which aims to help children build life skills through sports and games, are not great causes – they are. Make-AWish, for instance, gives joy and creates meaningful experiences not only for terminally ill children, but also for the families who will carry with them memories of their child’s wish coming true for the rest of their lives. That being said, we should be cognizant of the fact that each dollar donated to one cause is a dollar that could have gone to another. In this particular case, for instance, we should be willing to acknowledge that the most popular wish of dying children is likely the wish not to die, and we can make twice as many of those wishes come true by giving to AMF instead of Make-A-Wish.

Should Make-A-Wish then cease to exist? The answer is unclear. Charlie Bresler, the executive director of The Life You Can Save, an outreach organization that promotes effective philanthropy, likes to make the distinction between associative and optimal giving. Associative giving

is giving based on where you live, whom you know, or which causes are of emotional significance to you. Make-A-Wish seems to fall under the category of associative giving. Optimal giving, on the other hand, is based on which causes do the most good. There are many good reasons to participate in associative giving, among them its ability to strengthen empathy and build community.

But if we are giving strictly for the sake of those in need, we should be giving optimally.

The point of this article is not to condemn Make-A-Wish.

Indeed, I was only able to use the organization as an example because it was transparent enough to disclose the cost-effectiveness of its work. Instead, the point is to get McGill organizations to think about giving more effectively. If we honestly think that all human lives are of equal value, then we shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to help as many as possible.

Johnstuart Winchell is the co-founder and co-president of Effective Altruists at McGill. To contact him, email johnstuart. winchell@mail.mcgill.ca.

Sci+Tech

January 25, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

A movement toward individualized vaccines

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X chromosomes kick your immune system into gear

Sarah Meghan Mah | The McGill Daily Priscilla Wang Sci+Tech Writer

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he colder season seems to be synonymous with vaccine season, year after year; as we layer up for winter, recommendations for flu shots seem to pop up everywhere. Despite this apparent correlation, vaccines are not, in fact, seasonal – they are offered year-round for a plethora of diseases. In order to stay as healthy as possible, it is important to understand vaccines, and it is not as simple as you may think: the effects of vaccines vary based on the assigned sex of each respective recipient.

A vaccine is a biological substance that either closely resembles a pathogen or is a weakened, attenuated form of a microbe.

This substance is introduced to the body, traditionally with a needle, leading to an attack on the vaccine by the immune system.

The reason this works is because memory B cells in the immune system keep a record of this administered “infection.” Should the actual microorganism, be it a bacteria or virus, infect that person, their body is well equipped and ready to deal with the threat.

Vaccines that work in this way are called prophylactic vaccines, intended for preventative measures against future infections. A second type of vaccine, called a therapeutic vaccine, is used to treat diseases currently affecting the body. No matter the type, vaccines work in tandem with the immune system to rid the body of dangerous disease-causing pathogens.

That the effects of vaccinations differ between sexes was first discovered in a study at Johns Hopkins University in late 2014. Although sex is assigned at birth based on visible characteristics that are a result of the genetic makeup of a person, there are also immunological, hormonal, and genetic determinants when it comes to the assignment. Immunologically, people who are assigned female at birth, who commonly have two X chromosomes, have a higher number of cytokines – cells that act as the “weapons” of the immune system.

Cytokines carry out immunological functions against pathogens and allow the body to recover.

Hormonal differences in people also play a role. Estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone are the dominant hormones found

in people assigned male at birth, who commonly have XY chromosomes, and negatively affect the function of immune cells. It has been found that testosterone suppresses pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion by macrophages, an important type of immune cell that mediates the elimination of pathogens. In contrast, estrogen is dominant in assigned females and interacts with immune cells through estrogen receptors on cell surfaces to enhance cell function.

Many immune-related genes such as interleukins, cytokines, and receptors are located on the X chromosome, leading to the final point of genetic determinants of vaccine proficiency.

Therefore, there are less genes in assigned males that are important for immune responses. This double dosage of the X chromosome explains why vaccinations will have a greater variation of effects for those assigned female at birth, both positively and negatively. The biological characteristics of those with XX chromosomes cause them to have nearly twice the antibody response, and stronger cell-mediated immunity following the vaccination.

However, they also experience

worse reactions following the injection, such as fever, pain and inflammation, when compared to those with XY chromosomes.

It is important to understand vaccines...the effects of vaccines vary based on the assigned sex of each respective recipient.

The findings of the John Hopkins study suggest that the design of vaccines should be strategically sex-specific to reduce side effects in assigned females and increase immune responses in assigned males by altering dosages to optimize its effects. These findings also raise important questions about the effects of vaccinations on intersex or trans individuals, who may have had surgery and or hormonal treatments. This could raise problems when measuring doses based on sex, when the med-

ically recorded assigned sex of the person may not reflect the hormonal or physical changes after birth. It would be very difficult to predict the optimal dosage of various vaccines to achieve high levels of immunity and low levels of adverse side effects for each case, trans and interex people especially. It is especially tricky to determine the effects of immunological and hormonal differences in these individuals after they have undergone changes to their body. Observational studies of side effects are also as or more difficult to observe for intersex and trans individuals, and pose as another hurdle in optimizing individualized vaccinations. Further studies are essential for the safety of vaccinations and the health of all individuals. In order to be most effective, doctors should take into account an individualized approach for vaccine administration and research.

The standards of administered drugs and vaccinations are rapidly changing for the better, and individualized medicine is becoming a promising field in healthcare and therapeutics.

Soon, a quick trip to your local drugstore to get a universal flu shot won’t be so simple.

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Sci+Tech

January 25, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Omega-3s and your body Fatty acids an important part of human health

Igor Zlobline Sci+Tech Writer

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ver since the 1980s, journal articles have have been proposing that fatty acids (FAs), such as omega-3s, may be beneficial for your brain, especially in regards to proper development of the brain. While there are many types of FAs, the ones most commonly discussed in mainstream news are the omega-3 polyunsaturated FAs, which are important largely because they contain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). One of the most important roles omega-3s play is in decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease by protecting endothelial cells, which line the interior surface of blood vessels. They also enhance oxygen flow within the heart, providing the heart with an increased ability to deliver blood. While FAs are clearly important, their full extent is still being uncovered.

Omega-3s are considered “essential” because mammals cannot readily create them. Despite this, approximately a third of the membrane surrounding neuron cells in the brain are actually made up of DHA. While this makes it unsurprising that introducing DHA might influence the neuronal plasma membrane (the lipid membrane that surrounds every

neuron), there is some evidence to suggest that DHA can increase membrane fluidity, which facilitates cell function. The exact downstream effects of this have yet to be shown experimentally, but this is a growing area of interest in neuroscience, and its importance is manyfold: omega-3s are known to positively influence a myriad of disorders, such as cholesterol levels, cardiac arrhythmias, inflammation, development of diabetes, and many types of cancers. The exact cell signalling mechanisms in neurons or other cells for these benefits are not yet clear, but research is ongoing, and typically very positive.

Additionally, it has been noted that unless someone takes an extremely large dose of omega-3s, there are very few side effects.

How can I get my hands on some?

Starting in the 1950s, fish oil has become synonymous with omega-3, because wild fish and fish oil do contain the FA. However, fish that are grown on farms (referred to as “cultured”) actually contain less omega3s as compared to their wild counterparts, due to differences in their diets, with the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 (another FA that the human body cannot produce) two to three times lower in cultured fish. The question is, why are the FAs found

in high levels in “fatty” fish such as salmon essential to mammals? The answer comes from the oft-forgotten chloroplasts and phytoplankton – the marine algae that are fishes’ source of omega-3s. Scientists have created new supplemental forms of omega-3s sources from algae, suitable for intake by vegetarians and vegans through these chloroplasts and phytoplankton.

How do omega-3’s affect me?

Along with regular exercise, regulating our diet is key in helping to mitigate diseases and disorders in our bodies. Lower intake of omega-3s, and therefore lack of their beneficial effects, may be putting stress on the individual and therefore the healthcare system.

We spend a vast majority of healthcare dollars on treating patients, but omega-3 FAs can keep diseases from emerging in the first place.

Even with some research saying otherwise, the overwhelming message from much of the research is that omega-3s are beneficial.

Historically, humans seem to have consumed a proportionate amount (one to one) of omega-6 and omega-3 FAs. However, the typical modern ‘Western food’ may have a ratio as high as 20 to 1 of omega-6s intake as compared to omega-3s, and this has been linked to cardiovascular dysfunction, high

Amanda Fiore | Illustrator levels of inflammation, and prostate cancer. An article published in Scientific Reports in June 2015 has demonstrated that elevating omega-3 FA levels in mice can help improve the profile of their stomach microbiome, as well as facilitate the anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3s. Another interesting aspect of omega-3s is that they have the possibility of being used synergistically (at the same time) as standard chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer. For example, when combined with the drug Taxol, DHA increased the drug’s chemotherapeutic potency (activ-

ity of the drug per amount given) by up to 13-fold. Similarly, DHA can work together with the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin against breast cancer cells.

It is quickly becoming clear that these fats are an essential ingredient to human health, and are a great addition to our toolbox in the fight against deadly diseases such as those afflicting the heart and cancer. As research continues, we’ll begin to uncover to complete role of omega-3s and other fatty acids in health, which will have large influences on medicine in future.

Super solar cells

Inefficiency of green energy aided through cesium Louis Warnock Sci+Tech Writer

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he search for green energy has steadily been gaining traction in the past years.

A research group from Oxford University, lead by physicist Henry Snaith, has recently discovered that adding cesium as an absorption material in solar cells of the calcium titanate mineral perovskite can improve the performance of the photovoltaics – the method by which semiconducting materials convert solar energy into a direct electrical current. The goal of much of today’s solar energy research is to solve the problem of inefficiency with respect to the limited solar spectrum absorption range of the cells, which prevent solar cells from utilizing the full potential of solar energy. While much research is being conducted to find new materials and innovative ways to increase the efficiency of the cells, efforts are also directed toward refining the current standards: silicon and perovskite cells. Snaith’s group found that combining the two

together by replacing some of the ions in the material’s structure with cesium ions could increase the efficiency by 25 per cent when compared to current solar panels.

Although this technology has yet to be marketed, and the scientists are still figuring out what sort of life expectancy we should expect from these cells, this tandem – a combination of the benefits of silicon and perovskite – could very well help overcome the obstacles provided by the current narrow solar spectrum range.

Affordable perovskite solar cells are quickly gaining ground, but they are sensitive to environmental factors, such as moisture, air, heat or – yes, strangely enough – too much sunlight, which reduces the panels’ efficiency and lifespan. The inclusion of cesium provides some stability for the solar cell against these forces of nature.

“This is really a breakthrough for the field,” says Michael Graetzel, a chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, although the life expectancy of these perovskite solar cells is still uncertain.

Six years ago, a group of Japanese researchers developed the first perovskite solar cell, which converted 3.8 per cent of sunlight energy into electricity. Since then, perovskites have come a long way. Only a month ago, South Korean researchers at the Materials Research Society meeting attained an efficiency of 21.7 per cent for perovskite cells, giving silicon cells, which convert 25 per cent of solar energy into electricity, a run for their money.

Presently, no other photovoltaic technology has developed at such a quick rate. If the predictions of Moore’s Law on the exponential growth of technology – essentially doubling every two years – stays true in the years to come, who knows how efficient solar cells will be in, say, ten years.

Silicon cells and perovskite cells each absorb sunlight for a specific range of wavelengths.

This is because the amount of extra energy required to vibrate an electron and allow it to travel across the material is different for both cells – this is known as the band gap. Perovskites are characterized by a band gap of 1.5

electronvolt (eV), absorbing blue photons; conversely, silicon cells absorb larger wavelengths, such as red photons, due to their lower band gap (1.1 eV). When both are combined in a tandem cell, the solar panel captures more of the solar spectrum, allowing more energy to be harvested. Snaith’s team is attempting to broaden this range even further by substituting some of the iodine with bromine. This increases the band gap of perovskites so that it may absorb more blue light; however, by increasing the band gap the cell also becomes more susceptible to light and heat.

Snaith estimates that these tandem cells should sooner or later surpass 30 per cent efficiency. Gallium arsenide cells are, at the moment, the only solar cells that have exceeded 30 per cent efficiency, but they will likely never be commercialized, as they are quite expensive to produce.

Cesium-altered perovskite, on the other hand, are built of relatively cheap materials, such as lead and iodine, in a layered crystalline structure with a simple organic compound – either methyl ammo-

nium or formamidinium. The fact that no high-temperature apparatus nor clean room facility is required to design these cells makes them even more attractive.

Naturally, as solar panels become more energy efficient, they will be an ever better alternative to utility companies for average consumers and, all in all, a wiser investment. For manufacturers, the barrier posed by the cost of materials and assembly should become smaller, allowing mass production to become more feasible. The moment at which a solar energy source can generate power at a levelized cost of electricity which is no higher than the price of power from an electrical grid, called grid parity, has already been reached in several Western European countries and Latin American countries, such as Chile and Argentina. A number of states in the U.S. are on the verge of doing so as well. This could be the birth of a new age of energy, one that no longer eats at the unsustainable resources of the earth and preserves the integrity of the environment for future generations.

Sports

January 25, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

15

Lifting gender norms off our shoulders Women’s athletic choices should not be judged according to beauty standards

Mila Ghorayeb Sports Writer

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or me, like for any feminist critical of gender roles, getting into lifting was an experience both personal and somewhat political. It felt empowering to me as a woman to drop excessive cardio in favour of strength. I had grown to resent the ‘cardio culture’ that seemed almost imposed on women: a woman should be restricting her calories, running every day to decrease the space that she occupies, and working to become petite and delicate like a woman should be. I started eating more, getting stronger, and encouraging other women to do the same, thinking: “Why don’t all girls reject this fear of lifting being manly and making them bulky, and just jump in?” But it’s not that simple, since this fear is an effect of compulsory gender norms.

Any girl who lifts can show you whom they follow on Instagram, where the hashtags #fitgirls or #girlswholift will produce endless posts featuring fit women, sometimes half-naked and hypersexualized, captioned, “Ladies, put those two-pound dumbbells down and start real lifting! Don’t be afraid, you won’t get bulky!” The hashtag #squats exhibits even more sexualized booty pictures that turn lifting into just another aesthetic imposition on women, rather than a means of empowerment and physical well-being.

I don’t doubt that most of these women mean well – I have certainly felt the urge myself to spread the barbell gospel and inform all my female friends about how powerlifting changed my life. However, while I recognize that lifting weights does have an aesthetic component, I have a few criticisms of the mentality displayed through those hashtags, and of the way we approach the relationship between women and sports in general.

While women might indeed be afraid to lift for fear of becoming bulky, this is an individual instance of a much deeper social problem, namely, the problem of the imposition of femininity on women. A feminine woman is petite, takes up little space, and is passive rather than assertive and dominant. To become smaller, women are expected to exercise through cardio and restrict their

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily eating, in the hope of fitting a narrow image of a ‘beautiful’ body.

Meanwhile, men are to eat as much as they can, unleash their strength and dominance, and become bigger and stronger.

Encouraging women to lift should not be about encouraging them to be sexualized in a different way; it needs to be approached as an act of athletics, and not simply aesthetics.

There are women who feel confident enough to deviate from gender roles; some people over-

come the pressure of gender roles more easily than others. However, when a woman is socialized to behave in a particular way and internalizes these patterns of behaviour as something she must conform to, it is very difficult to one day step off the treadmill and into the male-dominated weights section.

The treadmill makes her feel less insecure about the body fat she believes to be excessive, while the weights section can be intimidating and may seem too unfeminine, regardless of what other ‘fit girls’ try to tell her.

Although the rising popularity of lifting among women can help trump these internalized behaviours and dispositions, it can also reinforce them. Looking at these hypersexualized women doing photoshoots in the squat rack halfnaked, a woman may wish to replicate their newly fashionable curves and defined, toned bodies. Yet, she might well remain intimidated, partially because women lifting is only recently socially acceptable, but also because, as it grows in popularity, weightlifting is creating

another unattainable beauty standard for women. Now, it’s okay if women lift, but they still can’t really be bulky. Larger glutes from squats and deadlifts aren’t the same thing as the bulk that repulses men and scares women. ‘Girls who lift’ are fine when they are ‘booty-builders’ and bikini-clad fitness models with moderately small frames, but they become “gross” if they are heavier, singlet-wearing powerlifters who grunt, slap their thick thighs, and hype themselves into dominating a difficult weight. In other words, it’s okay for a woman to lift if compulsory femininity firmly keeps its grasp on her, finding a way to objectify and sexualize the woman rather than allowing her to be an active subject, to act upon something, to unleash her strength, and to claim her dominance and space.

Encouraging women to lift should not be about encouraging them to be sexualized in a different way; it needs to be approached as an act of athletics, and not simply aesthetics.

I’m not saying that lifting will or should necessarily make a woman bulky. Different training styles,

diets, and genetics produce different results, and women’s bodies should not be thought of as something put into a given athletic process for one narrow, specific result.

I am, however, challenging the notion that getting bulky is somehow a bad thing, and propose to retire the saying, “don’t be afraid to lift, you won’t get bulky!” It just feeds into gender conformity. So what if a woman is bulky?

Sport allows women to act upon something rather than be acted upon, and can be liberating for them, but this is not the case if they are enticed into it through the same structures that oppress them and if they are pressured once again to fit into an unattainable mould.

Women’s bodies are diverse, and should not be subjected to a narrow spectrum where bulkiness is shamed or forbidden – and neither should they be shamed for behaving in accordance with the roles imposed on them. Instead, women and their athletic choices, whatever they may be, should be respected and free from unwarranted and counterproductive scrutiny.

Keep the ball rolling.

The Daily is looking for Sports writers and a Sports editor. Interested? Email us at sports@mcgilldaily.com.

Culture

January 25, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Home and the rules of the game

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Nostalgia, nationhood, and shuttlecocks at Concordia exhibit Harrison Brewer Culture Writer

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he mysterious title of Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts (FOFA) gallery’s newest exhibit “The Echo Game” is explored through an eclectic range of media.

The symbol of an echo can embody a reverberation, a reflection, an imitation, and even a replica. Combined with a game, which denotes humour and absurdity, an echo takes on a playful role of repetition and rhythm, referencing one art through the simulacrum of another.

Upon entering the gallery, a three-photograph series of bare and wild landscapes by Stephen Brace hit you with their stark beauty. The artist ensnares a nostalgic feeling of home, using his works to wrestle with his homesickness for Newfoundland. These scenes strike a feral rusticity that is somewhat reminiscent of cold English moors

The Echo Game.

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily

and Scottish highlands. Among these cold landscapes stands a small nude model, a lone figure in the middle of the untouched land, absorbed into the scenery. The symbiosis of nude body and nature creates a discourse on identity and

landscape, and for Brace, the echo of his homeland.

Similar in context to Brace’s ode to Newfoundland is Annika Steimle and Rihab Essayh’s representation of home. Their art echoes the representation of home by posing mean-

ingful questions of where one finds refuge: in the place where they were born, where they live today or somewhere else? Formed out of tarlatan, a ghostly silhouette of a house hangs suspended in the air. Much like a fragment of memory, the installation is not fixed. This commentary of the mutable idea of home leaves the viewer pondering the concepts of nationhood and ethnicity.

In contrast to the two intensely emotive and personal pieces on home, a piece by Terrance Richard strikes the beholder with a humourous depiction of sport taken out of a competitive athletic environment. Two inkjet prints depict a football goal and a soccer field populated with players, and a sculpture of a badminton net emerges from the wall next to it. Titled Rule Play, Richard’s work seeks to deconstruct the norms of sport and “play” with the meanings in a cheeky double entendre.

Social codes dictate that we are supposed to compete while in the

playing field, but the placement of the net attached to the wall prevents this interpretation and the viewer is left bewildered, gazing at half of the badminton net. Richard’s artwork takes the associations of sport out of the usual athletic context and plays tricks on the traditional tropes of black-and-white striped referee uniform in order to challenge the conventions that normally shape our perception of the sport culture.

“The Echo Game” is an altogether beautiful compilation of personal, emotional, and material representations of the games we can play with echoes as well as the echoes of games we used to play. Both moving and humourous, glib and ponderous, the exhibition is truly a showcase of some of the great talent that Concordia has to offer.

“The Echo Game” runs at Concordia’s FOFA gallery until February 14.

The Daily Reviews

Majical Cloudz’s Wait & See and Cage the Elephant’s Tell Me I’m Pretty Rosie Long Decter The McGill Daily

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ajical Cloudz surprised fans this month with a brand new EP, Wait & See, just a few months after the release of their acclaimed LP Are You Alone?

Devon Welsh, half of the Montreal duo, explained that the five tracks on Wait & See, though recorded in the same sessions as Are You Alone?, felt out of place amid the rest of that LP. And it’s easy to see what Welsh means.

Are You Alone? was perhaps one of 2015’s most moving and emotive albums; it only takes the first 30 seconds of the single “Downtown”

Mia-Kate Messer Culture Writer

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age the Elephant’s latest album, Tell Me I’m Pretty, is an anthem to the cynical view on life we tend to pride ourselves on in an age where self-importance is measured by the number of problems on our plate. With songs that carry the influential sounds of the British Invasion for a whimsical, psychedelic tone, the American rock band’s fourth album is one to accompany a California coast trip, or at least the daydream of one.

Right from the start of the album, the sixties-esque intro to “Cry Baby” echoes the age of the Los Angeles classic rock culture: turn on, tune in, drop out. Cage has a whirlwind-like feel, and the vocals of lead singer Matt Shultz seem distant, as if originating from a fuzzy megaphone. There is no lack of crispness, however, and the fuzziness does not take from quality, but lends to the tone.

before you want to cry. The pairing of Welsh’s low, resonant voice and Matthew Otto’s immersive synths have always created an intensity in Majical Cloudz’s music, but on Are You Alone? it’s almost a subtle power. It washes over you and calms you down while also punching you in the stomach as Welsh sings of new love, trust, depression, and death.

On Wait & See, much of that subtlety is gone. Though the lyrical subject matter mainly remains the same, several of the tracks have a kind of urgency that is absent from the overwhelming wistfulness in the previous LP. This is largely to do with the heavy bass that underlines

several tracks, a sharp contrast from the sonic range that takes Majical Cloudz’s sound from intense to dramatic in last year’s LP. The added bass is interesting, but at times overblown, particularly on the title track “Wait & See,” which is weighed down by its own heaviness. It works better in “Heaven,” an unusually fast-paced track for Majical Cloudz that makes you want to both dance and sleep, as Welsh sings in hypnotic repetition, “When we’re dead, dead, dead, dead, we will dance, dance, dance, dance.”

This is the kind of morbid poetry that Majical Cloudz does best.

With the possible exception of “Heaven,” though, there’s no standout track on Wait & See – nothing

The lyrics vacillate between nonchalant fun – “we’ll stay up waiting for the sun to shine” – and angsty frustration – “push back from my heart, wish we go back to the start.”

These contrasting tones refer back to the sixties and seventies, drawing on a musical era that included revolutionary, politically charged lyrics and the glammed-out dance tracks of Bowie and Queen. Between melody, lyrics, and influence, Cage creates an album with enough mystery to allow for multiple interpretations.

Tell Me I’m Pretty also has the advantage of being produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who has helped release a variety of albums, such as Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey, and the same hints of far off, strung out guitar chords of Del Rey’s album are prevalent here. Auerbach gives songs an entire universe for the sound waves to disperse into – this comes through best in “Too Late to Say Goodbye,” painted with deep, echoing

strokes of guitar chords that vibrate to their full potential. Even the lyrics are coated with intense yearning.

The album steers clear of cliche, melancholic songs. Instead, it takes a rock and roll, head-heldhigh approach to negativity. The most relatable track, “How Are You True,” is laced with waves of artificial guitar harmonics and acoustics.

Its title seems ironic, since we rarely tend to answer “how are you?” with the truth – a sad reality mimicked by the song. The acoustics are serenade-like, as if Shultz is sitting on a stool singing directly to you, and the technological falsetto in the vocals sounds like the shakiness of a sincere cry.

Tell Me I’m Pretty is a traveling sound machine, one that does not disregard our present-day worries. It is an album, and band, that uniquely achieves a new age interpretation of one of the most iconic eras of music.

that gets you in the gut or sends your mind wandering. That said, it’s refreshing to hear variations on the melancholy synth sound that Majical Cloudz had perfected on Are You Alone? – there’s even some-

thing that sounds like a piano in the final track! It may not be particularly memorable, but Wait & See has some lovely, dark moments, making it a fitting release for the bleak white winter.

Culture

January 25, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

17

Supportive rock anthems and deep melodies Rent teaches strength to student community

Jordan Gowling Culture Writer

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f there is one thing to take away from the musical Rent, it’s the power and importance of love and friendship in whatever difficulties you may face.

The story, born exactly twenty years ago, follows the lives of eight eclectic characters set against the backdrop of the 1980s HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society (AUTS)’s production of Rent encompasses not only an impeccable soundtrack loaded with rock anthems and beautiful harmonies, but also carries on the show’s tradition of youthful and idealistic characters, sharing difficult and timeless experiences with sexual expression, relationships, drugs, and homelessness.

Set in the East Village of New York City, the story follows Mark Cohen, an impoverished filmmaker and the narrator of the show, who acts both as an observer and a fully participating character. Cohen attempts to capture the events of the eighties in New York, including the struggles seven of his friends are facing due to the HIV/AIDS outbreak. These events include an unorthodox protest, a drag queen murdering a dog, and Cohen’s roommate Roger continuously attempting to write his song to no avail. This is only a taste of what lies in store in Rent, and for all of its comedy, there is just as much heartbreak.

This dichotomy is perhaps what makes this musical so enduring and universal.

The musical’s director, Daniel Austin-Boyd, explains this universality by applying it to the McGill community. “I think it’s just really relevant to a student population. [...] A number of issues dealt with in Rent [...] you see [...] every day: issues of sexuality, of poverty, issues of disease, isolation, and community. All these things are things students deal with,” the director shared in an interview with the Daily.

Austin-Boyd further added, “These people [in the cast] are the age roughly that their [characters are] at. So [the cast] can really connect to the characters and produce a better performance.”

There were some impressive technical and aesthetic aspects to AUTS’s show. East Village New York during the 1980s can be difficult to depict in just one setting, but with the graffiti walls and second-level balconies accessed by ladders and backlit windows, set designer Sarah

Denis grasps the nuances of the neighbourhood and maximize the space for the performers. The decision to situate the musical band beside the set is also essential to the overall relaxed, free spirited vibe.

As for the stand-out performers, they include Sophie Doyle’s portrayal of Maureen Johnston, a bisexual woman who loves to rave against “the establishment” in whatever forms it may come.

Doyle exudes such ease, vocal strength, and timing that it’s hard to peel eyes away from this charismatic character. Another impressive performance comes from Zachary Sykes as Tom Collins, a queer professor at New York University whose revolutionist and anarchist political affiliations are clashed against his romanticized sensibilities.

Sykes’s performance balances the emotional depth and strength that accompanies the character, while demonstrating impressive vocal capabilities.

It is, however, the overall ensemble cast that is at the apex of what makes the performance so enjoyable, with the musical‘s theme of community lying at the core of it. The acting is full of passion and energy, and in every musical number the cast falls into the show’s impressive choreography with grace and emotional depth.

The only sore point of the show is the choreography for the musical number “Seasons of Love,” where too many complex lifts and twists are put into the number to portray the emotional intensity of the music. A more subdued form of choreography would have captured the rawness much better for such an iconic song.

It seems that the essence of Rent is to recognize that in any context, regardless of means or circumstance, one can empathize and identify with these characters and the conflicts they face in a meaningful way. Their trials and tribulations, intensified by the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS crisis, are overcome by fighting isolation and seeking strength in a friendly circle. In some ways, this method is never truer than in being a student at McGill. AUTS’s cast of Rent does an excellent job of bringing the idea to the forefront and letting students know they are not alone.

AUTS’s Rent runs this week from January 28 to January 30 in Moyse Hall. Tickets are $15 for students and seniors, and $20 for general admissions.

Matthew Schilling | Photographer

Musical Rent.

Coming soon at the Phi Centre Jan.

27

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry Mary Dore

Films

Jan.

29

Films

Much Loved

Jan.

30

Films

La Academia De Las Musas

Nabil Ayouch

18

Jan.

José Luis Guerin

Installations

—

Mar.

23

Shows

Mar.

31

Bombino Tuareg blues guitarist

Nabil Ayouch

Mar.

31

Shows

Virtual Reality Garden 4 experiences surrounding 21st century challenges Free

Phi Centre—407 Saint-Pierre Street, Old Montreal—phi-centre.com

Kiasmos Icelandic experimental techno duo

Square-Victoria—OACI

Editorial

January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

18

Winter 2016 SSMU special referendum endorsements Although the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) membership fee has remained constant (when adjusted for inflation) since 2007, SSMU has grown at a rate far exceeding the increase in student enrolment.

Service provision and support for student groups have increased, while the number of SSMU clubs has more than doubled since 2005. This expansion has not only resulted in financial strain, but has also put significant pressure on the the SSMU executive in recent years. With the goal of addressing these problems, SSMU is running two questions in a special referendum taking place from January 27 to 29.

Increase of the SSMU membership fee – YES

Restructuring of executive portfolios – YES

The $5.50 per semester increase in the membership fee would address SSMU’s current budgetary constraints, which have led to insufficient funding for building maintenance and space improvements. In addition, the fee increase comes with clear benefits for students: increased funding for mental health initiatives and student space improvements, additional and better-paid student staff positions, and expanded support for student groups through an increase of $25,000 to the Club Fund and a 15 per cent reduction to the leases of student group tenants. The increase would also make the proposed creation of a seventh executive position more feasible, which The Daily also endorses.

SSMU executives often work upward of 85 hours per week when their contracts stipulate 70, an already high number. This has led to burnout among executives, which affects their ability to effectively meet the needs of their constituents. It also negatively impacts the quality of knowledge transfer between executives each year, further perpetuating disorganization and inefficiency.

The proposed executive restructuring, which involves the addition of a seventh executive position, is the most cost-effective way to alleviate this strain. The new VP Operations position would lighten the workload of executives with advocacy-based portfolios by centralizing administration and bureaucracy, thus increasing the overall efficiency of the SSMU executive. While the restructuring would impose an additional $35,000 cost annually, the work done by this additional executive would otherwise be done by hired support staff, which is ultimately more expensive by the hour. For these reasons, The Daily endorses a ‘yes’ vote for this question.

Readers should note that the Daily Publications Society holds an interest in the outcome of the SSMU membership fee increase referendum, as it is a student group tenant in the SSMU building.

—The McGill Daily editorial board

Daily Publications Society’s

STUDENT JOURNALISM WEEK 2016

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B E F Y A D R U T A S O T 4 1 .

SUNDAY FEB SUNDAY: French Press with Le Délit MONDAY: Race and Journalism Workshop TUESDAY: Environment Journalism WEDNESDAY: Journalism as Activism THURSDAY: Investigative Reporting FRIDAY: Arts Criticism SATURDAY: Building a Career in Journalism

McGill

DAILY Check www.mcgilldaily.com for further announcements!

Editorial

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January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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rec@delitfrancais.com cover design Sonia Ionescu contributors Harrison Brewer, Young Jin Cho, Marina Cupido, Mila Ghorayeb, Jordan Gowling, Luca Loggia, Rosie Long Decter, Amanda Fiore, MiaKate Messer, Tiran Rahimian, Xavi Richer Vis, Inori Roy-Khan, Matthew Schilling, Vincent Simboli, Priscilla Wang, Louis Warnock, Johnstuart Winchell, Ashley Yu, Igor Zlobline

Sarah Meghan Mah | The McGill Daily

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rom January 27 to 29, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) will run a referendum to increase its membership fee by $5.50 per student per semester.

SSMU’s financial difficulties are well-documented and alarming – executives are overworked, services are underfunded, and support staff hours are being reduced. Despite this, many students at McGill are angry about fee increases, and are instinctively inclined to vote against paying more.

However, automatically voting “no” on fee increases for student-run services disregards their importance for our collective well-being and fails to hold the University accountable for its role in necessitating such fee increases.

While anger at ever-increasing fees is understandable, students should recognize that the University bears most of the responsibility for the necessity of fee levies.

SSMU’s expanding mental health portfolio, for instance, exists largely to compensate for the inadequate mental health services provided by the University. Likewise, the University recently pushed the responsibility for 24hour library access onto the SSMU Library Improvement Fund. In 2014, SSMU’s controversial building fee was only implemented because the University had imposed an increase of $20,000 per year on SSMU’s lease, in addition to making SSMU responsible for $100,000 per year in utilities costs. In contrast, some other Canadian student unions only pay a symbolic fee for their buildings.

Instead of directing their anger at the University, where it belongs, students often express it by voting “no” on student fee referenda. Last November, 54.7 per cent of undergraduate students voted “no” to a minor and long overdue $1.50 fee increase for CKUT, despite the unquestioned importance of a campus radio station – a staple at most universities. Meanwhile, every semester, the

University charges every full-time student a $130 athletics fee, a $114 “registration charge,” a $111 “information technology charge,” and a $20 “transcripts and diploma charge,” not to mention the $144 student services fee – all of which students unquestioningly dish out for.

Impulsive resentment toward SSMU and other fee levies is unjustified. A widespread misconception is that SSMU is ineffective and a waste of money; in fact, SSMU provides an impressive amount of services given its limited resources. SSMU also advocates for students at the university and provincial levels, and provides employment to its student staff. The membership fee increase will ensure the survival of the vital services SSMU provides, the continued maintenance and development of the Shatner building, and adequate support for student clubs and other student groups – which also form an integral part of SSMU’s activities.

Student-run services offered on campus, including those offered by SSMU, are only possible because they are supported by fees, and we all collectively benefit from them. As such, fee levies should not be approached with a default position of resentment. We should keep in mind that fee-funded groups enrich our university experience, and direct our anger at an administration that is passing off its responsibilities to student groups instead of vilifying the student groups that are picking up the slack.

—The McGill Daily editorial board Readers should note that the Daily Publications Society holds an interest in the outcome of the SSMU membership fee increase referendum, as it is a student group tenant in the SSMU building.

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ISSN 1192-4608.

The article “AUS discusses screening criteria for VP Finance” (January 18, News, page 7) quoted Arts Undergraduate Society president Jacob Greenspon as having said, “So last year, the Executive Work Study Program was initiated by a motion through Council.” The article failed to mention that in fact, the AUS Executive Work Study Program was initiated by a referendum in 2014.

The article “Cozy subversions” (January 18, Culture, page 17) incorrectly stated that Kai Cheng Thom was one of the founders of Quilted Creatures. In fact, the article should have stated that Kai Kafrissen, not Kai Cheng Thom, is one of the founders.

The Daily regrets the errors.

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19

Compendium!

January 25, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

20

Lies, half-truths, and the limits of the possible.

2016: a balloon space odyssey From the fields of McGall to the moons of Jupiter

Arthur C. Clarktekin The McGall Weekly

T

he cold had lasted now for ten months, and the reign of the terrible Carnivalers had long since ended. Here in the middle of nowhere, in the area which would one day be known as the Lower Field, the battle for existence had reached a new climax of ferocity, although not even the midterms were yet in sight. In this barren and frozen land, only the most cunning, clever, and fit could flourish, or even hope to make it from Meacock to Old MacDonald Harrington.

The students of McGall were none of these things, and they were not flourishing. About fifty of them occupied a group of underground tunnels, connecting barely any of the university’s myriad different buildings.

The group was always hungry, but now it was starving. When the first faint glow of dawn crept into one of the tunnels, beside the Three Bares park, Note-Taker saw that his roommate had died in the night. He did not know that the You-Four was his roommate, for such a relationship was utterly beyond his understanding, but as he looked at the emaciated body, he felt a dim disquiet that was the ancestor of that feeling you get when you have to pay the month’s rent all by yourself, because you still haven’t managed to find someone to sublet that goddamn room.

Now it was light enough to leave. Note-Taker picked up the You-Four’s poor body and dragged it after him as he bent under the frozen gates of the tunnel. Once outside, he threw the body over his shoulder and stood upright – the only student in all this world able to do so at 6 a.m..

First he must get rid of the You-Four, but this was a problem that demanded little thought.

There had been many deaths this season, one of them in his own tunnel. He only had to put the corpse where he had left the other one, and the medicine students would do the rest.

He never thought of his roommate again.

Later during the night of that day, Note-Taker suddenly awoke.

Tired out by the day’s lectures and tutorials, he had been sleeping more soundly than usual, yet he was instantly alert at the first faint scrabbling down in the Lower Field.

The Ice Balloons assess the worth of students passing by.

Note-Taker came face-to-face with the Ice Balloons when he led his flock of students down in front of the Old MacDonald Harrington building in the first light of the next morning.

red surface of one of the Ice Balloons. Screaming vehemently at his flock of students, he asked for help. Once they unstuck his tongue, he continued on his way to Meacock, and forgot all about

In this barren and frozen land, only the most cunning, clever, and fit could flourish, or even hope to make it from Meacock to Old MacDonald Harrington.

The Ice Balloons were many and colourful spherical objects, shiny and improbably round. If he collected all of them together, they would probably be three times the height of Note-Taker, but narrow enough to span with his arms – then again, why would he do that?

After several minutes of intense thought, he arrived at a brilliant explanation. These were rocks, of course, and they must have grown during the night – like a plant.

This really superb piece of abstract thinking led Note-Taker, after only three or four minutes, to a deduction, which he immediately put to the test. Plants were very tasty, after all.

A few licks and nibbles quickly disillusioned him, as he found that his tongue had stuck to the

the crystalline balls during the daily routine of screaming for extended periods of time.

Some of the students the Ice Balloons ignored completely, as if they were concentrating on the most promising subjects only. One of them was Note-Taker; once again he felt the inquisitive tendrils creeping down the sadly overused byways of his brain. And presently, he began to see visions.

He was looking at a peaceful auditorium, differing in only one respect from the scenes he knew.

The professor and students that had mysteriously appeared before him were getting along rather nicely. The professor was telling the students that they could use laptops to take notes, that the lecture slides would be available on

Ionia Sonescu | The McGall Weekly MyCourses, that the final would not be cumulative, and that there would be very few readings – and this was a condition of life that Note-Taker had never imagined.

There was no other activity, and after five minutes the scene suddenly faded out. Later that night, Note-Taker sat brooding at the entrance of his lair, and felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy – of dissatisfaction with his life. Discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity. *** A million years later in the same spot, one of those tiny snowploughs made its path through the glaciers of the Lower Field, and stopped right in front of the Old MacDonald Harrington building.

Out of it came a woman, wearing a space admiral suit. This woman, who had a PhD in crystallography, was no other than McGall’s Principal and Vice-Baroness Suzie Forte.

So this is it, thought Forte, as the wee snowplough rolled past the snow dunes, and came to the lip of the field. Her pulse quickened as she craned forward for a better view. The vehicle began to creep cautiously into the field. And there, exactly as she had seen it in

the photographs, were the frozen water balloons.

Forte was in awe, and there was also incredulity – sheer disbelief that the dead Lower Field, of all the places on campus, could have sprung this fantastic surprise.

The minuscule snowplough came to a halt within twenty feet of the frozen water balloons and broadside on, so that Forte could examine it. Yet, beyond the geometrically perfect shapes of the little colourful things, there was little to see.

Coming out of the teensy snowplough, Deputy Provost (Algorithmic Life and Re-programming) Hallivier 9000 greeted Forte, “There are so many more of these around the orbit of Jupiter. Wanna go check?”

“Fuck yeah,” said Forte, and they rode the pocket-size snowplough onward into outer space.

Once in the orbit of Jupiter, right past Io, Forte and Hallivier 9000 both saw the frozen water balloons. They approached one of the balloons and reached out with their hands, breaking the barrier of reality that was so well hidden from the eyes of academics for so long.

And what they saw amazed them, such that they both screamed together, in perfect harmony: “Oh my god – it’s full of stars!”